The Senate is going to vote to keep the government funded till December 3 tomorrow morning.
The political organizing structure of this country no longer works. Why anyone buys Treasuries of a country that has a political party that would even think of questioning the full faith and credit of the public debt, much less fuck around with it for no reason other than they can is beyond me.
The next 24 hours are going to show who's who and what's what. This system cannot work with a political party capable of taking power that is against the country and against governing.
But that is their entire platform isn't it TC? To dismantle our government?
THIS is what the masses who are asses fail to understand, yeah, it's not perfect, we've been lied to, but at least we still have a vote, but maybe not for much longer.
Right on TC. They don't give a shit. Walking the dog this AM I had a perverse thought. All this drama about funding really is just a cover to delay the Voting Rights Act until the States have put their gerrymandering and restrictions in place. Color my nuts.
If you are you have lots of company Charlie. People fighting for the right to vote since we became a Nation and it’s as if we are asking for the very First time ? Which “ Includes The Damn Republicans ! “ Enter “ Cutting off you’re nose to spit you’re face “ here. There are about 400 Billionaires and Trillionaires . Where does that leave the majority of Republicans that believe them ? We know that some Democrats are also.If the Dems pulled this Crap I would be Done ! No one has the Right to take My Right or any Americans Right to Vote Away ! You are NOT Nuts nor either am I !
Hey, Charlie, nice comment, and that's a great expression. "Color my nuts!" I'd love to say that to some Trump fanatic, but it might get me into trouble. What does it mean? Anything to do with plastic "Truck Nuts", only 18.95 a pair from Amazon?
There's a great Eritrean restaurant in Tucson, one of my favorite US cities. Yes, I love to drive... Hmmm, $18.95 and free same day delivery. I'll have to think about it. Not sure how they would look on a Fiat Panda.
I don't know why I thought reading Heather's letter at 2 something in the Godless morning would be a good idea for my sleeplessness. Oh, well, it's done now.
Seriously, it seems clear that most of the country is, as usual, unaware of what's really going on. We (I), tend to forget the rest of the country isn't as plugged into the socio-political chess game as this group is, which makes it so much more hard to understand. What seems so obvious to most of us is not even on most people's radar. Sad, but true.
I have never been more worried for the fate of this country.
And hey, Joe Manchin. When you find those 10 Republicans, maybe you can find me a unicorn. Always wanted one.
Thank you, Sandra, you might as well have been me writing, what you wrote is 100% how I feel: sleepless, totally hopeless that we are the only ones who actually know or care about what’s really happening in this country as everyone else slowly slips happily ever more completely into a GOP-trump-led dictatorship, ignorantly oblivious to it happening at all. Just take that Milley/Gaetz exchange, it is just totally unbelievably frustrating to me that someone of Milley’s military stature couldn’t quickly tell that little peon he has zero conception of reality, is a total mess and embarrassment to our Congress, can’t ever talk to an officer that way, and had better keep quiet. I guess now I too sound a bit like a dictator, but wow! What is happening in this country?
I’ve always wondered why someone in Milley’s position doesn’t talk back at these hearings. “Senator, if the withdrawal from Afghanistan is your idea of an unmitigated disaster, i hope you never see one. Meanwhile, I’ve been in uniform longer than you’ve been alive, and I don’t like the way you’re talking to me, and if you don’t change your tone, I’m going to talk to you in that same way. It will be a battle of wits, and I’ll let you draw first. Where we go from here is up to you, son.” For years, I have ended comments with, Pray for the joint chiefs. They are all we’ve got right now and they hate trump and his minions, and they’ve got plans A-F, at least. Meanwhile the dems talk too much. It is all hand-wringing and poll numbers, that we should pass a bill because 59% of Americans are in favor of it, or “the majority of the American people” blah, blah, blah as though Americans are some exotic race that live far, far away in a distant galaxy. (Of course, for much of Washington, they do.)
Same, Sandra, same. And tomorrow I’m moving to the next frontier of Gilead, Florida, with my beloved but trumpite husband of 45yrs. When dt joined the GOP I left. I realize now that the party I thought I knew, my parents party of Eisenhower, had left me some time ago.
My parents too, my Dad was a Republican election judge, fact chief judge. I miss him a great deal, we lost him at 93, in 2000. He would be a Republican today, In fact He had, had it with Reagan, but he couldn't stand Clinton behavior either. I don't know about Bush 1.
I do that with some frequency, often a stray thought after posting that I want to add. But it's so easy: 1) copy text from your post; 2) delete post; 3)initiate new post or reply and paste.
My mother’s younger brother was a lifelong Republican, active in politics until he became a judge. As far as I know, his first vote for a non-Republican was a choice for Joe Biden as Vice President rather than Sarah Palin.
She was John McCain’s biggest mistake, he wanted Joe Lieberman but was talked out of it, just think about how much the world 🌎 would be different today if the 2 of them had been at the helm. Assad would be gone and there would be no Russians in Syria……
I agree with you about the two am reading. It is as if my mind wakes up hoping that this next letter will give us the guide to maintain our Democracy. Yet they continue to be filled with truth. Sad hard truth
They were putting Porn up to distract her to throw her off. I couldn’t see it. But she was as we are all accustom to. Brilliant ,Knowledgeable and Professional . What a bunch of Low Life Jerks !
My question too, he has hired a team of high powered sex crime lawyers....also, his "performance" in the hearings yesterday was a case study in arrogance and disrespect. As a Floridian, I wanted to slap him across his little punk face. He acted like an inexperienced, know-it-all adolescent lashing out at men eminently more accomplished than he will ever hope to be-- even if he takes courses in prison!!!! Such an out of control embarrassment. The mantel of Jim Jordan has fallen all over him!!! Shameful.
Keep in mind Gaetz doesn’t want to be a member of the Republican Party. He wants to be a leader in an extreme, controlling, white supremacy party where women are only used for sex. Empty Greene was the only woman he’s been seen with in the party and he’s pushed her to the side too. Who do we see him huddle with? Is he a participant in anything other than his own agenda?
He sounded like a petulant child when questions Milley.
It seems like not so long ago, both Republicans and Democrats would not have stood for a member of Congress to treat a General with such disrespect and rudeness. He should have been called down for it and the man who just wasted time talking about Newsmax should have been cut off. There should be fines or some consequence for disrupting a serious hearing.
Apparently the Rules of the Senate allow for all kinds of bad behavior without nary a consequence. If those of us out here in the “regular” work-a-day world behaved the way some of these egoists do, we’d be facing all kinds of discipline steps.
Yea exactly why isn’t he in jail, that insufferable SOB had the nerve to criticize a 4 star ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ General yesterday, he isn’t fit to lick the dog shit off the bottom of his shoe.
What surprised me was that our chairman of the joint chiefs didn’t walk up and physically rip his insufferable head off, I’m sure that there are plenty of officers and enlisted who have served under him that would be glad to do it for him.
I love that word— beautifully descriptive for that time. Kind of how I feel right now, Daria. I do no understand why we try to negotiate with seditionists. Heather's letter this morning makes it sound like we are just going to throw in the rope.
Why are democrats and progressives not standing up en masse, in front of these idiots and confronting them with their deceit against our country and our voting rights? What is the compound spanish word for goddamit?
The closest for dammit it I think is maldita sea. Maldición a means damn or curses. A lot of times on Spanish language tv when someone curses the Spanish caption on the screen will be: ¡Maldición!
I just wrote a response that was so clever--at least to myself. It had to do with the the English form of Maldicion: malediction. This has been cast/caste over this country since it's beginnings. Breakdown of word: male dic[k] ion. Then I went off on some tangent about "Dick" Dastardly's, "Curses! Foiled again!" This shortened version is probably better as I will not be incriminated about anything "dick" in reference to the Party of Sedition. Better to play it safe right now.
Thank you for some new words and the rabbit hole they brought this morning! Great dickstraction for a few moments. (Should I really press "post?"). Phenomenal men, be not offended!
I think I'd go to Iceland which treats women as equals. I'm in Texas now but lived in MA for a couple of decades. Quite angry about the abortion ban vigilante injustice law!
HOT much of the year but Yucatan state is safe, Mérida being one of the safest cities in the Americas. I would not recommend Quintana Roo, state, (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, etc.), higher violent crime and prices both driven by tourism.
We like it. If you're not into living in a restored colonial (or restoring a colonial) you can live well reasonably. We are not part of the expat party set so we don't spend much time hanging out in cantinas from early afternoon onwards. Like anywhere it is what you make of it.
April & May are like hell on earth. Many people head elsewhere or to the beach. Malls, cinemas even the supermarkets are go to places for families who don't have any AC. Last year was particularly difficult because malls and cinemas were mostly shut due to Covid. Supermarkets only allowed one person from a family to enter. Still today smaller shops only allow one or two people in at a time. Masks are essential as is a temperature scan.
I spent the first year and one half doing one of two things – waiting for the Letter to show up (in Facebook prior to substack), OR waking up around 2:30 a.m. to read it. I finally decided that no sleep/fractured sleep, plus the anger and anxiety I was feeling was making me crazy and miserable. At about that same time, I pulled away from obsessively reading news for hours on end. I'm healthier for it.
I have quit posting almost all of the political things on my Facebook. I cannot let those friends I thought I knew who are so out there in Q land have rent free space in my head.
Arrgh, that happened to me, too. I went hunting for a few missing friends that FB algorithms unjoined and found them spouting all sorts of absurdities.
Caray! Sounds like it’s working. You sound healthy to me Daria. I’m building up my sleep this week to be clear eyed and enthusiastic for the Women’s March, this Saturday, October 2nd.
Like so many of his fellows, I fear Manchin is mostly looking out for Number One. "Peril" does show him being a bit more give-and-take than he appears from reports, and I realize a lot of what we see is merely Kabuki theater, but at day's end, it's all about self, power and money. At least, that would be my guess.
As much as I despise Manchurian, and I do, I also have to say something about the “moderate” Republicans. The voting rights bill that Manchurian put together and expects his R colleagues to support, have pretty much everything we need to save this country, including banning gerrymandering which is already in full swing. Why in the hell are not Romney, Collins, Murkowski and the other senators who can’t face Republican voters any more so are retiring supporting this? They are so afraid of Trump and his supporters that they quit, but even now can’t stand up to protect our vote.
Collins is a right-winger in all but name, and has been for a long time. Romney, like Liz Cheney, believes it's fine to suppress voting for the sake of Republican power - they simply draw the line at violent overthrow of the government. Murkowski is a more interesting question. I'm guessing she is not going to brave the storm without evidence that she will accomplish something worth the trouble.
Manchin is an experienced politician, and a very conservative Democrat. His revisions of the voting rights act, according to Marc Elias whose opinion on this I totally trust, improved the bill. He has gone out of his way to show his constituents that he is doing his job, and that he is trying to work with Republicans. After all that, there is a very good chance he would agree to a filibuster carve-out to pass his bill, once there are a full 50 senators on board to do it.
I'm much more worried about Sinema, who has openly been raising money from business groups that oppose raising taxes to pay for the Build Back Better act (and on the side would just as soon votes be suppressed so R's can win), while saying loudly that the bill must be paid for. Getting her vote for voting rights is going to be much harder. The R's would clearly reward her for helping them...
Heather talks about how he delivers for his constituents, and how he does what so many members of Congress do not. Obviously he gets a lot of perks along the way.
While I disagree with Ramblin' Ric's blanket bitchin' (above) there is one behavior that the Repubs rely upon while Democrats can't seem to. It's GOO...Good Of the Organization, meaning they follow the leader regardless of the decision. They will come to a uniform agreement based on Daddy's decision (i.e. Trump or Mitch.) Thus, while Dems finesse and finagle, and often frustrate us, I wouldn't change the culture for a dime. Look at the depths of depravity the Repugs have fallen into, the utter abandonment of reason and compassion.
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post columnist, takes the MSM to task in her column yesterday. I heartily concur:
First, the media can stop enabling Republicans by retiring the pretense that the GOP is a normal, credible and patriotic party. Consider the framing of questions that so many in the White House press corps have adopted. If the president’s plans are so popular, why can’t he get Congress to go along? (Um, because they operate in the right-wing media bubble and fear his plans might deliver for ordinary Americans?) Why has the White House failed to get everyone vaccinated? (Because MAGA leaders are sabotaging vaccine mandates and right-wing media hosts shovel disinformation into their viewers’ laps?) Why is the president incapable of unifying the country? (Because Republicans refuse to put country above party?) The entire assumption that President Biden is a failure because he cannot get unreasonable Republicans to become rational is misguided.
That's not what's happening. Unfortunately, the Democrats believe in following the rules, and the rules they are following were written to run a congress with two parties equally committed to governing.
For those upset - and most of us are - now would be a good time to do some research to learn how the congress is set up to run. If you understand it, you'll be less upset with stuff you can't change and better able to focus on what you can do to help your representative get where we want them to go.
One of the big problems in this country is how few people (on both sides, sadly) know "How A Bill Becomes A Law" thanks to 50 years of "misedumacation reform" and the loss of High School Civics classes. It really is something to do because it allows you to see through the fog and focus on what's real.
I know how it’s run. They should have done more when they had the chances. (They’ve had multiple over the past 50 years).
To your point about loss of Civics, what have the dems done to reverse that? Nothing. That’s my point. They should have done something. Anything. Yet, they continue to “work with the Repubs “, when EVERYONE knows that fails. Every single time.
The loss of Civics classes rests with local school districts and their boards of education. Neither the Democratic or Republican Parties at the national level make decisions of this type. However, there may easily be partisan politics at the school district level.
TC, I trust that you are well-informed about these rules and so much more. Can you explain to me why the powers that be (Biden included) are not willing to either do away with the filibuster or make a “carve-out” for voting rights?
They have the attitude they do because they have been around long enough to know that no majority lasts forever, the day will come (sooner than expected) when you'll be in the minority and you'll need every weapon you can find. It's the cynicism of infantrymen who have assaulted the hill before.
Oh, “they” the Dems are only “somewhat evil”???? It’s this kind of reasoning that sounds like an excuse…one of many… that keeps the Republican voters able to turn a blind eye and continue to vote for weak and treasonous leaders.
I disagree. At this point the R party is the party of death. I am sure some dopes like my rep Schrader wants to keep things as they are, but many do not including all the other D members of the Oregon delegation. This is the old all pols are corrupt. Our two senators from Oregon are not and neither are the other D reps.
The redistricting puts Schrader into another district. I can hope we have a good candidate. As it is now Clackastan (Clackamus County) is part of his district and I am sure that makes things more difficult. I have voted for him because he was running against such sterling/s candidates like Tootie Smith. Last election the Rs put up a Q person to run for the Senate.
We are the ones who elect them. It is up to US to run and vote for more candidates who give a damn. There are a great number of them, but we need more. Instead of falsely blaming the ones who are trying their hardest why don’t we talk to our neighbors about supporting the ones who are doing right by us.
Which ones do you want to hold accountable? Please give names and examples.
Democrats have been hamstrung by GOP and McConnell even when Obama was President. Imagine what could be done if he was gone. There’s not a single other GOP Senator that would be as effective.
The entire country should have gone berserk when McConnell stated during Obama and currently Biden's administration that he and the republicans would do nothing to pass any of their bills. Right there we failed our country to not make blatant, inexcusable obstruction a foul against a working democracy. And to let every elected official vote their constitutional conscience for the people, not for their effing "party."
Disagreeing with her impeachment strategy doesn’t make Democrats guilty of failing to stop the decline. Pelosi was trying to get something she thought Republicans would get on board with. No matter what she went with the Senate wouldn’t have agreed. I think her mistake was in not pushing the 2nd one through before Trump left office.
Once again I give most of the Oregon delegation more credit than this plus any number of other Ds in the Congress. Unfortunately, we have the EC which cost us the presidency twice. Then we have the grim reaper and the filibuster in the Senate and people like Manchin and Sinema holding things up. The real decline started with St Ray Gun and some of the problems we have now are his legacy and of course, Rs have worked to undermine the New Deal from day one. The current situation has been acerbated by the pandemic, climate change, and the horrible mess left by death star donny. Here in Oregon, we have had some bills to address climate change, for example, and the Rs walked out aided and abetted by Timber Unity, funded mostly by out of state money.
I have to ask what makes you believe that? What actions have they taken to stop voting rights and refuse to pass legislation that is good for the country? Yes, we have issues with Manchin and Sinema. There are progressives and moderates in the Democratic Party who’d like their ideas heard. How does that mean they don’t want change? I’ve watched many career Democrats move from stodgy old ways to changing for the better on so many things.
There are many good ones, it’s the others I’m talking about. There are several examples of where they’ve done good, but they haven’t done enough. They failed in that regard.
Precisely why I ask everyday why the Dems aren't acting with urgency. Why not pursue getting DC statehood ( hello! Another 2 Dem Senators!) What about Puerto Rico or USVI Statehood if they vote for it? And why doesn't Biden increase SCOTUS seats? Aren't these low hanging fruit for Dems?
Well, Ric, I do have to agree with you on Dejoy. So do the postal workers and carriers I know. Good friends and honest people. They are at a loss to explain it.
It's my understanding that Pres Biden asked for De Joy to resign, as is customary to replace select department heads within a new administration. DeJoy refused. That's a new one to me, but a Trump tactic, nonetheless. I'm not sure what can be done, but I also wonder WTF!
I just feel overwhelmed by the train wreck we are witnessing in real time. I watched a little of the Senate hearings and of course the republicans tried to eviscerate Milley under the guise of "finding the truth" about his call to China and Afghanistan withdrawal. The call to his Chinese counterpart was done after he notified his chain of command and there were 8 people in the room! Pompeo has lied like a rug about his "not knowing".
Hitchcock could not have written a bigger psychological nightmare than what is transpiring in front of our eyes. A former boss told me at the beginning of my career (40 years ago) to keep one thing in mind "the masses are asses" but it still amazes me that evil and ignorance appeals to so many people; and it has throughout history.
I recall years ago watching television reporting from Moscow and was struck by the visual of the streets filled with people just going about their business, the busses and cars were in traffic, there was an air of activity, etc. - a sense of normality-as it would look in any U.S. city. They live in a repressive dictatorship with tremendous inequities (economic and political) but go about with daily life as best they can and "accept" that is the way it is and nothing can be done. And, truth be told, rebellion is often met with punishment or death so at some point self preservation (and what might be seen as complacency) becomes the norm.
I often feel that is where we are now . . . we are shouting into the wind as the bold face lies of those who are evil take us down by cutting to our core and blatantly repressing voting rights. Russia and China never had to fire a single shot.
Professor Timothy Snyder is posting, on his Substack page, two videos a week on the twenty lessons from his pamphlet, “On Tyranny”. The lessons will focus on current circumstances and what we can do. Subscription rate $5/month. Girding my loins!
I don’t see happiness among the trump followers, except when it comes from other sources. The authoRitarian party stokes grievance, fear, rage for the sake of its power, not for anyone’s happiness. You might as well say they keep their followers from the covid vaccine to improve their health.
We went to Russia in December of 1998 to adopt our daughter. It remains one of the most frightening time I have ever experienced. She was born in Chita, a six hour flight to southern Siberia. Every movement we made was accompanied by a minimum of two people. No one was nice or friendly or kind. We were told what to do and how to act, how to dress. We had to pack out suitcases with bribes for officials everywhere we went. The people in Chita were suffering greatly and they could do nothing. It was -50 and people were living in tiny worn down shacks with only a small fire for warmth. In out motel, they would turn off the heat at regular intervals at least every hour. In Moscow, there were armed guards throughout our hotel and we were questioned and watched if we tried to leave to buy supplies for our daughter.
Yes, it is so insane where we are at. And if It this goes the direction we all fear, many Americans will find they are not able to just move to another country, work, and live, etc.
😂Damn Janet. I really wanted you to lie to me and tell me I’m imagining all this .You know,that Alternative Reality . Boy Kelly Ann wasn’t kidding was she ! My nightmares are having nightmares !
Apropos Matt G. and the other REPS who berated Gen. Milley and called for his resignation: Liz Cheney called this behavior "despicable" and apologized to the general in the name of the House. Not that her gesture changed any of that outrageous behavior, but it should at least be mentioned.
You're so right. I saw on the video that Rep. Houlahan of Pennsylvania, who followed Rep. Gaetz in asking questions, began by apologizing to the General for her colleague's behavior
Welcome, Kathy! I did the same thing, sometime early in the pandemic. Lifelong Indie, but it looked like the Dems were going to need a hand.... and it still feels good.
Yes, this place is crawling with Learned Ones. They gather here and bring their perspicuity with them! I, as a life-long student of life, am just gobsmacked. Like a sand flea upon finding a whole desert... So, fellow student, I'm glad to be in class with a new Democrat!
Yes, thank you. Any adult in the room would have been disgusted with Gaetz's behavior. Disrespectful grandstanding. Gives Florida an even worse reputation than we already have!
Moving to the Tampa area today, will change my voter registration, which I stated at the DMV with my trumpite husband standing over me, as Independent, to Proud Democrat. I’ll try to help!
Thx! Good GOP wife for 40yrs, gave up the party (but not the beloved trumpite husband) when dt came down that damned escalator. With every revelation, especially the mockery of the disabled reporter, I thought my spouse would see dt’s true colors. We rarely know what we mean when we say, “for better or for worse…”
Yeah, Goetz and Jordan, et.al, have neither self respect, respect for the historical office they are so privileged to hold, or respect for the people who entrusted them to represent them. They are not worthy to stare up into the rotunda as tourists.
I get frustrated that only on rare occasions do commentators mention the dark money men who are giving the orders. Does anyone really believe that McConnell -- or any of the GOP--would do anything without marching orders from Charlie Koch or any of his ilk? I so much want to say to myself and others, "Cool down, take a breath, it's just politics.". The problem is, for all it's flaws, I love this country and what it represents to mankind. Never has a country represented freedom in the way the U. S. has done. It really has given hope to millions of people around the world that life could get better, that there is a reason to hope. I want that to continue. And it appears the billionaires, in conjunction with their GOP minions, want it to end. Ii is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this is happening in the same lifetime that saw JFK, RFK, and Dr. King inspire us as a people. We still have so much potential as a people. And yet, we appear to be readying ourselves to slip into the deep oceans of historical memory. To become a place of myth and in myth, like Atlantis or Camelot. Who says there's no such thing as satan? Satan is the voice of greed and lust for power and the belief that "We are great" and "The people who disagree and oppose us are not great because it's their fault we aren't greater still. They are the enemies of our greatness.". Satan, in other words, is the voice of arrogance, the voice of evil, the voice of disunity. God, on the other hand, us the Voice of conscience and compassion, the Voice of wisdom and unity. Just when many people think we have transcended religion, we ourselves have become the embodiments of religious principles, light and dark, good and evil, wisdom and ignorance. I'm still praying that the Good will prove "wiser than the serpent "
" Ii [sic] is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this is happening in the same lifetime that saw JFK, RFK, and Dr. King inspire us as a people."
Kenrick, those three, and others, were murdered precisely because they dared to inspire us to strive for universal equality, conscience and compassion. The right has never aspired to those goals and will do anything in their power to make sure they are never realised. Today, I am more afraid and apprehensive than ever.
Kenrick, in one of my walks through reading in my now longish life I came across the complete writings of Athanasius. Athanasius "led" the fourth century Conference of Nicaea where the "Nicene creed" was written which includes a definition of Christ (father, son and holy ghost). Much of the Bible was assembled (with the conference opposed to the Gnostic gospel content).
Athanasius was, really, one of the earliest "Fathers of Christianity".
At any rate, he wrote an lengthy treatise on "evil". When I read it I was stunned. Having spent a fair bit of time in Baptist church in rural East Texas as a kid and teenager I had heard a great deal about "Satan".
But, in Athanasius treatise, he never mentions "Satan". Athanasius defines "evil" as the CHOICE each individual has between the "high" road and the "low" road.
Yep, one of the greatest minds of the Conference of Nicaea indicates that nobody external to us calls us into evil.
We.....just.....choose.....evil. Or not, depending on your choices or mine.
Makes sense to me. I have not been down much of the "evil" path, but, those times where I did do a mild trespass, well, seems like it was all me and no Satan.
Mike S., that is still the definition of sin in many spiritual disciplines. Some call it 'greater or lesser intention', some call it the 'high road' and 'low road', but it's all the same idea. A dear friend of mine is an atheist and was often queried in a forum we were both in, if she doesn't believe in God, what's to keep her from murdering someone? And she just said, "Because I don't want to." The idea that we have to believe in a deity in order to have a moral compass is one of the biggest cons of all time, IMO. I'm not knocking anyone who does, but I'm saying it's not a prerequisite to living a moral life.
If we all just lived according to what Christians call The Golden Rule, 'nuff said.
Love that, "Because I don't want to." And that's my Creed—The Golden Rule. You don't need fat books and funding and kissing the rings of those of the Golden Goblets if you just follow that simple Creed, Do Unto Others. The repubs' creed--- just the golden toilet seat throne and ring and a rusty screw you to everyone else, including the earth. I am feeling rather feisty this morning though it was hard to awaken from my la madrugada. (thanks for that, Daria!)
There are so many fetching signs I want to make for Oct. 2nd March about our collective rage. Does anyone have a really good idea for a sign that covers The Party of Sedition's evil succinctly?
Love that. We need to poke more holes in the sky blanket to let the light shine brighter...or maybe, we need to believe in how bright each of us is if we let our lights shine! Thanks, Christine, I love how we hold one another up here...
Well, all that Satan stuff in my head when I went to college probably did not hurt. I never drank alcohol so my grades were (too high). However, alas, girls (women today) definitely had deleterious impacts on my high or low road. Try as I might for the high road.
Great point, Mike. Wish I had time to read Athanasius. But I would respond that “satan” is the word we use to indicate the impulse within us which is inclined to choose the low road. It is no more an external force than God, the Good is. It is embedded in our hunanity.
Mike, on a side note, Athanasius is also remembered as a patriot in Egypt, one who was sent into exile repeatedly but managed to outlive and outlast the various political & church leaders who banished him. Maybe there is an additional lesson here?
How funny to think that humans have transcended religion. I daresay the GOP, with all their claims of following Christianity, have proven conclusively otherwise.
Beautifully said, Kendrick! You hit the heart of it, I think, when you talked about how America, at her best, has been a beacon of hope. Many people forget, or don't think about, the fact that, unlike other countries, other world leaders of the past, America wasn't created as the result of centuries of wars driven by religion or territorial conquest, etc. America is/was and idea, a concept made material, made physical, out of whole cloth.
At our worst, we are greedy, brutal, petty and arrogant, but boy, you can't beat us when we're at our best! That's the America I was raised to love and believe in and by God, I want it back! "I want my country back!" (to borrow a slogan).
I have to politely disagree with you, Sandra. Our country was founded upon the genocide of our native people, and slavery to build our riches on their backs. I love our country, but I am always mindful that we have always cast a very dark shadow in our birth. And that shadow is very large at this moment. There is no balance of yin/yank— I mean yang, Freudian slip! However, it is the IDEA of our Great Experiment that many of us take to heart today that shines the light ahead. Hope of Hope we know how to quell this coup on by shining our collective Light on that darkness of those who know not what they do.
Unfortunately we’ve sat back over the last 50 years and allowed those “ At our worst, we are greedy, brutal, petty and arrogant” to appoint the judges and obstruct anything and everything those “at our best” try to accomplish. We let our guard down once we had a glimmer of voting rights. We believed we had turned the corner on racism. We lit a fire back then with JFK, RFK and MLK… but the fire we lit was under the worst of us. They came together stealthy and now their plan is coming to fruition. Scary to think where we will be in 10 years.
Our government is careening toward one party rule… In a breathtakingly short amount of time will we will be Poland and our democracy will be dead. Reviving it will be too difficult because by then the power will all be in the hands of a few megalomaniacs who could care less about their people. We are following a well worn path: ignore the flashing red all around us because we’re busy trying to work and live, then suddenly one day we’ll wake up and all that we have taken for granted and held as a fundamental right is gone. Think of every single country that has fallen to a dictator, even the Nazis ruse to power—citizens kept thinking “This can’t get any worse!“ And yet it did, inexorably, until it was too late. Extreme times call for bold responses; the Democrats need to kill the first filibuster today.
"They demanded that Milley resign. Gaetz repeatedly interrupted and berated the general, who has served the United States in uniform for more than 40 years".
Dr. Richardson, first, I have no idea how you are so able to keep up with all the happenings you write down each day. I read much of the NY Times every day, and, would not know 80% of what is going on without your writings. Thank you.
Second, "They demanded that Milley resign. Gaetz repeatedly interrupted and berated the general, who has served the United States in uniform for more than 40 years."
Matt Gaetz knows that Republicans, like moths to a light at night, are attracted to:
1) Men who abuse and berate women.
2) Men who abuse and berate men.
Hence, the rise of Trump, who treats everyone poorly.
Just like Gaetz.
Like moths to a big, bright, security light up on a hill.
I have no idea what evolutionary process occurred to select for people like this and throw organize them into "Republicans".
I just can see that it has happened.
Hence, in my language with some Republicans, I insult them and berate them.
I find that individuals like Gaetz, Taylor-Greene, and Madison Cawthorne resort to tactics of bullying, intimidation, name calling - because they have no intellectual backing or verbal ability to actually say something constructive or meaningful. I don’t mean education in the form of a degree from a fancy school (consider Josh Hawley and that gem Ted Cruz). I don’t see how ANY member of the military (active, retired, now in civil service, in the private sector - ANY member) can support someone like Gaetz. Nothing more than a punk claiming that the high school principal sucks.
You left incredulity assumes that the military is made up of rational, principled volunteers rather than a body of people in large part coerced into service by propaganda and lack of other alternatives.
I’m responding to the incredulity that “ANY member” of the military would support someone like Gaetz. You have reframed my comment “at the General Officer level” to make me say something I did not. But If you are blind to the economic and social pressures filling the ranks of our “volunteer” military then we probably won’t see eye to eye in any case.
Isn't the game that McConnell and his tidy band of followers are playing clear to everyone? The Democrats will be responsible and give Republicans what they want at the last minute to prevent an irresponsible shut down. Republicans will assert their power and dominance to show they have it, that they "own the libs" -- rather that they own the government and the American people -- and revel in their ability to call all the shots, because that -- not running the country -- is all that matters now. So rather than have a functioning government, they play around with serious matters lightly, as bullies will, and can stand proudly and crow about winning the game.
I may be too depressed and pessimistic anymore to read the news. Just as I was when Trump got elected and reignited with flame throwers the slide into authoritarianism. The constant reminders of the 10 year rise to power of Hitler are absolutely chilling.
For the first time I am also feeling that way; it is so easy to go on with my pre Trump life. But then I make my bed and my coffee and settle in for the most important LLAA and that girds me for what is to come in the days goings on. Better to have information than to live in denial.
I have zero (painting) artistic ability so I have started a a couple fairly involved paint-by numbers that will go to my African grandchildren. It is actually very cathartic even though I messed up a small section. . . I call that my Van Gogh time period :) :)
Did you miss the part about the RNC going to Budapest? The “Dems”, as you haughtily have named them are all that is currently keeping us from being a fascist oligarchy. Unless you want to live in a country like Russia you might want to figure out what you can possibly do to support the Democratic Party
So no good news and possible disaster and failure on the horizon. The rest of the country is worried about Britney Spears or whether Tom Brady and belichek will hug before Sunday’s game.
Personally, I am praying 🙏 that the good guys win and our nation is saved, everyday it seems as if the deck is stacked against us.
I’m not sure if any *actual* legislators read your Letters, Heather.
IF THEY DO, then I hope they pay attention or their handlers do and they go back to their people and kick their ass.
What a joke that Biden and his agenda can be bitch-slapped around and get nothing done.
Again, it’s about public perceptions and getting out there. The debt-ceiling is totally-tied to Trump and his Republicans raising our debt by nearly 20% by himself!
Raising the debt ceiling to pay for it should be a slam-dunk if properly presented, but I hear nothing. Where are the spin-doctors for the reality of the world?
Maybe the public is numb, but if that is the case, why is a 3.5T deal any worse that the 7.8 in tax breaks? Oh yea, messaging! Figure it out, Dems.
What is pathetic is that a government built on the concept of two party bipartisanship has to “long for it” now after a 4 yr stint of ruthless pursuit of and a taste for autocracy. The question is how is it that the Republican Party longs for an autocracy so blatantly? Disgusting.
Hardly ‘longing”.They know the game well.Wouldn’t they have to be dumb as a stump not to know their personal bread depends on Manchin’s and McConnell’s success in stopping the Reconciliation Bill? This is a stark battle between corporatists and the people. This is class warfare.
There is nothing as pathetic as the electorate that won’t vote the people into power that will work for them. Voters need to step up and vote for the most progressive candidate that can win. We’re on the brink of losing our democracy because so many who profess to care about people and the environment turned their noses up to voting for Hillary Clinton. Sick and tired of people who can’t own their own 💩
Christy, with one or two small exceptions, I support all progressive causes. I still don't like either Bill or Hillary, but I voted for both of them without hesitation, given the GOP alternatives. I also did not want Joe Biden as President, but I enthusiastically voted for him, too. With the possible exception of Obama, an amazing individual and hope-inspiring candidate who was a bit of a disappointment as President because he was obstructed (because he was Black) at every turn, I have always felt I had to vote for the lesser of evils. People really do need to vote, and then non-violently hit the streets when the voting is not enough.
That's where we are now, even though our fearless leaders cannot seem to wrap their heads around it. The Right has already figured this out in their own sleazy, unconstitutional way.
Great to hear you enthusiastically supported Biden. There’s another thread on here today about the 40% of the electorate that are registered to vote as independents. The Republicans excel to a great fault of never attacking their own. With 40% of us perhaps “leaning” one way or the other, maybe at this critical juncture, with democracy hanging by a thread, those of us with hearts that bled might want to embrace the Democratic Party as enthusiastically as possible. Enthusiasm is contagious.
If we can get through the midterms with 50 sure DEM votes in the Senate, a margin of about 10 votes in the House, and trials underway for Tump and company, we may be able to dodge this Fascist bullet, but Biden will have to do a better job of selling his program to the country, and the GOP has to be raked over the coals daily. It is obscene that punk GOP Senators could mistreat Gen Milley that way without any serious consequences. The mainstream media is failing in its responsibilities too. The Independents must be aroused from their collective slumber.
Biden's program is already "sold" to the country, with strong approval ratings even among Republicans. The blockade is those "punk GOP Senators" plus two punk Dem Senators. I agree that the treatment of Gen. Milley by several of those punk GOP Senators is inexcusable.
I feel strongly that all of us need to use our voices to support Biden. That single human being has a freaking plate full. There are so many voices here that excel in clear communication. I hope everyone is doing what they can to be heard in less friendly spaces. It’s hard for me but I am pushing myself instead of seeing it as someone else’s job to do.
I think you are correct sir. Which is like holding out hope that a certain faction from WWII might find their humanity and save/not hurt another certain faction. Why do we expect a duck to not just keep quacking like one? Waste. Of. Time.
Why would any "real" legislators be expected to read and listen to anything beyond the borders of the District of Columbia? They're too busy worshiping the sound of their own voices.
I can't shake the sinking feeling that we will end up similar to Turkey. It didn't take long for them to backslide. Manchin knows there aren't 10 Republicans that would vote to make elections fairer. I have no idea why he pretends otherwise. I had no hope after Jan 6 and it's becoming more obvious to people by the day. When someone like HCR asks "Once installed in power, will this particular incarnation of the Republican Party ever again permit a Democratic victory?" all is lost.
Sadly, it seems Manchin’s true colors are those of an obstructionist Republican, playing to ensuring the success of Mitch McConell’s power plays. A Senator who would not relinquish control of, or profits from, his zillionaire coal trading firm while in office. The D on his party affiliation is fiction that is indulged by the D-party only because of a worse fate, it is the last scrap of maintaining a Senate “majority.” The two-party system in the US was not written into the constitution nor the Declaration of Independence; it is past time to find some alternative that is not in the thrall of big, dark-money control. But that will be a goal for the next 40 years to dig out from, as Mitch has won his game, it seems. Notice how he seems to still smile? Who can smile in these times?
Marcy, I wonder that about all of them. Just like the Big Money people who can only see dollar signs, are fine with raping the environment for a buck, fine with crushing their workers to add a few dollars to the P&L, etc. As the bumper sticker says, "There is no Planet B", so once they've trashed this one for fun and profit, where the hell do they plan to go hide????
Our species is hardwired to look at the immediate situation first and foremost; I get that. But we now have a prefrontal cortex, folks - USE IT. We can plan, we can aspire, we can improve our lives and the lives of our fellows!! Get with it!
Senator Sinema has been bought by the lobbyists from her fundraiser last week. She is immature and is letting power and money go to her head. As one commentator put, she is a free radical and who knows what she'll do. Senator Manchem is a known quantity from a very Trumpian state and will come around. This is convincing me that the culprit here is dark money and we need to get rid of money in politics starting with Citizens United. Money is not free speech. Money is legalized bribery. Senators like McConnell and Sinema can and are being bought.
Cathy, I disagree about immaturity and power going to her head. I believe power and, eventually money, went to her head years ago, purposely sought by an egotistic individual who has sought during those years to gain power to feed her ego. Did you read this article I posted from The Atlantic a few days ago? Once I read about her purposeful path to power, I could see that she'll continue to pursue the path that brings her the most power and money with no thought for taking positions to best help her constituents or fellow Americans. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/03/will-kyrsten-sinema-change-her-mind/618228/
Judith, There was a lot of criticism on Senator Sinema last night on MSNBC. People that were know how the Senate works are rather appalled at her flippancy ("I'm standing at the elevator.") and her silence over stating what she wants to see happen. And having a fund raiser with six lobbyists who oppose the infrastructure bill this past week all seem to be red flags. Call it immaturity or eccentricity (the Atlantic's word for her) it all amounts to the same thing -- one junior senator having the power to tank President Biden's whole agenda.
Yes, ego and money are her gods. Pride and Greed. She's the living incarnation of our broken government right now.
Seems the US will learn that "9/11" was not first in the US, it was in Chile. And that a 60% majority cannot do what it wants, if the 40% minority has the right friends.
For all of us, these next two weeks are going to require nerves of steel. It's obvious that the votes are not there for everything that the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party have their heart set on accomplishing because they don't have the votes. The hard part of being in a democracy that utilizes representative government to express the popular will is having to accept the fact that there are times that the vote you need just are there. We live in a constitutional republic that has essentially live with the same set of rules that were adopted 234 years ago, a governmental system that served us well until about the year 2000, when things started to go off the rails. If we lived in a parliamentary democracy like Great Britain or Israel, we would be having snap elections every six weeks. We have two houses of the legislature, the lower house, the House of Representatives, which is directly elected by the people in single-member districts based upon population apportionments determined by the decennial census. The upper house, the Senate, represents the States, which, until 1916, was populated with senators who were appointed by their respective state legislatures. After 1916, senators were popularly elected, with each state becoming a single election district. Representatives have two-year terms of office, the intent being that Representatives would be closest to the popular will as evidenced by public opinion during each election cycle. Senators serve six-year terms, on the notion that the Senate would be the ultimate repository of learned experience, institutional stability, and continuity. One-third of the Senate's membership stands for election during each two-year election cycle. The bottom line is that we have to live with what we have wrought over the past several decades a process that will take almost as many election cycles in the future to undo the damage that has been done to the institutions of Government by a rogue Republican Party, in concert with Dark Money interests, and fueled by its current leadership that has rejected democracy itself as the fulcrum on which both Government, and Governance has turned so far.
Progressives are apoplectic that now they are in nominal control of Congress, they cannot exert their will to right the ship of State. I sympathize. But, given that the odds of success against them, betting the whole of our future on trying to get President Biden's legislative program enacted this year, doubling down on their bet on succeeding this year would seem to be, in the language of statisticians and prognosticators, a Six Sigma Event, meeting six standard deviations to the right of the zero point on any probability distribution. In the language of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, this would be the blackest of 'Black Swans'. It was bound to happen that someone like Senators Joe Manchin and Kyristen Sinema would stand up to object to the president's plan, modest as it is when compared to the actual need for public spending and improvements over the next decade if United States is to remain competitive in the world, and we can slow down and ameliorate climate change.
The fact is that the Republican Party has been waging war against American democracy since the administrations of Jimmy Carter and those that followed him. Their long game has paid off in ways that we now see, like compound interest accruing on a long-term debt. We may be in for a long rough ride before this is over; what is going to take the unwavering commitment of American patriots in order to turn things around. In the words of Winston Churchill, commenting upon the entry into World War II by the Roosevelt administration, that was not the beginning of the end of fascism and totalitarianism in the world; rather, Churchill referred to that infusion of hope and resolution in December and January 1941 into 1942, as 'The End of the Beginning'. These are not easy words to write, and our times are parlous. An aroused citizenry is the best hope that we have for getting through this thing with any semblance of what we had before. But the forces of nihilism are strong, and holding things together and putting faith back into our institutions is something that we need to relearn. The two years that followed the Pearl Harbor attack were exceptionally difficult for people who are used to success. We wanted to believe the patriotic-themed Hollywood productions — 'Casablanca', and all the other sugarcoated nonsense that the public wanted to believe was happening, because America believes in advertising and marketing, instead of the 'blood, toil, tears, and sweat' that Winston Churchill promise the British public on that day in May, 1940, when he became Prime Minister of the British War Cabinet. We like to think of those who fought in that war as the Greatest Generation. The parents of my generation didn't call it that: war was a bitter and excruciatingly painful enterprise, so much so, that many combat veterans refuse to talk about their experiences in the years immediately following the war, and only afterward when they tell their stories when the numbness and the pain in their hearts and brains had subsided. What they had though, was a faith in America, and her example to the world, despite racial segregation and unremitting poverty and destitution that the War Years after the depression had not yet alleviated.
Today we have a different America, a much more vibrant and diverse one; but one that is chained itself to social media and the opportunity to bicker and criticize everything and everyone inside who doesn't agree with our particular opinions. Our response to the coronavirus is probably far worse than we had a right to expect of ourselves, given our prowess in medical science and epidemiology. Instead, we find ourselves hamstrung by willful and ignorant minority whose rejection of reality and science borders on the ludicrous. We had the selfsame people in World War II, but they were stuck in the Ozarks, or wherever they happen to be, and they didn't have the megaphone and access to worldwide communication that the followers of Donald Trump enjoyed today. In World War II, Fox news would've been shut down in a minute, given the treasonous and seditious poison that their followers feed on constantly. The idea, that just now, we are coming around to the notion that coronavirus immunizations should be made mandatory in the workplace and in the public square would have been fully in place in the World War II era not later than June 1942, had the coronavirus appeared then. Those of us who follow the histories of the war will remember that London was under constant aerial bombardment from November 1940 through March and into April, 1941, just-in-time for the military defeats that they suffered in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In the first six months of 1942, Japan overran all of Southeast Asia, and allied military leaders at the time believed that we would still be at war as late as 1948 to get back to where we were in 1941. Regardless, however, the American people did not waver, and we saw our way through those difficulties, even in the states of the former Confederacy, where the Civil War was still living memory. What we have instead, are the politics of resentment on the part of EVERYBODY, with the leadership of the Republican Party being the high priests of high dudgeon and indignation that the American people would want back much of the wealth that they had stolen since the election of George W. Bush. Yes, that happened; and it continues to happen. But we need to find a way to pull together and put aside our differences, and renew our commitment to the common good, because that is the only way were going to pull ourselves out of the ditch that we're in. It's time to stop being crybabies over stuff that we can't do anything about, at least right now, and start mending fences with people of goodwill whose accents may be different, who may like pickup trucks and beer instead of brie cheese and Chardonnay, who wear cowboy boots and big floppy hats, and who have fun displaying a whole lot of attitude. I'm not partial to one side of the other, and I enjoy both. I have lived or traveled in 38 of the 50 states, including five years in our nation's capital; I live in California, which may also be the most diverse state in the Union, entirely apart from epitomizing the liberal agenda. I'm sick of the know nothing-ism of the liberal Left, just as much is the myopia of the rural Right, but I can live with it, and make friends where I find them, and allies where I can do so. These people didn't go off the rails on their own initiative; they had a lot of help from the moneyed people who hide their wealth overseas, and pander to willing sycophants, whether at Fox News, or elsewhere. They're hurting; and they don't know why. They are enduring death and disease of unparalleled numbers that have not been seen since the middle of the 19th Century, when great cities grew up without sanitation or clean water. We need to learn to trust one another again, as I say earlier, because without trust the whole enterprise is lost.
Self preservation taught me to not trust a liar a very long time ago. That will not change. We won’t have trust as long as we elect liars to the highest offices in the land.
Well said, Christy. Along with trust, we need more empathy for those who are suffering, and maybe for those who are represented by the heartless, spineless rethuglicans.
I also like a lot of what you say, but I draw the line where people feel superior to others and seek to harm them. Fascists, bullies and terrorists cannot/do not negotiate. And for the past five years I have tried to communicate with those who have been brainwashed by The Party of Sedition. It is nigh well impossible. Your idea would work if authoritarianism, nazism/fascism and all the refugees fleeing them was not rising all around the world—funded by an unimaginable dark wealth. We don't really have time anymore to do your "get along, go along" with 30% of this country who are whipped up, locked and loaded. I live across the road from a family who feel superior and entitled, armed. Good effing luck. They do not forgive and they love vengeance. We do not have time to de-program the cult of white rage fearing America truly becoming equal with all our people. The confederate south, and worse, has risen.
Arthur, I like a lot of what you have to say and wish that we could find some way for left and right to bury the hatchet -- or at least give it a rest -- but both sides sense that a moment is coming when our country will either go very far right or very far left, and fear is loose in the land.
Fear is probably the strongest emotion people experience; it is instinctive and has allowed our species to survive, then thrive until we dominate the planet and find ourselves responsible for keeping it livable. No one is immune to fear, but some people are better than others at directing to into useful acts as opposed to destructive acts.
While the greatest danger to the human species, right now and for the foreseeable future, is climate change -- which should scare all of us -- we are expending enormous fear-filled energy on ideological and cultural differences and divisions, refighting old wars, imagining moral weaknesses in the "other", and demonizing fellow citizens whom we see as enemies and imbeciles. I know I do it, too, as it makes me feel (stupidly?) as if I am contributing to a useful debate. There is nothing like a clever insult or a retort informed by hard, indisputable facts to give people a sense of somehow controlling their own destinies, even though we know our destinies are largely in the hands of the politicians we elect, who are themselves largely under the thumbs of the ultra-rich whose own, self-perceived, vital interests do not appear to include the rest of us. Even as I try not to take sides, I cannot help myself, I do it anyway.
So, we can hope for reconciliation (the real thing, not some parliamentary gimmick) to save us, or we can take sides and fight like Hell.
I'm ready for our "champions" -- Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of our elected Democrats -- to make a choice:
Do we compromise our beliefs and abandon (for now) the long-overdue social improvements a majority of Americans want ASAP by accepting a watered-down physical infrastructure bill?
Are we okay with maybe -- but probably not -- getting a better-than-nothing new election law while most likely keeping the US Govt. afloat and avoiding catastrophic default? (The ultra-rich have large stock portfolios and know where their bread is buttered).
OR should we call those bloody GOP bastards' bluff, arrest Trump and his flunkies for conspiracy to commit treason, use whatever parliamentary tricks are required to avoid default without any GOP votes, call in the US military -- if necessary -- to put down armed civil disorder in the deep South and several other benighted places scattered about our beautiful nation, shut down FOX News, and then fill the streets and squares of our largest cities with millions of people demanding good governance for all of us, not higher profits for sleazy multinational, planet-destroying corporations?
This is scary stuff, but it may be the only time in our lives -- a last chance for our democracy -- when we can do the right thing and change history for the better. You know, bend it towards justice.
Thank you for bringing up climate change. This is the big elephant that keeps being covered up. If Republicans get their way and make their ability to keep control absolute, just think about all the Democratic social platforms that will be dissolved. Look at Russia, when people are starving or need help, the government doesn’t coming running. So much of the country has no idea how bad it could become. Watching Trump slash regulations on corporations so they can pollute and endanger water, land and air. Trump allowed protected animals to be hunted, given the report we lost 23 more species to extinction, think how fast more will die. The damage Trump did will be nothing compared to what might come especially with freedoms taken away from all minorities and they will be fully armed and allowed to conceal and carry.Democrats must remove the filibuster and pass the voting act.
Margaret, as a 7th grader I developed an interest in bird-watching and ornithology in general, and I dreamed that when I was older I would tramp into a Louisiana swamp and see a rare Ivory-billed woodpecker, even in the 60's thought to be extinct, but there were always more-or-less reliable reports of sightings, and recordings of their call, so I kept hoping, then I grew up and didn't think much more about the ivory-billed. Until yesterday. Now it's official. It chokes me up a bit.
You need to start somewhere, and a win is a win. The Democrats' main attraction is good governance. You start with what you can do well, with as little fanfare as possible. As a career civil servant in those years, that's what I did. I worked in the administrations of four presidents, three of whom were Republicans. We need to rebuild our reputation for good governance. Republicans destroyed that reputation, and intentionally so. As in 1941, we're rebuilding an administrative workforce from scratch. It's not surprising that that the people recruited by recent Republican presidents were rank amateurs, con men, and worse. Example: The fumbling around we saw at the CDC under Trump would not have happened under a Democratic administration. Trump poisoned the atmosphere so badly that nobody with integrity would want to work there.
The Senate is going to vote to keep the government funded till December 3 tomorrow morning.
The political organizing structure of this country no longer works. Why anyone buys Treasuries of a country that has a political party that would even think of questioning the full faith and credit of the public debt, much less fuck around with it for no reason other than they can is beyond me.
The next 24 hours are going to show who's who and what's what. This system cannot work with a political party capable of taking power that is against the country and against governing.
But that is their entire platform isn't it TC? To dismantle our government?
THIS is what the masses who are asses fail to understand, yeah, it's not perfect, we've been lied to, but at least we still have a vote, but maybe not for much longer.
Right on TC. They don't give a shit. Walking the dog this AM I had a perverse thought. All this drama about funding really is just a cover to delay the Voting Rights Act until the States have put their gerrymandering and restrictions in place. Color my nuts.
Morning Charlie. No one here plans on coloring you nuts or your nuts colored.
That is all the Repubs have since the 2020 results. Running out a clock. Too bad they have fallen for a digital clock instead of an atomic one.
A big gray squirrel just ran past my window with a bouquet of black walnuts. Color: green.
If you are you have lots of company Charlie. People fighting for the right to vote since we became a Nation and it’s as if we are asking for the very First time ? Which “ Includes The Damn Republicans ! “ Enter “ Cutting off you’re nose to spit you’re face “ here. There are about 400 Billionaires and Trillionaires . Where does that leave the majority of Republicans that believe them ? We know that some Democrats are also.If the Dems pulled this Crap I would be Done ! No one has the Right to take My Right or any Americans Right to Vote Away ! You are NOT Nuts nor either am I !
Hey, Charlie, nice comment, and that's a great expression. "Color my nuts!" I'd love to say that to some Trump fanatic, but it might get me into trouble. What does it mean? Anything to do with plastic "Truck Nuts", only 18.95 a pair from Amazon?
There's a great Eritrean restaurant in Tucson, one of my favorite US cities. Yes, I love to drive... Hmmm, $18.95 and free same day delivery. I'll have to think about it. Not sure how they would look on a Fiat Panda.
Whoops! Where's spellcheck when you really need it? "me" not "my".
😂🤣that’s hilarious. So glad David asked for clarification. I can’t stop laughing.
Well that's a hoot. I thought I was learning some new colorful southwestern jargon. Too bad...
😂 I knew what U meant cus I don’t have Nuts !
Yeah, I was wondering what color your nuts would prefer. ;-)
TFG likes his little white balls 😂.Er Nuts.Sorry Charlie. No wait. They don’t have Tuna in Az. Felt good to laugh for a change. Thanks.❤️
You can ask Amazon.
Laughing my nuts off.... :-D
😂
Well said, TC, not one word too few or too many.
Amen
I don't know why I thought reading Heather's letter at 2 something in the Godless morning would be a good idea for my sleeplessness. Oh, well, it's done now.
Seriously, it seems clear that most of the country is, as usual, unaware of what's really going on. We (I), tend to forget the rest of the country isn't as plugged into the socio-political chess game as this group is, which makes it so much more hard to understand. What seems so obvious to most of us is not even on most people's radar. Sad, but true.
I have never been more worried for the fate of this country.
And hey, Joe Manchin. When you find those 10 Republicans, maybe you can find me a unicorn. Always wanted one.
Thank you, Sandra, you might as well have been me writing, what you wrote is 100% how I feel: sleepless, totally hopeless that we are the only ones who actually know or care about what’s really happening in this country as everyone else slowly slips happily ever more completely into a GOP-trump-led dictatorship, ignorantly oblivious to it happening at all. Just take that Milley/Gaetz exchange, it is just totally unbelievably frustrating to me that someone of Milley’s military stature couldn’t quickly tell that little peon he has zero conception of reality, is a total mess and embarrassment to our Congress, can’t ever talk to an officer that way, and had better keep quiet. I guess now I too sound a bit like a dictator, but wow! What is happening in this country?
I’ve always wondered why someone in Milley’s position doesn’t talk back at these hearings. “Senator, if the withdrawal from Afghanistan is your idea of an unmitigated disaster, i hope you never see one. Meanwhile, I’ve been in uniform longer than you’ve been alive, and I don’t like the way you’re talking to me, and if you don’t change your tone, I’m going to talk to you in that same way. It will be a battle of wits, and I’ll let you draw first. Where we go from here is up to you, son.” For years, I have ended comments with, Pray for the joint chiefs. They are all we’ve got right now and they hate trump and his minions, and they’ve got plans A-F, at least. Meanwhile the dems talk too much. It is all hand-wringing and poll numbers, that we should pass a bill because 59% of Americans are in favor of it, or “the majority of the American people” blah, blah, blah as though Americans are some exotic race that live far, far away in a distant galaxy. (Of course, for much of Washington, they do.)
See my reply to Sharon. So agree!
Same, Sandra, same. And tomorrow I’m moving to the next frontier of Gilead, Florida, with my beloved but trumpite husband of 45yrs. When dt joined the GOP I left. I realize now that the party I thought I knew, my parents party of Eisenhower, had left me some time ago.
Oh no! The Eisenhower Republican Party was my parents as well.
My parents too, my Dad was a Republican election judge, fact chief judge. I miss him a great deal, we lost him at 93, in 2000. He would be a Republican today, In fact He had, had it with Reagan, but he couldn't stand Clinton behavior either. I don't know about Bush 1.
I reread what I wrote, that should be "wouldn't !! be a Republican today". Above all my Dad had a strong belief in honesty.
(you can ‘delete’ an entry and make any correction)
I do that with some frequency, often a stray thought after posting that I want to add. But it's so easy: 1) copy text from your post; 2) delete post; 3)initiate new post or reply and paste.
My mother’s younger brother was a lifelong Republican, active in politics until he became a judge. As far as I know, his first vote for a non-Republican was a choice for Joe Biden as Vice President rather than Sarah Palin.
Smart move on your uncle's part. Could you imagine Sarah Palin as president?
She was John McCain’s biggest mistake, he wanted Joe Lieberman but was talked out of it, just think about how much the world 🌎 would be different today if the 2 of them had been at the helm. Assad would be gone and there would be no Russians in Syria……
Exactly.
Mine, too.
Mine too. I wonder what they would be today.
I agree with you about the two am reading. It is as if my mind wakes up hoping that this next letter will give us the guide to maintain our Democracy. Yet they continue to be filled with truth. Sad hard truth
Here is a link to Heather's politics chat yesterday on Facebook. It is a bit more hopeful, I think: https://www.facebook.com/100044557238708/videos/3057637791180132
They were putting Porn up to distract her to throw her off. I couldn’t see it. But she was as we are all accustom to. Brilliant ,Knowledgeable and Professional . What a bunch of Low Life Jerks !
Second that about the unicorn. It’s so funny but I’m too concerned about this to even smile. Why isn’t Gaetz in jail yet?
My question too, he has hired a team of high powered sex crime lawyers....also, his "performance" in the hearings yesterday was a case study in arrogance and disrespect. As a Floridian, I wanted to slap him across his little punk face. He acted like an inexperienced, know-it-all adolescent lashing out at men eminently more accomplished than he will ever hope to be-- even if he takes courses in prison!!!! Such an out of control embarrassment. The mantel of Jim Jordan has fallen all over him!!! Shameful.
Keep in mind Gaetz doesn’t want to be a member of the Republican Party. He wants to be a leader in an extreme, controlling, white supremacy party where women are only used for sex. Empty Greene was the only woman he’s been seen with in the party and he’s pushed her to the side too. Who do we see him huddle with? Is he a participant in anything other than his own agenda?
He sounded like a petulant child when questions Milley.
They can’t arrest him soon enough.
It seems like not so long ago, both Republicans and Democrats would not have stood for a member of Congress to treat a General with such disrespect and rudeness. He should have been called down for it and the man who just wasted time talking about Newsmax should have been cut off. There should be fines or some consequence for disrupting a serious hearing.
Apparently the Rules of the Senate allow for all kinds of bad behavior without nary a consequence. If those of us out here in the “regular” work-a-day world behaved the way some of these egoists do, we’d be facing all kinds of discipline steps.
Or a pink slip and a swift kick out the door.
Yea exactly why isn’t he in jail, that insufferable SOB had the nerve to criticize a 4 star ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ General yesterday, he isn’t fit to lick the dog shit off the bottom of his shoe.
What surprised me was that our chairman of the joint chiefs didn’t walk up and physically rip his insufferable head off, I’m sure that there are plenty of officers and enlisted who have served under him that would be glad to do it for him.
Dick, I think all of us should send posters of Milley’s glare to that lil’ pissant’s office. I want Milley to haunt him forever and a day.
Yes, to the unicorn! :)
I almost never read the letter in la madrugada, (the time between midnight and dawn), anymore, it's generally too upsetting. Sleep is important.
I love that word— beautifully descriptive for that time. Kind of how I feel right now, Daria. I do no understand why we try to negotiate with seditionists. Heather's letter this morning makes it sound like we are just going to throw in the rope.
Why are democrats and progressives not standing up en masse, in front of these idiots and confronting them with their deceit against our country and our voting rights? What is the compound spanish word for goddamit?
The closest for dammit it I think is maldita sea. Maldición a means damn or curses. A lot of times on Spanish language tv when someone curses the Spanish caption on the screen will be: ¡Maldición!
I just wrote a response that was so clever--at least to myself. It had to do with the the English form of Maldicion: malediction. This has been cast/caste over this country since it's beginnings. Breakdown of word: male dic[k] ion. Then I went off on some tangent about "Dick" Dastardly's, "Curses! Foiled again!" This shortened version is probably better as I will not be incriminated about anything "dick" in reference to the Party of Sedition. Better to play it safe right now.
Thank you for some new words and the rabbit hole they brought this morning! Great dickstraction for a few moments. (Should I really press "post?"). Phenomenal men, be not offended!
Oh, brava my dear Penelope! Words are so much fun. I think you should win the Clever Commenter of The day award!
Yes, it is. And so is my sanity. As I consider moving...what's it like in the Yucatan?
I think I'd go to Iceland which treats women as equals. I'm in Texas now but lived in MA for a couple of decades. Quite angry about the abortion ban vigilante injustice law!
Iceland is a good alternative though, for some, perhaps prohibitively expensive. Also, it's worth checking into residency laws.
No, I'm not leaving Texas. Except for the politics I really am happy here. Might be fun to visit Iceland though.
I have a friend who was stationed in Iceland while in the Air Force. She loved it. I would very much like to visit there as well.
HOT much of the year but Yucatan state is safe, Mérida being one of the safest cities in the Americas. I would not recommend Quintana Roo, state, (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, etc.), higher violent crime and prices both driven by tourism.
We like it. If you're not into living in a restored colonial (or restoring a colonial) you can live well reasonably. We are not part of the expat party set so we don't spend much time hanging out in cantinas from early afternoon onwards. Like anywhere it is what you make of it.
Sounds delightful except for HOT. I doubt I could convince my wife to leave here, but it certainly sounds like a good option.
April & May are like hell on earth. Many people head elsewhere or to the beach. Malls, cinemas even the supermarkets are go to places for families who don't have any AC. Last year was particularly difficult because malls and cinemas were mostly shut due to Covid. Supermarkets only allowed one person from a family to enter. Still today smaller shops only allow one or two people in at a time. Masks are essential as is a temperature scan.
I want to know also.
See reply to Pam Peterson.
Same here. Even when it gets here by a reasonable hour. I like the quiet contemplation in the morning.
I spent the first year and one half doing one of two things – waiting for the Letter to show up (in Facebook prior to substack), OR waking up around 2:30 a.m. to read it. I finally decided that no sleep/fractured sleep, plus the anger and anxiety I was feeling was making me crazy and miserable. At about that same time, I pulled away from obsessively reading news for hours on end. I'm healthier for it.
I have quit posting almost all of the political things on my Facebook. I cannot let those friends I thought I knew who are so out there in Q land have rent free space in my head.
Same here. I am astounded by the number of 'friends I had who have gone over to the "QAnon" side.
I've scaled way back.
Arrgh, that happened to me, too. I went hunting for a few missing friends that FB algorithms unjoined and found them spouting all sorts of absurdities.
Caray! Sounds like it’s working. You sound healthy to me Daria. I’m building up my sleep this week to be clear eyed and enthusiastic for the Women’s March, this Saturday, October 2nd.
United! (and not exhausted). Love!
I love that your resting up for Saturday! ❤🌷.
United! Love!
It would be interesting to know what Manchins real motives are!!?,?…..
Like so many of his fellows, I fear Manchin is mostly looking out for Number One. "Peril" does show him being a bit more give-and-take than he appears from reports, and I realize a lot of what we see is merely Kabuki theater, but at day's end, it's all about self, power and money. At least, that would be my guess.
As much as I despise Manchurian, and I do, I also have to say something about the “moderate” Republicans. The voting rights bill that Manchurian put together and expects his R colleagues to support, have pretty much everything we need to save this country, including banning gerrymandering which is already in full swing. Why in the hell are not Romney, Collins, Murkowski and the other senators who can’t face Republican voters any more so are retiring supporting this? They are so afraid of Trump and his supporters that they quit, but even now can’t stand up to protect our vote.
Collins is a right-winger in all but name, and has been for a long time. Romney, like Liz Cheney, believes it's fine to suppress voting for the sake of Republican power - they simply draw the line at violent overthrow of the government. Murkowski is a more interesting question. I'm guessing she is not going to brave the storm without evidence that she will accomplish something worth the trouble.
Bought and paid for?
Here's some info on that: https://theintercept.com/2021/06/16/joe-manchin-leaked-billionaire-donors-no-labels/
Thanks Barbara. This spotlights the problem. It's a doozie.
Manchin has to be a Republican to maintain votes from the people of West Virginia a beautiful but terribly depressed state.
Agreed! Maybe running for POTUS and thinks he can pull some of dt’s base?
$$$$$$$$$ and protecting the ability to amass a lot more of it
Ahem, the fringe benefits of being a politician in today’s U.S. of A. !!!???……
Manchin is an experienced politician, and a very conservative Democrat. His revisions of the voting rights act, according to Marc Elias whose opinion on this I totally trust, improved the bill. He has gone out of his way to show his constituents that he is doing his job, and that he is trying to work with Republicans. After all that, there is a very good chance he would agree to a filibuster carve-out to pass his bill, once there are a full 50 senators on board to do it.
I'm much more worried about Sinema, who has openly been raising money from business groups that oppose raising taxes to pay for the Build Back Better act (and on the side would just as soon votes be suppressed so R's can win), while saying loudly that the bill must be paid for. Getting her vote for voting rights is going to be much harder. The R's would clearly reward her for helping them...
And who is Joe Manchin trying to impress??? Smdh every time I hear his name.
His donors.
Heather talks about how he delivers for his constituents, and how he does what so many members of Congress do not. Obviously he gets a lot of perks along the way.
While I disagree with Ramblin' Ric's blanket bitchin' (above) there is one behavior that the Repubs rely upon while Democrats can't seem to. It's GOO...Good Of the Organization, meaning they follow the leader regardless of the decision. They will come to a uniform agreement based on Daddy's decision (i.e. Trump or Mitch.) Thus, while Dems finesse and finagle, and often frustrate us, I wouldn't change the culture for a dime. Look at the depths of depravity the Repugs have fallen into, the utter abandonment of reason and compassion.
We all need to email Manchin and let him know that the current Republican group has not one desire to work with Democrats. He's not a miracle worker.
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post columnist, takes the MSM to task in her column yesterday. I heartily concur:
First, the media can stop enabling Republicans by retiring the pretense that the GOP is a normal, credible and patriotic party. Consider the framing of questions that so many in the White House press corps have adopted. If the president’s plans are so popular, why can’t he get Congress to go along? (Um, because they operate in the right-wing media bubble and fear his plans might deliver for ordinary Americans?) Why has the White House failed to get everyone vaccinated? (Because MAGA leaders are sabotaging vaccine mandates and right-wing media hosts shovel disinformation into their viewers’ laps?) Why is the president incapable of unifying the country? (Because Republicans refuse to put country above party?) The entire assumption that President Biden is a failure because he cannot get unreasonable Republicans to become rational is misguided.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/29/how-we-cope-with-deceitful-anti-democratic-party/
Totally agree, Sandra. I think of the Repubs right now as a meteor that appears bright and soaring through the sky, to its death.
We, on the other hand? Stars that can only shine in the darkness. And shine we will.
Absolutely AMEN!
It’s getting easier and easier to believe that the reason for the Dems behavior is because they don’t want these things to succeed either.
They’re not pure evil like the Repubs, but that doesn’t mean they want things to change from pre-2016.
That's not what's happening. Unfortunately, the Democrats believe in following the rules, and the rules they are following were written to run a congress with two parties equally committed to governing.
For those upset - and most of us are - now would be a good time to do some research to learn how the congress is set up to run. If you understand it, you'll be less upset with stuff you can't change and better able to focus on what you can do to help your representative get where we want them to go.
One of the big problems in this country is how few people (on both sides, sadly) know "How A Bill Becomes A Law" thanks to 50 years of "misedumacation reform" and the loss of High School Civics classes. It really is something to do because it allows you to see through the fog and focus on what's real.
I know how it’s run. They should have done more when they had the chances. (They’ve had multiple over the past 50 years).
To your point about loss of Civics, what have the dems done to reverse that? Nothing. That’s my point. They should have done something. Anything. Yet, they continue to “work with the Repubs “, when EVERYONE knows that fails. Every single time.
The loss of Civics classes rests with local school districts and their boards of education. Neither the Democratic or Republican Parties at the national level make decisions of this type. However, there may easily be partisan politics at the school district level.
Department of Education?
At a minimum it does have influence..
Ric, local Boards of Education not the Federal Department of Education. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/who-oversees-public-schools
This is a good review of how things work from top to bottom. In my district there are ongoing discussions regarding course offerings.
Absolutely right about they knew months ago and should have done something.
Any that’s just the one example. Pick any issue. What have they done? - At best, they’ve slowed things down.
TC, I trust that you are well-informed about these rules and so much more. Can you explain to me why the powers that be (Biden included) are not willing to either do away with the filibuster or make a “carve-out” for voting rights?
They have the attitude they do because they have been around long enough to know that no majority lasts forever, the day will come (sooner than expected) when you'll be in the minority and you'll need every weapon you can find. It's the cynicism of infantrymen who have assaulted the hill before.
OMG, TC, yes. Thank you.
Oh, “they” the Dems are only “somewhat evil”???? It’s this kind of reasoning that sounds like an excuse…one of many… that keeps the Republican voters able to turn a blind eye and continue to vote for weak and treasonous leaders.
It’s realistic - repubs want to destroy our democracy, the dems want to keep it. But they want it as-is (bad).
I disagree. At this point the R party is the party of death. I am sure some dopes like my rep Schrader wants to keep things as they are, but many do not including all the other D members of the Oregon delegation. This is the old all pols are corrupt. Our two senators from Oregon are not and neither are the other D reps.
I agree. I have Jayapal and she’s marvelous. Sadly, she’s the minority.
She’s not the only one.
There are many good ones (like in OR), but there are still too many bad ones.
The others need to be replaced or toes held to the fire to represent the people again.
The redistricting puts Schrader into another district. I can hope we have a good candidate. As it is now Clackastan (Clackamus County) is part of his district and I am sure that makes things more difficult. I have voted for him because he was running against such sterling/s candidates like Tootie Smith. Last election the Rs put up a Q person to run for the Senate.
Ric, have you not been paying attention? SERIOUSLY?!!?!??
Yes to both.
Dems are contributing to the decline through inaction or little action and have been for decades.
They have done good too, but not enough. I demand better.
Shush. Obv Dems will not take same road to keep Democracy.
We are the ones who elect them. It is up to US to run and vote for more candidates who give a damn. There are a great number of them, but we need more. Instead of falsely blaming the ones who are trying their hardest why don’t we talk to our neighbors about supporting the ones who are doing right by us.
We vote for them, but many believe they are off the hook and represent lobbyists, not the people.
That does not mean we should stop voting as you say. We must. But we must hold them accountable and they must be accountable.
The Dems have failed to stop the decline of our country for decades and currently have either not or are slowly moving.
Which ones do you want to hold accountable? Please give names and examples.
Democrats have been hamstrung by GOP and McConnell even when Obama was President. Imagine what could be done if he was gone. There’s not a single other GOP Senator that would be as effective.
The entire country should have gone berserk when McConnell stated during Obama and currently Biden's administration that he and the republicans would do nothing to pass any of their bills. Right there we failed our country to not make blatant, inexcusable obstruction a foul against a working democracy. And to let every elected official vote their constitutional conscience for the people, not for their effing "party."
Too many repubs to list.
As a Dem example, Pelosi should have gone hard for ALL impeachable offense. She didn’t, they were (more) emboldened and here we are.
No consequences, no punishment, just a free ride.
And it doesn’t matter how they’re blocked, they need to set an example.
(Like the 2x impeachments they did do, it’s not about the Senate won’t remove, it’s that they acted. The image it presented, etc.)
They should have done more.
Even now, so many offenses are being ignored.
Quite frankly, I don’t House Leader Nancy Pelosi’s name even coming out of your pen’s ink.
Shush.
Disagreeing with her impeachment strategy doesn’t make Democrats guilty of failing to stop the decline. Pelosi was trying to get something she thought Republicans would get on board with. No matter what she went with the Senate wouldn’t have agreed. I think her mistake was in not pushing the 2nd one through before Trump left office.
Once again I give most of the Oregon delegation more credit than this plus any number of other Ds in the Congress. Unfortunately, we have the EC which cost us the presidency twice. Then we have the grim reaper and the filibuster in the Senate and people like Manchin and Sinema holding things up. The real decline started with St Ray Gun and some of the problems we have now are his legacy and of course, Rs have worked to undermine the New Deal from day one. The current situation has been acerbated by the pandemic, climate change, and the horrible mess left by death star donny. Here in Oregon, we have had some bills to address climate change, for example, and the Rs walked out aided and abetted by Timber Unity, funded mostly by out of state money.
I have to ask what makes you believe that? What actions have they taken to stop voting rights and refuse to pass legislation that is good for the country? Yes, we have issues with Manchin and Sinema. There are progressives and moderates in the Democratic Party who’d like their ideas heard. How does that mean they don’t want change? I’ve watched many career Democrats move from stodgy old ways to changing for the better on so many things.
There are many good ones, it’s the others I’m talking about. There are several examples of where they’ve done good, but they haven’t done enough. They failed in that regard.
Precisely why I ask everyday why the Dems aren't acting with urgency. Why not pursue getting DC statehood ( hello! Another 2 Dem Senators!) What about Puerto Rico or USVI Statehood if they vote for it? And why doesn't Biden increase SCOTUS seats? Aren't these low hanging fruit for Dems?
Any why is Garland still AG? What’s he done regarding anything?
Dejoy? wth?
FBI? Wray is guilty as hell!
Along with your examples, wtaf??
Well, Ric, I do have to agree with you on Dejoy. So do the postal workers and carriers I know. Good friends and honest people. They are at a loss to explain it.
But I didn't heart you because you have almost everything else wrong.. .
It's my understanding that Pres Biden asked for De Joy to resign, as is customary to replace select department heads within a new administration. DeJoy refused. That's a new one to me, but a Trump tactic, nonetheless. I'm not sure what can be done, but I also wonder WTF!
I was curious about this and found this article, which explains it well: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/biden-cannot-fire-usps-louis-dejoy.html
Thank you Hope. These people learned well from their master, the donnyatollah.
Well, Sinema and Manchin anyway.
Seriously?!
Just wondering - why do there seem to be no left-wing media hosts, especially now when they're so sorely needed?
I just feel overwhelmed by the train wreck we are witnessing in real time. I watched a little of the Senate hearings and of course the republicans tried to eviscerate Milley under the guise of "finding the truth" about his call to China and Afghanistan withdrawal. The call to his Chinese counterpart was done after he notified his chain of command and there were 8 people in the room! Pompeo has lied like a rug about his "not knowing".
Hitchcock could not have written a bigger psychological nightmare than what is transpiring in front of our eyes. A former boss told me at the beginning of my career (40 years ago) to keep one thing in mind "the masses are asses" but it still amazes me that evil and ignorance appeals to so many people; and it has throughout history.
I recall years ago watching television reporting from Moscow and was struck by the visual of the streets filled with people just going about their business, the busses and cars were in traffic, there was an air of activity, etc. - a sense of normality-as it would look in any U.S. city. They live in a repressive dictatorship with tremendous inequities (economic and political) but go about with daily life as best they can and "accept" that is the way it is and nothing can be done. And, truth be told, rebellion is often met with punishment or death so at some point self preservation (and what might be seen as complacency) becomes the norm.
I often feel that is where we are now . . . we are shouting into the wind as the bold face lies of those who are evil take us down by cutting to our core and blatantly repressing voting rights. Russia and China never had to fire a single shot.
Professor Timothy Snyder is posting, on his Substack page, two videos a week on the twenty lessons from his pamphlet, “On Tyranny”. The lessons will focus on current circumstances and what we can do. Subscription rate $5/month. Girding my loins!
I am familiar with Tim Snyder’s books, which are excellent. I trust his judgment as well as those of Anne Applebaum. They are experts on ‘tyranny.’
Ok. Thank you. Will watch because although I have read the book, I will love the background.
Thanks for the heads up.
“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
― George Orwell, 1984
I don’t see happiness among the trump followers, except when it comes from other sources. The authoRitarian party stokes grievance, fear, rage for the sake of its power, not for anyone’s happiness. You might as well say they keep their followers from the covid vaccine to improve their health.
Ah, but we all have the capacity to choose both freedom and happiness.
How do we define 'happiness'? For me, it is inseparable from freedom.
Yes, so true in reality!
What about responsibility?
We went to Russia in December of 1998 to adopt our daughter. It remains one of the most frightening time I have ever experienced. She was born in Chita, a six hour flight to southern Siberia. Every movement we made was accompanied by a minimum of two people. No one was nice or friendly or kind. We were told what to do and how to act, how to dress. We had to pack out suitcases with bribes for officials everywhere we went. The people in Chita were suffering greatly and they could do nothing. It was -50 and people were living in tiny worn down shacks with only a small fire for warmth. In out motel, they would turn off the heat at regular intervals at least every hour. In Moscow, there were armed guards throughout our hotel and we were questioned and watched if we tried to leave to buy supplies for our daughter.
That sounds just awful.
Terrifying and horrifying.
Yes, it is so insane where we are at. And if It this goes the direction we all fear, many Americans will find they are not able to just move to another country, work, and live, etc.
Funny , I just posted something similar to you. Some days I wonder if the show “ Twilight Zone “ was real.
Oh, it was real! 😂
😂Damn Janet. I really wanted you to lie to me and tell me I’m imagining all this .You know,that Alternative Reality . Boy Kelly Ann wasn’t kidding was she ! My nightmares are having nightmares !
I hear ya!
Apropos Matt G. and the other REPS who berated Gen. Milley and called for his resignation: Liz Cheney called this behavior "despicable" and apologized to the general in the name of the House. Not that her gesture changed any of that outrageous behavior, but it should at least be mentioned.
You're so right. I saw on the video that Rep. Houlahan of Pennsylvania, who followed Rep. Gaetz in asking questions, began by apologizing to the General for her colleague's behavior
Thank you, Mitchell.
Love the Florida lifestyle but the politics…ugh. I’m in a red county but at least Gaetz is far away..
Very interesting ,short read on why Biden was in a hurry to get out of Afghanistan.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/biden-afghanistan-exit-troops-milley.html
Suzanne, I just made the switcheroo (Indie to Dem) after joining here with all these learned peeps:)
Welcome, Kathy! I did the same thing, sometime early in the pandemic. Lifelong Indie, but it looked like the Dems were going to need a hand.... and it still feels good.
Yes, this place is crawling with Learned Ones. They gather here and bring their perspicuity with them! I, as a life-long student of life, am just gobsmacked. Like a sand flea upon finding a whole desert... So, fellow student, I'm glad to be in class with a new Democrat!
Perspicuity - love that word and perfectly used! Color me gobsmacked as well!
Yes, thank you. Any adult in the room would have been disgusted with Gaetz's behavior. Disrespectful grandstanding. Gives Florida an even worse reputation than we already have!
Moving to the Tampa area today, will change my voter registration, which I stated at the DMV with my trumpite husband standing over me, as Independent, to Proud Democrat. I’ll try to help!
Welcome, Suzanne!
It takes guts to even make it official in R country. We'll take ya!
Thx! Good GOP wife for 40yrs, gave up the party (but not the beloved trumpite husband) when dt came down that damned escalator. With every revelation, especially the mockery of the disabled reporter, I thought my spouse would see dt’s true colors. We rarely know what we mean when we say, “for better or for worse…”
I'm sure he has some good qualities. The husband, that is! There are none to be found in dt I'm afraid....
Thank you!
Thanks, and just to prepare you.....you are going to see huge Trump signs in fields and other upsetting stuff on the outskirts of Tampa.
Yes, I’ve seen them on all the trips to visit our son, especially from Jacksonville to Ocala on 301, some quite vulgar about President Biden. Smdh
Yeah, Goetz and Jordan, et.al, have neither self respect, respect for the historical office they are so privileged to hold, or respect for the people who entrusted them to represent them. They are not worthy to stare up into the rotunda as tourists.
I get frustrated that only on rare occasions do commentators mention the dark money men who are giving the orders. Does anyone really believe that McConnell -- or any of the GOP--would do anything without marching orders from Charlie Koch or any of his ilk? I so much want to say to myself and others, "Cool down, take a breath, it's just politics.". The problem is, for all it's flaws, I love this country and what it represents to mankind. Never has a country represented freedom in the way the U. S. has done. It really has given hope to millions of people around the world that life could get better, that there is a reason to hope. I want that to continue. And it appears the billionaires, in conjunction with their GOP minions, want it to end. Ii is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this is happening in the same lifetime that saw JFK, RFK, and Dr. King inspire us as a people. We still have so much potential as a people. And yet, we appear to be readying ourselves to slip into the deep oceans of historical memory. To become a place of myth and in myth, like Atlantis or Camelot. Who says there's no such thing as satan? Satan is the voice of greed and lust for power and the belief that "We are great" and "The people who disagree and oppose us are not great because it's their fault we aren't greater still. They are the enemies of our greatness.". Satan, in other words, is the voice of arrogance, the voice of evil, the voice of disunity. God, on the other hand, us the Voice of conscience and compassion, the Voice of wisdom and unity. Just when many people think we have transcended religion, we ourselves have become the embodiments of religious principles, light and dark, good and evil, wisdom and ignorance. I'm still praying that the Good will prove "wiser than the serpent "
" Ii [sic] is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this is happening in the same lifetime that saw JFK, RFK, and Dr. King inspire us as a people."
Kenrick, those three, and others, were murdered precisely because they dared to inspire us to strive for universal equality, conscience and compassion. The right has never aspired to those goals and will do anything in their power to make sure they are never realised. Today, I am more afraid and apprehensive than ever.
Excellent point, Daria! Thank you.
Kenrick, in one of my walks through reading in my now longish life I came across the complete writings of Athanasius. Athanasius "led" the fourth century Conference of Nicaea where the "Nicene creed" was written which includes a definition of Christ (father, son and holy ghost). Much of the Bible was assembled (with the conference opposed to the Gnostic gospel content).
Athanasius was, really, one of the earliest "Fathers of Christianity".
At any rate, he wrote an lengthy treatise on "evil". When I read it I was stunned. Having spent a fair bit of time in Baptist church in rural East Texas as a kid and teenager I had heard a great deal about "Satan".
But, in Athanasius treatise, he never mentions "Satan". Athanasius defines "evil" as the CHOICE each individual has between the "high" road and the "low" road.
Yep, one of the greatest minds of the Conference of Nicaea indicates that nobody external to us calls us into evil.
We.....just.....choose.....evil. Or not, depending on your choices or mine.
Makes sense to me. I have not been down much of the "evil" path, but, those times where I did do a mild trespass, well, seems like it was all me and no Satan.
Mike S., that is still the definition of sin in many spiritual disciplines. Some call it 'greater or lesser intention', some call it the 'high road' and 'low road', but it's all the same idea. A dear friend of mine is an atheist and was often queried in a forum we were both in, if she doesn't believe in God, what's to keep her from murdering someone? And she just said, "Because I don't want to." The idea that we have to believe in a deity in order to have a moral compass is one of the biggest cons of all time, IMO. I'm not knocking anyone who does, but I'm saying it's not a prerequisite to living a moral life.
If we all just lived according to what Christians call The Golden Rule, 'nuff said.
Love that, "Because I don't want to." And that's my Creed—The Golden Rule. You don't need fat books and funding and kissing the rings of those of the Golden Goblets if you just follow that simple Creed, Do Unto Others. The repubs' creed--- just the golden toilet seat throne and ring and a rusty screw you to everyone else, including the earth. I am feeling rather feisty this morning though it was hard to awaken from my la madrugada. (thanks for that, Daria!)
There are so many fetching signs I want to make for Oct. 2nd March about our collective rage. Does anyone have a really good idea for a sign that covers The Party of Sedition's evil succinctly?
“Stars cannot shine without darkness. We are shining brightly today.”
Love that. We need to poke more holes in the sky blanket to let the light shine brighter...or maybe, we need to believe in how bright each of us is if we let our lights shine! Thanks, Christine, I love how we hold one another up here...
“As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Love and Light!
Well, all that Satan stuff in my head when I went to college probably did not hurt. I never drank alcohol so my grades were (too high). However, alas, girls (women today) definitely had deleterious impacts on my high or low road. Try as I might for the high road.
:-)
Great point, Mike. Wish I had time to read Athanasius. But I would respond that “satan” is the word we use to indicate the impulse within us which is inclined to choose the low road. It is no more an external force than God, the Good is. It is embedded in our hunanity.
Give me a Gnostic gospel any day. Elaine Pagels is one of my favorite authors.
Mine too....
Mike, on a side note, Athanasius is also remembered as a patriot in Egypt, one who was sent into exile repeatedly but managed to outlive and outlast the various political & church leaders who banished him. Maybe there is an additional lesson here?
https://holybooks.com/nicene-and-post-nicene-fathers-of-the-christian-church/
of you are interested in the compendium of works that the fourth century "Fathers" wrote well here they are. Hard to find now.
How funny to think that humans have transcended religion. I daresay the GOP, with all their claims of following Christianity, have proven conclusively otherwise.
Beautifully said, Kendrick! You hit the heart of it, I think, when you talked about how America, at her best, has been a beacon of hope. Many people forget, or don't think about, the fact that, unlike other countries, other world leaders of the past, America wasn't created as the result of centuries of wars driven by religion or territorial conquest, etc. America is/was and idea, a concept made material, made physical, out of whole cloth.
At our worst, we are greedy, brutal, petty and arrogant, but boy, you can't beat us when we're at our best! That's the America I was raised to love and believe in and by God, I want it back! "I want my country back!" (to borrow a slogan).
I have to politely disagree with you, Sandra. Our country was founded upon the genocide of our native people, and slavery to build our riches on their backs. I love our country, but I am always mindful that we have always cast a very dark shadow in our birth. And that shadow is very large at this moment. There is no balance of yin/yank— I mean yang, Freudian slip! However, it is the IDEA of our Great Experiment that many of us take to heart today that shines the light ahead. Hope of Hope we know how to quell this coup on by shining our collective Light on that darkness of those who know not what they do.
Unfortunately we’ve sat back over the last 50 years and allowed those “ At our worst, we are greedy, brutal, petty and arrogant” to appoint the judges and obstruct anything and everything those “at our best” try to accomplish. We let our guard down once we had a glimmer of voting rights. We believed we had turned the corner on racism. We lit a fire back then with JFK, RFK and MLK… but the fire we lit was under the worst of us. They came together stealthy and now their plan is coming to fruition. Scary to think where we will be in 10 years.
Your analogy reminds me that the amygdala is referred to as “ the lizard brain”. It’s not too far from a lizard to a snake. You are on to something
Amen
Our government is careening toward one party rule… In a breathtakingly short amount of time will we will be Poland and our democracy will be dead. Reviving it will be too difficult because by then the power will all be in the hands of a few megalomaniacs who could care less about their people. We are following a well worn path: ignore the flashing red all around us because we’re busy trying to work and live, then suddenly one day we’ll wake up and all that we have taken for granted and held as a fundamental right is gone. Think of every single country that has fallen to a dictator, even the Nazis ruse to power—citizens kept thinking “This can’t get any worse!“ And yet it did, inexorably, until it was too late. Extreme times call for bold responses; the Democrats need to kill the first filibuster today.
Yes, they should but they don't have the cojones as they say down here in the Free Republic of Baja.
"They demanded that Milley resign. Gaetz repeatedly interrupted and berated the general, who has served the United States in uniform for more than 40 years".
Dr. Richardson, first, I have no idea how you are so able to keep up with all the happenings you write down each day. I read much of the NY Times every day, and, would not know 80% of what is going on without your writings. Thank you.
Second, "They demanded that Milley resign. Gaetz repeatedly interrupted and berated the general, who has served the United States in uniform for more than 40 years."
Matt Gaetz knows that Republicans, like moths to a light at night, are attracted to:
1) Men who abuse and berate women.
2) Men who abuse and berate men.
Hence, the rise of Trump, who treats everyone poorly.
Just like Gaetz.
Like moths to a big, bright, security light up on a hill.
I have no idea what evolutionary process occurred to select for people like this and throw organize them into "Republicans".
I just can see that it has happened.
Hence, in my language with some Republicans, I insult them and berate them.
They respect this. Amazing, really.
I find that individuals like Gaetz, Taylor-Greene, and Madison Cawthorne resort to tactics of bullying, intimidation, name calling - because they have no intellectual backing or verbal ability to actually say something constructive or meaningful. I don’t mean education in the form of a degree from a fancy school (consider Josh Hawley and that gem Ted Cruz). I don’t see how ANY member of the military (active, retired, now in civil service, in the private sector - ANY member) can support someone like Gaetz. Nothing more than a punk claiming that the high school principal sucks.
You are right. It's all drama (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle). No substance behind it. I think in Texas they say "All hat, no cattle".
You left incredulity assumes that the military is made up of rational, principled volunteers rather than a body of people in large part coerced into service by propaganda and lack of other alternatives.
Sorry - “your incredulity”
I’m responding to the incredulity that “ANY member” of the military would support someone like Gaetz. You have reframed my comment “at the General Officer level” to make me say something I did not. But If you are blind to the economic and social pressures filling the ranks of our “volunteer” military then we probably won’t see eye to eye in any case.
Like seeks like.
Isn't the game that McConnell and his tidy band of followers are playing clear to everyone? The Democrats will be responsible and give Republicans what they want at the last minute to prevent an irresponsible shut down. Republicans will assert their power and dominance to show they have it, that they "own the libs" -- rather that they own the government and the American people -- and revel in their ability to call all the shots, because that -- not running the country -- is all that matters now. So rather than have a functioning government, they play around with serious matters lightly, as bullies will, and can stand proudly and crow about winning the game.
I may be too depressed and pessimistic anymore to read the news. Just as I was when Trump got elected and reignited with flame throwers the slide into authoritarianism. The constant reminders of the 10 year rise to power of Hitler are absolutely chilling.
I've found it difficult to fully read Heather's posts the last few days because I start feeling so dismayed.
For the first time I am also feeling that way; it is so easy to go on with my pre Trump life. But then I make my bed and my coffee and settle in for the most important LLAA and that girds me for what is to come in the days goings on. Better to have information than to live in denial.
Your last statement, Kathy, says a lot. I agree.
I agree, and will still spend a part of each morning reading the letters.
Day's
Pickleball and golf!! Hitting a ball may not change anything but the serotonin that is generated definitely helps!
It's making art that helps me get through!
I have zero (painting) artistic ability so I have started a a couple fairly involved paint-by numbers that will go to my African grandchildren. It is actually very cathartic even though I messed up a small section. . . I call that my Van Gogh time period :) :)
It honestly makes me ill.
I’d like to see a poll about how many believe exactly this (of just dems). I bet it’s 80% or higher.
Dems have needed to step up and change their game since 1980’s and haven’t yet.
Did you miss the part about the RNC going to Budapest? The “Dems”, as you haughtily have named them are all that is currently keeping us from being a fascist oligarchy. Unless you want to live in a country like Russia you might want to figure out what you can possibly do to support the Democratic Party
My bet is that you need to go hide under your toadstool.
troll
I'm right there with you.
travesty or charade?
Get the business done or we are lost.
Resolution of the apparent disarray...who are we in this season of strife?
A nation gerrymandered or righted by the rule of our laws?
Blessings upon us all.
Righted by the Rule of Our Good Laws!!!!
So no good news and possible disaster and failure on the horizon. The rest of the country is worried about Britney Spears or whether Tom Brady and belichek will hug before Sunday’s game.
Personally, I am praying 🙏 that the good guys win and our nation is saved, everyday it seems as if the deck is stacked against us.
Play hardball with the republicans, democrats!!!
I’m not sure if any *actual* legislators read your Letters, Heather.
IF THEY DO, then I hope they pay attention or their handlers do and they go back to their people and kick their ass.
What a joke that Biden and his agenda can be bitch-slapped around and get nothing done.
Again, it’s about public perceptions and getting out there. The debt-ceiling is totally-tied to Trump and his Republicans raising our debt by nearly 20% by himself!
Raising the debt ceiling to pay for it should be a slam-dunk if properly presented, but I hear nothing. Where are the spin-doctors for the reality of the world?
Maybe the public is numb, but if that is the case, why is a 3.5T deal any worse that the 7.8 in tax breaks? Oh yea, messaging! Figure it out, Dems.
Alan, I think Biden and centrist DEMs are still longing for bipartisanship. It is pathetic.
What is pathetic is that a government built on the concept of two party bipartisanship has to “long for it” now after a 4 yr stint of ruthless pursuit of and a taste for autocracy. The question is how is it that the Republican Party longs for an autocracy so blatantly? Disgusting.
Yes, what the GOP longs for is way beyond pathetic.
Hardly ‘longing”.They know the game well.Wouldn’t they have to be dumb as a stump not to know their personal bread depends on Manchin’s and McConnell’s success in stopping the Reconciliation Bill? This is a stark battle between corporatists and the people. This is class warfare.
There is nothing as pathetic as the electorate that won’t vote the people into power that will work for them. Voters need to step up and vote for the most progressive candidate that can win. We’re on the brink of losing our democracy because so many who profess to care about people and the environment turned their noses up to voting for Hillary Clinton. Sick and tired of people who can’t own their own 💩
Christy, with one or two small exceptions, I support all progressive causes. I still don't like either Bill or Hillary, but I voted for both of them without hesitation, given the GOP alternatives. I also did not want Joe Biden as President, but I enthusiastically voted for him, too. With the possible exception of Obama, an amazing individual and hope-inspiring candidate who was a bit of a disappointment as President because he was obstructed (because he was Black) at every turn, I have always felt I had to vote for the lesser of evils. People really do need to vote, and then non-violently hit the streets when the voting is not enough.
That's where we are now, even though our fearless leaders cannot seem to wrap their heads around it. The Right has already figured this out in their own sleazy, unconstitutional way.
Great to hear you enthusiastically supported Biden. There’s another thread on here today about the 40% of the electorate that are registered to vote as independents. The Republicans excel to a great fault of never attacking their own. With 40% of us perhaps “leaning” one way or the other, maybe at this critical juncture, with democracy hanging by a thread, those of us with hearts that bled might want to embrace the Democratic Party as enthusiastically as possible. Enthusiasm is contagious.
If we can get through the midterms with 50 sure DEM votes in the Senate, a margin of about 10 votes in the House, and trials underway for Tump and company, we may be able to dodge this Fascist bullet, but Biden will have to do a better job of selling his program to the country, and the GOP has to be raked over the coals daily. It is obscene that punk GOP Senators could mistreat Gen Milley that way without any serious consequences. The mainstream media is failing in its responsibilities too. The Independents must be aroused from their collective slumber.
Biden's program is already "sold" to the country, with strong approval ratings even among Republicans. The blockade is those "punk GOP Senators" plus two punk Dem Senators. I agree that the treatment of Gen. Milley by several of those punk GOP Senators is inexcusable.
I feel strongly that all of us need to use our voices to support Biden. That single human being has a freaking plate full. There are so many voices here that excel in clear communication. I hope everyone is doing what they can to be heard in less friendly spaces. It’s hard for me but I am pushing myself instead of seeing it as someone else’s job to do.
"There is nothing as pathetic as the electorate that won’t vote the people into power that will work for them."
This, Christy. This.
I think you are correct sir. Which is like holding out hope that a certain faction from WWII might find their humanity and save/not hurt another certain faction. Why do we expect a duck to not just keep quacking like one? Waste. Of. Time.
They need, with all due respect, to get over themselves.
Why would any "real" legislators be expected to read and listen to anything beyond the borders of the District of Columbia? They're too busy worshiping the sound of their own voices.
And the lobbyists who donate the biggest chunk of change.
I can't shake the sinking feeling that we will end up similar to Turkey. It didn't take long for them to backslide. Manchin knows there aren't 10 Republicans that would vote to make elections fairer. I have no idea why he pretends otherwise. I had no hope after Jan 6 and it's becoming more obvious to people by the day. When someone like HCR asks "Once installed in power, will this particular incarnation of the Republican Party ever again permit a Democratic victory?" all is lost.
Sadly, it seems Manchin’s true colors are those of an obstructionist Republican, playing to ensuring the success of Mitch McConell’s power plays. A Senator who would not relinquish control of, or profits from, his zillionaire coal trading firm while in office. The D on his party affiliation is fiction that is indulged by the D-party only because of a worse fate, it is the last scrap of maintaining a Senate “majority.” The two-party system in the US was not written into the constitution nor the Declaration of Independence; it is past time to find some alternative that is not in the thrall of big, dark-money control. But that will be a goal for the next 40 years to dig out from, as Mitch has won his game, it seems. Notice how he seems to still smile? Who can smile in these times?
I wonder what Manchin thinks he will gain after our democracy is over.
Marcy, I wonder that about all of them. Just like the Big Money people who can only see dollar signs, are fine with raping the environment for a buck, fine with crushing their workers to add a few dollars to the P&L, etc. As the bumper sticker says, "There is no Planet B", so once they've trashed this one for fun and profit, where the hell do they plan to go hide????
Our species is hardwired to look at the immediate situation first and foremost; I get that. But we now have a prefrontal cortex, folks - USE IT. We can plan, we can aspire, we can improve our lives and the lives of our fellows!! Get with it!
His corporate donors will continue to reward him. His wife's attachments to Big Pharma will continue to reward them.
Isn’t his daughter in the med device industry?
Senator Sinema has been bought by the lobbyists from her fundraiser last week. She is immature and is letting power and money go to her head. As one commentator put, she is a free radical and who knows what she'll do. Senator Manchem is a known quantity from a very Trumpian state and will come around. This is convincing me that the culprit here is dark money and we need to get rid of money in politics starting with Citizens United. Money is not free speech. Money is legalized bribery. Senators like McConnell and Sinema can and are being bought.
Cathy, I disagree about immaturity and power going to her head. I believe power and, eventually money, went to her head years ago, purposely sought by an egotistic individual who has sought during those years to gain power to feed her ego. Did you read this article I posted from The Atlantic a few days ago? Once I read about her purposeful path to power, I could see that she'll continue to pursue the path that brings her the most power and money with no thought for taking positions to best help her constituents or fellow Americans. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/03/will-kyrsten-sinema-change-her-mind/618228/
Judith, There was a lot of criticism on Senator Sinema last night on MSNBC. People that were know how the Senate works are rather appalled at her flippancy ("I'm standing at the elevator.") and her silence over stating what she wants to see happen. And having a fund raiser with six lobbyists who oppose the infrastructure bill this past week all seem to be red flags. Call it immaturity or eccentricity (the Atlantic's word for her) it all amounts to the same thing -- one junior senator having the power to tank President Biden's whole agenda.
Yes, ego and money are her gods. Pride and Greed. She's the living incarnation of our broken government right now.
Your final paragraph, and final sentence, say it all.
(Sweden)
Seems the US will learn that "9/11" was not first in the US, it was in Chile. And that a 60% majority cannot do what it wants, if the 40% minority has the right friends.
For all of us, these next two weeks are going to require nerves of steel. It's obvious that the votes are not there for everything that the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party have their heart set on accomplishing because they don't have the votes. The hard part of being in a democracy that utilizes representative government to express the popular will is having to accept the fact that there are times that the vote you need just are there. We live in a constitutional republic that has essentially live with the same set of rules that were adopted 234 years ago, a governmental system that served us well until about the year 2000, when things started to go off the rails. If we lived in a parliamentary democracy like Great Britain or Israel, we would be having snap elections every six weeks. We have two houses of the legislature, the lower house, the House of Representatives, which is directly elected by the people in single-member districts based upon population apportionments determined by the decennial census. The upper house, the Senate, represents the States, which, until 1916, was populated with senators who were appointed by their respective state legislatures. After 1916, senators were popularly elected, with each state becoming a single election district. Representatives have two-year terms of office, the intent being that Representatives would be closest to the popular will as evidenced by public opinion during each election cycle. Senators serve six-year terms, on the notion that the Senate would be the ultimate repository of learned experience, institutional stability, and continuity. One-third of the Senate's membership stands for election during each two-year election cycle. The bottom line is that we have to live with what we have wrought over the past several decades a process that will take almost as many election cycles in the future to undo the damage that has been done to the institutions of Government by a rogue Republican Party, in concert with Dark Money interests, and fueled by its current leadership that has rejected democracy itself as the fulcrum on which both Government, and Governance has turned so far.
Progressives are apoplectic that now they are in nominal control of Congress, they cannot exert their will to right the ship of State. I sympathize. But, given that the odds of success against them, betting the whole of our future on trying to get President Biden's legislative program enacted this year, doubling down on their bet on succeeding this year would seem to be, in the language of statisticians and prognosticators, a Six Sigma Event, meeting six standard deviations to the right of the zero point on any probability distribution. In the language of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, this would be the blackest of 'Black Swans'. It was bound to happen that someone like Senators Joe Manchin and Kyristen Sinema would stand up to object to the president's plan, modest as it is when compared to the actual need for public spending and improvements over the next decade if United States is to remain competitive in the world, and we can slow down and ameliorate climate change.
The fact is that the Republican Party has been waging war against American democracy since the administrations of Jimmy Carter and those that followed him. Their long game has paid off in ways that we now see, like compound interest accruing on a long-term debt. We may be in for a long rough ride before this is over; what is going to take the unwavering commitment of American patriots in order to turn things around. In the words of Winston Churchill, commenting upon the entry into World War II by the Roosevelt administration, that was not the beginning of the end of fascism and totalitarianism in the world; rather, Churchill referred to that infusion of hope and resolution in December and January 1941 into 1942, as 'The End of the Beginning'. These are not easy words to write, and our times are parlous. An aroused citizenry is the best hope that we have for getting through this thing with any semblance of what we had before. But the forces of nihilism are strong, and holding things together and putting faith back into our institutions is something that we need to relearn. The two years that followed the Pearl Harbor attack were exceptionally difficult for people who are used to success. We wanted to believe the patriotic-themed Hollywood productions — 'Casablanca', and all the other sugarcoated nonsense that the public wanted to believe was happening, because America believes in advertising and marketing, instead of the 'blood, toil, tears, and sweat' that Winston Churchill promise the British public on that day in May, 1940, when he became Prime Minister of the British War Cabinet. We like to think of those who fought in that war as the Greatest Generation. The parents of my generation didn't call it that: war was a bitter and excruciatingly painful enterprise, so much so, that many combat veterans refuse to talk about their experiences in the years immediately following the war, and only afterward when they tell their stories when the numbness and the pain in their hearts and brains had subsided. What they had though, was a faith in America, and her example to the world, despite racial segregation and unremitting poverty and destitution that the War Years after the depression had not yet alleviated.
Today we have a different America, a much more vibrant and diverse one; but one that is chained itself to social media and the opportunity to bicker and criticize everything and everyone inside who doesn't agree with our particular opinions. Our response to the coronavirus is probably far worse than we had a right to expect of ourselves, given our prowess in medical science and epidemiology. Instead, we find ourselves hamstrung by willful and ignorant minority whose rejection of reality and science borders on the ludicrous. We had the selfsame people in World War II, but they were stuck in the Ozarks, or wherever they happen to be, and they didn't have the megaphone and access to worldwide communication that the followers of Donald Trump enjoyed today. In World War II, Fox news would've been shut down in a minute, given the treasonous and seditious poison that their followers feed on constantly. The idea, that just now, we are coming around to the notion that coronavirus immunizations should be made mandatory in the workplace and in the public square would have been fully in place in the World War II era not later than June 1942, had the coronavirus appeared then. Those of us who follow the histories of the war will remember that London was under constant aerial bombardment from November 1940 through March and into April, 1941, just-in-time for the military defeats that they suffered in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In the first six months of 1942, Japan overran all of Southeast Asia, and allied military leaders at the time believed that we would still be at war as late as 1948 to get back to where we were in 1941. Regardless, however, the American people did not waver, and we saw our way through those difficulties, even in the states of the former Confederacy, where the Civil War was still living memory. What we have instead, are the politics of resentment on the part of EVERYBODY, with the leadership of the Republican Party being the high priests of high dudgeon and indignation that the American people would want back much of the wealth that they had stolen since the election of George W. Bush. Yes, that happened; and it continues to happen. But we need to find a way to pull together and put aside our differences, and renew our commitment to the common good, because that is the only way were going to pull ourselves out of the ditch that we're in. It's time to stop being crybabies over stuff that we can't do anything about, at least right now, and start mending fences with people of goodwill whose accents may be different, who may like pickup trucks and beer instead of brie cheese and Chardonnay, who wear cowboy boots and big floppy hats, and who have fun displaying a whole lot of attitude. I'm not partial to one side of the other, and I enjoy both. I have lived or traveled in 38 of the 50 states, including five years in our nation's capital; I live in California, which may also be the most diverse state in the Union, entirely apart from epitomizing the liberal agenda. I'm sick of the know nothing-ism of the liberal Left, just as much is the myopia of the rural Right, but I can live with it, and make friends where I find them, and allies where I can do so. These people didn't go off the rails on their own initiative; they had a lot of help from the moneyed people who hide their wealth overseas, and pander to willing sycophants, whether at Fox News, or elsewhere. They're hurting; and they don't know why. They are enduring death and disease of unparalleled numbers that have not been seen since the middle of the 19th Century, when great cities grew up without sanitation or clean water. We need to learn to trust one another again, as I say earlier, because without trust the whole enterprise is lost.
Self preservation taught me to not trust a liar a very long time ago. That will not change. We won’t have trust as long as we elect liars to the highest offices in the land.
Well said, Christy. Along with trust, we need more empathy for those who are suffering, and maybe for those who are represented by the heartless, spineless rethuglicans.
I also like a lot of what you say, but I draw the line where people feel superior to others and seek to harm them. Fascists, bullies and terrorists cannot/do not negotiate. And for the past five years I have tried to communicate with those who have been brainwashed by The Party of Sedition. It is nigh well impossible. Your idea would work if authoritarianism, nazism/fascism and all the refugees fleeing them was not rising all around the world—funded by an unimaginable dark wealth. We don't really have time anymore to do your "get along, go along" with 30% of this country who are whipped up, locked and loaded. I live across the road from a family who feel superior and entitled, armed. Good effing luck. They do not forgive and they love vengeance. We do not have time to de-program the cult of white rage fearing America truly becoming equal with all our people. The confederate south, and worse, has risen.
What are we going to be forced to do?
You do what you can.
Arthur, I like a lot of what you have to say and wish that we could find some way for left and right to bury the hatchet -- or at least give it a rest -- but both sides sense that a moment is coming when our country will either go very far right or very far left, and fear is loose in the land.
Fear is probably the strongest emotion people experience; it is instinctive and has allowed our species to survive, then thrive until we dominate the planet and find ourselves responsible for keeping it livable. No one is immune to fear, but some people are better than others at directing to into useful acts as opposed to destructive acts.
While the greatest danger to the human species, right now and for the foreseeable future, is climate change -- which should scare all of us -- we are expending enormous fear-filled energy on ideological and cultural differences and divisions, refighting old wars, imagining moral weaknesses in the "other", and demonizing fellow citizens whom we see as enemies and imbeciles. I know I do it, too, as it makes me feel (stupidly?) as if I am contributing to a useful debate. There is nothing like a clever insult or a retort informed by hard, indisputable facts to give people a sense of somehow controlling their own destinies, even though we know our destinies are largely in the hands of the politicians we elect, who are themselves largely under the thumbs of the ultra-rich whose own, self-perceived, vital interests do not appear to include the rest of us. Even as I try not to take sides, I cannot help myself, I do it anyway.
So, we can hope for reconciliation (the real thing, not some parliamentary gimmick) to save us, or we can take sides and fight like Hell.
I'm ready for our "champions" -- Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of our elected Democrats -- to make a choice:
Do we compromise our beliefs and abandon (for now) the long-overdue social improvements a majority of Americans want ASAP by accepting a watered-down physical infrastructure bill?
Are we okay with maybe -- but probably not -- getting a better-than-nothing new election law while most likely keeping the US Govt. afloat and avoiding catastrophic default? (The ultra-rich have large stock portfolios and know where their bread is buttered).
OR should we call those bloody GOP bastards' bluff, arrest Trump and his flunkies for conspiracy to commit treason, use whatever parliamentary tricks are required to avoid default without any GOP votes, call in the US military -- if necessary -- to put down armed civil disorder in the deep South and several other benighted places scattered about our beautiful nation, shut down FOX News, and then fill the streets and squares of our largest cities with millions of people demanding good governance for all of us, not higher profits for sleazy multinational, planet-destroying corporations?
This is scary stuff, but it may be the only time in our lives -- a last chance for our democracy -- when we can do the right thing and change history for the better. You know, bend it towards justice.
Thank you for bringing up climate change. This is the big elephant that keeps being covered up. If Republicans get their way and make their ability to keep control absolute, just think about all the Democratic social platforms that will be dissolved. Look at Russia, when people are starving or need help, the government doesn’t coming running. So much of the country has no idea how bad it could become. Watching Trump slash regulations on corporations so they can pollute and endanger water, land and air. Trump allowed protected animals to be hunted, given the report we lost 23 more species to extinction, think how fast more will die. The damage Trump did will be nothing compared to what might come especially with freedoms taken away from all minorities and they will be fully armed and allowed to conceal and carry.Democrats must remove the filibuster and pass the voting act.
Margaret, as a 7th grader I developed an interest in bird-watching and ornithology in general, and I dreamed that when I was older I would tramp into a Louisiana swamp and see a rare Ivory-billed woodpecker, even in the 60's thought to be extinct, but there were always more-or-less reliable reports of sightings, and recordings of their call, so I kept hoping, then I grew up and didn't think much more about the ivory-billed. Until yesterday. Now it's official. It chokes me up a bit.
I’m so sorry. That truly hits home for you and makes me even sadder. Personal experiences are what we need more of to get the messages across.
And 22 other species. Extinct. Here’s a report from local paper with a pic of that very marvelous bird.
Follow the link below to view the article.
US: Ivory-billed woodpecker, 22 other species extinct
https://sarasotaheraldtribune-fl-app.newsmemory.com/?publink=0c2eeda97_1345f16
Choking, indeed.
You need to start somewhere, and a win is a win. The Democrats' main attraction is good governance. You start with what you can do well, with as little fanfare as possible. As a career civil servant in those years, that's what I did. I worked in the administrations of four presidents, three of whom were Republicans. We need to rebuild our reputation for good governance. Republicans destroyed that reputation, and intentionally so. As in 1941, we're rebuilding an administrative workforce from scratch. It's not surprising that that the people recruited by recent Republican presidents were rank amateurs, con men, and worse. Example: The fumbling around we saw at the CDC under Trump would not have happened under a Democratic administration. Trump poisoned the atmosphere so badly that nobody with integrity would want to work there.
Exactamente David!
Salud!