Weeks of speculation that Russian president Vladimir Putin would use the May 9 Victory Day celebration to announce he was escalating his war on Ukraine were incorrect.
‘Bout god damn time. He could have sooner. Kinda the Pence syndrome. Seems contagious, doesn’t it? Esper took his time too. Maybe the stuff in this letter is why the market is tanking. Real truths are coming to light. The kind of deep political truths with power to end the GOP party. What Putin has been after all along. Destabilization. Bring the west down by “Russification of it”.
It is continually maddening to see facts distorted, ignored or sidelined in the interests other than serving the truth. This has been going on for too long. I would like to believe Schmidt's revelation is the final crack in the dam, but surely I am not alone in fearing this is just one more tiny crack in a monstrous edifice built by ??? so many years ago.
I agree, Irenie. The only smart choice is to act, always, with complete integrity. And if you screw up, admit it and apologize and take responsibility. This is one of the problems I have with Republican types, image types, the country club and gated community crowd (yes my dad was a member of a golf club), the people who always care about how things look, instead of being honest, like they should.
Everything seems so random. Much that’s not our choice until we’re who we are, at least until we “select” our education, deliberately or through good fortune, move or are lucky. Where we’re born, our genes, our country, leaders, state, communities , our parents and families, our schools and teachers. It’s back to “There for the grace of ________go I.”
I think it is much more than how it looks. Meadows firmly denying over and over again that he said something with all kinds of evidence that he did. What's with that? Drump lying about his loss in 2020 with all kinds of evidence of no voter fraud and all kinds of evidence of his own election fraud.
I'm not sure at all that it's "only a matter of time." Often it's a matter of one person choosing to speak out, and the pressure *not* to speak out can be gauged by how those brave souls are treated, from being ignored (if they're lucky) to being trashed in public and having their lives threatened if they're not. Think Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford for starters.
And wars, murder and imprisonment of protestors, autocracy, famine, et al have followed Arab Spring. It is a reactionary time. The only thing that seems to have been revealed is the unrelenting, bold viciousness of those in power, the return of the burqa in Afghanistan, and no abortions under any circumstance in America. Although, Ted, I was hopeful about the Arab Spring, too.
Yes, scary because it’s out (mostly) of our control. And to watch it and think of our own children, all the children, future generations. There are roadmaps to integrity. And roadmaps to corruption.
We can slam this in the voting booth if American's who haven't engaged in voting will get themselves to their voting places. I said something to a woman I was discussing this topic with and mentioned that she should encourage everyone she knows to vote. Don't tell them how to vote, but getting everyone to vote is important. She wasn't registered. Afraid of getting called to jury duty...
Jeri I would envision a response to the tune of, "John was a war hero, he's gone and can't defend himself, this whole expose is unfair and damages his reputation" or some other sweep-it-under-the-rug, move past-ancient-history nonsense.
I think you’re absolutely right. The only problem is that Steve Schmidt has proven himself as a pretty decent honest guy. His vocabulary always amazed(s) me. He admits his mistakes and misjudgments.
My daughter who lived in Phoenix before moving to Denver took us there and to the Canyon. We wandered through Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, and saw the meteor site at a later date.
My wife will go because of the shops. I will go to explore as I have done all of my life as an outdoors person. It is in my blood to go and see or "genchi genbutsu" while I still can go and see the place. It was something I never was able to do as a child.
Forty years later and after walking The Wall, exploring The Citadel in Bitche, France, visiting the Hohenzollern castles, the Maginot, taking my kids out west in the family truckster, hiking the Pueblos, etc. At 73, I am ready for a new adventure.
We just got here in November and bought before pricing "really" blew up. I know I will like it.
It's TC's Substack page. He writes some very good, inciteful essays. There is a more liberal use of "colorful metaphors" over there, but then, he is a sailor.
(Later edit: My own spell checker foiled me by turning my “inciteful “ into ‘incite foul’ below. The spellcheckers are indeed running amok.) Ally, interesting substitution of “incite foul” in place of “insightful” - comment, or a spell checker run amok?
Haha, right! Caffeine is important. It was an interesting word substitution I may borrow, but only in writing. For example, The Orange Guy is never insightful, and always inciteful.
Ally, My memory differs from yours. TC's expletives are his sauce on the forum as well as being cruel and unusual with a few subscribers. On his TAFM substack, he sticks to the subject and is generous with all subscribers. Two faced -- it's in the eye of the beholder.
Thank you for this post, Fern. 🙏 If TC could learn how to take responsibility for his scathing, vicious, and completely unacceptable attacks on people, it would be a good thing. Something happened to him that he hasn’t been able to resolve or heal. A trauma of some kind. Therapy is in order. I support that healing ❤️🩹 ❤️🩹
I don't think it would polite to guess. He has brought up his mate's late stage Parkinson's disease. That is a shattering, uncurable disease. We leave the rest the imagination. Hi Roland. Hope spring is offering a lift. Cheers.
TC, could the issue of abortion and recent ruling be a smokescreen to cover up and steal oxygen from the more recent revelation of Russian corrupt election funding with the GOP?
Why would Mitch say he will ban abortion federally if he wins majorities in November TODAY? Is that leverage/distraction to keep Dems hush hush on the Russian $$$ funding GOP candidates and their pacs?
( Nebraska’s Fortenberry and South Dakota’s Ericson)
I do not want to believe in conspiracy’s, but this is getting weirder and weirder!!!
I think you're giving them more credit than due. Never attribute to evil that which can be explained by stupidity. But the fact they are renowned opportunists certainly explains their use of anything that comes along to fashion that smokescreen.
It’s uncanny how Mitch’s mouth opens the day after every scandal with something identity politics to shock and awe. Similar to how when the Access Hollywood tape dropped, 30 min later Poindester’s emails are leaked.
The Russians hacked the DNC servers in the spring and summer of 2016. The FBI and DNI confirmed. The Russians primed wiki leaks that they had them, but waited to release strategically for an October surprise. Once the access Hollywood recording was released to the public, within 30 minutes Wiki Leaks dropped the DNC email cache given to them by Russian intelligence services. Wiki leaks doesn’t have the tech needed to hack any, but especially DNC personnel email/servers.
This is tradecraft. Using a cutout like Wiki, and deny doing it. Get it? That’s why we need Asange extradited. To answer how and who gave him the emails. I think NSA probably has him dead to rights.
I agree Asange should be extradited but it never occurred to me that it was for any further reason than to imprison him. Thank you for this clarification overall, Ted.
McCain did us all a favor when he gave his friends a big FU sign when he saved Obamacare. His private life was a mess and he was dying. He left his mark that day and when he was brought home after being held hostage.
I've got to say I was shocked to read about McCain. I thought he was the one decent Republican remaining, especially when he told his constituent that Obama was not an "Arab".
I think he probably WAS the one decent Republican of national import. (Our Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker, is a very decent Republican.) But even with the affair, I really hesitate to judge based on one item, when heaven knows what else was going on, or not going on in his life. I think he did enough good to give him the benefit of the doubt.
people should never assume that others know their acronyms unless said acronyms are in common parlance, with but a single meaning. If I start spouting about how much I love ICE, I'm talking about the type of engine that powers my Civic (stick), which is my possession that gives me the greatest pleasure. I have plenty of other obscure acronyms which I try not to use unless I'm writing entirely for people who I know will know them, even though I might save a second or two using the acronym instead of the name.
Folks, if you haven’t already read Tim Snyder’s book, “The Road to Unfreedom” , you should do that now. Two other important and informative books on much of the grift and graft explained in this letter are in “Mr. Putin” and “There is Nothing for you Here” by Dr. Fiona Hill.
These historians explain how Putin’s Regime has been unlawfully stealing cash out of Russian industries controlled by handpicked Oligarchs, and export it to launderers abroad so as to hide it, before bringing it back “clean”. Political payoffs legal and illegal are part of the laundromat that has been financing anti democracy efforts by facilitating the process. In this way some of our leaders have enabled the war crimes perpetrated by Putin. And it has to stop!
Part of that process is exporting Embezzled Russian money into legitimate banking via questionable Cypress banks (thanks Wilbur Ross) then into business like commercial real estate (London, NYC, Floria) and manufacturing, but the dark part is the lobby industry, campaign donations (PACS/NRA/Christian Right PACS), “consulting fees” and illegality (bribes and/or promises to invest in bogus projects in Senators home states…like an old Aluminum plant in Kentucky, etc, etc). The KGB and Russian Mafia have worked hand in hand for longer than most of us have been alive. They are the all stars of all kinds of schemes and political payoffs. Disinformation, division, destabilization, annexation is the Russian/Putin playbook.
Davis, Manafort, and Stone must be the dirtiest rotten scoundrels of our time. Give a Libertarian Republican a chance to make money, and they will always through any loyalty to country, ethics, morality out the window! These guys don’t care about democracy, truth, nor the rule of law. It’s about gettin that money, that’s all.
This quote from Schmidt's essay below says it all about where we are and how we got here:
"The story of American corruption in Ukraine is a disgrace, and in part has led to the human disaster in Ukraine. The corruption did not start in the Trump era, but years before. It started in the K Street sewer firms where Roger Stone, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort and Rick Davis thrived."
Schmidt's term "K Street sewer firms" is a perfect moniker for the "lobbyist industry", I call it. The stench from there is palpable and it (the money) is responsible for SO many ills. It's no wonder Russian money and influence are all over the place there. Not to engage in "what-about-ism" here, but Democrats' hands are dirty in this stuff too (hello, Citizens United...), but not nearly to the degree of the GOP. They've been bought lock, stock, and barrel.
When Biden releases oil from the reserves or determines more armaments are going to Ukraine you have to know that some kid’s tuition at prep school got paid or someone’s new boat on Martha’s Vineyard has been paid off. That’s the swamp that I think many Americans would be happy to see drained. Happy to see government funds go for good things. Not so happy with the grifting game.
Well the watchdogs of campaign finance are corrupted by the GOP. One can say with certainty the Koch/GOP/Putin Party did their homework on how to take down one of the world’s strongest democracies.
”Of those 28 complaints, the internal nonpartisan Office of General Counsel found reason to believe that campaign finance violations had occurred in 22 of them. In every instance, the Republican commissioners voted to block action.” And then there are three Trump Justices.
This is one of the main reasons why the election of death star was so awful. Interesting meme yesterday which said we should have listened to these three women: Anita Hill, HRC and the woman who accused Beer Bret whose name escapes me at the moment.
Yes, it’s out there, the Truth, in plain sight. We should have listened. But who is the “We” that makes the policy in the end, who fires the people, women, who dare to speak up. Look how Hilary and Elizabeth Warren were excoriated during their campaigns.
We are fans of Snyder in this house. Yesterday he posted how the word fascism has been used and twisted in Russia. Thank you for the excellent post too on how Russia with the help of Rs have corrupted our process. I had forgotten about Wilber Ross, that little weasel. I did think at the time the mafia don managed to find the most corrupt people to run things. It looks like it was number one on their resumes.
Wilbur Ross was on the board of the Bank of Cypress. This bank is the main the entry point of Russian/Ukraine laundering to the west system AND how they avoid sanctions. In Ross’s confirmation hearing, Senators could have brought this up, and pulled on the thread. I’m not sure they did at all and I don’t know why.
Google Rudy and Kharkiv. Rudy has made 14 million doing “terrorism security consulting” paid for by Russian backed Ukrainian oligarchs in an attempt to validate Outins claims of “denazification”. Rudy should hand over every dime to Kharkiv residents who have lost their homes to Russian missiles!
That weasel always reminds me of one of those apple-head dolls. You know, where they let the apple dry out and they carve a face into it. Well, now we know he is exactly that!
Power begets money and vice versa. Anybody who hasn’t been in a coma knows this stuff, but the evidence of nuts (literally) and bolts is manna from heaven
So this Russian interference in our elections probably goes back before McCain's 2008 bid for the presidency. Perhaps to George W's falsely successful win in 2000? Stone, Manafort, et al?
As soon as Russia paid off their Foreign debt 2004?); Putin started to build “strategic reserves” made possible by increased oil prices lead by the technological advances in the creative economies of western democracies. Once paid off, he began to build investments into western economies both in business, politics, but always with undercurrent of kGB mindfulness, strategies, and tactics. “Interdependence is leverage” Dr Fiona Hill
This is an interesting article because it puts me into a conundrum. Exposing John McCain, as it does, irritates me. But then I realize that I’m irritated because it’s trashing a myth that I believe. Namely John McCain was a great American citizen with a clean history. That makes Dr. Richardson‘s point exactly! I fall for the myth of our leaders. Exposing them for having feet of clay is something that makes me very uncomfortable but now, thanks to Dr. Richardson‘s article, I realize the fallacy of this line of thinking. Thank you Heather.
Plenty of us out here always thought McCain was scum. Voting 94% of the time with Trump and the party line does not a hero make. Never mind the public abuse of his wife. If he was a hero, he would have switched parties long ago.
Maybe we expect too much of our "heroes." Do we feel we need a champion so strongly that we mythologize ordinary people? We set them up on a pedestal only to see them crash and burn when their "ordinary-ness" is revealed.
Pretty simple remedy John. Be unsung. Be your own unsung. Look in the mirror and thank that reflection. Thank your folks wives kids friends for making you an unsung hero. Don’t ask for anything more than the joy you get. Be the real life hero you always wanted. We need mostly your kind of hero.
Very introspective question, Kathy. I’ve been thinking about that all morning and fact checking my own trust. I’m skeptical of any part that feels blind. Trust is a values area for me and I do not want it ever to be an excuse for ‘splaining away something that has wisps of strategic myth tied to it.
The way our broken system is set up, we have to have faith in somebody. So far, it looks like Biden is clean, sincere, and honest. After all, he apologized for his treatment of Anita Hill and chose a mixed race woman as his running mate. He is fighting the army of McTurtleneck, Covid and variants, and defending Ukraine, plus pushing for major manufacturing here, and combating climate change. I have to want to walk alongside of him.
I think many voted for "normal" but then expected Mr. Normal to come out of the phone booth as Superman. But Mr. Normal's contrast to the previous guy is both sobering and inspiring.
I guess, just the memory of the Thomas hearings & what was done to Anita Hill - certainly proves hes as human as any of us AND politicians do make mistakes - which have consequences. I do believe he tries!
“fully the party of Trump. It is corrupt, indecent and immoral. With the exception of a few governors…it is filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party's greatest leaders.... Today the GOP has become a danger to our democracy and our values.”
And Steve Bannons: Fill the media with shit.
Aren't you taking on a labour of Hercules in the Augean stables! Leading in a river of clear water to wash it all out.
Holy F—k! Although Meghan McCain did spend a lot of time of “The View” bashing the book “Game Change”. Although it would have been nice if Schmidt would have came out sooner. Like 10 years ago
Perhaps Schmidt was weighing alternatives for Republican nominees. For decades, the Republicans have nominated candidates from a pool of lesser smarts and more shenanigans, while the ultra wealthy dark money folks continue to do what they want.
So many men with feet of clay. McCain cheated on the first wife why not the second? And you are so right about the media not being truthful but loving their myths. We could surely use a lot more immediate honesty these days, not years down the road.
What’s going on Oleg Deriposka’s yachts anyways? He seems to throw a lot of parties for our politicians. Party-tician cruises? What was the claim made by the young Belarusian sex worker under arrest in Thailand? She claimed to have knowledge and video recordings of Oleg Deriposka bragging of 2016 election meddling while on the same yacht. ( but she so quietly went away once deported back to Russia)
How many Russian journalist has Putin had killed? He has killed more journalist than any other dictator in recent memory. Anna Politkovskaya told the truth about the Moscow apartment bombings that lead to atrocities in Gronzy. She and others paid the ultimate price for doing so.
I believe I recall a scathing article about John McCain's personal life and career published in The Rolling Stone but I do not remember anything in it about his affair with a lobbyist. Wasn't it Trump's and Stone's favorite trash tabloid owning friend that broke the news of John Edwards affair during the same campaign and 8 years later helped cover up Trump's in 2016? I just don't get it. Go back and read The Rolling Stone article and Schmidt's midnight confession won't seem so surprising. As much as I like Schmidt's monologues and enjoyed his Lincoln Project advertisements I can't say I thought he ever was responsible for Palin. If McCain let anyone else choose his #2 would he have been any better than the lazy orange time bomb we got 8 years later? In hindsight you can see that the Russian mobsters starting grooming Trump right after the election with the birther crap....Manafort, Davis, Stone, and the New York Piss. I hold my head is despair. I shudder to think how, if Obama hadn't won, we would now be living under an autocracy. How did the Ratpublicans get Romney to run in 2012? Should we be digging for some truths there too? Did the NY Piss do a hatchet job on him? Who first published about the dog on his car roof and his many, many mansions? How do we drive a stake through the heart of the party that once upon a time saved the Union? As for Lindsey Graham I think he didn't just talk too much, he was fallowing orders and his transition from besties with McCain to Trump doesn't seem at all peculiar now, does it? Seems like Lindsey might be Robin to McConnell's batman. We can not trust what we think we know or believe about either of those two.
Martha, Link to article you mentioned in Rolling Stone below. It is a gigantic pan of John. People with a subscription or viewed once or twice will be able to read, otherwise, there is a paywall. I am not a subscriber, so could not gift.
John McCain: A 'Maverick,' Revisited - Rolling Stonehttps://www.rollingstone.com › politics › politics-news
Oct 16, 2008 — “Johnny” Apple of The New York Times, who had arrived by helicopter to cover the deadliest Naval calamity since the Second World War. The son of ...
I read the Rolling Stone article years ago and always viewed McCain in the shadow of its revelations. Myth is a powerful drug. Reality of one’s addiction to it is humbling, but necessary to the survival of one’s own self image
I felt that his time as a prisoner of war gave him credence. Then in 2000, repubs trashed him in the SC primary, but he never fought back. Wonder why because their lies were vicious and obvious
In Professor Richardson’s references today, I was led to picture of Sen McCain following his campaign director Davis up the ramp to the yacht deck where Follieri and Anne Hathaway stood. When I first looked at it, I thought it was Sen McCain in the dapper lead followed by a rather hunched over man lumbering up the plank. Almost shabby looking.
Surprised I was to read caption of correct order. Davis and Follieri in charge and Sen McCain holding on to handrail for dear life and dressed almost in disguise.
It was not about McCain, but rather a musician. The rose colored glasses I wore faded to black and I was forced to face my own complicity of “looking the other way” in the face of truths that embarrassed me in my perception of self.
Thank you Fern, for finding this article. I was racking my brain for where I'd read of McCain's bio, life of privilege, infidelity, underwhelming character and just flipped through his book bios and none were familiar. Must be this article during the 2008 election that made impression on me of McCain's spoiled frailties. Appreciate you posting it here. Now I can get my chores done, haha! :)
I googled Russia and Romney. I had forgotten when he said Russia was our biggest enemy and Obama made a joke about it. As it happens he was very right. He knew. What exactly did Romney know and when did he know it?
Frankly, the bit from today’s LFAA which most distressed me was journalist Sarah Jones’s remark suggesting “how we Americans don’t like to be told the truth and how our media so loves mythology that they work to deliver lies to us instead of holding the powerful accountable.”
My fear is that those of us who know better would rue the day the public-at-large were not to expect strong, honest, and accurate reporting from journalists intent on getting as close as possible to the verifiable truth, on getting, when warranted, under the skin of people in power and telling stories partisans in high places don’t want told. We would rue that day because, while each branch of government has its duties, we rely on the media to provide the necessary information and to nurture the fundamental discourse essential to maintaining our democratic republic.
Jeri, I haven’t given up on the idea that the people, this country’s greatest resource, in my view, can be that force to create change in the media. One way is to reach out to whomever through their social media handles.
The refusal by at least a third of Americans to take public health measures, such as masks and vaccinations against covid, contradicts any claim that the country’s greatest resource is its people. And the covid response is just one example among many. The level of belligerence and willful ignorance in the American population, together with the successful channeling of belligerent ignoramuses by Republican elites, has put them in a position to continue minority rule of the country for at least a few generations into the future, to the detriment not just of the majority of Americans but also of all large mammals on the planet.
A great resource can be squandered. It seems like the height of irony that the resource we are squandering is ourselves. If we willingly consume hate mongering messages and an endless theatre of outrage, then our addiction will be the source of our demise as a nation.
Rex, I understand that there are tens of millions connected with worthy groups that take on issues that range from attempts to address the growing gap between rich and poor to efforts to safeguard water, air, and wilderness. I would submit that their sustained engagement, their energy, their caring, their work possibly could make the sorts of differences that would render the “deplorables” to whom you refer as increasingly irrelevant.
I like the sentiment and of course hope you’re right. I think that’s unlikely but still hope for that outcome and do what I can to push things in that direction. One of the many things that raise my hackles, though, is pollyanna references to the “greatness” (or any term with similar connotations) of the American people. White Ameicans are, by and large, odious. Our only hope is energetic (to put it mildly) collaboration among the 40% of white Americans who are decent human beings and the rest of the American population. And, even if by some miracle that collaboration succeeds, the odious 60% who don’t even believe in the rule of law, let alone equal treatment of all people under the law, will still be with us causing all manner of catastrophe.
Rex, Point taken regarding the usage of “pollyanna” superlatives. That said, I imagine a percentage of the white Americans you reference have been the victims of modernity’s unevenly distributed opportunity and prosperity, an injustice, in my view, that has helped kindle the tribal racist, sexist, and homo/transphobic backlash, unleashing a fatal weakening of liberal democracy in the U.S.
As for a partial remedy, I repeatedly have called for the prompt passage of as much of the Budget Reconciliation package (BBB) that can get support from 50 Senators as a downpayment, so to speak, of more to come if Democrats retain the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
The optimist in me disagrees that there is an odious 60% of Americans who don't believe in the rule of law. Millions don't bother to register to vote and a third of those who do register don't bother to vote. This is how democracy gets flushed away.
Kathy, I just read an online piece from The Post that discussed its standards relative to several categories including Ethics, Verification and fact-checking, Corrections, Sources, and Diversity. To say I was mighty impressed would be an understatement.
How deep is the ocean? We actually do know. See note and link below. Think about it. We do know the depth of the ocean but DO WE KNOW THE DEPTH OF CORRUPTION IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT? The story about McCain, Davis and Manafort will be fascinating and revealing.
Most importantly, how much don't we know about the corruption of our government? Who and what is going to take on that piece of investigative journalism? We need to know a lot more. Could it bring the house down? Whose house is it anyway?
The average depth of the ocean is about 3,688 meters (12,100 feet). The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.
Hi Fern! Actually, 80% of the ocean is not mapped. I have a feeling that the same is true for corruption in America. A growing number of gifted reporters, the 1/6/21 committee, and a few honest politicians are becoming excellent cartographers, though. ;)
Steve, Hello. Good morning. While not mapped, could depth, nevertheless, be known with close enough estimate? Did you check the link that I provided? Just double checking. PS I believe in leeway for Sandy. We can discuss, if you like.
At least someone is making that effort for the Oceans. What we have in American political corruption is the effort to hide it or disguise it in plain sight, and what we can’t hide, we make legal.
No, just building on Daria’s analogy of how deep the ocean is and how corrupt our politics has become. We simply do not know the depths to f either, but technology is helping map the furthest depths of our oceans. Connections like here at HCR substack are helping us identify our biggest political challenges.
Media is a seller. Political parties are buyers. TV and newspapers have a shrinking market, which makes it a buyers market. This is why media helps perpetuate myths. Don’t piss off your biggest customers. The parties have leverage over the media outlets. So Media outlets attempt to not take sides so as not to rock the boat. But by being so embedded in the process, they themselves either don’t see the truth or don’t care that the right has shifted to the tipping point of fascist Authoritarianism.
To know and not buy into the myths and to be constantly tempted to self protect with a “story”……it’s the hardest and bravest thing to do to acknowledge truth and base one’s trust upon truth and not myth.
There is a part of me that is sadder and sadder as more and more is revealed. Even with most of it being known already but just not admitted by many people. Myth is strong. The John McCain saga will knock many off their feet.
The manipulation must stop now with our youngest. I say again that the threat to public education and the blatant attempt to brainwash our children with the white Christian nationalist credo is the most egregious of all.
Indeed it is, Christine. As the public schools created factory workers out of farm kids, the goal of the Christian Taliban is to create foot soldiers/fodder/breeding mares out of our children.
Good morning, wise Ally. I thank the stars every day that First Lady Jill Biden is an influential, knowledgeable, practicing educator. It is every educator that must speak up and act to quell the rising tide to discredit the common good and turn public education policy into a mere political tool. That is not the end game. The end game is to groom our children. Doing the very thing that Republicans say they protest.
I stamp my foot and breathe a fiery “Russian warship….go f*ck yourself” like a silky dragon intent on strangulation.
Yes, Christine, Yes! I wish it were so. My Years in public education tell me we have the potential and while some schools especially in higher income districts, teach children to think and problem solve, many teachers and students are just surviving the budgets, politicized curriculum, poverty and violence. We fund religious education. We fund the creation theory. Creationism. Looking at some of our leaders freaking out about CRT, I’m not waiting for a miracle. Unless some states secede.
I started my education career as a Peace Corps teacher in Sierra Leone. There the standardized exams that the "seniors"(fifth form) took were sent out of country to be graded to prevent corruption. The principal congratulated me for the number of kids that managed to pass. I thought that it was their achievement not mine. Then I spent many years at a small rural school near Salem. We had an excellent staff and then we got the principal from hell. He managed to up the tension in the building to ten with the corrupt using this to further their agendas and take revenge on those of us who didn't agree with them....the problem here was mainly the coaching corner where too many were hired to coach rather than teach. We had exceptions, but that is where we got our worst and most corrupt teachers. Now teachers I know try to do their best around the constant standardized testing which is killing to critical thinking, etc. I am furious that we are paying for religious education and so many charter schools are bogus and/or designed to keep kids away from certain groups of other kids.
Dr. Biden is really a fine Example when a leader meets the moment. An educator willing to take on real issues. The threat to public education is real. I want to see more teachers take on the issue of memory laws, book banning, anti CRT ( that isn’t even taught ) and the absurdity that math books are “grooming”.
Somebody needs to speak up for Disney too. What the hell is going on in Florida. Who spiked the water Desantis is drinking with so many Fascist flavors?
Christine, yes, Especially since ALL children go to school and there are no true regulations that will stop propaganda and lies, as government pays for home schooling and charter schools.
I’m saddened and I’m fired up. I can clearly see how myths are perpetuated to keep people warm and fuzzy, on the couch of their democracy. Power wants them there in comfort. The Greeks knew the dangers of comfort.
What is the consequence of a nation to have a party that consistently comforts it’s voters rather than tell hard truths?
Truth and accepting it translates to a habit of challenge acceptance, the gateway to success in life is the development of resilience. Power doesn’t want to build a strong, informed, and resilient populace, that can challenge their power. This is where we are, the tipping point of Corptocracy and Oligarchy leading to Authoritarianism, or truth, equality of opportunity, and democracy.
The myths are just smart bombs, cruise missiles of lies, comfort is their payload.
Thank you, ted. I was just going to your comment here to write down the books you recommended. This has been a long time in growing and exposing -- the corruption -- there will be more than one big drop if the 'free-press', excepting Jane Mayer, cares to deliver.
Fern, I can feel it my bones. There’s more to why Putin believed he could get away with invading Ukraine, and to do so, so savagely. I think that reason has to do with the “investments” he’s made in Western Europe, AND in the United States and at the political leadership level. He has created his “5th column” in the west.
ted, many of us who knew or suspected recognized how important it was to be revealed. I also, truly, feel sick and worried. Worried about whether or not there are any or enough guardrails.
Corruption is another reason for “obstructionism” as policy by the GOP. “Can’t have any new anti corruption laws”, otherwise how would we pay ourselves a “competitive salary + commission” said every Republican since Nixon.
Yes, ted. I think even stronger -- coverup. Eliminating regulations, Citizen United - reduce and eliminate transparency. There is more than meets the eyes.
With every passing day, it appears that what Putin has done with his "investments" is going to be exposed. What a tragedy that the Ukrainian people — their lives and country — have been the catalyst.
Horrifying that there is a Putin …. how many more of them....(Not a real question. It was simply a response from the shattered and profoundly assaulted brain of mine) Yes, truly, remember the Ukrainians.
The West, claiming victory over Communism that was the USSR, fell in Yeltsin’s unknowing trap. Unregulated Capitalism without the rule of law is no guarantee for democracy. In Russia today, we can see it so clearly, as it happened so fast and “over there”. In the US, it just happened slower, since 1980. Embedded as we are, and drunk with the myth that Capitalism guarantee's democracy, we fail at present to see our own oligarchy's creation and rise to power. All the metrics of American inequality continue to reveal themselves, yet we remain blind, failing to address our inequality which has resulted in creating our own oligarchy. Even the Greeks knew this pattern.
She has another, “Thieves of State”. And has given plenty of Ted talks and lectures. Sarah Chayse is a courageous humanitarian for hope and evolution of the species.
Hi Ashley, I deleted my uncharitable response to you sweet compliment. I apologize. I didn't feel admirable and was tired to boot. I hope that you will chalk up my lack of hospitality to the mindlessness of spent soul. Salud, AshleyR.
Thank you, Kathleen, a perfect example of Thematic Instruction, teaching with all modalities and learning styles. You might not get that by DeSantis and Abbott but it’s worth a big try. Public school children deserve a chance.
Yes! As though we need reminding, along came Musk and before him Zuckerberg.. and how many periods before this one. Hasn't it almost always been this way? More so now...I don't know. A Letter about American Oligarchy, that would be past due.
Thank you Fern for giving us some facts that we can measure. The environment. The sea. The government corruption is beyond measure. Your question: How deep?
Irenie, The depth and widespread corruption in U.S. has been on my mind and many others' for a long time. While there has been some good work, I am going to example one soon, however, other than Jane Mayer's work, there hasn't been broadly examined journalism on the subject that I am aware of - a gigantic failing on the part of the 'free-press'. How much of the U.S. is oligarchic? This is it and has been for how long in the modern period - corruption, oligarchy and anti-democratic practices -- WE'RE NOT LOOKING PRETTY!
Fern, you’re spot on! So often the TRUTH, isn’t pretty. If we begin to cry, we’ll drown. What’s next is scary. I’ll share some Howard Zinn, maybe for a shred of optimism. And I’ll still cry.
We embrace our heroes. It is good to have role models, people to look up to. The story of their lives and accomplishments are burnished over time, expanded, woven into a mythology in which our heroes cease being human and can seemingly do no wrong. In time, however, the truth will out. And when that happens, it shatters our faith, in people, in the institutions we believed in, in our own judgement. Or we deny the truth and double down on the myth. We apparently have trouble accepting the fact that all of, including the heroes among, are human, too. May the flaws of our heroes be minor.
There was a terrific TV series called "The Americans" starring Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. Two Russian "plants" who operate undercover as if they were a typical suburban family. I was sad to see it end. However, now we have the grist for a follow up season or movie. "The Americans - In High Places".
This story of Davis was hidden in plain sight! How did he and Manafort get away with this crap? It's all here on a Wiki page. Davis has been embedded in GQP politics since the 80's. When did he trade in his political purity for Russian money? Was it when he worked for Reagan, Dole, Bush...?
Stone’s adoration of Nixon (or power) spread like cancer; then Rupert and Ronnie gave the oxygen. Chump just hopped on the train to add the ratings. Nowhere to go but where we are.
When will a hacker take over our media channels and tell the truth about Rupert’s lies; add chump’s lies and we can rewrite history and save our future
Schmidt documents Pogo's observation: "We have met the enemy and it is us." Putin has been pulling strings in the GOP since before 2008. No wonder McConnell was given the moniker "Moscow Mitch."
Maybe I will go read this thanks to your account. I’m wondering whether to follow Schmidt and the Lincoln Project’s path, from a different perspective, and change my registration from Democratic to Independent. Because, in the frustration of these days, I’m feeling that if the Repubs are the party of the corrupt, and they are, the Dems, sadly, seem to be the party of the inept (Ukraine excepted). Sigh. Thanks as always, Robert
Please, please reconsider. Republicans are driven by anger, disinformation and grievance. They are all bomb, no build. Democrats, inept as we may seem, are focused on the hard work of governing, while fighting an insurgent Republican Party and a self serving media. As for the Independent choice here’s what Howard Zinn once said” you can’t remain neutral on a moving train”.
Diane. thank you ! was waiting for the right time to post this “on a positive note”
“Howard Zinn TO BE HOPEFUL IN BAD TIMES is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion,
sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to
emphasize in this complex history will determine our
lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so many~where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
• Howard Zinn
HUMAN REFORM POLITIcS: a force for positive change”
This is no small task as we find ourselves swimming against a powerful river of disinformation. And you’re correct, we must rise to this moment and face it with hope as well as determination.
well, Bernie seems to do a good job of it. But, no hurry. Actually, I think that Republicans are driven by sheer selfishness - self-interest, rather than self-awareness. But that's for later. I'm looking at all of this from the perspective of some understanding of Germany in the 1930's. A malevolent party gaining power is, unfortunately, a one-way trip. Bottom line, no argument with me about what a force for evil today's Republican party is.
I am very anguished at the depraved and sinister depths to which the Republican Party has fallen while groping for Political control of the United States. Since 1980 their Presidential candidates have ranged from spectacularly and dangerous mediocrity of George W, an obviously fading John McCain to the pathetically indecent attempted reign of Trump.
The successful candidates George H.W.Bush and Reagan were little more than forms of window dressing both of whom managed poorly and left more harm than good.
Is there not a Party faction or person capable of recapturing the importance of Abe Lincoln’s determination that the nation was dedicated by the Declaration of Independence and its base of equality of nations and of humans?
The real story of John Sidney McCain III is going to be a topic tomorrow at TAFM.
Kudos to Steve Schmidt for telling the truth.
‘Bout god damn time. He could have sooner. Kinda the Pence syndrome. Seems contagious, doesn’t it? Esper took his time too. Maybe the stuff in this letter is why the market is tanking. Real truths are coming to light. The kind of deep political truths with power to end the GOP party. What Putin has been after all along. Destabilization. Bring the west down by “Russification of it”.
Just came across this while trying to find the first NYker article in 2015(?)https://billmoyers.com/story/trump-russia-timeline/.
It is continually maddening to see facts distorted, ignored or sidelined in the interests other than serving the truth. This has been going on for too long. I would like to believe Schmidt's revelation is the final crack in the dam, but surely I am not alone in fearing this is just one more tiny crack in a monstrous edifice built by ??? so many years ago.
The McCain saga is quite the coup! How the GOP will respond will be interesting. Can't wait to read the whole story at TAFM!!
Thank you, Heather and TC!
Per the NYT's Jeremy W. Peters on 5/9/22, the McCain Family has "no comment".
Probably the best (and only) response
What’s amazing is that in these “modern” times, there is no escape, no hiding. Only a matter of time.
I agree, Irenie. The only smart choice is to act, always, with complete integrity. And if you screw up, admit it and apologize and take responsibility. This is one of the problems I have with Republican types, image types, the country club and gated community crowd (yes my dad was a member of a golf club), the people who always care about how things look, instead of being honest, like they should.
Everything seems so random. Much that’s not our choice until we’re who we are, at least until we “select” our education, deliberately or through good fortune, move or are lucky. Where we’re born, our genes, our country, leaders, state, communities , our parents and families, our schools and teachers. It’s back to “There for the grace of ________go I.”
I think it is much more than how it looks. Meadows firmly denying over and over again that he said something with all kinds of evidence that he did. What's with that? Drump lying about his loss in 2020 with all kinds of evidence of no voter fraud and all kinds of evidence of his own election fraud.
“They” have gotten away with lying, from top down. So if it works, no real consequences, then no reason to tell the truth.
I'm not sure at all that it's "only a matter of time." Often it's a matter of one person choosing to speak out, and the pressure *not* to speak out can be gauged by how those brave souls are treated, from being ignored (if they're lucky) to being trashed in public and having their lives threatened if they're not. Think Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford for starters.
What did one street vendor do n Tunisia that birthed Arab spring? (This is what Putin fears most)
And wars, murder and imprisonment of protestors, autocracy, famine, et al have followed Arab Spring. It is a reactionary time. The only thing that seems to have been revealed is the unrelenting, bold viciousness of those in power, the return of the burqa in Afghanistan, and no abortions under any circumstance in America. Although, Ted, I was hopeful about the Arab Spring, too.
Agree, but what destruction they can cause while waiting is very scary.
Yes, scary because it’s out (mostly) of our control. And to watch it and think of our own children, all the children, future generations. There are roadmaps to integrity. And roadmaps to corruption.
We can slam this in the voting booth if American's who haven't engaged in voting will get themselves to their voting places. I said something to a woman I was discussing this topic with and mentioned that she should encourage everyone she knows to vote. Don't tell them how to vote, but getting everyone to vote is important. She wasn't registered. Afraid of getting called to jury duty...
Is it though?
What's there to comment on? Guilty as charged.
How will Cindy respond?
Jeri I would envision a response to the tune of, "John was a war hero, he's gone and can't defend himself, this whole expose is unfair and damages his reputation" or some other sweep-it-under-the-rug, move past-ancient-history nonsense.
I think you’re absolutely right. The only problem is that Steve Schmidt has proven himself as a pretty decent honest guy. His vocabulary always amazed(s) me. He admits his mistakes and misjudgments.
💜
Crickets ... for now. Sen McCain remains a Diety in AZ particularly at the "Up The Creek" wine bar in Cornville, AZ. Not far from Sedona.
I am in AZ. I guess I will just have to go and look. We are planning a trip to Sedona.
If this is your first, you will be amazed. We were there in March.
Kathy
My daughter who lived in Phoenix before moving to Denver took us there and to the Canyon. We wandered through Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, and saw the meteor site at a later date.
My wife will go because of the shops. I will go to explore as I have done all of my life as an outdoors person. It is in my blood to go and see or "genchi genbutsu" while I still can go and see the place. It was something I never was able to do as a child.
Forty years later and after walking The Wall, exploring The Citadel in Bitche, France, visiting the Hohenzollern castles, the Maginot, taking my kids out west in the family truckster, hiking the Pueblos, etc. At 73, I am ready for a new adventure.
We just got here in November and bought before pricing "really" blew up. I know I will like it.
Sen JohnM had his 'own table' down near the end of the windows across from the shaded Creek - a favorite feeding spot of the local hummingbirds.
Ah, Sedona!
I have lived in Arizona all my life and I don’t know anyone who considers McCain a diety. There are things we like and don’t like about him.
Inquiring minds in Vermont want to know - what’s TAFM?
“That’s Another Fine Mess” Substack (TC is also a fine writer, historian, and Patriot)
Even better than the didactic of Laurel & Stan - the intention to teach.
It's TC's Substack page. He writes some very good, inciteful essays. There is a more liberal use of "colorful metaphors" over there, but then, he is a sailor.
(Later edit: My own spell checker foiled me by turning my “inciteful “ into ‘incite foul’ below. The spellcheckers are indeed running amok.) Ally, interesting substitution of “incite foul” in place of “insightful” - comment, or a spell checker run amok?
I saw that too!
“Inciteful” was a slip provided by a caffeine deficiency. I meant “insightful” and yet I see how that could be taken as intentional.
Haha, right! Caffeine is important. It was an interesting word substitution I may borrow, but only in writing. For example, The Orange Guy is never insightful, and always inciteful.
Ally, My memory differs from yours. TC's expletives are his sauce on the forum as well as being cruel and unusual with a few subscribers. On his TAFM substack, he sticks to the subject and is generous with all subscribers. Two faced -- it's in the eye of the beholder.
Thank you for this post, Fern. 🙏 If TC could learn how to take responsibility for his scathing, vicious, and completely unacceptable attacks on people, it would be a good thing. Something happened to him that he hasn’t been able to resolve or heal. A trauma of some kind. Therapy is in order. I support that healing ❤️🩹 ❤️🩹
I don't think it would polite to guess. He has brought up his mate's late stage Parkinson's disease. That is a shattering, uncurable disease. We leave the rest the imagination. Hi Roland. Hope spring is offering a lift. Cheers.
Indeed it is.
Always, that way unless you've been lied to, manipulated, propagandized --- you know like a lot of Americans.
We know.
“The glittering eye”
🤣
In Texas too
Here, here!
Thank you for asking!!!! I had no idea, either, and have been scanning the responses for a clue.
Now I know and it's a good one
TC, could the issue of abortion and recent ruling be a smokescreen to cover up and steal oxygen from the more recent revelation of Russian corrupt election funding with the GOP?
Why would Mitch say he will ban abortion federally if he wins majorities in November TODAY? Is that leverage/distraction to keep Dems hush hush on the Russian $$$ funding GOP candidates and their pacs?
( Nebraska’s Fortenberry and South Dakota’s Ericson)
I do not want to believe in conspiracy’s, but this is getting weirder and weirder!!!
I think you're giving them more credit than due. Never attribute to evil that which can be explained by stupidity. But the fact they are renowned opportunists certainly explains their use of anything that comes along to fashion that smokescreen.
It’s uncanny how Mitch’s mouth opens the day after every scandal with something identity politics to shock and awe. Similar to how when the Access Hollywood tape dropped, 30 min later Poindester’s emails are leaked.
It's truly a wonderment, it is....
Stupidity that has no bounds.
and I remember the Access Hollywood story well and have no memory at all about Poindexter's email. The strategy works well.
The Russians hacked the DNC servers in the spring and summer of 2016. The FBI and DNI confirmed. The Russians primed wiki leaks that they had them, but waited to release strategically for an October surprise. Once the access Hollywood recording was released to the public, within 30 minutes Wiki Leaks dropped the DNC email cache given to them by Russian intelligence services. Wiki leaks doesn’t have the tech needed to hack any, but especially DNC personnel email/servers.
This is tradecraft. Using a cutout like Wiki, and deny doing it. Get it? That’s why we need Asange extradited. To answer how and who gave him the emails. I think NSA probably has him dead to rights.
I agree Asange should be extradited but it never occurred to me that it was for any further reason than to imprison him. Thank you for this clarification overall, Ted.
So, I am going to have to add your TAFM to my reading. I look forward to this one.
It's great!
Will you, or anyone, please say what the acronym - TAFM - is? Thanks!
That's Another Fine Mess, my Substack. You'll find it by my name "writes That's Another Fine Mess" - click that and you go to it.
Surely That's Another Fine Mess!
No reward for truth, no pat on the back.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/john-mccain-saves-obamacare-once-again/540861/
McCain did us all a favor when he gave his friends a big FU sign when he saved Obamacare. His private life was a mess and he was dying. He left his mark that day and when he was brought home after being held hostage.
I've got to say I was shocked to read about McCain. I thought he was the one decent Republican remaining, especially when he told his constituent that Obama was not an "Arab".
I think he probably WAS the one decent Republican of national import. (Our Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker, is a very decent Republican.) But even with the affair, I really hesitate to judge based on one item, when heaven knows what else was going on, or not going on in his life. I think he did enough good to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Everyday is a new day for a wise man.” Ben Franklin?
Speaking of philandering, Ben was a pro!
Should be a good one!
TC never disappoints and usually always start me surprises.
I can't wait to read it.
What’s TAFM?
people should never assume that others know their acronyms unless said acronyms are in common parlance, with but a single meaning. If I start spouting about how much I love ICE, I'm talking about the type of engine that powers my Civic (stick), which is my possession that gives me the greatest pleasure. I have plenty of other obscure acronyms which I try not to use unless I'm writing entirely for people who I know will know them, even though I might save a second or two using the acronym instead of the name.
TC’s Substack blog
Hopefully, we will hear about it on the news....maybe!
I was hoping you’d ring in
Folks, if you haven’t already read Tim Snyder’s book, “The Road to Unfreedom” , you should do that now. Two other important and informative books on much of the grift and graft explained in this letter are in “Mr. Putin” and “There is Nothing for you Here” by Dr. Fiona Hill.
These historians explain how Putin’s Regime has been unlawfully stealing cash out of Russian industries controlled by handpicked Oligarchs, and export it to launderers abroad so as to hide it, before bringing it back “clean”. Political payoffs legal and illegal are part of the laundromat that has been financing anti democracy efforts by facilitating the process. In this way some of our leaders have enabled the war crimes perpetrated by Putin. And it has to stop!
Part of that process is exporting Embezzled Russian money into legitimate banking via questionable Cypress banks (thanks Wilbur Ross) then into business like commercial real estate (London, NYC, Floria) and manufacturing, but the dark part is the lobby industry, campaign donations (PACS/NRA/Christian Right PACS), “consulting fees” and illegality (bribes and/or promises to invest in bogus projects in Senators home states…like an old Aluminum plant in Kentucky, etc, etc). The KGB and Russian Mafia have worked hand in hand for longer than most of us have been alive. They are the all stars of all kinds of schemes and political payoffs. Disinformation, division, destabilization, annexation is the Russian/Putin playbook.
Davis, Manafort, and Stone must be the dirtiest rotten scoundrels of our time. Give a Libertarian Republican a chance to make money, and they will always through any loyalty to country, ethics, morality out the window! These guys don’t care about democracy, truth, nor the rule of law. It’s about gettin that money, that’s all.
This quote from Schmidt's essay below says it all about where we are and how we got here:
"The story of American corruption in Ukraine is a disgrace, and in part has led to the human disaster in Ukraine. The corruption did not start in the Trump era, but years before. It started in the K Street sewer firms where Roger Stone, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort and Rick Davis thrived."
Schmidt's term "K Street sewer firms" is a perfect moniker for the "lobbyist industry", I call it. The stench from there is palpable and it (the money) is responsible for SO many ills. It's no wonder Russian money and influence are all over the place there. Not to engage in "what-about-ism" here, but Democrats' hands are dirty in this stuff too (hello, Citizens United...), but not nearly to the degree of the GOP. They've been bought lock, stock, and barrel.
Agree!!
When Biden releases oil from the reserves or determines more armaments are going to Ukraine you have to know that some kid’s tuition at prep school got paid or someone’s new boat on Martha’s Vineyard has been paid off. That’s the swamp that I think many Americans would be happy to see drained. Happy to see government funds go for good things. Not so happy with the grifting game.
Well the watchdogs of campaign finance are corrupted by the GOP. One can say with certainty the Koch/GOP/Putin Party did their homework on how to take down one of the world’s strongest democracies.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-is-now-miraculously-43-0-against-partisan-fec
And https://campaignlegal.org/update/dark-money-groups-operate-impunity-while-government-does-nothing
Required reading
Thank you Christy. From your link:,
”Of those 28 complaints, the internal nonpartisan Office of General Counsel found reason to believe that campaign finance violations had occurred in 22 of them. In every instance, the Republican commissioners voted to block action.” And then there are three Trump Justices.
This is one of the main reasons why the election of death star was so awful. Interesting meme yesterday which said we should have listened to these three women: Anita Hill, HRC and the woman who accused Beer Bret whose name escapes me at the moment.
Yes, it’s out there, the Truth, in plain sight. We should have listened. But who is the “We” that makes the policy in the end, who fires the people, women, who dare to speak up. Look how Hilary and Elizabeth Warren were excoriated during their campaigns.
As every woman knows, there is a double standard.
Christine Blasey Ford
Thanks I had the first name, but not the rest. Not finished my am tea yet.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford!
Yes! Duly noted!
😠
100%. “Don’t look up”. Instead of a movie, this should be a tv series.
Absolutely!!
Tim Synder and his writings are excellent source material when looking for central European backstories...just sayin'
We recommend him regularly and have most of his books. He also publishes commentary on sub stack.
... all in the name of God, no less ...!!
"Ye shall know them by their fruits."
Matthew 7:16 KJV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7&version=KJV
We are fans of Snyder in this house. Yesterday he posted how the word fascism has been used and twisted in Russia. Thank you for the excellent post too on how Russia with the help of Rs have corrupted our process. I had forgotten about Wilber Ross, that little weasel. I did think at the time the mafia don managed to find the most corrupt people to run things. It looks like it was number one on their resumes.
Wilbur Ross was on the board of the Bank of Cypress. This bank is the main the entry point of Russian/Ukraine laundering to the west system AND how they avoid sanctions. In Ross’s confirmation hearing, Senators could have brought this up, and pulled on the thread. I’m not sure they did at all and I don’t know why.
They could have and if the Ds, they were in the minority. Ross always oozed corruption.
"Ross was previously an adviser to New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani on privatization..."
Google Rudy and Kharkiv. Rudy has made 14 million doing “terrorism security consulting” paid for by Russian backed Ukrainian oligarchs in an attempt to validate Outins claims of “denazification”. Rudy should hand over every dime to Kharkiv residents who have lost their homes to Russian missiles!
😠
Ick.
That weasel always reminds me of one of those apple-head dolls. You know, where they let the apple dry out and they carve a face into it. Well, now we know he is exactly that!
I thought he just oozed corruption.
Power begets money and vice versa. Anybody who hasn’t been in a coma knows this stuff, but the evidence of nuts (literally) and bolts is manna from heaven
So this Russian interference in our elections probably goes back before McCain's 2008 bid for the presidency. Perhaps to George W's falsely successful win in 2000? Stone, Manafort, et al?
Thanks for mentioning that, MaryPat. I’m wondering too how far back it goes, probably the beginning of the Internet in 2000-ish.
As soon as Russia paid off their Foreign debt 2004?); Putin started to build “strategic reserves” made possible by increased oil prices lead by the technological advances in the creative economies of western democracies. Once paid off, he began to build investments into western economies both in business, politics, but always with undercurrent of kGB mindfulness, strategies, and tactics. “Interdependence is leverage” Dr Fiona Hill
Thanks. Gotta remember who I loaned Fiona's book to before I read it. Or get another copy.
This is an interesting article because it puts me into a conundrum. Exposing John McCain, as it does, irritates me. But then I realize that I’m irritated because it’s trashing a myth that I believe. Namely John McCain was a great American citizen with a clean history. That makes Dr. Richardson‘s point exactly! I fall for the myth of our leaders. Exposing them for having feet of clay is something that makes me very uncomfortable but now, thanks to Dr. Richardson‘s article, I realize the fallacy of this line of thinking. Thank you Heather.
Plenty of us out here always thought McCain was scum. Voting 94% of the time with Trump and the party line does not a hero make. Never mind the public abuse of his wife. If he was a hero, he would have switched parties long ago.
True of many
"Heart". (Pacemaker's off again).
Maybe we expect too much of our "heroes." Do we feel we need a champion so strongly that we mythologize ordinary people? We set them up on a pedestal only to see them crash and burn when their "ordinary-ness" is revealed.
Pretty simple remedy John. Be unsung. Be your own unsung. Look in the mirror and thank that reflection. Thank your folks wives kids friends for making you an unsung hero. Don’t ask for anything more than the joy you get. Be the real life hero you always wanted. We need mostly your kind of hero.
Simple and brilliant, Pat. I can feel the shine of that advice.
Salud.
💞
We don't seem to be mythologizing Biden.......or are we?
Very introspective question, Kathy. I’ve been thinking about that all morning and fact checking my own trust. I’m skeptical of any part that feels blind. Trust is a values area for me and I do not want it ever to be an excuse for ‘splaining away something that has wisps of strategic myth tied to it.
The way our broken system is set up, we have to have faith in somebody. So far, it looks like Biden is clean, sincere, and honest. After all, he apologized for his treatment of Anita Hill and chose a mixed race woman as his running mate. He is fighting the army of McTurtleneck, Covid and variants, and defending Ukraine, plus pushing for major manufacturing here, and combating climate change. I have to want to walk alongside of him.
You do not “have to”, Marlene. You choose to which is the beauty of being human and having chosen to live in a democracy.
I’ve chosen to walk along since President Obama chose him for the dream team.
Salud!
Very true, Christine. I stand corrected. 💞
I watch Biden's White House Rose Garden presentations weekly. Still in awe of him! Today's FDR, without the mistresses.
FDR too? Sheesh.
Something alluring about power. To be fair to FDR (and not to Eleanor), it may not have been her thing.
I think many voted for "normal" but then expected Mr. Normal to come out of the phone booth as Superman. But Mr. Normal's contrast to the previous guy is both sobering and inspiring.
I guess, just the memory of the Thomas hearings & what was done to Anita Hill - certainly proves hes as human as any of us AND politicians do make mistakes - which have consequences. I do believe he tries!
He's been around for a long, long time and an 'old' grandfather. Those are strikes against imagining.
Brilliant thought. Thank you Kathy.
That is real courage, Les.
Thanks Christine, just being honest these days seems to be an act of ‘courage.’
“fully the party of Trump. It is corrupt, indecent and immoral. With the exception of a few governors…it is filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party's greatest leaders.... Today the GOP has become a danger to our democracy and our values.”
And Steve Bannons: Fill the media with shit.
Aren't you taking on a labour of Hercules in the Augean stables! Leading in a river of clear water to wash it all out.
I think it was actually ..."flood the zone with shit". Same thing, of course.
No sh!t!!
Lots of it.
Nice, Olof 🏆🏆
Holy F—k! Although Meghan McCain did spend a lot of time of “The View” bashing the book “Game Change”. Although it would have been nice if Schmidt would have came out sooner. Like 10 years ago
Perhaps Schmidt was weighing alternatives for Republican nominees. For decades, the Republicans have nominated candidates from a pool of lesser smarts and more shenanigans, while the ultra wealthy dark money folks continue to do what they want.
So many men with feet of clay. McCain cheated on the first wife why not the second? And you are so right about the media not being truthful but loving their myths. We could surely use a lot more immediate honesty these days, not years down the road.
What’s going on Oleg Deriposka’s yachts anyways? He seems to throw a lot of parties for our politicians. Party-tician cruises? What was the claim made by the young Belarusian sex worker under arrest in Thailand? She claimed to have knowledge and video recordings of Oleg Deriposka bragging of 2016 election meddling while on the same yacht. ( but she so quietly went away once deported back to Russia)
Silenced as only Russia can
How many Russian journalist has Putin had killed? He has killed more journalist than any other dictator in recent memory. Anna Politkovskaya told the truth about the Moscow apartment bombings that lead to atrocities in Gronzy. She and others paid the ultimate price for doing so.
😣
Anastasia Vashukevich
The majority of these billionaire Putin cronies are the worst of sleaze.
I believe I recall a scathing article about John McCain's personal life and career published in The Rolling Stone but I do not remember anything in it about his affair with a lobbyist. Wasn't it Trump's and Stone's favorite trash tabloid owning friend that broke the news of John Edwards affair during the same campaign and 8 years later helped cover up Trump's in 2016? I just don't get it. Go back and read The Rolling Stone article and Schmidt's midnight confession won't seem so surprising. As much as I like Schmidt's monologues and enjoyed his Lincoln Project advertisements I can't say I thought he ever was responsible for Palin. If McCain let anyone else choose his #2 would he have been any better than the lazy orange time bomb we got 8 years later? In hindsight you can see that the Russian mobsters starting grooming Trump right after the election with the birther crap....Manafort, Davis, Stone, and the New York Piss. I hold my head is despair. I shudder to think how, if Obama hadn't won, we would now be living under an autocracy. How did the Ratpublicans get Romney to run in 2012? Should we be digging for some truths there too? Did the NY Piss do a hatchet job on him? Who first published about the dog on his car roof and his many, many mansions? How do we drive a stake through the heart of the party that once upon a time saved the Union? As for Lindsey Graham I think he didn't just talk too much, he was fallowing orders and his transition from besties with McCain to Trump doesn't seem at all peculiar now, does it? Seems like Lindsey might be Robin to McConnell's batman. We can not trust what we think we know or believe about either of those two.
Martha, Link to article you mentioned in Rolling Stone below. It is a gigantic pan of John. People with a subscription or viewed once or twice will be able to read, otherwise, there is a paywall. I am not a subscriber, so could not gift.
John McCain: A 'Maverick,' Revisited - Rolling Stonehttps://www.rollingstone.com › politics › politics-news
Oct 16, 2008 — “Johnny” Apple of The New York Times, who had arrived by helicopter to cover the deadliest Naval calamity since the Second World War. The son of ...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/john-mccain-make-believe-maverick-202004/
I read the Rolling Stone article years ago and always viewed McCain in the shadow of its revelations. Myth is a powerful drug. Reality of one’s addiction to it is humbling, but necessary to the survival of one’s own self image
I felt that his time as a prisoner of war gave him credence. Then in 2000, repubs trashed him in the SC primary, but he never fought back. Wonder why because their lies were vicious and obvious
It was as if he changed suddenly in mid stride. Never the same man overnight.
In Professor Richardson’s references today, I was led to picture of Sen McCain following his campaign director Davis up the ramp to the yacht deck where Follieri and Anne Hathaway stood. When I first looked at it, I thought it was Sen McCain in the dapper lead followed by a rather hunched over man lumbering up the plank. Almost shabby looking.
Surprised I was to read caption of correct order. Davis and Follieri in charge and Sen McCain holding on to handrail for dear life and dressed almost in disguise.
Which Anne Hathaway? The good one or the ogre.
Necessary for an interest in the truth ...as close as we can get to it.
I can speak from personal experience that denial of the myth is a hard road with many obstacles
I believe that you speak the truth, Dave.
It was not about McCain, but rather a musician. The rose colored glasses I wore faded to black and I was forced to face my own complicity of “looking the other way” in the face of truths that embarrassed me in my perception of self.
Fern, I remember reading that article years ago and it somewhat cemented my opinion of him. Thanks for posting it.
Linda, I just read it, and while not a fan, It surprised me.
Thinking I need to subscribe again.
Want to look over a few recent editions first?
Not so good, Fern?
Thank you Fern, for finding this article. I was racking my brain for where I'd read of McCain's bio, life of privilege, infidelity, underwhelming character and just flipped through his book bios and none were familiar. Must be this article during the 2008 election that made impression on me of McCain's spoiled frailties. Appreciate you posting it here. Now I can get my chores done, haha! :)
Great to hear from you, Cary. How about coming over here when your finished? I have quite a few chores that I don't want to do..
I remember to much, thought I was the only one
I googled Russia and Romney. I had forgotten when he said Russia was our biggest enemy and Obama made a joke about it. As it happens he was very right. He knew. What exactly did Romney know and when did he know it?
Great connection to Lindsey Graham.
The NYT in February 2008 disclosed McCain's long involvement with a lobbyist. It's the article that Steve Schmidt refers to. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/09/business/media/steve-schmidt-john-mccain.html
Thank you, Mr. Bales
Frankly, the bit from today’s LFAA which most distressed me was journalist Sarah Jones’s remark suggesting “how we Americans don’t like to be told the truth and how our media so loves mythology that they work to deliver lies to us instead of holding the powerful accountable.”
My fear is that those of us who know better would rue the day the public-at-large were not to expect strong, honest, and accurate reporting from journalists intent on getting as close as possible to the verifiable truth, on getting, when warranted, under the skin of people in power and telling stories partisans in high places don’t want told. We would rue that day because, while each branch of government has its duties, we rely on the media to provide the necessary information and to nurture the fundamental discourse essential to maintaining our democratic republic.
When our MSM, including PBS started following Fox’s money trail, I felt hopeless
Jeri, I haven’t given up on the idea that the people, this country’s greatest resource, in my view, can be that force to create change in the media. One way is to reach out to whomever through their social media handles.
The refusal by at least a third of Americans to take public health measures, such as masks and vaccinations against covid, contradicts any claim that the country’s greatest resource is its people. And the covid response is just one example among many. The level of belligerence and willful ignorance in the American population, together with the successful channeling of belligerent ignoramuses by Republican elites, has put them in a position to continue minority rule of the country for at least a few generations into the future, to the detriment not just of the majority of Americans but also of all large mammals on the planet.
A great resource can be squandered. It seems like the height of irony that the resource we are squandering is ourselves. If we willingly consume hate mongering messages and an endless theatre of outrage, then our addiction will be the source of our demise as a nation.
Nathan, I both admire your insight and take heart in knowing we can choose to act according to the highest humanitarian principles.
Rex, I understand that there are tens of millions connected with worthy groups that take on issues that range from attempts to address the growing gap between rich and poor to efforts to safeguard water, air, and wilderness. I would submit that their sustained engagement, their energy, their caring, their work possibly could make the sorts of differences that would render the “deplorables” to whom you refer as increasingly irrelevant.
I like the sentiment and of course hope you’re right. I think that’s unlikely but still hope for that outcome and do what I can to push things in that direction. One of the many things that raise my hackles, though, is pollyanna references to the “greatness” (or any term with similar connotations) of the American people. White Ameicans are, by and large, odious. Our only hope is energetic (to put it mildly) collaboration among the 40% of white Americans who are decent human beings and the rest of the American population. And, even if by some miracle that collaboration succeeds, the odious 60% who don’t even believe in the rule of law, let alone equal treatment of all people under the law, will still be with us causing all manner of catastrophe.
Rex, Point taken regarding the usage of “pollyanna” superlatives. That said, I imagine a percentage of the white Americans you reference have been the victims of modernity’s unevenly distributed opportunity and prosperity, an injustice, in my view, that has helped kindle the tribal racist, sexist, and homo/transphobic backlash, unleashing a fatal weakening of liberal democracy in the U.S.
As for a partial remedy, I repeatedly have called for the prompt passage of as much of the Budget Reconciliation package (BBB) that can get support from 50 Senators as a downpayment, so to speak, of more to come if Democrats retain the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
The optimist in me disagrees that there is an odious 60% of Americans who don't believe in the rule of law. Millions don't bother to register to vote and a third of those who do register don't bother to vote. This is how democracy gets flushed away.
Washington Post received a Pulitzer for their coverage of Jan 6. Journalists in Ukraine received a Pulitzer for their work on Putin's war.
Kathy, I just read an online piece from The Post that discussed its standards relative to several categories including Ethics, Verification and fact-checking, Corrections, Sources, and Diversity. To say I was mighty impressed would be an understatement.
News-gathering is inherently imperfect (just try doing it). That said, the Post’s work, while flawed at times, is exemplary.
How deep is the ocean? We actually do know. See note and link below. Think about it. We do know the depth of the ocean but DO WE KNOW THE DEPTH OF CORRUPTION IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT? The story about McCain, Davis and Manafort will be fascinating and revealing.
Most importantly, how much don't we know about the corruption of our government? Who and what is going to take on that piece of investigative journalism? We need to know a lot more. Could it bring the house down? Whose house is it anyway?
The average depth of the ocean is about 3,688 meters (12,100 feet). The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.
How deep is the ocean?
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov › facts › oceandepth
Hi Fern! Actually, 80% of the ocean is not mapped. I have a feeling that the same is true for corruption in America. A growing number of gifted reporters, the 1/6/21 committee, and a few honest politicians are becoming excellent cartographers, though. ;)
Steve, Hello. Good morning. While not mapped, could depth, nevertheless, be known with close enough estimate? Did you check the link that I provided? Just double checking. PS I believe in leeway for Sandy. We can discuss, if you like.
These days i think its done by satellite.
At least someone is making that effort for the Oceans. What we have in American political corruption is the effort to hide it or disguise it in plain sight, and what we can’t hide, we make legal.
Yes, ted. By Oceans, are you referring to U.S. v. China?
No, just building on Daria’s analogy of how deep the ocean is and how corrupt our politics has become. We simply do not know the depths to f either, but technology is helping map the furthest depths of our oceans. Connections like here at HCR substack are helping us identify our biggest political challenges.
Media is a seller. Political parties are buyers. TV and newspapers have a shrinking market, which makes it a buyers market. This is why media helps perpetuate myths. Don’t piss off your biggest customers. The parties have leverage over the media outlets. So Media outlets attempt to not take sides so as not to rock the boat. But by being so embedded in the process, they themselves either don’t see the truth or don’t care that the right has shifted to the tipping point of fascist Authoritarianism.
Checking on this. Thank you, Stuart. My oceanic link was thought to be true, maybe that is so.
Panama papers. Pandora Papers. Something bigger is about to drop. Fern, Sarah knows what up.
“Corruption in America” Sarah Chayse
Yes she does, Ted.
“Everybody Knows” by Sarah Chayes
To know and not buy into the myths and to be constantly tempted to self protect with a “story”……it’s the hardest and bravest thing to do to acknowledge truth and base one’s trust upon truth and not myth.
There is a part of me that is sadder and sadder as more and more is revealed. Even with most of it being known already but just not admitted by many people. Myth is strong. The John McCain saga will knock many off their feet.
The manipulation must stop now with our youngest. I say again that the threat to public education and the blatant attempt to brainwash our children with the white Christian nationalist credo is the most egregious of all.
Indeed it is, Christine. As the public schools created factory workers out of farm kids, the goal of the Christian Taliban is to create foot soldiers/fodder/breeding mares out of our children.
Good morning, wise Ally. I thank the stars every day that First Lady Jill Biden is an influential, knowledgeable, practicing educator. It is every educator that must speak up and act to quell the rising tide to discredit the common good and turn public education policy into a mere political tool. That is not the end game. The end game is to groom our children. Doing the very thing that Republicans say they protest.
I stamp my foot and breathe a fiery “Russian warship….go f*ck yourself” like a silky dragon intent on strangulation.
Salud. 🙋🏻🙋🏼🙋🏽🙋🏾🙋🏿🗽
Yes, Christine, Yes! I wish it were so. My Years in public education tell me we have the potential and while some schools especially in higher income districts, teach children to think and problem solve, many teachers and students are just surviving the budgets, politicized curriculum, poverty and violence. We fund religious education. We fund the creation theory. Creationism. Looking at some of our leaders freaking out about CRT, I’m not waiting for a miracle. Unless some states secede.
I started my education career as a Peace Corps teacher in Sierra Leone. There the standardized exams that the "seniors"(fifth form) took were sent out of country to be graded to prevent corruption. The principal congratulated me for the number of kids that managed to pass. I thought that it was their achievement not mine. Then I spent many years at a small rural school near Salem. We had an excellent staff and then we got the principal from hell. He managed to up the tension in the building to ten with the corrupt using this to further their agendas and take revenge on those of us who didn't agree with them....the problem here was mainly the coaching corner where too many were hired to coach rather than teach. We had exceptions, but that is where we got our worst and most corrupt teachers. Now teachers I know try to do their best around the constant standardized testing which is killing to critical thinking, etc. I am furious that we are paying for religious education and so many charter schools are bogus and/or designed to keep kids away from certain groups of other kids.
Dr. Biden is really a fine Example when a leader meets the moment. An educator willing to take on real issues. The threat to public education is real. I want to see more teachers take on the issue of memory laws, book banning, anti CRT ( that isn’t even taught ) and the absurdity that math books are “grooming”.
Somebody needs to speak up for Disney too. What the hell is going on in Florida. Who spiked the water Desantis is drinking with so many Fascist flavors?
Christine, yes, Especially since ALL children go to school and there are no true regulations that will stop propaganda and lies, as government pays for home schooling and charter schools.
I’m saddened and I’m fired up. I can clearly see how myths are perpetuated to keep people warm and fuzzy, on the couch of their democracy. Power wants them there in comfort. The Greeks knew the dangers of comfort.
What is the consequence of a nation to have a party that consistently comforts it’s voters rather than tell hard truths?
Truth and accepting it translates to a habit of challenge acceptance, the gateway to success in life is the development of resilience. Power doesn’t want to build a strong, informed, and resilient populace, that can challenge their power. This is where we are, the tipping point of Corptocracy and Oligarchy leading to Authoritarianism, or truth, equality of opportunity, and democracy.
The myths are just smart bombs, cruise missiles of lies, comfort is their payload.
Give me the hard truth. Every time.
Thank you, ted. I was just going to your comment here to write down the books you recommended. This has been a long time in growing and exposing -- the corruption -- there will be more than one big drop if the 'free-press', excepting Jane Mayer, cares to deliver.
Fern, I can feel it my bones. There’s more to why Putin believed he could get away with invading Ukraine, and to do so, so savagely. I think that reason has to do with the “investments” he’s made in Western Europe, AND in the United States and at the political leadership level. He has created his “5th column” in the west.
ted, many of us who knew or suspected recognized how important it was to be revealed. I also, truly, feel sick and worried. Worried about whether or not there are any or enough guardrails.
Corruption is another reason for “obstructionism” as policy by the GOP. “Can’t have any new anti corruption laws”, otherwise how would we pay ourselves a “competitive salary + commission” said every Republican since Nixon.
Yes, ted. I think even stronger -- coverup. Eliminating regulations, Citizen United - reduce and eliminate transparency. There is more than meets the eyes.
With every passing day, it appears that what Putin has done with his "investments" is going to be exposed. What a tragedy that the Ukrainian people — their lives and country — have been the catalyst.
Horrifying that there is a Putin …. how many more of them....(Not a real question. It was simply a response from the shattered and profoundly assaulted brain of mine) Yes, truly, remember the Ukrainians.
The West, claiming victory over Communism that was the USSR, fell in Yeltsin’s unknowing trap. Unregulated Capitalism without the rule of law is no guarantee for democracy. In Russia today, we can see it so clearly, as it happened so fast and “over there”. In the US, it just happened slower, since 1980. Embedded as we are, and drunk with the myth that Capitalism guarantee's democracy, we fail at present to see our own oligarchy's creation and rise to power. All the metrics of American inequality continue to reveal themselves, yet we remain blind, failing to address our inequality which has resulted in creating our own oligarchy. Even the Greeks knew this pattern.
Planning on a return to chump, timing a little off
Ted, thanks! Indeed, there is way more to know as to why Putin believed he could get away with invading Ukraine. May the next shoe drop soon.
Excellent observation ted
Thanks for the recommendation: “On Corruption in America” by Sarah Chayse.
She has another, “Thieves of State”. And has given plenty of Ted talks and lectures. Sarah Chayse is a courageous humanitarian for hope and evolution of the species.
https://youtu.be/QoiVyzlit5I
Just watched this. Very impressed. Went back and snagged the titles of her books for my reading list. Thanks to all of you for this treasure.
It’s Sarah “Chayes”.
Thank You Ted.
... so then, what is love ...?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gUG2SQK03tU
Kathleen Allen, with Billie Holiday you brought me together with a love affair beginning in high school. BIG THANK YOU. Oh, YES!
Fern, let me add an extra. One of my fave “how deep” love songs. By the BeeGees.
Enjoy. https://youtu.be/XJMF8R5NDoA
The one and only Lady Day❣️
Hi Ashley, I deleted my uncharitable response to you sweet compliment. I apologize. I didn't feel admirable and was tired to boot. I hope that you will chalk up my lack of hospitality to the mindlessness of spent soul. Salud, AshleyR.
No worries, Fern. All chalked up and wishing rest for your spent soul. 💙🕊
Thank you, Kathleen, a perfect example of Thematic Instruction, teaching with all modalities and learning styles. You might not get that by DeSantis and Abbott but it’s worth a big try. Public school children deserve a chance.
Hi Fern, the US langiuishes, ex-equo at about 27th with France in international poles of financial rectitude for nations.
Thank you. I did know that.
I didn't think otherwise for a minute, Fern. Others might have missed it. I'm in University these past couple of days.
I have a deal on old cast iron gas stoves.... (rope is free).
Thank u Fern. 3 weeks ago or so I asked about our own oligarchs and their corruption.
Yes! As though we need reminding, along came Musk and before him Zuckerberg.. and how many periods before this one. Hasn't it almost always been this way? More so now...I don't know. A Letter about American Oligarchy, that would be past due.
Thank you Fern for giving us some facts that we can measure. The environment. The sea. The government corruption is beyond measure. Your question: How deep?
Irenie, The depth and widespread corruption in U.S. has been on my mind and many others' for a long time. While there has been some good work, I am going to example one soon, however, other than Jane Mayer's work, there hasn't been broadly examined journalism on the subject that I am aware of - a gigantic failing on the part of the 'free-press'. How much of the U.S. is oligarchic? This is it and has been for how long in the modern period - corruption, oligarchy and anti-democratic practices -- WE'RE NOT LOOKING PRETTY!
Fern, you’re spot on! So often the TRUTH, isn’t pretty. If we begin to cry, we’ll drown. What’s next is scary. I’ll share some Howard Zinn, maybe for a shred of optimism. And I’ll still cry.
We're connected, Irenie, but I rarely cry. Can't see clearly that way. Once in a while, I admit, it just comes automatic.
We embrace our heroes. It is good to have role models, people to look up to. The story of their lives and accomplishments are burnished over time, expanded, woven into a mythology in which our heroes cease being human and can seemingly do no wrong. In time, however, the truth will out. And when that happens, it shatters our faith, in people, in the institutions we believed in, in our own judgement. Or we deny the truth and double down on the myth. We apparently have trouble accepting the fact that all of, including the heroes among, are human, too. May the flaws of our heroes be minor.
That I do pray, Fran.
There was a terrific TV series called "The Americans" starring Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. Two Russian "plants" who operate undercover as if they were a typical suburban family. I was sad to see it end. However, now we have the grist for a follow up season or movie. "The Americans - In High Places".
This story of Davis was hidden in plain sight! How did he and Manafort get away with this crap? It's all here on a Wiki page. Davis has been embedded in GQP politics since the 80's. When did he trade in his political purity for Russian money? Was it when he worked for Reagan, Dole, Bush...?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Davis_(political_consultant)
Stone’s adoration of Nixon (or power) spread like cancer; then Rupert and Ronnie gave the oxygen. Chump just hopped on the train to add the ratings. Nowhere to go but where we are.
“The Americans” was excellent! I would love a sequel of some sort.
“ McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain, a sometime media personality” ;)
she is whiney. entitled and annoying.
When will a hacker take over our media channels and tell the truth about Rupert’s lies; add chump’s lies and we can rewrite history and save our future
This would be a great start.
Schmidt documents Pogo's observation: "We have met the enemy and it is us." Putin has been pulling strings in the GOP since before 2008. No wonder McConnell was given the moniker "Moscow Mitch."
Maybe I will go read this thanks to your account. I’m wondering whether to follow Schmidt and the Lincoln Project’s path, from a different perspective, and change my registration from Democratic to Independent. Because, in the frustration of these days, I’m feeling that if the Repubs are the party of the corrupt, and they are, the Dems, sadly, seem to be the party of the inept (Ukraine excepted). Sigh. Thanks as always, Robert
Please, please reconsider. Republicans are driven by anger, disinformation and grievance. They are all bomb, no build. Democrats, inept as we may seem, are focused on the hard work of governing, while fighting an insurgent Republican Party and a self serving media. As for the Independent choice here’s what Howard Zinn once said” you can’t remain neutral on a moving train”.
Diane. thank you ! was waiting for the right time to post this “on a positive note”
“Howard Zinn TO BE HOPEFUL IN BAD TIMES is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion,
sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to
emphasize in this complex history will determine our
lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so many~where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
• Howard Zinn
HUMAN REFORM POLITIcS: a force for positive change”
This is no small task as we find ourselves swimming against a powerful river of disinformation. And you’re correct, we must rise to this moment and face it with hope as well as determination.
well, Bernie seems to do a good job of it. But, no hurry. Actually, I think that Republicans are driven by sheer selfishness - self-interest, rather than self-awareness. But that's for later. I'm looking at all of this from the perspective of some understanding of Germany in the 1930's. A malevolent party gaining power is, unfortunately, a one-way trip. Bottom line, no argument with me about what a force for evil today's Republican party is.
Dems need all the gas they can get these days.
I am very anguished at the depraved and sinister depths to which the Republican Party has fallen while groping for Political control of the United States. Since 1980 their Presidential candidates have ranged from spectacularly and dangerous mediocrity of George W, an obviously fading John McCain to the pathetically indecent attempted reign of Trump.
The successful candidates George H.W.Bush and Reagan were little more than forms of window dressing both of whom managed poorly and left more harm than good.
Is there not a Party faction or person capable of recapturing the importance of Abe Lincoln’s determination that the nation was dedicated by the Declaration of Independence and its base of equality of nations and of humans?