This afternoon, President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, into law. At a celebratory signing ceremony on the White House lawn, he and several of the lawmakers who worked to pass the measure, Democrats and Republicans both, joined in praising the new law.
Strolling down Memory Lane, screenshots almost 5 years ago.
"How sad it must be-- believing that scientists, scholars, historians, economists and journalists have devoted their entire lives to deceiving you while a reality tv star with decades of fraud and exhaustively documented lying is your only beacon of truth and honesty." Most of today's republicans wouldn't recognize truth and honesty if it bit them in their fat a$$es.
It really is in large part about a society that admires and emulates “grifting” as the how to get ahead methodology. It’s a strange mix of sociopaths (like Trump) wannabes and the huge number of psychologically aggrieved.
Seeing grifters like Trump actually winning by cheating, tax evasion and crushing would be competition ( like asking to be paid per contract agreement) is the perfect mental dream state for the actual “loser” masses.
These economic losers who have no understanding of how what they aspire to actually is their oppressor. They would literally rather die than examine the true nature of “Grifter Capitalism” that Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek other far right inspired in todays fascist loving Republican Party. Most of the rank and file have no clue about this grift in which they are willing idiots of their contemptuous sociopathic idols.
Snake oil, and those that sell it, has always been a big, big part of the American experience.
Just imagine dictating an entire book while looking into a hat and then starting a religion based on what came out of hat? Sound amazing, go out to Salt Lake City and look around. It IS amazing.
Trump is just the latest iteration of Joseph Smith and others like him.
"This really is a BFD!" -Joe Biden. This is the best, most candid, and down right funniest comment I have herd from a public official in decades. It filled me with blue collar hope. Our democracy (okay, we actually live in a constitutional republic - for now) is MUCH safer today than it was on Sunday. That is a large reason why this is such a BFD. What the neo-con(federates) feared the most has come to pass - the passage of a bipartisan bill through the process of hard negotiation. Yippee ki yay! Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. Please, let's work from where we are, progressing toward an ideal, rather than trying to jump right to that ideal.
Another bit of surprising news: "Today the central committee of the Wyoming Republican Party voted 31–29 that it would no longer recognize Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) as a member because of her stand against Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection." 31 to 29. That means the Wyoming Republican central committee is divided almost in half. That was not the case a month ago.
Remember: "It will all be all right in the end. If it is not all right, it is not the end". - The Best Marigold Hotel. :)
I feel that much gnashing of teeth will come before the end…. Why does anyone still refer to republicans as if they are a serious entity. They have become the enemy of us all. Sorry but a cult is not a tribe, a cult demands the suspension of any logic or empathy. A tribe has a positive vibe. Know the difference.
And I doubt you ever will, because you have to be sexist and racist without self-examination. I will never understand it either, but I have seen it fiercely expressed a whole lot in the last five years, nearly always by white blue collar men. Warehouse workers and truck drivers. They see a guy who looks successful and wealthy, who is white and racist and sexist, and it makes them feel good about their identity as a white man. It’s rather shallow and dim, from our perspective, identifying so closely with one’s white race and male gender, but there it is. Put between 40% and half of the US in that circle, the circle of people who are comfortable and happy in their cushy little Hallmark channel bubble, where the whites and the men figure prominently and call the shots, and diversity agents (people of color or women in their power) are targets of suspicion. We live in a remarkably polarized society. Two completely different worldviews.
Thank you for this reply, Roland. You didn't say anything I didn't know, but actually verified the truth. That actually helps me grapple with this atrocity of Drump love.
propaganda works, did Rupert ever show the worst from tfg. Would bet that Fox never showed clips of the word salad, and the Helsinki pic if have of Putin obviously in charge of the loser. Fox isn't stupid. They know how to slander and how to make a hero out of bull schitt
I find that you can't find a solution to a problem unless you thoroughly understand the dynamics of the problem. In this case the dynamics are emotional. Anger, fear, relating to another white man who they think have all the answers to better their lives. Reality says this is not at all true, but that is where we divide. We understand the real 45, and the others don't care to understand and will create delusions to stay engaged.
James, It's what kinder, open minded, peaceable people do. We always try to understand, to find reasons, attempt dialogue, etc. etc. It's not working to well for us lately! Reason cannot dialogue with emotion, especially with fear and hatred. We have been failing to adapt... Our well-funded and power-hungry opponents correctly view it as our fatal flaw.
Not this time! We won't fight them with their dirty tactics, but we are getting smarter. We are out-thinking them. We will use the very tools that they seek to destroy against them:
They are also the enemy of themselves!! As they destabilize the government they will ruin their personal fortunes (except the fortunes they have parked offshore). They scream about Biden causing this present inflation, but if they succeed with THEIR plan, the proverbial 'wheelbarrows of (their) cash' wouldn't much anymore. Don't they see that?
Biden was clever to say “next year will be the first year in 20 years American infrastructure investment will grow faster than China’s.” That plays on us-and-Russia-against-China racism in the white electorate to get them behind the program.
I love this. So much for Biden's squeaky clean grandpa image. I also loved it when he came out a few days ago when the Bill passed and he was laughing and mocking tfg about "Infrastructure Week".
"Squeaky clean grandpa image"? I learned to cuss from my grandfather who before WWI was the First Sergeant in a troop of cavalry. A grandfather isn't all piggyback rides and butterscotch candies, neither is a grandmother.
No, it will not (necessarily) be “all right” in the end.
There is a chance of things being “all right” if we take individual responsibility for understanding how we are being fleeced by an unending line of hucksters to vote against our own best interests in return for some feel good bullshit like the importance of feeling personally powerful by swaggering about with an AR45 anytime your dick feels limp or being uneducated, unhealthy and underemployed but at least the undeserving others are worse off than you are.
We have been competing for a race to the bottom, spurred on by the political donations by the likes of Koch Industries who getting ever wealthier and more powerful as we head for societal collapse.
I'm surprised that the foam dripping from your fangs didn't short out your keyboard! ;) I can certainly echo your anger -- I've spent too much of the last, ...wow, 40 years quivering with rage and thinking bloody thoughts about various neighbors, family members, and fellow citizens.
Last week, after almost 10 years of swearing to myself that I would rather bite off a finger than be around my wealthy, highly-educated, Trump-voting family members, I had lunch with my cousin. He's a long-time lead legal counsel for one of the state Republican parties -- he doesn't need an AR-15 to feel powerful, since he actually is.
We talked. Some about family, but also about our differences. Not that we argued about them, it was more an exploration of the contours of our differences. He seemed surprised that I didn't know anyone who voted Republican, and that I really didn't understand why anyone would want to. He asked me why I was a Democrat (I'm not, really), and didn't answer when I said that at least the Democrats have a viable theory of government, while the Republicans don't seem to. I think my words were, "I can't imagine why the Republicans seem to prefer corrupt Business and corrupt Religion over corrupt Government. At least with corrupt Government, there's a chance you can vote the assholes out." And I was gratified by his silence, because I didn't take it to mean that he agreed with me, but that he was determined to avoid an argument, too.
I hope we can repeat our lunch and perhaps other discussions, too. And I'm glad I have a "safe" space here to vent my outrage over the crap my cousin's collegues spew into our political bloodstream every day. I don't want to vent that rage over my neighbors, my family members, and my fellow citizens (although pissing on Roger Stone's grave is on my bucket list). Instead, I want to work with him, because I'm quite certain that the next century will be very, very hard, and fighting each other will be deadly for a great many of us, regardless of religion or political belief.
It's not the pandemic that's killing our nation, it's the fight.
You present a constructive way of dealing with the anger and hopelessness I am increasingly feeling. Talk out our differences.
I am fearful of becoming a parody of an angry old guy, alienating friends and being the butt of jokes. I do care, deeply, but is it always reasonable, considered, constructive? Watching the Kyle Rittenhauser trail really is making me choke on my own venom.
I haven't watched a single minute of it. Forbidden to do so by shrink and daughter as I continue to recover from a near catatonic meltdown. I thought being a good citizen meant that I had to keep track of all the bad stuff happening right now. I can tell you it feels much better when you stop drinking poison and throwing sand and gore in your eyes, allowing one to be stronger, smarter, and a more effective citizen. activist, participant -- as opposed to wounded viewer. I'm not exactly there yet! But I have a chance since I turned the TV off. Almost as hard as quiting smoking....
Thank you for that. I have been subscribing to Schweitzer comment “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” It can take over one’s life, which does no good at all.
I have never seen such a travesty. I'm old and I have seen plenty. Some network should show a pic of his Mom with her assault rifles draped on her. She drove him and guns to the protest. Wonder why. Puke
Christian, Do you have speakers with you computer, so that you can hear music when opening a link which contains an outlet on which to hear music, such as You Tube?
my bros are not wealthy or highly-educated, just never been more than 50 miles from rural NC. Still no excuse for falling for a cult, All Fox watchers are likely cult devotees. Your talk sounded productive, mine, not so much.
I think it depends on how one defines “the end”, Christian. Is it after the midterms, after the presidential? When, in realty, is “the end”?
IMHO, it will be at some later date, after the “smoke” clears. It may get REALLY bad in the interim, but right WILL triumph over might––or evil––or any other definition of the forces of darkness.
ITM, we must concentrate on the positive, the constructive! In addition to the political arena, there is much to be done at the ground-level, community stage. Our traditional institutions and organizations are in shambles, and seem destined to decay even further.
We need to organize our friends, family, neighbors, to buttress our educational systems, our public safety infrastructure, our moral/spiritual standards, and so much more! We must rebuild––reconstruct––the social order.
I totally agree, there is a need for optimism and I believe there is never an end, only change.
My view of "The End" is greatly influenced by the events of the tyranny which forced my family out of our comfortable middle-class existence of many many generations in Germany. In our case not by oppression or victimization, but by shame and despair. Our family did not thrive after emigrating and all that generations had worked for as a family came to an end. Change was brought about in Germany which led to what I believe is a more just and introspective society and that is a good thing.
It was also "the End" for six million Jews, their families, their communities, their hopes.
It was "The End" for the soldiers and civilians who died in that conflict and the many other conflicts brought on by tyrants and other liars during my generation.
Another "End" I fear is climate change. Not a problem in my lifetime, in fact I will most likely benefit, but the effects talked about at the Glasgow Conference focused mostly on conservative projections. Glacial fissures have not been factored into most climate change modelling which will cause much more rapid melting of glaciers and icecaps and subsequent sea level rises and flooding of all coastal cities, melting of permafrost in the arctic will release trillions of metric tonnes of methane which could advance us to a tipping point where things will be "all right" again, in perhaps half a million years.
To blindly believe things will be "all right" without seriously looking at what can happen and what we should be taking responsibility for is not all right with me.
I do believe there is hope though and a way out of the mess we are digging ourselves into. It was shown to me by a friend in this videoclip.
... to add to the above I recommend Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny", which has been cited in this forum before, for another look at what "the end" can look like.
Christian, I appreciate your response and the “back story” of your viewpoint. My heart goes out to you and your family for the calamitous experience you all faced. It is a tragic occurrence that has been a part of human history for all time.
My personal and family history is also catastrophic. My ancestors were brought to these shores in chains. They and their progeny suffered centuries of unspeakable horrors and terror, and a continuing denial of their humanity.
My personal perspective probably would be considered pollyannaish, especially given my background, but I discovered a spiritual “movement” about 45 years ago that lays out a blueprint for humanity’s future that, though incredibly optimistic, makes a solid case for the redemption of the human race.
Imagine, if you will, humanity as an individual; it began as an infant and has now grown into adolescence. The upheaval that we have been experiencing is much like the orbit of a teenager leaving childhood and struggling to become an adult. Humanity is throwing tantrums one moment and claiming to be a grownup in the next.
We have to navigate this terrifying but necessary passage, alternating between childishness and maturity in fits and starts. But grow up we will! Battered and scarred we will rise above the carnage and wreckage of this transition and enter a new period of reconstruction and reconciliation.
I know it is a difficult perspective to accept, but the plan exists and we can all contribute to its success.
But in the meantime, these words from Winston Churchill early in WWII seem particularly apropos: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
When what and/or who's 'smoke clears'? Which states, in terms of educations, for instance, Texas, Florida, Wyoming, Mississippi, Alabama... ? Why isn't getting the national voting acts passed and strong public lobbying of DA, Merrick Garland, to prosecute those who have committed treasonous acts the first order of business?
Fern, I think you may have misunderstood me. What I am suggesting does not replace voting rights or the prosecution of these criminals. And it is not state or region specific as far as education or any other issue is concerned. I suspect that we face massive disruption of various sorts throughout the nation.
What I believe is that we must, in parallel with the efforts to stem the ruinous political tide, is to establish fresh initiatives in terms of recreating the human infrastructure that is under assault from the same forces that seek to destroy our political and other institutions. Most of these attacks are national in character and, whereas you may be able to identify “hot spots” politically, much of the danger in other areas is shared, or will soon be shared, by all of us.
It is critical that we construct new entities that can repel the sorts of propaganda that has been used over the past several decades. Truth and reality must be reestablished is such a manner that the “slings and arrows” of the outrageous are turned back.
We are, for the most part, alert and aware of the legislative felonies that are being committed on an almost daily basis. Treason and traitors can be easily identified. What is also an existential wildfire is the undermining of our educators, scientists, experts in every field, by the duplicitous felons who turn our language into tools and weapons to dismantle our civilization.
Now is the time to rush to the aid of those who are dedicated to help our children and youth to understand their world and to discover the ways and means to navigate it. Reality has been targeted by the malicious fear mongers and spreaders of hate. But we can erect the “ramparts” of reality to turn back these nether forces.
If I understand your comment, Bill, you are seeking ways, which you have termed 'entities', to address the lies/propaganda/conspiracies/destabilizing factors infecting our society. Two of the people I believe to be in the forefront of understanding the tyrannical forces at large in our country are Timothy Snyder and Jonathan Haidt. You may be interested in their work.
Timothy David Snyder is an American author and historian specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. (Wikipedia) His newsletter on substack is called, 'Thinking about... ' List of his books are below.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017)
Bloodlands (2010)
Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015)
Jonathan David Haidt is an American social psychologist, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business, and author. His main areas of study are the psychology of morality and moral emotions. (Wikipedia) List of his book is below.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
2012
The Happiness Hypothesis
2006
The Coddling of the American Mind
2018
Why Do They Vote That Way? From The Righteous Mind
2018
Can't We All Disagree More Constructively? From The Righteous Mind
2016 (Links to some of articles by and about Haidt are below)
Michael. Having not served in the military, it is on the Forum that I first faced this collection of acronyms. I am making a copy of the list and will keep it close to the computer when on the Forum. TQ!
Thank you, Laurie. It would not have been any good to ask HCR to spell it out, but another comic note for sure. Next time, I will asked her. If you want to know about one of the ways Reagan f____ed, NYC read my comment. It wasn't funny.
Laurie I am overwhelmed by the intellectual level of this exchange. Are we sprucing up our language to better communicate with the despicables? I suggest that you use capital letters and highlight FALSE FACTS so that there will be a level playing field.
As I've said now multiple times, Biden worked very hard and smart for this, and now it's law. I don't agree with him on everything, but I've learned over many years that one never agrees with a politician on everything. I am more confident this morning, though, since passage was bipartisan, that we are going in a good direction overall.
Hopefully Democrats will call out every lying hypocrite Republiscum who touts what the infrastructure bill will do for their state, who voted against it. The campaign ads write themselves for those turds.
The Lincoln Project is on that. The Democrats also need to buy long term, at least through the mid-terms, billboard space on major roads with an X through the face of the Senator or Congressman who’s district the billboard is in and an explanation that they voted against job creation and economic benefits for that district and state. They need to be left up to remind people on a daily basis what they will never see on fox. The Democrats need to get creative in a hurry and sharpen their knives 🔪 or we can kiss our democracy goodbye.
Yes to billboards and /or banners. On our August drive along I-80 from Colorado to Michigan several banners along road construction projects caught our eyes: 'Thank the Democrats for Your New Road' ( ex). We cheered.
Over my lifetime, I came to realize that "white privilege" was a long list of economic, social and political benefits that white Americans unknowingly obtained over hundreds of years of sidelining indigenous people, people of color, non-Christians and women.
I am now realizing that this system was actually built and perpetuated by white men able to get away with murder and crimes against the country, like Trump, Bannon, Meadows and Flynn with facilitators like the Trump Republican Party. Until we have justice, law and order protecting every American from these white collar political criminals, there will be no peace or prosperity for most Americans.
If you haven't read "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson, hurry over to your nearest library or bookstore and get a copy. She lays out the "long list" in superb fashion. It's a lengthy book but very readable.
“Caste” is in my kindle; am now reading “White Rage” by Carol Anderson and I get rageful just seeing in print what the formerly GOP has done to our country…not sure we will recover and I am fearful as to the midterms…they have such control over so many states.
Ann, thanks for another book recommendation. Order sent together with study guide.
I do suspect this whole crowd of commenters on Substack's "Letters From an American" to be schilling for Amazon. My ever supportive wife is eyeing my Amazon account suspiciously since I became a subscriber here.
Oh well, I feel better abought making Bezos richer than I would making Zuckerberg wealthier. And I am not as exposed to the inanities of facebook.
I keep hoping that with just a bit more reading, a bit more knowledge, a bit more insight and with encouragement from Fern, I will learn to express myself more succinctly.
I don’t think you would approve of Amazon’s labor practices. Hopefully, you and or your wife will find other book sellers. I will post a few along with articles about Amazon, if your interested. Cheers, Christian.
I’d be interested in the articles Fern, not sure they would dissuade me of the convenience of Amazon though. Definitely concerned about their monopoly power but also concerned that all positive things have to be perfect before they are good.
Dorothy needs no convincing. She is a consumer Luddite.
We really enjoyed the Dionne Warwick Compilation Album. Thanks again for the link.
Hi Christen, I posted links to articles about Amazon's Labor practices from your Yeats comment about 15 minutes ago. . Just post that you received it when you have a chance. Thanks. Salud!
Hi Christen, it is good to hear from you. I will reply tomorrow or Friday with several in-depth pieces, but haven't done any recent research about the Amazon. I'll look to see if anything worthwhile was recently published. '... concerned that all positive things have to be perfect before they are good.' I didn't understand that line of yours, Christian. Perfection isn't my goal in life, but occasional ecstasy, bountiful harvests, natural beauty and captivating art, top-notch journalism, a long swim in a clear lake, generosity, basketball, good humor, love... yes, there is much to appreciate. Cheers, Fern
The way I read it, for most of us white folks it was "unknowingly". The process itself, from its beginning, was intentional, the assumption was that white was superior to all others, be they slaves or indigenous.
How can white people not have known, unless they were desperately poor? Even if they didn't know that white leadership made laws to "other" BIPOC communities, surely they knew that they were bestowed with white privilege.
I'm not enough of a social scientist, psychologist, historian, or scholar to go into more detail than that. I believe that there are some white people who were VERY intentional in their actions; picking on just a couple of things, post WWII "redlining" and the inequitable distribution of the GI Bill to WWII veterans. My perspective is that of a white kid growing up in a white town in a state which had "sundown laws" into the early 20th century. (The racist language in the state constitution wasn't removed until 2002, and still 30% of voters voted to keep that language in.)
I am not very introspective, nor very curious, and it is only in the past few years (certainly this century) that I have had any recognition of the concepts of white privilege as it is defined currently. As a woman and a lesbian, I have been very aware of male privilege; it is due to my ongoing education that I have learned of white privilege.
I offer a vignette of my father-in-law which took place about a year ago. We were talking, and he was telling us a story: he was tasked by LBJ to find Black pilots to join the Air Force One pool. He found no qualified pilots, and made the quick determination that Blacks were "inadequate pilots; sullen, surly, and unable to fly to the level of the career military pilots that made up the AF1 pool." Admittedly, we sort of ganged up on him, but asked basicly, why he thought that was. After some hemming and hawing, he said, finally, "I guess I'm just a racist. Blacks are inferior to whites." My sister-in-law (a 25 year FedEx pilot) said "do you think it had anything to do with the fact that it wasn't until the mid 1950's that Black men were permitted to be military pilots and that it isn't as much inferiority as it is lack of opportunity?" He couldn't bring himself to agree. This is a man who grew up desperately poor, in foster care, and was essentially "saved" by an Air Force career.
And when you’re a kid and told blacks are inferior, you think, Oh, OK. You start to internalize. Then you look around, and the whole world reinforces this idea, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. So, yeah, oh, OK, inferior.
It’s when I started working with people and going to outside meetings with all kinds of people, got to know them, got to be friends, watched how they maneuvered day to day, got to laughing and teasing and commiserating — HEY, WAIT A MINUTE, some of these folks with darker skin were WAY smarter than I am, way better manners and regard for others ….
Exactly. We never questioned what we were taught while we were children. Our own experiences opened our eyes, our minds snd our hearts. Thank God for those early Civil Rights workers. Without them, we who grew up in the 50’s might never have had the opportunity to work side by side with people of color who were brighter, kinder, stronger and far superior to many of our white neighbors and, dare I say, relatives?
I grew up in northern Indiana among Rs and it took me a long time to realize how racist they were because so many of the phrases they used were in fact, racist, but said without any hostility. I saw my first racial incident in Chicago when I was about seven and I knew what was happening was wrong. But my town was very white and black people occupied one strip along the railroad tracks in Elkhart. They weren't allowed overnight in the very Christian county seat of Goshen.
When I was about to graduate from Kalamazoo College, I hadn't made up my mind what I was going to do, so I interviewed for teaching jobs. I interviewed for job in Flint. The lady's firs question was did I mind teaching Negroes, No I didn't. I was hired on the spot. I never made it because I went to Sierra Leone in the Peace Corps. Earlier I had six month of study abroad at Fourah Bay College in Freetown. While we were there, JFK was assassinated. I remember that time like it was yesterday. I was met by the only Afro-American in our group with a hard slap on the back and "It was those damn southerners." Later she apologized, but I said I understood because I was the first white person she saw.
Now I live in a very diverse neighborhood at the north end of Salem. Of course, it is a neighborhood where many kids are on free or reduced lunches something you won't find in south Salem. Yesterday the police were at the middle school down the street because a kid had arrived with a gun in his backpack and fortunately, nothing happened and he was taken in. I don't know what the story is behind this, but I just sighed. It did enter my mind that this might be racial...I hope not.
Very helpful story, Ally. Many of accepted as Fact what was just passed down culture, and we know that those in power rarely design systems to let those held down rise up. We can do better.
It’s not a matter of “knowing”. That involves thinking about it. Many white people have come to expect it as a given…and a privilege. The challenge has changed and many whites are looking below them on the ladder and are worried at what they see. The fortress and American myth of “The Suburbs” has changed.
When you "expect something as a given ... and a privilege," then you "know" that you are privy to that entitlement. People may not have spoken about it, unless, of course, a BIPOC individual were to try to deprive them of it -- then all hell would break loose.
Yes, things have changed, but that doesn't mean that they didn't know. It just means that they didn't want to admit it -- except for the ultra rich and powerful who were the architects of this shameful ideology. Why would POC try to "pass" if everyone with an ounce of intelligence didn't know.
We may have to agree to disagree on this one, I'm afraid.
Last sentence above is sooo true. "They", think BIPOC, shouldn't afford to live in MY suburb, right? I'm in north burbs of Chicago. Have resided in a small courtyard of townhouses for the last 40 years. When I moved here in 1978, there was exactly 1 Filipino family among the 10 units; and they are still here. The rest of the residents were white. Fast forward to 2021 when there is but one other white family (not a doubt they didn't vote Democratic!). I'm surrounded by a diversity of Americans of all cultures, and love it!
As to the reality of "the suburban fortress", have we all so soon forgotten about the gun-toting antics of the St Louis lawyers? So so many examples in everyday life of white privilege...
I don't think most white Americans realized their "white privilege". It's an evolving process. Nor did black people always recognize the degree of their abuse at the hands of white people. Nor have all white people been abusive.
A farm in Connecticut where Martin Luther King worked for a summer as a very young man is now being preserved, because King reportedly saw for the first time a place where "colored" and white people could use the same bathrooms, talk and work with each other as equals, eat in the same diners. It reportedly changed his view of what black people could expect from society, and what equality and the future can look like. This may be pollyanna because too many blacks still live in poverty in Connecticut's cities. But it affected MLK and made a difference.
But equality is a constant struggle for a majority of Americans. Pitting people against each other has been a political tool used from communist Russia to capitalist America over the centuries.
David, most folks who inherit their wealth unearned, like a majority of white Republicans who will and havee inherited vast wealth, are deadly afraid somebody will tax that wealth to build public schools for other people's kids (since their kids go to all white, private schools). They are only OK with taxes for police.
Hence, the Republican matra "cut taxes and eeeeverything will be great".
The fear driven lives of white people with wealth? Pretty ugly to see.
But, Republicans know their flock are constantly afraid and fan their insecurity and fear all day every day on twitter.
It works very, very, very well.
That's the good thing about inheriting nothing. I am not afraid of losing.....nothing.
And, I see (some) of my friends always in fear. Glad I am not them.
Fairly often, I read your replies as coming from the 'leader of the pack', critic and superior. Perhaps, it was a role played in your professional career or I have misread some of your comments and replies. I did, personally, experience what I felt as your sense of superiority.
As I have detailed before, in my early adulthood I was fooled by the lies of Reagan and Bush I.
Then, when Bush II openly lied through Colin Powell about "weapons of mass "desruxion" I was astounded that everyone did not see that big lie. The inspectors, on the ground in Iraq, had been providing reports for 15 years and newspapers around the world were publishing interviews with those inspectors saying Bush was lying. I knew he was before the vote in the house where only Barbara Lee could see the truth.
By then, I had also looked at a graph of US debts vs time and realized Jimmy Carter and all Presidents since the end of WWII, had balanced their budgets AND paid down war debt. Then came Reagan.
Reagan, in spite of lying about "fiscal responsibility" turned that arc of debt removal around and tripled the debt during his Presidency by wildly increasing military spending (his campaign donors).
So, I was once an ignorant kid from a farm and thought that Reagan, like Carter, was telling the truth.
Now? I know everything a Republican says is a lie. Period.
I have been a disbeliever in Republican declarations since 1974's "I am not a crook" days, and reinforced in 1991, when I screamed at my TV "THERE ARE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION." But, ya, growing up in a white affluent culture, I had a lot of unlearning to do.
Ref. paying down the war [Vietnam] debts. Yes, Pres. Carter was paying it down responsibly and ended up with 20%+ inflation. Reagan came along and essentially said, "Don't worry about paying for that war. Let your kids and grandkids pay for it." That was Pres. Reagan, irresponsible from the start. He was slick, personable, and an actor. The best thing Bush Sr. did for the U.S. was when he told us that Reagan's proposed economic plan was "Voodoo economics." Reagan soon brought in Junk Bonds and hostile corporate takeovers which added to the number of monopolies.
Many Americans like the "Rah-rah" of war, but they don't want to pay for them. LBJ started the "sur tax" to pay for Vietnam, but Americans rebelled and the tax only lasted a few months (as I recall). I was a soldier then and making so very little money, but still my fellow soldiers and I had to pay the tax also. Then, we had Bush Jr. and Cheney start the second Iraq war, and the costs for that were put on Chinese credit cards. I could go on and on, but I'm too tired to do that.
First, "I'm too tired to do that". Hey, you are probably 5-10 years older than me. I was 14 in 1974 when they shut the war down. At my school, we were very aware of the war because, during announcements in the morning, they would announce the dead brothers of kids in younger grades that were not coming home alive. Every day.
We used to cringe waiting to see if somebody's name would come up we knew. One day, the Superintendent of the School's son's name was announced. His only son.
I lived out in rural East Texas where every 18 year old male was drafted. We did not know about heel spurs among the rich kids nor would we have taken that path even if we did know.
But, don't give up. I can feel myself some days getting tired too. But, we need you for the upcoming slog.
Lastly, yes, we put our 20 year, $20 Trillion "war" in Afghanistan/Iraq on a Chinese credit card. But, that war, like Vietnam, was just to enrich military contractors and Republican campaign donors in the states. Bush, nor any other President after except Biden, had the guts to cut it all off and let the native born folks in those two countries have their country back.
Biden did us a huge, huge, huge favor finally cutting off the infinite wealth generation for military contractors. Well, not really since the budget remains at $778 Billion PER YEAR.
Right! It's been a big endeavor of moneyed interests to ensure their power and influence, all based on their economic position, is preserved and enhanced hopefully forever. Let the rabble make their own way.
The priority now must be voting rights. Republicans know a bona fide majority is beyond their reach and are legislating to make honest election results almost irrelevant. The handful of Republicans who helped pass the infrastructure bill might be smelling something in the political wind that might encourage them to help out with voting rights as well.
The Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill need to be recognized publicly by others for their courage to vote as independent thinkers not party followers.
It took some courage to do what they did. Unless they're thinking of retirement, they had to believe there was something to be gained from the political risk they took. It would be interesting to see what their constituent communications were before and after the vote, aside from the MAGA/whacko threats.
Katko has been working hard in central NY to support the I-81 repair project. Even got Pete Buttigieg here for a personal look at the crumbling bridge in downtown Syracuse. The infrastructure bill passing is a big win here for Katko. We’re losing a house seat due to census numbers and it’s rumored he will have to compete with Claudia Tenney to maintain his seat if redistricting lines change in our area - which is very likely.
I think the hopeful plan is that Katko can beat Tenney in a primary and then the Democratic candidate runs against Katko. It feels like a fingers crossed kind of plan to me. We could really use a strong candidate in our district (whatever the new redistricting lines turn out to be). Dana Balter has been the go to the last couple of election cycles. That hasn’t worked out very well so far. Katko won by 10 points. Tenney won her seat by a razor thin .04% against Anthony Brindisi.
Yeah - Tenney lost her seat to Brindisi earlier! Didnt realize it was that close this last time, but maybe thats a good sign. Sounds like we may end up in the same district!
I still trust what becomes more and more evident of Pres Biden’s crafting of what to pass first, then next, and then next as legislative and judicial momentum gathers more Repubs willing to support legislation for the American people. The 12 that voted “for” in a bipartisan fashion might be receiving threats, but finally receiving even more support for constructing, not obstructing. I consider these legislators as part of the group that realize the very real “scary” that has been a political manufacturing, but are not afraid.
Yes, if voter suppression continues and those damnable people retake the House and Senate what will we have left? I swing between optimism and depression here!
While I agree that the Infrastructure legislation is of immense importance, I'm worried that the Social Spending part of the bill was not included, as it should have been and was originally agreed to, but POTUS desperately needed a win, and he got it.
However, for months progressive House legislators have been demanding that both bills become law together, while conservative Democrats preferred separate legislation (why?).
Progressives were and are fearful that the safety-net portion will be whittled down, and I suspect they're right.
Yes, Reagan's neoliberal governing philosophy greatly enhanced the power and wealth of corporations and wealthy individuals, to the point where much of our legislation is practically written by these corporations and the ultra-wealthy, leaving very slim pickings for the average American (as it was designed to do).
And every U.S. president since Reagan (Democrat and Republican) has followed his cruel blueprint.
Biden (to his credit) is attempting to change this script, which is why it was important to progressives that both these bill became law together.
Biden promises the social-spending bill in weeks, let's hope he can keep his promise.
This nation is the wealthiest in the world, perhaps in history, and yet we are light years behind othey major industralized countries when it comes to protecting and supporting the average American.
"This nation is the wealthiest in the world, perhaps in history,"
Actually, this statement, often made by both parties and many Americans, has not been true since roughly the end of Ronald Reagan's massive buildup of debt and wildly overblown military spending.
With the USA openly publishing a $30 Trillion dollar deficit, which does not even include unfunded mandates and Social Security, we are the world's largest debtor nation.
The ability to run from store to store with a credit card and come home with a lot of goodies (mostly for military contractors for the last 40 years) is not the same as being wealthy.
Good source, Mike. From 2012, though, almost a decade. I wonder if there are more current data. I also wonder how the pandemic — and the Nightmare of the Orange Idiot’s Reign — have scrambled the economic picture.
Spot on. And, it'll be interesting to see where the money for improved infrastructure is spent. In communities needing it the most, or in communities with infrastructure already better than many others. I fear that partisan state governments will skew the spending to areas towing their party's line.
Heather posted the following in her sources, and it gives me great hope for equity in infrastructure, since state plans will need federal approval. Secretaty Pete Buttigieg had also said that they will even be looking at current highways and bridges that were intentionally located to cut off people of color from local resources, or built to divide white from black neighborhoods - and tearing them down.
It was brutal on Biden not to get the "Big Package". We have to support Biden's Team and protect the average American. We have to stay strong and push to get it done.
A few days ago, when inflation numbers were released, the first round of NYTimes comments were hysterical. Biden was toast, etc. One suggested Manchin for President, Sinema for VP because they were the only ones who understood inflation. Yesterday it was pointed out that 6.2% increase on a $10 purchase would bring its cost up to $10.62. Scream that in the headlines.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is the spur to attaining economic and social justice. We need to elect more of them. The pressure against them is relentless. Look and support capable progressives locally and nationally.
A "Big Deal" indeed, especially after the crap Ronald Reagan sold to America. Consider Heather's point:
"Since 1981, we have badly underinvested in our infrastructure as we turned to private investment to develop our economy. In order to stimulate that private investment, we have focused on cutting taxes on the wealthy, but the promised investment never materialized. Now our bridges are crumbling, and some of our water pipes are still leaching lead into our drinking water"
Turning to the private sector to manage and care for our infrastructure was a mistake. Expecting a loose confederation of profit-hungry interests to cooperate on what is a service rather than a business interest will not work. Those interests are fundamentally opposed to each other. They will stop cooperating the second they realize that their quarterly numbers will not look good. Despite all the hoopla about how business and government came together when we have been at war, a deeper look reveals that business made sure they got theirs one way or another. Government should never trust its responsibility to serve the public to interests that will demand a return other than the honor of having served the public interest.
Your last paragraph describes, in detail, what the Republiscum* congresses have done to the Post Office. It is a service, not a business. Having that <insert profane pejorative here> DeJoy as Postmaster General when he freaking owns "alternative shipping assets" is criminal.
Should be like a utility, piss on DeLay’s 2006 requirement that USPS fund retirement for people not yet born. A republican long game for making the USPS a commercial entity.
You are right Ally, the USPS is the longest funded entity in the land. It’s not a business like UPS or FedEx, it doesn’t matter if it’s profitable, neither is the Defense Department and we have no problem funding that. Those parasites 🦠 have tried to emasculate it precisely because it provides a mechanism for mail in voting. Here in GA they have shortened the window for requesting and returning ballots so much that many of those ballots will never get counted because of their delayed arrival, which is the whole point.
Replubiscum! Fitting. As much as I wish I had the tolerance to ignore the right wing crazies' constant baiting of Dems/liberals/progressives, it gets tiresome. How many cheeks can one turn? This is a useful riposte the next time I hear "Demonrats."
If Biden wants a quick way to show he's hellbent on helping the American people, he would find a way to get rid of DeJoy. I know that the Postal Service's board of governors, not the president, has this power, but there has to be a way.
Biden could remove entire board for incompetence and malfeasance & then fire DeJoy and start over with board. But he won’t. He could also not renew Bloom’s contract next month (Bloom & DeJoy are buddies) but I highly doubt he’ll do that either.
My guess is he doesn’t want it to look like “bad optics”. Maybe also because he likely hasn’t opened his own mail for decades & no longer knows how important a functioning & reliable USPS is to those of us without staffers to run our lives for us.
Thank you, Stephen. No one ever explains why they believe that private investment can do a job cheaper and better than government AND still make a profit? From private prisons to private water companies, these initiatives have been disasterous for the rest of us.
This means the pay is awful and no perks, so they don't get the best people. This has happened to school bus drivers in many districts....replaced by something called First Student around here. Nothing first for students in these decisions.
Thank you, Stephen. I didn't know what BFD stood for -- really! -- until I read your comment, and I tried -- looked up BFD in the dictionary. Laughing the Big F Fool that I can be. Thank you!
I’m laughing because BFD is the first acronym on this forum I’ve actually figured out without having to ask Google! Not sure what that says about me! 😂
Those two paragraphs neatly sum up what’s happened and why we have to keep pushing to and through next November’s election. Can’t let the 24-hour news cycle and the fake politicians who view culture war headlines as an end game, keep us from seeing and celebrating their iteration of responsible government.
Dr. Richardson: In many respects, your November 15th missive captures the two realities happening simultaneously. On one hand, we see the Democrats and a handful of Republicans trying to deal with the issues that exist in people’s lives in the real world. On the other, we see a massive threat to the integrity of American democracy that, since January 6th, is actually getting worse. Consider, for example, what Steve Bannon, let alone much of the Republican Party, would unleash on American politics were the Republicans to retake power. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy already has threatened to punish the 13 Republican House members who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Despite such indisputable disfunction, because I want to end on a partially positive note, I see an opening for Democrats to take on Republicans face to face, demanding they explain not what they oppose but what they are in favor of for their communities. For example, are they for fixing the lead pipes, for building and fixing roads and bridges, for expanding broadband, and so forth? I fear, if Democrats don’t get more aggressive on a host of issues, that yesterday’s signing ceremony could be the last opportunity for any President to stand in front of a bipartisan audience and say this is how Washington should work.
Joe can go around the country pushing his BFD, but Rupert can reach millions of cult minions with a whisper to Shammity and lying Tucker. Dems need to know it’s not politics as usual. Way past time…
“…demanding they explain not what they oppose but what they are in favor of for their communities” Why on earth is the 4th estate not doing this over and over? It’s not like a dictatorship would benefit them.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Woohoo...let the spending begin!
So now do we look toward BBB next or The Freedom to Vote Act? Personally, I'm partial to the voting thing because as we all know, if we can't vote how can we act? (Beware: Many double entendres in this video):
I'm also in the middle of a book by Journalist, Colin Woodard, "American Nations". He traces the cultural influences of founding groups and their persistance till today in heavily influencing voting trends across the country. He posits that America is actuall formed of 11 seperate and rival originally European movements that persist in today America. He traces and maps out their expansions from the two coasts and the North and South borders as they took over the whole territory from its original inhabitants and forged the regional charactors. He suggests that they more closely predict electoral positions and changes, whether they be Blue or red, than most commonly used survey and forecasting techniques. Everybody should have a look at this. It might change your understanding of America
I have read that book several times. Read also American Character by Colin Woodard. I think about those two books all the time as I see, read, or hear the news. We are NOT nor have we EVER been “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We have told ourselves so many lies. Being founded on an idea, is an idea strong enough to hold disparate people together? Ex. Puritans came for religious freedom and promptly began to bully people with religious beliefs different from their own. A big continent captured by the lawless and greedy; every man for himself. That is our real story. Are there uplifting stories, sure. But ask all people of color what their thoughts are. I wish we could live up to the promise of the idea of all people created equal.
The right idea will hold very disparate people together as long as they share an understanding of it. Not all such ideas are good though and any idea can have its meaning corrupted by those who seek to use its power for personal gain. We haven't so much been told lies as we've been told things as accomplished facts that were, in reality, aspirations and, having been notionally accomplished, no longer needed to be taught, adhered to or supported. Equality under the law is one such and we're seeing that play out in the treatment that the leaders of the failed January insurrection are receiving in comparison to how members of lower socio-economic classes are handled by our "justice" system.
Listened to him talk about his theory / book. Thanks for reminding me that I found them very compelling-after a lifetime of travel to almost all the states. ❤️🤍💙
Honestly, Ally, I was looking for something to tout the pro's of the voting rights act, and this one popped up. My usual prudish persona took a back seat as I hit the Send button. Morning!!
Sensational, Lynell I would love to see it all over. Fox occurred to me first. Around the country, more FREE & FAIR elections = MORE SEXUAL SATISFACTION!
They are seeking funds specifically for airing this, if you are intetested. I also posted a link about a gerrymandering project at Lynell's original post that you might like.
AZ Governor Ducey is already thanking his state legislators for doing some things were a part of the infrastructure act. Not federal legislators but state.
And with regards to the unwashed/unshaven guy, sounds like he is threatening people? Why isn’t he in jail?
Because what the Bannon buffoon announced as his press release “of the day” does not break any law. That’s why he’s not in jail. Stand up and denounce loudly to any person you know chuckling or nodding their head over his stupid antics designed to make more money and create a bigger following for his bloated blog. Sow seeds of truth to prick holes in their balloons.
I’m reading an eye-opening book, Laboratories of Autocracy, by David Pepper. Reading this book is like reading the Republican playbook on how to take over the country. It sure explains how we got where we are today and that it didn’t happen overnight. There was (and still is) a Republican plan. And that plan is working. I’m just starting the last section - the part with the outline for how we fight back. Would be great if everyone at LFAA got onboard and got coordinated on this. Here’s the book description from Goodreads.
“It’s the statehouses, stupid.”
Laboratories of Autocracy shows that far more than the high-profile antics of politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Jim Jordan—and yes, even bigger than Donald Trump’s "Big Lie”—it’s anonymous, often corrupt politicians in statehouses across the country who pose the greatest dangers to American democracy.
Because these statehouses no longer operate as functioning democracies, these unknown politicians have all the incentive to keep doing greater damage, and can not be held accountable however extreme they get. This has driven steep declines in states like Ohio and others across the country. And collectively, it’s placed American democracy in its greatest peril since the dawn of the Jim Crow era.
But Pepper doesn’t stop there. He lays out a robust pro-democracy agenda outlining how everyone from elected officials to business leaders to everyday citizens can fight back.
Request at your local library: Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines by David Pepper (published October 2021, Paperback and Kindle Edition)
That’s been NC for decades. I learned when I was 18 that I could only vote in the primary if
I registered Democrat. I was not noticing policies much at that point. But since Republicans slowly took over NC, everything that pertains to the common good has been attacked, particularly education. The R’s are only interested in money and power and will use ANY MEANS NECESSARY to get it and keep it.
Hello from Charlotte - moved here three years ago and was surprised at the state of education in the state, then looked at who gained control of the State Legislature, trying to do my part to fix the problem.
Pepper on Laboratories. So insightful. Virginia just worked with several national agencies to make redistricting more democratic. Dems had the majority, but the goal was not to take our turn and skew the lines to our advantage. Instead, we would design a system that included citizens and politicians, an even partisan playing field. Many democrats protested- don't squander our opportunity to redraw in our favor! Voters supported the balanced committee. Outcome? At last report, there was a stalemate and no map was drawn. This, if I understand correctly, kicked the map-making to the state Supreme Court that is majority Republican. Turns out states that have been successful with balanced committees include a tie breaker who insures the committee makes the final decision. Following the laboratory method, back to the drawing board, correct the flaws, try again.
Reading, as well. Only 3 chapters in, but his views are in alignment with others I’ve heard. And, overall, pinpoint my misunderstandings and my experiences with local government over a lifetime in the state of NY. Highly recommend. ❤️🤍💙
I just can't help make a side by side comparison of the first year of TFG and Joe Biden. In 2017 the rich got a juicy gift of a tax cut - setting into motion an exploding deficit. The rest of us got bupkis. No, wait. We got the debt so the rich could get richer!
In 2021 our government rescued an economy from the ravages of a pandemic and applied science to slow down the disease's progress - saving hundreds of thousand of lives. And as a Thanksgiving gift, our government just passed a bill to upgrade (salvage!) our nations infrastructure and provide hundreds of thousands of good jobs.
Think about the kids who will be saved from the impacts of lead poisoned water. Think about the kids who will now be able attain a better education because they have a decent internet connection. Think about the kids in the cars that won't plunge into a river as their crumbling bridge collapses.
To think this bill is "communism" is utter insanity. I think those that buy into such self destructive nonsense should get tested - for lead poisoning. Because there is something organically wrong with their brains. Nobody is born that stupid. It takes training or chemicals...or both.
I can’t wait for a campaign debate between Rep Val Demmings and Sen Rubio:
“I didn't vote for that infrastructure bill even though I am for infrastructure because I knew it was being used as a hostage to get another bill passed which is this Build Back ‘socialist’ bill in which they are going to expand the scale and scope of government,” Rubio said.
They don’t actually think it, they just say it because they think it will garner them votes. Actually working for the betterment of our society doesn’t factor in at all.
Yup. How can we otherwise explain how the most educated, sophisticated, internet connected society in human history has become so mesmerized by BS? ALL information is available and it is a gift that is refused by folks who listen to snake charmers and whackos speaking in tongues.
Seriously...every fact - real fact - is available to everyone. And yet the lemmings run over the cliff. I really have come to believe that this is a Jonestown moment on a grand scale.
Don’t forget the AT&T funded OAN. Funding from executives and the company to the tune of over $20 million has kept OAN afloat, according to Reuters they felt that we needed another lie spewing organ to balance out the “liberal” media. They are the reason I switched to Verizon for my cell service after 20+ years with AT&T. That and the fact that AT&T gave Abbot $200 K for his re-election as governor of Texas.
While CNN and MSNBC were carrying President Biden's visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier, I flipped to Fox to see if they had it on. Instead, they were expounding on the difficulties in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and laying the blame on the Biden administration. So much for honoring veterans.
I'm imagining Biden as president and multiple Black people storming the Capitol to overthrow the election results. And I'm imagining the responses of the police, the Congress, and the courts. And I'm imagining Trump signing an infrastructure bill. And I'm imagining what the news coverage on Fox, NewsMax, and OAN would be for these events--180 degrees from what they are saying, or not saying, now. I hope I don't wake up with a nightmare tonight.
Heather writes: ..........'have attacked any Republican who supported it as “a traitor to our party, a traitor to their voters and a traitor to our donors.”
What is missing in that list? The country. In case there was any doubt in people's minds about what this cabal cares about, this omission should clear things up, pronto. They don't give a husky ***k about the country.
I've just finished reading Evan Osnos's book, "Wildlands", and I cannot praise it enough. It brought these last five years into focus for me in a way that none of the other 'Trump era' books I've read (and I've read the more serious ones), did. Towards the end of the book he talks about revisiting Greenwich, Ct., where he grew up, and talking to some of the Republican residents who sided with Trump. Their reflections made clear that it was all self-interest. Like a CEO I read interviewed years ago, who said he felt no more loyalty to the United States than he did any other country where his company did business, these movers and shakers are so far removed from the every day reality of real people, they live in such a rarified bubble, that they can't even see what their complicity in the Trump take down of America really means.
I'm reminded of the song in in the play, Cabaret, "Money". It's fitting the play takes place in pre-war Berlin.
It appears punk Bannon Is determined to carry on with his creeping -- and creepy -- coup d'etat, and is not shy about announcing this to the world. Why is he not in preventive detention being interrogated instead of holding impromptu press conferences? It seems that as a nation, we lack the survival instinct.
Bannon's just-woke-up-from-a-bender bluster has more to do with raising money than taking down the "Biden regime." It's a tired, faux tough-guy act directed at legions of racist suckers whom he's fleeced before. I still believe he will change his tune when time in prison looms large.
The Mercers were the first to underwrite Bannon. They did cut him off at some point for tugging on his leash too much and embarrassing them too publicly. I suspect they are still underwriting but from a safer distance.
It was Ted Cruz first. Then to Bannon and Trump. I’ve often wondered if they still are. Beka Mercer is the out front person. Story is Daddy is the happiest in front of his computers W/ his cats and playing with his huge Train collection. Maybe as long as the Stock Market is doing good he doesn’t care ? Everyone says he’s a genius.Pretty sure tho he’s old school conservative.
Rupert Murdoch could put a stop to this in a NY minute, just 24 hrs of truth telling would make a huge diff to some half sane people. Instead he is raking in fools money with a big, evil grin and his pathetic ego is as happy as tfg. Just look at the chaos they have brought to the world. Rupert said he got into politics because he wanted world leaders to answer the phone when he called. He hit a jackpot when he rang trump’s number, and we hit the skids…
Rupert was given a free pass by Ronald Reagan when Reagan saw to the death of the Fairness Doctrine. That was the genesis of the Slime Brigade that morphed into FOX, Limbaugh the Bimbo, Gingrich, Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham and a whole host of the worst among us.
The Republican boondoggle of 'small government' is in service of the rich. Through deregulation of the industries from which they exploit and extract America's resources to pocket America's wealth and through preferential taxation from which they derive and perpetuate private wealth. From finance to manufacturing, from speculation to production, and from labor to natural materials, from human and natural resources. Through tax laws and tax loop holes, the wealth of the nation is shoveled into the private nosebags and corporate troughs of the privileged. No matter the cost to everyone else, from our most vulnerable neighbors to our fragile planet.
Republican government is unconscionable and unsustainable. And through the inversions and untruths of Republican rhetoric and through the credulity and resentments of the majority of Republican voters, it is undoubtedly popular. Republican lawmakers can 'say no and take the dough' and get re-elected.
During WW ll, while in Congress Harry Truman pushed for strict congressional oversight of unprecedented government spending. After the war, Fred Trump was hauled before Congress as a most egregious example of war time profiteering on government contracts. Think of it. The purpose was to improve the laws and close the loopholes through which low down yellow bellied snakes like Trump had wriggled their way to wealth while Americans were giving their all to defeat racist right wing authoritarianism. Trump also wriggled through loop holes in the relatively progressive tax laws of the Eisenhower era by passing on his wealth to his pit of snakelets.
Let's compare this to Republican lawmakers today, who fought tooth and nail to define 'pass through corporations', such as parts of the Trump real estate empire, as small businesses for the purpose of tax and pandemic relief. Republicans also went to the mats to obstruct Congressional oversight of pandemic spending - while self righteously bellowing about government waste and fraud.
Elected Republican puppets and their paymasters will do everything they can to obstruct government work on infrastructure while abstracting government funds. Republicans (and their fellow travelers and quislings) will resort to every trick in the book and then some new ones to perpetrate their schemes. We know this. The only way to mitigate and/ or prevent this is to secure a solid Democratic majority committed to the Biden Harris Build Back Better platform. The only way is through smart and disciplined election strategy and tactics. Through a summer of volunteering as much as we can for Democratic candidates who have the best chance of winning - with our work. By us putting our lived personal experience in service of our shared goals.
Strolling down Memory Lane, screenshots almost 5 years ago.
"How sad it must be-- believing that scientists, scholars, historians, economists and journalists have devoted their entire lives to deceiving you while a reality tv star with decades of fraud and exhaustively documented lying is your only beacon of truth and honesty." Most of today's republicans wouldn't recognize truth and honesty if it bit them in their fat a$$es.
It really is in large part about a society that admires and emulates “grifting” as the how to get ahead methodology. It’s a strange mix of sociopaths (like Trump) wannabes and the huge number of psychologically aggrieved.
Seeing grifters like Trump actually winning by cheating, tax evasion and crushing would be competition ( like asking to be paid per contract agreement) is the perfect mental dream state for the actual “loser” masses.
These economic losers who have no understanding of how what they aspire to actually is their oppressor. They would literally rather die than examine the true nature of “Grifter Capitalism” that Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek other far right inspired in todays fascist loving Republican Party. Most of the rank and file have no clue about this grift in which they are willing idiots of their contemptuous sociopathic idols.
Snake oil, and those that sell it, has always been a big, big part of the American experience.
Just imagine dictating an entire book while looking into a hat and then starting a religion based on what came out of hat? Sound amazing, go out to Salt Lake City and look around. It IS amazing.
Trump is just the latest iteration of Joseph Smith and others like him.
So well said, Gigi!
"This really is a BFD!" -Joe Biden. This is the best, most candid, and down right funniest comment I have herd from a public official in decades. It filled me with blue collar hope. Our democracy (okay, we actually live in a constitutional republic - for now) is MUCH safer today than it was on Sunday. That is a large reason why this is such a BFD. What the neo-con(federates) feared the most has come to pass - the passage of a bipartisan bill through the process of hard negotiation. Yippee ki yay! Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. Please, let's work from where we are, progressing toward an ideal, rather than trying to jump right to that ideal.
Another bit of surprising news: "Today the central committee of the Wyoming Republican Party voted 31–29 that it would no longer recognize Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) as a member because of her stand against Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection." 31 to 29. That means the Wyoming Republican central committee is divided almost in half. That was not the case a month ago.
Remember: "It will all be all right in the end. If it is not all right, it is not the end". - The Best Marigold Hotel. :)
I feel that much gnashing of teeth will come before the end…. Why does anyone still refer to republicans as if they are a serious entity. They have become the enemy of us all. Sorry but a cult is not a tribe, a cult demands the suspension of any logic or empathy. A tribe has a positive vibe. Know the difference.
I still can't understand the devotion, love, and adherence to the former president...
And I doubt you ever will, because you have to be sexist and racist without self-examination. I will never understand it either, but I have seen it fiercely expressed a whole lot in the last five years, nearly always by white blue collar men. Warehouse workers and truck drivers. They see a guy who looks successful and wealthy, who is white and racist and sexist, and it makes them feel good about their identity as a white man. It’s rather shallow and dim, from our perspective, identifying so closely with one’s white race and male gender, but there it is. Put between 40% and half of the US in that circle, the circle of people who are comfortable and happy in their cushy little Hallmark channel bubble, where the whites and the men figure prominently and call the shots, and diversity agents (people of color or women in their power) are targets of suspicion. We live in a remarkably polarized society. Two completely different worldviews.
Thank you for this reply, Roland. You didn't say anything I didn't know, but actually verified the truth. That actually helps me grapple with this atrocity of Drump love.
You’re welcome Christi. We are all grappling with this abomination, and sometimes telling the truth about it is the only weapon we have.
exactly, every word. two of my bros
Oh, lucky YOU. Two of your brothers. For me, it’s my father.
Missed you, Roland! Hope all’s well💙.
You’re very sweet, Ashley, thank you 😘
propaganda works, did Rupert ever show the worst from tfg. Would bet that Fox never showed clips of the word salad, and the Helsinki pic if have of Putin obviously in charge of the loser. Fox isn't stupid. They know how to slander and how to make a hero out of bull schitt
Must we understand them? Can we rope, and throw, and brand them as the seditious criminals they appear to be?
I find that you can't find a solution to a problem unless you thoroughly understand the dynamics of the problem. In this case the dynamics are emotional. Anger, fear, relating to another white man who they think have all the answers to better their lives. Reality says this is not at all true, but that is where we divide. We understand the real 45, and the others don't care to understand and will create delusions to stay engaged.
James, It's what kinder, open minded, peaceable people do. We always try to understand, to find reasons, attempt dialogue, etc. etc. It's not working to well for us lately! Reason cannot dialogue with emotion, especially with fear and hatred. We have been failing to adapt... Our well-funded and power-hungry opponents correctly view it as our fatal flaw.
Not this time! We won't fight them with their dirty tactics, but we are getting smarter. We are out-thinking them. We will use the very tools that they seek to destroy against them:
The LAW, and the VOTE.
They are also the enemy of themselves!! As they destabilize the government they will ruin their personal fortunes (except the fortunes they have parked offshore). They scream about Biden causing this present inflation, but if they succeed with THEIR plan, the proverbial 'wheelbarrows of (their) cash' wouldn't much anymore. Don't they see that?
Biden was clever to say “next year will be the first year in 20 years American infrastructure investment will grow faster than China’s.” That plays on us-and-Russia-against-China racism in the white electorate to get them behind the program.
BFD is Joe's slogan. Remember that a mic caught him saying the real words to Obama when the ACA passed.
I love this. So much for Biden's squeaky clean grandpa image. I also loved it when he came out a few days ago when the Bill passed and he was laughing and mocking tfg about "Infrastructure Week".
Barbara, I saw that on a clip. It was sweet. My guy.
"Squeaky clean grandpa image"? I learned to cuss from my grandfather who before WWI was the First Sergeant in a troop of cavalry. A grandfather isn't all piggyback rides and butterscotch candies, neither is a grandmother.
I was speaking to the media perception they like to put out there.
No, it will not (necessarily) be “all right” in the end.
There is a chance of things being “all right” if we take individual responsibility for understanding how we are being fleeced by an unending line of hucksters to vote against our own best interests in return for some feel good bullshit like the importance of feeling personally powerful by swaggering about with an AR45 anytime your dick feels limp or being uneducated, unhealthy and underemployed but at least the undeserving others are worse off than you are.
We have been competing for a race to the bottom, spurred on by the political donations by the likes of Koch Industries who getting ever wealthier and more powerful as we head for societal collapse.
I'm surprised that the foam dripping from your fangs didn't short out your keyboard! ;) I can certainly echo your anger -- I've spent too much of the last, ...wow, 40 years quivering with rage and thinking bloody thoughts about various neighbors, family members, and fellow citizens.
Last week, after almost 10 years of swearing to myself that I would rather bite off a finger than be around my wealthy, highly-educated, Trump-voting family members, I had lunch with my cousin. He's a long-time lead legal counsel for one of the state Republican parties -- he doesn't need an AR-15 to feel powerful, since he actually is.
We talked. Some about family, but also about our differences. Not that we argued about them, it was more an exploration of the contours of our differences. He seemed surprised that I didn't know anyone who voted Republican, and that I really didn't understand why anyone would want to. He asked me why I was a Democrat (I'm not, really), and didn't answer when I said that at least the Democrats have a viable theory of government, while the Republicans don't seem to. I think my words were, "I can't imagine why the Republicans seem to prefer corrupt Business and corrupt Religion over corrupt Government. At least with corrupt Government, there's a chance you can vote the assholes out." And I was gratified by his silence, because I didn't take it to mean that he agreed with me, but that he was determined to avoid an argument, too.
I hope we can repeat our lunch and perhaps other discussions, too. And I'm glad I have a "safe" space here to vent my outrage over the crap my cousin's collegues spew into our political bloodstream every day. I don't want to vent that rage over my neighbors, my family members, and my fellow citizens (although pissing on Roger Stone's grave is on my bucket list). Instead, I want to work with him, because I'm quite certain that the next century will be very, very hard, and fighting each other will be deadly for a great many of us, regardless of religion or political belief.
It's not the pandemic that's killing our nation, it's the fight.
Thanks for your comment Dirk.
You present a constructive way of dealing with the anger and hopelessness I am increasingly feeling. Talk out our differences.
I am fearful of becoming a parody of an angry old guy, alienating friends and being the butt of jokes. I do care, deeply, but is it always reasonable, considered, constructive? Watching the Kyle Rittenhauser trail really is making me choke on my own venom.
I haven't watched a single minute of it. Forbidden to do so by shrink and daughter as I continue to recover from a near catatonic meltdown. I thought being a good citizen meant that I had to keep track of all the bad stuff happening right now. I can tell you it feels much better when you stop drinking poison and throwing sand and gore in your eyes, allowing one to be stronger, smarter, and a more effective citizen. activist, participant -- as opposed to wounded viewer. I'm not exactly there yet! But I have a chance since I turned the TV off. Almost as hard as quiting smoking....
Thank you for that. I have been subscribing to Schweitzer comment “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” It can take over one’s life, which does no good at all.
I have never seen such a travesty. I'm old and I have seen plenty. Some network should show a pic of his Mom with her assault rifles draped on her. She drove him and guns to the protest. Wonder why. Puke
Christian, Do you have speakers with you computer, so that you can hear music when opening a link which contains an outlet on which to hear music, such as You Tube?
Fern, that is the most moving rendition.
I think it should be promoted as the anthem for this forum.
That is what friends are for. Thank you.
Robert Hubbell’s newsletters for optimism grounded in reality: “Defeatism is contagious and toxic, so stop the super spreaders!”
roberthubbell.substack.com
my bros are not wealthy or highly-educated, just never been more than 50 miles from rural NC. Still no excuse for falling for a cult, All Fox watchers are likely cult devotees. Your talk sounded productive, mine, not so much.
Love your perspective. You might also like reading Robert Hubbell.
Thanks, I'll check 'im out, and thanks for the recommendation!
Wow.
So restrained, Christian. I can't wait until you've warmed up. Eager for your next post, truly!
😂😂, Fern! I’m right with ya’!
Marlene, Christian won my respect and appreciation a while back. I replied to him with, I hope, a sense of humor and comradery.
Fern; 🎵we belong to a mutual …🎶
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyTpu6BmE88
Are you able to play links to music from our computer, Christian?
You absolutely did, Fern, and I so appreciated your clever response!
Thank you, Marlene. That was a relief to hear.
I think it depends on how one defines “the end”, Christian. Is it after the midterms, after the presidential? When, in realty, is “the end”?
IMHO, it will be at some later date, after the “smoke” clears. It may get REALLY bad in the interim, but right WILL triumph over might––or evil––or any other definition of the forces of darkness.
ITM, we must concentrate on the positive, the constructive! In addition to the political arena, there is much to be done at the ground-level, community stage. Our traditional institutions and organizations are in shambles, and seem destined to decay even further.
We need to organize our friends, family, neighbors, to buttress our educational systems, our public safety infrastructure, our moral/spiritual standards, and so much more! We must rebuild––reconstruct––the social order.
That is where victory lies!
Thanks for your reply Bill.
I totally agree, there is a need for optimism and I believe there is never an end, only change.
My view of "The End" is greatly influenced by the events of the tyranny which forced my family out of our comfortable middle-class existence of many many generations in Germany. In our case not by oppression or victimization, but by shame and despair. Our family did not thrive after emigrating and all that generations had worked for as a family came to an end. Change was brought about in Germany which led to what I believe is a more just and introspective society and that is a good thing.
It was also "the End" for six million Jews, their families, their communities, their hopes.
It was "The End" for the soldiers and civilians who died in that conflict and the many other conflicts brought on by tyrants and other liars during my generation.
Another "End" I fear is climate change. Not a problem in my lifetime, in fact I will most likely benefit, but the effects talked about at the Glasgow Conference focused mostly on conservative projections. Glacial fissures have not been factored into most climate change modelling which will cause much more rapid melting of glaciers and icecaps and subsequent sea level rises and flooding of all coastal cities, melting of permafrost in the arctic will release trillions of metric tonnes of methane which could advance us to a tipping point where things will be "all right" again, in perhaps half a million years.
To blindly believe things will be "all right" without seriously looking at what can happen and what we should be taking responsibility for is not all right with me.
I do believe there is hope though and a way out of the mess we are digging ourselves into. It was shown to me by a friend in this videoclip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyTpu6BmE88
Hope, Thats what friends are for :).
That's what this forum is for. Thanks for being here.
... to add to the above I recommend Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny", which has been cited in this forum before, for another look at what "the end" can look like.
Christian, I appreciate your response and the “back story” of your viewpoint. My heart goes out to you and your family for the calamitous experience you all faced. It is a tragic occurrence that has been a part of human history for all time.
My personal and family history is also catastrophic. My ancestors were brought to these shores in chains. They and their progeny suffered centuries of unspeakable horrors and terror, and a continuing denial of their humanity.
My personal perspective probably would be considered pollyannaish, especially given my background, but I discovered a spiritual “movement” about 45 years ago that lays out a blueprint for humanity’s future that, though incredibly optimistic, makes a solid case for the redemption of the human race.
Imagine, if you will, humanity as an individual; it began as an infant and has now grown into adolescence. The upheaval that we have been experiencing is much like the orbit of a teenager leaving childhood and struggling to become an adult. Humanity is throwing tantrums one moment and claiming to be a grownup in the next.
We have to navigate this terrifying but necessary passage, alternating between childishness and maturity in fits and starts. But grow up we will! Battered and scarred we will rise above the carnage and wreckage of this transition and enter a new period of reconstruction and reconciliation.
I know it is a difficult perspective to accept, but the plan exists and we can all contribute to its success.
But in the meantime, these words from Winston Churchill early in WWII seem particularly apropos: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Thank you. I reread ‘On Tyranny’ once in a while and subscribe to ‘Thinking about….’.
My family, too, Christian, Poland and Hungary,
When what and/or who's 'smoke clears'? Which states, in terms of educations, for instance, Texas, Florida, Wyoming, Mississippi, Alabama... ? Why isn't getting the national voting acts passed and strong public lobbying of DA, Merrick Garland, to prosecute those who have committed treasonous acts the first order of business?
Fern, I think you may have misunderstood me. What I am suggesting does not replace voting rights or the prosecution of these criminals. And it is not state or region specific as far as education or any other issue is concerned. I suspect that we face massive disruption of various sorts throughout the nation.
What I believe is that we must, in parallel with the efforts to stem the ruinous political tide, is to establish fresh initiatives in terms of recreating the human infrastructure that is under assault from the same forces that seek to destroy our political and other institutions. Most of these attacks are national in character and, whereas you may be able to identify “hot spots” politically, much of the danger in other areas is shared, or will soon be shared, by all of us.
It is critical that we construct new entities that can repel the sorts of propaganda that has been used over the past several decades. Truth and reality must be reestablished is such a manner that the “slings and arrows” of the outrageous are turned back.
We are, for the most part, alert and aware of the legislative felonies that are being committed on an almost daily basis. Treason and traitors can be easily identified. What is also an existential wildfire is the undermining of our educators, scientists, experts in every field, by the duplicitous felons who turn our language into tools and weapons to dismantle our civilization.
Now is the time to rush to the aid of those who are dedicated to help our children and youth to understand their world and to discover the ways and means to navigate it. Reality has been targeted by the malicious fear mongers and spreaders of hate. But we can erect the “ramparts” of reality to turn back these nether forces.
If I understand your comment, Bill, you are seeking ways, which you have termed 'entities', to address the lies/propaganda/conspiracies/destabilizing factors infecting our society. Two of the people I believe to be in the forefront of understanding the tyrannical forces at large in our country are Timothy Snyder and Jonathan Haidt. You may be interested in their work.
Timothy David Snyder is an American author and historian specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. (Wikipedia) His newsletter on substack is called, 'Thinking about... ' List of his books are below.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017)
Bloodlands (2010)
Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015)
The Road to Unfreedom (2018)
https://www.timothysnyder.org/
Jonathan David Haidt is an American social psychologist, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business, and author. His main areas of study are the psychology of morality and moral emotions. (Wikipedia) List of his book is below.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
2012
The Happiness Hypothesis
2006
The Coddling of the American Mind
2018
Why Do They Vote That Way? From The Righteous Mind
2018
Can't We All Disagree More Constructively? From The Righteous Mind
2016 (Links to some of articles by and about Haidt are below)
https://muckrack.com/jonathan-haidt/articles
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/social-media-democracy/600763/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/jonathan-haidt-pandemic-and-americas-polarization/612025/
I look forward to our future exchanges.
“In realty”, the end is when you close on a property, I think. In REALITY, the end is much harder to define! (Har, har.)
Hi, Bill! You’ve been missed; hope all’s well💙!
Things are fine, Ashley. Thanks for responding. I’ve been preoccupied recently.
On a more personal not, what section of TN is home to you. I had an E. TN connection eons ago.
Hope you are sell, also.
Western TN (the 💙Blues💙 end) is where I reside, Bill.
Actually, Steve, it may have been while reading your comment that I finally figured out what BFD meant! Funny, huh!
The Republicans are FUBAR!
F’d up beyond all recognition.
The history of FUBAR and more. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/List_of_military_slang_terms
Michael. Having not served in the military, it is on the Forum that I first faced this collection of acronyms. I am making a copy of the list and will keep it close to the computer when on the Forum. TQ!
WHAT?! Please spell it out
Military slang: "F'd up beyond all recognition. WW2 or Korean War vintage, I think.
The earlier acronym was SNAFU. Came into common usage during construction of the Alaska Highway thru northern Canada.
Situation Normal All F**d up!
All 3 phrases were standard comments during my 25 years in the USN. Often had to explain to new butter bar wearers.
The BAR is 'beyond all recognition.' You can figure out the beginning...
Thanks, John. Humans are the best detectives and caregivers.
Ask Siri. She knows everything...almost!
I had to look that one up too. And I agree!
Fern, love your comment, especially since you are the one always asking us to 'spell it out'...you made me smile😊
This is a BFD!
LOL! Oh, I love all of your comments. It makes my day to find so many folks that feel the same as I do! Love and hugs to all!
Thank you, Laurie. It would not have been any good to ask HCR to spell it out, but another comic note for sure. Next time, I will asked her. If you want to know about one of the ways Reagan f____ed, NYC read my comment. It wasn't funny.
Laurie I am overwhelmed by the intellectual level of this exchange. Are we sprucing up our language to better communicate with the despicables? I suggest that you use capital letters and highlight FALSE FACTS so that there will be a level playing field.
Had to laugh reading these comments! Surprised that so many didnt know what BFD means! Maybe I've been around too long.
Okay, Prof.
Fern, don’t forget WTF, or my personal fave, WTAF?
Marcy, You're killing me, and SPELL THEM OUT!
What the f*ck
What the actual f*ck.
Thank you, teach! What the f*ck! How*re my doing?
All y'all have to watch your f___ing language! WTF!
I had to ask Siri what BFD was? LOL
As I've said now multiple times, Biden worked very hard and smart for this, and now it's law. I don't agree with him on everything, but I've learned over many years that one never agrees with a politician on everything. I am more confident this morning, though, since passage was bipartisan, that we are going in a good direction overall.
A remembered line from a favorite movie. ❤️🤍💙
You made my day. Thank you 😊
A golden comment Steve. Thank you.
Yup. Just yup.
I hear you, Steve.
Hopefully Democrats will call out every lying hypocrite Republiscum who touts what the infrastructure bill will do for their state, who voted against it. The campaign ads write themselves for those turds.
The Lincoln Project is on that. The Democrats also need to buy long term, at least through the mid-terms, billboard space on major roads with an X through the face of the Senator or Congressman who’s district the billboard is in and an explanation that they voted against job creation and economic benefits for that district and state. They need to be left up to remind people on a daily basis what they will never see on fox. The Democrats need to get creative in a hurry and sharpen their knives 🔪 or we can kiss our democracy goodbye.
Yes to billboards and /or banners. On our August drive along I-80 from Colorado to Michigan several banners along road construction projects caught our eyes: 'Thank the Democrats for Your New Road' ( ex). We cheered.
That's an excellent idea.
Over my lifetime, I came to realize that "white privilege" was a long list of economic, social and political benefits that white Americans unknowingly obtained over hundreds of years of sidelining indigenous people, people of color, non-Christians and women.
I am now realizing that this system was actually built and perpetuated by white men able to get away with murder and crimes against the country, like Trump, Bannon, Meadows and Flynn with facilitators like the Trump Republican Party. Until we have justice, law and order protecting every American from these white collar political criminals, there will be no peace or prosperity for most Americans.
If you haven't read "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson, hurry over to your nearest library or bookstore and get a copy. She lays out the "long list" in superb fashion. It's a lengthy book but very readable.
“Caste” is in my kindle; am now reading “White Rage” by Carol Anderson and I get rageful just seeing in print what the formerly GOP has done to our country…not sure we will recover and I am fearful as to the midterms…they have such control over so many states.
Readable, informative and heart breaking. And it gives us a chance to do better, now that we know where we are.
Ann, thanks for another book recommendation. Order sent together with study guide.
I do suspect this whole crowd of commenters on Substack's "Letters From an American" to be schilling for Amazon. My ever supportive wife is eyeing my Amazon account suspiciously since I became a subscriber here.
Oh well, I feel better abought making Bezos richer than I would making Zuckerberg wealthier. And I am not as exposed to the inanities of facebook.
I keep hoping that with just a bit more reading, a bit more knowledge, a bit more insight and with encouragement from Fern, I will learn to express myself more succinctly.
Independent bookstores should be treated as institutions.
From On Tyranny:
2.
Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not
speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf.
Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended
from the beginning.
Christian, I have found many of the books recommended here at my online library (Libby). And many can be downloaded to my kindle.
I don’t think you would approve of Amazon’s labor practices. Hopefully, you and or your wife will find other book sellers. I will post a few along with articles about Amazon, if your interested. Cheers, Christian.
I’d be interested in the articles Fern, not sure they would dissuade me of the convenience of Amazon though. Definitely concerned about their monopoly power but also concerned that all positive things have to be perfect before they are good.
Dorothy needs no convincing. She is a consumer Luddite.
We really enjoyed the Dionne Warwick Compilation Album. Thanks again for the link.
Hi Christen, I posted links to articles about Amazon's Labor practices from your Yeats comment about 15 minutes ago. . Just post that you received it when you have a chance. Thanks. Salud!
Did receive. Thanks Fern.
Hi Christen, it is good to hear from you. I will reply tomorrow or Friday with several in-depth pieces, but haven't done any recent research about the Amazon. I'll look to see if anything worthwhile was recently published. '... concerned that all positive things have to be perfect before they are good.' I didn't understand that line of yours, Christian. Perfection isn't my goal in life, but occasional ecstasy, bountiful harvests, natural beauty and captivating art, top-notch journalism, a long swim in a clear lake, generosity, basketball, good humor, love... yes, there is much to appreciate. Cheers, Fern
Raptors fan
I’ve often said…..run, don’t walk to get your hands on a copy of Caste.
I loved her "The Warmth of Other Suns" so I will get this soon. Thanks for the pointer.
Right on, David! It was never "unknowingly." It was always deliberate.
The way I read it, for most of us white folks it was "unknowingly". The process itself, from its beginning, was intentional, the assumption was that white was superior to all others, be they slaves or indigenous.
How can white people not have known, unless they were desperately poor? Even if they didn't know that white leadership made laws to "other" BIPOC communities, surely they knew that they were bestowed with white privilege.
I'm not enough of a social scientist, psychologist, historian, or scholar to go into more detail than that. I believe that there are some white people who were VERY intentional in their actions; picking on just a couple of things, post WWII "redlining" and the inequitable distribution of the GI Bill to WWII veterans. My perspective is that of a white kid growing up in a white town in a state which had "sundown laws" into the early 20th century. (The racist language in the state constitution wasn't removed until 2002, and still 30% of voters voted to keep that language in.)
I am not very introspective, nor very curious, and it is only in the past few years (certainly this century) that I have had any recognition of the concepts of white privilege as it is defined currently. As a woman and a lesbian, I have been very aware of male privilege; it is due to my ongoing education that I have learned of white privilege.
I offer a vignette of my father-in-law which took place about a year ago. We were talking, and he was telling us a story: he was tasked by LBJ to find Black pilots to join the Air Force One pool. He found no qualified pilots, and made the quick determination that Blacks were "inadequate pilots; sullen, surly, and unable to fly to the level of the career military pilots that made up the AF1 pool." Admittedly, we sort of ganged up on him, but asked basicly, why he thought that was. After some hemming and hawing, he said, finally, "I guess I'm just a racist. Blacks are inferior to whites." My sister-in-law (a 25 year FedEx pilot) said "do you think it had anything to do with the fact that it wasn't until the mid 1950's that Black men were permitted to be military pilots and that it isn't as much inferiority as it is lack of opportunity?" He couldn't bring himself to agree. This is a man who grew up desperately poor, in foster care, and was essentially "saved" by an Air Force career.
And when you’re a kid and told blacks are inferior, you think, Oh, OK. You start to internalize. Then you look around, and the whole world reinforces this idea, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. So, yeah, oh, OK, inferior.
It’s when I started working with people and going to outside meetings with all kinds of people, got to know them, got to be friends, watched how they maneuvered day to day, got to laughing and teasing and commiserating — HEY, WAIT A MINUTE, some of these folks with darker skin were WAY smarter than I am, way better manners and regard for others ….
WTF??!
WTAF??!?
Exactly. We never questioned what we were taught while we were children. Our own experiences opened our eyes, our minds snd our hearts. Thank God for those early Civil Rights workers. Without them, we who grew up in the 50’s might never have had the opportunity to work side by side with people of color who were brighter, kinder, stronger and far superior to many of our white neighbors and, dare I say, relatives?
I need the laughing emogi here.
I grew up in northern Indiana among Rs and it took me a long time to realize how racist they were because so many of the phrases they used were in fact, racist, but said without any hostility. I saw my first racial incident in Chicago when I was about seven and I knew what was happening was wrong. But my town was very white and black people occupied one strip along the railroad tracks in Elkhart. They weren't allowed overnight in the very Christian county seat of Goshen.
When I was about to graduate from Kalamazoo College, I hadn't made up my mind what I was going to do, so I interviewed for teaching jobs. I interviewed for job in Flint. The lady's firs question was did I mind teaching Negroes, No I didn't. I was hired on the spot. I never made it because I went to Sierra Leone in the Peace Corps. Earlier I had six month of study abroad at Fourah Bay College in Freetown. While we were there, JFK was assassinated. I remember that time like it was yesterday. I was met by the only Afro-American in our group with a hard slap on the back and "It was those damn southerners." Later she apologized, but I said I understood because I was the first white person she saw.
Now I live in a very diverse neighborhood at the north end of Salem. Of course, it is a neighborhood where many kids are on free or reduced lunches something you won't find in south Salem. Yesterday the police were at the middle school down the street because a kid had arrived with a gun in his backpack and fortunately, nothing happened and he was taken in. I don't know what the story is behind this, but I just sighed. It did enter my mind that this might be racial...I hope not.
Wow…..and multiply this by hundreds of thousands of other households. Including mine (brother in Navy) Thank you for sharing
Very helpful story, Ally. Many of accepted as Fact what was just passed down culture, and we know that those in power rarely design systems to let those held down rise up. We can do better.
It’s not a matter of “knowing”. That involves thinking about it. Many white people have come to expect it as a given…and a privilege. The challenge has changed and many whites are looking below them on the ladder and are worried at what they see. The fortress and American myth of “The Suburbs” has changed.
When you "expect something as a given ... and a privilege," then you "know" that you are privy to that entitlement. People may not have spoken about it, unless, of course, a BIPOC individual were to try to deprive them of it -- then all hell would break loose.
Yes, things have changed, but that doesn't mean that they didn't know. It just means that they didn't want to admit it -- except for the ultra rich and powerful who were the architects of this shameful ideology. Why would POC try to "pass" if everyone with an ounce of intelligence didn't know.
We may have to agree to disagree on this one, I'm afraid.
I'm just giving you my perspective, is all. A microscopic look rather than a global overview. We don't disagree on the big stuff.
Last sentence above is sooo true. "They", think BIPOC, shouldn't afford to live in MY suburb, right? I'm in north burbs of Chicago. Have resided in a small courtyard of townhouses for the last 40 years. When I moved here in 1978, there was exactly 1 Filipino family among the 10 units; and they are still here. The rest of the residents were white. Fast forward to 2021 when there is but one other white family (not a doubt they didn't vote Democratic!). I'm surrounded by a diversity of Americans of all cultures, and love it!
As to the reality of "the suburban fortress", have we all so soon forgotten about the gun-toting antics of the St Louis lawyers? So so many examples in everyday life of white privilege...
;;;/
JP. "... the gun toting antics of the St. Louis Lawyers." Please give a further reference. I'm honestly in the dark as to what you are referring to.
Thanks for helping me out here.
Morning Rowshan!
Morning, Christine!
I don't think most white Americans realized their "white privilege". It's an evolving process. Nor did black people always recognize the degree of their abuse at the hands of white people. Nor have all white people been abusive.
A farm in Connecticut where Martin Luther King worked for a summer as a very young man is now being preserved, because King reportedly saw for the first time a place where "colored" and white people could use the same bathrooms, talk and work with each other as equals, eat in the same diners. It reportedly changed his view of what black people could expect from society, and what equality and the future can look like. This may be pollyanna because too many blacks still live in poverty in Connecticut's cities. But it affected MLK and made a difference.
But equality is a constant struggle for a majority of Americans. Pitting people against each other has been a political tool used from communist Russia to capitalist America over the centuries.
David, most folks who inherit their wealth unearned, like a majority of white Republicans who will and havee inherited vast wealth, are deadly afraid somebody will tax that wealth to build public schools for other people's kids (since their kids go to all white, private schools). They are only OK with taxes for police.
Hence, the Republican matra "cut taxes and eeeeverything will be great".
The fear driven lives of white people with wealth? Pretty ugly to see.
But, Republicans know their flock are constantly afraid and fan their insecurity and fear all day every day on twitter.
It works very, very, very well.
That's the good thing about inheriting nothing. I am not afraid of losing.....nothing.
And, I see (some) of my friends always in fear. Glad I am not them.
Spoken by a proud and hard working farmer in the NE.
Hey Fern, growing season is almost complete. :-)
But, there is still wood splitting. :-(
: > ) Cheers, Mike!
Same
Welcome to woke. Proud to have you aboard.
Fairly often, I read your replies as coming from the 'leader of the pack', critic and superior. Perhaps, it was a role played in your professional career or I have misread some of your comments and replies. I did, personally, experience what I felt as your sense of superiority.
Unknowingly?
Only as one who has benefitted from being white. Not as one who engineered that debacle.
Welcome to reality David.
So you knew this from birth? Guess the rest of us had to be educated.
David, no.
As I have detailed before, in my early adulthood I was fooled by the lies of Reagan and Bush I.
Then, when Bush II openly lied through Colin Powell about "weapons of mass "desruxion" I was astounded that everyone did not see that big lie. The inspectors, on the ground in Iraq, had been providing reports for 15 years and newspapers around the world were publishing interviews with those inspectors saying Bush was lying. I knew he was before the vote in the house where only Barbara Lee could see the truth.
By then, I had also looked at a graph of US debts vs time and realized Jimmy Carter and all Presidents since the end of WWII, had balanced their budgets AND paid down war debt. Then came Reagan.
Reagan, in spite of lying about "fiscal responsibility" turned that arc of debt removal around and tripled the debt during his Presidency by wildly increasing military spending (his campaign donors).
So, I was once an ignorant kid from a farm and thought that Reagan, like Carter, was telling the truth.
Now? I know everything a Republican says is a lie. Period.
I have been a disbeliever in Republican declarations since 1974's "I am not a crook" days, and reinforced in 1991, when I screamed at my TV "THERE ARE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION." But, ya, growing up in a white affluent culture, I had a lot of unlearning to do.
Ref. paying down the war [Vietnam] debts. Yes, Pres. Carter was paying it down responsibly and ended up with 20%+ inflation. Reagan came along and essentially said, "Don't worry about paying for that war. Let your kids and grandkids pay for it." That was Pres. Reagan, irresponsible from the start. He was slick, personable, and an actor. The best thing Bush Sr. did for the U.S. was when he told us that Reagan's proposed economic plan was "Voodoo economics." Reagan soon brought in Junk Bonds and hostile corporate takeovers which added to the number of monopolies.
Many Americans like the "Rah-rah" of war, but they don't want to pay for them. LBJ started the "sur tax" to pay for Vietnam, but Americans rebelled and the tax only lasted a few months (as I recall). I was a soldier then and making so very little money, but still my fellow soldiers and I had to pay the tax also. Then, we had Bush Jr. and Cheney start the second Iraq war, and the costs for that were put on Chinese credit cards. I could go on and on, but I'm too tired to do that.
Heydon,
First, "I'm too tired to do that". Hey, you are probably 5-10 years older than me. I was 14 in 1974 when they shut the war down. At my school, we were very aware of the war because, during announcements in the morning, they would announce the dead brothers of kids in younger grades that were not coming home alive. Every day.
We used to cringe waiting to see if somebody's name would come up we knew. One day, the Superintendent of the School's son's name was announced. His only son.
I lived out in rural East Texas where every 18 year old male was drafted. We did not know about heel spurs among the rich kids nor would we have taken that path even if we did know.
But, don't give up. I can feel myself some days getting tired too. But, we need you for the upcoming slog.
Lastly, yes, we put our 20 year, $20 Trillion "war" in Afghanistan/Iraq on a Chinese credit card. But, that war, like Vietnam, was just to enrich military contractors and Republican campaign donors in the states. Bush, nor any other President after except Biden, had the guts to cut it all off and let the native born folks in those two countries have their country back.
Biden did us a huge, huge, huge favor finally cutting off the infinite wealth generation for military contractors. Well, not really since the budget remains at $778 Billion PER YEAR.
Anyway, hang in and thank you for your service.
Right! It's been a big endeavor of moneyed interests to ensure their power and influence, all based on their economic position, is preserved and enhanced hopefully forever. Let the rabble make their own way.
You truly give me hope. Thank you.
The priority now must be voting rights. Republicans know a bona fide majority is beyond their reach and are legislating to make honest election results almost irrelevant. The handful of Republicans who helped pass the infrastructure bill might be smelling something in the political wind that might encourage them to help out with voting rights as well.
The ‘22 midterm elections loom large. Gigantic.
The Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill need to be recognized publicly by others for their courage to vote as independent thinkers not party followers.
Hope you're right, Ralph, about what those handful of Republicans "might be smelling."
It took some courage to do what they did. Unless they're thinking of retirement, they had to believe there was something to be gained from the political risk they took. It would be interesting to see what their constituent communications were before and after the vote, aside from the MAGA/whacko threats.
Katko has been working hard in central NY to support the I-81 repair project. Even got Pete Buttigieg here for a personal look at the crumbling bridge in downtown Syracuse. The infrastructure bill passing is a big win here for Katko. We’re losing a house seat due to census numbers and it’s rumored he will have to compete with Claudia Tenney to maintain his seat if redistricting lines change in our area - which is very likely.
Repubs have octopus tentacles everywhere
Tenney beat out our former Democrat! And as far as I can see, she does nothing - really good at form replies - but thats it!
I think the hopeful plan is that Katko can beat Tenney in a primary and then the Democratic candidate runs against Katko. It feels like a fingers crossed kind of plan to me. We could really use a strong candidate in our district (whatever the new redistricting lines turn out to be). Dana Balter has been the go to the last couple of election cycles. That hasn’t worked out very well so far. Katko won by 10 points. Tenney won her seat by a razor thin .04% against Anthony Brindisi.
Yeah - Tenney lost her seat to Brindisi earlier! Didnt realize it was that close this last time, but maybe thats a good sign. Sounds like we may end up in the same district!
As far as Alaska is concerned, there was a lot to be gained.
Indeed, Lynell
I still trust what becomes more and more evident of Pres Biden’s crafting of what to pass first, then next, and then next as legislative and judicial momentum gathers more Repubs willing to support legislation for the American people. The 12 that voted “for” in a bipartisan fashion might be receiving threats, but finally receiving even more support for constructing, not obstructing. I consider these legislators as part of the group that realize the very real “scary” that has been a political manufacturing, but are not afraid.
Nor am I.
Well, I am afraid but I really liked your reply and will try to be more positive!
Absolutely 💯
Oh, Ralph, how I hope you are right.
Yes, if voter suppression continues and those damnable people retake the House and Senate what will we have left? I swing between optimism and depression here!
While I agree that the Infrastructure legislation is of immense importance, I'm worried that the Social Spending part of the bill was not included, as it should have been and was originally agreed to, but POTUS desperately needed a win, and he got it.
However, for months progressive House legislators have been demanding that both bills become law together, while conservative Democrats preferred separate legislation (why?).
Progressives were and are fearful that the safety-net portion will be whittled down, and I suspect they're right.
Yes, Reagan's neoliberal governing philosophy greatly enhanced the power and wealth of corporations and wealthy individuals, to the point where much of our legislation is practically written by these corporations and the ultra-wealthy, leaving very slim pickings for the average American (as it was designed to do).
And every U.S. president since Reagan (Democrat and Republican) has followed his cruel blueprint.
Biden (to his credit) is attempting to change this script, which is why it was important to progressives that both these bill became law together.
Biden promises the social-spending bill in weeks, let's hope he can keep his promise.
This nation is the wealthiest in the world, perhaps in history, and yet we are light years behind othey major industralized countries when it comes to protecting and supporting the average American.
Thanks for your post.
"This nation is the wealthiest in the world, perhaps in history,"
Actually, this statement, often made by both parties and many Americans, has not been true since roughly the end of Ronald Reagan's massive buildup of debt and wildly overblown military spending.
With the USA openly publishing a $30 Trillion dollar deficit, which does not even include unfunded mandates and Social Security, we are the world's largest debtor nation.
The ability to run from store to store with a credit card and come home with a lot of goodies (mostly for military contractors for the last 40 years) is not the same as being wealthy.
If you use the better measurement of Gross National Income, rather than Gross Domestic Product, than you are correct and I stand corrected.
However, GNI still doesn't stop the U.S. from much-needed (and neglected) safety net spending.
Sad but true, our great delusion
Sources?
Sources, Mike S., we need sources supporting your sweeping declaration.
https://www.cnbc.com/2012/03/27/The-Worlds-Biggest-Debtor-Nations.html
Depending on what factor one uses to sort, the USA either appears as number 1 or always in the top 5.
Good source, Mike. From 2012, though, almost a decade. I wonder if there are more current data. I also wonder how the pandemic — and the Nightmare of the Orange Idiot’s Reign — have scrambled the economic picture.
https://zfacts.com/national-debt/
this only goes to 2020 but it shows how Republicans lie when they say there are "fiscally conservative".
That is the absolutely biggest lie of the last 50 years.
Hmmm. Less-good source.
Spot on. And, it'll be interesting to see where the money for improved infrastructure is spent. In communities needing it the most, or in communities with infrastructure already better than many others. I fear that partisan state governments will skew the spending to areas towing their party's line.
Heather posted the following in her sources, and it gives me great hope for equity in infrastructure, since state plans will need federal approval. Secretaty Pete Buttigieg had also said that they will even be looking at current highways and bridges that were intentionally located to cut off people of color from local resources, or built to divide white from black neighborhoods - and tearing them down.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10221667922274502&id=1447833839
Very difficult for the Department of Transportation to monitor.
There's that.
It is through the state governments that the money will be dispensed and allocated.
It was brutal on Biden not to get the "Big Package". We have to support Biden's Team and protect the average American. We have to stay strong and push to get it done.
Manchin loves playing president, and Sinema just loves playing.
A few days ago, when inflation numbers were released, the first round of NYTimes comments were hysterical. Biden was toast, etc. One suggested Manchin for President, Sinema for VP because they were the only ones who understood inflation. Yesterday it was pointed out that 6.2% increase on a $10 purchase would bring its cost up to $10.62. Scream that in the headlines.
I think she likes playing with herself.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is the spur to attaining economic and social justice. We need to elect more of them. The pressure against them is relentless. Look and support capable progressives locally and nationally.
A "Big Deal" indeed, especially after the crap Ronald Reagan sold to America. Consider Heather's point:
"Since 1981, we have badly underinvested in our infrastructure as we turned to private investment to develop our economy. In order to stimulate that private investment, we have focused on cutting taxes on the wealthy, but the promised investment never materialized. Now our bridges are crumbling, and some of our water pipes are still leaching lead into our drinking water"
Turning to the private sector to manage and care for our infrastructure was a mistake. Expecting a loose confederation of profit-hungry interests to cooperate on what is a service rather than a business interest will not work. Those interests are fundamentally opposed to each other. They will stop cooperating the second they realize that their quarterly numbers will not look good. Despite all the hoopla about how business and government came together when we have been at war, a deeper look reveals that business made sure they got theirs one way or another. Government should never trust its responsibility to serve the public to interests that will demand a return other than the honor of having served the public interest.
Your last paragraph describes, in detail, what the Republiscum* congresses have done to the Post Office. It is a service, not a business. Having that <insert profane pejorative here> DeJoy as Postmaster General when he freaking owns "alternative shipping assets" is criminal.
Should be like a utility, piss on DeLay’s 2006 requirement that USPS fund retirement for people not yet born. A republican long game for making the USPS a commercial entity.
Exactly so.
You are right Ally, the USPS is the longest funded entity in the land. It’s not a business like UPS or FedEx, it doesn’t matter if it’s profitable, neither is the Defense Department and we have no problem funding that. Those parasites 🦠 have tried to emasculate it precisely because it provides a mechanism for mail in voting. Here in GA they have shortened the window for requesting and returning ballots so much that many of those ballots will never get counted because of their delayed arrival, which is the whole point.
and they call it voter integrity, thanks evil Frank Luntz
Too bad DeJoy is further down the priority list. He's so detestable.
For me he is No Joy and for my LMT, a former postal worker, Destroy.
Replubiscum! Fitting. As much as I wish I had the tolerance to ignore the right wing crazies' constant baiting of Dems/liberals/progressives, it gets tiresome. How many cheeks can one turn? This is a useful riposte the next time I hear "Demonrats."
Oooo, “Republiscum” — a new and delightful one on me! My new fave.
If Biden wants a quick way to show he's hellbent on helping the American people, he would find a way to get rid of DeJoy. I know that the Postal Service's board of governors, not the president, has this power, but there has to be a way.
Biden could remove entire board for incompetence and malfeasance & then fire DeJoy and start over with board. But he won’t. He could also not renew Bloom’s contract next month (Bloom & DeJoy are buddies) but I highly doubt he’ll do that either.
But why wouldn't he? What's happened to the Postal Service is shocking, and it's a big problem in many places.
My guess is he doesn’t want it to look like “bad optics”. Maybe also because he likely hasn’t opened his own mail for decades & no longer knows how important a functioning & reliable USPS is to those of us without staffers to run our lives for us.
Thank you, Stephen. No one ever explains why they believe that private investment can do a job cheaper and better than government AND still make a profit? From private prisons to private water companies, these initiatives have been disasterous for the rest of us.
Don't forget what they've done to USPS.
Even republicans didn't believe their bull schitt, but with cheating they can rule the roost
This means the pay is awful and no perks, so they don't get the best people. This has happened to school bus drivers in many districts....replaced by something called First Student around here. Nothing first for students in these decisions.
Best point ever. Business bottom line is their only line
Thank you, Stephen. I didn't know what BFD stood for -- really! -- until I read your comment, and I tried -- looked up BFD in the dictionary. Laughing the Big F Fool that I can be. Thank you!
Me, too. I thought it was maybe Biden For Democracy.
It is. And that’s a BFD. 😂
Are you still laughing? What an amusing brain recovery.
I’m laughing because BFD is the first acronym on this forum I’ve actually figured out without having to ask Google! Not sure what that says about me! 😂
Boston Fire Department?
You're a winner, and that was true before today's BFD!
Thank you, Fern.
Those two paragraphs neatly sum up what’s happened and why we have to keep pushing to and through next November’s election. Can’t let the 24-hour news cycle and the fake politicians who view culture war headlines as an end game, keep us from seeing and celebrating their iteration of responsible government.
TYPO CORRECTION: …headlines asan end game keep us from seeing and celebrating THIS iteration of responsible government.
Dr. Richardson: In many respects, your November 15th missive captures the two realities happening simultaneously. On one hand, we see the Democrats and a handful of Republicans trying to deal with the issues that exist in people’s lives in the real world. On the other, we see a massive threat to the integrity of American democracy that, since January 6th, is actually getting worse. Consider, for example, what Steve Bannon, let alone much of the Republican Party, would unleash on American politics were the Republicans to retake power. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy already has threatened to punish the 13 Republican House members who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Despite such indisputable disfunction, because I want to end on a partially positive note, I see an opening for Democrats to take on Republicans face to face, demanding they explain not what they oppose but what they are in favor of for their communities. For example, are they for fixing the lead pipes, for building and fixing roads and bridges, for expanding broadband, and so forth? I fear, if Democrats don’t get more aggressive on a host of issues, that yesterday’s signing ceremony could be the last opportunity for any President to stand in front of a bipartisan audience and say this is how Washington should work.
Joe can go around the country pushing his BFD, but Rupert can reach millions of cult minions with a whisper to Shammity and lying Tucker. Dems need to know it’s not politics as usual. Way past time…
“…demanding they explain not what they oppose but what they are in favor of for their communities” Why on earth is the 4th estate not doing this over and over? It’s not like a dictatorship would benefit them.
“Stop The Lies!”
“Turn Off Fox!”
I like your image of both sides of the 53 foot trailer of my 18-wheeler cruising up and down Central California promoting that message.
❤️❤️❤️ love that Roland. Gotta get our voices out there, and not get drowned out by the bullies buying up all the airwaves
Perhaps we can support one-on-one debates with opposing candidates on a local level.
Perhaps a non-partisan-ish entity like the League of Women Voters
or a neutral-ish Chamber of Commerce could host the debates.
Perhaps they will not show. If so, post their refusal to speak to the dangers of lead leaching water pipes, deadly drives over crumbling bridges...
C of C not any degree of neutral
I agree that C of C is à big C for conservative as an organization. But, if I recall from earlier times, some of the members were more centered.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Woohoo...let the spending begin!
So now do we look toward BBB next or The Freedom to Vote Act? Personally, I'm partial to the voting thing because as we all know, if we can't vote how can we act? (Beware: Many double entendres in this video):
https://act.represent.us/sign/electiledysfunction/
I'm also in the middle of a book by Journalist, Colin Woodard, "American Nations". He traces the cultural influences of founding groups and their persistance till today in heavily influencing voting trends across the country. He posits that America is actuall formed of 11 seperate and rival originally European movements that persist in today America. He traces and maps out their expansions from the two coasts and the North and South borders as they took over the whole territory from its original inhabitants and forged the regional charactors. He suggests that they more closely predict electoral positions and changes, whether they be Blue or red, than most commonly used survey and forecasting techniques. Everybody should have a look at this. It might change your understanding of America
I have read that book several times. Read also American Character by Colin Woodard. I think about those two books all the time as I see, read, or hear the news. We are NOT nor have we EVER been “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We have told ourselves so many lies. Being founded on an idea, is an idea strong enough to hold disparate people together? Ex. Puritans came for religious freedom and promptly began to bully people with religious beliefs different from their own. A big continent captured by the lawless and greedy; every man for himself. That is our real story. Are there uplifting stories, sure. But ask all people of color what their thoughts are. I wish we could live up to the promise of the idea of all people created equal.
The right idea will hold very disparate people together as long as they share an understanding of it. Not all such ideas are good though and any idea can have its meaning corrupted by those who seek to use its power for personal gain. We haven't so much been told lies as we've been told things as accomplished facts that were, in reality, aspirations and, having been notionally accomplished, no longer needed to be taught, adhered to or supported. Equality under the law is one such and we're seeing that play out in the treatment that the leaders of the failed January insurrection are receiving in comparison to how members of lower socio-economic classes are handled by our "justice" system.
Thanks for the reference. The second book is now on my list.
Listened to him talk about his theory / book. Thanks for reminding me that I found them very compelling-after a lifetime of travel to almost all the states. ❤️🤍💙
Adding to my reading list. Thanks for the recommendation.
Stuart, thanks for mentioning this book. I've been reading a sample of it this morning. Absolutely fascinating.
Outstanding book and well worth the time to read.
Morning, Lynell. Thanks for my chuckle this morning. TRMS played that the other night, and our living room was in hysterics.
Honestly, Ally, I was looking for something to tout the pro's of the voting rights act, and this one popped up. My usual prudish persona took a back seat as I hit the Send button. Morning!!
Hahahahahahahahahaha. Hahahahahahahaha. It was like watching Saturday Night Live. You find the best diddies, Lynell! Thank you! 🍆💪🏼💪🏾💪🏿
I prefer to be the purveyor of "decent" thoughts. But if this helps to get the Freedom to Vote Act passed, I'm all for it. Morning, Christine!!
That video is hilarious.
Lynell, good morning! This is BRILLIANT! Posting on my FB page for sure!
Morning, Linda!! I was laughing so hard at first, I had to watch it again, only to find more quips to laugh over.
Morning Lynell.
Morning, Stuart!
You may also be interested in this from RepresentUs. https://gerryspartisanpizza.com/
Hey, Jan. Now you're talking! Thanks for the link.
😂😂😂
Sensational, Lynell I would love to see it all over. Fox occurred to me first. Around the country, more FREE & FAIR elections = MORE SEXUAL SATISFACTION!
They are seeking funds specifically for airing this, if you are intetested. I also posted a link about a gerrymandering project at Lynell's original post that you might like.
OMG, Lynell, is that a HOOOT and a half!!!!!!
It immediately got my attention first I watched. Glad you liked it, SL!
Good morning, Lynell. Thanks for the laugh! That was funny.
Morning, Kathy!! Glad you took it in the spirit in which it was delivered. As I said elsewhere, if it gets the act passed, I'm all for it!
Good night, John Boy.
Good night, Mary Ellen.
Thanks for the link, I didn’t know about this organization.
This is hysterical! And quite accurate.
But the actors and writers may not appreciate their own humor at some point.
Agree, Wendy, 100%!
AZ Governor Ducey is already thanking his state legislators for doing some things were a part of the infrastructure act. Not federal legislators but state.
And with regards to the unwashed/unshaven guy, sounds like he is threatening people? Why isn’t he in jail?
Because what the Bannon buffoon announced as his press release “of the day” does not break any law. That’s why he’s not in jail. Stand up and denounce loudly to any person you know chuckling or nodding their head over his stupid antics designed to make more money and create a bigger following for his bloated blog. Sow seeds of truth to prick holes in their balloons.
I’m reading an eye-opening book, Laboratories of Autocracy, by David Pepper. Reading this book is like reading the Republican playbook on how to take over the country. It sure explains how we got where we are today and that it didn’t happen overnight. There was (and still is) a Republican plan. And that plan is working. I’m just starting the last section - the part with the outline for how we fight back. Would be great if everyone at LFAA got onboard and got coordinated on this. Here’s the book description from Goodreads.
“It’s the statehouses, stupid.”
Laboratories of Autocracy shows that far more than the high-profile antics of politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Jim Jordan—and yes, even bigger than Donald Trump’s "Big Lie”—it’s anonymous, often corrupt politicians in statehouses across the country who pose the greatest dangers to American democracy.
Because these statehouses no longer operate as functioning democracies, these unknown politicians have all the incentive to keep doing greater damage, and can not be held accountable however extreme they get. This has driven steep declines in states like Ohio and others across the country. And collectively, it’s placed American democracy in its greatest peril since the dawn of the Jim Crow era.
But Pepper doesn’t stop there. He lays out a robust pro-democracy agenda outlining how everyone from elected officials to business leaders to everyday citizens can fight back.
Support your local bookseller: https://bookshop.org/books/laboratories-of-autocracy-a-wake-up-call-from-behind-the-lines/9781662919572
Buy at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Laboratories-Autocracy-Wake-Up-Behind-Lines/dp/1662919573
Request at your local library: Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines by David Pepper (published October 2021, Paperback and Kindle Edition)
That’s been NC for decades. I learned when I was 18 that I could only vote in the primary if
I registered Democrat. I was not noticing policies much at that point. But since Republicans slowly took over NC, everything that pertains to the common good has been attacked, particularly education. The R’s are only interested in money and power and will use ANY MEANS NECESSARY to get it and keep it.
Hello from Charlotte - moved here three years ago and was surprised at the state of education in the state, then looked at who gained control of the State Legislature, trying to do my part to fix the problem.
"Heather's Herd", an independent action group that evolved from LFAA, is hosting David Pepper at this Saturday's on-line meeting.
Go to this link for Lincoln Project interview of the fantstic David Pepper!!
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9saW5jb2xucHJvamVjdC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw/episode/NTJmOTAyZTctY2E2Ni00NDI5LWFhNjktN2UyMTIzMTA2ZDYy?ep=14
Pepper on Laboratories. So insightful. Virginia just worked with several national agencies to make redistricting more democratic. Dems had the majority, but the goal was not to take our turn and skew the lines to our advantage. Instead, we would design a system that included citizens and politicians, an even partisan playing field. Many democrats protested- don't squander our opportunity to redraw in our favor! Voters supported the balanced committee. Outcome? At last report, there was a stalemate and no map was drawn. This, if I understand correctly, kicked the map-making to the state Supreme Court that is majority Republican. Turns out states that have been successful with balanced committees include a tie breaker who insures the committee makes the final decision. Following the laboratory method, back to the drawing board, correct the flaws, try again.
Thanks, Lena. I heard about Pepper's book a few days ago. Good to know he has a path forward to pursue.
Reading, as well. Only 3 chapters in, but his views are in alignment with others I’ve heard. And, overall, pinpoint my misunderstandings and my experiences with local government over a lifetime in the state of NY. Highly recommend. ❤️🤍💙
I just can't help make a side by side comparison of the first year of TFG and Joe Biden. In 2017 the rich got a juicy gift of a tax cut - setting into motion an exploding deficit. The rest of us got bupkis. No, wait. We got the debt so the rich could get richer!
In 2021 our government rescued an economy from the ravages of a pandemic and applied science to slow down the disease's progress - saving hundreds of thousand of lives. And as a Thanksgiving gift, our government just passed a bill to upgrade (salvage!) our nations infrastructure and provide hundreds of thousands of good jobs.
Think about the kids who will be saved from the impacts of lead poisoned water. Think about the kids who will now be able attain a better education because they have a decent internet connection. Think about the kids in the cars that won't plunge into a river as their crumbling bridge collapses.
To think this bill is "communism" is utter insanity. I think those that buy into such self destructive nonsense should get tested - for lead poisoning. Because there is something organically wrong with their brains. Nobody is born that stupid. It takes training or chemicals...or both.
I can’t wait for a campaign debate between Rep Val Demmings and Sen Rubio:
“I didn't vote for that infrastructure bill even though I am for infrastructure because I knew it was being used as a hostage to get another bill passed which is this Build Back ‘socialist’ bill in which they are going to expand the scale and scope of government,” Rubio said.
They don’t actually think it, they just say it because they think it will garner them votes. Actually working for the betterment of our society doesn’t factor in at all.
Perhaps you’re onto something. I’ve been thinking it could be prenatal alcohol exposure. God knows there has been a ton of it
Yup. How can we otherwise explain how the most educated, sophisticated, internet connected society in human history has become so mesmerized by BS? ALL information is available and it is a gift that is refused by folks who listen to snake charmers and whackos speaking in tongues.
Seriously...every fact - real fact - is available to everyone. And yet the lemmings run over the cliff. I really have come to believe that this is a Jonestown moment on a grand scale.
Who gave Trump and his minions the right to terrorize this country?
Well, Tom, I think its the apathy inspired by too comfortable, too entitled, and too damn lazy to fight for and preserve that which binds us.
The main stream media. If these folks were ignored they would go away. But the media feeds this daily.
The click economy. The modern iteration of "if it bleeds it leads." Maybe should be updated to "if it clicks, it sticks!"
ummm......American voters.
Fox News and NewsMax
Don’t forget the AT&T funded OAN. Funding from executives and the company to the tune of over $20 million has kept OAN afloat, according to Reuters they felt that we needed another lie spewing organ to balance out the “liberal” media. They are the reason I switched to Verizon for my cell service after 20+ years with AT&T. That and the fact that AT&T gave Abbot $200 K for his re-election as governor of Texas.
Yes. Corporations are the real represented in America. Not the people.
While CNN and MSNBC were carrying President Biden's visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier, I flipped to Fox to see if they had it on. Instead, they were expounding on the difficulties in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and laying the blame on the Biden administration. So much for honoring veterans.
I'm imagining Biden as president and multiple Black people storming the Capitol to overthrow the election results. And I'm imagining the responses of the police, the Congress, and the courts. And I'm imagining Trump signing an infrastructure bill. And I'm imagining what the news coverage on Fox, NewsMax, and OAN would be for these events--180 degrees from what they are saying, or not saying, now. I hope I don't wake up with a nightmare tonight.
Why will NO ONE take it away?
All the those that held him up as a bright and glittery object to the millions thirsty for a false God
Heather writes: ..........'have attacked any Republican who supported it as “a traitor to our party, a traitor to their voters and a traitor to our donors.”
What is missing in that list? The country. In case there was any doubt in people's minds about what this cabal cares about, this omission should clear things up, pronto. They don't give a husky ***k about the country.
I've just finished reading Evan Osnos's book, "Wildlands", and I cannot praise it enough. It brought these last five years into focus for me in a way that none of the other 'Trump era' books I've read (and I've read the more serious ones), did. Towards the end of the book he talks about revisiting Greenwich, Ct., where he grew up, and talking to some of the Republican residents who sided with Trump. Their reflections made clear that it was all self-interest. Like a CEO I read interviewed years ago, who said he felt no more loyalty to the United States than he did any other country where his company did business, these movers and shakers are so far removed from the every day reality of real people, they live in such a rarified bubble, that they can't even see what their complicity in the Trump take down of America really means.
I'm reminded of the song in in the play, Cabaret, "Money". It's fitting the play takes place in pre-war Berlin.
"Autocrats, Inc." https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fmagazine%2Farchive%2F2021%2F12%2Fthe-autocrats-are-winning%2F620526%2F%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare&h=AT0w4KxbO8B8ZXft-TX9eKlPH_xnPxW-oYvFnrbjR5uZeZvzURRPIirGYpq3NM_glJq7kzqugSKnME_PjjsCuil1bo53LYxP1ZCedeCJS2TTuwfL77E1TpD9pNdPnrGqBw
Is this the Anne Applebaum article in the Atlantic, "The Bad Guys are Winning"? I read it early this morning. It was so depressing. https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2021/11/atlantic-december-2021-cover-story-applebaum/620707/
So depressing. But Biden & company are on to them.
It appears punk Bannon Is determined to carry on with his creeping -- and creepy -- coup d'etat, and is not shy about announcing this to the world. Why is he not in preventive detention being interrogated instead of holding impromptu press conferences? It seems that as a nation, we lack the survival instinct.
Bannon's just-woke-up-from-a-bender bluster has more to do with raising money than taking down the "Biden regime." It's a tired, faux tough-guy act directed at legions of racist suckers whom he's fleeced before. I still believe he will change his tune when time in prison looms large.
I hope it looms soon.
RNC is paying all the Legal bills.I wonder sometimes do the “ Stand By’s “(base ) know that’s where their donation $ is going ?
The Mercers were the first to underwrite Bannon. They did cut him off at some point for tugging on his leash too much and embarrassing them too publicly. I suspect they are still underwriting but from a safer distance.
It was Ted Cruz first. Then to Bannon and Trump. I’ve often wondered if they still are. Beka Mercer is the out front person. Story is Daddy is the happiest in front of his computers W/ his cats and playing with his huge Train collection. Maybe as long as the Stock Market is doing good he doesn’t care ? Everyone says he’s a genius.Pretty sure tho he’s old school conservative.
Rupert Murdoch could put a stop to this in a NY minute, just 24 hrs of truth telling would make a huge diff to some half sane people. Instead he is raking in fools money with a big, evil grin and his pathetic ego is as happy as tfg. Just look at the chaos they have brought to the world. Rupert said he got into politics because he wanted world leaders to answer the phone when he called. He hit a jackpot when he rang trump’s number, and we hit the skids…
Rupert was given a free pass by Ronald Reagan when Reagan saw to the death of the Fairness Doctrine. That was the genesis of the Slime Brigade that morphed into FOX, Limbaugh the Bimbo, Gingrich, Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham and a whole host of the worst among us.
I'm old, i watched it. Add Rove, Hewitt, and so many more that my brain won't process.
The Republican boondoggle of 'small government' is in service of the rich. Through deregulation of the industries from which they exploit and extract America's resources to pocket America's wealth and through preferential taxation from which they derive and perpetuate private wealth. From finance to manufacturing, from speculation to production, and from labor to natural materials, from human and natural resources. Through tax laws and tax loop holes, the wealth of the nation is shoveled into the private nosebags and corporate troughs of the privileged. No matter the cost to everyone else, from our most vulnerable neighbors to our fragile planet.
Republican government is unconscionable and unsustainable. And through the inversions and untruths of Republican rhetoric and through the credulity and resentments of the majority of Republican voters, it is undoubtedly popular. Republican lawmakers can 'say no and take the dough' and get re-elected.
During WW ll, while in Congress Harry Truman pushed for strict congressional oversight of unprecedented government spending. After the war, Fred Trump was hauled before Congress as a most egregious example of war time profiteering on government contracts. Think of it. The purpose was to improve the laws and close the loopholes through which low down yellow bellied snakes like Trump had wriggled their way to wealth while Americans were giving their all to defeat racist right wing authoritarianism. Trump also wriggled through loop holes in the relatively progressive tax laws of the Eisenhower era by passing on his wealth to his pit of snakelets.
Let's compare this to Republican lawmakers today, who fought tooth and nail to define 'pass through corporations', such as parts of the Trump real estate empire, as small businesses for the purpose of tax and pandemic relief. Republicans also went to the mats to obstruct Congressional oversight of pandemic spending - while self righteously bellowing about government waste and fraud.
Elected Republican puppets and their paymasters will do everything they can to obstruct government work on infrastructure while abstracting government funds. Republicans (and their fellow travelers and quislings) will resort to every trick in the book and then some new ones to perpetrate their schemes. We know this. The only way to mitigate and/ or prevent this is to secure a solid Democratic majority committed to the Biden Harris Build Back Better platform. The only way is through smart and disciplined election strategy and tactics. Through a summer of volunteering as much as we can for Democratic candidates who have the best chance of winning - with our work. By us putting our lived personal experience in service of our shared goals.
Bravo, Lin.
Yup.
Small government, humongous business = republican goals.