"Because of holds Republican senators have put on the nomination process, the U.S. does not have a Senate-confirmed ambassador to Israel or Egypt, the two countries that border the Gaza Strip."
There is a lot going on, but it might be politically and as a matter of necessity, time for Biden to condemn in the strongest civil language possi…
"Because of holds Republican senators have put on the nomination process, the U.S. does not have a Senate-confirmed ambassador to Israel or Egypt, the two countries that border the Gaza Strip."
There is a lot going on, but it might be politically and as a matter of necessity, time for Biden to condemn in the strongest civil language possible the pattern of sabotage that impeding the government from conducting its duties, and harming national welfare and security for the sake of partisan, political stunts. It's already gone too far.
Surely Mitch has a smack-down or two, or three left. But maybe he eggs them on. Or maybe he’s now starring into space. That makes this branch of government not only useless but hamstrung, with the SC teetering on the brink. Who was it that said, if America crumbles, it will be from within…
Then there is chump, just waiting to hand us over to Putin, with blessings from the heartland.
The point is well made - while there is the turmoil of war in the Mideast, we have a very, very serious matter here at home as the "Old South" is attempting to overthrow the lawful government of the U.S. We need to keep our focus here primarily.
I just finished reading The South Since the War, written by Sydney Andrews (abridged by the imminent Heather Cox Richardson before she was famous) after a tour of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in 1866 immediately after the Civil War.
Every single American should read this book for many reasons, but, there are three main ones:
1. The rural south and parts of the cities were, following the war, still "Rebels" and still hated the North and the United States government just as much as before the war. Many, apparently, still do.
2. That hatred was created by the caste system that the South had and still has to a large degree.
3. The poor whites were just as filled with hatred for blacks as the plantation owners (which is puzzling since the plantation owners made sure very little land was available to the poor whites).
4. All of the whites in the south did very, very, very little work compared to their northern counterparts. BOTH male and female. ALL whites had been reliant on blacks for essentially ALL work. Houses were a mess because women and men would not bother to clean them and farms were idle because white men were completely idle having had slaves doing all the work while white men sat on arse.
5. Blacks had been cast aside AND had willingly left all of their owners which plunged them into the worst of worst poverty with zero empathy from the white population.
However, the most telling parts of the book are the last five pages. Everyone in America should read those pages.
Had Andrew Johnson read those pages and NOT offered amnesty to every last southern congressman and allowed them BACK into the US government, America MIGHT be a very different place today.
Last but not least, I was very unsettled by Dr. Richardson's observation that she is receiving hate mail. That surprises me since, on this board, we mostly disagree without rancor when we do disagree.
So, it is not a good sign that someone who is just writing facts about what is happening is getting hate mail. Not good at all.
Interesting, Mike. But the author is Sidney Andrews, not Powell. There is an abridged copy with HCR in 2004. I will look into it. Regarding the poor white's view of the Negro, my dad, when I was about ten years old (1950) living in Texas told me that he didn't think that he could work for a Negro (he never used the "N" word.) I consider it to be the effect of implicit bias - my dad had never met a well educated Black person nor seen one in a position of authority. I also recommend the book by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Stony the Road," about Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow.
HCR’s West From Appomattox is a major but very accessible treatise on the second half of the 19th century. I highly recommend it to everyone. That is where I learned about “the Great Redemption” following Reconstruction in which the Southern landowners (same people who owned all the land antebellum) reestablished “in law” the same exploitation and economic subjugation of both poor white and all Black people in the “reconstructed” states.
Jill Lepore’s These Truths is another source from which I became more aware of what was going on in that time. As far as I can remember, Reconstuction was completely ignored in my high school American history course over half a century ago and in an Indiana school system.
We are often prisoners to lies. Racism, aggressive wars, governmental injustices, disastrous folly, such as climate abuse and anti-vax, all substantially enabled by deliberate lies, mostly in the service of power and money.
I agree with you about the hate mail. She reports the facts and does all the research and notes from where it comes. So hate mail is not acceptable when she is so willing to inform us of all that is going on. I owe her a debt of gratitude for her gift and hard work.
Some people have no interest in plain facts. I know a fair number of those folks. Needless to say, they get their information from the performative network that didn't want to tell its viewers that tRump did not win. I cannot imagine Walter Cronkite doing such a thing.
The hatred of poor (and not-so-poor) whites for Blacks, and their allegiance to the white elite that dissed them in myriad ways, is not hard to understand once white solidarity/supremacy is factored in. It didn't spring out of nowhere; the white elite cultivated it, knowing it served their interests. The GOP has been cultivating it with great success since the mid/late 1960s.
And always, follow the money. I read a history book by a black professor that indicated that the wealthy whites were terrified that that abused blacks and abused whites might one day join in common cause.
In diving deeper, become aware of the school of history that was prominent near turn of the 19th century that articulated “states rights” as cause of the Civil War and promoted the”Lost Cause” worship celebrated since.
A little searching on your own among the declarations of ALL the seceding states will give you an understanding of what was prominent in the minds of the insurrectionists of the moment.
I'm not convinced that execution would have been the best solution, but the rebellion needed to live in infamy, just as Jan 6th must today. The whole idea of rule of law is that it does not bend for politcal convenience; that there are lines that must never be crossed. The aim of the law should always serve justice: I'm not taking about "Zero Tolerance" AKA "Zero Intelligence"; but politics must not allowed to"trump" principle, or rule of law and meaningful justice will suffer a lasting blow.
And once again, when human behavior reads less than humane, follow the money. I am grateful that the founders turned away from European feudalism in many important respects, yet recreated the pampered lifestyle of even more sociopathic oppressors with slave plantations. Eight US presidents held slaves while in office, four of the first five, and technically twelve altogether. And what was in it for the pubic? The poor white remains on the caboose of the train, yet fanatically defends that system.
I was in Birmingham, Alabama 4 years ago for three or four days. A family member had moved there a couple of years earlier and we were visiting.
Birmingham seemed to be diverse, congenial, metropolitan, even accepting. None of the hatred of Black people, the prejudice and bigotry of the past seemed to be present (or it wasn’t obvious). However while speaking to someone who lived in Birmingham I was told that it was still present and as strong as ever. All you had to do to see it was get outside the city and into the rural areas.
I daresay the great gulf between rural and urban is probably even more profound in the South as it is in other regions of the country. The cities really are, very often, blue islands in seas of red. That's why silly talk of secession is just that. A state can't very well secede without its largest metropolitan areas, can it?
I recall some years ago when I wrote to the published authors of two editorial comments, both reasonable and one a single sentence digression from a non-politcal topic, thanking them for speaking out about a wacko tax cut for the rich that would profoundly affect local public services (and has). They both wrote back of being deluged with vicious personal attack hate mail. The lady who wrote the one pretty innocuous sentence said that she felt we were in a "new McCarthy era".
I have since wondered if part of the milquetoast reporting we have suffered since by a far less aggressive Fourth Estate, at least compared to Watergate days, is the burden of this constant harassment, which when those in positions of power call for force and violence, can harbor the threat of actual peril?
Congressional Republicans put in the clause that made possible the removal of McCarthy. This was planned. The radicals were set on creating a dysfunctional Congress and government. That's what we have. This is "shock doctrine." Use the chaos to get the changes you could not other wise achieve. Steve Bannon and friends are part of this. They are fully willing to keep from passing a budget and putting thousands out of work, stopping payments, and ruining the credit of the US.
I agree as dumpster and his repugnants aren't that smart and Bannon has been doing this chaos for eons in other countries, like Hungary and attempts in Canada with the freedom convoy !! He is an instigator and likely working on behalf of right wing donors or even Putin ! Nothing surprises me with him ! I guess all the repugnants and their corporate donors all want a fascist society so they can keep power and control !!
The promote infectious sociopathy. Malignant narcissists like Tuberville are indifferent to who or what gets harmed (or may even get off on it) so log as the get to feel like they rule the roost.
Jo, they want the Biden administration to fail for political advantage in the 2024 election—and they’re willing to burn it all down to do so with no stated plan on how to rebuild it. It’s like with Obamacare—their plan would reinstate coverage limits and increased prices + lack of coverage for preexisting conditions.
Ahh, let's clarify something. The House and the Senate are not two of the three branches of the Federal Government. They are the Legislative branch and members of the bicameral Congress.
As long as we're fantasizing, Leonard Leo and about 2 dozen billionaires and maybe 100 corporations. And of course, TFFG and his top enablers. As evil as Cruz and Tuberville are, no one holds a candle to Leo. He is a theocrat and personally owns the US Supreme Court.
yes, Olivia Troye spoke about what The Heritage Society and its 40 smaller operating arms are doing to control all by 2025-6. And of course Rachel Maddows new book talks about the Nazi government within the US in the 30's and 40's. It never really went away did it?
Money. It’s why tax structure is so important in a democracy. It’s why Bidenomics is so important. Whatever it’s flaws may be, the principle of “from the bottom up and the middle out” is important for our survival. Leo must be totally discredited along with “his” SCOTUS and senators.
An essential part of what a just government does is curtail abuses of power and monopolies of power, including money.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
Are you listening to "We Don't Talk About Leonard," by Andrea Bernstein, Ilya Marritz, and Andy Kroll, the "Trump Inc" and "Will Be Wild" podcast team from WNYC?
It opens with a scene at Leo's palatial Maine home that HRC might appreciate, given that John Roberts' summer place is just around the next peninsula from her place.
My wife listened to both parts. She couldn't sleep for two days after listening to the first part. She gave me the highlights. I am too much of a coward to listen to it myself.
I nominate the Koch Bros., or whichever one of them hasn't died yet, for Scoundrel of the Centuries (both the 1900s and 2000s, so far), American Division. Leg irons, behind-the-back handcuffs, and duck/duct tape across the mouth.
Please keep in mind that in 2020, these three states contributed 7.3M votes for Biden to 9.2M to the other guy. Every one of these states is politically screwed up (bigly) but not every resident. Faithful Democrats in Tennessee are working with Every State Blue, to launch Blue Tennessee to fund every Democratic candidate for every state office in our red state from the bottom up. Data shows that having Democrats on the ballot for every office at every level challenges Republican lies and disinformation, increases turnout, invigorates and activates local Democrats, and significantly helps the top of the ticket. We hope to be in operation for 2024.
Where is Vanderbilt U in all of this? I keep waiting for Jon Meacham to boost the Justins and the US senate candidate at least by mentioning them. Is Vanderbilt afraid of losing funding?
Vanderbilt is one of the many educational institutions in TN—in Nashville for that matter. VU doesn’t have any part in the severe gerrymandering of this state. I love Jon Meacham but I’m not sure it would be to his benefit as an historian to take political sides. No need to start tangling with the crazy legislators. VU is already involved in a kerfuffle for the Med Center having given medical records (after being subpoenaed) to the state AG, also a cultural warrior, appointed by the governor, himself a poor leader. We’re a mess here.
Thank you and sorry to hear that the mess in the legislature is only the tip of the iceberg. Seeing Jon Meacham on MSNBC, as I often do, knowing his reputation and thinking that Vanderbilt is a university of merit to stand up for good governance in the state, I see that you have a bigger mess than I knew. Racism flourishes even in a “border state.” What would Daniel Boone say? Do we know?
Could be but the same sentiments are widely distributed across the country. Reconstruction and “the Great Redemption” stimulated that proliferation. I don’t offer that as an apology by any means.
I agree that some focused attention on how that is nurtured as consequence of federal investment in the formerly and resurgent insurrectionist states might be fruitful. As an Alabama resident for 35 years, I am conscious that a return to Alabama of ~$2.25
...for every $1 forwarded to the federal government in taxes from Alabama. Alabama is a money sink for the rest of the country. I’m pretty sure it’s not been a fruitful investment. I think a bit of an adjustment in that is in order.
We are definitely struggling in Texas where are governor and his “Twitter Twin”, “Cancun Cruz” tweet repeatedly criticism of President Biden, particularly about the border crisis yet never mentioning former President Trumps failure to build a wall after his bluster and boasting regarding erecting a wall. I doubt they read the Twitter replies because most replies are against them. They’re so mired in the Republican swamp they don’t care how Tuberville’s actions are crippling our military and I wonder what we might’ve learned had their phones been dumped dumped before and after Jan.6. Texas has no term limits regarding the governor’s tenure so we struggle with abbott’s dictatorial administration advocating for Charter Schools under the bogus label of “Parents Choice” yet failing to mention that such a mention violates the amendment to the Texas Constitution that guarantees every child a “free public education”.
Yes , the conservatives in Canada are trying to change the landscape of this country by burning down the country the same way as the right-wing asshats are doing in the USA! Will not be good for Canadian citizens! I think they would be happier if Canada was a fascist society as well !! Shall we call it the New Nazi Canada !!
Makes me wonder how many in the military who have drunk the kool-aid will actually fight against their own people in order to keep the repugnants in control ??? I really hope that they remember their oaths to the constitution and their country and not to one person that wishes to change democracy to Christofascist dictatorship !!
In addition to hamstringing the US's efforts to aid Ukraine, it seems as if the Republican hijacking of Senate all-too-conveniently also prevents the US from functioning against Putin-backed Iran/Hamas . . . coincidence?
All the republicans are doing and not doing is orchestrated by their leader, Trump. His goal is too destroy our democracy by creating chaos and he is successful in that. It appears that the majority of republican politicians are no longer patriots but traitors.
We the true American majority must step up and be heard over all of this evil. Standing by and observing aghast will do nothing to save us. Tommy Tuberville is a puppet of Trump and Trump is a puppet of Putin.
The end of times will arise out of Jerusalem. I am not a biblical sooth sayer. But folks this is getting scary.
Trump may be the perceived leader for the MAGA base, but the real leaders of the far right are the billionaire autocrats who have been planning and funding the takeover of legislatures with gerrymandering, the packing of the courts with ultra-conservative judges, and now with the Project 2025 manifesto to gut and disembowel the executive branch when next they win a Presidential election.
For instance, Charles Koch funneling funds through his bagman Leonard Leo to the full range of anti-democratic causes. From the Federalist Society to the Teneo Network to the Mercatus Institute. Instituting clerical fascism through the Republican Party.
Completely agree and add that it is a global endeavor often called New World Order. Decades ago, some of those from the global Right were smart enough to realize that they couldn’t make the changes they wanted in one country to stick without getting supporting countries to change as well. So they:
-targeted politicians and groomed like minded people to go into politics, paid Lobbyists, created PAC’s & Super PACs all to influence/affect/remove legislations, which would help bring their plans to fruition.
-bought / consolidated mainstream media companies to help them control the narrative
- recruited greedy corporation owners, Boards of Directors, & CEO choices, who wanted more money & control and less regulations
-used social media companies first for data mining and then to planted influencers and launched mis/disinformation campaigns to affect culture, social cohesion, knowledge, support, turn away focus from a situation, guide people towards something like being in a state of fear, etc.
-worked on religions & religious leaders to gain their acceptance and support of the people running the so-called Conservative Party. The symbiotic relationship between elites & religions have been in practice since antiquity, so their influence cannot be denied in this push to create New World Order.
The New World Order has no place for a true democracy and a government representing and working for all the people because it will affect the socioeconomic hierarchy which prevented anyone but generationally wealthy White males from remaining at the top by themselves, would promote fairness, equality, and protect workers from exploitation, promote education which would make it hard for employers and government to use and abuse people.
Lisa, thank you for the summary. I have copied it to keep in my LFAA folder. It's a good, concise list of what the hell happened to our democracy. Citizens United is poison to our election process and it must go.
Lisa, you have very clearly laid this out. The results of their efforts are plain to see on the world stage, with the rise of autocrats and authoritarian. Do you see this New World Order as having been a coordinated effort, worthy of a plot line in a blockbuster novel, or simply people with power, money and influence working independently towards the same goal?
I suspect both coordinated effort and opportunists capitalizing on the efforts of others. It’s kind of like an avalanche or a dam breaking. People kept chipping away at the dam or manipulating conditions at weak points on snowy mountains. Then once they had enough power over weak areas, others joined the effort.
This post put me in mind of the Gilded Age political cartoons of the octopus, sometimes in the persona of Standard Oil, sometimes Russia, sometimes England - but I'd be willing to bet the current octopus's attempts at destabilizing democracies and democracy itself go far back, to the Gilded Age and before, in other companies, other countries, other rulers, in different places and in different times. The current octopus must be dismembered, member by member.
I don’t know of any. I’m basing my information on what I’ve been reading in HCR’s Letters & her “receipts”, some of the posts HCR shared over the past few years on Twitter, and then making connections
Examples:
I started paying attention to politics when Obama started making media rounds when he planned to run for office in 2008. I watch how he was treated, I saw how people who could have done good things in his Administration chose not to be a part of it. I watched how difficult a time he had with Congress (this is before I understood what the parties seemed to stand for and how the wealthy & corporations stacked the political deck in their favor within both parties.
I joined Twitter in 2011. It was a decent place to connect with & unite people but it devolved gradually over the next 4 years and got downright ugly when Trump announced his intentions to run for office in 2016.
I noticed other countries having similar issues such as Australia and UK with Brexit. I thought then that it didn’t feel like a coincidence.
I watched the who religious angle start to heat up on a much larger scale. Shows like 19 Kids & Counting had a son who was invited to join a Conservative PAC. I saw articles about Dominionists infiltrating politics and stopped thinking it was nonsense. When the religions wingnuts attached themselves to Trump. Why would religious leaders stand with such a sinner? The hypocrisy was overwhelming.
Then the news about FB & Cambridge Analytica and targeted mis/disinformation attacks reached mainstream media. Someone coordinated attacks against multiple countries which divided people and affected politics adversely.
I started to wonder what would happen if USA fractured. A divided America would need to align with other countries, make new agreements which might adversely affect the different factions within the formerly United States. USA wouldn’t be able to stop Russia from marching across Europe or China from taking over Taiwan, Philippines, or from taking Hawaii, etc. This definitely wouldn’t benefit our allies.
We should all have been working to improve things for regular people, working together to improve the economy since we’re all so interconnected, but instead, countries got distracted by internal strife.
What tools did they use to get to this point? Money from the wealthy & corporations in multiple countries. Mainstream media, movies & tv, social media, the educational system (they didn’t just start messing with public education in America when Trump took office, they started after the Baby Boomers and their activism scared Conservatives), and religion because a liberal society with a good social safety net is not as inclined to need it or it’s steadfast loyalty to the social framework which benefits the elites.
Right on the spot, Georgia, as made clear in Thomas Frank's book, "What's the Matter with Kansas," and Hearther Cox Richardson's "How the South Won the Civil War." the billionaires are manipulating the white Protestants.
I think it's important to distinguish between white evangelical Protestants and more mainstream Protestants, who are not immune to those politics but less likely to be manipulated by them. I regularly sign petitions by Faithful America, which is anti-Fascist.
Something that has always intrigued and puzzled me is how the slaves adopted "the white man's" religion. My guess was that their the slaves') condition was so miserable that it at least gave them hope that there would be a better place for them after death.
“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”
This, or any of several variants, is generally attributed to Alexandre Ledru-Rollin. As he was French, any English rendering would be approximate. Also, the quote or its attribution is likely apocryphal. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Auguste_Ledru-Rollin
Trump’s goal as president was to make as much money as possible. His goal now is to stay out of jail. He’s simply too stupid to orchestrate something as complex as this, although I do agree that chaos is a consequence of his actions and inactions, both as president and now. I think Georgia Fisanick nailed it.
Vipers in our nest. Tuberville and Cruz are guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Joe McCarthy in the 50’s spearheaded a committee in the Senate to route out communists. The Senate should resurrect the committee focused on routing out fascists. It should look at US Senators and Congressmen and state leaders. Cruz and his ungrateful wretched of a father need to have their citizenship revoked and sent back to Canada or even better Cuba.
That is the first thing that I thought of ! It just seems too convenient! If the USA continues to have so much chaos in the government with no movement of military promotions and inability to pass bills that will help the people of the USA and no further money for Ukraine , it let's Putin advance and take over !! It would not surprise me in the least that Putin and Iran are in cohoots with each other!!!
I’m increasingly convinced Tuberville is, with McConnell’s approval, holding the military slots open for Trump to fill with far-right loyalists. The abortion thing is the cover story.
This is a most disturbing thought, the kind that will keep me up at night and my blood pressure skyrocketing.
Following Jessica Craven's suggestion (Chop Wood, Carry Water) yesterday I called my Congress Fools and demanded a halt to these outrageous actions of Tuberville holding our military hostage at such a dangerous time as well as the Republican Gang of Eight leaving the house with no leader during a time of world crisis.
I will call again today and each day until these vacancies have been filled. Maybe some of my LFAA community will join me in making calls. Jessica provides a script if not knowing the right words is holding you back.
"...the pattern of sabotage that impeding the government from conducting its duties, and harming national welfare and security for the sake of partisan, political stunts."
... for the sake of Republican partisan political stunts.
Don’t underestimate the power of language. People will kill and die for it. I don’t disagree that action is necessary. But, as a matter of fact, a significant portion of the insurgents will never give up the notions that trump nurtured by malicious use of language.
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.” - Emerson
Absolutely right, but what action? What has brought us to the brink of dictatorship, to 40+ years of a cold but deadly civil war? What (among many) is the greatest single threat to our posterity? The measurements of global climate that point to impending disasters are as evidence-based as the COVID death toll. Why are not taking sufficient action? How can we explain an FBI-reported flare in hate crimes? Hamas is currently taking actions and what can we expert to come of them, for anyone? Why did several educated, European civil societies fall into the thrall of fascism? Why do we celebrate the fourth of July?
Ideas and even specific language profoundly influence our understandings which underlie our choices, and our choices along with varying circumstances, determine our fate.
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
Is that true? What explains the rise and fall of Joe McCarthy? What explains the cult of Trump today?
Israel reels as American response is hampered by unfilled leadership in the military, diplomatic corp and a shutdown House of Representatives, all at the hands of GOP culture warriors manufacturing grievances to enflame their base using the complicit media that understand that fomenting outrage is profitable for them
And, shut down the likes of FOX that is spewing and condoning outright lies. I watched for 5 minutes and while I could, I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Laura Ingraham and Newt Gingrich - absolutely appalling and IMO playing right into the playbook of terrorists. While some claim it is "entertainment not news" the cult takes it as gospel. They even had video cuts of trump excoriating Biden! Maybe everyone can lie anytime and anywhere but there are libel and slander laws and Fox should be hit fast and hard. They are beyond disgusting and worthless pieces of crap - at least crap serves a purpose!!
And we should all be calling our Senators about it. They need to be on the receiving end of a “wall of noise” every minute of every day until they’ve found a way to unblock those confirmations. I put a script in my newsletter yesterday. Feel free to use it!
Let's get real. Radical Republicans failed in their coup attempt and are now deploying simpler tactics — sabotaging government in whatever way they can. While ridiculous arcane rules allow some of their actions, the end result is chaos. Or dare I call it polite and peaceful terrorism?
"Because of holds Republican senators have put on the nomination process, the U.S. does not have a Senate-confirmed ambassador to Israel or Egypt, the two countries that border the Gaza Strip."
There is a lot going on, but it might be politically and as a matter of necessity, time for Biden to condemn in the strongest civil language possible the pattern of sabotage that impeding the government from conducting its duties, and harming national welfare and security for the sake of partisan, political stunts. It's already gone too far.
Maybe it's time to arrest three Confederate Traitors as the traitors they are: Cruz, Aqua Buddha Paul, and Two State Tuberville.
Surely Mitch has a smack-down or two, or three left. But maybe he eggs them on. Or maybe he’s now starring into space. That makes this branch of government not only useless but hamstrung, with the SC teetering on the brink. Who was it that said, if America crumbles, it will be from within…
Then there is chump, just waiting to hand us over to Putin, with blessings from the heartland.
The point is well made - while there is the turmoil of war in the Mideast, we have a very, very serious matter here at home as the "Old South" is attempting to overthrow the lawful government of the U.S. We need to keep our focus here primarily.
Richard,
I just finished reading The South Since the War, written by Sydney Andrews (abridged by the imminent Heather Cox Richardson before she was famous) after a tour of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in 1866 immediately after the Civil War.
Every single American should read this book for many reasons, but, there are three main ones:
1. The rural south and parts of the cities were, following the war, still "Rebels" and still hated the North and the United States government just as much as before the war. Many, apparently, still do.
2. That hatred was created by the caste system that the South had and still has to a large degree.
3. The poor whites were just as filled with hatred for blacks as the plantation owners (which is puzzling since the plantation owners made sure very little land was available to the poor whites).
4. All of the whites in the south did very, very, very little work compared to their northern counterparts. BOTH male and female. ALL whites had been reliant on blacks for essentially ALL work. Houses were a mess because women and men would not bother to clean them and farms were idle because white men were completely idle having had slaves doing all the work while white men sat on arse.
5. Blacks had been cast aside AND had willingly left all of their owners which plunged them into the worst of worst poverty with zero empathy from the white population.
However, the most telling parts of the book are the last five pages. Everyone in America should read those pages.
Had Andrew Johnson read those pages and NOT offered amnesty to every last southern congressman and allowed them BACK into the US government, America MIGHT be a very different place today.
Last but not least, I was very unsettled by Dr. Richardson's observation that she is receiving hate mail. That surprises me since, on this board, we mostly disagree without rancor when we do disagree.
So, it is not a good sign that someone who is just writing facts about what is happening is getting hate mail. Not good at all.
Interesting, Mike. But the author is Sidney Andrews, not Powell. There is an abridged copy with HCR in 2004. I will look into it. Regarding the poor white's view of the Negro, my dad, when I was about ten years old (1950) living in Texas told me that he didn't think that he could work for a Negro (he never used the "N" word.) I consider it to be the effect of implicit bias - my dad had never met a well educated Black person nor seen one in a position of authority. I also recommend the book by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Stony the Road," about Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow.
HCR’s West From Appomattox is a major but very accessible treatise on the second half of the 19th century. I highly recommend it to everyone. That is where I learned about “the Great Redemption” following Reconstruction in which the Southern landowners (same people who owned all the land antebellum) reestablished “in law” the same exploitation and economic subjugation of both poor white and all Black people in the “reconstructed” states.
Jill Lepore’s These Truths is another source from which I became more aware of what was going on in that time. As far as I can remember, Reconstuction was completely ignored in my high school American history course over half a century ago and in an Indiana school system.
We are often prisoners to lies. Racism, aggressive wars, governmental injustices, disastrous folly, such as climate abuse and anti-vax, all substantially enabled by deliberate lies, mostly in the service of power and money.
Coming from Virginia, arriving in San Antonio, I was amazed that Hispanics were considered below Blacks in the “hierarchy.”
Richard,
Corrected, yes.
I so agree with you I was appalled to read Heather was receiving hate mail for only speaking the facts who are these people??
"Influencers and Haters" Lesly.
I agree with you about the hate mail. She reports the facts and does all the research and notes from where it comes. So hate mail is not acceptable when she is so willing to inform us of all that is going on. I owe her a debt of gratitude for her gift and hard work.
Thank you Mike for the Book information.
Some people have no interest in plain facts. I know a fair number of those folks. Needless to say, they get their information from the performative network that didn't want to tell its viewers that tRump did not win. I cannot imagine Walter Cronkite doing such a thing.
The hatred of poor (and not-so-poor) whites for Blacks, and their allegiance to the white elite that dissed them in myriad ways, is not hard to understand once white solidarity/supremacy is factored in. It didn't spring out of nowhere; the white elite cultivated it, knowing it served their interests. The GOP has been cultivating it with great success since the mid/late 1960s.
And always, follow the money. I read a history book by a black professor that indicated that the wealthy whites were terrified that that abused blacks and abused whites might one day join in common cause.
Mike S, thank you for your Bullet Points (no pun intended) (1-5) on "The South Since the War". Ready for a deeper dive now.
In diving deeper, become aware of the school of history that was prominent near turn of the 19th century that articulated “states rights” as cause of the Civil War and promoted the”Lost Cause” worship celebrated since.
A little searching on your own among the declarations of ALL the seceding states will give you an understanding of what was prominent in the minds of the insurrectionists of the moment.
No problem.
I am from Florida. The North should have lined up the southern politicians and officers and shot them for the traitors they were.
We'd be a lot better off now. When did appeasement ever work?
They were indeed traitors and the penalty is death. The murder of Lincoln was what saved them all.
I'm not convinced that execution would have been the best solution, but the rebellion needed to live in infamy, just as Jan 6th must today. The whole idea of rule of law is that it does not bend for politcal convenience; that there are lines that must never be crossed. The aim of the law should always serve justice: I'm not taking about "Zero Tolerance" AKA "Zero Intelligence"; but politics must not allowed to"trump" principle, or rule of law and meaningful justice will suffer a lasting blow.
And once again, when human behavior reads less than humane, follow the money. I am grateful that the founders turned away from European feudalism in many important respects, yet recreated the pampered lifestyle of even more sociopathic oppressors with slave plantations. Eight US presidents held slaves while in office, four of the first five, and technically twelve altogether. And what was in it for the pubic? The poor white remains on the caboose of the train, yet fanatically defends that system.
And the caste system persists to this day, albeit with different words, characterizations, and narratives applied.
I was in Birmingham, Alabama 4 years ago for three or four days. A family member had moved there a couple of years earlier and we were visiting.
Birmingham seemed to be diverse, congenial, metropolitan, even accepting. None of the hatred of Black people, the prejudice and bigotry of the past seemed to be present (or it wasn’t obvious). However while speaking to someone who lived in Birmingham I was told that it was still present and as strong as ever. All you had to do to see it was get outside the city and into the rural areas.
I daresay the great gulf between rural and urban is probably even more profound in the South as it is in other regions of the country. The cities really are, very often, blue islands in seas of red. That's why silly talk of secession is just that. A state can't very well secede without its largest metropolitan areas, can it?
I recall some years ago when I wrote to the published authors of two editorial comments, both reasonable and one a single sentence digression from a non-politcal topic, thanking them for speaking out about a wacko tax cut for the rich that would profoundly affect local public services (and has). They both wrote back of being deluged with vicious personal attack hate mail. The lady who wrote the one pretty innocuous sentence said that she felt we were in a "new McCarthy era".
I have since wondered if part of the milquetoast reporting we have suffered since by a far less aggressive Fourth Estate, at least compared to Watergate days, is the burden of this constant harassment, which when those in positions of power call for force and violence, can harbor the threat of actual peril?
We are lost unless we see the forest AND the trees, but yes, we have crises aplenty in our midst.
Perhaps republicans want the US to fail. It sure appears that way.
Congressional Republicans put in the clause that made possible the removal of McCarthy. This was planned. The radicals were set on creating a dysfunctional Congress and government. That's what we have. This is "shock doctrine." Use the chaos to get the changes you could not other wise achieve. Steve Bannon and friends are part of this. They are fully willing to keep from passing a budget and putting thousands out of work, stopping payments, and ruining the credit of the US.
I agree as dumpster and his repugnants aren't that smart and Bannon has been doing this chaos for eons in other countries, like Hungary and attempts in Canada with the freedom convoy !! He is an instigator and likely working on behalf of right wing donors or even Putin ! Nothing surprises me with him ! I guess all the repugnants and their corporate donors all want a fascist society so they can keep power and control !!
Look at Trump. At some point the lust for power becomes malicious madness, becomes evil.
we as a nation need to get better informed and more inclined to send saboteurs packing.
Blocking the confirmation of 300 military leaders supports your theory.
The promote infectious sociopathy. Malignant narcissists like Tuberville are indifferent to who or what gets harmed (or may even get off on it) so log as the get to feel like they rule the roost.
Jo, they want the Biden administration to fail for political advantage in the 2024 election—and they’re willing to burn it all down to do so with no stated plan on how to rebuild it. It’s like with Obamacare—their plan would reinstate coverage limits and increased prices + lack of coverage for preexisting conditions.
Chaos will give them a chance to establish an authoritarian government like Nazism. They don’t hide it
As mentioned above "Shock Doctrine", a worthwhile book by Naomi Kline.
Ahh, let's clarify something. The House and the Senate are not two of the three branches of the Federal Government. They are the Legislative branch and members of the bicameral Congress.
Thank you, needed clarifying
That prediction came from Lincoln.
He knew us
Well said.
As long as we're fantasizing, Leonard Leo and about 2 dozen billionaires and maybe 100 corporations. And of course, TFFG and his top enablers. As evil as Cruz and Tuberville are, no one holds a candle to Leo. He is a theocrat and personally owns the US Supreme Court.
yes, Olivia Troye spoke about what The Heritage Society and its 40 smaller operating arms are doing to control all by 2025-6. And of course Rachel Maddows new book talks about the Nazi government within the US in the 30's and 40's. It never really went away did it?
Money. It’s why tax structure is so important in a democracy. It’s why Bidenomics is so important. Whatever it’s flaws may be, the principle of “from the bottom up and the middle out” is important for our survival. Leo must be totally discredited along with “his” SCOTUS and senators.
On the Media on NPR had a three-part series about his influence.
An essential part of what a just government does is curtail abuses of power and monopolies of power, including money.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
Thank you, JL Graham!
Are you listening to "We Don't Talk About Leonard," by Andrea Bernstein, Ilya Marritz, and Andy Kroll, the "Trump Inc" and "Will Be Wild" podcast team from WNYC?
It opens with a scene at Leo's palatial Maine home that HRC might appreciate, given that John Roberts' summer place is just around the next peninsula from her place.
Editing to add a link:
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-episode-1-part-1-on-the-media
My wife listened to both parts. She couldn't sleep for two days after listening to the first part. She gave me the highlights. I am too much of a coward to listen to it myself.
I'm sorry about your wife's lost sleep.
Embracing the facts of our current scene has cost many of us dearly.
Leo sleeps like a baby, though, I feel sure.
I nominate the Koch Bros., or whichever one of them hasn't died yet, for Scoundrel of the Centuries (both the 1900s and 2000s, so far), American Division. Leg irons, behind-the-back handcuffs, and duck/duct tape across the mouth.
I have posted that Alabama, Texas and Tennessee are rogue states and should be considered in open rebellion to the United States.
The defiance of US Laws and settled SCOTUS decisions are only a few steps from seizing military bases.
Please keep in mind that in 2020, these three states contributed 7.3M votes for Biden to 9.2M to the other guy. Every one of these states is politically screwed up (bigly) but not every resident. Faithful Democrats in Tennessee are working with Every State Blue, to launch Blue Tennessee to fund every Democratic candidate for every state office in our red state from the bottom up. Data shows that having Democrats on the ballot for every office at every level challenges Republican lies and disinformation, increases turnout, invigorates and activates local Democrats, and significantly helps the top of the ticket. We hope to be in operation for 2024.
To donate: https://contribute.itstarts.today/blue_tennessee/contribute
For more information: https://linktr.ee/BlueTennessee
Where is Vanderbilt U in all of this? I keep waiting for Jon Meacham to boost the Justins and the US senate candidate at least by mentioning them. Is Vanderbilt afraid of losing funding?
Vanderbilt is one of the many educational institutions in TN—in Nashville for that matter. VU doesn’t have any part in the severe gerrymandering of this state. I love Jon Meacham but I’m not sure it would be to his benefit as an historian to take political sides. No need to start tangling with the crazy legislators. VU is already involved in a kerfuffle for the Med Center having given medical records (after being subpoenaed) to the state AG, also a cultural warrior, appointed by the governor, himself a poor leader. We’re a mess here.
Thank you and sorry to hear that the mess in the legislature is only the tip of the iceberg. Seeing Jon Meacham on MSNBC, as I often do, knowing his reputation and thinking that Vanderbilt is a university of merit to stand up for good governance in the state, I see that you have a bigger mess than I knew. Racism flourishes even in a “border state.” What would Daniel Boone say? Do we know?
You should add Mississippi and Florida to that list.
I'm sensing a regional theme here. Could it be the confederate states of America are wagging the dog?
Could be but the same sentiments are widely distributed across the country. Reconstruction and “the Great Redemption” stimulated that proliferation. I don’t offer that as an apology by any means.
I agree that some focused attention on how that is nurtured as consequence of federal investment in the formerly and resurgent insurrectionist states might be fruitful. As an Alabama resident for 35 years, I am conscious that a return to Alabama of ~$2.25
Oops, hit wrong button.
...for every $1 forwarded to the federal government in taxes from Alabama. Alabama is a money sink for the rest of the country. I’m pretty sure it’s not been a fruitful investment. I think a bit of an adjustment in that is in order.
We are definitely struggling in Texas where are governor and his “Twitter Twin”, “Cancun Cruz” tweet repeatedly criticism of President Biden, particularly about the border crisis yet never mentioning former President Trumps failure to build a wall after his bluster and boasting regarding erecting a wall. I doubt they read the Twitter replies because most replies are against them. They’re so mired in the Republican swamp they don’t care how Tuberville’s actions are crippling our military and I wonder what we might’ve learned had their phones been dumped dumped before and after Jan.6. Texas has no term limits regarding the governor’s tenure so we struggle with abbott’s dictatorial administration advocating for Charter Schools under the bogus label of “Parents Choice” yet failing to mention that such a mention violates the amendment to the Texas Constitution that guarantees every child a “free public education”.
Our Provincial Conservative Party, who have not any seats in the Legislature for many years has borrowed this “parent’s rights” phrase.
Yes , the conservatives in Canada are trying to change the landscape of this country by burning down the country the same way as the right-wing asshats are doing in the USA! Will not be good for Canadian citizens! I think they would be happier if Canada was a fascist society as well !! Shall we call it the New Nazi Canada !!
Seems like "Conservaitive" has become a euphemism for "authoritarian".
Makes me wonder how many in the military who have drunk the kool-aid will actually fight against their own people in order to keep the repugnants in control ??? I really hope that they remember their oaths to the constitution and their country and not to one person that wishes to change democracy to Christofascist dictatorship !!
And then there’s “local law enforcement,” too. A lot of Oathkeepers there around here
If not arrest, expel.
Liars! Elder abuse, abuse of vulnerable Veteran's, and our many 6 pack Joes!
Huh?
This is a confusing comment, can you clarify please?
Following the line, I think this was directed several posts up regarding TC's post about the three southern Senators.
To who are you referring?? Please explain.
I vote yes while praying Jack Smith and the FBI/DOJ et al are doing their due diligence and building a case against them.
In addition to hamstringing the US's efforts to aid Ukraine, it seems as if the Republican hijacking of Senate all-too-conveniently also prevents the US from functioning against Putin-backed Iran/Hamas . . . coincidence?
All the republicans are doing and not doing is orchestrated by their leader, Trump. His goal is too destroy our democracy by creating chaos and he is successful in that. It appears that the majority of republican politicians are no longer patriots but traitors.
We the true American majority must step up and be heard over all of this evil. Standing by and observing aghast will do nothing to save us. Tommy Tuberville is a puppet of Trump and Trump is a puppet of Putin.
The end of times will arise out of Jerusalem. I am not a biblical sooth sayer. But folks this is getting scary.
Trump may be the perceived leader for the MAGA base, but the real leaders of the far right are the billionaire autocrats who have been planning and funding the takeover of legislatures with gerrymandering, the packing of the courts with ultra-conservative judges, and now with the Project 2025 manifesto to gut and disembowel the executive branch when next they win a Presidential election.
Let's put names on it.
For instance, Charles Koch funneling funds through his bagman Leonard Leo to the full range of anti-democratic causes. From the Federalist Society to the Teneo Network to the Mercatus Institute. Instituting clerical fascism through the Republican Party.
Yes, lin•, and don't leave out the Alliance Defending Freedom, who were behind the lawsuits that outlawed abortion, and canceled the abortion pill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defending_Freedom
The Heritage Society and its 40 smaller operating firms are funneling. We have to get Gen Z on this.
Also funds the antigovernment extremist Moms for Liberty who are assaulting libraries.
the creatures writing state laws and ordinances: ALEC.
Completely agree and add that it is a global endeavor often called New World Order. Decades ago, some of those from the global Right were smart enough to realize that they couldn’t make the changes they wanted in one country to stick without getting supporting countries to change as well. So they:
-targeted politicians and groomed like minded people to go into politics, paid Lobbyists, created PAC’s & Super PACs all to influence/affect/remove legislations, which would help bring their plans to fruition.
-bought / consolidated mainstream media companies to help them control the narrative
- recruited greedy corporation owners, Boards of Directors, & CEO choices, who wanted more money & control and less regulations
-used social media companies first for data mining and then to planted influencers and launched mis/disinformation campaigns to affect culture, social cohesion, knowledge, support, turn away focus from a situation, guide people towards something like being in a state of fear, etc.
-worked on religions & religious leaders to gain their acceptance and support of the people running the so-called Conservative Party. The symbiotic relationship between elites & religions have been in practice since antiquity, so their influence cannot be denied in this push to create New World Order.
The New World Order has no place for a true democracy and a government representing and working for all the people because it will affect the socioeconomic hierarchy which prevented anyone but generationally wealthy White males from remaining at the top by themselves, would promote fairness, equality, and protect workers from exploitation, promote education which would make it hard for employers and government to use and abuse people.
Yes. It’s not just T. It’s the billionaires backing the Repubs that speak T’s language. T. is just the front man puppet.
Lisa, thank you for the summary. I have copied it to keep in my LFAA folder. It's a good, concise list of what the hell happened to our democracy. Citizens United is poison to our election process and it must go.
Citizens United is only one aspect.
-We need to coordinate efforts to end media manipulation
-Fix our broken public education system
-Figure out how to have freedom of speech while minimizing harm
-End or adjust legislations & Supreme Court decisions which damage democracy
-Make voting mandatory, convenient, & have easy access to accurate data about those running for office
-Get rid of corruption in government - or at minimize it.
-Drastically reduce the wealth gap
-Address our past wrongs & teach truth in history classes.
Only we need to do this on a global scale. Joe Biden is doing his part in uniting other countries, but his efforts must continue long into the future.
Lisa, you have very clearly laid this out. The results of their efforts are plain to see on the world stage, with the rise of autocrats and authoritarian. Do you see this New World Order as having been a coordinated effort, worthy of a plot line in a blockbuster novel, or simply people with power, money and influence working independently towards the same goal?
I suspect both coordinated effort and opportunists capitalizing on the efforts of others. It’s kind of like an avalanche or a dam breaking. People kept chipping away at the dam or manipulating conditions at weak points on snowy mountains. Then once they had enough power over weak areas, others joined the effort.
This post put me in mind of the Gilded Age political cartoons of the octopus, sometimes in the persona of Standard Oil, sometimes Russia, sometimes England - but I'd be willing to bet the current octopus's attempts at destabilizing democracies and democracy itself go far back, to the Gilded Age and before, in other companies, other countries, other rulers, in different places and in different times. The current octopus must be dismembered, member by member.
Same old battle, different day.
Thank you, Lisa, for spelling it out so well. Can you suggest a book that can lay this out in more detail that would be understandable by the layman?
I don’t know of any. I’m basing my information on what I’ve been reading in HCR’s Letters & her “receipts”, some of the posts HCR shared over the past few years on Twitter, and then making connections
Examples:
I started paying attention to politics when Obama started making media rounds when he planned to run for office in 2008. I watch how he was treated, I saw how people who could have done good things in his Administration chose not to be a part of it. I watched how difficult a time he had with Congress (this is before I understood what the parties seemed to stand for and how the wealthy & corporations stacked the political deck in their favor within both parties.
I joined Twitter in 2011. It was a decent place to connect with & unite people but it devolved gradually over the next 4 years and got downright ugly when Trump announced his intentions to run for office in 2016.
I noticed other countries having similar issues such as Australia and UK with Brexit. I thought then that it didn’t feel like a coincidence.
I watched the who religious angle start to heat up on a much larger scale. Shows like 19 Kids & Counting had a son who was invited to join a Conservative PAC. I saw articles about Dominionists infiltrating politics and stopped thinking it was nonsense. When the religions wingnuts attached themselves to Trump. Why would religious leaders stand with such a sinner? The hypocrisy was overwhelming.
Then the news about FB & Cambridge Analytica and targeted mis/disinformation attacks reached mainstream media. Someone coordinated attacks against multiple countries which divided people and affected politics adversely.
I started to wonder what would happen if USA fractured. A divided America would need to align with other countries, make new agreements which might adversely affect the different factions within the formerly United States. USA wouldn’t be able to stop Russia from marching across Europe or China from taking over Taiwan, Philippines, or from taking Hawaii, etc. This definitely wouldn’t benefit our allies.
We should all have been working to improve things for regular people, working together to improve the economy since we’re all so interconnected, but instead, countries got distracted by internal strife.
What tools did they use to get to this point? Money from the wealthy & corporations in multiple countries. Mainstream media, movies & tv, social media, the educational system (they didn’t just start messing with public education in America when Trump took office, they started after the Baby Boomers and their activism scared Conservatives), and religion because a liberal society with a good social safety net is not as inclined to need it or it’s steadfast loyalty to the social framework which benefits the elites.
Right on the spot, Georgia, as made clear in Thomas Frank's book, "What's the Matter with Kansas," and Hearther Cox Richardson's "How the South Won the Civil War." the billionaires are manipulating the white Protestants.
I think it's important to distinguish between white evangelical Protestants and more mainstream Protestants, who are not immune to those politics but less likely to be manipulated by them. I regularly sign petitions by Faithful America, which is anti-Fascist.
I looked them up: https://www.faithfulamerica.org/
Something that has always intrigued and puzzled me is how the slaves adopted "the white man's" religion. My guess was that their the slaves') condition was so miserable that it at least gave them hope that there would be a better place for them after death.
Where did I see something like this. There go my followers, I need to see where they are going.
“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”
This, or any of several variants, is generally attributed to Alexandre Ledru-Rollin. As he was French, any English rendering would be approximate. Also, the quote or its attribution is likely apocryphal. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Auguste_Ledru-Rollin
Well, it fits the magat puppets; but then there is the behind the scenes money (puppeteers)
Yes, your statement that”Tuberville is a puppet of Trump and Trump is a puppet of Putin” nails it and yes, these are very scary days indeed!
So tragically true, Georgia--T is a useful idiot.
T is a demented fool.
Trump’s goal as president was to make as much money as possible. His goal now is to stay out of jail. He’s simply too stupid to orchestrate something as complex as this, although I do agree that chaos is a consequence of his actions and inactions, both as president and now. I think Georgia Fisanick nailed it.
Vipers in our nest. Tuberville and Cruz are guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Joe McCarthy in the 50’s spearheaded a committee in the Senate to route out communists. The Senate should resurrect the committee focused on routing out fascists. It should look at US Senators and Congressmen and state leaders. Cruz and his ungrateful wretched of a father need to have their citizenship revoked and sent back to Canada or even better Cuba.
Spare us in Canada from Cruz!!
Okay, you’re my neighbor so we’ll send them right back to Cuba. Let’s see how junior likes living in a true communist country.
The leader is not chump. The leader is Bannon, and he is extraordinarily dangerous.
That is the first thing that I thought of ! It just seems too convenient! If the USA continues to have so much chaos in the government with no movement of military promotions and inability to pass bills that will help the people of the USA and no further money for Ukraine , it let's Putin advance and take over !! It would not surprise me in the least that Putin and Iran are in cohoots with each other!!!
Nope
I’m increasingly convinced Tuberville is, with McConnell’s approval, holding the military slots open for Trump to fill with far-right loyalists. The abortion thing is the cover story.
This is a most disturbing thought, the kind that will keep me up at night and my blood pressure skyrocketing.
Following Jessica Craven's suggestion (Chop Wood, Carry Water) yesterday I called my Congress Fools and demanded a halt to these outrageous actions of Tuberville holding our military hostage at such a dangerous time as well as the Republican Gang of Eight leaving the house with no leader during a time of world crisis.
I will call again today and each day until these vacancies have been filled. Maybe some of my LFAA community will join me in making calls. Jessica provides a script if not knowing the right words is holding you back.
Yes, Dave Dalton, "We need to help ourselves."
Keep calling, writing, and DEMANDING that Tuberville be side-stepped!
Thank you.
Daphne, Joined!
That is what i think also.
"...the pattern of sabotage that impeding the government from conducting its duties, and harming national welfare and security for the sake of partisan, political stunts."
... for the sake of Republican partisan political stunts.
There fixed it.
Language isn't enough. Action is required.
Don’t underestimate the power of language. People will kill and die for it. I don’t disagree that action is necessary. But, as a matter of fact, a significant portion of the insurgents will never give up the notions that trump nurtured by malicious use of language.
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.” - Emerson
Absolutely right, but what action? What has brought us to the brink of dictatorship, to 40+ years of a cold but deadly civil war? What (among many) is the greatest single threat to our posterity? The measurements of global climate that point to impending disasters are as evidence-based as the COVID death toll. Why are not taking sufficient action? How can we explain an FBI-reported flare in hate crimes? Hamas is currently taking actions and what can we expert to come of them, for anyone? Why did several educated, European civil societies fall into the thrall of fascism? Why do we celebrate the fourth of July?
Ideas and even specific language profoundly influence our understandings which underlie our choices, and our choices along with varying circumstances, determine our fate.
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
Is that true? What explains the rise and fall of Joe McCarthy? What explains the cult of Trump today?
Israel reels as American response is hampered by unfilled leadership in the military, diplomatic corp and a shutdown House of Representatives, all at the hands of GOP culture warriors manufacturing grievances to enflame their base using the complicit media that understand that fomenting outrage is profitable for them
Someone said recently “God Help Us”
Someone else said “We need to help ourselves”
I'm not religious personally but I recall a sentence that may or may not be from the Bible: "God helps those who help themselves."
And, shut down the likes of FOX that is spewing and condoning outright lies. I watched for 5 minutes and while I could, I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Laura Ingraham and Newt Gingrich - absolutely appalling and IMO playing right into the playbook of terrorists. While some claim it is "entertainment not news" the cult takes it as gospel. They even had video cuts of trump excoriating Biden! Maybe everyone can lie anytime and anywhere but there are libel and slander laws and Fox should be hit fast and hard. They are beyond disgusting and worthless pieces of crap - at least crap serves a purpose!!
And we should all be calling our Senators about it. They need to be on the receiving end of a “wall of noise” every minute of every day until they’ve found a way to unblock those confirmations. I put a script in my newsletter yesterday. Feel free to use it!
It's time for the Senate to place serious restrictions on "privileges"
that are being abused too frequently and putting the country in jeopardy.
Yes!
Let's get real. Radical Republicans failed in their coup attempt and are now deploying simpler tactics — sabotaging government in whatever way they can. While ridiculous arcane rules allow some of their actions, the end result is chaos. Or dare I call it polite and peaceful terrorism?
Reading through the comments; they are all about the political situation in the USA.
I can't believe Israel and the Gaza Strip and Hamas isn't forefront in people's minds.
I made a comment about it but it's way way down at the bottom.