Happy Thanksgiving to you, Professor! And I do give thanks for your observations and eloquence. You do us all a great service, with humility and good humor and common sense.
I am always amazed at the number of people I know who own a Bible but have never read it (or even opened it)! Yet they claim to know EXACTLY what it says!
I’ve read a LOT of it, but geez, it’s a looooooong book, and some of it is pretty dense reading.
I’ve read a lot, as I said, but I don’t “get” most of it — [and so much depends on which language you read, or which translation you use, too}.
Being an atheist, though, I don’t really care.
{Oh, OK, I DO care, because so many OTHER people think their God dictated the Bible and it’s telling what to do and how to think — I wonder which version they think he dictated? All of ‘em? He’s one goofy guy, going on and on about stuff, and changing his mind from one translation to another, eh? Mysterious.}
Religion is heavily used by Narcissists to inflict their will on others. Take for example the Narcissit that gets religion. He/She looks to have all their sins expunged by "getting" religion. Then becomes super extra righteous about how we all should be carrying our spirtual lives. Sound familiar? MAGA.
Where better to pursue power and control then amoungst people who desperately need help in all its shapes and forms. Its disgusting that people pray on the vulnerable, without fail.
Especially the notes left on manuscripts telling the scribes to quit altering the story line. I don't even think there was a resurrection originally. Credit to you for getting through the whole thing. I gotta read the Jefferson bible. All the miracles were removed. Happy Holiday.
Pat, you aren't alone.. Many don't read the Bible, or even hate it, because religious fundamentalist have nearly killed it. Nietzsche obviously read it superficially and became a Judeophobe because of Christianity's hang up on sex. Freud shared that antipathy and wrote a whole book about Moses without reading beyond the book Exodus. The Bible is a priceless historical document, and there is much wisdom in it, too.
There’s great story-telling and an enormous amount of wisdom in the work of Mark Twain, too. Many people have chronicled great wisdom and bequeathed it to us down through the ages. Some of them wrote parts of the Bible.
But, alongside the wisdom of the Bible there’s some pretty dicey stuff!
I’d be hard pressed to recommend the treatment Lot gave his daughters to protect visitors to his city, for example.
And turning someone into a pillar of salt because she succumbed to a human frailty and momentarily looked back at the destruction of her lifelong city and home — well, that’s just nasty.
Hardening Pharaoh’s heart when the Jews begged him to let their people go, and then killing the Egyptians’ first-born children in retaliation for Pharaoh’s resulting refusal? Now, you cannot tell me that babes are fair game when taking vengeance on one’s ‘enemies’.
No, whatever one finds good in the Bible, one can also find great stories that seriously concern me. It is a human concoction, and there’s no God in the universe that decreed it, nor can justify all that is in it.
I kind of like that Jesus fella, but his god demanded a blood sacrifice — setting his own son to serve as that sacrifice, painfully!! — to atone for an ancient sin that neither Jesus nor anyone else then alive had anything to do with, and that has always confused me, too. Why did God hold that damned grudge? How did killing his son make it better?
Read like so much ancient lore from around the world where innocents must pay for the actions of their elders … throw a virgin into the volcano, you know, stuff like that.
Nah. It’s an interesting bit of ancient lore, but not my cup of tea.
Pat, thank you for replying to my comment. Everything you say is true, and much more was said by Christopher Hitchens in God is Not Great, as well Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion. The Bible is a quilt of multiple pieces assembled over hundreds of years. Read with an open mind it lets us see how human values, attitudes, institutions developed from the time of Sumer to the time of Rome. To read it literally is a kind of literal idolatry, and makes it nearly incomprehensible.
Awhile back, I responded to a video in words to the effect: "If you hunger for spiritual reading that engenders a spiritual experience, a much greater work than your bible exists on the shelves of your local public library >as< the "Religion and Philosophy" >section.<
Humans have existed for at least 200,000 years. So god waited for 100 and 98 thousand years before he decided to get involved by sending his son to be sacrificed for our sins.
Why did he wait so long?
Are all those people before his son showed up burning in hell ?
Although it's not a Thanksgiving kind of thing, Tecumseh has been running in these parts for nearly 50 years that helps us remember how we got here: https://tecumsehdrama.com/
I read you. But I hope you take time to reflect on all of the blessings in your life and to give thanks for all of them. Because even in our darkest moments (and I am no stranger to those) and in the harshest times (which we are in right now) God is always with us. Ask him yourself! Plus, I hope you get some homemade apple pie.
If he/they, or anyone else wants to, or NEEDS to 'believe', I say let them, without repercussions or challenges.
As a wise man once said, "Whatever gets you through the night". ;)
But, YES, I also agree with you as a fellow NON-believer that those who do believe CANNOT and MUST NOT impose their beliefs (beyond the laws of this land, and it's Constitution) on ALL of the rest of U.S.!
They can proselytize to their heart's content, yes, even as intrusively ANNOYING as it might be, but they CANNOT FORCE, nor CODIFY their national ChristoFASCISM/Dominionism/etc. on every citizen of this land, just because they are COMPELLED to do so, or obsessively need to totally control every other human being on this globe (i.e.; The Gilead types, Spanish Inquisition, etc.). ;)
I agree, except when faced with an enemy, it is hard to distinguish a pacifist from a warrior.
My father was a quiet, gentle sensitive man, but he was also a Marine, he escaped the Pacif with nary a wound, but was wounded three times in Korea, the last time he caught a Chicom 61mm between the legs.
Myself I am a retired officer with 26 years service, including a year in Vietnam. I never killed anyone, but to the VC and NVA I was a target. I even learned to speak and read Vietnamese, and a VC hamlet chief, and a ARVN soldier who played both sides, saved my life during Tet.
That's another story. However I did not meet them on a battlefield.
I have never been in your shoes, just as you have never been in mine. I don't judge you. You should not judge me. I don't even know what points you might be referring to. Why do you feel the need to name God? I will tell you this: whatever your pain, whatever you suffered, need not be something you carry alone. You have to choose for yourself.
Don't play that patronizing shtick on me. It really pisses me off, and I see right through it.
You said you don't judge me, yet in the next sentence you do exactly that.
I don't name that which is not. Which god is it that you are talking about. So many gods, and don't tell me the one true god, that is what Muslims call their god, and no your god and there's is not the same, though they obfuscate and claim that it is. Allah is the jahiliyyah moon god
al lihah. Your god's "genealogy" traces back to the Sumerians, through the Akkadians and the Babylonians
Your bible (TeNACH) is a collection of myths borrowed from the Caaninites (Phoenicians), Assyrians, Babylonians back through time to Sumer. .
Ask yourself, why did Ham'as take hostages in the first place as opposed to just killing them like all the others lost on that day. The capturing of innocents was one of a two-part attack on Israel. WHY? They will need to be fed; they will see a good measure of the underground network of tunnels Ham'as has developed over the past two years. Given the daily necessaries required to maintain a group exceeding 200 individuals including women and young children would prove to be a daunting task. One which will grow increasingly more difficult as provisions dwindle. Why the exposure? What possible advantages did these pigs hope to obtain through the acquisition of these innocent Israelis. The installation of "Fear" to the people of Israel. They are using these unfortunate souls as implements of torture, plain and simple. They dangle their pending release like a carrot suspended in front of the nose of a reluctant mule. Terror and the uncertainty of wondering if their loved ones very possibly could have been murdered with all the others is the desired aim of the slime that rolled across the Israeli border on 10/7, and then fled back to Gaza to hide behind the skirts of the very women they treat like dogs. They're "Pigs" and there is no other way to view them, hence the name "Ham'ass" which is oddly fitting. The "Hostages" for all intense purposes died on 10/7, the "war" itself should continue unabated until its objective has been reached. That being the destruction of "Ham'ass." If any of the taken are recovered that's a plus but it can't be the primary intent of any long-term military operations. If you have a rotten tooth, it will need to be extracted. Demonstrations in the streets deploring the violence aired by the media will have no positive effects on what is occurring in the Middle East. War is a terrible thing, but at times, it is a necessary deviation from what we experience during a time of peace in order to maintain the "Status Quo." Ham'as has to go, no matter how bloody and disgusting it appears, regardless of the innocent lives lost, the end will be worth the cost. Peace has a price, and currently Israel is experiencing a financial crunch. The war must be fought as if there were no hostages. Any other consideration would prove to be counterproductive. A sad reality but a realistic one.
If you don’t Eradicate it in its infancy it will become uncontrollable! Trump and his lawyers have the Justice Department tied up in knots! The judges are having to deal with this man-child and his indecent assault on them, their law clerks, witnesses, etc….
I am completely disgusted and embarrassed for our country that this blowhole has been able to skirt the law and continue his assault on the people! He has created a hostile society within our country the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Civil War!
The GOP, (Gullible, Obnoxious, party), are not hiding their plans for the country should they regain the Presidency!
Everyone knows “History Repeats Itself”. Our historians like Heather Cox Richardson, Jon Meacham, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and an American television news host and political commentator, Rachel Maddow, in her book, “Prequel”, are telling us that these tactics have been used in the United States history many times before.
The Department of Justice has got to stop this nonsensical behavior by this American conman ASAP! The longer he is allowed to engage in this destructive rhetoric the harder it will be!
“What we continue to allow, we Empower”!!
On a positive note: wishing everyone in America a happy and healthy Thanksgiving
This country does not have decent health care. Trump is a sociopath. You can't change the spots on a lepord! He will die a sociopath! Call a spade a spade! He needs to be disqualified to run for office! (of any kind! ever!) due to his severe impairment! Like right now!!!!
Doctors had the opportunity many times to Speak Up but they chose the life style over tThe good .I’m not saying they aren’t deserving they spent time money being educated. Now1.your Doctor makes the diagnosis 2. The insurance company decides the care together with the INSURANCE COMPANY
The DOJ is doing the best it can. Unlike Trump, it is committed to following the law. As far as legally containing Trump, that is now in judges' hands. In my observation and experience, judges are not the most courageous of creatures, but hopefully they will step up to the plate and do what is necessary to keep our country safe.
However, it is up to all of us to make sure that Trump is not elected president.
Really Carolyn, Garland is doing the best he can. Like not prosecuting Matt Gaetz for violatiing federal law, the FBI has the evidence, yet there he is in Congress . How about not prosecuting members of Congress for their leadership role in J6, or not even appointing Jack Smith as special prosecutor until over a year after J6 committee finished their job and only because he was shamed into it by peers and public.
How about Garland moving the Trump trial to Flordia and selecting a Trump humping judge to preside. His farcial excuse was that Florida is where the crime was committed
yet it was D.C. where it was committed with Walt Nauta load the boxes on to the plane.
And Garland has cause to remove AileenCannon, yet he hasn't
Did you know that Garland was vetted to Obama by Orrin Hatch R-UT, the most rigid right wing misogynistic homophobe in the Senate at the time and Garland served as the moderator (10 times) for the Federalist Society.
So what do you expect from a Republican and a right winger.?
I wonder if the scummy putz, WORSE than an effing KAPO in a death camp, evil POS Bernie Marcus has hosted him for dinners, and/or given him coin under the table??
I am sorry to say, but there are a contingent of billionaires that support Trump because they see in him a means of deregulating financial and industrial corporations, which provide them the means to compete with their peers for top dog, and also cut their taxes to zero, which also allows them to compete with the dogs.
Besides that we can break it down to religions, Mostly Catholics and Jews. Each with their own purpose. For Christians it is male domination and female submission (pesky feminists) for Jews it is Israel. And that I think explains Steve Miller, and his anti immigration and expel the Muslims drive. Miller is a single issue advisor.
Except that Goebbels-Miller desperately wants to incarcerate in his death camps (or deport) not only Muslims and any POC, but ALL who oppose him, his putrid orange POS fuehrer, and their whole regime, including all 'others', even liberal/progressive Jews (maybe even ALL Jews eventually, including the extreme right wing ones they claim to love).
How he is going to exempt himself from all of these SHITlerian edicts, I have no idea.
William Farrar - thank you for putting this so clearly. Many of the bad actors in this whole drama came up in and through the raygun presidency. because i don't believe in coincidences, i believe they were the shock troops sent in to undo Roosevelt's accomplishments. And by the way, I hate voting for corporate Joe, but what choice do we have?
Totally Paul. The feckless and corporate media, do not point out this things, It takes some with a memory, and an unwillingness to accept the pablum offered to us as a child i n a high chair.
I am a cynic and skeptic. I don't take anything at face value, nor are my days full of wishful thinking. If wishes were horses....
I am doing what I did in 2016, 2022 and that is voting against Trump, and the only choice I have is to do what I did in the past, place an X in the block next to Biden's name.
The polls are rigged. They ask the question "Are you satisfied with Biden" or some such, they never ask Who are you voting for. That's because the polling companies are run by corporations, just as the corporate (MSM) media.
I and a million progressives are very unhappy with Biden, but we will crawl over broken glass to vote for him.
In 2020 a head of cabbage could have beat Trump, and figuratively did. It is not so much that Biden won, but Trump lost. I hope history repeats itself in 2024.
Elections are not won on positivity, people don't vote Thank Yous. They vote on fear, anger, angst, disgust.. the lizard brain which the Republicans have mastered, not like the tone deaf positivist Democrats.
They have cast their lot with the Republicans, because they believe that Trump is better for their bottom line, as Les Moonves of CBS told his board of directors. "Trump is bad for America, but great for CBS , and the board chuckled.
As a lawyer, I disagree. DOJ was late and justice delayed is justice denied.
There are times in history that as soon as the oath of office was administered ordinary people, some not well qualified, became great judges. We'll see but I don't understand why DOJ did not seek recusals, especially here in Baghdad By the Sea.
Weaknesses in the chain of command need to be addressed. It cannot be allowed to stand that the Supreme Court can shoot down threats to their comfort and personal class concerns over enacted laws. I’m not a lawyer and rely on the good faith and expertise of such to protect our rights as citizens of a participatory democracy. At the risk of sounding like a rube, I will exercise my right to express my views on the matter.
When Supreme Court justices signal from the bench how to attack precedent with the the expectation that they will be friendly to such cases, like in having a go at weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 14th Amendment, it is clear that something is rotten in their interpretation of the law. Barring citizens from filing suit to remedy the injustices of gerrymandering and disenfranchisement is against settled law and places an impossible burden on the DOJ to address every case from the top down as if citizens have no standing in matters that effect them directly. Indeed, the tactics are designed to prevent them from exercising their constitutional rights. The top down strategy is meant to overwhelm the DOJ, death by a thousand paper cuts. In other words, it’s throwing in hard with the fascists. What’s the reasoning for the abrupt about face in interpreting settled law? I am for the rule of law. The Supremes are not the law. They have not been a font of sagacious guidance nor trustworthiness of late.
If I were Garland, a grand jury would have be looking at bribery, perjury (failure to disclose on required financial statements) etc. I was on the Judicial Council of the ABA for a year and remember that many circuit judges were reprimanded and the most strident of all resigned in the face of a Judicial Conference investigation.
Garland was a judge. He knows that. He was subjected to investigations. He had to complete those financial disclosures. If he was a trader, on a monthly basis.
They are completely out of control. Six awful people are dictating how more than 300 million of us have to live, with no recourse. This is completely undemocratic and contrary to the spirit under which the country was founded. They should all be impeached and convicted.
I agree that the prosecutors should seek recusal of Aileen Cannon, if they can. According to legal analysts, she is using devious maneuvers to delay the trial without overtly changing the trial date, sub silentio, in order to avoid an uproar. That is the most straightforward of all the criminal cases, and there is no legitimate reason for delay. But more generally, it is up to judges now to stop Trump from taking a verbal wrecking ball to our criminal justice system. The fact that he chose to run for president should not be allowed as an excuse. A criminal defendant does not have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else, because there are other considerations, and I wish judges would stop tiptoeing around this. If Trump gets away with his misbehavior, then subsequent criminal defendants will demand the same favorable treatment.
I live in Baghdad By the Sea. She should have never accepted jurisdiction on the first docket. She was chastised by the 11th Circuit. IMHO the circuit could have investigated whether the case was properly assigned at the clerk's level .(Full disclosure: my wife was once a deputy, same court).
Trump was obviously judge shopping, which is a violation of local rules.
After she was reversed by the 11th circuit, she should have, had she been honest, recused herself. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 455 deals with the disqualification of district court judges and it states in part: Any justice, judge, or magistrate, of the United States shall disqualify himself/herself in any proceeding in which his/her impartiality might reasonably be questioned. If no one else questions it, virtually all media did.
The issue is whether her impartiality may reasonably be questioned. Lots of Trump appointees can credibly say that their impartiality can't be questioned.
But she took a "case" that according to the circuit court should not have been filed, let alone assigned.
They are ALL way way too overly concerned about effing 'appearances', or how their protestations would be 'received'.
Those useless 'appearances', or 'perceptions' are not going to do them, or any of us who are NOT fascist scum, ANY good once the 4th REICH regime is installed into ultimate, unfettered power, and there are NO unbiased courts, nor judges left in this land. ;) :( :(
Yes Daniel, their (especially Garland's) inexplicable hesitancy, hand-wringing, etc. may just have cost this land it's actual DEMOCRACY.
Maybe HE should be charged with aiding and abetting the overthrow of our government, and helping to install a despotic, vicious fascist, ultimately NAZI adjacent REGIME in it's place?!?
Of course though, all of the dumber than a rock MAGAt peckerwood brown shirts in the few effing 'swing states' (THANKS racist/FASCIST Electoral 'College'!) are to blame as well.
Along with all of the airhead complacent denizens of this land out there (who seem NOT to care what happens to themselves, even living or dying, AT ALL, as long as they know all of the details about what happened on their fave reality TV BULLSHIT show this week).
As well as all of the third party, 'protest voters' who nihilistically want to see EVERYTHING destroyed (including themselves it seems, have fun in SCUMp's 'camps') if they cannot have their hard left, progressive 'purity'.
It's too bad that they cannot ALL have a real 'taste' of what a HORRID SCUMp SHITler dictatorship, and regime will be like, to maybe shock/awaken them into 'woke' action to STOP the putrid orange POS and it's evil fascist minions BEFORE they take over, and it is way way too late to do anything realistic about it. :( :(
Because Garland is a conservative, a Republican and DOJ is packed with Trump Humpers like Weiss who is prosecuting Hunter, and he begged for the job. He was appointed by Trump, and Trump stuffed the DOJ, DHS, NSA, with his cronies, using EO 13957 (Schedule F employees), and they replaced what were protected civil servants, whom the same EO reclassified so his cronies could replace them.
On a positive note,Taylor Swift has signed up 35,000 or more folks to vote.Imagine what she'll do in the coming year!And we have so many very proactive groups,Public Citizen,Common Cause and Indivisible.Every little thing we do helps,I sign a whole bunch of petitions every day.We are not giving our beloved nation to some miserable criminal maniac!!!
If you want to give thanks for this special day let us not forget to be thankful for the geographic location which we currently find our country occupying. Out of reach of the airborne ordnances currently being deployed in the Middle East. We, as a culture, have much to be thankful for, locked away between two oceans and relatively safe from the insanity that drives that part of the world.
Yes, I am willing and ready to commit myself to — “ democracy, inclusion, tolerance, decency, and social justice “ [RR] — knowing in my heart of hearts that action is the antidote to despair.
As I opened your letter, I saw the painting of everyone sitting around a long… And longer! table together. I teared up. We are a community brought together by your wisdom and wit. Thank you for your daily letters, thoughts, questions, and history. I send deep gratitude to this supportive community.
Thank you Professor Reich and Happy Thanksgiving to you. The biggest threat to our democracy that I see are those misguided folks who don’t agree with Biden on some issues and wish to punish him. I would urge everyone to take a deep breath, step back and look at the big picture. The only issue that is critical to us Americans for this election is our democracy, because with it, any future progress with citizen’s input is possible. Without it, we would have no input or voice in our government to influence any issue. And it doesn’t take a genius to know that the concerning issues mentioned above will never be addressed by the autocrat to generate the outcome desired.
But, it is not being cynical to understand we need to do far more than 'vote' & write to the choir on a blog. Stop buying anything unnecessary. These mobsters, live on our buying. Become as self sufficient and buy local produced as much as possible. Don't go from writing our self satisfied bull here to ordering on Amazon with dinner from snack. Richy Rich & the Corporations have played the Long Game. Leo Leonard has deployed the federalist judges everywhere. The repubs.are preparing for a government takeover. They already left some behind embedded in government agencies they want to destroy. See NY Times article naming them from a few weeks ago. Watch the Handmaids Tale Season 1 ( I couldn't get beyond that or I would throw a brick through the tv) to witness tge kind of punishment we are heading for if the repugnants win. I don't understand why the Dems will not put up a better candidate than Biden, younger, more inspiring for the many who are sick of an ole corporate white man (Delaware Credit card owned) aside from their own betrayal of us to power & money. Write to your Blue state Congressfolk & tell them to band together as the economic engines we are to use our economics as a CUDGEL to beat back the Red state turning us back 400 years, poisoning our farm lands with Monsanto seed, pesticides,insecticide. Grow back the hedgerows, update the farm bill to support local farmers in EVERY state. We must have a much more massive effect than blogging, voting now & then when allowed in our gerrymandered districts by groups of aggrieved mobsters. We need rank choice voting, independent committees to designate voting districts. Stop buying, traveling, refurbishing homes for months. Put some economic pressure on......
Yeah, all that. So, there are many practical things people can do. Where might the average Joe go to see a simple list that's organized? I think I'm being rhetorical. The Dems just send mail asking for money, for the most part.
I'm not aware of a list of ways to fight for our democracy. It crosses org boundaries.
If you had it Heather or Reich and others could refer people to it. Of course, people would actually have to be motivated to go there and then act and not just write clever comments to other choir members.
Why don't you come up with a list by surveying a number of sites and people here can "murderboard"it ?
Steve Non profits are created by people looking for fame, glory and money. Once incorporated their goal is self preservation and longevity
The March of Dimes was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt to find a cure for polio, but the MoD, never even tried, it would put them out of business, So an independent (Jonas Salk) found a cure, and the MoD closed it's doors and fell into a national secret convention, brain storming how to keep their salaries coming. The re opened their doors with a new charter, one that has no cure, thus no threat.preventing birth defects. There is no way to prevent birth defects, some are environmental and some genetic. Environmental defects can be abated by shuttering the petroleum chemical cabal's doors, and genetic abated by DNA testing before marriage, and sterilizing those with defective genes.
I created a registered Non Profit to fulfill a graduate requirement, Not hard to do.
Funny that you should mention Salk (and his contemporary, Saban).
It is the irony of ironies that soooo many fascist, white/Aryan supremacist/nationalist, ANTI-SEMITIC NAZIS would NOT be around today if those two JEWS did not save them (and therefore their offspring) with the vaccines that they developed. ;)
You nailed it Vicki, just wish your comment was broken down into readable paragraphs of two to three thoughts per subject. That would make it more readable.
Have you ever read "On the Road" by Kerouac, it is one long paragraph, and unreadable.
Thanks Bill! I did read on the road & liked it. Have to slow down to read it. So many of these blogs take the paragraphs out, so I gave up on it. But, you are welcome to share any good ideas.
Because…..they ain’t called ‘sheeple’ for nothing!
Compassion will win the day next year. Cynicism will give way to the blue wave we’ve already seen on the rise. There are not enough lunatics at the polls to stop us.
The power of positive thinking and acting: Be the change you want to see. It’s good to know there are like minded people in the world. Thank you for your kind words.
Mary, As a child, Donald Trump went to Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, where every Sunday he listened to the sermons of Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking. Trump came to believe that the world is manifest through our thoughts. Thinking makes it so. So did Hitler, Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film
It isn't positive thinking that wins, but putting that thinking into action, and what motivates people to action is agitating the lizard brain, the amygdala, which knows only fight or flight. That is what all autocrats do, play on fears, anger, angst proof is all around us from Argentina, Hungary, Russia and the rise of the right in Norway, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, France and England.
As the dominant species we've made wishful thinking the most powerful force on the planet. Think about it: wishful thinking with nuclear weapons. wishful thinking with nearly unlimited power.
My experience is everything begins with a thought. Positive and negative are relative not “real.” The more you focus on a thought the closer you come to creating or manifesting it into form. That’s how my next meal begins. Yes. I act on that thought. There are probably gurus that could manifest it with just a thought or intention. There is so much more out there and quantum theory is bringing it to light. I am a great believer in the “one hundredth monkey” theory. And the “butterfly effect” and Chaos Theory. Everything is energy. Angry energy begets angry energy, although we can choose not to get stuck in others’ energy. Everything is energy. What we say has energy. And what we think has energy. It can affect our well being or others’. I believe if enough people believe something, it will manifest. Our brain is such that we see what we believe. “Confirmation bias” explains how two people can look at the same thing and see them differently. There are studies that show that our brains see what we expect. Not the other way around. Don’t deny what you see but remember that your energetic response has an effect beyond yourself. We are way more powerful than we realize. Watch the Invisible Gorilla” video regarding selective attention. We all make judgments as best as we can. And hopefully the majority sees it our way or in my case Dr Reich’s way. My point is what we believe, feel, say, do, has a ripple effect. Think yelling fire in a movie theater when there is no fire. If we are careful we can create that which we want. Or inadvertently create the opposite. I am a total failure at science but life experiences confirm to me that this is truth.
Betty: You said: "Angry energy begets angry energy," That is true, and how well it has served Donald J Trump, who despite his misogynistic, racist, homophobic mouthings and his threat to have revenge and retribution is runnning even with Biden, and might possibly win.
Meanwhile I would wish that my angry energy would be a 1,000th Monkey.
The invisible gorilla for those that are not aware, was a study, I think it is on youtube. A group of people were quarreling and fighting and a gorilla walked unnoticed through the scene, and very few people noticed the gorilla.
The problem with Pollyanna is denial of reality and not recognizing predatory behavior for what it is. Of course perverts like Hitler and Trump would expropriate “positive“ thinking to support their depraved agendas. I forgot that “positive” thinking can be value neutral and used for evil purposes.
I’m no Pollyanna. I know there is evil. To be clear, anyone who thinks going to church means they are on the side of righteousness is a Pollyanna as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks for the historical perspective, William. Now I have to shower. I didn’t realize what company I was in making such a simple “positive” remark. Yuck!
They had seen him on their 'talking boxes' every week on his garbage reality TV shit show, and then heard his racist, fascist rants during his campaign, which they totally embraced.
So in their single cerebral cortex celled minds they thought "What could EVER possibly go wrong?". :(
Living in the greater metro NY/NJ area, I knew what kind of a slimy, sleazy, skeevy, scum bucket this POS was from WAY WAY back, and FULLY understood that he should not even be considered for the proverbial dog catcher position, let alone the most powerful being in the world. ;)
You think so Todd? Compassion didn't protect us in 2016, and it doesn't protect us in elections. Anger, fear, outrage on the other hand is what drives people to the polls.Been working for the Republicans.
Happy Thanksgiving, Dr. Reich & all of you readers & commenters of his column!
It's true, any issue you may hold dear - climate & the environment, civil rights, economic/social/racial/environmental justice, healthcare, child care, democracy, reproductive rights, marriage equality, election integrity, marijuana decriminalization, a living wage, progressive taxation, unions, etc. is in jeopardy if Trump or another radical Republican comes to power.
My comment to an article by Kerry J. Byrne, Fox News lifestyle reporter, on Yahoo News was censored. The article claims the German Nazis were left-wing socialist antisemites. It's true the party had the word "socialist" in the name because socialism was popular in Germany at the time, and the word got votes. But they were fascists which is quite different. Absolutely, they hated the Jewish people and were evil murderers, but they weren't socialists. I believe Byrne is trying to "blur" the facts and portray Democrats as socialists who hate Jews. He goes on at length, distorting history and current events on campus and in Congress. I fear that young people who haven't been taught history will believe his propaganda. If we can't disagree in the comments, how do we fight for democracy except to vote? And even then, the majority doesn't get their way. How can we not be cynical?
Right! Sherer observes in "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," after pointing out how the Nazis were right-wing fanatics and that the right is >always< far more dangerous than the left because they seemingly support "establishment" values, whereas the left tends to support change or even attack those values. It's no accident ol' P01135809 has been regurgitating Hitler rhetoric, of late. Note the focus on unrestricted 1st & 2nd Amendment rights to the exclusion of just about everything else. (Certainly not the 13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments - from the Civil War. For example, why are removing ol' P01135809 from the ballot or voting rights even issues for debate ‽)
I question the usefulness of arguing over terms. The fascism of the 30s would have looked a lot different from today's fascism. The massive public works programs in Italy and Germany would seem socialist to today's Republicans, and all roads lead to totalitarianism in the extreme.
Yes, I do not hear too many of today's 'socialists' wanting to put Jews, or ANY 'others' into death camps.
Yes, putting socialist into the NAZI Party's name was a deceptive ploy (although their ANTI-SEMITISM ALONE would have garnered them many votes in that era of Germany), just as today's RepugnaF**K NAZI Party uses deception, hypocrisy, and projection as deceptive ploys.
I hear that all the time, too. I tell them that the Nazis were as socialist as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is democratic, a republic & run by the people. I can make similar arguments using the People's Republic of China & German Democratic Republic (East Germany) as well.
They also do the whole 'doublespeak' thing, and sometimes blatantly contradict themselves IN THE VERY SAME SENTENCE!!
It does not matter though, since their brain dead rubes and 'lizard brain' loyalist brown shirts cannot even recognize those diametrically opposite statements, at all.
Yes. It’s the feeling that comes through, not the meaning. That’s all that matters to them. They could be reading the phone book and as long as they do it with enough menace their followers will get riled up. This is how they’ve gone from an anti-Russia stance to a pro-Russia one so quickly, IMO. These people do not think critically.
Of course Putin is now their beloved friend since he is a fully rightwing, cruel and evil DESPOT, who murders/crushes any and all dissent and protest, or calls for democracy, is a white (albeit SLAVIC white) supremacist just like they are, all without even the 'baggage' of a proclaimed communist stance (like the former USSR they all LOATHED did) to hinder their love and praise of him.
They are currently trying to capitalize on the anti-Israeli GOVERNMENT stance being vocalized by many on the left, including many, many liberal/progressive Jews.
Maybe they are delusional enough to 'think' that they will get those left leaning tribal members to come over to their abjectly FASCIST, rightwingnut, death camp side with this BS ploy?!? LOFL
I don’t think they ever try to recruit people. All they seem to do is to try to rile up the base. Whereas Democrats, when they’re actually putting out a coherent message, try to explain what they will do for voters, all these fascists do is destroy. All Trump campaigns on is how he’s going to get personal revenge on his enemies and won’t it be fun to go along for the ride. They never, ever tell people how they personally will be better off by voting for them.
Do you know if the censor was a real human being or an algorithm? I run into censorship problems a lot on the Internet due to the comment algorithm not liking a phrase or word that I used ("hate" for example) rather than the thought I am trying to express. Very frustrating!
Being alarmed and concerned is not to be confused with cynicism. Delayed gratification is perhaps a more useful way of expressing our momentary frustration. Keep at it. The task will never be complete.
So much to say... thank you for saying it. If the final argument for Trump by Dems is, in the end, that Joe Biden is too old, there is a solution for that. It is our system that gives us a VP should untoward events take Biden out of the Presidency. Shake ourselves lose about our choices. Harris is level headed should she need to move into the chief commander seat. Trump will never be that!!! Let’s not fail into helplessness and cynicism! Act where you are and with what you have.
Yes, could anyone even begin to fathom what the ChristoFASCIST Dominionist would be like at the helm of this nation (IF his very own NAZI Caucus does not 'vacate' him long before then)?!?!
Very well said. And of course the threats are worldwide. If the US succumbs then this will increase the probability the rest of the world will follow in its own nationalistic fashions.
Indeed so. Tackling the challenge of global warming needs to be top of every agenda. Far right politics is a sure route to catastrophe in all respects because it is myopic and indulgent. The voice of reason therefore needs to be heard through focused action. There is no room for cynicism or apathy.
Andrew Kelm ; I saw Cassidy Hutchinson, a self described conservative, say that she is voting for Joe Biden, because he is the way to Democracy and the Constitution. Currently, there is no choice for the 'republican' side in that direction. It was heartening to hear her endorsement. There are other Republicans, like Liz Cheney, who also support him. Who would want tyranny?
Andy, they don't want tyranny. They want Santa Claus, a tribal leader, a father figure who will solve all problems by sheer will. Ah, the power of the will, as in Hitler's Germany! They thought they were getting daddy. They got WW II instead.
happy thanksgiving to you and yours, Professor Reich.
living overseas as i do and have done for quite a few years now, i've not celebrated any american holidays (and nor do i celebrate religious holidays) so basically, i am and have been holiday-free for quite some time.
this year, i am working on addressing this issue by adopting a number of holidays that i wish to observe for my own reasons. my big holiday experiment this week is trying to prepare vegan mushroom & red wine bourguignon pithivier, encased in puff pastry. i've never made puff pastry before, so i am quite intimidated by this task i've set myself.
anywho. even if i fail, i know it will taste marvelous.
Speaking of holidays, most countries I'm familiar with in Europe & Asia have double or triple the holidays we have. Many also have shorter work weeks, more leave & more vacation time.
For the benefit of the POS, psychotically greedy oligarchs and their shareholders, so that they can turn around and use that pig filthy, insane wealth to further persecute, TOTALLY control, enslave, and KILL (whether by environmental toxins, or death camps) US.
yes, this is true. i sometimes am confused about all the free time that europeans seem to have. on the other hand, it's rather nice, and that alone, is a reason to celebrate with a vegan feast!
Is it two now? I thought it was one. Now there is an activist citizenry that stands up for their rights & better conditions for ordinary people. If we were only half as active we'd be much better off.
@ Girl Scientist. When Batista was President of Cuba he made US Thanksgiving a Cuban national holiday. He had lived in exile in Daytona Beach and decided that what was good for us would be good for Cubans.
Castro and the Ortodoxo party opposed him, they opposed the Americanization of Cuba. Cuba for the Cubans. As soon as Castro took power, he outlawed Thanksgiving in Cuba.
What happened to yesterday’s edition of your page?
Should Advertisers shun Musk’s X?
This is a no-brainer. A most definitive YES. Not only that, everyone with morals should have jumped ship from that vile guys platform long ago. Elon Musk is equally as repulsive as he who incited the Insurrection, Putin, and sadly, too many others who are evil. Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram — all of it is garbage. It wastes too much of people’s time and spreads so much disinformation that I have almost never been a part of it. (I had a FB account for about a year a few decades ago but deactivated it and never looked back…) Call me old fashioned but if I want to get in touch with old friends and share pics of myself and my life I call them, write them a letter, or shoot them an email. They don’t need to see my breakfast, my sunset, or anything else. I’ll be reading a book instead. Happy Thanksgiving Professor. I am grateful for YOU and this platform. All the best from your friend in MD, Anne 🌻💙🙏
Why don’t you talk about what a boon it is to Putin that no one is talking about the war against Ukraine since October 7th?
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Professor! And I do give thanks for your observations and eloquence. You do us all a great service, with humility and good humor and common sense.
Two more great thoughts for your Thanksgiving meditation:
- Why the Thanksgiving myth persists, according to science:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/thanksgiving-myth-persists-history-memory-science
Joel Baden - The Bible Doesn't Say What You Think it Does:
https://youtu.be/XS7LgbMr1m4?si=506SAHCJvr4KtsYB
I am always amazed at the number of people I know who own a Bible but have never read it (or even opened it)! Yet they claim to know EXACTLY what it says!
I’ve read a LOT of it, but geez, it’s a looooooong book, and some of it is pretty dense reading.
I’ve read a lot, as I said, but I don’t “get” most of it — [and so much depends on which language you read, or which translation you use, too}.
Being an atheist, though, I don’t really care.
{Oh, OK, I DO care, because so many OTHER people think their God dictated the Bible and it’s telling what to do and how to think — I wonder which version they think he dictated? All of ‘em? He’s one goofy guy, going on and on about stuff, and changing his mind from one translation to another, eh? Mysterious.}
Pat: Those that thump the bible, use something called god as a sock puppet.
So many gods, so little time. Which god to worship?Odin, Woden, Thor, Krshna, more gods than I can or care to remember.
The god that keeps betraying you over and over again may be the one true god.
One true god?No such thing.
Religion is heavily used by Narcissists to inflict their will on others. Take for example the Narcissit that gets religion. He/She looks to have all their sins expunged by "getting" religion. Then becomes super extra righteous about how we all should be carrying our spirtual lives. Sound familiar? MAGA.
It seems like every other week another minister,
pastor, reverend, or whatever you want to call them, is arrested for molesting children. I bet every one of them is a textbook narcissistic.
Where better to pursue power and control then amoungst people who desperately need help in all its shapes and forms. Its disgusting that people pray on the vulnerable, without fail.
Especially the notes left on manuscripts telling the scribes to quit altering the story line. I don't even think there was a resurrection originally. Credit to you for getting through the whole thing. I gotta read the Jefferson bible. All the miracles were removed. Happy Holiday.
Pat, you aren't alone.. Many don't read the Bible, or even hate it, because religious fundamentalist have nearly killed it. Nietzsche obviously read it superficially and became a Judeophobe because of Christianity's hang up on sex. Freud shared that antipathy and wrote a whole book about Moses without reading beyond the book Exodus. The Bible is a priceless historical document, and there is much wisdom in it, too.
There’s great story-telling and an enormous amount of wisdom in the work of Mark Twain, too. Many people have chronicled great wisdom and bequeathed it to us down through the ages. Some of them wrote parts of the Bible.
But, alongside the wisdom of the Bible there’s some pretty dicey stuff!
I’d be hard pressed to recommend the treatment Lot gave his daughters to protect visitors to his city, for example.
And turning someone into a pillar of salt because she succumbed to a human frailty and momentarily looked back at the destruction of her lifelong city and home — well, that’s just nasty.
Hardening Pharaoh’s heart when the Jews begged him to let their people go, and then killing the Egyptians’ first-born children in retaliation for Pharaoh’s resulting refusal? Now, you cannot tell me that babes are fair game when taking vengeance on one’s ‘enemies’.
No, whatever one finds good in the Bible, one can also find great stories that seriously concern me. It is a human concoction, and there’s no God in the universe that decreed it, nor can justify all that is in it.
I kind of like that Jesus fella, but his god demanded a blood sacrifice — setting his own son to serve as that sacrifice, painfully!! — to atone for an ancient sin that neither Jesus nor anyone else then alive had anything to do with, and that has always confused me, too. Why did God hold that damned grudge? How did killing his son make it better?
Read like so much ancient lore from around the world where innocents must pay for the actions of their elders … throw a virgin into the volcano, you know, stuff like that.
Nah. It’s an interesting bit of ancient lore, but not my cup of tea.
Pat, thank you for replying to my comment. Everything you say is true, and much more was said by Christopher Hitchens in God is Not Great, as well Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion. The Bible is a quilt of multiple pieces assembled over hundreds of years. Read with an open mind it lets us see how human values, attitudes, institutions developed from the time of Sumer to the time of Rome. To read it literally is a kind of literal idolatry, and makes it nearly incomprehensible.
Awhile back, I responded to a video in words to the effect: "If you hunger for spiritual reading that engenders a spiritual experience, a much greater work than your bible exists on the shelves of your local public library >as< the "Religion and Philosophy" >section.<
The only people who have actually read the bible, cover to cover, are atheists.
I think you may be wrong...
I think you might be right…
Love this!
I’m amazed at the amount of people that know exactly what God wants, needs or is Currently doing ...
And their total confidence in the Necessity to Relay that Information about bGods, wants, needs and current activities,to the rest of us.
Humans have existed for at least 200,000 years. So god waited for 100 and 98 thousand years before he decided to get involved by sending his son to be sacrificed for our sins.
Why did he wait so long?
Are all those people before his son showed up burning in hell ?
@ DZK: American fundamentalists should observe Succoth. Tomorrow is Black Friday, Native American Heritage Day. "Make a feathered friend feel fed" -- tomorrow. https://blog.nativehope.org/what-does-thanksgiving-mean-to-native-americans
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Yes. Today I will put my suet cakes out. Thanks for the heads-up.
Although it's not a Thanksgiving kind of thing, Tecumseh has been running in these parts for nearly 50 years that helps us remember how we got here: https://tecumsehdrama.com/
I read you. But I hope you take time to reflect on all of the blessings in your life and to give thanks for all of them. Because even in our darkest moments (and I am no stranger to those) and in the harshest times (which we are in right now) God is always with us. Ask him yourself! Plus, I hope you get some homemade apple pie.
Points for proselytizing Shaf? Which god should I ask. So many gods, so little time.
As so many millions have belatedly discovered, that praying to or putting your hands in a god, only leads to a premature, and often painful, demise.
If he/they, or anyone else wants to, or NEEDS to 'believe', I say let them, without repercussions or challenges.
As a wise man once said, "Whatever gets you through the night". ;)
But, YES, I also agree with you as a fellow NON-believer that those who do believe CANNOT and MUST NOT impose their beliefs (beyond the laws of this land, and it's Constitution) on ALL of the rest of U.S.!
They can proselytize to their heart's content, yes, even as intrusively ANNOYING as it might be, but they CANNOT FORCE, nor CODIFY their national ChristoFASCISM/Dominionism/etc. on every citizen of this land, just because they are COMPELLED to do so, or obsessively need to totally control every other human being on this globe (i.e.; The Gilead types, Spanish Inquisition, etc.). ;)
I agree, except when faced with an enemy, it is hard to distinguish a pacifist from a warrior.
My father was a quiet, gentle sensitive man, but he was also a Marine, he escaped the Pacif with nary a wound, but was wounded three times in Korea, the last time he caught a Chicom 61mm between the legs.
Myself I am a retired officer with 26 years service, including a year in Vietnam. I never killed anyone, but to the VC and NVA I was a target. I even learned to speak and read Vietnamese, and a VC hamlet chief, and a ARVN soldier who played both sides, saved my life during Tet.
That's another story. However I did not meet them on a battlefield.
America is a battleground, like it or not.
Yes, I see your point.
Too many on our side do not fully realize that this IS a war between democracy and outright, abject FASCISM, and MUST be viewed as such.
To be a pacifist in this conflict (as noble and praiseworthy as that may be) is the same as being DEAD.
I have never been in your shoes, just as you have never been in mine. I don't judge you. You should not judge me. I don't even know what points you might be referring to. Why do you feel the need to name God? I will tell you this: whatever your pain, whatever you suffered, need not be something you carry alone. You have to choose for yourself.
Don't play that patronizing shtick on me. It really pisses me off, and I see right through it.
You said you don't judge me, yet in the next sentence you do exactly that.
I don't name that which is not. Which god is it that you are talking about. So many gods, and don't tell me the one true god, that is what Muslims call their god, and no your god and there's is not the same, though they obfuscate and claim that it is. Allah is the jahiliyyah moon god
al lihah. Your god's "genealogy" traces back to the Sumerians, through the Akkadians and the Babylonians
Your bible (TeNACH) is a collection of myths borrowed from the Caaninites (Phoenicians), Assyrians, Babylonians back through time to Sumer. .
I hope you find him some day.
Thank you. In case you haven't seen Mr Solomon's link, I'll repost it for you:
https://blog.nativehope.org/what-does-thanksgiving-mean-to-native-americans
You missed the annual message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32INoIBaY0M
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DZK,
Thanks for referring me to this video regarding the Bible. I enjoyed it quite a bit and would recommend others who have the time to have a look.
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Hostages--
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
10:16 AM (0 minutes ago)
Ask yourself, why did Ham'as take hostages in the first place as opposed to just killing them like all the others lost on that day. The capturing of innocents was one of a two-part attack on Israel. WHY? They will need to be fed; they will see a good measure of the underground network of tunnels Ham'as has developed over the past two years. Given the daily necessaries required to maintain a group exceeding 200 individuals including women and young children would prove to be a daunting task. One which will grow increasingly more difficult as provisions dwindle. Why the exposure? What possible advantages did these pigs hope to obtain through the acquisition of these innocent Israelis. The installation of "Fear" to the people of Israel. They are using these unfortunate souls as implements of torture, plain and simple. They dangle their pending release like a carrot suspended in front of the nose of a reluctant mule. Terror and the uncertainty of wondering if their loved ones very possibly could have been murdered with all the others is the desired aim of the slime that rolled across the Israeli border on 10/7, and then fled back to Gaza to hide behind the skirts of the very women they treat like dogs. They're "Pigs" and there is no other way to view them, hence the name "Ham'ass" which is oddly fitting. The "Hostages" for all intense purposes died on 10/7, the "war" itself should continue unabated until its objective has been reached. That being the destruction of "Ham'ass." If any of the taken are recovered that's a plus but it can't be the primary intent of any long-term military operations. If you have a rotten tooth, it will need to be extracted. Demonstrations in the streets deploring the violence aired by the media will have no positive effects on what is occurring in the Middle East. War is a terrible thing, but at times, it is a necessary deviation from what we experience during a time of peace in order to maintain the "Status Quo." Ham'as has to go, no matter how bloody and disgusting it appears, regardless of the innocent lives lost, the end will be worth the cost. Peace has a price, and currently Israel is experiencing a financial crunch. The war must be fought as if there were no hostages. Any other consideration would prove to be counterproductive. A sad reality but a realistic one.
I have it!! Thanks to you.
True enough!
I Compare Trump’s Behavior to the Fires in Canada
If you don’t Eradicate it in its infancy it will become uncontrollable! Trump and his lawyers have the Justice Department tied up in knots! The judges are having to deal with this man-child and his indecent assault on them, their law clerks, witnesses, etc….
I am completely disgusted and embarrassed for our country that this blowhole has been able to skirt the law and continue his assault on the people! He has created a hostile society within our country the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Civil War!
The GOP, (Gullible, Obnoxious, party), are not hiding their plans for the country should they regain the Presidency!
Everyone knows “History Repeats Itself”. Our historians like Heather Cox Richardson, Jon Meacham, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and an American television news host and political commentator, Rachel Maddow, in her book, “Prequel”, are telling us that these tactics have been used in the United States history many times before.
The Department of Justice has got to stop this nonsensical behavior by this American conman ASAP! The longer he is allowed to engage in this destructive rhetoric the harder it will be!
“What we continue to allow, we Empower”!!
On a positive note: wishing everyone in America a happy and healthy Thanksgiving
This country does not have decent health care. Trump is a sociopath. You can't change the spots on a lepord! He will die a sociopath! Call a spade a spade! He needs to be disqualified to run for office! (of any kind! ever!) due to his severe impairment! Like right now!!!!
Doctors had the opportunity many times to Speak Up but they chose the life style over tThe good .I’m not saying they aren’t deserving they spent time money being educated. Now1.your Doctor makes the diagnosis 2. The insurance company decides the care together with the INSURANCE COMPANY
The DOJ is doing the best it can. Unlike Trump, it is committed to following the law. As far as legally containing Trump, that is now in judges' hands. In my observation and experience, judges are not the most courageous of creatures, but hopefully they will step up to the plate and do what is necessary to keep our country safe.
However, it is up to all of us to make sure that Trump is not elected president.
Really Carolyn, Garland is doing the best he can. Like not prosecuting Matt Gaetz for violatiing federal law, the FBI has the evidence, yet there he is in Congress . How about not prosecuting members of Congress for their leadership role in J6, or not even appointing Jack Smith as special prosecutor until over a year after J6 committee finished their job and only because he was shamed into it by peers and public.
How about Garland moving the Trump trial to Flordia and selecting a Trump humping judge to preside. His farcial excuse was that Florida is where the crime was committed
yet it was D.C. where it was committed with Walt Nauta load the boxes on to the plane.
And Garland has cause to remove AileenCannon, yet he hasn't
Did you know that Garland was vetted to Obama by Orrin Hatch R-UT, the most rigid right wing misogynistic homophobe in the Senate at the time and Garland served as the moderator (10 times) for the Federalist Society.
So what do you expect from a Republican and a right winger.?
I wonder if the scummy putz, WORSE than an effing KAPO in a death camp, evil POS Bernie Marcus has hosted him for dinners, and/or given him coin under the table??
I am sorry to say, but there are a contingent of billionaires that support Trump because they see in him a means of deregulating financial and industrial corporations, which provide them the means to compete with their peers for top dog, and also cut their taxes to zero, which also allows them to compete with the dogs.
Besides that we can break it down to religions, Mostly Catholics and Jews. Each with their own purpose. For Christians it is male domination and female submission (pesky feminists) for Jews it is Israel. And that I think explains Steve Miller, and his anti immigration and expel the Muslims drive. Miller is a single issue advisor.
Except that Goebbels-Miller desperately wants to incarcerate in his death camps (or deport) not only Muslims and any POC, but ALL who oppose him, his putrid orange POS fuehrer, and their whole regime, including all 'others', even liberal/progressive Jews (maybe even ALL Jews eventually, including the extreme right wing ones they claim to love).
How he is going to exempt himself from all of these SHITlerian edicts, I have no idea.
William Farrar - thank you for putting this so clearly. Many of the bad actors in this whole drama came up in and through the raygun presidency. because i don't believe in coincidences, i believe they were the shock troops sent in to undo Roosevelt's accomplishments. And by the way, I hate voting for corporate Joe, but what choice do we have?
Totally Paul. The feckless and corporate media, do not point out this things, It takes some with a memory, and an unwillingness to accept the pablum offered to us as a child i n a high chair.
I am a cynic and skeptic. I don't take anything at face value, nor are my days full of wishful thinking. If wishes were horses....
I am doing what I did in 2016, 2022 and that is voting against Trump, and the only choice I have is to do what I did in the past, place an X in the block next to Biden's name.
The polls are rigged. They ask the question "Are you satisfied with Biden" or some such, they never ask Who are you voting for. That's because the polling companies are run by corporations, just as the corporate (MSM) media.
I and a million progressives are very unhappy with Biden, but we will crawl over broken glass to vote for him.
In 2020 a head of cabbage could have beat Trump, and figuratively did. It is not so much that Biden won, but Trump lost. I hope history repeats itself in 2024.
Elections are not won on positivity, people don't vote Thank Yous. They vote on fear, anger, angst, disgust.. the lizard brain which the Republicans have mastered, not like the tone deaf positivist Democrats.
They have cast their lot with the Republicans, because they believe that Trump is better for their bottom line, as Les Moonves of CBS told his board of directors. "Trump is bad for America, but great for CBS , and the board chuckled.
As a lawyer, I disagree. DOJ was late and justice delayed is justice denied.
There are times in history that as soon as the oath of office was administered ordinary people, some not well qualified, became great judges. We'll see but I don't understand why DOJ did not seek recusals, especially here in Baghdad By the Sea.
Weaknesses in the chain of command need to be addressed. It cannot be allowed to stand that the Supreme Court can shoot down threats to their comfort and personal class concerns over enacted laws. I’m not a lawyer and rely on the good faith and expertise of such to protect our rights as citizens of a participatory democracy. At the risk of sounding like a rube, I will exercise my right to express my views on the matter.
When Supreme Court justices signal from the bench how to attack precedent with the the expectation that they will be friendly to such cases, like in having a go at weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 14th Amendment, it is clear that something is rotten in their interpretation of the law. Barring citizens from filing suit to remedy the injustices of gerrymandering and disenfranchisement is against settled law and places an impossible burden on the DOJ to address every case from the top down as if citizens have no standing in matters that effect them directly. Indeed, the tactics are designed to prevent them from exercising their constitutional rights. The top down strategy is meant to overwhelm the DOJ, death by a thousand paper cuts. In other words, it’s throwing in hard with the fascists. What’s the reasoning for the abrupt about face in interpreting settled law? I am for the rule of law. The Supremes are not the law. They have not been a font of sagacious guidance nor trustworthiness of late.
The Achilles heel has to be crime.
If I were Garland, a grand jury would have be looking at bribery, perjury (failure to disclose on required financial statements) etc. I was on the Judicial Council of the ABA for a year and remember that many circuit judges were reprimanded and the most strident of all resigned in the face of a Judicial Conference investigation.
Garland was a judge. He knows that. He was subjected to investigations. He had to complete those financial disclosures. If he was a trader, on a monthly basis.
They are completely out of control. Six awful people are dictating how more than 300 million of us have to live, with no recourse. This is completely undemocratic and contrary to the spirit under which the country was founded. They should all be impeached and convicted.
I agree that the prosecutors should seek recusal of Aileen Cannon, if they can. According to legal analysts, she is using devious maneuvers to delay the trial without overtly changing the trial date, sub silentio, in order to avoid an uproar. That is the most straightforward of all the criminal cases, and there is no legitimate reason for delay. But more generally, it is up to judges now to stop Trump from taking a verbal wrecking ball to our criminal justice system. The fact that he chose to run for president should not be allowed as an excuse. A criminal defendant does not have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else, because there are other considerations, and I wish judges would stop tiptoeing around this. If Trump gets away with his misbehavior, then subsequent criminal defendants will demand the same favorable treatment.
I live in Baghdad By the Sea. She should have never accepted jurisdiction on the first docket. She was chastised by the 11th Circuit. IMHO the circuit could have investigated whether the case was properly assigned at the clerk's level .(Full disclosure: my wife was once a deputy, same court).
Trump was obviously judge shopping, which is a violation of local rules.
After she was reversed by the 11th circuit, she should have, had she been honest, recused herself. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 455 deals with the disqualification of district court judges and it states in part: Any justice, judge, or magistrate, of the United States shall disqualify himself/herself in any proceeding in which his/her impartiality might reasonably be questioned. If no one else questions it, virtually all media did.
She did not need a motion by Jack Smith to do so.
Can't believe he didn't ask for a hearing.
Cannon is a Trump humper, as you know, appointed by TFG himself.
The issue is whether her impartiality may reasonably be questioned. Lots of Trump appointees can credibly say that their impartiality can't be questioned.
But she took a "case" that according to the circuit court should not have been filed, let alone assigned.
They are ALL way way too overly concerned about effing 'appearances', or how their protestations would be 'received'.
Those useless 'appearances', or 'perceptions' are not going to do them, or any of us who are NOT fascist scum, ANY good once the 4th REICH regime is installed into ultimate, unfettered power, and there are NO unbiased courts, nor judges left in this land. ;) :( :(
I keep thinking we should all march about this, except that I don’t march because I’m afraid of being shot. Funny how all their tactics fit together.
Carolyn they can but they won't because they are Trump humpers as I detailed above.
Yes Daniel, their (especially Garland's) inexplicable hesitancy, hand-wringing, etc. may just have cost this land it's actual DEMOCRACY.
Maybe HE should be charged with aiding and abetting the overthrow of our government, and helping to install a despotic, vicious fascist, ultimately NAZI adjacent REGIME in it's place?!?
Of course though, all of the dumber than a rock MAGAt peckerwood brown shirts in the few effing 'swing states' (THANKS racist/FASCIST Electoral 'College'!) are to blame as well.
Along with all of the airhead complacent denizens of this land out there (who seem NOT to care what happens to themselves, even living or dying, AT ALL, as long as they know all of the details about what happened on their fave reality TV BULLSHIT show this week).
As well as all of the third party, 'protest voters' who nihilistically want to see EVERYTHING destroyed (including themselves it seems, have fun in SCUMp's 'camps') if they cannot have their hard left, progressive 'purity'.
It's too bad that they cannot ALL have a real 'taste' of what a HORRID SCUMp SHITler dictatorship, and regime will be like, to maybe shock/awaken them into 'woke' action to STOP the putrid orange POS and it's evil fascist minions BEFORE they take over, and it is way way too late to do anything realistic about it. :( :(
Because Garland is a conservative, a Republican and DOJ is packed with Trump Humpers like Weiss who is prosecuting Hunter, and he begged for the job. He was appointed by Trump, and Trump stuffed the DOJ, DHS, NSA, with his cronies, using EO 13957 (Schedule F employees), and they replaced what were protected civil servants, whom the same EO reclassified so his cronies could replace them.
On a positive note,Taylor Swift has signed up 35,000 or more folks to vote.Imagine what she'll do in the coming year!And we have so many very proactive groups,Public Citizen,Common Cause and Indivisible.Every little thing we do helps,I sign a whole bunch of petitions every day.We are not giving our beloved nation to some miserable criminal maniac!!!
@ Keith. Trump as a force of nature like the plague, COVID and syphilis?
Just a man. A poor excuse of one. Nothing supernatural about him.
If you want to give thanks for this special day let us not forget to be thankful for the geographic location which we currently find our country occupying. Out of reach of the airborne ordnances currently being deployed in the Middle East. We, as a culture, have much to be thankful for, locked away between two oceans and relatively safe from the insanity that drives that part of the world.
Keith--Happy Thanksgiving from one thinker to another.
The general public needs to understand the rot and their future should it prevail
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/opinion/trump-danger-rage-psychology.html
Don't give Trump too much credit. Both political parties are complicit.
Yes, I am willing and ready to commit myself to — “ democracy, inclusion, tolerance, decency, and social justice “ [RR] — knowing in my heart of hearts that action is the antidote to despair.
As I opened your letter, I saw the painting of everyone sitting around a long… And longer! table together. I teared up. We are a community brought together by your wisdom and wit. Thank you for your daily letters, thoughts, questions, and history. I send deep gratitude to this supportive community.
Ditto
Hear! Hear!!
Thank you Professor Reich and Happy Thanksgiving to you. The biggest threat to our democracy that I see are those misguided folks who don’t agree with Biden on some issues and wish to punish him. I would urge everyone to take a deep breath, step back and look at the big picture. The only issue that is critical to us Americans for this election is our democracy, because with it, any future progress with citizen’s input is possible. Without it, we would have no input or voice in our government to influence any issue. And it doesn’t take a genius to know that the concerning issues mentioned above will never be addressed by the autocrat to generate the outcome desired.
But, it is not being cynical to understand we need to do far more than 'vote' & write to the choir on a blog. Stop buying anything unnecessary. These mobsters, live on our buying. Become as self sufficient and buy local produced as much as possible. Don't go from writing our self satisfied bull here to ordering on Amazon with dinner from snack. Richy Rich & the Corporations have played the Long Game. Leo Leonard has deployed the federalist judges everywhere. The repubs.are preparing for a government takeover. They already left some behind embedded in government agencies they want to destroy. See NY Times article naming them from a few weeks ago. Watch the Handmaids Tale Season 1 ( I couldn't get beyond that or I would throw a brick through the tv) to witness tge kind of punishment we are heading for if the repugnants win. I don't understand why the Dems will not put up a better candidate than Biden, younger, more inspiring for the many who are sick of an ole corporate white man (Delaware Credit card owned) aside from their own betrayal of us to power & money. Write to your Blue state Congressfolk & tell them to band together as the economic engines we are to use our economics as a CUDGEL to beat back the Red state turning us back 400 years, poisoning our farm lands with Monsanto seed, pesticides,insecticide. Grow back the hedgerows, update the farm bill to support local farmers in EVERY state. We must have a much more massive effect than blogging, voting now & then when allowed in our gerrymandered districts by groups of aggrieved mobsters. We need rank choice voting, independent committees to designate voting districts. Stop buying, traveling, refurbishing homes for months. Put some economic pressure on......
Yeah, all that. So, there are many practical things people can do. Where might the average Joe go to see a simple list that's organized? I think I'm being rhetorical. The Dems just send mail asking for money, for the most part.
Most orgs only talk about things people can do related to their organization , like https://democracyincolor.com/blog/2021/6/30/5-things-you-can-do-to-fight-for-democracy-right-now
I'm not aware of a list of ways to fight for our democracy. It crosses org boundaries.
If you had it Heather or Reich and others could refer people to it. Of course, people would actually have to be motivated to go there and then act and not just write clever comments to other choir members.
Why don't you come up with a list by surveying a number of sites and people here can "murderboard"it ?
Indivisible and Moms Rising have weekly to-do lists.
So does League of Women Voters, at least my local chapter ,and many other orgs.
Steve Non profits are created by people looking for fame, glory and money. Once incorporated their goal is self preservation and longevity
The March of Dimes was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt to find a cure for polio, but the MoD, never even tried, it would put them out of business, So an independent (Jonas Salk) found a cure, and the MoD closed it's doors and fell into a national secret convention, brain storming how to keep their salaries coming. The re opened their doors with a new charter, one that has no cure, thus no threat.preventing birth defects. There is no way to prevent birth defects, some are environmental and some genetic. Environmental defects can be abated by shuttering the petroleum chemical cabal's doors, and genetic abated by DNA testing before marriage, and sterilizing those with defective genes.
I created a registered Non Profit to fulfill a graduate requirement, Not hard to do.
Funny that you should mention Salk (and his contemporary, Saban).
It is the irony of ironies that soooo many fascist, white/Aryan supremacist/nationalist, ANTI-SEMITIC NAZIS would NOT be around today if those two JEWS did not save them (and therefore their offspring) with the vaccines that they developed. ;)
I agree, but to my recall,Sabine tried to find a cure, but failed. It was Salk who succeeded.
You nailed it Vicki, just wish your comment was broken down into readable paragraphs of two to three thoughts per subject. That would make it more readable.
Have you ever read "On the Road" by Kerouac, it is one long paragraph, and unreadable.
Thanks Bill! I did read on the road & liked it. Have to slow down to read it. So many of these blogs take the paragraphs out, so I gave up on it. But, you are welcome to share any good ideas.
Because…..they ain’t called ‘sheeple’ for nothing!
That was the frenetic 'beat' style, and part of it's 'charm', or so some say. ;)
Amen.
Compassion will win the day next year. Cynicism will give way to the blue wave we’ve already seen on the rise. There are not enough lunatics at the polls to stop us.
I wish I believed that, but I wish us all the best luck that you're right.
Yes!
The power of positive thinking and acting: Be the change you want to see. It’s good to know there are like minded people in the world. Thank you for your kind words.
Mary, As a child, Donald Trump went to Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, where every Sunday he listened to the sermons of Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking. Trump came to believe that the world is manifest through our thoughts. Thinking makes it so. So did Hitler, Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film
It isn't positive thinking that wins, but putting that thinking into action, and what motivates people to action is agitating the lizard brain, the amygdala, which knows only fight or flight. That is what all autocrats do, play on fears, anger, angst proof is all around us from Argentina, Hungary, Russia and the rise of the right in Norway, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, France and England.
Pollyanna is losing.
The Warsaw Ghetto Resistance fighters KNEW that they were doomed, but they all fought on valiantly, regardless.
THAT is the very same determination which we need TODAY, to fight these current NAZIS trying to impose their evil, genocidal regime on all of U.S.!
As the dominant species we've made wishful thinking the most powerful force on the planet. Think about it: wishful thinking with nuclear weapons. wishful thinking with nearly unlimited power.
My experience is everything begins with a thought. Positive and negative are relative not “real.” The more you focus on a thought the closer you come to creating or manifesting it into form. That’s how my next meal begins. Yes. I act on that thought. There are probably gurus that could manifest it with just a thought or intention. There is so much more out there and quantum theory is bringing it to light. I am a great believer in the “one hundredth monkey” theory. And the “butterfly effect” and Chaos Theory. Everything is energy. Angry energy begets angry energy, although we can choose not to get stuck in others’ energy. Everything is energy. What we say has energy. And what we think has energy. It can affect our well being or others’. I believe if enough people believe something, it will manifest. Our brain is such that we see what we believe. “Confirmation bias” explains how two people can look at the same thing and see them differently. There are studies that show that our brains see what we expect. Not the other way around. Don’t deny what you see but remember that your energetic response has an effect beyond yourself. We are way more powerful than we realize. Watch the Invisible Gorilla” video regarding selective attention. We all make judgments as best as we can. And hopefully the majority sees it our way or in my case Dr Reich’s way. My point is what we believe, feel, say, do, has a ripple effect. Think yelling fire in a movie theater when there is no fire. If we are careful we can create that which we want. Or inadvertently create the opposite. I am a total failure at science but life experiences confirm to me that this is truth.
Betty: You said: "Angry energy begets angry energy," That is true, and how well it has served Donald J Trump, who despite his misogynistic, racist, homophobic mouthings and his threat to have revenge and retribution is runnning even with Biden, and might possibly win.
Meanwhile I would wish that my angry energy would be a 1,000th Monkey.
The invisible gorilla for those that are not aware, was a study, I think it is on youtube. A group of people were quarreling and fighting and a gorilla walked unnoticed through the scene, and very few people noticed the gorilla.
The problem with Pollyanna is denial of reality and not recognizing predatory behavior for what it is. Of course perverts like Hitler and Trump would expropriate “positive“ thinking to support their depraved agendas. I forgot that “positive” thinking can be value neutral and used for evil purposes.
I’m no Pollyanna. I know there is evil. To be clear, anyone who thinks going to church means they are on the side of righteousness is a Pollyanna as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks for the historical perspective, William. Now I have to shower. I didn’t realize what company I was in making such a simple “positive” remark. Yuck!
Positivity leads to lethargy Mary.
I voted for Hillary and Biden, not because of positivity, but because of fear, and anger.
I could see what Trump was, alas too many Americans were afflicted with positivity, didn't see Trump for who he was, .
They had seen him on their 'talking boxes' every week on his garbage reality TV shit show, and then heard his racist, fascist rants during his campaign, which they totally embraced.
So in their single cerebral cortex celled minds they thought "What could EVER possibly go wrong?". :(
Living in the greater metro NY/NJ area, I knew what kind of a slimy, sleazy, skeevy, scum bucket this POS was from WAY WAY back, and FULLY understood that he should not even be considered for the proverbial dog catcher position, let alone the most powerful being in the world. ;)
Yup, from your mouth to that omniscient Flying Spaghetti Monster's ears. :)
You think so Todd? Compassion didn't protect us in 2016, and it doesn't protect us in elections. Anger, fear, outrage on the other hand is what drives people to the polls.Been working for the Republicans.
Absolutely!! Be thankful we still have time to assert our aspirations. Reaffirm our principles set forth more than 200 years ago.
Happy Thanksgiving, Dr. Reich & all of you readers & commenters of his column!
It's true, any issue you may hold dear - climate & the environment, civil rights, economic/social/racial/environmental justice, healthcare, child care, democracy, reproductive rights, marriage equality, election integrity, marijuana decriminalization, a living wage, progressive taxation, unions, etc. is in jeopardy if Trump or another radical Republican comes to power.
Same to you Jaime,my fellow chat buddy!
😄
That’s quite a list, and it’s all correct, unfortunately.
Happy Thanksgiving, Jaime!
Thanks, Paula! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
My comment to an article by Kerry J. Byrne, Fox News lifestyle reporter, on Yahoo News was censored. The article claims the German Nazis were left-wing socialist antisemites. It's true the party had the word "socialist" in the name because socialism was popular in Germany at the time, and the word got votes. But they were fascists which is quite different. Absolutely, they hated the Jewish people and were evil murderers, but they weren't socialists. I believe Byrne is trying to "blur" the facts and portray Democrats as socialists who hate Jews. He goes on at length, distorting history and current events on campus and in Congress. I fear that young people who haven't been taught history will believe his propaganda. If we can't disagree in the comments, how do we fight for democracy except to vote? And even then, the majority doesn't get their way. How can we not be cynical?
Right! Sherer observes in "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," after pointing out how the Nazis were right-wing fanatics and that the right is >always< far more dangerous than the left because they seemingly support "establishment" values, whereas the left tends to support change or even attack those values. It's no accident ol' P01135809 has been regurgitating Hitler rhetoric, of late. Note the focus on unrestricted 1st & 2nd Amendment rights to the exclusion of just about everything else. (Certainly not the 13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments - from the Civil War. For example, why are removing ol' P01135809 from the ballot or voting rights even issues for debate ‽)
Speaking of which, almost as if I heard it >before< I wrote this comment: https://youtu.be/L5R-31yGXsg?si=Cm1HoKXbvpN25cIu
I question the usefulness of arguing over terms. The fascism of the 30s would have looked a lot different from today's fascism. The massive public works programs in Italy and Germany would seem socialist to today's Republicans, and all roads lead to totalitarianism in the extreme.
Yes, I do not hear too many of today's 'socialists' wanting to put Jews, or ANY 'others' into death camps.
Yes, putting socialist into the NAZI Party's name was a deceptive ploy (although their ANTI-SEMITISM ALONE would have garnered them many votes in that era of Germany), just as today's RepugnaF**K NAZI Party uses deception, hypocrisy, and projection as deceptive ploys.
I hear that all the time, too. I tell them that the Nazis were as socialist as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is democratic, a republic & run by the people. I can make similar arguments using the People's Republic of China & German Democratic Republic (East Germany) as well.
They love to twist language and project their own sins onto others. They’re so desperate they’re pathetic.
They also do the whole 'doublespeak' thing, and sometimes blatantly contradict themselves IN THE VERY SAME SENTENCE!!
It does not matter though, since their brain dead rubes and 'lizard brain' loyalist brown shirts cannot even recognize those diametrically opposite statements, at all.
Yes. It’s the feeling that comes through, not the meaning. That’s all that matters to them. They could be reading the phone book and as long as they do it with enough menace their followers will get riled up. This is how they’ve gone from an anti-Russia stance to a pro-Russia one so quickly, IMO. These people do not think critically.
Of course Putin is now their beloved friend since he is a fully rightwing, cruel and evil DESPOT, who murders/crushes any and all dissent and protest, or calls for democracy, is a white (albeit SLAVIC white) supremacist just like they are, all without even the 'baggage' of a proclaimed communist stance (like the former USSR they all LOATHED did) to hinder their love and praise of him.
I have to laugh when they say that Democrats are antisemitic since most Jews, including me, are Democrats. A case of the pot and the kettle, I’d say.
They are currently trying to capitalize on the anti-Israeli GOVERNMENT stance being vocalized by many on the left, including many, many liberal/progressive Jews.
Maybe they are delusional enough to 'think' that they will get those left leaning tribal members to come over to their abjectly FASCIST, rightwingnut, death camp side with this BS ploy?!? LOFL
I don’t think they ever try to recruit people. All they seem to do is to try to rile up the base. Whereas Democrats, when they’re actually putting out a coherent message, try to explain what they will do for voters, all these fascists do is destroy. All Trump campaigns on is how he’s going to get personal revenge on his enemies and won’t it be fun to go along for the ride. They never, ever tell people how they personally will be better off by voting for them.
This is the article I tried to disagree with and was censored without a reason given. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/far-left-hatred-jews-today-090057215.html
Do you know if the censor was a real human being or an algorithm? I run into censorship problems a lot on the Internet due to the comment algorithm not liking a phrase or word that I used ("hate" for example) rather than the thought I am trying to express. Very frustrating!
I took out "BS" (lol) but they still censored it with no reason given.
Ignorance abounds.
Being alarmed and concerned is not to be confused with cynicism. Delayed gratification is perhaps a more useful way of expressing our momentary frustration. Keep at it. The task will never be complete.
So much to say... thank you for saying it. If the final argument for Trump by Dems is, in the end, that Joe Biden is too old, there is a solution for that. It is our system that gives us a VP should untoward events take Biden out of the Presidency. Shake ourselves lose about our choices. Harris is level headed should she need to move into the chief commander seat. Trump will never be that!!! Let’s not fail into helplessness and cynicism! Act where you are and with what you have.
Which means work like crazy to take back the House in case something happens to Harris. We need Hakeem Jeffries in the number three spot.
Yes, could anyone even begin to fathom what the ChristoFASCIST Dominionist would be like at the helm of this nation (IF his very own NAZI Caucus does not 'vacate' him long before then)?!?!
This woman can deal withit,she's held several very responsible positions before this,I enjoy hearing her speak,gets her point across well.
She seems to lack the human touch but ihope she is as capable as Joe Biden.
With Luck she will never have to prove it.
Better than Trumpet 🎺!
Thank you -- my sentiments, exactly.
We’ll use the day accordingly…cheers everyone!
Very well said. And of course the threats are worldwide. If the US succumbs then this will increase the probability the rest of the world will follow in its own nationalistic fashions.
If Trump or any other Republican wins the election next year, nothing will be done about climate change, and that dooms the whole world.
Indeed so. Tackling the challenge of global warming needs to be top of every agenda. Far right politics is a sure route to catastrophe in all respects because it is myopic and indulgent. The voice of reason therefore needs to be heard through focused action. There is no room for cynicism or apathy.
Give thanks to California. https://www.npr.org/2023/09/16/1199974919/california-oil-lawsuit-climate-change?fbclid=IwAR0wevL45zBybklc39BnCQvm4TrIaY1CTjJhEp9cjnOf4ZajHfc8SCXq8qE
Andrew Kelm ; I saw Cassidy Hutchinson, a self described conservative, say that she is voting for Joe Biden, because he is the way to Democracy and the Constitution. Currently, there is no choice for the 'republican' side in that direction. It was heartening to hear her endorsement. There are other Republicans, like Liz Cheney, who also support him. Who would want tyranny?
That's the million dollar question, isn't it? There appear to be a lot of people who want tyranny. Who are they?
We learned a few days ago in the Washington Post that billionaires like Peter Thiel are fine with tyranny as long as they get deregulation.
Why do so many Christians appear to want tyranny? Because they pray to a tyrannical god?
Why do so many men support Trump? Because it's not the 1950s anymore?
A lot of people will not believe that Democrats are doing a good job with the economy no matter what evidence is put in front of them.
People are by and large not logical. I am afraid that a lot of us may want tyranny.
Until it arrives and they see what it’s really like.
It will be tyranny for others, not for me, the wishful thinking person ass-umes.
Andy, they don't want tyranny. They want Santa Claus, a tribal leader, a father figure who will solve all problems by sheer will. Ah, the power of the will, as in Hitler's Germany! They thought they were getting daddy. They got WW II instead.
...and a country reduced to rubble
The short of it.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and let us go forward with open eyes.
Bond. George Bond.
🤣🤣🤣
fiat lux
We substackers love you and Heather so dearly and we're very thankful for this incredible opportunity to communicate and have fun while doing so.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Robert!
happy thanksgiving to you and yours, Professor Reich.
living overseas as i do and have done for quite a few years now, i've not celebrated any american holidays (and nor do i celebrate religious holidays) so basically, i am and have been holiday-free for quite some time.
this year, i am working on addressing this issue by adopting a number of holidays that i wish to observe for my own reasons. my big holiday experiment this week is trying to prepare vegan mushroom & red wine bourguignon pithivier, encased in puff pastry. i've never made puff pastry before, so i am quite intimidated by this task i've set myself.
anywho. even if i fail, i know it will taste marvelous.
Speaking of holidays, most countries I'm familiar with in Europe & Asia have double or triple the holidays we have. Many also have shorter work weeks, more leave & more vacation time.
Well said working ourselves to death for what?
For the benefit of the POS, psychotically greedy oligarchs and their shareholders, so that they can turn around and use that pig filthy, insane wealth to further persecute, TOTALLY control, enslave, and KILL (whether by environmental toxins, or death camps) US.
yes, this is true. i sometimes am confused about all the free time that europeans seem to have. on the other hand, it's rather nice, and that alone, is a reason to celebrate with a vegan feast!
True.
Does France still get the full two summer months off??
Is it two now? I thought it was one. Now there is an activist citizenry that stands up for their rights & better conditions for ordinary people. If we were only half as active we'd be much better off.
I do not know, but maybe JennyStokes above can chime in since she resides there. ??
Half as active as the French, that is.
@ Girl Scientist. When Batista was President of Cuba he made US Thanksgiving a Cuban national holiday. He had lived in exile in Daytona Beach and decided that what was good for us would be good for Cubans.
Castro and the Ortodoxo party opposed him, they opposed the Americanization of Cuba. Cuba for the Cubans. As soon as Castro took power, he outlawed Thanksgiving in Cuba.
The best friend turkeys ever had!
Happy Thanksgiving, Professor Reich 🍁🌞🍁
What happened to yesterday’s edition of your page?
Should Advertisers shun Musk’s X?
This is a no-brainer. A most definitive YES. Not only that, everyone with morals should have jumped ship from that vile guys platform long ago. Elon Musk is equally as repulsive as he who incited the Insurrection, Putin, and sadly, too many others who are evil. Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram — all of it is garbage. It wastes too much of people’s time and spreads so much disinformation that I have almost never been a part of it. (I had a FB account for about a year a few decades ago but deactivated it and never looked back…) Call me old fashioned but if I want to get in touch with old friends and share pics of myself and my life I call them, write them a letter, or shoot them an email. They don’t need to see my breakfast, my sunset, or anything else. I’ll be reading a book instead. Happy Thanksgiving Professor. I am grateful for YOU and this platform. All the best from your friend in MD, Anne 🌻💙🙏
Why don’t you talk about what a boon it is to Putin that no one is talking about the war against Ukraine since October 7th?
Your friend in MD, Anne
Left FB long time ago.