After three weeks without a speaker, the House today tackled one of the key items on its agenda: providing additional funding for Israel and Ukraine. Immediately, the majority under Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made it clear that they have every intention of pushing their extremist agenda. Despite pressure from Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), they have split funding for Israel away from the funding for Ukraine and funding for humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza that President Biden has requested.
With the demand that IRS funding be cut to finance aid to Israel, the government of the United States is officially being held hostage by the MAGA GOP. I’m old enough to remember that we have a principle in America… that We Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists.
I hope President Biden makes this clear in his response to this demand … with Leader Schumer saying the same. And I hope ABC, CBS, NBC News et al accurately report this fact! The GOP must be made to pay a price for becoming a domestic terrorist organization!
Of course, do away with any thing that might hurt the GOP rich. You can't give the rich another big tax break, but you can sneak one by not allowing the IRS to do their job.
I think they will clearly do both. Utter lack of conscience or shame is their superpower. It should also be their biggest liability, should Democrats play it well.
I don't think Trump is going to be the lead boss much longer, if he ever was. The real bosses are the real billionaires like Charles Koch with his Americans for Prosperity Network and the Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025 sand their donor network. Koch hates Trump and has been waiting patiently for him to self-destruct because Trump is incapable of implementing Koch's vision of government. Koch's network, which has been graced by Clarence Thomas' presence at fund raising events, has also gotten cases on the new SCOTUS docket that lay the groundwork for Project 2025 by challenging the ability of Federal agencies to regulate business. Regardless of who wins in 2025 Koch is not waiting to start implementing the plan. Even if Clarence Thomas recuses it will still potentially be 5 to 3.
True, Georgia, Koch and the billionaires have manipulated the Christians for quite some time with wedge issues (abortion, gay rights, etc.) [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" 2004] Trump has been Koch's "useful idiot," a bigot leading the bigoted masses. ["The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?"] Who would have ever thought that Christianity would be the lead cause for the demise of our democracy, if that happens? And at this point, we're teetering close to the edge of the abyss.
In too many ways, religion is just a very successful method of crowd control -- especially women. It is way to maintain power, either with or against the government. It's a way to raise money. The promise of either heaven or hell is just beginning to lose its power of persuasion.
Never forget the crusades. Fascinating and as sad as any wars. But humans, particularly our president at this moment, are beginning to grapple with the futility of war. Maybe this time....speaker Johnson is being seen for who he is: full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. (Do I have to put quotation marks around that? It’s just for him.)
Religions and political parties have much in common, don't they? In fact, partisanship seems to have become the present official religion of the U. S. wherein disciples must subscribe to doctrines of infallibility. Try holding an elected member of the party accountable on a partisan stooge website and experience virtual stoning first-hand by the party's rabid true believers.
for sure, who wouldve thought, but Christian fundamentalism with its nationalist/social aspirations, have been barnstorming in myriads of congregations for a few generations, and finally been rewarded, and wanting more.... with the big caveat mind you, that demographically they are in DECLINE, and have been for half that time.
And racism is at the core of the demographic change - whites are no longer the majority and this trend will continue year after year. They see that. Though I am a white male, I never felt a vested interest in either since I had nothing to do with either. Early on my mom made it clear that race is an artificial construct and that females should have equal rights with males. Not surprising, my mom was absolutely right. Thank you, Mom.
For sure as far as evangelicals are concerned, this is a continuation of white dominance traditions, though decline is more pronounced in white liberal, and not so liberal Catholic demographics. My Mom was not unlike yours, she never did agree to being baptised in our folksy intolerant Baptist congregation, and even put on a comparative religion show for our missionary society, back in the 1950s mind you!
Right there with you Richard. It's been a long haul, but we are lucky to have Heather provide a forum the gives us at least some comfort in knowing we are not alone. There are many of us actually. Our numbers show there is a great strength to stand up against that which threatens us all.
Case in point:
Last Friday on Steve Schmidt's "The Warning", out of the blue, after manipulating us with his railing against New Labels as a front to foster a Trump win, he tells his subscribers that he is going to work on Dean Phillips' primary campaign to run Biden into the ground to have a younger generation candidate that will beat Trump. He exhorted all of us to follow his lead and back Phillips. This is crap. He needs the money and is working to assure a Trump win. Damn near all of us commenting were in a blue rage, many unsubscibing. What stood out though, is that many of us resolved to stay connected because we respected each other and valued each other's input.
We certainly will not have an issue like that with our dear Professor, but we are a large, educated and articulate group that , in itself, has the potential of being a powerful and unified voice.
Richard, I would put "Christianity" in quotes because these haters are not followers of what Jesus taught. Once again fundamentalism shows how destructive it is and we can look world wide for examples. I note below that you mention racism which is a potent divider of people. Poorer whites have always been played by the elite. Dylan's Only a Pawn in Their Game.
I understand how hard it is to be a member of a community/cadre with a name (in this case, Christian) and have a part of that community/cadre act in a manner that is antithetical to your understanding of the beliefs and actions of that community. I went to the Oxford Dictionary and found this:
"Chris·tian/ˈkrisCHən/
adjective
relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings.
"the Christian Church"
noun
a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Christianity.
"a born-again Christian" "
They profess themselves and they are almost always believers in Christianity.
Additionally, so many people have been killed in the name of the Christian religion, and in today's word, bludgeoned with the "beliefs" in the Christian faith as they are denied civil rights and subjected to assault and homicide for their "differences" that the teachings of Christ and engaging in behaviors that reflect what you believe are the "true" Christianity are lost in the atrocity.
My position and experience are in the argument that "not all cops are bad" is hard to address when we (the good cops) allow that mindset and those actions to continue.
I am not a member of any Christian community exactly for this reason, but I still consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ and his teachings. He is my personal savior. Please don't think that I consider myself a disciple either. My faith is much too shallow and I fear the lions.
I wonder how many wars would have never transpired without first invoking a religion as the reason for it? But the real reason has always been money in all its many forms. She who obtains great power without having money as the reason, will be killed.
I just wonder what these trumpers will think, when they can't protest. Imagine Jan 6th in China or Russia? Death, Siberia for life. You steal a poster and you are imprisoned for years. I do believe the young man was released due to a severe illness from which he died. Workers will not be allowed to strike to get better wages. Just saying. Moms of Suppression-oops I mean Liberty,- will be happy when all reading material will be censored.
I agree that the funders are able to do a lot, but the Koch Family could not get elected into the White House, and they need Trump as their puppet. It is for him that people are threatening judges, and people involved in the cases against him, not the Koch Family or the other members of the Billionaire's club (BC). So, I still see him as the mob boss. Though as he loses his faculties he is less useful to the BC. The real bosses can be the population if we vote in an informed manner. Each billionaire is entitled to one vote in this democracy, even if they are successful in gaming the system a large turnout against their initiatives has proven powerful too.
Linda, this is why one of my nicknames for him is mafia don. I am glad that you note his increasing senility. Apparently, yesterday was the first time that the MSM made note of this on MSNBC.
I watched The Godfather the other day. The Don never said kill him or torture the person. All that was said was" Take care of it." Everyone knew what he meant. trump is playing that same role especially for Jan 6th. I didn't say anything but his followers drove cross country because they thought they knew what he meant. The same goes with the threats to the judges and jurors. He isn't doing it but his rhetoric is inspiring his minions.
What I find amusing is that Republicans are threatening themselves!
People of means do have large amounts of influence. They come in many stripes not just Republicans ie George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg who have both spent hundreds of millions on political influence in elections.
it seems that bread and butter items like fuel and food that have inflated are the real cause of the pressures on all citizens but especially the middle and lower class folks who feel it worse....another tax. We need to open up all forms of energy exploration to insure our survival in life as we know it.. Our obsession with reduction in carbon based fuels has only enriched Iran who is funding terrorists who want to destroy Israel and us...we need to stop enriching our enemies.
The suppression of women, is ancient ( and continues!) . The quiet fact: most women taught ( teachers/wives) men how to read back in 1700’s and then up , our dismal representation in all positions , and the dereliction of all male control over all female advancement says unequivocally they know women can , DO , run things better and so best to keep them “ in their place” ...our time sisters, right? To make perfectly clear , WE appreciate good management, carry through of law/oaths/representation by anyone. Today’s dilemmas however emphasize anyone is capable of being misled and radicalized...no names need mentioned.....
Just remember, in regard to the religions being discussed, men made God in THEIR own image and not the other way around, obviosly to get control over the "other" that was more capeble. The textile and diestufs industry is one of the larget and oldest. Who started spinning and weaving?
Mankind has indeed manipulated the message(s) forever To Be Sure. Many say Back around Reagan it began…waaaay before that truly.
Critical thinking is lost it seems, and I feel many of the old ways held nostalgically even more . Progress is evident, more left out of conversations than acknowledged, but together we could make it quadrupled.
Religion is such a hot topic and so little practiced.
Critical thinking is difficult. Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., co-chair of the Human Genome Project, understands DNA as well as anyone else on earth. All DNA comes from LUCA, the grandmother of all life on earth (plants, insects, animals), the single cell origin of life on earth going back 3.5 billion years. All life on earth has the same DNA., yet Francis Collins, a fundamentalist Christian, chooses to believe that which has no verifiable data to prove its claim - religion. Carl Sagan was right: "The human brain is the most complicated thing in the known universe." So, we have some for whom skin color is a defining, differentiating element. We humans will be the architects and cause of our own doom.
LOL! Can you imagine the learning curve! There’s a definite skill-set in being a public servant . Broad picture thinking..are they/yourself capable, understand the duties? At this point in time! There’s a hoard of questionable incumbent or candidates! And some surprising younguns coming up the ranks! Hoping😉
Hartmann's article helps identify differences in oligarchs better than my old separation of them into egalitarian and predatory. Now I can look forward to various degrees of differences, such as those between David Koch and his twin brother William.
Are all readers here aware that Koch Industries continues to operate in Russia regardless of sanctions, that their father worked for both Hitler and Stalin in the 1939’s and their fortune is part of climate change? Their work to destroy public universities May yet prove their most important legacy as liberal arts curricula die and small colleges close for lack of funding
Yes. As to 1939, you must have seen Rachel Madows "Ultra" podcast, no? If not, it is required. Those U.S, Congressmen and Senators were indicted for Sedition (Treason)and their progeny are right up there with the Kochs today.
Exactly. Sadly, we may need to negotiate with the terrorists in Congress until November 5, 2024. After that, if we do our jobs right, they’ll mostly be in the rear view mirror.
I have always reffered to them as the Taliban since 1994, when they gained the congressional majority and slashed Federal science funding because there was no mention of science in their BOOK. Some seven hundred of us at USGS lost our jobs for lack of $$ to pay us. The most accurate bumper sticker back then was
According to Open Secrets, in the 2022 election cycle, 2 of the top 5 contributors to Mike Johnson's campaign and Leadership PAC were the American Israel Public Affairs Committee $25K (AIPAC which is itself a PAC) and Koch Industries $20K. AIPAC is bipartisan.
Note that Johnson won in the primary stage of the 2022 election cycle with 60% of the vote. In LA if you get a majority in the open primary you are won and done. Interesting that his first Bill out as Speaker helps both. Just sayin'
'WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - Two days after suspending his campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination, former Vice-President Mike Pence has returned four dollars to his donors.'
'Speaking to reporters, Pence said that he took pride in the fact that his campaign has been funded exclusively by small contributions.'
“The four dollars I received came from nine donors, for an average of forty-four cents a donation,” he said. “No other candidate can say that.”
'Pence spent the weekend calling to thank his donors, adding,' “Although all of my calls went straight to voice mail, I left my number and I do expect to hear from them when they get a chance.”
'Pence’s exit from the race drew a mixed reaction in a new poll, with a majority of Americans unaware that he had been running.' (Satire, NEWYORKER)
If AIPAC was attempting to influence Johnson to be more pro-Israel, it was money wasted. I don’t see evidence that his true colors were shoing at the time. Actually,I don’t believe her has much color or conviction. that is why he was electable to be the House Majority Speaker. He functions as a parrot.
As an evangelical Christian it is very likely that Johnson is very pro-Israel. I think it is way more interesting that he put the IRS legislation into the bill, something very favorable to Koch.
Yep, and Apocalypse is great drama for a drama loving species, been a boon to the movie industry and mega churches as well. I think it's akin to a drug intoxicant myself, a long-term bane in human societies. Many a pope eg lived in expectation of stuff like this. Of course, it's built into the NT
The only thing that Republicans will hear is whatever Fox News tells them, which, since Fox News will benefit from not having to pay taxes, will be something like:
"A heroic effort by new speaker Mike Johnson to keep the Communist Democrat IRS from stealing your money is underway in America! Mike Johnson is working for YOU, the little guy.
THAT message is what Fox News will send out and that is what people will believe.
No, the many MAGAts who ONLY hear Faux Noise; my recently deceased father-in-law was one of them and my cohort of former cops who augment Fox with OAN and Prager U "information". Pay attention when you're in a waiting room for various things (my most recent was an oil change) what's on the TV. That is who the "little guys" are.
Which is why Murdoch got Presidential expidited citizenship. The foreigner could now own major media that affects the public and went right to work with Ronnie Raygun's Roger Ailes to set up the propoganda machine, Fox News. Gotta protect the big money's money and give them ours too.
I have to agree with you. There is little difference of Russia today and the old USSR, except for the addition of Western Money. Greed corrupts and when combined with power, absolutely corrupts.
Japan "imports" younger people from southeast Asia because they need them to help take care of Japan's aging population. Germany has the same problem. Here we are lucky because those coming to the U.S. essentially share our cultural norms.
That last sentence brings to mind Putin's shirtless stunt on the horse--pure theater and our spineless GOP/MAGA wonders lapped it all up, right off Putin's spoon.
I believe that calling the Republican party "terrorist" will never be taken seriously. I believe the faction of that party that wields power is manipulated by Trump, who in turn is manipulated by Putin.
And I don't think that is being taken seriously enough.
And I believe the GOP deeply admire the Putin regime for ideological reasons.
I understand this upsets you, but ranting troll, troll, is not constructive.
Christopher, I hope that you will understand that you have been misconstrued. Some folks are literal in their thinking. You have a flare for satire and, perhaps, a quickness/sharpness that may be threatening to a few. Some Americans who are paying attention may be both scared to death and literal-minded. I'm not alone in appreciating your perspective and use of language.
I hope that you'll stay. This audience is generous, intelligent and caring. Please give us another chance. Salud!
Christopher, above you write: " I believe the faction of that party that wields power is manipulated by Trump, who in turn is manipulated by Putin." I think that this is absolutely true. I am not alone in believing that Trump has been blackmailed by Putin all along, probably with Moscow hotel room photos.
He was writing letters to Putin because Putin was blackmailing him. That they may share an ideological bent for pure dictatorship is an irrelevant coincidence.
Perhaps not writing like a troll would help us in not perceiving you as one. As Fern says, this forum is filled with generous, caring folks, most of whom have had very negative experiences with trolls and their ilk. A disclaimer tacked on before using phrases like "white kick-ass nation" would help. Salaam. shalom, peace to you.
Christopher, I took your first post literally, as did others. There was no hint that it was intended as satire. Please do us all a favor -- including yourself -- and indicate that it's meant as a satirical piece, or risk being taken as a crazed right winger.
Well Christopher, they are surely fostering domestic terrorism. It is well documented and many are in jail for the acts they performed. That is being taken seriously. All your points about their admiration of Putin are correct. but you have look at your definition of terrorism. It isn't just something that just happens overseas.
I do not take things literally. I twist words around for effect also and it hopefully opens some eyes. Humor and irony illuminate the truth. Just hone your words a bit.
I don't know what a "butt hurt bernie boy" is. Sounds like homophobic trolling to me.
Perhaps my words have been misconstrued.
The GOP white Christian Nationalist extremists really admire the fact that Russia is the last kick-ass pure white race misogynist homophobic.... strong... country in the world.
If you don't see that, you have a problem.
Anyway, I didn't pay a subscription to argue with people who have problems reading and use homophobic insults.
I paid to support the great historical perspective on current affairs by HCR.
I do think that your rather aggressive language has been misconstrued, and challenged, and it is easy to see why, Christopher. You could use the discriminatory insults differently to make your points. However, you do clarify your position when challenged. I would say to you, stay. Find a better way to make the point you are trying to make. You sound pretty angry...any way to use your anger to get the vote out?
Christopher, I think you are on to something when you suggest that the maga GOP is inspired by Russia , and I suppose that Russians may be racists, misogynist and homophobic to some degree that is probably pretty hard to determine. Just like Americans if we are painting with a broad brush. Certainly Putin himself seems to embody these characteristics. But the term "kick-ass" is so often used in a positive way in other contexts that readers here have been put off by it.
One can imagine Trump himself describing Russia as a kickass pure white nation. I'm assuming you are against pure white misogynist homophobic things.
"are you one of those butt hurt bernie boys" I don't know about Christopher but me a women is/'was all in for Bernie. He tirelessly work for "we the people". Beth maybe you should learn to hold your tongue of hate?
John, we must be careful about who we call out as a troll verses a person who expresses an opinion that is contrary to the flow of discussion. I do not agree with Christopher’s views or his way of expressing himself, but I do not believe he is a “troll.”
In these challenging times we should listen to divergent views and not be threatened by them.
Sarcasm, irony, and sometimes poorly constructed simple jokes can all be misconstrued. Ask for clarification and assume good will until you and the other person are both satisfied you understood what the other one meant.
That Cristopher guy made a racist, anti-democratic comment, and you are defending him??? What else would you call him??? His comment was inappropriate to the extreme, If that smart ass did that on the DAILY KOS site, he would be removed immediately and never be allowed back on their site. I get sick and tired of people defending people like that Christopher guy and getting angry for saying things about our opponents like MTG and Donald TUMP.
You don't have to worry about me any longer as i will not be making anymore comments. Every time i join a sight like this, someone seems to be offended by something i say and complain and gripe about it. I try to fight like hell for Democrats, and someone gets mad about what i have to say. I am giving up on everything political. I no longer care what happens in elections.
Just to be clear, is this a serious comment or facetious (hopefully)? Because the Taliban is one of the worst terrorist organizations in the world. They were at least partially responsible for 9/11.
In the context of it being a response to the statement it followed, I think you should have caught the obvious. The comments are coming so fast that what one follows is long gone by the time you hit post.
Sometimes people read cursorily. I got the wrong end of the stick a few times by missing the word “not.” I advise avoiding “you should have” messages. “I thought it would be obvious” would not cause offense.
Hmmm . I don't think Jon was offended. It went by so fast the context was no longer there. In that regard, I understand his question. Of course it was facitious and this group is sharp enough to have seen it that way, if what it was referring to was still there.
"you should have' and "I thought it would be obvious" were not in what I wrote that he was questioning.
Write and call your own Congressperson early and often, and let them know you expect them to vote for the good of the people of their constituents, not a fringe cult. Every single Representative, even ones in deep Red districts needs to be put on alert that all Johnson’s plan to weaken American in the eyes of the world does is lets China extend it influence and control. The voters of America don’t want that.
Steven, thank you for your comment. Yes, accountability and consequences. And you do not negotiate with terrorists and I will add: children, sociopaths and cultists and crazies. Or to be specific , Republicans ,at least until they rediscover their soul and brains.
However, we still have a major problem with the news media because their restricted by these conservative ceo's who own and control to what they can say. This is why I am greatful that we have independent journalists, writers, and others who have podcasts that are working around the clock to get the real truth out to the American people.
I do not want one penny for "aid" to Israel, the worst apartheid country, which has welcomed a good excuse to destroy (again!) the infrastructure and the population in that "open air prison": Gaza.
If they show you who they are believe them—the House leadership plans to hold the Israelis, Gazans and Ukrainians hostage to the rich tax cheats. Once again, the Republican program is to look out for their rich friends. We need to show them what we think of enabling tax cheats.
I agree! Honesty, respect, responsibility - all disappear with MAGA. I don't know what could help them see except for total loss, that seems to be coming if we can't hang on for a year+.
Debbie, Historically I think fascists don't need to win elections. They "inch" up in the polls and then use an excuse (usually a false flag atrocity) to take over for the 'good of all'. See Putin, Franco, Hitler blah blah blah...Pinochet in Chile said it was for 'National Re-construction', Mussolini murdered an opponent, and admitted to it in front of a parliament with no opposition, because they were all afraid of him. Do not rely only on the vote, the attempt to take over will come from somewhere again, just as it did on Jan. 6. Our Christian Nationalist will try it again. So, we vote but we must also be vigilant in these dangerous times for our precious USA. American been berry berry gooood to me!
Bruce, knowing the history can help me to see the fascistic game plan for what it is (it still leaves room for error on my part, I hope you notice) and to avoid making the same mistakes we tried (I assume) to avoid back when our grandparents were still young and beautiful. But what different "things" can we try this time around?
Hey Les, wonderful Question. I think it's all about being prepared to shut the Fascists down, the moment they attempt the next takeover. I think our forces, and then Liz Cheney et al have done a wonderful job with Jan 6, and Mr. Smith needs to bring it home. I just need to know whether there is now a similar group of competent people ready for the next onslaught. Mark my words, it will come, because fascists can't get into power any other way...I think. I would never have said this being a PIRG student, but I hope that DOJ, FBI is watching Cruz and all the others with day and night vision, constantly. They are a clear and present danger to our democracy and way of life. And not to over dramatize, even our very lives. We need to exert power of the state at the right time.
I wish I had answers, and I know it's unfair for me to imagine you or anyone else should have answers. Did Tom Paine have answers? Can we avoid bloodshed?
If I understand you, No, there is no other peace directed course of action other than to stop the fascists at their next step. Hopefully quick enough to avoid bloodshed, but if not ... so be it. The armed forces are not behind the Mango Muffin.
The substack threading is getting garbled, I think. I previously replied to what I thought was your reply. Anyway, it is devoutly to be hoped there be no need for blood spilt, as ye olde bard might have sung it.
In 24, we must vote out every Republican legislator whose term will expire next year. It's critical that we energize young people to vote and others to prevent an authoritarian government from taking over our Democracy.
I thought this exact thing when I read the newsletter from HCR... a sane person would be embarrassed to be so blatantly obvious!!! Reenforces for idiotic and uncaring they are!!!
" For each dollar spent auditing the top 1% of U.S. earners, the IRS brought in $3.18; for each dollar spent auditing the top 0.1%, it brought in $6.29."
Seems like there's a lot of "fruit" there waiting to be picked by just enforcing rule of law. Why would you not? And those are the folks that would hardly miss it; the ones with yachts the size of cruise ships.
The thing that bothers me most is that those people with vast excess wealth should have been paying higher wages to the people who worked long hours every day to create that wealth. Wages remained flat for four decades, while productivity increased. All that excess wealth at the top was skimmed off of the lives of the vast majority of working people.
If they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, we should start using the term "confiscatory taxation". Take back what rightfully belongs to the working people.
And we need a "New Left" willing to stand up to Big Money to insist on raising up ALL of our fellow Americans to enjoy the kind of life we had in the wake of WW2 in the 1950s and '60s.
" Record profits mean record contracts" said the UAW. And why not?
“Because when we do that, the poor have a ladder up, the middle class does well, and the wealthy still do very well. We all do well.” says Biden, and why not?
Thanks, well penned. Reminding the numbers out there WE HAVE THE NUMBERS...lots more of us than thems...BUT! US haven’t voted well in 🗣️YEARS..excretion 2020..apparently something was bothering them?
Complacency is the devils advocate , if we stand by giving thoughts and prayers but not votes...this is what you get. Period.
"If they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, we should start using the term "confiscatory taxation".
David H., just remember, FOX news will spin whatever into a message that their huge audience will consume and believe.
If, for some reason, any Democrat said the word "confiscatory" and "taxation" in the same sentence, all of of Fox News fake blonde's would go berserk and refer to the new "Communist takeover of America to steal you hard earned money".
With Fox News having, probably, the largest news audience in America, we have to consider what Fox will say OR, shut it down.
Personally, I am in favor of keeping Fox News in constant lawsuit mode until they go under.
The "largest news audience in America" as you refer to the Fox, has as its largest audience appx. 4,000,000 viewers - in a society of 335,000,000 (rough numbers)
At various points, Rachel Maddow has had the highest viewership - but we're speaking of a very small percentage of the country. Perhaps 1% +/-.
Mike S, upon further consideration, half a day ago or so, I want to make a point about how the political center was dragged inexorably toward the Right, beginning around 1975 and into the Reagan years, and for several decades toward the present day. The movement conservatives accused "The Left", such as it was, of various flaws in their thinking. The left was too radical. The left only want to tax and spend (instead of borrow and spend). The Left caved time after time, backed down, didn't make a stand. Read Richard Nixon's State of the Union address in 1972, or thereabouts. He's boasting about the creation of the EPA, and the Clean Air Act, and other sensible legislation. If you didn't know the history you would think he was a Democrat. The political center was thereafter pulled ever-rightward, so that kids born in the 1970s and later have no memory of living in a time when the Republicans were basically sane and prudent. Maybe the Republicans would scream about "confiscatory taxation", but they also make $h!t up routinely. Their bullying tactics have been effective at cowing their opposition at times. And they can whip their MAGA crowd into a frenzy fairly easily by conjuring various demons out of thin air. So I agree that using the phrase "confiscatory taxation" would be impolitic. But we should not back down from pursuing justice for all.
[The original version of my comment in this space appears below. Upon further consideration, I want to make a related point, which appears above this edit.]
...point well taken. I agree with you on the uproar "confiscatory taxation" would surely ignite in the Faux News constituency.
I try to keep my frustration in check. Perhaps a more subtle way of expressing it would be to set the tax rate on the highest earners with an index against what the US population would have earned since 1975, or so, if we/they had received pay increases for merit and longevity, as was the custom in the three decades following WWII. I want to hear the billionaires explain, with a straight face, why they should not pay a fair share into the common wealth of the nation. And explain why they should not be charged with daylight robbery. But there goes my frustration again. I, for one, am not impressed by one American having a billion dollars, while so many Americans, people with full-time jobs, face a decision every month about whether to pay the heating bill, or the phone bill, or cut back on groceries, etc.
I feel as you do on this. Just one thing I would change. We can all have prosperity, just not the kind we enjoyed back then with the systems that created the fix we’re in now. The prosperity of our future has to be born from bold new systems that gradually and directly repair the entire Earth, not just parts of it.
Susan, I agree completely: "...The prosperity of our future has to be born from bold new systems that gradually and directly repair the entire Earth, not just parts of it..." I sometimes express it as "we could retool our economy from consumptive to remedial or restorative". We could devote our entire economy to things that actually need to be done, particularly healing the natural systems of Earth and all Life that dwells upon it.
Could there be a limit to how much money/assets one person is allowed to have for themselves and their families. The excess would be directed to healing the natural systems of Earth. People with enormous wealth would be revered for contributing to the restoration and health of our environment. And so would every citizen, because their work and the way they live would be geared to a healthy planet.
“Allowing a few individual citizens to accumulate vast wealth is undemocratic when that wealth is deployed in the political realm” I agree. You used the word deployed. That word is appropriate because great wealth can and often is used as a weapon.
Susan, my instinct is that allowing a few individual citizens to accumulate vast wealth is undemocratic when that wealth is deployed in the political realm. "Money talks". Your suggestion "People with enormous wealth would be revered for contributing to the restoration and health of our environment" is plausible. We can see CEOs in the present day who fit that description, for example Davis Smith of Cotopaxi. Some people don't want the federal government involved in trying to save the world, seeing it as "top down" management, instead of incenting the genius of the people to devise the solutions we seek. The federal government is in a unique position to be able to commission "pure research", and to spend money into the private sector economy to develop the things we need to transform our energy sector, for one example. Pure research in medicine is another area where the federal government can invest in pure research without regard to an inability to be profitable. People who don't understand money would argue with me on that point. They view our national public debt like we are a household or a hardware store, carrying crippling debt. But that's not how deficit spending works. The bulk of deficit spending by Congress is spent into our economy, accounting for about one third of our GDP, according to the most recent figures I've seen. Deficit money looks and acts the same as revenue money. The Republicans would have us believe that our recent bout with inflation was due to money spent by the Biden administration to recover from the devastating economic effects of the pandemic. But many of us could see that it was greed and market power on the part of the consolidation of industries in the wake of President Reagan. The FDR years in the 1930s provide a good example of the power and advantage of being able to "deficit spend" into the economy. The Republicans who believe in climate change tend to say we can't afford to address our existential problem. Their term "can't afford" can be translated as "we don't want to do that". We should not think about the cost in terms of money. We should think only about what we are up against: time, and resources. If we begin in earnest today, will we be able to do whatever is possible for humans to do in time to avert disaster? The money begins to look insignificant when compared to the possible loss of viability of Earth to sustain life, for example.
Back to your thought about the owners of private wealth being able to do good in the public sector, I think there is a place for that. It would be most welcome, or so I imagine. But I tend to think that our best approach is still to employ our democratic process to making public policy. We know that the process is often fraught. Capitalism does not possess a conscience. Capitalism and cancer have one thing in common: unlimited growth. If, in our current circumstances, we were working with a functioning democracy, instead of a republic susceptible to the influence of Big Money from corporations and lobbying in the making of public policy, we could get to where we need to go, efficiently and rapidly. People will criticize that assertion, but their objections are based in our current system, instead of the modified system we will invent as we begin in earnest to transform our economy and transform our relationship with Nature. If we could make changes in public policy today, the fossil fuel industry would not stand in the path of sustainable electrification of our economy. And the wealth of individuals will not be so out of balance, because the C-suite officers of the corporations will be making only five or ten times the amount of income of the lowest-paid workers, instead of 300 times more. And our economy will be devoted to things that we agree need to be done, instead of the willy-nilly approach we've been taking for the past centuries, when the rule has been "whatever sells", which too often misses what needs to be done. At the risk of veering off-topic, we don't have universal broadband Internet in low-density population areas of the United States because it has been unprofitable. With our federal government able to "deficit spend" we can provide true broadband to every citizen, a public necessity to which everyone should be entitled. We can look at the investment in infrastructure as an investment for the common wealth of the nation, like roads and sanitation. And the electric grid should be modernized and should be regarded as a public utility instead of private corporations who pay dividends to shareholders.
Money spent by Congress into our domestic economy is not wasted, it is an investment in our future.
Also, workers making higher wages will all pay slightly more in taxes. Since working and middle class people tend to pay their fair share of taxes, this would go some way towards reducing the deficit as well.
And those oligarchs despise the social safety net. As they have exerted their power over “our” legislators, the cash grant (AFDC/TANF) to the poorest families was frozen for more than a quarter century. Originally the assistance was intended to bring these families only up to the poverty line so that work was always incentivized. Now, family benefits are roughly 15% of Area Median Income. Not enough to pay rent. And yet family homelessness is portrayed as purely the fault of the parent rather than a policy choice. (Sorry to repeatedly bring this up, but it is another example of right wing intentional racism (even though it impacts more white families than families of color) and cruelty.
I agree with you 💯 %. It will be difficult to challenge corporate America who practically only owns this country. It is all about greed and money and self-centered interest. The only we would have a chance to limit their limitations is by re-electing Biden/ Harris and
Yep, and this low-hanging fruit is the GOP themselves -and- their wealthy donors. No wonder they want to defund the IRS… Can’t make it more obvious, can they?
It's so long since it's been seen in the White House that people don't recognise what they're seeing. And it's not "only I can fix it", it's a dynamic young team who understand why they were picked and what they're being asked to do. And doing it.
Well said. Wouldn’t it be great if American education taught young kids that they mattered and that society would come to depend on them for their contributions and their participation and their vote?
Once again, “Sleepy Joe”, shows he’s not sleepy at all! Thank goodness for President Biden.
Compare that to the shit-show that’s going on in the House, one can see it’s clear who are the adults in the room. The more the onion is peeled, the more radical and dangerous the new Speaker becomes.
Let’s get this straight, you want to spend money on foreign aid by reducing the government’s ability to raise revenue. That’s supply-side porn!
And for Democrats to to promote their accomplishments and contrasting vision. No, requiring corporations to at least operate WITHOUT damaging the general welfare is absolutely NOT Marxist fascism, and there is historical precedent. There is precedent for the perils of excessive laissez faire as well. "We the People" as a whole get to call the shots as we see them, with attention to a social contract of fundamental human rights. As we would not be oppressed, we should never be oppressors, and proven, egregious liars should never be trusted with power. Be professional and be adult, but give 'em Hell.
No argument here. The cretins already think they are a majority and the cult is larger than most other cults, except for Germany and Italy, etc.. What happens when they really are a majority. Will Dems accept that. I never will. Dems should focus on how they got so big. Cheat, propaganda, non-stop lying re Dems, and money. A bought "democracy" is no democracy. It's time to bring shame back for those too stupid to think for themselves.
It's more self-serving, plutocratic claptrap. Republicans add daily to Orwell's despotic dictionary:
In Geopease, "supply side" means billionaire; but who supplies what?
"“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed." - Lincoln
I love labor. They don’t give a shot about politics unless they must. They know how to do all the things the ‘paper’ people don’t and should be PAID for that. They want their work to be over when the day is done. They raise families and watch ballgames. They are the ultimate power but don’t want to organize unless they get pushed really hard when it’s almost too late. It’s almost too late now.
Re-organizing. Historically all ordinary workers received some of the benefits unions fought for, but not much has been made of that. And unions have sometimes abused their power, which is what those with power tend to do. I believe their is a way for unions and non-union workers to support each other in common cause. The opposite of tyranny is solidarity (vs "divide and conquer") and watching each others back (against back-stabbers).
No. Joe is not sleepy and and crap like "Al Gore claimed to invent the Internet" (even my daughter came home from elementary school repeating it) is complicated but fully puerile crap. Somehow the press pretty consistently found Reagan's frequent and head scratching faux pas (in retrospect, likely signs of early Alzheimer's) lovable. I do worry about an elderly candidate's eventual health (I have lost a number of close friends and acquaintances who were younger than I) but so far Biden is vastly wiser and productive than lazy (but wealthy) Trump ever was in his life. Apart from the "money pouring in from Russia, Robert Reich claims that Trump would have been richer had he parked his huge inheritance in an Index fund. Trump's superpower for fools is that wealth coupled with dishonesty and utter shamelessness.
We should not expect anything different from "Christian" Nationalists (CN). If MAGA and the CN's get the Presidency and the house again, what we currently loosely call "crazy" will turn to evil. Historically, fascist will turn first upon their rivals (you and me). In 1933 on the day after the elections, the opposition was already interred at the Concentration camp Oranjieburg, by 1934 Bergen Belsen was already full of Socialists and Communists from Northern Germany. The Catholic church became the State religion. If you know your history, Adolf did not win the popular vote; the NSDAP received 44.5%, and the opposition were split into 3 parties. They were Hitler's vocal opposition as we are to Trump and his CN's. I certainly don't want to end up in a CN concentration camp, so I am going to do everything to get the vote out, that I can. Don't believe that this can happen here, then listen carefully.
"If MAGA and the CN's get the Presidency and the house again, what we currently loosely call "crazy" will turn to evil."
It's already evil, which is to say sociopathic and dangerous. Excess deaths from COVID and may other ways malicious lies have killed. Families destroyed at the border. Collaboration with Putin. Obviously you are right that due process could just tumble if Republicans and their plutocratic patrons get enough of a grip.
The "GOP" has ceased to behave as a legitimate, good faith political party, and in many respects (when you think about it) behaves like traditional organized crime and, at least in some ways. fits the definition of organized crime.
The GOP maps over an extortion racket. "Give us what we want, or you'll regret it."
And they try to pin the blame for their bad behavior on the Democrats.
At some point it will be necessary for the extortionists in the GOP to face the music.
I think it was Brian Tyler Cohen who said recently that whatever the GOP says, ostensibly about the Democrats, they are always talking about themselves.
Certainly they try to distract from their own misdeeds by loudly and selfrighteously accusing others. Look at Trump as evidence mounts against him. It's weird how many fall for it.
I don’t think they “fall for it”. The technique they themselves have been using all their lives and have been despised for was finally validated when the Canard came down the golden escalator on the day dread became real.
JL, yesterday when in anger I commented on a journalist who made fun of Newsom tripping on the basketball court in China, you tenderly laughed at me which made me see the whole thing in a clearer light. Thanks.
It’s what narcissists do-they do what I call reverse confess-they accuse others of doing exactly what they are doing. It’s like there’s a narcissist handbook and the GOP have adopted it as their Bible.
"...'offset' that spending by taking $14.3 billion from funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) passed by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act."
Thereby proving what most of us have known for some time; the GOP doesn't give a damn about the national debt. It's just another talking point; like god and guns, like abortion, (remember flag burning and school prayer?) to keep the base riled up and their attention focused away from having their pockets picked and their democracy eroded a little bit more each day.
This is an impressive President. I've been angry and frightened about AI, but he's setting about harnessing and making it serve us. No fear or hesitation there. Pity about what's going on in the Capitol, that noble building.
AI holds immense power, and when power is not in the hands of the aggregated public in a fictional constitutional democratic republic, it will surely, sooner or later, be used against the public, and in some ways, already is. It could also make our lives way better, but we need to supervise how it is used. One way or another, it is almost certain to change how we live.
It seems to me that in the last century, most of technical advances were being applied to serve the purposes of the public. Now it seems a fair amount is being applied independent from the public good, and is sometimes used against it.
Until a year ago, I proudly said the same thing. Then I found I had to get one or I couldn't make medical appointments or receive secret codes enabling me to get into my bank account... It's choked with video games and apps I don't use. I loathe it.
Couldn’t you do those things via an iPad? The reason I refuse to get one is the addictive aspect of having one in your pocket at all times. I can’t tell you how many adults I know who would tell their teens to turn off their phones when at the dinner table at home or out in a restaurant, and then those very same adults, within six months or so, would be pulling them out at the table… excuse me, I need to take this.
I remember clearly when my ‘nope’ decision came about. I was on a college campus, a couple decades ago, standing in the hallway of a classroom building, waiting to talk to a professor friend of mine, when class let out. Out of the 30-40 students entering the hallway, I could count on one hand the number who were not glued, heads bent, to their little screens.
My version of internal road rage ulceration now comes when I go to purchase something and am met with, ‘Sorry, but we don’t take cash’.
And it's hard to rebel if you don't want the service to be cut off... And how about the ineffable chatbot, when you want to ask for advice? AI at its most genteel.
I USE the thing as an i pad. Never carry it with me, and check it for messages maybe once a day.
Thank you JL for addressing the AI-digital mayhem. We could use a Euro-like Digital Services Act in the US that coves the invasion of privacy & the cognitive harm of malevolent algorithms on children. -- 41 states are seeking a full spectrum of Class Action remedies. More later.
Those Americans who respect the result of elections and majority rule should be paying close attention to the new speaker, whom Matt Gaetz calls MAGA Mike. Mike Johnson voted against certifying the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021. But that was just one of many steps he took to push the MAGA agenda.
This article published by Politico October 27, lists some of Johnson's quiet but effective moves that led to his being in position today to push back at President Biden, Mitch McConnell, and the majority of senators on aid to Israel and Ukraine, and funding the IRS:
By Daniella Diaz
Why Mike Johnson Is Hardly an Accidental Speaker
Mike Johnson's rise was due to a series of savvy political maneuverings as much as it was due to luck, dating back to Johnson's first run for Congress.
FOUR TERMS IN THE MAKING
"Much of the media has regarded Mike Johnson’s two-day-old speakership as something of an accident of history.
But the record shows Johnson’s ascent was no accident. It was the culmination of a deliberate series of moves aimed at positioning himself for greater power.
Since Johnson's first run for Congress, the now four-term Louisianan has always ensured he is in line ideologically with the most conservative faction of the House GOP — without going to their tactical extremes.
That ultimately made him a palatable choice to fellow Republicans, who unanimously elected him speaker Wednesday after 22 fractious days on Capitol Hill.
"He's the right man for the job, and I have faith in him," said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), who is aligned with the more moderate wing of the conference. "He's a good man, he's a good Christian, and he's going to do an excellent job at this."
A sudden opportunity: Johnson was still a first-term state lawmaker when a vacancy opened in the northwest Louisiana House district then held by GOP Rep. John Fleming, a charter member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus. Fleming was among several Republicans who jumped into the race to succeed retiring Sen. David Vitter, and Johnson moved decisively to pick up Fleming’s baton.
Johnson ran with the Freedom Caucus imprimatur and a six-figure donation from its PAC, as well as backing from Citizens United and the Club for Growth — giving him a crucial leg up over the four other Republicans in the race.
But once sworn in, Johnson made an unexpected pivot: He frequently attended Freedom Caucus meetings but never actually joined the group. This was at a moment when it was solidifying its reputation as a thorn in leadership’s side, helping to complicate the ultimately failed effort to push health care legislation and other parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda through the House.
Taking down a veteran: Johnson instead set his sights on a different perch: leading the Republican Study Committee, the sprawling conservative policy group that counted the majority of the GOP conference among its members.
Ahead of his second term, Johnson took on Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), a veteran pol who had served a decade in Congress and spent 25 years in California state politics before that. Johnson leapt into the race early, and where McClintock was openly critical of Freedom Caucus tactics, Johnson was more accommodating, suggesting that the two groups could work in tandem.
After Johnson won, McClintock told Roll Call , “The fact of the matter is he completely out campaigned me during the recess.”
The RSC chairmanship gave Johnson an early opportunity to interact with a wide variety of members, hosting weekly member lunches and directing a sizable policy and communications staff — experience that set him up for his next step up the ladder, an unopposed run for conference vice chairman in 2020.
The quiet conservative: Throughout his House career, Johnson walked a careful line — interacting closely with the hard-liners and embracing their strategic objectives without engaging in their divisive tactics. He has backed drastic federal spending cuts and strict abortion restrictions but never opposed a GOP rule or threatened to vacate the speakership.
Meanwhile, he was building his credibility as a Trump loyalist, culminating in his late-2020 effort to rally Republicans behind a court brief arguing for the Supreme Court to intervene in presidential vote-counting.
Johnson told the Daily Beast in 2018 that he strived to maintain ties with both the Freedom Caucus and the party leadership: “I was one of those unique and unusual circumstances where I had close friendships and trusted relationships on all sides of the conference.”
That continued as the hard-liners moved against Speaker Kevin McCarthy this year. Johnson voted against Ukraine funding and the Sept. 30 spending stopgap. But he never once cast a vote against the conference nominee for speaker, and he backed McCarthy’s debt-limit deal — giving him credibility as a team player.
Fleming, his 4th District predecessor, praised Johnson’s political skills in an interview and said his ascent bodes well for conservative policymaking. “He’s a very talented guy,” he said, adding, “I think he saw along the way the potential to move up in leadership, and like any good politician, he’s going to take advantage of an opportunity.” "
— Daniella Diaz
There has been much made over Johnson's good manners and quit demeanor. And no one should question that he is a committed MAGA believer who will use all possible tactics to impose his biblical worldview on all his fellow citizens. He may even be able to persuade house Republicans to behave somewhat normally through 2024, so that, with the current number of threatened Democratic senators running next year, Republicans could could control both houses of congress, the presidency, and the court in 2025. These are dangerous times, and Mike Johnson is a dangerous man.
American democracy no longer needs the Republican Party. The bad-faith Republican Party is obsolete. American democracy no longer needs people like Donald Trump (Adolf Huckster), Matt Gaetz-of-Hell, the right-wing Freedom Caucus and the smirking Christian fascist, MAGA Mike Johnson. Let us retire the words "Republican Party" and label the racist antisemitic book-burners to match who they really are... the MAGANAZI Party.
The Congress being orchestrated by Trump who is orchestrated by Putin is set out to destroy the country as we know it and create an autocratic medieval feudal system to replace the great American experience of democracy. Their rule has created our own dark ages.
Let's not insult our ancestors or their achievements by comparing them with contemporary degenerates.
Let's not insult feudalism, even mafias have more social sense than the bulimic dissatisfaction-guaranteed nitwits we are dealing with. They're vampires, poor bastards can't give, only take.
To be pitied, made to puke, put on a diet... put out of their misery and the misery they cause all others.
Unfortunately, the "ancestors" who held the most sway were indeed at LEAST as bad the contemporary degenerates. We could simply start with the institution of slavery which this country endured officially for 80 years and then after fighting a horrible war which inflicted outrageous harm on both sides, endured in somewhat modified forms for another 160 years (yup, all the way until today). So to invoke the name of our "ancestors" who were slaveholders and subsequently white supremacists is to just pour oil on the fire. I am NOT arguing the horribleness of the contemporary "degenerates"... we need to address that too. But we can't act like somehow many of the people we descended from were saints, or even just good people.
I was looking back far further, long before the forebears of whom you speak escaped from Europe to the Americas.
That's because of references to feudalism, to the Middle Ages and the so-called Dark Ages. I can't help thinking of the churches, the great cathedrals, the monasteries spread across Europe... and not of their decline but of their building, of the communities that built them.
Brutality, wars, abuse of power, oppression... of course.
The Congress is being orchestrated by monied interests. Trump and Putin are insignificant bit players in this saga. The owners of the chessboard laugh hysterically whenever the name Putin is uttered from a member of the liberal left.
With the demand that IRS funding be cut to finance aid to Israel, the government of the United States is officially being held hostage by the MAGA GOP. I’m old enough to remember that we have a principle in America… that We Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists.
I hope President Biden makes this clear in his response to this demand … with Leader Schumer saying the same. And I hope ABC, CBS, NBC News et al accurately report this fact! The GOP must be made to pay a price for becoming a domestic terrorist organization!
Just say "no" to thugs.
Of course, do away with any thing that might hurt the GOP rich. You can't give the rich another big tax break, but you can sneak one by not allowing the IRS to do their job.
I think they will clearly do both. Utter lack of conscience or shame is their superpower. It should also be their biggest liability, should Democrats play it well.
I agree. I have been saying that the Republican Party is our own terrorist organization with Trump as the lead boss.
I don't think Trump is going to be the lead boss much longer, if he ever was. The real bosses are the real billionaires like Charles Koch with his Americans for Prosperity Network and the Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025 sand their donor network. Koch hates Trump and has been waiting patiently for him to self-destruct because Trump is incapable of implementing Koch's vision of government. Koch's network, which has been graced by Clarence Thomas' presence at fund raising events, has also gotten cases on the new SCOTUS docket that lay the groundwork for Project 2025 by challenging the ability of Federal agencies to regulate business. Regardless of who wins in 2025 Koch is not waiting to start implementing the plan. Even if Clarence Thomas recuses it will still potentially be 5 to 3.
https://georgiafisanick.substack.com/p/trumpism-without-trump
True, Georgia, Koch and the billionaires have manipulated the Christians for quite some time with wedge issues (abortion, gay rights, etc.) [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" 2004] Trump has been Koch's "useful idiot," a bigot leading the bigoted masses. ["The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?"] Who would have ever thought that Christianity would be the lead cause for the demise of our democracy, if that happens? And at this point, we're teetering close to the edge of the abyss.
Religion has caused more destruction and war over the ages than anything else.
In too many ways, religion is just a very successful method of crowd control -- especially women. It is way to maintain power, either with or against the government. It's a way to raise money. The promise of either heaven or hell is just beginning to lose its power of persuasion.
Just wait till those Jihadists and Taliban types get to "heaven" and find out the virgins they were counting are all Catholic nuns with rulers.
Never forget the crusades. Fascinating and as sad as any wars. But humans, particularly our president at this moment, are beginning to grapple with the futility of war. Maybe this time....speaker Johnson is being seen for who he is: full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. (Do I have to put quotation marks around that? It’s just for him.)
I hear you, and the echo saying how life is a tale told by an idiot.
LOL Love it.
Religions and political parties have much in common, don't they? In fact, partisanship seems to have become the present official religion of the U. S. wherein disciples must subscribe to doctrines of infallibility. Try holding an elected member of the party accountable on a partisan stooge website and experience virtual stoning first-hand by the party's rabid true believers.
for sure, who wouldve thought, but Christian fundamentalism with its nationalist/social aspirations, have been barnstorming in myriads of congregations for a few generations, and finally been rewarded, and wanting more.... with the big caveat mind you, that demographically they are in DECLINE, and have been for half that time.
And racism is at the core of the demographic change - whites are no longer the majority and this trend will continue year after year. They see that. Though I am a white male, I never felt a vested interest in either since I had nothing to do with either. Early on my mom made it clear that race is an artificial construct and that females should have equal rights with males. Not surprising, my mom was absolutely right. Thank you, Mom.
For sure as far as evangelicals are concerned, this is a continuation of white dominance traditions, though decline is more pronounced in white liberal, and not so liberal Catholic demographics. My Mom was not unlike yours, she never did agree to being baptised in our folksy intolerant Baptist congregation, and even put on a comparative religion show for our missionary society, back in the 1950s mind you!
" Life doesn't come with manuals. They come with mothers." (BeHappy.me)
Right there with you Richard. It's been a long haul, but we are lucky to have Heather provide a forum the gives us at least some comfort in knowing we are not alone. There are many of us actually. Our numbers show there is a great strength to stand up against that which threatens us all.
Case in point:
Last Friday on Steve Schmidt's "The Warning", out of the blue, after manipulating us with his railing against New Labels as a front to foster a Trump win, he tells his subscribers that he is going to work on Dean Phillips' primary campaign to run Biden into the ground to have a younger generation candidate that will beat Trump. He exhorted all of us to follow his lead and back Phillips. This is crap. He needs the money and is working to assure a Trump win. Damn near all of us commenting were in a blue rage, many unsubscibing. What stood out though, is that many of us resolved to stay connected because we respected each other and valued each other's input.
We certainly will not have an issue like that with our dear Professor, but we are a large, educated and articulate group that , in itself, has the potential of being a powerful and unified voice.
And yet Leonard Leo dumped 1.2 billion into one organization simply to canvass the Latino vote. Many Latinos are republican.
And thank-you to Richard's mom for bringing him up right.
Your mom was a wise woman.
Richard, I would put "Christianity" in quotes because these haters are not followers of what Jesus taught. Once again fundamentalism shows how destructive it is and we can look world wide for examples. I note below that you mention racism which is a potent divider of people. Poorer whites have always been played by the elite. Dylan's Only a Pawn in Their Game.
They are NOT christians, not followers of Jesus the Christ. They follow the demons!
I understand how hard it is to be a member of a community/cadre with a name (in this case, Christian) and have a part of that community/cadre act in a manner that is antithetical to your understanding of the beliefs and actions of that community. I went to the Oxford Dictionary and found this:
"Chris·tian/ˈkrisCHən/
adjective
relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings.
"the Christian Church"
noun
a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Christianity.
"a born-again Christian" "
They profess themselves and they are almost always believers in Christianity.
Additionally, so many people have been killed in the name of the Christian religion, and in today's word, bludgeoned with the "beliefs" in the Christian faith as they are denied civil rights and subjected to assault and homicide for their "differences" that the teachings of Christ and engaging in behaviors that reflect what you believe are the "true" Christianity are lost in the atrocity.
My position and experience are in the argument that "not all cops are bad" is hard to address when we (the good cops) allow that mindset and those actions to continue.
Good morning Ally. I think you were one of the good cops.
I am not a member of any Christian community exactly for this reason, but I still consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ and his teachings. He is my personal savior. Please don't think that I consider myself a disciple either. My faith is much too shallow and I fear the lions.
I wonder how many wars would have never transpired without first invoking a religion as the reason for it? But the real reason has always been money in all its many forms. She who obtains great power without having money as the reason, will be killed.
Ally, thank you again for your perspective.
Remember, Fascism will come to America wrapped in the flag and holding a cross.
That is now happening.
I just wonder what these trumpers will think, when they can't protest. Imagine Jan 6th in China or Russia? Death, Siberia for life. You steal a poster and you are imprisoned for years. I do believe the young man was released due to a severe illness from which he died. Workers will not be allowed to strike to get better wages. Just saying. Moms of Suppression-oops I mean Liberty,- will be happy when all reading material will be censored.
Not sure it's a cause so much as a cover and excuse. Bigotry, hate, resentment are the causes.
I agree that the funders are able to do a lot, but the Koch Family could not get elected into the White House, and they need Trump as their puppet. It is for him that people are threatening judges, and people involved in the cases against him, not the Koch Family or the other members of the Billionaire's club (BC). So, I still see him as the mob boss. Though as he loses his faculties he is less useful to the BC. The real bosses can be the population if we vote in an informed manner. Each billionaire is entitled to one vote in this democracy, even if they are successful in gaming the system a large turnout against their initiatives has proven powerful too.
Linda, this is why one of my nicknames for him is mafia don. I am glad that you note his increasing senility. Apparently, yesterday was the first time that the MSM made note of this on MSNBC.
I watched The Godfather the other day. The Don never said kill him or torture the person. All that was said was" Take care of it." Everyone knew what he meant. trump is playing that same role especially for Jan 6th. I didn't say anything but his followers drove cross country because they thought they knew what he meant. The same goes with the threats to the judges and jurors. He isn't doing it but his rhetoric is inspiring his minions.
What I find amusing is that Republicans are threatening themselves!
Linda, brother, David Koch, died in 2019.
I took it as what the brothers have done historically. Nothing has changed since David died.
Point taken.👍
At his death, because he had “bought” American Ballet Theater, my daughter commented on the deadening effect artistically of his “ownership.”
I guess she meant the surviving brother...
Yep, Charles is a plural in many ways
Thanks for the reminder.
Salud, Linda!
People of means do have large amounts of influence. They come in many stripes not just Republicans ie George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg who have both spent hundreds of millions on political influence in elections.
Now that big Republican donors have managed to shred the middle class, it’s good that Democrats have a couple of millionaire donors
it seems that bread and butter items like fuel and food that have inflated are the real cause of the pressures on all citizens but especially the middle and lower class folks who feel it worse....another tax. We need to open up all forms of energy exploration to insure our survival in life as we know it.. Our obsession with reduction in carbon based fuels has only enriched Iran who is funding terrorists who want to destroy Israel and us...we need to stop enriching our enemies.
At least “most” democrats seem to work for the betterment of people, tho.
In regard to the big money interests, it appears that Harlan Crow, CT's "long-time friend", is backing Dean Phillips.
The suppression of women, is ancient ( and continues!) . The quiet fact: most women taught ( teachers/wives) men how to read back in 1700’s and then up , our dismal representation in all positions , and the dereliction of all male control over all female advancement says unequivocally they know women can , DO , run things better and so best to keep them “ in their place” ...our time sisters, right? To make perfectly clear , WE appreciate good management, carry through of law/oaths/representation by anyone. Today’s dilemmas however emphasize anyone is capable of being misled and radicalized...no names need mentioned.....
Vote ladies 😉💙
Just remember, in regard to the religions being discussed, men made God in THEIR own image and not the other way around, obviosly to get control over the "other" that was more capeble. The textile and diestufs industry is one of the larget and oldest. Who started spinning and weaving?
Mankind has indeed manipulated the message(s) forever To Be Sure. Many say Back around Reagan it began…waaaay before that truly.
Critical thinking is lost it seems, and I feel many of the old ways held nostalgically even more . Progress is evident, more left out of conversations than acknowledged, but together we could make it quadrupled.
Religion is such a hot topic and so little practiced.
It’s
radicalization that makes this convenience evil.
How’s that for a spin…😉
Yup. That is why we NEED Heather, beyond appreciating her.
Critical thinking is difficult. Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., co-chair of the Human Genome Project, understands DNA as well as anyone else on earth. All DNA comes from LUCA, the grandmother of all life on earth (plants, insects, animals), the single cell origin of life on earth going back 3.5 billion years. All life on earth has the same DNA., yet Francis Collins, a fundamentalist Christian, chooses to believe that which has no verifiable data to prove its claim - religion. Carl Sagan was right: "The human brain is the most complicated thing in the known universe." So, we have some for whom skin color is a defining, differentiating element. We humans will be the architects and cause of our own doom.
LOL! Can you imagine the learning curve! There’s a definite skill-set in being a public servant . Broad picture thinking..are they/yourself capable, understand the duties? At this point in time! There’s a hoard of questionable incumbent or candidates! And some surprising younguns coming up the ranks! Hoping😉
Whew🧐!
https://hartmannreport.com/p/will-american-democracy-survive-the-17e
Thom Hartmann had a great article on the American oligarchs yesterday. Definitely a MUST READ!
Hartmann's article helps identify differences in oligarchs better than my old separation of them into egalitarian and predatory. Now I can look forward to various degrees of differences, such as those between David Koch and his twin brother William.
See https://aspenjournalism.org/the-price-of-privacy/
and
https://www.aspendailynews.com/public-in-paonia-say-privacy-doesn-t-justify-bear-ranch-land-swap/article_a1d9a8f8-aa49-5749-93c5-dd556f552f9d.html
Are all readers here aware that Koch Industries continues to operate in Russia regardless of sanctions, that their father worked for both Hitler and Stalin in the 1939’s and their fortune is part of climate change? Their work to destroy public universities May yet prove their most important legacy as liberal arts curricula die and small colleges close for lack of funding
I wasn't aware of that! Do you have citations? Apparently Charles son Chase is going to take over running the empire.
Nancy MacLean: “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” for starters. The bibliography should give you all the sources you can handle.
Yes. As to 1939, you must have seen Rachel Madows "Ultra" podcast, no? If not, it is required. Those U.S, Congressmen and Senators were indicted for Sedition (Treason)and their progeny are right up there with the Kochs today.
Public universities: Film, “Starving the Beast.” James Carville “stars.” My university was one attacked by Koch “methods.
Exactly. Sadly, we may need to negotiate with the terrorists in Congress until November 5, 2024. After that, if we do our jobs right, they’ll mostly be in the rear view mirror.
Hopefully so.
The Republican Taliban
I have always reffered to them as the Taliban since 1994, when they gained the congressional majority and slashed Federal science funding because there was no mention of science in their BOOK. Some seven hundred of us at USGS lost our jobs for lack of $$ to pay us. The most accurate bumper sticker back then was
"The Moral Majority is NEITHER!"
Well said
According to Open Secrets, in the 2022 election cycle, 2 of the top 5 contributors to Mike Johnson's campaign and Leadership PAC were the American Israel Public Affairs Committee $25K (AIPAC which is itself a PAC) and Koch Industries $20K. AIPAC is bipartisan.
Note that Johnson won in the primary stage of the 2022 election cycle with 60% of the vote. In LA if you get a majority in the open primary you are won and done. Interesting that his first Bill out as Speaker helps both. Just sayin'
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/mike-johnson/summary?cid=N00039106&cycle=2022&type=C
'Mike Pence Returns Four Dollars to Donors'
'WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - Two days after suspending his campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination, former Vice-President Mike Pence has returned four dollars to his donors.'
'Speaking to reporters, Pence said that he took pride in the fact that his campaign has been funded exclusively by small contributions.'
“The four dollars I received came from nine donors, for an average of forty-four cents a donation,” he said. “No other candidate can say that.”
'Pence spent the weekend calling to thank his donors, adding,' “Although all of my calls went straight to voice mail, I left my number and I do expect to hear from them when they get a chance.”
'Pence’s exit from the race drew a mixed reaction in a new poll, with a majority of Americans unaware that he had been running.' (Satire, NEWYORKER)
FERN MCBRIDE (NYC)
Another I liked is: "𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦."
Ron Boyd, I laughed, right away. Laughs and hugs mean more than ever these days. Thank you! Borowitz, watch out for Boyd!
Borowitz is "pure gold."
That is why I subscribe to the New Yorker.
I adore, reading the New Yorker - all parts of it :-)
My Mom would cut out and mail me articles(always long) and cartoons too when I was away at college and for decades later.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂 funniest one ever!
Currently reading Borowitz's brilliant book, "Profiles in Ignorance." Highly recommend.
😂😂😂😂
If AIPAC was attempting to influence Johnson to be more pro-Israel, it was money wasted. I don’t see evidence that his true colors were shoing at the time. Actually,I don’t believe her has much color or conviction. that is why he was electable to be the House Majority Speaker. He functions as a parrot.
As an evangelical Christian it is very likely that Johnson is very pro-Israel. I think it is way more interesting that he put the IRS legislation into the bill, something very favorable to Koch.
isnt the pro Israel thing to help bring about Armageddon End of World kind of stuff?
Yep, guess that’s what they are rooting for. The Rapture. Be careful what you pray for…
Yep, and Apocalypse is great drama for a drama loving species, been a boon to the movie industry and mega churches as well. I think it's akin to a drug intoxicant myself, a long-term bane in human societies. Many a pope eg lived in expectation of stuff like this. Of course, it's built into the NT
The Greek definition certainly fits today’s world.🙏
“Final Five Voting” movement addresses the primary stage as the biggest problem with our elections. They have a point.
YEP.
Steven,
The only thing that Republicans will hear is whatever Fox News tells them, which, since Fox News will benefit from not having to pay taxes, will be something like:
"A heroic effort by new speaker Mike Johnson to keep the Communist Democrat IRS from stealing your money is underway in America! Mike Johnson is working for YOU, the little guy.
THAT message is what Fox News will send out and that is what people will believe.
What little guys are you talking about, Mike? Short millionaires/billionaires?
No, the many MAGAts who ONLY hear Faux Noise; my recently deceased father-in-law was one of them and my cohort of former cops who augment Fox with OAN and Prager U "information". Pay attention when you're in a waiting room for various things (my most recent was an oil change) what's on the TV. That is who the "little guys" are.
Well said Ally. The messaging keeps working and the democrats have none that is memorable for the little guys---alas
Right on point Ally.
Which is why Murdoch got Presidential expidited citizenship. The foreigner could now own major media that affects the public and went right to work with Ronnie Raygun's Roger Ailes to set up the propoganda machine, Fox News. Gotta protect the big money's money and give them ours too.
I definitely agree.
Are you asking them to classify Putin as a terrorist, Steven?
I think they actually admire him.
But I see you are calling the Republican party a terrorist organisation. I don't think that will be taken seriously either.
You have the American Taliban wielding power. The Taliban won in their country.
Noam Chomsky labels the GOP for decades now as the most dangerous organization in the world.
Russia is the last great pure white country where they kill faggots.
They don't pussy around with namby pamby BS like democratic elections and most definitely not freedom of expression.
Look at Japan, they don't let foreigners in either - pure race.
Then look at Sweden - learn your lessons from Sweden - too many immigrants, disaster.
Russia - the last kick-ass white race on the planet.
Please, be our guest, and go live in Russia.
I agree. Trolls love Russia.
Not a troll actually.
I'm afraid that really is the reason the GOP are supporting Putin.
It really is.
That is what they think.
I am not a troll
I hope you're being sarcastic. Because if you aren't, you're an idiot.
No, that is really what they think. It really is.
You have Chritian Nationalist white supremacists, and that is their ideology.
Why else would they support Russia?
Not an idiot.
I have to agree with you. There is little difference of Russia today and the old USSR, except for the addition of Western Money. Greed corrupts and when combined with power, absolutely corrupts.
Japan "imports" younger people from southeast Asia because they need them to help take care of Japan's aging population. Germany has the same problem. Here we are lucky because those coming to the U.S. essentially share our cultural norms.
And work in our senior care facilities.
That last sentence brings to mind Putin's shirtless stunt on the horse--pure theater and our spineless GOP/MAGA wonders lapped it all up, right off Putin's spoon.
Your satire needs some honing to be sharper and more effective. Your language comes off being laudatory instead of derisive.
Not trying to be funny, Derek - that is deadly serious.
Serious and horrifying.
That is the ideology of the Christian Nationalist white supremacist members of your government.
Why else would they not support Russia?
What other reason? Saving money???
I'm not trying to be derisive.
More of a perspective jolt.
Christopher I think you’ve been misunderstood. I understand completely what you are saying.
Easy to misunderstand, and call a troll.
Exactly. I have been working on a responsw to Christopher and all I can think of is "Words matter. Be careful how you phrase it."
Good to see you here today, Jeri. Ally too.
Yes. the Fascist GQP is a terrorist organization. It will be taken seriously too. Go TROLL elsewhere, TROLL..
Why do you call me a troll, John?
I thought we were having a serious conversation.
I believe that calling the Republican party "terrorist" will never be taken seriously. I believe the faction of that party that wields power is manipulated by Trump, who in turn is manipulated by Putin.
And I don't think that is being taken seriously enough.
And I believe the GOP deeply admire the Putin regime for ideological reasons.
I understand this upsets you, but ranting troll, troll, is not constructive.
These things need to be faced.
I am no troll.
Christopher, I hope that you will understand that you have been misconstrued. Some folks are literal in their thinking. You have a flare for satire and, perhaps, a quickness/sharpness that may be threatening to a few. Some Americans who are paying attention may be both scared to death and literal-minded. I'm not alone in appreciating your perspective and use of language.
I hope that you'll stay. This audience is generous, intelligent and caring. Please give us another chance. Salud!
Christopher, above you write: " I believe the faction of that party that wields power is manipulated by Trump, who in turn is manipulated by Putin." I think that this is absolutely true. I am not alone in believing that Trump has been blackmailed by Putin all along, probably with Moscow hotel room photos.
No, it's not blackmail.
he worships him ideologically and wishes to emulate him.
He was writing letters to Putin even before he was President.
He was writing letters to Putin because Putin was blackmailing him. That they may share an ideological bent for pure dictatorship is an irrelevant coincidence.
Perhaps not writing like a troll would help us in not perceiving you as one. As Fern says, this forum is filled with generous, caring folks, most of whom have had very negative experiences with trolls and their ilk. A disclaimer tacked on before using phrases like "white kick-ass nation" would help. Salaam. shalom, peace to you.
Christopher, I took your first post literally, as did others. There was no hint that it was intended as satire. Please do us all a favor -- including yourself -- and indicate that it's meant as a satirical piece, or risk being taken as a crazed right winger.
How about enemies of the Constitution?
Well Christopher, they are surely fostering domestic terrorism. It is well documented and many are in jail for the acts they performed. That is being taken seriously. All your points about their admiration of Putin are correct. but you have look at your definition of terrorism. It isn't just something that just happens overseas.
I do not take things literally. I twist words around for effect also and it hopefully opens some eyes. Humor and irony illuminate the truth. Just hone your words a bit.
And I believe you will never be taken seriously.
As for being a troll, I do think you protest too much.
Are you one of those butt hurt bernie boys?
I don't know what a "butt hurt bernie boy" is. Sounds like homophobic trolling to me.
Perhaps my words have been misconstrued.
The GOP white Christian Nationalist extremists really admire the fact that Russia is the last kick-ass pure white race misogynist homophobic.... strong... country in the world.
If you don't see that, you have a problem.
Anyway, I didn't pay a subscription to argue with people who have problems reading and use homophobic insults.
I paid to support the great historical perspective on current affairs by HCR.
I'm out of here.
I do think that your rather aggressive language has been misconstrued, and challenged, and it is easy to see why, Christopher. You could use the discriminatory insults differently to make your points. However, you do clarify your position when challenged. I would say to you, stay. Find a better way to make the point you are trying to make. You sound pretty angry...any way to use your anger to get the vote out?
Christopher, I think you are on to something when you suggest that the maga GOP is inspired by Russia , and I suppose that Russians may be racists, misogynist and homophobic to some degree that is probably pretty hard to determine. Just like Americans if we are painting with a broad brush. Certainly Putin himself seems to embody these characteristics. But the term "kick-ass" is so often used in a positive way in other contexts that readers here have been put off by it.
One can imagine Trump himself describing Russia as a kickass pure white nation. I'm assuming you are against pure white misogynist homophobic things.
Am I right?
Grow up . You know who Bernie is.
"are you one of those butt hurt bernie boys" I don't know about Christopher but me a women is/'was all in for Bernie. He tirelessly work for "we the people". Beth maybe you should learn to hold your tongue of hate?
John, we must be careful about who we call out as a troll verses a person who expresses an opinion that is contrary to the flow of discussion. I do not agree with Christopher’s views or his way of expressing himself, but I do not believe he is a “troll.”
In these challenging times we should listen to divergent views and not be threatened by them.
Sarcasm, irony, and sometimes poorly constructed simple jokes can all be misconstrued. Ask for clarification and assume good will until you and the other person are both satisfied you understood what the other one meant.
The guy should have put a /s on his damn comment if he was being snarky.
That Cristopher guy made a racist, anti-democratic comment, and you are defending him??? What else would you call him??? His comment was inappropriate to the extreme, If that smart ass did that on the DAILY KOS site, he would be removed immediately and never be allowed back on their site. I get sick and tired of people defending people like that Christopher guy and getting angry for saying things about our opponents like MTG and Donald TUMP.
You don't have to worry about me any longer as i will not be making anymore comments. Every time i join a sight like this, someone seems to be offended by something i say and complain and gripe about it. I try to fight like hell for Democrats, and someone gets mad about what i have to say. I am giving up on everything political. I no longer care what happens in elections.
And the Taliban would never practice terrorism.
Just to be clear, is this a serious comment or facetious (hopefully)? Because the Taliban is one of the worst terrorist organizations in the world. They were at least partially responsible for 9/11.
In the context of it being a response to the statement it followed, I think you should have caught the obvious. The comments are coming so fast that what one follows is long gone by the time you hit post.
True.
Sometimes people read cursorily. I got the wrong end of the stick a few times by missing the word “not.” I advise avoiding “you should have” messages. “I thought it would be obvious” would not cause offense.
Hmmm . I don't think Jon was offended. It went by so fast the context was no longer there. In that regard, I understand his question. Of course it was facitious and this group is sharp enough to have seen it that way, if what it was referring to was still there.
"you should have' and "I thought it would be obvious" were not in what I wrote that he was questioning.
Write and call your own Congressperson early and often, and let them know you expect them to vote for the good of the people of their constituents, not a fringe cult. Every single Representative, even ones in deep Red districts needs to be put on alert that all Johnson’s plan to weaken American in the eyes of the world does is lets China extend it influence and control. The voters of America don’t want that.
Biden and Schumer, and maybe McConnell will, but there is no hope for the networks unless the sun rises in the West tomorrow.
Exactly, how to accurately, consistently and relentlessly portray the far right malarkey on the mainstream media?
Steven, thank you for your comment. Yes, accountability and consequences. And you do not negotiate with terrorists and I will add: children, sociopaths and cultists and crazies. Or to be specific , Republicans ,at least until they rediscover their soul and brains.
Well said and I definitely agree.
However, we still have a major problem with the news media because their restricted by these conservative ceo's who own and control to what they can say. This is why I am greatful that we have independent journalists, writers, and others who have podcasts that are working around the clock to get the real truth out to the American people.
The media is not going to report that
MSNBC had a total discussion with a variety of persons at 7:00CDT this morning. Well done!
Well said, Steven!
I do not want one penny for "aid" to Israel, the worst apartheid country, which has welcomed a good excuse to destroy (again!) the infrastructure and the population in that "open air prison": Gaza.
If they show you who they are believe them—the House leadership plans to hold the Israelis, Gazans and Ukrainians hostage to the rich tax cheats. Once again, the Republican program is to look out for their rich friends. We need to show them what we think of enabling tax cheats.
“If they show you who they are believe them—the House leadership plans to hold the Israelis, Gazans and Ukrainians hostage to the rich tax cheats.”
This needs to be blasted as loudly as possible!
I agree! Honesty, respect, responsibility - all disappear with MAGA. I don't know what could help them see except for total loss, that seems to be coming if we can't hang on for a year+.
Debbie, Historically I think fascists don't need to win elections. They "inch" up in the polls and then use an excuse (usually a false flag atrocity) to take over for the 'good of all'. See Putin, Franco, Hitler blah blah blah...Pinochet in Chile said it was for 'National Re-construction', Mussolini murdered an opponent, and admitted to it in front of a parliament with no opposition, because they were all afraid of him. Do not rely only on the vote, the attempt to take over will come from somewhere again, just as it did on Jan. 6. Our Christian Nationalist will try it again. So, we vote but we must also be vigilant in these dangerous times for our precious USA. American been berry berry gooood to me!
Bruce, knowing the history can help me to see the fascistic game plan for what it is (it still leaves room for error on my part, I hope you notice) and to avoid making the same mistakes we tried (I assume) to avoid back when our grandparents were still young and beautiful. But what different "things" can we try this time around?
Hey Les, wonderful Question. I think it's all about being prepared to shut the Fascists down, the moment they attempt the next takeover. I think our forces, and then Liz Cheney et al have done a wonderful job with Jan 6, and Mr. Smith needs to bring it home. I just need to know whether there is now a similar group of competent people ready for the next onslaught. Mark my words, it will come, because fascists can't get into power any other way...I think. I would never have said this being a PIRG student, but I hope that DOJ, FBI is watching Cruz and all the others with day and night vision, constantly. They are a clear and present danger to our democracy and way of life. And not to over dramatize, even our very lives. We need to exert power of the state at the right time.
I wish I had answers, and I know it's unfair for me to imagine you or anyone else should have answers. Did Tom Paine have answers? Can we avoid bloodshed?
Yes! If our democratic State authorities act fast enough, I think we can avoid bloodshed completely.
If we can, not can't. There's no other peace-directed course of action, is there?
If I understand you, No, there is no other peace directed course of action other than to stop the fascists at their next step. Hopefully quick enough to avoid bloodshed, but if not ... so be it. The armed forces are not behind the Mango Muffin.
The substack threading is getting garbled, I think. I previously replied to what I thought was your reply. Anyway, it is devoutly to be hoped there be no need for blood spilt, as ye olde bard might have sung it.
I agree completely Les. Completely!
I agree. the house is ow a showcase of dysfunctional government.
Excellent nutshell Mary. I’d probably add Corporate PAC overlords to rich friends.
In 24, we must vote out every Republican legislator whose term will expire next year. It's critical that we energize young people to vote and others to prevent an authoritarian government from taking over our Democracy.
Mary, so brief ,so to the point , so spot on
I thought this exact thing when I read the newsletter from HCR... a sane person would be embarrassed to be so blatantly obvious!!! Reenforces for idiotic and uncaring they are!!!
" For each dollar spent auditing the top 1% of U.S. earners, the IRS brought in $3.18; for each dollar spent auditing the top 0.1%, it brought in $6.29."
Seems like there's a lot of "fruit" there waiting to be picked by just enforcing rule of law. Why would you not? And those are the folks that would hardly miss it; the ones with yachts the size of cruise ships.
The thing that bothers me most is that those people with vast excess wealth should have been paying higher wages to the people who worked long hours every day to create that wealth. Wages remained flat for four decades, while productivity increased. All that excess wealth at the top was skimmed off of the lives of the vast majority of working people.
If they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, we should start using the term "confiscatory taxation". Take back what rightfully belongs to the working people.
And we need a "New Left" willing to stand up to Big Money to insist on raising up ALL of our fellow Americans to enjoy the kind of life we had in the wake of WW2 in the 1950s and '60s.
" Record profits mean record contracts" said the UAW. And why not?
“Because when we do that, the poor have a ladder up, the middle class does well, and the wealthy still do very well. We all do well.” says Biden, and why not?
Thanks, well penned. Reminding the numbers out there WE HAVE THE NUMBERS...lots more of us than thems...BUT! US haven’t voted well in 🗣️YEARS..excretion 2020..apparently something was bothering them?
Complacency is the devils advocate , if we stand by giving thoughts and prayers but not votes...this is what you get. Period.
If we don’t put the complicit OUT
If we don’t put the DEMOCRATS in
If we don’t vote we will get more of the same....
Know who and WHAT you are VOTING for...
💙💙VOTE💙💙
Exception*
"If they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, we should start using the term "confiscatory taxation".
David H., just remember, FOX news will spin whatever into a message that their huge audience will consume and believe.
If, for some reason, any Democrat said the word "confiscatory" and "taxation" in the same sentence, all of of Fox News fake blonde's would go berserk and refer to the new "Communist takeover of America to steal you hard earned money".
With Fox News having, probably, the largest news audience in America, we have to consider what Fox will say OR, shut it down.
Personally, I am in favor of keeping Fox News in constant lawsuit mode until they go under.
The "largest news audience in America" as you refer to the Fox, has as its largest audience appx. 4,000,000 viewers - in a society of 335,000,000 (rough numbers)
At various points, Rachel Maddow has had the highest viewership - but we're speaking of a very small percentage of the country. Perhaps 1% +/-.
Mike S, upon further consideration, half a day ago or so, I want to make a point about how the political center was dragged inexorably toward the Right, beginning around 1975 and into the Reagan years, and for several decades toward the present day. The movement conservatives accused "The Left", such as it was, of various flaws in their thinking. The left was too radical. The left only want to tax and spend (instead of borrow and spend). The Left caved time after time, backed down, didn't make a stand. Read Richard Nixon's State of the Union address in 1972, or thereabouts. He's boasting about the creation of the EPA, and the Clean Air Act, and other sensible legislation. If you didn't know the history you would think he was a Democrat. The political center was thereafter pulled ever-rightward, so that kids born in the 1970s and later have no memory of living in a time when the Republicans were basically sane and prudent. Maybe the Republicans would scream about "confiscatory taxation", but they also make $h!t up routinely. Their bullying tactics have been effective at cowing their opposition at times. And they can whip their MAGA crowd into a frenzy fairly easily by conjuring various demons out of thin air. So I agree that using the phrase "confiscatory taxation" would be impolitic. But we should not back down from pursuing justice for all.
[The original version of my comment in this space appears below. Upon further consideration, I want to make a related point, which appears above this edit.]
...point well taken. I agree with you on the uproar "confiscatory taxation" would surely ignite in the Faux News constituency.
I try to keep my frustration in check. Perhaps a more subtle way of expressing it would be to set the tax rate on the highest earners with an index against what the US population would have earned since 1975, or so, if we/they had received pay increases for merit and longevity, as was the custom in the three decades following WWII. I want to hear the billionaires explain, with a straight face, why they should not pay a fair share into the common wealth of the nation. And explain why they should not be charged with daylight robbery. But there goes my frustration again. I, for one, am not impressed by one American having a billion dollars, while so many Americans, people with full-time jobs, face a decision every month about whether to pay the heating bill, or the phone bill, or cut back on groceries, etc.
It's simply fair taxation
I feel as you do on this. Just one thing I would change. We can all have prosperity, just not the kind we enjoyed back then with the systems that created the fix we’re in now. The prosperity of our future has to be born from bold new systems that gradually and directly repair the entire Earth, not just parts of it.
At least that would be our goal.
Susan, I agree completely: "...The prosperity of our future has to be born from bold new systems that gradually and directly repair the entire Earth, not just parts of it..." I sometimes express it as "we could retool our economy from consumptive to remedial or restorative". We could devote our entire economy to things that actually need to be done, particularly healing the natural systems of Earth and all Life that dwells upon it.
So good, David H !
Could there be a limit to how much money/assets one person is allowed to have for themselves and their families. The excess would be directed to healing the natural systems of Earth. People with enormous wealth would be revered for contributing to the restoration and health of our environment. And so would every citizen, because their work and the way they live would be geared to a healthy planet.
“Allowing a few individual citizens to accumulate vast wealth is undemocratic when that wealth is deployed in the political realm” I agree. You used the word deployed. That word is appropriate because great wealth can and often is used as a weapon.
Susan, my instinct is that allowing a few individual citizens to accumulate vast wealth is undemocratic when that wealth is deployed in the political realm. "Money talks". Your suggestion "People with enormous wealth would be revered for contributing to the restoration and health of our environment" is plausible. We can see CEOs in the present day who fit that description, for example Davis Smith of Cotopaxi. Some people don't want the federal government involved in trying to save the world, seeing it as "top down" management, instead of incenting the genius of the people to devise the solutions we seek. The federal government is in a unique position to be able to commission "pure research", and to spend money into the private sector economy to develop the things we need to transform our energy sector, for one example. Pure research in medicine is another area where the federal government can invest in pure research without regard to an inability to be profitable. People who don't understand money would argue with me on that point. They view our national public debt like we are a household or a hardware store, carrying crippling debt. But that's not how deficit spending works. The bulk of deficit spending by Congress is spent into our economy, accounting for about one third of our GDP, according to the most recent figures I've seen. Deficit money looks and acts the same as revenue money. The Republicans would have us believe that our recent bout with inflation was due to money spent by the Biden administration to recover from the devastating economic effects of the pandemic. But many of us could see that it was greed and market power on the part of the consolidation of industries in the wake of President Reagan. The FDR years in the 1930s provide a good example of the power and advantage of being able to "deficit spend" into the economy. The Republicans who believe in climate change tend to say we can't afford to address our existential problem. Their term "can't afford" can be translated as "we don't want to do that". We should not think about the cost in terms of money. We should think only about what we are up against: time, and resources. If we begin in earnest today, will we be able to do whatever is possible for humans to do in time to avert disaster? The money begins to look insignificant when compared to the possible loss of viability of Earth to sustain life, for example.
Back to your thought about the owners of private wealth being able to do good in the public sector, I think there is a place for that. It would be most welcome, or so I imagine. But I tend to think that our best approach is still to employ our democratic process to making public policy. We know that the process is often fraught. Capitalism does not possess a conscience. Capitalism and cancer have one thing in common: unlimited growth. If, in our current circumstances, we were working with a functioning democracy, instead of a republic susceptible to the influence of Big Money from corporations and lobbying in the making of public policy, we could get to where we need to go, efficiently and rapidly. People will criticize that assertion, but their objections are based in our current system, instead of the modified system we will invent as we begin in earnest to transform our economy and transform our relationship with Nature. If we could make changes in public policy today, the fossil fuel industry would not stand in the path of sustainable electrification of our economy. And the wealth of individuals will not be so out of balance, because the C-suite officers of the corporations will be making only five or ten times the amount of income of the lowest-paid workers, instead of 300 times more. And our economy will be devoted to things that we agree need to be done, instead of the willy-nilly approach we've been taking for the past centuries, when the rule has been "whatever sells", which too often misses what needs to be done. At the risk of veering off-topic, we don't have universal broadband Internet in low-density population areas of the United States because it has been unprofitable. With our federal government able to "deficit spend" we can provide true broadband to every citizen, a public necessity to which everyone should be entitled. We can look at the investment in infrastructure as an investment for the common wealth of the nation, like roads and sanitation. And the electric grid should be modernized and should be regarded as a public utility instead of private corporations who pay dividends to shareholders.
Money spent by Congress into our domestic economy is not wasted, it is an investment in our future.
Also, workers making higher wages will all pay slightly more in taxes. Since working and middle class people tend to pay their fair share of taxes, this would go some way towards reducing the deficit as well.
And those oligarchs despise the social safety net. As they have exerted their power over “our” legislators, the cash grant (AFDC/TANF) to the poorest families was frozen for more than a quarter century. Originally the assistance was intended to bring these families only up to the poverty line so that work was always incentivized. Now, family benefits are roughly 15% of Area Median Income. Not enough to pay rent. And yet family homelessness is portrayed as purely the fault of the parent rather than a policy choice. (Sorry to repeatedly bring this up, but it is another example of right wing intentional racism (even though it impacts more white families than families of color) and cruelty.
I agree with you 💯 %. It will be difficult to challenge corporate America who practically only owns this country. It is all about greed and money and self-centered interest. The only we would have a chance to limit their limitations is by re-electing Biden/ Harris and
controlling both houses in 24 by a huge majority.
Yep, and this low-hanging fruit is the GOP themselves -and- their wealthy donors. No wonder they want to defund the IRS… Can’t make it more obvious, can they?
" I am your president of law and order" -DJT
...he omitted the ‘my’ before law.
THIS.
Translation: "I am your dictator" - TFG
Well said. 👏
JL,
They don't need it but their accountants certainly won't miss it. What worries me is that too many GOP voters will miss your point.
There IS a lot of fruit to be picked there and that is the very reason the GOP doesn’t want to increase the desperately needed workforce at the IRS.
Good governance is an art Professor ⭐
Your letter is so appreciated.
It's so long since it's been seen in the White House that people don't recognise what they're seeing. And it's not "only I can fix it", it's a dynamic young team who understand why they were picked and what they're being asked to do. And doing it.
A combination of younger and older players maximizes essential perspectives. Wisdom and energy combined.
Another oft-noted factor is timidity (youngster claim about oldster) and brashness (vice versa.)
An art and a science. Good governance is a lot of work for all concerned, and a shared responsibility.
Well said. Wouldn’t it be great if American education taught young kids that they mattered and that society would come to depend on them for their contributions and their participation and their vote?
Once again, “Sleepy Joe”, shows he’s not sleepy at all! Thank goodness for President Biden.
Compare that to the shit-show that’s going on in the House, one can see it’s clear who are the adults in the room. The more the onion is peeled, the more radical and dangerous the new Speaker becomes.
Let’s get this straight, you want to spend money on foreign aid by reducing the government’s ability to raise revenue. That’s supply-side porn!
Biden’s secret superpower is that everyone underestimates him.
But it's way past time that we give him his due
And for Democrats to to promote their accomplishments and contrasting vision. No, requiring corporations to at least operate WITHOUT damaging the general welfare is absolutely NOT Marxist fascism, and there is historical precedent. There is precedent for the perils of excessive laissez faire as well. "We the People" as a whole get to call the shots as we see them, with attention to a social contract of fundamental human rights. As we would not be oppressed, we should never be oppressors, and proven, egregious liars should never be trusted with power. Be professional and be adult, but give 'em Hell.
No argument here. The cretins already think they are a majority and the cult is larger than most other cults, except for Germany and Italy, etc.. What happens when they really are a majority. Will Dems accept that. I never will. Dems should focus on how they got so big. Cheat, propaganda, non-stop lying re Dems, and money. A bought "democracy" is no democracy. It's time to bring shame back for those too stupid to think for themselves.
It's more self-serving, plutocratic claptrap. Republicans add daily to Orwell's despotic dictionary:
In Geopease, "supply side" means billionaire; but who supplies what?
"“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed." - Lincoln
I love labor. They don’t give a shot about politics unless they must. They know how to do all the things the ‘paper’ people don’t and should be PAID for that. They want their work to be over when the day is done. They raise families and watch ballgames. They are the ultimate power but don’t want to organize unless they get pushed really hard when it’s almost too late. It’s almost too late now.
Labor has been organizing.
Re-organizing. Historically all ordinary workers received some of the benefits unions fought for, but not much has been made of that. And unions have sometimes abused their power, which is what those with power tend to do. I believe their is a way for unions and non-union workers to support each other in common cause. The opposite of tyranny is solidarity (vs "divide and conquer") and watching each others back (against back-stabbers).
I like that idea very much.
Orwell is here, and too many people don't have the dictionary.
No. Joe is not sleepy and and crap like "Al Gore claimed to invent the Internet" (even my daughter came home from elementary school repeating it) is complicated but fully puerile crap. Somehow the press pretty consistently found Reagan's frequent and head scratching faux pas (in retrospect, likely signs of early Alzheimer's) lovable. I do worry about an elderly candidate's eventual health (I have lost a number of close friends and acquaintances who were younger than I) but so far Biden is vastly wiser and productive than lazy (but wealthy) Trump ever was in his life. Apart from the "money pouring in from Russia, Robert Reich claims that Trump would have been richer had he parked his huge inheritance in an Index fund. Trump's superpower for fools is that wealth coupled with dishonesty and utter shamelessness.
We should not expect anything different from "Christian" Nationalists (CN). If MAGA and the CN's get the Presidency and the house again, what we currently loosely call "crazy" will turn to evil. Historically, fascist will turn first upon their rivals (you and me). In 1933 on the day after the elections, the opposition was already interred at the Concentration camp Oranjieburg, by 1934 Bergen Belsen was already full of Socialists and Communists from Northern Germany. The Catholic church became the State religion. If you know your history, Adolf did not win the popular vote; the NSDAP received 44.5%, and the opposition were split into 3 parties. They were Hitler's vocal opposition as we are to Trump and his CN's. I certainly don't want to end up in a CN concentration camp, so I am going to do everything to get the vote out, that I can. Don't believe that this can happen here, then listen carefully.
"If MAGA and the CN's get the Presidency and the house again, what we currently loosely call "crazy" will turn to evil."
It's already evil, which is to say sociopathic and dangerous. Excess deaths from COVID and may other ways malicious lies have killed. Families destroyed at the border. Collaboration with Putin. Obviously you are right that due process could just tumble if Republicans and their plutocratic patrons get enough of a grip.
I do agree, I was trying to define a next stage of depravity. What would you call them after evil?
.... systemic malevolents......
Nice Carol. I also like NAZI
Sir!
Maam?
They could get a grip if they bothered to read beyond what fits on a baseball cap. I wish I were joking.
"Don't believe that this can happen here..."? Seriously?
I hope that was a spelling error. ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE THAT THIS CAN HAPPEN HERE! We got perilously close on Jan 6, 2021.
But yes, ABSOLUTELY listen carefully. Because it CAN happen here if we become even the least bit complacent (as many already are).
Should have been a question mark, my bad
thanks Jon, I'm not so good with the double negatives!
LOL no worries, precisely why I followed up. I was virtually certain you didn't mean that as a serious statement.
I read it as an "if, then" conditional. "Then" was present, clarifying that the "if" was implied.
I usually think it's better to "disambiguate" whenever possible, even though the word count, and time spent writing, almost always increases.
A good historical note for those who are considering voting third-party.
That's a Yup, Donna!
“Sleepy Joe” seems wide awake!!
It the “ Greedy Old Plutocrats “ that are sleep walking through history.
The "GOP" has ceased to behave as a legitimate, good faith political party, and in many respects (when you think about it) behaves like traditional organized crime and, at least in some ways. fits the definition of organized crime.
The GOP maps over an extortion racket. "Give us what we want, or you'll regret it."
And they try to pin the blame for their bad behavior on the Democrats.
At some point it will be necessary for the extortionists in the GOP to face the music.
I think it was Brian Tyler Cohen who said recently that whatever the GOP says, ostensibly about the Democrats, they are always talking about themselves.
Certainly they try to distract from their own misdeeds by loudly and selfrighteously accusing others. Look at Trump as evidence mounts against him. It's weird how many fall for it.
I don’t think they “fall for it”. The technique they themselves have been using all their lives and have been despised for was finally validated when the Canard came down the golden escalator on the day dread became real.
JL, yesterday when in anger I commented on a journalist who made fun of Newsom tripping on the basketball court in China, you tenderly laughed at me which made me see the whole thing in a clearer light. Thanks.
It’s what narcissists do-they do what I call reverse confess-they accuse others of doing exactly what they are doing. It’s like there’s a narcissist handbook and the GOP have adopted it as their Bible.
Yes. As JL said, look at Trump. He's the prime example of how narcissistic people work. Trump is the handbook.
It is called projection. They do it and look into the mirror.
The GOP are the cult of Trump, so operating like a mafia makes perfect sense.
"...'offset' that spending by taking $14.3 billion from funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) passed by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act."
Thereby proving what most of us have known for some time; the GOP doesn't give a damn about the national debt. It's just another talking point; like god and guns, like abortion, (remember flag burning and school prayer?) to keep the base riled up and their attention focused away from having their pockets picked and their democracy eroded a little bit more each day.
This is an impressive President. I've been angry and frightened about AI, but he's setting about harnessing and making it serve us. No fear or hesitation there. Pity about what's going on in the Capitol, that noble building.
AI holds immense power, and when power is not in the hands of the aggregated public in a fictional constitutional democratic republic, it will surely, sooner or later, be used against the public, and in some ways, already is. It could also make our lives way better, but we need to supervise how it is used. One way or another, it is almost certain to change how we live.
It seems to me that in the last century, most of technical advances were being applied to serve the purposes of the public. Now it seems a fair amount is being applied independent from the public good, and is sometimes used against it.
I would say most of the technical advances were applied to serve capital, and to keep the public passive via creature comfort.
But I’m just a guy who doesn’t have, and will never have, a cell phone, so what do I know?
Until a year ago, I proudly said the same thing. Then I found I had to get one or I couldn't make medical appointments or receive secret codes enabling me to get into my bank account... It's choked with video games and apps I don't use. I loathe it.
Couldn’t you do those things via an iPad? The reason I refuse to get one is the addictive aspect of having one in your pocket at all times. I can’t tell you how many adults I know who would tell their teens to turn off their phones when at the dinner table at home or out in a restaurant, and then those very same adults, within six months or so, would be pulling them out at the table… excuse me, I need to take this.
I remember clearly when my ‘nope’ decision came about. I was on a college campus, a couple decades ago, standing in the hallway of a classroom building, waiting to talk to a professor friend of mine, when class let out. Out of the 30-40 students entering the hallway, I could count on one hand the number who were not glued, heads bent, to their little screens.
My version of internal road rage ulceration now comes when I go to purchase something and am met with, ‘Sorry, but we don’t take cash’.
We’re all just bits of data now.
And it's hard to rebel if you don't want the service to be cut off... And how about the ineffable chatbot, when you want to ask for advice? AI at its most genteel.
I USE the thing as an i pad. Never carry it with me, and check it for messages maybe once a day.
Thank you JL for addressing the AI-digital mayhem. We could use a Euro-like Digital Services Act in the US that coves the invasion of privacy & the cognitive harm of malevolent algorithms on children. -- 41 states are seeking a full spectrum of Class Action remedies. More later.
Thank you Professor, I appreciate all you are doing these days to keep us informed and hopeful. Be well
Cutting IRS funding is the equivalent of a tax deduction for the wealthy, unless they are already paying no tax.
Like Trump.
Those Americans who respect the result of elections and majority rule should be paying close attention to the new speaker, whom Matt Gaetz calls MAGA Mike. Mike Johnson voted against certifying the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021. But that was just one of many steps he took to push the MAGA agenda.
This article published by Politico October 27, lists some of Johnson's quiet but effective moves that led to his being in position today to push back at President Biden, Mitch McConnell, and the majority of senators on aid to Israel and Ukraine, and funding the IRS:
By Daniella Diaz
Why Mike Johnson Is Hardly an Accidental Speaker
Mike Johnson's rise was due to a series of savvy political maneuverings as much as it was due to luck, dating back to Johnson's first run for Congress.
FOUR TERMS IN THE MAKING
"Much of the media has regarded Mike Johnson’s two-day-old speakership as something of an accident of history.
But the record shows Johnson’s ascent was no accident. It was the culmination of a deliberate series of moves aimed at positioning himself for greater power.
Since Johnson's first run for Congress, the now four-term Louisianan has always ensured he is in line ideologically with the most conservative faction of the House GOP — without going to their tactical extremes.
That ultimately made him a palatable choice to fellow Republicans, who unanimously elected him speaker Wednesday after 22 fractious days on Capitol Hill.
"He's the right man for the job, and I have faith in him," said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), who is aligned with the more moderate wing of the conference. "He's a good man, he's a good Christian, and he's going to do an excellent job at this."
A sudden opportunity: Johnson was still a first-term state lawmaker when a vacancy opened in the northwest Louisiana House district then held by GOP Rep. John Fleming, a charter member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus. Fleming was among several Republicans who jumped into the race to succeed retiring Sen. David Vitter, and Johnson moved decisively to pick up Fleming’s baton.
Johnson ran with the Freedom Caucus imprimatur and a six-figure donation from its PAC, as well as backing from Citizens United and the Club for Growth — giving him a crucial leg up over the four other Republicans in the race.
But once sworn in, Johnson made an unexpected pivot: He frequently attended Freedom Caucus meetings but never actually joined the group. This was at a moment when it was solidifying its reputation as a thorn in leadership’s side, helping to complicate the ultimately failed effort to push health care legislation and other parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda through the House.
Taking down a veteran: Johnson instead set his sights on a different perch: leading the Republican Study Committee, the sprawling conservative policy group that counted the majority of the GOP conference among its members.
Ahead of his second term, Johnson took on Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), a veteran pol who had served a decade in Congress and spent 25 years in California state politics before that. Johnson leapt into the race early, and where McClintock was openly critical of Freedom Caucus tactics, Johnson was more accommodating, suggesting that the two groups could work in tandem.
After Johnson won, McClintock told Roll Call , “The fact of the matter is he completely out campaigned me during the recess.”
The RSC chairmanship gave Johnson an early opportunity to interact with a wide variety of members, hosting weekly member lunches and directing a sizable policy and communications staff — experience that set him up for his next step up the ladder, an unopposed run for conference vice chairman in 2020.
The quiet conservative: Throughout his House career, Johnson walked a careful line — interacting closely with the hard-liners and embracing their strategic objectives without engaging in their divisive tactics. He has backed drastic federal spending cuts and strict abortion restrictions but never opposed a GOP rule or threatened to vacate the speakership.
Meanwhile, he was building his credibility as a Trump loyalist, culminating in his late-2020 effort to rally Republicans behind a court brief arguing for the Supreme Court to intervene in presidential vote-counting.
Johnson told the Daily Beast in 2018 that he strived to maintain ties with both the Freedom Caucus and the party leadership: “I was one of those unique and unusual circumstances where I had close friendships and trusted relationships on all sides of the conference.”
That continued as the hard-liners moved against Speaker Kevin McCarthy this year. Johnson voted against Ukraine funding and the Sept. 30 spending stopgap. But he never once cast a vote against the conference nominee for speaker, and he backed McCarthy’s debt-limit deal — giving him credibility as a team player.
Fleming, his 4th District predecessor, praised Johnson’s political skills in an interview and said his ascent bodes well for conservative policymaking. “He’s a very talented guy,” he said, adding, “I think he saw along the way the potential to move up in leadership, and like any good politician, he’s going to take advantage of an opportunity.” "
— Daniella Diaz
There has been much made over Johnson's good manners and quit demeanor. And no one should question that he is a committed MAGA believer who will use all possible tactics to impose his biblical worldview on all his fellow citizens. He may even be able to persuade house Republicans to behave somewhat normally through 2024, so that, with the current number of threatened Democratic senators running next year, Republicans could could control both houses of congress, the presidency, and the court in 2025. These are dangerous times, and Mike Johnson is a dangerous man.
In other words, he’s a wolf in wolf’s clothing.
These are dangerous times, and Mike Johnson is a dangerous man. Couldn't agree with you more. I Appreciate your insights into MJ's history.
Thanks for that Diaz article, Elizabeth. A dangerous man, indeed.
As the EU's internet laws clearly demonstrate, the old rule is still true: America - 5% of the world population, 95% of the world supply of bullshit.
American democracy no longer needs the Republican Party. The bad-faith Republican Party is obsolete. American democracy no longer needs people like Donald Trump (Adolf Huckster), Matt Gaetz-of-Hell, the right-wing Freedom Caucus and the smirking Christian fascist, MAGA Mike Johnson. Let us retire the words "Republican Party" and label the racist antisemitic book-burners to match who they really are... the MAGANAZI Party.
The Congress being orchestrated by Trump who is orchestrated by Putin is set out to destroy the country as we know it and create an autocratic medieval feudal system to replace the great American experience of democracy. Their rule has created our own dark ages.
Let's not insult our ancestors or their achievements by comparing them with contemporary degenerates.
Let's not insult feudalism, even mafias have more social sense than the bulimic dissatisfaction-guaranteed nitwits we are dealing with. They're vampires, poor bastards can't give, only take.
To be pitied, made to puke, put on a diet... put out of their misery and the misery they cause all others.
Unfortunately, the "ancestors" who held the most sway were indeed at LEAST as bad the contemporary degenerates. We could simply start with the institution of slavery which this country endured officially for 80 years and then after fighting a horrible war which inflicted outrageous harm on both sides, endured in somewhat modified forms for another 160 years (yup, all the way until today). So to invoke the name of our "ancestors" who were slaveholders and subsequently white supremacists is to just pour oil on the fire. I am NOT arguing the horribleness of the contemporary "degenerates"... we need to address that too. But we can't act like somehow many of the people we descended from were saints, or even just good people.
Jon,
I was looking back far further, long before the forebears of whom you speak escaped from Europe to the Americas.
That's because of references to feudalism, to the Middle Ages and the so-called Dark Ages. I can't help thinking of the churches, the great cathedrals, the monasteries spread across Europe... and not of their decline but of their building, of the communities that built them.
Brutality, wars, abuse of power, oppression... of course.
But... the marvels!
The Congress is being orchestrated by monied interests. Trump and Putin are insignificant bit players in this saga. The owners of the chessboard laugh hysterically whenever the name Putin is uttered from a member of the liberal left.
Gotta love Biden.
Republican lawmakers, not so much.