Just over a month to go and he continues to spiral down like the Tasmanian Devil! Maybe this October Surprise will be a full babbling breakdown broadcast live as the sweat pours down and the Secret Service steps aside for the guys with the white coats “coming to take him away(haha)”!
Maureen, I hope your version of an October surprise is closer to the truth than the fear I’ve been harboring, namely, as a consequence of our failure to leverage aid to Israel to secure policy changes, including a ceasefire, that Netanyahu, who wants to see Trump reinstated, invades Lebanon, striking a blow, to say the least, to Democratic leadership.
To expand a bit, I’ve observed, while initially Harris was granted the benefit of the doubt as to her connection to Biden policy, more recently, at a time when the election expectantly will be decided by a point or two in a handful of battleground states, Harris is increasingly viewed as much closer to Biden on Middle East policy. Accordingly, I will be writing the Harris campaign urging it as quickly as possible and as much as possible to draw a distinction.
In October, the Apprentice will be available in theaters only, across the US.
The Trump campaign has tried unsuccessfully to prevent this "documentary" from airing in the US. So much for freedom and the 1st amendment rights the MAGAs are always accusing the Democrats of ignoring.
Frontline on PBS had its biographies of Trump and Harris on Tuesday. Worth seeing. Only two hours, so much about Trump’s presidency had to be summarized rather than given full exposure.
Is trump getting a per centage? Will the movie make trump look so bad that the GOP doesn't want it to be seen? I would think trump would love to see himself portrayed on the silver screen. maybe he'll show up at the grand opening.
Barbara, there’s a reason why “I am not in control” is Step One of the twelve-step program, a reason for the serenity prayer, a reason why Abraham Lincoln said, “with public sentiment, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed,” and it’s all the same reason.
Fortunately, the Harris-Walz campaign is influenced by public sentiment. Otherwise, it would be incompetent and lose. But American public sentiment is a limiting factor in what any American politician can accomplish. Unfortunately, we all have to face the fact that that sentiment is so fractured at this point in history.
To me, the right thing is to get the American house in order first, and then the Harris-Walz administration will have a much greater moral influence over the actions of governments in the Middle East and elsewhere.
James, I would note, “to get the American house in order,” our candidates must defeat Trump/ Trumpism. Given that promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing, nor will they as long as U.S. offensive arms continue to flow to Israel, in my view, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot every day we fail to leverage aid to Israel to secure policy changes. Hence my belief that it’s up to Harris to create as much space as possible on Middle East policy between her and Biden as quickly as possible.
Barbara, everything you're saying is true, but you're not saying everything a wise POTUS or wise POTUS candidate must consider. Neither am I. Why? Because we are not in their shoes. We have the right and the responsibility to criticize people we put in positions of power, but we also have the responsibility to choose people who are trustworthy. Then we have no choice except to trust them to a large extent. And as far as trust is concerned, Joe Biden is right when he says, "Don't compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative."
I don't know what Harris should be doing, but I do know she is listening to all voices. The only voice the alternative is listening to is the alternative.
What's happening in the Middle East right now is appalling. So, I wish I knew a better way to say this, but I say it with respect. I happen to believe that Bob Dylan's "don't criticize what you can't understand" warning applies in 2024, and that the times would have been a-changed by 1965 if, in 1964, everyone had listened to that advice.
The best time to make the world a better place is 60 years ago. The second best time is now.
James, Contrary to your view, “we have no choice but to trust them [our elected leaders],” I would submit in a constitutional democracy we not only have the right but also the responsibility to train ourselves and acquire the knowledge to ask questions, be skeptical, and put up a fight when we believe our cause is right and just and moral.
Harris's loyalty to President Biden stifles her ability to voice her dislike and mistrust of Netanyahu. I strongly believe that she will stand with Israel but NOT Netanyahu.
The most vocal and well informed anti Zionist sentiment & protesters are Jewish. They seem to accept Israel but not its practices since 1947 of violence, displacement, oppression, ethnic cleansing, and expansion. Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, whose maternal grandmother was from Ukraine and maternal grandfather was a rabbi reports everyday with various on the ground experts about the conditions around the world influencing and prolonging the violence in the Middle East which affects us here in the U.S. Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim, both Israeli historians, among many others have dedicated their lives to educating us. Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib, U.S. House representative from Michigan criticized Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (Jewish) for prosecuting more severely University of Michigan students who held pro Palestinian demonstrations. Many of the protesters were Jewish. Jews supporting a cease fire and a permanent resolution to the mistreatment of Palestinians to achieve a safe & peaceful Israel & Palestine are hidden from view, silenced or treated as criminals.
Nessel and other unconditionally pro Israel leaders & press spread statements and memes that are Islamophobic claiming that Tlaib said Nessel is Jewish, that Tlaib is antisemitic, and that she associates with terrorists. According to a Michigan news reporter who first reported Tlaib’s criticism of Nessel, said that she never mentioned Nessel being Jewish, and that she was caught up in the standard Israel trope that “every support of Palestinian right to life or criticism of Israeli policy & military action” is antisemitism. This is typical authoritarianism. We see this with Putin, Trump and more than just Netanyahu. We see this in 75+ years of Israeli leadership when we read the Israeli & Jewish historians who know the facts, unlike most Americans, politicians & academics who spread Israeli propaganda.
Future American Historians may puzzle, in the event of a DJT 2024 Victory, how a Convicted, twice Impeached, Criminal, could be Elected POTUS again... In that event, it would be safe to assume that DJT will again lose the Popular Vote, and Win in the Electoral College to secure a Victory in 2024... Unconditional U.S. support for the Zionist Regime in Israel may negatively affect the Turn-Out of the 'Uncommitted' Voters in Michigan, and other States helping that DJT Victory... This support may also demoralize Younger Voters contributing to a DJT Victory... DJT #47, will bring Dark Times to the USA... Is Unconditional Support for the Zionist Regime in Israel worth it? Unconditional Support for Israel's Aggression is Political Malpractice on the part of the Biden/Harris/Walz Campaign...
Apache, I hear about progressive organizations that used to have volunteers who presently don’t have the heart to turn people out. That translates to countless numbers of doors that don’t get knocked.
Hope you're right. Netanyahu is Israel's Donald Trump. One of most-concerning photos I've seen in the past year was a pic of Biden hugging Netanyahu, placed on top of the New York Times front page. Would Biden hug Trump? Scary thought. Harris shook hands with Trump at the opening of their debate, but that was only to put him in his place.
July, My hope between now and the election is that Harris will stand by Israel’s right to defend itself by supporting the continuation of supplying defensive weaponry. At the same time, given that promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing, nor will they as long as offensive arms continue to flow to Israel, I would hope she would call for leveraging offensive aid to Israel to secure policy changes.
I agree. However, our main concern should be to save our Democracy for the people of this country and our freedom. To see Kamala win in November. It will be a miracle if there is a resolution between Israeli and the middle east. Unfortunately Netanyahu has been defiant from the beginning since Hamas attacked Israel. People in their right mind would rather have Harris win then Trump. Regardless of the outcome
Patricia, I believe we disregard at our peril that promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing, nor will they as long as offensive arms continue to flow to Israel. Hence, my call to Harris, between now and the election, to continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself by supporting a continuation of supplying defensive weaponry while also committing to the idea of leveraging offensive aid to Israel to secure policy changes.
Maureen, what I just wrote was in response to your comment, but -- like Putin -- monomaniac Netanyahu will do his damnedest to ride to fellow-madman Trump's rescue.
This must be incomprehensible to most honest, upright simple-minded witnesses, but the idiot Netanyahu, with his ultra-extremist sidekicks, is the tool of his far-sighted and terrible foe, doing exactly what Sinwar et al both expected of him and wanted. The fool would burn the whole world rather than face Israeli justice for his relatively venial crimes of corruption and influence peddling. No enemy, no antiSemite could ever inflict lasting damage on his people comparable to his current actions. Trapped in a vicious situation, he is sowing perennial dragon's teeth, recruiting merciless enemy armies, making strategic errors worse than the worst the human mind could conceive of.
*
If you can make no sense of what I have just written, I sympathize, I understand. These horrors are so hard for us to get our minds around.
Who, after all, could ever have imagined that Nazism and Fascism, defeated in 1945, would be resurrected in the most unimaginable places today? And in the cheapest, most criminal form... Even in Moscow, even in America.
The vilest most dreadful aspect of extreme evil is how it defiles not only its poor victims but even the minds of witnesses, even the victims' posterity.
And, like the Holy Inquisition, like the Nazi leaders, these men -- and all too often we too -- suffer from the immense delusion that by destroying men's bodies one destroys the ideas -- evil or good -- that they represent.
On the contrary, on the contrary, this empowers a continuum of evil. "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interrèd with their bones."
Peter, in a recent conversation with friends we came to the same conclusion about Netanyahu, although we were not so eloquent. Well said.
The only one I disagree with is Shakespeare. The good we do does live after us. We are the beneficiaries of the good done by previous generations, and future generations will be the beneficiaries of the good done by this generation.
Only, the good, too, may disappear underground for a while, re-emerging when needed.
Groundwater in fact provides an excellent metaphor for our innate power... despite the tainting of so many wells.
When I was a kid, I thought that the phrase about visiting the sins of the fathers onto the children told of a cruel deity.
In time, I came to see that it simply describes a natural reality... An aspect of our shadow.
Incidentally, one dangerously pernicious weakness of our western societies that places us at a severe disadvantage in relation to the most fanatical Islamists, is our weak sense of time. In strategic terms, our feet of clay.
How to compete with those whose actions are planned for their effects in the very long term, when one's horizon is quarterly returns?
There must surely be men and women with a deeper understanding of issues, in academe, in the State Department, even in the Pentagon and the armed forces...
Nevertheless, one thing that struck me, working in a highly political environment, was, from the mid-1980s onward, finding a better-grounded sense of realities among marginal people, kooks and taxi drivers.
*
One example, a Saxon friend's description of a 1986 visit to relatives in Communist East Germany was so clear -- especially talks with an engineer running a factory -- that it was plain the regime was a dead man walking.
And I who'd thought Germans could make any system work -- even Communist central planning -- foresaw then the impending collapse of the Soviet empire...
If Germans couldn't make it work, Russians certainly could not. We then forgot about all this until it happened...
But...
But... right up till the very last moment well-established boneheads with an interest in the status quo were obstructing initiatives like trucking supplies to the Solidarnosc strikers in Gdansk...
And who, among our experts, our great and good, saw what was coming? We all tend to see only what we want to see, only what our personal or professional tunnel vision enables us to see.
*
Curious now how Putin, who saw the collapse of the Soviet Bloc as the tragedy of the 20th century, is busy reinstating all the rot that brought the empire down...
There were a few conservative specialists in the Soviet economy who foresaw USSR's collapse--I think Marshall Goldman and Richard Pipes were among them, and I think my father, a liberal specialist in the Soviet economy was not surprised. There were a lot of "Russian Jokes" he liked to tell that played on the weaknesses of the Soviet system.
There's one about the annual celebration at the collective farm. The head of it is telling the workers that things have improved so much on the farm that in five years everyone will have bicycles. They all cheer.
Then the head says, and in 10 years, we'll all have automobiles. More cheers, and louder.
And in 15 years, you'll all have airplanes! Still more cheers, and louder.
Shapiro, the mathematician, raises his hand, and the head calls on him. "What, Sir, says the mathematician, could we possibly need our own airplanes for?
"If the stores in Moscow suddenly have lots of clothes, you can fly to Moscow and be the first in line to stock up!"
Right on, Peter. You got me thinking about an idea that popped into my head the other day.
There is a “deep state” comprised of a significant percentage of people who, like you and me, simply want to do our best to have a positive long-term impact on others. It is specifically because of that that the social system works. And when it works, it restricts the “freedom” of people who only care about themselves. But the “conspiracy” is the natural effect of people remembering the difference between right and wrong, something every human knew on the day they were born.
Our choice is between a virtuous cycle (we think long term because we trust the system, we trust the system to the extent that the system is trustworthy, and the system is trustworthy to the extent that we work together to make it trustworthy) or a vicious cycle (do whatever serves my personal self-interest right now).
Good Morning from here, Peter Burnett. I hear your frustration, but I must push back on your statement quoting Shakespeare : "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interrèd with their bones." He also said (and in my opinion more accurately) “Same play, different actors”. Shakespeare himself disproves your quote. His words live on. His efforts live on. The good he did at exciting the mind, lives on. A group of friends and I had lunch yesterday. We found ourselves on the topic of kind actions people in our lives did that still live within us and continue to shape our lives. The stories were heartfelt, uplifting, and an important reminder that “The good is NOT interrèd with their bones.” The good actions we all make in life are enduringly important. Even if we never get acknowledged or credited.
MLRGRMI, nicely said. Many people helped me growing up and I made it one of my principles to pass that on, especially when I was in education. Sometimes when I feel down, I remind myself how fortunately I have been and how certain individuals gave me support along the way along with insights about the how we should be in this world. Gratitude is the word. And one of the things i feel gratitude for is Heather and so many of you who post here. I have learned much.
Thanks, MLRGRMI, and I hope I have just answered your point in my response to James R. Carey. Nevertheless, I should perhaps have been more careful with words placed in the mouth of Mark Antony... who would have been much concerned with political currency, actions visible.
Meanwhile, I have not the slightest doubt about the truth you were celebrating with your friends. Being an old man now, my parents and their generation have long since departed this world, and so have many of my dear friends and teachers. If anything positive has ever grown up in me, I owe it to their kindness. Yet, as James R. Carey noted and HCR keeps reminding us, this truth goes far, far beyond our contemporaries, to all those throughout history whose radiant influence still touches us—always bearing in mind Lichtenberg’s stricture that “The only trouble with works of real value is that they usually give rise to many other bad or simply mediocre ones”; for people glean whatever crumbs they think will best stuff the sausages they mean to sell to unsuspecting buyers…
Your sentence about the kind of actions people in our lives did that still live within us and continue to shape our lives immediately brought to mind several elementary school teachers, and the wonderful things that they taught us. Also some high school teachers. And some college profs--Arlie Hochschild (just published a new book at age 84, that I haven't yet read but that will probably be important--Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, which she researched by spending a lot of time with people in certain red states) and John Holdren, who grounded me in environmental science, and 33 years later became PRes O's Science Advisor.
I think you overstate the centrality of the US election to Netanyahu. Yes, he wants Tripe, I mean Trump, to win, but he is smart enough to know that there is a very high degree of likelihood that he will have to deal with President Harris. And he knows he’ll have to deal with Biden until January 20th. Finally, he shows little ability to think ahead. All of those will reduce his inclination and opportunity to affect the US election.
Peter Burnett - you have put into words my darkest thoughts about Netanyahu. He and DJT are so evil and their self interest so obvious yet many are willing to go along for the ride. That gives me great anguish, yet I am nourished by the messages of HCR and the following letters. Harris brings a sliver of sunshine and there is hope that good will overcome evil.
The op-ed is more than useful. It's absolutely terrific. This link should be shareable, but I'm not sure. You'll probably have to paste the link into your browser. If it doesn't share, email me, and I'll try again, or I'll email you a copy. dholzman1776@gmail.com
I have come across thinking akin to that which I have expressed here among Israelis, but not so much elsewhere. So I'm keen to examine criticisms and counter-arguments.
In my personal life, I have often found that many friends flattered my failings while the truest friends have been those who knew how and when to play the enemy, showing me what I did not want to see in myself.
With friends like some keen and deeply committed allies, advocates and lobbyists, who needs enemies? This applies to Israel, to Palestine, to any and every entity.
The October Surprise will be the movie, The Apprentice, I expect. Roy Cohn, Frankenstein maker, will show us just how he cobbled this mess of pure hatred together. tgf does not want people to see this dark tale in which his long descent into madness began so long ago. DonOld meets Karma. Her name is Kamala Harris!
Jim -- I'm not so sure, as it will only be playing in theaters (but perhaps it will be reported on by viewers.) Let's hope the October Surprise is the release (even if partial) of Jack Smith's trove of evidence -- although it won't change any minds about the man except for perhaps some undecisededs (why does this word look like a misspelling?). Judge Chutkan, let Jack Bring It!
Right Doug, but it is one more arrow in our quiver. MAGA folks may see enough to break free from the grip he has on them. Maybe, I said. I think there exists some degree of mass hypnosis with them. Being hypnotized may be the first step for many in to the autocrats web of lies, and deceit.
You are quite right Julie. We are in for the long haul. Step by step, we proceed into the future. The land of perpetual impermanence. We will survive, and thrive we will in doing so!
Gotta ask-what’s going in with the make up? It’s orangier (if that’s even possible) and less expertly applied than before….???????? Another sign of the crazy???
Of course, there is now a need for improvement in the secret service. Now that trump has had 2 attempts on his life. This probably elevates him even higher in the estimation of his followers: he IS the chosen one.
Honestly, with the stress and everything else he is going through, it wouldn't surprise me if he suffers a serious illness--or worse--in the aftermath of this election.
Yes, indeed. If his insane and horrific nonsense wasn't on the news, we could focus on the things that need to be done. Like the big ones. Climate Catastrophe and Democracy Reform.
Limiting our emissions that are the cause. Creating a whole new economy with new sources of energy. Mitigating the effects of fires and floods. Planning withdrawals from vulnerable areas. Restructuring an insurance industry that pays people to rebuild in places destined for destruction. Planning for the inevitable waves of humanity fleeing their homes - where there is no longer potable water or an environment capable of food production.
And taking a fresh look at the flawed elements of our government. A Supreme Court that rules with the values of a minority of bigots. A Senate that allows tiny states to have outsized influence over legislation for the majority. An Electoral College that allows presidents to be elected without majority support - a system that allows a handful of "swing states" to determine the future of the country and the Earth.
There is a lot to do once we cleanse the air and our brains of the Orange Psychopath and his robotic Neo-Nazis.
I’m concerned that the crazy one in front of the curtain is the distraction for the evil behind the curtain. We are distracted from what’s happening. The millions of climate migrants and tyrant migrants starving and dying because we are too distracted to see the disaster the world is in. As we are told to be afraid because migrants will replace us and ruin our careful delusion.
And we are too distracted to see the global overlords who are playing a game of stealing and controlling the earth’s assets before they run out.
Perhaps I’m just buying into the ‘deep state’ evil. I just don’t trust what I see lurking behind the edges.
See the transcript (below) of Applebaum and Pomerantsev’s podcast on the Atlantic website today. They clearly describe the relationship between Trump’s support of dictators and the establishment of a kleptocracy as a bridge to full-on autocracy. Many of these elements are already in place in this country. Here is one of the most insightful quotes in the article”
“…when governments start to act like these self-interested corporations, it doesn’t just make these governments less efficient and less positive for the people; it also leads to a fundamentally different type of government.
I mean, think about it: Once you have people running the country who use it to enrich themselves, then they don’t want to let go of that resource ever again. And they find ways to make sure they, essentially, never leave power. They rig elections. They curtail rights of anyone who wants to challenge them. They want to repress people who ask too many questions about where their money comes from. And then they institute a system of surveillance and control to make sure that repression succeeds.”
Tracy, I sure get it. One of the things that helps me is to take a break (in music, it is called "stagger breathing". I play the tuba, and not infrequently, we are asked to either hold a constant note, or a repeating rhythm for multiple (like 30+ measures). As a section, we stagger breathe; I get to breathe on odd numbers, my section mate breathes on even numbers. The note/rhythm continues even as we take time to breathe. Outside of music, I get that outdoors. I garden, I hike in the woods, and I go to the ocean. I have an imaginary "box" where I put those thoughts, and lock it in the back of the truck. I can open it when I get back to the truck, but until then, those thoughts stay there.
Thank you for your kind words, Ally. I’ve not put this out on social media or told many people at all, but I started taking vocal lessons last March, two weeks before I turned 64 and what do you know I’m a mezzo soprano. My vocal coach went to Juilliard. She has taught hundreds of students of all ages
She said I have one of the most powerful voices she has encountered, more powerful than hers even. I always knew I was good for something.
With all the technological advances and information at our disposal, we could be having a renaissance right now, all of us! Nobody need be hungry or homeless anymore if not for these mad men who only want to cause heartache and destruction in their wake.
Ally, I love this. I am not a musician, but my day is filled with music usually the radio station, All Classical in Portland. Right now they are playing some song that sounds Irish or Scottish. It is Irish. I garden and I used to hike. Ah, the ocean, speaking to us of the rhythms of the universe and life. I also read voraciously and divide my time between mainly mysteries and various nonfiction about my interests, right now the later Tudors. I love the locked box. When I was at the Monroe Institute in Virginia and we did our mental exercises, we started out with ocean sounds and then we imagined a box where we put things that might get in the way of our journey. After reading your post, I might reinstate my box....actually it was a chest and I could always hear it snap shut.
SO many of us feel the same way, Tracy. You have plenty of company. Every day try to focus on one or two things that bring you joy and filter out the rest. Before retirement, I bought grocery store flowers every week and placed them where I'd see them as soon as I walked in the door after work each day. I still do it because they make me smile! My grandchildren's pictures attached to the fridge - bonus smile! The thought of the disinterested, recalcitrant child who suddenly emerged as a teacher's aide the day we released our butterflies, gently coaching the fearful classmates who hesitated to allow one to come to rest on their fingers - my heart soars. Dig into your memories. The good stuff is there and waiting for you!
I’m trying to do that, Pat. This week has been especially trying it seems. I just can’t fathom how so many ordinary people don’t understand what he truly represents. He will wrought only despair and destruction if he gets reelected. Most of his supporters will be the first to go.
Thank you for you encouraging words. Much appreciated.
Hey Tracy Sample, you are not alone. This is a long fight. But a worthy one. That does not make it any easier. But I see Life as about “the-company-you-keep”, and I would rather be us than them. Take a break, and check out if you need to for your own mental health. There are others who are energize, and have the capacity to carry the baton for a length. Peace.
You sound like my husband! Don't worry, only 40 more days until the election and then we'll have our country back! Or maybe begin an exciting new life in a different land.
Good lord. I just hope I live long enough for my brain to be a Trump-free zone.
Just over a month to go and he continues to spiral down like the Tasmanian Devil! Maybe this October Surprise will be a full babbling breakdown broadcast live as the sweat pours down and the Secret Service steps aside for the guys with the white coats “coming to take him away(haha)”!
Maureen, I hope your version of an October surprise is closer to the truth than the fear I’ve been harboring, namely, as a consequence of our failure to leverage aid to Israel to secure policy changes, including a ceasefire, that Netanyahu, who wants to see Trump reinstated, invades Lebanon, striking a blow, to say the least, to Democratic leadership.
To expand a bit, I’ve observed, while initially Harris was granted the benefit of the doubt as to her connection to Biden policy, more recently, at a time when the election expectantly will be decided by a point or two in a handful of battleground states, Harris is increasingly viewed as much closer to Biden on Middle East policy. Accordingly, I will be writing the Harris campaign urging it as quickly as possible and as much as possible to draw a distinction.
In October, the Apprentice will be available in theaters only, across the US.
The Trump campaign has tried unsuccessfully to prevent this "documentary" from airing in the US. So much for freedom and the 1st amendment rights the MAGAs are always accusing the Democrats of ignoring.
Reminds me of the Citizens United "documentary " about Hilary Clinton the extreme court used to make the apocalyptic decision by that name.
I loath what the Republican Party has become.
Frontline on PBS had its biographies of Trump and Harris on Tuesday. Worth seeing. Only two hours, so much about Trump’s presidency had to be summarized rather than given full exposure.
It would take another movie to even list the horrors
Is trump getting a per centage? Will the movie make trump look so bad that the GOP doesn't want it to be seen? I would think trump would love to see himself portrayed on the silver screen. maybe he'll show up at the grand opening.
Gary, While I hope I’m wrong, regrettably, I don’t expect the film significantly will alter the mostly small margins in swing states.
Barbara, there’s a reason why “I am not in control” is Step One of the twelve-step program, a reason for the serenity prayer, a reason why Abraham Lincoln said, “with public sentiment, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed,” and it’s all the same reason.
Fortunately, the Harris-Walz campaign is influenced by public sentiment. Otherwise, it would be incompetent and lose. But American public sentiment is a limiting factor in what any American politician can accomplish. Unfortunately, we all have to face the fact that that sentiment is so fractured at this point in history.
To me, the right thing is to get the American house in order first, and then the Harris-Walz administration will have a much greater moral influence over the actions of governments in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Right. The last thing we need is division.
James, I would note, “to get the American house in order,” our candidates must defeat Trump/ Trumpism. Given that promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing, nor will they as long as U.S. offensive arms continue to flow to Israel, in my view, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot every day we fail to leverage aid to Israel to secure policy changes. Hence my belief that it’s up to Harris to create as much space as possible on Middle East policy between her and Biden as quickly as possible.
Barbara, everything you're saying is true, but you're not saying everything a wise POTUS or wise POTUS candidate must consider. Neither am I. Why? Because we are not in their shoes. We have the right and the responsibility to criticize people we put in positions of power, but we also have the responsibility to choose people who are trustworthy. Then we have no choice except to trust them to a large extent. And as far as trust is concerned, Joe Biden is right when he says, "Don't compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative."
I don't know what Harris should be doing, but I do know she is listening to all voices. The only voice the alternative is listening to is the alternative.
What's happening in the Middle East right now is appalling. So, I wish I knew a better way to say this, but I say it with respect. I happen to believe that Bob Dylan's "don't criticize what you can't understand" warning applies in 2024, and that the times would have been a-changed by 1965 if, in 1964, everyone had listened to that advice.
The best time to make the world a better place is 60 years ago. The second best time is now.
James, Contrary to your view, “we have no choice but to trust them [our elected leaders],” I would submit in a constitutional democracy we not only have the right but also the responsibility to train ourselves and acquire the knowledge to ask questions, be skeptical, and put up a fight when we believe our cause is right and just and moral.
Harris's loyalty to President Biden stifles her ability to voice her dislike and mistrust of Netanyahu. I strongly believe that she will stand with Israel but NOT Netanyahu.
The most vocal and well informed anti Zionist sentiment & protesters are Jewish. They seem to accept Israel but not its practices since 1947 of violence, displacement, oppression, ethnic cleansing, and expansion. Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, whose maternal grandmother was from Ukraine and maternal grandfather was a rabbi reports everyday with various on the ground experts about the conditions around the world influencing and prolonging the violence in the Middle East which affects us here in the U.S. Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim, both Israeli historians, among many others have dedicated their lives to educating us. Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib, U.S. House representative from Michigan criticized Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (Jewish) for prosecuting more severely University of Michigan students who held pro Palestinian demonstrations. Many of the protesters were Jewish. Jews supporting a cease fire and a permanent resolution to the mistreatment of Palestinians to achieve a safe & peaceful Israel & Palestine are hidden from view, silenced or treated as criminals.
Nessel and other unconditionally pro Israel leaders & press spread statements and memes that are Islamophobic claiming that Tlaib said Nessel is Jewish, that Tlaib is antisemitic, and that she associates with terrorists. According to a Michigan news reporter who first reported Tlaib’s criticism of Nessel, said that she never mentioned Nessel being Jewish, and that she was caught up in the standard Israel trope that “every support of Palestinian right to life or criticism of Israeli policy & military action” is antisemitism. This is typical authoritarianism. We see this with Putin, Trump and more than just Netanyahu. We see this in 75+ years of Israeli leadership when we read the Israeli & Jewish historians who know the facts, unlike most Americans, politicians & academics who spread Israeli propaganda.
Future American Historians may puzzle, in the event of a DJT 2024 Victory, how a Convicted, twice Impeached, Criminal, could be Elected POTUS again... In that event, it would be safe to assume that DJT will again lose the Popular Vote, and Win in the Electoral College to secure a Victory in 2024... Unconditional U.S. support for the Zionist Regime in Israel may negatively affect the Turn-Out of the 'Uncommitted' Voters in Michigan, and other States helping that DJT Victory... This support may also demoralize Younger Voters contributing to a DJT Victory... DJT #47, will bring Dark Times to the USA... Is Unconditional Support for the Zionist Regime in Israel worth it? Unconditional Support for Israel's Aggression is Political Malpractice on the part of the Biden/Harris/Walz Campaign...
Apache, I hear about progressive organizations that used to have volunteers who presently don’t have the heart to turn people out. That translates to countless numbers of doors that don’t get knocked.
Hope you're right. Netanyahu is Israel's Donald Trump. One of most-concerning photos I've seen in the past year was a pic of Biden hugging Netanyahu, placed on top of the New York Times front page. Would Biden hug Trump? Scary thought. Harris shook hands with Trump at the opening of their debate, but that was only to put him in his place.
July, My hope between now and the election is that Harris will stand by Israel’s right to defend itself by supporting the continuation of supplying defensive weaponry. At the same time, given that promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing, nor will they as long as offensive arms continue to flow to Israel, I would hope she would call for leveraging offensive aid to Israel to secure policy changes.
Love it
I agree. However, our main concern should be to save our Democracy for the people of this country and our freedom. To see Kamala win in November. It will be a miracle if there is a resolution between Israeli and the middle east. Unfortunately Netanyahu has been defiant from the beginning since Hamas attacked Israel. People in their right mind would rather have Harris win then Trump. Regardless of the outcome
of the war between Israel and the middle east.
Patricia, I believe we disregard at our peril that promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing, nor will they as long as offensive arms continue to flow to Israel. Hence, my call to Harris, between now and the election, to continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself by supporting a continuation of supplying defensive weaponry while also committing to the idea of leveraging offensive aid to Israel to secure policy changes.
G*d forbid!!!!
Since 2016, we should all have been investing in the manufacture of straitjackets. Including one Supersize item in gold lamé...
Maureen, what I just wrote was in response to your comment, but -- like Putin -- monomaniac Netanyahu will do his damnedest to ride to fellow-madman Trump's rescue.
This must be incomprehensible to most honest, upright simple-minded witnesses, but the idiot Netanyahu, with his ultra-extremist sidekicks, is the tool of his far-sighted and terrible foe, doing exactly what Sinwar et al both expected of him and wanted. The fool would burn the whole world rather than face Israeli justice for his relatively venial crimes of corruption and influence peddling. No enemy, no antiSemite could ever inflict lasting damage on his people comparable to his current actions. Trapped in a vicious situation, he is sowing perennial dragon's teeth, recruiting merciless enemy armies, making strategic errors worse than the worst the human mind could conceive of.
*
If you can make no sense of what I have just written, I sympathize, I understand. These horrors are so hard for us to get our minds around.
Who, after all, could ever have imagined that Nazism and Fascism, defeated in 1945, would be resurrected in the most unimaginable places today? And in the cheapest, most criminal form... Even in Moscow, even in America.
The vilest most dreadful aspect of extreme evil is how it defiles not only its poor victims but even the minds of witnesses, even the victims' posterity.
And, like the Holy Inquisition, like the Nazi leaders, these men -- and all too often we too -- suffer from the immense delusion that by destroying men's bodies one destroys the ideas -- evil or good -- that they represent.
On the contrary, on the contrary, this empowers a continuum of evil. "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interrèd with their bones."
Peter, in a recent conversation with friends we came to the same conclusion about Netanyahu, although we were not so eloquent. Well said.
The only one I disagree with is Shakespeare. The good we do does live after us. We are the beneficiaries of the good done by previous generations, and future generations will be the beneficiaries of the good done by this generation.
I'm with you, James.
Only, the good, too, may disappear underground for a while, re-emerging when needed.
Groundwater in fact provides an excellent metaphor for our innate power... despite the tainting of so many wells.
When I was a kid, I thought that the phrase about visiting the sins of the fathers onto the children told of a cruel deity.
In time, I came to see that it simply describes a natural reality... An aspect of our shadow.
Incidentally, one dangerously pernicious weakness of our western societies that places us at a severe disadvantage in relation to the most fanatical Islamists, is our weak sense of time. In strategic terms, our feet of clay.
How to compete with those whose actions are planned for their effects in the very long term, when one's horizon is quarterly returns?
There must surely be men and women with a deeper understanding of issues, in academe, in the State Department, even in the Pentagon and the armed forces...
Nevertheless, one thing that struck me, working in a highly political environment, was, from the mid-1980s onward, finding a better-grounded sense of realities among marginal people, kooks and taxi drivers.
*
One example, a Saxon friend's description of a 1986 visit to relatives in Communist East Germany was so clear -- especially talks with an engineer running a factory -- that it was plain the regime was a dead man walking.
And I who'd thought Germans could make any system work -- even Communist central planning -- foresaw then the impending collapse of the Soviet empire...
If Germans couldn't make it work, Russians certainly could not. We then forgot about all this until it happened...
But...
But... right up till the very last moment well-established boneheads with an interest in the status quo were obstructing initiatives like trucking supplies to the Solidarnosc strikers in Gdansk...
And who, among our experts, our great and good, saw what was coming? We all tend to see only what we want to see, only what our personal or professional tunnel vision enables us to see.
*
Curious now how Putin, who saw the collapse of the Soviet Bloc as the tragedy of the 20th century, is busy reinstating all the rot that brought the empire down...
Another all-powerful idiot.
There were a few conservative specialists in the Soviet economy who foresaw USSR's collapse--I think Marshall Goldman and Richard Pipes were among them, and I think my father, a liberal specialist in the Soviet economy was not surprised. There were a lot of "Russian Jokes" he liked to tell that played on the weaknesses of the Soviet system.
There's one about the annual celebration at the collective farm. The head of it is telling the workers that things have improved so much on the farm that in five years everyone will have bicycles. They all cheer.
Then the head says, and in 10 years, we'll all have automobiles. More cheers, and louder.
And in 15 years, you'll all have airplanes! Still more cheers, and louder.
Shapiro, the mathematician, raises his hand, and the head calls on him. "What, Sir, says the mathematician, could we possibly need our own airplanes for?
"If the stores in Moscow suddenly have lots of clothes, you can fly to Moscow and be the first in line to stock up!"
Right on, Peter. You got me thinking about an idea that popped into my head the other day.
There is a “deep state” comprised of a significant percentage of people who, like you and me, simply want to do our best to have a positive long-term impact on others. It is specifically because of that that the social system works. And when it works, it restricts the “freedom” of people who only care about themselves. But the “conspiracy” is the natural effect of people remembering the difference between right and wrong, something every human knew on the day they were born.
Our choice is between a virtuous cycle (we think long term because we trust the system, we trust the system to the extent that the system is trustworthy, and the system is trustworthy to the extent that we work together to make it trustworthy) or a vicious cycle (do whatever serves my personal self-interest right now).
Good Morning from here, Peter Burnett. I hear your frustration, but I must push back on your statement quoting Shakespeare : "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interrèd with their bones." He also said (and in my opinion more accurately) “Same play, different actors”. Shakespeare himself disproves your quote. His words live on. His efforts live on. The good he did at exciting the mind, lives on. A group of friends and I had lunch yesterday. We found ourselves on the topic of kind actions people in our lives did that still live within us and continue to shape our lives. The stories were heartfelt, uplifting, and an important reminder that “The good is NOT interrèd with their bones.” The good actions we all make in life are enduringly important. Even if we never get acknowledged or credited.
MLRGRMI, nicely said. Many people helped me growing up and I made it one of my principles to pass that on, especially when I was in education. Sometimes when I feel down, I remind myself how fortunately I have been and how certain individuals gave me support along the way along with insights about the how we should be in this world. Gratitude is the word. And one of the things i feel gratitude for is Heather and so many of you who post here. I have learned much.
Thanks, MLRGRMI, and I hope I have just answered your point in my response to James R. Carey. Nevertheless, I should perhaps have been more careful with words placed in the mouth of Mark Antony... who would have been much concerned with political currency, actions visible.
Meanwhile, I have not the slightest doubt about the truth you were celebrating with your friends. Being an old man now, my parents and their generation have long since departed this world, and so have many of my dear friends and teachers. If anything positive has ever grown up in me, I owe it to their kindness. Yet, as James R. Carey noted and HCR keeps reminding us, this truth goes far, far beyond our contemporaries, to all those throughout history whose radiant influence still touches us—always bearing in mind Lichtenberg’s stricture that “The only trouble with works of real value is that they usually give rise to many other bad or simply mediocre ones”; for people glean whatever crumbs they think will best stuff the sausages they mean to sell to unsuspecting buyers…
Your sentence about the kind of actions people in our lives did that still live within us and continue to shape our lives immediately brought to mind several elementary school teachers, and the wonderful things that they taught us. Also some high school teachers. And some college profs--Arlie Hochschild (just published a new book at age 84, that I haven't yet read but that will probably be important--Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, which she researched by spending a lot of time with people in certain red states) and John Holdren, who grounded me in environmental science, and 33 years later became PRes O's Science Advisor.
Sounds like a lovely lunch.
I think you overstate the centrality of the US election to Netanyahu. Yes, he wants Tripe, I mean Trump, to win, but he is smart enough to know that there is a very high degree of likelihood that he will have to deal with President Harris. And he knows he’ll have to deal with Biden until January 20th. Finally, he shows little ability to think ahead. All of those will reduce his inclination and opportunity to affect the US election.
He can react but shows little ability to think.
He wants chump, as does Putin. Expect more chaos from both…
Peter Burnett - you have put into words my darkest thoughts about Netanyahu. He and DJT are so evil and their self interest so obvious yet many are willing to go along for the ride. That gives me great anguish, yet I am nourished by the messages of HCR and the following letters. Harris brings a sliver of sunshine and there is hope that good will overcome evil.
If she's elected, Kamala Harris will bring the world far more than a sliver of sunshine.
Thomas Friedman s oped in the NYT yesterday is useful.
The op-ed is more than useful. It's absolutely terrific. This link should be shareable, but I'm not sure. You'll probably have to paste the link into your browser. If it doesn't share, email me, and I'll try again, or I'll email you a copy. dholzman1776@gmail.com
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/25/opinion/israel-hezbollah-hamas.html
Have requested. Maybe check your spam...
Yes , I definitely agree especially for the voters who were warned by Hillary about Trump and didn't listen.
Replying to Peter Burnett above.
I have come across thinking akin to that which I have expressed here among Israelis, but not so much elsewhere. So I'm keen to examine criticisms and counter-arguments.
In my personal life, I have often found that many friends flattered my failings while the truest friends have been those who knew how and when to play the enemy, showing me what I did not want to see in myself.
With friends like some keen and deeply committed allies, advocates and lobbyists, who needs enemies? This applies to Israel, to Palestine, to any and every entity.
The October Surprise will be the movie, The Apprentice, I expect. Roy Cohn, Frankenstein maker, will show us just how he cobbled this mess of pure hatred together. tgf does not want people to see this dark tale in which his long descent into madness began so long ago. DonOld meets Karma. Her name is Kamala Harris!
Jim -- I'm not so sure, as it will only be playing in theaters (but perhaps it will be reported on by viewers.) Let's hope the October Surprise is the release (even if partial) of Jack Smith's trove of evidence -- although it won't change any minds about the man except for perhaps some undecisededs (why does this word look like a misspelling?). Judge Chutkan, let Jack Bring It!
Right Doug, but it is one more arrow in our quiver. MAGA folks may see enough to break free from the grip he has on them. Maybe, I said. I think there exists some degree of mass hypnosis with them. Being hypnotized may be the first step for many in to the autocrats web of lies, and deceit.
I wish it were that easy. This isn’t individual combat. MAGA will not just say never mind and disappear.
Exactly. The howling of MAGA will only grow louder, no matter who wins. Is there any plan for safely certifying THIS election?
You are quite right Julie. We are in for the long haul. Step by step, we proceed into the future. The land of perpetual impermanence. We will survive, and thrive we will in doing so!
Gotta ask-what’s going in with the make up? It’s orangier (if that’s even possible) and less expertly applied than before….???????? Another sign of the crazy???
Such manly make-up. His hair is more normal than usual, though.
Have courage. As the yard sign says, Voting Prevents Unwanted Presidencies.
An interesting piece says sexist attitudes predict voting for Trump, even more than racism does. It shows a great ad, Be a Man, Vote for a Woman.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/young-men-and-the-election
Where can I get that yard sign?
might possibly find it on Amazon
Etsy or Printerval sell them online. Search Voting Prevents. . .
😝
("They're coming to take me away ha ha...."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRCbdFrSSc
Maybe Melania will have an October surprise for us in her soon to be released book!
Of course, there is now a need for improvement in the secret service. Now that trump has had 2 attempts on his life. This probably elevates him even higher in the estimation of his followers: he IS the chosen one.
Honestly, with the stress and everything else he is going through, it wouldn't surprise me if he suffers a serious illness--or worse--in the aftermath of this election.
Yes, indeed. If his insane and horrific nonsense wasn't on the news, we could focus on the things that need to be done. Like the big ones. Climate Catastrophe and Democracy Reform.
Limiting our emissions that are the cause. Creating a whole new economy with new sources of energy. Mitigating the effects of fires and floods. Planning withdrawals from vulnerable areas. Restructuring an insurance industry that pays people to rebuild in places destined for destruction. Planning for the inevitable waves of humanity fleeing their homes - where there is no longer potable water or an environment capable of food production.
And taking a fresh look at the flawed elements of our government. A Supreme Court that rules with the values of a minority of bigots. A Senate that allows tiny states to have outsized influence over legislation for the majority. An Electoral College that allows presidents to be elected without majority support - a system that allows a handful of "swing states" to determine the future of the country and the Earth.
There is a lot to do once we cleanse the air and our brains of the Orange Psychopath and his robotic Neo-Nazis.
I’m concerned that the crazy one in front of the curtain is the distraction for the evil behind the curtain. We are distracted from what’s happening. The millions of climate migrants and tyrant migrants starving and dying because we are too distracted to see the disaster the world is in. As we are told to be afraid because migrants will replace us and ruin our careful delusion.
And we are too distracted to see the global overlords who are playing a game of stealing and controlling the earth’s assets before they run out.
Perhaps I’m just buying into the ‘deep state’ evil. I just don’t trust what I see lurking behind the edges.
Trump is in front of the curtain and the 2025 people, including Vance, are behind the curtain.
See the transcript (below) of Applebaum and Pomerantsev’s podcast on the Atlantic website today. They clearly describe the relationship between Trump’s support of dictators and the establishment of a kleptocracy as a bridge to full-on autocracy. Many of these elements are already in place in this country. Here is one of the most insightful quotes in the article”
“…when governments start to act like these self-interested corporations, it doesn’t just make these governments less efficient and less positive for the people; it also leads to a fundamentally different type of government.
I mean, think about it: Once you have people running the country who use it to enrich themselves, then they don’t want to let go of that resource ever again. And they find ways to make sure they, essentially, never leave power. They rig elections. They curtail rights of anyone who wants to challenge them. They want to repress people who ask too many questions about where their money comes from. And then they institute a system of surveillance and control to make sure that repression succeeds.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2024/09/kleptocracy-club/680022/
Well said, Bill.
You nailed it. I hope and pray we do all of this.
I’m in!
I'm so over this crap. It's affecting my entire life. I can barely focus at work and I'm always angry it feels like.
Tracy, I sure get it. One of the things that helps me is to take a break (in music, it is called "stagger breathing". I play the tuba, and not infrequently, we are asked to either hold a constant note, or a repeating rhythm for multiple (like 30+ measures). As a section, we stagger breathe; I get to breathe on odd numbers, my section mate breathes on even numbers. The note/rhythm continues even as we take time to breathe. Outside of music, I get that outdoors. I garden, I hike in the woods, and I go to the ocean. I have an imaginary "box" where I put those thoughts, and lock it in the back of the truck. I can open it when I get back to the truck, but until then, those thoughts stay there.
Thank you for your kind words, Ally. I’ve not put this out on social media or told many people at all, but I started taking vocal lessons last March, two weeks before I turned 64 and what do you know I’m a mezzo soprano. My vocal coach went to Juilliard. She has taught hundreds of students of all ages
She said I have one of the most powerful voices she has encountered, more powerful than hers even. I always knew I was good for something.
With all the technological advances and information at our disposal, we could be having a renaissance right now, all of us! Nobody need be hungry or homeless anymore if not for these mad men who only want to cause heartache and destruction in their wake.
It’s grieves me so.
Ally, I love this. I am not a musician, but my day is filled with music usually the radio station, All Classical in Portland. Right now they are playing some song that sounds Irish or Scottish. It is Irish. I garden and I used to hike. Ah, the ocean, speaking to us of the rhythms of the universe and life. I also read voraciously and divide my time between mainly mysteries and various nonfiction about my interests, right now the later Tudors. I love the locked box. When I was at the Monroe Institute in Virginia and we did our mental exercises, we started out with ocean sounds and then we imagined a box where we put things that might get in the way of our journey. After reading your post, I might reinstate my box....actually it was a chest and I could always hear it snap shut.
Interesting , I never thought of how you have to breathe playing tuba.
I have enough trouble with a tenor recorder.
Jen, I also have a tenor recorder. I really, really have to adjust my airflow else I overblow constantly.
Beautiful strategy for coping. Thank you Ally.
You offer powerfully good good medicine Ally. Kudos to you!
Lovely! Music!!!
Wow, amazing. I don’t play the tuba, but I’ll work on some of that
Tracy...You are not alone. I hope you know this and it helps you to relax a little.
We'll get through this. Inhale Exhale
If I may quote Jimmy Buffett: Breathe in, breathe out, move on.
I truly hope that you are correct
SO many of us feel the same way, Tracy. You have plenty of company. Every day try to focus on one or two things that bring you joy and filter out the rest. Before retirement, I bought grocery store flowers every week and placed them where I'd see them as soon as I walked in the door after work each day. I still do it because they make me smile! My grandchildren's pictures attached to the fridge - bonus smile! The thought of the disinterested, recalcitrant child who suddenly emerged as a teacher's aide the day we released our butterflies, gently coaching the fearful classmates who hesitated to allow one to come to rest on their fingers - my heart soars. Dig into your memories. The good stuff is there and waiting for you!
I’m trying to do that, Pat. This week has been especially trying it seems. I just can’t fathom how so many ordinary people don’t understand what he truly represents. He will wrought only despair and destruction if he gets reelected. Most of his supporters will be the first to go.
Thank you for you encouraging words. Much appreciated.
Propaganda that never takes a break
Hey Tracy Sample, you are not alone. This is a long fight. But a worthy one. That does not make it any easier. But I see Life as about “the-company-you-keep”, and I would rather be us than them. Take a break, and check out if you need to for your own mental health. There are others who are energize, and have the capacity to carry the baton for a length. Peace.
You sound like my husband! Don't worry, only 40 more days until the election and then we'll have our country back! Or maybe begin an exciting new life in a different land.
me too...I'm so tired of him
Drown him in a blue tsunami.
https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/
Me too! What will we do with all those brain cells that we will have after his GONE?!
From your lips .....
Absolutely! Every time HCR adds to the Indicted One's litany of lies, it still seems incredulous.
Incredible
Amen! And I can't wait for the day when I can open a news source that's free of his name and/or picture.
Amen!
Nero. By the time our great grandchildren crack world history, favorable comparisons between Trump and Nero will be commonplace.
Me too
You aren't alone in your thinking!