This is my acronym for the Supreme Court of the United States
SCOTUS
SECRET CORRUPTION OKAYED THROUGH UNSUPERVISED SUPREMACY
As Americans we need to remember, United We All Stand, DIVIDED WE ALL WILL FALL!
How about this: let’s try to make America Good Again! It won’t be easy but We all need to weed out the Anti-Americans. Starting @ the top of the food chain. Vote Them Out
"What we are witnessing today is a breakdown of norms at the top."
The GOP is no longer a party with guardrails. It has become a criminal organization engaged in thinly disguised class warfare. The rot began with Nixon and the "Southern Strategy," was amplified by Reagan and Bush, with their enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest. Clinton helped GOP aims along the way, by doing what he was told to do to help Wall Street (monetization of prisons, NAFTA, not vetoing repeal of Glass-Steagall, etc.).
Obama also did what he was told (bailing out Wall Street with no consequences for the banks, not providing an adequate stimulus in 2009, allowing further amplification of drug prices as a way of getting the ACA across the line).
Trump was the icing on the GOP cake, with his massive giveaways to the wealthy and to the corporations, blowing up the Deficit and thereby increasing the Debt. Now the wretched McCarthy wants the middle class to tighten their belts some more to pay for Trump's criminal activity.
The average worker is worse off now, allowing for inflation, than he was in 1980, because the large increases in productivity in the last 40 years have gone to the 0.1%.
After the 2020 election when Mr. McCarthy decided to vacation in Southern Florida his loyalty to Donald Trump was defined. He could have made the decision to stay in a local Holiday Inn, instead he found himself comfortably residing in Mar-A- Largo with his host Mr. Trump. There was no need to stir this pot so everyone could read this story even without tasting the mix. Trump and McCarthy made plans for the 2024 election and Donnie's new house guest was in line to become President Biden's "Pilonidal cyst." If this aliment is something new to you watch the movie "Cinderella Liberty," Caan and Mason were great together. Back to the dweebs. McCarthy's entire political agenda has been to conduct a campaign of interference dedicated to impeding the success of the Biden administration. Even back then the paths to the 2024 election were being laid in the Florida sand. Later, the two orange juice drinkers saw the debt ceiling as Biden's Achilles heel. Through McCarthy's interference the "cyst" will fester and the President's image will suffer, there is no avenue to a positive out come while the new speaker toys with this country's finical future. Default is their desire, damn the country, full speed ahead. Trump has never left.
It's happening because people are not educated about Deficit and Debt. For a family they're no different, for a nation they have some very important differences in economic terms. But at least the public could be educated at the Press Conferences that the Debt went up in large part because Trump gave massive tax breaks to the wealthy and the corporations. I see none of this and I'm afraid the Biden administration may have dropped the ball.
This sums it up completely. "I'm afraid the Biden administration may have dropped the ball" I hear vote them out! Well, it seems that every time we do, they are too weak and ineffective to change anything! And so it swings back to the fascist side of the isle. The bottom line is the status quo needs changing, and it seems the only side willing to do that is the Republicans! Democrats prove time and time again that they are either too weak or just don't want to change anything. If the status quo is to change the people are going to have to make those changes because the Democratic party continues to prove itself ineffective against fascism!
Agreed. The DNC needs to change and adopt an aggressive liberal agenda, to appeal to the 70% of Americans who aren't nuts. Out with HRC, Clyburn, Brazil...We need an agenda of gun control, universal healthcare, higher taxes for the wealthiest and for the corporations. Bernie is the only one to say this out loud. Who will his successor be?
You're right, complaining only leads to revolt, and blaming is only a recognition of broken promises and lies. If you're wondering of I'm being sarcastic here, the answer is yes. Believing that the Democratic party is going to do anything that makes any difference ousting the money and corruption that is currently in charge of this country is fools game! Everytime they have the opportunity to make something happen, they blow it. They can't even get a voting rights bill passed, they lay down and let Republicans make all the calls when it comes to appointing Supreme Court justices...just a couple of cases, I can go on but that would just be complaining.
I think lowering drug prices is something, ACA is something, stiffer regulations on multi billion dollar corporations, what else needs fixing, let’s see climate control, passing child labor laws, railway lines. In fact they need to be broken up, because they are monopolies, as do the tech companies operating in the U.S.
Thanks so much for pointing this out! I've been repeatedly trying to make this point. Comparing consumer and commercial debt with national debt is beyond “apples and oranges” — it’s more like apples and bowling balls. The former are loans that need to be repaid whereas the latter is simply our national money supply (since we have a debt-based currency system). Reduce national debt and you’re reducing the nation's money supply. needed to fuel the economy. If there’s a problem, it’s because too many funds are going toward further enriching the rich rather than meeting the true needs of the country.
And if there’s a “deficit” problem, it’s because the rich aren’t paying back their proportionate share.
one can engage in class warfare by doing nothing. i suggest that is biden's (probably unconscious) acquiescent plan. plan is too harsh; he's still living in a neoliberal zeitgeist.
By chaining Harris, he is effectively promoting the repugnantican agenda.
Look at Mieidas Touch website, and watch the democrats who forcefully and eloquently battle the repugnants in the house.
And as I've said before, the game is already over. The democrats are not able to get out the vote, because of the neoliberal policies of people like Biden.
I can't think of much that's less helpful than declaring "The game is already over." Honestly, I don't think even you believe that, Paul.
As long as I've been around sports, when the game is over everyone goes home and does something else. Yet here you are -- consistently. Yeah, things are bad. That just means there's work to be done.
I recommend that rather than wallow in despair, you pitch in, like your heroes at Meidas are doing. You can't do what they do, but you can do more than nothing. Prof. Reich's piece today is very insightful about the growing normalization of lawbreaking. And he's very explicit about what needs to be done: Stop The Breakage.
There's no doubt that disregard for norms and civility in formerly respected institutions like Congress leads to a corresponding disregard in the broader society. That's one reason why destructive and disruptive MAGA extremists in the House of Representatives need to be confronted with a stinging defeat sooner rather than later.
Their puppet Speaker must be removed and replaced with a moderate Republican who owes nothing to them. You and everyone reading this can help in the effort to bring that about. Learn more here:
It's just leverage for McCarthy, et al (not that he actually has any wiggle room on this given the Freedom Caucus histrionics). Like McConnell pushing through Barrett's confirmation: they do it because they can. Pilonidal cyst is a great analogy. Caving would indeed be foolish.
And what's all this about negotiation? Negotiation would mean, for example, we'll give you restrictions on food stamps, if you give us cuts in military spending and increased taxes on the wealthy.
McCarthy isn't negotiating anything, he's holding a gun to Biden's head. Why can't NYT, CNN, MSNBC etc., call this bullshit out for what it is?
Let's have our priorities straight. The worst that Biden can do is to give Republicans a win in 2024. Given the massive disinformation afflicting voters, the best course of action is not easy to determine.
And if I recall correctly, McCarthy is from Bakersfield. Middle class. Has he forgotten where he's from? Probably thinks he's one of the toffs now. An Uncle Tom in a different context. Just pathetic.
I know Bakersfield. Sphincter of the California Central Valley. I think of Oildale on the edge of B'field. The sphincter of B'field. They're sitting over there saying Go tRump! He said, "I didn't pay taxes. That makes me smart." and they swallow that hook, line and sinker.
I offer a question to those who see President Biden's administration in a negative light and for the rest of us as well. For a moment, let's alter history for the sake of viewing our financial responsibility in a different light. Back up to the election of 2020 and let's change the outcome, President "Trump" is now in his second term. Remembering the track record of his first 4 years in office, how would McCarthy's position on the debt problem be viewed? Our national debt was inflated by over 8 trillion dollars during Trump's first term, with that in mind and everything else being equal, would we as a country still be facing the question of default if Trump was President? Is McCarthy's position strictly political or does he actually care about our skyrocketing national debt? The brew-ha-ha over McCarthy's displeasure surrounding this country's financial situation would most likely be nonexistent. The two Republican components in the mix would without hesitation agree to make the payment. It's the conflict between the two political parties that is responsible for the "quicksand" in which President Biden's administration is so deeply embedded. If Trump was seated in Biden's position default would be a non-issue, and McCarthy would be considered a good little goose-stepper. The entire situation just stinks. The election of 2024 is in the offing and McCarthy's job is to effectively cloud the political waters to the best of his ability, which he seems to be doing quite well. He finally has something to be proud of and it didn't take 15 tries.
Well said! I copied your words. You composed a neat summary of the class war waged by the Republicans over the past 50 years. Looking at what the Republican leaders are doing from Reich's perspective makes me wonder if inequality and corruption go together in cycles which can be overcome, or it this is the beginning of the fall of our Democratic Republic? Isn't that what happened in Rome 1st century BC?
I should know more about Rome and the beginnings of its rot, but by the time of its abrupt fall in the 5th century AD, it was already overstretched, and, tellingly, there was a massive disparity of income. Most Roman citizens lived in poverty, while a couple of senators owned Africa. I'm willing to bet that this wealth disparity was a big part of the problem. If you're a centurion, you look around at the safe wealthy people, and their debauchery, and you wonder why you are putting your life at risk when the Goths arrive at the gates.
Can there be an abrupt fall of our own Republic? Yes, it's happened before, why shouldn't it happen again?
The rot would be so easy to fix. What I just can't get my head around is why people in West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama continue to vote for these GOP assholes.
Hear Hear !! A perfect metaphor for today along with the shenanigans of the 1930's rise of Fascism in Europe and Asia. Also, the erosion of our civility by a fascination with Eugenics and its propensity to evolve into Genocide by Deliberate Neglect. Doesn't this seem to be a relatively easy history for people with Critical Thinking skills to see? How can we expose this strident repetitive cycle of degeneration and classism and finally "evolve" past this base behavior of our animal roots. (This is my few Sheckles worth of thought for your consideration.
I got to thinking about this. What we are dealing with is the brain of the pack animal. We all have it: the basal ganglia and parts of the limbic system. This can be overridden by the outer cerebral cortex (roughly, what Freud would call the superego) which lower animals have very little of. When a basic instinct, like survival, is threatened, we revert to our pack animal brain. Strong leader (alpha male) and hatred of creatures not belonging to the pack (racism).
How best to threaten survival: take away money and food. Who does this? The plutocrat, or his monkey. Who is the plutocrat? Why, the alpha male. How do we survive? Follow the alpha male, do whatever he tells you.
Ironically, therefore, the very alpha male who threatens our survival by taking our wealth, is the same individual who gets us to follow him for our survival.
I wonder, psychologists, does this have anything in common with wife-beating, or with the Stockholm syndrome?
Tribalism, regionalism, religion, racism. Karl Marx was astonished by the stupidity (yes, he used that word) of the poor Southern whites who gave their lives to defend the interest of plantation owners. Class analysis,, history has shown, is shallow.
Your question aroused my curiosity, so I took a few hours out of my day to search for the answer. Somebody knows what the demographics are for those Republican voters, but I couldn't find the info. I did find a recent CNN article by Ronald Brownstein that explains the demographics overall, "The demographic makeup of the country's voters continues to shift. That creates headwinds for Republicans." (Olbermann featured Cristiane Amanpour's grad speech criticizing CNN's Trump disaster so I feel better reading a CNN article.) https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/16/politics/demographic-changes-voters-fault-lines/index.html
Now I am going to work on my project. Have I been procrastinating? Maybe.
More legalized anti democracy chipping from the Republican controlled state legislature. To Ohio voters as to the August 8th 2023 special election when the Ohio republican controlled legislature knows voter turnout will be small, of raising the threshold to be able to add a constitutional amendment from 51% to 60% voter approval making it hard to codify in the Nov. 2023 general election What they’re doing is using the abortion issue to take rights away from Ohioans for years to come. Of course this can’t be considered lawless, but very manipulative per Ohioans constitutional rights.
Conniving and evil explains them truthfully Laurie, and it is their goal to eliminate Americans rights to live in a free and democratic country. I have no faith in a cult who promotes guns to slaughter children, grocery shoppers, theatre goers, sports arenas, open carry in bars and restaurants or ALL public places but, are against WOMEN and exploit a woman’s right to decide sexual and reproductive freedoms. They’re anything but pro life per innocent children and they’ve proved it throughout the centuries by being against planned parenthood, poverty levels as the result of their anti public education, tax codes that enable the wealthy to pay nothing, stagnant wages that lead to inadequate housing, food, inadequate health care for those they deem unworthy because of racism, or refusing to accept humanity that doesn’t resemble them and their ideas of family. They’re pro fascist, pro nazi and my indoctrination to their evil hypocrisy ended many, many years ago. Laurie, always post and share your invaluable comments!
While in the US Congress, Joe Biden’s tax returns show he was the least wealthiest member of Congress, he rode Amtrak from DC to Delaware and worked on the train during his commute. He has a very strong moral compas and empathy for the average American citizen.
He, and Dennis Kucinich of my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. Both were ridiculed as being "softies" and "socialists". But what both of them were, and are, is honest. They both have us "commoners" in mind when decisions are to be made. We need more of that.
Nancy, I tried to find the comment I was responding to. it is not the one immediately above. To the best of my knowledge it was a criticism of what Biden has done for the middle class. Here are some of the things that I have pasted in from someone else’s comments:
HERE ARE A FEW BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS THAT HELP VERMONTERS THE GOVERNMENT DEBT FELL BY $1.4 TRILLION DOLLARS---THE MOST OF ANY ADMINISTRATION. REBUILDING THE ECONOMY WITH THE MOST JOBS. ADDING A 15% TAX ON BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS (AND NEGOTIATING WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO DO THE SAME. NOW CORPORATIONS WILL NOT OFF-SHORE THEIR PROFITS AND JOBS.) CATCHING UP ON THE VERY WEALTHY FOR NOT PAYING THEIR TAXES LOWERING THE COST OF MEDICINES AND HEALTH CARE PREMIUMS. . CAPPED DRUG EXPENSES FOR SENIORS AT $2000 PER YEAR CAPPED INSULIN COSTS AT $35/MONTH C.LOWERED HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR AMERICANS USING THE ACA. CHIPs and SCIENCE ACT $30 MILLION FUNDING to GLOBAL FOUNDRIES FOR ITS PRODUCTION OF SEMI-CONDUCTOR CHIPS ASSISTANCE TO COLLEGES FOR COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY GRANTS 4. INFRASTRUCTURE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: ELECTRIC CHARGING STATIONS WATER QUALITY SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY BROADBAND EXPANSION FOR INTERNET IN RURAL AREAS 5. TRANSPORTATION: A. $19 MILLION FOR TSA UPGRADE AT BURLINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. B. FUNDING FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TO ASSIST WITH SHOPPING, APPOINTMENTS AND MEDICAL CARE for Low Income residents.
But you think the Biden crime family and the Clinton's and Obamas who became millionaires from what, serving the American people? No they did dirty deals and insider trading. You are throwing stones in a glass house. Look at the crimes of your democrats before you blame the other side
Speaking of SCOTUS, did anyone notice that Thomas was wearing a turtle neck sweater that Harlan Crow apparently gives all his guests? With the letters HC embossed on it? It's called branding, in other words, ownership.
Keith, I do like your acronym for the SC. What a sad commentary on what should be an honest, honorable, fair, thoughtful, considered group of individuals. I know at least 3 justices fit that description. It is unfortunate that none of the conservatives on the Court do. We need a conservative voice, just not the corrupt ones we have now. They prove regularly they are the "law and order" justices, the "we make up the LAWs AND then either ORDER states to obey or let them do whatever they want as long as it hurts a whole lot of poor people and people of color, denies as many rights to those people as possible, and helps a few really rich white guys" justices.
Ruth Sheets ; Trust and respect for the Supreme Court has eroded ; understandably. Before there was any evidence shared, we all knew there was a problem! The 'Stench on the bench' is evident!
Well taken. However, that would necessarily require we somehow make clear what it is to be anti-American, starting with an understanding that this is the United States >OF< America - not America. Most of America - both North and South - doesn't necessarily hold with the US notion of a democracy - at least not those in charge of most of America, both North and South! That applies particularly to MAGA-publicans and their supporters.
Buried in all this is a problem I've banged-on about in times past - more so during the '20 campaign. It's the issue of messaging. Granted, I've offered no solution because I've had no idea of how to correct it. I've only been aware of the problem. Today, I believe ol' Beau >nails< it. Spending the 10 minutes to hear him out will be time well spent for all of us:
I think the reason Sherrod Brown has managed to hold on to this seat in this - what is now a - ruby red state is that he may have a better grasp of the "bread and butter" of his constituents than most of his OH collogues. He's nothing if not the kind of Democrat ol' Beau describes here. (For example, he always looks like he just got home from work and feels uncomfortable in a necktie! Let's hope it continues to work in his upcoming bid for reelection!)
All of us, including myself, are bothered by MAGA-publicans' rampant hypocrisy. They follow their "fearless leader(s)," for whom hypocrisy is as natural as the next breath, upon which he'll launch the next lie. It's as natural as a reflex for him. >Hear< how ol' Beau addresses all that. It's becoming >urgent< that the Dems take heed.
Of course, I just came across this little piece from Science News that casts light on what I failed to address in this comment here. It also uses a case study that answers that confounding question about the Republican message to the "undereducated:"
Deliberate ignorance is useful in certain circumstances, researchers say:
I have used the two names: American , and US. Citizen interchangeably. most can figure it out. It's like the locals in my area, responding to those who don't like the lack if street signs. They complain! So we say, you are not local? Get a map or GPS!
I always took offense to the Make America Great Again slogan. They were saying we weren’t great, and before Trump’s presidency, I thought we were already great. Now, your slogan fits.
My frustration with the Dems is they are not calling out the Republicans for their hypocrisy at every opportunity. The repubs would cut benefits for millions of the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized rather than raise taxes on the approximately 2.8 million who make $400,000 or more or corporations who are showing records profits contributing to inflation. The repubs claim to be the party of "law and order" and "family values" yet refuse to enact reasonable gun safety measures or provide universal health care including access to abortion and treatment for transgender individuals regardless of age, quality education and a reasonable social safety net without demonizing or penalizing the recipients. Dems start fighting back.
Magic closet ; Dems HAVE been fighting back! Votes have proven this, even within the last couple of days! It's the media that has been denigrating Democrats, endlessly citing phony polls, bought up just like Clarence Thomas in his 'HC' turtleneck.
Yes! A truckload of "likes" for your comment, Ms. Blair! I 100% agree that the media, while being labeled "liberal" by the 'Pubbies, is actually quite tilted rightwards and appears to report good news for Dems only when it cannot avoid doing so.
T L Mills ; Thank you for showing appreciation of my thoughts! We must consider the sources of the media. Who owns the network, newspaper or magazine? Platform etc. If they are among the obscenely wealthy, they definitely have a point of view that is very different than that of the 99% of us who comprise the majority. If the Majority rules in a Democracy, little wonder that they want to subvert it, or even end it.
Of course the media will denigrate Democrats because it is owned by Corporate America, which also owns the CIA (its private army) and would be quite comfortable with a totalitarian regime here like the ones the CIA has imposed on so many other countries by overthrowing a democratically elected government and replacing it with one run by a dictator who will allow our corporations to pillage their natural resources and take advantage of low wage labor. Why do you think so many major corporations continue to fund the campaigns of MAGA Republicans who continue to promote The BIg Lie? Corporations are NOT democratic. They are authoritarian by their very nature.
Alden, please note that Corporate America is always busy "hedging" their bets by funding both sides of the political spectrum in order to maintain "Influence" in maintaining their agenda. (Citizens United?)
In Missouri a 10 year old can walk down the street with an AR-15 and the cops can't stop him. You have to be 18 to buy a rifle or shotgun but there is no age limit for possession and open carry of a firearm. There are severe penalities for police cooperating with Feds. This is in the courts. Our Republican supermajority in the MO House and Senate have continually rolled back gun safety laws. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/17/1081387069/doj-sues-missouri-over-its-law-restricting-enforcement-of-federal-gun-laws
Did you see the exchange between Jamaal Bowman and MTG? That's the kind of fiery (yet civil) pushback we need from all D's. Stop being polite and show light on the immoral, child-hating, misogynistic, Bible-hating (they talk Christianity but reject its basic moral message), fascists the GOP has become.
Robert you always make great points. However, the one thing that is always missing from almost all Democratic commentary like this, is the lack of calling ourselves to account to form a formidable enough force that mets out commensurate consequences for all their law breaking. I hesitate to say here what I really think it will take. But it will not stop until they face severe enough consequences. We should stop treating them like they are reasonable people. They are not. They hate everyone outside their delusional world, including everyone and everything they perceive to be left of center or rainbow colored, and they will not be bargained with. The only thing they will respect is the most severe consequences that they might face. We need to start treating them like the sociopaths they are, show them no respect whatsoever, and come up with the strongest possible focused consequences we can muster, and start barraging them with those consequences. Yes, everything may fall apart that way. But it's either that, or start having daily massive protest marches all over the nation. These people are traitors to the Constitution. Just start with that. Arrest them.
David, you have really good points. Democrats and others have not taken strong enough stances against the law-breaking. When the Roberts SC voted to call corporations persons with none of the accountability actual persons have, called money speech, and gutted the Voting Rights Act which had been voted on just a few years earlier, unanimously keeping it in place, We whined and protested a bit over it and tried to point out what the consequences might be, but the media mostly ignored any challenges and nothing about the SC's decisions changed. The Roberts crew just bulled its way through the china shop, breaking many of the human and national norms, allowing criminals to remove people's rights, insurrectionists to hold and run for office, to deny women rights over their own bodies. We had a few protests, but instead of making things better, they have worsened, with proposals of giving women who have chosen abortion the death penalty. That is insane, but the way Republicans work, each time they have a victory in one of the Confederate/WHITE states, they take a bigger chunk of sanity in the next state and so on. How do we stop them? It is going to take more than a few protests that Republican police can break up with their guns, gas, and other weapons of war. And, we are going to need to wake the "mainstream" media to their false equivalencies and attempts to "balance" opinions when one of the opinions is a blatant or not so blatant lie. HELP!
You're right Ruth. We no longer have a media, at least not on TV, not in Newspapers, and you have to be careful on the internet. So far Substack and ProPublica I trust.
This reminds me of the day Russia invaded Ukraine, and the Ukrainian leadership consulted their law books and, armed with sheets of paper with rules of parliamentary order, went out to negotiate with the invading army. Oh wait. That’s not what they did. No, they organized a protest. Citizens marched out to the invaders, angrily shouting and waving signs. Umm, no, they didn’t do that either. Come on, what did they do? Help me out here.
It may be Biden is being strategic, inducing the other side to get as far out past their lines of supply (exposing their flanks) before closing a pincer action (politically, not literally). He has some experience, we shall see.
The whole world is approaching a reckoning, radical change is coming, and I believe it will end well, but then again, I have faith. But it will get very dark indeed before the dawn.
Ruth Sheets ; The bumper sticker from the 60's era comes to mind here; "Turn off your television". I still get some valuable facts from the TV. But must navigate through the B.S. This forum helps me to see what is "both sides ism" or mangled 'facts' versus journalism. There are still some good sources of news.
Try MSNBC’s. Deadline Whitehouse with Nichole Wallace. I find it very informative with many wonderful guests from investigative reporters, congress members, former FBI, law professors and many more.
And that is the REAL damage that cnn caused by hosting a "town hall." Giving the purely and unadulterated DYS-FUNCTIONAL the platform to APPEAR "Knormal," and paint ANYTHING that is said as even containing the appearance that it is grounded in reality...
MIGHT AS WELL HOST A "DEBATE" ON THE SUPPOSED "EFFECTS" OF GRAVITY!!!
David, it's not about calling ourselves out; it's about communicating to the low information voters who can sway an election. Democrats fail on two accounts: Framing an issue in terms that resonate with the people we need to reach, and repeating our message often enough and loud enough so that it is remembered by rote. Excuse the reference, but it's what Joseph Goebbels figured out, that the primitive human mind associates the familiar with safe and true. Democrats need to agree on a message and make it familiar.
Critical thinking is a learned skill that is too slow for emergencies compared to pattern recognition. The "broken window theory" (that's applied pattern recognition) is appropriate for the critical thinkers who follow Reich, but for others we can reduce today's issue to its roots: Republican law and order means lost rights and fascist controls; Democrats offer democratic justice that means freedom and safety for all. Or, take it a step further: Russia is autocratic law and order; America is democratic justice and freedom. Justice and freedom follow democratic in actions the same as in grammar. Can someone come up with a slogan or at least a memorable acronym that fits on a hat?
Enough handwringing about the latest actions of some GOP elected fools. We get it. They are morally bankrupt. They also are not going to have any change of heart, at least, not until their constituencies vote or threaten to vote them out.The task to to get to some of their voters, and to muster our own to got to the voting booth. Works with their donors too. If you hear your Dem rep say "I don't know what it will take for Republicans to change course" write them with the answer they should be giving the public.
"It will take more people to vote Republicans out of office."
Very disconcerting but necessary to be aware of the consequences of Republican role models at the top. I am eager for tomorrow's class. I borrowed Reich's book, "The System: Who Rigged it and How to Fix it" from the library yesterday after a commenter recommended it.
Many of their own -- Greene, Gaetz, Gosar, Gohmert, Graham, Boebert, Biggs, Brooks, Blackburn, Hawley, Cruz, Rick Scott, Ron Johnson, Scott Perry, Tuberville, McCarthy, Stefanik, Roy, Jordan, etc. -- were involved in planning, organizing, inciting, supporting and/or defending the attempted subversion of our election process & results in order to illegally keep Trump in power. Amendment 14, Section 3 of the Constitution compels the expulsion of these lawmakers turned lawbreakers for failure to uphold their oath of office. This, of course, follows a long series of Republicans in power not being held accountable for violations of the Constitution, many stemming from Presidents who got to power through treachery or fraud -- Nixon, Reagan/Bush, Bush/Cheney, Trump. Unless & until these criminals & traitors face real justice, we will continue to go downhill & slip into fascism, authoritarianism, civil war and/or self-destruction.
I'd like to know more about this. I don't know the law well enough. What would you have done differently? I agree that the "process" (whatever is happening behind the scenes) seems extremely slow.
Every one of them should have been investigated from the moment Garland or the FBI was on notice they requested pardons. Although not dispositive, a request for a pardon is some inference of guilt. What guilt?
Some of them, like Scott Perry and Gym Jordan had failed to comply with subpoenas from the Jan 5 House committee and AT LEAST should have been witnesses. Actually all members of Congress are material witnesses. 5 members, including McCarthy were referred for possible contempt.
In Jordan's case, he spoke to Trump several times Jan 5-6.
What is so frustrating is not knowing what is going on behind the scenes- is some of this investigating happening? If this was a movie, I'd have stopped watching due to boredom.
He did pursue the Scott Perry phone issue -- over year after the fact.
When I worked in DC, the federal police/FBI required us to file an incident report every time we had a security issue. I'm told that nobody was interviewed by the FBI or federal police contemporaneous to 1/6. Now admissions by Ted Cruz etc should have generated interviews on the record.
A staffer from my home town apparently contacted Ron Johnson's office about the Green Bay sweep. Don't know whether they interviewed him. Every one of the House members had staff as of Jan 6. The staff would have been a treasure trove. But time marches on and many of the eyewitnesses have been replaced.
Navarro laid out the Green Bay sweep in his book said he had over a 100 co-conspirators in Congress. Navarro was here in Miami this weekend on the dais with several people who got pardons -- principally Flynn. All of the usual suspects should have been investigated.
It's hard to figure out what morals the Republican Leaders have. It seems to be that power and money trump (pun intended) any morals that the great religions or great philosophers gave us to create a society that thrives. They don't care about the truth, they don't care about how many mass murders happen, they don't care about preserving peoples fundamental rights. By any measure, their actions are evil. And, their propaganda is influencing the hopeless masses who feel like they don't have anything left to lose. So, in their despair and not understanding who is causing their problems, they attack others like a cornered wild animal.
Bennett, you are right about the despair a whole lot of people are feeling. Our media and Republican politicians who seem to have the media cornered tell them that anyone who does not look like them is evil when it is those Republican white politicians who are doing the injuries to them. You are right Republican politicians these days are pretty much evil. I have been trying to come up with a term that fits what they are doing to this nation and its people and evil is the only one that seems to cover the vast damage they are doing, the lying, cheating, gaslighting, and general hypocrisy. It is disgusting, but it seems those desperate people are now so overwhelmed, they don't want to know the truth. They don't want to know why books people have never read are being banned. They don't care that trans children an youth are being denied medical care. They don't care about women who choose abortion unless they find themselves in need of one and can't get it. In short, we have permitted rich white uber-privileged white men (and a few white women) to attack our nation and its people with weapons of media, legislation, voter suppression, and the courts, and have done little to stop them even though it is our rights going down too. When even CNN gives a lying cheating insurrectionist an hour+ to spew his lies, NPR interviews right-wing legislators who lie and demonstrate their complete ignorance of the topic through the interview with little to no challenge, and when Fox supports every low-life ignorant insurrectionist with impunity, it is clear we are in trouble.
The unspoken and yet obvious reality of this situation is the motive behind Kevin’s looking away from Santos’s criminality and Chief Justice Robert’s failure to establish a Code of Conduct for our Supreme Court.
Lawyers call it “quid pro quo” from the Latin meaning "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: "give and take", "tit for tat", "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours", and "one hand washes the other".
So long as McCarthy needs Santos’s vote and so long as Santos votes as Kevin tells him to vote, the long arm of the Law will not drag him away from his post as a Representative.
So long as Supreme Court Justices interpret our Constitutional questions before the Court as they are told to do by their Party’s major donors, they remain unencumbered by even the same Code of Ethics lower court justices are held accountable that would call Justice Thomas’s behavior clearly unacceptable and even cause for his impeachment.
Our Supreme Court has been referred to as “politicians in robes”.
Both scenarios, Santos and Thomas, are examples of the overarching political reality of our democracy today. Ethical and legal guardrails are negotiated away by quid pro quo exchanges made in plain sight or quietly out of view of citizens. . . until later made known through investigative reporting.
Lincoln famously said of our nation in our Civil War, “A house divided cannot stand.”
He was talking about the ravages of war and the obvious threat the Civil War posed to the survival of our democracy as one nation.
When politics take precedence over ethics, the decline of our democracy is less obvious but no less damaging than Civil War to the foundation of our democracy. Instead of war, we have unethical termites eating away at our house until the damage they are doing to the integrity of our democracy is noticed and stopped.
The question about stopping quid pro quo termites eating away at the foundation of our democracy is “Can we stop them?” Do we have the will to stop them? And if we wish to stop the termites from destroying our democracy, is it already too late? How much damage to the structural integrity of our government has already been done?
When I first heard the title of this piece "What's the opposite of Republican law and order" my immediate thought was "freedom." I find the many anti-American actions Republicans are doing around the country right now, so anti-freedom it is frightening, just as Republicans want. They thrive on others' fear and use it to feed their power grabs, money-grubbing, law-breaking, and destruction of human norms. Prof. Reich mentioned just a few of the current law-breaking (or window-breaking) that Republicans are doing. Republican suppression of voting, disregard of what the voters want (Floridians wanted former prisoners to regain the right to vote but the state legislature said "we don't think so, we don't care what you say," and the Kansas legislature is trying hard to go against the will of the people who want safe legal abortion, with their proposed anti-abortion legislation), states stealing money meant for COVID relief and using it for their own (even personal purposes), and so much more is truly ghastly. In short, Republicans think they are the law and can do whatever they want. They have "rigged" things in so many places that it won't matter what the people want since Republicans are nearly guaranteed to get elected, and Republicans put into office the least competent, most compliant people they can find, like Little Kevvy McCarthy. Then there's the crime rates in "red" communities being higher than those in "blue" areas despite Republican claims that they are the "law and order" party. What they really mean is "we are the make up the LAWs we want, AND we'll ORDER everyone to obey on penalty of death if necessary" PARTY.
Bravo! This is an important matter because the Rule of Law is required for a civilized society. When the Rule of Law does not exist, the abuse of power abounds, crimes continue, and tyranny thrives.
My experience is that the Rule of Law does not apply to the super rich and powerful. They buy dirty investigators and corrupt police. Harvey Weinstein is a good example.
I cannot believe what is happening in the United States of America. Justice must be restored. The Justice Department needs a new Eliot Ness to fight racketeering. I pray AG Garland will address the crimes of the rich and powerful.
Perhaps we should start reform by changing the name of FBI building. Somehow, the FBI building is named after J. Edgar Hoover, a serial abuser of the law and power. IMO, the building should be renamed for a real Justice hero, Eliot Ness, who fought corrruption and restored the Rule of Law.
Danny Piper : Maybe some day in the future we will see Fani Lewis, who has had success prosecuting RICO cases, named somewhere, named for her courage in doing her job for Justice.
GOP is simply driven by blind anger and hatred ,against liberals, the Biden government, democracy and even non whites. Their ultimate objective is not even clear (to me at least) but they seem to be willing to destroy the US to reach whatever that objective is . In actual fact they are holding the American population to ransom ...............and amazingly, most Americans I meet (still) just shrug their shoulders. I am not an American and don't live in US so why would I care? I do care because I and my family, as much as any American family, will have to face whatever the Global fall out and damage of the American Democracy falling apart, turning into a fascist dictatorship will be. I am frustrated because I have zero electoral power to do anything about it other than voicing my concern. I can only hope that common sense, compassion and mutual respect will prevail in the US in the 2024 elections.
& that is because the GOP underbelly is composed largely of MAGA-Russian influenced politicians/assets here in the good ole USA. The hate & bigotry stirred up by RU misinformation campaigns against our Western Democratic norms, PERIOD!
I disagree. It's primarily money, prestige, power. It's still the same old story....at least for the electeds. But I know of no way to resolve this question of motivation in a satisfactory way. Anyway whatever their motivations are it's their actions that count.
The slow moving Kristallnacht that is unfolding in America is sickening. The Sunshine of investigation and the consequences and deterrence of Justice are urgently needed remedies.
The Republicans want to regulate the lives of the people that work ( touch Labor) and exempt the better off persons with the power to oversee what the working poor are doing with there lives and time off from work.
The Republicans are Intrested what you do in bed , force us to have unplanned children ( anti-abortion ) what kind of sexual relations we have.
The reestablishment of The PLANTATION SYSTEM and the Further Financial enrichment of the owner class at the expense of poor.
Re-establish the Devine right of the rich.
Abraham Lincoln would have a mighty hard time identifying with current Republican Party .
That is just as if you said “THE DEVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS” god gave me the right to impose my will on you”. Pure fiction kings don’t fight wars soldiers and sailors fight war.
True enough. However, the opposition doesn't see it that way, and they're in front of us in this conflict - not behind us. And they're paying their supplicants top dollar and favors for their support, while they buttress the prejudices and superstitions of their undereducated followers - that they absolutely >love<, as ol'Tweety made clear - who >believe< in some half-assed notion they are patriots, and who would gladly sell their souls to their imaginary, mythical devil for the comforting hallucination they'll go to some imaginary, mythical heaven, along with the schadenfreude of believing their opposition is going to the equally imaginary, mythical hell. >They< are the ones who support the divine right of kings. And its a divine right of kings >free< of the traditional duties involved with "noblesse oblige." It's noblesse "let them eat cake!"
Wrong assessment of the problem. This Republican outrage is not surprising nor is it a separate isolated event. Ditto Trump and his racist Fascist MAGA gang.
This was all planned and perpetrated long ago when SCOTUS incrementally gave to the organizations and corporations that represent the rich and powerful our inalienable rights and powers! SCOTUS gave our powers to those whom our Constitution was supposed to protect us from! In making bribes and corruption legal by saying that their unlimited money power in politics is their constitutionally protected free speech, they sealed our fate
SCOTUS rigged our system and made corruption the law of the land years ago. Our system has broken for a while, and it is rigged to keep getting worse because they created a power imbalance that favors the corrupted super rich and their corporations, at the expense of We the People.
Is there a solution? I suggest that you support Pramila Jayapal’s HJR54, the We the People Amendment! It reverses Citizens United and all other SCOTUS rulings that rigged our system. It restores our Constitution and inalienable rights and powers back to us alone, We the People. Demand that your Reps support this effort!!! Call them up today, and every week. And demand that every candidate for public office take the Pledge to Amend at movetoamend.org/pledge, and that all of your favorite justice organizations join the coalition of over 700 organizations at movetoamend.org/organizations
This is my acronym for the Supreme Court of the United States
SCOTUS
SECRET CORRUPTION OKAYED THROUGH UNSUPERVISED SUPREMACY
As Americans we need to remember, United We All Stand, DIVIDED WE ALL WILL FALL!
How about this: let’s try to make America Good Again! It won’t be easy but We all need to weed out the Anti-Americans. Starting @ the top of the food chain. Vote Them Out
"What we are witnessing today is a breakdown of norms at the top."
The GOP is no longer a party with guardrails. It has become a criminal organization engaged in thinly disguised class warfare. The rot began with Nixon and the "Southern Strategy," was amplified by Reagan and Bush, with their enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest. Clinton helped GOP aims along the way, by doing what he was told to do to help Wall Street (monetization of prisons, NAFTA, not vetoing repeal of Glass-Steagall, etc.).
Obama also did what he was told (bailing out Wall Street with no consequences for the banks, not providing an adequate stimulus in 2009, allowing further amplification of drug prices as a way of getting the ACA across the line).
Trump was the icing on the GOP cake, with his massive giveaways to the wealthy and to the corporations, blowing up the Deficit and thereby increasing the Debt. Now the wretched McCarthy wants the middle class to tighten their belts some more to pay for Trump's criminal activity.
The average worker is worse off now, allowing for inflation, than he was in 1980, because the large increases in productivity in the last 40 years have gone to the 0.1%.
Class warfare in plain sight.
Do you know who's not engaged in it? Joe Biden.
After the 2020 election when Mr. McCarthy decided to vacation in Southern Florida his loyalty to Donald Trump was defined. He could have made the decision to stay in a local Holiday Inn, instead he found himself comfortably residing in Mar-A- Largo with his host Mr. Trump. There was no need to stir this pot so everyone could read this story even without tasting the mix. Trump and McCarthy made plans for the 2024 election and Donnie's new house guest was in line to become President Biden's "Pilonidal cyst." If this aliment is something new to you watch the movie "Cinderella Liberty," Caan and Mason were great together. Back to the dweebs. McCarthy's entire political agenda has been to conduct a campaign of interference dedicated to impeding the success of the Biden administration. Even back then the paths to the 2024 election were being laid in the Florida sand. Later, the two orange juice drinkers saw the debt ceiling as Biden's Achilles heel. Through McCarthy's interference the "cyst" will fester and the President's image will suffer, there is no avenue to a positive out come while the new speaker toys with this country's finical future. Default is their desire, damn the country, full speed ahead. Trump has never left.
It's happening because people are not educated about Deficit and Debt. For a family they're no different, for a nation they have some very important differences in economic terms. But at least the public could be educated at the Press Conferences that the Debt went up in large part because Trump gave massive tax breaks to the wealthy and the corporations. I see none of this and I'm afraid the Biden administration may have dropped the ball.
The worst thing for Biden to do is cave.
Michael-- Agreed, the up coming debt payment is for monies already spent, McCarthy is bickering over current expenditures in the present budget.
This is just a joke at the expense of gullible voters.
Victor--And exactly who would they be, if you don't mind me asking?
This sums it up completely. "I'm afraid the Biden administration may have dropped the ball" I hear vote them out! Well, it seems that every time we do, they are too weak and ineffective to change anything! And so it swings back to the fascist side of the isle. The bottom line is the status quo needs changing, and it seems the only side willing to do that is the Republicans! Democrats prove time and time again that they are either too weak or just don't want to change anything. If the status quo is to change the people are going to have to make those changes because the Democratic party continues to prove itself ineffective against fascism!
To win this fight you have to win elections. Complaining and blaming will get nowhere.
Agreed. The DNC needs to change and adopt an aggressive liberal agenda, to appeal to the 70% of Americans who aren't nuts. Out with HRC, Clyburn, Brazil...We need an agenda of gun control, universal healthcare, higher taxes for the wealthiest and for the corporations. Bernie is the only one to say this out loud. Who will his successor be?
You're right, complaining only leads to revolt, and blaming is only a recognition of broken promises and lies. If you're wondering of I'm being sarcastic here, the answer is yes. Believing that the Democratic party is going to do anything that makes any difference ousting the money and corruption that is currently in charge of this country is fools game! Everytime they have the opportunity to make something happen, they blow it. They can't even get a voting rights bill passed, they lay down and let Republicans make all the calls when it comes to appointing Supreme Court justices...just a couple of cases, I can go on but that would just be complaining.
I think lowering drug prices is something, ACA is something, stiffer regulations on multi billion dollar corporations, what else needs fixing, let’s see climate control, passing child labor laws, railway lines. In fact they need to be broken up, because they are monopolies, as do the tech companies operating in the U.S.
I believe it’s exactly the opposite Jer!
Thanks so much for pointing this out! I've been repeatedly trying to make this point. Comparing consumer and commercial debt with national debt is beyond “apples and oranges” — it’s more like apples and bowling balls. The former are loans that need to be repaid whereas the latter is simply our national money supply (since we have a debt-based currency system). Reduce national debt and you’re reducing the nation's money supply. needed to fuel the economy. If there’s a problem, it’s because too many funds are going toward further enriching the rich rather than meeting the true needs of the country.
And if there’s a “deficit” problem, it’s because the rich aren’t paying back their proportionate share.
one can engage in class warfare by doing nothing. i suggest that is biden's (probably unconscious) acquiescent plan. plan is too harsh; he's still living in a neoliberal zeitgeist.
By chaining Harris, he is effectively promoting the repugnantican agenda.
Look at Mieidas Touch website, and watch the democrats who forcefully and eloquently battle the repugnants in the house.
And as I've said before, the game is already over. The democrats are not able to get out the vote, because of the neoliberal policies of people like Biden.
I think that Democrats have gotten out the vote! Have you followed recent news ?
I can't think of much that's less helpful than declaring "The game is already over." Honestly, I don't think even you believe that, Paul.
As long as I've been around sports, when the game is over everyone goes home and does something else. Yet here you are -- consistently. Yeah, things are bad. That just means there's work to be done.
I recommend that rather than wallow in despair, you pitch in, like your heroes at Meidas are doing. You can't do what they do, but you can do more than nothing. Prof. Reich's piece today is very insightful about the growing normalization of lawbreaking. And he's very explicit about what needs to be done: Stop The Breakage.
There's no doubt that disregard for norms and civility in formerly respected institutions like Congress leads to a corresponding disregard in the broader society. That's one reason why destructive and disruptive MAGA extremists in the House of Representatives need to be confronted with a stinging defeat sooner rather than later.
Their puppet Speaker must be removed and replaced with a moderate Republican who owes nothing to them. You and everyone reading this can help in the effort to bring that about. Learn more here:
www.FeathersOfHope.net or JerryWeiss.Substack.com
.
Or because so many voters get their information from Fox News.
Paul, Biden is not a neoliberal. He is and always has been a democrat centrist.
Paul,
That’s not a well thought out comment. More unbiased research is due on your part.
It's just leverage for McCarthy, et al (not that he actually has any wiggle room on this given the Freedom Caucus histrionics). Like McConnell pushing through Barrett's confirmation: they do it because they can. Pilonidal cyst is a great analogy. Caving would indeed be foolish.
And what's all this about negotiation? Negotiation would mean, for example, we'll give you restrictions on food stamps, if you give us cuts in military spending and increased taxes on the wealthy.
McCarthy isn't negotiating anything, he's holding a gun to Biden's head. Why can't NYT, CNN, MSNBC etc., call this bullshit out for what it is?
Do we have to cave to a hick from Bakersfield?
Let's have our priorities straight. The worst that Biden can do is to give Republicans a win in 2024. Given the massive disinformation afflicting voters, the best course of action is not easy to determine.
And if I recall correctly, McCarthy is from Bakersfield. Middle class. Has he forgotten where he's from? Probably thinks he's one of the toffs now. An Uncle Tom in a different context. Just pathetic.
I know Bakersfield. Sphincter of the California Central Valley. I think of Oildale on the edge of B'field. The sphincter of B'field. They're sitting over there saying Go tRump! He said, "I didn't pay taxes. That makes me smart." and they swallow that hook, line and sinker.
Micheal--True.
Not if we have anything to say about it.
RedElisa ???????? About what.
All things being equal.
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
8:08 AM (0 minutes ago)
I offer a question to those who see President Biden's administration in a negative light and for the rest of us as well. For a moment, let's alter history for the sake of viewing our financial responsibility in a different light. Back up to the election of 2020 and let's change the outcome, President "Trump" is now in his second term. Remembering the track record of his first 4 years in office, how would McCarthy's position on the debt problem be viewed? Our national debt was inflated by over 8 trillion dollars during Trump's first term, with that in mind and everything else being equal, would we as a country still be facing the question of default if Trump was President? Is McCarthy's position strictly political or does he actually care about our skyrocketing national debt? The brew-ha-ha over McCarthy's displeasure surrounding this country's financial situation would most likely be nonexistent. The two Republican components in the mix would without hesitation agree to make the payment. It's the conflict between the two political parties that is responsible for the "quicksand" in which President Biden's administration is so deeply embedded. If Trump was seated in Biden's position default would be a non-issue, and McCarthy would be considered a good little goose-stepper. The entire situation just stinks. The election of 2024 is in the offing and McCarthy's job is to effectively cloud the political waters to the best of his ability, which he seems to be doing quite well. He finally has something to be proud of and it didn't take 15 tries.
Well said! I copied your words. You composed a neat summary of the class war waged by the Republicans over the past 50 years. Looking at what the Republican leaders are doing from Reich's perspective makes me wonder if inequality and corruption go together in cycles which can be overcome, or it this is the beginning of the fall of our Democratic Republic? Isn't that what happened in Rome 1st century BC?
I should know more about Rome and the beginnings of its rot, but by the time of its abrupt fall in the 5th century AD, it was already overstretched, and, tellingly, there was a massive disparity of income. Most Roman citizens lived in poverty, while a couple of senators owned Africa. I'm willing to bet that this wealth disparity was a big part of the problem. If you're a centurion, you look around at the safe wealthy people, and their debauchery, and you wonder why you are putting your life at risk when the Goths arrive at the gates.
Can there be an abrupt fall of our own Republic? Yes, it's happened before, why shouldn't it happen again?
The rot would be so easy to fix. What I just can't get my head around is why people in West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama continue to vote for these GOP assholes.
The reason in these states. is hatred and fear of blacks. But systemic racism is everywhere, not just in Southern states.
Hear Hear !! A perfect metaphor for today along with the shenanigans of the 1930's rise of Fascism in Europe and Asia. Also, the erosion of our civility by a fascination with Eugenics and its propensity to evolve into Genocide by Deliberate Neglect. Doesn't this seem to be a relatively easy history for people with Critical Thinking skills to see? How can we expose this strident repetitive cycle of degeneration and classism and finally "evolve" past this base behavior of our animal roots. (This is my few Sheckles worth of thought for your consideration.
I got to thinking about this. What we are dealing with is the brain of the pack animal. We all have it: the basal ganglia and parts of the limbic system. This can be overridden by the outer cerebral cortex (roughly, what Freud would call the superego) which lower animals have very little of. When a basic instinct, like survival, is threatened, we revert to our pack animal brain. Strong leader (alpha male) and hatred of creatures not belonging to the pack (racism).
How best to threaten survival: take away money and food. Who does this? The plutocrat, or his monkey. Who is the plutocrat? Why, the alpha male. How do we survive? Follow the alpha male, do whatever he tells you.
Ironically, therefore, the very alpha male who threatens our survival by taking our wealth, is the same individual who gets us to follow him for our survival.
I wonder, psychologists, does this have anything in common with wife-beating, or with the Stockholm syndrome?
And very succinct! Thank you Rebekah
Tribalism, regionalism, religion, racism. Karl Marx was astonished by the stupidity (yes, he used that word) of the poor Southern whites who gave their lives to defend the interest of plantation owners. Class analysis,, history has shown, is shallow.
And don’t forget Florida,and Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri so many others.
Hard for me to come to grips with also Michael.
Your question aroused my curiosity, so I took a few hours out of my day to search for the answer. Somebody knows what the demographics are for those Republican voters, but I couldn't find the info. I did find a recent CNN article by Ronald Brownstein that explains the demographics overall, "The demographic makeup of the country's voters continues to shift. That creates headwinds for Republicans." (Olbermann featured Cristiane Amanpour's grad speech criticizing CNN's Trump disaster so I feel better reading a CNN article.) https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/16/politics/demographic-changes-voters-fault-lines/index.html
Now I am going to work on my project. Have I been procrastinating? Maybe.
Yes, and watch Cleopatra on Netflix. One shudders watching history in re -run!!
More legalized anti democracy chipping from the Republican controlled state legislature. To Ohio voters as to the August 8th 2023 special election when the Ohio republican controlled legislature knows voter turnout will be small, of raising the threshold to be able to add a constitutional amendment from 51% to 60% voter approval making it hard to codify in the Nov. 2023 general election What they’re doing is using the abortion issue to take rights away from Ohioans for years to come. Of course this can’t be considered lawless, but very manipulative per Ohioans constitutional rights.
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/10/ohio-house-to-vote-on-60-amendment-resolution-august-election/70187897007/
Pam Whitehead : Dastardly !
Yes Laurie, Dastardly explains their fascist motives. I am so tired of them using and stepping on the vulnerable to retain power.
I add conniving, too. Their evil intent is obvious.
Conniving and evil explains them truthfully Laurie, and it is their goal to eliminate Americans rights to live in a free and democratic country. I have no faith in a cult who promotes guns to slaughter children, grocery shoppers, theatre goers, sports arenas, open carry in bars and restaurants or ALL public places but, are against WOMEN and exploit a woman’s right to decide sexual and reproductive freedoms. They’re anything but pro life per innocent children and they’ve proved it throughout the centuries by being against planned parenthood, poverty levels as the result of their anti public education, tax codes that enable the wealthy to pay nothing, stagnant wages that lead to inadequate housing, food, inadequate health care for those they deem unworthy because of racism, or refusing to accept humanity that doesn’t resemble them and their ideas of family. They’re pro fascist, pro nazi and my indoctrination to their evil hypocrisy ended many, many years ago. Laurie, always post and share your invaluable comments!
Unlike the conservative mafia, I watched The Godfather the other night…reminds me a lot of of the Republican Party!
While in the US Congress, Joe Biden’s tax returns show he was the least wealthiest member of Congress, he rode Amtrak from DC to Delaware and worked on the train during his commute. He has a very strong moral compas and empathy for the average American citizen.
He, and Dennis Kucinich of my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. Both were ridiculed as being "softies" and "socialists". But what both of them were, and are, is honest. They both have us "commoners" in mind when decisions are to be made. We need more of that.
Yes!
Your statement about President Biden is not only incorrect it is counterproductive.
I’ve heard or read this fact many times on what basis do you say it is incorrect?
Nancy, I tried to find the comment I was responding to. it is not the one immediately above. To the best of my knowledge it was a criticism of what Biden has done for the middle class. Here are some of the things that I have pasted in from someone else’s comments:
HERE ARE A FEW BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS THAT HELP VERMONTERS THE GOVERNMENT DEBT FELL BY $1.4 TRILLION DOLLARS---THE MOST OF ANY ADMINISTRATION. REBUILDING THE ECONOMY WITH THE MOST JOBS. ADDING A 15% TAX ON BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS (AND NEGOTIATING WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO DO THE SAME. NOW CORPORATIONS WILL NOT OFF-SHORE THEIR PROFITS AND JOBS.) CATCHING UP ON THE VERY WEALTHY FOR NOT PAYING THEIR TAXES LOWERING THE COST OF MEDICINES AND HEALTH CARE PREMIUMS. . CAPPED DRUG EXPENSES FOR SENIORS AT $2000 PER YEAR CAPPED INSULIN COSTS AT $35/MONTH C.LOWERED HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR AMERICANS USING THE ACA. CHIPs and SCIENCE ACT $30 MILLION FUNDING to GLOBAL FOUNDRIES FOR ITS PRODUCTION OF SEMI-CONDUCTOR CHIPS ASSISTANCE TO COLLEGES FOR COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY GRANTS 4. INFRASTRUCTURE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: ELECTRIC CHARGING STATIONS WATER QUALITY SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY BROADBAND EXPANSION FOR INTERNET IN RURAL AREAS 5. TRANSPORTATION: A. $19 MILLION FOR TSA UPGRADE AT BURLINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. B. FUNDING FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TO ASSIST WITH SHOPPING, APPOINTMENTS AND MEDICAL CARE for Low Income residents.
Supporting unions also
Ah, you must've been responding to the comment by Janna Smyth just below!
Ah yes. That’s correct.
How?
But you think the Biden crime family and the Clinton's and Obamas who became millionaires from what, serving the American people? No they did dirty deals and insider trading. You are throwing stones in a glass house. Look at the crimes of your democrats before you blame the other side
Speaking of SCOTUS, did anyone notice that Thomas was wearing a turtle neck sweater that Harlan Crow apparently gives all his guests? With the letters HC embossed on it? It's called branding, in other words, ownership.
Class warfare at it finest.
I hadn't noticed that. That's creepy. Accept the gifts, say nothing, and then wear the shirt? Gross.
Hey they are best buds! Ever since Clarence became a Supreme Court 'justice'.
Barfiating!
I can't seem to find it, but this is next best:
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/06/texas-harlan-crow-clarence-thomas-gifts/
Thomas is wearing a polo shirt with the logo of Harlan's yacht embossed on it.
Branded, like cattle, only a lot more powerful!
Too many "bulls" in Washington spreading their inimitable refuse of overindulgence with the same old result: Fecal matter everywhere.!!!
Oh crap, smh at the Stupidity.
Those who don't know the source of the sweater might think it stands for Hillary Clinton, although his rulings don't align that much with her views.
I’m trying to think of the logo for the rest of us—progressive populist logo.
Keith, I do like your acronym for the SC. What a sad commentary on what should be an honest, honorable, fair, thoughtful, considered group of individuals. I know at least 3 justices fit that description. It is unfortunate that none of the conservatives on the Court do. We need a conservative voice, just not the corrupt ones we have now. They prove regularly they are the "law and order" justices, the "we make up the LAWs AND then either ORDER states to obey or let them do whatever they want as long as it hurts a whole lot of poor people and people of color, denies as many rights to those people as possible, and helps a few really rich white guys" justices.
Ruth Sheets ; Trust and respect for the Supreme Court has eroded ; understandably. Before there was any evidence shared, we all knew there was a problem! The 'Stench on the bench' is evident!
Nicely worded Laurie!
Indeed!
Well taken. However, that would necessarily require we somehow make clear what it is to be anti-American, starting with an understanding that this is the United States >OF< America - not America. Most of America - both North and South - doesn't necessarily hold with the US notion of a democracy - at least not those in charge of most of America, both North and South! That applies particularly to MAGA-publicans and their supporters.
Buried in all this is a problem I've banged-on about in times past - more so during the '20 campaign. It's the issue of messaging. Granted, I've offered no solution because I've had no idea of how to correct it. I've only been aware of the problem. Today, I believe ol' Beau >nails< it. Spending the 10 minutes to hear him out will be time well spent for all of us:
- DEMOCRATIC MESSAGING ISSUES:
https://youtu.be/DSNdeBznWtU
I think the reason Sherrod Brown has managed to hold on to this seat in this - what is now a - ruby red state is that he may have a better grasp of the "bread and butter" of his constituents than most of his OH collogues. He's nothing if not the kind of Democrat ol' Beau describes here. (For example, he always looks like he just got home from work and feels uncomfortable in a necktie! Let's hope it continues to work in his upcoming bid for reelection!)
All of us, including myself, are bothered by MAGA-publicans' rampant hypocrisy. They follow their "fearless leader(s)," for whom hypocrisy is as natural as the next breath, upon which he'll launch the next lie. It's as natural as a reflex for him. >Hear< how ol' Beau addresses all that. It's becoming >urgent< that the Dems take heed.
Of course, I just came across this little piece from Science News that casts light on what I failed to address in this comment here. It also uses a case study that answers that confounding question about the Republican message to the "undereducated:"
Deliberate ignorance is useful in certain circumstances, researchers say:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/deliberate-ignorance-knowledge-stasi
DZK OK: The U.S.A.
I kind'a like the United State - or the US. I consider myself a US citizen - not a friggin' American!
I have used the two names: American , and US. Citizen interchangeably. most can figure it out. It's like the locals in my area, responding to those who don't like the lack if street signs. They complain! So we say, you are not local? Get a map or GPS!
Which is an attitude that drives people to the opposition. Just sayin'.
But DZK: It's so much harder to text! All those periods! and CAPS
I don't bother with periods in US. (Except at the end!)
What about the fake goods made in USA. A fake place.? Pronounced you-suh
I don't have a problem with America or American. If people can't figure out what country I'm referring to, that 's their problem!
And while we’re at it, let’s make America honest again the truth is not subject to opinion or political convenience!
If the confirmation hearings wouldn't have been corrupted these fools wouldn't have passed the smell test.
I always took offense to the Make America Great Again slogan. They were saying we weren’t great, and before Trump’s presidency, I thought we were already great. Now, your slogan fits.
My frustration with the Dems is they are not calling out the Republicans for their hypocrisy at every opportunity. The repubs would cut benefits for millions of the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized rather than raise taxes on the approximately 2.8 million who make $400,000 or more or corporations who are showing records profits contributing to inflation. The repubs claim to be the party of "law and order" and "family values" yet refuse to enact reasonable gun safety measures or provide universal health care including access to abortion and treatment for transgender individuals regardless of age, quality education and a reasonable social safety net without demonizing or penalizing the recipients. Dems start fighting back.
Magic closet ; Dems HAVE been fighting back! Votes have proven this, even within the last couple of days! It's the media that has been denigrating Democrats, endlessly citing phony polls, bought up just like Clarence Thomas in his 'HC' turtleneck.
Yes! A truckload of "likes" for your comment, Ms. Blair! I 100% agree that the media, while being labeled "liberal" by the 'Pubbies, is actually quite tilted rightwards and appears to report good news for Dems only when it cannot avoid doing so.
T L Mills ; Thank you for showing appreciation of my thoughts! We must consider the sources of the media. Who owns the network, newspaper or magazine? Platform etc. If they are among the obscenely wealthy, they definitely have a point of view that is very different than that of the 99% of us who comprise the majority. If the Majority rules in a Democracy, little wonder that they want to subvert it, or even end it.
Of course the media will denigrate Democrats because it is owned by Corporate America, which also owns the CIA (its private army) and would be quite comfortable with a totalitarian regime here like the ones the CIA has imposed on so many other countries by overthrowing a democratically elected government and replacing it with one run by a dictator who will allow our corporations to pillage their natural resources and take advantage of low wage labor. Why do you think so many major corporations continue to fund the campaigns of MAGA Republicans who continue to promote The BIg Lie? Corporations are NOT democratic. They are authoritarian by their very nature.
Certainly seems that way. Edward Snowden, in his book Permanent Record, said the NSA is infiltrated by corporate players.
Absolutely. Alden Thayer is correct. Will we really ever change things? Or will we just write about doing so?
These truths are so blatant... what does it take to demand accountability?
I do believe hitting “them” where it hurts:$$$$$$$$$
Alden, please note that Corporate America is always busy "hedging" their bets by funding both sides of the political spectrum in order to maintain "Influence" in maintaining their agenda. (Citizens United?)
That was the Republican party of long ago, now the GOP is the mafia party.
In Missouri a 10 year old can walk down the street with an AR-15 and the cops can't stop him. You have to be 18 to buy a rifle or shotgun but there is no age limit for possession and open carry of a firearm. There are severe penalities for police cooperating with Feds. This is in the courts. Our Republican supermajority in the MO House and Senate have continually rolled back gun safety laws. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/17/1081387069/doj-sues-missouri-over-its-law-restricting-enforcement-of-federal-gun-laws
Did you see the exchange between Jamaal Bowman and MTG? That's the kind of fiery (yet civil) pushback we need from all D's. Stop being polite and show light on the immoral, child-hating, misogynistic, Bible-hating (they talk Christianity but reject its basic moral message), fascists the GOP has become.
Interesting and my frustration is the exact opposite 🙃
Robert you always make great points. However, the one thing that is always missing from almost all Democratic commentary like this, is the lack of calling ourselves to account to form a formidable enough force that mets out commensurate consequences for all their law breaking. I hesitate to say here what I really think it will take. But it will not stop until they face severe enough consequences. We should stop treating them like they are reasonable people. They are not. They hate everyone outside their delusional world, including everyone and everything they perceive to be left of center or rainbow colored, and they will not be bargained with. The only thing they will respect is the most severe consequences that they might face. We need to start treating them like the sociopaths they are, show them no respect whatsoever, and come up with the strongest possible focused consequences we can muster, and start barraging them with those consequences. Yes, everything may fall apart that way. But it's either that, or start having daily massive protest marches all over the nation. These people are traitors to the Constitution. Just start with that. Arrest them.
David, you have really good points. Democrats and others have not taken strong enough stances against the law-breaking. When the Roberts SC voted to call corporations persons with none of the accountability actual persons have, called money speech, and gutted the Voting Rights Act which had been voted on just a few years earlier, unanimously keeping it in place, We whined and protested a bit over it and tried to point out what the consequences might be, but the media mostly ignored any challenges and nothing about the SC's decisions changed. The Roberts crew just bulled its way through the china shop, breaking many of the human and national norms, allowing criminals to remove people's rights, insurrectionists to hold and run for office, to deny women rights over their own bodies. We had a few protests, but instead of making things better, they have worsened, with proposals of giving women who have chosen abortion the death penalty. That is insane, but the way Republicans work, each time they have a victory in one of the Confederate/WHITE states, they take a bigger chunk of sanity in the next state and so on. How do we stop them? It is going to take more than a few protests that Republican police can break up with their guns, gas, and other weapons of war. And, we are going to need to wake the "mainstream" media to their false equivalencies and attempts to "balance" opinions when one of the opinions is a blatant or not so blatant lie. HELP!
You're right Ruth. We no longer have a media, at least not on TV, not in Newspapers, and you have to be careful on the internet. So far Substack and ProPublica I trust.
And that’s about it for me, also.
This reminds me of the day Russia invaded Ukraine, and the Ukrainian leadership consulted their law books and, armed with sheets of paper with rules of parliamentary order, went out to negotiate with the invading army. Oh wait. That’s not what they did. No, they organized a protest. Citizens marched out to the invaders, angrily shouting and waving signs. Umm, no, they didn’t do that either. Come on, what did they do? Help me out here.
It may be Biden is being strategic, inducing the other side to get as far out past their lines of supply (exposing their flanks) before closing a pincer action (politically, not literally). He has some experience, we shall see.
The whole world is approaching a reckoning, radical change is coming, and I believe it will end well, but then again, I have faith. But it will get very dark indeed before the dawn.
They started killing the bastards
Ruth Sheets ; The bumper sticker from the 60's era comes to mind here; "Turn off your television". I still get some valuable facts from the TV. But must navigate through the B.S. This forum helps me to see what is "both sides ism" or mangled 'facts' versus journalism. There are still some good sources of news.
Try MSNBC’s. Deadline Whitehouse with Nichole Wallace. I find it very informative with many wonderful guests from investigative reporters, congress members, former FBI, law professors and many more.
I agree, Lorren; and watch every day.
Hear Hear, Laurie. You have once again voiced it briefly and succinctly! My favorite type of posting.
EXACTLY, my Friend!
And that is the REAL damage that cnn caused by hosting a "town hall." Giving the purely and unadulterated DYS-FUNCTIONAL the platform to APPEAR "Knormal," and paint ANYTHING that is said as even containing the appearance that it is grounded in reality...
MIGHT AS WELL HOST A "DEBATE" ON THE SUPPOSED "EFFECTS" OF GRAVITY!!!
JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ
David, it's not about calling ourselves out; it's about communicating to the low information voters who can sway an election. Democrats fail on two accounts: Framing an issue in terms that resonate with the people we need to reach, and repeating our message often enough and loud enough so that it is remembered by rote. Excuse the reference, but it's what Joseph Goebbels figured out, that the primitive human mind associates the familiar with safe and true. Democrats need to agree on a message and make it familiar.
Critical thinking is a learned skill that is too slow for emergencies compared to pattern recognition. The "broken window theory" (that's applied pattern recognition) is appropriate for the critical thinkers who follow Reich, but for others we can reduce today's issue to its roots: Republican law and order means lost rights and fascist controls; Democrats offer democratic justice that means freedom and safety for all. Or, take it a step further: Russia is autocratic law and order; America is democratic justice and freedom. Justice and freedom follow democratic in actions the same as in grammar. Can someone come up with a slogan or at least a memorable acronym that fits on a hat?
Enough handwringing about the latest actions of some GOP elected fools. We get it. They are morally bankrupt. They also are not going to have any change of heart, at least, not until their constituencies vote or threaten to vote them out.The task to to get to some of their voters, and to muster our own to got to the voting booth. Works with their donors too. If you hear your Dem rep say "I don't know what it will take for Republicans to change course" write them with the answer they should be giving the public.
"It will take more people to vote Republicans out of office."
BRAVO! Reich at your best.
Very disconcerting but necessary to be aware of the consequences of Republican role models at the top. I am eager for tomorrow's class. I borrowed Reich's book, "The System: Who Rigged it and How to Fix it" from the library yesterday after a commenter recommended it.
Many of their own -- Greene, Gaetz, Gosar, Gohmert, Graham, Boebert, Biggs, Brooks, Blackburn, Hawley, Cruz, Rick Scott, Ron Johnson, Scott Perry, Tuberville, McCarthy, Stefanik, Roy, Jordan, etc. -- were involved in planning, organizing, inciting, supporting and/or defending the attempted subversion of our election process & results in order to illegally keep Trump in power. Amendment 14, Section 3 of the Constitution compels the expulsion of these lawmakers turned lawbreakers for failure to uphold their oath of office. This, of course, follows a long series of Republicans in power not being held accountable for violations of the Constitution, many stemming from Presidents who got to power through treachery or fraud -- Nixon, Reagan/Bush, Bush/Cheney, Trump. Unless & until these criminals & traitors face real justice, we will continue to go downhill & slip into fascism, authoritarianism, civil war and/or self-destruction.
I blame Garland.
Many requested pardons from Trump. Continue to "give cover" to insurrection.
I'd like to know more about this. I don't know the law well enough. What would you have done differently? I agree that the "process" (whatever is happening behind the scenes) seems extremely slow.
Every one of them should have been investigated from the moment Garland or the FBI was on notice they requested pardons. Although not dispositive, a request for a pardon is some inference of guilt. What guilt?
Some of them, like Scott Perry and Gym Jordan had failed to comply with subpoenas from the Jan 5 House committee and AT LEAST should have been witnesses. Actually all members of Congress are material witnesses. 5 members, including McCarthy were referred for possible contempt.
In Jordan's case, he spoke to Trump several times Jan 5-6.
Thank you. Good to know. And Garland did nothing.
What is so frustrating is not knowing what is going on behind the scenes- is some of this investigating happening? If this was a movie, I'd have stopped watching due to boredom.
He did pursue the Scott Perry phone issue -- over year after the fact.
When I worked in DC, the federal police/FBI required us to file an incident report every time we had a security issue. I'm told that nobody was interviewed by the FBI or federal police contemporaneous to 1/6. Now admissions by Ted Cruz etc should have generated interviews on the record.
A staffer from my home town apparently contacted Ron Johnson's office about the Green Bay sweep. Don't know whether they interviewed him. Every one of the House members had staff as of Jan 6. The staff would have been a treasure trove. But time marches on and many of the eyewitnesses have been replaced.
Navarro laid out the Green Bay sweep in his book said he had over a 100 co-conspirators in Congress. Navarro was here in Miami this weekend on the dais with several people who got pardons -- principally Flynn. All of the usual suspects should have been investigated.
It's hard to figure out what morals the Republican Leaders have. It seems to be that power and money trump (pun intended) any morals that the great religions or great philosophers gave us to create a society that thrives. They don't care about the truth, they don't care about how many mass murders happen, they don't care about preserving peoples fundamental rights. By any measure, their actions are evil. And, their propaganda is influencing the hopeless masses who feel like they don't have anything left to lose. So, in their despair and not understanding who is causing their problems, they attack others like a cornered wild animal.
Bennett, you are right about the despair a whole lot of people are feeling. Our media and Republican politicians who seem to have the media cornered tell them that anyone who does not look like them is evil when it is those Republican white politicians who are doing the injuries to them. You are right Republican politicians these days are pretty much evil. I have been trying to come up with a term that fits what they are doing to this nation and its people and evil is the only one that seems to cover the vast damage they are doing, the lying, cheating, gaslighting, and general hypocrisy. It is disgusting, but it seems those desperate people are now so overwhelmed, they don't want to know the truth. They don't want to know why books people have never read are being banned. They don't care that trans children an youth are being denied medical care. They don't care about women who choose abortion unless they find themselves in need of one and can't get it. In short, we have permitted rich white uber-privileged white men (and a few white women) to attack our nation and its people with weapons of media, legislation, voter suppression, and the courts, and have done little to stop them even though it is our rights going down too. When even CNN gives a lying cheating insurrectionist an hour+ to spew his lies, NPR interviews right-wing legislators who lie and demonstrate their complete ignorance of the topic through the interview with little to no challenge, and when Fox supports every low-life ignorant insurrectionist with impunity, it is clear we are in trouble.
We need to get over being stunned by their behavior, stop trying to understand them, and oppose them with all the resources we can muster.
yea, verily
Another especially insightful article, Prof Reich. Thank you.
We need more people like Robert Reich.
YES!! 👏
We need more people to heed the one and only Robert Reich we have. Pass it on.
An excellent summary.
The unspoken and yet obvious reality of this situation is the motive behind Kevin’s looking away from Santos’s criminality and Chief Justice Robert’s failure to establish a Code of Conduct for our Supreme Court.
Lawyers call it “quid pro quo” from the Latin meaning "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: "give and take", "tit for tat", "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours", and "one hand washes the other".
So long as McCarthy needs Santos’s vote and so long as Santos votes as Kevin tells him to vote, the long arm of the Law will not drag him away from his post as a Representative.
So long as Supreme Court Justices interpret our Constitutional questions before the Court as they are told to do by their Party’s major donors, they remain unencumbered by even the same Code of Ethics lower court justices are held accountable that would call Justice Thomas’s behavior clearly unacceptable and even cause for his impeachment.
Our Supreme Court has been referred to as “politicians in robes”.
Both scenarios, Santos and Thomas, are examples of the overarching political reality of our democracy today. Ethical and legal guardrails are negotiated away by quid pro quo exchanges made in plain sight or quietly out of view of citizens. . . until later made known through investigative reporting.
Lincoln famously said of our nation in our Civil War, “A house divided cannot stand.”
He was talking about the ravages of war and the obvious threat the Civil War posed to the survival of our democracy as one nation.
When politics take precedence over ethics, the decline of our democracy is less obvious but no less damaging than Civil War to the foundation of our democracy. Instead of war, we have unethical termites eating away at our house until the damage they are doing to the integrity of our democracy is noticed and stopped.
The question about stopping quid pro quo termites eating away at the foundation of our democracy is “Can we stop them?” Do we have the will to stop them? And if we wish to stop the termites from destroying our democracy, is it already too late? How much damage to the structural integrity of our government has already been done?
When I first heard the title of this piece "What's the opposite of Republican law and order" my immediate thought was "freedom." I find the many anti-American actions Republicans are doing around the country right now, so anti-freedom it is frightening, just as Republicans want. They thrive on others' fear and use it to feed their power grabs, money-grubbing, law-breaking, and destruction of human norms. Prof. Reich mentioned just a few of the current law-breaking (or window-breaking) that Republicans are doing. Republican suppression of voting, disregard of what the voters want (Floridians wanted former prisoners to regain the right to vote but the state legislature said "we don't think so, we don't care what you say," and the Kansas legislature is trying hard to go against the will of the people who want safe legal abortion, with their proposed anti-abortion legislation), states stealing money meant for COVID relief and using it for their own (even personal purposes), and so much more is truly ghastly. In short, Republicans think they are the law and can do whatever they want. They have "rigged" things in so many places that it won't matter what the people want since Republicans are nearly guaranteed to get elected, and Republicans put into office the least competent, most compliant people they can find, like Little Kevvy McCarthy. Then there's the crime rates in "red" communities being higher than those in "blue" areas despite Republican claims that they are the "law and order" party. What they really mean is "we are the make up the LAWs we want, AND we'll ORDER everyone to obey on penalty of death if necessary" PARTY.
Bravo! This is an important matter because the Rule of Law is required for a civilized society. When the Rule of Law does not exist, the abuse of power abounds, crimes continue, and tyranny thrives.
My experience is that the Rule of Law does not apply to the super rich and powerful. They buy dirty investigators and corrupt police. Harvey Weinstein is a good example.
I cannot believe what is happening in the United States of America. Justice must be restored. The Justice Department needs a new Eliot Ness to fight racketeering. I pray AG Garland will address the crimes of the rich and powerful.
Perhaps we should start reform by changing the name of FBI building. Somehow, the FBI building is named after J. Edgar Hoover, a serial abuser of the law and power. IMO, the building should be renamed for a real Justice hero, Eliot Ness, who fought corrruption and restored the Rule of Law.
Danny Piper : Maybe some day in the future we will see Fani Lewis, who has had success prosecuting RICO cases, named somewhere, named for her courage in doing her job for Justice.
GOP is simply driven by blind anger and hatred ,against liberals, the Biden government, democracy and even non whites. Their ultimate objective is not even clear (to me at least) but they seem to be willing to destroy the US to reach whatever that objective is . In actual fact they are holding the American population to ransom ...............and amazingly, most Americans I meet (still) just shrug their shoulders. I am not an American and don't live in US so why would I care? I do care because I and my family, as much as any American family, will have to face whatever the Global fall out and damage of the American Democracy falling apart, turning into a fascist dictatorship will be. I am frustrated because I have zero electoral power to do anything about it other than voicing my concern. I can only hope that common sense, compassion and mutual respect will prevail in the US in the 2024 elections.
& that is because the GOP underbelly is composed largely of MAGA-Russian influenced politicians/assets here in the good ole USA. The hate & bigotry stirred up by RU misinformation campaigns against our Western Democratic norms, PERIOD!
not enough reporting on Russian misinformation campaign
I disagree. It's primarily money, prestige, power. It's still the same old story....at least for the electeds. But I know of no way to resolve this question of motivation in a satisfactory way. Anyway whatever their motivations are it's their actions that count.
These are crimes. Enforce the law, DOJ.
Isn't "Republican Law & Order" an oxymoron? (Emphasis on the "moron".)
The slow moving Kristallnacht that is unfolding in America is sickening. The Sunshine of investigation and the consequences and deterrence of Justice are urgently needed remedies.
The Republicans want to regulate the lives of the people that work ( touch Labor) and exempt the better off persons with the power to oversee what the working poor are doing with there lives and time off from work.
The Republicans are Intrested what you do in bed , force us to have unplanned children ( anti-abortion ) what kind of sexual relations we have.
The reestablishment of The PLANTATION SYSTEM and the Further Financial enrichment of the owner class at the expense of poor.
Re-establish the Devine right of the rich.
Abraham Lincoln would have a mighty hard time identifying with current Republican Party .
J
Remember the old adage: "With rank comes privilege?" >That's< the spoils of winning. It's a
"neo spoils system." (Remember the spoils system from history?)
No such thing as rank has its privileges,
That is just as if you said “THE DEVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS” god gave me the right to impose my will on you”. Pure fiction kings don’t fight wars soldiers and sailors fight war.
J
True enough. However, the opposition doesn't see it that way, and they're in front of us in this conflict - not behind us. And they're paying their supplicants top dollar and favors for their support, while they buttress the prejudices and superstitions of their undereducated followers - that they absolutely >love<, as ol'Tweety made clear - who >believe< in some half-assed notion they are patriots, and who would gladly sell their souls to their imaginary, mythical devil for the comforting hallucination they'll go to some imaginary, mythical heaven, along with the schadenfreude of believing their opposition is going to the equally imaginary, mythical hell. >They< are the ones who support the divine right of kings. And its a divine right of kings >free< of the traditional duties involved with "noblesse oblige." It's noblesse "let them eat cake!"
An Occam’s Razor Award to Dr. Reich. So much sense conveyed with so few words displayed.
Hear Hear William, You show a great economy of perinate words to express this project.
‘Perinate’? Really?
Oops. "pertinent" might be more appropriate. I must have been in too great a hurry to edit. My profuse apologies to you sir.
No worries. Learned a new word
Wrong assessment of the problem. This Republican outrage is not surprising nor is it a separate isolated event. Ditto Trump and his racist Fascist MAGA gang.
This was all planned and perpetrated long ago when SCOTUS incrementally gave to the organizations and corporations that represent the rich and powerful our inalienable rights and powers! SCOTUS gave our powers to those whom our Constitution was supposed to protect us from! In making bribes and corruption legal by saying that their unlimited money power in politics is their constitutionally protected free speech, they sealed our fate
SCOTUS rigged our system and made corruption the law of the land years ago. Our system has broken for a while, and it is rigged to keep getting worse because they created a power imbalance that favors the corrupted super rich and their corporations, at the expense of We the People.
Is there a solution? I suggest that you support Pramila Jayapal’s HJR54, the We the People Amendment! It reverses Citizens United and all other SCOTUS rulings that rigged our system. It restores our Constitution and inalienable rights and powers back to us alone, We the People. Demand that your Reps support this effort!!! Call them up today, and every week. And demand that every candidate for public office take the Pledge to Amend at movetoamend.org/pledge, and that all of your favorite justice organizations join the coalition of over 700 organizations at movetoamend.org/organizations
Together, si se puede!!! We can!
SC has been, and remains, the biggest threat to our democracy.Finally this is being widely understood . Even by the NYT !
The solution is to prosecute them for crimes.
The simple & obvious solution: enforce the law & Constitution!