Not only, Carmen, "should Trump and the MAGA contingent . . . prevail in the election."
What you call "a dystopian nightmare" is on us regardless of who wins Nov. 5.
And this is because of the way billionaires, oligarchs, and the rich have already so largely taken over, so largely now defer to fascists. They are a dystopia in themselves, by their own nature.
Are there other values we might hold up to the billionaires, the moneyed, and those who count only numbers?
How can other values live in any land where numbers rule all?
Jen Rubin has been agonizing about this at her institution, a renown American newspaper. As she said in a video on this today, “Institutions are just people. The Washington Post doesn’t run itself. American democracy doesn’t run itself. It depends upon people. And if you don’t have people of good character, of strong spine, of decency, you’re going to lose the institutions that are necessary for a free society.”
We have been losing newspapers to nihilist billionaires. Lost the Supreme Court to billionaires and the fascist at their top. Lost all our schools that dropped humanities for standardized testing.
Whatever happens Nov. 5, we’ll still have too many media in thrall to the humanly empty billionaires, we'll still be lorded over by that deeply corrupt and perjured Clarence court, we'll still be "educated" to the dystopia by schools also long numbered by them, sold out to them.
Phil, I dare to hope that the stranglehold of the oligarchs you describe can again be beaten back as it was after the Great Depression. There is decency, and idealism, and good in so many. The community that Heather and so many others on substack have built attests to that. It will be a momentous night, this coming Tuesday night. I dare hope in a good way.
Carmen, Having returned home this past Monday from a jam-packed but highly inspiring weekend of canvassing in west Philly, I can attest to the “decency” and “idealism” you speak of. I’m seriously considering going back, perhaps Saturday through Election Day.
I had to look up ballot curing, somehow was not aware of that process. Thanks to both you and Laura B Cher for what you are doing, especially in the state I live in!
Even though money counts, turning out the vote which insists on making its voice heard, can turn that into a victory opponents' "huge spending regardless".
Large Republican billionaire donors and putting in about double that on Dem billionaires.
Frank, If I understand you correctly, you are asserting that GOTV, which these days feels like the lifeblood of democracy, supersedes being outspent, a viewpoint I, too, hold.
I wasn't thinking of GOTV per se, but it does depend on a majority view getting its vote out, all the spending on adverts et al likely won't make a difference. Allowing of course for gerrymandering etc.
Agreed. But another image -- morbidly accurate, in my view -- would be a pile of female mannequins in the back end of the garbage truck, an illustration of what "protection" women can expect -- "whether they like it or not" -- from a Trump Fourth Reich administration. Perhaps even more compelling: instead of mannequins, female activists piling themselves in to make the point even more telling. The allusion to the Holocaust would not be easily ignored.
Thank you, thank you Barbara Jo. We all need to be "doing something!" Make ballot chasing calls (call people who have requested a mail-in ballot, but not yet mailed it, or dropped it in a drop box or went to Early Voting, canvass neighborhoods with your School Board candidates, wave signs on your major roads where Dems are doing this, sign up to work at the Dem tents at Precincts Nov. 5, there's still time to "do something!" Please.
I recall Musk over purchasing of Twitter in the 10s of billions after he wanted to reverse the offer. If Trump is elected, I will withdraw my long investments from the marketplace and short. Economic destabilization is just one of many experiences that await. Those who vote for Trump will have regrets.
Bill, you’re too generous - how about SHOULD have regrets - and yes, maybe some will have regrets; but look at the cult-like actions that this “liar-in-chief” so easily menaced upon and brought to the surface from significant segments of our American population!
This fiasco I just don’t understand but I need to compare it to a person who takes a selfie next to a mountain cliff and smiles one last time as he slips and falls into death.
On second thought I do understand the desperation of a blue collar worker who watches his once good paying job disappear like morning fog after Bill Clinton signs NAFTA and much later his wifie calling them out as deplorables for supporting not her but a mad dog and now seething with rage, would vote for Satan himself to vindicate himself from those righteous democrats that might have once supported blue collar workers. But really, there are no good shepherds guiding the flock only mischievous money grubbers and when one steps to the podium with open arms, those deplorables scream and pout and declare long memories as Ben Franklin steps from the Hall to admonish a passerby something about having a “republic if you can keep it.”
Good to see recognition of the Clinton's (sic) and their guiding the Left to the Right by someone who is not just shouting from the MAGA bleachers. Easily recognized is the compliant-or-else cultist behavior of the Republican Party, which now could reasonably be called the fascist coup party, all sane and moral members now being efficiently! put out to pasture. Both sides of the political establishment are guilty of the same clanish lockjaw loyalty. Loyalty unquestioned has become far more leperous in the Left (see Biden's near kamakaized party death dive); MAGA is clearly defined by their own amazing daily declarations while elected Democrats seem lost in an yet-to-be-defined shimmering shape-shifting, initiated by the Clinton's, lacking clear fight-back resolve which suggests lack of accountability (enter Liz Cheney). The Left, un-led, has fractured their constituents into a dog fight chaos of individual dogmas. There is something to be said of simple clarity to the average, barely informed voter. In clearly chaotic times, simple clarity, no matter the principle, proves comforting.
The ordinary people depending on social security, medicare and the ACA will certainly feel the pain. I hope everyone can forecast the weather by holding their finger up to the wind. And the economy will be a wreck. They have no idea.
Well that is interesting, since billionaires outperform for the GOP vs the Dems, to date. They, of all people, read the most astute business news. What do you think they are thinking?
I think billionaires are not much more likely to be smart than the rest of us. There's an element of luck in getting rich; many of these billionaires are thinking two things: "I'll be one of the last companies standing in this great new economy"; and "lower taxes".
There's also an element of sociopathy in getting that rich. It means they feel no remorse about exploiting others and no remorse about not paying their fair share of taxes.
Some truth there, but these folk have professionals at every level, apart from Wall Street , Blomberg et al. Maybe a lot think that dismantling social support, destroying unions, is just the right thing do do.
Hi Carmen, thank you for your trust in the goodness of ordinary American citizens. As you have indicated, Professor has put together that group. This sight gives me daily encouragement.
Barbara - thank you for a brilliant rendition of what we can do!
I am a big believer in "creative visualization" and then making a series of decisions to make the visions real.
While I am also quite guilty of moaning and whining - instead, we should "flood the zone" with aspirational ideas that focus on the health of the planet and its inhabitants, defend and build on democracy and redistribute the stolen wealth from oligarchs returning it to the citizenry.
There are some revolutionary ideas that need to be discussed after we win next week. Like a complete rewriting of the tax code to simplify it and rebalance the out of control flow of money to a few. We literally need a financial revolution that taxes the super wealthy, gives working families health care, child care and elder care.
We need a "national service" program that requires every young person to contribute a year or two to America. It can take many forms - military, hospital or elder care, education assistance, infrastructure work (bring broadband to EVERYONE). But whatever the endeavor there must be classes in civics, the structure of our democracy, the humanities....and automatic voter registration.
There is so much more that we can do to tap into the talents of our youth in all regions. How about teaching kids how to grow food? How about the basics of investing for the future? How about REAL history?
Steve Bannon has just been released from prison - he will resume flooding the zone with his excrement - as promised. Let's bury him and his fellow fascists with healthy, empowering ideas.
Good job of adding to Barbara’s excellent list, Bill. May I suggest that the first thing we may have to focus on is food prices? Looking at what climate change has already done to the quality of many foods, remembering the price controls and rationing of much food during WWII, seeing the daily complaints about the high cost of food, I think one of the new administration’s first tasks should be the examination of price gouging while listening to growers about what is possible. It’s been years since chocolate and coffee went on the endangered species list. Past time to take a good look at a sane, affordable diet.
And, Virginia, encourage & support regenerative small-ish farms rather than the huge subsidies to the ginormous corporate agro-farms. There will be shifting environments (arable land) where food crops can grow (it’s already happening) particularly with tree species fruits/nuts, etc. taking such a longtime to establish.
I come from farming country (large dairy and small “truck” farms) in VA. Father had huge vegetable garden. I have been writing against Roundup for years, hoping for crop rotation, and a whole list of sane farming practices, as I watch the price of organic food rise. At 90, having voted for Harris/Walz, I will continue writing for sane crop growing, small
farms, ocean and river cleanup, etc. Please do the same. Too many think food is grown in the grocery store. Barbara Keating, do continue to speak out.
Sometimes I take a more benign Catholic view: that the Holy Spirit has taught us a lesson, which is that getting indifferent to our world and those around us has BIG consequences: we get people like tfg and his followers. Now that we have suffered for years, and have learned this lesson, things will improve.
Yes, I just reread that very poem last night, Barbara. It soothes my soul to remember Wendell Berry's call for peace that we can find everyday in the grace of this beautiful world.
That is a wonderful poem, and absolutely resonates with me. I find my solace at the ocean, whether on a chilly Oregon beach in November or on a balmy, tropical beach on Hawaii: my toes in the ocean grounds and centers me. I find some solace in playing music as well, but nothing so soul restoring as toes in the ocean.
Purobi Phillips, I think you're right. We all have & use "social media walls". Those social media 'walls" reminds me of the handwritten messages posted by the 1979 "Democracy Wall Movement" in Tiananmen Square.
Stretched out on pine needles on a warm sunny day with that wonderful resinous smell all around and my dog by my side. Thank-You for reminding me of the good things, Barbara.
I love this! The beauty of our world calms and centers me. I try to watch the sunset every night, and once it gets dark, I go out every night and look at the stars. These rituals help me to put things in perspective. I am also spending a lot of time outdoors every day. I have three acres of land out in the country. It was almost all grass when I bought it. I'm slowly turning it into a little forest. Hoping I live long enough to see it mature.
Love the list, it will take one almighty trifecta to bring about a lot of that. Swamping the Supreme Court with liberals. FDR got a reactionary Supreme to stop opposing his social / economic reform legislation. They did because at the time he had a trifecta like no other. That's what would have happened except one judge persuaded them to rethink their ways.
I love your list. I would add that the Boeing mess presents a great opportunity to make another change once the fools running it throw in the towel and ask for a bailout. We could create a new system of chartering publicly traded corporations at the national level. Any company getting a bailout would be rechartered as such. All publicly traded companies would be tax incentivized to recharter. A company so chartered would have to have board members who have professional licenses to be board members, which would include ethics training and an ethics section in their licensing exam. There would be a new branch of the SEC that audits boards and their members for compliance, with the power to yank licenses. The legislation creating the chartering process could be the vehicle for undoing both Citizens United and perhaps more importantly Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific, getting rid of the notion that corporations so chartered are persons under the law.
Corporations have become a critical part of the way we organize society. We should charter them like they are part of a republican democracy, and not a medieval oligarchy.
Yes, and these positive thoughts go out into the ether and send positive vibrations, which move life and change. Believing is seeing, as many cultures understand. In our culture: If you build it, they will come (we are a Hollywood culture). As Bill says below, "creative visualization."
MLMin ET I hate to lay the blame on the Holy Spirit for our current earthly problems! It is we humans who have caused them either deliberately in our behaviors and choices, or from inattention and lack of committed action. We create our lessons to be learned, a deity does not create them, nor resolve them.
Barbara, reading your inspiring, hopeful, list it reminded me of this song. Here is a vid clip of it, and when I watched it in context of the scene it shows (I’d forgotten that part), it’s even MORE relevant! “Tomorrow” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtdpI-D6mM
Phil, you're right, as usual. I intend to celebrate as never before next week when Kamala wins. Because she has to. Then a bit of a break for sanity and then straight back into the work of repairing and progressing democracy. I am not going to think of any alternative scenario in the next week. One day at a time.
I agree with you.If there’s one thing I have learned from this election is that we can never take democracy for granted.The work that We The People have been doing to get a fascist felon from breaking the back of our democracy cannot stop after this Tuesday.These fascists will still be here and we need to be watch dogs to insure we never get in this position again.
Phil, If Kamala wins, we must demand that she keeps her word and allows the broad range of interests that would counter your dystopian vision a seat at her table.
When VP Harris becomes president, the ease of "keeping her word" will be largely determined by Congress. I think we will retake the House. But the Senate...? There are some hints that some of the despicable (yes, deplorable) Senators are facing serious challenges - in Florida, Texas and Nebraska. I am hopeful!
But we should be realistic. Without a blue Congress, a president can have all the best intentions about keeping campaign promises - but be faced with a brick wall of opposition. Look what Biden did in two years and then couldn't do for the rest of his term.
Bill, You’re absolutely right. I would add, because a Republican-controlled Senate would preclude any federal court appointments, I view our work to get battleground Senators elected as second in importance to the presidential election.
JL, As one example, I would reference our challenge with the undecided and, perhaps more worrying, unconvinced voters, largely in battleground states, who feel let down by the Democrats on Gaza. Not only was a representative of the “Uncommitted” delegation denied an opportunity to speak for 5 minutes at the DNC, but Harris also refused an invitation to meet with the group within a month of the Convention. For those of us who are working tirelessly for their vote, we now have to contend with an increasing “Abandon Harris” movement.
Barbara Jo, Israel is still fighting for its very existence. The Israelis have been obliged to develop so much advanced weaponry since Israel's rebirth (by the UN!) in 1948 because it had no choice in order to keep its population - Jews, Christians, Moslems - safe. It is now the fanatic religious leadership of Iran who are behind the many-front war, started horrifically by its proxies in Gaza, and in what used to be Lebanon ( daily missiles into northern Israel since October 8th, 2023; 60,000 Israelis in the north, to this day unable to go back to their homes in sovereign northern Israel). Please research the truth of this more, and understand: The Iranian leadership cares nothing about Palestinians' lives. If they did, they wouldn't have spent years setting up impossible situations for the Palestinian population, as they did in Gaza and elsewhere, keeping Palestinians impoverished, while building there an underground fortress to which no innocent civilians are allowed entrance, and turning Palestinian young men into enraged weapons, capable of the barbaric massacre in Israel of October 7th.. Under the circumstances, the Israeli military has tried as much as any other army to avoid civilian casualties, while targeting those who still hold innocent Israeli hostages. But what can they do when faced with an enemy who wants Palestinian civilians to die as pawns in a war of their making, so they can shout genocide to the world?
(While you're at it, try researching what's happened to the Christian populations of Lebanon and Bethlehem; they've been largely purged by Moslems. Where is the Christian world's wrath about this???).
Laura, I would note that UN partition in 1947 marked the start of a quintessential conflict between right and right—the Jewish people’s right to a homeland and the Palestinian people’s right to resist dispossession. Because I have to start my day, I will have to postpone responding further until later this evening.
Laura, As promised, I’m back. I would note I’ve been a student of the Middle East conflict dating back at least to Oslo initiated near the start of the Clinton presidency. I further would note, while my internal narrative of the conflict, replete with its complexities, differs from yours, our differing views are not really pertinent to my original comment, which, upon request from a fellow subscriber, merely cites an example, wherein a group found Harris dismissive of their concern for Palestinian lives.
Ricardo, None that I’m aware of. The thinking, to which btw I don’t subscribe, is that despite differences on some domestic policy, no meaningful distinction exists between Trump and Biden-Harris relative to policy on P-I. Hence part of our work has entailed ways Harris could distance herself from Biden to have a shot at support from Palestinian rights activists while still advocating for Israel’s right to defend itself.
Christine, I’m not sure what you mean by “sad,” but, in my view, believing if we persist we have a shot at getting a hearing, whatever the issue, embodies the lifeblood of democracy.
For me, the hinting that VP Harris might not keep her word to work for all and bring all viewpoints to the table, is what struck the sad chord in me. We need to trust and hold accountable those we put in office.
Christine, Having worked with fellow activists most of my adult life, I can say unequivocally that virtually every movement I’ve been part of has met with repeated frustration and failure before making meaningful progress. That said, compared with the alternative, a Harris win suggests to me that even if success for a cause seems far from assured we have reason to trust that sooner or later our actions will matter.
This has been a long time coming. It seems people just fell asleep for 45 years...letting a corrupt republican agenda take hold of every institution in the country. It's gonna take a lot of focus by the majority of our citizens to work together for years to change this. One election is not going to fix this.
Right Terry, US is in virtual political gridlock. An overwhelming trifecta such as Roosevelt got is presently unthinkable. It would be very helpful though if Trump loses, MAGA implodes or crumbles instead of trying to figure how to batter away again in 28... let's trust the edges Kamala seems to have continue to slide her way, and for Dems in Congress, to provides even a modest net victory.
Kamala has announced one of the first steps to ending this dystopian experience funded by the oligarchs - start reclaiming some of that wealth through taxation. Right now 806 American billionaires have as much accumulated wealth as one-half the American population (163,000,000.) That makes us an oligarchy where the ultra wealthy control the economy and political system. Let's face it, since Reagan they've bought and paid for the system that has made them wealthy beyond comprehension. It needs to be dismantled the FDR way.
Thank you and thanks to everyone here who have been writing postcards, knocking on doors, etc. My 81 year old husband who needs my help to perform a lot of the daily functions, and I just returned from Senegal, Cabo Verde (treating children) yesterday afternoon. In SF our ballots were waiting. We voted. I am trying to keep my husband's stress level low but it is difficult. He keeps on saying, "Never thought we will face this." I will read the following comments to him now to make him feel better. Thanks again everyone.
How do so many people “like” this? It’s so “Bah Humbug”.
Get it together. The wave created by the candidacy of VP Kamala Harris has the patience, strength, and hutzpah to put us firmly on a path to right the ship. It may take years but, for of-by-for the people? A much better place to live and thrive.
Very well said, Phil. The crisis we face will not end when Trump is no longer capable of returning to the White House. There is a deep systemic issue we Americans need to deal with. Sadly, the kind of thinking that can lead to the systemic transformation we need is not taught in our schools. While many say the great failing of our schools is that they do not teach critical thinking skills, the real crisis is that our schools do no teach systems thinking either. Students are taught analytic thinking, in which problems are broken up into their separate parts… The theory being that if you fix the part that is broken everything else will be fine. Systems thinking teaches that the true problem is the larger design of the entire system, and the foundational beliefs upon which it is built. Until we get to a place where enough people have learned the power of challenging fundamental beliefs (and redesigning the overall system as a result of discovering new foundational truths) we will be stuck with this crisis of unbalanced power… in America and in the larger world.
True, but not really new. As Dr Richardson has often pointed out the oligarchs of the early 19th century got rich by using (and abusing) slave labor. They got their power into the Constitution, and that flaw haunts us today. They only gave up their power after a bloody war. Still, 20 years later, in many states, they got most of it back and have never let go. Now, they have successfully brought the Supreme Court.
As usual I like how well you express yourself, Phil. It is true that billionaires and big biz have inserted themselves into policy in a disturbing way, but Harris has pledged to curtail the stranglehold big biz has on gov't and the media. I think she's as good as her word and will certainly raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, as well as prohibit consumer gouging.
Her plans depend on winning both Senate and House, which is a definite uphill climb in the Senate, but we may get wise (or lucky). The female vote may well prevail to oust the misogynists who repeatedly vote against legislation that allows women's freedoms, like laws against domestic violence, and, of course, IVF and reproductive care. There are also the Haley voters who understand that TFG's economy will be a disaster, not to mention all the educated people everywhere, even misogynists and/or racists who reject the ridiculous tariffs-instead-of-taxes notion.
The superficial and divisive MAGA talking points disgust the majority, but even if they don't mind all the hate talk, most want prosperity and freedom over concentration camps, opponent incarceration, or mass deportation.
Phil while what you say is noteworthy, doing nothing, not VOTING BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET will not help to correct this dystopia. So America, Stay strong and VOTE BLUE now with confidence it will slow and hopefully stop this, yes deplorable actions and plans for our future, your children’s future, your children’s children future. The choice is clear and your vote is private. As a woman, I do not need or want Trump’s protection thank you, from a convicted felon, convicted civically for the standard of rape, who brags about grabbing women, who cares nothing about our health, who thinks nothing about prosecuting health care workers and the list is far too long for this reply. And then there is the economy, really Musk, you who have gotten rich through governmental support of your businesses, what a load of doo, doo!
Yes but we will be able to work on the redistribution of wealth caused by Reagan policies while still having a functioning government, not a bully government out to get us if we are fair minded.
Phil, I understand the problem that you have outlined and I agree that we have too many billionaires throwing their weight around. However, I do hope Ds prevail up and down the ballot. If Ds win, then it is up to all of us to work as hard as we can to undo as much of the destruction as we can. That means start with local elections and see that regressives do not take over school boards. It would be nice to get rid of standardized testing as well.
I also find the discussion on Jessica Valanti's Abortion, Every Day Substack to be one that reminds me of what is at stake and that women are realizing it. According to the Bulwark they were saying that there has been a big wave of women voting early, and even if Republicans have returned to their normal levels of early voting, which were depressed during the pandemic, the fact that more women than men are voting looks like a Blue wave to me. https://jessica.substack.com/p/yes-im-a-single-issue-voter
The other night I was watching a Red, Wine and Blue webinar about Young male voters, and how there is a big gap between Gen-Z women and male voters, with the women leaning more towards being progressive and the men leaning towards being conservative. They discussed the internet websites that are being used, and I think we need to know more about what technology is doing to spread disinformation and undermine our democracy. We need to be helping these young men, just as we need to help the young women who are still more likely to commit suicide. Still, I know of 2 young men who committed suicide who were from the school community in which I used to teach. Trump has apparently been going on a lot of these internet influencer sites to appeal to young men. Kamala has gone on some, but not as many. If we get the Blue wave we need, in fact a Blue Tsunami, let us make sure that we look at where our democracy is vulnerable and fix it.
Thanks so much for the link to the reasons for hope. I needed that badly this morning after briefly slipping into the despair of imagining the unthinkable and going down the rabbit hole of trying to plan an escape....whew! The stress is getting thick in these last few days. Your link was the hopeful tonic I needed to come to my senses. And, I'd like to add a sixth hopeful point to the list. I don't think anyone's paid enough attention to the passion for the two issues of climate change and gun violence to the youth of our country, in particular. That segment of our population who are usually a fickle voting group have real skin in it this time around.
I think we need an internet reform. A serious one. It is becoming an increasingly dangerous, barely regulated forum for disseminating terror and violence.
Not sure, Linda, of young men I'd say they were "leaning towards being conservative."
Don't you think the young men have been hurt much more than women by schools that dropped their humanities to push instead the categorical, neutered, and linear logic of standardized tests?
Don't young men spend much, too much more time on video gaming than young women?
And young men and their work opportunities hurt much more by elites who offshored the tens of millions of working-class jobs?
Both young men and young women have been hurt, but perhaps differently. Girls are still more likely to commit suicide and to be with abusive men, another form of suicide. So, I am not sure what measures you are making. Young men are hurt by not being fully realized human beings if they go after these Joe Rogan, Nelk Boys, and other superficial, macho, stupid, misogynist, racist, role models online.
Women spend too much time online in different ways, although some do video game as well. I am blaming Americans for shallowly jumping on the STEM bandwagon, as if children did not need rounded educations.
As a former teacher I could say so much on this subject, but it the subject of volumes. I will say, if we are comparing women and men and who is doing worse let us just look at this election. Kamala is brilliant, capable, and experienced and running an excellent campaign in a short time. She has done a lot of important behind the scenes diplomatic moves and was instrumental in making the Russian prisoner swap. Trump is incompetent, demented, stoned on drugs, capricious, inexperienced in actually governing I don't mean dictating, and has done nothing but scam and scheme and yet they are supposedly running neck in neck. So even if Kamala wins, we will all know she would not have won if she ran the kind of horrid campaign Trump is running where he is just openly being bought by billionaires and planning on given them jobs allowing them to ruin our economy, because as long as he stays out of prison he does not care if he destroys the US and Russia, Venezuela, China, North Korea, Iran move in and take over and finish destroying us.
It would be nightmare for all of us, but maybe most of all for the cult's true believers since they would the ones who would likely suffer the most when the oligarchs give everyone a "haircut."
Yeah, selling our space program to Muck was a really, really, REALLY bad idea. Even so, I think the more damaging one was turning over satellite coms to him.
I don’t think muskrat plans to get any hair cuts in his new job…. The rest of us will be sheared down to the scalp. I guess hair, or lack thereof, will designate status. It already does for chump and his $7,000 haircuts.
If the cult wins, how long after January 20th will 'voters remorse' will kick in?
Another question: Trump and company invoke Project 2025 and they replace the government employee's with Schedule F funkies, do those fired get unemployment?
Judy, may I suggest Michael Lewis’ book The Fifth Risk. Although it is about the transition between Obama and TFFFG’s admins, it is SO much more than that, describing the unsung work/contributions of civil service workers.
And when the next summer's hurricanes, tornados, fires hits they will yell "WHERE IS FEMA???" Don't I get any federal money to rebuild my beach house? Mama, are the helicopters coming to rescue us like they did last summer?
I don’t understand how his plan is at all legal but then dictators make up the rules as they go along. The media will dutifully report the controversial acts.
Yes. I was naturalized in 2022. I was issued my driver's license in 2020 using my green card for ID. Under the Virginia purge rules, now installed as the law by the Extreme Court, my state board of elections is empowered to remove me from the voter rolls less than 90 days before an election. My license is up for renewal early next year, when I will be using a US passport as ID, so I will hopefully not be at risk of disenfranchisement in future elections. However, I will be checking my voter registration on Tuesday in case I need to go back and submit a provisional ballot. I already voted, which is why the SC decision seems especially egregious ... what happens if your registration is canceled before your ballot is officially tallied, but you don't realize?
But it is not a nightmare for the rich, it is a money making opportunity for them. When the rich run the system for themselves, look out! The trick is to sell this rotten idea to the voters, who will suffer greatly from it.
I am also taken with the precincts developed about the Republican Dystopia with Musk promising to strip the muscle that strengthens our recoveries from 2009 and the Pandemic and replace it with untried theory. Trump’s waddling about playing an aging clown while promising greater Government Control over women’s health fits the growing disaster marvelously.
But these threats borne along by the vessel of a political party run by the Trump family that decided the bottom line business theories rather than an all out damn the expenses campaign makes one wonder what exactly is driving those pathetic MAGA supporters.
Elon Musk is also backing DJT because Elon knows that DJT can be bought... Elon's Tesla Autonomous Driving Software is Hazardous, is under Review by the NTSB... The Tesla Battery Packs can be Hazardous... Space-X's Starlink could have a Problematical Future as the thousands of Low-Orbit Satellites start falling out of the Sky... Elon is a Child of Internet v.1.0 where it was Gospel to Move Fast, and Break Things... Internet v.1.0 is the Gospel of NOW, and the Future is later... The Future Is Now Arriving... If DJT wins, then these Problems Go Away.... Elon Has Said so...
It's very likely that the SCOTUS RW majority won't alllow that to happen-they've already caved in advance by saying he's immune. Those 5-6 have already been paid.
What a dystopian nightmare will be unleashed on the country should Trump and the MAGA contingent that fawns at his feet prevail in the election.
Not only, Carmen, "should Trump and the MAGA contingent . . . prevail in the election."
What you call "a dystopian nightmare" is on us regardless of who wins Nov. 5.
And this is because of the way billionaires, oligarchs, and the rich have already so largely taken over, so largely now defer to fascists. They are a dystopia in themselves, by their own nature.
Are there other values we might hold up to the billionaires, the moneyed, and those who count only numbers?
How can other values live in any land where numbers rule all?
Jen Rubin has been agonizing about this at her institution, a renown American newspaper. As she said in a video on this today, “Institutions are just people. The Washington Post doesn’t run itself. American democracy doesn’t run itself. It depends upon people. And if you don’t have people of good character, of strong spine, of decency, you’re going to lose the institutions that are necessary for a free society.”
We have been losing newspapers to nihilist billionaires. Lost the Supreme Court to billionaires and the fascist at their top. Lost all our schools that dropped humanities for standardized testing.
Whatever happens Nov. 5, we’ll still have too many media in thrall to the humanly empty billionaires, we'll still be lorded over by that deeply corrupt and perjured Clarence court, we'll still be "educated" to the dystopia by schools also long numbered by them, sold out to them.
Phil, I dare to hope that the stranglehold of the oligarchs you describe can again be beaten back as it was after the Great Depression. There is decency, and idealism, and good in so many. The community that Heather and so many others on substack have built attests to that. It will be a momentous night, this coming Tuesday night. I dare hope in a good way.
Carmen, Having returned home this past Monday from a jam-packed but highly inspiring weekend of canvassing in west Philly, I can attest to the “decency” and “idealism” you speak of. I’m seriously considering going back, perhaps Saturday through Election Day.
Thank you for what you are doing!!!
Laura, I very much appreciate you writing and trust many on this site are text and/or phone banking, canvassing, curing votes, and the like.
Ballot curing in PA this time around.
I had to look up ballot curing, somehow was not aware of that process. Thanks to both you and Laura B Cher for what you are doing, especially in the state I live in!
Even though money counts, turning out the vote which insists on making its voice heard, can turn that into a victory opponents' "huge spending regardless".
Large Republican billionaire donors and putting in about double that on Dem billionaires.
Frank, If I understand you correctly, you are asserting that GOTV, which these days feels like the lifeblood of democracy, supersedes being outspent, a viewpoint I, too, hold.
I wasn't thinking of GOTV per se, but it does depend on a majority view getting its vote out, all the spending on adverts et al likely won't make a difference. Allowing of course for gerrymandering etc.
If they REALLY love Donald Trump, they should vote for Kamala Harris. Humiliation is the factory where humility is made.
My husband commented this am that he was in the wrong end of the garbage truck...scoop him and throw him in.
🤣
Agreed. But another image -- morbidly accurate, in my view -- would be a pile of female mannequins in the back end of the garbage truck, an illustration of what "protection" women can expect -- "whether they like it or not" -- from a Trump Fourth Reich administration. Perhaps even more compelling: instead of mannequins, female activists piling themselves in to make the point even more telling. The allusion to the Holocaust would not be easily ignored.
He had enough trouble with the door. He probably decided not to take the rear entrance.
God knows he needs it.
Bob, Regrettably, humiliation also begets shame, which Trump cunningly flips to blame.
Thank you, thank you Barbara Jo. We all need to be "doing something!" Make ballot chasing calls (call people who have requested a mail-in ballot, but not yet mailed it, or dropped it in a drop box or went to Early Voting, canvass neighborhoods with your School Board candidates, wave signs on your major roads where Dems are doing this, sign up to work at the Dem tents at Precincts Nov. 5, there's still time to "do something!" Please.
I recall Musk over purchasing of Twitter in the 10s of billions after he wanted to reverse the offer. If Trump is elected, I will withdraw my long investments from the marketplace and short. Economic destabilization is just one of many experiences that await. Those who vote for Trump will have regrets.
Bill, you’re too generous - how about SHOULD have regrets - and yes, maybe some will have regrets; but look at the cult-like actions that this “liar-in-chief” so easily menaced upon and brought to the surface from significant segments of our American population!
This fiasco I just don’t understand but I need to compare it to a person who takes a selfie next to a mountain cliff and smiles one last time as he slips and falls into death.
On second thought I do understand the desperation of a blue collar worker who watches his once good paying job disappear like morning fog after Bill Clinton signs NAFTA and much later his wifie calling them out as deplorables for supporting not her but a mad dog and now seething with rage, would vote for Satan himself to vindicate himself from those righteous democrats that might have once supported blue collar workers. But really, there are no good shepherds guiding the flock only mischievous money grubbers and when one steps to the podium with open arms, those deplorables scream and pout and declare long memories as Ben Franklin steps from the Hall to admonish a passerby something about having a “republic if you can keep it.”
Good to see recognition of the Clinton's (sic) and their guiding the Left to the Right by someone who is not just shouting from the MAGA bleachers. Easily recognized is the compliant-or-else cultist behavior of the Republican Party, which now could reasonably be called the fascist coup party, all sane and moral members now being efficiently! put out to pasture. Both sides of the political establishment are guilty of the same clanish lockjaw loyalty. Loyalty unquestioned has become far more leperous in the Left (see Biden's near kamakaized party death dive); MAGA is clearly defined by their own amazing daily declarations while elected Democrats seem lost in an yet-to-be-defined shimmering shape-shifting, initiated by the Clinton's, lacking clear fight-back resolve which suggests lack of accountability (enter Liz Cheney). The Left, un-led, has fractured their constituents into a dog fight chaos of individual dogmas. There is something to be said of simple clarity to the average, barely informed voter. In clearly chaotic times, simple clarity, no matter the principle, proves comforting.
Yes indidy
The ordinary people depending on social security, medicare and the ACA will certainly feel the pain. I hope everyone can forecast the weather by holding their finger up to the wind. And the economy will be a wreck. They have no idea.
Well that is interesting, since billionaires outperform for the GOP vs the Dems, to date. They, of all people, read the most astute business news. What do you think they are thinking?
I think billionaires are not much more likely to be smart than the rest of us. There's an element of luck in getting rich; many of these billionaires are thinking two things: "I'll be one of the last companies standing in this great new economy"; and "lower taxes".
There's also an element of sociopathy in getting that rich. It means they feel no remorse about exploiting others and no remorse about not paying their fair share of taxes.
Some truth there, but these folk have professionals at every level, apart from Wall Street , Blomberg et al. Maybe a lot think that dismantling social support, destroying unions, is just the right thing do do.
Try reading the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. All pro-Trump and anti-government. The business news will not help us.
Bill, after election may be too late.
Amen🇺🇸
Hi Carmen, thank you for your trust in the goodness of ordinary American citizens. As you have indicated, Professor has put together that group. This sight gives me daily encouragement.
I concur Carmen.
*Per Ari Melber , over 55,000.000 have voted as of 10/30/24. The over 60,000,000 total tally is coming up shortly.
Hey Texas, 10/31 is the last day for early voting.
Yes it will because Kamala will win.
🙏🙏🙏
Or...
As these things go in the history books change will happen.
It is just as easy to project that:
The Supreme Court will be expanded
Unethical Supreme Court Judges will be purged
The face of media will change through the force of its consumers' choices
Schools will reengineer their curriculums (as they are already doing)
The impact of the Infrastructure Bill will be felt in communities across the Country
Ukraine will defeat Russia
Thousands of old white racist men will fade from the political landscape (die)
Millions of young people having engaged in voting in 2020 and 2024 will change the face of politics
MAGA will have lost its power
Citizens United repealed
Climate change measures enacted
See?
It is just as easy to project and plan for positive change as a dystopian future.
Barbara - thank you for a brilliant rendition of what we can do!
I am a big believer in "creative visualization" and then making a series of decisions to make the visions real.
While I am also quite guilty of moaning and whining - instead, we should "flood the zone" with aspirational ideas that focus on the health of the planet and its inhabitants, defend and build on democracy and redistribute the stolen wealth from oligarchs returning it to the citizenry.
There are some revolutionary ideas that need to be discussed after we win next week. Like a complete rewriting of the tax code to simplify it and rebalance the out of control flow of money to a few. We literally need a financial revolution that taxes the super wealthy, gives working families health care, child care and elder care.
We need a "national service" program that requires every young person to contribute a year or two to America. It can take many forms - military, hospital or elder care, education assistance, infrastructure work (bring broadband to EVERYONE). But whatever the endeavor there must be classes in civics, the structure of our democracy, the humanities....and automatic voter registration.
There is so much more that we can do to tap into the talents of our youth in all regions. How about teaching kids how to grow food? How about the basics of investing for the future? How about REAL history?
Steve Bannon has just been released from prison - he will resume flooding the zone with his excrement - as promised. Let's bury him and his fellow fascists with healthy, empowering ideas.
Good job of adding to Barbara’s excellent list, Bill. May I suggest that the first thing we may have to focus on is food prices? Looking at what climate change has already done to the quality of many foods, remembering the price controls and rationing of much food during WWII, seeing the daily complaints about the high cost of food, I think one of the new administration’s first tasks should be the examination of price gouging while listening to growers about what is possible. It’s been years since chocolate and coffee went on the endangered species list. Past time to take a good look at a sane, affordable diet.
And, Virginia, encourage & support regenerative small-ish farms rather than the huge subsidies to the ginormous corporate agro-farms. There will be shifting environments (arable land) where food crops can grow (it’s already happening) particularly with tree species fruits/nuts, etc. taking such a longtime to establish.
I come from farming country (large dairy and small “truck” farms) in VA. Father had huge vegetable garden. I have been writing against Roundup for years, hoping for crop rotation, and a whole list of sane farming practices, as I watch the price of organic food rise. At 90, having voted for Harris/Walz, I will continue writing for sane crop growing, small
farms, ocean and river cleanup, etc. Please do the same. Too many think food is grown in the grocery store. Barbara Keating, do continue to speak out.
Sometimes I take a more benign Catholic view: that the Holy Spirit has taught us a lesson, which is that getting indifferent to our world and those around us has BIG consequences: we get people like tfg and his followers. Now that we have suffered for years, and have learned this lesson, things will improve.
Bill, YES! The Humanities and civics. Yes, service to society as they have in Germany. Great recommendations! Thank you!
God bless you, Barbara Mullen! I needed to see this today. I am praying that we can all move on from the lies and hate. We are better than this!
We will. It has been a really hard 9 years! We are all exhausted and that is when dark fears take hold. Here is one of my favorite poems:
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Yes, I just reread that very poem last night, Barbara. It soothes my soul to remember Wendell Berry's call for peace that we can find everyday in the grace of this beautiful world.
That is a wonderful poem, and absolutely resonates with me. I find my solace at the ocean, whether on a chilly Oregon beach in November or on a balmy, tropical beach on Hawaii: my toes in the ocean grounds and centers me. I find some solace in playing music as well, but nothing so soul restoring as toes in the ocean.
Indeed, Ally. The same for me, but I dwell on the East Coast. Mountains, woods, meadows all do the same -- nature is generally restorative.
Do you remember that verse"
"I got the sun on my shoulders and my toes in the sand"?
The song is about a breakup but this lyric is so perfect.
This very feeling I've always felt, Barbara, when I'd view the world "between the ears of a horse."
I am posting in my social media wall. My husband thanked you too.
Purobi Phillips, I think you're right. We all have & use "social media walls". Those social media 'walls" reminds me of the handwritten messages posted by the 1979 "Democracy Wall Movement" in Tiananmen Square.
No forbidden cities; no forbidden words.
One of my favorite authors. Thank you
Mine too!
Thank you for this Wendell Berry respite.
Stretched out on pine needles on a warm sunny day with that wonderful resinous smell all around and my dog by my side. Thank-You for reminding me of the good things, Barbara.
Thanks for sharing the moment with your dog.
Oh, Barbara, I am forwarding this poem to friends who are so anxious right now and to myself! Thank you.
I love this! The beauty of our world calms and centers me. I try to watch the sunset every night, and once it gets dark, I go out every night and look at the stars. These rituals help me to put things in perspective. I am also spending a lot of time outdoors every day. I have three acres of land out in the country. It was almost all grass when I bought it. I'm slowly turning it into a little forest. Hoping I live long enough to see it mature.
Barbara, mille fois merci!
Love the list, it will take one almighty trifecta to bring about a lot of that. Swamping the Supreme Court with liberals. FDR got a reactionary Supreme to stop opposing his social / economic reform legislation. They did because at the time he had a trifecta like no other. That's what would have happened except one judge persuaded them to rethink their ways.
I love your list. I would add that the Boeing mess presents a great opportunity to make another change once the fools running it throw in the towel and ask for a bailout. We could create a new system of chartering publicly traded corporations at the national level. Any company getting a bailout would be rechartered as such. All publicly traded companies would be tax incentivized to recharter. A company so chartered would have to have board members who have professional licenses to be board members, which would include ethics training and an ethics section in their licensing exam. There would be a new branch of the SEC that audits boards and their members for compliance, with the power to yank licenses. The legislation creating the chartering process could be the vehicle for undoing both Citizens United and perhaps more importantly Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific, getting rid of the notion that corporations so chartered are persons under the law.
Corporations have become a critical part of the way we organize society. We should charter them like they are part of a republican democracy, and not a medieval oligarchy.
Yes, and these positive thoughts go out into the ether and send positive vibrations, which move life and change. Believing is seeing, as many cultures understand. In our culture: If you build it, they will come (we are a Hollywood culture). As Bill says below, "creative visualization."
I call it affecting the field. Vibrational energy.
Hooray!! I applaud!!
...from your mouth to God's ears...
How can I thank you enough Barbara?
Pass it on. We all need a lift.
MLMin ET I hate to lay the blame on the Holy Spirit for our current earthly problems! It is we humans who have caused them either deliberately in our behaviors and choices, or from inattention and lack of committed action. We create our lessons to be learned, a deity does not create them, nor resolve them.
Yes…if you build it they will come.
Barbara, reading your inspiring, hopeful, list it reminded me of this song. Here is a vid clip of it, and when I watched it in context of the scene it shows (I’d forgotten that part), it’s even MORE relevant! “Tomorrow” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtdpI-D6mM
Phil, you're right, as usual. I intend to celebrate as never before next week when Kamala wins. Because she has to. Then a bit of a break for sanity and then straight back into the work of repairing and progressing democracy. I am not going to think of any alternative scenario in the next week. One day at a time.
I agree with you.If there’s one thing I have learned from this election is that we can never take democracy for granted.The work that We The People have been doing to get a fascist felon from breaking the back of our democracy cannot stop after this Tuesday.These fascists will still be here and we need to be watch dogs to insure we never get in this position again.
Victoria, yes!
Just don’t drink and drive.
Phil, If Kamala wins, we must demand that she keeps her word and allows the broad range of interests that would counter your dystopian vision a seat at her table.
When VP Harris becomes president, the ease of "keeping her word" will be largely determined by Congress. I think we will retake the House. But the Senate...? There are some hints that some of the despicable (yes, deplorable) Senators are facing serious challenges - in Florida, Texas and Nebraska. I am hopeful!
But we should be realistic. Without a blue Congress, a president can have all the best intentions about keeping campaign promises - but be faced with a brick wall of opposition. Look what Biden did in two years and then couldn't do for the rest of his term.
Bill, You’re absolutely right. I would add, because a Republican-controlled Senate would preclude any federal court appointments, I view our work to get battleground Senators elected as second in importance to the presidential election.
Why the hesitancy Barbara - do you really believe that she will not follow through with and convert her words into action?
JL, As one example, I would reference our challenge with the undecided and, perhaps more worrying, unconvinced voters, largely in battleground states, who feel let down by the Democrats on Gaza. Not only was a representative of the “Uncommitted” delegation denied an opportunity to speak for 5 minutes at the DNC, but Harris also refused an invitation to meet with the group within a month of the Convention. For those of us who are working tirelessly for their vote, we now have to contend with an increasing “Abandon Harris” movement.
Barbara Jo, Israel is still fighting for its very existence. The Israelis have been obliged to develop so much advanced weaponry since Israel's rebirth (by the UN!) in 1948 because it had no choice in order to keep its population - Jews, Christians, Moslems - safe. It is now the fanatic religious leadership of Iran who are behind the many-front war, started horrifically by its proxies in Gaza, and in what used to be Lebanon ( daily missiles into northern Israel since October 8th, 2023; 60,000 Israelis in the north, to this day unable to go back to their homes in sovereign northern Israel). Please research the truth of this more, and understand: The Iranian leadership cares nothing about Palestinians' lives. If they did, they wouldn't have spent years setting up impossible situations for the Palestinian population, as they did in Gaza and elsewhere, keeping Palestinians impoverished, while building there an underground fortress to which no innocent civilians are allowed entrance, and turning Palestinian young men into enraged weapons, capable of the barbaric massacre in Israel of October 7th.. Under the circumstances, the Israeli military has tried as much as any other army to avoid civilian casualties, while targeting those who still hold innocent Israeli hostages. But what can they do when faced with an enemy who wants Palestinian civilians to die as pawns in a war of their making, so they can shout genocide to the world?
(While you're at it, try researching what's happened to the Christian populations of Lebanon and Bethlehem; they've been largely purged by Moslems. Where is the Christian world's wrath about this???).
Laura, I would note that UN partition in 1947 marked the start of a quintessential conflict between right and right—the Jewish people’s right to a homeland and the Palestinian people’s right to resist dispossession. Because I have to start my day, I will have to postpone responding further until later this evening.
Laura, As promised, I’m back. I would note I’ve been a student of the Middle East conflict dating back at least to Oslo initiated near the start of the Clinton presidency. I further would note, while my internal narrative of the conflict, replete with its complexities, differs from yours, our differing views are not really pertinent to my original comment, which, upon request from a fellow subscriber, merely cites an example, wherein a group found Harris dismissive of their concern for Palestinian lives.
How many Republicans participate in this "movement" ?
Ricardo, None that I’m aware of. The thinking, to which btw I don’t subscribe, is that despite differences on some domestic policy, no meaningful distinction exists between Trump and Biden-Harris relative to policy on P-I. Hence part of our work has entailed ways Harris could distance herself from Biden to have a shot at support from Palestinian rights activists while still advocating for Israel’s right to defend itself.
What a sad comment.
Christine, I’m not sure what you mean by “sad,” but, in my view, believing if we persist we have a shot at getting a hearing, whatever the issue, embodies the lifeblood of democracy.
For me, the hinting that VP Harris might not keep her word to work for all and bring all viewpoints to the table, is what struck the sad chord in me. We need to trust and hold accountable those we put in office.
Christine, Having worked with fellow activists most of my adult life, I can say unequivocally that virtually every movement I’ve been part of has met with repeated frustration and failure before making meaningful progress. That said, compared with the alternative, a Harris win suggests to me that even if success for a cause seems far from assured we have reason to trust that sooner or later our actions will matter.
I think Christine is talking about JL's comment Barb
@D4N, Because Christine’s reply appeared in my inbox, I presumed she was responding to me.
This has been a long time coming. It seems people just fell asleep for 45 years...letting a corrupt republican agenda take hold of every institution in the country. It's gonna take a lot of focus by the majority of our citizens to work together for years to change this. One election is not going to fix this.
Right Terry, US is in virtual political gridlock. An overwhelming trifecta such as Roosevelt got is presently unthinkable. It would be very helpful though if Trump loses, MAGA implodes or crumbles instead of trying to figure how to batter away again in 28... let's trust the edges Kamala seems to have continue to slide her way, and for Dems in Congress, to provides even a modest net victory.
This right wing plan has been in the oven for at least that long Terry; Yes, I and many others are rightly at fault.
I agree. However, I think Prof. Thomas Zimmer is making some good points about the true history of our democracy in his Substack article, It Could Happen Here. https://open.substack.com/pub/thomaszimmer/p/it-could-definitely-happen-here?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Kamala has announced one of the first steps to ending this dystopian experience funded by the oligarchs - start reclaiming some of that wealth through taxation. Right now 806 American billionaires have as much accumulated wealth as one-half the American population (163,000,000.) That makes us an oligarchy where the ultra wealthy control the economy and political system. Let's face it, since Reagan they've bought and paid for the system that has made them wealthy beyond comprehension. It needs to be dismantled the FDR way.
As Prof. Thomas Zimmer points out we have not been a democracy for very long for a lot of people, so it is not really established here as many think it is. https://open.substack.com/pub/thomaszimmer/p/it-could-definitely-happen-here?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you and thanks to everyone here who have been writing postcards, knocking on doors, etc. My 81 year old husband who needs my help to perform a lot of the daily functions, and I just returned from Senegal, Cabo Verde (treating children) yesterday afternoon. In SF our ballots were waiting. We voted. I am trying to keep my husband's stress level low but it is difficult. He keeps on saying, "Never thought we will face this." I will read the following comments to him now to make him feel better. Thanks again everyone.
Thank you and your husband for doing that work.
BREAKING: World's Richest Man Promises Economic Ruin For Rest Of Us.
But first, President Biden misspeaks.
🤦🏻♀️
Ahhhhh, Phil.
How do so many people “like” this? It’s so “Bah Humbug”.
Get it together. The wave created by the candidacy of VP Kamala Harris has the patience, strength, and hutzpah to put us firmly on a path to right the ship. It may take years but, for of-by-for the people? A much better place to live and thrive.
Salud!
🗽
Very well said, Phil. The crisis we face will not end when Trump is no longer capable of returning to the White House. There is a deep systemic issue we Americans need to deal with. Sadly, the kind of thinking that can lead to the systemic transformation we need is not taught in our schools. While many say the great failing of our schools is that they do not teach critical thinking skills, the real crisis is that our schools do no teach systems thinking either. Students are taught analytic thinking, in which problems are broken up into their separate parts… The theory being that if you fix the part that is broken everything else will be fine. Systems thinking teaches that the true problem is the larger design of the entire system, and the foundational beliefs upon which it is built. Until we get to a place where enough people have learned the power of challenging fundamental beliefs (and redesigning the overall system as a result of discovering new foundational truths) we will be stuck with this crisis of unbalanced power… in America and in the larger world.
True, but not really new. As Dr Richardson has often pointed out the oligarchs of the early 19th century got rich by using (and abusing) slave labor. They got their power into the Constitution, and that flaw haunts us today. They only gave up their power after a bloody war. Still, 20 years later, in many states, they got most of it back and have never let go. Now, they have successfully brought the Supreme Court.
Yup, Deja vu all over again….
As usual I like how well you express yourself, Phil. It is true that billionaires and big biz have inserted themselves into policy in a disturbing way, but Harris has pledged to curtail the stranglehold big biz has on gov't and the media. I think she's as good as her word and will certainly raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, as well as prohibit consumer gouging.
Her plans depend on winning both Senate and House, which is a definite uphill climb in the Senate, but we may get wise (or lucky). The female vote may well prevail to oust the misogynists who repeatedly vote against legislation that allows women's freedoms, like laws against domestic violence, and, of course, IVF and reproductive care. There are also the Haley voters who understand that TFG's economy will be a disaster, not to mention all the educated people everywhere, even misogynists and/or racists who reject the ridiculous tariffs-instead-of-taxes notion.
The superficial and divisive MAGA talking points disgust the majority, but even if they don't mind all the hate talk, most want prosperity and freedom over concentration camps, opponent incarceration, or mass deportation.
Phil while what you say is noteworthy, doing nothing, not VOTING BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET will not help to correct this dystopia. So America, Stay strong and VOTE BLUE now with confidence it will slow and hopefully stop this, yes deplorable actions and plans for our future, your children’s future, your children’s children future. The choice is clear and your vote is private. As a woman, I do not need or want Trump’s protection thank you, from a convicted felon, convicted civically for the standard of rape, who brags about grabbing women, who cares nothing about our health, who thinks nothing about prosecuting health care workers and the list is far too long for this reply. And then there is the economy, really Musk, you who have gotten rich through governmental support of your businesses, what a load of doo, doo!
Yes but we will be able to work on the redistribution of wealth caused by Reagan policies while still having a functioning government, not a bully government out to get us if we are fair minded.
Phil, I understand the problem that you have outlined and I agree that we have too many billionaires throwing their weight around. However, I do hope Ds prevail up and down the ballot. If Ds win, then it is up to all of us to work as hard as we can to undo as much of the destruction as we can. That means start with local elections and see that regressives do not take over school boards. It would be nice to get rid of standardized testing as well.
Yes Phil Balla. On Nov. 6 the hardest work begins.
I am glad I read this hopeful reminder of the problem with the polls, which are increasingly not keeping up with the pulse of the society. Here are 5 reasons to be hopeful from the Kamala4prez Substack. https://open.substack.com/pub/kamala4prez/p/5-reasons-for-hope?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I also find the discussion on Jessica Valanti's Abortion, Every Day Substack to be one that reminds me of what is at stake and that women are realizing it. According to the Bulwark they were saying that there has been a big wave of women voting early, and even if Republicans have returned to their normal levels of early voting, which were depressed during the pandemic, the fact that more women than men are voting looks like a Blue wave to me. https://jessica.substack.com/p/yes-im-a-single-issue-voter
The other night I was watching a Red, Wine and Blue webinar about Young male voters, and how there is a big gap between Gen-Z women and male voters, with the women leaning more towards being progressive and the men leaning towards being conservative. They discussed the internet websites that are being used, and I think we need to know more about what technology is doing to spread disinformation and undermine our democracy. We need to be helping these young men, just as we need to help the young women who are still more likely to commit suicide. Still, I know of 2 young men who committed suicide who were from the school community in which I used to teach. Trump has apparently been going on a lot of these internet influencer sites to appeal to young men. Kamala has gone on some, but not as many. If we get the Blue wave we need, in fact a Blue Tsunami, let us make sure that we look at where our democracy is vulnerable and fix it.
Linda, thanks for the links to those writers. Kamala4prez certainly boosts my spirit!
Carmen, it boosted mine and I feel it is important to boost everyone's spirits when we can.
Thanks so much for the link to the reasons for hope. I needed that badly this morning after briefly slipping into the despair of imagining the unthinkable and going down the rabbit hole of trying to plan an escape....whew! The stress is getting thick in these last few days. Your link was the hopeful tonic I needed to come to my senses. And, I'd like to add a sixth hopeful point to the list. I don't think anyone's paid enough attention to the passion for the two issues of climate change and gun violence to the youth of our country, in particular. That segment of our population who are usually a fickle voting group have real skin in it this time around.
CC It gave me hope and I love spreading it around. We all need it.
Been calling for a young male gender reform for decades.
I think we need an internet reform. A serious one. It is becoming an increasingly dangerous, barely regulated forum for disseminating terror and violence.
Not sure, Linda, of young men I'd say they were "leaning towards being conservative."
Don't you think the young men have been hurt much more than women by schools that dropped their humanities to push instead the categorical, neutered, and linear logic of standardized tests?
Don't young men spend much, too much more time on video gaming than young women?
And young men and their work opportunities hurt much more by elites who offshored the tens of millions of working-class jobs?
Both young men and young women have been hurt, but perhaps differently. Girls are still more likely to commit suicide and to be with abusive men, another form of suicide. So, I am not sure what measures you are making. Young men are hurt by not being fully realized human beings if they go after these Joe Rogan, Nelk Boys, and other superficial, macho, stupid, misogynist, racist, role models online.
Women spend too much time online in different ways, although some do video game as well. I am blaming Americans for shallowly jumping on the STEM bandwagon, as if children did not need rounded educations.
As a former teacher I could say so much on this subject, but it the subject of volumes. I will say, if we are comparing women and men and who is doing worse let us just look at this election. Kamala is brilliant, capable, and experienced and running an excellent campaign in a short time. She has done a lot of important behind the scenes diplomatic moves and was instrumental in making the Russian prisoner swap. Trump is incompetent, demented, stoned on drugs, capricious, inexperienced in actually governing I don't mean dictating, and has done nothing but scam and scheme and yet they are supposedly running neck in neck. So even if Kamala wins, we will all know she would not have won if she ran the kind of horrid campaign Trump is running where he is just openly being bought by billionaires and planning on given them jobs allowing them to ruin our economy, because as long as he stays out of prison he does not care if he destroys the US and Russia, Venezuela, China, North Korea, Iran move in and take over and finish destroying us.
It would be nightmare for all of us, but maybe most of all for the cult's true believers since they would the ones who would likely suffer the most when the oligarchs give everyone a "haircut."
I’d think govt subsidies to SpaceX would be an obvious place to cut.
Nationalize Space-X?
There was something like that in the not so distant past. It was called NASA
In Musk, we see what “turning government functions over to the private sector” comprises.
Agreed
Yeah, selling our space program to Muck was a really, really, REALLY bad idea. Even so, I think the more damaging one was turning over satellite coms to him.
how sweet that would be, Musk is beyond "something else".
'Too much ketamine, if you ask me.
And it's more than Space X. Musk has MANY gov't contracts . Please read this article. It discusses the numbers of them and the financial implications. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/20/us/politics/elon-musk-federal-agencies-contracts.html
I don’t think muskrat plans to get any hair cuts in his new job…. The rest of us will be sheared down to the scalp. I guess hair, or lack thereof, will designate status. It already does for chump and his $7,000 haircuts.
I'd like to see Musk get a hair cut. The barber could start at the neck.
And maybe cut his throat, metaphorically of course
The dead ferret on Trump's head gets a $7K haircut?? 😂😅🤣😂😅🤣
Laughable
If the cult wins, how long after January 20th will 'voters remorse' will kick in?
Another question: Trump and company invoke Project 2025 and they replace the government employee's with Schedule F funkies, do those fired get unemployment?
A bigger question is who is going to do all the work all those highly trained civil service people did??
Judy, may I suggest Michael Lewis’ book The Fifth Risk. Although it is about the transition between Obama and TFFFG’s admins, it is SO much more than that, describing the unsung work/contributions of civil service workers.
And when the next summer's hurricanes, tornados, fires hits they will yell "WHERE IS FEMA???" Don't I get any federal money to rebuild my beach house? Mama, are the helicopters coming to rescue us like they did last summer?
Browser response to https://fema.gov:
This site can’t be reached
Check if there is a typo in fema.gov
If spelling is correct, try running Windows Network Diagnostics.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
Nobody. MAGAs don't need no stinkin' gummint, and they're not likely to be able to provide services of any kind.
I don’t understand how his plan is at all legal but then dictators make up the rules as they go along. The media will dutifully report the controversial acts.
Time to reread 1984.
Rules would be ignored, edited, or pitched, just like laws
And "Laws would be ignored, edited, or pitched, just like Rules"
Already have been
Probably not...
A real life take on George Orwell’s “1984” dystopian novel. Only this time is is nonfiction right in our face.
Wait! Wait! Did SCOTUS just poke me in the eye?
Yes. I was naturalized in 2022. I was issued my driver's license in 2020 using my green card for ID. Under the Virginia purge rules, now installed as the law by the Extreme Court, my state board of elections is empowered to remove me from the voter rolls less than 90 days before an election. My license is up for renewal early next year, when I will be using a US passport as ID, so I will hopefully not be at risk of disenfranchisement in future elections. However, I will be checking my voter registration on Tuesday in case I need to go back and submit a provisional ballot. I already voted, which is why the SC decision seems especially egregious ... what happens if your registration is canceled before your ballot is officially tallied, but you don't realize?
But it is not a nightmare for the rich, it is a money making opportunity for them. When the rich run the system for themselves, look out! The trick is to sell this rotten idea to the voters, who will suffer greatly from it.
The rich will suffer if they tank this country the way that Trump is planning to, just the rest of us will suffer much much more.
I am also taken with the precincts developed about the Republican Dystopia with Musk promising to strip the muscle that strengthens our recoveries from 2009 and the Pandemic and replace it with untried theory. Trump’s waddling about playing an aging clown while promising greater Government Control over women’s health fits the growing disaster marvelously.
But these threats borne along by the vessel of a political party run by the Trump family that decided the bottom line business theories rather than an all out damn the expenses campaign makes one wonder what exactly is driving those pathetic MAGA supporters.
When Trump talks about "protecting" women, I can't help thinking about mafia-style shakedowns. <shiver>
Elon Musk is also backing DJT because Elon knows that DJT can be bought... Elon's Tesla Autonomous Driving Software is Hazardous, is under Review by the NTSB... The Tesla Battery Packs can be Hazardous... Space-X's Starlink could have a Problematical Future as the thousands of Low-Orbit Satellites start falling out of the Sky... Elon is a Child of Internet v.1.0 where it was Gospel to Move Fast, and Break Things... Internet v.1.0 is the Gospel of NOW, and the Future is later... The Future Is Now Arriving... If DJT wins, then these Problems Go Away.... Elon Has Said so...
A nightmare for sure...yet the Trump yard signs in my area grow by the day. It seems scores of social media sites speak his praises. Argh!
He is going nowhere but jail IF the Supreme Court allows that.
It's very likely that the SCOTUS RW majority won't alllow that to happen-they've already caved in advance by saying he's immune. Those 5-6 have already been paid.
Please take hope from this post by Kamala4prez Substack.
https://kamala4prez.substack.com/p/5-reasons-for-hope