I am profoundly appreciative of your work Professor Richardson – thank you.
It’s all coming into view this week isn’t it – the fascist playbook? Polls so close that no matter whether Harris wins by a small or large margin the GOP will cry foul ; local election boards that are corrupted ; a whole range of legal teams the GOP has lined up to challenge the election’s legality ; a stacked Supreme Court ; threats of violence against election officials ; the odious Elon Musk putting his thumb heavily on the scale ; the collusion with Putin and the compromising of our national security as Trump and Musk connive with a murderous dictator ; the desire of that same dictator for revenge, which is nothing less than the destruction of the US.
What will the US do without access to health care for women ? What will it do once the Right imposes its perverse view of history and education on our schools and universities, when the Florida model of repression goes national ? What will families do with no social security ? What misery will be visited on them when tarifs cause untold stress on already tight household budgets ? What environmental damage will come from a know-nothing attitude towards climate change, and the gutting if not outright elimination of NOAA and the early warning system for hurricanes ?
What will happen if they succeed in building their camps, and deport millions ? How will they try to hide the likely humanitarian catastrophe that will ensue ? What will happen to basic rights when police departments are further militarized and given a green light to arbitrarily treat citizens as they please ? What will happen as a lawless president pardons January 6th rioters ? Will he also pardon militia members who intimidate or even shoot peaceful protesters ? How long will people endure armed repression coupled with economic misery, before they themselves organize against it ?
What will the economy look like as the US exits NATO and leaves Europe to Putin ? What will happen to the US as the EU, an entity that helps sustain a robust US economy, is plunged into war as Putin gobbles up the Ukraine, the Baltics, and makes a play for Poland ? What will the nuclear powers of France and Britain do as remaining fellow NATO members are invaded ?
But the most important questions I have are more philosophical and humanistic : How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless as to entrust these monsters – a Trump, a Musk, and at this late date, a Putin – with their futures ? How can the historic memory of Boomers be so short and insouciant as to forget the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s ? How can people be filled with such blind hate that they will die on the hill of a Trump, rather than on the hill that will expand rights, economic opportunity, and keep the planet livable ?
If you think this is hyperventilating, that is merely because I have taught about this sort of thing my entire life. Authoritarians will lie about everything – their racism, their sexism are based on lies, their patriotism and their piety utterly false. But the cruelty they tell you they intend to inflict ? That is almost always the only truth they tell.
Steve, you stated the case for voting for democracy very well. Even if democracy wins this election, the autocrats will still be there. We can only hope that after democracy wins, enough people will understand how important democracy is. Hatred will always be around but we must learn how to make people understand differences.
I found a website for [ H. RES. 1386 ] that puts our name on a petition to Mike Johnson to stand against the dangerous agenda regarding the policies of Project 2025.
I forgot about H.RES.1386 from some August notes within an older Jessica's CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Substack - and I put my name on the petition - if you want, here's the link:
Johnson is a fascist. Fascists don’t give a damn about petitions nor any other form of advice from the people about what’s best for the country. The only hope is to outvote them, make it stick, make laws that curtail their operations (especially voter suppression and violations of civil rights), and vigorously enforce those laws. We can remove these fascists from power, but it will take a lot of persistent effort for a long time.
Johnson isn't a mere fascist, he's a Christofascist. I won't add my name to any petition for two reasons:
- It's a waste of time. Members of Congress only listen to their constituents and even then not always. It was beyond disheartening to see 85 boxes of petitions addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan with hundreds of thousands of signatures be rejected by his office; imagine the effort, the paper, the shipping costs to get those petitions to DC only to have them summarily dismissed.
- If Trump is elected and Project 2025 is implemented, I don't want to give them a reason to send me to the hooscow. Yes, that's extreme but we can't fool ourselves into believing that all will be normal, that maximum caution isn't required.
Christofascist, very apt phrase to describe Johnson, and hardly just him. Extremist Evangelicals are the driving centre of those praying endlessly for the Lord to end "secular tyranny", agents of Satan, in the USA. They have been dreaming of this for years now. The downfall of RvW has simply spurred them on, and an appetite for more to come is much of their minds.
I am a Catholic Christian, and don’t find anything remotely Christian about them. They simply want to misuse Jesus’s name as an excuse for a power grab.
Yes, and he smirks all the time. He was just here in Oregon to campaign for the local R in House District 5 who has an excellent opponent. Then he went across the Columbia to fundraise and campaign for angry Joe Kent, who is fascist to the core, and trying to unseat the incumbent D female who is an auto mechanic and hardly far left.
This is long. It is the editorial in today's edition of the Orland Sentinel. Christofascism is alive, well and flourishing in America.
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
How would Jesus vote?
Today, the weight of the pending election is on the minds of many across Central Florida— including those who are sitting in church pews or temples, listening to faith leaders exhorting them (subtly or not so much) to cast their ballots one way or another.
In a perfect — or even functional — society, that sermonizing would prompt an examination of how candidates’ conduct and viewpoints align with the core tenets of each voter’s faith. But for a growing number of Americans, this guidance will offer comfort and support that it’s OK to vote for people whose morals might appear questionable to the unenlightened. That it’s a bad idea to question leaders who exploit their voter-given power to marginalize and scapegoat groups of people as general threats to their own existence, and to paint those who disagree as villainous liars.
That it’s acceptable to ignore some of the great principles espoused by the world’s religious traditions: To comfort the afflicted, to welcome the stranger, to seek justice, to revere the truth. This is Christian nationalism at work — in Florida, and across the nation. And there is very little that is Christlike about it. Rather, this is the cancer our forefathers sought to prevent when they created the fundamental firewalls between government and religion — the walls that many of today’s leaders are seeking to tear down.
Know them by their works
Not many politicians openly proclaim themselves to be Christian nationalists, but they aren’t hard to spot. Gov. Ron DeSantis is a prime example. He often explains his actions (particularly those that misappropriate funding, incorporate dishonesty or gather power to himself that outstrips the boundaries of his role) by lashing out at some group that has “forced” him into extraordinary action. Consider his recent veto of the state’s entire cultural arts 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 1/5 grant program — a move that saved taxpayers a relatively paltry $32 million, but one that has devastated community arts programs including small theaters, visual-arts spaces and music programs. These programs brought joy to many and did no harm; some of them will not survive the loss of funding they depended on.
Magnifying his cruelty, DeSantis and like-minded people have repeatedly lied about asylum seekers, branding them as “illegals” who want to sell fentanyl to high-schoolers, rape housewives and steal jobs from deserving Americans. The only presidential debate this year featured the same callous dishonesty, when former president Donald Trump slandered Haitian immigrants as pet abducting dog-eaters. The president and his debate-prep team almost certainly knew they were repeating social-media rumors that had already been proven false. In each of these cases, what side do you think Jesus would have taken? Or Solomon, Mohammed, Buddha? If you need a reference, check out Leviticus 19:34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The truly sad thing is that, even as we write this, we can think of so many other examples where DeSantis, Trump or legislative candidates demonized vulnerable people, usually as a distraction to draw voters’ attention away from their own failures to fix property insurance, repair crumbling infrastructure and help Florida’s increasingly desperate working class. Here’s just one more: The infamous 2023 hearing of the state House Education Committee, where Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, listened to transgender adults and youth plead for protection against invasion into their intimate lives, then responded: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 2/5 your imps will come and parade before us. That’s right — I called you demons and imps.”
Barnaby is on the ballot Nov. 5, facing Rosemarie Latham, a nurse-practitioner who wants to expand health care to low-income workers. May his cruel pride go before a fall. Praying to false gods In a recent edition of the NPR talk show 1A, a panel of experts explored the psychology of Christian nationalism and why so many Americans are seduced into believing that these actions are godly, or even acceptable in a polite society — and how they can revere a creature like Trump, the serial adulterer with a miles-long record of cheating his business partners, exploiting public resources and spewing lies about political rivals.
And that was before he became president. Since then, fact-checking organizations have documented thousands of outright lies — while Trump cozied up to some of the world’s cruelest and most oppressive regimes and stood by while a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in pursuit of his attempt to steal the 2020 election. None of it seems to matter to the subset of voters who see Trump as their golden idol — capable of no wrong. Others vote for him because they don’t care about the lies, and believe he’ll be better for their bottom line. Even rational Republicans, who are repulsed by his arrogance and greed, fear to speak up against him. How can this be? As described by the panelists, it’s definitely not by accident. In fact, the current Christian nationalist movement appears to be the end game of a “deeply networked organizational infrastructure” that’s been working for years to dismantle critical checks and balances — including the much vaunted separation of church and state, but also reaching to mechanisms intended to keep power distributed and thus, resistant to abuse.
In Florida, DeSantis has emasculated the state Legislature and systematically undermined the independence of the court system. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it’s all part of the plan. Powerful, ultra-conservative ministers are definitely playing their role, lacing their sermons with partisan themes and using political stunts as fundraising props. Groups like the pro-book-banning Moms for Liberty clutch cloaks of virtue while they work to destabilize Americans’ perception of what is true and acceptable in society. A close look at the books they’ve targeted include many that had no whiff of sexual or sinful content. Instead, these stories worked to build empathy and understanding of people who were from other cultures, or related the historic struggle for human equality and dignity. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 3/5 Removing those books, and rejecting other efforts to foster empathy, makes it easier to vilify groups of people who have few defenses. They are the perfect targets — and having enemies is essential in the Christian Nationalist playbook. “One aspect of movement that’s become much more salient in the last decade or so is the idea of spiritual warfare. This idea that God and Satan are really active and directly involved in American political campaigns, and God has chosen to anoint one candidate.
So within this mindset, it’s important to understand they see Trump not so much as a politician. They don’t look at his personal history, but they see him as an anointed one sent from on high,” Katherine Stewart, who recently wrote a book about the movement, told 1A. To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful. What voice will you follow? So how do Christians and other people who are sincere in the core tenets of their faith fight back against this co-opting of religion? Many local churches are already doing this work. There are pastors in this community who speak compellingly of Christ’s imperatives toward kindness, respect and humility. Their congregations work to lift up marginalized people, heal the sick, care for those in need. They pray for justice, and for truth. They should do more, remembering that Jesus himself was not content just to preach and hope. He was a fiery voice challenging the power structure — a dangerous voice, in the end, but one that has echoed through millennia.
We’ll close with something the Rev. Jim Wallis, director of the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, who has been rebuking the ultraconservative high-jacking of faith for decades: “Jesus said, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now as I dig into that text in times like this, it tells me that the opposite of truth isn’t just lies, it’s captivity. It’s captivity. And a whole lot of people have become captive to these lies.” As they consider their choices in this election, we urge readers of faith to look past the political alliances that have been forged between the powerful elite of this nation and the Philistines who offer to cloak greed and division in Godly vestments. Look to the core works of your faith: The Torah. The Koran. The Bible. And pray. This nation has never needed it more. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 4/5
Years ago, someone in an online discussion group used the term, "christofascist." I was impressed by how perfectly it described members of my family and people I grew up with, so I began using it from then on.
Unlike mainline Protestantism, which focuses on loving God and neighbor, Evangelicalism is animated by fear. Evangelicals awaken every morning, overcome with a thousand different fears: fear of Satan, fear of committing a sin, fear of an angry God, fear of being condemned to hell, fear of criticism by fellow believers, fear of people who do not believe as they do, worship as they do, love as they do and live as they do. In humans, uncontrolled fear is transformed into hate. This makes evangelicals the ideal targets for fascism.
The smarter fascists who direct Trump have used him to attract and dominate evangelicals, bringing them to heel in service to the fascist drive for power and control.
Evangelicals, fearing secularism, eschew public education. Thus, they are unable to think critically, or sort fact from fiction. In fact, they have abetted the campaign to discredit and defund public education in favor of "Christian" and charter schools.
Sinclair Lewis did NOT write "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." But whoever first wrote this aphorism was right.
No, he didn't, but he wrote plenty of things that suggest he would have been OK with it. For instance, from IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which I want to reread, but not till after the election): "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst fascists were they who disowned the word ‘fascism’ and preached enslavement to capitalism under the style of constitutional and traditional Native American liberty."
Yeah! You're right. Glad it's happening in your country, not mine! But at least you're prepared to be the canary in the coal-mine for the rest of the English-speaking world. And Rupert; he's now your problem.
Johnson is also a hypocrite hiding his lust for power and control behind his "religious righteousness," MisTBlu. Let's just hope there are enough women who don't want anyone to boss us around to get rid of these theocratic punks.
ChristoFascist! Handmaids, whose male preachers are screeching about abortion. Fear, hate, the other…and at the core is sexism and hate for women! This has been the core power struggle for a long time! Well before Rome…and their weird version of Jesus, who was clearly married with children..
I completely agree. I stopped adding my name to any political request or poll. Those that do are putting a bullseye on themselves. Win, lose or draw this election is a losing proposition for all involved.
Wow! I knew that Trump and his cronies-in-crime were up to no good, but as I was reading Heather's letter today, it became crystal clear. Everything she quoted went right to the cold heart of Donald Trump.
Two statements stood out to me as describ8ng MAGA. Women are only useful for "children, kitchen, and the church." MAGA's sentiments exactly.
The bull's eye truth of Trump's whole movement is this quote- "Getting men to hate rather than to think."
Pam, I opened the US Army link Heather provided, and this part jumped out at me when reading page 1: "They make their own rules and change them when they choose. If you don't like it, it's "T.S." ".
I think it's pretty easy to deduce what "T.S." stands for! 😁
If trump becomes president, every day that passes, Vance will be a day closer to be president himself due death or greater incapacitated of the former....
Yes, Pam, that stood out to me as well. I think, hope, as a nation, we are past this thinking and rhetoric. Most of us anyway.
I appreciate you not using the word "fascist" even though clearly this is a part of that definition. I tire of our use of this word (frequently) as it mirrors the simplistic and degrading tone of DT and I hope we are better than that. Still I realize we must give voice to the truth. Truth to power.
Everything Heather said is correct. I am just as concerned why the people will blindly follow that is clearly designed to harm them. Yet perhaps they’ve already been harmed.
Sometime in 1993 or 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. On that day, I paused and wondered how great this would affect American workers; workers in manufacturing who had little formal education. A few years later in my travels as an art dealer driving across the country, I drove to Seattle and stopped in Richmond, Indiana to stay at an Airbnb. The Victorian house was as ornate as the Mark Twain house in my hometown of Hartford, CT. I paid about $50 for the night to stay in the mini mansion . I asked the owner at breakfast if he minded telling me what the value of the house was. He reported around $125,000. I gasped. He then told me how that rust belt area had become filled with deserted plants and had shut down to set up off-shore. Workers no longer had those solid middle income factory jobs. A few decades later, his wife ran for president and in her run, called those MAGA supporters of Trump “The Deplorables,” mostly white, uneducated, now lower income the same group that lost their solid middle incomes under Bill Clinton. That group formed the bases of Trump’s base.
When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, it became a political issue. It’s no wonder that this group is so hardened against a political party that ruined them and will not listen to reason. They have been thoroughly abandoned and insulted by the party that once supported them and their once good paying jobs.
This is the explanation to my fellow hard-headed dense democrats that just don’t understand why a large segment of the population will support a facist-like movement that does not have their interests at heart. It’s a bit confounding isn’t it — both sides, one side being the wronged and the other side being unable to grasp what the hell has happened. Go ahead ladies and gentlemen, have at me. I tell the truth.
I think the immigration problem is overplayed, legal and otherwise, they commit fewer crimes than average Americans, play a vital role in esp the agricultural sector, doing jobs most Americans refuse to do. Studies show they provide a net economic gain, pay taxes, and so on. So Americans scream they're stealing jobs when in fact USA is in virtual full employment. Murdering criminal millions, give us a break! The immigration system does need fixing, simply staunching the inflow of mainly economic migrants with walls et al won't solve the problem. USA needs to figure out better how to meet its own employment needs when its native population cannot adequately step up to the plate. Their is a solid reason why mainly economic migration from Mexican and Latino countries has been a "thorn" for more than a couple generations now. Trump and Maga have made perceived grievances a major touchstone of their campaign. Sadly, it's paid off dividends, in spades. Sounds to me it's more about racism, than economics.
It is. Tom Schiller and Paul Waldman recently published a book titled “The Roots of White Rural Rage.” People in rural areas listen to different media outlets that city people, and they have been red a constant stream of culture war propaganda that has encouraged them to vote against their economic interests. Rural areas are badly hit when farms consolidate into mega farms, factories close, young people leave for cities, and they vote for the very people who cause these problems. The propagandists have no interest in solving these problems, but want to exploit them on their behalf.
Which is why Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org) among others is addressing rural needs. Jess Piper did a great interview this week with Tom Vilsack, discussing rural issues and how they can be addressed.
I grew up on a farm, working in the fields. My parents aspired to more for me than manual labor in the fields, which simply does not pay enough to eat and live indoors at the same time. In eastern NC, where I live, there are a large number of factory farms and meat processing plants. Those jobs are dirty and physically demanding. The locals, who already lived in the area, didn’t want to work at meat processing plants. Is that what you would want for your child? Immigrants came to fill those jobs. They didn’t take jobs from locals. Deport those immigrants, and who will do those difficult jobs?
Right on Frank. Of course it's about racism and the hate and divisiveness that accompanies it.
But the economy will suffer as a consequence of closing the borders. And is it even possible to deport even 10,000 migrants? Who is going to accept them and if we just dump them in Venezuela, Haiti and Central America for starters these countries will all turn them away. If they do accept them, they will be harshly dealt with in all of the usual ways a dictatorship deals with them.
I have worked with literally hundreds of immigrants as a computer consultant, plus we have hired several dozen more to work at our home. We would still be waiting for a roof in Florida if not for immigrants and the quality of work is as good or better than native born Americans. Y2K opened the door for Indian programmers (and other nationalities) with the H2B programs. It was an ugly transition in the 1990's because of the communication barrier.
Anyway, if you deport brown people you lose a large portion of our productive workforce in almost EVERY occupation. My primary care doctor is an immigrant from Columbia. She actually saved my life plus she is fluent in several languages. It is actually selfish of me, to use her when there are relatively few doctors that serve the Hispanic community.
We all know they can't deport immigrants, legal or illegal, and we likely can't even put them in camps. So is the alternative the Fascist solution to just kill them?
Thanks for all that info, Gary! I suspect you mean 10 million, and Trump has been gaslighting 20-30 million. The logistics and the reaction of foreign governments will make a mockery of these threats.
Gary Loft: Under TFG, he'll allow the military to do just that-that way no expense for food, water, etc. Whether the military will blindly follow orders, even if unlawful, is unknowable.Think of the psychic trauma that will be inflicted on those soldiers.
Agreed, Frank. As usual, Mr. Katz simply repeats what trompy and the rest of the MAGAs want everybody to be talking about instead of issues that are greater threats to us all. Immigration is certainly important, but it's far less so than the loss of basic rights, freedoms, safety, etc. And if it were more important, then the Republicans would have taken up and voted to approve the bipartisan-drafted bill that Biden said he's signed, am I right?
Biden was absent for almost 3 years on topic. And as usual, Mr. Katz repeats the unblemished truths about our politics which is that we are a fractured society and perfectly timed to get worked by the hidden puppeteers that are also pulling your strings, too.
Please tell me in very simple words how President Biden was absent for three years Bill. Are you saying this country, that has completely recovered from the pandemic economic slump the entire world experienced, has at the same time, stood still? All the leading economic indicators would have to challenge your words here. People are always going to bitch and main about gas and food prices-like when haven’t they? As for NAFTA, the idea began in the Reagan administration, at first as an agreement between Canada and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement?wprov=sfti1#Negotiation,_signing,_ratification,_and_revision_(1988%E2%80%9394)
It ended up on Pres. Clinton’s desk after Mexico, Central and South America were added by Bush, Sr.
All the off shoring to so many other countries didn’t happen because of NAFTA.
I have concluded that Mr. Katz is a one-trick pony (or perhaps, Trojan horse) who comes here to repeat ad nauseam the same Republican talking points in order to derail thoughtful conversations. I engaged with him once and have resolved never to do it again, no matter how much he needs rebuttal.
Agree, Monsieur, most definitely I agree on not contacting you again. As to one-trick phony? You must have eaten your morning wheaties with McDonald’s tainted onions.
Ooof, could you be more pretentious than to use Monsieur when you probably don't even know French, and beside the point, can you offer anything of substance for rebuttal beyond snide ad hominem deflections?
It's the fear mongering that Trump does. Saying "illegal alliens" will come into your kitchen and slit your throat! Everyone knows this is not true but say it enough and people believe them. Do you think the people who support MAGA see or hear info like what you stated on your comment? Absolutely not. My husband is a Trump supporter Fox watcher. The drumbeat on Fox is fear. They do portray Democrats as communists as well as equal to the devil. People who watch this don't see any other source of "news" as I'm sure you know. I've got my husband watching a Spectrum News channel for bipartisan info but it doesn't change his mind. He was a housepainter and lost his job to those who would accept pay @ half what he received and they happened to be immigrants. People like him have a grudge and Trump feeds it. So sorry for venting but I'm so terrified of fascism.
To be slightly objective here, the immigrant "problem" is quite real. There are in fact at least several million possibly almost ten million undocumented immigrants in the US today. Under the current law, almost every one of those people are subject to arrest and deportation. This is absolutely without regard to ANY logical or rational justification for enforcing the law. Enforcing the law is always theoretically the right thing to do unless you believe the law is unconstitutional. And in general our immigration laws are not unconstitutional, just unenforced.
So trump, if elected will be completely within his rights and in fact may be legally correct to massively enforce the immigration laws. Will he be "right" in the moral sense? Maybe not. Will he be right in the political sense? That remains to be seen. But he will almost certainly be right in the legal sense. And that is technically all the justification he needs to carry out his draconian plan. It is difficult to see any court which would halt his ability to do that (and if they did, I would expect the Supreme Court as it currently exists to reverse quite quickly.
This is why i believe that the best course of action is to repeal all immigration laws and essentially open the borders to anyone with the exception of demonstrable criminals. This would make it much more difficult to attempt mass deportations. By removing the legal basis for such deportations, it would at least become an unlawful act to arbitrarily deport people based on status.
Jon, the undocumented you speak of have jobs and families, with citizen children (assuming they were born here.) Many, if not most, pay taxes and have SS/FICA withheld without access to benefits. Deportation (which you don't advocate, thankfully) would be extremely expensive to the taxpayers and the economy, but opening the borders isn't a solution either. I believe that those presently here (unless they were/are criminals of one sort of another) should be on a path to recognition as citizens. We need a sane, fair and manageable immigration solution without saying "Come one, Come all."
Sorry I don't believe you can really have it " both ways". This just another repeat of the various forgiveness strategies that have been repeated over and over. Don't keep immigrants out because we really DO want them and need them (they obviously take jobs that most Americana don't want) let them sneak in and get settled and then a few years later when there is a political "need" to get even, throw some of them out but let the large majority have amnesty, give them some path to legitimacy, then say "we're closing the borders down now", rinse and repeat. It's getting pretty tiring. In some ways it gives credence to Trump's philosophy, build a huge wall and throw them all out and keep them out. At least he is consistent if terribly wrong IMHO.
You really can't have it both ways. You either have to deport those who are her e illegally or you have to acknowledge that our policies don't work and do trying to keep them out. The rinse and repeat concept of looking the other way for a while, then granting some kind of amnesty for those who were able to get through the obstacles and take up illegal residence is wrong and unfair. I have seen this done several times in my lifetime and I am sick of it. Either do what Trump says and deport every one who is here illegally or cancel the laws and permit unrestricted immigration. I see no other fair and decent alternatives. You know which one I think is right.
The economic reality in my state is that many of the agricultural jobs, on which much of our economy is based, no longer pay enough or appeal to white workers. Nor do the nonunion construction jobs. My neighbor is having his roof replaced down to the trusses and the entire crew is comprised of Spanish speaking workers even though our minimum wage is $15 an hour and there is a construction boom to accommodate all the growth we are experiencing. Without migrant workers, our economy would collapse and your supply of fresh fruit would cost far more than you would want to pay. The town where I grew up was called the fruit bowl of the nation and it got that way because every year migrant workers came to harvest its bounty. It’s now a major producer of wine grapes. So enjoy what our state and its workers provide and stfu with your nonsense.
I won't believe my country is serious about enforcing immigration laws until I see some serious enforcement that aims at preventing them from getting employment. And there's a thermometer or barometer to check that. If you can still find a place in your city where men can stand around openly on the corners in certain areas waiting to be picked up to work, you know that the immigration law is not being enforced. We need to figure out how to keep them from finding employment. Then they will not take ridiculously huge loans in order to get here on the chance they will be able to pay off the loan with the wonderfully high salaries we have. I'm being cynical sorry. Because they mainly live in conditions many of us would find subpar, because they are sending most of their money home hoping to build up in big enough nest egg to be able to go back and eventually retire there, since they won't be able to retire decently in this country on their earnings.
I disagree with the commonly heard statement that the jobs they are filling are jobs Americans don't want. What has happened is it has become impossible for a contractor in certain fields, starting with landscaping and I'm sure going into plenty of other fields, to make any money without hiring illegals because if they don't they will be underbid by those who do. I saw this change personally in the 1990s and 2000s when I was a licensed landscape contractor myself.
And I enjoyed having the Latins on my crews. They were usually willing workers (especially the newly-arrived ones) and fast learners.
Yep this is why I favor an open border policy. Get rid of the immigration laws and you get rid of these problems. The very fact that millions of undocumented immigrants can actually get into the country and take up illegal residence without causing a huge serious problem suggests to me that open borders will work much better than deportation. Look at the European union. They opened all they're borders to any one in the union and now their economies are mostly much more vibrant than ours. We need workers and immigrants do a lot of work that most Americans aren't interested in doing.
The town I grew up in turned 400 last year. In that time its economy has gone from extractive ship mast production and fishing, to hard scrabble farming and wool production, to weaving, tanning, shoe and brick manufacturing, and finally making plastic auto parts. All of these went away, with the ensuing pain that always follows economic transitions. The transitions didn't make themselves, however, they required a lot of effort by gritty, determined, fairly well educated people. It now has a very diverse economy that includes being the headquarters of a large insurance company.
NAFTA and globalization facilitated a race to the bottom where almighty capital won, is still winning, despite nearly losing it all in 2008 - when we literally printed money to save overextended (greedy) financial institutions. My town survived globalization because it stopped being a one or two industry town decades ago. The rust belt seems to be diversifying as well, through a lot of hard work and creativity. I just hope they can avoid the 'one industry town' trap that makes us vulnerable to greedy capitalists in the first place.
Supply side economics laid the groundwork for globalization, which hollowed out American manufacturing, which laid the groundwork for the Tea Party, the opioid epidemic (which is dwarfed by the epidemic of alcohol - but we don't talk about that), and a fascist bid to take over our country. Vote Harris/Walz in November.
If you listen to podcasts, Unf*cking the Republic had a really interesting take on the financial crisis: the crazy surge in oil prices driven by financial institutions. Worth a listen.
I am not laughing at you; there is a lot of truth in what you say. Those same rust belt areas were then flooded with opioids and in a way that is what Trump is still doing with his fake promises. I think Harris is recognizing this and trying valiantly to break through that mindset and level the playing field, as it were. Another 4 years of Trump would be a nightmare for this country and the world-just like Hitler was. Last night, I re-watched Gary Oldman as Churchill in His Darkest Hour and there was a line there that struck a chord with me-he that never changes his mind, never changes anything. I am heartened by the number of Republicans who are publicly endorsing Harris and hope we can get to a 54% Dem win so there is no doubt who has won this election-and then the work begins.
Republicans lying again. Biden has largely continued Trump’s migrant policies, but doesn’t separate families. Trump got the Republicans to withdraw their support from an immigration bill so he could use it as a political stalking horse, and they lie about immigrant caravans the way Elise Stefanik did the other day on X. The Republicans have replaced their oaths of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States with a private oath of loyalty to an incompetent wannabe dictator.
Speaking of Stefanik - I guess it wouldnt be surprising to hear the views of people who live in and around her district! Another politician who only "serves" herself & tffg and makes it very obvious!
Right?? The politicization of this issue began LONG, L O N G before Joe Biden took office. And it seems that there WAS a bi-partisan bill proposed during Joe’s administration that was denied even being brought up for a vote because Mr Trump rejected the appearance of any kind of win for Democrats before the 2024 election. Hmmm. This issue is largely manufactured as a political argument for campaigning just as abortion WAS and look what ham-handedly handling that looks like! I was never a fan of NAFTA but I believe Joe Biden has done more to right that grievous wrong than anyone since so the argument that Democrats won’t hear what the struggling middle class has to say is faulty also. They’re listening and working to make it better but MAGA is turning their noses up to all of it over an opportunity to make us pay for their losses.
In my reply to Mr Katz, I referred to Wikipedia about the original intent of NAFTA and discovered that NAFTA was the brainchild of the Reagan administration. It’s a fascinating reminder that people could perhaps benefiting by reading.
From CoPilot: Yes, Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea of a North American free trade agreement during his 1980 presidential campaign1
. However, it was during the administration of George H. W. Bush that negotiations began, and the agreement was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 19931
. So, while Reagan planted the seed, it took a few administrations to bring NAFTA to life.
It's an interesting comment isn't it? Sprinkled with a little skewed history. Always as if the person woke up in 1990 and thought everything was brand new.
Candace, Mr. Katz propagates this MAGA assertion frequently (despite my belief he's not MAGA.)
I can only surmise that trompy's statement in 2015 after descending the escalator must have made a favorable impression on him, because that's what he often talks about.
This is an important reminder of where we got where we are, but you seem to have left out the role of Reagan, the supply-siders, and decades of Republican dominance. Why are they forgiven? Why does all the blame fall on Bill and Hillary in your telling?
The problem, to my mind, is always the desire for corporate power. And that lies in the apologies of economics, which isn't a science, as much as they try to make it one.
The laws are written around the rights of property owners, not stakeholders. Shareholders, not stakeholders. Shareholders have nothing in the game but money, and can fleewith it on any whim.
Stakeholders are the customers, employees, residents. Those who bought the products, supply the parts, live with the factory.
Shareholders should be the last in line, not the first.
Well I certainly disagree with this. Shareholders are the life blood of a capitalist economy I don't love it but it's true. Without their money the companies would cease to exist. I agree stakeholders are important too and have been ignored for too long but putting shareholders last would be tragic to the economy. Better would be to include both at the same level of importance. That would be a better capitalist solution, acknowledging the importance of stakeholders without relegating the people whose money makes it possible to last place. (And this from a communist like myself LOL).
Consider that the prolific Bill Katz seems to be a white man, so he prefers to focus on very recent U.S. history. He might benefit from going back to the time of the War Department memo, March 1945, and acknowledging that fascism's first cousin was already entrenched in the U.S. South under the name of Jim Crow, and its influence affected the national government and the country at large. It greatly influenced the New Deal before WW2 and the GI Bill after it.
exactly! IMO it started with the sham trickle-down economics theory from Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. Prior to that we had vibrant cities, lots of union jobs, healthy middle class. But the oligarchs needed more money and then of course they then needed even more and along came NAFTA. Forty + years of a bs economic theory and the chickens have come home to roost. And the oligarchs keep gaslighting the public to believe it's the immigrants' fault ,those on welfare and maje you turn a blind eye to those who ate actually gouging us...corporations. The oligarchs are running the show in America and globally
You only mentioned the migration “crisis” because there is no real crisis. If there were, the bipartisan border bill would have been signed instead of squashed under trump’s demand because it was an issue he could run on. He inflates numbers and exaggerates small issues that could be dealt with under normal circumstances but because the House is tied into MAGA knots and the Senate pretty close to the same, very little can happen. Don’t even get me going on the Supreme Court; and I use the descriptor of “supreme” very loosely.
In a simplified fashion, I drew a line between the downside of NAFTA (American workers losing income) and her “deplorables.” We would have been better without them in my opinion, of course.
@ Bill Katz, in Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” speech, she didn’t call Trump supporters who were in despair because they had lost their good jobs “deplorables.” In fact, she said “those are people we have to understand and empathize with.” She specifically defined “the basket of deplorables” as half of Trump’s supporters who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
But the "basket of deplorables" was such a wonderful gift/phrase for the Repubs! Three words out of an entire paragraph/statement! Just like the clips that faux and its "followers" pick up on today. I think that there should be better comebacks from the Dems. They do lack a bit of that kind of reaction.
Thanks Ellen for the link - HERE IS THE ACTUAL SPEECH!
At an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9, Clinton gave a speech and said the following:[11]
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case – and don't get complacent; don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, "Well, he's done this time". We are living in a volatile political environment.
You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.
But the "other" basket – the other basket – and I know because I look at this crowd I see friends from all over America here: I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas and – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but – he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
And just in case you might think I’m a troll Russian plant, I spent 3 struggling years writing about the evils of Donald Trump. My credentials are clean.
I agree, Bill. When I was working as a lobbyist in Michigan, I sat stunned as our Democratic governor Granholm announced in a meeting that our auto workers would be sent back to college to learn how to be computer technicians. With that, she denigrated a whole, hard working class of Michiganders. Over the next decade, Trump had ready recruits.
So what’s the problem with learning new information if that will enable a person to make a better living? Were such folks just being hard-headed or stupid? Many of us have done the very same things on our own. Good lord! What an ignorant excuse for being short-sighted or lazy.
You must then be trolling in support of the Navalnyites. Bravo ! We will win because we must. 1776 was a very tough year, too as were 1777, 78…. Until the Treaty of Paris. We must always boldly look at what we have wrought and be willing to say: “How little I truly know” and correct course with honesty and humility. We can all do this when we don’t care who is right. The who part doesn’t matter to me, does it matter to any of you? I don’t think it ever mattered to BEN franklin, either.
No person is perfect, no President is perfect. Some of Bill Clintons' presidential decisions were wrong. I have always believed that Hillary is the smarter half of that couple.
But, that aside, nothing Bill Clinton did was as harmful to our middle class as what Ronald Regan did during his presidency. You ever rant about that?
Bill...I would argue that Hillary Clinton's mistake was giving Donald and his team something to twist. Here is what she said, what she called out. I fully agreed with her and then some.
1) It was twisted into she is calling all of you (maga) deplorable and they believed it.
2) those who are deplorable didn't like being called out.
So anytime this came up in conversation I was having I would say #1? or #2?, which are you? I usually got blank stares.
Immigration...been a problem for a very long time. And it will get worse because the climate is a changing!
Although just the other day I talked with a coworker who is from Ecuador. She came here legally. Took her 5 years. She is not happy with people who enter and stay illegally. I get that, but she wasn't too sympathetic to those running for their lives. She told me that she was running for her life. Her father was a politician who was murdered. To her there is no excuse.
I agree 100% - very well said. Clinton’s NAFTA signing was the beginning of a whole-hearted embrace by the Democratic Party of a capitalist system that prioritizes wealth concentration by a few rather than the well-being of many - especially rural white communities. While I don’t think Trump’s policies will help them one bit (will in fact hurt them) he speaks in language that acknowledges the real economic struggle they feel.
Both parties (IMO) engage in a “don’t look up” strategy to prevent people from noticing that we live under an economic system that has created an unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top … a system of unregulated capitalism that leaves most of us now vulnerable to the impact of venture funds buying up our health care systems, our housing, food sources, vets, (the list goes on and on). Funds that are required to worship at the alter of fiduciary duty (financial return) rather than the well-being of us all. The fact that Kamala couldn’t answer Anderson Cooper’s question about how she was going to address the high price of milk (her answer talked about regulating price gauging during times of crisis - nothing about during regular times) is a perfect example of why this race is so close! It was such a prime opportunity for her to speak to these broader economic issues at play.
Kate, I suppose if I were running for President, I wouldn’t expound on why it’s not possible for me to succeed in solving that (or many other legitimate issues because….rich people, Capitalism, corruption amongst SCOTUS and GOP, etc. I would think, rightly, that voters wouldn’t want to hear about all the things I can’t do when my opponent says he can fix everything.
I am profoundly appreciative of your work Professor Richardson – thank you.
It’s all coming into view this week isn’t it – the fascist playbook? Polls so close that no matter whether Harris wins by a small or large margin the GOP will cry foul ; local election boards that are corrupted ; a whole range of legal teams the GOP has lined up to challenge the election’s legality ; a stacked Supreme Court ; threats of violence against election officials ; the odious Elon Musk putting his thumb heavily on the scale ; the collusion with Putin and the compromising of our national security as Trump and Musk connive with a murderous dictator ; the desire of that same dictator for revenge, which is nothing less than the destruction of the US.
What will the US do without access to health care for women ? What will it do once the Right imposes its perverse view of history and education on our schools and universities, when the Florida model of repression goes national ? What will families do with no social security ? What misery will be visited on them when tarifs cause untold stress on already tight household budgets ? What environmental damage will come from a know-nothing attitude towards climate change, and the gutting if not outright elimination of NOAA and the early warning system for hurricanes ?
What will happen if they succeed in building their camps, and deport millions ? How will they try to hide the likely humanitarian catastrophe that will ensue ? What will happen to basic rights when police departments are further militarized and given a green light to arbitrarily treat citizens as they please ? What will happen as a lawless president pardons January 6th rioters ? Will he also pardon militia members who intimidate or even shoot peaceful protesters ? How long will people endure armed repression coupled with economic misery, before they themselves organize against it ?
What will the economy look like as the US exits NATO and leaves Europe to Putin ? What will happen to the US as the EU, an entity that helps sustain a robust US economy, is plunged into war as Putin gobbles up the Ukraine, the Baltics, and makes a play for Poland ? What will the nuclear powers of France and Britain do as remaining fellow NATO members are invaded ?
But the most important questions I have are more philosophical and humanistic : How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless as to entrust these monsters – a Trump, a Musk, and at this late date, a Putin – with their futures ? How can the historic memory of Boomers be so short and insouciant as to forget the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s ? How can people be filled with such blind hate that they will die on the hill of a Trump, rather than on the hill that will expand rights, economic opportunity, and keep the planet livable ?
If you think this is hyperventilating, that is merely because I have taught about this sort of thing my entire life. Authoritarians will lie about everything – their racism, their sexism are based on lies, their patriotism and their piety utterly false. But the cruelty they tell you they intend to inflict ? That is almost always the only truth they tell.
Steve, you stated the case for voting for democracy very well. Even if democracy wins this election, the autocrats will still be there. We can only hope that after democracy wins, enough people will understand how important democracy is. Hatred will always be around but we must learn how to make people understand differences.
I found a website for [ H. RES. 1386 ] that puts our name on a petition to Mike Johnson to stand against the dangerous agenda regarding the policies of Project 2025.
I forgot about H.RES.1386 from some August notes within an older Jessica's CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Substack - and I put my name on the petition - if you want, here's the link:
https://www.mikejohnson2025.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Here is where I vetted H.RES.1386:
Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/1386/text
Johnson is a fascist. Fascists don’t give a damn about petitions nor any other form of advice from the people about what’s best for the country. The only hope is to outvote them, make it stick, make laws that curtail their operations (especially voter suppression and violations of civil rights), and vigorously enforce those laws. We can remove these fascists from power, but it will take a lot of persistent effort for a long time.
Johnson isn't a mere fascist, he's a Christofascist. I won't add my name to any petition for two reasons:
- It's a waste of time. Members of Congress only listen to their constituents and even then not always. It was beyond disheartening to see 85 boxes of petitions addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan with hundreds of thousands of signatures be rejected by his office; imagine the effort, the paper, the shipping costs to get those petitions to DC only to have them summarily dismissed.
- If Trump is elected and Project 2025 is implemented, I don't want to give them a reason to send me to the hooscow. Yes, that's extreme but we can't fool ourselves into believing that all will be normal, that maximum caution isn't required.
Christofascist, very apt phrase to describe Johnson, and hardly just him. Extremist Evangelicals are the driving centre of those praying endlessly for the Lord to end "secular tyranny", agents of Satan, in the USA. They have been dreaming of this for years now. The downfall of RvW has simply spurred them on, and an appetite for more to come is much of their minds.
I am a Catholic Christian, and don’t find anything remotely Christian about them. They simply want to misuse Jesus’s name as an excuse for a power grab.
Yes, and he smirks all the time. He was just here in Oregon to campaign for the local R in House District 5 who has an excellent opponent. Then he went across the Columbia to fundraise and campaign for angry Joe Kent, who is fascist to the core, and trying to unseat the incumbent D female who is an auto mechanic and hardly far left.
This is long. It is the editorial in today's edition of the Orland Sentinel. Christofascism is alive, well and flourishing in America.
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
How would Jesus vote?
Today, the weight of the pending election is on the minds of many across Central Florida— including those who are sitting in church pews or temples, listening to faith leaders exhorting them (subtly or not so much) to cast their ballots one way or another.
In a perfect — or even functional — society, that sermonizing would prompt an examination of how candidates’ conduct and viewpoints align with the core tenets of each voter’s faith. But for a growing number of Americans, this guidance will offer comfort and support that it’s OK to vote for people whose morals might appear questionable to the unenlightened. That it’s a bad idea to question leaders who exploit their voter-given power to marginalize and scapegoat groups of people as general threats to their own existence, and to paint those who disagree as villainous liars.
That it’s acceptable to ignore some of the great principles espoused by the world’s religious traditions: To comfort the afflicted, to welcome the stranger, to seek justice, to revere the truth. This is Christian nationalism at work — in Florida, and across the nation. And there is very little that is Christlike about it. Rather, this is the cancer our forefathers sought to prevent when they created the fundamental firewalls between government and religion — the walls that many of today’s leaders are seeking to tear down.
Know them by their works
Not many politicians openly proclaim themselves to be Christian nationalists, but they aren’t hard to spot. Gov. Ron DeSantis is a prime example. He often explains his actions (particularly those that misappropriate funding, incorporate dishonesty or gather power to himself that outstrips the boundaries of his role) by lashing out at some group that has “forced” him into extraordinary action. Consider his recent veto of the state’s entire cultural arts 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 1/5 grant program — a move that saved taxpayers a relatively paltry $32 million, but one that has devastated community arts programs including small theaters, visual-arts spaces and music programs. These programs brought joy to many and did no harm; some of them will not survive the loss of funding they depended on.
Magnifying his cruelty, DeSantis and like-minded people have repeatedly lied about asylum seekers, branding them as “illegals” who want to sell fentanyl to high-schoolers, rape housewives and steal jobs from deserving Americans. The only presidential debate this year featured the same callous dishonesty, when former president Donald Trump slandered Haitian immigrants as pet abducting dog-eaters. The president and his debate-prep team almost certainly knew they were repeating social-media rumors that had already been proven false. In each of these cases, what side do you think Jesus would have taken? Or Solomon, Mohammed, Buddha? If you need a reference, check out Leviticus 19:34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The truly sad thing is that, even as we write this, we can think of so many other examples where DeSantis, Trump or legislative candidates demonized vulnerable people, usually as a distraction to draw voters’ attention away from their own failures to fix property insurance, repair crumbling infrastructure and help Florida’s increasingly desperate working class. Here’s just one more: The infamous 2023 hearing of the state House Education Committee, where Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, listened to transgender adults and youth plead for protection against invasion into their intimate lives, then responded: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 2/5 your imps will come and parade before us. That’s right — I called you demons and imps.”
Barnaby is on the ballot Nov. 5, facing Rosemarie Latham, a nurse-practitioner who wants to expand health care to low-income workers. May his cruel pride go before a fall. Praying to false gods In a recent edition of the NPR talk show 1A, a panel of experts explored the psychology of Christian nationalism and why so many Americans are seduced into believing that these actions are godly, or even acceptable in a polite society — and how they can revere a creature like Trump, the serial adulterer with a miles-long record of cheating his business partners, exploiting public resources and spewing lies about political rivals.
And that was before he became president. Since then, fact-checking organizations have documented thousands of outright lies — while Trump cozied up to some of the world’s cruelest and most oppressive regimes and stood by while a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in pursuit of his attempt to steal the 2020 election. None of it seems to matter to the subset of voters who see Trump as their golden idol — capable of no wrong. Others vote for him because they don’t care about the lies, and believe he’ll be better for their bottom line. Even rational Republicans, who are repulsed by his arrogance and greed, fear to speak up against him. How can this be? As described by the panelists, it’s definitely not by accident. In fact, the current Christian nationalist movement appears to be the end game of a “deeply networked organizational infrastructure” that’s been working for years to dismantle critical checks and balances — including the much vaunted separation of church and state, but also reaching to mechanisms intended to keep power distributed and thus, resistant to abuse.
In Florida, DeSantis has emasculated the state Legislature and systematically undermined the independence of the court system. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it’s all part of the plan. Powerful, ultra-conservative ministers are definitely playing their role, lacing their sermons with partisan themes and using political stunts as fundraising props. Groups like the pro-book-banning Moms for Liberty clutch cloaks of virtue while they work to destabilize Americans’ perception of what is true and acceptable in society. A close look at the books they’ve targeted include many that had no whiff of sexual or sinful content. Instead, these stories worked to build empathy and understanding of people who were from other cultures, or related the historic struggle for human equality and dignity. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 3/5 Removing those books, and rejecting other efforts to foster empathy, makes it easier to vilify groups of people who have few defenses. They are the perfect targets — and having enemies is essential in the Christian Nationalist playbook. “One aspect of movement that’s become much more salient in the last decade or so is the idea of spiritual warfare. This idea that God and Satan are really active and directly involved in American political campaigns, and God has chosen to anoint one candidate.
So within this mindset, it’s important to understand they see Trump not so much as a politician. They don’t look at his personal history, but they see him as an anointed one sent from on high,” Katherine Stewart, who recently wrote a book about the movement, told 1A. To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful. What voice will you follow? So how do Christians and other people who are sincere in the core tenets of their faith fight back against this co-opting of religion? Many local churches are already doing this work. There are pastors in this community who speak compellingly of Christ’s imperatives toward kindness, respect and humility. Their congregations work to lift up marginalized people, heal the sick, care for those in need. They pray for justice, and for truth. They should do more, remembering that Jesus himself was not content just to preach and hope. He was a fiery voice challenging the power structure — a dangerous voice, in the end, but one that has echoed through millennia.
We’ll close with something the Rev. Jim Wallis, director of the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, who has been rebuking the ultraconservative high-jacking of faith for decades: “Jesus said, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now as I dig into that text in times like this, it tells me that the opposite of truth isn’t just lies, it’s captivity. It’s captivity. And a whole lot of people have become captive to these lies.” As they consider their choices in this election, we urge readers of faith to look past the political alliances that have been forged between the powerful elite of this nation and the Philistines who offer to cloak greed and division in Godly vestments. Look to the core works of your faith: The Torah. The Koran. The Bible. And pray. This nation has never needed it more. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 4/5
They tend to listen even more to the lobbyists who give them checks, thanks to Citizens United.
Citizens United will go down in history as this century's Dred Scott.
Years ago, someone in an online discussion group used the term, "christofascist." I was impressed by how perfectly it described members of my family and people I grew up with, so I began using it from then on.
Unlike mainline Protestantism, which focuses on loving God and neighbor, Evangelicalism is animated by fear. Evangelicals awaken every morning, overcome with a thousand different fears: fear of Satan, fear of committing a sin, fear of an angry God, fear of being condemned to hell, fear of criticism by fellow believers, fear of people who do not believe as they do, worship as they do, love as they do and live as they do. In humans, uncontrolled fear is transformed into hate. This makes evangelicals the ideal targets for fascism.
The smarter fascists who direct Trump have used him to attract and dominate evangelicals, bringing them to heel in service to the fascist drive for power and control.
Evangelicals, fearing secularism, eschew public education. Thus, they are unable to think critically, or sort fact from fiction. In fact, they have abetted the campaign to discredit and defund public education in favor of "Christian" and charter schools.
Sinclair Lewis did NOT write "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." But whoever first wrote this aphorism was right.
No, he didn't, but he wrote plenty of things that suggest he would have been OK with it. For instance, from IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which I want to reread, but not till after the election): "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst fascists were they who disowned the word ‘fascism’ and preached enslavement to capitalism under the style of constitutional and traditional Native American liberty."
Yeah! You're right. Glad it's happening in your country, not mine! But at least you're prepared to be the canary in the coal-mine for the rest of the English-speaking world. And Rupert; he's now your problem.
If, heaven forbid, Trump gets back in and they don’t come after me, I’ll be embarrassed and angry.
I am still upset I was not on Nixon's list. Hum...same party but on steroids.
Johnson is also a hypocrite hiding his lust for power and control behind his "religious righteousness," MisTBlu. Let's just hope there are enough women who don't want anyone to boss us around to get rid of these theocratic punks.
ChristoFascist! Handmaids, whose male preachers are screeching about abortion. Fear, hate, the other…and at the core is sexism and hate for women! This has been the core power struggle for a long time! Well before Rome…and their weird version of Jesus, who was clearly married with children..
I completely agree. I stopped adding my name to any political request or poll. Those that do are putting a bullseye on themselves. Win, lose or draw this election is a losing proposition for all involved.
No. That's what "they" want--to make you afraid to stand up for what you believe. There are things to fear that are worse than death.
Agreed, MisTBlu. Just use your name to VOTE BLUE.
So, you put yourself on record as a coward, than?
I prefer to control where and how my personally identifiable information is used. At my age and in my circumstances it's the prudent thing to do.
Wow! I knew that Trump and his cronies-in-crime were up to no good, but as I was reading Heather's letter today, it became crystal clear. Everything she quoted went right to the cold heart of Donald Trump.
Two statements stood out to me as describ8ng MAGA. Women are only useful for "children, kitchen, and the church." MAGA's sentiments exactly.
The bull's eye truth of Trump's whole movement is this quote- "Getting men to hate rather than to think."
Pam, I opened the US Army link Heather provided, and this part jumped out at me when reading page 1: "They make their own rules and change them when they choose. If you don't like it, it's "T.S." ".
I think it's pretty easy to deduce what "T.S." stands for! 😁
Yes. Trump Stinks.☺️
… imagine this individual as POTUS: JD “keep em barefoot and pregnant” Vance!?!?!
If trump becomes president, every day that passes, Vance will be a day closer to be president himself due death or greater incapacitated of the former....
Please read today's Jennifer Rubin's opinion piece about Vance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/trump-vance-election/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGMp49leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR-JU8SqXve5dEiB_OYf6P-_wIRSLgFYG20DdXThTtFmmoiEk-LibYMlKw_aem_8Rg42i9XDsdbgsKTsZyhbQ
Yes, Pam, that stood out to me as well. I think, hope, as a nation, we are past this thinking and rhetoric. Most of us anyway.
I appreciate you not using the word "fascist" even though clearly this is a part of that definition. I tire of our use of this word (frequently) as it mirrors the simplistic and degrading tone of DT and I hope we are better than that. Still I realize we must give voice to the truth. Truth to power.
He's even more dangerous than a fascist, he's a religious zealot. And a misogynist.
He shares an app with his son to hold each other "accountable" for their porn habits.
How disgusting this man is.
I do not think he is a religious zealot - he is not religious. He knows how to manipulate and make relgious zealots support what he wants.
When has he ever gone to church? Really?!
Blue to stop a coup means you, LOTS of yous -VOTING BLUE💙 - and hold your representatives to guard the coop against further coups. Enough is enough.
Agreed, Rex.
Thank you, Kathleen, for this information. I hadn’t known about this petition. I’ve just signed it. I’m going to post the site on Facebook.
Sorry to break the news—on-line petitions are worthless.
Write your congressional rep—use a relative’s address if necessary to write to a Republican one. Or call their local and Washington offices.
Signed. Thank you for sharing.
Many thanks
Wow! Thank you Kathleen B Parker!
Signed. Thank you for doing the research and providing the link
Don’t be naive that stuff has no importance unless you can plunk down 5 million on his next campaign.
They're anarchists. This is click-bait fascism.
Everything Heather said is correct. I am just as concerned why the people will blindly follow that is clearly designed to harm them. Yet perhaps they’ve already been harmed.
Sometime in 1993 or 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. On that day, I paused and wondered how great this would affect American workers; workers in manufacturing who had little formal education. A few years later in my travels as an art dealer driving across the country, I drove to Seattle and stopped in Richmond, Indiana to stay at an Airbnb. The Victorian house was as ornate as the Mark Twain house in my hometown of Hartford, CT. I paid about $50 for the night to stay in the mini mansion . I asked the owner at breakfast if he minded telling me what the value of the house was. He reported around $125,000. I gasped. He then told me how that rust belt area had become filled with deserted plants and had shut down to set up off-shore. Workers no longer had those solid middle income factory jobs. A few decades later, his wife ran for president and in her run, called those MAGA supporters of Trump “The Deplorables,” mostly white, uneducated, now lower income the same group that lost their solid middle incomes under Bill Clinton. That group formed the bases of Trump’s base.
When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, it became a political issue. It’s no wonder that this group is so hardened against a political party that ruined them and will not listen to reason. They have been thoroughly abandoned and insulted by the party that once supported them and their once good paying jobs.
This is the explanation to my fellow hard-headed dense democrats that just don’t understand why a large segment of the population will support a facist-like movement that does not have their interests at heart. It’s a bit confounding isn’t it — both sides, one side being the wronged and the other side being unable to grasp what the hell has happened. Go ahead ladies and gentlemen, have at me. I tell the truth.
I think the immigration problem is overplayed, legal and otherwise, they commit fewer crimes than average Americans, play a vital role in esp the agricultural sector, doing jobs most Americans refuse to do. Studies show they provide a net economic gain, pay taxes, and so on. So Americans scream they're stealing jobs when in fact USA is in virtual full employment. Murdering criminal millions, give us a break! The immigration system does need fixing, simply staunching the inflow of mainly economic migrants with walls et al won't solve the problem. USA needs to figure out better how to meet its own employment needs when its native population cannot adequately step up to the plate. Their is a solid reason why mainly economic migration from Mexican and Latino countries has been a "thorn" for more than a couple generations now. Trump and Maga have made perceived grievances a major touchstone of their campaign. Sadly, it's paid off dividends, in spades. Sounds to me it's more about racism, than economics.
It is. Tom Schiller and Paul Waldman recently published a book titled “The Roots of White Rural Rage.” People in rural areas listen to different media outlets that city people, and they have been red a constant stream of culture war propaganda that has encouraged them to vote against their economic interests. Rural areas are badly hit when farms consolidate into mega farms, factories close, young people leave for cities, and they vote for the very people who cause these problems. The propagandists have no interest in solving these problems, but want to exploit them on their behalf.
Which is why Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org) among others is addressing rural needs. Jess Piper did a great interview this week with Tom Vilsack, discussing rural issues and how they can be addressed.
So true Kathy. Paul Waldman was or is with the WAPO. I wonder how he reacted to Bezos pulling of the Harris endorsement?
"Dirt Road Revival"
Worth a read.
https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2024/09/rural-democracy.html
I grew up on a farm, working in the fields. My parents aspired to more for me than manual labor in the fields, which simply does not pay enough to eat and live indoors at the same time. In eastern NC, where I live, there are a large number of factory farms and meat processing plants. Those jobs are dirty and physically demanding. The locals, who already lived in the area, didn’t want to work at meat processing plants. Is that what you would want for your child? Immigrants came to fill those jobs. They didn’t take jobs from locals. Deport those immigrants, and who will do those difficult jobs?
Right on Frank. Of course it's about racism and the hate and divisiveness that accompanies it.
But the economy will suffer as a consequence of closing the borders. And is it even possible to deport even 10,000 migrants? Who is going to accept them and if we just dump them in Venezuela, Haiti and Central America for starters these countries will all turn them away. If they do accept them, they will be harshly dealt with in all of the usual ways a dictatorship deals with them.
I have worked with literally hundreds of immigrants as a computer consultant, plus we have hired several dozen more to work at our home. We would still be waiting for a roof in Florida if not for immigrants and the quality of work is as good or better than native born Americans. Y2K opened the door for Indian programmers (and other nationalities) with the H2B programs. It was an ugly transition in the 1990's because of the communication barrier.
Anyway, if you deport brown people you lose a large portion of our productive workforce in almost EVERY occupation. My primary care doctor is an immigrant from Columbia. She actually saved my life plus she is fluent in several languages. It is actually selfish of me, to use her when there are relatively few doctors that serve the Hispanic community.
We all know they can't deport immigrants, legal or illegal, and we likely can't even put them in camps. So is the alternative the Fascist solution to just kill them?
Thanks for all that info, Gary! I suspect you mean 10 million, and Trump has been gaslighting 20-30 million. The logistics and the reaction of foreign governments will make a mockery of these threats.
Trump has suggested nuking Mexico.
Gary Loft: Under TFG, he'll allow the military to do just that-that way no expense for food, water, etc. Whether the military will blindly follow orders, even if unlawful, is unknowable.Think of the psychic trauma that will be inflicted on those soldiers.
Agreed, Frank. As usual, Mr. Katz simply repeats what trompy and the rest of the MAGAs want everybody to be talking about instead of issues that are greater threats to us all. Immigration is certainly important, but it's far less so than the loss of basic rights, freedoms, safety, etc. And if it were more important, then the Republicans would have taken up and voted to approve the bipartisan-drafted bill that Biden said he's signed, am I right?
Biden was absent for almost 3 years on topic. And as usual, Mr. Katz repeats the unblemished truths about our politics which is that we are a fractured society and perfectly timed to get worked by the hidden puppeteers that are also pulling your strings, too.
Please tell me in very simple words how President Biden was absent for three years Bill. Are you saying this country, that has completely recovered from the pandemic economic slump the entire world experienced, has at the same time, stood still? All the leading economic indicators would have to challenge your words here. People are always going to bitch and main about gas and food prices-like when haven’t they? As for NAFTA, the idea began in the Reagan administration, at first as an agreement between Canada and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement?wprov=sfti1#Negotiation,_signing,_ratification,_and_revision_(1988%E2%80%9394)
It ended up on Pres. Clinton’s desk after Mexico, Central and South America were added by Bush, Sr.
All the off shoring to so many other countries didn’t happen because of NAFTA.
I have concluded that Mr. Katz is a one-trick pony (or perhaps, Trojan horse) who comes here to repeat ad nauseam the same Republican talking points in order to derail thoughtful conversations. I engaged with him once and have resolved never to do it again, no matter how much he needs rebuttal.
Agree, Monsieur, most definitely I agree on not contacting you again. As to one-trick phony? You must have eaten your morning wheaties with McDonald’s tainted onions.
Ooof, could you be more pretentious than to use Monsieur when you probably don't even know French, and beside the point, can you offer anything of substance for rebuttal beyond snide ad hominem deflections?
It's the fear mongering that Trump does. Saying "illegal alliens" will come into your kitchen and slit your throat! Everyone knows this is not true but say it enough and people believe them. Do you think the people who support MAGA see or hear info like what you stated on your comment? Absolutely not. My husband is a Trump supporter Fox watcher. The drumbeat on Fox is fear. They do portray Democrats as communists as well as equal to the devil. People who watch this don't see any other source of "news" as I'm sure you know. I've got my husband watching a Spectrum News channel for bipartisan info but it doesn't change his mind. He was a housepainter and lost his job to those who would accept pay @ half what he received and they happened to be immigrants. People like him have a grudge and Trump feeds it. So sorry for venting but I'm so terrified of fascism.
To be slightly objective here, the immigrant "problem" is quite real. There are in fact at least several million possibly almost ten million undocumented immigrants in the US today. Under the current law, almost every one of those people are subject to arrest and deportation. This is absolutely without regard to ANY logical or rational justification for enforcing the law. Enforcing the law is always theoretically the right thing to do unless you believe the law is unconstitutional. And in general our immigration laws are not unconstitutional, just unenforced.
So trump, if elected will be completely within his rights and in fact may be legally correct to massively enforce the immigration laws. Will he be "right" in the moral sense? Maybe not. Will he be right in the political sense? That remains to be seen. But he will almost certainly be right in the legal sense. And that is technically all the justification he needs to carry out his draconian plan. It is difficult to see any court which would halt his ability to do that (and if they did, I would expect the Supreme Court as it currently exists to reverse quite quickly.
This is why i believe that the best course of action is to repeal all immigration laws and essentially open the borders to anyone with the exception of demonstrable criminals. This would make it much more difficult to attempt mass deportations. By removing the legal basis for such deportations, it would at least become an unlawful act to arbitrarily deport people based on status.
Jon, the undocumented you speak of have jobs and families, with citizen children (assuming they were born here.) Many, if not most, pay taxes and have SS/FICA withheld without access to benefits. Deportation (which you don't advocate, thankfully) would be extremely expensive to the taxpayers and the economy, but opening the borders isn't a solution either. I believe that those presently here (unless they were/are criminals of one sort of another) should be on a path to recognition as citizens. We need a sane, fair and manageable immigration solution without saying "Come one, Come all."
Agreed. This might also help your points, Doug. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/citizenship-undocumented-immigrants-boost-u-s-economic-growth/
Sorry I don't believe you can really have it " both ways". This just another repeat of the various forgiveness strategies that have been repeated over and over. Don't keep immigrants out because we really DO want them and need them (they obviously take jobs that most Americana don't want) let them sneak in and get settled and then a few years later when there is a political "need" to get even, throw some of them out but let the large majority have amnesty, give them some path to legitimacy, then say "we're closing the borders down now", rinse and repeat. It's getting pretty tiring. In some ways it gives credence to Trump's philosophy, build a huge wall and throw them all out and keep them out. At least he is consistent if terribly wrong IMHO.
You really can't have it both ways. You either have to deport those who are her e illegally or you have to acknowledge that our policies don't work and do trying to keep them out. The rinse and repeat concept of looking the other way for a while, then granting some kind of amnesty for those who were able to get through the obstacles and take up illegal residence is wrong and unfair. I have seen this done several times in my lifetime and I am sick of it. Either do what Trump says and deport every one who is here illegally or cancel the laws and permit unrestricted immigration. I see no other fair and decent alternatives. You know which one I think is right.
Now you too have gone over the deep end.
Katz
The economic reality in my state is that many of the agricultural jobs, on which much of our economy is based, no longer pay enough or appeal to white workers. Nor do the nonunion construction jobs. My neighbor is having his roof replaced down to the trusses and the entire crew is comprised of Spanish speaking workers even though our minimum wage is $15 an hour and there is a construction boom to accommodate all the growth we are experiencing. Without migrant workers, our economy would collapse and your supply of fresh fruit would cost far more than you would want to pay. The town where I grew up was called the fruit bowl of the nation and it got that way because every year migrant workers came to harvest its bounty. It’s now a major producer of wine grapes. So enjoy what our state and its workers provide and stfu with your nonsense.
I won't believe my country is serious about enforcing immigration laws until I see some serious enforcement that aims at preventing them from getting employment. And there's a thermometer or barometer to check that. If you can still find a place in your city where men can stand around openly on the corners in certain areas waiting to be picked up to work, you know that the immigration law is not being enforced. We need to figure out how to keep them from finding employment. Then they will not take ridiculously huge loans in order to get here on the chance they will be able to pay off the loan with the wonderfully high salaries we have. I'm being cynical sorry. Because they mainly live in conditions many of us would find subpar, because they are sending most of their money home hoping to build up in big enough nest egg to be able to go back and eventually retire there, since they won't be able to retire decently in this country on their earnings.
I disagree with the commonly heard statement that the jobs they are filling are jobs Americans don't want. What has happened is it has become impossible for a contractor in certain fields, starting with landscaping and I'm sure going into plenty of other fields, to make any money without hiring illegals because if they don't they will be underbid by those who do. I saw this change personally in the 1990s and 2000s when I was a licensed landscape contractor myself.
And I enjoyed having the Latins on my crews. They were usually willing workers (especially the newly-arrived ones) and fast learners.
Every federal immigration law has been racist. Starting in 1875 with a law designed to prevent Chinese wives from joining their husbands in the US.
Yep this is why I favor an open border policy. Get rid of the immigration laws and you get rid of these problems. The very fact that millions of undocumented immigrants can actually get into the country and take up illegal residence without causing a huge serious problem suggests to me that open borders will work much better than deportation. Look at the European union. They opened all they're borders to any one in the union and now their economies are mostly much more vibrant than ours. We need workers and immigrants do a lot of work that most Americans aren't interested in doing.
The town I grew up in turned 400 last year. In that time its economy has gone from extractive ship mast production and fishing, to hard scrabble farming and wool production, to weaving, tanning, shoe and brick manufacturing, and finally making plastic auto parts. All of these went away, with the ensuing pain that always follows economic transitions. The transitions didn't make themselves, however, they required a lot of effort by gritty, determined, fairly well educated people. It now has a very diverse economy that includes being the headquarters of a large insurance company.
NAFTA and globalization facilitated a race to the bottom where almighty capital won, is still winning, despite nearly losing it all in 2008 - when we literally printed money to save overextended (greedy) financial institutions. My town survived globalization because it stopped being a one or two industry town decades ago. The rust belt seems to be diversifying as well, through a lot of hard work and creativity. I just hope they can avoid the 'one industry town' trap that makes us vulnerable to greedy capitalists in the first place.
Supply side economics laid the groundwork for globalization, which hollowed out American manufacturing, which laid the groundwork for the Tea Party, the opioid epidemic (which is dwarfed by the epidemic of alcohol - but we don't talk about that), and a fascist bid to take over our country. Vote Harris/Walz in November.
If you listen to podcasts, Unf*cking the Republic had a really interesting take on the financial crisis: the crazy surge in oil prices driven by financial institutions. Worth a listen.
I am not laughing at you; there is a lot of truth in what you say. Those same rust belt areas were then flooded with opioids and in a way that is what Trump is still doing with his fake promises. I think Harris is recognizing this and trying valiantly to break through that mindset and level the playing field, as it were. Another 4 years of Trump would be a nightmare for this country and the world-just like Hitler was. Last night, I re-watched Gary Oldman as Churchill in His Darkest Hour and there was a line there that struck a chord with me-he that never changes his mind, never changes anything. I am heartened by the number of Republicans who are publicly endorsing Harris and hope we can get to a 54% Dem win so there is no doubt who has won this election-and then the work begins.
“ When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, ”???
Republicans lying again. Biden has largely continued Trump’s migrant policies, but doesn’t separate families. Trump got the Republicans to withdraw their support from an immigration bill so he could use it as a political stalking horse, and they lie about immigrant caravans the way Elise Stefanik did the other day on X. The Republicans have replaced their oaths of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States with a private oath of loyalty to an incompetent wannabe dictator.
Speaking of Stefanik - I guess it wouldnt be surprising to hear the views of people who live in and around her district! Another politician who only "serves" herself & tffg and makes it very obvious!
Right?? The politicization of this issue began LONG, L O N G before Joe Biden took office. And it seems that there WAS a bi-partisan bill proposed during Joe’s administration that was denied even being brought up for a vote because Mr Trump rejected the appearance of any kind of win for Democrats before the 2024 election. Hmmm. This issue is largely manufactured as a political argument for campaigning just as abortion WAS and look what ham-handedly handling that looks like! I was never a fan of NAFTA but I believe Joe Biden has done more to right that grievous wrong than anyone since so the argument that Democrats won’t hear what the struggling middle class has to say is faulty also. They’re listening and working to make it better but MAGA is turning their noses up to all of it over an opportunity to make us pay for their losses.
In my reply to Mr Katz, I referred to Wikipedia about the original intent of NAFTA and discovered that NAFTA was the brainchild of the Reagan administration. It’s a fascinating reminder that people could perhaps benefiting by reading.
From CoPilot: Yes, Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea of a North American free trade agreement during his 1980 presidential campaign1
. However, it was during the administration of George H. W. Bush that negotiations began, and the agreement was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 19931
. So, while Reagan planted the seed, it took a few administrations to bring NAFTA to life.
It's an interesting comment isn't it? Sprinkled with a little skewed history. Always as if the person woke up in 1990 and thought everything was brand new.
Candace, Mr. Katz propagates this MAGA assertion frequently (despite my belief he's not MAGA.)
I can only surmise that trompy's statement in 2015 after descending the escalator must have made a favorable impression on him, because that's what he often talks about.
I think much of his purpose in life--or at least his purpose in commenting here--is attempting to build up his substack subscribers.
I have sizable things I do in my day jobs and real life I don’t depend on these scribbles to define who I am or what I do. Pa-lease.
I agree--he's also always flogging his "book."
Me too that was a bullshit line for sure, the rest of what he said made a lot of sense.
Seriously! He left in place most of trump’s border policy.
That seems to be Bill's fallback position.
This is an important reminder of where we got where we are, but you seem to have left out the role of Reagan, the supply-siders, and decades of Republican dominance. Why are they forgiven? Why does all the blame fall on Bill and Hillary in your telling?
The problem, to my mind, is always the desire for corporate power. And that lies in the apologies of economics, which isn't a science, as much as they try to make it one.
The laws are written around the rights of property owners, not stakeholders. Shareholders, not stakeholders. Shareholders have nothing in the game but money, and can fleewith it on any whim.
Stakeholders are the customers, employees, residents. Those who bought the products, supply the parts, live with the factory.
Shareholders should be the last in line, not the first.
Well I certainly disagree with this. Shareholders are the life blood of a capitalist economy I don't love it but it's true. Without their money the companies would cease to exist. I agree stakeholders are important too and have been ignored for too long but putting shareholders last would be tragic to the economy. Better would be to include both at the same level of importance. That would be a better capitalist solution, acknowledging the importance of stakeholders without relegating the people whose money makes it possible to last place. (And this from a communist like myself LOL).
Consider that the prolific Bill Katz seems to be a white man, so he prefers to focus on very recent U.S. history. He might benefit from going back to the time of the War Department memo, March 1945, and acknowledging that fascism's first cousin was already entrenched in the U.S. South under the name of Jim Crow, and its influence affected the national government and the country at large. It greatly influenced the New Deal before WW2 and the GI Bill after it.
exactly! IMO it started with the sham trickle-down economics theory from Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. Prior to that we had vibrant cities, lots of union jobs, healthy middle class. But the oligarchs needed more money and then of course they then needed even more and along came NAFTA. Forty + years of a bs economic theory and the chickens have come home to roost. And the oligarchs keep gaslighting the public to believe it's the immigrants' fault ,those on welfare and maje you turn a blind eye to those who ate actually gouging us...corporations. The oligarchs are running the show in America and globally
No argument here. I only mention the migration crises since it sells poorly in any nation in any era.
You only mentioned the migration “crisis” because there is no real crisis. If there were, the bipartisan border bill would have been signed instead of squashed under trump’s demand because it was an issue he could run on. He inflates numbers and exaggerates small issues that could be dealt with under normal circumstances but because the House is tied into MAGA knots and the Senate pretty close to the same, very little can happen. Don’t even get me going on the Supreme Court; and I use the descriptor of “supreme” very loosely.
In a simplified fashion, I drew a line between the downside of NAFTA (American workers losing income) and her “deplorables.” We would have been better without them in my opinion, of course.
Ellen: 💯💯💯🎯🎯🎯
@ Bill Katz, in Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” speech, she didn’t call Trump supporters who were in despair because they had lost their good jobs “deplorables.” In fact, she said “those are people we have to understand and empathize with.” She specifically defined “the basket of deplorables” as half of Trump’s supporters who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
But the "basket of deplorables" was such a wonderful gift/phrase for the Repubs! Three words out of an entire paragraph/statement! Just like the clips that faux and its "followers" pick up on today. I think that there should be better comebacks from the Dems. They do lack a bit of that kind of reaction.
Thanks Ellen for the link - HERE IS THE ACTUAL SPEECH!
At an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9, Clinton gave a speech and said the following:[11]
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case – and don't get complacent; don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, "Well, he's done this time". We are living in a volatile political environment.
You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.
But the "other" basket – the other basket – and I know because I look at this crowd I see friends from all over America here: I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas and – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but – he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
— Hillary Clinton, CBS News[12]
And just in case you might think I’m a troll Russian plant, I spent 3 struggling years writing about the evils of Donald Trump. My credentials are clean.
I agree, Bill. When I was working as a lobbyist in Michigan, I sat stunned as our Democratic governor Granholm announced in a meeting that our auto workers would be sent back to college to learn how to be computer technicians. With that, she denigrated a whole, hard working class of Michiganders. Over the next decade, Trump had ready recruits.
So what’s the problem with learning new information if that will enable a person to make a better living? Were such folks just being hard-headed or stupid? Many of us have done the very same things on our own. Good lord! What an ignorant excuse for being short-sighted or lazy.
You must then be trolling in support of the Navalnyites. Bravo ! We will win because we must. 1776 was a very tough year, too as were 1777, 78…. Until the Treaty of Paris. We must always boldly look at what we have wrought and be willing to say: “How little I truly know” and correct course with honesty and humility. We can all do this when we don’t care who is right. The who part doesn’t matter to me, does it matter to any of you? I don’t think it ever mattered to BEN franklin, either.
No person is perfect, no President is perfect. Some of Bill Clintons' presidential decisions were wrong. I have always believed that Hillary is the smarter half of that couple.
But, that aside, nothing Bill Clinton did was as harmful to our middle class as what Ronald Regan did during his presidency. You ever rant about that?
Rachel: Exactly! It goes back to St Ronald & that POS Gingrich
Bill...I would argue that Hillary Clinton's mistake was giving Donald and his team something to twist. Here is what she said, what she called out. I fully agreed with her and then some.
1) It was twisted into she is calling all of you (maga) deplorable and they believed it.
2) those who are deplorable didn't like being called out.
https://time.com/4486502/hillary-clinton-basket-of-deplorables-transcript/
So anytime this came up in conversation I was having I would say #1? or #2?, which are you? I usually got blank stares.
Immigration...been a problem for a very long time. And it will get worse because the climate is a changing!
Although just the other day I talked with a coworker who is from Ecuador. She came here legally. Took her 5 years. She is not happy with people who enter and stay illegally. I get that, but she wasn't too sympathetic to those running for their lives. She told me that she was running for her life. Her father was a politician who was murdered. To her there is no excuse.
I agree 100% - very well said. Clinton’s NAFTA signing was the beginning of a whole-hearted embrace by the Democratic Party of a capitalist system that prioritizes wealth concentration by a few rather than the well-being of many - especially rural white communities. While I don’t think Trump’s policies will help them one bit (will in fact hurt them) he speaks in language that acknowledges the real economic struggle they feel.
Both parties (IMO) engage in a “don’t look up” strategy to prevent people from noticing that we live under an economic system that has created an unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top … a system of unregulated capitalism that leaves most of us now vulnerable to the impact of venture funds buying up our health care systems, our housing, food sources, vets, (the list goes on and on). Funds that are required to worship at the alter of fiduciary duty (financial return) rather than the well-being of us all. The fact that Kamala couldn’t answer Anderson Cooper’s question about how she was going to address the high price of milk (her answer talked about regulating price gauging during times of crisis - nothing about during regular times) is a perfect example of why this race is so close! It was such a prime opportunity for her to speak to these broader economic issues at play.
Kate, I suppose if I were running for President, I wouldn’t expound on why it’s not possible for me to succeed in solving that (or many other legitimate issues because….rich people, Capitalism, corruption amongst SCOTUS and GOP, etc. I would think, rightly, that voters wouldn’t want to hear about all the things I can’t do when my opponent says he can fix everything.