Today felt as if there was a collective inward breath as people tried to figure out what yesterday’s jury verdict means for the upcoming 2024 election. The jury decided that former president Trump created fraudulent business records in order to illegally influence the 2016 election. As of yesterday, the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States of America is a convicted felon.
Funny thing about abstractions, Sharon. Like wet blankets, they blot out reality.
Take the corrupt Clarence court’s Samuel Alito. He’s made it his mission in life to kill the rights of women – to force them all back into the medieval set of abstractions set on them then, all of them interchangeably witches.
He makes an exception for his own wife. He accepts her freedom to promote her cult leader’s insurrection. It’s her right, says Alito. As if marriage to royalty (he a justice with lifetime immunity from the law) gives her rights which he religiously denies all women whom he otherwise packages.
Ari Melber on MSNBC today discussed these sanctimonious hypocrisies. But Ari loves humanities. Uses them all the time for the nuanced truths in us.
Blunderbuss theocrats like Alito, however, have no humanities. Thus they rant on as, for their rancid abstractions, they kill rights for the (female) rest of us.
Lori, as law professor, Melissa Murray, shared on MSNBC, Alito is essentially trolling American women, particularly after his Roe v Wade abomination. I really appreciated her ability to point this out as I needed her expertise to affirm my gut understanding of another traitor in a most powerful position .
Indeed! Who authored that Book? Did they refer to a dictionary? And what about the cave full of gnomes doing all the chiseling by lamplight. Who proofed their work? I'm not buying that.
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.....................
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
"ALITO: since I cannot control my own wife, I'll control yours."
Oh! That made me laugh out loud! Very astute observation!
Then my second feeling rose up....how sad that all these men feel they need to CONTROL women. It's the underlying feeling of patriarchy. And nowhere is patriarchy stronger than in religion, where to be female is to literally be unlike the (assumed male) godhead. Matriarchy was not much different back in antiquity when God was Goddess, based on female fertility, and men were "othered" out of the priesthood. But patriarchy has othered women into objects to be controlled in all parts of society and the attitude is so baked in that our first reaction is finding your line funny and clever.
This control of women, does it have anything to do with Roman Catholicism? I see the MAGA folks as American Taliban. It's fortunate that women now have the right to vote. This is their moment in time to stand up and ROAR.
Catholics are one of the most patriarchal religions. My Catholic mother forbade me to be married by a female Unitarian minister. (I'm not religious at all.)
This delusional lunatic thinks that men sing praises to him for returning women to the second class citizenship to where he thinks we belong.
And what’s up with The Housewives of the Supreme Court?
How convenient your husband is a Supreme Court Justice you can grift and you can lie and you can plan an insurrection and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
How about a nice investigation of Harlan Crow? I mean there’s gotta be something wrong with that guy.
Or Clarence, the Thomas. The guy thinks he’s untouchable he never had any intention of upholding our democracy.
He’s a buffoon, a dangerous buffoon. The other four, well we know well how they got there and what their jobs are. To continue to take away our citizenship rights and to tear our constitution to shreds.
The voters are highly motivated to see change in the entire court system and that spells trouble, Trouble with a capital T for
Just think - it was an earlier Supreme Court which invalidated miscegenation laws in Virginia and, thus, throughout the U.S. Prior to 1967, the Thomas' marriage would have been illegal in Virginia and a few other states which had miscegenation laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia
there's a difference between a buffoon and a hack. trained monkeys like Roberts are still *well*-trained monkeys. sure 'anyone can make stuff up', but not just anyone can dress that stuff up in legalese and not just anyone ALSO has the connections to get seated in positions of real and serious power. yes they are dangerous. no they are not buffoons. TFG is and always was a buffoon, but Roy Cohn taught him the simple, dark art of the mean-spirited grift. he could never in a million years pull the tricks within the system that hacks like Alito or Thomas can, but he gets away with so much because he has [never-earned] money and monstrously cynical scumbags behind him. he didn't even need to learn real communications from his time at Wharton in order to appeal to the perverted sense of grievance festering in the target audiences of the last 40+ years of rightwingnut broadcast media.
hopefully his manchildren will crash & burn whatever 's left, assuming Ivanka & Jared ... invisible in the media since ... have they upgraded to Donor Class already?
Karen, I don't know if you know much about the Constitutionalist Movement, but one of the things they do is change how they write their names. What you have written here, "Clarence, the Thomas" would be how he would sign his name as a member of that lawless fringe group.
Did you read my little short story yet? I just wrote a full explanation of my centrist position I’ll wait a few days before sending it out on my blog if you care to sign on. You can always delete as 2 people have today over this story. Hey, everybody has a butt and an opinion or two.
I have a personal policy of not reading information that people submit in a forum like this. I also do not follow people who promote their blog/substack/etc. on another forum; if I like their writing well enough, I'll go have a look.
The tenor of your responses to my comments make me disinclined to read your writings.
Ally House I agree. It’s fine if someone has their own Substack—-just don’t advertise it on Heather or some other subscriber Substack, simply comment on something related to Heather.
On rare occasions I have been chided for a commentary that is not directly related to Heather’s post. I plead guilty. Heather has a broad background in American history and politics. My boots-on-the-ground experiences are somewhat distinct. BUT I would never try to hawk my Substack on Heather’s (if I had once). Simply not kosher.
Perfect point: Alito’s all for his wife’s freedom but not for anyone else’s wife. Hypocrisy has become a badge of honor among MAGA. I guess all those defenders of Christianity forgot about Jesus’s criticism of hypocrites: “Oh ye whited sepulchers” ….
Nicely put, Phil. no justice Sammy is just another ultra Catholic trying to treat women as the Church has treated them for centuries. Pits of temptation that they are and uncontrollable unless under the thumb of a male, they should have no rights. His statements about his own wife are laughable.
This satire of a dystopian world is taken from my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums" Enjoy
Fred Jackson and the Second American Revolution
(Homage to Donald Trump’s ‘Proud Boys’ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they weren’t.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mysterious commander said, “the time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who I’m talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, “OrangeFatso.””
“Yep”… they screamed in unison, “Save our leader, OrangeFatso.”
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, “Maybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.” as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh no… not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's “Code of Conduct” that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles – just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross – who is thought to have sewn the first flag – was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
“He wasn’t born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,” cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the “Alliance.” The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of they’re mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
“CHARRRRRRGE!” he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly – an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, “recalculating... recalculating...” His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
“Yes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, I’ll inform the men.”
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
“I’ll tell the men right away.” The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
“All hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.”
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
“Come in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.”
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth – the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: “The Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.”
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
Phil, great passage! As I read your words, they reinforced the idea that this revolution will make these men (and by association, their wives) powerful for the first time in their lives. They refuse help from the “nanny state” because to do so would show their friends and neighbors that they have failed to adequately support their families. “We may not have much, but we don’t need a government handout” is a refrain that I’ve heard voiced, both by men refusing help, and, as an accusation (“His pride won’t let him accept help; he’d rather let his kids starve.”) It’s so sad.
Wow really. I’d be happy to send you a copy and tell you what the shipping would be. It couldn’t be that much. It’s a media pack. And I would “John Hancock” it for you if that made any difference. Woopty Doo. bkatz321@gmail.com
I've just gone back to your first on Tim Grimm, Jen.
I's saved it to when I'd go back and retrieve Tim Grimm's name and the name of the first song of his you cited.
At that point I also noticed something I'd overlooked -- you'd asked "Who's your favorite poet?"
Joseph Brodsky. Robert Frost. W. H. Auden. Pasternak. Miklos Radnoti. And a woman from here Yosano Akiko (family name Yosano, especially her "Tangled Hair").
Abstractions. No connection with life or living beings, except that we suffer the consequences.
Wet blanket or iron maiden.
In NewYork City, the man's notorious as a cheap cheating bully and con artist who dreamed of becoming another John Gotti, then dreamed he would be King. Hence, his long-delayed come-uppance.
But New York is not America.
Meanwhile in the heartland, the cheap hustler's a savior, a mythical hero...
Wolves or woolly monkeys cannot place a misleader at the top of their hierarchy. They're guided by skills that ensure survival.
Too many human beings are guided only by a death wish.
In this essential respect, we show ourselves to be less than apes... but armed with hitech.
Actually, I think New York City is America, the one people from all over the world come to see. But you're right that New Yorkers had his number long ago. Back in the twentieth century when I worked in a meal program, we prayed that he and Ivana would not appear to get publicity in the gossip columns. They always went somewhere else (I'm guessing with permission from people who wanted the attention.)
I get you, progwoman, I get your meaning. How could I not? New York is unique, and I love the city. At the same time, I can understand those who hate it—no compromise possible. New York is essential America, focal point and human crucible.
I came there first in midlife, in 1994. If I came so late it was because I’d been put off by the unbearable arrogance of my dear American cousins, New Yorkers, first visiting when I was a kid in impoverished war-wracked England…
I came from Central America to Newark NJ and stayed with my cousin in an attractive small town in New Jersey before exploring Manhattan.
On arrival, something new, something never before, never since. Something I’d never experienced in Asia, something I’d never known on the high plains under Kilimanjaro. Alienation. Things looked familiar enough, yet I felt as though I’d landed on another planet.
Two days later, in Time Square, it clicked. Before anywhere else in the world, America was already into a new age, that of Virtual Reality…
Just two or three observations from my first long walk up 5th Avenue. Taking in the Rockefeller Center, its heroic scale, its sculptures. A place that sings of courage and can-do. I’m listening to Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, even as I write of this place.
Later, something I’ll never forget. A surprise. A shock.
Towering above the huge St. Thomas Church, a hulking, nondescript but far bigger building, crowned in gigantic letters with the Number of the Beast—666… 666 5th Avenue…
A pity I didn’t have a camera with me. Next time I came, this very special piece of advertising had disappeared. But the building hadn’t. Enter Jared Kushner…
Last, but far from least, 725 5th Avenue. Trump Tower.
Instant comparison with the heroic grandeur of the Rockefeller Center.
“So, THIS is what America has come down to...”
Never could I (or anyone but the interested party) have imagined that the maker of this monument to trashy vulgarity would become President of the United States. America still had a long, long way down to go. From grandeur to the grotesque. From true greatness down, down, down, all the way to MAGA’s Coney Island from Hell…
I didn't mean to imply that New York City is hunky dory. What I meant to address was that people (including the defendant) who said that he couldn't get a fair trial because the place was wall-to-wall Democratic did not know the population. I know people who snarled at Bragg as too progressive and those who assumed he was incompetent. Fortunately, they were wrong. Maybe what I like best about the jury's members was that they were willing to serve in spite of intimidation and personal inconvenience; that I identify with New Yorkers.
I lived in Manhattan for 50 years. In the '60's,'70's, '80's, '90's....there was "no one" there, only those who worked there and those who couldn't live anywhere else: artists, intellectuals, gays, drag queens! NYC was so cheap, I bought buildings with partners. One, a mixed use, on 18th by Eight Ave. was 140K. It traded for 3.2 in 2014. Now it's probably 5. On a trip out for 6 months at the beginning of Bush's 2nd term (remember how shocking THAT was) I thought of getting a shirt that read: PROUD TO BE A CANADIAN....I never did.....I was asked by a driver in Indonesia about Bush getting another term, I responded, "Yes, pretty terrible, but I'm a New Yorker; no one in NYC voted for Bush." So instead of a big lie, I told a mini lie.....
He responded: "New York: it's the Capital of the World".
No other city has a that degree of talent and energy and diversity. The best of the best...and the best of the worst.....IE: Roy Cohn, the worst Jew, and his pupil.....the worst everything.
We all know of course that it was both their choices for the flags chosen in their homes. I imagine the convo went something like this ‘Dear, is it OK if I use you as a scapegoat?’
And people of color. Marc Elias : "Bad: In an opinion written by flag-hating Justice Samuel Alito, the Court severely limited the ability of plaintiffs to bring racial gerrymandering cases. While this case will have lasting repercussions, for now it means that Black voters in South Carolina will suffer."
The ‘system’ that IS working is the Financial world..the $600 pt improvement in the DOW…and THAT suggests a ‘shift’ in Trump support that IS very hopeful for democracy….
Most of all the DOW and other indices simply represent the ongoing recovery of the American economy, likely enjoying the ongoing stimulus of government investment in infrastructure, almost across the board. We can't here complain about toxic billionaires then extoll the stock markets, the very centre of billionaire world, at the same time. Right now there is an alliance of billionaires, the Democratic party, and its popular base against whatever you want to call "the rest of us". And I'm not sure how many Americans are even involved in attending to this.
Most of us who are retired think it's damn important. IRAs, 401 K's. Gives those of us in a demographic that has supported Trump because he promised to raise it, and alleged Democrats are bad for business, another valid reason to support Biden.
Trump has been telling everyone how bad things are while mutual funds beat inflation and the markets set records daily. He told his followers to go short.
Meanwhile Republicans would "sunset" our benefits -- retirement and medical -- and ask us to slit our own throats to support the orange antichrist.
Donald Trump is stupid when it comes to finance. He has had 6(?) bankruptcies. He bankrupted casinos, for crying out loud! Think how bad at business you have to be to do that, given that the odds are in the casinos' favor. The only things he is good at is self promotion and causing chaos. I bet a plugged nickel his father paid the University of Pennsylvania to give him a degree. I bet he didn't successfully complete course work. He has animal cunning, but really is stupid. He got a judgment for 80+million dollars because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. You can't fix stupid.
But stupid can be followed by cult nuts, greedy bastards, and any who are intrigued by the carnival barkers spiel or National Enquirer headlines. God, how depressing.
We can be grateful then, Jeri, that all he can do for them is lower their taxes. His economic and investment theories are excessively useless to the monied class. Let them buy up Truth Social and follow him into bankruptcy.
It’s important to differentiate between the system of justice, and those within that system who work to break it down. Barring any reversible errors that may change the outcome of the case, there will be nothing that the SC can do to “get Trump off”. Not in this case, anyway.
To your point Jane it's worth remembering that much of what the US is seeing now is the result of Moscow Mitch's decision almost 10 years ago for the GOP to no longer have a platform,...as in NO Policy,..of any kind. With the descending demographics of their mob, to defend their long-standing principles of "strong on defense, small govt and family values" made no sense anymore so abandoned them and went with nothing
So, that's what he got in return. They have Nothing to believe in or stand on,... only the Hate & Vengeance that now binds them and from their side of the aisle that's who they then elected to represent them. People like Maggie Q, Lauren Bodirt, Hillbilly Vance, etc, etc have no interest, just as their constituents in policy or legislation,... only to tear things down. They cannot tell you what they believe in because it doesn't exist.
There is no easy fix for this. From their point of view it's fitting that a man with No morals, now a convicted Felon, a con man through and through with no interest in governing or making things better now represents them. We have to pray that with Joe B's age that there are very strong young Dems coming because this may take awhile.
The Republican Party has followed the rules of Campaigns Inc. "It's easier to sell a person than a policy. Lean on feelings, because the average American doesn't want to think or work very hard to preserve democracy." Sadly, they were right for a large percentage of the populace, which ironically, still feels they can afford to ignore politics and not vote.
I've posted these following paragraphs before on this site, but they are so powerful and germane, that I they need repeating (hopefully to hit new readers.)
In the history book These Truths, by Jill Lepore, are the following paragraphs about the first, highly successful political campaign managers, Campaigns, Inc., aka The Lie Factory, founded in 1933. They never lost a campaign. Republicans have mastered their campaign strategy rules:
'Every campaign needs a theme. Keep it simple. Rhyming is good. Never explain anything. "The more you have to explain, the more difficult it is to win support." Say the same thing over and over again. "We assume we have to get a voter's attention 7 times to make a sale". Subtlety is your enemy. "Words that lean on your mind are no good. They must dent it." Simplify, simplify, simplify. "A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think."
Make it personal. Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent, invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average American doesn't want to be educated, he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.'
Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter were the husband-and-wife team that started Campaigns, Inc., the first full-time political consulting firm in the United States to manage a candidate's overall strategy, from messaging to financials. They exploited mass media and applied marketing techniques to politics, mostly for Republican Party candidates and conservative California issues. A rare loss was supporting Willkie against Roosevelt's 3rd term during WW2. A blemished win was supporting Japanese internment camps and the removal of Japanese from all of California. An enduring win still existing today is their media campaign starting in 1948 at the behest of the AMA to scuttle all attempts to create a national health insurance plan like that of most other advanced countries. (The first attempt was unfortunately called Compulsory Health Insurance, which gave Whitaker an easy way to equate it with Socialism.) For a $100,000 per year retainer and a $5 million nationwide ad budget, Campaigns Inc successfully turned a "sensible, popular, and urgently needed healthcare reform into a [political, socialist] boogeyman so scary that, even today, millions of people are still scared of it." ("The Lie Factory: How Politics Became a Business" by Jill Lepore, The New Yorker , Sept. 24, 2012
For a detailed article and photos of original documentation, see
By talking more about actual issues of governance by cooperation and compromise, Democrats simply don't appeal to the emotions that make for a thrilling fight or show.
That assessment of the typical American voter is quite an indictment of democracy. So it works well only when smart people can manipulate the lazy and selfish voters into supporting candidates who will produce effective policies that benefit the people. The catch is that cunningly devious people can just as easily manipulate those voters into supporting politicians who will serve those who exploit them for their own profit. So, here we are.
What next? If liberal democracy got us here, can it also be our savior? Or does there need to be a reassessment of how the people express their will, and how policies are decided? And just as important, how the people are educated. A misinformed populace, constantly urged to be self-centered (such as by advertising that interrupts and limits all serious discussion of issues, or by demagogues who brazenly lie about the issues) cannot be counted on to be wise.
In so many ways, he did more to damage democracy than Trump.
In 1991, Senator Heinz of PA was killed in a plane crash. I wonder what America would be like if that were McConnell instead. Heinz was an Eisenhower Republican who championed the environment, especially climate change.
As I read Bill Katz' excerpt, I kept thinking about 'The Handmaid's Tale,' BK. I love Atwood's book, and to your point, that literary revolution just wiped out the form of government we used to live under. It happened a lot too quickly in the book for constitutional loyalists to stop it. Atwood was terribly prescient about what we're living though now, so a big successful coup by theocrats is what I expect, and we seem to be well on our way.
I refuse to give up hope, though, and I'm hoping to see a Gavin Newsom-Michelle Lujan Grisham ticket (either one at the top) in '28. The two governors. I'd want Congress to impose 18-year term limits on SCOTUS, which would force Alito, Thomas, and Roberts to retire. I'd want to see Harris appointed to the SC, where, if they go by seniority, Kagan or Sotomayor would be the new chief justice, depending on Sotomayor's health.
I'd want Jeffries and Schumer to impeach and oust all the congress people who participated in and/or supported J6. Then we'd get something useful done pronto - non-partisan election boards to do districting, permanent protections for everyone's health care and autonomy, a robust safety net for seniors and impoverished, a higher minimum wage, reasonable immigration reform, and voting rights for all citizens.
A very nice dream, Lauren. I'm a particular fan of G Newsom so, keep having your dreams and together we'll send those energies out.
In my own Logic Dreams I tend to tie them to an "if-only" hypothesis. Such as, since the orange one has now been proven to have hidden truly outrageous immoral secrets from the country and produced illegal documents and lies to cover it all up that swayed the election it changes things. But, "what-if" he hadn't or had been caught in the process?... Hillary would likely still be in the Oval office. So, what to do?
Since he wasn't caught until 8 years later the consequences (aside from his conviction and pending incarceration) are, in My dream that:
A. It is proven & accepted that his "so-called" POTUS time was illegitimate,
B. But, for those that remain skeptical the people recall Comey's blatant plan to scuttle Hillary's victory thru reopening "Her Emails" just days before the election only further de-legitimizing the orange one's time,
C. And after that, for those still defiant the people awaken to remember how the orange one signaled Russia to interfere,... and they did,
D. thus with all of these things it completes the People's realization that the orange one was never really POTUS At ALL!
E. But, still here on Earth One and given that Mr Peabody's Wayback Machine hasn't yet been invented and a do-over isn't possible the People collectively decide to simply retire the #45 like done in sports. All portraits are removed. No POTUS Library. The #s just go from 44 to 46 as if he never existed.
F. But, along with the retirement of his existence the People, so realizing his place in our history was illegitimate, so were his works. Therefore his $8T tax cut for the uber rich is rescinded and his 3 SCOTUS picks (along w/ Ms Cannon) are also then realized to be illegitimate so are removed from the high court and replaced with 3 proper and legitimate picks selected by the current and re-elected POTUS Joe Biden and all is well again.
I like your dream, too, BK. I especially like the wiped-out-of-existence part, although we DO kinda need a cautionary tale to avoid a President Gaetz. And may I suggest you dream Kacsmaryk off the bench and that Alabama zealot (redundant?) that outlawed IVF?
Here's a horrific what-if for you to nightmare about: What if all that we now know came out before the 2016 election and Diaper Don won anyway? He's apparently up in the swing states today, even with all revealed! So many deplorables, so little REM time.
I stand corrected. Thus information is eye opening. Judging by tha amount of likes I got ( I hope every o e gets ti see thus) not many are aware of AG Garland's efforts. Now I understand why Former President Obama wanted to nominate him for the Supreme Court. I am having a lot of problems understanding the American Political system: if then President Obama had a RIGHT ro nominate the next judge. why could the @×€#@ block him andcrefuse ti bring it to vote?? I am a Naturalized Citizen and I came to the US to University, where I was not required to take Civics or Political Science..
BTW; if Politics is considered a Science, it is a no brainer that tRump is in no way qualified to be a politician, let alone leader of the most powerful country in the world. I am afraid it will take a miracle and his loss in November fir the USA to reclaim that position.
We can do miracles in the USA! Just as we did not know what was going on in the background with the DOJ issues, we don't know the extent and depth of what folks (kids as well as elders and inbetween) are doing to reelect Biden and save our democracy. We get glimpses here from commenters and from the news, but the number of post card writers, League of Women members helping highschoolers register to vote, healthcare providers educating patients on now restrictive laws on their care, and young adults who grew up with school murders in the news -- that number is huge. Now, if Fox news could be closed down, ...
That said, the Democrats denigrated a whole class of American workers over the past 20 years, who wre then ripe for trump's picking. I listened to our
Michigan governor Granholm announce that auto workers would go back to college and become computer experts because their (menial) jobs would go overseas. Trump is actually no dummy, and captured those denigrated workers.
If only it were that clear cut. There are federal judges - Cannon in Florida,
Kasmiryck in Texas, to name two - who are purely political operatives; and decidedly right wing appellate branches, that point to the inherent complexity and difficulty of maintaining a fair system of justice. African-Americans continue to experience a less-fair system of justice than whites.
What worries me more than the polemics is the open advocacy of violence, as per the good Dr Cox Richardson: 💔
"Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News reported today on a spike in violent rhetoric on social media targeting New York judge Juan Merchan . . . and District Attorney Bragg. Users of a fringe internet message board also shared what they claimed were the addresses of jurors. 'Dox the Jurors. Dox them now,' one user wrote. Another wrote, '1,000,000 men (armed) need to go to [W]ashington and hang everyone. That’s the only solution.'" 🤢
Since this was arguably the weakest case against Trump and in view of the successful conviction, at least for now, my BIG hope now is that this verdict -- by twelve different people voting four hundred, eight times to hold Trump's guilty -- will break the legal log-jam deferring the other cases to motorize their proceeding this summer. 🤞
It was created in and by the Constitution, but that document did not give it the power of judicial review (the power to pass on the constitutionally of laws created by Congress). That power it assumed for itself in Marbury v Madison.
The contradiction in the current theory of 'originalism' is that the Founders original thinking was that the Constitution might well need to be altered in reaction to time and circumstance. 'Originalism', then, ought to include that understanding rather than obedience to some concept of immutability.
I would need to hear more about what you wrote James. In my interpretation of Marbury vs Madison, the Marshall court rightfully established the principle of checks and balances among the three branches of government and the principle of judicial review. The intent was to insure one branch did not become too powerful. I do not believe it gave SCOTUS a get out of jail card. I believe that is a far more recent doctrine, the orgins of which I am stumped.
It did not give the Court a get out of jail card. If the Court declares a law passed by Congress unconstitutional, Congress just needs to rewrite the law so that it eliminates the objectionable section of the old law, based off of the Court’s objection. There are, of course, three problems or, if one prefers, three obstacles in the process. First, how exactly the Court interprets the Constitution in any given case, second, whether Congress is able to do make the rewrite and both houses able to pass the new version, and third, of course the sheer impenetrability of some aspects of the legal process itself as it has been reworked over the years. And now, we have added the exceptional polarization of both the Court and the Congress. The problem, at least to my mind, is our time and politically -hardened two party system, which was not envisioned by the Founders, even though they subsequently initiated it themselves.
The one notable gap in Truscott's argument is twofold. First, if there were not some way to control the possibility that Congress or the President could make laws or take an executive decision that violated the Constitution, we would long since have been in real trouble. Marbury v Madison corrected that omission. That check was needed, and the only one of the three branches that could do so was some part of the Federal Judiciary.
Nor is the power of judicial review as unbounded as Truscott would have it. Congress can reexamine any law the Court finds unconstitutional and simply rewrite it and repass it to eliminate the part the court has deemed unconstitutional.
In practice, of course, there are problems concerning this that are inherent in our political system. For one thing, the Founders did not envision the time-hardened two party system we have inflicted on ourselves. The perennial polarization resulting from this (not anything new in our history, btw) makes it far more difficult for Congress as a body to reexamine and rewrite some of the laws that SCOTUS has determined to be unconstitutional. And, of course, the sometimes maddeningly vague language of the Constitution makes various interpretations of it all too possible depending on the makeup of the Court, a body whose interpretations of some portions of the Constitution have varied over time, sometimes rather widely.
Doesn’t it make you wonder if the judicial review was carefully usurped by the federalist? IMHO there are seemingly many forces trying to bend the best American intentions towards more personal gains. Now more than ever they have come to the surface and are not hiding as before. Perhaps I’m just more aware. Either way Jan 6 should NOT replace voting at anytime.
As long as you presume that they love to be in the limelight. One does wonder, though, if some of them are regretting accepting the 'honor' of appointment given the pressure they all undoubted feel these days.
Because of the life time appointment of SCOTUS judges. Once appointed, there is no mechanism for accountability. Human being is not perfect prone to fall on temptations.
I fear that with the current SCOTUS, the rule of law & the constitution will be trampled. I believe the only way forward is for Biden to appoint 2 or 4 more justices (which would then equal the number of appellate courts) Other ways (term limits, binding ethics rules, mandatory retirement age) are simply too impossible with our gerrymandered and dysfunctional Congress.
At the end of the day twelve courageous citizens of New York did what an entire major political party refused to do. They carefully parsed the facts, evidence, and testimony, followed the instructions provided by Judge Juan Merchan, an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and unanimously determined that a corrupt former President of the United States is not above the law, returning guilty verdicts on all 34 felony charges.
This state court—judge, DA, & jury—followed up on Mitch McConnell who in refusing to convict the twice impeached T***p suggested that it was a matter for the courts to decide. OK GOP profiles in cowardice, that’s what just happened.
History will record two fraudulent presidential elections: 2000 when SCOTUS stopped the recount in vote suppressed Florida; and of course hush money disinformation 2016. The consequences are tragedy.
MCCONNELL,(6 months prior to 2016 election, Obama administration ): we cannot confirm a Supreme Court justice this close to an election.
MCCONNELL,(3 weeks before the 2020 election, and after voting had begun in several states, tRump administration ) leads the Senate in the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice.
The 10 MAGA senators are now going on strike only AFTER trump was found guilty. Just like Hillary said in 2015, only the outcomes they don't like seem to be rigged.
McConnell traveled to the Credibility Store. They were sold out of the Generic version and he could not afford to buy the Enhanced version, so he goes hat in hand and is left begging from those who only have crumbs left themselves
Thank you Seth -and yes, tragedy beyond the United States.
As Heather has written and evidenced -the instability and weakness of America manifest in a corrupt, incompetent Executive Branch shifts power to elsewhere around the world. Those who would have looked to the US for trade (creating new opportunities and bolstering economic growth), or defense partnerships are forced to look elsewhere.
While voters must act to save the remaining shreds of the American experiment, the DOJ should, have created a parallel path to investigate and indict elected members in the House, Senate, and in State/Local government who have continued to perpetuate the attempt to subvert the 2020 elections, and/or continue to interfere and obstruct justice, while aggressively addressing all of the domestic terrorists who violently stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop a peaceful transition of power.
Support for Trump among his MAGA followers goes beyond fear-based political rhetoric. His supporters view him as a savior because he pledges to dismantle American democratic norms and laws to empower them. They aim to assert social and religious control, which they can't achieve through democratic processes due to their inability to win a popular vote in a fair election. Trump's legal troubles have only strengthened their resolve to overturn the rules that prevent them from imposing their will on others. This behavior by the MAGA faithful is part of a slow-rolling coup attempt.
I am always concerned when any group wants to assert religious control over government. I just checked; the word "religion" appears once in the Constitution ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." First Amendment) and the word "religious" also appears only once in the Constitution (". . . but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States" Article VI). The Framers seemed to pretty clear about the role of religion in the United States: While you are free to practice the religion of your choice, no religion can be imposed on the citizenry. Somehow a large minority of the population seem to be oblivious to this, or simply don't care. (I suspect it's more "don't care" and less "oblivious".)
Thank you Michael -and yes, although I once asserted it began with the Powell memo and then Reagan. Noam Chomsky took me back prior to Reagan with the Trilateral Commission.
George, do you know of any policy in DOJ like their policies to not bring charges against public officials in the run-up to elections which affects DOJ not bringing charges against elected officials? With as many Republicans implicated in Jan 6th as there seem to be it surprises me DOJ has NOT brought any further charges against the likes of Tuberville, Gaetz, Jordan, etc. Democratic Senator Menendez seems not to have been excepted from charges in his (and his wife's) case.
And those 12 jurors who did their job now have 11 seditious GOP senators refusing to do their jobs. Those senators are, pardon the expression, traitorous idiots.
ALL the individuals who signed on to that letter to forsake what they were elected to do should be removed from office. And I don’t mean via the electoral process either. They have publicly announced their intentions to thwart the work of the government. The hypocrisy of many is astounding and needs to be addressed. Tffg’s has only just begun.
The frenzied responses from MAGA supporters in the Senate and House are understandable. If the Justice Department really holds Trump accountable, they could be the next targets.
Just think about what it says about the character of each of them. They believe or pretend to believe a proven liar, serial philanderer, and misogynist. Aren't we all known by the company we keep?
Indeed. The MAGA-owned GOP have proven themselves incapable of governing. However, should the researchers determine how to export hypocrisy, lying, and treasonous behavior -we would rapidly address any trade imbalance we currently maintain.
I think it says that they are more loyal to Trump than to our constitution or Country. Just imagine, their leader is 78-79 years old, has cheated on three wives, has more Admiration for Putin than Biden, and tried to steal the 2020 election so he could keep stealing and lining the pockets of his hotel, golf courses, and cronies' hobbies.
If only the Republican members of the U.S Senate had been willing to do their duty as well as those 12 ordinary Americans. They could have spared us this. And they had TWO chances!
The Republican party has had multiple opportunities to rid themselves of Trump. They are too cowardly to do that. I don't think the founders could have envisioned the situation we have today.
Very true Jenn. Based upon what the founders endured, I suspect they felt that fundamentally any future leadership would embrace the framework of the system (even if future generations might disagree on capital gains taxation rates).
They are all weak, pathetic, incompetent cowards putting their own concentration of power ahead of the best interests of all Americans.
I wonder if Mitch and his ilk are really “brave” in their eyes to stand up against our American system? But to thwart our system is truly a traitorous act. I would have to argue that they think themselves brave but are aligned with a different ideology. IMHO.
I will never forgive the Republicans for allowing and supporting Trump. And now that I've educated myself on other treasonous acts from previous Republican presidents, I'm now embarrassed to say that I once called myself a Republican.
We don't actually know what happened in the jury room. I like to imagine that the force of the evidence was enough that they walked into the jury room, looked around at each other, nodded, and then the foreperson said, 'right. So we can't just walk back out there. Read the rules again? Mnkay. That'll get us through today. Someone bring a few cribbage boards tomorrow and when we get tired of that, we'll announce.". That's MY version, at least.
Given that there were two lawyers on the jury, I think you are mistaken. Don't forget that they asked the judge for clarification on his instructions. Have you ever served on a jury?
In quiet celebration of Trump’s 34 felony convictions, I donated $34 to President Biden’s campaign. And will donate $34 a month until the election. If Trump is convicted of more felonies between now and November (not likely given the snails pace the other cases are moving forward) my donation will increase to match the number of felonies. :-)
I would have been a horrible jurist as I would have resolutely made up my mind of trump's guilt as soon as I learned that the pecker had been given immunity for his testimony....
Deutsche Welle has featured an interesting story about the jurors, reviewing their profiles (without reference to political affiliation since Judge Merchan ruled that question as out-of-bounds in evaluating prospective jurors). These were informed people from different lots in life. Some seemed to fit a typically pro-Trump profile by being pro-business.
😯
That these twelve diverse people voted unanimously to convict Trump deflates the arguments of a rigged trial. Yes, District Attorney Bragg had supposedly run of a "get-Trump" platform; if true, that is fodder. Mr Bragg's behavior, however, has NOT been vindictive.
⚖️
Far from being biassed, Judge Merchan seems to have been exceedingly balanced, clearly placing principles ahead of personalities. The case does not stack up, at least for me.
There is blowback which was expected but in that blowback the enablers reveal the depth of their corruption and I would go so far to say evil. I don’t want to posit a “them and us” scenario which is the cancer of a democracy but we must loudly keep calling out what we believe to be the truth. The MAGA people whether citizens or government won’t listen. They are zombies. It is up to us to keep the others “unbitten”. Thanks Heather for your brilliant analysis. How you find the strength and energy to do this I have no idea but it’s a gift to America!
We hope that the national "cancer" is not an inoperable malignant metastasizing tumor. We hope it can be cured. We don't want America to become un-American. We want Americans to seek wisdom. We want Americans to avoid hubris. We want Americans to be happy to admit when they begin to understand that they were wrong.
Sadly, David, that isn't how extremist American paranoia works in America. It has a long and storied history. This is just the latest. If only the Republicans get truly hammered in November might we begin to some some mitigating forces to overthrow the MAGA chokehold. I can only wonder.
[Edit: I decided to delete my comments in this thread following the initial comment about cancer as a metaphor for an unwise leader bent on changing the character and spirit of the United States of America. I think it is not enlightened commentary.
Here is how the House of Representatives can, under current rules, "revise and extend" their remarks: "...Beginning in the 106th Congress, the House has, by unanimous consent, authorized all Members to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material (within two Record pages) during either one session or an entire Congress..."
David H., unfortunately, this me-first anti-democracy cancer has been present in the body of our country since the beginning. Sometimes it flares up…I must correct myself: Sometimes it is controlled and subdued, but it is ever present. It flared up before the Civil War and, of course, during the War and Reconstruction. The cancer grew during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, and the same cancer may takeover the American body in the coming election or shortly after. Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Gerald Ford, tried to heal our wounded country by making peace with the cancer through compromise. Where has it gotten us?
American voters can administer the chemotherapy of massive rejection in November. Unfortunately many of us are in disinformation denial. Sadly untreated cancer will inevitably kill the person.
It’s important for us to name exactly what this cancer is really all about. Racism and misogyny infected our body politic as white supremacy and patriarchy were injected into our nation’s systems and social norms when America was “founded”.
The Civil War was fought by those who wanted to expand race based slavery and those who were against it. The war never ended-we’ve been living with an uneasy truce.
The fight today is also about racism. White supremacy is a dis-ease. Who are the MAGAs? Who do they think they’re taking “their country” back from?
What holds the MAGAs together is their worship of white skin and penises. (And of course the greed that fuels wealthy people too)
Think about it-if there was no racism would they have any chance of succeeding? For all of you who have family, neighbors and colleagues who buy into MAGA the chemotherapy is to talk to them about racism and misogyny. Just maybe they can grasp the truth that skin color and having a penis doesn’t make anyone superior.
If we really want liberty and justice for all we’ll never be able to experience it until we call
out deal with the dis-ease that has spread so widely and severely that it may kill us all.
Gina, everything you say about misogyny and racism seem correct, but I wonder if it’s as two-dimensional as you describe. As I look for examples through history, bias seems to be more than white supremacy. It seems like groups tend to stick together against those who are different. Blacks have enslaved Blacks. Whites have enslaved Whites. Christians have denigrated non-Christians. Muslims have done the same, and I suspect it’s true of other religions too. People of one nationality oppress those of different nationalities. MAYBE, JUST MAYBE one thing oppressive societies have in common is that they’re anti-democratic. At a glance, it looks like autocrats look to expand their wealth/power just like business owners want to increase market share. I’m proposing for discussion that democracy and discrimination are inversely correlated: the closer people are to pure democracy, the less racist and misogynistic they are. What do you think?
Back in 1956 we had those who didn't fall asleep in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In Walker Percy's "The Thanatos Syndrome" we had those who didn't drink from the public water supply.
The dividing line still remains clear. It's those who have any humanities versus those with zero.
The frothing, virulent, mad, mad world of orange cretin Trump, House Speaker Howdy Doody, Marble Mouth Marge, investment plunderer J.D. Vance, mercenary mass murderer Erik Prince, and all their sorted sordid billionaires remains loony as those humanities illiterate are always guaranteed to be.
Only Q remaining for the rest of us: do we want our schools turning out more obscenity, vulgarity, and freak shows in the future, as the rich zombies and enabling standardized testers have orchestrated ever since the Powell memo, or do we want a civilized world?
Phil, you know MAGA et al are using exactly the same demonic rhetoric against Democrats, the evil Left, the godless "communists", and so on, and they stand up for "the land of the brave"...
and reactionaries have been winning power grabs by convincing voters to turn it inside out and disenfranchise a plurality [women's reproductive rights + historically minority populations' voting rights]
In my lifetime (since 1953) and since I could start voting in 1971 there has never been a clearer choice between sane and insane leadership, democracy vs authoritarianism, rule of law vs my rules than there is right here, right now in 2024. Goldwater vs LBJ comes close on the insanity part, Nixon vs anyone comes close on the rules part...but this one is alone in the democracy vs authoritarian part. Every other Presidential election feels more like a tennis match between rivals who probably don't like each other, but they respect their ability. Trump doesn't respect anyone else...even the members of his "team". They are just props & support to use, until they are not.
I told my conservative friends back in 2015 that Trump wanted to be a dictator. It was the only thing he was capable of...and they all said...no, you're not seeing it right...you don't understand.
Well, I think I saw it pretty clearly. Now I'm going to say to them, it's time to move on...get off this bus to nowhere. It's ok to be a conservative...but please don't empower this mess...just because you feel you need to be loyal to the "home team". It's time to be Americans.
I saw an "I like Ike" bumper sticker yesterday. It made me smile. So do I.
Joe Biden is much much more like Ike...than Trump could ever be.
This next election is as clear as it could possibly be.
We all must be engaged outside of spaces like this, to help get people to vote for sanity, the rule of law and democracy...or we are screwed. Peace.
This: “It's ok to be a conservative...but please don't empower this mess...just because you feel you need to be loyal to the "home team". It's time to be Americans. “
Yup it’s time to get ACTIVE & COMMIT to a path of energizing your constituency… your friends, family, coworkers, pinball players (😉) etc. To give our candidate deep support to continue his uphill climb out of these years of quagmire…
Ike was no saint, but he sure as hell gave clear, honest, accurate warnings about the system and special interests. too bad the swamp can't drain itself (and too bad so many useful idiots swallowed Trump's line that he would do any such thing in any meaningful, pro-social sense).
No one who rises to that level in politics is a saint, but Ike was very clear and correct about the military industrial complex. He also promoted his Atoms for Peace initiative.
Trump may be the best snake oil salesman this country has ever seen…and he adds a lot of the old traveling salvation show to his act. The fodder he is producing for future historians is voluminous.
I just hope we come together like Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull and the other Native factions and this is DJTs last stand.
Yesterday was a good day indeed, Heather, and all the screaming on the farout right wingnut world is a testament to how sound our system actually is. We are all, grateful to you, Joyce Vance, Lucien Truscott, Robert Hubble and quite a few others who see and write clearly and provide reason to carry on with the hard work ahead that is sometimes much like pulling out an old truck to deliver a heavy load, only to remember that you had been distracted for several years an still needed to repack the wheel bearings and change the oil. Damn, that's a bit like democracy. It takes constant maintainence.
Sleep well everyone. We need our rest because there is hard work ahead.
I think democracy and the notion of universal rights and responsibilities not only needs ceaseless maintenance, it has to be lived to be real. Its embrace in our own brief lives keeps liberty and justice alive and well; for ourselves and our posterity.
Be careful about that vehicle analogy. When I bought a used Pilot in 2022, I bought a 2 yr warranty for $3000. Recently I was told it needs $5000 worth of repairs, but nothing that is covered by the warranty. There are lies, omissions, additions, and redefining that boggle the mind. Read the fine print, in my case there was no fine print, so say your prayers and assume nothing. BTW, I am somebody who does regular maintenance. Maybe since Warren Buffet bought the dealership, he needs another billion. Sorry for the digression, but there went my plan to donate…
Yes, I often wonder if the people who want only a small donation from me every day realize there are bills to pay for those of us who don't automatically default to bankruptcy.
I won’t go into debt and I won’t give five bucks. That would only quadruple my slimy emails. I will do what I can while picking one item at a time on car. And trash Honda every chance I get. I have loved the car, but the dealership has become trash. Like so many companies, they think the traffic can bear more than it used to. They may get surprised.
"Not getting it [the presidency] leaves Trump and the MAGA supporters who helped him try to steal the 2020 presidential election at the mercy of the American justice system."
Not winning the presidency leaves Trump et al accountable to a Federalist Society corrupted Federal judiciary. Any Republican president would likely add the weight of the Executive branch, including the Department of Justice, behind not holding Trump et al accountable. (What would be left of the GOP?) There is precedent in Gerald Ford's Nixon pardon. And also in Mitch McConnell's letting Trump off in two senate trials. And in the relatively lenient treatment of Confederates after the Civil War. It is not a good precedent, in that those benefitting from leniency showed no sign of being chastened or appreciative. But went on resenting and disrespecting United States government. MAGA is built on the GOP Southern Strategy of pandering to bigotry and stoking resentment of United States government and rule of law. The interests behind this, are betting that a government which will not protect the equality explicit in civil rights law, would also be disinclined to administer a systems of equitable taxation and regulations.
Perpetrators should not be seen to get away with gain from seriously irresponsible or predatory behavior, as the banks managed to do in the wake of the subprime crisis. Punishments should not be excessive yet demonstrate that, at least when caught, crime does not pay.
If I knew how to attach something, I'd share the cartoon that a friend sent me, but since I don't know how, I'll describe it, and you'll have to use your imagination. Snoopy is sitting on the top of his doghouse, typing: "And, after all the dust settled, they suddenly realized that America had been saved by a porn star. The End" Let's give credit where credit is due...
MAGA isn't strong. The gang of Jr High School bullies are terrified that their leader just got punched in the nose in public, and that everyone else is celebrating the fact. MAGA is at your throat or at your feet. Smacking a bully in the face guarantees the latter.
I just read today that it is estimated that the average American IQ is 98 (something I agree with, having spent so many years dealing with droolers). And MAGA comes from the lower half of the gene pool. I doubt most of them have an IQ higher than ambient room temperature. You can see it in all the bullshit they get taken to the cleaners with by the scammers of MAGA Inc who see them as marks.
i put more faith in wise education than "IQ" but agree that that there seems to be a divide between those who would bully and those who reject this behavior. Certainly one of the most legitimate missions of goverment is to proscribe and intervene when significant bullying arises.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
So many ways to be intelligent, maybe if we were better at appreciating that, we wouldn't be in this mess. I often wonder how to quantify what's qualitative? Fortunately, many educators are developng models that provide for 'graduated autonomy'. We need to be empowering individuals of all ages to see things at varied scales from varied points of view.
And we need to value their contributions of various intelligences more equitably. The huge variation in incomes in this country is a big part of our democracy's sickness. The quote from Lincoln above applies here in paraphrase: As I would not be an underpaid minion in this enterprise, so I would not be an overpaid CEO. . . I'm not saying pay everyone the same, but let's level the playing field a bit; no one at the top needs to be earning 700 times the folks near the bottom. This is an issue the Dems have neglected for too long, leaving those trying to hold a family together on $70K or less out of their policy priorities. Biden/Harris are finally addressing these concerns.
And maybe we need to allow for inflation in messaging. Older readers might freak a bit at the numbers. When I saw “holding a family together on $70K or less” (I’m assuming family of 4) I almost fell off my recliner! But then I realized that it wasn’t the 50’s or 60’s anymore, or even the 90’ or 00’s. When we bought our first home in SoCal, our payment was $300/month. We were scared to take it on, but we did. This was in the late 60’s. I totally respect people taking all of today’s costs on themselves.
Yes. And if we could bear to comprehend Earth's carrying capacity and our roles influencing that, maybe it wouldn't need to be the domain of government to address--we could balance our activities and balance planetary metabolisms in harmony.
98 is very close to 100, which is the numerical average. Don't fall into the "deplorables" trap, TC, or that it's only the less educated who support the GOP. Remember the "rust belt" working class states used to be the Dem's "blue wall", now it's a cliff hanger zone.
I have no idea what my IQ is but I suspect it is fairly average. However, I do have confidence in my common sense and emotional IQ. I like
to listen and to observe and I believe that helps me to understand life around me. I have to believe, formally educated or not, there are lots of folks like me who have the ability to discern stupid when they see it. Those are the people who will work for what is right for our country. I must believe that…my sanity and hope depends upon it.
listening and observing are crucial to progress by any sane/humane/long-term-meaningful definition of the word.
sadly, they are similarly valuable to the demagogues and operatives who take advantage of the "act first and never ask [sincere] questions" mob, who set up their atrocious social media & news-cycle games ...
sorry, I'm just dipping in and out of Despair Mode and Cautionary Mode today. i know Thursday's verdict was good news (but I worry for the tiny number of citizens and officials who did their duty on that score, being targeted by sick and disinformed hatemongers), and I'm with you that there simply have to be enough of us to make the difference that counts.
You may wish that were true, but I know plenty of educated, reasonably intelligent people who have been--and probably will continue to be--Trump supporters. Their media choices are limited; they've been inundated with falsehoods about President Biden; they don't hear much about this administration's accomplishments; and they remember the Trump years as somehow good.
Doesn’t the absence of a curious mind negate your assertion? Those that I know that support Trump and are “educated, reasonably, intelligent people…” are also bigots with an eye to their taxes. Yes, they are also a bit more well to do.
Stupid is stupid regardless of education. I know lots of
The same type of people; however, I also know plenty of people with smarts that did not come from a formal education. Character is what really counts. What is in your heart counts.
Trump has released the underlying evil in people and that is who trumpers are.
I've known many "educated" morons. "Education" and "intelligence" are twp different things. It's just the edumacated ones can convince themselves that bullshit is actually Chanel No 5 more easily.
TC, I am watching my retired law enforcement cohort go over the top in their support of 34 times convicted fpotus: "More MAGA than ever". "Lock and Load" Numerous National Colors flown upside down. It is disgusting, dispiriting, and <insert colorful metaphor of choice> insane.
Their (the RRs-holes) puny little mouth-pieces like Jordan want to start a fight where they duck out and hope their big chain-swingin pals will step in and lay waste to "us Libtards Etc". The key is, don't play into it. Turn around and walk off. They (the RRs-holes) got their fight on Jan 6th..., but did the rest of the 'Bully-Belly-Buds' start fights all over the country.. in cities and towns..? Nope. We all just watched the NEWS and peace-fully drove to work the next day.., huh? Yup. Now, the (R)ss-holes.. the puny punks.. (go name them) are leaning into our faces and basically saying "wanna fight.. wanna fight.." Well, - - - - them, the puny little bastards and their puffed-up supremacist pals in their flak-vests and jungle-gear... let them screw themselves. Gotta nip this crap in the bud though.. absolutely cannot give them an inch. Jan 6th was a rehearsal for all of us regarding riot control.. stop it quickly.
And stock in Trump Media. It’s worthless as a profit making company but currently valued at $49 a share. No serious investor owns it—propped up by his followers and perhaps some wealthy people who want to give Trump some money.
Many of the investors are MAGAs that don't realize that any business Trump is involved with eventually turns sour. There was a story around the time of the merger where several MAGA shareholders were interviewed about what they expected from the stock.
Many accounts started with, "I have never owned stock before...."
DJT is probably not going to be a winner for them in the long run. So sad to see people risk what little savings they have on DJT stock.
Every time I see the insipid bastard aka the orange turd speaking in front of a crowd of Maggot supporters, btw I never seek to see him, I take note of the people who are standing behind him while he blathers his insanity, if they have an IQ higher than room temperature on a winter day I would be surprised. They might as well hang a sign around their necks saying “I’m a moron”, because that’s exactly what they look like. To say that they look unmoored from the reality we experience would be an understatement. They apparently have enough of an IQ to feed themselves but that’s not saying much, maggots (their namesake) do as well. 🤷♂️
I agree with your IQ assessment but I think another issue we have in this country is that something like 1/3 of the population has never traveled more than 50 miles from where they were born. I have cousins in rural NE that have never traveled outside of the state. They have never interacted with people of color and not surprisingly are racist.
And yet, their IQs may be above the average, but they certainly are not worldly.
My parents made it a point to take us kids on vacation somewhere different every year. My sisters and I fought in the backset of our '62 chevy station wagon that had no air conditioning.
We slept in a tent in campgrounds. We met so many interesting people and learned a lot. Many people would be surprised to learn that there is a campground about 10 miles outside of Washington, D.C. Anyway, there was in 1964.
I'm curious your thoughts on what I call "motivational quotient'. As far as I'm aware it is undefined but it goes along with the expression, "but they had so much potential."
I aqbsolutely agree. I got the hell out of Colorado 3 days after HS graduation, and over two WestPac deployments on the old USS Rustbuck, and then a 2 year tour in WestPac on the staff of Commander Patrol Force 7th Fleet, I saw every country from Japan to Australia and NZ. When I went back to Colorado at age 21 to go to school, I was a lot more "worldly" than my classmates.
The average IQ of every person on earth is 100. By definition. Because that’s how the IQ scale works. So 98 isn’t a significant deviation from the average. I get your point, a lot of voters aren’t using their reasoning ability, but it’s not so much an IQ problem as a propaganda problem. Humans are emotional, not rational only, and cunning manipulators know how to subvert them.
Heather, it is columns like yours, now, today, that are making you a national treasure, and one of my best ever investments in supporting on-line contributors. And I don't even live in America, chose New Zealand half my life ago, but, born and bred in the Land of the Free, I want it to stay that way, ,I want my country to endure in health, as the last best hope of mankind.
Yesterday's verdict was seismic, I could never have hoped for such, but I was heartened by the strong evidence that the average American is still a wise, good person, if provided with the facts.
The challenge will be, to provide the general populace with the facts before November 5.
It is not enough to educate the converted.
If such can be done, democracy will win for another day....and, of course, yet more battles.
Presently, probably for decades, there is clearly a cancer in the American politic. Even beating MAGA in November won't erase it.
More battles will need to be fought, by good people, good Republicans, good Democrats, good "undecideds," to keep America the America that some, hopefully most, of us, aspire to.
More trivially, I recommend you take an extra day out of the week to recharge, we don't need you to burn out before Election Day! 5 of 7 days, weekly, of your wisdom, that's fine with me!
Jim
New Zealand (one of the very best places on this planet, along with New England, USA)
And yay to the visions for better situations/models/communities-of-thriving that we'd all be generating if we weren't giving negativity all this oxygen! (Guilty as charged.) Sarcasm, wit, intelligence, analytical perspectives are all why I read these comments but what might I otherwise be doing to mobilize compelling alternatives (especially for how 'elders' gain influence that's purely compelling?!! Better models for ways of being in actual space, in real time seem like the informal education that's needed. . . .
I'd like to see Judge Marchan sentence the felon and failed insurrectionist to pay the maximum fine ($10,000?) on each count; spend 1 hour in jail on each count, treated, dressed, and photographed just like any other convicted felon; and 6 months of further incarceration on each count suspended, contingent on no further violations of financial, election, or personal injury law, including attacks on any participant in the recently concluded trial.
I would suggest that the Judge Merchan take into account the leaked Jurors names and the continuing threats that Trump and his supporters promulgate as maximizing the sentence. It’s on thing to be convicted and advocate for a reasonable sentence (similar to losing the election in 2020) but it’s another thing to attack the system and its people ( January 6th).
If the actual information on the jurors was leaked, I agree completely. All I'd heard was that a site had posted dox info but it wasn't verified as that of the jurors.
I put the jurors in the same class as the Capitol Police that were on duty on January 6th. Yes, they were only doing their jobs but it required an incredible amount of bravery to do them. And to think, not one alternate juror was needed.
Some MAGAs clamour for violence, but there has been a sparsely attended trial and no violence post verdict. Vigorous prosecution of insurrectionists perhaps taught these blowhards the law will be enforced? THAT is why Trump needs to be prosecuted completely and every effort made to unblock the ambient delays. No prosecution equals no democracy.
Heather, I shuddered when you mentioned Erik Prince’s recent involvement in MAGA land. He long has been involved in shady paramilitary operations. Blackwater, his guns-for-hire company, worked for/with CIA in Iraq for years. He set up training facilities for a sizable paramilitary force.
That he has formed a network of hundreds of individuals who share his Trumpist thoughts may well be a harbinger for a more militarized Trump presidential campaign. Prince has the potential to organize a more lethal militia than the Proud Boys.
Prince is a gunslinger with a sordid background. I fear that we will hear more of him in coming months.
P. S. His sister—not the brightest or most empathetic of individuals—was in Trump’s cabinet. Their family has lots of $$$$.
Keith, did you read that New Republic piece? It reminded me of nothing so much as a bunch of gleeful little boys playing with matches, blithely unaware that they are about to burn us all when the flames catch hold and burn out of control. Terrifying stuff.
It appears to me that in a deeply corrupted society money, political power, and violence are largely interchangeable.
I consider free enterprise to be a right worthy of a "free society". That said, a true free market is protected against monopolistic bullying as much as from extreme purist communism. Back in the day I knew some young people who proposed that no property should be private, and since have met right wingers who say that absolutely nothing should be public, including roads, schools and emergency services. Why for?
But what I am aiming at here is that some societal functions are way too vital and/or way to dangerous to have less that total public direction and supervision, the military first on the list.
Yes, any material expression of the general Welfare. Less profit for plutocrats I suppose, but it's baffling how many of the rank and file embrace it as an article of religious faith. I find religion to be a very mixed bag, but there is some very good stuff in it and some very admirable people who adhere to it, as did MLK. But there is an emotional dirty trick often used to instill it, that it seems to me can carry any payload, and which Orwell defined as "thoughtcrime". My fundamentalist piano teacher tried to convince me that no one gets into heaven without swearing fealty to Jesus and that the "worst of murderers" (presumably Hiltler) would be welcomed into heaven by "accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior" before he died; while an otherwise generous and kind person would go strait to hell without it. She said "the sin of doubt" was the only sin God would never forgive. A distant relative who is a preacher seemed to give me a similar picture that salvation has nothing to do with "good works" but rather personal belief. So maybe Trump can avoid perdition?
The thing is that I respect anyone's framing of kindness and empirical responsibility (like environmental protection) that they have chosen freely, and though free to share, do not try to forcibly impose on others. Law is compulsory, but not personal belief; which is why we separate the two, not as a matter of mutual influence, but as a matter of law.
And if something is wonderfully good, why the need to torture people to accept it? Physically or psychologically? Quakers talk about "Friendly persuasion" . Why not that?
Anyway, the property thing: I assume you know Eisenhower's letter to his brother in which he dismisses "oil millionaires" who wanted to cancel government services provided to the less fortunate. Too much is never enough.
“Faith without works is dead.” —the Bible (James 2:17)
A person can say they believe something all they want, but if it doesn’t affect their behavior, do they really believe it?
“God is not one to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.” No one will ever fool God into forgiving him. Any preacher who insinuates otherwise does not know God.
We all have done stupid stuff sometime in our life. It’s what we do after that that counts. “Repent” isn’t just a feeling, it’s an action.
Stan Spot on! Whether from the Old Testament or from Jesus’s teachings, “Faith without works is dead.” And the Ten Commandments, in a modern-day version, are not a bad guideline to personal and national behavior.
Conscience is essential, as is empathy. And yeah, I did some stupid stuff that makes me wince when it rises from memory. What we think can affect what we do, but it's what we do that counts. I always had the impression that Jesus would agree, but some people say "no".
Surprised we hadn't heard from Erik Prince earlier. He came to mind when would-be King Donald was making noise about his loyal forces/royal guard and seemed the Proud Boys were his likely choice. Erik always seemed the better choice to lead KD's private military. He wouldn't be limited by a buy-America clause in arming or conscription battle-hardened personnel for said forces. January 6th might have had a different outcome had KD relied upon them to stage the insurrection instead of a ground swell of any MAGAs. Oh, well, there in a January conclave set for 2025. Scary.
Fred I noticed an unverified report that Erik at one time sought common cause with the Wagner Group in Africa. With. Such connections, might he recruit some Wagner boys for work in the United States? Putin would certainly approve such help for his buddy Trump.
Keith and Fred, you’re terrifying me. I too have thought about Prince and the lack of hearing anything about him. His joining up with Wagner Group is too much to consider.
Sue Erik Prince and Blackwater received nearly $1,000,000,000 in government funding (including from CIA) to provide ‘security’ in Iraq during the George W. Bush administration. Subsequently, in part because Blackwater was charged with killing innocent Iraqis, it was disbanded and Prince was involved in other Middle East security adventures before Trump rode down that escalator in 2015.
His men were shooting Iraqi civilians if I remember correctly and his sister tried to finish off the public school system already weakened by the 1954 decision. If he’s aligned with the other militia groups I fear that we can expect lots of trouble at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Was already thinking that Trump probably had arranged for problems here, but this crowd is REALLY scary.
Fred That was the American Revolution. Washington’s Hail Mary defeat of the Hessians in Trenton kept our revolution limping along. Actually, I believe that the French had more troops than did we at the Battle of Yorktown.
As much as I appreciate Heather's consise, 'just the facts, m'am' letter tonight, I must paraphrase the Irish singer, Enya, who recorded a song called, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" With apologies to Enya, "How Can I Keep From Screaming?"
It sure feels like for every common sense, down to earth assessment we get, like tonight's letter, there is a barage of BS that we can barely assimilate, let alone refute effectively.
You are correct. The federalist Society/ Maga strategy has long been to “flood the zone” with propaganda. We have to fight back with as much fire as we can muster and flood the zone with facts, with mockery, with whatever it takes to energize the vote for those who favor democracy over authoritarianism. We can’t fix stupid, we can only work to overwhelm it.
The Republican politicians assume their ardent followers are morons and will believe anything they tell them no matter if it's true or not.
If they stopped to think about how little respect Trump, McConnell, Johnson and all the rest have for them they would walk away. But they are incapable of thinking for themselves or feel shame and embarrassment.
On the one hand there is almost no such thing as independent thought because we all interact with another human or die in infancy. I don't buy the "suckled by wolves" stories. In many respects we learn to be us by interaction. We are a fundamentally social species.
I was not raised by wolves, but in my most formative years saw few people other than may parents, and found myself at school age in a large city were I tended to be regarded as an odd duck. So I identified with other self-identifying non-conformists, but often found the rules of the club were as constraining, as those of mainstream society. We want to be special and we want to belong. Conformity is a shortcut, if not an especially deep one. In high school, wearing certain brands of clothing was "in". More appealing is how I think of "solidarity" that prizes diversity yet bonds in the comicality of human rights and experience. E Pluribus Unum. The preamble of the Constitution is complimentary and interdependent with the Bill of Rights. Every one of us is a unique individual with unique specific experiences and a unique genetic code. Every one of us is human, with a large overlap of common needs and experiences.
Everybody approves of "liberty", or at least the label; not the least loudmouth MAGAs. Yet, liberty is clearly nothing outside of a society, as, while I very much appreciate episodes of solitude, the freedom of a desert island would be another word for nothing left to lose, even with the lifting of social responsibilities.
Impunity for some and subjugation for others is strikes me as exactly what tyranny is. "Liberty" is an individual experience, and also an environment in which were we respect and protect the rights of one another. You can not have more than one person in the room and have the one without the other, and you can't have "liberty" worthy of the name without universal rights and responsibilities.
That's kinda what our founding documents (updated to embrace a more empirical perspective) no?
I think many of them have been bullied into self-defeating behaviors. From what I have read, high percentages of various abusers were abused themselves. I think the biggest abusers encourage a climate of abuse in order to facilitate their ultra-narcissistic ends. Persons like Hitler. They dress up predation with pomp and circumstance and flatter followers with exclusivity. YOU are the righteous, the patriotic, the master race, against a sea of the unworthy. I think narcissism is built into human nature. It is in mine. We all, of necessity, pursue self-interest. But we also have capacity for empathy and for love, real love that is not just self-gratifying attraction. We can all see some portion of a larger picture, or so it seems to me.
The urge to bully or exploit may have some genetic components, or more likely more often is a disease that can be transmitted like a virus from person to person, and across generations. As Hamlet mused, "the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape", but its no phantom entity, it is recognizable flaws in our own human nature. Components that can be summoned forward or quelled, a least to a significant degree, with individual and societal self-awareness.
J L - You struck a chord with the line - "....high percentages of various abusers were abused themselves." This is one of the major challenges we face as a society -- to break the cycle of abuse. My wife was abused as was her mother and siblings and her and her siblings have broken the pattern. But, they were an anomaly I fear.
My niece is a social worker whose job for a few years was to remove an abusive parent from homes. Of course she always had police or deputies there to assist. The most shocking thing to me wasn't the degree of abuse meted out, but rather how often it occurs. And abuse knows no economic bounds.
She has since been "promoted" to working with the children of abuse. Her job is to get the children to testify against their abusive parent on tape. She trained for several months on how to interview children of all ages and the results are amazing. In a little over two years, the conviction rate of the abusive parent is 100%. She has even helped to convict rich entitled white men. Anyway, I am quite proud of her as you can tell. Hopefully she can break the cycle of abuse for some of these children. Time will tell.
Much thanks to your niece for intervening in a tragic pattern. In my own circle of friends, family, and acquaintances I know of several who suffered abuse serious enough that it should have been reported. Moreover, I think that a culture of abuse exists in our society that masks the seriousness of what is sometimes taking place. In my experience, social conservatives will often defend it, as, a few years ago, a state assemblyman introduced a bill that would permit parents to beat their children to any degree that caused not permanent physical disability, defending it on Biblical grounds. (it did not pass) Circa 1983 I read in the paper of a father "and his pastor" that beat a one year old child to death for "refusing to touch his toes". Part of what probably signaled the defeat of the 1864 law that the Arizona $upreme ¢ourt decided outlawed abortion was the provision that absolved parents from prosecution for killing their kids:
"Howell’s code includes exceptions for homicides, such as when 'a man is at work with an axe, and the head flies off and kills a bystander or where a parent is moderately correcting his child ... and happens to occasion death.' ”
There seems to be a deep seated culture of violence in our country that is a source of much discord and suffering, evidenced by the worship of guns.
It not stupid so much as foolish. I encounter clever, "well educated" MAGAs. I think some are opportunists, as TFG surely is, who manufacture big lies in order to gain and manipulate, bbut I suspect most have been bullied and shamed from early on to accept authoritarian dogma, and some, like the 9/11 terrorists, would be willing to sacrifice their lives, or at least some of it for "the cause" to maintain their sense of self-worth. Those with ulterior motives shower them with assurances that they are the righteous, that they are the makers, and all others "the takers" when, if you follow the money to where the bucks tend to stop, they are pawns in the game.
I think that solidarity, a coalition of otherwise diverse persons that agrees some things are "human rights" that should never be adulterated, and collaborates to distill and maintain a focus can cut through a lot of crap. Might not the "Declaration of Independence" be an example? Women's suffrage? Worker's rights? Civil Rights? Gay Rights? Reforms that proposed a resonant, human truth and held up the spotlight on entrenched, normalized denial. I hesitate yet want to use the word "sacred", not as something that can never be questioned, for we should surely question everything, but rather attention to the things that make us humane as well as human, that are essential to "liberty and justice" for all. For all the unavoidable pain and misfortune, and the inevitability of death, our planet IS Eden, and life and our sentient lives showered with rare gifts that we can extend and protect if we care to, but some of the games we get into threaten to ruin it all.
The final statement says it all. The stock market did not crumble. In fact it hardly winced on its way continuing to register belief in our collective values based in honesty and Justice for ALL.
Again, Professor Richardson, you lift my intellect and my hopes for peace in my country, in my lifetime.
Trump’s pronouncements about the stock market are laughable. He said, if he didn’t win in 2020, that the stock market would collapse. Recently it has been hitting all time highs.
Perhaps he should follow his advice to his MAGATS and actually drink bleach during a campaign circus. Sort of a Jesus ‘wine into water event.’ If Trump can drink a gallon of bleach and be O. K., then I just might believe some of his other bloviations.
The courage of the jurors (seated and alternates) is breathtaking. They knew what they were risking, and given the opportunity by the judge to walk out before the lawyers asked any of them questions.
Lighting candles they all stay safe and can get on with their lives.
All the most well-known J6 collaborators chimed in at once shortly after the verdict was declared and the spin machine went directly into high gear. "Oh, crap! There's years of hypocrisy to obfuscate!"
It should be noted that gestures like Gym Jordan's effort to drag Alvin Bragg in to be "interviewed" by his subcommittee is federal overreach into a state activity - he has no authority! And since sentencing is still pending, as is Guilty Donny's appeal, what he's doing is tantamount to obstruction of justice.
Gym typifies the MAGAT mindset: "Laws for thee, but not for me". Watch and remember.
Never fail to point out the lies, and this Novermber VOTE BLUE !!!
The Justice system that is not working is the Supreme Court!
Funny thing about abstractions, Sharon. Like wet blankets, they blot out reality.
Take the corrupt Clarence court’s Samuel Alito. He’s made it his mission in life to kill the rights of women – to force them all back into the medieval set of abstractions set on them then, all of them interchangeably witches.
He makes an exception for his own wife. He accepts her freedom to promote her cult leader’s insurrection. It’s her right, says Alito. As if marriage to royalty (he a justice with lifetime immunity from the law) gives her rights which he religiously denies all women whom he otherwise packages.
Ari Melber on MSNBC today discussed these sanctimonious hypocrisies. But Ari loves humanities. Uses them all the time for the nuanced truths in us.
Blunderbuss theocrats like Alito, however, have no humanities. Thus they rant on as, for their rancid abstractions, they kill rights for the (female) rest of us.
ALITO: since I cannot control my own wife, I'll control yours.
Calling her an independently minded private citizen, Alito wrote, "She makes her own decisions and I honor her right to do so."
Too bad for all of us that he doesn’t honor OUR rights.
I'm going to guess he doesn't see the irony
Well said Lori. If I could like this 1000 times I would.
Lori, as law professor, Melissa Murray, shared on MSNBC, Alito is essentially trolling American women, particularly after his Roe v Wade abomination. I really appreciated her ability to point this out as I needed her expertise to affirm my gut understanding of another traitor in a most powerful position .
Debbie, thank you for that info.
👍 and anyone that has two X chromosomes. Because, the Bible tells me so.
Project 2025 would erode/take away all rights but those of white men. Patriarchy on steroids. I thank all men who support women’s rights!
Not all white men. Christian white men
Alito’s Bible has a different author than he thinks
Here is the latest postcard I sent to Justice Alito:
I am a Christian, and think you need to know that Jesus DID NOT come to establish an earthly kingdom.
By embracing Christian Nationalism you are falling for Satan's bargain for earthly power.
Jesus rejected that offer, and so should you.
Wow! Thank you, Robin!
How does one send a postcard to a Supreme Court Justice?
Perfect and Scripture based.
Well said.
Or it may be a matter of interpretation. Same with Speaker Johnson.
https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2023/11/sheeps-clothing.html
Interesting, thanks, tim.
Didn't know the Bible said anything about genetics. Very interesting, Gary. I did hear Paul didn't want women to cut their hair.
Indeed! Who authored that Book? Did they refer to a dictionary? And what about the cave full of gnomes doing all the chiseling by lamplight. Who proofed their work? I'm not buying that.
Men authored that book.
one passage:
1 Corinthians 14:34 & 35 ................
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.....................
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
"ALITO: since I cannot control my own wife, I'll control yours."
Oh! That made me laugh out loud! Very astute observation!
Then my second feeling rose up....how sad that all these men feel they need to CONTROL women. It's the underlying feeling of patriarchy. And nowhere is patriarchy stronger than in religion, where to be female is to literally be unlike the (assumed male) godhead. Matriarchy was not much different back in antiquity when God was Goddess, based on female fertility, and men were "othered" out of the priesthood. But patriarchy has othered women into objects to be controlled in all parts of society and the attitude is so baked in that our first reaction is finding your line funny and clever.
This control of women, does it have anything to do with Roman Catholicism? I see the MAGA folks as American Taliban. It's fortunate that women now have the right to vote. This is their moment in time to stand up and ROAR.
Catholics are one of the most patriarchal religions. My Catholic mother forbade me to be married by a female Unitarian minister. (I'm not religious at all.)
The same could certainly be said of Thomas.
Good one!
Perfect analysis!
"Blunderbuss theocrats "
That's pretty vivid.
Love it!
A stands for Autocrat
L stands for leader
I stands for insurrection
T stands for titan
O stands for oppressor
This delusional lunatic thinks that men sing praises to him for returning women to the second class citizenship to where he thinks we belong.
And what’s up with The Housewives of the Supreme Court?
How convenient your husband is a Supreme Court Justice you can grift and you can lie and you can plan an insurrection and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
How about a nice investigation of Harlan Crow? I mean there’s gotta be something wrong with that guy.
Or Clarence, the Thomas. The guy thinks he’s untouchable he never had any intention of upholding our democracy.
He’s a buffoon, a dangerous buffoon. The other four, well we know well how they got there and what their jobs are. To continue to take away our citizenship rights and to tear our constitution to shreds.
The voters are highly motivated to see change in the entire court system and that spells trouble, Trouble with a capital T for
the SCAMUS. (SCOTUS).
If we go back to the era that Alito and Thomas are pushing guess what? Thomas would be lynched and his wife jailed!
Just think - it was an earlier Supreme Court which invalidated miscegenation laws in Virginia and, thus, throughout the U.S. Prior to 1967, the Thomas' marriage would have been illegal in Virginia and a few other states which had miscegenation laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia
And astonishingly, this thumbing their nose in our faces is shamelessly done in broad daylight....
Perhaps replace the word loathsome for leader for the letter L!
Me too!
there's a difference between a buffoon and a hack. trained monkeys like Roberts are still *well*-trained monkeys. sure 'anyone can make stuff up', but not just anyone can dress that stuff up in legalese and not just anyone ALSO has the connections to get seated in positions of real and serious power. yes they are dangerous. no they are not buffoons. TFG is and always was a buffoon, but Roy Cohn taught him the simple, dark art of the mean-spirited grift. he could never in a million years pull the tricks within the system that hacks like Alito or Thomas can, but he gets away with so much because he has [never-earned] money and monstrously cynical scumbags behind him. he didn't even need to learn real communications from his time at Wharton in order to appeal to the perverted sense of grievance festering in the target audiences of the last 40+ years of rightwingnut broadcast media.
We can disarm the money part of his defense system, Baba. Or at least Tish James and E. Jean Carroll can and will.
All things being equal, our little convict will be a beggar buffoon shortly. Wonder who'll feed the kitty when he has no power or money.
hopefully his manchildren will crash & burn whatever 's left, assuming Ivanka & Jared ... invisible in the media since ... have they upgraded to Donor Class already?
Karen, I don't know if you know much about the Constitutionalist Movement, but one of the things they do is change how they write their names. What you have written here, "Clarence, the Thomas" would be how he would sign his name as a member of that lawless fringe group.
Did you read my little short story yet? I just wrote a full explanation of my centrist position I’ll wait a few days before sending it out on my blog if you care to sign on. You can always delete as 2 people have today over this story. Hey, everybody has a butt and an opinion or two.
I have a personal policy of not reading information that people submit in a forum like this. I also do not follow people who promote their blog/substack/etc. on another forum; if I like their writing well enough, I'll go have a look.
The tenor of your responses to my comments make me disinclined to read your writings.
Ally House I agree. It’s fine if someone has their own Substack—-just don’t advertise it on Heather or some other subscriber Substack, simply comment on something related to Heather.
On rare occasions I have been chided for a commentary that is not directly related to Heather’s post. I plead guilty. Heather has a broad background in American history and politics. My boots-on-the-ground experiences are somewhat distinct. BUT I would never try to hawk my Substack on Heather’s (if I had once). Simply not kosher.
I liked your response.
Neither leader nor titan.
I tried to tie up titan and oppression by means of Webster’s Thesaurus. Not flattering definition for sure. But it was early and I was awake all night
That actually makes a little more sense. I was looking at each word in isolation. Thanks!
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Beautiful clarity. It’s very late at night, and our exchanges are more exciting than any dreams I could fashion in my sleep!
Perfect point: Alito’s all for his wife’s freedom but not for anyone else’s wife. Hypocrisy has become a badge of honor among MAGA. I guess all those defenders of Christianity forgot about Jesus’s criticism of hypocrites: “Oh ye whited sepulchers” ….
Jennifer, I'd suggest a mild correction, if you'll allow: replace "anyone else's wife" with "any woman".
Yes …. Quite right!
Jennifer, they happily ignore what Jesus taught. They like the OT, Paul, and Revelations.
And. Only parts of the OT.
Nicely put, Phil. no justice Sammy is just another ultra Catholic trying to treat women as the Church has treated them for centuries. Pits of temptation that they are and uncontrollable unless under the thumb of a male, they should have no rights. His statements about his own wife are laughable.
This satire of a dystopian world is taken from my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums" Enjoy
Fred Jackson and the Second American Revolution
(Homage to Donald Trump’s ‘Proud Boys’ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they weren’t.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mysterious commander said, “the time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who I’m talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, “OrangeFatso.””
“Yep”… they screamed in unison, “Save our leader, OrangeFatso.”
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, “Maybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.” as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
"Left...right...left...right...left...right...left...right."
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh no… not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's “Code of Conduct” that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles – just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross – who is thought to have sewn the first flag – was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
“He wasn’t born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,” cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the “Alliance.” The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of they’re mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
“CHARRRRRRGE!” he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly – an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, “recalculating... recalculating...” His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
“Yes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, I’ll inform the men.”
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
“I’ll tell the men right away.” The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
“All hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.”
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
“Come in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.”
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth – the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: “The Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.”
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
Phil, great passage! As I read your words, they reinforced the idea that this revolution will make these men (and by association, their wives) powerful for the first time in their lives. They refuse help from the “nanny state” because to do so would show their friends and neighbors that they have failed to adequately support their families. “We may not have much, but we don’t need a government handout” is a refrain that I’ve heard voiced, both by men refusing help, and, as an accusation (“His pride won’t let him accept help; he’d rather let his kids starve.”) It’s so sad.
Turns out, Bill, I have to wait a bit to have the full text.
The vendors with copies of your book all register here in Japan as suspiciously not reliable.
So I wait, till Amazon.jp has copies from vendors with better history here.
Wow really. I’d be happy to send you a copy and tell you what the shipping would be. It couldn’t be that much. It’s a media pack. And I would “John Hancock” it for you if that made any difference. Woopty Doo. bkatz321@gmail.com
Thank you, Bill, if you'll send:
Phil Balla 296-1 Taketa-machi Taketa-shi, Oita-ken ₸ 878-0012 JAPAN
Please also send address where I can "bill pay" amount of shipping back to you.
Is it possible that we take this private to my email. I don’t feel comfortable on Heather’s blog
As Tim Grimm sings in Broken Truth, he's got no soul. He's got no poetry inside to make him whole.
Perhaps that should be a litmus test for a president. Who's your favorite poet?
Trump has no idea..
https://youtu.be/y7XYGLjP-58?si=X6gA1jwQb6NcXw1Z
Thank you, Jen.
First I've heard of Tim Grimm. Wonderful images in the video to accompany his song.
Imagine: country music for Americans -- not for their racist. misogynist oppressors.
I think I first heard of him a month ago in one of these comments.
Wonderful lyrics, eh?
He has a other song called "Woodys Landlord"
It's about Fred Sr. Apparently when Woody Guthrie lived in Queens in the 1940s Fred trump was his landlord.
I've just gone back to your first on Tim Grimm, Jen.
I's saved it to when I'd go back and retrieve Tim Grimm's name and the name of the first song of his you cited.
At that point I also noticed something I'd overlooked -- you'd asked "Who's your favorite poet?"
Joseph Brodsky. Robert Frost. W. H. Auden. Pasternak. Miklos Radnoti. And a woman from here Yosano Akiko (family name Yosano, especially her "Tangled Hair").
Damn that's good! Please be a patriot and post the lyrics.
Abstractions. No connection with life or living beings, except that we suffer the consequences.
Wet blanket or iron maiden.
In NewYork City, the man's notorious as a cheap cheating bully and con artist who dreamed of becoming another John Gotti, then dreamed he would be King. Hence, his long-delayed come-uppance.
But New York is not America.
Meanwhile in the heartland, the cheap hustler's a savior, a mythical hero...
Wolves or woolly monkeys cannot place a misleader at the top of their hierarchy. They're guided by skills that ensure survival.
Too many human beings are guided only by a death wish.
In this essential respect, we show ourselves to be less than apes... but armed with hitech.
This we do. Again and again and again.
Actually, I think New York City is America, the one people from all over the world come to see. But you're right that New Yorkers had his number long ago. Back in the twentieth century when I worked in a meal program, we prayed that he and Ivana would not appear to get publicity in the gossip columns. They always went somewhere else (I'm guessing with permission from people who wanted the attention.)
I get you, progwoman, I get your meaning. How could I not? New York is unique, and I love the city. At the same time, I can understand those who hate it—no compromise possible. New York is essential America, focal point and human crucible.
I came there first in midlife, in 1994. If I came so late it was because I’d been put off by the unbearable arrogance of my dear American cousins, New Yorkers, first visiting when I was a kid in impoverished war-wracked England…
I came from Central America to Newark NJ and stayed with my cousin in an attractive small town in New Jersey before exploring Manhattan.
On arrival, something new, something never before, never since. Something I’d never experienced in Asia, something I’d never known on the high plains under Kilimanjaro. Alienation. Things looked familiar enough, yet I felt as though I’d landed on another planet.
Two days later, in Time Square, it clicked. Before anywhere else in the world, America was already into a new age, that of Virtual Reality…
Just two or three observations from my first long walk up 5th Avenue. Taking in the Rockefeller Center, its heroic scale, its sculptures. A place that sings of courage and can-do. I’m listening to Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, even as I write of this place.
Later, something I’ll never forget. A surprise. A shock.
Towering above the huge St. Thomas Church, a hulking, nondescript but far bigger building, crowned in gigantic letters with the Number of the Beast—666… 666 5th Avenue…
A pity I didn’t have a camera with me. Next time I came, this very special piece of advertising had disappeared. But the building hadn’t. Enter Jared Kushner…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/08/troubling-overlap-between-jared-kushner-business-interests-and-us-foreign-policy
*
Last, but far from least, 725 5th Avenue. Trump Tower.
Instant comparison with the heroic grandeur of the Rockefeller Center.
“So, THIS is what America has come down to...”
Never could I (or anyone but the interested party) have imagined that the maker of this monument to trashy vulgarity would become President of the United States. America still had a long, long way down to go. From grandeur to the grotesque. From true greatness down, down, down, all the way to MAGA’s Coney Island from Hell…
I didn't mean to imply that New York City is hunky dory. What I meant to address was that people (including the defendant) who said that he couldn't get a fair trial because the place was wall-to-wall Democratic did not know the population. I know people who snarled at Bragg as too progressive and those who assumed he was incompetent. Fortunately, they were wrong. Maybe what I like best about the jury's members was that they were willing to serve in spite of intimidation and personal inconvenience; that I identify with New Yorkers.
I lived in Manhattan for 50 years. In the '60's,'70's, '80's, '90's....there was "no one" there, only those who worked there and those who couldn't live anywhere else: artists, intellectuals, gays, drag queens! NYC was so cheap, I bought buildings with partners. One, a mixed use, on 18th by Eight Ave. was 140K. It traded for 3.2 in 2014. Now it's probably 5. On a trip out for 6 months at the beginning of Bush's 2nd term (remember how shocking THAT was) I thought of getting a shirt that read: PROUD TO BE A CANADIAN....I never did.....I was asked by a driver in Indonesia about Bush getting another term, I responded, "Yes, pretty terrible, but I'm a New Yorker; no one in NYC voted for Bush." So instead of a big lie, I told a mini lie.....
He responded: "New York: it's the Capital of the World".
No other city has a that degree of talent and energy and diversity. The best of the best...and the best of the worst.....IE: Roy Cohn, the worst Jew, and his pupil.....the worst everything.
OK, Peter, I have to know--what "attractive small town"?
My answer to you, Barbara, seems to have disappeared.
Short Hills.
I was also shown Manhattan by a friend living in nearby Madison.
Excellent moniker, Phil. "Blunderbuss theocrats".
We all know of course that it was both their choices for the flags chosen in their homes. I imagine the convo went something like this ‘Dear, is it OK if I use you as a scapegoat?’
And people of color. Marc Elias : "Bad: In an opinion written by flag-hating Justice Samuel Alito, the Court severely limited the ability of plaintiffs to bring racial gerrymandering cases. While this case will have lasting repercussions, for now it means that Black voters in South Carolina will suffer."
Rancid, so very apt!
WOW…Phil…! Profound .Period.
The ‘system’ that IS working is the Financial world..the $600 pt improvement in the DOW…and THAT suggests a ‘shift’ in Trump support that IS very hopeful for democracy….
Most of all the DOW and other indices simply represent the ongoing recovery of the American economy, likely enjoying the ongoing stimulus of government investment in infrastructure, almost across the board. We can't here complain about toxic billionaires then extoll the stock markets, the very centre of billionaire world, at the same time. Right now there is an alliance of billionaires, the Democratic party, and its popular base against whatever you want to call "the rest of us". And I'm not sure how many Americans are even involved in attending to this.
Most of us who are retired think it's damn important. IRAs, 401 K's. Gives those of us in a demographic that has supported Trump because he promised to raise it, and alleged Democrats are bad for business, another valid reason to support Biden.
Trump has been telling everyone how bad things are while mutual funds beat inflation and the markets set records daily. He told his followers to go short.
Meanwhile Republicans would "sunset" our benefits -- retirement and medical -- and ask us to slit our own throats to support the orange antichrist.
Damn right, Daniel!
There is that.
Donald Trump is stupid when it comes to finance. He has had 6(?) bankruptcies. He bankrupted casinos, for crying out loud! Think how bad at business you have to be to do that, given that the odds are in the casinos' favor. The only things he is good at is self promotion and causing chaos. I bet a plugged nickel his father paid the University of Pennsylvania to give him a degree. I bet he didn't successfully complete course work. He has animal cunning, but really is stupid. He got a judgment for 80+million dollars because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. You can't fix stupid.
But stupid can be followed by cult nuts, greedy bastards, and any who are intrigued by the carnival barkers spiel or National Enquirer headlines. God, how depressing.
Jeri, I fear that stupid can also be followed by smarter folks who've watched the mistakes made, and will avoid them. In other words, MAGA v.2.0.
Where we are now, sadly
We can be grateful then, Jeri, that all he can do for them is lower their taxes. His economic and investment theories are excessively useless to the monied class. Let them buy up Truth Social and follow him into bankruptcy.
I’d heard that many bought short?
Bet they find a way to make money on the bankruptcies. Chump is the expert on that.
Great description of a sly-as-a-fox persona that can get you in front of a camera and convicted of felonies...
It’s important to differentiate between the system of justice, and those within that system who work to break it down. Barring any reversible errors that may change the outcome of the case, there will be nothing that the SC can do to “get Trump off”. Not in this case, anyway.
To your point Jane it's worth remembering that much of what the US is seeing now is the result of Moscow Mitch's decision almost 10 years ago for the GOP to no longer have a platform,...as in NO Policy,..of any kind. With the descending demographics of their mob, to defend their long-standing principles of "strong on defense, small govt and family values" made no sense anymore so abandoned them and went with nothing
So, that's what he got in return. They have Nothing to believe in or stand on,... only the Hate & Vengeance that now binds them and from their side of the aisle that's who they then elected to represent them. People like Maggie Q, Lauren Bodirt, Hillbilly Vance, etc, etc have no interest, just as their constituents in policy or legislation,... only to tear things down. They cannot tell you what they believe in because it doesn't exist.
There is no easy fix for this. From their point of view it's fitting that a man with No morals, now a convicted Felon, a con man through and through with no interest in governing or making things better now represents them. We have to pray that with Joe B's age that there are very strong young Dems coming because this may take awhile.
The Republican Party has followed the rules of Campaigns Inc. "It's easier to sell a person than a policy. Lean on feelings, because the average American doesn't want to think or work very hard to preserve democracy." Sadly, they were right for a large percentage of the populace, which ironically, still feels they can afford to ignore politics and not vote.
I've posted these following paragraphs before on this site, but they are so powerful and germane, that I they need repeating (hopefully to hit new readers.)
In the history book These Truths, by Jill Lepore, are the following paragraphs about the first, highly successful political campaign managers, Campaigns, Inc., aka The Lie Factory, founded in 1933. They never lost a campaign. Republicans have mastered their campaign strategy rules:
'Every campaign needs a theme. Keep it simple. Rhyming is good. Never explain anything. "The more you have to explain, the more difficult it is to win support." Say the same thing over and over again. "We assume we have to get a voter's attention 7 times to make a sale". Subtlety is your enemy. "Words that lean on your mind are no good. They must dent it." Simplify, simplify, simplify. "A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think."
Make it personal. Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent, invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average American doesn't want to be educated, he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.'
Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter were the husband-and-wife team that started Campaigns, Inc., the first full-time political consulting firm in the United States to manage a candidate's overall strategy, from messaging to financials. They exploited mass media and applied marketing techniques to politics, mostly for Republican Party candidates and conservative California issues. A rare loss was supporting Willkie against Roosevelt's 3rd term during WW2. A blemished win was supporting Japanese internment camps and the removal of Japanese from all of California. An enduring win still existing today is their media campaign starting in 1948 at the behest of the AMA to scuttle all attempts to create a national health insurance plan like that of most other advanced countries. (The first attempt was unfortunately called Compulsory Health Insurance, which gave Whitaker an easy way to equate it with Socialism.) For a $100,000 per year retainer and a $5 million nationwide ad budget, Campaigns Inc successfully turned a "sensible, popular, and urgently needed healthcare reform into a [political, socialist] boogeyman so scary that, even today, millions of people are still scared of it." ("The Lie Factory: How Politics Became a Business" by Jill Lepore, The New Yorker , Sept. 24, 2012
For a detailed article and photos of original documentation, see
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/campaigns-inc-california-state-archives/GwXxFH7isu_tJg?hl=en
By talking more about actual issues of governance by cooperation and compromise, Democrats simply don't appeal to the emotions that make for a thrilling fight or show.
That assessment of the typical American voter is quite an indictment of democracy. So it works well only when smart people can manipulate the lazy and selfish voters into supporting candidates who will produce effective policies that benefit the people. The catch is that cunningly devious people can just as easily manipulate those voters into supporting politicians who will serve those who exploit them for their own profit. So, here we are.
What next? If liberal democracy got us here, can it also be our savior? Or does there need to be a reassessment of how the people express their will, and how policies are decided? And just as important, how the people are educated. A misinformed populace, constantly urged to be self-centered (such as by advertising that interrupts and limits all serious discussion of issues, or by demagogues who brazenly lie about the issues) cannot be counted on to be wise.
After WW2 there was a conscious effort at broad based civic education. That's what we need.
In so many ways, he did more to damage democracy than Trump.
In 1991, Senator Heinz of PA was killed in a plane crash. I wonder what America would be like if that were McConnell instead. Heinz was an Eisenhower Republican who championed the environment, especially climate change.
As I read Bill Katz' excerpt, I kept thinking about 'The Handmaid's Tale,' BK. I love Atwood's book, and to your point, that literary revolution just wiped out the form of government we used to live under. It happened a lot too quickly in the book for constitutional loyalists to stop it. Atwood was terribly prescient about what we're living though now, so a big successful coup by theocrats is what I expect, and we seem to be well on our way.
I refuse to give up hope, though, and I'm hoping to see a Gavin Newsom-Michelle Lujan Grisham ticket (either one at the top) in '28. The two governors. I'd want Congress to impose 18-year term limits on SCOTUS, which would force Alito, Thomas, and Roberts to retire. I'd want to see Harris appointed to the SC, where, if they go by seniority, Kagan or Sotomayor would be the new chief justice, depending on Sotomayor's health.
I'd want Jeffries and Schumer to impeach and oust all the congress people who participated in and/or supported J6. Then we'd get something useful done pronto - non-partisan election boards to do districting, permanent protections for everyone's health care and autonomy, a robust safety net for seniors and impoverished, a higher minimum wage, reasonable immigration reform, and voting rights for all citizens.
I have a dream.
A very nice dream, Lauren. I'm a particular fan of G Newsom so, keep having your dreams and together we'll send those energies out.
In my own Logic Dreams I tend to tie them to an "if-only" hypothesis. Such as, since the orange one has now been proven to have hidden truly outrageous immoral secrets from the country and produced illegal documents and lies to cover it all up that swayed the election it changes things. But, "what-if" he hadn't or had been caught in the process?... Hillary would likely still be in the Oval office. So, what to do?
Since he wasn't caught until 8 years later the consequences (aside from his conviction and pending incarceration) are, in My dream that:
A. It is proven & accepted that his "so-called" POTUS time was illegitimate,
B. But, for those that remain skeptical the people recall Comey's blatant plan to scuttle Hillary's victory thru reopening "Her Emails" just days before the election only further de-legitimizing the orange one's time,
C. And after that, for those still defiant the people awaken to remember how the orange one signaled Russia to interfere,... and they did,
D. thus with all of these things it completes the People's realization that the orange one was never really POTUS At ALL!
E. But, still here on Earth One and given that Mr Peabody's Wayback Machine hasn't yet been invented and a do-over isn't possible the People collectively decide to simply retire the #45 like done in sports. All portraits are removed. No POTUS Library. The #s just go from 44 to 46 as if he never existed.
F. But, along with the retirement of his existence the People, so realizing his place in our history was illegitimate, so were his works. Therefore his $8T tax cut for the uber rich is rescinded and his 3 SCOTUS picks (along w/ Ms Cannon) are also then realized to be illegitimate so are removed from the high court and replaced with 3 proper and legitimate picks selected by the current and re-elected POTUS Joe Biden and all is well again.
Since we are dreaming,....
I like your dream, too, BK. I especially like the wiped-out-of-existence part, although we DO kinda need a cautionary tale to avoid a President Gaetz. And may I suggest you dream Kacsmaryk off the bench and that Alabama zealot (redundant?) that outlawed IVF?
Here's a horrific what-if for you to nightmare about: What if all that we now know came out before the 2016 election and Diaper Don won anyway? He's apparently up in the swing states today, even with all revealed! So many deplorables, so little REM time.
And, the likes of Judge Cannon!
Merrick Garland Is NOT ineffivient.
The Article from Mueller She Wrote:
https://open.substack.com/pub/muellershewrote/p/the-facts-about-merrick-garland?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I stand corrected. Thus information is eye opening. Judging by tha amount of likes I got ( I hope every o e gets ti see thus) not many are aware of AG Garland's efforts. Now I understand why Former President Obama wanted to nominate him for the Supreme Court. I am having a lot of problems understanding the American Political system: if then President Obama had a RIGHT ro nominate the next judge. why could the @×€#@ block him andcrefuse ti bring it to vote?? I am a Naturalized Citizen and I came to the US to University, where I was not required to take Civics or Political Science..
BTW; if Politics is considered a Science, it is a no brainer that tRump is in no way qualified to be a politician, let alone leader of the most powerful country in the world. I am afraid it will take a miracle and his loss in November fir the USA to reclaim that position.
We can do miracles in the USA! Just as we did not know what was going on in the background with the DOJ issues, we don't know the extent and depth of what folks (kids as well as elders and inbetween) are doing to reelect Biden and save our democracy. We get glimpses here from commenters and from the news, but the number of post card writers, League of Women members helping highschoolers register to vote, healthcare providers educating patients on now restrictive laws on their care, and young adults who grew up with school murders in the news -- that number is huge. Now, if Fox news could be closed down, ...
That said, the Democrats denigrated a whole class of American workers over the past 20 years, who wre then ripe for trump's picking. I listened to our
Michigan governor Granholm announce that auto workers would go back to college and become computer experts because their (menial) jobs would go overseas. Trump is actually no dummy, and captured those denigrated workers.
He's just misposted as Atty General... woulda been a great Justice.
I have been properly corrected:
https://open.substack.com/pub/muellershewrote/p/the-facts-about-merrick-garland?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
If only it were that clear cut. There are federal judges - Cannon in Florida,
Kasmiryck in Texas, to name two - who are purely political operatives; and decidedly right wing appellate branches, that point to the inherent complexity and difficulty of maintaining a fair system of justice. African-Americans continue to experience a less-fair system of justice than whites.
It's riddled with moles.
What worries me more than the polemics is the open advocacy of violence, as per the good Dr Cox Richardson: 💔
"Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News reported today on a spike in violent rhetoric on social media targeting New York judge Juan Merchan . . . and District Attorney Bragg. Users of a fringe internet message board also shared what they claimed were the addresses of jurors. 'Dox the Jurors. Dox them now,' one user wrote. Another wrote, '1,000,000 men (armed) need to go to [W]ashington and hang everyone. That’s the only solution.'" 🤢
Very scary. We could see a rerun of January 6th, only a thousand times worse.
Sometimes I despair that there will be a civil war. I believe we will muddle through, less out of optimism than necessity.
Since this was arguably the weakest case against Trump and in view of the successful conviction, at least for now, my BIG hope now is that this verdict -- by twelve different people voting four hundred, eight times to hold Trump's guilty -- will break the legal log-jam deferring the other cases to motorize their proceeding this summer. 🤞
The SC is not working because it is an accurate reflection of tRump, i.e. Mitch.
How and when was the Supreme Court created?
It was created in and by the Constitution, but that document did not give it the power of judicial review (the power to pass on the constitutionally of laws created by Congress). That power it assumed for itself in Marbury v Madison.
Like Scalia assumed he knew the ‘original’ intent of the founding fathers in his disastrous Heller decision and 2000 Presidential election!
The contradiction in the current theory of 'originalism' is that the Founders original thinking was that the Constitution might well need to be altered in reaction to time and circumstance. 'Originalism', then, ought to include that understanding rather than obedience to some concept of immutability.
I would need to hear more about what you wrote James. In my interpretation of Marbury vs Madison, the Marshall court rightfully established the principle of checks and balances among the three branches of government and the principle of judicial review. The intent was to insure one branch did not become too powerful. I do not believe it gave SCOTUS a get out of jail card. I believe that is a far more recent doctrine, the orgins of which I am stumped.
It did not give the Court a get out of jail card. If the Court declares a law passed by Congress unconstitutional, Congress just needs to rewrite the law so that it eliminates the objectionable section of the old law, based off of the Court’s objection. There are, of course, three problems or, if one prefers, three obstacles in the process. First, how exactly the Court interprets the Constitution in any given case, second, whether Congress is able to do make the rewrite and both houses able to pass the new version, and third, of course the sheer impenetrability of some aspects of the legal process itself as it has been reworked over the years. And now, we have added the exceptional polarization of both the Court and the Congress. The problem, at least to my mind, is our time and politically -hardened two party system, which was not envisioned by the Founders, even though they subsequently initiated it themselves.
Found it James. It was Lucien Truscott. https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/we-are-down-to-two-branches-of-government
The one notable gap in Truscott's argument is twofold. First, if there were not some way to control the possibility that Congress or the President could make laws or take an executive decision that violated the Constitution, we would long since have been in real trouble. Marbury v Madison corrected that omission. That check was needed, and the only one of the three branches that could do so was some part of the Federal Judiciary.
Nor is the power of judicial review as unbounded as Truscott would have it. Congress can reexamine any law the Court finds unconstitutional and simply rewrite it and repass it to eliminate the part the court has deemed unconstitutional.
In practice, of course, there are problems concerning this that are inherent in our political system. For one thing, the Founders did not envision the time-hardened two party system we have inflicted on ourselves. The perennial polarization resulting from this (not anything new in our history, btw) makes it far more difficult for Congress as a body to reexamine and rewrite some of the laws that SCOTUS has determined to be unconstitutional. And, of course, the sometimes maddeningly vague language of the Constitution makes various interpretations of it all too possible depending on the makeup of the Court, a body whose interpretations of some portions of the Constitution have varied over time, sometimes rather widely.
Doesn’t it make you wonder if the judicial review was carefully usurped by the federalist? IMHO there are seemingly many forces trying to bend the best American intentions towards more personal gains. Now more than ever they have come to the surface and are not hiding as before. Perhaps I’m just more aware. Either way Jan 6 should NOT replace voting at anytime.
Thanks James. I read a great article about this a couple of days ago. Bulwark maybe? I’ll try to find it.
Judicial review is what they love most
As long as you presume that they love to be in the limelight. One does wonder, though, if some of them are regretting accepting the 'honor' of appointment given the pressure they all undoubted feel these days.
See no evidence of regret, just double down and “don’t back down.”
Which, of course, can be and often is an indication of uncertainty, while denying it.
Because of the life time appointment of SCOTUS judges. Once appointed, there is no mechanism for accountability. Human being is not perfect prone to fall on temptations.
Agree.
I fear that with the current SCOTUS, the rule of law & the constitution will be trampled. I believe the only way forward is for Biden to appoint 2 or 4 more justices (which would then equal the number of appellate courts) Other ways (term limits, binding ethics rules, mandatory retirement age) are simply too impossible with our gerrymandered and dysfunctional Congress.
Thank you Professor Richardson.
At the end of the day twelve courageous citizens of New York did what an entire major political party refused to do. They carefully parsed the facts, evidence, and testimony, followed the instructions provided by Judge Juan Merchan, an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and unanimously determined that a corrupt former President of the United States is not above the law, returning guilty verdicts on all 34 felony charges.
More at: https://bomdia.substack.com/p/the-courage-of-twelve-versus
This state court—judge, DA, & jury—followed up on Mitch McConnell who in refusing to convict the twice impeached T***p suggested that it was a matter for the courts to decide. OK GOP profiles in cowardice, that’s what just happened.
History will record two fraudulent presidential elections: 2000 when SCOTUS stopped the recount in vote suppressed Florida; and of course hush money disinformation 2016. The consequences are tragedy.
MCCONNELL, (after trump's impeachment acquittal) It's up to the Courts to decide.
MCCONNELL, (after the courts decided) The charges never should have been brought in the first place.
Mitch is a lying hypocrite. No judges before an election.
MCCONNELL,(6 months prior to 2016 election, Obama administration ): we cannot confirm a Supreme Court justice this close to an election.
MCCONNELL,(3 weeks before the 2020 election, and after voting had begun in several states, tRump administration ) leads the Senate in the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice.
This is what I find MOST infuriating about McConnell.
When you see (what I like to call) “goalpost moving”, you know the true issue is simply a power grab.
The 10 MAGA senators are now going on strike only AFTER trump was found guilty. Just like Hillary said in 2015, only the outcomes they don't like seem to be rigged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZf7IASx2mE
(I find it interesting that Cruz did not participate. Perhaps it wouldn't help with his Texas re-election chances this year?)
Wouldn’t be surprised if they are flapping their Fox smack because they are indictable as soon as their plan goes up in smoke.
Thanks David. I hadn't seen anything from Moscow Mitch.
No surprise on his comments though.
McConnell traveled to the Credibility Store. They were sold out of the Generic version and he could not afford to buy the Enhanced version, so he goes hat in hand and is left begging from those who only have crumbs left themselves
Tom Joad took no pity on him
Mr. two sides with the split tongue
I think I will make a poster of that...
Thank you Seth -and yes, tragedy beyond the United States.
As Heather has written and evidenced -the instability and weakness of America manifest in a corrupt, incompetent Executive Branch shifts power to elsewhere around the world. Those who would have looked to the US for trade (creating new opportunities and bolstering economic growth), or defense partnerships are forced to look elsewhere.
While voters must act to save the remaining shreds of the American experiment, the DOJ should, have created a parallel path to investigate and indict elected members in the House, Senate, and in State/Local government who have continued to perpetuate the attempt to subvert the 2020 elections, and/or continue to interfere and obstruct justice, while aggressively addressing all of the domestic terrorists who violently stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop a peaceful transition of power.
"A Slow-Rolling Coup Attempt"
Support for Trump among his MAGA followers goes beyond fear-based political rhetoric. His supporters view him as a savior because he pledges to dismantle American democratic norms and laws to empower them. They aim to assert social and religious control, which they can't achieve through democratic processes due to their inability to win a popular vote in a fair election. Trump's legal troubles have only strengthened their resolve to overturn the rules that prevent them from imposing their will on others. This behavior by the MAGA faithful is part of a slow-rolling coup attempt.
I am always concerned when any group wants to assert religious control over government. I just checked; the word "religion" appears once in the Constitution ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." First Amendment) and the word "religious" also appears only once in the Constitution (". . . but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States" Article VI). The Framers seemed to pretty clear about the role of religion in the United States: While you are free to practice the religion of your choice, no religion can be imposed on the citizenry. Somehow a large minority of the population seem to be oblivious to this, or simply don't care. (I suspect it's more "don't care" and less "oblivious".)
Thank you Michael -and yes, although I once asserted it began with the Powell memo and then Reagan. Noam Chomsky took me back prior to Reagan with the Trilateral Commission.
George, do you know of any policy in DOJ like their policies to not bring charges against public officials in the run-up to elections which affects DOJ not bringing charges against elected officials? With as many Republicans implicated in Jan 6th as there seem to be it surprises me DOJ has NOT brought any further charges against the likes of Tuberville, Gaetz, Jordan, etc. Democratic Senator Menendez seems not to have been excepted from charges in his (and his wife's) case.
There aren't enough lawyers. Never thought I'd say that
LOL!
Amen, amen on your quoting Mitch, the political mastermind who created the current Supreme Court.
And those 12 jurors who did their job now have 11 seditious GOP senators refusing to do their jobs. Those senators are, pardon the expression, traitorous idiots.
ALL the individuals who signed on to that letter to forsake what they were elected to do should be removed from office. And I don’t mean via the electoral process either. They have publicly announced their intentions to thwart the work of the government. The hypocrisy of many is astounding and needs to be addressed. Tffg’s has only just begun.
If they refuse to do their jobs they should definitely not be paid a salary.
The frenzied responses from MAGA supporters in the Senate and House are understandable. If the Justice Department really holds Trump accountable, they could be the next targets.
The 11 Senators protest to much. I am sure they fear they are next. Onto Fani Willis.....
Just think about what it says about the character of each of them. They believe or pretend to believe a proven liar, serial philanderer, and misogynist. Aren't we all known by the company we keep?
Indeed. The MAGA-owned GOP have proven themselves incapable of governing. However, should the researchers determine how to export hypocrisy, lying, and treasonous behavior -we would rapidly address any trade imbalance we currently maintain.
Pretty soon, we'll hear calls for Aileen Cannon for the Supreme Court
True, although not if Matthew Kaczmarek -another disgusting Trump appointee who should be removed from the bench.
He is misogynistic and crazy. Either should be disqualifying. Unless of course you work for the Kafka-esque Federalist Society.
Up to us to fight back.
www.dumpAlito.com
It includes guidelines to register a complaint about Cannon as well.
Those 11 Senators, what a lame-brain trust!
I think it says that they are more loyal to Trump than to our constitution or Country. Just imagine, their leader is 78-79 years old, has cheated on three wives, has more Admiration for Putin than Biden, and tried to steal the 2020 election so he could keep stealing and lining the pockets of his hotel, golf courses, and cronies' hobbies.
Our tax dollars at work - NOT!
If only the Republican members of the U.S Senate had been willing to do their duty as well as those 12 ordinary Americans. They could have spared us this. And they had TWO chances!
The Republican party has had multiple opportunities to rid themselves of Trump. They are too cowardly to do that. I don't think the founders could have envisioned the situation we have today.
Very true Jenn. Based upon what the founders endured, I suspect they felt that fundamentally any future leadership would embrace the framework of the system (even if future generations might disagree on capital gains taxation rates).
They are all weak, pathetic, incompetent cowards putting their own concentration of power ahead of the best interests of all Americans.
I wonder if Mitch and his ilk are really “brave” in their eyes to stand up against our American system? But to thwart our system is truly a traitorous act. I would have to argue that they think themselves brave but are aligned with a different ideology. IMHO.
True Randall. They may perceive it is courage. The reality is that they are attacking the system they swore an oath to protect. It is treasonous.
I will never forgive the Republicans for allowing and supporting Trump. And now that I've educated myself on other treasonous acts from previous Republican presidents, I'm now embarrassed to say that I once called myself a Republican.
We don't actually know what happened in the jury room. I like to imagine that the force of the evidence was enough that they walked into the jury room, looked around at each other, nodded, and then the foreperson said, 'right. So we can't just walk back out there. Read the rules again? Mnkay. That'll get us through today. Someone bring a few cribbage boards tomorrow and when we get tired of that, we'll announce.". That's MY version, at least.
Given that there were two lawyers on the jury, I think you are mistaken. Don't forget that they asked the judge for clarification on his instructions. Have you ever served on a jury?
Yes, that's exactly how it happens. On a South Park episode!
In quiet celebration of Trump’s 34 felony convictions, I donated $34 to President Biden’s campaign. And will donate $34 a month until the election. If Trump is convicted of more felonies between now and November (not likely given the snails pace the other cases are moving forward) my donation will increase to match the number of felonies. :-)
That is awesome and you are courageous since he is, after all, a walking, talking crime wave.
More celebratory words here!
I would have been a horrible jurist as I would have resolutely made up my mind of trump's guilt as soon as I learned that the pecker had been given immunity for his testimony....
I’m with you Sophia. During voir dire I would have asked if we could just move straight to sentencing.
Deutsche Welle has featured an interesting story about the jurors, reviewing their profiles (without reference to political affiliation since Judge Merchan ruled that question as out-of-bounds in evaluating prospective jurors). These were informed people from different lots in life. Some seemed to fit a typically pro-Trump profile by being pro-business.
😯
That these twelve diverse people voted unanimously to convict Trump deflates the arguments of a rigged trial. Yes, District Attorney Bragg had supposedly run of a "get-Trump" platform; if true, that is fodder. Mr Bragg's behavior, however, has NOT been vindictive.
⚖️
Far from being biassed, Judge Merchan seems to have been exceedingly balanced, clearly placing principles ahead of personalities. The case does not stack up, at least for me.
There is blowback which was expected but in that blowback the enablers reveal the depth of their corruption and I would go so far to say evil. I don’t want to posit a “them and us” scenario which is the cancer of a democracy but we must loudly keep calling out what we believe to be the truth. The MAGA people whether citizens or government won’t listen. They are zombies. It is up to us to keep the others “unbitten”. Thanks Heather for your brilliant analysis. How you find the strength and energy to do this I have no idea but it’s a gift to America!
Yes, please continue to expose the MAGA corruption for what it is! They’re the national “cancer!”
We hope that the national "cancer" is not an inoperable malignant metastasizing tumor. We hope it can be cured. We don't want America to become un-American. We want Americans to seek wisdom. We want Americans to avoid hubris. We want Americans to be happy to admit when they begin to understand that they were wrong.
Sadly, David, that isn't how extremist American paranoia works in America. It has a long and storied history. This is just the latest. If only the Republicans get truly hammered in November might we begin to some some mitigating forces to overthrow the MAGA chokehold. I can only wonder.
[Edit: I decided to delete my comments in this thread following the initial comment about cancer as a metaphor for an unwise leader bent on changing the character and spirit of the United States of America. I think it is not enlightened commentary.
Here is how the House of Representatives can, under current rules, "revise and extend" their remarks: "...Beginning in the 106th Congress, the House has, by unanimous consent, authorized all Members to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material (within two Record pages) during either one session or an entire Congress..."
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-HPRACTICE-112/html/GPO-HPRACTICE-112-16.htm#:~:text=Beginning%20in%20the%20106th%20Congress,session%20or%20an%20entire%20Congress.
... ]
David H., unfortunately, this me-first anti-democracy cancer has been present in the body of our country since the beginning. Sometimes it flares up…I must correct myself: Sometimes it is controlled and subdued, but it is ever present. It flared up before the Civil War and, of course, during the War and Reconstruction. The cancer grew during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, and the same cancer may takeover the American body in the coming election or shortly after. Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Gerald Ford, tried to heal our wounded country by making peace with the cancer through compromise. Where has it gotten us?
American voters can administer the chemotherapy of massive rejection in November. Unfortunately many of us are in disinformation denial. Sadly untreated cancer will inevitably kill the person.
It’s important for us to name exactly what this cancer is really all about. Racism and misogyny infected our body politic as white supremacy and patriarchy were injected into our nation’s systems and social norms when America was “founded”.
The Civil War was fought by those who wanted to expand race based slavery and those who were against it. The war never ended-we’ve been living with an uneasy truce.
The fight today is also about racism. White supremacy is a dis-ease. Who are the MAGAs? Who do they think they’re taking “their country” back from?
What holds the MAGAs together is their worship of white skin and penises. (And of course the greed that fuels wealthy people too)
Think about it-if there was no racism would they have any chance of succeeding? For all of you who have family, neighbors and colleagues who buy into MAGA the chemotherapy is to talk to them about racism and misogyny. Just maybe they can grasp the truth that skin color and having a penis doesn’t make anyone superior.
If we really want liberty and justice for all we’ll never be able to experience it until we call
out deal with the dis-ease that has spread so widely and severely that it may kill us all.
Gina, everything you say about misogyny and racism seem correct, but I wonder if it’s as two-dimensional as you describe. As I look for examples through history, bias seems to be more than white supremacy. It seems like groups tend to stick together against those who are different. Blacks have enslaved Blacks. Whites have enslaved Whites. Christians have denigrated non-Christians. Muslims have done the same, and I suspect it’s true of other religions too. People of one nationality oppress those of different nationalities. MAYBE, JUST MAYBE one thing oppressive societies have in common is that they’re anti-democratic. At a glance, it looks like autocrats look to expand their wealth/power just like business owners want to increase market share. I’m proposing for discussion that democracy and discrimination are inversely correlated: the closer people are to pure democracy, the less racist and misogynistic they are. What do you think?
Yes, a Blue Tsunami must occur! A clear message must be sent to all Americans!
Nice analogy to chemo. Very apt.
Insofar as they aim to expand their dominance at the peril and expense of a majority of citizens, the "cancer" analogy holds.
Yes sir, Anthony W. They are the most virulent and malignant national cancer ever!
The "unbitten." Love it, Christopher.
Back in 1956 we had those who didn't fall asleep in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In Walker Percy's "The Thanatos Syndrome" we had those who didn't drink from the public water supply.
The dividing line still remains clear. It's those who have any humanities versus those with zero.
The frothing, virulent, mad, mad world of orange cretin Trump, House Speaker Howdy Doody, Marble Mouth Marge, investment plunderer J.D. Vance, mercenary mass murderer Erik Prince, and all their sorted sordid billionaires remains loony as those humanities illiterate are always guaranteed to be.
Only Q remaining for the rest of us: do we want our schools turning out more obscenity, vulgarity, and freak shows in the future, as the rich zombies and enabling standardized testers have orchestrated ever since the Powell memo, or do we want a civilized world?
Phil, you know MAGA et al are using exactly the same demonic rhetoric against Democrats, the evil Left, the godless "communists", and so on, and they stand up for "the land of the brave"...
They know Goebbels law - accuse others of what you do. Been their go to since Rove in Texas in 1994. Nobody noticed
That’s precisely what they do. Accuse others of what they’re doing. It’s very obvious to me!
Wish it were clear to the magats and the "undecideds."
One sees only what one opens his mind, eyes & ears to each day! If someone only watched Fox News and Newsmax, they’re running short on fuel!
Remember his contempt for those in the "reality-based community"?
Count me one
Yes, of course, Frank.
But no one on MAGA will ever use any humanities as the human do.
Auden put it only a bit differently, starting his "August, 1968" with: "The ogre does as ogres can / Deeds quite impossible for man."
The importance of “humanities” can never be understated. What does it mean to be human and how do we learn how to be part of humanity?
Between our homes, schools, politics and religions we’ve allowed humanity to be dominated by man’s inhumanity.
and reactionaries have been winning power grabs by convincing voters to turn it inside out and disenfranchise a plurality [women's reproductive rights + historically minority populations' voting rights]
What a fabulous gift of talent, dedication and patriotism indeed it is!
Great support for our Professor!
''Zombies'' is an excellent description of the MAGAT terrorists, Christopher. DJT is their God and supreme master.
I think she finds it on the water in a kayak
In my lifetime (since 1953) and since I could start voting in 1971 there has never been a clearer choice between sane and insane leadership, democracy vs authoritarianism, rule of law vs my rules than there is right here, right now in 2024. Goldwater vs LBJ comes close on the insanity part, Nixon vs anyone comes close on the rules part...but this one is alone in the democracy vs authoritarian part. Every other Presidential election feels more like a tennis match between rivals who probably don't like each other, but they respect their ability. Trump doesn't respect anyone else...even the members of his "team". They are just props & support to use, until they are not.
I told my conservative friends back in 2015 that Trump wanted to be a dictator. It was the only thing he was capable of...and they all said...no, you're not seeing it right...you don't understand.
Well, I think I saw it pretty clearly. Now I'm going to say to them, it's time to move on...get off this bus to nowhere. It's ok to be a conservative...but please don't empower this mess...just because you feel you need to be loyal to the "home team". It's time to be Americans.
I saw an "I like Ike" bumper sticker yesterday. It made me smile. So do I.
Joe Biden is much much more like Ike...than Trump could ever be.
This next election is as clear as it could possibly be.
We all must be engaged outside of spaces like this, to help get people to vote for sanity, the rule of law and democracy...or we are screwed. Peace.
This: “It's ok to be a conservative...but please don't empower this mess...just because you feel you need to be loyal to the "home team". It's time to be Americans. “
Absolutely. This is pivotal, but things will only change if the Republicans take a real beating in November.
Yup it’s time to get ACTIVE & COMMIT to a path of energizing your constituency… your friends, family, coworkers, pinball players (😉) etc. To give our candidate deep support to continue his uphill climb out of these years of quagmire…
Amen, brother.
I liked Ike, chump would piss on him
Thank you Mike for your excellent post!
Ike was no saint, but he sure as hell gave clear, honest, accurate warnings about the system and special interests. too bad the swamp can't drain itself (and too bad so many useful idiots swallowed Trump's line that he would do any such thing in any meaningful, pro-social sense).
No one who rises to that level in politics is a saint, but Ike was very clear and correct about the military industrial complex. He also promoted his Atoms for Peace initiative.
Trump may be the best snake oil salesman this country has ever seen…and he adds a lot of the old traveling salvation show to his act. The fodder he is producing for future historians is voluminous.
I just hope we come together like Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull and the other Native factions and this is DJTs last stand.
So right Mike. Well stated.
Yesterday was a good day indeed, Heather, and all the screaming on the farout right wingnut world is a testament to how sound our system actually is. We are all, grateful to you, Joyce Vance, Lucien Truscott, Robert Hubble and quite a few others who see and write clearly and provide reason to carry on with the hard work ahead that is sometimes much like pulling out an old truck to deliver a heavy load, only to remember that you had been distracted for several years an still needed to repack the wheel bearings and change the oil. Damn, that's a bit like democracy. It takes constant maintainence.
Sleep well everyone. We need our rest because there is hard work ahead.
I think democracy and the notion of universal rights and responsibilities not only needs ceaseless maintenance, it has to be lived to be real. Its embrace in our own brief lives keeps liberty and justice alive and well; for ourselves and our posterity.
Be careful about that vehicle analogy. When I bought a used Pilot in 2022, I bought a 2 yr warranty for $3000. Recently I was told it needs $5000 worth of repairs, but nothing that is covered by the warranty. There are lies, omissions, additions, and redefining that boggle the mind. Read the fine print, in my case there was no fine print, so say your prayers and assume nothing. BTW, I am somebody who does regular maintenance. Maybe since Warren Buffet bought the dealership, he needs another billion. Sorry for the digression, but there went my plan to donate…
Jeri, You can still make a difference without donating money, writing postcards through momsrising.org. Sorry to read of your car repair trouble.
Thanks for this, can do
Yes, I often wonder if the people who want only a small donation from me every day realize there are bills to pay for those of us who don't automatically default to bankruptcy.
I won’t go into debt and I won’t give five bucks. That would only quadruple my slimy emails. I will do what I can while picking one item at a time on car. And trash Honda every chance I get. I have loved the car, but the dealership has become trash. Like so many companies, they think the traffic can bear more than it used to. They may get surprised.
"Not getting it [the presidency] leaves Trump and the MAGA supporters who helped him try to steal the 2020 presidential election at the mercy of the American justice system."
Not winning the presidency leaves Trump et al accountable to a Federalist Society corrupted Federal judiciary. Any Republican president would likely add the weight of the Executive branch, including the Department of Justice, behind not holding Trump et al accountable. (What would be left of the GOP?) There is precedent in Gerald Ford's Nixon pardon. And also in Mitch McConnell's letting Trump off in two senate trials. And in the relatively lenient treatment of Confederates after the Civil War. It is not a good precedent, in that those benefitting from leniency showed no sign of being chastened or appreciative. But went on resenting and disrespecting United States government. MAGA is built on the GOP Southern Strategy of pandering to bigotry and stoking resentment of United States government and rule of law. The interests behind this, are betting that a government which will not protect the equality explicit in civil rights law, would also be disinclined to administer a systems of equitable taxation and regulations.
Perpetrators should not be seen to get away with gain from seriously irresponsible or predatory behavior, as the banks managed to do in the wake of the subprime crisis. Punishments should not be excessive yet demonstrate that, at least when caught, crime does not pay.
Well said, lin•
Sad, scary, and true.
If I knew how to attach something, I'd share the cartoon that a friend sent me, but since I don't know how, I'll describe it, and you'll have to use your imagination. Snoopy is sitting on the top of his doghouse, typing: "And, after all the dust settled, they suddenly realized that America had been saved by a porn star. The End" Let's give credit where credit is due...
Betsy, “It was a Dark and Stormy Night……”
MAGA isn't strong. The gang of Jr High School bullies are terrified that their leader just got punched in the nose in public, and that everyone else is celebrating the fact. MAGA is at your throat or at your feet. Smacking a bully in the face guarantees the latter.
I just read today that it is estimated that the average American IQ is 98 (something I agree with, having spent so many years dealing with droolers). And MAGA comes from the lower half of the gene pool. I doubt most of them have an IQ higher than ambient room temperature. You can see it in all the bullshit they get taken to the cleaners with by the scammers of MAGA Inc who see them as marks.
i put more faith in wise education than "IQ" but agree that that there seems to be a divide between those who would bully and those who reject this behavior. Certainly one of the most legitimate missions of goverment is to proscribe and intervene when significant bullying arises.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
So many ways to be intelligent, maybe if we were better at appreciating that, we wouldn't be in this mess. I often wonder how to quantify what's qualitative? Fortunately, many educators are developng models that provide for 'graduated autonomy'. We need to be empowering individuals of all ages to see things at varied scales from varied points of view.
And we need to value their contributions of various intelligences more equitably. The huge variation in incomes in this country is a big part of our democracy's sickness. The quote from Lincoln above applies here in paraphrase: As I would not be an underpaid minion in this enterprise, so I would not be an overpaid CEO. . . I'm not saying pay everyone the same, but let's level the playing field a bit; no one at the top needs to be earning 700 times the folks near the bottom. This is an issue the Dems have neglected for too long, leaving those trying to hold a family together on $70K or less out of their policy priorities. Biden/Harris are finally addressing these concerns.
And maybe we need to allow for inflation in messaging. Older readers might freak a bit at the numbers. When I saw “holding a family together on $70K or less” (I’m assuming family of 4) I almost fell off my recliner! But then I realized that it wasn’t the 50’s or 60’s anymore, or even the 90’ or 00’s. When we bought our first home in SoCal, our payment was $300/month. We were scared to take it on, but we did. This was in the late 60’s. I totally respect people taking all of today’s costs on themselves.
Yes. And if we could bear to comprehend Earth's carrying capacity and our roles influencing that, maybe it wouldn't need to be the domain of government to address--we could balance our activities and balance planetary metabolisms in harmony.
Good idea.
98 is very close to 100, which is the numerical average. Don't fall into the "deplorables" trap, TC, or that it's only the less educated who support the GOP. Remember the "rust belt" working class states used to be the Dem's "blue wall", now it's a cliff hanger zone.
I have no idea what my IQ is but I suspect it is fairly average. However, I do have confidence in my common sense and emotional IQ. I like
to listen and to observe and I believe that helps me to understand life around me. I have to believe, formally educated or not, there are lots of folks like me who have the ability to discern stupid when they see it. Those are the people who will work for what is right for our country. I must believe that…my sanity and hope depends upon it.
emotional IQ ✅
listening and observing are crucial to progress by any sane/humane/long-term-meaningful definition of the word.
sadly, they are similarly valuable to the demagogues and operatives who take advantage of the "act first and never ask [sincere] questions" mob, who set up their atrocious social media & news-cycle games ...
sorry, I'm just dipping in and out of Despair Mode and Cautionary Mode today. i know Thursday's verdict was good news (but I worry for the tiny number of citizens and officials who did their duty on that score, being targeted by sick and disinformed hatemongers), and I'm with you that there simply have to be enough of us to make the difference that counts.
I dunno, most of the Trumpers I know are pretty damn deplorable.
Their Fox "news" is deplorable.
You may wish that were true, but I know plenty of educated, reasonably intelligent people who have been--and probably will continue to be--Trump supporters. Their media choices are limited; they've been inundated with falsehoods about President Biden; they don't hear much about this administration's accomplishments; and they remember the Trump years as somehow good.
Doesn’t the absence of a curious mind negate your assertion? Those that I know that support Trump and are “educated, reasonably, intelligent people…” are also bigots with an eye to their taxes. Yes, they are also a bit more well to do.
The ones that I know don't fall into those categories.
Doesn’t “Their media choices are limited” speak to a non curious mind?
Not necessarily
Stupid is stupid regardless of education. I know lots of
The same type of people; however, I also know plenty of people with smarts that did not come from a formal education. Character is what really counts. What is in your heart counts.
Trump has released the underlying evil in people and that is who trumpers are.
I've known many "educated" morons. "Education" and "intelligence" are twp different things. It's just the edumacated ones can convince themselves that bullshit is actually Chanel No 5 more easily.
TC, I am watching my retired law enforcement cohort go over the top in their support of 34 times convicted fpotus: "More MAGA than ever". "Lock and Load" Numerous National Colors flown upside down. It is disgusting, dispiriting, and <insert colorful metaphor of choice> insane.
Not feeling very safe these days in Michigan:
Michigan Police Union endorses Trump:
"https://www.foxnews.com/video/6351473278112
Yeah, that would be really depressing to me.
Now don't be pullin' for eugenics there T.
Lol...
Their (the RRs-holes) puny little mouth-pieces like Jordan want to start a fight where they duck out and hope their big chain-swingin pals will step in and lay waste to "us Libtards Etc". The key is, don't play into it. Turn around and walk off. They (the RRs-holes) got their fight on Jan 6th..., but did the rest of the 'Bully-Belly-Buds' start fights all over the country.. in cities and towns..? Nope. We all just watched the NEWS and peace-fully drove to work the next day.., huh? Yup. Now, the (R)ss-holes.. the puny punks.. (go name them) are leaning into our faces and basically saying "wanna fight.. wanna fight.." Well, - - - - them, the puny little bastards and their puffed-up supremacist pals in their flak-vests and jungle-gear... let them screw themselves. Gotta nip this crap in the bud though.. absolutely cannot give them an inch. Jan 6th was a rehearsal for all of us regarding riot control.. stop it quickly.
1,000 bodies full of .50 caliber bullet holes at their next insurrection will get the others' attention.
If only you weren't so sensitive and empathetic TC....😂
I laughed out loud.
Watch some of the MAGA interviews on facebook if you just want to waste time and cement your opinion of them.
And stock in Trump Media. It’s worthless as a profit making company but currently valued at $49 a share. No serious investor owns it—propped up by his followers and perhaps some wealthy people who want to give Trump some money.
Many of the investors are MAGAs that don't realize that any business Trump is involved with eventually turns sour. There was a story around the time of the merger where several MAGA shareholders were interviewed about what they expected from the stock.
Many accounts started with, "I have never owned stock before...."
DJT is probably not going to be a winner for them in the long run. So sad to see people risk what little savings they have on DJT stock.
Strange that they would invest in the stock market while also professing a desire to destroy it because it’s run by a Jewish cabal.
Every time I see the insipid bastard aka the orange turd speaking in front of a crowd of Maggot supporters, btw I never seek to see him, I take note of the people who are standing behind him while he blathers his insanity, if they have an IQ higher than room temperature on a winter day I would be surprised. They might as well hang a sign around their necks saying “I’m a moron”, because that’s exactly what they look like. To say that they look unmoored from the reality we experience would be an understatement. They apparently have enough of an IQ to feed themselves but that’s not saying much, maggots (their namesake) do as well. 🤷♂️
TC, one bullies others out of fear of one's own weaknesses...as should be manifest in tRump and those who enable him.
Exactly!
I agree with your IQ assessment but I think another issue we have in this country is that something like 1/3 of the population has never traveled more than 50 miles from where they were born. I have cousins in rural NE that have never traveled outside of the state. They have never interacted with people of color and not surprisingly are racist.
And yet, their IQs may be above the average, but they certainly are not worldly.
My parents made it a point to take us kids on vacation somewhere different every year. My sisters and I fought in the backset of our '62 chevy station wagon that had no air conditioning.
We slept in a tent in campgrounds. We met so many interesting people and learned a lot. Many people would be surprised to learn that there is a campground about 10 miles outside of Washington, D.C. Anyway, there was in 1964.
I'm curious your thoughts on what I call "motivational quotient'. As far as I'm aware it is undefined but it goes along with the expression, "but they had so much potential."
I aqbsolutely agree. I got the hell out of Colorado 3 days after HS graduation, and over two WestPac deployments on the old USS Rustbuck, and then a 2 year tour in WestPac on the staff of Commander Patrol Force 7th Fleet, I saw every country from Japan to Australia and NZ. When I went back to Colorado at age 21 to go to school, I was a lot more "worldly" than my classmates.
The average IQ of every person on earth is 100. By definition. Because that’s how the IQ scale works. So 98 isn’t a significant deviation from the average. I get your point, a lot of voters aren’t using their reasoning ability, but it’s not so much an IQ problem as a propaganda problem. Humans are emotional, not rational only, and cunning manipulators know how to subvert them.
Heather, it is columns like yours, now, today, that are making you a national treasure, and one of my best ever investments in supporting on-line contributors. And I don't even live in America, chose New Zealand half my life ago, but, born and bred in the Land of the Free, I want it to stay that way, ,I want my country to endure in health, as the last best hope of mankind.
Yesterday's verdict was seismic, I could never have hoped for such, but I was heartened by the strong evidence that the average American is still a wise, good person, if provided with the facts.
The challenge will be, to provide the general populace with the facts before November 5.
It is not enough to educate the converted.
If such can be done, democracy will win for another day....and, of course, yet more battles.
Presently, probably for decades, there is clearly a cancer in the American politic. Even beating MAGA in November won't erase it.
More battles will need to be fought, by good people, good Republicans, good Democrats, good "undecideds," to keep America the America that some, hopefully most, of us, aspire to.
More trivially, I recommend you take an extra day out of the week to recharge, we don't need you to burn out before Election Day! 5 of 7 days, weekly, of your wisdom, that's fine with me!
Jim
New Zealand (one of the very best places on this planet, along with New England, USA)
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Yay New England. And Canada
And yay to the visions for better situations/models/communities-of-thriving that we'd all be generating if we weren't giving negativity all this oxygen! (Guilty as charged.) Sarcasm, wit, intelligence, analytical perspectives are all why I read these comments but what might I otherwise be doing to mobilize compelling alternatives (especially for how 'elders' gain influence that's purely compelling?!! Better models for ways of being in actual space, in real time seem like the informal education that's needed. . . .
I'd like to see Judge Marchan sentence the felon and failed insurrectionist to pay the maximum fine ($10,000?) on each count; spend 1 hour in jail on each count, treated, dressed, and photographed just like any other convicted felon; and 6 months of further incarceration on each count suspended, contingent on no further violations of financial, election, or personal injury law, including attacks on any participant in the recently concluded trial.
I would suggest that the Judge Merchan take into account the leaked Jurors names and the continuing threats that Trump and his supporters promulgate as maximizing the sentence. It’s on thing to be convicted and advocate for a reasonable sentence (similar to losing the election in 2020) but it’s another thing to attack the system and its people ( January 6th).
Seems like pretty serious attempted jury tampering and intimidation. Seem like that merits a pretty hefty smackdown.
If the actual information on the jurors was leaked, I agree completely. All I'd heard was that a site had posted dox info but it wasn't verified as that of the jurors.
I put the jurors in the same class as the Capitol Police that were on duty on January 6th. Yes, they were only doing their jobs but it required an incredible amount of bravery to do them. And to think, not one alternate juror was needed.
They are definitely, along with the Judge, the heroes of this story. Bragg and his team get an Honorable Mention.
And it is important to verify! We don’t make good decisions when we don’t.
Photographed with convict haircut, orange jumpsuit, against height chart
Exactly.
Some MAGAs clamour for violence, but there has been a sparsely attended trial and no violence post verdict. Vigorous prosecution of insurrectionists perhaps taught these blowhards the law will be enforced? THAT is why Trump needs to be prosecuted completely and every effort made to unblock the ambient delays. No prosecution equals no democracy.
We have some blessings to count on those diligent and successful prosecutions of insurrectionists.
Heather, I shuddered when you mentioned Erik Prince’s recent involvement in MAGA land. He long has been involved in shady paramilitary operations. Blackwater, his guns-for-hire company, worked for/with CIA in Iraq for years. He set up training facilities for a sizable paramilitary force.
That he has formed a network of hundreds of individuals who share his Trumpist thoughts may well be a harbinger for a more militarized Trump presidential campaign. Prince has the potential to organize a more lethal militia than the Proud Boys.
Prince is a gunslinger with a sordid background. I fear that we will hear more of him in coming months.
P. S. His sister—not the brightest or most empathetic of individuals—was in Trump’s cabinet. Their family has lots of $$$$.
Keith, did you read that New Republic piece? It reminded me of nothing so much as a bunch of gleeful little boys playing with matches, blithely unaware that they are about to burn us all when the flames catch hold and burn out of control. Terrifying stuff.
KR Don’t read New Republic. Sounds like prelude to Guy Fawkes Day.
It appears to me that in a deeply corrupted society money, political power, and violence are largely interchangeable.
I consider free enterprise to be a right worthy of a "free society". That said, a true free market is protected against monopolistic bullying as much as from extreme purist communism. Back in the day I knew some young people who proposed that no property should be private, and since have met right wingers who say that absolutely nothing should be public, including roads, schools and emergency services. Why for?
But what I am aiming at here is that some societal functions are way too vital and/or way to dangerous to have less that total public direction and supervision, the military first on the list.
J L And Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, other health care………
Yes, any material expression of the general Welfare. Less profit for plutocrats I suppose, but it's baffling how many of the rank and file embrace it as an article of religious faith. I find religion to be a very mixed bag, but there is some very good stuff in it and some very admirable people who adhere to it, as did MLK. But there is an emotional dirty trick often used to instill it, that it seems to me can carry any payload, and which Orwell defined as "thoughtcrime". My fundamentalist piano teacher tried to convince me that no one gets into heaven without swearing fealty to Jesus and that the "worst of murderers" (presumably Hiltler) would be welcomed into heaven by "accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior" before he died; while an otherwise generous and kind person would go strait to hell without it. She said "the sin of doubt" was the only sin God would never forgive. A distant relative who is a preacher seemed to give me a similar picture that salvation has nothing to do with "good works" but rather personal belief. So maybe Trump can avoid perdition?
The thing is that I respect anyone's framing of kindness and empirical responsibility (like environmental protection) that they have chosen freely, and though free to share, do not try to forcibly impose on others. Law is compulsory, but not personal belief; which is why we separate the two, not as a matter of mutual influence, but as a matter of law.
And if something is wonderfully good, why the need to torture people to accept it? Physically or psychologically? Quakers talk about "Friendly persuasion" . Why not that?
Anyway, the property thing: I assume you know Eisenhower's letter to his brother in which he dismisses "oil millionaires" who wanted to cancel government services provided to the less fortunate. Too much is never enough.
“Faith without works is dead.” —the Bible (James 2:17)
A person can say they believe something all they want, but if it doesn’t affect their behavior, do they really believe it?
“God is not one to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.” No one will ever fool God into forgiving him. Any preacher who insinuates otherwise does not know God.
We all have done stupid stuff sometime in our life. It’s what we do after that that counts. “Repent” isn’t just a feeling, it’s an action.
Stan Spot on! Whether from the Old Testament or from Jesus’s teachings, “Faith without works is dead.” And the Ten Commandments, in a modern-day version, are not a bad guideline to personal and national behavior.
Conscience is essential, as is empathy. And yeah, I did some stupid stuff that makes me wince when it rises from memory. What we think can affect what we do, but it's what we do that counts. I always had the impression that Jesus would agree, but some people say "no".
By their fruits. Isn't that outcomes?
Surprised we hadn't heard from Erik Prince earlier. He came to mind when would-be King Donald was making noise about his loyal forces/royal guard and seemed the Proud Boys were his likely choice. Erik always seemed the better choice to lead KD's private military. He wouldn't be limited by a buy-America clause in arming or conscription battle-hardened personnel for said forces. January 6th might have had a different outcome had KD relied upon them to stage the insurrection instead of a ground swell of any MAGAs. Oh, well, there in a January conclave set for 2025. Scary.
Fred I noticed an unverified report that Erik at one time sought common cause with the Wagner Group in Africa. With. Such connections, might he recruit some Wagner boys for work in the United States? Putin would certainly approve such help for his buddy Trump.
Keith and Fred, you’re terrifying me. I too have thought about Prince and the lack of hearing anything about him. His joining up with Wagner Group is too much to consider.
Sue Erik Prince is an authoritarian,cash-on-the-barrel international mercenary. I consider him worse than bad!
I agree. Since he first appeared on the scene during The Time of 45, he was the epitome of evil plus money.
Sue Erik Prince and Blackwater received nearly $1,000,000,000 in government funding (including from CIA) to provide ‘security’ in Iraq during the George W. Bush administration. Subsequently, in part because Blackwater was charged with killing innocent Iraqis, it was disbanded and Prince was involved in other Middle East security adventures before Trump rode down that escalator in 2015.
His men were shooting Iraqi civilians if I remember correctly and his sister tried to finish off the public school system already weakened by the 1954 decision. If he’s aligned with the other militia groups I fear that we can expect lots of trouble at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Was already thinking that Trump probably had arranged for problems here, but this crowd is REALLY scary.
Thanks all of you for the heads up.
Virginia Erik and his sister are the Dark Princes.
Somewhat like French and Hessian mercenaries in our civil war? The first one.
Fred That was the American Revolution. Washington’s Hail Mary defeat of the Hessians in Trenton kept our revolution limping along. Actually, I believe that the French had more troops than did we at the Battle of Yorktown.
As much as I appreciate Heather's consise, 'just the facts, m'am' letter tonight, I must paraphrase the Irish singer, Enya, who recorded a song called, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" With apologies to Enya, "How Can I Keep From Screaming?"
It sure feels like for every common sense, down to earth assessment we get, like tonight's letter, there is a barage of BS that we can barely assimilate, let alone refute effectively.
I think that part of the right's aggressive strategy is to start so many fires we can no log keep track or extinguish them all.
You are correct. The federalist Society/ Maga strategy has long been to “flood the zone” with propaganda. We have to fight back with as much fire as we can muster and flood the zone with facts, with mockery, with whatever it takes to energize the vote for those who favor democracy over authoritarianism. We can’t fix stupid, we can only work to overwhelm it.
The Republican politicians assume their ardent followers are morons and will believe anything they tell them no matter if it's true or not.
If they stopped to think about how little respect Trump, McConnell, Johnson and all the rest have for them they would walk away. But they are incapable of thinking for themselves or feel shame and embarrassment.
And yet they pride themselves on their "independent thought."
On the one hand there is almost no such thing as independent thought because we all interact with another human or die in infancy. I don't buy the "suckled by wolves" stories. In many respects we learn to be us by interaction. We are a fundamentally social species.
I was not raised by wolves, but in my most formative years saw few people other than may parents, and found myself at school age in a large city were I tended to be regarded as an odd duck. So I identified with other self-identifying non-conformists, but often found the rules of the club were as constraining, as those of mainstream society. We want to be special and we want to belong. Conformity is a shortcut, if not an especially deep one. In high school, wearing certain brands of clothing was "in". More appealing is how I think of "solidarity" that prizes diversity yet bonds in the comicality of human rights and experience. E Pluribus Unum. The preamble of the Constitution is complimentary and interdependent with the Bill of Rights. Every one of us is a unique individual with unique specific experiences and a unique genetic code. Every one of us is human, with a large overlap of common needs and experiences.
Everybody approves of "liberty", or at least the label; not the least loudmouth MAGAs. Yet, liberty is clearly nothing outside of a society, as, while I very much appreciate episodes of solitude, the freedom of a desert island would be another word for nothing left to lose, even with the lifting of social responsibilities.
Impunity for some and subjugation for others is strikes me as exactly what tyranny is. "Liberty" is an individual experience, and also an environment in which were we respect and protect the rights of one another. You can not have more than one person in the room and have the one without the other, and you can't have "liberty" worthy of the name without universal rights and responsibilities.
That's kinda what our founding documents (updated to embrace a more empirical perspective) no?
“Impunity for some and subjugation for others” vs “universal rights and responsibilities”
BINGO!!
And therein lies the challenge
I think many of them have been bullied into self-defeating behaviors. From what I have read, high percentages of various abusers were abused themselves. I think the biggest abusers encourage a climate of abuse in order to facilitate their ultra-narcissistic ends. Persons like Hitler. They dress up predation with pomp and circumstance and flatter followers with exclusivity. YOU are the righteous, the patriotic, the master race, against a sea of the unworthy. I think narcissism is built into human nature. It is in mine. We all, of necessity, pursue self-interest. But we also have capacity for empathy and for love, real love that is not just self-gratifying attraction. We can all see some portion of a larger picture, or so it seems to me.
The urge to bully or exploit may have some genetic components, or more likely more often is a disease that can be transmitted like a virus from person to person, and across generations. As Hamlet mused, "the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape", but its no phantom entity, it is recognizable flaws in our own human nature. Components that can be summoned forward or quelled, a least to a significant degree, with individual and societal self-awareness.
J L - You struck a chord with the line - "....high percentages of various abusers were abused themselves." This is one of the major challenges we face as a society -- to break the cycle of abuse. My wife was abused as was her mother and siblings and her and her siblings have broken the pattern. But, they were an anomaly I fear.
My niece is a social worker whose job for a few years was to remove an abusive parent from homes. Of course she always had police or deputies there to assist. The most shocking thing to me wasn't the degree of abuse meted out, but rather how often it occurs. And abuse knows no economic bounds.
She has since been "promoted" to working with the children of abuse. Her job is to get the children to testify against their abusive parent on tape. She trained for several months on how to interview children of all ages and the results are amazing. In a little over two years, the conviction rate of the abusive parent is 100%. She has even helped to convict rich entitled white men. Anyway, I am quite proud of her as you can tell. Hopefully she can break the cycle of abuse for some of these children. Time will tell.
Thank you J L for your well constructed thoughts.
Much thanks to your niece for intervening in a tragic pattern. In my own circle of friends, family, and acquaintances I know of several who suffered abuse serious enough that it should have been reported. Moreover, I think that a culture of abuse exists in our society that masks the seriousness of what is sometimes taking place. In my experience, social conservatives will often defend it, as, a few years ago, a state assemblyman introduced a bill that would permit parents to beat their children to any degree that caused not permanent physical disability, defending it on Biblical grounds. (it did not pass) Circa 1983 I read in the paper of a father "and his pastor" that beat a one year old child to death for "refusing to touch his toes". Part of what probably signaled the defeat of the 1864 law that the Arizona $upreme ¢ourt decided outlawed abortion was the provision that absolved parents from prosecution for killing their kids:
"Howell’s code includes exceptions for homicides, such as when 'a man is at work with an axe, and the head flies off and kills a bystander or where a parent is moderately correcting his child ... and happens to occasion death.' ”
There seems to be a deep seated culture of violence in our country that is a source of much discord and suffering, evidenced by the worship of guns.
It not stupid so much as foolish. I encounter clever, "well educated" MAGAs. I think some are opportunists, as TFG surely is, who manufacture big lies in order to gain and manipulate, bbut I suspect most have been bullied and shamed from early on to accept authoritarian dogma, and some, like the 9/11 terrorists, would be willing to sacrifice their lives, or at least some of it for "the cause" to maintain their sense of self-worth. Those with ulterior motives shower them with assurances that they are the righteous, that they are the makers, and all others "the takers" when, if you follow the money to where the bucks tend to stop, they are pawns in the game.
I think that solidarity, a coalition of otherwise diverse persons that agrees some things are "human rights" that should never be adulterated, and collaborates to distill and maintain a focus can cut through a lot of crap. Might not the "Declaration of Independence" be an example? Women's suffrage? Worker's rights? Civil Rights? Gay Rights? Reforms that proposed a resonant, human truth and held up the spotlight on entrenched, normalized denial. I hesitate yet want to use the word "sacred", not as something that can never be questioned, for we should surely question everything, but rather attention to the things that make us humane as well as human, that are essential to "liberty and justice" for all. For all the unavoidable pain and misfortune, and the inevitability of death, our planet IS Eden, and life and our sentient lives showered with rare gifts that we can extend and protect if we care to, but some of the games we get into threaten to ruin it all.
Well done. Thank you.
Exactly! It's why Steve Bannon keeps saying they need to "Flood the zone with s*it."
Sounds about right, J L.
The final statement says it all. The stock market did not crumble. In fact it hardly winced on its way continuing to register belief in our collective values based in honesty and Justice for ALL.
Again, Professor Richardson, you lift my intellect and my hopes for peace in my country, in my lifetime.
Always w deep respect and gratitude.
Trump’s pronouncements about the stock market are laughable. He said, if he didn’t win in 2020, that the stock market would collapse. Recently it has been hitting all time highs.
Perhaps he should follow his advice to his MAGATS and actually drink bleach during a campaign circus. Sort of a Jesus ‘wine into water event.’ If Trump can drink a gallon of bleach and be O. K., then I just might believe some of his other bloviations.
Amway, right?
The courage of the jurors (seated and alternates) is breathtaking. They knew what they were risking, and given the opportunity by the judge to walk out before the lawyers asked any of them questions.
Lighting candles they all stay safe and can get on with their lives.
All the most well-known J6 collaborators chimed in at once shortly after the verdict was declared and the spin machine went directly into high gear. "Oh, crap! There's years of hypocrisy to obfuscate!"
It should be noted that gestures like Gym Jordan's effort to drag Alvin Bragg in to be "interviewed" by his subcommittee is federal overreach into a state activity - he has no authority! And since sentencing is still pending, as is Guilty Donny's appeal, what he's doing is tantamount to obstruction of justice.
Gym typifies the MAGAT mindset: "Laws for thee, but not for me". Watch and remember.
Never fail to point out the lies, and this Novermber VOTE BLUE !!!
I really wanted to add this but couldn't quite find a way to do it smoothly. Here it is anyway:
<https://youtu.be/uTmfwklFM-M>
😂👏👏👏