“We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S.
I find it very useful, HCR, that you are now becoming a target of trolls and hacks to such an extent. I know that those of us who read and appreciate your letters number in the thousands, but we are not exactly a massive voting bloc, so your carefully researched and informative posts have clearly raised some hackles because when faced with facts--the thing that we historians use to analyze the past--it is very hard to defend the indefensible. So instead, people resort to the usual silliness: ad hominem attacks and gaslighting. Keep it up. It's obvious that the Russia situation--which has been in the picture for those of us (New Yorkers) who were aware of Trump's corruption long before he ran for president--is the third rail. He might be too deranged to be a Manchurian Candidate, but he is definitely a "useful idiot."
I could not agree with you more about New Yorkers knowing about Trump's corruption. The link I added shows the corruption in this incident. To me showed exemplified Trump's lack of character and yet another example of his lying. When the art deco building that had housed Bonwit Teller was being torn down to make way for Trump Tower, I saw a worker using a jackhammer on one of the friezes that the Metropolitan Museum of Art wanted. He smashed it to smithereens. Fast forward to 2016 and Trump in an interview said he was worried that if lowered it, it would harm a pedestrian below on Fifth Avenue! Really! Not an even plausible lie. And yes, Trump is definitely a "useful" idiot.
I was working for a company right across the street while the destruction of Bonwits and building of the hideous Trump Tower was happening. It was awful to watch.
Indeed, they must be scared of something she's doing or they wouldn't bother to troll. Trump is, as Alexander Vindman said, a useful idiot. From the Atlantic article of Sept. 14: "Vindman continues, “In the Army we call this ‘free chicken,’ something you don’t have to work for—it just comes to you. This is what the Russians have in Trump: free chicken.”
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. I have read many of these items over the past four years, but all laid out, tied up in a bundle, and coming from a credible source means more than you'll ever know.
I think it's apparent that Trump has been a conduit for Russian money laundering for years, primarily through Deutchebank. It is also apparent, by Trump's attitude towards Russia, Putin in particular, and his resistance to any financial disclosure, that Trump is fully aware of this.
There is a Russian intelligence asset at the top of the US government. Trump is Putin's puppet. And not only Trump. The Republican Party is now the party of Trump. Putin knows he is free to manipulate the American body politic through any number of methods. I believe QAnon is a product of Moscow.
The coming election, I believe, is the most consequential election in our history. We must all participate.
I am sad that trolls have invaded this arena, a place where I knew like minded people gather to intelligently discuss the news of the country. I will ignore them and hope others will too. We have too much else to wade through to waste time responding to troll garbage.
And, I am sad at the news in general. Scary to think about all the different avenues of chaos that tRump and his thugs have created. Little fires everywhere, and amidst them all is the number 200,000. :-(
Someone, a stranger, bought my coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts this morning. And not in the drive thru, but right there in the store. I got to thank him with a smile. Maybe this is the kind of small thing we all need to start and it’ll build.
So am I. I had hoped that they wouldn't venture behind a pay wall. I should have ignored him rather than try to engage. But I'll be ignoring from now on.
So Rob Rosenstein neutered Meuller from the start by forcing him to limit himself to possible criminal issues and stopped him following up on National Security Issues which would have produced juicy fruit. All the time he was making out to be the last line of defense protecting the prosecutor. He was in reality Trump's most subtle defender....indeed an extreme rarity and they should show their appreciation! Thereafter, Trump neutered the CIA and the FBI so there is no way that they would dare to go after him again.
Since when could the politicians stop or limit the FBI's investigations? It is indeed uncanny that, given the "Barred" state of the DOJ, it is now up to the States (Democratic ones only, of course) to defend the traditional constitutional role of the Federal Government! What a reversal of history! While the others are nostalgically looking backward and striving towards their utopic vision of a level of State power that has never existed.
Only a massive in-person vote against this 21st Century Benedict Arnold will enable the investigation of his betrayal to come to any just conclusion as the FBI must have a non-political policeman at its head who knows his job and serves the Constitution and not the President.
I wondered at the time why Trump never included Rod Rosenstein in his fulminations against everyone involved in the Mueller investigation. Now we know. RR led McCabe to think he was moving the counterintelligence investigation to Mueller's team, and led Mueller to believe it had been left with McCabe - and Trump knew it.
It was a surprise to me that none of them had deeply investigated his finances. Now we know why. My question is, When will his finances get investigated? I do know New York is doing a big investigation.
One minute into this new day and already filled with such despair that nothing, not even all of this, will make any difference. We are so whiplashed and numb at the same time. We keep naming the whirlwind but cannot stop the destruction. Thank you, Heather, for staying on this in a factual way. A real gift.
Despair is natural, everything you despair about is true, but you cannot let it destroy you and you cannot let it destroy your ability to do your part to create light in the darkness. Even if my mom and I do manage to write all 613 get out the vote letters we target, that is at most an extra 2 dozen voters - but the overall effort on votefwd.org alone is more than 7 million letters so far, and a very small percentage of that would have been enough to turn the 2016 election. Every voice strengthens the chorus. Figure out what you can do - even if today it is no more than reposting HCR's letters to your Facebook account, or being kind to your cat, or getting your flu shot - and do that. Then make a plan to vote.
Thank you Joan. I applaud your perspective and action. I too am quite engaged ( letter writing, financial support, education, discussion, even ran for Congress in 1984) and will continue to be on many fronts leading up to the election and afterwards, My dread will not paralyze me but it is seriously deepening.
HCR is like a skillful MOHS surgeon, pulling back the layers of the skin to show us the depth and scope of disease. The deeper she goes the more she finds. Add her voice to many others trying to show us what is actually happening underneath ( though HCR does it better)!! My fear is that our political disease is so metasticized as to be beyond conventional treatment and is quickly escaping targetted therapies.
My dread is that this President's trajectory has hollowed out the role of the Executive and is busy dismantleing institutional checks and balances while operating behind multiple green curtains!! The sheer scope and depth of it also threatens to hollow out our sense of agency, already at risk in this virulent Pandemic.
Perhaps that was my "middle of the night" moment of despair. Thank you, and your Mom, for reminding me that we need to find a renewed agency in our collective action!
The simple fact is, he's deeply compromised and because of that, he's become a traitor. Every time he opens his mouth, he lies. The Russians know he lied, and they know the truth he is covering up, whatever it is. All they ever had to do 30 years ago was tell him they had all his lies, and all the facts, and would keep gathering them. They didn't even have to say "maybe we'll let them out." He knows what they have on him and knows if it ever got out it would destroy him. He'd destroy his own country to prevent that. That's why he's a traitor.
Once Trump's treason is proven in court, every last one of them can be arrested and charged with conspiring in his treason. That's how the conspiracy laws work. One bad act by one member, all guilty.
How interesting that the party that has always sought to find traitors conspiring against America IS the conspiracy.
I've said for awhile this chain of events is starting to sound like a John le Carre novel. Other implications should be noted. For example, why did Rosenstein limit the scope of Mueller's investigation to criminal offenses, when there was at least some evidence the Russians were involved? I don't want to sound like that Senator in The Manchurian Candidate who could never get the number of Communists in government right, but maybe we should start asking, given the very real possibility that the Russians have penetrated our government, exactly how far that's gone?
The other thing that gets me is that if Hilary Clinton had done 1% of what it seems Trump has done, she'd be serving life at Gitmo.
Thank you, HCR. Wake up Americans. Wake up Democrats. The Republican right wing and all their enablers (including now gutless Romney as well as Putin) are burning down the country’s house while you continue to play chess by the rules. I admire Biden’s discipline in sticking to uplifting messages on the campaign trail, but Ron - if you’re reading this - give him some take down lines to use in the first debate. It’s not going to be a real debate. So, one Dem above the rest of us has to be ready for “VICIOUS”-tRump’s word. And, it’s not in Biden’s nature to be nasty. What do you want to wager the Hunter Biden report will be leaked by the Prez during the debate? Putin calls are Trump’s debate prep. Oh, American voters, please make the Orange living nightmare end with your collective Vote Voice . Yesterday, I began reading BidenHarris position papers, and we have a lot of work ahead of us to restore our government and country and stop the dying. Back to my work as Citizen Campaign Volunteer. ❤️🤍💙
This comment doesn't directly pertain to today's post, but it does pertain to ways in which the GOP is undermining the election and I want Heather to have this information. I live in the UK. My USA votes are cast in Chattanooga, TN, where I lived immediately before moving abroad.
The day after Justice Ginsburg died, I began getting repeated online advertisements for services to help me renounce my American citizenship. This would not help the GOP with 2020. But expats are believed to generally vote for Democrats. Playing on the distress of the moment to get us to renounce would remove us from future elections.
Then my absentee ballot arrived via email. It is sized so it does not fit on letter-sized paper. I have a couple of reams of that, which I carried back from visits to family specifically because ballots and tax returns must be printed on that paper size (until this particular ballot) and American paper sizes are different from what most of the rest of the world uses.
The ballot requires USA legal-sized paper which isn't available here and wouldn't fit in my printer. Taping and trimming letter-sized sheets would invalidate my ballot.
I've asked what to do, but I think I know the answer. I'll have to find a printer that is open in these times (the UK just tightened restrictions due to entering its second wave of the pandemic) and can print on oversized A3 paper, then trim it down to American legal-sized 8.5x14 inches. This requires an extra trip into town and extra potential exposure in the pandemic.
The GOP controls local and state government where I vote. Need I say more?
You are so right. I’m in Knoxville. I despise Marsha Blackburn for the sycophant she is—she’s useless. A couple days ago Lamar said he’s down with putting someone on the Supreme Court despite his (and many others’) prior comments in 2016. When I called his office, I got (from an aide) “well, the Dems would have done the same thing,” “what about Brett Kavanaugh” (still don’t know the relevance of that), “a president has a 4-year term so he shouldn’t act during that time?” (or something stupid like that)...well, yeah, isn’t that what YOU said in 2016 with far more term remaining? And Lee refuses to “defy” him, which as we know doesn’t take much. Would you consider hosting a fellow Vol until this is over?
You have my sympathy, being there. Bob Corker wasn't fantastic but he was so much better than Blackburn, who doesn't seem connected with reality at all. Corker's staff were also flawlessly courteous every time I called, both in DC and at district offices when the DC office was overwhelmed. Lamar Alexander's staff are not and Blackburn's staff are as nuts as she is.
As for moving here, it is sweet of you to ask, but you probably can't. I am one of the last to come in on a self-sponsored Highly Skilled Migrant Programme visa that no longer exists. My batch only got to stay after taking the government to court and getting the court's support after they reneged on the visa. Getting in has become harder and harder over the past 14 years. I wouldn't be allowed to host or sponsor you to come in.
You might want to go somewhere else anyway. The Tories are essentially our GOP, in many regards pushed by the same money sources and influencers. Labour is different from the Tories, but not enough, also susceptible to the top 0.1%.
Government has been trying to drive the National Health Service to collapse. Weirdly, the pandemic may have given the NHS a chance at survival. But it's part of a general pattern akin to the GOP's determination to destroy as much of government and programs that benefit ordinary people as possible. It's simply done with a British veneer of protocol and respectability, hasn't yet gone to the breakneck speed of the USA, and isn't tangled as much in global stature because the UK already lost its empire. Some of my British friends left after the Brexit referendum, seeing how bad it's going to become here.
So... do you speak or are you keen to learn German? French? Norwegian? And move there? That's what some of my British friends did.
I just got off a Zoom meeting with 2 of my oldest dearest friends in Holland. She is American, he is from the UK, but has Dutch citizenship now as well as the UK. He's lived in Holland for over 40 years. His daughter has dual citizenship UK/Holland is now married and living in Holland, and his ex-wife, who is still a good friend, though she's lived in Holland off and on, has lived in the UK for the past 20 years. Now, because of Brexit she wants out and is finalizing plans to get out of the UK by December when Brexit is due to kick in. She already has plans in place to move back to Holland, near her daughter, who is due to have a baby Nov. 1st. She's fed up with the whole business (she's a rabid Labour supporter) and because she is fluent in Dutch (she helped edit the Van Dalen dictionaries, the OED of Dutch/English/Dutch dictionaries) already has some work lined up with the government, though she's now receiving Dutch and UK pensions.
I lived in Holland for 18 years and long to go back, though I know they are having their problems too. A part of me just wants to leave all this. It's like being on a bus heading for a cliff with total idiots driving the bus, and you can't do much about it. I'd rather not be in the "bus" anymore, but I realise too that we need all hands on deck to fight the evil forces trying to take over our country. What concerns me most is what is going to have to happen before people finally get it and wake up and DO something about this. Leaving would be the easy way out. I can't leave now--can't find another job with my mobility problems, but I am fluent in Dutch, plus I am almost fluent in German, and can manage with French and Italian. (I was a singer so if you sing in Europe you have to a bit of a polyglot!) Going back now isn't possible...if I'd stayed I'd have seriously considered having at least dual citizenship, maybe even just becoming Dutch eventually. I know people that have. Nope, I just have to suck it now and deal with it here, though I'm not looking forward to it. You might be far safer staying where you are.
I’m afraid I won’t have the mental stamina to stay unless I live under the covers for 4 or more years. But where to go? That may not be an option either. If I sound depressed, I am.
Moving abroad isn't easy even when you don't have a huge language or culture gap to cross. The USA isn't a lost cause. I wish I could make the mess less upsetting, less depressing. But maybe in these circumstances having a chance to rescue it has to be enough.
I should add, I saw the 1980 election as boding such a bad future that I considered moving abroad then. The decision to stay was, as you say now, because leaving was the easy way out. I explicitly stayed to do what I could to fight what I believed was happening--which I did until my health fell apart, at which point all my energy had to go to survival for many years. Lo and behold, it turns out that what I thought was in play was only a fraction of the story. And here we are. I am very anxious about this election.
In the late 1980s/early 1990s I regularly went to the Netherlands on working trips. I loved working with the Dutch, loved being in their country. They are fascinating people.
In 2006 I had to leave the USA to get reasonable access to health care. Would have gone to Panama, but happen to love someone British so that's why I'm here. Climate change models have long said this island will be among the most habitable places on Earth for the longest time, so we're staying if we possibly can.
I'm not relying on any particular model. I looked for articles in reputable journals by scientists who had examined the most prominent models and then described patterns across the models. Pretty much nobody got the timescales right but there are parts of the progression that show up consistently. This island is one of those parts.
I speak French well enough and could finish my fluency if I lived there. I’d LOVE to live there but at my age and with my children and grandchildren here, it’s not possible. If they’d even let me in, with mismanaging Covid and all.
Update: The official word from the election office is that they would count my ballot if I print it on the wrong paper size. By the time I got that word, I had already arranged for a signmaker to print it in the proper size and trim it so it is US legal sized. It will be in my hands tomorrow and away via FedEx ASAP. I don't want to take any chances.
How can people keep defending President Treason and consider him an equal to Joe Biden? The first movie about the Mueller Investigation will be a comedy, Dark Money style. President Treason and his revolving door of loyalists have made America an idiocracy.
How can you keep defending a Democratic Party that put all their eggs into Russiagate, came up empty, and didn't go after him for much more obvious things like emoluments violations? When are you going to realize that both these parties are playing you?
One party, when faced with clear and convincing evidence of impeachable offenses meriting removal from office, decided to acquit based on nothing more than fear of retribution.
The other party decided to pursue two charges, both of which were supported by clear and convincing evidence, rather than throwing buckets of muck at the wall in hopes that something would stick.
You're making the same arguments that many made about Hillary in 2016. Understand that every person who bought such "both sideist" tripe, and refused to vote for Hillary, also ended abortion rights. Trump won the electoral college by the narrowest of margins because some progressive voters wouldn't vote for Hillary. Now Trump is about to install his third Bible-thumping, right-wing judge, cementing a 6-3 regressive majority that will overturn Roe, end protections for gay rights, allow voter suppression and gerrymandering, restrict civil rights and turn this country into a Republican theocracy. Biden's not perfect, but he's not Trump. Let's not be stupid again.
But also remember Trump’s is the 6th Repub admin since RvW, which was decided during a Repub admin! Also, both houses of Congress and he were of same party in 2017 and 18 and did nothing on the issue. This is an interesting piece. https://brianmclaren.net/dear-white-christian-pro-life-friends-1-4-compiled/
Why does abortion continue to be a "political" issue? It is not...it is a religious issue, and there is supposed to be separation between church and state. And, why does it constantly come up as something that needs to be decided upon? Women are supposed to have equal rights...I guarantee you if men could bear children, this wouldn't be an issue...
I can understand your frustration when faced with all this evidence, but consider the fact that the democrats had their hands tied when all the investigators were in fact Republicans such as Comey, who released the Benghazi investigation illegally ahead of the election and then Mueller, another Republican, announces that of the Russia Investigation; There's no there there. Again, it was Republicans who acquitted him. So please take your protestations elsewhere.
Clever, accurate and often witty postings are no substitute for the hard work necessary to win an election. Enough books have been written and there has been enough pontificating by the politicians and pundits. If you have credence in what you read here and elsewhere, it is time to make phone calls, send postcards and emails, knock on doors and do the physical, in addition to the intellectual, work necessary to win your State's electoral votes for Joe Biden. Call your precinct leader today and volunteer. (Voter registration in Florida ends on Oct. 5. Vote by mail ballots will start arriving this week. Get a move on!)
Jacob Lippmann, you are so right! It is time to make phone calls, send postcards, and emails. I have also compiled a list of liked minded group of friends that I send info to. I have been text banking for One Campaign for Michigan and 2020 Victory. The bright spot in my day is when I get a text back from a Republican voter telling me they plan to vote for Joe Biden Text banking on National Voter Registration day for 2020 Victory was a lot of fun. I am planning send letters to voters in Texas later this month. I have signed up to do 40, but I plan to do more. Did I mention I signed up with Super Majority to text bank next week. Never under estimate a techie middle-aged woman
Wonderful! Keep up the good work. There are plenty of opportunities out there to pave the way to a Democratic victory, and others can find them, if they look, just as you have! Oh, yes .. I am 88 and stick kicking butt.
This letter was like a gut-punch. It crystalizes the danger to our democracy and to our way of life, and the importance of getting out the vote for Democrats. Yes, you may say the Dems are bad too. But they won't be bought by Putin or KJU.
At the very least, the current Dems are not owned by people trying to destroy this country and prevent the government from helping ordinary people. If, G-d willing, we get a blue wave taking office in January, we will all need to stay active and involved.
If they get into power, which I sincerely hope will happen in January, we will need an even more massive mobilization to make sure the Dems stay un-bought by oligarchs and make progressive changes to set this country firmly back on the side of ordinary people.
As usual, Heather, I send my deepest thanks for your excellent (and no doubt, exhausting) work on behalf of Truth. I know I speak for all here when I say you have a seamless way of connecting the dots during these days when there is just a firehose of information (and disinformation) assaulting our senses. It is hard to even keep up with, let alone decipher and digest. Without your excellent recaps and deeper dives, I would be totally at sea.
"Satan may be winning a bunch of battles right now, but make no mistake, God wins the war."
As written we can all agree on that statement, right? But the disagreements will occur if we try to discuss which battles Satan is winning and what war will God ultimately win.
Thanks again Heather for pulling this together on a daily basis. And thanks to the regular posters here. I look forward to your post daily, as well.
I find it very useful, HCR, that you are now becoming a target of trolls and hacks to such an extent. I know that those of us who read and appreciate your letters number in the thousands, but we are not exactly a massive voting bloc, so your carefully researched and informative posts have clearly raised some hackles because when faced with facts--the thing that we historians use to analyze the past--it is very hard to defend the indefensible. So instead, people resort to the usual silliness: ad hominem attacks and gaslighting. Keep it up. It's obvious that the Russia situation--which has been in the picture for those of us (New Yorkers) who were aware of Trump's corruption long before he ran for president--is the third rail. He might be too deranged to be a Manchurian Candidate, but he is definitely a "useful idiot."
I could not agree with you more about New Yorkers knowing about Trump's corruption. The link I added shows the corruption in this incident. To me showed exemplified Trump's lack of character and yet another example of his lying. When the art deco building that had housed Bonwit Teller was being torn down to make way for Trump Tower, I saw a worker using a jackhammer on one of the friezes that the Metropolitan Museum of Art wanted. He smashed it to smithereens. Fast forward to 2016 and Trump in an interview said he was worried that if lowered it, it would harm a pedestrian below on Fifth Avenue! Really! Not an even plausible lie. And yes, Trump is definitely a "useful" idiot.
https://secretsofmanhattan.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/the-bonwit-teller-building-how-donald-trump-destroyed-an-art-deco-treasure/
I was working for a company right across the street while the destruction of Bonwits and building of the hideous Trump Tower was happening. It was awful to watch.
Indeed, they must be scared of something she's doing or they wouldn't bother to troll. Trump is, as Alexander Vindman said, a useful idiot. From the Atlantic article of Sept. 14: "Vindman continues, “In the Army we call this ‘free chicken,’ something you don’t have to work for—it just comes to you. This is what the Russians have in Trump: free chicken.”
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. I have read many of these items over the past four years, but all laid out, tied up in a bundle, and coming from a credible source means more than you'll ever know.
I think it's apparent that Trump has been a conduit for Russian money laundering for years, primarily through Deutchebank. It is also apparent, by Trump's attitude towards Russia, Putin in particular, and his resistance to any financial disclosure, that Trump is fully aware of this.
There is a Russian intelligence asset at the top of the US government. Trump is Putin's puppet. And not only Trump. The Republican Party is now the party of Trump. Putin knows he is free to manipulate the American body politic through any number of methods. I believe QAnon is a product of Moscow.
The coming election, I believe, is the most consequential election in our history. We must all participate.
Thank you, HCR, for your letters.
I am sad that trolls have invaded this arena, a place where I knew like minded people gather to intelligently discuss the news of the country. I will ignore them and hope others will too. We have too much else to wade through to waste time responding to troll garbage.
And, I am sad at the news in general. Scary to think about all the different avenues of chaos that tRump and his thugs have created. Little fires everywhere, and amidst them all is the number 200,000. :-(
The best response is to not engage the troll. Any response or argument gives them an endorphin hit...
Faced with chaos, we must each do whatever we can to create light - acts of kindness, acts of getting out the vote, deep breaths.
Someone, a stranger, bought my coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts this morning. And not in the drive thru, but right there in the store. I got to thank him with a smile. Maybe this is the kind of small thing we all need to start and it’ll build.
So am I. I had hoped that they wouldn't venture behind a pay wall. I should have ignored him rather than try to engage. But I'll be ignoring from now on.
So Rob Rosenstein neutered Meuller from the start by forcing him to limit himself to possible criminal issues and stopped him following up on National Security Issues which would have produced juicy fruit. All the time he was making out to be the last line of defense protecting the prosecutor. He was in reality Trump's most subtle defender....indeed an extreme rarity and they should show their appreciation! Thereafter, Trump neutered the CIA and the FBI so there is no way that they would dare to go after him again.
Since when could the politicians stop or limit the FBI's investigations? It is indeed uncanny that, given the "Barred" state of the DOJ, it is now up to the States (Democratic ones only, of course) to defend the traditional constitutional role of the Federal Government! What a reversal of history! While the others are nostalgically looking backward and striving towards their utopic vision of a level of State power that has never existed.
Only a massive in-person vote against this 21st Century Benedict Arnold will enable the investigation of his betrayal to come to any just conclusion as the FBI must have a non-political policeman at its head who knows his job and serves the Constitution and not the President.
I wondered at the time why Trump never included Rod Rosenstein in his fulminations against everyone involved in the Mueller investigation. Now we know. RR led McCabe to think he was moving the counterintelligence investigation to Mueller's team, and led Mueller to believe it had been left with McCabe - and Trump knew it.
It was a surprise to me that none of them had deeply investigated his finances. Now we know why. My question is, When will his finances get investigated? I do know New York is doing a big investigation.
One minute into this new day and already filled with such despair that nothing, not even all of this, will make any difference. We are so whiplashed and numb at the same time. We keep naming the whirlwind but cannot stop the destruction. Thank you, Heather, for staying on this in a factual way. A real gift.
Despair is natural, everything you despair about is true, but you cannot let it destroy you and you cannot let it destroy your ability to do your part to create light in the darkness. Even if my mom and I do manage to write all 613 get out the vote letters we target, that is at most an extra 2 dozen voters - but the overall effort on votefwd.org alone is more than 7 million letters so far, and a very small percentage of that would have been enough to turn the 2016 election. Every voice strengthens the chorus. Figure out what you can do - even if today it is no more than reposting HCR's letters to your Facebook account, or being kind to your cat, or getting your flu shot - and do that. Then make a plan to vote.
Thank you Joan. I applaud your perspective and action. I too am quite engaged ( letter writing, financial support, education, discussion, even ran for Congress in 1984) and will continue to be on many fronts leading up to the election and afterwards, My dread will not paralyze me but it is seriously deepening.
HCR is like a skillful MOHS surgeon, pulling back the layers of the skin to show us the depth and scope of disease. The deeper she goes the more she finds. Add her voice to many others trying to show us what is actually happening underneath ( though HCR does it better)!! My fear is that our political disease is so metasticized as to be beyond conventional treatment and is quickly escaping targetted therapies.
My dread is that this President's trajectory has hollowed out the role of the Executive and is busy dismantleing institutional checks and balances while operating behind multiple green curtains!! The sheer scope and depth of it also threatens to hollow out our sense of agency, already at risk in this virulent Pandemic.
Perhaps that was my "middle of the night" moment of despair. Thank you, and your Mom, for reminding me that we need to find a renewed agency in our collective action!
That's why we get to vote
Now you've said something with which I agree.
The simple fact is, he's deeply compromised and because of that, he's become a traitor. Every time he opens his mouth, he lies. The Russians know he lied, and they know the truth he is covering up, whatever it is. All they ever had to do 30 years ago was tell him they had all his lies, and all the facts, and would keep gathering them. They didn't even have to say "maybe we'll let them out." He knows what they have on him and knows if it ever got out it would destroy him. He'd destroy his own country to prevent that. That's why he's a traitor.
Once Trump's treason is proven in court, every last one of them can be arrested and charged with conspiring in his treason. That's how the conspiracy laws work. One bad act by one member, all guilty.
How interesting that the party that has always sought to find traitors conspiring against America IS the conspiracy.
For 4 years, failure to follow the money!!!
I agree on follow the money and release his taxes to see who trump owes money and his income sources. I am sure there is tax fraud.
I've said for awhile this chain of events is starting to sound like a John le Carre novel. Other implications should be noted. For example, why did Rosenstein limit the scope of Mueller's investigation to criminal offenses, when there was at least some evidence the Russians were involved? I don't want to sound like that Senator in The Manchurian Candidate who could never get the number of Communists in government right, but maybe we should start asking, given the very real possibility that the Russians have penetrated our government, exactly how far that's gone?
The other thing that gets me is that if Hilary Clinton had done 1% of what it seems Trump has done, she'd be serving life at Gitmo.
Thank you, HCR. Wake up Americans. Wake up Democrats. The Republican right wing and all their enablers (including now gutless Romney as well as Putin) are burning down the country’s house while you continue to play chess by the rules. I admire Biden’s discipline in sticking to uplifting messages on the campaign trail, but Ron - if you’re reading this - give him some take down lines to use in the first debate. It’s not going to be a real debate. So, one Dem above the rest of us has to be ready for “VICIOUS”-tRump’s word. And, it’s not in Biden’s nature to be nasty. What do you want to wager the Hunter Biden report will be leaked by the Prez during the debate? Putin calls are Trump’s debate prep. Oh, American voters, please make the Orange living nightmare end with your collective Vote Voice . Yesterday, I began reading BidenHarris position papers, and we have a lot of work ahead of us to restore our government and country and stop the dying. Back to my work as Citizen Campaign Volunteer. ❤️🤍💙
This comment doesn't directly pertain to today's post, but it does pertain to ways in which the GOP is undermining the election and I want Heather to have this information. I live in the UK. My USA votes are cast in Chattanooga, TN, where I lived immediately before moving abroad.
The day after Justice Ginsburg died, I began getting repeated online advertisements for services to help me renounce my American citizenship. This would not help the GOP with 2020. But expats are believed to generally vote for Democrats. Playing on the distress of the moment to get us to renounce would remove us from future elections.
Then my absentee ballot arrived via email. It is sized so it does not fit on letter-sized paper. I have a couple of reams of that, which I carried back from visits to family specifically because ballots and tax returns must be printed on that paper size (until this particular ballot) and American paper sizes are different from what most of the rest of the world uses.
The ballot requires USA legal-sized paper which isn't available here and wouldn't fit in my printer. Taping and trimming letter-sized sheets would invalidate my ballot.
I've asked what to do, but I think I know the answer. I'll have to find a printer that is open in these times (the UK just tightened restrictions due to entering its second wave of the pandemic) and can print on oversized A3 paper, then trim it down to American legal-sized 8.5x14 inches. This requires an extra trip into town and extra potential exposure in the pandemic.
The GOP controls local and state government where I vote. Need I say more?
You are so right. I’m in Knoxville. I despise Marsha Blackburn for the sycophant she is—she’s useless. A couple days ago Lamar said he’s down with putting someone on the Supreme Court despite his (and many others’) prior comments in 2016. When I called his office, I got (from an aide) “well, the Dems would have done the same thing,” “what about Brett Kavanaugh” (still don’t know the relevance of that), “a president has a 4-year term so he shouldn’t act during that time?” (or something stupid like that)...well, yeah, isn’t that what YOU said in 2016 with far more term remaining? And Lee refuses to “defy” him, which as we know doesn’t take much. Would you consider hosting a fellow Vol until this is over?
You have my sympathy, being there. Bob Corker wasn't fantastic but he was so much better than Blackburn, who doesn't seem connected with reality at all. Corker's staff were also flawlessly courteous every time I called, both in DC and at district offices when the DC office was overwhelmed. Lamar Alexander's staff are not and Blackburn's staff are as nuts as she is.
As for moving here, it is sweet of you to ask, but you probably can't. I am one of the last to come in on a self-sponsored Highly Skilled Migrant Programme visa that no longer exists. My batch only got to stay after taking the government to court and getting the court's support after they reneged on the visa. Getting in has become harder and harder over the past 14 years. I wouldn't be allowed to host or sponsor you to come in.
You might want to go somewhere else anyway. The Tories are essentially our GOP, in many regards pushed by the same money sources and influencers. Labour is different from the Tories, but not enough, also susceptible to the top 0.1%.
Government has been trying to drive the National Health Service to collapse. Weirdly, the pandemic may have given the NHS a chance at survival. But it's part of a general pattern akin to the GOP's determination to destroy as much of government and programs that benefit ordinary people as possible. It's simply done with a British veneer of protocol and respectability, hasn't yet gone to the breakneck speed of the USA, and isn't tangled as much in global stature because the UK already lost its empire. Some of my British friends left after the Brexit referendum, seeing how bad it's going to become here.
So... do you speak or are you keen to learn German? French? Norwegian? And move there? That's what some of my British friends did.
I just got off a Zoom meeting with 2 of my oldest dearest friends in Holland. She is American, he is from the UK, but has Dutch citizenship now as well as the UK. He's lived in Holland for over 40 years. His daughter has dual citizenship UK/Holland is now married and living in Holland, and his ex-wife, who is still a good friend, though she's lived in Holland off and on, has lived in the UK for the past 20 years. Now, because of Brexit she wants out and is finalizing plans to get out of the UK by December when Brexit is due to kick in. She already has plans in place to move back to Holland, near her daughter, who is due to have a baby Nov. 1st. She's fed up with the whole business (she's a rabid Labour supporter) and because she is fluent in Dutch (she helped edit the Van Dalen dictionaries, the OED of Dutch/English/Dutch dictionaries) already has some work lined up with the government, though she's now receiving Dutch and UK pensions.
I lived in Holland for 18 years and long to go back, though I know they are having their problems too. A part of me just wants to leave all this. It's like being on a bus heading for a cliff with total idiots driving the bus, and you can't do much about it. I'd rather not be in the "bus" anymore, but I realise too that we need all hands on deck to fight the evil forces trying to take over our country. What concerns me most is what is going to have to happen before people finally get it and wake up and DO something about this. Leaving would be the easy way out. I can't leave now--can't find another job with my mobility problems, but I am fluent in Dutch, plus I am almost fluent in German, and can manage with French and Italian. (I was a singer so if you sing in Europe you have to a bit of a polyglot!) Going back now isn't possible...if I'd stayed I'd have seriously considered having at least dual citizenship, maybe even just becoming Dutch eventually. I know people that have. Nope, I just have to suck it now and deal with it here, though I'm not looking forward to it. You might be far safer staying where you are.
I’m afraid I won’t have the mental stamina to stay unless I live under the covers for 4 or more years. But where to go? That may not be an option either. If I sound depressed, I am.
Moving abroad isn't easy even when you don't have a huge language or culture gap to cross. The USA isn't a lost cause. I wish I could make the mess less upsetting, less depressing. But maybe in these circumstances having a chance to rescue it has to be enough.
I should add, I saw the 1980 election as boding such a bad future that I considered moving abroad then. The decision to stay was, as you say now, because leaving was the easy way out. I explicitly stayed to do what I could to fight what I believed was happening--which I did until my health fell apart, at which point all my energy had to go to survival for many years. Lo and behold, it turns out that what I thought was in play was only a fraction of the story. And here we are. I am very anxious about this election.
In the late 1980s/early 1990s I regularly went to the Netherlands on working trips. I loved working with the Dutch, loved being in their country. They are fascinating people.
In 2006 I had to leave the USA to get reasonable access to health care. Would have gone to Panama, but happen to love someone British so that's why I'm here. Climate change models have long said this island will be among the most habitable places on Earth for the longest time, so we're staying if we possibly can.
What climate change models are you using? Looking for a potential place to go.
I'm not relying on any particular model. I looked for articles in reputable journals by scientists who had examined the most prominent models and then described patterns across the models. Pretty much nobody got the timescales right but there are parts of the progression that show up consistently. This island is one of those parts.
I speak French well enough and could finish my fluency if I lived there. I’d LOVE to live there but at my age and with my children and grandchildren here, it’s not possible. If they’d even let me in, with mismanaging Covid and all.
Update: The official word from the election office is that they would count my ballot if I print it on the wrong paper size. By the time I got that word, I had already arranged for a signmaker to print it in the proper size and trim it so it is US legal sized. It will be in my hands tomorrow and away via FedEx ASAP. I don't want to take any chances.
How can people keep defending President Treason and consider him an equal to Joe Biden? The first movie about the Mueller Investigation will be a comedy, Dark Money style. President Treason and his revolving door of loyalists have made America an idiocracy.
How can you keep defending a Democratic Party that put all their eggs into Russiagate, came up empty, and didn't go after him for much more obvious things like emoluments violations? When are you going to realize that both these parties are playing you?
Not a very compelling argument.
One party, when faced with clear and convincing evidence of impeachable offenses meriting removal from office, decided to acquit based on nothing more than fear of retribution.
The other party decided to pursue two charges, both of which were supported by clear and convincing evidence, rather than throwing buckets of muck at the wall in hopes that something would stick.
Don't feed the trolls. Let this fellow rage in the corner. I suggest all of us simply never reply, respond, or react. It's a waste of time.
You're making the same arguments that many made about Hillary in 2016. Understand that every person who bought such "both sideist" tripe, and refused to vote for Hillary, also ended abortion rights. Trump won the electoral college by the narrowest of margins because some progressive voters wouldn't vote for Hillary. Now Trump is about to install his third Bible-thumping, right-wing judge, cementing a 6-3 regressive majority that will overturn Roe, end protections for gay rights, allow voter suppression and gerrymandering, restrict civil rights and turn this country into a Republican theocracy. Biden's not perfect, but he's not Trump. Let's not be stupid again.
Remember, though, installing a lot of anti-abortion judges is a feature not a bug, for Trump supporters.
That's my point. If you don't vote for Biden, you're helping to install those anti-abortion judges.
But also remember Trump’s is the 6th Repub admin since RvW, which was decided during a Repub admin! Also, both houses of Congress and he were of same party in 2017 and 18 and did nothing on the issue. This is an interesting piece. https://brianmclaren.net/dear-white-christian-pro-life-friends-1-4-compiled/
Why does abortion continue to be a "political" issue? It is not...it is a religious issue, and there is supposed to be separation between church and state. And, why does it constantly come up as something that needs to be decided upon? Women are supposed to have equal rights...I guarantee you if men could bear children, this wouldn't be an issue...
I can understand your frustration when faced with all this evidence, but consider the fact that the democrats had their hands tied when all the investigators were in fact Republicans such as Comey, who released the Benghazi investigation illegally ahead of the election and then Mueller, another Republican, announces that of the Russia Investigation; There's no there there. Again, it was Republicans who acquitted him. So please take your protestations elsewhere.
Clever, accurate and often witty postings are no substitute for the hard work necessary to win an election. Enough books have been written and there has been enough pontificating by the politicians and pundits. If you have credence in what you read here and elsewhere, it is time to make phone calls, send postcards and emails, knock on doors and do the physical, in addition to the intellectual, work necessary to win your State's electoral votes for Joe Biden. Call your precinct leader today and volunteer. (Voter registration in Florida ends on Oct. 5. Vote by mail ballots will start arriving this week. Get a move on!)
Jacob Lippmann, you are so right! It is time to make phone calls, send postcards, and emails. I have also compiled a list of liked minded group of friends that I send info to. I have been text banking for One Campaign for Michigan and 2020 Victory. The bright spot in my day is when I get a text back from a Republican voter telling me they plan to vote for Joe Biden Text banking on National Voter Registration day for 2020 Victory was a lot of fun. I am planning send letters to voters in Texas later this month. I have signed up to do 40, but I plan to do more. Did I mention I signed up with Super Majority to text bank next week. Never under estimate a techie middle-aged woman
Exactly. On the rather older side of middle aged, I work with my mother to send out get out the vote letters. Our current target is 613.
Jacob Lippmanjust now
Wonderful! Keep up the good work. There are plenty of opportunities out there to pave the way to a Democratic victory, and others can find them, if they look, just as you have! Oh, yes .. I am 88 and stick kicking butt.
sending letters to AZ !
Sending 200 postcards to NC
Texting for Indivisible!
One more thing to fight for is universal enfranchisement of American citizens, including federal mandates to allow same-day voter registration.
This letter was like a gut-punch. It crystalizes the danger to our democracy and to our way of life, and the importance of getting out the vote for Democrats. Yes, you may say the Dems are bad too. But they won't be bought by Putin or KJU.
At the very least, the current Dems are not owned by people trying to destroy this country and prevent the government from helping ordinary people. If, G-d willing, we get a blue wave taking office in January, we will all need to stay active and involved.
Education, education and education: the 3 necessities for popular in, and concern for, politics on a day to day basis.
Interest in ...that is
Absolutely. Education in civics, education in critical thinking, education in considering the world through the eyes of all kinds of people.
And in economics and interntional affaires. They have to learn how the world really works and why so that they can make a "more reasoned" choice.
Don't forget the 4th E... Education...
Often however, the question would have been "Who needs to buy them?
If they get into power, which I sincerely hope will happen in January, we will need an even more massive mobilization to make sure the Dems stay un-bought by oligarchs and make progressive changes to set this country firmly back on the side of ordinary people.
People need to be permanently on the backs of their elected representatives ...so that they represent no one else!
Yes!!!
As usual, Heather, I send my deepest thanks for your excellent (and no doubt, exhausting) work on behalf of Truth. I know I speak for all here when I say you have a seamless way of connecting the dots during these days when there is just a firehose of information (and disinformation) assaulting our senses. It is hard to even keep up with, let alone decipher and digest. Without your excellent recaps and deeper dives, I would be totally at sea.
You are a treasure.
Someone posted a meme on Facebook that said:
"Satan may be winning a bunch of battles right now, but make no mistake, God wins the war."
As written we can all agree on that statement, right? But the disagreements will occur if we try to discuss which battles Satan is winning and what war will God ultimately win.
Thanks again Heather for pulling this together on a daily basis. And thanks to the regular posters here. I look forward to your post daily, as well.