Always eager to stay in the news, former president Trump issued statements today insulting former secretary of state and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell, who passed at 84 yesterday after suffering complications from Covid-19.
"In 2018, the U.S. government put sanctions on Deripaska, but maneuvering by then–Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) meant Congress lifted them in 2019. Just months later, Deripaska invested in an aluminum plant in Kentucky." Moscow Mitch earned his moniker. He IS a traitor to this country.
Of course the big job-creating aluminum plant that Deripaska was going to build in Kentucky, which was announced for McConnell to take credit for it during his re-election campaign, looks like it will never be built.
However, I fear that Darth McConnell is already too rich and too smart to be caught up in such foolishness as accepting campaign contributions from a foreign source or a bribe.
Probably not directly. Kickbacks directed to another Kentuckian who then directs it to McConnell's PAC. Something like that maybe. But there will be a trail.
(1) We are in the middle of a critical, and vulnerable, moment of crisis and urgency in US history. Do we allow the social relics to renew our nation’s contract with racist sexist society for the umpteenth time. Or do we shut it down and finally establish, once and for all, the new contract that is imo the true destiny of this nation.
The Washington Post has this motto, “Democracy dies in darkness.” I prefer the corollary, “Democracy is refreshed and revitalized in the light,“ but hey, their marketing people didn’t consult me on that choice of slogan.
McConnell is dirty. Our dear Dr. Heather spelled it out as beautifully and simply as I have ever seen: favors exchanged with Deripaska, meaning with Putin. Quid pro quo.
Keep in mind, many many of the Republicans in power are playing for somebody else, not their constituents. They are not supporting democracy, they are lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests, because they are in power and they can. The Democratic Party is about public service. The Republican Party is about self service.
Call me naïve, call me Pollyanna, call me a clueless idealist, but I am firmly convinced that democracy will prevail over corruption in this country. In other countries as well, but man it’s gonna take a lot longer for some of them.
(2) Deripaska’s money-laundering property purchases, acquired with money stolen from the Russian people, getting close attention from the FBI is my favorite news of the day.
Is it that time again ? ... to quote Elizabeth Powells's witty question supposedly posed to Ben Franklin circa 1787? "Well Doctor, what have we got - a republic or a monarchy?" Ben's retort: "A republic if you can keep it."
Thank you for this article. Interesting how the “company” keeps changing ceo’s (vampires) - each sucking as much out of it as they can before being replaced. Even more interesting are the R’s threatening to hold the “company” responsible. Somebody must be up for re-election.
Thanks for this, Judy. Perhaps if the KY voters are educated by the FBI about the genesis of this "deal," they'll consider ending their contract with McCrook and his lovely grifter spouse. We can hope.
Sadly it is the poor rural & coal mining areas that he has conned. Unfortunately that is most of the state. The 3 metro areas (Louisville, Lexington & Bowling Green) can’t tip the scales blue. 😫
Not clear that all the money from Rusal fell through. According to an Aug 2020 article* in the Courier-Journal, an SEC filing shows that Rusal has already contributed $75M to the Kentucky company/project (then called Braidy but now called Unity). It's clear that people interviewed in the kentucky.com article cited above want to suggest that Rusal is no longer involved in the project, but even their comments could be read to suggest that Rusal is not contributing _more_ money to the project than it already has and that it might not (in the future) have a stake in the project (if, big if, that project ever gets off the ground). But how much can we know about what Rusal's role is anyway? Haney, the Unity spokesperson cited in the kentucky.com article, is said to have testified that the company had to keep parts of its financing private.
*"US Senate report says Russian investor in Braidy Industries' mill is a proxy for the Kremlin"
Thanks for this elaboration. Really Manchurian candidate, in retrospect, showed a LACK of imagination. The taleovers don’t have to be with actual hyptnotism. Just plain old seduction and $$$$& seems to do the trick.
The Russian deal. It seems to be the same as the Chinese deal. Big talk and dollars thrown around but nothing gets done and the local government is out millions.
Yes, and.McConnell and Rand Paul voted to end sanctions against Rusal. A few months after sanctions were lifted, Rusal's money poured into Braidy (now Unity). Interestingly enough, also in 2019, 2 members of McConnell's staff lobbied the fed govt on Braidy's behalf.
The biggest problem is the people that are supporting and voting for the corrupt Republicans just don’t care how dirty they are. Remember when we all feared Russian ideologies taking over the United States and we’d lose all our freedoms? Now the Republican Party is embracing this lifestyle while accusing Democrats of being communist.
I truly hope you’re right. I just think it’s not possible because the entire foundation and framework has been corrupted by greedy, selfish people. I think the masses are mostly being humored because the moneymakers don’t want to lose on their investments and not working or buying along with destroying will be a problem for them. Dangle some hope and we’ll trail after it and do what they want us to do for the most part. The people in power over our government, over us, aren’t going to relinquish it or their money.
Lisa I have been reading your posts with interest, because you represent (if I am correct) what I consider my target audience for my story project. You also are similar to the former version of me, the Eagle Scout engineering graduate college educated intelligent and informed observer who is overwhelmed by the sheer titanic size of the Dark Side of the Force.
Your assessment of the capitalist system, and the government powermongers and officials that support it and parasitically live off of it, is of course right on target. The question is not about the problem, we all agree on the problem, the question is about the solution.
The solution is a function of inspiration, of hope, of joy. Inspiration, hope, joy, active life energy & life force of any type and referenced by any word label, that’s what will overpower the corrupt ones and result in the clean-up of the corruption in the system.
It’s not the system that’s corrupt. At least not in this country, at least before the voting suppression laws that are flooding into the territories with a lingering history of racism and sexism. The system of democracy in the US was specifically intended to counteract and neutralize corruption. People all over the world contributed to creating that structure.
Think of a human body or animal body or plant body that has antibodies, white blood cells, and other actuents (I just made up that word) to fight intrusive and invasive bacteria, viruses, etc. Your body, my body, automatically fights anything that interferes with harmonious and healthy operation. That’s kind of like the structure of the US democracy. Its job, its ongoing and continuous job, is to fight those corrupting forces influences and people.
Fighting corruption is an active process, conducted by people like you and me and the others on this channel. It takes energy. It takes hope, inspiration, joy, love, life force for us to do the work that we are doing. My job in the world is reminding us that we are doing the right thing, and that it isn’t working.
It doesn’t always look like it’s working. And that is the problem. Morale. My job is boosting morale.
Trump is back to his old tricks and media is still snapping up the ‘treats’ he’s tossing them. That’s all his comments about Powell was.
Do you think Americans know their history? Most of us don’t, I’m sad to say, and wouldn’t blink at Trump’s error.
And why on earth would America allow Russian oligarchs to live here??? I don’t even want American oligarchs! Ah, okay. He paid off McConnell by dumping some Oligarchy version chump change into his territory. I’m going to watch a video of Drawing & Quartering to help me relax.
Good luck bringing wealthy/well-connected white people to justice in America. They’ve been allowed to get away with all manner of vile things forever. They can act under the guise of corporations (who are people according to the Supreme Court) and get away with more - neat trick.
Excellent statements from members of Congress in defense of Democracy and rule of law. I have no doubt it fell on deaf ears though. The Trump Republicans want a one-party system with an extremist running the show and they don’t care about the cost.
As much as I appreciated their words, I just don’t have much faith they’ll make a dent.
I’ve slid from middle to low income since graduating college in 1990 while seeing countless injustices committed against Americans through the legal system and corporations, most of them under our noses.
I had hope with the Obama Administration, but in the end, little changed for the better at least in my world. Thanks to Dr Richardson’s Letters, I understand the roadblocks in place which inhibited ability for changes necessary to help the middle class.
In 2015, I didn’t think it could get worse, but then Trump came along. So many of us have been traumatized and outright harmed by more than four years of Trump et al’s & supporter’s beyond nasty talk and actions.
The stress and despair alone has been significant. Add in the the Covid cases, permanent damage from Covid, all the deaths directly and indirectly related to Covid, the increased murder rate and rise in hate crimes, the damage of reduced or canceled regulations by the Trump Administration, and you have a nightmare.
So when you see comments from Negative Nancy’s like me here or in social media, try not to be angry at our lack of faith. No amount of positivity will fix us. Only years of actual improvements in our lives and of others, a change in the media for the better, and in the behaviors of our neighbors for the better will ‘fix’ us.
I understand both your despair and frustration as well as that of so many others. However, I offer to you the advice I received a number of years ago from a therapist I was seeing at the time. The best way to restore your own sense of control and self-confidence is to realize you cannot fix every problem or what you see broken in the world. However, you can make a difference. Pick some cause, some challenge you feel strongly about where your own talents, skills, and resources can make a difference in the lives of some. Find others who also care passionately about the same cause. Join together with them to do whatever you can to work on making a difference on that issue. When you make a difference in the lives of a few impacted by your efforts, take some time together with those you have worked together with to celebrate those victories. Do not let the challenges of the world or even in your own life overwhelm you. Working together with others to make even small differences on the margin will bring joy and control to your life. The connectedness of working together with others of good will and making even small differences in the lives of some will be rewarding. If thousands upon thousands would all do even a small part in such efforts the world could be transformed in amazing ways at least for some. And, that would be a good thing.
Bruce, thank you for your kind and wise words to Lisa! Lisa sounds like a very smart lady and your advise will help. I think we are all feeling helpless and could use encouragement!
Lisa, I'm in total agreement with you. TFG is playing the press again, and they're lapping it up. I'm deathly tired of hearing his blathering lies, and am no more interested in what he's saying than I am in what the Kardashians are contributing to our culture or Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop.
We're all bone weary with isolation from the pandemic, then, after the miracle vaccines were produced and distribution organized by Biden, being smacked by many idiots who support TFG protesting them and causing more devastation!
We now have legislation that could turn the tide for most of us, and it's battling headwinds from coal mine operative Manchin and clueless Sinema, supposedly in our camp!
Keep the faith. Hopefully, we can make the necessary difference. You're no Negative Nancy (and neither am I), and your plan to relax by watching a video on drawing and quartering proves that your sense of humor will carry you through these rough waters.
OMG, you so get me. Thanks! Let the walking weary unite and may our snores sound like roars until we can wake up when it’s too late for them to run away from our teeth and claws.
Wow - you hit three of MY most disinterested subjects - Trump, the K group & Goop!! I'm right there with you, Nancy and Lisa! And since we read HCRs letters, we know we are NOT ALONE, right? And good ideas, BruceC.
I'm not a fan of much of the media's recent coverage of things, but when the former president attacks the special House committee investigating him, it's news. And when he attacks one of the nation's most respected former leaders when that leader dies, it's news. And TFG is getting skewered for it.
Anything that involved skewering TFG is good news, but I'd appreciate your assessment as a former journalist of what is happening to Biden. He has been consistently criticized by the press every time he turns around. I realize that he's not perfect, and his planning was lacking prior to our pullout from Afghanistan, but he did, belatedly, manage the largest airlift in history, and many of his agenda items have been sabotaged by the Rethuglicans and our own "moderates," Manchin and Sinema who are both at least on power trips, as well as Manchin's paying obeissance to the coal industry and others. Taking into consideration the last five years of Dr. Destructo, do you have any insight into the treatment of Biden, other than bad news sells?
From what I see in mainstream media and social media, people love to share his words when they should be quietly watched and publicly ignored in my opinion. This is how he gets free advertising, just like last time.
Lisa, sorry you’re feeling this way. I find it’s a constant battle to stay positive and hopeful. The carrot I place in front of me is my grandchildren. I cannot quit on them.
I’m not quitting on anyone or their children. I just don’t have confidence in a government owned by the wealthy will ever relinquish anything so that the middle class can rise again.
I just do not see Democracy being under the control of all its people ever again since it hasn’t been for decades because certain people don’t feel ALL citizens deserve a say in the shape of our country.
The wealthy, and the corporations they hide behind, control our country. They’re fine with whatever happens as long as they’re immune to the consequences.
I can’t see the masses being able to stop them without becoming fire & pitchfork carrying mobs and possibly hauling the selfish creeps off to the gallows. A frightening thought. One of the things holding THAT back is that we’re divided and they’ve convinced some people that the extremist Republicans are the answer to their prayers.
No. I just don’t see our government being the answer to anyone’s prayers unless they’re wealthy white men.
What an articulate, full-throated expression of what is wrong in America right now, Lisa. It’s the same frustration and hopelessness that has so many of us clambering after the Orange Moron and his evil promises to fix it.
I don’t have soothing words. I do want to thank you, Lisa, for distilling the problem into such clarity. Hope you’re able to get some relief every once in a while as we slog through this epoch together.
Lisa, here's a suggestion for a cause you can get behind while mustering the commitment of a like-minded group of hard-working equally disaffected Americans as Bruce encouraged above: Stop using Amazon. Bezos does not need to go to the edge of space again, and then subsequently thank his employees and all American shoppers who made it possible for him to do so. You and your gang will simultaneously be saving the planet that can not sustain the dangerous over-consumptive habits of those hooked on a daily delivery of Amazon packages. To offset the withdrawal, your dedicated band can serve as loneliness busters, which really is at the heart of much Amazon purchasing. In time, what you will have done is created a sense of community, which is important for maintaining a healthy and legitimate democracy.
Lisa, I share your viewpoints and vacillate between fury and apathy. Thanks to my granddaughter, the apathy and helplessness don’t last long because I want better for her.
One thing I don’t understand about the repugnants is the ultimate goal. Or, assuming the goal is perpetual autocratic rule, how that will play out for corporations and their shareholders. Pushing more and more citizens into poverty while befouling air, water, soil and bodies with myriad pollutants would seem counterproductive to increasing revenues. As in your case, being pushed into a lower income bracket reduces your purchasing power. Doesn’t this hurt corporate profits when applied nationally? Why would the corporate world be okay with this? I don’t get it.
1. I remember the radio show by Howard Stern, followed by Opie & Anthony show. It was irreverent, irresponsible, and somewhat mean-spirited humor which often belittled and demeaned. Women were a frequent target (often with women’s consent). Those people graduated from that to watching reality shows slavishly and favoring the online stupidity of Jackass and Hold My Beer type stunts.
They attracted the same people who eventually became Trump’s cultists.
They’re mostly toxic men (particularly White) from varied financial backgrounds who feel threatened by women, who call having to look after their own children ‘babysitting’, and think they’re owed more respect by the world they themselves seem not to have respect for. This of course attracted certain types of women - predominantly White, with poor self esteem despite outward appearances, and who bend over backwards to please men who cheat on them, ignore them, criticize them, and demean them.
2. Somehow, through education system I feel was gradually tailored to keep people in their places and not be knowledgeable about government/civics or politics, coupled with being raised by television, we became ignorant and complacent.
After much of the middle class increasingly declined toward low income, apathy set in. The people who survived and thrived, closed their eyes to other’s situations.
If they don’t see it, it can’t be happening.
If they’re doing fine then it’s other people’s fault for not being fine.
Therefore it’s not the fault of corruption in government letting banks run amok, letting corporations damage our climate, pollute our indoor & outdoor environments (air & water), & poison our food, allow insidious Advertising & Marketing practices (a primer for political advertising), farm out American’s jobs to foreign countries for profit (which strengthened other countries like China as it weakened America), and sucking the life out of the masses then giving it to the wealthy and themselves who didn’t need it.
Haha, didn’t read your entire epistle, the first few paragraphs were enough to say, you are so correct. I have seen too many idiots (bubbas) in pick up trucks with giant flags with the Cheeto man’s name flying. And just recently, the same only now it’s “F__k Biden” it makes my blood boil, these morons with no civility. Doubt if they are even familiar with the term.
I see them all over the place too. A small group assemble practically every day alongside a busy highway with giant Trump flags, pro-police flags, confederate, & F-Biden flags.
The radio shows I referred to made me despair over people actually liking and agreeing with those nasty opinions.
I couldn’t believe how big the audience for that type of stuff got. I should have known right off the bat that Trump would win just because he treated women the same way those radio shows did and trash talked just like them.
It’s ironic that Howard Stern today doesn’t like Trump and is pro-vaccine yet his show was a dog whistle to Trump’s future base.
When people are poor, they can be told what to do, like fight a war. A middle class that is prosperous enough to send young people to college, is a danger to self interested leadership. I am from the first suburban generation, raised in the fifties. Our fathers were taxi drIvers, roofers, government clerks, and we were raised to “do better than our parents,” not to be fodder in the jungles of Vietnam Nam. And so, millions of us resisted. Eager to find a just cause, we embraced civil rights. Our jungle was the American south. The more conventionally patriotic blue collar population turned away from the dems over these issues and the party picked up the college educated, who prospered and continue to be a thorn in the side of republican leadership, while the blue collared have done poorly. The wealthy would like everyone to be so poor that they work three jobs and don’t have the time or the energy to read any future equivalents of the pentagon papers or invisible man. They should be careful what they wish for. Make people poor enough, and they won’t defend the country. They will just say to hell with it and start thinking that maybe the Chinese can do a better job of running the place.
I should add that yes, this might cut into profits, but the wealthiest already have enough money. What they want is power. Why would the governor of a red state discourage vaccinations? Isn’t he killing off his supporters? Sure, but he’s killing off more of the opposition. Blacks and Hispanics have the lowest vaccination rates. If 3000 more blacks/Hispanics than whites die in Georgia during the next 12 months, Georgia is red again. “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
Your narrative is part and parcel of what was started in 1980 with the election of Reagan, distilled in the mid 1990's with Gingrich and his "coalition" and fine-tuned with the Tea Party and the Republiqan gerrymandering with the 2010 census. The last 5 years have (as you so eloquently put it with the combination of tRump's election and the Pandemic (exacerbated by the former guy's "response" to the pandemic) has led to a loss of faith in your generation, the Millennials, and Gen Z to a point where no amount of positivity can possibly have an impact without profound changes.
Now we need a Stacy Abrams to get the ex-complacent-turned-apathetic Gen-X-ers, Millennials, & older Gen-Z-ers organized in every state to do the things we CAN do & afford…
Yes, and every little bit of positivity has an impact toward profound change ... for years, I was buried in apathy - fully absorbed with all that was wrong - I was guided to see that I have the choice, and opportunity to make a difference - however small or seemingly insignificant - by focusing awareness and intent to redirect my own energies and outlook - to generate a positive view of what is possible - here and now, with this one breath ... I have to put it down and die a lot - still alive, though and doing what I can, one breath at a time ... it makes a difference for me - I can look up and keep going - that has to count for something ....
Have you seen or read John Lithgow's books on "Humpty" - pictures & poetry (great stuff) by Lithgow. I heard some of it on Colbert. The books are great - as are the pictures. Worth looking for!
Oligarchs and other wealthy foreigners should not even be allowed to own property in the US. That's one of the things that's pushing the price of housing in major cities to absurd levels.
As I see it, David, nobody (rich or poor) has a right to own, buy or sell this land. It was/is stolen from people who honored the land as their own mother, not property to be parceled up and sold ....
I empathize greatly with this view. But that's about as likely to happen as it is for the Earth to acquire a second moon. Meanwhile, the super wealthy are pushing prices out of the reach of the middle class in many cities, and rents are skyrocketing out of the reach of poor people. We can fix this situation for a few hundred million Americans, or we can dream about the ideal.
Thank you David - I understand ... so how to fix it? Government programs, renting/leasing from autonomous charitable land owners, individual home ownership; any, all or none of the above ...?.
Most of the people I know who 'own their own homes' have to cope with a slew of paperwork, technicalities, expenses, taxes, amd responsibilities for maintenance/repairs/improvements, and if they wind up selling or buying, a whole bunch of rules/regulations, details and expenses that I can't wrap my head or my wallet around - and mortgages that only get paid when a compassionate relative or friend pitches in.
But they can see it as an investment, it feels like they own it themselves, and they don't have to contend with pesky landlords. Not my cup of tea - and I can't afford it anyway - which leads me to another point of contention: obcession with money ... our lives are so wrapped up in how much money we do or don't have, make or do not make ... what we can, or cannot afford ... it does not feel like freedom to me.
I rent an apartment from a not-for-profit corporation funded by a coalition of private and public concerns, businesses and charitable organizations, including grants and government subsidies. They handle maintenance/repairs/upkeep - all I have to do is pay my rent. I have to live by some rules, and put up with neighbors and changes in management (which requires some flexibility and diplomacy on my part - good practice in character building (!)) but it is simple and straightforward, and all I can afford anyway.
One more thing ... I could not even afford that if not for my bottom line income from Social Security (buildings with small, affordable units are less and less available as they are demolished and replaced with expensive condos - once again, serving private markets with a slew of expenses associated with 'home ownership.'
People may complain about government involvement in our lives. For me, it has been a life saver and I am completely great-full for the support. So I have to fill out paperwork, keep appointments and truthfully reveal my personal and financial details (no problem there, unless you think you have something to hide.)
Some may disdain it as "Socialism". I do not. I view it as a blessing and a gift from the cosmos that keeps me from having to kiss/suck up to someone with the power to put me into the street if I do not satisfy their controlling whims.
And when I see what people have had to go through with COVID - losing jobs, homes and savings ... I give thanks every day for the roof over my head and the check that arrives like clockwork every month to pay the bills. It isn't much, but it is enough - it is more than I was able to do for myself, and the bonus is that I have time to focus on work that matters to me - not running in circles like a chicken with it's head cut off, just to pay the bills and prove that I am "doing my part in society."
If that makes me a bum, I'll sing "Hallelujah, I'm a bum" - and you all can give thanks along with me that I don't have to come begging from you personally.
Had to rewrite! I love Bruce’ idea about changing the things we can and making a difference where we can. I also feel as you do, my friend. If our representatives worked in any business environment, they’d be fired for non-performance. Very few house members or senators are there to achieve anything. Instead, they are well paid human road blocks. Term limits has never made so much sense. There are so few members of the house or senate who actually practice the art of compromise and diplomacy. And so many are serial liars with no moral compass. 😢
I thought the same thing. He delivered an eloquent speech. The Republiscum won’t let his words change their actions at all. They have pushed and keep pushing the limits to get what they want, the people and country be damned.
Mr. King doesn't say a whole lot or speak very often as a primary advocate but, when he does, it's well worth listening to. He's as straight to the point as this newsletter.
Angus King fits my definition of a leader. In the terminology of the past, he's a statesman. When I was a teenager and first became interested in government and politics, there were Republicans cut from the same cloth (today's GOP would label them as socialists).
What King said yesterday perfectly captures what's at stake and what Republicans must consider before today's vote on election reform legislation. But he knows he won't sway enough of them or any to overcome the filibuster. This exercise is about putting Republicans on notice and then on the record for voting not to save democracy.
Thank you for highlighting the brilliance of Liz Cheney & Angus King. Cheney’s voice & leadership continues to strengthen and inspire, providing a lighthouse for conservatives if they will just lift their eyes to see it. Angus King’s speech is epic! Can someone just give this man the microphone every day for the rest of the year? Seriously.
Don’t get too wound up about Cheney. She’s right of course, but on this topic alone. She will not vote for any infrastructure bill or voting rights legislation because she is her father’s daughter.
Right! Every time I hear her speaking actual truth regarding DJT etc - I remind myself that NO Repubs including her & Kinzinger(?) will vote for any of the Dems legislation - NONE of them!
I admit to wondering if King's eloquence was being directed toward one particular Maine senator, whose lockstep marching with Moscow Mitch shows who she really is. I do wish that Mainers had done the right thing by Susan Collins and kicked her can down the street.
Does anyone remember shortly after the 2016 election, how there were a bunch of Russians suddenly dropping dead? Even one in NYC. How about the fact that once Obama came out with the knowledge that the Russians were actively trying to influence and undermine that election in late summer of 2016, what did Moscow Mitch do? Stonewalled any investigation prior to the election.
Heather's daily sessions are indispensable in keeping up with all the insanity that is American politics these days, but I'm just about ready for a blockbuster film that dives into the machinations of what we already know about the mammoth corruption behind the radical right these days. Something like a crime thriller, only completely factual. So much has happened in the past 5-6 years, it's hard to hold onto the thread sometimes.
Kara, I DO remember all the Russians falling over dead right around the time of the election and I also remember that no one in the media seemed to notice. I noticed! Perhaps growing up in the Cold War years trained my eye for those typical tactics of Russian politics - heart attacks on command, or accidental falls from hi-rise office windows. So many “suicides.”
Clearly, these men were all dying for a reason. And Mitch McConnell …. Oof. Completely corrupted by power, money, & party loyalty, he fell right into the web of Deripaska and his henchmen. Mitch knows more than he can say and remain alive himself, I’m sure.
almost a plus that Mitch's Frankenstein Trump has pretty much devoured him. I would have bet on Mitch. Silly me. Cults are nothing if not loyal to the most insane one.
While some may see the Tя☭mp statement misidentifying Thomas Jefferson as “a principal writer” of our Constitution as a minor mistake, this shows the careless nature of both Tя☭mp and those around him in dealing with facts and truth. It would not have required much intellectual diligence to check this statement before releasing it. However, even that minimal effort was too steep a climb for Tя☭mp or his minions.
His statement regarding the passing of Colin Powell likewise lacked any semblance of class or decency. When people who have made significant contributions to our history die, their passing is commonly mourned and commented upon by many in a favorable manner. Tя☭mp’s statement kicking dirt on the grave of this soon to be interred hero is an ugly reminder of what a small man he truly is. Even in this moment he has to find a way to make the statement about himself rather than the departed Powell. When Tя☭mp one day passes he will likely be unmourned and his death unremarked upon other than a recounting of his moral failures and litany of corruption and incompetence.
If I am around when death star donny sheds his mortal coils, I will drink a single malt neat. Many people will not be mourning, but some might celebrate. What a waste of human particles that monster is, spewing nothing but poison.
If I outlive TFG, his grave will be a destination and on which I plan to piss my last drop. From my schlong to his ear. And a double spit for good measure. After which I will rest 500 miles from that defiler of my America.
My apology for the grossness of my comment. It is my 80th birthday today and speaking plainly my anger is my chose to be audacious one last time. Next, neat, a single malt.
No need to apologize at least not to me, I have for 5 years now been planning on doing the exact same thing, in fact I plan on bottling some up in case I pass first, that way one of my children or grandchildren will be able to do it for me. It’s on my to do list for sure, I figure I owe the bastard and its the least I could do. 😎
We have a nutcase here in Oregon who is now in the state legislature who called for people to send him their urine. Maybe we should do the same for Mr. Golden Showers.
Fred, Have a great day. I hope you can forget the devils for a while and enjoy yourself. You grace the forum even when you get a bit carried away. Happy Birthday!
I am not a constitutional scholar. I do remember Jefferson as the author of the "Bill of Rights" (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution), which I believe were in response to what he perceived as "glaring errors" within the Constitution. I know that I have heard (somewhere) that Jefferson's ambassadorship was intentionally given to get him out of the country so as not to be present at the Constitutional Convention or to have a say in writing the document.
Actually the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were authored by James Madison. They were strongly influenced by the the Virginia Declaration of Rights authored by George Mason.
Jefferson, with the Declaration of Independence, the Lewis & Clark expedition, and and other positive deeds was also a hypocrite, as detailed by historians Joe Ellis and David McCullough (the latter in personal letters to me). He was lobbing fire bombs from Paris to Madison during the constitutional discussions. Indeed, he thought that ‘a little blood’ was in order. Jefferson, at the same time that he imposed an embargo on French and British imports, managed to sneak in some fine wine for himself. Though he professed frugality, he often was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to sell his personal library to the Library of Congress. Of course Trump’s views on Jefferson and Powell are simply the vacuous prattlings of an ignoramus.
It’s very gratifying to see the how many of us have the same idea, perhaps they can install a drain so that our offerings can migrate down to where he’s residing that way he can float as he rests in hell.
Is it not essential now that Senator King's speech be plastered across the media? HEADLINED.
After all, it is a call, not only to the Senate, especially to Republican Senators, but to the whole country.
Any reader here present who is able in any way, at any level, to publish or enable publication of this speech must do so, if only to insure that citizens can never claim "I DID NOT KNOW".
If said media are still capable of distinguishing what matters from what does not.
The fact that King is an independent is crucial here.
Re. spreading the news of Sen. King's speech, I've contacted the local organizer of Democrats Abroad, who has good contact lists in the US and here in France.
Shall forward HCR's piece today to my contacts.
Insignificant? Maybe. But all attempts at snowballing are worthwhile. I've seen in a lifetime that one never knows what the impact of spreading news can be.
"The Senate will vote tomorrow on whether to take up the Freedom to Vote Act, with Republicans threatening to filibuster that procedural vote. Senator Angus King (I-ME) established himself today as a key advocate of the measure, and as the Senate’s conscience.
He reminded his colleagues that in a world of absolute monarchs, the U.S. was founded on the radical idea “that the people… are the ultimate source of power and can govern themselves through their elected representatives.” That idea “was tested at Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, and the Wilderness. It was defended at Anzio, Iwo Jima, and Normandy, and was reaffirmed in 1965.”
But democracy is fragile, and it most often fails “from erosion from within.”
The senator warned that most failed democracies start with legitimate elections, but that leaders then manipulate the system to stay in power, just as they have done recently in Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Hungary. In the U.S., if the new laws suppressing the vote and permitting partisans to choose their own electors over the wishes of the voters are allowed to stand, “we will be left with a downward spiral toward a hollow shell of democracy, where only raw power prevails and its peaceful transfer becomes a distant memory.”
King noted the profoundly dangerous breakdown of trust in the electoral system and called out the Republicans’ “overtly partisan attempt” to use the loss of trust as a justification to skew elections in the future. He demolished the idea that our elections are corrupted by “voter fraud,” and suggested the new election laws going into effect in Republican-dominated states are “stone-cold partisan voter suppression.”
King urged his colleagues to change course, “to pull our country back from the brink, and to begin the work of restoring our democracy as we did in the Revolution, as we did in the Civil War, and as we did in the Civil Rights struggles: first, by simply telling the truth and then by enacting a set of basic protections of the sacred right to vote.” If they will not, he said, we will lose “our identity as a people,...the miracle of self-government, and…the idea of America.”
“We are the heirs and trustees…of a tradition that goes back to Lincoln, Madison, and, yes, our friend John McCain,” Senator King reminded his colleagues. “All of them were partisans… but all shared an overriding commitment to the idea that animates the American experiment, the idea that our government is of, by, and for the people…. Now is the moment that we’re called upon to reach beyond our region, our state, our party, ourselves to save and reinvigorate the sputtering flame of the American idea.”
“Indeed,” he said, “destiny has placed us here at one of history’s fateful moments. Our response to it will be our most important legacy…. I believe we all know our responsibility, and whether we like it or not, history will record whether we, each of us, meets that responsibility.”"
_______
Senator King Delivers Impassioned Speech On the Senate Floor Urging Action to Defend Voting Rights
Our MSM is too busy blathering nonsense, with not a clue as to the daily peril that engulfs us. Yes, his speech should make a dent, ye hear that MSNBC. Time to have it scroll non- stop. Your chance to shine the light…
I tip my cap to Senator Angus King for speaking his truth out loud. Praying some folks can hear him. Thank you Heather for illuminating these struggles.
Whoa! There it is, the voice of Abraham Lincoln in the person of Senator King, a stalwart Mainer and a true man of the people, an American surrounded by partisan pretenders and much worse. Now we will see if "we will lose our identity as a people" and whether or not the forces of "erosion from within," namely the Trump Republicans, what Berry M. (ME) calls "the prevailing rats nest of evil," will indeed prevail. This is a revolutionary moment if ever there was one. Will it be the spark that releases the spirit of democracy from the radical evil that holds America in its grip?
Angus King is SO on the right side of history in the mind of this Mainer. No surprise. I am going to take his current remarks, incorporate them into a brief cover letter and send them to every paper I can think of. These specific words of his will be chiseled into the history of our (great but flawed) experiment in democracy while the collective sewage emanating from ALL the low lifers parroting trump will be noted, documented (and hopefully prosecuted, if appropriate) and ultimately evaporate like the swamp gas it is. Thank you for this Letter, Heather and Angus.
There must be something to the air and water of Maine, Peter. Your photography and our Dr. Richardson’s writing are so good. Now add Angus King. What other treasures are you hiding?
His speech brought tears. And hope. If not everyone, at least enough will take actions needed to preserve this democracy . We need much more time to realize the possibilities, for all the people.
Thanks Heather for calling this eloquent, inspiring speech to our attention- it is also available on Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yxkD_5G24E. I hope it goes viral.
Thanks for this, Richard. I loved his reference to Gettysburg, and how very close we were to losing our country then, by a matter of one or two strong individuals, and how close we are to losing democracy now. A brilliantly disguised call on Manchin and Sinema.
Thank you for the link. For me, it should go down in history as an outstanding call upholding the purest hope for our democratic experiment. May it get shared and heard by all Americans and beyond.
Thank you for the link, Richard. Well worth the time to watch the entire speech.
The many times we’ve been privileged to have brave souls step up willing to sacrifice their very lives to preserve and protect our democracy. And now we are faced again with such an opportunity. Who will be our hero (es) this time? Is anyone brave enough?
Dear God, please let there be a paper trail showing bribes going from Deripaska straight to McConnell.
May Moscow Mitch be exposed for what he is:
An enemy of democracy. A puppet of the oligarchs.
I hope he is literally crapping in his pants right now. It’s about time we started getting some accountability
YES! Maybe McTurtleneck will finally be outed!
"In 2018, the U.S. government put sanctions on Deripaska, but maneuvering by then–Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) meant Congress lifted them in 2019. Just months later, Deripaska invested in an aluminum plant in Kentucky." Moscow Mitch earned his moniker. He IS a traitor to this country.
Of course the big job-creating aluminum plant that Deripaska was going to build in Kentucky, which was announced for McConnell to take credit for it during his re-election campaign, looks like it will never be built.
There are so many ways for him to be bribed legally.
If only...🙏
However, I fear that Darth McConnell is already too rich and too smart to be caught up in such foolishness as accepting campaign contributions from a foreign source or a bribe.
BruceC, For McTurtleneck money is power. The more money the more power. and even the smartest fox can finally be outsmarted!
You must add in his ability to have a chokehold on the Senate as an additional power. He gets a lot of pleasure from tripping up the Democratic party.
It strikes me that his abundant arrogance that he has the power to never suffer consequences would far outweigh anything
I'm afraid I agree, but having the FBI raid that particular home in Kentucky would certainly energize most of the country. I know... only a dream.
Probably not directly. Kickbacks directed to another Kentuckian who then directs it to McConnell's PAC. Something like that maybe. But there will be a trail.
From your lips to God's ears.
AMEN
(1) We are in the middle of a critical, and vulnerable, moment of crisis and urgency in US history. Do we allow the social relics to renew our nation’s contract with racist sexist society for the umpteenth time. Or do we shut it down and finally establish, once and for all, the new contract that is imo the true destiny of this nation.
The Washington Post has this motto, “Democracy dies in darkness.” I prefer the corollary, “Democracy is refreshed and revitalized in the light,“ but hey, their marketing people didn’t consult me on that choice of slogan.
McConnell is dirty. Our dear Dr. Heather spelled it out as beautifully and simply as I have ever seen: favors exchanged with Deripaska, meaning with Putin. Quid pro quo.
Keep in mind, many many of the Republicans in power are playing for somebody else, not their constituents. They are not supporting democracy, they are lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests, because they are in power and they can. The Democratic Party is about public service. The Republican Party is about self service.
Call me naïve, call me Pollyanna, call me a clueless idealist, but I am firmly convinced that democracy will prevail over corruption in this country. In other countries as well, but man it’s gonna take a lot longer for some of them.
(2) Deripaska’s money-laundering property purchases, acquired with money stolen from the Russian people, getting close attention from the FBI is my favorite news of the day.
Yes. This info on McConnell’s “Russian aluminum “deal” is news to me. How many other deals were cut that wedon’t know???
look at Elaine also, a pair cut from the same cloth.
Is it that time again ? ... to quote Elizabeth Powells's witty question supposedly posed to Ben Franklin circa 1787? "Well Doctor, what have we got - a republic or a monarchy?" Ben's retort: "A republic if you can keep it."
Trojan Horses don't bode well for our survival
Welcome back Roland!
Hi Linda!
The deal fell through a la Fox Conn in Wisconsin.
https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article254501292.html
Thank you for this article. Interesting how the “company” keeps changing ceo’s (vampires) - each sucking as much out of it as they can before being replaced. Even more interesting are the R’s threatening to hold the “company” responsible. Somebody must be up for re-election.
To paraphrase a past french president, "politician's promises only count for those that hear them"
And Rupert has omitted as much as he has made up. Bet they never showed a shot of trump’s gaffs, word salad, and only the Fox approved slander.
Thanks for this, Judy. Perhaps if the KY voters are educated by the FBI about the genesis of this "deal," they'll consider ending their contract with McCrook and his lovely grifter spouse. We can hope.
Sadly it is the poor rural & coal mining areas that he has conned. Unfortunately that is most of the state. The 3 metro areas (Louisville, Lexington & Bowling Green) can’t tip the scales blue. 😫
#MoscowMitch
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/moscowmitch
McConnell's country.
A sham (on a scam) to begin with?
Thx fir the info/article
Is this the Russian deal or another one?
Not clear that all the money from Rusal fell through. According to an Aug 2020 article* in the Courier-Journal, an SEC filing shows that Rusal has already contributed $75M to the Kentucky company/project (then called Braidy but now called Unity). It's clear that people interviewed in the kentucky.com article cited above want to suggest that Rusal is no longer involved in the project, but even their comments could be read to suggest that Rusal is not contributing _more_ money to the project than it already has and that it might not (in the future) have a stake in the project (if, big if, that project ever gets off the ground). But how much can we know about what Rusal's role is anyway? Haney, the Unity spokesperson cited in the kentucky.com article, is said to have testified that the company had to keep parts of its financing private.
*"US Senate report says Russian investor in Braidy Industries' mill is a proxy for the Kremlin"
Thanks for this elaboration. Really Manchurian candidate, in retrospect, showed a LACK of imagination. The taleovers don’t have to be with actual hyptnotism. Just plain old seduction and $$$$& seems to do the trick.
Thx for the info!
The Russian deal. It seems to be the same as the Chinese deal. Big talk and dollars thrown around but nothing gets done and the local government is out millions.
Yes, and.McConnell and Rand Paul voted to end sanctions against Rusal. A few months after sanctions were lifted, Rusal's money poured into Braidy (now Unity). Interestingly enough, also in 2019, 2 members of McConnell's staff lobbied the fed govt on Braidy's behalf.
Superbly composed and expressed. Well done!
This:
“ The Democratic Party is about public service. The Republican Party is about self service.”
The biggest problem is the people that are supporting and voting for the corrupt Republicans just don’t care how dirty they are. Remember when we all feared Russian ideologies taking over the United States and we’d lose all our freedoms? Now the Republican Party is embracing this lifestyle while accusing Democrats of being communist.
The Republicans know their constituents well and how to advertise to them.
Yes 👏 👏
Speaking of knowing their constituents, here’s something ominous from Twitter. https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1451212018543902725?s=21
Welcome back, Roland!
Thank you Rose!
Good morning Roland. Thanks for your hopeful words today.
Hello Diane. It’s a pleasure to see your name again. 🥰
Sehr gut, Herr Roland. Danke.
It’s always good to have friends in far away places.
Wie geht’s wie steht’s Herr Koch. Always enjoy reading your messages my good sir.
Roland, from your lips to God's ear. Thank you!
I truly hope you’re right. I just think it’s not possible because the entire foundation and framework has been corrupted by greedy, selfish people. I think the masses are mostly being humored because the moneymakers don’t want to lose on their investments and not working or buying along with destroying will be a problem for them. Dangle some hope and we’ll trail after it and do what they want us to do for the most part. The people in power over our government, over us, aren’t going to relinquish it or their money.
Lisa I have been reading your posts with interest, because you represent (if I am correct) what I consider my target audience for my story project. You also are similar to the former version of me, the Eagle Scout engineering graduate college educated intelligent and informed observer who is overwhelmed by the sheer titanic size of the Dark Side of the Force.
Your assessment of the capitalist system, and the government powermongers and officials that support it and parasitically live off of it, is of course right on target. The question is not about the problem, we all agree on the problem, the question is about the solution.
The solution is a function of inspiration, of hope, of joy. Inspiration, hope, joy, active life energy & life force of any type and referenced by any word label, that’s what will overpower the corrupt ones and result in the clean-up of the corruption in the system.
It’s not the system that’s corrupt. At least not in this country, at least before the voting suppression laws that are flooding into the territories with a lingering history of racism and sexism. The system of democracy in the US was specifically intended to counteract and neutralize corruption. People all over the world contributed to creating that structure.
Think of a human body or animal body or plant body that has antibodies, white blood cells, and other actuents (I just made up that word) to fight intrusive and invasive bacteria, viruses, etc. Your body, my body, automatically fights anything that interferes with harmonious and healthy operation. That’s kind of like the structure of the US democracy. Its job, its ongoing and continuous job, is to fight those corrupting forces influences and people.
Fighting corruption is an active process, conducted by people like you and me and the others on this channel. It takes energy. It takes hope, inspiration, joy, love, life force for us to do the work that we are doing. My job in the world is reminding us that we are doing the right thing, and that it isn’t working.
It doesn’t always look like it’s working. And that is the problem. Morale. My job is boosting morale.
“My job in the world is reminding us that we are doing the right thing, and that it IS working.“
Thank you. I wish you success in your work and morale-boosting efforts. I hope we can heal America’s Democracy Cancer.
YES YES and YEAH BABY‼️
So well said!
Amen, Brother Roland!
Some commentary as I read today’s Letter:
Trump is back to his old tricks and media is still snapping up the ‘treats’ he’s tossing them. That’s all his comments about Powell was.
Do you think Americans know their history? Most of us don’t, I’m sad to say, and wouldn’t blink at Trump’s error.
And why on earth would America allow Russian oligarchs to live here??? I don’t even want American oligarchs! Ah, okay. He paid off McConnell by dumping some Oligarchy version chump change into his territory. I’m going to watch a video of Drawing & Quartering to help me relax.
Good luck bringing wealthy/well-connected white people to justice in America. They’ve been allowed to get away with all manner of vile things forever. They can act under the guise of corporations (who are people according to the Supreme Court) and get away with more - neat trick.
Excellent statements from members of Congress in defense of Democracy and rule of law. I have no doubt it fell on deaf ears though. The Trump Republicans want a one-party system with an extremist running the show and they don’t care about the cost.
As much as I appreciated their words, I just don’t have much faith they’ll make a dent.
I’ve slid from middle to low income since graduating college in 1990 while seeing countless injustices committed against Americans through the legal system and corporations, most of them under our noses.
I had hope with the Obama Administration, but in the end, little changed for the better at least in my world. Thanks to Dr Richardson’s Letters, I understand the roadblocks in place which inhibited ability for changes necessary to help the middle class.
In 2015, I didn’t think it could get worse, but then Trump came along. So many of us have been traumatized and outright harmed by more than four years of Trump et al’s & supporter’s beyond nasty talk and actions.
The stress and despair alone has been significant. Add in the the Covid cases, permanent damage from Covid, all the deaths directly and indirectly related to Covid, the increased murder rate and rise in hate crimes, the damage of reduced or canceled regulations by the Trump Administration, and you have a nightmare.
So when you see comments from Negative Nancy’s like me here or in social media, try not to be angry at our lack of faith. No amount of positivity will fix us. Only years of actual improvements in our lives and of others, a change in the media for the better, and in the behaviors of our neighbors for the better will ‘fix’ us.
I understand both your despair and frustration as well as that of so many others. However, I offer to you the advice I received a number of years ago from a therapist I was seeing at the time. The best way to restore your own sense of control and self-confidence is to realize you cannot fix every problem or what you see broken in the world. However, you can make a difference. Pick some cause, some challenge you feel strongly about where your own talents, skills, and resources can make a difference in the lives of some. Find others who also care passionately about the same cause. Join together with them to do whatever you can to work on making a difference on that issue. When you make a difference in the lives of a few impacted by your efforts, take some time together with those you have worked together with to celebrate those victories. Do not let the challenges of the world or even in your own life overwhelm you. Working together with others to make even small differences on the margin will bring joy and control to your life. The connectedness of working together with others of good will and making even small differences in the lives of some will be rewarding. If thousands upon thousands would all do even a small part in such efforts the world could be transformed in amazing ways at least for some. And, that would be a good thing.
I believe that Heather's Letters have helped to provide that vehicle.
Thank you Bruce. I needed your words.
Bruce, thank you for your kind and wise words to Lisa! Lisa sounds like a very smart lady and your advise will help. I think we are all feeling helpless and could use encouragement!
Yup.
Lisa, I'm in total agreement with you. TFG is playing the press again, and they're lapping it up. I'm deathly tired of hearing his blathering lies, and am no more interested in what he's saying than I am in what the Kardashians are contributing to our culture or Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop.
We're all bone weary with isolation from the pandemic, then, after the miracle vaccines were produced and distribution organized by Biden, being smacked by many idiots who support TFG protesting them and causing more devastation!
We now have legislation that could turn the tide for most of us, and it's battling headwinds from coal mine operative Manchin and clueless Sinema, supposedly in our camp!
Keep the faith. Hopefully, we can make the necessary difference. You're no Negative Nancy (and neither am I), and your plan to relax by watching a video on drawing and quartering proves that your sense of humor will carry you through these rough waters.
OMG, you so get me. Thanks! Let the walking weary unite and may our snores sound like roars until we can wake up when it’s too late for them to run away from our teeth and claws.
We can snore and roar together, Lisa. I still have my teeth and claws. We'd make a good team. Love your turns of phrase.
Wow - you hit three of MY most disinterested subjects - Trump, the K group & Goop!! I'm right there with you, Nancy and Lisa! And since we read HCRs letters, we know we are NOT ALONE, right? And good ideas, BruceC.
I'm not a fan of much of the media's recent coverage of things, but when the former president attacks the special House committee investigating him, it's news. And when he attacks one of the nation's most respected former leaders when that leader dies, it's news. And TFG is getting skewered for it.
Anything that involved skewering TFG is good news, but I'd appreciate your assessment as a former journalist of what is happening to Biden. He has been consistently criticized by the press every time he turns around. I realize that he's not perfect, and his planning was lacking prior to our pullout from Afghanistan, but he did, belatedly, manage the largest airlift in history, and many of his agenda items have been sabotaged by the Rethuglicans and our own "moderates," Manchin and Sinema who are both at least on power trips, as well as Manchin's paying obeissance to the coal industry and others. Taking into consideration the last five years of Dr. Destructo, do you have any insight into the treatment of Biden, other than bad news sells?
And his base eat that up. Free publicity. Yes, I know we should all be aware.
I'm hoping these stupidity statements of TFG's will be evidence for FB, Twitter, and other social media that he hasn't changed his ways.
From what I see in mainstream media and social media, people love to share his words when they should be quietly watched and publicly ignored in my opinion. This is how he gets free advertising, just like last time.
Lisa, sorry you’re feeling this way. I find it’s a constant battle to stay positive and hopeful. The carrot I place in front of me is my grandchildren. I cannot quit on them.
I’m not quitting on anyone or their children. I just don’t have confidence in a government owned by the wealthy will ever relinquish anything so that the middle class can rise again.
I just do not see Democracy being under the control of all its people ever again since it hasn’t been for decades because certain people don’t feel ALL citizens deserve a say in the shape of our country.
The wealthy, and the corporations they hide behind, control our country. They’re fine with whatever happens as long as they’re immune to the consequences.
I can’t see the masses being able to stop them without becoming fire & pitchfork carrying mobs and possibly hauling the selfish creeps off to the gallows. A frightening thought. One of the things holding THAT back is that we’re divided and they’ve convinced some people that the extremist Republicans are the answer to their prayers.
No. I just don’t see our government being the answer to anyone’s prayers unless they’re wealthy white men.
What an articulate, full-throated expression of what is wrong in America right now, Lisa. It’s the same frustration and hopelessness that has so many of us clambering after the Orange Moron and his evil promises to fix it.
I don’t have soothing words. I do want to thank you, Lisa, for distilling the problem into such clarity. Hope you’re able to get some relief every once in a while as we slog through this epoch together.
It is a relief just to be heard and acknowledged, so thank you too.
Lisa, here's a suggestion for a cause you can get behind while mustering the commitment of a like-minded group of hard-working equally disaffected Americans as Bruce encouraged above: Stop using Amazon. Bezos does not need to go to the edge of space again, and then subsequently thank his employees and all American shoppers who made it possible for him to do so. You and your gang will simultaneously be saving the planet that can not sustain the dangerous over-consumptive habits of those hooked on a daily delivery of Amazon packages. To offset the withdrawal, your dedicated band can serve as loneliness busters, which really is at the heart of much Amazon purchasing. In time, what you will have done is created a sense of community, which is important for maintaining a healthy and legitimate democracy.
Love it. Another HCR Substacker does voter registration with a small group she calls her Huddle. When I grow up, I want to be like her.
I wholeheartedly agree and most of my business is done locally or directly with manufacturers online. Unfortunately I can’t be 100% Amazon free yet.
Lisa, I share your viewpoints and vacillate between fury and apathy. Thanks to my granddaughter, the apathy and helplessness don’t last long because I want better for her.
One thing I don’t understand about the repugnants is the ultimate goal. Or, assuming the goal is perpetual autocratic rule, how that will play out for corporations and their shareholders. Pushing more and more citizens into poverty while befouling air, water, soil and bodies with myriad pollutants would seem counterproductive to increasing revenues. As in your case, being pushed into a lower income bracket reduces your purchasing power. Doesn’t this hurt corporate profits when applied nationally? Why would the corporate world be okay with this? I don’t get it.
I agree and I’ve been wondering that myself.
Here are some of my thoughts of the matter:
1. I remember the radio show by Howard Stern, followed by Opie & Anthony show. It was irreverent, irresponsible, and somewhat mean-spirited humor which often belittled and demeaned. Women were a frequent target (often with women’s consent). Those people graduated from that to watching reality shows slavishly and favoring the online stupidity of Jackass and Hold My Beer type stunts.
They attracted the same people who eventually became Trump’s cultists.
They’re mostly toxic men (particularly White) from varied financial backgrounds who feel threatened by women, who call having to look after their own children ‘babysitting’, and think they’re owed more respect by the world they themselves seem not to have respect for. This of course attracted certain types of women - predominantly White, with poor self esteem despite outward appearances, and who bend over backwards to please men who cheat on them, ignore them, criticize them, and demean them.
2. Somehow, through education system I feel was gradually tailored to keep people in their places and not be knowledgeable about government/civics or politics, coupled with being raised by television, we became ignorant and complacent.
After much of the middle class increasingly declined toward low income, apathy set in. The people who survived and thrived, closed their eyes to other’s situations.
If they don’t see it, it can’t be happening.
If they’re doing fine then it’s other people’s fault for not being fine.
Therefore it’s not the fault of corruption in government letting banks run amok, letting corporations damage our climate, pollute our indoor & outdoor environments (air & water), & poison our food, allow insidious Advertising & Marketing practices (a primer for political advertising), farm out American’s jobs to foreign countries for profit (which strengthened other countries like China as it weakened America), and sucking the life out of the masses then giving it to the wealthy and themselves who didn’t need it.
There’s more, but my break is over.
Haha, didn’t read your entire epistle, the first few paragraphs were enough to say, you are so correct. I have seen too many idiots (bubbas) in pick up trucks with giant flags with the Cheeto man’s name flying. And just recently, the same only now it’s “F__k Biden” it makes my blood boil, these morons with no civility. Doubt if they are even familiar with the term.
I see them all over the place too. A small group assemble practically every day alongside a busy highway with giant Trump flags, pro-police flags, confederate, & F-Biden flags.
The radio shows I referred to made me despair over people actually liking and agreeing with those nasty opinions.
I couldn’t believe how big the audience for that type of stuff got. I should have known right off the bat that Trump would win just because he treated women the same way those radio shows did and trash talked just like them.
It’s ironic that Howard Stern today doesn’t like Trump and is pro-vaccine yet his show was a dog whistle to Trump’s future base.
When people are poor, they can be told what to do, like fight a war. A middle class that is prosperous enough to send young people to college, is a danger to self interested leadership. I am from the first suburban generation, raised in the fifties. Our fathers were taxi drIvers, roofers, government clerks, and we were raised to “do better than our parents,” not to be fodder in the jungles of Vietnam Nam. And so, millions of us resisted. Eager to find a just cause, we embraced civil rights. Our jungle was the American south. The more conventionally patriotic blue collar population turned away from the dems over these issues and the party picked up the college educated, who prospered and continue to be a thorn in the side of republican leadership, while the blue collared have done poorly. The wealthy would like everyone to be so poor that they work three jobs and don’t have the time or the energy to read any future equivalents of the pentagon papers or invisible man. They should be careful what they wish for. Make people poor enough, and they won’t defend the country. They will just say to hell with it and start thinking that maybe the Chinese can do a better job of running the place.
I should add that yes, this might cut into profits, but the wealthiest already have enough money. What they want is power. Why would the governor of a red state discourage vaccinations? Isn’t he killing off his supporters? Sure, but he’s killing off more of the opposition. Blacks and Hispanics have the lowest vaccination rates. If 3000 more blacks/Hispanics than whites die in Georgia during the next 12 months, Georgia is red again. “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
It’s maddening.
We cannot stop fighting for our democracy!
Wow
Yup.
Your narrative is part and parcel of what was started in 1980 with the election of Reagan, distilled in the mid 1990's with Gingrich and his "coalition" and fine-tuned with the Tea Party and the Republiqan gerrymandering with the 2010 census. The last 5 years have (as you so eloquently put it with the combination of tRump's election and the Pandemic (exacerbated by the former guy's "response" to the pandemic) has led to a loss of faith in your generation, the Millennials, and Gen Z to a point where no amount of positivity can possibly have an impact without profound changes.
Bingo with fireworks.
Now we need a Stacy Abrams to get the ex-complacent-turned-apathetic Gen-X-ers, Millennials, & older Gen-Z-ers organized in every state to do the things we CAN do & afford…
Yes, and every little bit of positivity has an impact toward profound change ... for years, I was buried in apathy - fully absorbed with all that was wrong - I was guided to see that I have the choice, and opportunity to make a difference - however small or seemingly insignificant - by focusing awareness and intent to redirect my own energies and outlook - to generate a positive view of what is possible - here and now, with this one breath ... I have to put it down and die a lot - still alive, though and doing what I can, one breath at a time ... it makes a difference for me - I can look up and keep going - that has to count for something ....
Here's a counter to his foil - a mantra for our times:
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again."
Years ago I posted the same mantra, but instead of "Humpty Dumpty" I used "Trumpty Dumpty" built a wall..."
Have you seen or read John Lithgow's books on "Humpty" - pictures & poetry (great stuff) by Lithgow. I heard some of it on Colbert. The books are great - as are the pictures. Worth looking for!
He is hilarious! And correct in his assessment.
Thanks for the tip!
Thanks Maggie, I'll look for it!
Rupert pushed Humpty off the wall, still laughing his arse off
Oligarchs and other wealthy foreigners should not even be allowed to own property in the US. That's one of the things that's pushing the price of housing in major cities to absurd levels.
As I see it, David, nobody (rich or poor) has a right to own, buy or sell this land. It was/is stolen from people who honored the land as their own mother, not property to be parceled up and sold ....
I empathize greatly with this view. But that's about as likely to happen as it is for the Earth to acquire a second moon. Meanwhile, the super wealthy are pushing prices out of the reach of the middle class in many cities, and rents are skyrocketing out of the reach of poor people. We can fix this situation for a few hundred million Americans, or we can dream about the ideal.
Thank you David - I understand ... so how to fix it? Government programs, renting/leasing from autonomous charitable land owners, individual home ownership; any, all or none of the above ...?.
Most of the people I know who 'own their own homes' have to cope with a slew of paperwork, technicalities, expenses, taxes, amd responsibilities for maintenance/repairs/improvements, and if they wind up selling or buying, a whole bunch of rules/regulations, details and expenses that I can't wrap my head or my wallet around - and mortgages that only get paid when a compassionate relative or friend pitches in.
But they can see it as an investment, it feels like they own it themselves, and they don't have to contend with pesky landlords. Not my cup of tea - and I can't afford it anyway - which leads me to another point of contention: obcession with money ... our lives are so wrapped up in how much money we do or don't have, make or do not make ... what we can, or cannot afford ... it does not feel like freedom to me.
I rent an apartment from a not-for-profit corporation funded by a coalition of private and public concerns, businesses and charitable organizations, including grants and government subsidies. They handle maintenance/repairs/upkeep - all I have to do is pay my rent. I have to live by some rules, and put up with neighbors and changes in management (which requires some flexibility and diplomacy on my part - good practice in character building (!)) but it is simple and straightforward, and all I can afford anyway.
One more thing ... I could not even afford that if not for my bottom line income from Social Security (buildings with small, affordable units are less and less available as they are demolished and replaced with expensive condos - once again, serving private markets with a slew of expenses associated with 'home ownership.'
People may complain about government involvement in our lives. For me, it has been a life saver and I am completely great-full for the support. So I have to fill out paperwork, keep appointments and truthfully reveal my personal and financial details (no problem there, unless you think you have something to hide.)
Some may disdain it as "Socialism". I do not. I view it as a blessing and a gift from the cosmos that keeps me from having to kiss/suck up to someone with the power to put me into the street if I do not satisfy their controlling whims.
And when I see what people have had to go through with COVID - losing jobs, homes and savings ... I give thanks every day for the roof over my head and the check that arrives like clockwork every month to pay the bills. It isn't much, but it is enough - it is more than I was able to do for myself, and the bonus is that I have time to focus on work that matters to me - not running in circles like a chicken with it's head cut off, just to pay the bills and prove that I am "doing my part in society."
If that makes me a bum, I'll sing "Hallelujah, I'm a bum" - and you all can give thanks along with me that I don't have to come begging from you personally.
I hear you, and fear for us all
There are moments when fear is fine.
We're ALIVE to danger, alert.
ALIVE!
Not half-asleep passive-aggressive couch potatoes ruminating like sick cows.
... feelin' kinda flimsy? Try a little whimsy!!
Had to rewrite! I love Bruce’ idea about changing the things we can and making a difference where we can. I also feel as you do, my friend. If our representatives worked in any business environment, they’d be fired for non-performance. Very few house members or senators are there to achieve anything. Instead, they are well paid human road blocks. Term limits has never made so much sense. There are so few members of the house or senate who actually practice the art of compromise and diplomacy. And so many are serial liars with no moral compass. 😢
Sen. Angus King (ME) is an exemplary political representative. May his voice of reason penetrate and dissolve the prevailing rats nest of evil.
He's all of those things you described, but the sun will rise in the West before the Republiscum will hear what he said.
I like the twist - Republiscum..
Or Republicult
... Republiglut ...
Or simply...Repugnant.
Yes!
I thought the same thing. He delivered an eloquent speech. The Republiscum won’t let his words change their actions at all. They have pushed and keep pushing the limits to get what they want, the people and country be damned.
They have no ears, all they hear is the siren call of power….
And money
I've been using "Republiqan" recently. I might just steal "Republiscum".
:’-(
Mr. King doesn't say a whole lot or speak very often as a primary advocate but, when he does, it's well worth listening to. He's as straight to the point as this newsletter.
Angus King fits my definition of a leader. In the terminology of the past, he's a statesman. When I was a teenager and first became interested in government and politics, there were Republicans cut from the same cloth (today's GOP would label them as socialists).
What King said yesterday perfectly captures what's at stake and what Republicans must consider before today's vote on election reform legislation. But he knows he won't sway enough of them or any to overcome the filibuster. This exercise is about putting Republicans on notice and then on the record for voting not to save democracy.
As one of the older members, hes also one of the sharpest & seemingly, honorable (although there isnt much of that there anymore).
My thoughts exactly !
He gives me renewed respect for Maine, my stubborn New England neighbor. Susan Collins had modified my hopes a lot recently.
Yes, good man. One of the few in congress.
Thank you for highlighting the brilliance of Liz Cheney & Angus King. Cheney’s voice & leadership continues to strengthen and inspire, providing a lighthouse for conservatives if they will just lift their eyes to see it. Angus King’s speech is epic! Can someone just give this man the microphone every day for the rest of the year? Seriously.
Don’t get too wound up about Cheney. She’s right of course, but on this topic alone. She will not vote for any infrastructure bill or voting rights legislation because she is her father’s daughter.
And she was a “no” vote on raising the debt ceiling.
Right! Every time I hear her speaking actual truth regarding DJT etc - I remind myself that NO Repubs including her & Kinzinger(?) will vote for any of the Dems legislation - NONE of them!
Again hear, hear!
I admit to wondering if King's eloquence was being directed toward one particular Maine senator, whose lockstep marching with Moscow Mitch shows who she really is. I do wish that Mainers had done the right thing by Susan Collins and kicked her can down the street.
Agreed. I am so disappointed that Maine voters sent Susan Collins back to the Senate for another term.
It is to all.
Thank you, as always, for this letter. You are so fortunate in having Angus King as one of your senators: an eloquent, just man.
So well written items so crucial and perfectly selected to shine your light on today Thank you Heather our beacon for democracy
Does anyone remember shortly after the 2016 election, how there were a bunch of Russians suddenly dropping dead? Even one in NYC. How about the fact that once Obama came out with the knowledge that the Russians were actively trying to influence and undermine that election in late summer of 2016, what did Moscow Mitch do? Stonewalled any investigation prior to the election.
Heather's daily sessions are indispensable in keeping up with all the insanity that is American politics these days, but I'm just about ready for a blockbuster film that dives into the machinations of what we already know about the mammoth corruption behind the radical right these days. Something like a crime thriller, only completely factual. So much has happened in the past 5-6 years, it's hard to hold onto the thread sometimes.
https://www.mic.com/articles/169564/at-least-7-russian-officials-have-turned-up-dead-since-election-day-here-s-what-we-know
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/07/mcconnell-affirms-truth-russian-hacks
Kara, I DO remember all the Russians falling over dead right around the time of the election and I also remember that no one in the media seemed to notice. I noticed! Perhaps growing up in the Cold War years trained my eye for those typical tactics of Russian politics - heart attacks on command, or accidental falls from hi-rise office windows. So many “suicides.”
Clearly, these men were all dying for a reason. And Mitch McConnell …. Oof. Completely corrupted by power, money, & party loyalty, he fell right into the web of Deripaska and his henchmen. Mitch knows more than he can say and remain alive himself, I’m sure.
almost a plus that Mitch's Frankenstein Trump has pretty much devoured him. I would have bet on Mitch. Silly me. Cults are nothing if not loyal to the most insane one.
and the never-ending spate of horror was/is deliberate "it's hard to hold onto the thread sometimes."
A la “The Big Short,” Kara?! Love it. Maybe Adam McKay is available.
While some may see the Tя☭mp statement misidentifying Thomas Jefferson as “a principal writer” of our Constitution as a minor mistake, this shows the careless nature of both Tя☭mp and those around him in dealing with facts and truth. It would not have required much intellectual diligence to check this statement before releasing it. However, even that minimal effort was too steep a climb for Tя☭mp or his minions.
His statement regarding the passing of Colin Powell likewise lacked any semblance of class or decency. When people who have made significant contributions to our history die, their passing is commonly mourned and commented upon by many in a favorable manner. Tя☭mp’s statement kicking dirt on the grave of this soon to be interred hero is an ugly reminder of what a small man he truly is. Even in this moment he has to find a way to make the statement about himself rather than the departed Powell. When Tя☭mp one day passes he will likely be unmourned and his death unremarked upon other than a recounting of his moral failures and litany of corruption and incompetence.
What a small, small man he is.
If I am around when death star donny sheds his mortal coils, I will drink a single malt neat. Many people will not be mourning, but some might celebrate. What a waste of human particles that monster is, spewing nothing but poison.
If I outlive TFG, his grave will be a destination and on which I plan to piss my last drop. From my schlong to his ear. And a double spit for good measure. After which I will rest 500 miles from that defiler of my America.
My apology for the grossness of my comment. It is my 80th birthday today and speaking plainly my anger is my chose to be audacious one last time. Next, neat, a single malt.
Happy birthday, Fred. Good for enjoying a single malt. I suspect a lot of people would like to piss on mafia don's grave.
Happy Birthday, Fred!!! At 80 you can celebrate in any way you like.
Happy, happy birthday, Fred!!
No need to apologize at least not to me, I have for 5 years now been planning on doing the exact same thing, in fact I plan on bottling some up in case I pass first, that way one of my children or grandchildren will be able to do it for me. It’s on my to do list for sure, I figure I owe the bastard and its the least I could do. 😎
We have a nutcase here in Oregon who is now in the state legislature who called for people to send him their urine. Maybe we should do the same for Mr. Golden Showers.
That's a great Idea
Fred, Have a great day. I hope you can forget the devils for a while and enjoy yourself. You grace the forum even when you get a bit carried away. Happy Birthday!
Here, here, I’m in!
I am not a constitutional scholar. I do remember Jefferson as the author of the "Bill of Rights" (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution), which I believe were in response to what he perceived as "glaring errors" within the Constitution. I know that I have heard (somewhere) that Jefferson's ambassadorship was intentionally given to get him out of the country so as not to be present at the Constitutional Convention or to have a say in writing the document.
Actually the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were authored by James Madison. They were strongly influenced by the the Virginia Declaration of Rights authored by George Mason.
Thank you for that. Apparently, Medford schools missed the boat here...
Jefferson, with the Declaration of Independence, the Lewis & Clark expedition, and and other positive deeds was also a hypocrite, as detailed by historians Joe Ellis and David McCullough (the latter in personal letters to me). He was lobbing fire bombs from Paris to Madison during the constitutional discussions. Indeed, he thought that ‘a little blood’ was in order. Jefferson, at the same time that he imposed an embargo on French and British imports, managed to sneak in some fine wine for himself. Though he professed frugality, he often was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to sell his personal library to the Library of Congress. Of course Trump’s views on Jefferson and Powell are simply the vacuous prattlings of an ignoramus.
Bruce, even this is not surprising - it's his MO. It would be gratifying if, when he passes, many of us could dance on his teeny, tiny grave.
I would plan my own pilgrimage to his grave just to dance upon it and make certain the S.O.B. Is really dead.
If you make the trip and want company, please pick me up on your way to NY or FL, and we can dance together.
Imma drinking a lot of water just before visiting his grave, ifn ya know what I mean...
MY that would be appropriate, right? (assuming an actual P tape exists) Is that "what goes around, comes around"?
It’s very gratifying to see the how many of us have the same idea, perhaps they can install a drain so that our offerings can migrate down to where he’s residing that way he can float as he rests in hell.
Let’s charter some buses….
Is it not essential now that Senator King's speech be plastered across the media? HEADLINED.
After all, it is a call, not only to the Senate, especially to Republican Senators, but to the whole country.
Any reader here present who is able in any way, at any level, to publish or enable publication of this speech must do so, if only to insure that citizens can never claim "I DID NOT KNOW".
If said media are still capable of distinguishing what matters from what does not.
The fact that King is an independent is crucial here.
Re. spreading the news of Sen. King's speech, I've contacted the local organizer of Democrats Abroad, who has good contact lists in the US and here in France.
Shall forward HCR's piece today to my contacts.
Insignificant? Maybe. But all attempts at snowballing are worthwhile. I've seen in a lifetime that one never knows what the impact of spreading news can be.
Thank you Peter ... here's a snapshot we can forward - far and wide ...:
From Heather Cox Richardson (Letters From An American):
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-19-2021/comments
10/19/21
"The Senate will vote tomorrow on whether to take up the Freedom to Vote Act, with Republicans threatening to filibuster that procedural vote. Senator Angus King (I-ME) established himself today as a key advocate of the measure, and as the Senate’s conscience.
He reminded his colleagues that in a world of absolute monarchs, the U.S. was founded on the radical idea “that the people… are the ultimate source of power and can govern themselves through their elected representatives.” That idea “was tested at Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, and the Wilderness. It was defended at Anzio, Iwo Jima, and Normandy, and was reaffirmed in 1965.”
But democracy is fragile, and it most often fails “from erosion from within.”
The senator warned that most failed democracies start with legitimate elections, but that leaders then manipulate the system to stay in power, just as they have done recently in Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Hungary. In the U.S., if the new laws suppressing the vote and permitting partisans to choose their own electors over the wishes of the voters are allowed to stand, “we will be left with a downward spiral toward a hollow shell of democracy, where only raw power prevails and its peaceful transfer becomes a distant memory.”
King noted the profoundly dangerous breakdown of trust in the electoral system and called out the Republicans’ “overtly partisan attempt” to use the loss of trust as a justification to skew elections in the future. He demolished the idea that our elections are corrupted by “voter fraud,” and suggested the new election laws going into effect in Republican-dominated states are “stone-cold partisan voter suppression.”
King urged his colleagues to change course, “to pull our country back from the brink, and to begin the work of restoring our democracy as we did in the Revolution, as we did in the Civil War, and as we did in the Civil Rights struggles: first, by simply telling the truth and then by enacting a set of basic protections of the sacred right to vote.” If they will not, he said, we will lose “our identity as a people,...the miracle of self-government, and…the idea of America.”
“We are the heirs and trustees…of a tradition that goes back to Lincoln, Madison, and, yes, our friend John McCain,” Senator King reminded his colleagues. “All of them were partisans… but all shared an overriding commitment to the idea that animates the American experiment, the idea that our government is of, by, and for the people…. Now is the moment that we’re called upon to reach beyond our region, our state, our party, ourselves to save and reinvigorate the sputtering flame of the American idea.”
“Indeed,” he said, “destiny has placed us here at one of history’s fateful moments. Our response to it will be our most important legacy…. I believe we all know our responsibility, and whether we like it or not, history will record whether we, each of us, meets that responsibility.”"
_______
Senator King Delivers Impassioned Speech On the Senate Floor Urging Action to Defend Voting Rights
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2yxkD_5G24E
_______
Thanks, Kathleen and Peter ! I also intend to send a thankful note to Sen Angus King.
Meanwhile in Florida our governor is is extremely concerned with “saving Christmas”…sigh
The blathering concern with “saving Christmas” totally misses the point, but then that is the point isn’t it.
... doubtless, the Clauses will appreciate ... 😏
Thank you, too, Kathleen.
And now, "tomorrow" is TODAY.
Indeed - and tomorrow, it will be yesterday ... one small adjustment required ....
Indeed, may it go viral…
IT BETTER!!!
Our MSM is too busy blathering nonsense, with not a clue as to the daily peril that engulfs us. Yes, his speech should make a dent, ye hear that MSNBC. Time to have it scroll non- stop. Your chance to shine the light…
"Blathering nonsense" is 100% accurate.
I tip my cap to Senator Angus King for speaking his truth out loud. Praying some folks can hear him. Thank you Heather for illuminating these struggles.
Whoa! There it is, the voice of Abraham Lincoln in the person of Senator King, a stalwart Mainer and a true man of the people, an American surrounded by partisan pretenders and much worse. Now we will see if "we will lose our identity as a people" and whether or not the forces of "erosion from within," namely the Trump Republicans, what Berry M. (ME) calls "the prevailing rats nest of evil," will indeed prevail. This is a revolutionary moment if ever there was one. Will it be the spark that releases the spirit of democracy from the radical evil that holds America in its grip?
Let the answer be yes!
So well said!
You would think that the blood of our forefathers was the down payment for the release of that spirit
Angus King is SO on the right side of history in the mind of this Mainer. No surprise. I am going to take his current remarks, incorporate them into a brief cover letter and send them to every paper I can think of. These specific words of his will be chiseled into the history of our (great but flawed) experiment in democracy while the collective sewage emanating from ALL the low lifers parroting trump will be noted, documented (and hopefully prosecuted, if appropriate) and ultimately evaporate like the swamp gas it is. Thank you for this Letter, Heather and Angus.
There must be something to the air and water of Maine, Peter. Your photography and our Dr. Richardson’s writing are so good. Now add Angus King. What other treasures are you hiding?
Hear, hear, Betsy!
Thank you, Peter Ralston! Your gorgeous, therapeutic, photographic gifts soothe much of what ails.
His speech brought tears. And hope. If not everyone, at least enough will take actions needed to preserve this democracy . We need much more time to realize the possibilities, for all the people.
Thanks Heather for calling this eloquent, inspiring speech to our attention- it is also available on Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yxkD_5G24E. I hope it goes viral.
Thanks for this, Richard. I loved his reference to Gettysburg, and how very close we were to losing our country then, by a matter of one or two strong individuals, and how close we are to losing democracy now. A brilliantly disguised call on Manchin and Sinema.
Thank you for the link. For me, it should go down in history as an outstanding call upholding the purest hope for our democratic experiment. May it get shared and heard by all Americans and beyond.
A lofty thought, I also wish it so.
YES!
Thank you for the link, Richard. Well worth the time to watch the entire speech.
The many times we’ve been privileged to have brave souls step up willing to sacrifice their very lives to preserve and protect our democracy. And now we are faced again with such an opportunity. Who will be our hero (es) this time? Is anyone brave enough?
Thank you. Let’s help it go viral. Io needs more than the 94 likes I just added one to
112
Thank You Richard. Reposting.
And contacting my Representative and Senators.
Thanks for the link.