“Anecdotal data point,” conservative commentator Tom Nichols tweeted this afternoon, “Had lunch with an old friend, a fellow former [Republican] (but not in politics or media or anything) and he said that things feel different after the Pelosi attack.
Last night, Jon Meacham said on MSNBC that he had "reluctantly concluded" that the United States was in a political situation similar to that of the 1850s, with one party dedicated to protecting the union and the other to its destruction.
Tonight Michael Beschloss said we are potentially less than a week away from the loss of the rule of law and the ability to hold free and fair elections.
He was followed by General Russell Honore, who has never publicly taken a political position, declared that if we do not turn out in record numbers, we will lose democracy, possibly forever.
These are not harum-scarum guys, they are not Chicken Little crying that the sky is falling. They are serious, knowledgeable people, who understand previous historical crises and how this country works.
And they are telling us in all seriousness that the sky is potentially falling.
With the far right refusing to back down from their conspiratorial fantasies in the face of fact and accurate information, celebrating that they no longer need to pay such things attention, with a majority of Republican candidates refusing to publicly state they will accept the outcome of the election win or lose, with another Democratic political candidate attacked and beaten in his own backyard sufficiently to be knocked out and end in the ER, we are now in Terra Incognita. We are where no Americans have been before.
A line was crossed this past weekend that is more significant than the events of January 6. The other side has effectively declared war and "fired on Fort Sumter."
Serious, knowledgeable people I know and whose knowledge and opinions I trust are predicting that "absolute chaos" can break out next Tuesday night with the potential to escalate in ways no one can forecast.
This won't be "Stop The Steal" played out in Washington. This will be "Stop the Steal" played out in your hometown.
It CAN happen here. It is already far beyond anything that has been before.
In reading Timothy Snyder, he said that in 1991 the Russians voted for the last time in a "fair" election, but didn't know at that time it would be for the last time. He said it's like making love, you don't know when it will be the last time. This may be the last time we have the opportunity to vote. It won't be a free and fair election because the MAGA crowd and the GOP don't play by the rules, they will lie about the results if the results don't suit them. In fact, I worry more about MAGA than anything. They are willing to be violent. And it's frightening.
I do believe we are at an inflection point, and the Pelosi attack was different and terrifying. That there is so much hatred for Speaker Pelosi, that people were willing to hang Pence and attack Pelosi (and others) on Jan. 6, 2020, I fear violence next week. There are too many people with assault rifles that can do tremendous damage. The Highland Park massacre on July 4 was not far from my neighborhood, everything was cancelled after that, and rightly so.
That Trump, Bannon, Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, et al., were never held accountable for their traitorous deeds to the United States, makes it a free-for-all for those who want to continue their undoing of this country.
Joanna, thank you for this clear description of the situation. It seems that with every incident, the violence is more focused and more personal. I agree that the hatred of Nancy Pelosi has become a sort of symbol of just how bad this can get. The sound of the sing-song voices calling for her at the capitol still haunts me. But the most important thing you've said here is in your last paragraph. There seem to be no consequences for this uprising of violence. We are not only putting our nation and our way of life on the line but we are shouting a terrible message to the world. I still have a vision of the voting citizens of this country marching to the polls and sending a powerful message out from these shores that we are a free people. These people are, in many ways, schoolyard bullies. They can be defeated.
Too many don’t have a clue. I agree with Margaret Sullivan “My biggest worry is that the American press is not up to this moment that we’re experiencing.” No Schitt Sherlock. I watched Rupert’s evil become our Goebbels propaganda machine. Then I watched our “free press” follow their “rake in the money” mission by lying with the best Orwellian twists. Truth is anathema to the cult and damn hard to find these days. Is it too late, only we know…
I have exerted my best early morning arthritic effort to like your reply and am now giving up. However, you've hit it with your last question, "Is it too; late?" I think what gives me the horrors at night is that I honestly don't know. As for the press, they've been a "propaganda machine" for a while now. Scary stuff going on.
When the heart button doesn’t turn red, refresh your page and it should then show it’s red. If not, just click on it again, and it should turn red. You may have to scroll to find it.
If it turns out badly, we work more engergetically with care and focus on local issues and local people. We put our heads down and do what the children need in our community. We seek out the hidden local issues and we fix them. Locally. I always feel better with Plan B in place.
I think you're quite right about local issues, local people, and local elections. We just voted for change after the mayor of our village had 5 successive runs in office. I always thought he was a "nice guy", he used to be president of the school board at my children's grammar school. He has been horrible. Some people have said don't fix what isn't broken. Many of us feel it's time to have a fair and balanced election in our town. A close friend initiated some of these changes, while another close friend has been on the board for many years now and was angry when we mentioned this new group. I already voted and the first question on my ballot was for a yes or no for the new group and I voted yes. We have to be diligent at these very local levels.
If white people would start acting like Black women, we might have a chance. OTOH, if white people were capable of taking democracy and community as seriously as Black women have been taking them for decades, we wouldn't be in this mess.
Same here: I honestly don't know. I veer back and forth between "white USians don't give a damn about representative democracy, it's all about gas prices and/or white supremacy with them" and "I have no idea what most white USians think because the media is continuously pumping out billows of confusion."
Well... seems there's one HUGE mistake the Dems have made.
Because - I believe - they're just as beholden to corporate donors as Rs, so they don't dare cross that elite/establishment/neoliberal class. They just stay silent on the real issues... like Katie Porter, pointing out that corporate price gouging is the REAL inflation fuel. Nope. Can't talk about that. (check out Jon Stewart's interview with her)
So while WE and the establishment all KNOW democracy is definitely on the line ... most people - voters! - ARE legitimately unaware.
They're more focused on whether they can pay the rent, feed their family, fill the gas tank, and get their kids to a doctor if they need to.
THEY don't really have the luxury we do of looking at the bigger picture/threat. To not address their biggest concerns is incredibly foolish... IF Dem candidates are truly interested in winning...
And Dems have mostly NOT addressed the issues most important to most Americans. If voters feel their needs are ignored, they'll vote for whoever's not in power or not at all. It is ALWAYS The Economy, Stupid.
My local paper (formerly held by a family in Eugene, later sold to Gannett; gone from four daily sections and a great paper on Sunday to a tiny, two section rag) just posted that they are no longer going to carry an Op-Ed page nor print Letters to the Editor, as they are listed as the main reason people stop their subscriptions.
I hope everyone realizes that local newspapers generally are flat broke. The basic business model was shattered long ago. Most are fragile shells of their former selves. In many cases their news-gathering staffs, whittled down to the nub, still manage to produce good journalism but far too little of it — all while juggling way too many responsibilities. Also, steady readership declines began a half-century ago.
Our ire for the media's failure to do its duty — a sacred one in my view — in this crisis of democracy should be directed at large outlets, especially the owners.
My ire is directed at Gannett among others. We are the capital city of Oregon and yet we have this rag for a newspaper. There are a couple on line alternatives that are OK and one that does a great job on political issues. We used to have two newspapers, one in the am and one in the pm. Now next to nothing. As an aside about voting. Someone reported today on Next Door that a couple women were in their neighborhood taking pictures of their houses. The poster asked what they were doing and they said canvassing and after further questioning... for an outfit called Blitz. No local pol mentioned and no talking with the poster. When the poster took a picture of the car and license plate, they left in a hurry. Apparently Blitz is a wing nut R organization. This looks like some kind of intimidation to me and certainly not canvassing where people actually talk to voters. Most responders did not like this at all and thought it was creepy. And of course, someone had to say if this were a D organization, it would be OK and the people were only complaining because it was a red outfit. I answered that no political party should be doing this, period.
Saw the Tucson Weekly run two full page Maga infected lie-spreader ads this past week. My husband's comment was," now here's something I never expected to see". The ads were full of conjecture and images that implied misdeeds upon the incumbent. I'm sure most of us have seen at least one of these sorts of ads.
The Weekly is free and tends to celebrate diversity.
So, if I protest, it's possible I will be accused of promoting censorship.
When I remove the names of the big- buck personalities that take up the airwaves, it isn't hard to see corporate strategy at work. The linear corporate framework has created Corporate Godzillas, which Maga and all it's frozen politicians, lobbyists, and churches serve, This self absorbed entity is pushing us to tear down our own rights by re-interpreting them and re-structuring them into corporate language that they advertise as "ours". They are enticing us the world over to destroy our own democratic systems using this way of communication. They advertise, never intending truth and then accuse those that oppose their words as using censorship. There is a huge difference between the rights and responsibilities of free speech and advertising.
The sooner we call this strategy what it is, the sooner we will find a way to deconstruct it. This election isn't about personalities. It is really about whether or not we want a linear corporate structure running our, very obviously social and circular, planet Earth. I sure don't.
Yes, it was a great newspaper and as soon as Gannett gets ahold of a paper, it becomes a total rag. Our paper here in Salem is a rag also and they print articles about the Ducks from the Eugene paper. I think it still has letters to the editor, but doesn't print a Saturday edition, so we get our Saturday NYT the next day. I did laugh about the Register Guard's excuse for people not subscribing....the paper has become liner for a bird cage as has the Statesman-Journal. We subscribe online basically to read obits. I read the Oregonian for news and coverage of the Ducks.
All right - I'm just going to say it - how freaking petty & sensitive are we that we are unable to "bear" reading something that we dont agree with? That if someone has the nerve to write or say anything we disagree with - we just dont "look" at it anymore. Boy does that say it all right now & right in this current sloppy mess! And that IS exactly a huge part of why we are here. Seems to me Americans used to enjoy debates - but then just look at the current version of them now. Shame on us.
Unfortunately, a lot of discussion now is simply not civil. And getting into a debate with someone in person could have unfortunate consequences given all the gun toting. Finally, if someone is trying to defend death star and his minions, I don't want to hear it. We haven't had this kind of festering cancer in the body politic since the Civil War.
Wow... that is where we're going today. Emily Jashinsky (Counterpoints - on BreakingPoints.com) did an excellent monologue recently on exactly that topic. Small town, local papers... going away pretty quickly. Nothing to replace them. --> info vacuum...
Can't 'Like' this one at all Ally but it seems to be the trend of the times. Letters to the Editor in my little local paper and in what used to be the Post-Dispatch but is now St. Louis Today are limited to 250 words, not more than once every 30 days and the most controversial topics are generally not chosen for publication.
Many of the R ads around here use Pelosi, Biden and since it is Oregon, Kate Brown, as the people they are running against, not their actual opponent. They have nothing for ordinary people, so this is what they resort to. Since my husband starts to heave heavy sighs as soon as we turn on the news because of all the ads, I just turn it off. Starting tonight, I may not even turn it on. Voting by mail has started in Oregon and since most of the votes in are from more rural places, more R ballots have arrived. That will change as the more populated areas vote. I don't know what will happen, but I too worry about violence since the the country is full of guns that belong on the battlefield. I think Rs allowing this to happen has been deliberate, so they can call up the brown shirts and sit back just as death star did on January 6th.
Michele, you capture what goes on in our home as well. We want to hear what people who do not necessarily hold our views have to say, however, the advertising this year is often libelous and unnecessary. These are not acts we can respect in a leader. I would feel like I had a choice if the candidates could speak to policy and the ideas they each have for how to evolve and proceed through our civic lives. Resorting to hairpulling just depresses people, so why not turn it off?
The only candidate for governor who says what she had done and is going to do is the D Tina Kotek. The rest is just platitudes or pictures or tents or pictures of Kate Brown, Pelosi, and Biden. Then there are the lies. Interestingly enough, the D candidate for our US House district did change one ad because the campaign had been relying on a police report which turned out to not be exactly accurate. They made a new one which did include the DUI for her opponent which was accurate. Now he has signs all over the place about tolls on the interstates in the Portland area and if another bridge is built over the Columbia which ODOT is considering and since OR and WA can't agree, I doubt the bridge will even been built. Then there are all the tax and spend BS. Everyone wants the homeless situation taken care of, but it will take a lot of money including tax revenues.
As in 2016 here, as in Israel today, the left wing opposition's unwillingness and/or inability to unite and low turnout by discriminated against minorities enables racist right wing religious extremists to win control.
The three most frightening words for the future of Israeli democracy: Netanyahu is back. I fear that election/coronation is a bell-weather, indicating how our election will go, just as the Brexit vote was. Tighten your seatbelts. Unstable air ahead.
Bellwether, not bell-weather. Not as important as the election, but I like to keep my words straight. Speaking of which, I voted this morning (early voting in MA, very easy), and was given a little "I Voted" sticker for my shirt. For some reason, it made me tear up.
Yes the left/liberal wings in Israel and the US are unable to unite. David Axelrod’s stupid statement after Biden’s speech shows his stupidity in political maters. Better to beat up on Biden (low polling numbers) than beat up on the opposition. He is useless imho
It was quoted in the NYT article on Biden's speech. Basically he said all these topics are good to address but right now there are Dem's in situations in which they wish he's stay away because of his low approval rating. (approximately) It's the flagging of the low rating (a product of crummy media coverage and the lack of Dem (perhaps "dim') messaging) and candidate avoidance rather than engaging in what I now think is REQUIRED bashing of Republicans. We are beyond the usual liberal complex sentences with nothing quotable and courteous discourse. Biden took a big step with the speech. Need aggressive followup. The GOP are callous liars and accomplished (and successful, alas) spin doctors.
Makes me wonder if the various Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) are making preparations for next week and whether some of the AUTHORITIES of said LEA are scrambling to make contingency plans to face the protests (and their deadly weapons) and whether some are selling ammo to the MAGAts.
I am no longer connected with the daily activities of my former department. I have no clue what is being planned, but I can guarantee that the majority of the young men (with a few young women tossed in the mix) tend more towards the red end of the spectrum than the blue end.
I've been trying to envision next Tuesday in my little town. I voted mail-in, but many here prefer to show up in person on Election Day. I suspect our local law enforcement officers tend more to the red end as well, but since none of my Democratic friends are open carry types, it would seem that LE here might just find themselves in a show down with their own - the armed and dangerous MAGA crowd. We vote in churches and schools here as well as an annex to the County Government offices. The prospect of a shootout between LEO and armed militia types at these places doesn't seem probable. But then, I am not "up" on all that is going on here behind the scenes, especially with those MAGAt folks!
IF all voters here in TX had the option to vote by mail, it'd be much less dangerous. It'd save tons of money, hassle and harassment and be waaay more efficient. So, naturally, it's not an option. Voter suppression and intimidation are practically a sport here.
Yeah; I was working courthouse security and watched the "new breed" come through court transport as they transitioned from corrections division to patrol division. Almost universally military veterans (maybe 20% were not) and ultra conservative.
No one is reminding that we have the ACA because of Speaker Pelosi, so everyone has forgotten what, with Covid, it would be like to go back to pre-existing conditions. Only the top 10% could afford health insurance. And with Citizens United and the current minimum wage ($7.25) which one Republican has said is “too high”, where will we be?
These times and events must be enough for A.G. Garland and the DOJ to file indictments against Trump, Bannon, Mike Flyn, Roger Stone, et al to try them for their crimes (with sufficient evidence) and hold them publicly accountable. Otherwise, there is no Rule of Law. If no Rule of Law is applied to the head of the poisonous snake for acts of Treason, espionage, and an attempted coup, there can be none for those who have lived and sacrificed for rules and laws at the most mundane level. Whether Trump and his kind see themselves as equal under the law or not, there is no law unless they are.
For Steve Bannon to be free to continue his insurrection inducing blather after he has been found Guilty of failing to comply with a lawful Congressional subpoena related to his role in the attempted coup is an affront to the law. For a judge to condone and allow Bannon's continuance during this period washes the court in the slime of Donald J. Trump. Yes, there have been some commendable judges these last two years - i.e. Judge Campbell (Alex Jones trial in Texas) who said "Just because you believe something is true does not mean it *is* true." But even one judge unwilling to hold Trump accountable - i.e. Judge Aileen Cannon, is one too many. As to the SCOTUS, other than the three female judges (none of whom are named Barrett), I no longer have any respect. Without the respect of the people, they have no power over the people.
Trump has shown he can stretch out legal actions for 10-30 years. His plan is to outwait the clock, get back into power, wipe the legal action slate clean, and then erase everyone who has blocked his path. He was doing that successfully his last year in office. Right now he is working to get his inside crew, like termites, in place across the country. This must not be allowed to happen. There MUST be accountability for him and his coup crew. Otherwise there will be a war in this country, one that will be fought in the streets and neighborhoods across America and no one will know who the bad guy is until he comes knocking on your door.
"Without the respect of the people, they have no power over the people."
No power over the people? Where's Roe vs. Wade today? And voting rights? How about law enforcement officers murdering citizens because the officers thought their own lives were in danger. Or the billions of dollars spent on campaigns thanks to that same court.
Right. The SCOTUS has GREAT power over all of us---and that power is more and more of a threat to the America of the FDR New Deal and the Biden return to that mentality. We could lose it all, yes all......
Your points are understood. Those examples are certainly valid, which is why elections - every election, particularly current ones - are important. The power I'm referencing is not the kind where people just go along. I'm talking about the power of resistance. Women are rising up and resisting the SCOTUS's decision re Roe vs Wade. People rose up and resisted the actions of Officer Chauvin and whose who stood by and let him murder George Floyd. I completely agree that the SCOTUS decision re Citizens United was wrong - a decision bought by people like Charles Koch and the oil & gas industry. Because I believe those decisions were wrong I am active in finding ways to fight and change them.
There is power in resistance. When people do not respect decisions made by those placed in positions of authority, the response will either be acceptance or resistance. If people respect the law, they will comply. If they don't, they won't. Nothing won is ever permanent unless the people protect it and hold accountable those who would take it away. Civil Rights and the legal protection of voting rights was a hard-won fight back inthe 60s. That fight is back. Women's Rights were hard fought by the suffragettes and that fight is back starting with the abortion issue now (other rights will follow IMHO if women do not rise up now and demand their equal rights across the board). The rights of all people will always be with us because there are those who only feel good about themselves if they can point to another group to feel better than. I just believe the power of the people comes from their willingness to accept what is - and respect the authorities making the rules. I also believe there is greater power in standing up and calling out those who I believe are doing wrong. I also believe that is in the power of our votes - to hire and fire.
."..there is so much hatred for Speaker Pelosi, that people were willing to hang Pence ..."
I'm thinking how hatred is based on fear: I believe Donald's people fear they will be exposed and left naked to the public eye. They know they aren't behaving well. They fear the consequences.
I too saw these brilliant historians over the last week. They are spot on. My first thought is we are fucked,. My second is no way am I going to let this happen. It’s not over yet
The second is what you want. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
And I am going to use every spare minute of my life from now until Tuesday to GetOutTheVote for Democratic candidates. Your local field organizers need you.
I say with utter conviction, Sister, it is not over for democracy. Such a quiet, powerful current. I feel it awakening everywhere. Tom Nichols and HCR are correct. Something has shifted and changed after last weekend. A determination that is a formidable ally for democracy will sweep into the dustbin what needs to be there.
My hands are on my hips, my glance has steel in it and the flounce of my head and slight sniff at the dissolving vapor of stink in the air is what my stance is.
In my heart is my love of We the People, all of us this time.
I'm sorry, KD, but I don't agree with you. I think we are on the verge of losing democracy and everything we hold dear to an autocratic few and their cult of followers. If we lose the right to elect our leaders, we can kiss any other rights goodbye. I know this sounds dark and dire. It will be if we lose our democracy. Don't be complacent. Vote and get all your friends to vote. Do your want to fight with votes or guns??
TCinLA, your words echo and those of the people you cite here are echoing what I have felt in my soul for the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, at a small gathering of friends I said that I believed this coming election day and the days following, will be marred by violence that rivals January 6. I wish that President Biden’s speech had been carried by all the networks. It wouldn’t have changed any MAGA hearts, but I believe it could change the hearts of those people who haven’t been paying close attention to what is happening.
Again I am pulled up short by what might be the clearest sign that we are in way over our heads--this fact that major speeches by the President of the United States of America are not being carried by all the networks. How is that even possible? And how is it possible to think about it, especially in tandem with the completely slanted coverage of the news in general, as anything other than a press controlled by one party--and that party morally compromised?
It can all seem overwhelming. These people, who have turned themselves into monsters, are not just corrupt. They are clever, ruthless, and unbelievably efficient at what they are doing. When I read about the 50-year road to the repeal of Roe, I sense the same relentless path to this moment in time, this mid-term election. They have done everything they can and have arrived at another benchmark.
We Democrats and liberals have to go against our usual downplaying of danger and see it as just that. We have to go to the polls with that in mind. We aren't caught off guard. The enemy has stepped right out into the street. We can and we must win this one.
I am more distraught than ever. This speech should have broken through regular programming on ALL stations. What has happened to our country? My fear is deep rooted and I pray that we are ready for whatever happens.
We have elected oilmen as climate change was progressing; we have gone to war for oil, ingesting propaganda; we failed to elect a true patriot (why else did she have to undergo Republican propaganda from the moment she tried to get universal health care?), Hillary Clinton; SCOTUS began departing from democracy with Lewis Powell, who led to Citizens United. The rest is recent history, although sometimes I think Americans don’t remember past last week, particularly with Covid. We are paying for a long orgy, finished off with exceptionalism koolaid.
I believe that the White House press office could tell the media that the POTUS had an emergency announcement and all live media should carry it. I doubt that the White House made such a request yesterday for political reasons, but I’m with you - they should have gone that route.
Michael, that sounds right to me. I didn't hear the speech by President Biden but it reads wonderfully and powerfully on this screen - as powerful as many others by JFK and Obama. May those words penetrate the consciousness of all US citizens.
I was floored after reading the Lewis Powell memo and democracy in chains at how much has been done to this country while using the Friedman economic plan to strip the govt of resources to protect the people.
If Fox played it, their listeners would find other murderous liars to get their information from. The problem is that the majority of white voters (74 million plus some who didn’t cast a vote in 2020) who prefer a white Christian kleptocratic autocracy to a democracy that treats people with nonEuropean ancestors fairly. It’s not that Trump supporters are misinformed, (they are misinformed, but that’s not the problem… they like it that way), it’s that they don’t want democracy anymore. Hard to see how to preserve democracy in the face of such a widespread, deeply ingrained threat. All decent Americans should do what they can, but even if the Dems pull off a miracle and retain the power to govern, the 74 million will still be calling for a government that will preserve their systemic advantages.
Ironically, as the Dems cry more loudly for the preservation of our democracy, the Republicans hardly ever use the word "democracy." It isn't part of their rhetoric. Republican politics has been boiled down to an Orwellian vision from Hell, starting with the basic misuse of language. In their world, it's not the words but the volume that makes the difference. We (liberal Dems or Independents) focus on quiet, rational discussion of ideas and they focus on the loudest possible shouting about what, if you pay attention, is gibberish. They have made so much incoherent noise for so long that our hearing has been impaired.
With them it's "free-dumb," not "democracy. Free to do whatever the heck I want and to hell with you. Democracy implies the rule of law and respect for others.
100% agreed - and note that 74 million is less than 25% of the population. The rulers are always the minority, so a fair election is simply not an option in the system they want. Also, this status - rulers and subjects; a minority controlling a majority by dividing and conquering; it is by far the norm in the span of history. The “American Experiment” is an exception, and it’s on the brink of failure.
Agree. Sadly, plenty of people actually prefer autocracy. They can just be told what to do. No thinking required. No responsibility. Black & white. Cut & dried. No ambiguity. It's simpler than our complex system of democracy. And there are lots of people who like it that way.
The media can no longer tell the difference between a campaign rally ( they got rightfully burned for broadcasting Trump’s) and a major address delivered outside DC.
For those who missed watching President Biden's urgent speech last night calling on voters to protect democracy (because the major networks did not carry it) and who didn't read about it (because even The New York Times, once considered the paper of record, carried its story about it not where it belonged, on page one, but relegated it to page A18), here is the video of it:
Hey, he’s only the president of the United States. Who cares what he says? Has he even been promoted by Oprah? He’s not a celebrity, really, is he? Not like Herschel Walker, a true celebrity. And something else, Biden is not very entertaining. No one is wondering if he will surpass his usual calm reasonableness. With Trump you watch to see if he can top his previous shamelessness.
(My NPR station did not announce what time he would speak, so I missed it.) When FDR was president, the radio audience for his fireside chats topped that of the most popular entertainer, Bob Hope. A different time then, a different country.
This is the dread I've been sensing these last 11 months now. We as a nation are now brought low by our desire to be, or follow, megalomaniacs. Greed and power are now the sole motivators of the rich, and they play the masses like marionettes. distracting them with culture wars. What are good people, of sound temperament and faithful values, left to do? Pray they all come out to vote for sanity and life this month.
I guess its too much to ask republicans like George W Bush and Dick Cheney to help save America by telling every American to vote for Democrats and against election deniers. They should see that they have to help burn the republican party down to the ground before it can be built back up again.
But I fear they are more concerned about their own personal safety than the safety of America.
W? He likes to clear brush and paint portraits. He ought to be required to paint the portraits of Iraqis who were slaughtered for no reason. He should be painting pictures of young boys who were sucked into ISIS because we disenfranchised the Sunnis. W might be anti-Trump. But has always been, in my mind, a mass murderer. Old Dick showed him how.
Former president son of former president, former CIA director, both in oil business and enjoyed close relationships with Middle Eastern oil families, such as, the bin Laden family had no knowledge of the Arab Muslim world. Riiiight.
Well Dick's daughter Liz is doing her part. She's campaigning for a Democrat. She's amazing and I predict she will run for President in 2024. Personally, I have a foot in two camps right now. She won my admiration with the J6 committee. She's got moxie and smarts. But her ancestry is from an oligarch who is a hawk and not opposed to lying for political gain. We shall see, but for the moment she appears to consolidate both parties.
I also think there is a new party emerging; one that will comprise centrist Democrats and sensible Republicans. Its emphasis will be a return to decency...not faux Christian morality, but integrity. The question is, what will happen to social programs, still much needed?
And if "we" prevail by any chance, let's tax the hell out of the "space ship boys" and their like. I'm not kidding, their arrogance and impunity is maddening.
Last night I stayed up beyond my normal bedtime to talk with my oldest and dearest friend back home, a man I’ve know for over 50 years, who opinions I trust.
We talked about next Tuesday, about the failure of accountability that has brought us to this place, of the inability of many to anymore discern or care to discern truth from fiction, morality from immorality and have thereby surrendered the duty to hold accountable, those who represent us.
We are, far too many of us I fear, incapable of performing that duty, addicted as we have become in recent decades, to the siren call of the insatiable, delusional social network
It was late when I finally got to sleep, only to be dragged from bed a few short hours later, unable to rest, to rid myself of dreams of a coming storm, brewing at our coastline, poised to sweep the nation, take it down, and of those who welcome it, desire it, and have embraced violence to see it to fruition.
Perhaps Wednesday morning will break clear, perhaps the storm will pass us this time. Perhaps, but hope is a slim defense and provides scant foundation for the foreseeable future.
“ The failure of accountability.” Otherwise known as impunity. From the electoral college debacle, to a clearly packed Supreme Court, to the methodical seeding of the district courts with right wing ideologues, with judicial hem hawing and delays, the Democratic Party, compromised has it has been by 💰, has failed us and has sown the seeds of fascism. The dismantling of democracy over the past 50 years has largely gone unanswered by those of us who profess to believe in it. And now we’re going to have to play hardball if we want to preserve it. There will be consequences. And those consequences will determine the future of our democracy. Regardless of whether we win on Wednesday morning, or lose, fundamental changes to our constitution via amendments will be required to stabilize this teetering ship of state. A dark door stands open before us. Will we walk through it or turn around and fight?
Uhm…. (Deep breath) Amidst the apocalyptic visions that I’m reading in the comments tonight, just remember, “on Wednesday morning” we may know little or nothing of the outcome of some, or many, crucial contests. It will be a test of patience.
I love your phrase “judicial hem hawing and delays.” I know the 6th Amendment about the right to a “speedy trial” is for the benefit of the accused person. But, lately, I’m looking at some instances/trials that, in my opinion, could be speedier. I mean, Sandy Hook happened on December 12, 2012. (I realize the shooter shot himself. My outrage is that it has taken TEN YEARS to BEGIN to shut The Alex Jones Lie Machine off.) Trump’s tax stuff…..? Even January 6, 2021 is nearly TWO YEARS AGO. How about some Swift Justice?
Historical note: John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry took place in mid-October 1859. He was sentenced to be hung on November 2, 1859 and executed on December 2. 1859. Total time: a month and a half.
Hope is a slim defense. Been hoping for most of my long life, ever since I heard a John Bircher celebrate the murder of JFK. I agree with Al Gore. (Some go from denial to despair without stopping at action.)
R Dooley, we might have passed in the night. I was trapped in a dream doing undercover at a Trump property to aid Dan Rather in an expose to convince folks that we were at an inflexion point and Tuesday was coming closer. I couldn't get checked out or find my room and Trump was so gracious providing lovely cake with vanilla frosting and not letting me pay for my rooms or losses at the table. I desperately needed to get my evidence to Dan, but didn't know which metro stop or line he was on. Could I afford to take a cab. Or, get there in time. I am hoping this really was a dream. Did I make it in time?
"As chronicled in I Alone Can Fix It, by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, the Pentagon’s top general said shortly before the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol that Trump had led the country to the brink of its own “Reichstag moment,” viewing him as a potential threat to American democracy. "
"On January 6, Milley watched with disgust as Trump addressed his supporters. Soon after Trump finished speaking, a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the presidential election by a joint session of Congress — and many promised to return for Biden’s inauguration. “These guys are Nazis, they’re boogaloo boys, they’re Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II,” Milley said a week after the attack on the Capitol." https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/i-alone-can-fix-it-mark-milley-likened-trump-to-hitler.html
Thanks for your always insightful comments. -- This is indeed scary shit. I know that the Dems had difficulty getting significant legislation (other than the ACA) passed during the Obama years, but after the Bush years, I felt that our country was moving in the right direction. Back then, there is no way that I could ever have imagined the nightmare of the past six years. I now imagine waking up from the nightmare and seeing our country get back on the path to a better Democracy. We'll find out next week (and again in 2024) if my imagination is based in reality or not.
Concur with TCinLA; Beschloss did deliver a sober analysis this afternoon & would not & absolutely did not back off. Over 27 Million voters have already returned their ballots which may not be fully counted until next Wednesday or Thursday as many jurisidcitions do not start counting mail-ins until polls officially close ... longer in some jurisdictions if they insist on hand counts. If close enough, some recounts are compelled by statute not to mention the 2004 fiasco.
And on CNN (as that happened to be the channel I watched Biden's speech), the "talking heads" were going back and forth as to why Biden did not address the economy when their polls say the #1 issue for 51% of people is the economy. I think one of the streaming lines below the picture was that 71% of people think the republicans would do a better job getting inflation under control. I was absolutely appalled . . . I couldn't agree more with Biden that democracy IS the ONLY issue on the table and the profound lack of understanding of Econ 101 is astounding. I simply could not get my head around what I was hearing.
If, after what happened during trump's 4 year occupation of the WH culminating in an attempted coup to overthrow a legitimately elected president, people are still so dumb and/or evil to hand republicans a majority in Congress and state governor races, inflation and the economy will be the least of our problems!!
The show "New Amsterdam" did a brilliant episode the other night . . . I won't say more.
And, speaking of Econ 101 :) has anyone seen the republicans' plan to get a grip on inflation? Of course not. They have zero policies and when they happen to "do something" it is a disaster that the dems have to clean up.
Worth repeating: This is what happens Under Republicans:
1) Block all legislation/policies of a democratic majority.
2) A political party with no policies or ability to govern.
3) Decrease taxes on wealthy and corporations. No, "trickle down" does not work and is
not a viable economic plan.
4) Criminalize women’s health choices.
5) Propose slashing Social Security and every safety net/social service program.
6) Constantly putting the country at risk for defaulting on our debt.
7) Cult following of a criminal mad man.
8) Some of the most vile and inept people running for Congress.
9) Some of the most vile and inept people to serve on the Supreme Court
10) Support of a violent attempt to overthrow the U.S. government - complicit in their
The perception that the GOP would do a better job bringing inflation under control, or dealing with the deficit, or fixing any other national economic issue is so off the mark, but it's a viewpoint that's commonly held in spite of the evidence. As you said, Janet, when the Republicans do something, it's the Democrats who have to come in and clean up their mess!
The Republican plan to kill SS and Medicare was a win for democrats, but they ignored this. The MAGAts don’t care about democracy (they are a cult after all). Sure hope that the election deniers are seen as such, but the propaganda mavens are relentless.
Here in NH, we've seen multiple ads spelling out the R's intent to kill our safety nets and pointing out how extreme the R's are. Sad to say, the Republican majority leader is an avid fan of Libertarians (the Free State group, many who won't come out and say they're members and pose as Republicans, have co-opted the Republicans and went so far as to put SECESSION forth as a bill. Fortunately 323 voted against it and only 13 voted for it. The Governor, Sununu (yes, son of John Sununu), has gone along with them.
And our NH media continue to portray Sununu as an affable moderate. He IS affable and he speaks well but he is a reed in the wind when it comes to political principle.
President Biden now says 6 days before the biggest election of my lifetime the only thing on the ballot is democracy. Really?
The day Biden got elected I said to anyone that would care to listen 'I hope Bidens number 1 priority is to make elections free and fair.
My question is this, how could it be that I, a relative no-one from a small town in N/E have felt this way and the great thinkers and legislatures of this nation could not have seen this coming? 6 DAYS BEFORE AN ELECTION WE HEAR FROM OUR PRESIDENT on media platforms speaking to the choir? Without free elections what does any of the other stuff matter. I feel so angry and powerless about this. Yes, I realize we had and have all sorts of fires to put out. Everyone said when Biden was elected he would have the best cabinet leaders and all would be well. All is very much not well. Everything feels irrevocably broken.
Yes!!! AND... telling people that THAT is the only thing voters should really consider their priority ... will lose us this election. And yes, it does feel very broken right now.
Last night President Biden Warned 'That ‘Big Lie’ Republicans Imperil American Democracy'
'The last time Biden spoke about threats to democracy, none of the national TV networks took it live, citing the political nature of the speech.'
The same was true last night: 'Fox showed the World Series, ABC had “Wheel of Fortune,” and CBS showed “Open Mic.” NBC aired its nightly newscast, which featured election coverage — but not Biden’s speech.'
What do the American people know about the fate of American Democracy at this very moment?
Nearly 300 Republicans on the ballot in 2022 midterms have disputed the 2020 presidential election.
'Voters See Democracy in Peril, but Saving It Isn’t a Priority'
'A New York Times/Siena College poll found that other problems have seized voters’ focus — even as many do not trust this year’s election results and are open to anti-democratic candidates.'
Many of us were on pins and needles waiting for the results of the 2020 presidential election returns. Would it be Hillary R. Clinton or Donald J. Trump? We were right to be very concerned and we didn't know just how consequential that election was. The midterms, just days away, will indicate how much trouble we are in.
'“You have the power, it’s your choice, it’s your decision, the fate of the nation, the fate of the soul of America lies where it always does, with the people, in your hands, in your heart, in your ballot.”
I fear Margaret Sullivan is correct, the press is not up to this moment. Even so, we seem to have experienced a sea change at the business end of a hammer. Not for most of the readers of LFAA, we have been swimming in this particular ocean since at least 2016. The soon to be ex-republicans (i.e. those still north of insane) are commenting on it, deflated by it, mourning it. The seldom voters, even the right leaning ones, are horrified, finally. The working class, many too busy with 2-3 jobs, kids, parents, etc, know about this, when most other news failed to break through. No major coverage of a generational speech given by a sitting president. Our free press has become very expensive indeed.
Steve, you and I have not ignored what working people have experienced in the USA over the last 40 years and how the Democratic Party lost so much of what was once its fervent base.
“You cannot really understand the working-class rightward shift without discussing what the Democratic Party is doing,” Daron Acemoglu, an economist at M.I.T., wrote by email:
'Many of the trends that negatively impacted workers, especially non-college workers, including rapid automation and trade with China, were advocated and supported by Democratic politicians. Perhaps worse from a political point of view, when these politicians were advocating such policies, they were also viewed as adopting a tone of indifference to the plight of non-college workers.'
'Poll data suggest that Democratic struggles with the white working class are worsening. In “Elections and Demography: Democrats Lose Ground, Need Strong Turnout,” an Oct. 22 American Enterprise institute report by Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman and Nate Moore write:
The gap between non-college and college whites continues to grow. For the first time this cycle, the difference in margin between the two has surpassed an astounding 40 points, well above the 33-point gap in 2020’s presidential contest. Republicans trail with white college voters by 13.6 points but lead with non-college whites by more than 27 points. Democrats appear stuck in the low 30s with non-college whites — no poll this month has them above 34 percent — so a repeat of Biden’s 37 percent mark appears unlikely.'
'David Autor, an economist at M.I.T. who has written on the role of the trade shocks that have driven white working-class voters into the arms of the Republican Party, described his assessment of the current mood of these voters in an email:
The class and cultural resentments that were inflamed by the China trade shock (alongside other technological, cultural, and political forces) are now so burned-in that I strongly suspect that they are self-perpetuating. Like a forest fire, these resentments and frustrations create their own wind that carries them forward. While the economic forces that initially fanned those flames might have abated for now, there is plenty of fuel left to consume.'
“The pandemic,” Autor noted, “has actually compressed earnings inequality sharply over the last two years. This potentially reduces some of the political pressure accompanying the decline of manufacturing and erosion of non-college wages.”
'While this trend would seem to favor Democrats, Autor pointed out:
'Inflation has risen so fast that the fall in inequality has not actually meant earnings growth for almost anyone; rather, middle- and upper-income workers have seen larger falls in earnings power than low-income workers. It’s unfortunately cold comfort to discover that your star is rising relative to the rich because their star is falling faster than yours.'
'In a 2020 study, “The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines,” Autor, David Mindell, professor of the history of engineering and manufacturing at M.I.T., and Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the M.I.T. Industrial Performance Center, contend that the United States is unique among developed countries in failing to counter the negative effects of technological change on workers:
'What sets the United States apart are U.S.-specific institutional changes and policy choices that failed to blunt, and in some cases magnified, the consequences of these pressures on the U.S. labor market. The United States has allowed traditional channels of worker voice to atrophy without fostering new institutions or buttressing existing ones. It has permitted the federal minimum wage to recede to near-irrelevance, lowering the floor under the labor market for low-paid workers. It has embraced a policy-driven expansion of free trade with the developing world, Mexico and China in particular, yet failed to direct the gains toward redressing the employment losses and retraining needs of workers. (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
"Many of the trends that negatively impacted workers, especially non-college workers, including rapid automation and trade with China, were advocated and supported by Democratic politicians." Really? Odd. I seem to recall that Chinese outsourcing was led by corporate America, which is not particularly liberal. Indeed, it was the right wing (and Trump in particular) that killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the purpose of which was to counterbalance Chinese influence.
And then there's the fact that Trump and company had so many cozy business deals with China while publicly labeling the The Enemy. The Chinese knew the game that was being played, presumably, while the MAGA crowd was completely taken in.
But, sure, let's blame that on the Democrats. It's not like mainstream "liberal" media are going to spend a lot of time reporting the facts, after all. Not when the far right is dangling bright shiny media objects in front of them.
Thank you for raising US trade with China and outsourcing with reference to the Democrats and Republicans. I hope that will you continue to clarify how the parties performed with reference to supporting the working class during the '80s going forward, along with source material that you recommend.
Just out of curiosity, are you aware of what the AEI's political agenda is? You might also want to check out the backgrounds of those authors. Two of the three are right wing and mostly write about how bad Democrats are.
I am aware of the organization Stephen. That we support different objectives doesn't mean to ignore them. If there is agreement, I will acknowledge it and put it to use, aye.
I don't believe I said anything about ignoring them. But one ought to be aware of whether or not someone has an agenda and do some serious fact checking.
And if they can't find one, they'll manufacture it. Those tightening polls even in places where Dems usually win are the direct result of the media focus on and framing of economic issues.
I'm actually angry that an excellent speech by the current president of The United States was NOT broadcast on live TV, especially after we did see Trump almost daily. Am concerned that media execs are Republicans more concerned with themselves rather than the public they're supposed to serve.
"TV" is only about money. The fact that all the networks wouldn't broadcast a speech by the President of the United States of America tells us that the Oligarchs have a tight rein on the media. Except for PBS, "TV" is dead to me.
Christina, I agree. There is cause for deep concern about safety at the polls, receiving accurate results and an enormous turnout on behalf of us all. Amen
I knew how consequential the 2016 election was, and how giving the keys to the kingdom to a soulless narcissistic bastard was a horror. What could go wrong. Well, everything. And it did. All the while, Rupert spun the evil into lies of gold.
Jeri, a nightmare image from 2016 for me was the control room shot of an empty Trump lectern with the words or chatter "Trump in 10 minutes" ... a live camera waiting for the daily poison.
I met Bernie on the sidewalk outside outside our local village cafe in the Oakland hills on the day after his speech in San Francisco announcing his "Medicare-for-All-Plan" & thanked him for his Health Care policy positions. He stopped and listened to my brief words about my pro-bono work resolving patient medical billing disputes. I can tell you Bernie looks right at you with his attentive eyes & ears that listen.
Thank you, Judith for letting us know. That is a story, the whole lot of them, with at least one cable exception, MSNBC, reject a speech by the President of the US at a time when our Democracy is in great peril (AND THE NETWORKS + Fox (we know what Murdoch wants) know all about it).
Yes... AND lots of people saw the entire 'system' as so corrupt that (to them) it ALL needed to be blown up. While WE think that's horrendous... because it IS!!! - plenty of THOSE people were so desperate, feeling failed by the 'system' they willingly chose the orange cheeto.
And... the rate we're going now... we may be looking at that same choice again. We really need to recognize that not everyone in this country sees or experiences or knows what WE do. We need to realize we're all living on different planes while we're all subject to the same system. It serves us differently... and we're more able to bridge the gap than they are.
TC, and far, far beyond the worst that those of us who expected the worst could have imagined. What I have seen unfolding, page after page, since 2016 has no point of reference in my long experience of life in this country. Even with my pared down consumption of the news (no television, subscriptions cancelled to the NYTimes, even WaPo) this alien landscape howls in the night. And the possibility that we might not have seen the worst nearly stops my breath. This is a time when we have to turn and fight, march to the polls and fight. But there is a dread in my bones. And, oh, I pray that all my foreboding is wrong, wrong, wrong.
TC, your words are clear. The message is received. Here is my take:
On Wednesday morning next, we should expect some reasons to celebrate and reasons to be terrified. There will be some historic wins and some unbelievable losses.
Expect certain states to produce progress (soon to be Governor Maura Healey in MA) and some traitorous liars elected to important positions. And...there will be some GQP sore losers who will claim fraud. It is going to be a mess.
I am proud of President Biden. His speech last night was spot on. Many others are speaking out as well. Will they be drowned out by the drama of the screaming liars? In the end will the Supremely Extreme Court actually support the veracity of the election process?
America has a rich history of voter fraud. Political machines run by bosses who bought votes and dumped certain ballots into the river. The South has been intimidating voters forever. None of what is happening now should be a surprise. Hillary warned us. The signs have been as large as billboards on a highway. We just lived in a bubble.
So now that the bubble is bursting and leaders like Biden are FINALLY calling out the fascists, we COULD turn the tide. It's going to be ugly. Friends and families will split. And there will be violence.
But we can't stand down. The Republicans who embrace the lies and the hate need to be outvoted and SHUNNED. On TV, on social media, in the public square and in person. If someone starts with the GQP bullshit at Thanksgiving Dinner, tell him to shut up and fuck off. If that doesn't work, perhaps an exit would be in order. Or...you have permission to start a food fight. Gravy and cranberry sauce make effective projectiles.
Ha!!! Well, you absolutely had me up to "But we can't stand down." After that... ummm... no.
Lowering ourselves to their level... won't serve us. And what a waste of good (homemade!) food! They're so not worth it. Not dining with them... might be the more peaceful choice?
While I’ve worked many elections, in the upcoming one I will be an election officer (person in charge of a polling place). What an election to cut my teeth …
The nation owes you and all other head judges a deep bow. I will be an election judge but not in charge of the polling place. I will be working from 5:30am to at least 9:00pm and grateful that if I run into a problem with a potential voter, I can call on the election officer (i.e., your counterpart in my state) to help. In Minnesota, all election workers have had 4 hours of training both in-person and online. Our voting machines have been tested and found to be accurately reporting the votes. I do not expect intimidation or violence from MAGA but I intend to be vigilant. I am in awe of the seriousness and specificity of our state election office. And most touching in all the training we have had is the message about how to treat voters: "Be kind, be patient. Help people know they are welcome at our polling places."
Thank you, Heather, for including Biden's full speech in tonight's letter. It is important that we not only hear his words but read them, in black and white, as well. I do feel the media has let us down, although I feel a lot of the nightly commentators at MSNBC heed warnings and ask some of the tough questions. Alex Wagner asked why the messages from the Democrats are just now getting out. There haven't been great answers. Tim Ryan and Beto O'Rourke seem to be hammering their information to their supporters and beyond. We are very weak in that department but maybe, just maybe the Pelosi incident will raise the ears of those who are not affiliated with a party or who are undecided. That's what I'm hoping anyway. My best to you tonight.
The media is as self serving as the Republicans. It’s corporate owned. It doesn’t have a speck of humanity. It’s been clear since they began to parrot lies with no rebuttal or rebuke, no clarification of truth.
Even the venerable NY Times is running far right editorialists daily with nutty stuff now. Here is an article by an old guy named Edsall that, outlines how all of the "non-college" voters hate Democrats because of Democratic policy like moving manufacturing to China.
Now, it IS true that American manufacturing left the USA for Mexico and China, like bats leaving a cave at dusk, under Clinton's NAFTA and Clinton's admission of China to the World Trade Org and it is true that Democrats had both houses if I recall......BUT......Republicans were just as eager to sell America out as Clinton and the Democrats. No doubt.
Because, it is equally true (not mentioned in the article) that Ronald Reagan was the real start of offshoring and outsourcing through his enthusiastic support of Jack Welch's destruction of the GE workforce and manufacturing by offshoring. Sadly, even the Harvard Business Review was raving about Jack Welch as he began giving himself gigantic bonuses on the selling out of America.
"The Democrats, he continued, “have come to be seen as the party of free trade, given President Clinton pushing through both NAFTA and China’s entry to the W.T.O. and President Obama championing the Trans-Pacific Partnership — they are seen as the engineers of manufacturing job loss.”
All of the media are afraid that if they "get out the Democratic message" then they will be shut down when the Republicans win again. And, the NY Times at least, thinks they are going to win again and so does the WaPo.
And, with the massive Fox News, OAN, AM radio, and web presence, the Republicans have shown they are serious and are willing to do what it takes to get THEIR message out.
Plus, setting up the Federalist Society to purchase white judges and put them on the Supreme Court?? Brilliant. Really. What better way to strangle the US than attack the only non-democratic institution in our Democracy and take it over without a shot fired? Well done, no lie.
I don't necessarily think there are fewer billionaires that vote Democratic. But, I DO think the billionaires that vote Republican are more determined to "own" the country in a way that makes sure that their voice, and only their voice, counts.
Well said. We here in Oregon just got to watch as "Uncle Phil" (Phil Knight, Mr. Athletic Department at U of O who has turned the athlete's experience into a taj mahal of delight for male athletes) donate millions to the Reich Wing candidate for Governor.
Even in NY we have to deal with pay to play, but, here it is Democrat Kathy Hochul who is hooked up to the kickback umbilical chord of corruption.
Example: Hochul pay $637 million for the same 200,0000 Covid tests that Califronia paid $300 million for from the same company.
ONLY, Hochul used a middle man campaign donor to obtain the tests.
So, now, we have $337 million dollars gone missing and I just wonder how much of that is in Hochul's new Swiss Bank account.
It really is hard to get passionate about blue or red being 62 years old and having seen nothing but messy, smelly, corruption in both parties for my whole adult life.
Boy, do I hear you Mike. At 64, we're in the same age bracket. I've read your stories about growing up in East Texas (I think I've told you a dear friend grew up in Nacogdoches) and have compared them to my "civilized" racism growing up in lily white southern Oregon.
A pox on all their houses, since they have turned public service into a meal ticket. I will still vote for the party most likely not to try and kill me and those likely to harm our democracy, but long for a better way.
"... Republicans have shown they are serious and are willing to do what it takes to get THEIR message out." <-- they don't HAVE a message. Because Dems are 'in control' ... and the economy sucks for so many... Rs don't need a message. Agree on the billionaires wanting to 'own' it all...
Heather posted a link to the NYT transcript of Biden’s speech. (Of course she did.) It’s the last citation at the end of her letter and includes a share button.
Yes, in the 72 years I’ve lived, this is the scariest moment I’ve seen. I was too young to have direct experience of McCarthy and the Red Scare. I did live through the echoes and aftershocks.
Ken, I’m 72 as well, only still here because at the beginning of Covid I recognized with my marginal background in public health that a). This was the Big One, and having grown up across the River from Fred Trump and his deranged son, b). The Donald was going to kill a lot of us. I swore an oath that he Would Not Kill Me.
I made it out of my house alive, one and a half years later. I WON....
Now, after all of the political effort, all of the money to support as many candidates as I could afford (like all of you I am sure) I’m presently working through my list in the Neighbor 2 Neighbor project. Never give up; Never surrender....
Yet I am also feeling an encroaching sense of dark doom. I sense that the long-ranging machine that was spooled up by the likes of Newt Gingrich is running true, and all I can do is hold my breath. I have this picture in my head that the Big Gob and his minions--all of whom would each gag a maggot off a gut truck-- are driving this thing right at us. Have I gone mad? I don’t know anymore. Sleep deprived and shell shocked, I just keep fighting on. Finally cancelled Dish. Wasn’t planning to watch election coverage anyway--I’ll be asleep, like I should be right now. The election will be a prelude anyway it turns out, and we should all be preparing for Phase Three: Rescuing our precious Democracy.
Thank you Professor, and push on, everyone. I wish we could all get together when this is over....
Gus! I’ve been wondering why I hadn’t seen you here (might be because I hadn’t read enough comments). Thinking about the ppl there and the turmoil they experience. (Decades ago I lived in MTG’s district in Floyd Co.)
Hey MLMinET, this is my first post in a while. Sorry it was a little apoplectic, but I let the crazy out this time. Oh yeah, Marcus is running hard, and he's got some of my cash to do it with....glad you escaped Floyd county! I was appointed to a church in Lindale, and before I realized I was in deep KKK land, they had my number and it took my DS 2 years to get me out! My first mistake was quoting Maya Angelou and Bryant Gumbel in the same sermon....
hahahaha! I worked for a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Summerville when I lived in Rome--I took to locking my car when it was parked. Glad you're back.
I wrote 1000 GOTV postcards and attended two rallies. At 88, having voted Republican only once (Eisenhower), like you I am trying to live through these last days (weeks?), but with a Putin lover. It keeps me on my toes along with Pilates classes, cooking, and running errands. Hoping that I am mentally prepared for whatever happens and to live long enough to work on righting the ship.
Salud Christine, hearing from you and the others makes me feel like coming home to family. Sending you all the energy and encouragement I can spare. And cash to Val.
Hi Gus, smiling at you. It seems normal to have some dark hours. It won't stay that way. You're bound to cheer up one or more of us sad sacks; we'll rebound and sing 'This is Your Land' together.
I turn 72 next month, and I agree that nothing equals what we face now. In fact, I keep realizing nearly ever day that things are worst that I thought the previous day. But it's not over by any means. If people would somehow look beyond the transitory inflation and vote, vote for their future.
And that is always is. We have to keep those we elect responsive and accountable, or it's not government of, by and for the people. Democracy, certainly a just democracy, requires an ongoing good faith conversation, between each other, between parties, between our public employees and the public. Self-governance is DIY or it's not self-governance. We get the help from faithful representatives, but not relief from the duty of staying informed, considering outcomes, and choosing wisely. Some say "Only I can fix it", but that's a con on it's face. That's not how it works.
“Transitory inflation” - so true. And yet i have no recollection of a Republican administration (in modern history) ever getting us OUT of a financial crisis. Only getting us into them. Yet people buy the lies they are sold, even in the face of truth. Ah, truth - that elusive thing that left us years ago.
I turned seven the year the hearings were on TV. Some of my earliest memories of television were of Edward R. Murrow. I agree, this time is more frightening. There wasn't the threat of violence in 1954. And there weren't nearly as many guns. Now? Good god, we've got an armed public with not enough sense to be allowed to have those weapons.
It was bad back then, but unless you were black or a mexican laborer that was locked in a the back of a truck after cutting sugar cane or picking tomatoes for a few cents an hour all day in the Florida sunshine... that kind of brutality was business as usual in the 1950s. I remember seeing the cane cutters in the fields outside Miami as we drove north to Lake Wier for our summer vacation... so hot and the sun wasn't even up.
I am 75, and I have a dim memory of my mother sitting in front of our AM table radio and telling me it was a very important day. It was the disgracing of McCarthy. I had no clue what the fuss was about, but filed it away as "important", which is was. Sad that modern Republicans seem to have dusted off his playbook, and written new chapters.
I am 75. I exist today because my parents met in Italy. He, the wounded soldier. She, the nurse. They were liberating the country from fascism. Now Italy is embracing the same party that gave them Mussolini and I am watching fascism gain momentum here. My folks are spinning in their graves. What was all that sacrifice for if the same evil keeps rising from the ashes of war?
I so wish the ghosts of the Greatest Generation could swoop down and wake people up. Their legacy is being spit on by millions of American Nazis.
Yes, Ken, the scariest moment for people who are paying attention. I fear there aren’t enough, or at least a majority, taking all the threats and violence seriously. It’s all gone on too long, especially the consequences for the violence from the Insurrection. The magic of media, to turn on and off at will, to spread truth or lies, continues to place every single person who votes or not in jeopardy. Voting early, or not voting at all, we all have the same wait.
Last month I turned 88. I was born in the 1930s and now I feel like we're living in the 1930's in Germany. As a country we don't seem to care about being educated about the importance and significance of understanding history or what could be the consequences of our ignorance. of history.
I agree with you. Some friends want to only discuss “board games” and “living a happy life” - no political issues. They become angry with me if I question their beliefs which are not based on any credible sources or the truth. They say they do not have 24 hours a day (I guess like me?) to educate themselves on what is happening. I have been called cruel and mean because I should know”everyone educates themselves at their own pace.” The problem is trying to get their education on the golf course at the Country Club.
When I am told to change the subject when I bring up politics, it angers me because I know I cannot get through to these people. I truly don't want to associate with those voting R. But some of them are family and close friends. Is ignorance bliss? I've already lost my oldest friend over T. I was tired of being screamed at/over. This is really taking its toll on me, mind and body.
Same with me Jeanne. I don’t know if this helps you, but after a recent blow up of an old friendship, I immediately signed up for more canvassing and phone banking to be connected to people who think like me. New friends and helping at the same time! Like-minded people are out there and we gotta find them! We all need community.
I too am 88. And I remember hearing Hitler on the radio. WWII formed us, I think, because a large dose of history is important in a democracy. When history and civics became unimportant subjects, we lost our way.
We do care about it. It's just that those subjects have been erased from public education. On purpose. So that's a harder place to start. Lots of info online, including films, documentaries, etc. for anyone who's curious and interested.
When I was young, way back whenever, major presidential speeches to the nation were on every TV. Regular programming would have been interrupted. What Biden he had to say would have dominated conversations across the nation.
If democracy dies and chaos, corruption, and violence reign, millions of Americans will wonder how in the hell it happened. And much of the blame will land on those in the media, excluding of course the MAGA outlets.
Algorithms are named for cool guy Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, inventor of algebra. Like any tool it's outcomes depend on how it is used. Or misused.
Algorithm? really? Interesting. I'd wondered if it was a cryptic twist on "logarithm", which I guess was invented by the same cool guy whose name has too many diacritics for me at this time of the morning..
I keep off "social media", but as a lover of cinema and classical music I spend a lot of time on You Tube. The torrent of malevolence attached to everything that isn't pro-Trump, and notably now the vicious mockery of the Pelosi attack, is terrifying.
One of the greatest threats to American democracy is the branch of government which is appointed (for life) rather than elected and is therefore virtually quarantined from the democratic process - the Supreme Court. Until the Supreme Court undergoes some degree of reform, democracy in America will never be safe.
The founders hoped that a tainted court nominee would not be approved by a prudent senate. No tinkering with the constitution could protect the integrity of SCOTUS from the likes of Mitch McConnell allied with the dark money backed Federalist Society.
Well, Senator Whitehouse of R.I. certainly tried with Amy Coney Barrett. She is a know-nothing, no experience SC justice. So wrong. And her extreme religious views, we are in trouble for sure. No SC justice should have a lifetime appointment. And there should be term limits on members of Congress. Just look at Grassley, doing damage for all these gazillion years and he is running again.
Joanna Denis - "And there should be term limits on members of Congress. "
Explain what removing someone from office who is accomplishing what "the people" want him/her to do would achieve. Wouldn't "the people" simply vote in someone else with the same (their) agenda? (And hope the new guy has the experience (and political capital) to get the job done.)
Seems to me that "Term Limits" is just another form of ballot control... similar to the Republican platform.
But in this context look at Madam Speaker who got the ACA passed. And John McCain who blocked his fellow Republicans from killing it. And look at Joseph R. Biden who put NATO back together as only he could have done. I am sad that we are losing a senator who has been such a good one, but is retiring. Can see his face and hear his voice, but cannot remember his name or state.
Why does this good man have low approval ratings? Even, and especially, in his own party? And especially compared to his predecessor? Against an opposition party that has willfully tossed off any sense of decency, dignity, honesty, or respect?
What the hell else does Joe Biden have to do get a grateful “Well done, sir,” and a “Glad you’re in charge”?
One hopes the nation gives him all of that on Nov. 8th.
With the Inflation Reduction Act, there is your climate change agenda passed (not nearly enough but a very good start given the Joe Manchin odds!). And then there is Biden's support for Ukraine. Those two things are enough for a well done first term in the face of the opposition.
I feel hopeful and careful, too. This letter contains some really historic quotes by our current president. I was uplifted reading the letter today and shared it with 2,000+ Facebook readers.
Biden’s speech was not broadcast live by any of the networks. Many Americans will never hear a word of it, or for that matter, read a word of it. That unfortunately tells us a great deal about the moment we are in; it should not give us hope.
I've just checked - it's on YouTube - ABC, PBS, CNN, The Hill, Politico etc. The whole thing, live. There's the usual poisonous fringe of toadspawn comments, and worse, but also a strong reaction of comprehension.
Please forgive my repetition. My concern is that it wasn't broadcast live, which has been Americans' traditional experience of a president at important moments. Instead of Biden, the networks gave us reruns. If the four mainstream networks had run the speech live, many Americans would've been there by default. Who knows how many would have stayed -- but we know one thing: if viewers surf by it a lot will stop to listen. The networks decided that Joe Biden isn't important enough to be on their live airwaves. Notably, he rarely is. How often was Trump? Week after week after week he commanded coverage when he wanted it. My feeling is that the networks sent a message to America: just another speech, folks, not a big deal, move right along. We deserved better. So did the president.
I read a column yesterday about how inept Biden is when he speaks. He is old, he shouldn't run for president again, etc. etc. I wondered about all the "word salad" we had thrust upon us by the former criminal traitor masquerading as president.. I found it disturbing. It would have been great if the networks had broadcast his speech live. This was always the way in the past. I am currently in Germany so I did not see any of the speech or even know that it was given until I read this newsletter this morning. I will check it out on you-tube. Thank you Anne-Louise.
This infuriates me. Typical Trumper. When someone says that to me, I explain that the man overcame a stuttering problem. And when they go on to point out mistakes he says, I point out that we all do that, them included. And the brain fog I have after Covid could also be playing a part in that. They refuse to acknowledge all the good he and his administration have done in such a short time.
When we consider the stammer that President Biden has had to overcome, the difficulties he has survived, and look at his years of public service - most recently reinvigorating NATO - we need to recognize our good fortune that he is our president. His speech of last night, if we get to write history after next week, will be one for the history books.
Exactly! And as far as Democratic strategists are concerned, they have been of little value when pinned against the GOP and MAGA. Democratic strategists need to find a new and powerful strategy before the 2024 election. Like starting right now!
There are many days lately that I miss the old big 3 networks and the in depth articles in the local newspapers. The media world has changed. I think most people today, myself included, don't watch mainstream news on a television. I watch/read online. I didn't watch his speech today because I have rarely listened to presidential speeches and I already agree with Biden that our democracy is on the line. I have already cast my blue ballot and have had it confirmed as received and counted.
The violence and rhetoric today reminds me of the 60s & 70's but today it's even more intense. Looking back I remember - Viet Nam war protesters, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers the Democratic Convention in Chicago, the alphabet soup of college organizations and campus protests, the Watts Riots and I'm sure there is a lot I have left out. It was frightening to me as a kid and is even more frightening now as an adult when that desire for power has unleashed violence that is aimed at toppling the rule of law and the government.
That loss is something I bemoan every day, Judy. I have, on more than one occasion, commented that even with all the channels I have at my disposal, I cannot find much that I want to watch. 2 of my 3 local TV stations are owned by Sinclair. My local newspaper (sold to Gannett a few years back) is now dropping it's OpEd page because it is listed as the reason most people cancel their subscriptions.
Looking back at the TV and newspapers we had up until the advent of cable and the internet, would you say we lived in a news bubble? I know newspapers and magazines could have a political leaning but I remember the big three TV stations as delivering the same news just with different newscasters.
While I agree Biden's speech should have been broadcast live by the broadcast news channels (and I've read, not by PBS either), keep in mind that he spoke at 7 pm ET. I live on the west coast, so "live" was at 4 pm. In Chicago, it was at 6 pm, and in Denver, it was 5 pm; many people wouldn't have been able to hear it live if they didn't have access to a TV when it was broadcast live. At least, the speech on MSNBC, C-SPAN and youtube. Have shared links on FB.
That’s true, for sure. Still, I think something else was at stake. By not airing the speech live as he gave it, the importance of it was diminished. Even if many in the Midwest and West would not have actually seen it live, it’s likely they would’ve known it was airing. In making a “news judgment” the networks told the American people that the speech wasn’t news. Implicitly they are saying that the idea of democracy itself being at stake is a political statement, not a nonpartisan statement of the truth. Essentially they’re saying, no, it’s not really at stake, that’s political hyperbole. They’d argue that they’re correct. I’d argue that the networks have consistently diminished Biden by not covering him in the way that they validated Trump by covering his every breath. If they don’t think Biden is any different, that makes a lot of sense. But it seems to me you need to engage in a lot of false moral equivalence to say Biden is not more of a statesman than Trump. The networks are helping to coarsen debate in the public arena. There’s a price to be paid for that.
Reveals something about the true objectives of corporate mainstream media censorship, doesn't it?
I disconnected from Comcast five years ago and took that monthly payment amount and put it into supporting independent media. I became much better informed by dumping corporate "news." I highly recommend newcomers The Lever, Breaking Points, Popular Information and The New Republic. As shown by the censorship of intellectuals like Chris Hedges, Glenn Greenwald, and political comedian Lee Camp, everything that embarrasses totalitarian corporate plutocracy on the web is in the process of being removed as well.
YES!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, Ed!! We have done the same... and they open up whole different ideas and viewpoints and approaches to us that never existed in MSM!!! We are also much better informed these days as we learn sooo much from them. Even when we disagree...we still learn a LOT. Sooo happy and proud and excited to be part of this new and emerging media. Check it all out, y'all!!! A whole new world to explore...
I wish that Mr. Biden had a much stronger impulse to do what he has been doing recently, which is commanding and filling the void in the public narrative about who we are as a nation. It's so very easy to get dragged down into the mud around hot-button topics, false narratives, personalities and prurient interest in tabloid news and lose sight of the big picture of where we're headed from election to election, administration to administration.
4 decades ago, Ronald Reagan used his B-rated Hollywood acting skills to sell the nation on trickle-down, supply side theory and massive tax cuts "balanced" by soaring national debt, promising us that the investment by the rich would magically create enough tax revenue to more than make up for those forsaken tax dollars. It turned out that rich folks tend to get richer, hoard assets rather than reinvest all that windfall in cash and the government has no self control over deficit spending. Across those 4 decades, 4 individuals pursued this line of political whitewash; one actor, two rich Texas oil tycoons masquerading as old eastern money, and one psycho narcisstic emperor wannabe.
Two fairly moderate presidents (16 years) a bit to the left of center spoke to the lower and middle class, while largely protecting the status quo of the rich. So, the term millionaire is now almost meaningless and won't buy you financial security, billionaires are no longer rare and mega-multi-billionaires now are the ones that move the needle on big business. All the while, the courts and increasing amounts of dark money in politics have been chipping away at the guardrails of democracy. In parallel, the norms of behavior/decorum within politics have broken down to the point that little trust or admiration remains for national leaders in any branch of government. Now it seems we have reached some turning point, where we either change our ways and claw ourselves back from the brink of anarchy or accept the fact that we will become a bigger version of all those South American nations where corruption and scandal is the norm in politics.
The US presidents have a unique capacity to cut through the crap and speak loudly enough to be heard across the nation and even around the world, IF they make use of that capacity. They can, in fact, galvanize the nation around important issues IF they speak forcefully and clearly. This is perhaps their most potent tool; not the suitcase and red button, carrier task forces or the veto pen. It seems that only an occasional president fully realizes this or takes advantage of it.
I'm afraid the Pelosi affair is just another blip on the radar in a race to the bottom; we just don't know quite how much lower the public narrative can sink...
I agree, Ken, but you know what? It makes me angry-- hell, furious-- that small-minded bigots think they can trample our American experiment. No matter our age (I'm 70, what a shock), we have to remain diligent, honest, active guardians of democracy. This is a defining moment, and we can rise to it. After all, our generation stopped a war! "Hell no, we won't go," and we won't roll over for tin pot dictators either. Here's a Major Question, though: will the American press do its job? Tell the truth, damn it, don't be afraid. We need you to have our backs! So people, do what you can-- vote, help your neighbors to the polling place or the mailbox, put up a lawn sign, go door to door for your candidate, write letters, hit the streets. Act! You are not alone.
Which is why media didn't demand to show the other undeclared illegal wars of the Middle East and switched to a mercenary army to wage it. They didn't want the people as informed about any war as they were about the Vietnam "war," which we were lied into by Democrats' Lyndon Johnson in a way not so different from the way we were lied into the Iraq "war" by Republicans' George Bush.
How about some perspective. A GOP win in midterms is a step away from democracy but it is not the end of democracy. Nothing during this election is as risky as how close we came to an end to democracy on Jan. 6th!...Had Pence gone along with Trump, had Raffensperger found those votes for Trump in GA, had Clarence Thomas stayed the Georgia results and tossed election to House of Reps., had courts knowingly bought into Trump's bogus lawsuits as was his plan like Judge 'Loose' Cannon in South Florida and the Top Secret papers, had any General gone along with Trump's attempt to get the military involved and invoke The Insurrection Act, had Dept. Homeland Security seized voting machines as Trump urged, had Trump replaced Bill Barr with that clown Jeff Clark who was willing to run with his stolen election lies, (Good news, D.C. Bar Assoc. filed disciplinary proceeding against this clown-about time!)..THOSE EVENTS could have ended our democracy. GOP gains in midterms is a step towards the end of our democracy when our democracy is greatly threatened, but a much smaller one than the risks posed on Jan. 6th.
in 2024 it will depend on who counts the votes. There are election deniers running in multiple states to be in charge of counting the votes. Here’s to them being soundly defeated!!
January 6th was our Fort Sumter. Four years of a hot Civil War followed. The southern bigots had to be beaten into submission. Words were not enough. My attention is turning from the politicians to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. How many Michael Flynns are embedded there?
Tom Nichols. Yesterday he cited his 'good friend Mona Charen' in whinging about today's Republicans. All these 'good conservatives' who turn up their noses at Trump and are 'shocked, shocked' by the goings on in the GOP. They're the one's who paved the way for Trump et al. The unapologetic Reagan acolytes. What did they think would happen when they dog whistled the unrepentant racist right wing religious extremist rabble into their gentlemen's club? They'd all mind their manners and let the Bushes, McConnells, and Scalias undo democracy behind closed doors? Trump is just Reagan writ large and writ vulgar. These 'never Trump' hypocrites are offended by Trump's style - not the substance of his agenda, from degrading civil rights to deregulation to defunding to science denial to undoing the separation of church and state. They want the face of unconscionable conservatism to be Amy Coney Barrett, but they brought Marjorie Taylor Greene to the party. Did they think the heirs of the Confederacy, ginned up and gunned up for decades would act as though 'government is the enemy' was just a figure of speech. Newt Gingrich metaphorically burned down the House. What did the Tom Nichols et al think would happen next?
I'm angry at the Republicans who got us here, too, but we can only get out of this mess with a coalition of all of those who value democracy. Were they late to the game? Do they still have ideas I find reprehensible? Yes, but just as Democrats need to come together from whichever wing of the party we may occupy, we have to welcome all of those whose eyes have been opened and who are fighting for democracy now.
Absolutely. Welcome these professional conservatives' belated concerns. Work together. But not for a moment forget who they are, what they've done, and what they really want. Which is a return to Reaganism.
I don't for a minute believe their eyes are opened to the unconscionable abuses of conservatism. And I'd be very wary of their working to move the Democratic party towards Reaganism from within. They just realize that they need a functioning government to institute their injustices and that civil war won't give it to them.
Last night, Jon Meacham said on MSNBC that he had "reluctantly concluded" that the United States was in a political situation similar to that of the 1850s, with one party dedicated to protecting the union and the other to its destruction.
Tonight Michael Beschloss said we are potentially less than a week away from the loss of the rule of law and the ability to hold free and fair elections.
He was followed by General Russell Honore, who has never publicly taken a political position, declared that if we do not turn out in record numbers, we will lose democracy, possibly forever.
These are not harum-scarum guys, they are not Chicken Little crying that the sky is falling. They are serious, knowledgeable people, who understand previous historical crises and how this country works.
And they are telling us in all seriousness that the sky is potentially falling.
With the far right refusing to back down from their conspiratorial fantasies in the face of fact and accurate information, celebrating that they no longer need to pay such things attention, with a majority of Republican candidates refusing to publicly state they will accept the outcome of the election win or lose, with another Democratic political candidate attacked and beaten in his own backyard sufficiently to be knocked out and end in the ER, we are now in Terra Incognita. We are where no Americans have been before.
A line was crossed this past weekend that is more significant than the events of January 6. The other side has effectively declared war and "fired on Fort Sumter."
Serious, knowledgeable people I know and whose knowledge and opinions I trust are predicting that "absolute chaos" can break out next Tuesday night with the potential to escalate in ways no one can forecast.
This won't be "Stop The Steal" played out in Washington. This will be "Stop the Steal" played out in your hometown.
It CAN happen here. It is already far beyond anything that has been before.
In reading Timothy Snyder, he said that in 1991 the Russians voted for the last time in a "fair" election, but didn't know at that time it would be for the last time. He said it's like making love, you don't know when it will be the last time. This may be the last time we have the opportunity to vote. It won't be a free and fair election because the MAGA crowd and the GOP don't play by the rules, they will lie about the results if the results don't suit them. In fact, I worry more about MAGA than anything. They are willing to be violent. And it's frightening.
I do believe we are at an inflection point, and the Pelosi attack was different and terrifying. That there is so much hatred for Speaker Pelosi, that people were willing to hang Pence and attack Pelosi (and others) on Jan. 6, 2020, I fear violence next week. There are too many people with assault rifles that can do tremendous damage. The Highland Park massacre on July 4 was not far from my neighborhood, everything was cancelled after that, and rightly so.
That Trump, Bannon, Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, et al., were never held accountable for their traitorous deeds to the United States, makes it a free-for-all for those who want to continue their undoing of this country.
Joanna, thank you for this clear description of the situation. It seems that with every incident, the violence is more focused and more personal. I agree that the hatred of Nancy Pelosi has become a sort of symbol of just how bad this can get. The sound of the sing-song voices calling for her at the capitol still haunts me. But the most important thing you've said here is in your last paragraph. There seem to be no consequences for this uprising of violence. We are not only putting our nation and our way of life on the line but we are shouting a terrible message to the world. I still have a vision of the voting citizens of this country marching to the polls and sending a powerful message out from these shores that we are a free people. These people are, in many ways, schoolyard bullies. They can be defeated.
Too many don’t have a clue. I agree with Margaret Sullivan “My biggest worry is that the American press is not up to this moment that we’re experiencing.” No Schitt Sherlock. I watched Rupert’s evil become our Goebbels propaganda machine. Then I watched our “free press” follow their “rake in the money” mission by lying with the best Orwellian twists. Truth is anathema to the cult and damn hard to find these days. Is it too late, only we know…
I have exerted my best early morning arthritic effort to like your reply and am now giving up. However, you've hit it with your last question, "Is it too; late?" I think what gives me the horrors at night is that I honestly don't know. As for the press, they've been a "propaganda machine" for a while now. Scary stuff going on.
When the heart button doesn’t turn red, refresh your page and it should then show it’s red. If not, just click on it again, and it should turn red. You may have to scroll to find it.
Appreciate it - thanks! Does work!
Thank you, Mim
Happens to me too. Just make sure you clicked ON the heart. It may not turn red right away. Check later.
If it turns out badly, we work more engergetically with care and focus on local issues and local people. We put our heads down and do what the children need in our community. We seek out the hidden local issues and we fix them. Locally. I always feel better with Plan B in place.
I think you're quite right about local issues, local people, and local elections. We just voted for change after the mayor of our village had 5 successive runs in office. I always thought he was a "nice guy", he used to be president of the school board at my children's grammar school. He has been horrible. Some people have said don't fix what isn't broken. Many of us feel it's time to have a fair and balanced election in our town. A close friend initiated some of these changes, while another close friend has been on the board for many years now and was angry when we mentioned this new group. I already voted and the first question on my ballot was for a yes or no for the new group and I voted yes. We have to be diligent at these very local levels.
If white people would start acting like Black women, we might have a chance. OTOH, if white people were capable of taking democracy and community as seriously as Black women have been taking them for decades, we wouldn't be in this mess.
Same here: I honestly don't know. I veer back and forth between "white USians don't give a damn about representative democracy, it's all about gas prices and/or white supremacy with them" and "I have no idea what most white USians think because the media is continuously pumping out billows of confusion."
Well... seems there's one HUGE mistake the Dems have made.
Because - I believe - they're just as beholden to corporate donors as Rs, so they don't dare cross that elite/establishment/neoliberal class. They just stay silent on the real issues... like Katie Porter, pointing out that corporate price gouging is the REAL inflation fuel. Nope. Can't talk about that. (check out Jon Stewart's interview with her)
So while WE and the establishment all KNOW democracy is definitely on the line ... most people - voters! - ARE legitimately unaware.
They're more focused on whether they can pay the rent, feed their family, fill the gas tank, and get their kids to a doctor if they need to.
THEY don't really have the luxury we do of looking at the bigger picture/threat. To not address their biggest concerns is incredibly foolish... IF Dem candidates are truly interested in winning...
And Dems have mostly NOT addressed the issues most important to most Americans. If voters feel their needs are ignored, they'll vote for whoever's not in power or not at all. It is ALWAYS The Economy, Stupid.
My local paper (formerly held by a family in Eugene, later sold to Gannett; gone from four daily sections and a great paper on Sunday to a tiny, two section rag) just posted that they are no longer going to carry an Op-Ed page nor print Letters to the Editor, as they are listed as the main reason people stop their subscriptions.
I kid you not.
I hope everyone realizes that local newspapers generally are flat broke. The basic business model was shattered long ago. Most are fragile shells of their former selves. In many cases their news-gathering staffs, whittled down to the nub, still manage to produce good journalism but far too little of it — all while juggling way too many responsibilities. Also, steady readership declines began a half-century ago.
Our ire for the media's failure to do its duty — a sacred one in my view — in this crisis of democracy should be directed at large outlets, especially the owners.
My ire is directed at Gannett among others. We are the capital city of Oregon and yet we have this rag for a newspaper. There are a couple on line alternatives that are OK and one that does a great job on political issues. We used to have two newspapers, one in the am and one in the pm. Now next to nothing. As an aside about voting. Someone reported today on Next Door that a couple women were in their neighborhood taking pictures of their houses. The poster asked what they were doing and they said canvassing and after further questioning... for an outfit called Blitz. No local pol mentioned and no talking with the poster. When the poster took a picture of the car and license plate, they left in a hurry. Apparently Blitz is a wing nut R organization. This looks like some kind of intimidation to me and certainly not canvassing where people actually talk to voters. Most responders did not like this at all and thought it was creepy. And of course, someone had to say if this were a D organization, it would be OK and the people were only complaining because it was a red outfit. I answered that no political party should be doing this, period.
Saw the Tucson Weekly run two full page Maga infected lie-spreader ads this past week. My husband's comment was," now here's something I never expected to see". The ads were full of conjecture and images that implied misdeeds upon the incumbent. I'm sure most of us have seen at least one of these sorts of ads.
The Weekly is free and tends to celebrate diversity.
So, if I protest, it's possible I will be accused of promoting censorship.
When I remove the names of the big- buck personalities that take up the airwaves, it isn't hard to see corporate strategy at work. The linear corporate framework has created Corporate Godzillas, which Maga and all it's frozen politicians, lobbyists, and churches serve, This self absorbed entity is pushing us to tear down our own rights by re-interpreting them and re-structuring them into corporate language that they advertise as "ours". They are enticing us the world over to destroy our own democratic systems using this way of communication. They advertise, never intending truth and then accuse those that oppose their words as using censorship. There is a huge difference between the rights and responsibilities of free speech and advertising.
The sooner we call this strategy what it is, the sooner we will find a way to deconstruct it. This election isn't about personalities. It is really about whether or not we want a linear corporate structure running our, very obviously social and circular, planet Earth. I sure don't.
And now we have "zombie" newspapers that remerge during campaigns to spew odious lies.
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1131422576/republican-conservative-democrat-media-news-newspapers-illinois-proft-timpone
Yes, it was a great newspaper and as soon as Gannett gets ahold of a paper, it becomes a total rag. Our paper here in Salem is a rag also and they print articles about the Ducks from the Eugene paper. I think it still has letters to the editor, but doesn't print a Saturday edition, so we get our Saturday NYT the next day. I did laugh about the Register Guard's excuse for people not subscribing....the paper has become liner for a bird cage as has the Statesman-Journal. We subscribe online basically to read obits. I read the Oregonian for news and coverage of the Ducks.
All right - I'm just going to say it - how freaking petty & sensitive are we that we are unable to "bear" reading something that we dont agree with? That if someone has the nerve to write or say anything we disagree with - we just dont "look" at it anymore. Boy does that say it all right now & right in this current sloppy mess! And that IS exactly a huge part of why we are here. Seems to me Americans used to enjoy debates - but then just look at the current version of them now. Shame on us.
when it's simply abuse... not debate... then, no
Unfortunately, a lot of discussion now is simply not civil. And getting into a debate with someone in person could have unfortunate consequences given all the gun toting. Finally, if someone is trying to defend death star and his minions, I don't want to hear it. We haven't had this kind of festering cancer in the body politic since the Civil War.
Wow... that is where we're going today. Emily Jashinsky (Counterpoints - on BreakingPoints.com) did an excellent monologue recently on exactly that topic. Small town, local papers... going away pretty quickly. Nothing to replace them. --> info vacuum...
Can't 'Like' this one at all Ally but it seems to be the trend of the times. Letters to the Editor in my little local paper and in what used to be the Post-Dispatch but is now St. Louis Today are limited to 250 words, not more than once every 30 days and the most controversial topics are generally not chosen for publication.
Will it ever return to what it was?
Only if it returns to independent ownership
no... however for now, there's nothing to replace it. corporatocracy runs every single aspect of our lives... really.
That is truly sad, Ally.
Many of the R ads around here use Pelosi, Biden and since it is Oregon, Kate Brown, as the people they are running against, not their actual opponent. They have nothing for ordinary people, so this is what they resort to. Since my husband starts to heave heavy sighs as soon as we turn on the news because of all the ads, I just turn it off. Starting tonight, I may not even turn it on. Voting by mail has started in Oregon and since most of the votes in are from more rural places, more R ballots have arrived. That will change as the more populated areas vote. I don't know what will happen, but I too worry about violence since the the country is full of guns that belong on the battlefield. I think Rs allowing this to happen has been deliberate, so they can call up the brown shirts and sit back just as death star did on January 6th.
Michele, you capture what goes on in our home as well. We want to hear what people who do not necessarily hold our views have to say, however, the advertising this year is often libelous and unnecessary. These are not acts we can respect in a leader. I would feel like I had a choice if the candidates could speak to policy and the ideas they each have for how to evolve and proceed through our civic lives. Resorting to hairpulling just depresses people, so why not turn it off?
The only candidate for governor who says what she had done and is going to do is the D Tina Kotek. The rest is just platitudes or pictures or tents or pictures of Kate Brown, Pelosi, and Biden. Then there are the lies. Interestingly enough, the D candidate for our US House district did change one ad because the campaign had been relying on a police report which turned out to not be exactly accurate. They made a new one which did include the DUI for her opponent which was accurate. Now he has signs all over the place about tolls on the interstates in the Portland area and if another bridge is built over the Columbia which ODOT is considering and since OR and WA can't agree, I doubt the bridge will even been built. Then there are all the tax and spend BS. Everyone wants the homeless situation taken care of, but it will take a lot of money including tax revenues.
i hope you're wrong... tho it does sound like what they're all planning to do
Dean, I believe they can be defeated too. And I hope they will be. They can be if people vote. This is no time to be complacent.
Thank you Dean.
“ 1991 the Russians voted for the last time in a "fair" election, but didn't know at that time it would be for the last time.”
This is the sound byte of my day. Thank you.
Was it their first time also…
As in 2016 here, as in Israel today, the left wing opposition's unwillingness and/or inability to unite and low turnout by discriminated against minorities enables racist right wing religious extremists to win control.
The three most frightening words for the future of Israeli democracy: Netanyahu is back. I fear that election/coronation is a bell-weather, indicating how our election will go, just as the Brexit vote was. Tighten your seatbelts. Unstable air ahead.
But the defeat of Bosonaro??
In spite of Trump's endorsement.... Makes me wonder what kind of altenative UN is operating.
Bellwether, not bell-weather. Not as important as the election, but I like to keep my words straight. Speaking of which, I voted this morning (early voting in MA, very easy), and was given a little "I Voted" sticker for my shirt. For some reason, it made me tear up.
Thx.
Yes the left/liberal wings in Israel and the US are unable to unite. David Axelrod’s stupid statement after Biden’s speech shows his stupidity in political maters. Better to beat up on Biden (low polling numbers) than beat up on the opposition. He is useless imho
What was Axelrod's statement, please? I can't find any reference to it in a quick search.
It was quoted in the NYT article on Biden's speech. Basically he said all these topics are good to address but right now there are Dem's in situations in which they wish he's stay away because of his low approval rating. (approximately) It's the flagging of the low rating (a product of crummy media coverage and the lack of Dem (perhaps "dim') messaging) and candidate avoidance rather than engaging in what I now think is REQUIRED bashing of Republicans. We are beyond the usual liberal complex sentences with nothing quotable and courteous discourse. Biden took a big step with the speech. Need aggressive followup. The GOP are callous liars and accomplished (and successful, alas) spin doctors.
Yeah! I hated reading that! Axelrod needs to get the Ax, I mean Fired!
See article by Peter Baker in NYT on Nov 2 (read online)
Sniping is not useful. The press is not compelled to use unuseful quotations. Everyone is scared and that brings out the worst in everyone.
Makes me wonder if the various Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) are making preparations for next week and whether some of the AUTHORITIES of said LEA are scrambling to make contingency plans to face the protests (and their deadly weapons) and whether some are selling ammo to the MAGAts.
I am no longer connected with the daily activities of my former department. I have no clue what is being planned, but I can guarantee that the majority of the young men (with a few young women tossed in the mix) tend more towards the red end of the spectrum than the blue end.
I've been trying to envision next Tuesday in my little town. I voted mail-in, but many here prefer to show up in person on Election Day. I suspect our local law enforcement officers tend more to the red end as well, but since none of my Democratic friends are open carry types, it would seem that LE here might just find themselves in a show down with their own - the armed and dangerous MAGA crowd. We vote in churches and schools here as well as an annex to the County Government offices. The prospect of a shootout between LEO and armed militia types at these places doesn't seem probable. But then, I am not "up" on all that is going on here behind the scenes, especially with those MAGAt folks!
IF all voters here in TX had the option to vote by mail, it'd be much less dangerous. It'd save tons of money, hassle and harassment and be waaay more efficient. So, naturally, it's not an option. Voter suppression and intimidation are practically a sport here.
This sounds scary
it is
Now that, Ally, is deeply scary. Thanks (?) for that info???
Yeah; I was working courthouse security and watched the "new breed" come through court transport as they transitioned from corrections division to patrol division. Almost universally military veterans (maybe 20% were not) and ultra conservative.
Thank you. We DO need to return to the draft. It mixes US.
Very scary in the newly polarized situation.
Scary
Timothy Snyder’s “The Road to Unfreedom” - terrifying.
Thanks for book recommendation.The. U.S. created its road to unfreedom long ago, before the Declaration of Independence.
Ye it is. s
No one is reminding that we have the ACA because of Speaker Pelosi, so everyone has forgotten what, with Covid, it would be like to go back to pre-existing conditions. Only the top 10% could afford health insurance. And with Citizens United and the current minimum wage ($7.25) which one Republican has said is “too high”, where will we be?
May Paul Pelosi quickly return to health.
These times and events must be enough for A.G. Garland and the DOJ to file indictments against Trump, Bannon, Mike Flyn, Roger Stone, et al to try them for their crimes (with sufficient evidence) and hold them publicly accountable. Otherwise, there is no Rule of Law. If no Rule of Law is applied to the head of the poisonous snake for acts of Treason, espionage, and an attempted coup, there can be none for those who have lived and sacrificed for rules and laws at the most mundane level. Whether Trump and his kind see themselves as equal under the law or not, there is no law unless they are.
For Steve Bannon to be free to continue his insurrection inducing blather after he has been found Guilty of failing to comply with a lawful Congressional subpoena related to his role in the attempted coup is an affront to the law. For a judge to condone and allow Bannon's continuance during this period washes the court in the slime of Donald J. Trump. Yes, there have been some commendable judges these last two years - i.e. Judge Campbell (Alex Jones trial in Texas) who said "Just because you believe something is true does not mean it *is* true." But even one judge unwilling to hold Trump accountable - i.e. Judge Aileen Cannon, is one too many. As to the SCOTUS, other than the three female judges (none of whom are named Barrett), I no longer have any respect. Without the respect of the people, they have no power over the people.
Trump has shown he can stretch out legal actions for 10-30 years. His plan is to outwait the clock, get back into power, wipe the legal action slate clean, and then erase everyone who has blocked his path. He was doing that successfully his last year in office. Right now he is working to get his inside crew, like termites, in place across the country. This must not be allowed to happen. There MUST be accountability for him and his coup crew. Otherwise there will be a war in this country, one that will be fought in the streets and neighborhoods across America and no one will know who the bad guy is until he comes knocking on your door.
"Without the respect of the people, they have no power over the people."
No power over the people? Where's Roe vs. Wade today? And voting rights? How about law enforcement officers murdering citizens because the officers thought their own lives were in danger. Or the billions of dollars spent on campaigns thanks to that same court.
Right. The SCOTUS has GREAT power over all of us---and that power is more and more of a threat to the America of the FDR New Deal and the Biden return to that mentality. We could lose it all, yes all......
Your points are understood. Those examples are certainly valid, which is why elections - every election, particularly current ones - are important. The power I'm referencing is not the kind where people just go along. I'm talking about the power of resistance. Women are rising up and resisting the SCOTUS's decision re Roe vs Wade. People rose up and resisted the actions of Officer Chauvin and whose who stood by and let him murder George Floyd. I completely agree that the SCOTUS decision re Citizens United was wrong - a decision bought by people like Charles Koch and the oil & gas industry. Because I believe those decisions were wrong I am active in finding ways to fight and change them.
There is power in resistance. When people do not respect decisions made by those placed in positions of authority, the response will either be acceptance or resistance. If people respect the law, they will comply. If they don't, they won't. Nothing won is ever permanent unless the people protect it and hold accountable those who would take it away. Civil Rights and the legal protection of voting rights was a hard-won fight back inthe 60s. That fight is back. Women's Rights were hard fought by the suffragettes and that fight is back starting with the abortion issue now (other rights will follow IMHO if women do not rise up now and demand their equal rights across the board). The rights of all people will always be with us because there are those who only feel good about themselves if they can point to another group to feel better than. I just believe the power of the people comes from their willingness to accept what is - and respect the authorities making the rules. I also believe there is greater power in standing up and calling out those who I believe are doing wrong. I also believe that is in the power of our votes - to hire and fire.
Exactly. We need indictments, a muzzled Bannon, accountability. Now.
Well said.
I would much rather see a Democratic win next week (house and senate, governorships, etc) and a spate of violence, than a Republican sweep.
."..there is so much hatred for Speaker Pelosi, that people were willing to hang Pence ..."
I'm thinking how hatred is based on fear: I believe Donald's people fear they will be exposed and left naked to the public eye. They know they aren't behaving well. They fear the consequences.
Very true.
I too saw these brilliant historians over the last week. They are spot on. My first thought is we are fucked,. My second is no way am I going to let this happen. It’s not over yet
The second is what you want. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
The second is what you want. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
And I am going to use every spare minute of my life from now until Tuesday to GetOutTheVote for Democratic candidates. Your local field organizers need you.
It's not over yet.
Don’t worry.
We’ve got this.
The American People
I hope so💙💙💙💙
I say with utter conviction, Sister, it is not over for democracy. Such a quiet, powerful current. I feel it awakening everywhere. Tom Nichols and HCR are correct. Something has shifted and changed after last weekend. A determination that is a formidable ally for democracy will sweep into the dustbin what needs to be there.
My hands are on my hips, my glance has steel in it and the flounce of my head and slight sniff at the dissolving vapor of stink in the air is what my stance is.
In my heart is my love of We the People, all of us this time.
Salud, Karen.
Unita! 🗽
Hang in there Karen...we’ll be fine.
I'm sorry, KD, but I don't agree with you. I think we are on the verge of losing democracy and everything we hold dear to an autocratic few and their cult of followers. If we lose the right to elect our leaders, we can kiss any other rights goodbye. I know this sounds dark and dire. It will be if we lose our democracy. Don't be complacent. Vote and get all your friends to vote. Do your want to fight with votes or guns??
We’re not…and votes, Jackie
Courage
TCinLA, your words echo and those of the people you cite here are echoing what I have felt in my soul for the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, at a small gathering of friends I said that I believed this coming election day and the days following, will be marred by violence that rivals January 6. I wish that President Biden’s speech had been carried by all the networks. It wouldn’t have changed any MAGA hearts, but I believe it could change the hearts of those people who haven’t been paying close attention to what is happening.
Again I am pulled up short by what might be the clearest sign that we are in way over our heads--this fact that major speeches by the President of the United States of America are not being carried by all the networks. How is that even possible? And how is it possible to think about it, especially in tandem with the completely slanted coverage of the news in general, as anything other than a press controlled by one party--and that party morally compromised?
It can all seem overwhelming. These people, who have turned themselves into monsters, are not just corrupt. They are clever, ruthless, and unbelievably efficient at what they are doing. When I read about the 50-year road to the repeal of Roe, I sense the same relentless path to this moment in time, this mid-term election. They have done everything they can and have arrived at another benchmark.
We Democrats and liberals have to go against our usual downplaying of danger and see it as just that. We have to go to the polls with that in mind. We aren't caught off guard. The enemy has stepped right out into the street. We can and we must win this one.
I am more distraught than ever. This speech should have broken through regular programming on ALL stations. What has happened to our country? My fear is deep rooted and I pray that we are ready for whatever happens.
We have elected oilmen as climate change was progressing; we have gone to war for oil, ingesting propaganda; we failed to elect a true patriot (why else did she have to undergo Republican propaganda from the moment she tried to get universal health care?), Hillary Clinton; SCOTUS began departing from democracy with Lewis Powell, who led to Citizens United. The rest is recent history, although sometimes I think Americans don’t remember past last week, particularly with Covid. We are paying for a long orgy, finished off with exceptionalism koolaid.
Truthfully... most people are NOT watching TV!!! That is NOT where real conversations are happening...
I believe that the White House press office could tell the media that the POTUS had an emergency announcement and all live media should carry it. I doubt that the White House made such a request yesterday for political reasons, but I’m with you - they should have gone that route.
Michael, that sounds right to me. I didn't hear the speech by President Biden but it reads wonderfully and powerfully on this screen - as powerful as many others by JFK and Obama. May those words penetrate the consciousness of all US citizens.
A long planned takeover, who is surprised…
So much truth here
I was floored after reading the Lewis Powell memo and democracy in chains at how much has been done to this country while using the Friedman economic plan to strip the govt of resources to protect the people.
Well and succinctly said. You are not alone in being floored. Now try to see “Starving the Beast,” and you’ll have the whole ugly story.
thanks, will add it.
Playing it on MSNBC is preaching to the choir.
If Fox played it, their listeners would find other murderous liars to get their information from. The problem is that the majority of white voters (74 million plus some who didn’t cast a vote in 2020) who prefer a white Christian kleptocratic autocracy to a democracy that treats people with nonEuropean ancestors fairly. It’s not that Trump supporters are misinformed, (they are misinformed, but that’s not the problem… they like it that way), it’s that they don’t want democracy anymore. Hard to see how to preserve democracy in the face of such a widespread, deeply ingrained threat. All decent Americans should do what they can, but even if the Dems pull off a miracle and retain the power to govern, the 74 million will still be calling for a government that will preserve their systemic advantages.
Ironically, as the Dems cry more loudly for the preservation of our democracy, the Republicans hardly ever use the word "democracy." It isn't part of their rhetoric. Republican politics has been boiled down to an Orwellian vision from Hell, starting with the basic misuse of language. In their world, it's not the words but the volume that makes the difference. We (liberal Dems or Independents) focus on quiet, rational discussion of ideas and they focus on the loudest possible shouting about what, if you pay attention, is gibberish. They have made so much incoherent noise for so long that our hearing has been impaired.
With them it's "free-dumb," not "democracy. Free to do whatever the heck I want and to hell with you. Democracy implies the rule of law and respect for others.
100% agreed - and note that 74 million is less than 25% of the population. The rulers are always the minority, so a fair election is simply not an option in the system they want. Also, this status - rulers and subjects; a minority controlling a majority by dividing and conquering; it is by far the norm in the span of history. The “American Experiment” is an exception, and it’s on the brink of failure.
Sadly so. Not the first time... Lincoln recognized it this way. Maybe there's hope.
Agree. Sadly, plenty of people actually prefer autocracy. They can just be told what to do. No thinking required. No responsibility. Black & white. Cut & dried. No ambiguity. It's simpler than our complex system of democracy. And there are lots of people who like it that way.
Interesting point. China and Russia would agree - then why doesn’t the GOP just tell it like it is? Just admit they want to end the experiment?
Even The NY Times had it on page A18. It should be front page news!!
The media can no longer tell the difference between a campaign rally ( they got rightfully burned for broadcasting Trump’s) and a major address delivered outside DC.
For those who missed watching President Biden's urgent speech last night calling on voters to protect democracy (because the major networks did not carry it) and who didn't read about it (because even The New York Times, once considered the paper of record, carried its story about it not where it belonged, on page one, but relegated it to page A18), here is the video of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McDrLn5C0W8
Hey, he’s only the president of the United States. Who cares what he says? Has he even been promoted by Oprah? He’s not a celebrity, really, is he? Not like Herschel Walker, a true celebrity. And something else, Biden is not very entertaining. No one is wondering if he will surpass his usual calm reasonableness. With Trump you watch to see if he can top his previous shamelessness.
(My NPR station did not announce what time he would speak, so I missed it.) When FDR was president, the radio audience for his fireside chats topped that of the most popular entertainer, Bob Hope. A different time then, a different country.
Yes, corporations didn't have total control then.... different time in many ways.
😡😡😡
This is the dread I've been sensing these last 11 months now. We as a nation are now brought low by our desire to be, or follow, megalomaniacs. Greed and power are now the sole motivators of the rich, and they play the masses like marionettes. distracting them with culture wars. What are good people, of sound temperament and faithful values, left to do? Pray they all come out to vote for sanity and life this month.
I guess its too much to ask republicans like George W Bush and Dick Cheney to help save America by telling every American to vote for Democrats and against election deniers. They should see that they have to help burn the republican party down to the ground before it can be built back up again.
But I fear they are more concerned about their own personal safety than the safety of America.
I’d add Mike Pence to your list. I’m appalled (but not surprised) by his meek involvement in this election.
Yes, they are. They helped create the mess and lit the match. Ostriches or accomplishes, only two Republicans left in the country
Cheney only cares about profits. Bush- who knows what Bush cares about?
W? He likes to clear brush and paint portraits. He ought to be required to paint the portraits of Iraqis who were slaughtered for no reason. He should be painting pictures of young boys who were sucked into ISIS because we disenfranchised the Sunnis. W might be anti-Trump. But has always been, in my mind, a mass murderer. Old Dick showed him how.
Absolutely. W and his crew had no knowledge of the Arab Muslim world. Stupid errors all around. Tragic.
Former president son of former president, former CIA director, both in oil business and enjoyed close relationships with Middle Eastern oil families, such as, the bin Laden family had no knowledge of the Arab Muslim world. Riiiight.
To the list of Dick Cheney and W, lets add Romney and Murkowski and any other Republicans who have on occasion taken a stand.
Well Dick's daughter Liz is doing her part. She's campaigning for a Democrat. She's amazing and I predict she will run for President in 2024. Personally, I have a foot in two camps right now. She won my admiration with the J6 committee. She's got moxie and smarts. But her ancestry is from an oligarch who is a hawk and not opposed to lying for political gain. We shall see, but for the moment she appears to consolidate both parties.
I also think there is a new party emerging; one that will comprise centrist Democrats and sensible Republicans. Its emphasis will be a return to decency...not faux Christian morality, but integrity. The question is, what will happen to social programs, still much needed?
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger aided and abetted, went along with the program until January 6th.
Don't ount on that. They have pretty much been party first. i
Craig, so many people have traded their country for a red hat while Rupert Murdoch and his ilk spew lies and hate and rake in millions.
Thanks for mentioning the prime mover behind all this. He is not alone by any stretch, but he plays the fiddle very well.
And if "we" prevail by any chance, let's tax the hell out of the "space ship boys" and their like. I'm not kidding, their arrogance and impunity is maddening.
How about 11 years, or 2000, or mid 90’s, or 1980, or 1974, or 1968. Damn, I’m old
Yeah, reciting those dates would usually give me some hope. You know, like we’ve been here before. This time, however, feels different.
Last night I stayed up beyond my normal bedtime to talk with my oldest and dearest friend back home, a man I’ve know for over 50 years, who opinions I trust.
We talked about next Tuesday, about the failure of accountability that has brought us to this place, of the inability of many to anymore discern or care to discern truth from fiction, morality from immorality and have thereby surrendered the duty to hold accountable, those who represent us.
We are, far too many of us I fear, incapable of performing that duty, addicted as we have become in recent decades, to the siren call of the insatiable, delusional social network
It was late when I finally got to sleep, only to be dragged from bed a few short hours later, unable to rest, to rid myself of dreams of a coming storm, brewing at our coastline, poised to sweep the nation, take it down, and of those who welcome it, desire it, and have embraced violence to see it to fruition.
Perhaps Wednesday morning will break clear, perhaps the storm will pass us this time. Perhaps, but hope is a slim defense and provides scant foundation for the foreseeable future.
“ The failure of accountability.” Otherwise known as impunity. From the electoral college debacle, to a clearly packed Supreme Court, to the methodical seeding of the district courts with right wing ideologues, with judicial hem hawing and delays, the Democratic Party, compromised has it has been by 💰, has failed us and has sown the seeds of fascism. The dismantling of democracy over the past 50 years has largely gone unanswered by those of us who profess to believe in it. And now we’re going to have to play hardball if we want to preserve it. There will be consequences. And those consequences will determine the future of our democracy. Regardless of whether we win on Wednesday morning, or lose, fundamental changes to our constitution via amendments will be required to stabilize this teetering ship of state. A dark door stands open before us. Will we walk through it or turn around and fight?
Uhm…. (Deep breath) Amidst the apocalyptic visions that I’m reading in the comments tonight, just remember, “on Wednesday morning” we may know little or nothing of the outcome of some, or many, crucial contests. It will be a test of patience.
Yes, in his speech last night President Biden did urge us to be patient, since the vote counting may take several days to complete.
Yes... and very interesting that Lula's election victory was determined very quickly. Not here? Why not?
I love your phrase “judicial hem hawing and delays.” I know the 6th Amendment about the right to a “speedy trial” is for the benefit of the accused person. But, lately, I’m looking at some instances/trials that, in my opinion, could be speedier. I mean, Sandy Hook happened on December 12, 2012. (I realize the shooter shot himself. My outrage is that it has taken TEN YEARS to BEGIN to shut The Alex Jones Lie Machine off.) Trump’s tax stuff…..? Even January 6, 2021 is nearly TWO YEARS AGO. How about some Swift Justice?
Historical note: John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry took place in mid-October 1859. He was sentenced to be hung on November 2, 1859 and executed on December 2. 1859. Total time: a month and a half.
We have gone “high” for way too long. “High” was dismissed by republicans decades ago; we didn’t follow them into the gutter, but so many MAGAts did.
Yet, we live in hope. And, I share your hope.
I, too, share your hope.
Count me among the hopeful.
I recall Jesse Jackson saying something about how you don't drown till you cease swimming.
Great quote!
WoW! Great quote!
"Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up." – David Orr
Hope is a slim defense. Been hoping for most of my long life, ever since I heard a John Bircher celebrate the murder of JFK. I agree with Al Gore. (Some go from denial to despair without stopping at action.)
Ah, hope. As a defense? Yes, slim.
Faith as an offense? Formidable.
Love? There is no opposite. That is where All is from.
Unita, R Dooley. Will see you next Wednesday in faith under a clear sky. 🗽
Christine, you are a shard of light. xR
'shard', good word R. Dooley. I don't know the last time I used it. Glad to have in back in my vocabulary. Thanks.
yes, it is! thank you all! 'shard' is a perfect word.
Hi Suz-an. Happy that you dropped by.
R Dooley, we might have passed in the night. I was trapped in a dream doing undercover at a Trump property to aid Dan Rather in an expose to convince folks that we were at an inflexion point and Tuesday was coming closer. I couldn't get checked out or find my room and Trump was so gracious providing lovely cake with vanilla frosting and not letting me pay for my rooms or losses at the table. I desperately needed to get my evidence to Dan, but didn't know which metro stop or line he was on. Could I afford to take a cab. Or, get there in time. I am hoping this really was a dream. Did I make it in time?
We might just have ... but somehow I missed the cake!
Of course you did, Fred. You are a warrior.
Unita! 🗽
"As chronicled in I Alone Can Fix It, by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, the Pentagon’s top general said shortly before the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol that Trump had led the country to the brink of its own “Reichstag moment,” viewing him as a potential threat to American democracy. "
"On January 6, Milley watched with disgust as Trump addressed his supporters. Soon after Trump finished speaking, a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the presidential election by a joint session of Congress — and many promised to return for Biden’s inauguration. “These guys are Nazis, they’re boogaloo boys, they’re Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II,” Milley said a week after the attack on the Capitol." https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/i-alone-can-fix-it-mark-milley-likened-trump-to-hitler.html
Yes they were, we gave the keys to the kingdom to the cheating fascists. Duh
Be respectful.
Thanks for your always insightful comments. -- This is indeed scary shit. I know that the Dems had difficulty getting significant legislation (other than the ACA) passed during the Obama years, but after the Bush years, I felt that our country was moving in the right direction. Back then, there is no way that I could ever have imagined the nightmare of the past six years. I now imagine waking up from the nightmare and seeing our country get back on the path to a better Democracy. We'll find out next week (and again in 2024) if my imagination is based in reality or not.
I can hope, pray and kick arse
Concur with TCinLA; Beschloss did deliver a sober analysis this afternoon & would not & absolutely did not back off. Over 27 Million voters have already returned their ballots which may not be fully counted until next Wednesday or Thursday as many jurisidcitions do not start counting mail-ins until polls officially close ... longer in some jurisdictions if they insist on hand counts. If close enough, some recounts are compelled by statute not to mention the 2004 fiasco.
One hopes that those who count are fans of democracy
After this election, I fear there very well may be a goodly number of those who DON'T believe in democracy counting those ballots.
And on CNN (as that happened to be the channel I watched Biden's speech), the "talking heads" were going back and forth as to why Biden did not address the economy when their polls say the #1 issue for 51% of people is the economy. I think one of the streaming lines below the picture was that 71% of people think the republicans would do a better job getting inflation under control. I was absolutely appalled . . . I couldn't agree more with Biden that democracy IS the ONLY issue on the table and the profound lack of understanding of Econ 101 is astounding. I simply could not get my head around what I was hearing.
If, after what happened during trump's 4 year occupation of the WH culminating in an attempted coup to overthrow a legitimately elected president, people are still so dumb and/or evil to hand republicans a majority in Congress and state governor races, inflation and the economy will be the least of our problems!!
The show "New Amsterdam" did a brilliant episode the other night . . . I won't say more.
And, speaking of Econ 101 :) has anyone seen the republicans' plan to get a grip on inflation? Of course not. They have zero policies and when they happen to "do something" it is a disaster that the dems have to clean up.
Worth repeating: This is what happens Under Republicans:
1) Block all legislation/policies of a democratic majority.
2) A political party with no policies or ability to govern.
3) Decrease taxes on wealthy and corporations. No, "trickle down" does not work and is
not a viable economic plan.
4) Criminalize women’s health choices.
5) Propose slashing Social Security and every safety net/social service program.
6) Constantly putting the country at risk for defaulting on our debt.
7) Cult following of a criminal mad man.
8) Some of the most vile and inept people running for Congress.
9) Some of the most vile and inept people to serve on the Supreme Court
10) Support of a violent attempt to overthrow the U.S. government - complicit in their
silence.
The perception that the GOP would do a better job bringing inflation under control, or dealing with the deficit, or fixing any other national economic issue is so off the mark, but it's a viewpoint that's commonly held in spite of the evidence. As you said, Janet, when the Republicans do something, it's the Democrats who have to come in and clean up their mess!
Exactly!! So true. However, if WE don't see the bigger picture of why and how we ALL got here... well, it doesn't look too promising for any of us.
Right! WE all know this. Most Americans don't. For plenty of real reasons.
The Republican plan to kill SS and Medicare was a win for democrats, but they ignored this. The MAGAts don’t care about democracy (they are a cult after all). Sure hope that the election deniers are seen as such, but the propaganda mavens are relentless.
Here in NH, we've seen multiple ads spelling out the R's intent to kill our safety nets and pointing out how extreme the R's are. Sad to say, the Republican majority leader is an avid fan of Libertarians (the Free State group, many who won't come out and say they're members and pose as Republicans, have co-opted the Republicans and went so far as to put SECESSION forth as a bill. Fortunately 323 voted against it and only 13 voted for it. The Governor, Sununu (yes, son of John Sununu), has gone along with them.
And our NH media continue to portray Sununu as an affable moderate. He IS affable and he speaks well but he is a reed in the wind when it comes to political principle.
Janet W, I too saw the "New Amsterdam" episode. Brilliant, awesome and all the rest.
President Biden now says 6 days before the biggest election of my lifetime the only thing on the ballot is democracy. Really?
The day Biden got elected I said to anyone that would care to listen 'I hope Bidens number 1 priority is to make elections free and fair.
My question is this, how could it be that I, a relative no-one from a small town in N/E have felt this way and the great thinkers and legislatures of this nation could not have seen this coming? 6 DAYS BEFORE AN ELECTION WE HEAR FROM OUR PRESIDENT on media platforms speaking to the choir? Without free elections what does any of the other stuff matter. I feel so angry and powerless about this. Yes, I realize we had and have all sorts of fires to put out. Everyone said when Biden was elected he would have the best cabinet leaders and all would be well. All is very much not well. Everything feels irrevocably broken.
Yes!!! AND... telling people that THAT is the only thing voters should really consider their priority ... will lose us this election. And yes, it does feel very broken right now.
Yes, "New Amsterdam" was excellent. It's a shame this is its last season (though that may be why they summoned the courage to air the episode).
Last night President Biden Warned 'That ‘Big Lie’ Republicans Imperil American Democracy'
'The last time Biden spoke about threats to democracy, none of the national TV networks took it live, citing the political nature of the speech.'
The same was true last night: 'Fox showed the World Series, ABC had “Wheel of Fortune,” and CBS showed “Open Mic.” NBC aired its nightly newscast, which featured election coverage — but not Biden’s speech.'
What do the American people know about the fate of American Democracy at this very moment?
Nearly 300 Republicans on the ballot in 2022 midterms have disputed the 2020 presidential election.
'Voters See Democracy in Peril, but Saving It Isn’t a Priority'
'A New York Times/Siena College poll found that other problems have seized voters’ focus — even as many do not trust this year’s election results and are open to anti-democratic candidates.'
Many of us were on pins and needles waiting for the results of the 2020 presidential election returns. Would it be Hillary R. Clinton or Donald J. Trump? We were right to be very concerned and we didn't know just how consequential that election was. The midterms, just days away, will indicate how much trouble we are in.
'“You have the power, it’s your choice, it’s your decision, the fate of the nation, the fate of the soul of America lies where it always does, with the people, in your hands, in your heart, in your ballot.”
___President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
I fear Margaret Sullivan is correct, the press is not up to this moment. Even so, we seem to have experienced a sea change at the business end of a hammer. Not for most of the readers of LFAA, we have been swimming in this particular ocean since at least 2016. The soon to be ex-republicans (i.e. those still north of insane) are commenting on it, deflated by it, mourning it. The seldom voters, even the right leaning ones, are horrified, finally. The working class, many too busy with 2-3 jobs, kids, parents, etc, know about this, when most other news failed to break through. No major coverage of a generational speech given by a sitting president. Our free press has become very expensive indeed.
Steve, you and I have not ignored what working people have experienced in the USA over the last 40 years and how the Democratic Party lost so much of what was once its fervent base.
“You cannot really understand the working-class rightward shift without discussing what the Democratic Party is doing,” Daron Acemoglu, an economist at M.I.T., wrote by email:
'Many of the trends that negatively impacted workers, especially non-college workers, including rapid automation and trade with China, were advocated and supported by Democratic politicians. Perhaps worse from a political point of view, when these politicians were advocating such policies, they were also viewed as adopting a tone of indifference to the plight of non-college workers.'
'Poll data suggest that Democratic struggles with the white working class are worsening. In “Elections and Demography: Democrats Lose Ground, Need Strong Turnout,” an Oct. 22 American Enterprise institute report by Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman and Nate Moore write:
The gap between non-college and college whites continues to grow. For the first time this cycle, the difference in margin between the two has surpassed an astounding 40 points, well above the 33-point gap in 2020’s presidential contest. Republicans trail with white college voters by 13.6 points but lead with non-college whites by more than 27 points. Democrats appear stuck in the low 30s with non-college whites — no poll this month has them above 34 percent — so a repeat of Biden’s 37 percent mark appears unlikely.'
'David Autor, an economist at M.I.T. who has written on the role of the trade shocks that have driven white working-class voters into the arms of the Republican Party, described his assessment of the current mood of these voters in an email:
The class and cultural resentments that were inflamed by the China trade shock (alongside other technological, cultural, and political forces) are now so burned-in that I strongly suspect that they are self-perpetuating. Like a forest fire, these resentments and frustrations create their own wind that carries them forward. While the economic forces that initially fanned those flames might have abated for now, there is plenty of fuel left to consume.'
“The pandemic,” Autor noted, “has actually compressed earnings inequality sharply over the last two years. This potentially reduces some of the political pressure accompanying the decline of manufacturing and erosion of non-college wages.”
'While this trend would seem to favor Democrats, Autor pointed out:
'Inflation has risen so fast that the fall in inequality has not actually meant earnings growth for almost anyone; rather, middle- and upper-income workers have seen larger falls in earnings power than low-income workers. It’s unfortunately cold comfort to discover that your star is rising relative to the rich because their star is falling faster than yours.'
'In a 2020 study, “The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines,” Autor, David Mindell, professor of the history of engineering and manufacturing at M.I.T., and Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the M.I.T. Industrial Performance Center, contend that the United States is unique among developed countries in failing to counter the negative effects of technological change on workers:
'What sets the United States apart are U.S.-specific institutional changes and policy choices that failed to blunt, and in some cases magnified, the consequences of these pressures on the U.S. labor market. The United States has allowed traditional channels of worker voice to atrophy without fostering new institutions or buttressing existing ones. It has permitted the federal minimum wage to recede to near-irrelevance, lowering the floor under the labor market for low-paid workers. It has embraced a policy-driven expansion of free trade with the developing world, Mexico and China in particular, yet failed to direct the gains toward redressing the employment losses and retraining needs of workers. (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/opinion/artificial-intelligence-automation-jobs-populism.html?unlocked_article_code=zkiiIhDVdWB7sI7GkSnXRYmvwdD67YKOUEVAuPe_utZjlWYWTLMucimHzzozRZUzv_Xwgw7z_aXqcIytPjdCJk_jA_HWuDoGcsuImdXVJxczQ8uyIbKGBbigZIdIELSUh3iQoEZwdUnVa4Y8bSbzOw-Y2GkHrs_YYXwDOqCw_2K6CKHeEujsFNTnD1Shav8i0Ga8az2Y_Nv1_GYmJ6y24S8zULD_DIWnqdd_v0O4uXEiHz_kaohMobA06dpCaMShep_ikHXMdwRow4zlJ9oBOs0iQH4EkKtvz5i71cCpnvCCn1OwuhdVMzj8IHUmZ5JTQN3mIt-sL6NnvQxdhPLYPKVJLwWOV2BdQMTjNO9k5qkYKijooNF_BKca&smid=share-url
For 'A House race tests Democrats' strength with working-class voters' (WAPO) See gifted link below.
https://wapo.st/3sXkiOK
"Many of the trends that negatively impacted workers, especially non-college workers, including rapid automation and trade with China, were advocated and supported by Democratic politicians." Really? Odd. I seem to recall that Chinese outsourcing was led by corporate America, which is not particularly liberal. Indeed, it was the right wing (and Trump in particular) that killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the purpose of which was to counterbalance Chinese influence.
And then there's the fact that Trump and company had so many cozy business deals with China while publicly labeling the The Enemy. The Chinese knew the game that was being played, presumably, while the MAGA crowd was completely taken in.
But, sure, let's blame that on the Democrats. It's not like mainstream "liberal" media are going to spend a lot of time reporting the facts, after all. Not when the far right is dangling bright shiny media objects in front of them.
Thank you for raising US trade with China and outsourcing with reference to the Democrats and Republicans. I hope that will you continue to clarify how the parties performed with reference to supporting the working class during the '80s going forward, along with source material that you recommend.
well said... thank you, Stephen!
You are welcome.
Thanks for this, Fern!!! So helpful!! Such an American approach... bootstrap yourselves... not our problem if you can't cope... uuuggghhhh
Just out of curiosity, are you aware of what the AEI's political agenda is? You might also want to check out the backgrounds of those authors. Two of the three are right wing and mostly write about how bad Democrats are.
I am aware of the organization Stephen. That we support different objectives doesn't mean to ignore them. If there is agreement, I will acknowledge it and put it to use, aye.
I don't believe I said anything about ignoring them. But one ought to be aware of whether or not someone has an agenda and do some serious fact checking.
FERN ... "gifted link" ... received.🕯
You got there, Bryan, because you dig deep. That piece is for all democrats to see as well as citizens who want to be engaged as we all need to be.
Our free press only covers shitshows, it seems
And if they can't find one, they'll manufacture it. Those tightening polls even in places where Dems usually win are the direct result of the media focus on and framing of economic issues.
We have lost our free press on the local level. Looks like about an 80% attrition rate at the national level as well.
I'm actually angry that an excellent speech by the current president of The United States was NOT broadcast on live TV, especially after we did see Trump almost daily. Am concerned that media execs are Republicans more concerned with themselves rather than the public they're supposed to serve.
"TV" is only about money. The fact that all the networks wouldn't broadcast a speech by the President of the United States of America tells us that the Oligarchs have a tight rein on the media. Except for PBS, "TV" is dead to me.
Even PBS is beholden these days... sorry to say.
Christina, I agree. There is cause for deep concern about safety at the polls, receiving accurate results and an enormous turnout on behalf of us all. Amen
I knew how consequential the 2016 election was, and how giving the keys to the kingdom to a soulless narcissistic bastard was a horror. What could go wrong. Well, everything. And it did. All the while, Rupert spun the evil into lies of gold.
Jeri, a nightmare image from 2016 for me was the control room shot of an empty Trump lectern with the words or chatter "Trump in 10 minutes" ... a live camera waiting for the daily poison.
While Bernie addressed huge crowds at that same time... and the cameras stayed on the empty lectern.
I met Bernie on the sidewalk outside outside our local village cafe in the Oakland hills on the day after his speech in San Francisco announcing his "Medicare-for-All-Plan" & thanked him for his Health Care policy positions. He stopped and listened to my brief words about my pro-bono work resolving patient medical billing disputes. I can tell you Bernie looks right at you with his attentive eyes & ears that listen.
i knew it! Beto does the same. Thank you for sharing that, Bryan. and thank you for that caring work you do.
I'd love to see a Bernie/Katie Porter prez ticket if Biden doesn't run.
(I have fumble fingers-was 2016 what you meant?)
Yes, thank you
Fern, and even PBS carried their own Evening News! So viewer population was extremely low.
Thank you, Judith for letting us know. That is a story, the whole lot of them, with at least one cable exception, MSNBC, reject a speech by the President of the US at a time when our Democracy is in great peril (AND THE NETWORKS + Fox (we know what Murdoch wants) know all about it).
Yes... AND lots of people saw the entire 'system' as so corrupt that (to them) it ALL needed to be blown up. While WE think that's horrendous... because it IS!!! - plenty of THOSE people were so desperate, feeling failed by the 'system' they willingly chose the orange cheeto.
And... the rate we're going now... we may be looking at that same choice again. We really need to recognize that not everyone in this country sees or experiences or knows what WE do. We need to realize we're all living on different planes while we're all subject to the same system. It serves us differently... and we're more able to bridge the gap than they are.
TC, and far, far beyond the worst that those of us who expected the worst could have imagined. What I have seen unfolding, page after page, since 2016 has no point of reference in my long experience of life in this country. Even with my pared down consumption of the news (no television, subscriptions cancelled to the NYTimes, even WaPo) this alien landscape howls in the night. And the possibility that we might not have seen the worst nearly stops my breath. This is a time when we have to turn and fight, march to the polls and fight. But there is a dread in my bones. And, oh, I pray that all my foreboding is wrong, wrong, wrong.
It is mine as well…
TC, your words are clear. The message is received. Here is my take:
On Wednesday morning next, we should expect some reasons to celebrate and reasons to be terrified. There will be some historic wins and some unbelievable losses.
Expect certain states to produce progress (soon to be Governor Maura Healey in MA) and some traitorous liars elected to important positions. And...there will be some GQP sore losers who will claim fraud. It is going to be a mess.
I am proud of President Biden. His speech last night was spot on. Many others are speaking out as well. Will they be drowned out by the drama of the screaming liars? In the end will the Supremely Extreme Court actually support the veracity of the election process?
America has a rich history of voter fraud. Political machines run by bosses who bought votes and dumped certain ballots into the river. The South has been intimidating voters forever. None of what is happening now should be a surprise. Hillary warned us. The signs have been as large as billboards on a highway. We just lived in a bubble.
So now that the bubble is bursting and leaders like Biden are FINALLY calling out the fascists, we COULD turn the tide. It's going to be ugly. Friends and families will split. And there will be violence.
But we can't stand down. The Republicans who embrace the lies and the hate need to be outvoted and SHUNNED. On TV, on social media, in the public square and in person. If someone starts with the GQP bullshit at Thanksgiving Dinner, tell him to shut up and fuck off. If that doesn't work, perhaps an exit would be in order. Or...you have permission to start a food fight. Gravy and cranberry sauce make effective projectiles.
Yeah, "I am mad as hell...." as well.
Hahahahahahahaha. The good food fight. So effective.
By the way, Bill. Very interesting take from Leigh McGowan, Politics Girl, on SCOTUS reform. She always catches my eyes and ears with her thinking.
https://youtu.be/OtkYqrYU-7Q
Salud, brother Bill.
Unita. 🗽
Ha!!! Well, you absolutely had me up to "But we can't stand down." After that... ummm... no.
Lowering ourselves to their level... won't serve us. And what a waste of good (homemade!) food! They're so not worth it. Not dining with them... might be the more peaceful choice?
While I’ve worked many elections, in the upcoming one I will be an election officer (person in charge of a polling place). What an election to cut my teeth …
The nation owes you and all other head judges a deep bow. I will be an election judge but not in charge of the polling place. I will be working from 5:30am to at least 9:00pm and grateful that if I run into a problem with a potential voter, I can call on the election officer (i.e., your counterpart in my state) to help. In Minnesota, all election workers have had 4 hours of training both in-person and online. Our voting machines have been tested and found to be accurately reporting the votes. I do not expect intimidation or violence from MAGA but I intend to be vigilant. I am in awe of the seriousness and specificity of our state election office. And most touching in all the training we have had is the message about how to treat voters: "Be kind, be patient. Help people know they are welcome at our polling places."
And deep bow of appreciation to you, as well, Melinda!
The opportunity to avoid what some have predicted for a long time? That opportunity passed long ago.
It will be harder to get back
Yes, we must be ready to resist!!
More than resist; take disaster precautions as if for fire, hurricane or flood. I hope we can all laugh about such warnings at daybreak next day.
I hope you're wrong, but you could well be right.
Thank you, Heather, for including Biden's full speech in tonight's letter. It is important that we not only hear his words but read them, in black and white, as well. I do feel the media has let us down, although I feel a lot of the nightly commentators at MSNBC heed warnings and ask some of the tough questions. Alex Wagner asked why the messages from the Democrats are just now getting out. There haven't been great answers. Tim Ryan and Beto O'Rourke seem to be hammering their information to their supporters and beyond. We are very weak in that department but maybe, just maybe the Pelosi incident will raise the ears of those who are not affiliated with a party or who are undecided. That's what I'm hoping anyway. My best to you tonight.
The media is as self serving as the Republicans. It’s corporate owned. It doesn’t have a speck of humanity. It’s been clear since they began to parrot lies with no rebuttal or rebuke, no clarification of truth.
"I do feel the media has let us down"
Even the venerable NY Times is running far right editorialists daily with nutty stuff now. Here is an article by an old guy named Edsall that, outlines how all of the "non-college" voters hate Democrats because of Democratic policy like moving manufacturing to China.
Now, it IS true that American manufacturing left the USA for Mexico and China, like bats leaving a cave at dusk, under Clinton's NAFTA and Clinton's admission of China to the World Trade Org and it is true that Democrats had both houses if I recall......BUT......Republicans were just as eager to sell America out as Clinton and the Democrats. No doubt.
Because, it is equally true (not mentioned in the article) that Ronald Reagan was the real start of offshoring and outsourcing through his enthusiastic support of Jack Welch's destruction of the GE workforce and manufacturing by offshoring. Sadly, even the Harvard Business Review was raving about Jack Welch as he began giving himself gigantic bonuses on the selling out of America.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/opinion/artificial-intelligence-automation-jobs-populism.html?unlocked_article_code=RJC1VwZAGgG2CnTlqi00SRm-wPz2Rjv5Qag1lLyRHg5IAQlpHNm_1JnUpDo9flBWaPX5A3LLb9auty8DGkP1olPLvsPD4SKE_v6eD6M_EGTwlZRUhJPIvLbXBMuKvhSf6my9a0lmnTFtsOx68F8wtGMMttND49S48Sac4Mjf5Fh4kpasf9Tk9dZCIpAGNYPDps4cJ0ZtNFQ6jawT3nQM2_NUTHnqIrHCU8gXZ6fbfPIh8jX8BN0SHX5jQhIdqxpgb0_SmaQGuI27GWP8vOrlfHWe8nE53I6KPw_Jv5Wg59KDWwcuNilE7-j0by8KaFcsxeQtxvF1iFmDy8dafj6Gbsk-pZPaBSfj6himiRWbB5Qp1huejS3mwFo4&smid=share-url
"The Democrats, he continued, “have come to be seen as the party of free trade, given President Clinton pushing through both NAFTA and China’s entry to the W.T.O. and President Obama championing the Trans-Pacific Partnership — they are seen as the engineers of manufacturing job loss.”
All of the media are afraid that if they "get out the Democratic message" then they will be shut down when the Republicans win again. And, the NY Times at least, thinks they are going to win again and so does the WaPo.
And, with the massive Fox News, OAN, AM radio, and web presence, the Republicans have shown they are serious and are willing to do what it takes to get THEIR message out.
Plus, setting up the Federalist Society to purchase white judges and put them on the Supreme Court?? Brilliant. Really. What better way to strangle the US than attack the only non-democratic institution in our Democracy and take it over without a shot fired? Well done, no lie.
I don't necessarily think there are fewer billionaires that vote Democratic. But, I DO think the billionaires that vote Republican are more determined to "own" the country in a way that makes sure that their voice, and only their voice, counts.
Well said. We here in Oregon just got to watch as "Uncle Phil" (Phil Knight, Mr. Athletic Department at U of O who has turned the athlete's experience into a taj mahal of delight for male athletes) donate millions to the Reich Wing candidate for Governor.
Ally,
Even in NY we have to deal with pay to play, but, here it is Democrat Kathy Hochul who is hooked up to the kickback umbilical chord of corruption.
Example: Hochul pay $637 million for the same 200,0000 Covid tests that Califronia paid $300 million for from the same company.
ONLY, Hochul used a middle man campaign donor to obtain the tests.
So, now, we have $337 million dollars gone missing and I just wonder how much of that is in Hochul's new Swiss Bank account.
It really is hard to get passionate about blue or red being 62 years old and having seen nothing but messy, smelly, corruption in both parties for my whole adult life.
Boy, do I hear you Mike. At 64, we're in the same age bracket. I've read your stories about growing up in East Texas (I think I've told you a dear friend grew up in Nacogdoches) and have compared them to my "civilized" racism growing up in lily white southern Oregon.
A pox on all their houses, since they have turned public service into a meal ticket. I will still vote for the party most likely not to try and kill me and those likely to harm our democracy, but long for a better way.
“I will still vote for the party most likely not to try and kill me”.
Me too Ally. No doubt.
Ugh ugh UGH!
You always tell the tale
I remember all this stuff because, when Jack Welch was outsourcing GE I was 26 and outraged.
Then, in the UT library one day, I found an article in the Harvard Business Journal that absolutely FAWNED over Jack Welch.
The elite love each other like incestuous brothers and sisters.
"... Republicans have shown they are serious and are willing to do what it takes to get THEIR message out." <-- they don't HAVE a message. Because Dems are 'in control' ... and the economy sucks for so many... Rs don't need a message. Agree on the billionaires wanting to 'own' it all...
And that's been happening for a long, long time.
That's not the full speech. You can find a transcript of the full speech in the New York Times.
Heather posted a link to the NYT transcript of Biden’s speech. (Of course she did.) It’s the last citation at the end of her letter and includes a share button.
I have copied it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/us/politics/transcript-biden-speech-democracy.html
I don't think I can get the NYT, but I'll try. Thanks.
You can get it at the White House website or C-Span.
Here on c-span
https://www.c-span.org/video/?524007-1/president-biden-delivers-remarks-democracy-midterm-elections
FYI, any NYT reader contact can "gift" any article to anyone using the "gift wrapped box" icon.
Thanks! Anyway, they (NYT) also had it up on You Tube.
... any NYT subscriber...
Not the full one, but strong and meaningful excerpts.
Marlene. This quote from Ogden Nash has been with me daily but fervently since last weekend.
Ogden Nash….”The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.”
I smell desperation from the MAGAst. Their heads are in a vise. It’s the door being closed ever so “snugly”.
Unita! 🗽
Yes, in the 72 years I’ve lived, this is the scariest moment I’ve seen. I was too young to have direct experience of McCarthy and the Red Scare. I did live through the echoes and aftershocks.
Ken, I’m 72 as well, only still here because at the beginning of Covid I recognized with my marginal background in public health that a). This was the Big One, and having grown up across the River from Fred Trump and his deranged son, b). The Donald was going to kill a lot of us. I swore an oath that he Would Not Kill Me.
I made it out of my house alive, one and a half years later. I WON....
Now, after all of the political effort, all of the money to support as many candidates as I could afford (like all of you I am sure) I’m presently working through my list in the Neighbor 2 Neighbor project. Never give up; Never surrender....
Yet I am also feeling an encroaching sense of dark doom. I sense that the long-ranging machine that was spooled up by the likes of Newt Gingrich is running true, and all I can do is hold my breath. I have this picture in my head that the Big Gob and his minions--all of whom would each gag a maggot off a gut truck-- are driving this thing right at us. Have I gone mad? I don’t know anymore. Sleep deprived and shell shocked, I just keep fighting on. Finally cancelled Dish. Wasn’t planning to watch election coverage anyway--I’ll be asleep, like I should be right now. The election will be a prelude anyway it turns out, and we should all be preparing for Phase Three: Rescuing our precious Democracy.
Thank you Professor, and push on, everyone. I wish we could all get together when this is over....
Thank you, Gus, for your thoughtful comment. It resonates with me.
Gus! I’ve been wondering why I hadn’t seen you here (might be because I hadn’t read enough comments). Thinking about the ppl there and the turmoil they experience. (Decades ago I lived in MTG’s district in Floyd Co.)
Hey MLMinET, this is my first post in a while. Sorry it was a little apoplectic, but I let the crazy out this time. Oh yeah, Marcus is running hard, and he's got some of my cash to do it with....glad you escaped Floyd county! I was appointed to a church in Lindale, and before I realized I was in deep KKK land, they had my number and it took my DS 2 years to get me out! My first mistake was quoting Maya Angelou and Bryant Gumbel in the same sermon....
hahahaha! I worked for a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Summerville when I lived in Rome--I took to locking my car when it was parked. Glad you're back.
Thanks for your post, Gus. I'm 8 years behind you, yet am a bit on that sleep deprived end myself.
Hey Ally! I actually got 5 hours of sleep after that post. Believe me, I take no joy in being 8 years ahead of you, youngster!
I wrote 1000 GOTV postcards and attended two rallies. At 88, having voted Republican only once (Eisenhower), like you I am trying to live through these last days (weeks?), but with a Putin lover. It keeps me on my toes along with Pilates classes, cooking, and running errands. Hoping that I am mentally prepared for whatever happens and to live long enough to work on righting the ship.
Hooray for you, Virginia!
Virginia, if you can write One Thousand postcards and get out to rallies, I truly believe you have a long time of ship-righting still ahead of you.
As for mental preparedness, Styrofoam peanuts, duct tape, and aluminum foil should do it....
Cudos!
We are always together.
Salud, brother.
Unita. 🗽
Salud Christine, hearing from you and the others makes me feel like coming home to family. Sending you all the energy and encouragement I can spare. And cash to Val.
Hi Gus, smiling at you. It seems normal to have some dark hours. It won't stay that way. You're bound to cheer up one or more of us sad sacks; we'll rebound and sing 'This is Your Land' together.
Fern, it's a date. My ups and downs seem to be directly related to the amount of sleep--uh, slept.
And I intend to resume cheering you sad sacks. It's a gift....
Not surprised that you're up to it Gus, bred in the bone. Cheers!
I turn 72 next month, and I agree that nothing equals what we face now. In fact, I keep realizing nearly ever day that things are worst that I thought the previous day. But it's not over by any means. If people would somehow look beyond the transitory inflation and vote, vote for their future.
And, realize that voting is only one step on a much longer journey.
And that is always is. We have to keep those we elect responsive and accountable, or it's not government of, by and for the people. Democracy, certainly a just democracy, requires an ongoing good faith conversation, between each other, between parties, between our public employees and the public. Self-governance is DIY or it's not self-governance. We get the help from faithful representatives, but not relief from the duty of staying informed, considering outcomes, and choosing wisely. Some say "Only I can fix it", but that's a con on it's face. That's not how it works.
“Transitory inflation” - so true. And yet i have no recollection of a Republican administration (in modern history) ever getting us OUT of a financial crisis. Only getting us into them. Yet people buy the lies they are sold, even in the face of truth. Ah, truth - that elusive thing that left us years ago.
True
No, it isn't over. I still have some optimism that we can pull through this election. People just can't be complacent about voting.
... before or after their vote is cast.
I turned seven the year the hearings were on TV. Some of my earliest memories of television were of Edward R. Murrow. I agree, this time is more frightening. There wasn't the threat of violence in 1954. And there weren't nearly as many guns. Now? Good god, we've got an armed public with not enough sense to be allowed to have those weapons.
Nor, though even then the possibility of anthropogenic climate change was being discussed, were we passing deadlines to keep climate disasters at bay.
It was bad back then, but unless you were black or a mexican laborer that was locked in a the back of a truck after cutting sugar cane or picking tomatoes for a few cents an hour all day in the Florida sunshine... that kind of brutality was business as usual in the 1950s. I remember seeing the cane cutters in the fields outside Miami as we drove north to Lake Wier for our summer vacation... so hot and the sun wasn't even up.
I am 75, and I have a dim memory of my mother sitting in front of our AM table radio and telling me it was a very important day. It was the disgracing of McCarthy. I had no clue what the fuss was about, but filed it away as "important", which is was. Sad that modern Republicans seem to have dusted off his playbook, and written new chapters.
I am 75. I exist today because my parents met in Italy. He, the wounded soldier. She, the nurse. They were liberating the country from fascism. Now Italy is embracing the same party that gave them Mussolini and I am watching fascism gain momentum here. My folks are spinning in their graves. What was all that sacrifice for if the same evil keeps rising from the ashes of war?
I so wish the ghosts of the Greatest Generation could swoop down and wake people up. Their legacy is being spit on by millions of American Nazis.
Yes, Ken, the scariest moment for people who are paying attention. I fear there aren’t enough, or at least a majority, taking all the threats and violence seriously. It’s all gone on too long, especially the consequences for the violence from the Insurrection. The magic of media, to turn on and off at will, to spread truth or lies, continues to place every single person who votes or not in jeopardy. Voting early, or not voting at all, we all have the same wait.
McCarthy hearings -
My parents relented & bought a 2nd-hand Magnavox just so they could watch. 1954?
I was age 7.
Could I now, at last, see Sat am kids’ tv shows? Thank you, Eugene - LOL
Mighty Mouse, Howdy Doody, The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, and Captain Kangaroo. Thanks for the memories, Nancy.
Last month I turned 88. I was born in the 1930s and now I feel like we're living in the 1930's in Germany. As a country we don't seem to care about being educated about the importance and significance of understanding history or what could be the consequences of our ignorance. of history.
I agree with you. Some friends want to only discuss “board games” and “living a happy life” - no political issues. They become angry with me if I question their beliefs which are not based on any credible sources or the truth. They say they do not have 24 hours a day (I guess like me?) to educate themselves on what is happening. I have been called cruel and mean because I should know”everyone educates themselves at their own pace.” The problem is trying to get their education on the golf course at the Country Club.
When I am told to change the subject when I bring up politics, it angers me because I know I cannot get through to these people. I truly don't want to associate with those voting R. But some of them are family and close friends. Is ignorance bliss? I've already lost my oldest friend over T. I was tired of being screamed at/over. This is really taking its toll on me, mind and body.
Same with me Jeanne. I don’t know if this helps you, but after a recent blow up of an old friendship, I immediately signed up for more canvassing and phone banking to be connected to people who think like me. New friends and helping at the same time! Like-minded people are out there and we gotta find them! We all need community.
Sad but a sign of our times
I too am 88. And I remember hearing Hitler on the radio. WWII formed us, I think, because a large dose of history is important in a democracy. When history and civics became unimportant subjects, we lost our way.
Truth!!!!
I believe that is true too. Thank you Virginia.
We do care about it. It's just that those subjects have been erased from public education. On purpose. So that's a harder place to start. Lots of info online, including films, documentaries, etc. for anyone who's curious and interested.
Curious and interested are the key words.
When I was young, way back whenever, major presidential speeches to the nation were on every TV. Regular programming would have been interrupted. What Biden he had to say would have dominated conversations across the nation.
If democracy dies and chaos, corruption, and violence reign, millions of Americans will wonder how in the hell it happened. And much of the blame will land on those in the media, excluding of course the MAGA outlets.
Yep, ratings and algorithms have replaced the “Public Interest.”
Algorithms! One of the great curses of modern technology.
Another curse: foreign owners of American media.
Algorithms are named for cool guy Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, inventor of algebra. Like any tool it's outcomes depend on how it is used. Or misused.
Algorithm? really? Interesting. I'd wondered if it was a cryptic twist on "logarithm", which I guess was invented by the same cool guy whose name has too many diacritics for me at this time of the morning..
The cuckoo "Virtual Reality" has ousted reality. A mad machine in place of the human.
Or just plain lies and delusion.
Only bullies allowed on the bully pulpit, it seems
Read “How Civil Wars Start” (Walter, 2022) and “How Fascism Works” (Stanley, 2018). The Pelosi incident is foreshadowing.
I keep off "social media", but as a lover of cinema and classical music I spend a lot of time on You Tube. The torrent of malevolence attached to everything that isn't pro-Trump, and notably now the vicious mockery of the Pelosi attack, is terrifying.
Thanks for these references, Michael. Yes, indeed. Things are dark and bizarre.
One of the greatest threats to American democracy is the branch of government which is appointed (for life) rather than elected and is therefore virtually quarantined from the democratic process - the Supreme Court. Until the Supreme Court undergoes some degree of reform, democracy in America will never be safe.
“We don’t settle our differences…with a riot, a mob, or a bullet, or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at the ballot box.”
Except I prefer President Biden's Freudian slip here, as he first said, "We settle them peacefully at the battle, ballot box."
I'm going to call it the battle box from now on, because it just seems apropos. It's a battle for democracy alright.
It's always a battle. It's not always the rise of fascism.
Seems the major difference between the 1930s and now is that we have their history to ignore.
Yes.
The founders hoped that a tainted court nominee would not be approved by a prudent senate. No tinkering with the constitution could protect the integrity of SCOTUS from the likes of Mitch McConnell allied with the dark money backed Federalist Society.
Well, Senator Whitehouse of R.I. certainly tried with Amy Coney Barrett. She is a know-nothing, no experience SC justice. So wrong. And her extreme religious views, we are in trouble for sure. No SC justice should have a lifetime appointment. And there should be term limits on members of Congress. Just look at Grassley, doing damage for all these gazillion years and he is running again.
It only seems like a gazillion years, but far, far too long in any case.
Joanna Denis - "And there should be term limits on members of Congress. "
Explain what removing someone from office who is accomplishing what "the people" want him/her to do would achieve. Wouldn't "the people" simply vote in someone else with the same (their) agenda? (And hope the new guy has the experience (and political capital) to get the job done.)
Seems to me that "Term Limits" is just another form of ballot control... similar to the Republican platform.
But in this context look at Madam Speaker who got the ACA passed. And John McCain who blocked his fellow Republicans from killing it. And look at Joseph R. Biden who put NATO back together as only he could have done. I am sad that we are losing a senator who has been such a good one, but is retiring. Can see his face and hear his voice, but cannot remember his name or state.
Why does this good man have low approval ratings? Even, and especially, in his own party? And especially compared to his predecessor? Against an opposition party that has willfully tossed off any sense of decency, dignity, honesty, or respect?
What the hell else does Joe Biden have to do get a grateful “Well done, sir,” and a “Glad you’re in charge”?
One hopes the nation gives him all of that on Nov. 8th.
With the Inflation Reduction Act, there is your climate change agenda passed (not nearly enough but a very good start given the Joe Manchin odds!). And then there is Biden's support for Ukraine. Those two things are enough for a well done first term in the face of the opposition.
I feel hopeful and careful, too. This letter contains some really historic quotes by our current president. I was uplifted reading the letter today and shared it with 2,000+ Facebook readers.
Biden’s speech was not broadcast live by any of the networks. Many Americans will never hear a word of it, or for that matter, read a word of it. That unfortunately tells us a great deal about the moment we are in; it should not give us hope.
I've just checked - it's on YouTube - ABC, PBS, CNN, The Hill, Politico etc. The whole thing, live. There's the usual poisonous fringe of toadspawn comments, and worse, but also a strong reaction of comprehension.
Please forgive my repetition. My concern is that it wasn't broadcast live, which has been Americans' traditional experience of a president at important moments. Instead of Biden, the networks gave us reruns. If the four mainstream networks had run the speech live, many Americans would've been there by default. Who knows how many would have stayed -- but we know one thing: if viewers surf by it a lot will stop to listen. The networks decided that Joe Biden isn't important enough to be on their live airwaves. Notably, he rarely is. How often was Trump? Week after week after week he commanded coverage when he wanted it. My feeling is that the networks sent a message to America: just another speech, folks, not a big deal, move right along. We deserved better. So did the president.
I read a column yesterday about how inept Biden is when he speaks. He is old, he shouldn't run for president again, etc. etc. I wondered about all the "word salad" we had thrust upon us by the former criminal traitor masquerading as president.. I found it disturbing. It would have been great if the networks had broadcast his speech live. This was always the way in the past. I am currently in Germany so I did not see any of the speech or even know that it was given until I read this newsletter this morning. I will check it out on you-tube. Thank you Anne-Louise.
This infuriates me. Typical Trumper. When someone says that to me, I explain that the man overcame a stuttering problem. And when they go on to point out mistakes he says, I point out that we all do that, them included. And the brain fog I have after Covid could also be playing a part in that. They refuse to acknowledge all the good he and his administration have done in such a short time.
When we consider the stammer that President Biden has had to overcome, the difficulties he has survived, and look at his years of public service - most recently reinvigorating NATO - we need to recognize our good fortune that he is our president. His speech of last night, if we get to write history after next week, will be one for the history books.
Agree
Exactly! And as far as Democratic strategists are concerned, they have been of little value when pinned against the GOP and MAGA. Democratic strategists need to find a new and powerful strategy before the 2024 election. Like starting right now!
There are many days lately that I miss the old big 3 networks and the in depth articles in the local newspapers. The media world has changed. I think most people today, myself included, don't watch mainstream news on a television. I watch/read online. I didn't watch his speech today because I have rarely listened to presidential speeches and I already agree with Biden that our democracy is on the line. I have already cast my blue ballot and have had it confirmed as received and counted.
The violence and rhetoric today reminds me of the 60s & 70's but today it's even more intense. Looking back I remember - Viet Nam war protesters, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers the Democratic Convention in Chicago, the alphabet soup of college organizations and campus protests, the Watts Riots and I'm sure there is a lot I have left out. It was frightening to me as a kid and is even more frightening now as an adult when that desire for power has unleashed violence that is aimed at toppling the rule of law and the government.
That loss is something I bemoan every day, Judy. I have, on more than one occasion, commented that even with all the channels I have at my disposal, I cannot find much that I want to watch. 2 of my 3 local TV stations are owned by Sinclair. My local newspaper (sold to Gannett a few years back) is now dropping it's OpEd page because it is listed as the reason most people cancel their subscriptions.
Looking back at the TV and newspapers we had up until the advent of cable and the internet, would you say we lived in a news bubble? I know newspapers and magazines could have a political leaning but I remember the big three TV stations as delivering the same news just with different newscasters.
it was a different time and world. now... we have independent news online .. and lots of it. just getting started. check it out!
Exactly, was anybody as disgusted as I was being subjected to chump every hour of every day, it seemed. Now Joe is ignored.
What you said reinforces that networks are no longer about news, only entertainment.
Yes, Robert. We deserved better and so did the president. Another way to control us. This scares me and just makes me want to cry.
While I agree Biden's speech should have been broadcast live by the broadcast news channels (and I've read, not by PBS either), keep in mind that he spoke at 7 pm ET. I live on the west coast, so "live" was at 4 pm. In Chicago, it was at 6 pm, and in Denver, it was 5 pm; many people wouldn't have been able to hear it live if they didn't have access to a TV when it was broadcast live. At least, the speech on MSNBC, C-SPAN and youtube. Have shared links on FB.
That’s true, for sure. Still, I think something else was at stake. By not airing the speech live as he gave it, the importance of it was diminished. Even if many in the Midwest and West would not have actually seen it live, it’s likely they would’ve known it was airing. In making a “news judgment” the networks told the American people that the speech wasn’t news. Implicitly they are saying that the idea of democracy itself being at stake is a political statement, not a nonpartisan statement of the truth. Essentially they’re saying, no, it’s not really at stake, that’s political hyperbole. They’d argue that they’re correct. I’d argue that the networks have consistently diminished Biden by not covering him in the way that they validated Trump by covering his every breath. If they don’t think Biden is any different, that makes a lot of sense. But it seems to me you need to engage in a lot of false moral equivalence to say Biden is not more of a statesman than Trump. The networks are helping to coarsen debate in the public arena. There’s a price to be paid for that.
Good point
Reveals something about the true objectives of corporate mainstream media censorship, doesn't it?
I disconnected from Comcast five years ago and took that monthly payment amount and put it into supporting independent media. I became much better informed by dumping corporate "news." I highly recommend newcomers The Lever, Breaking Points, Popular Information and The New Republic. As shown by the censorship of intellectuals like Chris Hedges, Glenn Greenwald, and political comedian Lee Camp, everything that embarrasses totalitarian corporate plutocracy on the web is in the process of being removed as well.
YES!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, Ed!! We have done the same... and they open up whole different ideas and viewpoints and approaches to us that never existed in MSM!!! We are also much better informed these days as we learn sooo much from them. Even when we disagree...we still learn a LOT. Sooo happy and proud and excited to be part of this new and emerging media. Check it all out, y'all!!! A whole new world to explore...
Yes!!!!! This is they key Thanks president Biden and heather💐👏🇺🇸🗳💙
I wish that Mr. Biden had a much stronger impulse to do what he has been doing recently, which is commanding and filling the void in the public narrative about who we are as a nation. It's so very easy to get dragged down into the mud around hot-button topics, false narratives, personalities and prurient interest in tabloid news and lose sight of the big picture of where we're headed from election to election, administration to administration.
4 decades ago, Ronald Reagan used his B-rated Hollywood acting skills to sell the nation on trickle-down, supply side theory and massive tax cuts "balanced" by soaring national debt, promising us that the investment by the rich would magically create enough tax revenue to more than make up for those forsaken tax dollars. It turned out that rich folks tend to get richer, hoard assets rather than reinvest all that windfall in cash and the government has no self control over deficit spending. Across those 4 decades, 4 individuals pursued this line of political whitewash; one actor, two rich Texas oil tycoons masquerading as old eastern money, and one psycho narcisstic emperor wannabe.
Two fairly moderate presidents (16 years) a bit to the left of center spoke to the lower and middle class, while largely protecting the status quo of the rich. So, the term millionaire is now almost meaningless and won't buy you financial security, billionaires are no longer rare and mega-multi-billionaires now are the ones that move the needle on big business. All the while, the courts and increasing amounts of dark money in politics have been chipping away at the guardrails of democracy. In parallel, the norms of behavior/decorum within politics have broken down to the point that little trust or admiration remains for national leaders in any branch of government. Now it seems we have reached some turning point, where we either change our ways and claw ourselves back from the brink of anarchy or accept the fact that we will become a bigger version of all those South American nations where corruption and scandal is the norm in politics.
The US presidents have a unique capacity to cut through the crap and speak loudly enough to be heard across the nation and even around the world, IF they make use of that capacity. They can, in fact, galvanize the nation around important issues IF they speak forcefully and clearly. This is perhaps their most potent tool; not the suitcase and red button, carrier task forces or the veto pen. It seems that only an occasional president fully realizes this or takes advantage of it.
I'm afraid the Pelosi affair is just another blip on the radar in a race to the bottom; we just don't know quite how much lower the public narrative can sink...
We don’t know how much lower the public narrative can sink. Until we deport Rupert and his spawn, we are headed for the abyss.
or no one pays them any attention anymore because we've moved on to independent media...
I agree, Ken, but you know what? It makes me angry-- hell, furious-- that small-minded bigots think they can trample our American experiment. No matter our age (I'm 70, what a shock), we have to remain diligent, honest, active guardians of democracy. This is a defining moment, and we can rise to it. After all, our generation stopped a war! "Hell no, we won't go," and we won't roll over for tin pot dictators either. Here's a Major Question, though: will the American press do its job? Tell the truth, damn it, don't be afraid. We need you to have our backs! So people, do what you can-- vote, help your neighbors to the polling place or the mailbox, put up a lawn sign, go door to door for your candidate, write letters, hit the streets. Act! You are not alone.
Remember, it took a long time for the Press to recognize the foolishness of the war in Vietnam.
True enough, but they did show the bodies coming home, and that helped turn the tide.
Which is why media didn't demand to show the other undeclared illegal wars of the Middle East and switched to a mercenary army to wage it. They didn't want the people as informed about any war as they were about the Vietnam "war," which we were lied into by Democrats' Lyndon Johnson in a way not so different from the way we were lied into the Iraq "war" by Republicans' George Bush.
LBJ was lied to, McNamara was the smartest man in the room, and an idiot.
How about some perspective. A GOP win in midterms is a step away from democracy but it is not the end of democracy. Nothing during this election is as risky as how close we came to an end to democracy on Jan. 6th!...Had Pence gone along with Trump, had Raffensperger found those votes for Trump in GA, had Clarence Thomas stayed the Georgia results and tossed election to House of Reps., had courts knowingly bought into Trump's bogus lawsuits as was his plan like Judge 'Loose' Cannon in South Florida and the Top Secret papers, had any General gone along with Trump's attempt to get the military involved and invoke The Insurrection Act, had Dept. Homeland Security seized voting machines as Trump urged, had Trump replaced Bill Barr with that clown Jeff Clark who was willing to run with his stolen election lies, (Good news, D.C. Bar Assoc. filed disciplinary proceeding against this clown-about time!)..THOSE EVENTS could have ended our democracy. GOP gains in midterms is a step towards the end of our democracy when our democracy is greatly threatened, but a much smaller one than the risks posed on Jan. 6th.
in 2024 it will depend on who counts the votes. There are election deniers running in multiple states to be in charge of counting the votes. Here’s to them being soundly defeated!!
All true, but to lose the Senate is crippling.
January 6th was our Fort Sumter. Four years of a hot Civil War followed. The southern bigots had to be beaten into submission. Words were not enough. My attention is turning from the politicians to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. How many Michael Flynns are embedded there?
Consider how long it took to authorize the National Guard to respond to January 6.
that was obviously part of the plan
Many.
We dodged some bullets, but enough??? They are still zinging by with no let up in sight
Tom Nichols. Yesterday he cited his 'good friend Mona Charen' in whinging about today's Republicans. All these 'good conservatives' who turn up their noses at Trump and are 'shocked, shocked' by the goings on in the GOP. They're the one's who paved the way for Trump et al. The unapologetic Reagan acolytes. What did they think would happen when they dog whistled the unrepentant racist right wing religious extremist rabble into their gentlemen's club? They'd all mind their manners and let the Bushes, McConnells, and Scalias undo democracy behind closed doors? Trump is just Reagan writ large and writ vulgar. These 'never Trump' hypocrites are offended by Trump's style - not the substance of his agenda, from degrading civil rights to deregulation to defunding to science denial to undoing the separation of church and state. They want the face of unconscionable conservatism to be Amy Coney Barrett, but they brought Marjorie Taylor Greene to the party. Did they think the heirs of the Confederacy, ginned up and gunned up for decades would act as though 'government is the enemy' was just a figure of speech. Newt Gingrich metaphorically burned down the House. What did the Tom Nichols et al think would happen next?
I'm angry at the Republicans who got us here, too, but we can only get out of this mess with a coalition of all of those who value democracy. Were they late to the game? Do they still have ideas I find reprehensible? Yes, but just as Democrats need to come together from whichever wing of the party we may occupy, we have to welcome all of those whose eyes have been opened and who are fighting for democracy now.
Absolutely. Welcome these professional conservatives' belated concerns. Work together. But not for a moment forget who they are, what they've done, and what they really want. Which is a return to Reaganism.
I don't for a minute believe their eyes are opened to the unconscionable abuses of conservatism. And I'd be very wary of their working to move the Democratic party towards Reaganism from within. They just realize that they need a functioning government to institute their injustices and that civil war won't give it to them.
Thank you Professor Richardson and thank you President Biden. May our democracy prevail. 🙏🏻