On Friday, October 25, at a town hall held on his social media platform X, Elon Musk told the audience that if Trump wins, he expects to work in a Cabinet-level position to cut the federal government.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
The implications of another Trump Presidency are profound for the United States and the rest of the world. Too many rabid cult followers who have little understanding of foreign and domestic policies consider the election to being an abstract sporting event with no bearing on their quality of life, or the future. They want their "team" to win to "Own the Libs" without an understanding that the harm to the most vulnerable -children, seniors, women, BIPOC, and the impoverished will be real and the harm will have no concern as to the political ideology of those in its path.
The election is a navigation point in which we choose a path for our society. Are we to repeat the history of 1929 by implementing the same economic policies? Are we to repeat the history of the 1930's in which the world was at war (and this time we can momentarily see if Daniel Ellsberg was right about human survivability in the face of a nuclear winter).
This is not about Red v. Blue. It is not about conservative v. liberal. This is about good governance and building upon a foundation of economic growth driven by the middle class versus a self-enriching corrupt criminal organization that seeks to continue to divide and weaken the United States while shifting as much wealth as possible to the Elon Musk's, Donald Trump's and JD Vance's of the world.
Interestingly Terry -I don't think Trump has any ideology beyond self-enrichment, adulation, and his "brand". He only wants to be President so he can charge the Secret Service $1,000/night (ie.-taxpayers) for stays at Trump Hotels and Resorts, and so he can stay out of Prison while appointing Aileen Cannon as AG and nominating Ivanka for the Supreme Court.
Definitely his first priority is staying out of prison and not having to pay fines. But he’s easily duped so getting project 25 through is a priority for the white supremacists who he needs to prop up his ego and keep donating money. Plus if there are no guardrails they will create havoc and violence to express their grievances.
I cannot believe how well-documented the failure of their kind of proposed government/economy is.
More than that, I cannot believe people think their proposed government/economics will WORK after how well-doculented their failure is.
MAGA has so perfectly undermined the belief in "experts" for "whatever sounds/feels right to you" that people feel so comfortable now discounting whatever doesn't jive with them, personally.
No wonder the GOP never wanted critical thinking to have such an emphasis in schools - here they are capitalizing off of it.
I doubt many members of MAGA understand what Trump and Vance have in mind the way Heather does. MAGA is an angry, unthinking mob that just wants to tear down the system without thinking through what really works and what does not work about what we have today.
I viewed the recently theatre released documentary '64 Days' yesterday with a few friends. Everyone, every American, should see this film about the planning and run-up to January 6.
My only complaint is why did they wait to screen this film so close to election day?! Over 50 million folks have already voted. WTF.
DK, I’ve been noticing in the past few election cycles that the advent of early/mail-in/drop-off voting options (IMHO options are good if it enhances participation & access) has skewed the the timing of mailers, TV/other media ads, published opinion pieces and review/recommendation of candidates, propositions and measures—I imagine it is difficult to get the timing “just right” to capture the attention of the electorate.
I think most of those people aren't "voting for Trump" but rather "won't vote for Harris". It's the downfall of a two party system - they don't like either candidate, but their prejudice against one is greater then the other. Or they're single issue voters who don't CARE about the whole so long as a candidate checks one box for them.
My family is fond of saying, "You need to pick the lesser evil!" (which they mean Trump) and my response now is, "Evil is evil, whether lesser, middling, or greater. If you're negotiating evil, you've already lost." (Meaning, if you know he's evil and vote for him anyway, then you're aiding and abetting evil).
Spot on, George. I know we only comprise about 8-10% of the population, but us rainbow folks are in the crosshairs of being harmed as well. What I see in my MAGAt work cohort is a reliance on the hatred and lies that are spewed by their "news" sources.
There is an epidemic of irrationality; pluralistic ignorance. The Maga types, et al, are supporting policies without considering their perils. How to control the prolific spread of crazy stories and the villainy they represent? These stories are distorting values, truths and meaning.
“We should live honestly.” What’s this “we” stuff, Mr. Musk? Who is the billionaire here, living lavishly while treating his wirkers poorly? Nothing better than a Confederate slave owner, complaining about “lazy negroes” while sitting in the shade on the poch of his mansion drinking expensive whiskey. Mr. Darth Musk seems to think he’s already the emperor of America…
Sigh... I find it so stunning that the so- called MAGA Christian right wing nationalists are being led by (1) a hedonistic misogynist racist felon who is too old to stay awake at his own trial, (2) a multi billionaire who brags about his drug use and has created a compound where his three ex wives and children can live together in "harmony" and (3) another multi billionaire atheist gay man who is championing the so-called "moral" leadership of the misogynist reactionary VP candidate.
This ain't your grandma's Republican party, that's for sure!
Lincoln: "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Trump, Vance, Musk, Leo, Roberts, ...: "that this nation, under Putin, shall have a death of freedom, and that government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, shall perish from the earth.” Welcome to the "Republican Union of S...h... States In America."
My step-mom at one point talking about the candidates gushed about how "Vance is such a breath of fresh air! A good man and a professed Christian, this is what we need in this country!"
I looked at her and said, "He literally said on national televusion that he's willing to make up fake stories for attention. Isn't lying a sin? Seems like if he had the Christian integrity you see in him, he wouldn't have said that on national TV."
All she got out of that is that I "Obviously don't like talking about politics."
You really can't make this stuff up. Performative Christians are so annoying. Your step Mom has no problem bringing up politics but then doesn't like talking about politics when it makes her look like a hypocrite or uninformed.🙄
Even though we have more footage of Kamala Harris in church as opposed to Trump and Vance. These people are really good at pretending to be morally superior and just always want an excuse to vote MAGA.
It is definitely one of the things I've been struggling with most this election. Being around my family is draining at this point and I've been shunned and nearly shouted down for saying I don't believe in a theocratic state.
Religion shouldn't and can't come from the government. As Christians, we are called to show people Christ through testimony, the sum of our character, and our actions of living, NOT governmental policy.
As Christians, we are told not to measure non-Christians by our standards; that we CHOOSE to live by these standards and that those who haven't chosen cannot be measured the same way.
I'd rather an agnostic or atheist president who holds up separation of church and state and freedom of religion than a "christian" president who breeds resentment for those of us who act nothing like him, but call ourselves the same.
Needless to say, I am NOT the favorite person at any of my family gatherings.
That's definitely for sure, Jon! And it's definitely definitely definitely not the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, either! The poor man must be turning in his grave...
Musk telling the cult they will have to suffer for some period of time, while he sits there with his 100’s of billions, and they don’t see the insanity of that, is gobsmacking. Then I remind myself many of them think they’ll also be so much better off without any immigrants, that many of them are in this to proudly share their hate, etc, and I wonder why I am so naive to think ANYTHING will break through.
The fact that dumb people will support this boggles my mind. Cutting $2T out of government spending would indirectly make millions in this country suffer and harm an entire generation.
Maybe, just very maybe, they will realize it when they are starving because the economy is completely in shambles, go knock on the door of Musk's fortress and he gets them shot by the US Military. Because he feels "threatened".
There's a kind of selective blindness and deafness that people have that allows them to think the experts that align with THEIR beliefs are somehow more correct than ones that don't. They see cognitive dissonance and about-face to the other direction as fast as they can to escape any kind of discomfort.
Yep. The USA, and Europe with it, will be delivered to Putin on a silver platter, held up by Musk and Rump themselves (if the COF can manage holding a plate, that is).
I doubt I do either, but a lot of the evil in human history seems to stem from a lust for absolute power, and that seems to be what the Republican Party is playing for these days.
Their goals are simple: me. It’s ME, ME, ME, ME. They have become the cartoon villains who want absolute power, just for them to rule the world and destroy it at the same time. Why? Because they can. They want to show all the world that they CAN. “Look at me, daddy! I’m destroying the world! Will you see and acknowledge me now?”
Gigi, their goals are not complex: to grab power that they can wield over all they consider inferior to themselves, namely everybody that fails to kowtow to them.
Project 2025 plans to gut the government of employees they don’t like and replace them with their choices. It sounds like Musk intends to remove the departments entirely without a plan for what our government will be. Similar to project 2025, but far more extreme. And, of course eliminate all of us that are not useful to them. It will crash our country and who knows what impact it will have on the rest of the countries in the world. And soon, our planet.
GigiDimeg, everything Trump, Elon, RFK Jr, JD, and Mike Johnson are talking about is the Authoritarian playbook that is Project 2025, except they won’t talk about it, because keeping Project 2025 on the down low is how the Republicans are flying it under the radar. It’s so disturbing how the American MAGA cult is asleep at the wheel.
You know that check you have deposited every month directly into your account. The one that shows up on time every month. Elon will gladly cut it down by 25-50%. That will save the government plenty of money.
He's even more out of touch with the needs of Americans than Trump.
Yeah. Many of us rely on social security and Medicare, which paid into, for 50 years, in my case. A lot of us seniors will become homeless on their plan. And without needed medical care. I have a chemo port that has to be flushed every four weeks. So … without Medicare … and folks on dialysis … it’s a nightmare.
Musk and Murdoch are two out of touch, arrogant billionaires who are ruining the nation. It would not surprise if the out of touch SCOTUS majority repeals the Wagner Act or any other legislation designed to protect the common good.
I don't think they're asleep; I think they are like the person who is lost, refuses to look at a map, and "just knows" things are OK, even as they drive off a cliff into a forest valley that is on fire next to a nuclear plant.
You can’t understand Musk’s goals without understanding what’s happening in AI right now (he has many investments in it as do other tech leaders)- and the connection between future AI growth and access to energy (which is needed to power the necessary data centers). In Musk’s biography - he says he thinks Trump is an idiot. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.
Which party will support dismantling energy regulations to quickly power up new nuclear energy plants?! Does this perhaps also explain Bezos’ / Washington posts reluctance to endorse Kamala? Check out the NYT’s recent article on Amazon/ Google/ Microsoft investment in nuclear energy.
If the data centers needed to grow AI don’t end up in the US they will land in the Middle East (putting the code behind AI at risk - according to these tech leaders)
I’ve posted it here before … to understand why tech leaders are supporting Trump and the real forces at play - this book is a MUST READ. Written by one of the founders of OoenAI.
Just remember: AI requires massive amount of fresh water to cool the systems. I’m not sure the Middle East has that capacity without installing desalination facilities.
Dismantle, or at least, neuter the US, giving Putin free rein in Europe perhaps?
My anxiety level is so high! As a cancer survivor in remission, the prospect of returning to a time when insurance companies could deny coverage for preexisting conditions scares me. As the mother of a trans woman, the cultural insanity terrifies me.
Nothing like setting the fox to guard the hen coop. I have been attempting not to pay attention to the news as it serves no useful purpose but now that the letter writing has ended for votefwd.org, I may need to also quit reading the comments in my Substack subscriptions for the days leading up to the election. Robert Hubbell, HCR, Joyce Vance, Dan Rather, and Jess Craven - thankful for these people and their calming support and reassurance.
"Elon Musk told the audience that if Trump wins, he expects to work in a Cabinet-level position to cut the federal government."
"Trump has promised to appoint Musk to be the government’s “chief efficiency officer.” “Everyone’s going to have to take a haircut.… We can’t be a wastrel.… We need to live honestly,” Musk said on Friday. Rob Wile and Lora Kolodny of CNBC point out that Musk’s SpaceX aerospace venture has received $19 billion from the U.S. government since 2008."
I am very concerned about Trump’s continued and most undeserved popularity among his cult. Musk is a fantasist in some areas, most especially where economics are concerned. Musk, Trump, Vance and their enablers will permanently destroy our economy for their own personal gain. There was a rhyme the late William Manchester quoted in his 1974 book “The Glory and the Dream” which succinctly states the outcome of Andrew Mellon’s inaction in the 1920s: “Mellon blew the whistle, Hoover rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal, and the country went straight to Hell.” Musk is example number one of why we should never let people get so powerful that they can undermine government and the common good,
Wow I've NEVER encountered anyone else who actually read and quoted The Glory and The Dream. A brilliant book (both volumes), I've read it through three times over the years. Everyone should read it even now.
I definitely agree that the power the oligarchs wield just by virtue of their bjillion dollars is unhealthy for the universe. “There oughttabe a law” that does not allow anyone with that level of wealth to exist. There is absolutely no need for that amount of money to be in one person’s hands.
And BTW, did you all realize that the definition of “billion” has changed? At one time, (I am 70 and this is the definition I was taught in elementary school) a billion was a million millions. Not any more. Now a billion is actually defined as a thousand millions. A million millions is a trillion according to current definitions.
Evidently, the million millions definition was a British thing which was changed in 1974, to match the by-then American used ‘short-form’ of 10 to the power of 6. (I don’t know how to type that on my iPhone.) At any rate, the only reason I even mention this is that I think it is extremely difficult for laymen (non-mathematicians) to really understand these vast numbers. Consequently, knowing that Musk is on his way to becoming the first trillionaire is difficult for most of us to comprehend.
The Affordable Care Act is more than 10 years old. In all that time, the GOP has tried and tried to repeal and replace it. in all that time, they never, ever have actually had a replacement plan. So, then they just try to repeal it. In their minds, healthcare is not a right, but a privilege (of course, in their minds it is also true that the poor, struggling, under privileged are simply not trying hard enough - so stick, no carrot).
Yeah - at this point, it's not enough to defeat Trump. He's an old man. There are far scarier folks - Vance, Musk, Stephen Miller, Taylor-Green etc., etc., etc., etc., waiting in the wings.
As a 62 year old I have worked for 45 years and was planning on 5 more until I retire. I’ve paid my dues… but this plan will crush me. My 401K will likely be gone, no social security, Medicare will be very expensive and I will have very limited options for income.
It’s not just the poor or struggling they will hurt. It’s also people like me who have worked very hard and contributed my whole life.
Essentially, no ACA means no Hospitals in rural and poorer urban areas, as hospital EDs are mandated to treat all who enter, insured or not. Treating uninsured people equals big financial losses.
This was happening in the 1990s, and was slowed considerably (but not stopped) by the ACA. Since then, many hospitals have been taken over by for profit chains who will are more than ready to use cold, capital biased, calculations to make all their decisions rather than the older community service model. Vote Harris/Walz on Tuesday.
ProPublica’s reporting on women’s deaths in Texas pointed out that HCA considered developing policy on women’s abortion care but nixed it because of the cost to stockholders.
Their desire to crash the economy seems to be a way of the oligarchs buying up properties and businesses left behind by people suffering hardships; they will also privatise all govt and charity run orgs so they can charge what they like for services and goods. It’s truly a dystopian nightmare
A massive land grab of no mean order! Does anyone realize the amount of BLM land there is out west here? HEY!!!?? THAT'S OURS!!! This land is your land.......... Good Ol' Woodie!!!!
Got me thinking that maybe they can treat old and poor people like they did the Native Americans - "of course we'll provide you a place to live - here on this land that we just reclaimed from BLM so you'd have this great home with no resources!"
Looking at what’s happening in Florida and its condo owning seniors. They’re losing what they thought were their “forever homes” to developers, because of the Seaside collapse. Why have a 4 story condo building when you can replace it with a 50+ story tower.
While watching Harris' brilliant rallys and the super enthusiastic cheering crowds, I would love to be swept-up in a 'turning of the page,' and a 'new era of progressive advances,' but Harris the politician and (more importantly), America, the nation that has lost its vision, make that outcome more of a pipe dream than a possibility. Even with a Harris win, us liberal progressives will likely have to settle for a few crumbs from the 'centrist table.'
BUT, I try not to despair -- at least not until after the election ;-) if the worst should happen.
Ultimately, no matter the outcome, I will continue the fight because my 'greatest generation' parents ingrained in me this damn protestant work ethic and an incurable optimism.
They came of age during the Great Depression and went on to fight fascism along with a (mostly) united America. Despite real hardships, they found a purpose and a joy in meeting the challenges. I will do my best to follow their lead.
Given the number of times I heard Biden's comment repeated yesterday on major media (NPR, CBS, etc.) you would think that the reporters / editors had forgotten that Biden is no longer the candidate... I heard Biden's comment more times than I heard Kamala Harris's well-worded response. The double standard in the so-called "liberal" press is depressing.
The MSM, along with the other most valuable MAGA enabler--our nazied SCOTUS--continues to scourge us routinely, using the collapsed political body of Biden as it's cat-of-nine-tails.
Shit, I woke up in the middle of the night, probably because I ate dinner a little late. Reading about Musk and Trump in this post was a mistake.
So if Trump wins, the economy tanks, my rollover IRA will wither to crap, normal services like municipal water and a naintained electrical grid will stop, and we will starve and start to depend on our kids, who won't be able to afford their mortgages.
The Mad Max vision of a Trump/Musk economy:
Those with ranches away from cities with good hunting and flowing water, with a compound to safely collect wives and children, and with enough ammo to shoot every varmint for food will do fine, while urban dwellers will suffer from loss of all services and start dying.
Am I missing any more implications of a Trump/Musk dystopia, with Bezos sitting on the sidelines, out of the line of fire, sucking his thumb?
Yes you are missing bunches of them Jerry, but I'm not gonna' enumerate them. Btw, I did the same and decided to just get up and read - and, here I am.
Musk & Trump are heavily invested in cryptocurrency which will increase in value if the value of the dollar and democracy decrease. This is grifting and extortion on massive scale.
Why is it that people are taken in by these grifters?
I've never thought of my parents as particularly naive or gullible people, but this year in particular, they've fallen into "healthy lifestyle" scams, "human biologist" scams, political scams, and conspiracy after conspiracy after conspiracy.
They scream about the Deep State and a New World Order and the End Times and can't see that the true evil in front of them are the Tech Oligarchs and the rich.
“”This exchange echoes the prescription of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, whose theories had done much to create the Great Crash of 1929, for restoring a healthy economy. “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate,” he told President Herbert Hoover. “It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people.” “”
My approximate daily schedule from Mon-Fri (and Saturday of late):
Wake 5am to get ready for work & read HCR’s Letter
6:30am: start my commute
7:30am: start work at understaffed, underpaid job
12:30-1pm: bathroom & lunch break
5-7pm start evening commute
6:45-7:45pm arrive at parent’s care facility (where staff are dreadfully understaffed and overworked)
8:30-9pm: leave care facility
9-9:30pm: arrive home
9:45-10pm: go to bed
Notice no dedicated breakfast or dinner times? Notice 30 minute lunch? I eat on the go like the animals that corporate America clearly thinks I and other workers are.
Socializing time? Oh, that’s when other drivers and I hurl curses at each other during the commute and when i interact with coworkers during the course of my work day.
Saturday schedule if I don’t work:
I wake approximately an hour later at 6am, clean apartment, eat something, get cleaned up and dressed, go to the bank around 10:30am, get gas, get mail, drive about 35 minutes to see my father for around 2:30-3 hours, go to grocery on the way home from seeing my father to buy prepared edible items that don’t require much effort in order to eat and can be eaten in the car. I get home around 4:30 or so. I eat something. Do other chores that are in or out of my apartment, read, and then go to bed.
Sunday: I wake up around 7am, get cleaned up and dressed, eat, catch up on news online for a couple hours (i don’t have tv - can’t afford the service), go see my father for 2-3 hours, come home and do laundry for about 5 hours (can’t use laundromat and only have tiny portable washing machine), eat evening meal, watch a movie on my phone, read, go to bed.
I really don’t see how much harder I can work.
Live a more moral life?? What the heck does THAT mean? I wonder how immoral that sanctimonious, fat, rich asshole with tons of time to imagine working people are lazy overspending animals, would think I am for not carving rare time to go to church to spend money I don’t have to listen to some jerk guide me on a social order which benefits themselves and the rich patriarchy????
What kind of time & money does it take to be enterprising in order to pick up wrecks from the less competent ?
What f*cking “values” should I adjust?! Does the modern version of Mellon know that I’m GenX, a college graduate, who had little free time for life, and who can’t afford the next apartment when my current one ends? By values, I guess he means I should choose whether I should find an apartment I can walk to/from work or live in my car so I can work and go see my father?
Now Musk thinks millions of people like me can survive a period of difficulty / adversity/ disaster??
I think it is long, long, past time to borrow France’s big lettuce chopper.
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.
🤣
God knows he needs it.
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🇺🇸
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Just don’t drink and drive.
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!
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.
How many Republicans participate in this "movement" ?
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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"
Probably not...
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.
Jen P. had Kamala’s campaign manager on and she had a lot to say about where we are! I wish I had the link! Ground game, energy, skills and knowledge.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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...
Please take hope from this post by Kamala4prez Substack.
https://kamala4prez.substack.com/p/5-reasons-for-hope
Thank you Professor Richardson.
The implications of another Trump Presidency are profound for the United States and the rest of the world. Too many rabid cult followers who have little understanding of foreign and domestic policies consider the election to being an abstract sporting event with no bearing on their quality of life, or the future. They want their "team" to win to "Own the Libs" without an understanding that the harm to the most vulnerable -children, seniors, women, BIPOC, and the impoverished will be real and the harm will have no concern as to the political ideology of those in its path.
The election is a navigation point in which we choose a path for our society. Are we to repeat the history of 1929 by implementing the same economic policies? Are we to repeat the history of the 1930's in which the world was at war (and this time we can momentarily see if Daniel Ellsberg was right about human survivability in the face of a nuclear winter).
This is not about Red v. Blue. It is not about conservative v. liberal. This is about good governance and building upon a foundation of economic growth driven by the middle class versus a self-enriching corrupt criminal organization that seeks to continue to divide and weaken the United States while shifting as much wealth as possible to the Elon Musk's, Donald Trump's and JD Vance's of the world.
Many do indeed want their team to win in order to own the libs. Some single-issue voters want Trump because of abortion.
I swear, if Hitler were pro-life and Gandhi were pro-choice, many of these folks would choose Hitler.
They are choosing a hitler wanna be....
Interestingly Terry -I don't think Trump has any ideology beyond self-enrichment, adulation, and his "brand". He only wants to be President so he can charge the Secret Service $1,000/night (ie.-taxpayers) for stays at Trump Hotels and Resorts, and so he can stay out of Prison while appointing Aileen Cannon as AG and nominating Ivanka for the Supreme Court.
That may be, but his associates like Stephen Miller, Elon Musk, and many of the other despicables that spoke at the MSG rally are little Hitlers.
Very true Ellen.
Definitely his first priority is staying out of prison and not having to pay fines. But he’s easily duped so getting project 25 through is a priority for the white supremacists who he needs to prop up his ego and keep donating money. Plus if there are no guardrails they will create havoc and violence to express their grievances.
Being a Supreme Court Justice is hard work. I can’t really see any Trump wanting to do that job.
Not that hard. You just do whatever “Uncle” Harlan or “Uncle” Barre tell you to do.
Not really. Nobody can tell you what to do and it’s a lifetime appointment.
Pro choice and pro life seem the same to me. The opposite of pro choice is anti choice
I cannot believe how well-documented the failure of their kind of proposed government/economy is.
More than that, I cannot believe people think their proposed government/economics will WORK after how well-doculented their failure is.
MAGA has so perfectly undermined the belief in "experts" for "whatever sounds/feels right to you" that people feel so comfortable now discounting whatever doesn't jive with them, personally.
No wonder the GOP never wanted critical thinking to have such an emphasis in schools - here they are capitalizing off of it.
Very true TJB. To summarize I view it as a “factose intolerant” cult.
George, I just had to clean my keyboard. "Factose intolerant" wins the internet today.
Ally -I would apologize but know the value of a laugh at present time far outweighs the cost of a new keyboard. 🤓
Oh my George... I like that a lot !
🤣🤣🤣 Good going, George. First laugh of the day!
Glad Virginia -not easy to come by right now and incredibly important to well-being! 🤓
I doubt many members of MAGA understand what Trump and Vance have in mind the way Heather does. MAGA is an angry, unthinking mob that just wants to tear down the system without thinking through what really works and what does not work about what we have today.
I viewed the recently theatre released documentary '64 Days' yesterday with a few friends. Everyone, every American, should see this film about the planning and run-up to January 6.
My only complaint is why did they wait to screen this film so close to election day?! Over 50 million folks have already voted. WTF.
DK, I’ve been noticing in the past few election cycles that the advent of early/mail-in/drop-off voting options (IMHO options are good if it enhances participation & access) has skewed the the timing of mailers, TV/other media ads, published opinion pieces and review/recommendation of candidates, propositions and measures—I imagine it is difficult to get the timing “just right” to capture the attention of the electorate.
That doesn’t explain the tens of millions who are not really members of the cult, but intend to vote for Trump. ?
I think most of those people aren't "voting for Trump" but rather "won't vote for Harris". It's the downfall of a two party system - they don't like either candidate, but their prejudice against one is greater then the other. Or they're single issue voters who don't CARE about the whole so long as a candidate checks one box for them.
My family is fond of saying, "You need to pick the lesser evil!" (which they mean Trump) and my response now is, "Evil is evil, whether lesser, middling, or greater. If you're negotiating evil, you've already lost." (Meaning, if you know he's evil and vote for him anyway, then you're aiding and abetting evil).
They don't like that much.
I think that a lot of people who back Trump think they are patriotic.
Musk needs to take a course on American economic history!
Ron, IMHO, Musk needs to get on one of his rockets headed to Mars….
Well-stated!
Spot on, George. I know we only comprise about 8-10% of the population, but us rainbow folks are in the crosshairs of being harmed as well. What I see in my MAGAt work cohort is a reliance on the hatred and lies that are spewed by their "news" sources.
Trump’s rallies really are like sporting events,
Yes. Like when he wrestles words trying to form a sentence (hoping he gets a few of them post-election).
There is an epidemic of irrationality; pluralistic ignorance. The Maga types, et al, are supporting policies without considering their perils. How to control the prolific spread of crazy stories and the villainy they represent? These stories are distorting values, truths and meaning.
An important question. Subscriptions to independent, well-vetted journalists and entities like ProPublica and The Guardian seem to be a good start.
“We should live honestly.” What’s this “we” stuff, Mr. Musk? Who is the billionaire here, living lavishly while treating his wirkers poorly? Nothing better than a Confederate slave owner, complaining about “lazy negroes” while sitting in the shade on the poch of his mansion drinking expensive whiskey. Mr. Darth Musk seems to think he’s already the emperor of America…
Sigh... I find it so stunning that the so- called MAGA Christian right wing nationalists are being led by (1) a hedonistic misogynist racist felon who is too old to stay awake at his own trial, (2) a multi billionaire who brags about his drug use and has created a compound where his three ex wives and children can live together in "harmony" and (3) another multi billionaire atheist gay man who is championing the so-called "moral" leadership of the misogynist reactionary VP candidate.
This ain't your grandma's Republican party, that's for sure!
It ain’t Lincoln’s either
Lincoln: "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Trump, Vance, Musk, Leo, Roberts, ...: "that this nation, under Putin, shall have a death of freedom, and that government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, shall perish from the earth.” Welcome to the "Republican Union of S...h... States In America."
My step-mom at one point talking about the candidates gushed about how "Vance is such a breath of fresh air! A good man and a professed Christian, this is what we need in this country!"
I looked at her and said, "He literally said on national televusion that he's willing to make up fake stories for attention. Isn't lying a sin? Seems like if he had the Christian integrity you see in him, he wouldn't have said that on national TV."
All she got out of that is that I "Obviously don't like talking about politics."
SMH
You really can't make this stuff up. Performative Christians are so annoying. Your step Mom has no problem bringing up politics but then doesn't like talking about politics when it makes her look like a hypocrite or uninformed.🙄
Even though we have more footage of Kamala Harris in church as opposed to Trump and Vance. These people are really good at pretending to be morally superior and just always want an excuse to vote MAGA.
It is definitely one of the things I've been struggling with most this election. Being around my family is draining at this point and I've been shunned and nearly shouted down for saying I don't believe in a theocratic state.
Religion shouldn't and can't come from the government. As Christians, we are called to show people Christ through testimony, the sum of our character, and our actions of living, NOT governmental policy.
As Christians, we are told not to measure non-Christians by our standards; that we CHOOSE to live by these standards and that those who haven't chosen cannot be measured the same way.
I'd rather an agnostic or atheist president who holds up separation of church and state and freedom of religion than a "christian" president who breeds resentment for those of us who act nothing like him, but call ourselves the same.
Needless to say, I am NOT the favorite person at any of my family gatherings.
That's definitely for sure, Jon! And it's definitely definitely definitely not the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, either! The poor man must be turning in his grave...
Musk telling the cult they will have to suffer for some period of time, while he sits there with his 100’s of billions, and they don’t see the insanity of that, is gobsmacking. Then I remind myself many of them think they’ll also be so much better off without any immigrants, that many of them are in this to proudly share their hate, etc, and I wonder why I am so naive to think ANYTHING will break through.
The fact that dumb people will support this boggles my mind. Cutting $2T out of government spending would indirectly make millions in this country suffer and harm an entire generation.
Maybe, just very maybe, they will realize it when they are starving because the economy is completely in shambles, go knock on the door of Musk's fortress and he gets them shot by the US Military. Because he feels "threatened".
There's a kind of selective blindness and deafness that people have that allows them to think the experts that align with THEIR beliefs are somehow more correct than ones that don't. They see cognitive dissonance and about-face to the other direction as fast as they can to escape any kind of discomfort.
I’m sure he’ll cut all his govt contracts first to set a good example
😏
Uh huh... UH HUH.
Nailed him…
The country will end up in the back of a U-Haul van driven by Vladimir Putin if T💩p wins back the office of president.
Yep. The USA, and Europe with it, will be delivered to Putin on a silver platter, held up by Musk and Rump themselves (if the COF can manage holding a plate, that is).
This letter is important to share widely. It scares me. No. Terrifies me what Trump, Musk, etc, could do. I truly don’t understand their goals.
I doubt I do either, but a lot of the evil in human history seems to stem from a lust for absolute power, and that seems to be what the Republican Party is playing for these days.
Their goals are simple: me. It’s ME, ME, ME, ME. They have become the cartoon villains who want absolute power, just for them to rule the world and destroy it at the same time. Why? Because they can. They want to show all the world that they CAN. “Look at me, daddy! I’m destroying the world! Will you see and acknowledge me now?”
You think they've just skipped through the subject headings of Project 2025 without reading the whole thing?
Like the unread presidential briefings? Another Dereliction of Duty.
Exactly. No photo op there, no excuse for a huge signature. Someone will tell him if there's anything urgent. Hopey, or Kellyanne. Or even Pence.
Well, that sounds like Trump's approach.
Yes, for Trump it’s too long and doesn’t have pictures.
Now THAT is funny, right there!!!
lol !
> pictures (of him)
Gigi, their goals are not complex: to grab power that they can wield over all they consider inferior to themselves, namely everybody that fails to kowtow to them.
Project 2025 plans to gut the government of employees they don’t like and replace them with their choices. It sounds like Musk intends to remove the departments entirely without a plan for what our government will be. Similar to project 2025, but far more extreme. And, of course eliminate all of us that are not useful to them. It will crash our country and who knows what impact it will have on the rest of the countries in the world. And soon, our planet.
GigiDimeg, everything Trump, Elon, RFK Jr, JD, and Mike Johnson are talking about is the Authoritarian playbook that is Project 2025, except they won’t talk about it, because keeping Project 2025 on the down low is how the Republicans are flying it under the radar. It’s so disturbing how the American MAGA cult is asleep at the wheel.
Trump pretends he doesn’t know what it is. This plan is even more extreme than project 2025.
You know that check you have deposited every month directly into your account. The one that shows up on time every month. Elon will gladly cut it down by 25-50%. That will save the government plenty of money.
He's even more out of touch with the needs of Americans than Trump.
Yeah. Many of us rely on social security and Medicare, which paid into, for 50 years, in my case. A lot of us seniors will become homeless on their plan. And without needed medical care. I have a chemo port that has to be flushed every four weeks. So … without Medicare … and folks on dialysis … it’s a nightmare.
Musk and Murdoch are two out of touch, arrogant billionaires who are ruining the nation. It would not surprise if the out of touch SCOTUS majority repeals the Wagner Act or any other legislation designed to protect the common good.
It’s another unfuknblvbl day at the circus here, with the reckless MAGA voters asleep at the wheel.
I don't think they're asleep; I think they are like the person who is lost, refuses to look at a map, and "just knows" things are OK, even as they drive off a cliff into a forest valley that is on fire next to a nuclear plant.
Gary, maybe not so much out of touch as simply doesn’t care.
As you say, it is a terrifying prospect.
You can’t understand Musk’s goals without understanding what’s happening in AI right now (he has many investments in it as do other tech leaders)- and the connection between future AI growth and access to energy (which is needed to power the necessary data centers). In Musk’s biography - he says he thinks Trump is an idiot. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.
Which party will support dismantling energy regulations to quickly power up new nuclear energy plants?! Does this perhaps also explain Bezos’ / Washington posts reluctance to endorse Kamala? Check out the NYT’s recent article on Amazon/ Google/ Microsoft investment in nuclear energy.
If the data centers needed to grow AI don’t end up in the US they will land in the Middle East (putting the code behind AI at risk - according to these tech leaders)
I’ve posted it here before … to understand why tech leaders are supporting Trump and the real forces at play - this book is a MUST READ. Written by one of the founders of OoenAI.
https://situational-awareness.ai/
L
Just remember: AI requires massive amount of fresh water to cool the systems. I’m not sure the Middle East has that capacity without installing desalination facilities.
That's why Google is building its third giant facility in The Dalles, Oregon, right on the Columbia River.
I’m “adjacent” to a “discussion” of intake from one river, discharge to another.
Just click to get the entire June 2024 analysis as a PDF. 🎯
It's a great book - cutting edge reporting on AI.
Thank you. I really didn’t get it. Makes sense.
Dismantle, or at least, neuter the US, giving Putin free rein in Europe perhaps?
My anxiety level is so high! As a cancer survivor in remission, the prospect of returning to a time when insurance companies could deny coverage for preexisting conditions scares me. As the mother of a trans woman, the cultural insanity terrifies me.
I’m having the same anxiety. We are definitely not alone. And no matter what happens we should continue to reach out and support each other.
Thank you for saying that, and providing the support!
Greed/power, simple
Their goal is chaos and power. Nothing more, nothing less. They don't care about governance or anything like that.
Nothing like setting the fox to guard the hen coop. I have been attempting not to pay attention to the news as it serves no useful purpose but now that the letter writing has ended for votefwd.org, I may need to also quit reading the comments in my Substack subscriptions for the days leading up to the election. Robert Hubbell, HCR, Joyce Vance, Dan Rather, and Jess Craven - thankful for these people and their calming support and reassurance.
"Elon Musk told the audience that if Trump wins, he expects to work in a Cabinet-level position to cut the federal government."
"Trump has promised to appoint Musk to be the government’s “chief efficiency officer.” “Everyone’s going to have to take a haircut.… We can’t be a wastrel.… We need to live honestly,” Musk said on Friday. Rob Wile and Lora Kolodny of CNBC point out that Musk’s SpaceX aerospace venture has received $19 billion from the U.S. government since 2008."
"...live honestly," <------ MASSIVE EYEROLL
He plans no haircuts for himself. In fact, he will look like the werewolf he is
Weirdwolf from South Africa.
That works
JustRaven, when I saw that, my eyes exited their normal location and went rolling across the floor. FFS, what on earth does he think will happen?
Things will level out and be great, for the rich and famous. Who else matters?
I am very concerned about Trump’s continued and most undeserved popularity among his cult. Musk is a fantasist in some areas, most especially where economics are concerned. Musk, Trump, Vance and their enablers will permanently destroy our economy for their own personal gain. There was a rhyme the late William Manchester quoted in his 1974 book “The Glory and the Dream” which succinctly states the outcome of Andrew Mellon’s inaction in the 1920s: “Mellon blew the whistle, Hoover rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal, and the country went straight to Hell.” Musk is example number one of why we should never let people get so powerful that they can undermine government and the common good,
Wow I've NEVER encountered anyone else who actually read and quoted The Glory and The Dream. A brilliant book (both volumes), I've read it through three times over the years. Everyone should read it even now.
I definitely agree that the power the oligarchs wield just by virtue of their bjillion dollars is unhealthy for the universe. “There oughttabe a law” that does not allow anyone with that level of wealth to exist. There is absolutely no need for that amount of money to be in one person’s hands.
And BTW, did you all realize that the definition of “billion” has changed? At one time, (I am 70 and this is the definition I was taught in elementary school) a billion was a million millions. Not any more. Now a billion is actually defined as a thousand millions. A million millions is a trillion according to current definitions.
Evidently, the million millions definition was a British thing which was changed in 1974, to match the by-then American used ‘short-form’ of 10 to the power of 6. (I don’t know how to type that on my iPhone.) At any rate, the only reason I even mention this is that I think it is extremely difficult for laymen (non-mathematicians) to really understand these vast numbers. Consequently, knowing that Musk is on his way to becoming the first trillionaire is difficult for most of us to comprehend.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+do+i+type+ten+to+the+power+of+six+on+an+iphone&oq=how+do+i+type+ten+to+the+power+of+six+on+an+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBECEYoAEyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRirAjIHCAcQIRirAtIBCjE2ODkyajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Spot on Kathy.
The Affordable Care Act is more than 10 years old. In all that time, the GOP has tried and tried to repeal and replace it. in all that time, they never, ever have actually had a replacement plan. So, then they just try to repeal it. In their minds, healthcare is not a right, but a privilege (of course, in their minds it is also true that the poor, struggling, under privileged are simply not trying hard enough - so stick, no carrot).
Yeah - at this point, it's not enough to defeat Trump. He's an old man. There are far scarier folks - Vance, Musk, Stephen Miller, Taylor-Green etc., etc., etc., etc., waiting in the wings.
As a 62 year old I have worked for 45 years and was planning on 5 more until I retire. I’ve paid my dues… but this plan will crush me. My 401K will likely be gone, no social security, Medicare will be very expensive and I will have very limited options for income.
It’s not just the poor or struggling they will hurt. It’s also people like me who have worked very hard and contributed my whole life.
Exactly. We're in the same boat.
Yup. For me and many others it may mean selling my house to tap its equity.
Essentially, no ACA means no Hospitals in rural and poorer urban areas, as hospital EDs are mandated to treat all who enter, insured or not. Treating uninsured people equals big financial losses.
This was happening in the 1990s, and was slowed considerably (but not stopped) by the ACA. Since then, many hospitals have been taken over by for profit chains who will are more than ready to use cold, capital biased, calculations to make all their decisions rather than the older community service model. Vote Harris/Walz on Tuesday.
ProPublica’s reporting on women’s deaths in Texas pointed out that HCA considered developing policy on women’s abortion care but nixed it because of the cost to stockholders.
"and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.” Meaning “we have a concept of a plan.”
Perhaps this concept: "Trump has long talked about making the ACA less expensive, but the question is less expensive for whom. "
https://www.kff.org/quick-take/the-concept-of-a-plan-president-trump-proposed-to-replace-the-aca/
Their desire to crash the economy seems to be a way of the oligarchs buying up properties and businesses left behind by people suffering hardships; they will also privatise all govt and charity run orgs so they can charge what they like for services and goods. It’s truly a dystopian nightmare
Bingo!
A massive land grab of no mean order! Does anyone realize the amount of BLM land there is out west here? HEY!!!?? THAT'S OURS!!! This land is your land.......... Good Ol' Woodie!!!!
Got me thinking that maybe they can treat old and poor people like they did the Native Americans - "of course we'll provide you a place to live - here on this land that we just reclaimed from BLM so you'd have this great home with no resources!"
Looking at what’s happening in Florida and its condo owning seniors. They’re losing what they thought were their “forever homes” to developers, because of the Seaside collapse. Why have a 4 story condo building when you can replace it with a 50+ story tower.
Yep...
metaphorical
truckdriver spreading garbage
in reality
Hi-vis orange suits him. Hoping to see lots more pictures of him wearing it.
While watching Harris' brilliant rallys and the super enthusiastic cheering crowds, I would love to be swept-up in a 'turning of the page,' and a 'new era of progressive advances,' but Harris the politician and (more importantly), America, the nation that has lost its vision, make that outcome more of a pipe dream than a possibility. Even with a Harris win, us liberal progressives will likely have to settle for a few crumbs from the 'centrist table.'
BUT, I try not to despair -- at least not until after the election ;-) if the worst should happen.
Ultimately, no matter the outcome, I will continue the fight because my 'greatest generation' parents ingrained in me this damn protestant work ethic and an incurable optimism.
They came of age during the Great Depression and went on to fight fascism along with a (mostly) united America. Despite real hardships, they found a purpose and a joy in meeting the challenges. I will do my best to follow their lead.
Make them proud
Shoulder to shoulder with you, JRay.
Given the number of times I heard Biden's comment repeated yesterday on major media (NPR, CBS, etc.) you would think that the reporters / editors had forgotten that Biden is no longer the candidate... I heard Biden's comment more times than I heard Kamala Harris's well-worded response. The double standard in the so-called "liberal" press is depressing.
Does that not illustrate that the MSM is in on this pitiful game ?
Yup
The MSM, along with the other most valuable MAGA enabler--our nazied SCOTUS--continues to scourge us routinely, using the collapsed political body of Biden as it's cat-of-nine-tails.
Shit, I woke up in the middle of the night, probably because I ate dinner a little late. Reading about Musk and Trump in this post was a mistake.
So if Trump wins, the economy tanks, my rollover IRA will wither to crap, normal services like municipal water and a naintained electrical grid will stop, and we will starve and start to depend on our kids, who won't be able to afford their mortgages.
The Mad Max vision of a Trump/Musk economy:
Those with ranches away from cities with good hunting and flowing water, with a compound to safely collect wives and children, and with enough ammo to shoot every varmint for food will do fine, while urban dwellers will suffer from loss of all services and start dying.
Am I missing any more implications of a Trump/Musk dystopia, with Bezos sitting on the sidelines, out of the line of fire, sucking his thumb?
Mad Max on steroids
Yes you are missing bunches of them Jerry, but I'm not gonna' enumerate them. Btw, I did the same and decided to just get up and read - and, here I am.
So glad that I checked at 0100 local time before going to bed (I had to pick up a friend at the airport at midnight) and LFAA had not yet posted.
Musk & Trump are heavily invested in cryptocurrency which will increase in value if the value of the dollar and democracy decrease. This is grifting and extortion on massive scale.
Why is it that people are taken in by these grifters?
I've never thought of my parents as particularly naive or gullible people, but this year in particular, they've fallen into "healthy lifestyle" scams, "human biologist" scams, political scams, and conspiracy after conspiracy after conspiracy.
They scream about the Deep State and a New World Order and the End Times and can't see that the true evil in front of them are the Tech Oligarchs and the rich.
I wish I knew.
Fastest way to ruin -for us.
Warning - Rant Alert
“”This exchange echoes the prescription of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, whose theories had done much to create the Great Crash of 1929, for restoring a healthy economy. “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate,” he told President Herbert Hoover. “It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people.” “”
My approximate daily schedule from Mon-Fri (and Saturday of late):
Wake 5am to get ready for work & read HCR’s Letter
6:30am: start my commute
7:30am: start work at understaffed, underpaid job
12:30-1pm: bathroom & lunch break
5-7pm start evening commute
6:45-7:45pm arrive at parent’s care facility (where staff are dreadfully understaffed and overworked)
8:30-9pm: leave care facility
9-9:30pm: arrive home
9:45-10pm: go to bed
Notice no dedicated breakfast or dinner times? Notice 30 minute lunch? I eat on the go like the animals that corporate America clearly thinks I and other workers are.
Socializing time? Oh, that’s when other drivers and I hurl curses at each other during the commute and when i interact with coworkers during the course of my work day.
Saturday schedule if I don’t work:
I wake approximately an hour later at 6am, clean apartment, eat something, get cleaned up and dressed, go to the bank around 10:30am, get gas, get mail, drive about 35 minutes to see my father for around 2:30-3 hours, go to grocery on the way home from seeing my father to buy prepared edible items that don’t require much effort in order to eat and can be eaten in the car. I get home around 4:30 or so. I eat something. Do other chores that are in or out of my apartment, read, and then go to bed.
Sunday: I wake up around 7am, get cleaned up and dressed, eat, catch up on news online for a couple hours (i don’t have tv - can’t afford the service), go see my father for 2-3 hours, come home and do laundry for about 5 hours (can’t use laundromat and only have tiny portable washing machine), eat evening meal, watch a movie on my phone, read, go to bed.
I really don’t see how much harder I can work.
Live a more moral life?? What the heck does THAT mean? I wonder how immoral that sanctimonious, fat, rich asshole with tons of time to imagine working people are lazy overspending animals, would think I am for not carving rare time to go to church to spend money I don’t have to listen to some jerk guide me on a social order which benefits themselves and the rich patriarchy????
What kind of time & money does it take to be enterprising in order to pick up wrecks from the less competent ?
What f*cking “values” should I adjust?! Does the modern version of Mellon know that I’m GenX, a college graduate, who had little free time for life, and who can’t afford the next apartment when my current one ends? By values, I guess he means I should choose whether I should find an apartment I can walk to/from work or live in my car so I can work and go see my father?
Now Musk thinks millions of people like me can survive a period of difficulty / adversity/ disaster??
I think it is long, long, past time to borrow France’s big lettuce chopper.
Wouldn't it be nice to stand in your living room with no thought of " What is the next thing that needs to be done?"
I’m old enough to remember those days.