I hope Republicans in Congress can reflect on this time, when the world needs America, and our POTUS acts with purpose and determination, that their petty, tabloid-driven squabbles look like the work of toddlers on a meltdown, and not of this moment, when real action can save lives.
Emotionally anyway. Puerile spoiled brats in adult bodies, occupying positions of critical trust and power, is a huge problem. It's not a game, it's futures and lives at stake.
'...it's not a game, it's futures and lives at stake.' Yes, absolutely true, J L Graham.
But calling them 'spoiled brats in adult bodies', is that what they are? Stopping short of metaphors, I call 'them' a disorganized army of fools bent on destruction.
Fern McBride, as is often the case, your view of these inexplicable “players” in the Republican party are wasting time no one has and have not one iota of an idea of a plan or any goal to serve their constituents. How can the voters that elected them accept this? Is any one of the districts that elected them, watching?
Since they’re not doing anything productive for the Country and they’ve put that on full display, it’s made me realize something. Maybe we don’t need the GOP at all.
Go ahead! Take your ball and go home. The Dems and Independents can get the People’s Work done!
Fools and predators. Kids can get a kick out of smashing things, but I think the underlying key to the current "Republican" movement is a passionate urge for domination. It runs through everything they do.
So true, and i am sick and tired of the game playing. I might be very wrong about this, but all of this childish bickering from these despots seems to come from a single source, the one and only heap of animal excrement, Donald TUMP. I could only hope the ''Grim Reaper'' would come calling for TUMP. The damage and discord this lunatic from hell has caused our nation is immeasurable. To me, he is another Adolf Hitler or i might say, another Benito Mussolini. It's a mystery to me that so many ignorant, gullible, lame brained average citizens have been conned into his cult following, it's especially a problem here in the South.
Toddlers yes but I think the bullying including death threats might have scared enough toddlers this time that they realize this is not a game and the pettiness of Gym and Toobie have no place when they are determining America's effectiveness on the world stage.
Being very curious and interested for quite a while now in the shadow aspect of the MAGA people playing out their unacknowledged shadows in public so fiercely. How about the crossover effect from Christian religious beliefs in hell which is really created by being hellish on Earth as if somehow that had to be demonstrated while still alive, displayed so prominently without a necessary resolution. Also thinking of Plato's Shadow cave people thinking the Shadows are the real thing.
Fear is such a motivating force. In humans we do not simply react with self preservation as do other species. We attach other meaning to that fear because ( I think) our brains go beyond mere protective instincts to superstition and extended fears. In other words, we think beyond the moment.
And yes, those Christians I know who are abundant in the neighborhood where I live do focus much of their energy on what they perceive as a future life beyond the body that they now inhabit.
I have often mused that this stems from the 'finish your dinner or you don't get dessert' that many have grown up hearing.
I do not argue or try to reason with these people. I simply apply my ideas in ways that will not trigger any opposition and thus remain placid in my own ideas about life and its end.
🤣 You're kidding, right??? That group of (my vocabulary is too blue for this community) has absolutely no intention of behaving in any other way. Because that is exactly who they are: spoiled bratty whiny little s***s whose only goal is to create chaos because for some inexplicable reason they think that is going to give them some sort of power. This is playground bullying tactics at their most basic--and dumb. What I don't understand is why the Dems in the House are not more vocal. They are enjoying the schadenfreude I have mo doubt but it's time for them to start being a lot louder. Actually it's past time. Because the tantrums are giving these (4-syllable expletive) exactly what they want: air time.
Bully is the right word and it should be repeated constantly. It struck me today that 200 repub bullies voted against President Biden’s election after the January 6 riot which was directed at them and they only lived through because their defeated president told the rioters he loved them, was proud of them. And go home. There is no normal adult behavior there.
We’re missing the point here. Calling them adults is totally off the mark. Professor Richardson’s word “conversation” is a skill that is completely missing here. Conversation is where everything begins. Can any of us even imagine them organizing themselves to attempt a meaningful conversation, let alone being part of a governing group moving forward. Somehow we must find a way to get “our House” in order without them, in spite of them.
MAGA wimps and most other Republicans are afraid of being attacked by Trump, a standard cartoon bully. Scapegoating has two victims, the ones stoned and the ones throwing the stones. Lay down your stone and you will be attacked. In this way Trump makes cowards of his supporters. Also, to a large extent Trump’s power over others is also supported by the relative silence of Democrats.
They should ALL be speaking up more the way Jamie Raskin, AOC, and some talk show hosts, like Thom Hartman, and letter writers like Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Reich have spoken out. How about some of the wealthiest democrats putting up more money for ads and getting the word out in all those red states and exposing republican lies and any way possible. It’s not like they won’t have a bed to sleep in tonight. I can’t believe people are so weak when it comes to saving our democracy and so few are willing stick their necks out. And yet we see people taking the risk to protest on the streets. These are our real heros and they have the least power in terms of how far they can reach.
Don't forget, MAGots are a vicious lot who haven't stopped at threats in the past! I believe we will speak out when it's most crucial after the holidays. We have all year to make our case out loud while their idiot leader languishes in prison!
This is true. I have hope. Our Ken Buck congressman in Colorado and his family have had their lives threatened and he was evicted from his office by the landlord who is a MAGAT. These people are a threat and menace to society.
I agree. They want to shut down America and they want Biden to be blamed for it. The crises in the world be damned. There is a real dereliction of duty here and We The People should have some recourse. We can vote surely but we need to do something NOW to put a halt to this dangerous, infantile game that they are playing.
Do something, yes! They are the quiet quitters in our house. Traitorous squatters happy to kill Americans as they do Putin’s bidding. The Chaotic Psychotic Party.
I am sure to annoy some readers here, but I will keep commenting what my husband suggested: McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3rd Everyone should start their social media posts today with:
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
(Edited to correct date and count, thanks to an astute reader. My apologies everyone. )
I think anytime the Congress shuts down whether it's because of antics like this or failure to pass a budget, their salaries should be withheld... NOT to be repaid later.
Exactly. And the more air time the less functional we all become!!!!
Not one, not one excuse about any of this boring, offensive, inappropriate behavior by Republicans ( yes all) can be accepted with any kind of adult explanation.
We are allowing them to spit in our faces. Really???? That’s ok with you??? America, this is who we are????
I agree. No one likes to be spit in the face and no, I am not ok with it but what can we,the people, do about it? The Republicans want Biden to fail at any and all costs. Does that mean they want Putin to succeed? Sure as sh*t looks that way to me.
You can add some members of the Senate as well. Tuberville, Paul, Cruz and of course, Mitch the Glitch(I’m perfectly fine. Nothing to see here)McConnell.
I was on a Zoom call this evening with Fred Wellman(Substack-Fred Wellman “On Democracy”)who said that not a single republican in the House was talking to Hakeem Jeffries about anything much less getting together to see if they could work with Democrats to help get a speaker elected. Republicans are seeing if this is the way to burn down the entire house. Make government completely unworkable and to hell with the outcome.
I think you are letting House GOP members off much too easily by referring to them as toddlers. I believe their squabbling masks the true intent of MAGA. MAGA wants a government shut down! It also wants Ukraine to lose to Russia. And Trump is antisemitic, which I imagine his supporters in the House are too. But what I believe MAGA really wants is for Congress to collapse as a public demonstration of their main philosophy... Government Doesn’t Work... therefore Voting Is A Waste Of Time. They want people to believe democracy should be replaced by the same kind of Strong Man leadership as exists in Russia, China, Hungary, etc!
We need to see the big picture of MAGA’s plans: the end of democracy
Steven, I am thinking the same thing. All the commotion of finding a speaker is performance disguised as chaos, to make a shutdown, and all that a shutdown entails, inevitable.
Steven, In my view, Republicans largely are driven by a recognition that minority rule over the will of the majority is the only way they stay in power. Accordingly, our only recourse is to exact upon them one brutal defeat after another, a devastating blow that will entail our persistent effort to appeal to a wide range of people and interests situated within the extremes.
Yes, Barbara, the Rs have nothing to offer ordinary people, so they do all sorts of things that will keep them in power despite being the minority. We have elections in Oregon in November for a variety of local issues. Our only issue here in Marion County was funding the fire district. Last time it took three votes to ensure 24 hour service in a large district which is partly rural. I have voted and my ballot is in the mail and the county will tell me that it has arrived. 'So easy that all voting should be this way.
I meant that the vote for the fire district went three times before it passed. You should have read all the excuses why people should vote no. But yes, every vote counts which is why we made sure to get ours in. A lot of what is on the ballot this time are tax proposals for various districts. It will be interesting to see what passes and what doesn't.
Michele, Thank you for replying. Considering the further one moves east, the more the electorate seems to favor regressive tax measures, I, too, will take great interest in how people throughout the state vote.
Let's not be led away from the still existing truth of four centuries of white supremacy still residing in the bones and culture of confirmed white supremacists. There are such basic flaws in the founding of this country that the 70 million or so people who do not want to address - slavery/racism, inequalities, insularity, militarism, superiority complex, white nationalism, the 'tyranny of the majority'(Lani Guinere), runaway capitalism... - will keep giving over their support to the lowlife greedhead/moneypower worshippers who play and prey upon their ignorance forever. Fortunately the basic setup of our democracy gives us room to continue creating the changes that are becoming quite obviously needed.
I believe I saw a clip on Threads last night of trump in New Hampshire telling his supporters not to vote, because he has enough votes. Does that fit in with this desire for the end of government? It was a sound bite, so maybe I’m taking it totally out of context and there is also the fact that much of what tfg has been saying lately has been less than coherent.
Oh, my, what an understatement: "...fact that much of what tfg has been saying lately has been less than coherent." He's off the charts word salad and topic jumping.
A little off topic but just to update, Hungry did finally approve Sweden being allowed into NATO. Something they have been holding up. Perhaps the power of persuasion? Even strong men have weaknesses.
I agree with you but often wonder if they have any vision at all, even with regard to themselves. Once there is no government they will be out of a job--and its perks which feed their sense of entitlement and power. Trump won’t need them and won’t want them. I often think back to when Blockbusters had stores. Employees pushed customers to sign up for streaming--I would imagine they were rewarded short term for doing so--but didn’t seem to grasp the idea that they were working to end their own jobs--I used to shake my head in wonder. And of course that happened. (I did read BB is thinking of opening stores again but a different topic.)
This is exactly right. And terrifying. Only a “strongman” can step in and take charge in all the chaos. They are setting the stage for Trump. Time for Democrats and voters to step up.
That's an insult to street fighters. No street fighter would last long if they behaved with the cowardice and lack of purpose that the GOP Representatives are displaying.
I am with you and often highlight Republican wars whose only goal was obfuscation or death for profit.
However, the USA does have a high standard of living, on average, and it is possible (or was when I was young) to move up the economic ladder if you don't have any connections (I did not have any). There is no debate about HOW we came about this high standard of living. Many years of low population and cheap resources garnered by extermination of the natives upon arrival. So, there is that and your point is valid there.
However, one of the most important things the US does is enable folks at the bottom to get grunt jobs, like the job I had washing dishes at a Holiday Inn restaurant and bar, all though my senior year in high school, 3:30pm to, normally, 1am. This constant, long hour work, enabled me to pay my first semester at Texas A&M. It also helped my mind get used to working all the time and I did that my first year at A&M and ended up at the very top of the class as a result. You will not find a mixed breed human, from a family with no money, at the top of the class of a huge university in many countries on earth. Maybe just here.
Also, the US takes in, every year, legally and illegally, thousands and thousands of folks coming from really tough circumstances. Europe does take folks once in a while but has pretty much shut down incoming refugees now.
Sadly, it IS true that the US, in 2012 time frame, did actually CREATE a huge diaspora in Syria by arming the "rebels" in a hugely misguided attempt to overthrow the Syrian President. So, sometimes we CREATE the refugees with our wars and arms sales.
But, there are some good things about America, not the least of which is: IF you are poor, BUT, willing to work ALL THE TIME as young person and as a middle aged person, well, when you get to be 62 you MIGHT be in OK financial shape. At least in Texas, this is even true for black folks. One of my friends from grad school, who did finish his Ph.D. at UT Austin, where it was super cheap, is a long time Professor in the UT System now.
All of this is not perfect, but it is better than, say, India, where: IF you work all the time for your whole life you will still be dirt, unbelievably, poor. I know because my software team was outsourced to India and I went there to train me and my team's replacements in 2012. Everyone in India is poor and they stay poor all their lives.
Germany and parts of Europe are better, yes, but, those countries have their problems too.
So, although I am often here on this board saying what is true about America......it is a tough place.....and I might move to Greece with my wife someday if Trump wins again, America is not so bad.
To misquote Churchill: America is the worst country, except for all the rest.
Nice narrative Mike, but I doubt history will validate your term “ Many years of low population and cheap resources garnered by extermination of the natives upon arrival.” In most cases the dynamic was dispossession and denigration of native populations.
The result was extermination without it being the intent. The Trail of Tears was a mournful attempt at relocation.
Personally I place the absence of human rights as the real basis of economic inequality.
"The result was extermination without it being the intent.".
I once took a "People Skills" class in my early career since working on a farm in East Texas and studying in libraries for years does not impart high people skill upon arrival to the complex workforce.
In that class I learned something fundamental: It is not the intent that matters, it is the result. So, if I intend to be friendly guy but am too direct and folks are off put, it does not matter that I intend to be friendly, it just matters that folks are off put.
This learning, I think, applies to everything under the sun. The only thing that is reality is the result, not the intent.
If the result is extermination, independent of the intent, then, just saying that up front is the closest way to represent reality accurately.
I don’t agree. Pointing a gun in the air or at the person is the intention.
The arrival of the bullet is a result.
The white settlers mostly integrated with the native culture but somewhere along the development skin color defined castes and became an identifier of lesser value.
Than when land and crops superseded human values the economics created the reason for independence.
Mike, it’s lots easier for lower income folks to attend university and to excel in Europe than it is here. Tuition is very low, making university affordable. Many (most?) students live at home while in school, reducing costs further. It was true in the past that we had a more upwardly mobile society here in the US, but I don’t think it’s true any longer. We also do not have the highest standard of living anymore either, or even life expectancy. Universal healthcare will do that.
European countries take in plenty of refugees, and it’s the political problem there that it is here, magnified by the fact that European populations were historically much more homogeneous than here in the US, both racially and in terms of religion.
Yes, but in other countries you need to TEST into Uni. In the US… I do not know how that would work since our public school system has been steadily going down hill for decades.
The public school system has been dismantled by the Republicans since Reagan's governorship of California, and simply has continued under every Republican president since. "No Child Left Behind" is the shining example of that. It should read "All Children Left Behind", even the ones who got shunted to private religious schools, since what is taught there is just another form of dumbing down the population.
Well France had Colony's too now we have lots of S. Americans mostly from Chile and Ecuador. Just like in the US they are doing the awful jobs the French won't do! Really love our Town with all these people it's fascinating. S. Americans have brought so much joy and laughter.
I would like to respectfully disagree. It’s getting harder for young people to get ahead from just hard work now then when we were young. But I would say that many other countries make it easier for the young to get a good education whether they have rich parents or not. I live in Canada, and things are definitely getting more difficult here as well, but we have a high standard of living for the average person, public education, although tuition at University is getting higher, public healthcare for everyone and government pension plans. We also welcome immigrants here. I wish we took more, and the right wing is getting noisier and nastier, but overall I would say things here are definitely as good as in the USA. I certainly am not trying to say that things are better here, but just as good. And Europe and Scandinavian countries have a lot of benefits we don’t have. I just want to point out that Americans often seem to have been sold this idea of “exceptionalism “. There are lots of great places to live and we can all learn from each other. My two cents.
Deb, Mike is from East Texas and has a non-English surname. Top of his class was through hard work. I'm going to add to the "hard work" component the ability to look at politics (he was a staunch Republican) and realize that what he was "learning" (reading right wing publications/authors) was not matching up with other learning and his belief structure. He is a long time commenter here.
They are on the ropes and they know it; their behavior is that of a cornered animal and dangerous. I hold the Dems partly responsible for the lack of pushback and the Republicans have banked on that.
America's history has some ugly, ugly shades to it, but overall, I believe we endeavor to improve and move forward.
The alterative to noninvolvement, especially with the resources this administration can lend. ... fascist elements would love it.
The example has been set for them in trump's behavior. I'm not sure if Mike Johnson, an extremist trump supporter, had been announced as SOH as of this writing, but that does not bode well.
I have scanned to the bottom...where are the remarks about our President and how he has absorbed Israel's "poor me" scenario. Is it possible that Hamas is expressing the rage of all the Palestinians at being oppressed since 1948? But finding the true history is difficult. England gave Israel to the Zionist Jews in the Balfour Declaration and forgot to tell the Palestinians living there. The word went out and many Jews headed that way to make the desert bloom. (At the beginning of our country, word went out about all the empty free land here...except it had Native Americans. OK, we'll just put them in Oklahoma...but wait, there is oil there. Guess we'll have to move them somewhere else.) I am really confused about the ARAB war of 1948. Did they tell their own people (90% of Israel at that time) to leave and come back later...only to have Israel switch the rules to NO right of return...i.e. the Nakba of 1948. Now 75 years later, Hamas remembers and the sad game goes on. Where are the adults in the room??????????????????????
What happens is the US has to be pro-Israel. Already money is being removed from Ivy League universities by rich donors who are furious at the lack of voluble support of Israel by said universities.
they obviously don't care and just as soon our Democracy fail! We MUST vote them OUT before it's too late... I shutter to think it may already be, but am not losing hope!
Yea. I agree. I think if they ever have another majority the first thing to go will be voting rights. They are emulating Orban and do in fact confer with him.
The Republicans won't come up with measure to fund the government: they NEED this shutdown. They need it to pin the blame on Biden: he's doing too much good for the normal American people, and they need to hurt him for the upcoming elections. Plus, they need this shutdown to show the world that democracy doesn't work - and that is exactly the thing that (their?) Big Chief Putin wants as well.
JL, more and more I see journalists and commentators referring to "the nihilist Republican Party" or "the nihilist right wing." Militia types are more blunt - what you hear from them is "Burn it all down."
I found the first hour and a half of the Ken Burns "The Civil War" today (I saw it when it was new, 30 or so years ago), in all its documentary horror, and the feeling is, "How could America have come to this? Never again! "
I believe that the journalists and commentators are correct, the MAGA Republicans are nihilists, either rejecting or not understanding the role of government and/or the responsibilities that go with their positions as elected officials. "My way or the highway" has never been the way successful governing works. So, I think that nihilistic is an adequate adjective for these MAGA/KKK Republicans. They don't care. They want white Protestant supremacy to rule the day.
Richard, their actions prove daily that they know nothing about governing. They care nothing for the people of our country, they care nothing for the care of our planet, our natural resources, the growth, development and care of our children nor do their actions demonstrate a hope for a healthy future.
They are blinded as to what they perceive as power...their ways are disruptive and full of emptiness. The choices they are making; the chaos they are creating is destroying all that our country stands for.
Meanwhile President Joe Biden and team are working day and night for the people of our country for our future, for jobs, etc. and to help calm violent situations and lust for power amongst our own as well as other leaders/disrupters around the world.
Richard, thank you so much for sending Valerie Tarico's article. Actually listening to one another with respect and working to understand opposing views ....putting aside negative, dehumanizing labels.... is the only way we can survive and grow together for the good of an idea that is greater and much more worthy if we are to remain "The United States of America."
Read the article, and agree with the sentiment, especially her noting the primacy of curiosity. The problem is, how do you get a majority of Americans to seriously question whether capitalism is the proper economic system to address the problems we face? You’d have more success, imo, asking fundamentalist Christians to question the validity of Jesus as Lord and Savior.
It is an appropriate word and description but given that SO SO many MGATS are so under educated they likely don’t even understand the word if not the concept and tune it out. The message has to hit common ground and be blatantly clear.
Extremest. Bought and paid for. Republicans know the damage they are doing. Their campaigns are funded for their “work” against the people, their people. We have reached this strange new place, where constituents do not matter, campaign mega donors are all that matter.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that."
As said before, billionaires don't like rules that they didn't make up themselves. The rules made by the people (i.e. democracy) usually hinder them in getting even richer, so that's why they don't like democracy and will pay representatives hefty sums to thwart and even abolish it.
Every American needs to shout this from every rooftop. The RepubliQans aren't interested in governing, and couldn't care a rat's hiney about the American people either. They have no plan whatsoever; just burn everything down and run away with as much money as you can carry.
Yeah well, we NEED the government to stay Open! It shouldn't be too hard to prove who's responsible. Sometimes Democrats, (as correct as they may be), need to Scream!!! Fight fire with fire! Speak in the language those maggots understand! Tell them "NO" and Why!
I absolutely agree! Trouble is, the Dems don't have the media on their side. Media like Fox "News" and X are actively trying their best to bury the message the Dems have to tell: there's simply too much money behind the desire to destroy democracy...
I agree and coincidentally posted this on another Substack:
I sometimes wonder if getting rid of McCarthy as House Speaker was part of the Freedom Caucus’ plan all along. With no House Speaker there will be no vote on funding the government. Not funding the government has been the goal of these extremists. By voting against any and every candidate for House Speaker they can effectively reach their goal of a government shut down.
I was wondering the same thing... I mean, McCarthy is a spineless weasel, but maybe getting rid of him wasn't the best idea. Maybe the Dems shouldn't have voted against him...
Since McCarthy was ousted as Speaker, I have been identifying the root cause of the chaos in the House as the break-up of the former Republican Party (FRP) into an unstable coalition of three groups with totally incompatible agendas. I’ve labeled groups as the chaos faction, the grievance faction, and the remnants.
This kind of analysis is gaining traction. Robert Hubbell has a post in his substack on the topic. Professor Danielle Allen has an opinion piece in the Washington Post as well. While they see only two factions in the FRP, the “GOP23” (my remnants) and the Freedom Caucus (my chaos + grievance factions), I see a more nuanced breakdown into three factions. Both views lead to the same paralysis in the House. Both views point to the obvious solution to dysfunction that Hakeem Jeffries eventually is elected Speaker with support from the remnants.
The second step must then be taken, the revision of the motion to vacate rule so that the Speaker can regain the power that previous ones had when custom dictated that the one-member motion would not be used. Nancy Pelosi was prescient when she made the change.
I think the bit that Allen misses in her analysis is the separation between the Freedom Caucus, which just wants to break things and has no actual platform, and the bulk of the FRP, which is based on grievance and ideology and will walk in lockstep to actually implement Project 2025 initiatives that are being developed at the Heritage Foundation and funded by the billionaire oligarchs like Koch. That group poses a real threat because they have the intellectual ability to reshape government into a near-impregnable bastion against labor, the social safety net, government regulation and equitable taxation.
The grievance faction has already accomplished much,
1) by gerrymandering to control state legislatures and limit voting rights while impacting representation in the House (Operation REDMAP)
2) by the Federalist Society stacking the courts with ultra-conservative judges and unethically influencing members of SCOTUS.
Unless the Democratic Party starts identifying the very powerful grievance faction as the core faction that has to be defeated in 2024, the threat they pose to democracy will be underestimated. The chaos faction is the bright and shiny object meant to distract. The dark money controllers may support Trump, but they will not make the mistake they did during his first term, by allowing him to be surrounded by sycophants. That’s why they will be ready to roll on Inauguration Day in their takeover of the executive branch.
Georgia, you sometimes use 2 different acronyms to refer to the former Republican party: FRP and FRG. Please clarify, thank you.
And I think you're onto something with your analysis of what is taking place in that group, identifying factions and the threats they pose to democracy moving forward -- particularly with the influence of the Heritage Foundation and the Kochs.
While we're at it, let's not forget the radical right wing of the Supreme Court, which will undoubtedly back their Project 2025 initiatives..
Ryan ZInke, Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, Elaine Chao, Ben Carson, Betsy DeVos, Steve Mnuchin, Alex Acosta, Rick Perry. A previous comment triggered this response, but after re-reading the posts here I don't see it. Anyway, the comment suggested TFFG's cabinet was Neo-liberal and I don't believe any of them are or ever have been.
I agree that his cabinet will still be filled with far right incompetent sycophants, but the quality of his original cabinet members and advisors was so bad that to imagine it getting worse is beyond the pale.
Gary, by the simplest definition of neoliberal, that being, an ideology focused on the primacy of the marketplace above all else, all were neoliberals. The fact that many were also batshit crazy Christian fascists doesn’t erase their neoliberalism.
And believe me, the people that Trump would surround himself with on a revenge tour could be worse; think people who all think like Steve Bannon but come across with the proper, upper-crust appearance and manner of Leonard Leo, with none of the extremist, clueless PR capacities of a DeVos, Perry, or Carson.
Astute analysis, the shiny objects distract but they also destruct. The grievance group continues on the path to dominance, undeterred by, well, anything. And the remnants do, what remnants always do, remind people of what used to be. And the Dems, United as they are, (and despite those always sniping at any lapses), are trying to be the adults in a room full of crocodiles. The adults, who have been vilified, non-stop, and with considerable success, plod on. Hence, the disfunction/grievance groups not likely to cooperate with the adults. But hopefully the remnants will. What have I missed?
There are not many remnants. Kinzinger on his substack is trying to rally them as "proud RINOs" Given how few there are not even all the ones in the problem solvers caucus are non-election deniers. Most that were are no longer in the House. There are a few Freshman Republicans that joined, and my own rep Tom Kean Jr. (NJ 7 R) joined them because he won by a whisker in the last election. PSC keeps the numbers equally balanced between Republicans and Democrats.
On my to do list to do a map of the caucuses in both parties. There are no obvious breaks along the ideological spectrum other than far right and left tails. But in the vote view maps I've been posting you can see the large cap between the parties. There is one post that shows a map from the 1960's and how the parties had a large overlap along the ideology spectrum with the "Factor 2" issues really splitting the parties.
In order for Biden’s vision for America to succeed we need a democratic majority in both chambers of Congress.
I have a strong belief that the solid democratic victories to come in 2024 are the most “hoped for” outcome by most American voters. Why this isn’t yet shown in the polls though is a reflection of the natural American brand of skepticism that goes part and parcel with our idea of what it means to be free in our increasingly pluralistic country. We try all kinds of approaches and test all assumptions before we throw our support behind any politician. This is a good thing.
Nonetheless the forces of authoritarianism have no patience or regard for the slow inexorable force of democracy that is often made even slower by the incompetence of authoritarian sympathizers. It’s very hard to pin down because it is wrapped up in feelings and emotions as well as our body of laws and cultural customs.
In God We Trust... that’s what the founders concluded... many of whom weren’t very religious at all. Biden has it right. Focus on the biggest issues and the necessary support by the majority of the American people will happen...God willing.
KD, I ignore the polls, unless they release their honest statistics and the questions asked. Too many "pollsters" determine the outcome they want, and then set out to get that outcome, which mainstream media slavishly touts, No fact checking necessary folks we paid for this poll.
I agree with your take on the GOP, but have two observations. The first concerns the motion to vacate. While the one-person rule seems insane to me, just as does the one-person hold rule in the Senate regarding nominations, I don’t want the Speaker’s power back to the same level it was during Pelosi’s reign. We never got votes on Medicare For All, Green New Deal, etc. because of her ‘power’. I’d like to see a ‘sweet spot’ of members, say 20, required for the vacate motion, rather than a single member.
On Trump, he wasn’t ‘surrounded’ by sycophants, at least not at first. His cabinet and much of his staff were straight up neoliberals and ‘guardrail’ types, until much later, towards the end. As for a second term, if elected…. sycophant city.
I understand what you are saying about legislation getting not brought to the floor but if a majority of the House wants to bring legislation to a floor vote they can do it by discharge petition. It originally was that you only needed 1/3 of the House to sign on for discharge, but then it was raised to a majority. I would rather see it brought back to 1/3 than make any piece of legislation turn into a vote on vacating the chair. That should require whatever the conference rule is for electing a speaker designee--2/3 to elect, 2/3 for a motion to vacate, or majority to elect, a majority for amotion to vacate.
What the news does not cover well is that before Pelosi changed the rule it apparently only took one as a privileged motion but no one ever used it that way as custom. I have not had the energy to track back the history through the House rules and the Conference rules and precedents that run to several thousand pages.
Disagree on the elect/vacate issue; don’t think they should be the same. I’d rather see the vacate side be way less than 1/3; even 1/10 would require 50+ members. Any motion to vacate by the opposition party would be quickly dispensed with.
Georgia, your great synopsis and supporting links help a lot. Thank you. I agree that the grievance group (powered by dark money) is the most destructive group. I don’t think that the DM group will be able to prevent TFG from surrounding himself with sycophants—look how Putin loaded the campaign and cabinet with pro-Russian (Tomlinson) members as well as those intent on doing away with their departments (Perry, DeVos), only to see TFG install acting cabinet members.
Georgia, you always give us an interesting synopsis. We do have many disrupters from many angles. One would think that persons who have been given opportunity to become powerful and successful would want all Americans to have the same opportunities. I guess they think they are going to live forever.....and that all Americans will choose to follow their perverted lead.....or will they attempt to force us to follow....
Georgia, thank you for posting the Hubbell Newsletter link as I was about to. He maintains we may be witnessing the birth of a third party in America's political life. On the surface it certainly seems so. He also asserts that, in the face of that, Democrats should remain firmly united. He doesn't say so, but the Democrats could just as easily split up as well. I've long felt that only having 2 parties in this country was nuts. There is no way 2 parties will adequately represent the myriad wishes of every citizen or group of citizens. Virtually every democratic country on Earth has more than 2 parties and they still manage to work. Depending on the issues at hand, parties form coalitions and alliances per issue. Compromise is the name of the game and, as in a true democracy, not everybody gets what they want all the time. Living in Europe, I found these multi-party states quite fascinating, and, though at times vexing in the glacial pace things seem to move, amazing in how they did manage to come to agreements in the end. As Hubbell quoted Prof. Danielle Allen in the WaPo: "The solution to the leadership void in the House of Representatives is staring us in the face. We have three parties in Congress, not two: the Freedom Caucus Party, the Old Republican Party and the Democrats. The last one has the most members, so it should have the House speakership." What a concept. It's plain to see that sticking an "R" after someone's name isn't going to be enough to unite the Republican party anymore.
The unique issue we face here is that so much of the legislative system was conceived and crafted assuming that there would be two parties but never dreamed there would be this degree of polarization and institutional contempt for precedent. As Allen pointed out, the last time there was a major party disintegration was of the Whigs before the Civil Was, and a major party realignment with the move of the Southern Democrats to the Republicans in the 1960's during the Civil Rights era.
I too suspect the right of having an endgame where their Operation 2025 will be implemented. All the rest is to continue the havoc until November 2024. All the chaos will bring out voters who (without party distinction) will choose the authoritarian. Philosophy: Gotta break it to pieces and assign the blame properly to the party in power (pres, senate, liberal policies, etc) before the best solution will be swallowed by all those "two sides to everything." And that side will get 100 days of unbridled acceptance while Op2025 is firmly established. Then, imagine the shock when SS checks are delayed and we all start to get robo calls to sign up for the new privatized SS and there is no one answering calls about loans at the Dept of Ed starting on day 101.
"Unless the Democratic Party starts identifying the very powerful grievance faction as the core faction that has to be defeated in 2024, the threat they pose to democracy will be underestimated. The chaos faction is the bright and shiny object meant to distract. The dark money controllers may support Trump, but they will not make the mistake they did during his first term, by allowing him to be surrounded by sycophants. That’s why they will be ready to roll on Inauguration Day in their takeover of the executive branch."
Excellent analysis all around. Democrats, with their eye toward maintaining Democracy, are at a grave disadvantage.
Playing by the rules is almost always the fastest way to lose. Ask any successful card player what the value of cheating and faking are during a game with a rules by player.
President Biden is doing a heroic job of addressing both domestic and international problems.The threats are coming fast and furious. So far I have seen no hesitation or abdication of response. He has demonstrated the clear focus of a true leader. General Grant was known for his ability to make clear decisions at any hour under intense pressure, known as a 0300 hour General. President Biden has the experience to assess conditions and navigate internationally and domestically with the winds of change. There has been no dithering or wringing of hands, he is an 0300 General. I am proud to call him my President.
I totally agree, Charles, Biden is remarkable. The best both nationally and globally since FDR. FDR was only 63 when he died, so why even mention Biden's age. He is strong, wise, and forceful. What more could you ask for in a leader.
Congressional leaders should not receive a paycheck when they shut down the government or are seemingly unable or unwilling to get the House operational again. I would be fired so quickly if I did not do my job. Infuriating.
Dump the opportunists who serve themselves their wealthy customers. Public service should be just that. Many, many less powerful people are held to strict codes of conflicts of interest. It just nuts that those with the most critical roles to serve, and the greatest opportunities to cheat, are not. History and psychology show that power tends to corrupt even those who harbor "good intentions", let alone opportunists out for what they can get.
How many jobs let you lie to the boss? As for paycheck, I think that's chickenfeed to most legislators. Even if you are not wealthy to begin with (as so many of them are) you easily make wealthy friends, as Clarence Thomas does.
"The New York Times story that Trump mentioned in his social media post ran on Sunday evening. It not only repeated the allegations of the earlier ABC News account but also expanded on them by showing how Pratt had kept money flowing to Trump’s campaign. That included offering to “book as many rooms as available” for any campaign event Trump wanted to hold at Mar-a-Lago.
“The government will invest $500 million of public money in these hubs…”
“Private companies have announced investments of about $133 billion in clean energy production, which has in turn helped to spur the strong job growth and robust economic growth…”
Putting those two numbers side by side in investment/return relation screams the sensibility of government New Deal-type investment. The GOP screams, “Eeeek! Socialism! OMG!” Or, they would if they could get it together to do anything at all.
Regarding the news at home, how does a twice impeached, 1 term President with a bevy of charges and indictments against him get to determine the next Speaker of the House?
From a multiple of sources, Trump is speaking to prospective candidates as to who would benefit him on the long run.
What are we doing and how have we lost our moorings so tragically fast?
Over coffee today, a colleague and I discussed how the bizarre has now become the acceptable.
"...how the bizarre has now become the acceptable." How about beyond acceptable to the desired outcome? I cannot fathom where MAGAt thinking has gone in the past year and a half.
Injustice thrives on ceasing to shock and/or indifference to injustice yet to be recognized ; that is normalized. What was the state on mind when twelve US president's held slaves (though Grant seemingly reluctantly). I think what successful social movements communicate is "This is not OK" and/or "We can do much better". When my father was born, as a general rule, it was against the law for women to vote.
Heather, caught your conversation with Ari Melber yesterday. Good work! Your command of American History reflecting today's developing history always on point! Your articulation of the moment, SUPERB!!!
I noticed Ari seemed a bit ... flummoxed-distracted-overindulged??? I only saw the last two exchanges, and Ari's smirk and non-responsiveness were highly uncharacteristic. Heather was spot on w her comments, but Ari ...? Did you see any of this, Bob? I'm curious to know your take
Frederick, yes, I did catch that and that is why I posted. Ari was surprised, I think, by Heather's articulation of the moment and how it reverberates within US history. I expect that Ari will be bringing Heather back on in the future. And, lets acknowledge how Heather got a seat in the first place...her "Democracy Awakening " has awakened Ari!
I'm glad I was not just not misreading Ari, because, IMHO, he was out of character w his usually engaging participation w his guests. Heather is certainly reaching a vast audience and for this I am very grateful, to her and us all
I haven’t had the time yet but I plan to post on all his social media pages how glad I am that he interviewed her. Gotta give that positive feedback! 😁
Frederick, I felt exactly the same way!! Heather’s words were so perfect and Melber’s tone and expressions were just odd. I’ve struggled to put words to how he came across but it bordered on bizarre for me. On the other hand I was so happy to see the Professor getting some significant airtime I could have danced all night 😁
I so heartedly agree, including dancing all night. I don't need a reason to dance all night 😂 - swing, foxtrot, boogie-woogie, you name it!! My fave would be dancing to live old school jazz or blues bands (TMI)
"The administration is trying to sell the idea of investing in America rather than turning the economy over to the operation of markets. The latter has been the nation’s focus since 1981, but that ideology has not nurtured the economy so much as concentrated wealth among a few individuals."
Did any of it's architects ever actually aim for any other outcome?
I would argue the focus began earlier, under Carter. Deregulation of the airlines, trucking, etc. Milton Friedman’s poison began taking hold then. Reagan just put it in hyperdrive.
Unfortunately, he was the precursor to the Dems abandonment of the working class, codified a decade later by Clinton. Most every politician, in both parties, from ‘72 on, became infected by Friedman’s BS to some degree. Carter was hammered by stagflation, but his reelection death knell was the hostage crisis, more specifically the failed rescue mission. And yes, the GOP hated him, but plenty of Dems had the knives out for him as well. Remember, he won the presidency in an almost Sanders-like campaign, as an outsider to the establishment. ‘Official’ beltway DC hated the peanut farmer crowd from the jump.
Friedman's famous maxim "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits." is a recipe for sociopathy, and an implied rejection of democratic rule. It's weird how people flocked to it:
"Reagan voted 'greatest American...
Many Americans look back fondly at Reagan's presidency
Former US President Ronald Reagan has been voted the "greatest American" of all time by his fellow citizens.
(...)
Mr Reagan, who died last year aged 93, topped a list of 10 contenders, which featured six former presidents.
It is notable that while Nixon was held accountable by the media, Reagan, for the most part, was not. He was the "Great Communicator", even in only in the manner of game show host. Carter was a much better president than he was a TV star. Media has much to do with our current reversals of evidence-based thinking.
Many liberals consider Trump the worst POTUS ever. I don’t think he holds a candle to Ronnie. Reagan did more damage to our country with his pithy ‘government is the problem’ narrative than any rioting mob of Magats ever could. He turned me into a socialist; about the only non-hateful comment I got.
Posting again for about the 5th? 6th? time today (apologies, kind readers!) we need to push this message. Since McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3rd, starting today, this message needs to be put right out there:
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
Does anyone else have the feeling that Putin is actively trying to shake up the world order so that he may eventually have his way in Ukraine? ,
He's using Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel on different fronts and bring the U.S. and several allies deeper into the contest. Foreign minister Lavrov just went to Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah.
Putin is playing the long game, and knows that by expanding the Gaza conflict into a wider war, the U.S. and its allies are coming to Israel's side to provide material support (as we are doing for Ukraine.) Doing so will cost money, resources and possibly Allied lives. Putin knows that the West will eventually succumb to war weariness and fatigue, and money will dry up to defend Ukraine (which the MAGA party in the House want to make happen anyway, as does their false golden idol.
Takes a long time for the West to “succumb to war weariness and fatigue.” The money is the question…W/Dickie did their best to put us in the red for perpetuity
War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It's hardly a civilized pursuit. It's amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace."
Jan, watching the news this morning, shedding tears, about the devolving humanitarian crisis in Gaza—seeing children (and others) with injuries been operated on ON THE FLOOR in a hospital corridor w/o anesthesia & threats that the NICU will not have power, once the fuel is gone, to keep scores of babies alive. I just lost it…sitting here 1/2 a world away, an observer to this horror and to the silly, almost comic, folly playing out in the House of Reps. Sigh…then my thoughts drifted to deadly threats to humankind and our ecosystems ….hurricanes, tsunami, earthquakes, typhoons, spiking heat-domes, floods, tornadoes, and sadly, astoundingly, mankind itself raining ruin upon our world.
Yet, Hamas launched their attack knowing full well that this would be the result. As if making some kind of point is worth killing their own children. Are they culturally incapable of following the teachings of Gandhi, Tutu, and King? Yes, I agree that Israel holds their land by right of conquest, fig-leafed by language in their holy book. But incessant violence is not the way -- even if they manage to somehow destroy the state of Israel, there would be nothing left of the land they claim to value.
IMHO the whole thing is one giant cluster$#&@. I had a thought the other day to have every inhabitant of that larger region take a DNA test….then maybe it would dawn on them all just how we are fundamentally more connected than separate.
Members of the al-Zanati family killed following an Israeli strike, are taken to a waiting vehicle to be driven to a cemetery in Khan Yunis on October 23, 2023.Credit: MAHMUD HAMS - AFP
Michael Sfard
Oct 23, 2023 12:52 pm IDT
Moral corruption is a mechanism that fuels and justifies itself in a cycle that can become endless without powerful and insistent intervention.
For us Israelis, the 75 years of refugee status that we've imposed on millions of Palestinians, the 56 years of occupation that we've imposed on millions more, and the 16 years of siege that we've imposed on the millions of Palestinians in Gaza have eroded our moral principles. They have normalized a situation where there are people worth less. Much less.
Corruption usually moves into the depths of the abyss at a constant speed with frightening periods of acceleration, but there are also moments of hope for a slowdown – until the black Saturday of October 7.
The incomprehensible cruelty that we've been exposed to – which proves the degree to which the occupation and the siege corrupt the occupied as well as the occupier – has penetrated our soul. And like nuclear fuel, it has spiraled us on our way to a moral hell.
It took a few days for a day of unbridled and systematic slaughter of civilians – children, women, the elderly and men – by members of an organization that has lost any shred of humanity to lift some of the barriers that we still seemed to have.
Israel today is a country and society where calls to erase Gaza aren't only the province of pathetic and marginal people leaving comments on social media. It's a country where lawmakers from the ruling party are openly and unashamedly calling for a “second Nakba,” where the defense minister orders a denial of water, food and fuel to millions of civilians, a country whose president, Isaac Herzog, Israel's moderate face, says that all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' crimes. (If I hadn’t seen this part myself I wouldn’t have believed it.)
In Gaza with its 2.3 million inhabitants, over half of them children living under a government combining totalitarian dictatorship with religious fundamentalism, our president couldn't find a single Gazan – man, woman or child – who wasn't responsible. It’s a good thing no news channel has ordered a survey to find out what percentage of the Jewish community supports ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
And maybe not only in Gaza; why stop there? When the political and military leadership loses all restraint and approves ideas about a massive blow to civilians, we're creating a society where the process of stripping away the humanity of the people on the other side of the border has been completed.
And when that happens, the inferno is near. On October 8 we carried out a giant leap in our campaign of moral corruption, and we are now dangerously close to the black hole. It’s no wonder that there are thousands of dead in Gaza – thousands! – and the voices asking if we've done enough to prevent harming the innocent are barely heard in the Israeli public debate.
And that’s not all. No social moral corruption is only directed outward. There is always the enemy within – the same enemy the police commissioner declared war on last week when he ordered his subordinates to forcibly prevent protests against the war in Gaza and against harming innocent people there. And he proposed that we deport the protesters to Gaza.
It's likely that expressing sorrow at the death of children in the Strip (there are already over 1,700 of them) won't only earn you a spot on one of the police commissioner’s buses. It will also get you suspended from work or university, as has happened to dozens of people in the past two weeks.
And that’s not the worst scenario, because compassion for the children of Gaza could also end in a lynching attempt by a fascist mob, as happened to journalist Israel Frey. (Full disclosure: I’m proud to say that he’s a friend of mine.) In short: How will we define the regime of a country that treats its critics that way? I know how not to define it.
Not far from us, on their own way to the black hole, hover those who call themselves members of the “progressive left.” They're finding it hard to unhesitatingly condemn – and without fleeing to the “context” – a satanic orgy of destroying civilian Israeli communities near Gaza, along with their residents. Some are even blabbering something about decolonization being an ugly process; that’s what happened in Algeria and Kenya, for example.
I read that and die of shame. Maybe you didn't understand, but the struggle to end the occupation and achieve independence for the Palestinian people is part of the universal struggle to defend everyone's human rights, not vice versa. The idea of the sanctity of human life, the noble idea that every person has basic rights that shouldn't be undermined, isn't a tool for implementing Palestinian independence but the other way around. Palestinian freedom and self-determination are designed to advance a reality where people enjoy protection of their rights and are free to conduct their lives as they desire.
Those who are confused about this issue aren't humanists. Those who are confused about this issue aren't expressing a complex and profound moral thesis, they're simply sliding into support for terror.
Being humane is hard work. Remaining humane in the face of inhumane cruelty is far more difficult. Despite what we often think, humaneness isn’t a natural human trait. Much more natural is the desire to take revenge, to blame everyone on the other side, to drop thousands of bombs on them, to erase them from the face of the earth. Human history is full of examples, and apparently we haven’t learned a thing.
These are terrible times. We have experienced a horrific trauma perpetrated by human beings who have lost their humanity, and now we’re bombing, killing and starving people, and mainly hardening our hearts to stone. Moral corruption is no less dangerous to our survival than Hamas.
Thanks for posting this. So much good stuff in here.
"Being humane is hard work. Remaining humane in the face of inhumane cruelty is far more difficult. Despite what we often think, humaneness isn’t a natural human trait. Much more natural is the desire to take revenge, to blame everyone on the other side, to drop thousands of bombs on them, to erase them from the face of the earth. Human history is full of examples, and apparently we haven’t learned a thing."
Apparently, we've learned that aggression is the only way.
I think we learn and have propensities of both. Certainly the adaptive response of cooperation is visible even in many unicellular creature, albeit a primitive forms, even inter-species. What I think can legitimately be categorized as affection is displayed by other creatures. I think we have some inborn survival reactions are dangerous or problematical if overindulged or left "uncivilized", but I think our capacity for the compass of human emotions and behaviors evolved with us. We have both a highly individual and a social nature, and governance must speak to both; universal rights and responsibilities. The Constitution addresses some of both. R. L. Stevenson though of Jekyll and Hyde as two sides of human nature. More than one religion posits Good and Evil. I think it all has a basis in DNA, as well as learned behaviors.
That said, yes, predation and conformity is the easier road, especially if you pack up with bullies. Democracy is herding cats, and forbearing harmless behaviors of others one might still find objectionable. Democracy means sharing, in one way or another. It means you don't always get your way. It means resisting entropy rather than riding it downhill. The outcome seems worth the effort, but also people get tired of trying to be "good", especially when they feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. That's where a capacity to accurately connect up the dots is advantageous, especially in the face of hucksters selling dishonest and/or overly simplistic solutions.
Had I not seen your name as the author of this most passionate and illuminating cri de coer Ms, Passmore, I would have thought Amos Oz and Thucydides had returned from the afterlife to join in collaborative effort.
If you could go back to the morning after the 8th, what do you think the government of Israel should have done? What would have been a better response to Hamas' murderous incursion than an attack on Gaza by the IDF? I, too, deplore the destruction in Gaza, wrought by weapons that easily blast through walls in a vain hope of hitting "combatants" who dress, speak, and act just like civilians around them. (From the interviews with the released hostages, I get the impression that the Hamas military has buried itself in tunnels and hand-hewn caverns, leaving the civilians to absorb the bombs meant for them.)
Given the two governments involved, what should have been done?
It is time for the government to start to consider how they can provide seed money and structure to bring back what has been lost with the demise of local newspapers. What is needed are regional news websites that provide local factually accurate local news and postings of local events. If you do not think there is a problem, try and find out what is happening in a rural area. We cannot to have the information cycles held hostage by the various social media sites that are filled with propagandists with self driven agendas.
On this topic. I recently had trouble with delivery of The Dallas Morning News. I finally wrote to them, that if they had trouble with people cancelling their subscriptions, they should look at the pissy delivery. The response was “we can’t find people who want to work.” Well, many people who work at the assisted living where I live work two jobs to make ends meet. Maybe if they pay people enough to live, they might keep employees. It’s not possible for carriers to deliver papers on bicycles these days.
My sister works in a large grocery store (one of four of an independent chain in southern Oregon) and they are having an awful time keeping entry level people. I asked her why she thought it was, and she said that it seems to her that it is a combination of external distractions (the pull of the cell phone among them) and what we decided to call "destractability" which describes the inability to focus on learning a skill, and then perfecting that skill with practice. (She is 61 and has far worse learning disabilities than I do; when she couldn't learn produce codes, she figured out a way to memorize them. She would go to the produce section, grab a head of broccoli and say "this is broccoli, its number is 12345, and it gives us good nourishment." Then she'd go on to the other ones that gave her trouble and repeat the process.)
Most of the LD kids I dealt with had no such ability or skills. Didn't mean they were dumb, as your sister proves. Just difficulty that the average bear doesn't have. Since school was easy for me, I had no clue
Those lazy slobs just wanted to copy my papers. Well, there were those, but I had no idea of the struggles of some until I started testing and learning birth histories, and seeing the struggles first hand. And then, there were those who started out early on but disappeared along the way. Obviously handicapped and soon invisible. Guess some want us to be on our way back there…. Yep, that math did me. Blame it on a coach sub for an old geezer out the whole time for my first year of alg. In College, had to start over with Tech Math and work up. Thought my hubby was a genius because he could do math in his head. And he was…. Live and learn, sometimes
I've been hearing about this difficulty finding workers, especially in service industries, for quite some time. For instance, my dentist is has been working without a hygienist for a while now, claiming that no one wants to work permanently. Instead, they prefer to work for higher rates as contract "floaters," bouncing from job to job. While this "uberization" of work may have short-term benefits for workers, it destabilizes the businesses they rely on. I've seen phenomenon throughout the healthcare field. What to do? Idk.
As for the even lower paid categories, like newspaper delivery, I'm even more mystified.
What are these missing employees doing instead? I assume they're still eating and paying rent, but where and how?
But if people in that income bracket are having to hold down two (full-time?) jobs, wouldn't that make employees easy to find, not hard? It still doesn't "add up." Some jobs must be pulling these employees away from the jobs that seem to be going begging, and I wonder what those favored jobs are.
"Republicans remain unable to agree on a candidate for speaker. So far, they have shut down the House for three weeks, eating up 20 of the 45 days the continuing resolution bought for them to come up with measures to fund the government."
Huh. So you're saying that the group of Congresscreatures who really, really wanted the government shutdown, and were so furious at McCarthy for preventing it that they removed him as Speaker, are now a tad over 44% of the way to getting what they wanted? Interesting. Probably just a coincidence.
I hope Republicans in Congress can reflect on this time, when the world needs America, and our POTUS acts with purpose and determination, that their petty, tabloid-driven squabbles look like the work of toddlers on a meltdown, and not of this moment, when real action can save lives.
“…toddlers on a meltdown…”
The perfect metaphor for congressional Republicans at this moment.
Thank you.
I totally agree. They are '' spoiled brat'' toddlers to the extreme.
Emotionally anyway. Puerile spoiled brats in adult bodies, occupying positions of critical trust and power, is a huge problem. It's not a game, it's futures and lives at stake.
'...it's not a game, it's futures and lives at stake.' Yes, absolutely true, J L Graham.
But calling them 'spoiled brats in adult bodies', is that what they are? Stopping short of metaphors, I call 'them' a disorganized army of fools bent on destruction.
Fern McBride, as is often the case, your view of these inexplicable “players” in the Republican party are wasting time no one has and have not one iota of an idea of a plan or any goal to serve their constituents. How can the voters that elected them accept this? Is any one of the districts that elected them, watching?
Since they’re not doing anything productive for the Country and they’ve put that on full display, it’s made me realize something. Maybe we don’t need the GOP at all.
Go ahead! Take your ball and go home. The Dems and Independents can get the People’s Work done!
Yes! Voters! who stand in line for them! Taking time from their homes, their jobs, to Vote! with some expectation in their support to govern?
Or are they also part of a maga
Mentality
For compulsive manipulators, people are to be used, not served. No dignity, no decency.
Fools and predators. Kids can get a kick out of smashing things, but I think the underlying key to the current "Republican" movement is a passionate urge for domination. It runs through everything they do.
They are fragments of brokenness; they cannot agree among themselves, with some of them only capable of following the charisma of the mad-con-joker.
So true, and i am sick and tired of the game playing. I might be very wrong about this, but all of this childish bickering from these despots seems to come from a single source, the one and only heap of animal excrement, Donald TUMP. I could only hope the ''Grim Reaper'' would come calling for TUMP. The damage and discord this lunatic from hell has caused our nation is immeasurable. To me, he is another Adolf Hitler or i might say, another Benito Mussolini. It's a mystery to me that so many ignorant, gullible, lame brained average citizens have been conned into his cult following, it's especially a problem here in the South.
Toddlers yes but I think the bullying including death threats might have scared enough toddlers this time that they realize this is not a game and the pettiness of Gym and Toobie have no place when they are determining America's effectiveness on the world stage.
The place should be big enough to find Naughty Corners for them all - can't come out until they've learnt to behave.
The pity is that there isn't room for the Naughty Corners for the people who vote them into office over and over.
Amen to that! What lack of education, or extreme self interests have created this attitude in the US?
Being very curious and interested for quite a while now in the shadow aspect of the MAGA people playing out their unacknowledged shadows in public so fiercely. How about the crossover effect from Christian religious beliefs in hell which is really created by being hellish on Earth as if somehow that had to be demonstrated while still alive, displayed so prominently without a necessary resolution. Also thinking of Plato's Shadow cave people thinking the Shadows are the real thing.
Robin,
Fear is such a motivating force. In humans we do not simply react with self preservation as do other species. We attach other meaning to that fear because ( I think) our brains go beyond mere protective instincts to superstition and extended fears. In other words, we think beyond the moment.
And yes, those Christians I know who are abundant in the neighborhood where I live do focus much of their energy on what they perceive as a future life beyond the body that they now inhabit.
I have often mused that this stems from the 'finish your dinner or you don't get dessert' that many have grown up hearing.
I do not argue or try to reason with these people. I simply apply my ideas in ways that will not trigger any opposition and thus remain placid in my own ideas about life and its end.
🤣 You're kidding, right??? That group of (my vocabulary is too blue for this community) has absolutely no intention of behaving in any other way. Because that is exactly who they are: spoiled bratty whiny little s***s whose only goal is to create chaos because for some inexplicable reason they think that is going to give them some sort of power. This is playground bullying tactics at their most basic--and dumb. What I don't understand is why the Dems in the House are not more vocal. They are enjoying the schadenfreude I have mo doubt but it's time for them to start being a lot louder. Actually it's past time. Because the tantrums are giving these (4-syllable expletive) exactly what they want: air time.
Bully is the right word and it should be repeated constantly. It struck me today that 200 repub bullies voted against President Biden’s election after the January 6 riot which was directed at them and they only lived through because their defeated president told the rioters he loved them, was proud of them. And go home. There is no normal adult behavior there.
We’re missing the point here. Calling them adults is totally off the mark. Professor Richardson’s word “conversation” is a skill that is completely missing here. Conversation is where everything begins. Can any of us even imagine them organizing themselves to attempt a meaningful conversation, let alone being part of a governing group moving forward. Somehow we must find a way to get “our House” in order without them, in spite of them.
What we are witnessing from House republicans is middle school Mean Girl bullying.
33 Repub women in the House. They could nominate one of the actual mean girls like Boebert or Green.
MAGA wimps and most other Republicans are afraid of being attacked by Trump, a standard cartoon bully. Scapegoating has two victims, the ones stoned and the ones throwing the stones. Lay down your stone and you will be attacked. In this way Trump makes cowards of his supporters. Also, to a large extent Trump’s power over others is also supported by the relative silence of Democrats.
What exactly should the Democrats be saying ?
They should ALL be speaking up more the way Jamie Raskin, AOC, and some talk show hosts, like Thom Hartman, and letter writers like Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Reich have spoken out. How about some of the wealthiest democrats putting up more money for ads and getting the word out in all those red states and exposing republican lies and any way possible. It’s not like they won’t have a bed to sleep in tonight. I can’t believe people are so weak when it comes to saving our democracy and so few are willing stick their necks out. And yet we see people taking the risk to protest on the streets. These are our real heros and they have the least power in terms of how far they can reach.
Don't forget, MAGots are a vicious lot who haven't stopped at threats in the past! I believe we will speak out when it's most crucial after the holidays. We have all year to make our case out loud while their idiot leader languishes in prison!
This is true. I have hope. Our Ken Buck congressman in Colorado and his family have had their lives threatened and he was evicted from his office by the landlord who is a MAGAT. These people are a threat and menace to society.
(I have posted this already today,) but since McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3, every Democratic Social Media post should start TODAY with
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
Linda, you express my opinion exactly (along with my preferred usage of "colorful metaphors"*.
Spot on with your assessment that the Democrats in the House need to be much more vocal.
*From Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home. Kirk starts swearing, and Spock comments on his use of "colorful metaphors".
No. What they want is 'America Closed For Business' signs up in about three weeks. They will 'win' via default.
I agree. They want to shut down America and they want Biden to be blamed for it. The crises in the world be damned. There is a real dereliction of duty here and We The People should have some recourse. We can vote surely but we need to do something NOW to put a halt to this dangerous, infantile game that they are playing.
Do something, yes! They are the quiet quitters in our house. Traitorous squatters happy to kill Americans as they do Putin’s bidding. The Chaotic Psychotic Party.
Hey. Best wishes with that violin!
I once had a phenomenal manager who taught me one very important creed. NEVER GIVE UP!
Once you do, what do you have left in your life? NOTHING.
Thank-you.
I am sure to annoy some readers here, but I will keep commenting what my husband suggested: McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3rd Everyone should start their social media posts today with:
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
(Edited to correct date and count, thanks to an astute reader. My apologies everyone. )
I think anytime the Congress shuts down whether it's because of antics like this or failure to pass a budget, their salaries should be withheld... NOT to be repaid later.
Exactly. And the more air time the less functional we all become!!!!
Not one, not one excuse about any of this boring, offensive, inappropriate behavior by Republicans ( yes all) can be accepted with any kind of adult explanation.
We are allowing them to spit in our faces. Really???? That’s ok with you??? America, this is who we are????
I agree. No one likes to be spit in the face and no, I am not ok with it but what can we,the people, do about it? The Republicans want Biden to fail at any and all costs. Does that mean they want Putin to succeed? Sure as sh*t looks that way to me.
You can add some members of the Senate as well. Tuberville, Paul, Cruz and of course, Mitch the Glitch(I’m perfectly fine. Nothing to see here)McConnell.
I was on a Zoom call this evening with Fred Wellman(Substack-Fred Wellman “On Democracy”)who said that not a single republican in the House was talking to Hakeem Jeffries about anything much less getting together to see if they could work with Democrats to help get a speaker elected. Republicans are seeing if this is the way to burn down the entire house. Make government completely unworkable and to hell with the outcome.
I think you are letting House GOP members off much too easily by referring to them as toddlers. I believe their squabbling masks the true intent of MAGA. MAGA wants a government shut down! It also wants Ukraine to lose to Russia. And Trump is antisemitic, which I imagine his supporters in the House are too. But what I believe MAGA really wants is for Congress to collapse as a public demonstration of their main philosophy... Government Doesn’t Work... therefore Voting Is A Waste Of Time. They want people to believe democracy should be replaced by the same kind of Strong Man leadership as exists in Russia, China, Hungary, etc!
We need to see the big picture of MAGA’s plans: the end of democracy
Steven, I am thinking the same thing. All the commotion of finding a speaker is performance disguised as chaos, to make a shutdown, and all that a shutdown entails, inevitable.
Steven, In my view, Republicans largely are driven by a recognition that minority rule over the will of the majority is the only way they stay in power. Accordingly, our only recourse is to exact upon them one brutal defeat after another, a devastating blow that will entail our persistent effort to appeal to a wide range of people and interests situated within the extremes.
Yes, Barbara, the Rs have nothing to offer ordinary people, so they do all sorts of things that will keep them in power despite being the minority. We have elections in Oregon in November for a variety of local issues. Our only issue here in Marion County was funding the fire district. Last time it took three votes to ensure 24 hour service in a large district which is partly rural. I have voted and my ballot is in the mail and the county will tell me that it has arrived. 'So easy that all voting should be this way.
Michelle, If I understood your reference to the “three votes” correctly, your narrative is the quintessential example that every vote counts.
I meant that the vote for the fire district went three times before it passed. You should have read all the excuses why people should vote no. But yes, every vote counts which is why we made sure to get ours in. A lot of what is on the ballot this time are tax proposals for various districts. It will be interesting to see what passes and what doesn't.
Michele, Thank you for replying. Considering the further one moves east, the more the electorate seems to favor regressive tax measures, I, too, will take great interest in how people throughout the state vote.
Let's not be led away from the still existing truth of four centuries of white supremacy still residing in the bones and culture of confirmed white supremacists. There are such basic flaws in the founding of this country that the 70 million or so people who do not want to address - slavery/racism, inequalities, insularity, militarism, superiority complex, white nationalism, the 'tyranny of the majority'(Lani Guinere), runaway capitalism... - will keep giving over their support to the lowlife greedhead/moneypower worshippers who play and prey upon their ignorance forever. Fortunately the basic setup of our democracy gives us room to continue creating the changes that are becoming quite obviously needed.
I believe I saw a clip on Threads last night of trump in New Hampshire telling his supporters not to vote, because he has enough votes. Does that fit in with this desire for the end of government? It was a sound bite, so maybe I’m taking it totally out of context and there is also the fact that much of what tfg has been saying lately has been less than coherent.
Oh, my, what an understatement: "...fact that much of what tfg has been saying lately has been less than coherent." He's off the charts word salad and topic jumping.
Ally, he has dementia. I am surprised his handlers let him out.
Agreed. He just isn't as sharp as he used to be, and he was as sharp as a round rock before.
lol
Watch it! You’re speaking about Mandela here. LOL!
I think he is planning a huge voter fraud to get votes by nefarious means. I hope his people actually don’t vote.
He did tell them that and then went on with all sorts of nonsense. The man is clearly mentally gone.
A little off topic but just to update, Hungry did finally approve Sweden being allowed into NATO. Something they have been holding up. Perhaps the power of persuasion? Even strong men have weaknesses.
I agree with you but often wonder if they have any vision at all, even with regard to themselves. Once there is no government they will be out of a job--and its perks which feed their sense of entitlement and power. Trump won’t need them and won’t want them. I often think back to when Blockbusters had stores. Employees pushed customers to sign up for streaming--I would imagine they were rewarded short term for doing so--but didn’t seem to grasp the idea that they were working to end their own jobs--I used to shake my head in wonder. And of course that happened. (I did read BB is thinking of opening stores again but a different topic.)
I think the House GOP members still believe they will have jobs... helping the "strong man" run America as its dictator.
This is exactly right. And terrifying. Only a “strongman” can step in and take charge in all the chaos. They are setting the stage for Trump. Time for Democrats and voters to step up.
Steven Brant, exactly. Shutting down the government is a feature not a bug in their world view.
There are no “Republicans” in congress right now. There are only street fighters who have lost any claim to credibility in a functioning democracy.
That's an insult to street fighters. No street fighter would last long if they behaved with the cowardice and lack of purpose that the GOP Representatives are displaying.
I truly do hope you are correct about “cowardice AND lack of purpose”.
NO the world does NOT need America............all it does is cause wars!
Jenny,
I am with you and often highlight Republican wars whose only goal was obfuscation or death for profit.
However, the USA does have a high standard of living, on average, and it is possible (or was when I was young) to move up the economic ladder if you don't have any connections (I did not have any). There is no debate about HOW we came about this high standard of living. Many years of low population and cheap resources garnered by extermination of the natives upon arrival. So, there is that and your point is valid there.
However, one of the most important things the US does is enable folks at the bottom to get grunt jobs, like the job I had washing dishes at a Holiday Inn restaurant and bar, all though my senior year in high school, 3:30pm to, normally, 1am. This constant, long hour work, enabled me to pay my first semester at Texas A&M. It also helped my mind get used to working all the time and I did that my first year at A&M and ended up at the very top of the class as a result. You will not find a mixed breed human, from a family with no money, at the top of the class of a huge university in many countries on earth. Maybe just here.
Also, the US takes in, every year, legally and illegally, thousands and thousands of folks coming from really tough circumstances. Europe does take folks once in a while but has pretty much shut down incoming refugees now.
Sadly, it IS true that the US, in 2012 time frame, did actually CREATE a huge diaspora in Syria by arming the "rebels" in a hugely misguided attempt to overthrow the Syrian President. So, sometimes we CREATE the refugees with our wars and arms sales.
But, there are some good things about America, not the least of which is: IF you are poor, BUT, willing to work ALL THE TIME as young person and as a middle aged person, well, when you get to be 62 you MIGHT be in OK financial shape. At least in Texas, this is even true for black folks. One of my friends from grad school, who did finish his Ph.D. at UT Austin, where it was super cheap, is a long time Professor in the UT System now.
All of this is not perfect, but it is better than, say, India, where: IF you work all the time for your whole life you will still be dirt, unbelievably, poor. I know because my software team was outsourced to India and I went there to train me and my team's replacements in 2012. Everyone in India is poor and they stay poor all their lives.
Germany and parts of Europe are better, yes, but, those countries have their problems too.
So, although I am often here on this board saying what is true about America......it is a tough place.....and I might move to Greece with my wife someday if Trump wins again, America is not so bad.
To misquote Churchill: America is the worst country, except for all the rest.
:-)
Nice narrative Mike, but I doubt history will validate your term “ Many years of low population and cheap resources garnered by extermination of the natives upon arrival.” In most cases the dynamic was dispossession and denigration of native populations.
The result was extermination without it being the intent. The Trail of Tears was a mournful attempt at relocation.
Personally I place the absence of human rights as the real basis of economic inequality.
Art,
"The result was extermination without it being the intent.".
I once took a "People Skills" class in my early career since working on a farm in East Texas and studying in libraries for years does not impart high people skill upon arrival to the complex workforce.
In that class I learned something fundamental: It is not the intent that matters, it is the result. So, if I intend to be friendly guy but am too direct and folks are off put, it does not matter that I intend to be friendly, it just matters that folks are off put.
This learning, I think, applies to everything under the sun. The only thing that is reality is the result, not the intent.
If the result is extermination, independent of the intent, then, just saying that up front is the closest way to represent reality accurately.
I don’t agree. Pointing a gun in the air or at the person is the intention.
The arrival of the bullet is a result.
The white settlers mostly integrated with the native culture but somewhere along the development skin color defined castes and became an identifier of lesser value.
Than when land and crops superseded human values the economics created the reason for independence.
Art,
I don't disagree that intention is Of Interest.
But, outcome is The History.
Art, I find your explanation pitch perfect, perhaps because I recently reread Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste.
Mike, it’s lots easier for lower income folks to attend university and to excel in Europe than it is here. Tuition is very low, making university affordable. Many (most?) students live at home while in school, reducing costs further. It was true in the past that we had a more upwardly mobile society here in the US, but I don’t think it’s true any longer. We also do not have the highest standard of living anymore either, or even life expectancy. Universal healthcare will do that.
European countries take in plenty of refugees, and it’s the political problem there that it is here, magnified by the fact that European populations were historically much more homogeneous than here in the US, both racially and in terms of religion.
Yes, but in other countries you need to TEST into Uni. In the US… I do not know how that would work since our public school system has been steadily going down hill for decades.
The public school system has been dismantled by the Republicans since Reagan's governorship of California, and simply has continued under every Republican president since. "No Child Left Behind" is the shining example of that. It should read "All Children Left Behind", even the ones who got shunted to private religious schools, since what is taught there is just another form of dumbing down the population.
That is very true, and the tracking starts very early as well.
Right.
Plus, I have a German friend who tested poorly, but, his parents had a connection for him to avoid joining the trades.
He is a bright guy though. Never mind his bypassing the German process and going by way of the American process.
:-)
KR,
Thank you. Was out working till just now. For sure Germany seems to do a great job with its young people.
Not only Germany! Italy and Sweden both come to mind.
Have you any idea how many Algerians/Moroccans/s. Americans we have living here in France?
Jenny,
I have read about, but, obviously not experienced, the large migration to Europe from various places.
Well France had Colony's too now we have lots of S. Americans mostly from Chile and Ecuador. Just like in the US they are doing the awful jobs the French won't do! Really love our Town with all these people it's fascinating. S. Americans have brought so much joy and laughter.
Jenny,
I am glad to hear that you and France have melded with awesome humans.
Mike, the start of your post applies exactly to Australia. Even here the standard of living is starting to slither.
Anne,
At some point the population just flags the resources and decline occurs.
It happens in every closed eco system.
The final phase, is, of course, collapse of the population of the dominant species.
JennyStokes is a troll.
Karen,
I hope not!
I would like to respectfully disagree. It’s getting harder for young people to get ahead from just hard work now then when we were young. But I would say that many other countries make it easier for the young to get a good education whether they have rich parents or not. I live in Canada, and things are definitely getting more difficult here as well, but we have a high standard of living for the average person, public education, although tuition at University is getting higher, public healthcare for everyone and government pension plans. We also welcome immigrants here. I wish we took more, and the right wing is getting noisier and nastier, but overall I would say things here are definitely as good as in the USA. I certainly am not trying to say that things are better here, but just as good. And Europe and Scandinavian countries have a lot of benefits we don’t have. I just want to point out that Americans often seem to have been sold this idea of “exceptionalism “. There are lots of great places to live and we can all learn from each other. My two cents.
“Mixed breed human” ?? Excuse me? Top of your class? How?
Deb, Mike is from East Texas and has a non-English surname. Top of his class was through hard work. I'm going to add to the "hard work" component the ability to look at politics (he was a staunch Republican) and realize that what he was "learning" (reading right wing publications/authors) was not matching up with other learning and his belief structure. He is a long time commenter here.
Ally,
Many thanks. WOW. thanks.
I was out working in my woods collecting firewood all day fyi. Hence, my slow response.
:-)
I don't think think Republicans are capable of reflecting. I don't think they want to reflect.
They are on the ropes and they know it; their behavior is that of a cornered animal and dangerous. I hold the Dems partly responsible for the lack of pushback and the Republicans have banked on that.
America's history has some ugly, ugly shades to it, but overall, I believe we endeavor to improve and move forward.
The alterative to noninvolvement, especially with the resources this administration can lend. ... fascist elements would love it.
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
This needs to head every Dems social media posts starting today.
(edited date thanks to an astute reader)
With all due respect, as a long time elementary school teacher who’s stood many a recess watch, the comparison is an insult to the toddlers :)
The example has been set for them in trump's behavior. I'm not sure if Mike Johnson, an extremist trump supporter, had been announced as SOH as of this writing, but that does not bode well.
I have scanned to the bottom...where are the remarks about our President and how he has absorbed Israel's "poor me" scenario. Is it possible that Hamas is expressing the rage of all the Palestinians at being oppressed since 1948? But finding the true history is difficult. England gave Israel to the Zionist Jews in the Balfour Declaration and forgot to tell the Palestinians living there. The word went out and many Jews headed that way to make the desert bloom. (At the beginning of our country, word went out about all the empty free land here...except it had Native Americans. OK, we'll just put them in Oklahoma...but wait, there is oil there. Guess we'll have to move them somewhere else.) I am really confused about the ARAB war of 1948. Did they tell their own people (90% of Israel at that time) to leave and come back later...only to have Israel switch the rules to NO right of return...i.e. the Nakba of 1948. Now 75 years later, Hamas remembers and the sad game goes on. Where are the adults in the room??????????????????????
I try to find the people who have the best access to the truth and the lived experience to sort thru the facts.
https://open.substack.com/pub/cobaugh/p/a-short-catch-up-on-hamas-hezbollah?r=2xpfg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
What happens is the US has to be pro-Israel. Already money is being removed from Ivy League universities by rich donors who are furious at the lack of voluble support of Israel by said universities.
they obviously don't care and just as soon our Democracy fail! We MUST vote them OUT before it's too late... I shutter to think it may already be, but am not losing hope!
Yea. I agree. I think if they ever have another majority the first thing to go will be voting rights. They are emulating Orban and do in fact confer with him.
I doubt they will ever a knowledge it.
Well said
The Republicans won't come up with measure to fund the government: they NEED this shutdown. They need it to pin the blame on Biden: he's doing too much good for the normal American people, and they need to hurt him for the upcoming elections. Plus, they need this shutdown to show the world that democracy doesn't work - and that is exactly the thing that (their?) Big Chief Putin wants as well.
Agreed, Mike. Shutting down the government is the extremist agenda. It's important to keep pointing this out to reasonable swing voters.
Extremist and utterly irresponsible.
JL, more and more I see journalists and commentators referring to "the nihilist Republican Party" or "the nihilist right wing." Militia types are more blunt - what you hear from them is "Burn it all down."
I found the first hour and a half of the Ken Burns "The Civil War" today (I saw it when it was new, 30 or so years ago), in all its documentary horror, and the feeling is, "How could America have come to this? Never again! "
And yet, here we are.
Yes, we are. Along with slow progress, there has been relentless legal and propagandist action to keep white supremacy as strong as ever.
I believe that the journalists and commentators are correct, the MAGA Republicans are nihilists, either rejecting or not understanding the role of government and/or the responsibilities that go with their positions as elected officials. "My way or the highway" has never been the way successful governing works. So, I think that nihilistic is an adequate adjective for these MAGA/KKK Republicans. They don't care. They want white Protestant supremacy to rule the day.
Richard, their actions prove daily that they know nothing about governing. They care nothing for the people of our country, they care nothing for the care of our planet, our natural resources, the growth, development and care of our children nor do their actions demonstrate a hope for a healthy future.
They are blinded as to what they perceive as power...their ways are disruptive and full of emptiness. The choices they are making; the chaos they are creating is destroying all that our country stands for.
Meanwhile President Joe Biden and team are working day and night for the people of our country for our future, for jobs, etc. and to help calm violent situations and lust for power amongst our own as well as other leaders/disrupters around the world.
Emily, I agree with everything you say. We have a problem. How to attack it? What the article that I am including here makes clear, Hillary Clinton made a mistake calling them "Deplorables." I have found that Valerie Tarico makes some excellent points. https://valerietarico.com/2023/04/04/youre-a-stupid-greedy-racist-and-you-should-join-my-club/
Richard, thank you so much for sending Valerie Tarico's article. Actually listening to one another with respect and working to understand opposing views ....putting aside negative, dehumanizing labels.... is the only way we can survive and grow together for the good of an idea that is greater and much more worthy if we are to remain "The United States of America."
Read the article, and agree with the sentiment, especially her noting the primacy of curiosity. The problem is, how do you get a majority of Americans to seriously question whether capitalism is the proper economic system to address the problems we face? You’d have more success, imo, asking fundamentalist Christians to question the validity of Jesus as Lord and Savior.
It is an appropriate word and description but given that SO SO many MGATS are so under educated they likely don’t even understand the word if not the concept and tune it out. The message has to hit common ground and be blatantly clear.
Suckered by the Grifters Own Party...
Trickle-down = Siphon-up...
Extremest. Bought and paid for. Republicans know the damage they are doing. Their campaigns are funded for their “work” against the people, their people. We have reached this strange new place, where constituents do not matter, campaign mega donors are all that matter.
Greed, hate and delusion. The Three buddhist poisons.
Gratitude, Love, truth/knowledge. These must be the three Buddhist principles then? Or close?
Quite close. They speak of reducing suffering for all sentient beings, truly practiced by some more than others.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that."
- Sen. Fritz Hollings in 2004
Agreed but that is just one step in their agenda. Their goals go much further towards destroying any semblance of democracy in America.
As said before, billionaires don't like rules that they didn't make up themselves. The rules made by the people (i.e. democracy) usually hinder them in getting even richer, so that's why they don't like democracy and will pay representatives hefty sums to thwart and even abolish it.
Democracy is the cure for tyranny, a tyrant's worst nightmare.
That R's think they need to hurt someone indicates that they have no plan, no love if country and are only in it for themselves.
Every American needs to shout this from every rooftop. The RepubliQans aren't interested in governing, and couldn't care a rat's hiney about the American people either. They have no plan whatsoever; just burn everything down and run away with as much money as you can carry.
Yeah well, we NEED the government to stay Open! It shouldn't be too hard to prove who's responsible. Sometimes Democrats, (as correct as they may be), need to Scream!!! Fight fire with fire! Speak in the language those maggots understand! Tell them "NO" and Why!
I absolutely agree! Trouble is, the Dems don't have the media on their side. Media like Fox "News" and X are actively trying their best to bury the message the Dems have to tell: there's simply too much money behind the desire to destroy democracy...
You know, I think this is a question that should be asked to our Dem reps. Do they think the R’s are doing this on purpose to run the clock?
Of course the RebupliQans are doing this on purpose. And I can't believe the Dem reps are so naive that they can't see that, too.
I agree and coincidentally posted this on another Substack:
I sometimes wonder if getting rid of McCarthy as House Speaker was part of the Freedom Caucus’ plan all along. With no House Speaker there will be no vote on funding the government. Not funding the government has been the goal of these extremists. By voting against any and every candidate for House Speaker they can effectively reach their goal of a government shut down.
I was wondering the same thing... I mean, McCarthy is a spineless weasel, but maybe getting rid of him wasn't the best idea. Maybe the Dems shouldn't have voted against him...
I agree that is their goal. I still hope we find a way to thwart it.
Since McCarthy was ousted as Speaker, I have been identifying the root cause of the chaos in the House as the break-up of the former Republican Party (FRP) into an unstable coalition of three groups with totally incompatible agendas. I’ve labeled groups as the chaos faction, the grievance faction, and the remnants.
This kind of analysis is gaining traction. Robert Hubbell has a post in his substack on the topic. Professor Danielle Allen has an opinion piece in the Washington Post as well. While they see only two factions in the FRP, the “GOP23” (my remnants) and the Freedom Caucus (my chaos + grievance factions), I see a more nuanced breakdown into three factions. Both views lead to the same paralysis in the House. Both views point to the obvious solution to dysfunction that Hakeem Jeffries eventually is elected Speaker with support from the remnants.
The second step must then be taken, the revision of the motion to vacate rule so that the Speaker can regain the power that previous ones had when custom dictated that the one-member motion would not be used. Nancy Pelosi was prescient when she made the change.
I think the bit that Allen misses in her analysis is the separation between the Freedom Caucus, which just wants to break things and has no actual platform, and the bulk of the FRP, which is based on grievance and ideology and will walk in lockstep to actually implement Project 2025 initiatives that are being developed at the Heritage Foundation and funded by the billionaire oligarchs like Koch. That group poses a real threat because they have the intellectual ability to reshape government into a near-impregnable bastion against labor, the social safety net, government regulation and equitable taxation.
The grievance faction has already accomplished much,
1) by gerrymandering to control state legislatures and limit voting rights while impacting representation in the House (Operation REDMAP)
2) by the Federalist Society stacking the courts with ultra-conservative judges and unethically influencing members of SCOTUS.
Unless the Democratic Party starts identifying the very powerful grievance faction as the core faction that has to be defeated in 2024, the threat they pose to democracy will be underestimated. The chaos faction is the bright and shiny object meant to distract. The dark money controllers may support Trump, but they will not make the mistake they did during his first term, by allowing him to be surrounded by sycophants. That’s why they will be ready to roll on Inauguration Day in their takeover of the executive branch.
georgiafisanick.substack.com/more-views-on-the-dissolution-of-the-FRG
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-gop-breaks-apart
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/23/hakeem-jeffries-house-speaker-gop-division/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjk4MDMzNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjk5NDE5NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2OTgwMzM2MDAsImp0aSI6IjQ3YTJiZDM5LWNmMjQtNGNmZi04NWM0LTljYTk1YjA3ZTE0MiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDIzLzEwLzIzL2hha2VlbS1qZWZmcmllcy1ob3VzZS1zcGVha2VyLWdvcC1kaXZpc2lvbi8ifQ.KG8LIUCDJ-udu2ykrlFN4DXCfD-iLezIdthOrCn6oBE
Georgia, you sometimes use 2 different acronyms to refer to the former Republican party: FRP and FRG. Please clarify, thank you.
And I think you're onto something with your analysis of what is taking place in that group, identifying factions and the threats they pose to democracy moving forward -- particularly with the influence of the Heritage Foundation and the Kochs.
While we're at it, let's not forget the radical right wing of the Supreme Court, which will undoubtedly back their Project 2025 initiatives..
Ryan ZInke, Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, Elaine Chao, Ben Carson, Betsy DeVos, Steve Mnuchin, Alex Acosta, Rick Perry. A previous comment triggered this response, but after re-reading the posts here I don't see it. Anyway, the comment suggested TFFG's cabinet was Neo-liberal and I don't believe any of them are or ever have been.
I agree that his cabinet will still be filled with far right incompetent sycophants, but the quality of his original cabinet members and advisors was so bad that to imagine it getting worse is beyond the pale.
Ain’t that the truth. A group of destroyers from the git-go.
Gary, by the simplest definition of neoliberal, that being, an ideology focused on the primacy of the marketplace above all else, all were neoliberals. The fact that many were also batshit crazy Christian fascists doesn’t erase their neoliberalism.
And believe me, the people that Trump would surround himself with on a revenge tour could be worse; think people who all think like Steve Bannon but come across with the proper, upper-crust appearance and manner of Leonard Leo, with none of the extremist, clueless PR capacities of a DeVos, Perry, or Carson.
??? Gary, I didn't make the comment you refer to. Please redirect yours, thank you.
Sorry about that. My bad.
FRP is the correct abbreviation for Former Republican Party". Thanks much for the catch.
Astute analysis, the shiny objects distract but they also destruct. The grievance group continues on the path to dominance, undeterred by, well, anything. And the remnants do, what remnants always do, remind people of what used to be. And the Dems, United as they are, (and despite those always sniping at any lapses), are trying to be the adults in a room full of crocodiles. The adults, who have been vilified, non-stop, and with considerable success, plod on. Hence, the disfunction/grievance groups not likely to cooperate with the adults. But hopefully the remnants will. What have I missed?
There are not many remnants. Kinzinger on his substack is trying to rally them as "proud RINOs" Given how few there are not even all the ones in the problem solvers caucus are non-election deniers. Most that were are no longer in the House. There are a few Freshman Republicans that joined, and my own rep Tom Kean Jr. (NJ 7 R) joined them because he won by a whisker in the last election. PSC keeps the numbers equally balanced between Republicans and Democrats.
On my to do list to do a map of the caucuses in both parties. There are no obvious breaks along the ideological spectrum other than far right and left tails. But in the vote view maps I've been posting you can see the large cap between the parties. There is one post that shows a map from the 1960's and how the parties had a large overlap along the ideology spectrum with the "Factor 2" issues really splitting the parties.
You’re doing nice work, Georgia. Keep going.
In order for Biden’s vision for America to succeed we need a democratic majority in both chambers of Congress.
I have a strong belief that the solid democratic victories to come in 2024 are the most “hoped for” outcome by most American voters. Why this isn’t yet shown in the polls though is a reflection of the natural American brand of skepticism that goes part and parcel with our idea of what it means to be free in our increasingly pluralistic country. We try all kinds of approaches and test all assumptions before we throw our support behind any politician. This is a good thing.
Nonetheless the forces of authoritarianism have no patience or regard for the slow inexorable force of democracy that is often made even slower by the incompetence of authoritarian sympathizers. It’s very hard to pin down because it is wrapped up in feelings and emotions as well as our body of laws and cultural customs.
In God We Trust... that’s what the founders concluded... many of whom weren’t very religious at all. Biden has it right. Focus on the biggest issues and the necessary support by the majority of the American people will happen...God willing.
KD, I ignore the polls, unless they release their honest statistics and the questions asked. Too many "pollsters" determine the outcome they want, and then set out to get that outcome, which mainstream media slavishly touts, No fact checking necessary folks we paid for this poll.
As I've commented above, please add to your daily posts, starting today, with
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
Will do, but McCarthy was booted on Tuesday October 3 so today, a Tuesday, makes it day 22 if I counted right.
Corrected the count! Hopefully, I will catch the other posts as well. I'm a bit on fire this morning.
Perhaps I have a touch of math-dyslexia? THANK YOU!
I hope others catch this as well (because I've posted this all over. LOL)
I am so incredibly sick of this clown show that I really want to see some pushback on it!!
Seems there never are many remnants, by definition.
I agree with your take on the GOP, but have two observations. The first concerns the motion to vacate. While the one-person rule seems insane to me, just as does the one-person hold rule in the Senate regarding nominations, I don’t want the Speaker’s power back to the same level it was during Pelosi’s reign. We never got votes on Medicare For All, Green New Deal, etc. because of her ‘power’. I’d like to see a ‘sweet spot’ of members, say 20, required for the vacate motion, rather than a single member.
On Trump, he wasn’t ‘surrounded’ by sycophants, at least not at first. His cabinet and much of his staff were straight up neoliberals and ‘guardrail’ types, until much later, towards the end. As for a second term, if elected…. sycophant city.
I understand what you are saying about legislation getting not brought to the floor but if a majority of the House wants to bring legislation to a floor vote they can do it by discharge petition. It originally was that you only needed 1/3 of the House to sign on for discharge, but then it was raised to a majority. I would rather see it brought back to 1/3 than make any piece of legislation turn into a vote on vacating the chair. That should require whatever the conference rule is for electing a speaker designee--2/3 to elect, 2/3 for a motion to vacate, or majority to elect, a majority for amotion to vacate.
What the news does not cover well is that before Pelosi changed the rule it apparently only took one as a privileged motion but no one ever used it that way as custom. I have not had the energy to track back the history through the House rules and the Conference rules and precedents that run to several thousand pages.
Disagree on the elect/vacate issue; don’t think they should be the same. I’d rather see the vacate side be way less than 1/3; even 1/10 would require 50+ members. Any motion to vacate by the opposition party would be quickly dispensed with.
Vote counters do NOT bring forth legislation when there are not enough votes to pass.
And that’s a problem when the legislation is in the best interest of the nation.
Georgia, your great synopsis and supporting links help a lot. Thank you. I agree that the grievance group (powered by dark money) is the most destructive group. I don’t think that the DM group will be able to prevent TFG from surrounding himself with sycophants—look how Putin loaded the campaign and cabinet with pro-Russian (Tomlinson) members as well as those intent on doing away with their departments (Perry, DeVos), only to see TFG install acting cabinet members.
Georgia, you always give us an interesting synopsis. We do have many disrupters from many angles. One would think that persons who have been given opportunity to become powerful and successful would want all Americans to have the same opportunities. I guess they think they are going to live forever.....and that all Americans will choose to follow their perverted lead.....or will they attempt to force us to follow....
Very well done Georgia 🫶
Georgia, thank you for posting the Hubbell Newsletter link as I was about to. He maintains we may be witnessing the birth of a third party in America's political life. On the surface it certainly seems so. He also asserts that, in the face of that, Democrats should remain firmly united. He doesn't say so, but the Democrats could just as easily split up as well. I've long felt that only having 2 parties in this country was nuts. There is no way 2 parties will adequately represent the myriad wishes of every citizen or group of citizens. Virtually every democratic country on Earth has more than 2 parties and they still manage to work. Depending on the issues at hand, parties form coalitions and alliances per issue. Compromise is the name of the game and, as in a true democracy, not everybody gets what they want all the time. Living in Europe, I found these multi-party states quite fascinating, and, though at times vexing in the glacial pace things seem to move, amazing in how they did manage to come to agreements in the end. As Hubbell quoted Prof. Danielle Allen in the WaPo: "The solution to the leadership void in the House of Representatives is staring us in the face. We have three parties in Congress, not two: the Freedom Caucus Party, the Old Republican Party and the Democrats. The last one has the most members, so it should have the House speakership." What a concept. It's plain to see that sticking an "R" after someone's name isn't going to be enough to unite the Republican party anymore.
The unique issue we face here is that so much of the legislative system was conceived and crafted assuming that there would be two parties but never dreamed there would be this degree of polarization and institutional contempt for precedent. As Allen pointed out, the last time there was a major party disintegration was of the Whigs before the Civil Was, and a major party realignment with the move of the Southern Democrats to the Republicans in the 1960's during the Civil Rights era.
I too suspect the right of having an endgame where their Operation 2025 will be implemented. All the rest is to continue the havoc until November 2024. All the chaos will bring out voters who (without party distinction) will choose the authoritarian. Philosophy: Gotta break it to pieces and assign the blame properly to the party in power (pres, senate, liberal policies, etc) before the best solution will be swallowed by all those "two sides to everything." And that side will get 100 days of unbridled acceptance while Op2025 is firmly established. Then, imagine the shock when SS checks are delayed and we all start to get robo calls to sign up for the new privatized SS and there is no one answering calls about loans at the Dept of Ed starting on day 101.
"Unless the Democratic Party starts identifying the very powerful grievance faction as the core faction that has to be defeated in 2024, the threat they pose to democracy will be underestimated. The chaos faction is the bright and shiny object meant to distract. The dark money controllers may support Trump, but they will not make the mistake they did during his first term, by allowing him to be surrounded by sycophants. That’s why they will be ready to roll on Inauguration Day in their takeover of the executive branch."
Excellent analysis all around. Democrats, with their eye toward maintaining Democracy, are at a grave disadvantage.
Playing by the rules is almost always the fastest way to lose. Ask any successful card player what the value of cheating and faking are during a game with a rules by player.
President Biden is doing a heroic job of addressing both domestic and international problems.The threats are coming fast and furious. So far I have seen no hesitation or abdication of response. He has demonstrated the clear focus of a true leader. General Grant was known for his ability to make clear decisions at any hour under intense pressure, known as a 0300 hour General. President Biden has the experience to assess conditions and navigate internationally and domestically with the winds of change. There has been no dithering or wringing of hands, he is an 0300 General. I am proud to call him my President.
I totally agree, Charles, Biden is remarkable. The best both nationally and globally since FDR. FDR was only 63 when he died, so why even mention Biden's age. He is strong, wise, and forceful. What more could you ask for in a leader.
🫶
is starting a war in the Middle East a good way to solve international problems????? Bring the air craft carriers home.
Nice reference to General/President Grant. After reading his biography by Ron Chernow, I developed considerable admiration for him.
Well said, sir.
Congressional leaders should not receive a paycheck when they shut down the government or are seemingly unable or unwilling to get the House operational again. I would be fired so quickly if I did not do my job. Infuriating.
Nail that over the voters heads!
💙💙AT THE BALLOT BOX 💙💙
VOTE. THEM. OUT.
Dump the opportunists who serve themselves their wealthy customers. Public service should be just that. Many, many less powerful people are held to strict codes of conflicts of interest. It just nuts that those with the most critical roles to serve, and the greatest opportunities to cheat, are not. History and psychology show that power tends to corrupt even those who harbor "good intentions", let alone opportunists out for what they can get.
How many jobs let you lie to the boss? As for paycheck, I think that's chickenfeed to most legislators. Even if you are not wealthy to begin with (as so many of them are) you easily make wealthy friends, as Clarence Thomas does.
"The New York Times story that Trump mentioned in his social media post ran on Sunday evening. It not only repeated the allegations of the earlier ABC News account but also expanded on them by showing how Pratt had kept money flowing to Trump’s campaign. That included offering to “book as many rooms as available” for any campaign event Trump wanted to hold at Mar-a-Lago.
On another occasion, Pratt gave Trump $1 million for tickets to a New Year’s Eve event at Mar-a-Lago even though the actual price of those tickets was “$50,000 or less.” That certainly looks as if Pratt simply stuffed $1 million into Trump’s pocket—a contribution that’s unlikely to have appeared on Trump’s campaign finance reports." https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/23/2201064/-Details-of-Trump-s-alleged-money-for-secrets-deal-are-revealed#comment_87284589
Public service has it's special perqs, so long as you hold power.
Yup! I don’t know a way to stop that, as I was told by my local judge while presenting a case...”you can’t legislate morals” .
But we can put people in jail for breaking the law...eventually?
“The government will invest $500 million of public money in these hubs…”
“Private companies have announced investments of about $133 billion in clean energy production, which has in turn helped to spur the strong job growth and robust economic growth…”
Putting those two numbers side by side in investment/return relation screams the sensibility of government New Deal-type investment. The GOP screams, “Eeeek! Socialism! OMG!” Or, they would if they could get it together to do anything at all.
The GOP screams “Eeeek! "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, not just us. What could be worse?"
Traitors who don’t want to belong to the country but want the country and the people to belong to them.
SO MUCH THIS!!!
Excellent translation, JL!
Thank you Heather.
Regarding the news at home, how does a twice impeached, 1 term President with a bevy of charges and indictments against him get to determine the next Speaker of the House?
From a multiple of sources, Trump is speaking to prospective candidates as to who would benefit him on the long run.
What are we doing and how have we lost our moorings so tragically fast?
Over coffee today, a colleague and I discussed how the bizarre has now become the acceptable.
What a shame that is.
Be safe. Be well.
"...how the bizarre has now become the acceptable." How about beyond acceptable to the desired outcome? I cannot fathom where MAGAt thinking has gone in the past year and a half.
I completely agree Ally.
Probably to the bank a lot. 😬
Injustice thrives on ceasing to shock and/or indifference to injustice yet to be recognized ; that is normalized. What was the state on mind when twelve US president's held slaves (though Grant seemingly reluctantly). I think what successful social movements communicate is "This is not OK" and/or "We can do much better". When my father was born, as a general rule, it was against the law for women to vote.
I'm thrilled about the regional Tech Hubs project. I think it's exactly what we've needed for a long time now.
Sort of like the Marshall Plan for us
Haha. Right!
And why the hell not?
It's about time.
Heather, caught your conversation with Ari Melber yesterday. Good work! Your command of American History reflecting today's developing history always on point! Your articulation of the moment, SUPERB!!!
I noticed Ari seemed a bit ... flummoxed-distracted-overindulged??? I only saw the last two exchanges, and Ari's smirk and non-responsiveness were highly uncharacteristic. Heather was spot on w her comments, but Ari ...? Did you see any of this, Bob? I'm curious to know your take
Frederick, yes, I did catch that and that is why I posted. Ari was surprised, I think, by Heather's articulation of the moment and how it reverberates within US history. I expect that Ari will be bringing Heather back on in the future. And, lets acknowledge how Heather got a seat in the first place...her "Democracy Awakening " has awakened Ari!
OK. You're reading what I saw ...
I'm glad I was not just not misreading Ari, because, IMHO, he was out of character w his usually engaging participation w his guests. Heather is certainly reaching a vast audience and for this I am very grateful, to her and us all
I had the same thoughts about Ari as all of you. Not like him.
Well done, Dr. R. ! I hope that you become a regular MSNBC contributor. How about with Rachel Maddow next?
I second this motion!
I haven’t had the time yet but I plan to post on all his social media pages how glad I am that he interviewed her. Gotta give that positive feedback! 😁
Frederick, I felt exactly the same way!! Heather’s words were so perfect and Melber’s tone and expressions were just odd. I’ve struggled to put words to how he came across but it bordered on bizarre for me. On the other hand I was so happy to see the Professor getting some significant airtime I could have danced all night 😁
I so heartedly agree, including dancing all night. I don't need a reason to dance all night 😂 - swing, foxtrot, boogie-woogie, you name it!! My fave would be dancing to live old school jazz or blues bands (TMI)
"The administration is trying to sell the idea of investing in America rather than turning the economy over to the operation of markets. The latter has been the nation’s focus since 1981, but that ideology has not nurtured the economy so much as concentrated wealth among a few individuals."
Did any of it's architects ever actually aim for any other outcome?
I would argue the focus began earlier, under Carter. Deregulation of the airlines, trucking, etc. Milton Friedman’s poison began taking hold then. Reagan just put it in hyperdrive.
Poor Carter, always repubs’s whipping boy.
Unfortunately, he was the precursor to the Dems abandonment of the working class, codified a decade later by Clinton. Most every politician, in both parties, from ‘72 on, became infected by Friedman’s BS to some degree. Carter was hammered by stagflation, but his reelection death knell was the hostage crisis, more specifically the failed rescue mission. And yes, the GOP hated him, but plenty of Dems had the knives out for him as well. Remember, he won the presidency in an almost Sanders-like campaign, as an outsider to the establishment. ‘Official’ beltway DC hated the peanut farmer crowd from the jump.
Friedman's famous maxim "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits." is a recipe for sociopathy, and an implied rejection of democratic rule. It's weird how people flocked to it:
"Reagan voted 'greatest American...
Many Americans look back fondly at Reagan's presidency
Former US President Ronald Reagan has been voted the "greatest American" of all time by his fellow citizens.
(...)
Mr Reagan, who died last year aged 93, topped a list of 10 contenders, which featured six former presidents.
(...)
More than 2.4 million Americans cast their vote by phone, text or e-mail in the poll, organised by the Discovery Channel and AOL. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm
It is notable that while Nixon was held accountable by the media, Reagan, for the most part, was not. He was the "Great Communicator", even in only in the manner of game show host. Carter was a much better president than he was a TV star. Media has much to do with our current reversals of evidence-based thinking.
Many liberals consider Trump the worst POTUS ever. I don’t think he holds a candle to Ronnie. Reagan did more damage to our country with his pithy ‘government is the problem’ narrative than any rioting mob of Magats ever could. He turned me into a socialist; about the only non-hateful comment I got.
No, that is the outcome the architects wanted. Pure and simple.
Now comes the rhetoric about the proposed advantages of capitalization?
Again?
The finger points to the rich’s continuums. MORE.
The setup of elected get notoriety and richer quick . The positioned are identified , they’re either good or bad.
It seems to me that by not agreeing to a speaker MAGA extremists get what they want -- no government.
Susan, good point.
Posting again for about the 5th? 6th? time today (apologies, kind readers!) we need to push this message. Since McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3rd, starting today, this message needs to be put right out there:
"DAY 22 OF US GOVERNMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY MAGA REPUBLICANS"
Does anyone else have the feeling that Putin is actively trying to shake up the world order so that he may eventually have his way in Ukraine? ,
He's using Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel on different fronts and bring the U.S. and several allies deeper into the contest. Foreign minister Lavrov just went to Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah.
Putin is playing the long game, and knows that by expanding the Gaza conflict into a wider war, the U.S. and its allies are coming to Israel's side to provide material support (as we are doing for Ukraine.) Doing so will cost money, resources and possibly Allied lives. Putin knows that the West will eventually succumb to war weariness and fatigue, and money will dry up to defend Ukraine (which the MAGA party in the House want to make happen anyway, as does their false golden idol.
Takes a long time for the West to “succumb to war weariness and fatigue.” The money is the question…W/Dickie did their best to put us in the red for perpetuity
Putin, et al..the list is long, they’re MANY and live amongst us all.
War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It's hardly a civilized pursuit. It's amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace."
~ Walter Cronkite
Jan, watching the news this morning, shedding tears, about the devolving humanitarian crisis in Gaza—seeing children (and others) with injuries been operated on ON THE FLOOR in a hospital corridor w/o anesthesia & threats that the NICU will not have power, once the fuel is gone, to keep scores of babies alive. I just lost it…sitting here 1/2 a world away, an observer to this horror and to the silly, almost comic, folly playing out in the House of Reps. Sigh…then my thoughts drifted to deadly threats to humankind and our ecosystems ….hurricanes, tsunami, earthquakes, typhoons, spiking heat-domes, floods, tornadoes, and sadly, astoundingly, mankind itself raining ruin upon our world.
Yet, Hamas launched their attack knowing full well that this would be the result. As if making some kind of point is worth killing their own children. Are they culturally incapable of following the teachings of Gandhi, Tutu, and King? Yes, I agree that Israel holds their land by right of conquest, fig-leafed by language in their holy book. But incessant violence is not the way -- even if they manage to somehow destroy the state of Israel, there would be nothing left of the land they claim to value.
IMHO the whole thing is one giant cluster$#&@. I had a thought the other day to have every inhabitant of that larger region take a DNA test….then maybe it would dawn on them all just how we are fundamentally more connected than separate.

Members of the al-Zanati family killed following an Israeli strike, are taken to a waiting vehicle to be driven to a cemetery in Khan Yunis on October 23, 2023.Credit: MAHMUD HAMS - AFP
Michael Sfard
Oct 23, 2023 12:52 pm IDT
Moral corruption is a mechanism that fuels and justifies itself in a cycle that can become endless without powerful and insistent intervention.
For us Israelis, the 75 years of refugee status that we've imposed on millions of Palestinians, the 56 years of occupation that we've imposed on millions more, and the 16 years of siege that we've imposed on the millions of Palestinians in Gaza have eroded our moral principles. They have normalized a situation where there are people worth less. Much less.
Corruption usually moves into the depths of the abyss at a constant speed with frightening periods of acceleration, but there are also moments of hope for a slowdown – until the black Saturday of October 7.
The incomprehensible cruelty that we've been exposed to – which proves the degree to which the occupation and the siege corrupt the occupied as well as the occupier – has penetrated our soul. And like nuclear fuel, it has spiraled us on our way to a moral hell.
It took a few days for a day of unbridled and systematic slaughter of civilians – children, women, the elderly and men – by members of an organization that has lost any shred of humanity to lift some of the barriers that we still seemed to have.
Israel today is a country and society where calls to erase Gaza aren't only the province of pathetic and marginal people leaving comments on social media. It's a country where lawmakers from the ruling party are openly and unashamedly calling for a “second Nakba,” where the defense minister orders a denial of water, food and fuel to millions of civilians, a country whose president, Isaac Herzog, Israel's moderate face, says that all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' crimes. (If I hadn’t seen this part myself I wouldn’t have believed it.)
In Gaza with its 2.3 million inhabitants, over half of them children living under a government combining totalitarian dictatorship with religious fundamentalism, our president couldn't find a single Gazan – man, woman or child – who wasn't responsible. It’s a good thing no news channel has ordered a survey to find out what percentage of the Jewish community supports ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
And maybe not only in Gaza; why stop there? When the political and military leadership loses all restraint and approves ideas about a massive blow to civilians, we're creating a society where the process of stripping away the humanity of the people on the other side of the border has been completed.
And when that happens, the inferno is near. On October 8 we carried out a giant leap in our campaign of moral corruption, and we are now dangerously close to the black hole. It’s no wonder that there are thousands of dead in Gaza – thousands! – and the voices asking if we've done enough to prevent harming the innocent are barely heard in the Israeli public debate.
And that’s not all. No social moral corruption is only directed outward. There is always the enemy within – the same enemy the police commissioner declared war on last week when he ordered his subordinates to forcibly prevent protests against the war in Gaza and against harming innocent people there. And he proposed that we deport the protesters to Gaza.
It's likely that expressing sorrow at the death of children in the Strip (there are already over 1,700 of them) won't only earn you a spot on one of the police commissioner’s buses. It will also get you suspended from work or university, as has happened to dozens of people in the past two weeks.
And that’s not the worst scenario, because compassion for the children of Gaza could also end in a lynching attempt by a fascist mob, as happened to journalist Israel Frey. (Full disclosure: I’m proud to say that he’s a friend of mine.) In short: How will we define the regime of a country that treats its critics that way? I know how not to define it.
Not far from us, on their own way to the black hole, hover those who call themselves members of the “progressive left.” They're finding it hard to unhesitatingly condemn – and without fleeing to the “context” – a satanic orgy of destroying civilian Israeli communities near Gaza, along with their residents. Some are even blabbering something about decolonization being an ugly process; that’s what happened in Algeria and Kenya, for example.
I read that and die of shame. Maybe you didn't understand, but the struggle to end the occupation and achieve independence for the Palestinian people is part of the universal struggle to defend everyone's human rights, not vice versa. The idea of the sanctity of human life, the noble idea that every person has basic rights that shouldn't be undermined, isn't a tool for implementing Palestinian independence but the other way around. Palestinian freedom and self-determination are designed to advance a reality where people enjoy protection of their rights and are free to conduct their lives as they desire.
Those who are confused about this issue aren't humanists. Those who are confused about this issue aren't expressing a complex and profound moral thesis, they're simply sliding into support for terror.
Being humane is hard work. Remaining humane in the face of inhumane cruelty is far more difficult. Despite what we often think, humaneness isn’t a natural human trait. Much more natural is the desire to take revenge, to blame everyone on the other side, to drop thousands of bombs on them, to erase them from the face of the earth. Human history is full of examples, and apparently we haven’t learned a thing.
These are terrible times. We have experienced a horrific trauma perpetrated by human beings who have lost their humanity, and now we’re bombing, killing and starving people, and mainly hardening our hearts to stone. Moral corruption is no less dangerous to our survival than Hamas.
Thanks for posting this. So much good stuff in here.
"Being humane is hard work. Remaining humane in the face of inhumane cruelty is far more difficult. Despite what we often think, humaneness isn’t a natural human trait. Much more natural is the desire to take revenge, to blame everyone on the other side, to drop thousands of bombs on them, to erase them from the face of the earth. Human history is full of examples, and apparently we haven’t learned a thing."
Apparently, we've learned that aggression is the only way.
I think we learn and have propensities of both. Certainly the adaptive response of cooperation is visible even in many unicellular creature, albeit a primitive forms, even inter-species. What I think can legitimately be categorized as affection is displayed by other creatures. I think we have some inborn survival reactions are dangerous or problematical if overindulged or left "uncivilized", but I think our capacity for the compass of human emotions and behaviors evolved with us. We have both a highly individual and a social nature, and governance must speak to both; universal rights and responsibilities. The Constitution addresses some of both. R. L. Stevenson though of Jekyll and Hyde as two sides of human nature. More than one religion posits Good and Evil. I think it all has a basis in DNA, as well as learned behaviors.
That said, yes, predation and conformity is the easier road, especially if you pack up with bullies. Democracy is herding cats, and forbearing harmless behaviors of others one might still find objectionable. Democracy means sharing, in one way or another. It means you don't always get your way. It means resisting entropy rather than riding it downhill. The outcome seems worth the effort, but also people get tired of trying to be "good", especially when they feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. That's where a capacity to accurately connect up the dots is advantageous, especially in the face of hucksters selling dishonest and/or overly simplistic solutions.
Wow!
Had I not seen your name as the author of this most passionate and illuminating cri de coer Ms, Passmore, I would have thought Amos Oz and Thucydides had returned from the afterlife to join in collaborative effort.
Beautifully done. 👏
If you could go back to the morning after the 8th, what do you think the government of Israel should have done? What would have been a better response to Hamas' murderous incursion than an attack on Gaza by the IDF? I, too, deplore the destruction in Gaza, wrought by weapons that easily blast through walls in a vain hope of hitting "combatants" who dress, speak, and act just like civilians around them. (From the interviews with the released hostages, I get the impression that the Hamas military has buried itself in tunnels and hand-hewn caverns, leaving the civilians to absorb the bombs meant for them.)
Given the two governments involved, what should have been done?
It is time for the government to start to consider how they can provide seed money and structure to bring back what has been lost with the demise of local newspapers. What is needed are regional news websites that provide local factually accurate local news and postings of local events. If you do not think there is a problem, try and find out what is happening in a rural area. We cannot to have the information cycles held hostage by the various social media sites that are filled with propagandists with self driven agendas.
On this topic. I recently had trouble with delivery of The Dallas Morning News. I finally wrote to them, that if they had trouble with people cancelling their subscriptions, they should look at the pissy delivery. The response was “we can’t find people who want to work.” Well, many people who work at the assisted living where I live work two jobs to make ends meet. Maybe if they pay people enough to live, they might keep employees. It’s not possible for carriers to deliver papers on bicycles these days.
My sister works in a large grocery store (one of four of an independent chain in southern Oregon) and they are having an awful time keeping entry level people. I asked her why she thought it was, and she said that it seems to her that it is a combination of external distractions (the pull of the cell phone among them) and what we decided to call "destractability" which describes the inability to focus on learning a skill, and then perfecting that skill with practice. (She is 61 and has far worse learning disabilities than I do; when she couldn't learn produce codes, she figured out a way to memorize them. She would go to the produce section, grab a head of broccoli and say "this is broccoli, its number is 12345, and it gives us good nourishment." Then she'd go on to the other ones that gave her trouble and repeat the process.)
Wow!! Your sister sounds amazing!
Most of the LD kids I dealt with had no such ability or skills. Didn't mean they were dumb, as your sister proves. Just difficulty that the average bear doesn't have. Since school was easy for me, I had no clue
Same here, Jeri. Other than math, I was a great student.
Those lazy slobs just wanted to copy my papers. Well, there were those, but I had no idea of the struggles of some until I started testing and learning birth histories, and seeing the struggles first hand. And then, there were those who started out early on but disappeared along the way. Obviously handicapped and soon invisible. Guess some want us to be on our way back there…. Yep, that math did me. Blame it on a coach sub for an old geezer out the whole time for my first year of alg. In College, had to start over with Tech Math and work up. Thought my hubby was a genius because he could do math in his head. And he was…. Live and learn, sometimes
I've been hearing about this difficulty finding workers, especially in service industries, for quite some time. For instance, my dentist is has been working without a hygienist for a while now, claiming that no one wants to work permanently. Instead, they prefer to work for higher rates as contract "floaters," bouncing from job to job. While this "uberization" of work may have short-term benefits for workers, it destabilizes the businesses they rely on. I've seen phenomenon throughout the healthcare field. What to do? Idk.
As for the even lower paid categories, like newspaper delivery, I'm even more mystified.
What are these missing employees doing instead? I assume they're still eating and paying rent, but where and how?
The ones I know about, two jobs
But if people in that income bracket are having to hold down two (full-time?) jobs, wouldn't that make employees easy to find, not hard? It still doesn't "add up." Some jobs must be pulling these employees away from the jobs that seem to be going begging, and I wonder what those favored jobs are.
Money might enter in to it
"Republicans remain unable to agree on a candidate for speaker. So far, they have shut down the House for three weeks, eating up 20 of the 45 days the continuing resolution bought for them to come up with measures to fund the government."
Huh. So you're saying that the group of Congresscreatures who really, really wanted the government shutdown, and were so furious at McCarthy for preventing it that they removed him as Speaker, are now a tad over 44% of the way to getting what they wanted? Interesting. Probably just a coincidence.
Na, obstruction works in mysterious ways