This morning, Jonathan Martin at the New York Times reported that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has warned Republican political consultants that they may not continue to work for both him and Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), who is vice chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
As a fervent news-watcher, I need to say that day-in and day-out (at least for the past eighteen months), I could never keep up with what is happening without reading Dr. Richardson's Letters. Not only is her insight unsurpassed by any single source providing analysis of crucial news (i.e., from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from NBC and MSNBC to CNN to BBC), but the sheer breadth of her scope is stunning. Discovering these Heather Cox Richardson Letters has been among the most significant and important developments for me, personally, as I am doing my best to stay informed during these troubling times.
Exactly = I don't have the time to follow all the threads in the news and greatly appreciate being able to learn from a reliable, citations-at-the-ready source and then dig further if I want === I don't know where HCR has the time but she certainly has the insight.
I too agree wholeheartedly with everything said about HCR and Letters. Letters should be required reading for all high school and college students taking Civics or American History courses followed with seminar/roundtable discussions. Dr. Richardson, thank you for everything you do. Wish I could go to BC and learn more from you.
Good lord: a SPAC never has to produce anything, but makes money off of what people think it might do.
Sounds like the perfect metaphor for the latest Trump scam, or more accurately, Trumpism itself.
As for Liz Cheney and her crusade against Trump's control over the GOP, it's encouraging that her campaign is making inroads into Trumpian nihilism.
But it also reminds me just how radicalized and undemocratic this party has become, when an ultraconservative Cheney offspring is fighting to save the party that her father had a hand in shaping.
Perfectly stated. The essence of Trump, who has never actually succeeded at anything except tweeting with small words in short sentences, lying *bigly* to anyone who'll listen, and taking money from crooks, racists and/or gullible followers who think he cares about their welfare. This chapter in America's history may very well be the strangest, most surreal ever written, and we must try to move forward together to get through these uncertain times.
Daily I give thanks for Dr. Heather's Letters, and for other voices of sanity, like Gabe Fleisher and Dan Rather. 💜
In fairness to donald, he has scammed far more people than "crooks, racists, and/or gullible followers" may imply. He has also cheated many investors, employees, subcontractors, and the entire class of US taxpayers.
Over the years there have been many schemes to allow small early-stage companies to go public while avoiding all the compliance hassles of IPO public listings. Many of these involve mergers or acquisitions by entities that are already publicly listed. Most of these involve some form (there are several) of reverse takeovers (RTO). Here is an explanation of reverse takeovers on Wikipedia:
Sophisticated investors are well aware of the risk of fraud involved in RTOs and most avoid them like the plague. However, despite this, there are always less sophisticated or perhaps those just so greedy and gullible that they line up to participate in these schemes and their promise of success and riches. SPACs are just the latest in a long line of such RTO schemes.
Now, there are SPACs that have been formed by prominent investors with long track records of managing investment funds and are viewed to possess high levels of integrity. DWAC and its CEO, Patrick Orlando, are not among those. Rather Patrick Orlando is much more of a slimy bottom feeder and I suggest anyone considering investing in this latest scheme of his do a lot of due diligence on Mr. Orlando and his history and activities. His pairing with TFG Tя☭mp in this latest grift has all the markings of a major pump and dump Ponzi scheme.
Here is a bit of background on Patrick Orlando from Yahoo Finance:
Unfortunately, it is entirely likely that, as with most cons, there will be victims and those perpetrating the scheme are most likely going to walk away with buckets of money in their pockets. Just make certain it is not yours they walk away carrying.
Well said, Deborah. As I was reading the letter, I also thought this is a dystopian science fiction story. It's brutal to realize that this is the truth out there.
Who can buy shares of TFG’s shell company or the actual company? Is it limited to ONLY US investors and donors? Or can foreign investors get in on the action? Imagine if he wins 2024. Nationalizes FB, incorporates FB algorithms and know how. Imagine that. That’s what we are fighting against now.
I feel badly for the people who sit in cubicles and crunch numbers, coming up with ways to get more money out of people who can't afford it. (Wading through health insurance plans, which I am currently doing, is the perfect example, with co-pays, deductibles, out-of-pocket, cost-sharing.)
I worked in life and health insurance for 10 years from paying claims to the marketing office. I left and returned to college for my computer science degree about a year after HMO’s hit the markets. It was a nightmare just to put together packages for these plans and horrifying to see how a number cruncher was suddenly the person deciding how many days you could stay in a hospital after a heart attack or surgery.
I’m thankful for the experience because it has helped me pick plans and get claims processed over the last 40 years but I do go crazy trying to pick a medicare plan based on who I can see or what drugs they will pay for. Our senior citizens should never have to sort this out and certainly not because the plan they’re on changes every year.
Medicare was created by Congress by mostly old men who have free lifetime healthcare insurance, which includes dental, vision, hearing, and my guess mental. Those old coots didn't bother to include dental, vision, and hearing coverage in Medicare, which was f*#king stupid, since when we grow older, those three things are important.
Medicare began with Part A and Part B, but it didn't include drug coverage. Ah, but good old Congress has allowed private insurance companies and drug companies (Big Pharma) to get their dirty hands into the pile. Supplemental private insurances and Advantage private insurances are not part of Medicare, and they should not be allowed to call themselves Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplemental.
Furthermore, the drug part of Medicare, which is called "Part D", is not public. It is all run by Big Pharma companies.
Lastly, if you have Medicare and receive the annual big Medicare booklet, over half of the damned thing is used by the private companies that supply Advantage, Supplemental, and drugs.
We need true Medicare for all that gives us seniors all insurance needs, not those private companies that are making billions of bucks that keep us poor. President Biden, when he was campaigning for the presidency told up he did not want single payer health insurance, but that he would consider a public option. You know what a public option is, don't you? That's right, that would allow more those who can't really afford those private plans to choose between what is call "Original Medicare" and those private plans. Biden is crazy, especially since he is another old man who used to be in Congress.
I directly asked Biden - via video - about the obvious need for single payer healthcare with the pandemic hitting & people losing jobs. (This was on an MSNBC Town Hall in May of 2020, with Lawrence O'Donnell and Stacey Abrams) Got the run around answer I expected. I'm one of those socialists who believes that healthcare for profit is a crime! And I"m about to face the Medicare Maze.....appreciate this comment!
Yes, my first insurance job was to pay Medicare supplement claims for the Retired Officers Association. I handled customer service calls from these white, old jerks. They were extremely rude and entitled and I would frequently have to ask them to call me back when they calmed down.
I moved on even doing a stint paying gun loss claims to NRA members, then cancer claims on their supplemental policies. I was a nurse on a cancer ward previously and spent a year of my time in cancer claims getting the insurance companies to finally pay for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. It was hard work compiling data and looking at devastating pictures in medical records.
I moved on to marketing offices when we relocated.
Congress makes there decisions based on lobbyists and Biden is no exception. He spent too many years in the Senate to be naive about how it works. He dropped the ball on voting rights.
Congress needs to be on the same Medicare coverage as their constituents.
Exactly - I’m 66 with rotting teeth, blind as a bat, and don’t sit to my right - I won’t be able to hear a damn thing you are saying. Yes, pretty f-ing stupid. The mind reels!
I despair on this topic. No politician would ever be able to outmaneuver the insurance industry. Your blood must boil when you hear Repubs pontificating on the commitment to “Choice” (a.k.a. commitment to the wealthier class’ ability to retain real/boutique options; to the hands off continuation of the Insurance, Medical & Big Pharma Industries life blood) and the rest of the population finding themselves “gifted” w “affordable” plans, ie. “you’re on your own, buddy”. (and boy, is buddy in for a surprise at the end of the road. It always seems to me that talking about the way things “should be” in healthcare, misses point: the power of these behemoths will never let it happen….IMHO…..
Your” comment on SPACS brings to mind the paragraph from HCR’s letter yesterday:
“When those accustomed to breaking things try to build them, they seem to have little idea of how much work it actually takes. They seem to think that actual accomplishments are there for the taking, and that splashy announcements and dramatic actions can solve intricate problems.
All I know is that he was the architect for another senseless and longest war where he made money, on the side, through his company Halliburton. I know that he is an SOB!
Heather's explanation and makes sense -- I'm willing to bet [without any evidence at all but just logic] that Trump has figured out how to monetize the grift -- maybe stock in Digital assets? and then sell it? I don't know but wouldn't put anything past him - though I thought he was flush with all the people shoving $$ into his claws
MAKING money becomes the goal; not the money itself or what one could DO with it.
When people buying Powerball tickets are interviewed and asked what they would do with the money if they won, they see the money as a TOOL. A way to get a nicer house, a nicer car. Put their kids and grandkids through college. Start the business they've always dreamed of owning. Donate to charities to make their communities better.
Never do they say they're going to buy MORE lottery tickets to get even richer.
It has tragic consequences when enough is never enough.
Deborah, most of the financial activity on Wall St. produces nothing. It’s not even connected to production, it’s all about “vigorish” - making money on an endless loop of financial manipulations. Yes, stocks are traded on Wall St. but that’s a small part of what banks, hedge funds and various investors do today. “Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis is one book that exposes the chicanery of Wall St.
On the podcast “Political Junkie” this week, Ken Rudin interviews Stuart Stevens. His book “It was all a Lie” is a powerful indictment of the Republican Party, especially from Regan on. It is worth the read.
In regards to Cheney/Bush, required reading NOW would be Jane Mayer’s book “Dark Side”. Her following book “Dark Money” is more famous and is chilling. I actually read “Dark Side” from the library, confusing it with “Dark Money”. I would warn, that sleep will not be easy after reading these two.
Now for a change of pace and heart I listened to an interview by Terri Gross on the podcast Fresh Air. It was a tribute to an author I had never heard of named Gary Paulson who passed away this past week at age 82. Ms Gross interviewed the author all most 30 tears ago. The man is captivating on the interview. Such a life story! I am about to start listening to one of his most famous novels: Winter Dance. I offer this as a possible brief escape from our current nightmare.
Finally, as always, I close with the thought that our only “ultimate weapon” against the current Republican Party is not bad language or insults. It is courage to speak out the truth. Then vote that truth in every election. It is the message of HCR.
I kept a set of Gary Paulson books in my 5th grade classroom lending library. He wrote primarily coming of age/survival books for older children and young adults. His first book in the Brian series, Hatchet, a Newbery Honors book was wildly popular with my students. Once I'd read that aloud to my class there would be a run on his books in my little library. The one book I didn't share with my students, Guts, is a nonfiction telling of some of the harrowing events in Gary Paulson's life. If you think you're too mature and learned to appreciate Paulson's books, think again. Young Adult books are some of the best reading to be found.
I grew up without access to a library on a regular basis. As an adult I discovered juvenile fiction when our children started school and never looked back! Gary Paulson was one of our many favorite authors. Thank you for reading to your students, as a child we only had one teacher who read to us but fortunately I had parents who read to us until we could read to ourselves.
Daphne, I too kept Gary Paulson books in my classroom library. I taught 8th grade and I found reluctant readers who avoided it in 6th grade did pick it up and read it in 8th grade. It was wonderful to have great authors for Young Adult readers like Paulson.
I kept a copy of Watership Down available in my classroom though I read it aloud only one year. I loved the book and its message is certainly relevant today.
O Frank - you are so right; the The way the book and it was extremely difficult to read, but the way it is written gives such a wonderful way to deal with death. Especially for children. I am heavily paraphrasing now, but the sentence that really got me was:
“Knowing that he didn’t need his body any longer, he walked away with his new friend (death)”. Jeez, I get choked up just writing the final words. However, it is an almost sublime feeling and my hope is that I wish us all to have such a peaceful passing.
I am also thinking of Emily Dickinson‘s line, “I could not stop for death, so he kindly stopped for me.“
If you don’t believe Daphne, read Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Material series: Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass. Young adult for adults!
And gain insight into them! I, too, had these books available in my middle-level classroom. The courage of their characters, the obstacles they overcome, the hope of good over evil triumphing are all lessons we need more than ever today!
Totally agree with you, Daphne. I sprinkle MG and YA books in between heavy contemporary affairs. As you wrote, sometimes we need inspiration, humor and art. I was a fan of Paulson, also Kate DiCamillo, Katherine Paterson, Rita Williams, Neil Gaiman, Kathi Appelt, et al. Wonderful, imaginative writers, all I dare to say they would be in agreement with HCR as they are all humanitarians, too.
I love Louise Penny. I just finished "The Madness of Crowds" so pertinent in these continuing Covid days. Thanks for the reminder to read "State of Terror."
Yes! Louise Penny is one of my absolute favorites. I fell in love with that whole series. Madness of Crowds did not disappoint and either will State of Terror. Clinton’s contributions to the story are easy to spot.
Years ago, I invited Gary Paulson to come and speak to my junior high classes in Alaska. He came, red suspenders and flannel shirt, and talked to them about writing and mushing dogs. Always his books were.popular. I read to kids every day when I was teaching because I remembered how my Dad and then my teachers read to me.
My boys loved the Gary Paulson books. In this ever developed world, they provided a world that was wild and uncertain, but the hero, a boy, always used ingenuity and determination to survive.
"Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born." -- Albert Einstein
If you are ever in D.C., find my favorite statue of Einstein. I'm not sure this quote is on it, but there are many other great ones by him, mostly about peace.
THIS!!! “our only “ultimate weapon” against the current Republican Party is not bad language or insults. It is courage to speak out the truth. Then vote that truth in every election.” Thank you.
Thank you so much. I want to hear this and will find it. Forever happy to have discovered him for my sons and grandsons. And really appreciate your last paragraph 🙏🙏🙏
‘Tis strange times indeed when the likes of me are cheering the likes of Liz Cheney, but here I am. Cheney is the public face of Republican “old money”. Her father is one of the cagiest political infighters in Washington. It is no small irony that that same Republican establishment has worked for decades since Reagan to create the conditions for Trumpism to emerge. Now that their Frankenstein monster is loose in the village, they’re frantically trying to kill it.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Always called trump Mitch’s Frankenstein. Have watched this horror show since a co-worker at NASA rejoiced over JFK murder. A John Bircher, I learned later. Now the inmates have taken over the asylum. Go Liz! Lordy, when a Cheney is the lesser of the evils.
I donated to Representative Cheney's campaign this afternoon after hearing the Republicans were trying to reduce her donors. She has the courage to be the leader of the anti-Trump Republicans and I'd like to encourage more to join her. Giving suburban women an alternative to the gun toting crass ill-mannered rich girls is another good reason. When SCOTUS overturns Roe v. Wade and triggers all the anti-abortions laws, Republicans will have a huge problem with women. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. Go ahead, Republicans, underestimate women; it'll be fun.
I’m with you. I can’t believe that Liz Cheney of all people is becoming one of my heroes, sometimes I think it’s against my better judgment to be leaning that way, but she’s doing the right thing, even if I disagree (strongly) with a lot of her politics. GO LIZ. GO ADAM.
You have lots of company on this Roland. And let’s not forget that Cheney along with other Republican “defectors” and their families are receiving death threats. It’s simply horrifying.
Thank you so much for that reminder, Diane. The employees of Dominion voting systems. Election officials. That federal attorney in Georgia who was forced out. Every Republican politician who ever crossed Pumpkinhead. Death threats, their families harassed, vandalism and personal attacks on themselves and their family members and their homes. These people are paying the price for their principles by becoming public targets for the wacko fringe.
We disagree with responsible Republicans on many issues, but we agree on the most basic principles, concepts such as democracy and fairness. The people currently presenting themselves as leaders of the Republican party do not participate in that agreement, instead viewing democracy and fairness as obstacles to their exercise of power.
I never thought I could bring myself to send money to a Republican in this day and age but I came to the same conclusion last week as you Cathy. I attend a knitting group each Wednesday night. Of the seven regulars, five consistently voted Republican- until 2016. Only one turned to the Trump wing with great enthusiasm. She embraced the anti-mask, anti vaccine stupidity - and was kicked out.
Our host owns a graphic design company and is a millionaire several times over. She has always been Republican. Kathy’s dad is still alive and at 94, is in very frail health. When Kathy learned that Deb refused to mask up or get vaccinated, she said plainly that Deb could not enter her home. Watching these two very successful women argue was sad but very instructive. Kathy’s responses were exactly what I would have said. And Kathy very specifically said that MTG and Boebert were abominations. Turns out that many highly educated, very successful women know that Kool Aid is bad for you.
Cheney is dangerous and her politics are unacceptable to me. But I will send a small donation this week. As you say, go ahead and underestimate us! Hehehe……..
A couple of points about Liz Cheney. I don't like her policies either. But Congress needs to revert to days past when members of both parties were immersed in policies, debated them, and often compromised in shaping the final bills. At least Cheney has principles and isn't consumed with doing anything to get re-elected. Imagine how the 1/6 committee would be perceived without her strong voice?
That was back in the days of all White men. I’m afraid we’re not likely to return to those shaping-bills and getting-work-done days with a diversely represented Congress. The country’s blazing with racism in this new era. And sexism. And religious antagonism. And xenophobia. I’m afraid those days are way far in the future. If we get to have a survivable future.
Too many members in Congress only care about themselves and staying in Congress for power and greed. They don’t care what their constituents want or what will help the country. Their sworn oaths mean nothing these days.
Good for Kathy! We have another MTG/Boebert wannabe here in Florida. Anna Paulina Luna is running again this election season to replace Charlie Crist in St. Petersburg. Luckily the district is pretty solid blue, but you never know, and it is a chance for her to get her gun toting views in front of lots of people.
Isn't Charlie Crist running for the nomination for Governor of Florida? If he gets it (I'm rooting for one of the women), or doesn't and takes Lt.Gov, he won't be running for other office.
He must give up his congressional seat in order to run, win or lose. Just like Val Demings who is running for Senate against Marco Rubio. And I’m with you on my choice for governor being Nikki Fried.
Since her gig is Wyoming, which is in no way "suburban" one hopes that she spreads her war chest around a bit to those who are going to primary the likes of Greene and Boebert.
You got me thinking. Could I donate money to a Cheney????? My knee jerk reaction was NEVER! However, my practical side said...why not? It isn't like a Democrat is ever going to win that state. Better her than giving McCarthy a win and I do hope she wins in this case.
To me, it depends on where else the money might go. Rep. Val Demings is running for the Senate to replace Marco Rubio in Florida (https://valdemings.com). Reverend Warnock will be running to keep his Senate seat in Georgia...
Cathy, you are SO right. SCOTUS appears to be trying to put itself out of business - at least with women. And for sure, the (former GOP) trumplican party has already alienated those of its party who are not female kooks and rednecks! I'm not sure what percentage of the voting population we women are today, but I do know how we FEEL about these scared old white men trying to control us. They should be nervous. Very.
I understand and sympathize with the notion of donating to Cheney's current campaign as a way to stick thumbs in McCarthy's (and Trump's) eyes. This, despite my opposition to her long ultra-conservative voting record--including against abortion rights and for SCOTUS nominees. FWIW, she's not exactly in trouble in Wyoming: her $1.7 million take in the last quarter was exceeded by the $1.9 million in the previous quarter, according to FEC filings. So it seems to me that in this case it's good message, bad messenger. Maybe it's worth it given her current media coverage for calling out various Trumpist shenanigans. But I sure would prefer that suburban women could find better female candidates to support.
I have considered Dick and Lynne Cheney despicable for good reason, but having a spunky Liz is a moderately redeeming grace. Go Liz, redeem your parents!
260 million shares of DWAC stock traded on Thursday - and there are only 200 million shares outstanding. In other words, 130% of the shares were traded. This is the definition of a stock scam.
Surprise surprise... Old Blubberneck running a stock scam. Is there a criminal act he hasn't been involved in? Including murder??
Per CNBC. 470 Million shares of DWAC were traded on the NYSE on 10/22/21. Trading in DWAC stock was halted several times per NYSE rules. DWAC went up as high as $52/share before ultimately closing at $35.54. Insider trades, if any, & "pump & dump" strategies need to be investigated asap by regulators.
I love you TC. Here’s what’s likely happening: the stocks are turning over, bought and sold, multiple times a day. In this piranha feeding frenzy, a piece of meat is getting a big chunk taken out of it by one piranha, then quickly another piranha swoops in and takes a big bite, and so on.
This weekend is the anniversary of the murder of 11 people at worship in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh (10/27/2018). The murderer was a white supremacist inflamed by trump's lying rhetoric about George Soros funding a supposedly threatening caravan of refugees heading for the southern border.
murder? - such as inciting his fringier followers to the point where they commit murder on behalf of white supremacy or vaccine opposition? or turning public health into a tribal identity issue, where his followers are against it, and hundreds of thousands of Americans die of a respiratory plague?
What a hot mess that keeps on unraveling. I'm beginning to enjoy my popcorn; looks like the party in 'power' is waking up to time limits and constraints and that justice, slowly, is rolling to trials and convictions. Certainly, the idjts are going to attempt distraction, but it is beginning to look like eyes are on the bouncing ball of democracy.
Gratitude, dear Heather. Your work sustains, educates, & elucidates. I am ever thankful for and to you.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
The Republicans are the New Confederacy fighting against the United States; they are a problem for our democracy that is being resolved without a bloody civil war. The New Confederacy is losing, despite the appearance that our slow and steady legal and governmental system seems to be giving it oxygen. Liz Cheney, in embracing the fight against the fool trump, and his inept gang, is betting she can emerge as the leader of an entirely new Conservative party and perhaps even run for president. Longshot? I don’t think so.
Liz would be a formidable conservative opponent with a big stripe on her sleeve for being among the patriots responsible for decisively ridding the country of the inept New Confederacy. This process could take a long time (10 years+) to unfold, if Biden and the Democratic Party manage to play the hand they currently possess which, while flawed, is a stronger one than that of the New Confederacy. In the meantime, the American people will get much, if not all, of the Biden platform enacted into law which will correct 50 years of backsliding driven by Neo Con democrats unable to overcome Increasingly empowered right wing reactionary conservatives, and their constituents, bent on weakening our federal government. Biden is the bridge leading us back to a stronger more united, United States. His progress is incremental…plodding even, when necessary, because “it takes time to build things”, as some smart academic, recently said.
Keith, I like your reasoning and hope you are right, but the jury is still out as long as the US Senate is divided 52-48, in favor of the GOP. All of this will depend on the Democrats getting a solid mid-term election victory, which depends on getting social legislation, infrastructure and -- most importantly -- a federal voting rights law passed, and I think little or none of this will happen without reform or elimination of the filibuster. Biden, unless he gets help from a few GOP senators (Are there any left who have not already gone over to the dark side?), is up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Unfortunately, the GOP knows it now has the upper hand and that the only real danger to their 40-year autocratic project is the DOJ and, to a lesser -- but still annoying degree -- the House select committee, and even if those "situations" escape their control, they are pretty sure the SCOTUS has their back.
Short of strong-arming (but how?) the two recalcitrant DEM senators into a little party discipline and then getting a historically large turnout of all their usual constituencies, especially the under 30s, the Democrats will lose power in 2022, and that will be game, set and match. The time needed to do the hard work and build things is rapidly running out, whether we like it or not.
Of course, I hope your optimism is right and that my pessimism is wrong. I would love to be wrong on this.
Biden has said it very straightforwardly, he’s got to work with each and every D Senator to find the right way forward for his legislation. He knows the ropes and how to push, persuade, demure and arm twist; all of which is happening right now. 2022 could be a strong win for the Democrats, and the United States, if the pieces fall into place.
Of course this is what we all hope. I agree Biden is pretty good at pushing, persuading, etc., but arm-twisting requires leverage, and I'm not sure he has much. I guess we'll know soon enough.
It couldn't any simpler. The idea of 10 Rs standing up and voting for the voting rights bill would be like putting a target on their backs. Keep in mind, these people are craven invertebrates. Aint gonna happen, no way, no how. Only thing left is canning the filibuster...that's it. Biden needs to be very clear with the intransigent Senator duo. If the filibuster remains in place the curtain will come down on on the Democratic party (likely for a very long time) ....and our democracy. As the person said above....it will be GAME OVER. The dems might as well then "hand in their badges", because future legislative actions will become nothing but a solidification of a corrupt, oligarchical and fascist autocracy.
They may think so… if you have a flag fly it proudly. Americans who believe in the government of the United States have always flown our flag. Those who would use it improperly need to find their own banner.
I hear you but the problem we now have is what the general population thinks when they see a flag displayed. There was a farmer who put a big flag on a hay wagon and his neighbors said to him that they didn't know he was Republican. He didn't know what they were talking about. One might have to fly another flag simultaneously to clarify one's feelings.
The US Flag signifies our belief in the principles of the Constitution. Those principles are lost on the MAGA crowd, but doesn’t mean its lost on the rest of us
I fight a battle against this. I fly the National Colors (properly illuminated at night and properly to the right side of my “display”) and the original standard for fallen law enforcement officers (a black field with a single blue line horizontally
across the center; it is illuminated with a blue light to the left.). Between those is a “In Our America” sign that lists our belief in universal human rights.
Another great letter that gives me hope for democracy. 🙏
A few notes from reading a lot and paying close attention to add some more depth.
GHW Bush was also CIA director before Reagan’s VP. That’s a lot more loyalty and power from the intelligence community to inform of foreign meddling than a redneck Congressman from Bakersfield could ever muster. McCarthy should be scared of what Liz has learned from Her dad’s and GHW Bush’s loyalists.
D. Firtash, Ukrainian oil Money. Big time $ launderer. part of Putin’s cash cow. It works like this as explained by Stanford MBA and hermitage capital founder Bill Browder and Yale’s Tim Snyder: the ‘stan’s gas and oil are bought by Russian firms from the ‘stans way below market price with the Russians paying the ‘Stan strongmen a cash cut under the table. The gas and oil are brokered into Ukraine at a mark up, but again a % under the table. Firtash or other stooge, the brokers take some of those profits, and uses them to buy elections and judges to become pro Russian and the president Mide to get rich. The Ukraine suffers under this scheme, and forces Europe to pay even more than they should have to fit gas and oil. This keeps Ukraine and other countries under Putin’s influence and keeps Ukraine from joining the EU. Lots of ways to launder Money there. When you have more than half a government on the take, the possibilities for corruption become endless. Putin steals from Russian industry’s via his Oligarghs, and has to export that illegal cash in order to launder it, before bringing it back to Russia as his own money.
This scheme has found its way to corrupting Western Europe and the US. G. Shroeder. V. Orban. Silvio Berlesconni. LePenne. Brexit. Maga. All of these right wing movements are fueled by greed, graft, payoffs, quick riches promised by Putin or his Oligarghs. It begins as barely legal, but once on the take, corruption snowballs. These are the characters and methods of the “Thieves of State”, Sarah Chayse describes. Lev Parnus is a little fish of D. Firtash. Firtash funded Lev to Turn Guilanni, by creating the illusion he is a “donor” gatekeeper, this is a classic con. Poor Rudy just could not resist the promise of riches, and becoming important again within the Republican donor machinery.
What’s a new one, is that so blatantly, TFG is also using a scheme to skim in a way that was made famous by the Russian Mafia and Oligarchs after the fall of the USSR. They have been doing this for decades since the fall of the USSR. The shell company stock “pump and dump” and arbitrage schemes were common place as Eastern Europe tried to transition from communist to free market economies. Semion Mogilevich is but one Russian Mafia boss that added these schemes as a revenue stream, and Boss Putin always gets a cut. D. Firtash is just another front man, controlling the purse strings to bribe politicians everywhere. He is a wanted man in the US, for bribing a titanium mining operation that hurt Boeing’s ability to source the metal in India. Firtash has access to billions to buy influence for Putin. If he is wanted in the US, he could possibly make the Titanium bribery charges go away. This is why Lev Parnus was giving so much of Firtash cash to the GOP
In this way, you can begin to see the National Security implications. This is where Liz Cheney’s family contacts are helping her.
To succeed, these schemes need a lax rule of law. The organized crime bosses need to buy off the political leadership to shield them from prosecution. Part of that would be to fire the top leadership at the FBI, Comey, Strzok, McCabe. To my understanding, this is but one of the threats and feeling corruption TFG represents and has dragged us in deeper.
MaryPat, I just got a reply from Gary, who wrote: "What a wonderful note from MaryPat! She and Jack are a golden couple, two genial-types merging. I’m not even surprised that Jack is still playing baseball." I hope this brings sunshine to your day.
I'm positive Gary would love to hear from you and Jack: gdorrien@uts.columbia.edu. I met Gary at a lecture he gave at my then church: All Souls UU in NYC. I had no idea what I was going to do with this scholarship I was given - the school year hadn't begun . Literally on the spot I asked him if he would be my advisor. He said yes. The rest is history... btw: I'm rozgnatt@gmail.com.
Rosalind, Jack says he would love to send Gary a note. Would it be okay with Gary for you to private message his email to me at my facebook site? (Same name as posted here). Understand if this isn't kosher. Thanks. MP
THANK YOU ROSALIND!! And Thanks to Gary! Sunshine to me in Michigan, and to Jack swinging his bat in Vegas! Jack says, "Holy smokes! Heck of a guy, and a really nice note." What a sweet and thoughtful thing you did Rosalind. I'd call it a home run!
This is excellent, Ted! Putin has his hand in everything. Clever, devious, but extremely dangerous man. He trained TFG for many years right under everyone’s noses. Bribed and prepped him, hook, line, and sinker.
Thank you! You have provided an answer to a question I have had for a long time: Why do the ultra-wealthy continuously strive to acquire more and more and more money? What can they buy that they don't already have?
"American billionaires have more in common with Russian Oligarchs than they do with regular everyday American people"-Tim Snyder. And the same could be said about Asian and Middle Eastern Oligarchs too. The whole world is watching how this plays out.
I think American Oligarchs want now what Putin and his Oligarchs have, "Politically protected and secure" oligarchy, less disruption from law enforcement ( agency enforcement like EPA, SEC, etc) and less uncertainty that fair elections always bring to them. Racism plays a role here, as increased equality and justice is called for in our Policing and policies, the people entrusted to uphold the law are more engendered toward MAGA Populism, Q, and anti Public Health, than they are to the Constitution. This only emboldens the Oligarchy as they can more easily keep the police in their back pocket after they have them secured in their false ideology. The American Oligarchy wants MORE freedom for themselves. They want to do as they please and do not care about democracy, justice, the rule of law, or the earth for future generations.
TFG and McCarthy represent Billionaire Libertarian's. The split is not just with Liz Cheney and about Jan 6th. The divide now sheds a light on the split between her backers and loyalists.... the Military Industrial Complex, CIA, Intelligence Community & Energy (oil and gas), but also maybe the American finance and banking community. This collation may be in the minority in quantity of people, but their quality is that of the deepest pockets and homegrown legal profit generation. But how can legal businesses of military manufacturing, oil and gas, banking and financial services keep up with unlimited foreign capital flowing into American politics? ( most of this capital comes from the competing oil nations.....Middle East, Russia, maybe Brazil too, these are competitors to Western energy company's).
Robert Mercer's front man, Bannon, has the quantity of people that is MAGA Populism. Maga and Q are just mass market products for confusion, white rage, a con man's front for hiding and keeping the focus off the real issue, this new American Oligarchy. But fear of political violence is a real threat at every level to maintain decency and good faith. TFG and McCarthy represent more than Maga and Q. They represent the influx of foreign capital to fund, meddle, assist in the rigging to win elections, to produce the political and legal cover to sustain themselves at the expense of Law, Order, and equal opportunity.
The biggest challenge from the last recession wasn't the slowness of the economic recovery, its is how the recovery made us vulnerable to foreign investment rescuing our country from lack of oversight, accountability, and common sense. The foreign capital saved the wrong people, and with it, the tying of pollical strings in trade. For TFG, it was Deutsche Bank, and dark sales of his overpriced commercial real estate and empty condo buildings saved by dark foreign states shelled up as "investors" after the real estate and credit crash of 2007-2008. And now this pump and dump Media stock scheme by a former US President? All while enriching themselves at the expense of the American middle class and American itself. Maybe McCarthy can only see the $ in TFG's hands and is just playing to get some of that for his Tea Party Wing?
The previous Letter was about building good. I sure Merrick Garland is building something special, because American democracy needs it soon.
Ted, 👏🏻👏🏻 your analysis. May I have your permission to forward your comments to a non member (but active Dem) who has been struggling to understand just who/what makes Bannon such a constant public figure? “He’s a nobody, wo significant position, and he is always being talked about…”. I see B as a fomenter of click bait messages….the machine to keep the caged lions continually fed and yet always hungry for more. Liked your take…”Mercer’s mouthpiece” (BTW…Not dire…is it even appropriate to make such a request?)
I am thrilled to be able to respond as my email had been down for almost two weeks!
With that said, McCarthy is a true weasel and he, of course, will never ever testify to this Special committee. My dream is that Bannon is arrested and dragged into chambers but the joke is that no one wants to be his roommate in jail because he looks like he will wreak of bodily odor.
Parnas may get credit for spilling the beans to the Feds but he too, should serve time. All of them should serve time!
Then there’s Liz. Gosh, it’s hard to like her given her dad’s history. She does have her boxing gloves on so I think I will have to give her credit for that, at least. It’s the classic case of a woman vs. man syndrome. Either way, tired of Sinema, tired of Manchin, and disgusted with the Repubs.
Remember that the Normandy invasion would have been a failure after the Panzers arrived 5 days later. Only they didn't arrive five days later because the Soviet summer offensive had begun on June 11, 5 days after D-Day, exactly as Stalin had promised it would back at the Tehran conference.
When you are in an existential struggle, the only thing you say to people who join the fight is "Thank you!!"
The enemy of my enemy is my friend...at least for now. We all keep saying more R's need to show some balls...Liz is doing it. Good for her...and it's a good thing Hitler compromised on his Normandy "strategy"...and didn't want to be awakened.
I'm confident McCarthy will eventually testify. If a grand jury indicts Bannon, McCarthy and others will get grilled, voluntarily. The threat of prison time has a way of re-ordering priorities.
Ali Alexander of “Stop the Steal” fame has yet to be found. Repubs are harboring him somewhere, so there’s that. I will be pleasantly surprised if McCarthy testifies. He would have to be completely under duress to do so.
Yes, Alexander's whereabouts are an intriguing mystery. Does the FBI know? It's hard to disappear in today's world unless someone decides you must never be found. It's not clear how much he knows. Was he really deeply plugged into their treasonous machinations or just a big talker like so many of them?
Ali is being housed somewhere probably with the religious right. He is Black, Christian, and an Arab, according to Wikipedia. Anybody who partners up with Roger Stone is more than likely in the depths of Mar-A-Lago.
'(Someone explained this to me by saying it’s like a sea slug taking over a shell so it can do business as the shell organism quickly and without oversight.)' – HCR
Is anyone really surprised by this comparison! Ha!
Today’s Letter suggests a turning point in the destiny of the Republican Party. Perhaps karma and payback are starting to take their toll against the insurrectionists. The leadership of the Republican Party in particular is in hot water, and it’s about to boil. Those politicians who colluded with Jan. 6 are getting closer to being roasted.
In other encouraging news:
ELECTION 2020: Anyone but DJT
In this forum, we express a lot of deep fear and concern, well justified, about the return of tfg and about his continued influence. This Politico article suggests he will not be returning.
Excerpt:
“Indeed, there’s a massive wall of resistance to Trump in the rest of country that will be hard to ignore. Biden didn’t get 81 million votes because he’s an electoral juggernaut. According to exit polls, nearly 70 percent of Biden voters were voting against Trump, and that sentiment is still out there — one reason Democrats are desperate to keep running against Trump, whether it’s in the Virginia gubernatorial race or local school board campaigns.”
The first 3 “likes” are Marlene, Lynell and Stuart, stalwart and faithful companions all. OK I have to go to bed. Celebrating my dad‘s birthday tomorrow with family [lucky me]
Roland it seems that whole Politico article assumes that who votes for whom will actually matter in 2024. If we don't modify the filibuster, get voting right passed and block all the laws handing vote counting to partisans our democracy is history. Eh?
Of course David. There is no silver bullet. There are so many moving parts to American democracy, many many of them. I just like to find good news where I can, and to inject good cheer and and joy and love into the conversation (which forces me to locate and access them). It’s part of my philosophy of life: don’t just fall into mental traps, don’t just react without thinking, make conscious choices about how you think and what you say. Choose positive. Choose uplifting and inspiring, while being pragmatic and honest about reality, however dismal. Have fun, even when it looks gloomy. Maybe it only looks gloomy. Maybe it isn’t really.
Despair is all around us. Nearly every news outlet slants a story “bad news favored.” The fabulous rain we are expected to get in California this weekend: “Risk of debris flows where there are burn scars,” that’s the common headline. So it’s a double whammy in one headline: images of nasty debris flows, never mind those flows will happen in the middle of nowhere in the mountains far from civilization, and reminders of the wildfires. Nasty piled on nasty. Not “Atmospheric River Event Likely to Make Big Dent in Drought.”
Did you know that 3 or 4 heavy-duty “atmospheric river” storm systems like the one expected this weekend, an AR4 or AR5, on the order of a Pineapple Express series of rainstorms, can eliminate the West Coast drought and turn us into a major flood zone like the epic rainy winter of 2016-17, when the Oroville dam overflowed? I am guessing you didn’t read that in the news. Because that’s not how those bastards lean.
I listened to On Point yesterday, about Colin Powell as remembered by Retired Colonel Larry Wilkerson. Wilkerson talked about the W administration and that they made things very hard for Powell. Specifically, he talked about how Cheney disliked Powell intensely although he (Wilkerson) "didn't understand why, maybe insecurity." Maybe, or maybe Powell being a decent human being was a huge problem for all of them.
"That McCarthy is trying to make her a pariah indicates a fight over the future of the Republican Party."
This conclusion is much too understated. A fight over the party's future has been in process since the rise of the Tea Party, if not since Newt Gingrich's ascent in the early 1990s. McCarthy's actions suggest that fight has devolved into the party eating its young in a desperate bid for survival. Consistent with Trump's style it's impulsive, bullying, petulant, and devoid of any sophisticated strategy to move forward.
Also, I don't mean to be pedantic but a clarification if you will. Matt Levine's description of a SPAC (or the interpretation of his description) isn't quite accurate. A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is not a company itself in the sense of an operating entity that creates goods or services. A SPAC is a publicly traded investment vehicle in a newly formed company (more like a stock) that raises money—which is why they’re also known as shells or blank checks—which is then used to buy a private company, effectively taking that company public while avoiding the traditional IPO process. The target acquisition typically
has not yet been identified at the time of formation.
Some young need to be eaten! When Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Lauren Boebert are your up-and coming wanna-be "leaders" your party is in real trouble!
Interesting news from Talking Points memo about Trump's scam, er, I mean social media site:
Former President Trump’s new social network may only have thirty days to live.
Trump launched the app — TRUTH Social — on Wednesday evening. Within hours, members of the open source software community began to notice something: a test version of the website appeared to be accessible, and it seemed to operate based on a software that already exists, called Mastodon.
Mastodon is a social network that is similar to Twitter. The code is open-source, meaning that anyone can use it, so long as they abide by certain rules: namely, that they agree to make the source code of the modified version available to the public.
TRUTH Social did not do so.
On Thursday, Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko told TPM that TRUTH was not only using his code, but appeared to have violated the terms under which others can use it.
That claim could be enforced through the courts, and Rochko said that he would speak with attorneys about the matter.
“Mastodon exists under that license because the Mastodon developers seek to assure that anyone who gets copies of the software gets full source code and changes or modifications or configurations that anyone else has done,” Bradley Kuhn, Policy Fellow at Software Freedom Conservancy, told TPM.
That specific requirement exists thanks to the Afferro General Public License, which Kuhn helped develop. It mandates that anyone who uses the code of software under the license must make modifications publicly available. Though the software in question is open-source, it’s not in the public domain, Kuhn explained.
So, what happens in the case of a violation?
Kuhn’s organization plays a role in enforcing licenses, either through discussions with possible violators on how to remedy the problem, or via litigation.
This week, for example, the Software Freedom Conservancy filed a lawsuit against TV company Vizio, alleging that the company’s TVs use open source software without abiding by the terms of the license under which the code is available, while also staking out a claim that consumers can sue over license violations.
In the case of TRUTH Social, the potential violation appeared on a test site for the platform, which experts quickly identified as based on Mastodon. The site has since been taken off the internet and is no longer accessible to the public.
But that doesn’t fix the problem: as long as the software was altered and existed in public without the underlying code being made available, there is likely a claim, Kuhn said.
The violation itself triggers a 30 period to remedy the issue.
“In this situation, if Trump does not remedy this violation in 30 days, and then on and a half years from now or one and a half weeks from now, whenever they’re planning to deploy the final site, they will be in violation because they lost their entire permission,” Kuhn said.
That could give Mastodon — or anyone who used the test site and did not receive the underlying code — grounds to sue, Kuhn said, alleging that the license was violated.
To remedy it, TRUTH has an option, Kuhn said: “They could announce that they’re going to comply with the license.” That would mean making the underlying code public.
Alternatively, nobody is forcing the Trump site to use Mastodon.
“If they never want to give the source code to anybody, they could just not use Mastodon,” Kuhn argued. “Ceasing use is always an option for compliance.”
30 days is long enough for plenty of suckers, er, I mean, investors to pony up a small mountain of cash. At this point, anyone who sinks good money into any enterprise even remotely connected to former president whatsisname, deserves to be left holding an empty bag.
Just watch for for Trump to surreptitiously bale out of any stocks that he holds during the period to take the money and run. He will then put on the same sort of media campaign as with Twitter etc; The Washington Swamp is trying to shut me up, they are afraid of me! He's laughing all the way to the bank....if any bank will now touch him. Much work for the SEC fraud investigators I think but not enough time to do it before election cutoffs.
In international comparisons of "corruption" the US doesn't fare particularly well coming 25th in a scale of "clean" countries....Scandinavia, Singapore and Switzerland taking the prizes.
I remember last summer, when the Democrats tried to include a measure to empower the IRS to collect outstanding taxes (mainly from businesses) as a way to help fund the Build Back Better bills. It was one of the first things on the cutting room floor. Seems NO ONE in power wants the IRS to have any teeth.
And most of the 130% of stock traded on the day pledged only at the margin and often resold before even having to put up the 10% funding! No cost and all profit
There's two issues about the tech part of this venture. The lesser of them is the apparent violation of the Affero General Public License. That one is easy to remedy: whoever implemented Mastodon for this project simply needs to post any changes they made to someplace like a Github repository, and tell people who ask where to find those changes. They can fix this in a matter of minutes. I honestly think this complaint is overblown by popular media.
The bigger issue is information security and hacker resistance. Building hack-resistant and crash-resistant web properties is quite difficult. It takes time, patience, and clear-headedness. When I've done it I've hired penetration testers (sometimes known as "white hat hackers") to break in and tell our team how they did it, so we can fix the most obvious problems before making the web property live. That can't be done overnight, and needs to be redone with every upgrade. (It's very likely that Substack, this web property, does the same.)
There's no such thing as a hacker-proof web property. Anybody who claims otherwise has been taking too many happy pills. Real-world web properties, especially well-known ones, need ongoing security monitoring.
Can these guys handle the information security? We shall see.
Given the kind of people who would be willing to work for a guy with the employer history of Trump, let alone what a fucking moron you have to be to be a Trumper to begin with, I doubt any of them were even aware of a tenth of what you have laid out here. And thanks so much for the "technical" eduation, since I didn't know any of that.
I read about the Mastodon issue yesterday. Like everything else Trump & Co do, it is underhanded and is part of his well documented behaviors of something for nothing – have a rally, stiff the venue and don't pay the local law enforcement for the security provided; use a piece of music, don't pay the royalty fees; use software or a platform, violate the rules and cry foul when caught; create a nonprofit charity use donor money to buy a portrait; hire contractors/construction crews, stiff them.
There are decades of examples of Trump's illegal doings and still he's out there spoiling the pudding and getting away with it. And certainly, Mastodon can sue if the violation is not remedied. But like everything else the Mastodon thing is just more of the same old same old and will likely drag on until Trump is shut down, once and for all.
As a fervent news-watcher, I need to say that day-in and day-out (at least for the past eighteen months), I could never keep up with what is happening without reading Dr. Richardson's Letters. Not only is her insight unsurpassed by any single source providing analysis of crucial news (i.e., from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from NBC and MSNBC to CNN to BBC), but the sheer breadth of her scope is stunning. Discovering these Heather Cox Richardson Letters has been among the most significant and important developments for me, personally, as I am doing my best to stay informed during these troubling times.
Exactly = I don't have the time to follow all the threads in the news and greatly appreciate being able to learn from a reliable, citations-at-the-ready source and then dig further if I want === I don't know where HCR has the time but she certainly has the insight.
I wholeheartedly agree. Bravo Heather Cox Richardson!
I agree! Thank you Professor Richardson !
These letters have been the same for me, although I am not a fervent news watcher, just a regular one.
I too agree wholeheartedly with everything said about HCR and Letters. Letters should be required reading for all high school and college students taking Civics or American History courses followed with seminar/roundtable discussions. Dr. Richardson, thank you for everything you do. Wish I could go to BC and learn more from you.
Especially in the South (Texas for one), Arthur😥
Excellent idea.
You are Not Alone David!!🤔😊💕
Totally agree!
Good lord: a SPAC never has to produce anything, but makes money off of what people think it might do.
Sounds like the perfect metaphor for the latest Trump scam, or more accurately, Trumpism itself.
As for Liz Cheney and her crusade against Trump's control over the GOP, it's encouraging that her campaign is making inroads into Trumpian nihilism.
But it also reminds me just how radicalized and undemocratic this party has become, when an ultraconservative Cheney offspring is fighting to save the party that her father had a hand in shaping.
Wow, truth is often stranger than fiction.
Perfectly stated. The essence of Trump, who has never actually succeeded at anything except tweeting with small words in short sentences, lying *bigly* to anyone who'll listen, and taking money from crooks, racists and/or gullible followers who think he cares about their welfare. This chapter in America's history may very well be the strangest, most surreal ever written, and we must try to move forward together to get through these uncertain times.
Daily I give thanks for Dr. Heather's Letters, and for other voices of sanity, like Gabe Fleisher and Dan Rather. 💜
In fairness to donald, he has scammed far more people than "crooks, racists, and/or gullible followers" may imply. He has also cheated many investors, employees, subcontractors, and the entire class of US taxpayers.
Yes, a wide ranging scammer! Anyone and everyone.
You had me, JustJanice, until Dan Rather.
Over the years there have been many schemes to allow small early-stage companies to go public while avoiding all the compliance hassles of IPO public listings. Many of these involve mergers or acquisitions by entities that are already publicly listed. Most of these involve some form (there are several) of reverse takeovers (RTO). Here is an explanation of reverse takeovers on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_takeover
Sophisticated investors are well aware of the risk of fraud involved in RTOs and most avoid them like the plague. However, despite this, there are always less sophisticated or perhaps those just so greedy and gullible that they line up to participate in these schemes and their promise of success and riches. SPACs are just the latest in a long line of such RTO schemes.
Now, there are SPACs that have been formed by prominent investors with long track records of managing investment funds and are viewed to possess high levels of integrity. DWAC and its CEO, Patrick Orlando, are not among those. Rather Patrick Orlando is much more of a slimy bottom feeder and I suggest anyone considering investing in this latest scheme of his do a lot of due diligence on Mr. Orlando and his history and activities. His pairing with TFG Tя☭mp in this latest grift has all the markings of a major pump and dump Ponzi scheme.
Here is a bit of background on Patrick Orlando from Yahoo Finance:
https://www.yahoo.com/now/wuhan-linked-patrick-orlando-man-212753165.html
Here is the Wall Street Journal on DWAC:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-spac-dwac-stock-what-to-know-11634918222
Unfortunately, it is entirely likely that, as with most cons, there will be victims and those perpetrating the scheme are most likely going to walk away with buckets of money in their pockets. Just make certain it is not yours they walk away carrying.
Thank you for this info!
Well said, Deborah. As I was reading the letter, I also thought this is a dystopian science fiction story. It's brutal to realize that this is the truth out there.
I remember W/Dickie well, along with Hastert, Delay, etc. thought this was as low as they could go. Silly me…
Who can buy shares of TFG’s shell company or the actual company? Is it limited to ONLY US investors and donors? Or can foreign investors get in on the action? Imagine if he wins 2024. Nationalizes FB, incorporates FB algorithms and know how. Imagine that. That’s what we are fighting against now.
I feel badly for the people who sit in cubicles and crunch numbers, coming up with ways to get more money out of people who can't afford it. (Wading through health insurance plans, which I am currently doing, is the perfect example, with co-pays, deductibles, out-of-pocket, cost-sharing.)
I worked in life and health insurance for 10 years from paying claims to the marketing office. I left and returned to college for my computer science degree about a year after HMO’s hit the markets. It was a nightmare just to put together packages for these plans and horrifying to see how a number cruncher was suddenly the person deciding how many days you could stay in a hospital after a heart attack or surgery.
I’m thankful for the experience because it has helped me pick plans and get claims processed over the last 40 years but I do go crazy trying to pick a medicare plan based on who I can see or what drugs they will pay for. Our senior citizens should never have to sort this out and certainly not because the plan they’re on changes every year.
Medicare was created by Congress by mostly old men who have free lifetime healthcare insurance, which includes dental, vision, hearing, and my guess mental. Those old coots didn't bother to include dental, vision, and hearing coverage in Medicare, which was f*#king stupid, since when we grow older, those three things are important.
Medicare began with Part A and Part B, but it didn't include drug coverage. Ah, but good old Congress has allowed private insurance companies and drug companies (Big Pharma) to get their dirty hands into the pile. Supplemental private insurances and Advantage private insurances are not part of Medicare, and they should not be allowed to call themselves Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplemental.
Furthermore, the drug part of Medicare, which is called "Part D", is not public. It is all run by Big Pharma companies.
Lastly, if you have Medicare and receive the annual big Medicare booklet, over half of the damned thing is used by the private companies that supply Advantage, Supplemental, and drugs.
We need true Medicare for all that gives us seniors all insurance needs, not those private companies that are making billions of bucks that keep us poor. President Biden, when he was campaigning for the presidency told up he did not want single payer health insurance, but that he would consider a public option. You know what a public option is, don't you? That's right, that would allow more those who can't really afford those private plans to choose between what is call "Original Medicare" and those private plans. Biden is crazy, especially since he is another old man who used to be in Congress.
I directly asked Biden - via video - about the obvious need for single payer healthcare with the pandemic hitting & people losing jobs. (This was on an MSNBC Town Hall in May of 2020, with Lawrence O'Donnell and Stacey Abrams) Got the run around answer I expected. I'm one of those socialists who believes that healthcare for profit is a crime! And I"m about to face the Medicare Maze.....appreciate this comment!
Yes, my first insurance job was to pay Medicare supplement claims for the Retired Officers Association. I handled customer service calls from these white, old jerks. They were extremely rude and entitled and I would frequently have to ask them to call me back when they calmed down.
I moved on even doing a stint paying gun loss claims to NRA members, then cancer claims on their supplemental policies. I was a nurse on a cancer ward previously and spent a year of my time in cancer claims getting the insurance companies to finally pay for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. It was hard work compiling data and looking at devastating pictures in medical records.
I moved on to marketing offices when we relocated.
Congress makes there decisions based on lobbyists and Biden is no exception. He spent too many years in the Senate to be naive about how it works. He dropped the ball on voting rights.
Congress needs to be on the same Medicare coverage as their constituents.
Biden lives in the past.
Exactly - I’m 66 with rotting teeth, blind as a bat, and don’t sit to my right - I won’t be able to hear a damn thing you are saying. Yes, pretty f-ing stupid. The mind reels!
K Barnes
I despair on this topic. No politician would ever be able to outmaneuver the insurance industry. Your blood must boil when you hear Repubs pontificating on the commitment to “Choice” (a.k.a. commitment to the wealthier class’ ability to retain real/boutique options; to the hands off continuation of the Insurance, Medical & Big Pharma Industries life blood) and the rest of the population finding themselves “gifted” w “affordable” plans, ie. “you’re on your own, buddy”. (and boy, is buddy in for a surprise at the end of the road. It always seems to me that talking about the way things “should be” in healthcare, misses point: the power of these behemoths will never let it happen….IMHO…..
If we had single payer healthcare in this country, those jobs would be fare easier and we could all be healthier.
“Managed care” has created a monster.
I have to believe that Dick Cheney, in all of his Rasputin glory, never imagined the “brat pack” zealousness of the current crop of Huxley escapees
Well what did he think would happen?
Wow - "all his Rasputin glory." Love it.
You are right Deborah, and we all remember how Dick Cheney was no angel!!!
The film "Vice" brilliantly portrayed the man and the woman behind him.
Too right Deborah: grift, corruption, and more grift are the new/old/new mantras of the Ghastly OP.
Your” comment on SPACS brings to mind the paragraph from HCR’s letter yesterday:
“When those accustomed to breaking things try to build them, they seem to have little idea of how much work it actually takes. They seem to think that actual accomplishments are there for the taking, and that splashy announcements and dramatic actions can solve intricate problems.
It's a perceptive observation that captures exactly what these people are all about.
BTW, did you know that Dick Cheney was a five-time draft dodger?
I wouldn't mind that, if he weren't also a hawk to send other men and women to war.
All I know is that he was the architect for another senseless and longest war where he made money, on the side, through his company Halliburton. I know that he is an SOB!
No, I did not know that….. but it doesn’t surprise me!!!
The smart investors will sell short before long. When Trump is indicted, the price will tank. Some people never learn about their Dear Faux Leader.
Heather's explanation and makes sense -- I'm willing to bet [without any evidence at all but just logic] that Trump has figured out how to monetize the grift -- maybe stock in Digital assets? and then sell it? I don't know but wouldn't put anything past him - though I thought he was flush with all the people shoving $$ into his claws
Perhaps he is flush, but when, for him, has enough ever been enough?
Agree.
MAKING money becomes the goal; not the money itself or what one could DO with it.
When people buying Powerball tickets are interviewed and asked what they would do with the money if they won, they see the money as a TOOL. A way to get a nicer house, a nicer car. Put their kids and grandkids through college. Start the business they've always dreamed of owning. Donate to charities to make their communities better.
Never do they say they're going to buy MORE lottery tickets to get even richer.
It has tragic consequences when enough is never enough.
Deborah, most of the financial activity on Wall St. produces nothing. It’s not even connected to production, it’s all about “vigorish” - making money on an endless loop of financial manipulations. Yes, stocks are traded on Wall St. but that’s a small part of what banks, hedge funds and various investors do today. “Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis is one book that exposes the chicanery of Wall St.
On the podcast “Political Junkie” this week, Ken Rudin interviews Stuart Stevens. His book “It was all a Lie” is a powerful indictment of the Republican Party, especially from Regan on. It is worth the read.
In regards to Cheney/Bush, required reading NOW would be Jane Mayer’s book “Dark Side”. Her following book “Dark Money” is more famous and is chilling. I actually read “Dark Side” from the library, confusing it with “Dark Money”. I would warn, that sleep will not be easy after reading these two.
Now for a change of pace and heart I listened to an interview by Terri Gross on the podcast Fresh Air. It was a tribute to an author I had never heard of named Gary Paulson who passed away this past week at age 82. Ms Gross interviewed the author all most 30 tears ago. The man is captivating on the interview. Such a life story! I am about to start listening to one of his most famous novels: Winter Dance. I offer this as a possible brief escape from our current nightmare.
Finally, as always, I close with the thought that our only “ultimate weapon” against the current Republican Party is not bad language or insults. It is courage to speak out the truth. Then vote that truth in every election. It is the message of HCR.
I kept a set of Gary Paulson books in my 5th grade classroom lending library. He wrote primarily coming of age/survival books for older children and young adults. His first book in the Brian series, Hatchet, a Newbery Honors book was wildly popular with my students. Once I'd read that aloud to my class there would be a run on his books in my little library. The one book I didn't share with my students, Guts, is a nonfiction telling of some of the harrowing events in Gary Paulson's life. If you think you're too mature and learned to appreciate Paulson's books, think again. Young Adult books are some of the best reading to be found.
I grew up without access to a library on a regular basis. As an adult I discovered juvenile fiction when our children started school and never looked back! Gary Paulson was one of our many favorite authors. Thank you for reading to your students, as a child we only had one teacher who read to us but fortunately I had parents who read to us until we could read to ourselves.
I read to my children until they could read themselves and then they read to me at their bedtimes until at least middle school.
Daphne, I too kept Gary Paulson books in my classroom library. I taught 8th grade and I found reluctant readers who avoided it in 6th grade did pick it up and read it in 8th grade. It was wonderful to have great authors for Young Adult readers like Paulson.
Did you read Watership Down aloud? My kids loved it. I just couldn’t not read aloud the last chapter, too emotional!
I read many books aloud to my students but not "Watership Down." I did have many students read it independently. Such a great one!
I kept a copy of Watership Down available in my classroom though I read it aloud only one year. I loved the book and its message is certainly relevant today.
O Frank - you are so right; the The way the book and it was extremely difficult to read, but the way it is written gives such a wonderful way to deal with death. Especially for children. I am heavily paraphrasing now, but the sentence that really got me was:
“Knowing that he didn’t need his body any longer, he walked away with his new friend (death)”. Jeez, I get choked up just writing the final words. However, it is an almost sublime feeling and my hope is that I wish us all to have such a peaceful passing.
I am also thinking of Emily Dickinson‘s line, “I could not stop for death, so he kindly stopped for me.“
Beautifully written Thank you
If you don’t believe Daphne, read Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Material series: Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass. Young adult for adults!
...to take your mind off current events!
And gain insight into them! I, too, had these books available in my middle-level classroom. The courage of their characters, the obstacles they overcome, the hope of good over evil triumphing are all lessons we need more than ever today!
Exactly.
Totally agree with you, Daphne. I sprinkle MG and YA books in between heavy contemporary affairs. As you wrote, sometimes we need inspiration, humor and art. I was a fan of Paulson, also Kate DiCamillo, Katherine Paterson, Rita Williams, Neil Gaiman, Kathi Appelt, et al. Wonderful, imaginative writers, all I dare to say they would be in agreement with HCR as they are all humanitarians, too.
So true!
Thanks for the reading list Daphne! I am a voracious reader and I do love young adult fiction.
Currently reading fictional “State of Terror” by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton.
I love Louise Penny. I just finished "The Madness of Crowds" so pertinent in these continuing Covid days. Thanks for the reminder to read "State of Terror."
Yes! Louise Penny is one of my absolute favorites. I fell in love with that whole series. Madness of Crowds did not disappoint and either will State of Terror. Clinton’s contributions to the story are easy to spot.
Years ago, I invited Gary Paulson to come and speak to my junior high classes in Alaska. He came, red suspenders and flannel shirt, and talked to them about writing and mushing dogs. Always his books were.popular. I read to kids every day when I was teaching because I remembered how my Dad and then my teachers read to me.
Love this.
My boys loved the Gary Paulson books. In this ever developed world, they provided a world that was wild and uncertain, but the hero, a boy, always used ingenuity and determination to survive.
"Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born." -- Albert Einstein
An Einstein quote I have missed until now but absolutely love. Thank you Richard!
If you are ever in D.C., find my favorite statue of Einstein. I'm not sure this quote is on it, but there are many other great ones by him, mostly about peace.
I also keep a book of favorite quotes though more for myself to reread when I feel like I’m losing my sense of self in the din of noise around me. ❤️
You are most welcome, Christy. Over the years I have written in a book various quotes I liked and have kept to share with others.
THIS!!! “our only “ultimate weapon” against the current Republican Party is not bad language or insults. It is courage to speak out the truth. Then vote that truth in every election.” Thank you.
His books sound very interesting. Thanks for the heads up on this author.
Gary Paulson's books are a good read, not just for our preteens.
Thanks, Bill, for all of this.
Author's surname is spelled Paulsen.
RIP Gary Paulsen!
"Courage to speak the truth." Absolutely! Thank you for this.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks for the suggested reading list.
Thanks for the info on reading material etc. always looking for good true information...
Thank you, Bill, for the recommendations and call to action! I too enjoyed the Paulson interview — keep me posted on Winter Dance!
Thank you so much. I want to hear this and will find it. Forever happy to have discovered him for my sons and grandsons. And really appreciate your last paragraph 🙏🙏🙏
‘Tis strange times indeed when the likes of me are cheering the likes of Liz Cheney, but here I am. Cheney is the public face of Republican “old money”. Her father is one of the cagiest political infighters in Washington. It is no small irony that that same Republican establishment has worked for decades since Reagan to create the conditions for Trumpism to emerge. Now that their Frankenstein monster is loose in the village, they’re frantically trying to kill it.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Always called trump Mitch’s Frankenstein. Have watched this horror show since a co-worker at NASA rejoiced over JFK murder. A John Bircher, I learned later. Now the inmates have taken over the asylum. Go Liz! Lordy, when a Cheney is the lesser of the evils.
“When a Cheney is the lesser of two evils.” Amen sister. But she is.
Epigram for our time.
Exactamente, Ralph. Be careful what one wishes for. On both sides.
I donated to Representative Cheney's campaign this afternoon after hearing the Republicans were trying to reduce her donors. She has the courage to be the leader of the anti-Trump Republicans and I'd like to encourage more to join her. Giving suburban women an alternative to the gun toting crass ill-mannered rich girls is another good reason. When SCOTUS overturns Roe v. Wade and triggers all the anti-abortions laws, Republicans will have a huge problem with women. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. Go ahead, Republicans, underestimate women; it'll be fun.
I’m with you. I can’t believe that Liz Cheney of all people is becoming one of my heroes, sometimes I think it’s against my better judgment to be leaning that way, but she’s doing the right thing, even if I disagree (strongly) with a lot of her politics. GO LIZ. GO ADAM.
Doing the right thing at great personal risk. Everyone on that committee deserves a lot of support.
👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
You have lots of company on this Roland. And let’s not forget that Cheney along with other Republican “defectors” and their families are receiving death threats. It’s simply horrifying.
Thank you so much for that reminder, Diane. The employees of Dominion voting systems. Election officials. That federal attorney in Georgia who was forced out. Every Republican politician who ever crossed Pumpkinhead. Death threats, their families harassed, vandalism and personal attacks on themselves and their family members and their homes. These people are paying the price for their principles by becoming public targets for the wacko fringe.
We disagree with responsible Republicans on many issues, but we agree on the most basic principles, concepts such as democracy and fairness. The people currently presenting themselves as leaders of the Republican party do not participate in that agreement, instead viewing democracy and fairness as obstacles to their exercise of power.
It’s merely a life or death football game for which they are constantly writing their own rules….
Yes 👍
I was living in IL when Adam K first got elected. I despised his politics then but I think he is doing the right thing to call out the insanity now.
Waiting for her to split with Mitch on something. Of course, she won’t. Daddy would have a conniption fit.
Wait. ... but isn't she still voting against voting-rights?
Right, she won’t be any help with our agenda, only preventing an overthrow of the government. I’ll take her help gladly. Politics can come later.
Republicans can’t support voting rights because they would have to run on platforms that the majority of the people want and they don’t.
Yes
I never thought I could bring myself to send money to a Republican in this day and age but I came to the same conclusion last week as you Cathy. I attend a knitting group each Wednesday night. Of the seven regulars, five consistently voted Republican- until 2016. Only one turned to the Trump wing with great enthusiasm. She embraced the anti-mask, anti vaccine stupidity - and was kicked out.
Our host owns a graphic design company and is a millionaire several times over. She has always been Republican. Kathy’s dad is still alive and at 94, is in very frail health. When Kathy learned that Deb refused to mask up or get vaccinated, she said plainly that Deb could not enter her home. Watching these two very successful women argue was sad but very instructive. Kathy’s responses were exactly what I would have said. And Kathy very specifically said that MTG and Boebert were abominations. Turns out that many highly educated, very successful women know that Kool Aid is bad for you.
Cheney is dangerous and her politics are unacceptable to me. But I will send a small donation this week. As you say, go ahead and underestimate us! Hehehe……..
A couple of points about Liz Cheney. I don't like her policies either. But Congress needs to revert to days past when members of both parties were immersed in policies, debated them, and often compromised in shaping the final bills. At least Cheney has principles and isn't consumed with doing anything to get re-elected. Imagine how the 1/6 committee would be perceived without her strong voice?
That was back in the days of all White men. I’m afraid we’re not likely to return to those shaping-bills and getting-work-done days with a diversely represented Congress. The country’s blazing with racism in this new era. And sexism. And religious antagonism. And xenophobia. I’m afraid those days are way far in the future. If we get to have a survivable future.
Too many members in Congress only care about themselves and staying in Congress for power and greed. They don’t care what their constituents want or what will help the country. Their sworn oaths mean nothing these days.
But, other than the 1/6 committee - still voting with Repubs on other legislation! I agree - lesser of 2 evils, but then?
Exactly.
Good for Kathy! We have another MTG/Boebert wannabe here in Florida. Anna Paulina Luna is running again this election season to replace Charlie Crist in St. Petersburg. Luckily the district is pretty solid blue, but you never know, and it is a chance for her to get her gun toting views in front of lots of people.
Isn't Charlie Crist running for the nomination for Governor of Florida? If he gets it (I'm rooting for one of the women), or doesn't and takes Lt.Gov, he won't be running for other office.
He must give up his congressional seat in order to run, win or lose. Just like Val Demings who is running for Senate against Marco Rubio. And I’m with you on my choice for governor being Nikki Fried.
Since her gig is Wyoming, which is in no way "suburban" one hopes that she spreads her war chest around a bit to those who are going to primary the likes of Greene and Boebert.
You got me thinking. Could I donate money to a Cheney????? My knee jerk reaction was NEVER! However, my practical side said...why not? It isn't like a Democrat is ever going to win that state. Better her than giving McCarthy a win and I do hope she wins in this case.
To me, it depends on where else the money might go. Rep. Val Demings is running for the Senate to replace Marco Rubio in Florida (https://valdemings.com). Reverend Warnock will be running to keep his Senate seat in Georgia...
I have also donated to Rep. Val Demings. She's terrific and Senator Rubio has got to go.
Cathy, you are SO right. SCOTUS appears to be trying to put itself out of business - at least with women. And for sure, the (former GOP) trumplican party has already alienated those of its party who are not female kooks and rednecks! I'm not sure what percentage of the voting population we women are today, but I do know how we FEEL about these scared old white men trying to control us. They should be nervous. Very.
Cathy--
I understand and sympathize with the notion of donating to Cheney's current campaign as a way to stick thumbs in McCarthy's (and Trump's) eyes. This, despite my opposition to her long ultra-conservative voting record--including against abortion rights and for SCOTUS nominees. FWIW, she's not exactly in trouble in Wyoming: her $1.7 million take in the last quarter was exceeded by the $1.9 million in the previous quarter, according to FEC filings. So it seems to me that in this case it's good message, bad messenger. Maybe it's worth it given her current media coverage for calling out various Trumpist shenanigans. But I sure would prefer that suburban women could find better female candidates to support.
That's what's needed. Strong female candidates to support. Thank you for bringing that up.
I have considered Dick and Lynne Cheney despicable for good reason, but having a spunky Liz is a moderately redeeming grace. Go Liz, redeem your parents!
Redeem Dick Cheney! Try that. The Middle East can't wait!
Redeeming Cheney and Rumsfeld on Iraq is akin to redeeming Pontus Pilate on Jesus. It would be the miraculous redemption.
Keith, The Great, there is no out for you on this one, none. Dick Cheney's deeds - so atrocious - are beyond redemption.
Score 1 for Keith!0
Very good points.
Well what dies Cheney have to lose?
260 million shares of DWAC stock traded on Thursday - and there are only 200 million shares outstanding. In other words, 130% of the shares were traded. This is the definition of a stock scam.
Surprise surprise... Old Blubberneck running a stock scam. Is there a criminal act he hasn't been involved in? Including murder??
Per CNBC. 470 Million shares of DWAC were traded on the NYSE on 10/22/21. Trading in DWAC stock was halted several times per NYSE rules. DWAC went up as high as $52/share before ultimately closing at $35.54. Insider trades, if any, & "pump & dump" strategies need to be investigated asap by regulators.
I love you TC. Here’s what’s likely happening: the stocks are turning over, bought and sold, multiple times a day. In this piranha feeding frenzy, a piece of meat is getting a big chunk taken out of it by one piranha, then quickly another piranha swoops in and takes a big bite, and so on.
This weekend is the anniversary of the murder of 11 people at worship in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh (10/27/2018). The murderer was a white supremacist inflamed by trump's lying rhetoric about George Soros funding a supposedly threatening caravan of refugees heading for the southern border.
murder? - such as inciting his fringier followers to the point where they commit murder on behalf of white supremacy or vaccine opposition? or turning public health into a tribal identity issue, where his followers are against it, and hundreds of thousands of Americans die of a respiratory plague?
Pretty much what I had in mind when I included that word in the list of crimes, Joan.
What a hot mess that keeps on unraveling. I'm beginning to enjoy my popcorn; looks like the party in 'power' is waking up to time limits and constraints and that justice, slowly, is rolling to trials and convictions. Certainly, the idjts are going to attempt distraction, but it is beginning to look like eyes are on the bouncing ball of democracy.
Gratitude, dear Heather. Your work sustains, educates, & elucidates. I am ever thankful for and to you.
Idjts - I’ve never seen that written; you made me laugh. I will say there are many of them involved in this mess!
Double Ditto
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Not too many Sidney Cartons around these days though. Pity.
My thought exactly!
So profound for our times. That beginning phrase goes over and over in my head of late.
True today as then
The Republicans are the New Confederacy fighting against the United States; they are a problem for our democracy that is being resolved without a bloody civil war. The New Confederacy is losing, despite the appearance that our slow and steady legal and governmental system seems to be giving it oxygen. Liz Cheney, in embracing the fight against the fool trump, and his inept gang, is betting she can emerge as the leader of an entirely new Conservative party and perhaps even run for president. Longshot? I don’t think so.
Liz would be a formidable conservative opponent with a big stripe on her sleeve for being among the patriots responsible for decisively ridding the country of the inept New Confederacy. This process could take a long time (10 years+) to unfold, if Biden and the Democratic Party manage to play the hand they currently possess which, while flawed, is a stronger one than that of the New Confederacy. In the meantime, the American people will get much, if not all, of the Biden platform enacted into law which will correct 50 years of backsliding driven by Neo Con democrats unable to overcome Increasingly empowered right wing reactionary conservatives, and their constituents, bent on weakening our federal government. Biden is the bridge leading us back to a stronger more united, United States. His progress is incremental…plodding even, when necessary, because “it takes time to build things”, as some smart academic, recently said.
Keith, I like your reasoning and hope you are right, but the jury is still out as long as the US Senate is divided 52-48, in favor of the GOP. All of this will depend on the Democrats getting a solid mid-term election victory, which depends on getting social legislation, infrastructure and -- most importantly -- a federal voting rights law passed, and I think little or none of this will happen without reform or elimination of the filibuster. Biden, unless he gets help from a few GOP senators (Are there any left who have not already gone over to the dark side?), is up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Unfortunately, the GOP knows it now has the upper hand and that the only real danger to their 40-year autocratic project is the DOJ and, to a lesser -- but still annoying degree -- the House select committee, and even if those "situations" escape their control, they are pretty sure the SCOTUS has their back.
Short of strong-arming (but how?) the two recalcitrant DEM senators into a little party discipline and then getting a historically large turnout of all their usual constituencies, especially the under 30s, the Democrats will lose power in 2022, and that will be game, set and match. The time needed to do the hard work and build things is rapidly running out, whether we like it or not.
Of course, I hope your optimism is right and that my pessimism is wrong. I would love to be wrong on this.
Biden has said it very straightforwardly, he’s got to work with each and every D Senator to find the right way forward for his legislation. He knows the ropes and how to push, persuade, demure and arm twist; all of which is happening right now. 2022 could be a strong win for the Democrats, and the United States, if the pieces fall into place.
Of course this is what we all hope. I agree Biden is pretty good at pushing, persuading, etc., but arm-twisting requires leverage, and I'm not sure he has much. I guess we'll know soon enough.
It couldn't any simpler. The idea of 10 Rs standing up and voting for the voting rights bill would be like putting a target on their backs. Keep in mind, these people are craven invertebrates. Aint gonna happen, no way, no how. Only thing left is canning the filibuster...that's it. Biden needs to be very clear with the intransigent Senator duo. If the filibuster remains in place the curtain will come down on on the Democratic party (likely for a very long time) ....and our democracy. As the person said above....it will be GAME OVER. The dems might as well then "hand in their badges", because future legislative actions will become nothing but a solidification of a corrupt, oligarchical and fascist autocracy.
And yet…that in itself is a danger to democracy in the long run…
We can do it.
The New Confederacy!!! They need a battle Flag. Perhaps TFG suggests they copy one already infamous
They've already co-opted the US flag.
They may think so… if you have a flag fly it proudly. Americans who believe in the government of the United States have always flown our flag. Those who would use it improperly need to find their own banner.
I hear you but the problem we now have is what the general population thinks when they see a flag displayed. There was a farmer who put a big flag on a hay wagon and his neighbors said to him that they didn't know he was Republican. He didn't know what they were talking about. One might have to fly another flag simultaneously to clarify one's feelings.
The US Flag signifies our belief in the principles of the Constitution. Those principles are lost on the MAGA crowd, but doesn’t mean its lost on the rest of us
Exactly!
I fight a battle against this. I fly the National Colors (properly illuminated at night and properly to the right side of my “display”) and the original standard for fallen law enforcement officers (a black field with a single blue line horizontally
across the center; it is illuminated with a blue light to the left.). Between those is a “In Our America” sign that lists our belief in universal human rights.
They cannot have my flag.
Branded it.
Not yet, I was thinking 30’s Europe or 1860’s ‘Bama; but with some “lack of creativity” plagerism
It will have Trump's face in place of the stars.
From your words to god’s ear…
Another great letter that gives me hope for democracy. 🙏
A few notes from reading a lot and paying close attention to add some more depth.
GHW Bush was also CIA director before Reagan’s VP. That’s a lot more loyalty and power from the intelligence community to inform of foreign meddling than a redneck Congressman from Bakersfield could ever muster. McCarthy should be scared of what Liz has learned from Her dad’s and GHW Bush’s loyalists.
D. Firtash, Ukrainian oil Money. Big time $ launderer. part of Putin’s cash cow. It works like this as explained by Stanford MBA and hermitage capital founder Bill Browder and Yale’s Tim Snyder: the ‘stan’s gas and oil are bought by Russian firms from the ‘stans way below market price with the Russians paying the ‘Stan strongmen a cash cut under the table. The gas and oil are brokered into Ukraine at a mark up, but again a % under the table. Firtash or other stooge, the brokers take some of those profits, and uses them to buy elections and judges to become pro Russian and the president Mide to get rich. The Ukraine suffers under this scheme, and forces Europe to pay even more than they should have to fit gas and oil. This keeps Ukraine and other countries under Putin’s influence and keeps Ukraine from joining the EU. Lots of ways to launder Money there. When you have more than half a government on the take, the possibilities for corruption become endless. Putin steals from Russian industry’s via his Oligarghs, and has to export that illegal cash in order to launder it, before bringing it back to Russia as his own money.
This scheme has found its way to corrupting Western Europe and the US. G. Shroeder. V. Orban. Silvio Berlesconni. LePenne. Brexit. Maga. All of these right wing movements are fueled by greed, graft, payoffs, quick riches promised by Putin or his Oligarghs. It begins as barely legal, but once on the take, corruption snowballs. These are the characters and methods of the “Thieves of State”, Sarah Chayse describes. Lev Parnus is a little fish of D. Firtash. Firtash funded Lev to Turn Guilanni, by creating the illusion he is a “donor” gatekeeper, this is a classic con. Poor Rudy just could not resist the promise of riches, and becoming important again within the Republican donor machinery.
What’s a new one, is that so blatantly, TFG is also using a scheme to skim in a way that was made famous by the Russian Mafia and Oligarchs after the fall of the USSR. They have been doing this for decades since the fall of the USSR. The shell company stock “pump and dump” and arbitrage schemes were common place as Eastern Europe tried to transition from communist to free market economies. Semion Mogilevich is but one Russian Mafia boss that added these schemes as a revenue stream, and Boss Putin always gets a cut. D. Firtash is just another front man, controlling the purse strings to bribe politicians everywhere. He is a wanted man in the US, for bribing a titanium mining operation that hurt Boeing’s ability to source the metal in India. Firtash has access to billions to buy influence for Putin. If he is wanted in the US, he could possibly make the Titanium bribery charges go away. This is why Lev Parnus was giving so much of Firtash cash to the GOP
In this way, you can begin to see the National Security implications. This is where Liz Cheney’s family contacts are helping her.
To succeed, these schemes need a lax rule of law. The organized crime bosses need to buy off the political leadership to shield them from prosecution. Part of that would be to fire the top leadership at the FBI, Comey, Strzok, McCabe. To my understanding, this is but one of the threats and feeling corruption TFG represents and has dragged us in deeper.
Wow Ted. Thank You. I think.
MaryPat, I just got a reply from Gary, who wrote: "What a wonderful note from MaryPat! She and Jack are a golden couple, two genial-types merging. I’m not even surprised that Jack is still playing baseball." I hope this brings sunshine to your day.
I'm positive Gary would love to hear from you and Jack: gdorrien@uts.columbia.edu. I met Gary at a lecture he gave at my then church: All Souls UU in NYC. I had no idea what I was going to do with this scholarship I was given - the school year hadn't begun . Literally on the spot I asked him if he would be my advisor. He said yes. The rest is history... btw: I'm rozgnatt@gmail.com.
Wonderful!!! Thanks!
P.S. Gary may want to follow Jack's hysterical facebook daily play-by-play of the tournament!
Rosalind, Jack says he would love to send Gary a note. Would it be okay with Gary for you to private message his email to me at my facebook site? (Same name as posted here). Understand if this isn't kosher. Thanks. MP
THANK YOU ROSALIND!! And Thanks to Gary! Sunshine to me in Michigan, and to Jack swinging his bat in Vegas! Jack says, "Holy smokes! Heck of a guy, and a really nice note." What a sweet and thoughtful thing you did Rosalind. I'd call it a home run!
Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas.
Radix omnium malorum est amor pecuniae.
Both of them!
Cupidity - greed for money or possessions.
sigh!
This is excellent, Ted! Putin has his hand in everything. Clever, devious, but extremely dangerous man. He trained TFG for many years right under everyone’s noses. Bribed and prepped him, hook, line, and sinker.
Thank you. This makes sense.
Thank you! You have provided an answer to a question I have had for a long time: Why do the ultra-wealthy continuously strive to acquire more and more and more money? What can they buy that they don't already have?
"American billionaires have more in common with Russian Oligarchs than they do with regular everyday American people"-Tim Snyder. And the same could be said about Asian and Middle Eastern Oligarchs too. The whole world is watching how this plays out.
I think American Oligarchs want now what Putin and his Oligarchs have, "Politically protected and secure" oligarchy, less disruption from law enforcement ( agency enforcement like EPA, SEC, etc) and less uncertainty that fair elections always bring to them. Racism plays a role here, as increased equality and justice is called for in our Policing and policies, the people entrusted to uphold the law are more engendered toward MAGA Populism, Q, and anti Public Health, than they are to the Constitution. This only emboldens the Oligarchy as they can more easily keep the police in their back pocket after they have them secured in their false ideology. The American Oligarchy wants MORE freedom for themselves. They want to do as they please and do not care about democracy, justice, the rule of law, or the earth for future generations.
TFG and McCarthy represent Billionaire Libertarian's. The split is not just with Liz Cheney and about Jan 6th. The divide now sheds a light on the split between her backers and loyalists.... the Military Industrial Complex, CIA, Intelligence Community & Energy (oil and gas), but also maybe the American finance and banking community. This collation may be in the minority in quantity of people, but their quality is that of the deepest pockets and homegrown legal profit generation. But how can legal businesses of military manufacturing, oil and gas, banking and financial services keep up with unlimited foreign capital flowing into American politics? ( most of this capital comes from the competing oil nations.....Middle East, Russia, maybe Brazil too, these are competitors to Western energy company's).
Robert Mercer's front man, Bannon, has the quantity of people that is MAGA Populism. Maga and Q are just mass market products for confusion, white rage, a con man's front for hiding and keeping the focus off the real issue, this new American Oligarchy. But fear of political violence is a real threat at every level to maintain decency and good faith. TFG and McCarthy represent more than Maga and Q. They represent the influx of foreign capital to fund, meddle, assist in the rigging to win elections, to produce the political and legal cover to sustain themselves at the expense of Law, Order, and equal opportunity.
The biggest challenge from the last recession wasn't the slowness of the economic recovery, its is how the recovery made us vulnerable to foreign investment rescuing our country from lack of oversight, accountability, and common sense. The foreign capital saved the wrong people, and with it, the tying of pollical strings in trade. For TFG, it was Deutsche Bank, and dark sales of his overpriced commercial real estate and empty condo buildings saved by dark foreign states shelled up as "investors" after the real estate and credit crash of 2007-2008. And now this pump and dump Media stock scheme by a former US President? All while enriching themselves at the expense of the American middle class and American itself. Maybe McCarthy can only see the $ in TFG's hands and is just playing to get some of that for his Tea Party Wing?
The previous Letter was about building good. I sure Merrick Garland is building something special, because American democracy needs it soon.
Ted, 👏🏻👏🏻 your analysis. May I have your permission to forward your comments to a non member (but active Dem) who has been struggling to understand just who/what makes Bannon such a constant public figure? “He’s a nobody, wo significant position, and he is always being talked about…”. I see B as a fomenter of click bait messages….the machine to keep the caged lions continually fed and yet always hungry for more. Liked your take…”Mercer’s mouthpiece” (BTW…Not dire…is it even appropriate to make such a request?)
Sure!
Thank you.
Yes. Everything you said.
$cary
Yeah!
Thank you, Ted.
I am thrilled to be able to respond as my email had been down for almost two weeks!
With that said, McCarthy is a true weasel and he, of course, will never ever testify to this Special committee. My dream is that Bannon is arrested and dragged into chambers but the joke is that no one wants to be his roommate in jail because he looks like he will wreak of bodily odor.
Parnas may get credit for spilling the beans to the Feds but he too, should serve time. All of them should serve time!
Then there’s Liz. Gosh, it’s hard to like her given her dad’s history. She does have her boxing gloves on so I think I will have to give her credit for that, at least. It’s the classic case of a woman vs. man syndrome. Either way, tired of Sinema, tired of Manchin, and disgusted with the Repubs.
Remember that the Normandy invasion would have been a failure after the Panzers arrived 5 days later. Only they didn't arrive five days later because the Soviet summer offensive had begun on June 11, 5 days after D-Day, exactly as Stalin had promised it would back at the Tehran conference.
When you are in an existential struggle, the only thing you say to people who join the fight is "Thank you!!"
“If Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.” Said Churchill
Absolutely...and if Churchill & FDR could work with Stalin...we can graciously accept a Cheney's help against Trump.
I rather like that, showing some lack of my knowledge, but damn Churchill had a way with words.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend...at least for now. We all keep saying more R's need to show some balls...Liz is doing it. Good for her...and it's a good thing Hitler compromised on his Normandy "strategy"...and didn't want to be awakened.
Indeed. Her politics might be thoroughly objectionable but her grittiness and commitment to the Democratic system are deeply appreciated.
And her example may eventually bring some low courage T;/m? Supporters a share of strength.
As long as we don't owe her too much later on.
I’d say she will owe us. And she knows it.
If Stalin could be FDR's & Churchill's friend against Hitler, I'm fine with a Cheney against Trump.
Yes, therein lies fine line…
Truth
Nice, TC. VERY NICE.
I’m loving this thread. Most of us are pretty complicated (leaving out TFG of course). With some good in the worst of us and bad in the best of us. ❤️
“McCarthy is a true weasel”
All caps, bold-face, bright red.
Nice to hear from you, Roland!
😘💋
Glad you could respond, said it for me. Thank you.
I'm confident McCarthy will eventually testify. If a grand jury indicts Bannon, McCarthy and others will get grilled, voluntarily. The threat of prison time has a way of re-ordering priorities.
Ali Alexander of “Stop the Steal” fame has yet to be found. Repubs are harboring him somewhere, so there’s that. I will be pleasantly surprised if McCarthy testifies. He would have to be completely under duress to do so.
Yes, Alexander's whereabouts are an intriguing mystery. Does the FBI know? It's hard to disappear in today's world unless someone decides you must never be found. It's not clear how much he knows. Was he really deeply plugged into their treasonous machinations or just a big talker like so many of them?
Ali is being housed somewhere probably with the religious right. He is Black, Christian, and an Arab, according to Wikipedia. Anybody who partners up with Roger Stone is more than likely in the depths of Mar-A-Lago.
Brilliant Letter, Heather!
'(Someone explained this to me by saying it’s like a sea slug taking over a shell so it can do business as the shell organism quickly and without oversight.)' – HCR
Is anyone really surprised by this comparison! Ha!
Let's hope McCarthy gets his comeuppance soon.
McCarthy is the House version of McTurtleneck. And, he's earned his place in hell next to Mitch.
Or in an adjoining cell. They may also have their share to hide.
He asked for this, hope he rues the day. Mitch must have been desperate to go along.
I think McCarthy believed the outcome would be different. Surprise!🎉
Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, I love you.
Today’s Letter suggests a turning point in the destiny of the Republican Party. Perhaps karma and payback are starting to take their toll against the insurrectionists. The leadership of the Republican Party in particular is in hot water, and it’s about to boil. Those politicians who colluded with Jan. 6 are getting closer to being roasted.
In other encouraging news:
ELECTION 2020: Anyone but DJT
In this forum, we express a lot of deep fear and concern, well justified, about the return of tfg and about his continued influence. This Politico article suggests he will not be returning.
Excerpt:
“Indeed, there’s a massive wall of resistance to Trump in the rest of country that will be hard to ignore. Biden didn’t get 81 million votes because he’s an electoral juggernaut. According to exit polls, nearly 70 percent of Biden voters were voting against Trump, and that sentiment is still out there — one reason Democrats are desperate to keep running against Trump, whether it’s in the Virginia gubernatorial race or local school board campaigns.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/10/21/the-case-for-trumps-weakness-516387
The first 3 “likes” are Marlene, Lynell and Stuart, stalwart and faithful companions all. OK I have to go to bed. Celebrating my dad‘s birthday tomorrow with family [lucky me]
It’s always good to see you, Roland. Hope all’s well. Happy Birthday, Pappa of Roland! Enjoy 😊
Thank you Kari, so sweet of you 🤗
Should be an interesting bday! Hang in there, Roland.
Roland it seems that whole Politico article assumes that who votes for whom will actually matter in 2024. If we don't modify the filibuster, get voting right passed and block all the laws handing vote counting to partisans our democracy is history. Eh?
Of course David. There is no silver bullet. There are so many moving parts to American democracy, many many of them. I just like to find good news where I can, and to inject good cheer and and joy and love into the conversation (which forces me to locate and access them). It’s part of my philosophy of life: don’t just fall into mental traps, don’t just react without thinking, make conscious choices about how you think and what you say. Choose positive. Choose uplifting and inspiring, while being pragmatic and honest about reality, however dismal. Have fun, even when it looks gloomy. Maybe it only looks gloomy. Maybe it isn’t really.
Despair is all around us. Nearly every news outlet slants a story “bad news favored.” The fabulous rain we are expected to get in California this weekend: “Risk of debris flows where there are burn scars,” that’s the common headline. So it’s a double whammy in one headline: images of nasty debris flows, never mind those flows will happen in the middle of nowhere in the mountains far from civilization, and reminders of the wildfires. Nasty piled on nasty. Not “Atmospheric River Event Likely to Make Big Dent in Drought.”
Did you know that 3 or 4 heavy-duty “atmospheric river” storm systems like the one expected this weekend, an AR4 or AR5, on the order of a Pineapple Express series of rainstorms, can eliminate the West Coast drought and turn us into a major flood zone like the epic rainy winter of 2016-17, when the Oroville dam overflowed? I am guessing you didn’t read that in the news. Because that’s not how those bastards lean.
Why don’t we have more news stories which favor good news, to balance out the pervasive dismal and gloom in the media
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/amp/atmospheric-river-California-Marty-Ralph-16549634.php
Fascinating article, Roland. Thank you.
Happy birthday to your dad!
Thank you Laureen, very kind of you 😘
I listened to On Point yesterday, about Colin Powell as remembered by Retired Colonel Larry Wilkerson. Wilkerson talked about the W administration and that they made things very hard for Powell. Specifically, he talked about how Cheney disliked Powell intensely although he (Wilkerson) "didn't understand why, maybe insecurity." Maybe, or maybe Powell being a decent human being was a huge problem for all of them.
So they made Powell do things that would not be done by a decent human being?
A must listen!
"That McCarthy is trying to make her a pariah indicates a fight over the future of the Republican Party."
This conclusion is much too understated. A fight over the party's future has been in process since the rise of the Tea Party, if not since Newt Gingrich's ascent in the early 1990s. McCarthy's actions suggest that fight has devolved into the party eating its young in a desperate bid for survival. Consistent with Trump's style it's impulsive, bullying, petulant, and devoid of any sophisticated strategy to move forward.
Also, I don't mean to be pedantic but a clarification if you will. Matt Levine's description of a SPAC (or the interpretation of his description) isn't quite accurate. A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is not a company itself in the sense of an operating entity that creates goods or services. A SPAC is a publicly traded investment vehicle in a newly formed company (more like a stock) that raises money—which is why they’re also known as shells or blank checks—which is then used to buy a private company, effectively taking that company public while avoiding the traditional IPO process. The target acquisition typically
has not yet been identified at the time of formation.
Hope that helps.
Some young need to be eaten! When Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Lauren Boebert are your up-and coming wanna-be "leaders" your party is in real trouble!
Interesting news from Talking Points memo about Trump's scam, er, I mean social media site:
Former President Trump’s new social network may only have thirty days to live.
Trump launched the app — TRUTH Social — on Wednesday evening. Within hours, members of the open source software community began to notice something: a test version of the website appeared to be accessible, and it seemed to operate based on a software that already exists, called Mastodon.
Mastodon is a social network that is similar to Twitter. The code is open-source, meaning that anyone can use it, so long as they abide by certain rules: namely, that they agree to make the source code of the modified version available to the public.
TRUTH Social did not do so.
On Thursday, Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko told TPM that TRUTH was not only using his code, but appeared to have violated the terms under which others can use it.
That claim could be enforced through the courts, and Rochko said that he would speak with attorneys about the matter.
“Mastodon exists under that license because the Mastodon developers seek to assure that anyone who gets copies of the software gets full source code and changes or modifications or configurations that anyone else has done,” Bradley Kuhn, Policy Fellow at Software Freedom Conservancy, told TPM.
That specific requirement exists thanks to the Afferro General Public License, which Kuhn helped develop. It mandates that anyone who uses the code of software under the license must make modifications publicly available. Though the software in question is open-source, it’s not in the public domain, Kuhn explained.
So, what happens in the case of a violation?
Kuhn’s organization plays a role in enforcing licenses, either through discussions with possible violators on how to remedy the problem, or via litigation.
This week, for example, the Software Freedom Conservancy filed a lawsuit against TV company Vizio, alleging that the company’s TVs use open source software without abiding by the terms of the license under which the code is available, while also staking out a claim that consumers can sue over license violations.
In the case of TRUTH Social, the potential violation appeared on a test site for the platform, which experts quickly identified as based on Mastodon. The site has since been taken off the internet and is no longer accessible to the public.
But that doesn’t fix the problem: as long as the software was altered and existed in public without the underlying code being made available, there is likely a claim, Kuhn said.
The violation itself triggers a 30 period to remedy the issue.
“In this situation, if Trump does not remedy this violation in 30 days, and then on and a half years from now or one and a half weeks from now, whenever they’re planning to deploy the final site, they will be in violation because they lost their entire permission,” Kuhn said.
That could give Mastodon — or anyone who used the test site and did not receive the underlying code — grounds to sue, Kuhn said, alleging that the license was violated.
To remedy it, TRUTH has an option, Kuhn said: “They could announce that they’re going to comply with the license.” That would mean making the underlying code public.
Alternatively, nobody is forcing the Trump site to use Mastodon.
“If they never want to give the source code to anybody, they could just not use Mastodon,” Kuhn argued. “Ceasing use is always an option for compliance.”
30 days is long enough for plenty of suckers, er, I mean, investors to pony up a small mountain of cash. At this point, anyone who sinks good money into any enterprise even remotely connected to former president whatsisname, deserves to be left holding an empty bag.
Just watch for for Trump to surreptitiously bale out of any stocks that he holds during the period to take the money and run. He will then put on the same sort of media campaign as with Twitter etc; The Washington Swamp is trying to shut me up, they are afraid of me! He's laughing all the way to the bank....if any bank will now touch him. Much work for the SEC fraud investigators I think but not enough time to do it before election cutoffs.
Thanks for clarifying. Where IS the SEC in all of this? Will anyone EVER be held accountable for ANYTHING? 🙄
In international comparisons of "corruption" the US doesn't fare particularly well coming 25th in a scale of "clean" countries....Scandinavia, Singapore and Switzerland taking the prizes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
and hence the resistance of the Republicans to funding a real IRS service that could police the system and catch the criminals!
I remember last summer, when the Democrats tried to include a measure to empower the IRS to collect outstanding taxes (mainly from businesses) as a way to help fund the Build Back Better bills. It was one of the first things on the cutting room floor. Seems NO ONE in power wants the IRS to have any teeth.
He said "laws"...perhaps he meant lawyers.
And most of the 130% of stock traded on the day pledged only at the margin and often resold before even having to put up the 10% funding! No cost and all profit
It’s the foreign “investors” that concern me. Seems like a semi-legal way to get foreign campaign contributions.
"Seems like a semi-legal way to get foreign campaign contributions."
And maybe launder a few rubles at the same time?
That will go into his pocket.
There's two issues about the tech part of this venture. The lesser of them is the apparent violation of the Affero General Public License. That one is easy to remedy: whoever implemented Mastodon for this project simply needs to post any changes they made to someplace like a Github repository, and tell people who ask where to find those changes. They can fix this in a matter of minutes. I honestly think this complaint is overblown by popular media.
The bigger issue is information security and hacker resistance. Building hack-resistant and crash-resistant web properties is quite difficult. It takes time, patience, and clear-headedness. When I've done it I've hired penetration testers (sometimes known as "white hat hackers") to break in and tell our team how they did it, so we can fix the most obvious problems before making the web property live. That can't be done overnight, and needs to be redone with every upgrade. (It's very likely that Substack, this web property, does the same.)
There's no such thing as a hacker-proof web property. Anybody who claims otherwise has been taking too many happy pills. Real-world web properties, especially well-known ones, need ongoing security monitoring.
Can these guys handle the information security? We shall see.
Given the kind of people who would be willing to work for a guy with the employer history of Trump, let alone what a fucking moron you have to be to be a Trumper to begin with, I doubt any of them were even aware of a tenth of what you have laid out here. And thanks so much for the "technical" eduation, since I didn't know any of that.
Greetings Roland!
I read about the Mastodon issue yesterday. Like everything else Trump & Co do, it is underhanded and is part of his well documented behaviors of something for nothing – have a rally, stiff the venue and don't pay the local law enforcement for the security provided; use a piece of music, don't pay the royalty fees; use software or a platform, violate the rules and cry foul when caught; create a nonprofit charity use donor money to buy a portrait; hire contractors/construction crews, stiff them.
There are decades of examples of Trump's illegal doings and still he's out there spoiling the pudding and getting away with it. And certainly, Mastodon can sue if the violation is not remedied. But like everything else the Mastodon thing is just more of the same old same old and will likely drag on until Trump is shut down, once and for all.
Yikes, I meant greetings TC!! Pardon!!!
Hi Daria!
That’s the second time this year somebody confused me with TC. I will repeat what I said the other time:
I take it as a compliment. We are both shit disturbers.
Roland and TC are in fact the same person. Have you ever seen both of them in the same room? Have you??? :-)
😆!
Roland must be the Mr. Hyde to TC’s Dr. Jekyll. 😁
Wow. Sizzlin’, TC. Sizzlin’.