i always find it strange that people who don't trust scientists and doctors especially -- people whose acts can be fact-checked -- are willing to believe loudmouthed egomaniacs whose assertions are mere hot air with no real-life effects. the cognitive dissonance is astounding.
They don't trust scientists and doctors because they are too poorly educated to understand what they say--a condition the GQP works very hard to maintain. That scientists and doctors can be fact-checked is another disadvantage because they don't understand the fact-checking either, nor do they know the difference between a fact, an opinion, and a lie.
They are willing to believe loudmouthed egomaniacs whose assertions are mere hot air with no real-life effects because the egomaniacs simplify things (adding in lies as necessary) so they think they understand. More importantly, the egomaniacs appeal almost exclusively to emotions--particularly fear--which relieves the people of the need to think at all--all they need do is react.
It reminds me of "Professional" Wrestling. I grew up watching Hulk Hogan as the ultimate "good guy". I quit watching in the 90s, and I guess people were bored with the "good guy". The new hero was the 'bad guy" that was supposed to be anti-establishment. Stone Cold Steve Austin was supposed to be the "bad guy" but somehow became the champion of the people. He did whatever he wanted, and the people loved it. It seems to me that Trump is the Stone Cold Steve Austin of politics, and people seem to love it. (Even Hulk Hogan came back as kind of anti-establishment, and it prolonged his career)
I like that assertion !! Living among people like that is hard and it is generally easier and quieter to just say nothing. The only way forward is some huge crisis which will see the idiots like Trump totally discredited ! Maybe though that may come too late to save us all !!!
Very true! As I have mentioned before, my family members are hardcore Trump supporters. Their favorite TV shows feature UFOs and space aliens kidnapping people and "controlling" Earth for centuries, ghost hunting, looking for Bigfoot and the Swamp Rat and other monsters, and similar nonsense. They believe that if it's on TV it must be true! If a real science program like on NOVA is observed, they change the channel. No wonder they love Trump's fairy tales and BS!
I LOVE Sci-Fi too, but this reality TV stuff is being promoted as facts not fiction. A member of my family has spent hundreds of dollars on ghost hunting equipment that he saw on TV. No evidence that it will detect anything other than stray magnetic fields from house wiring!
And now the same right wing Republi -Con system is lying to people now living in the rust belt saying to vote right wing Republi -Con because the Democrats want to hurt them in some way. AND THE TRUTH IS: the Cons have nothing to offer people except more lies. That is the tragedy facing Americans today. The Cons have no solutions only more snake oil and more lies.
Maureen Actually being poorly educated has nothing to do with being antivaxx you see them on the web all of the time, Antivaxxers run the gamut from PhD's to high school drop outs.
Look at RFK jr, is he poorly educated.
It is all about the cult and who one listens to. I will step on a limb here and say that 100% of the antivaxxers are Fox addicts.
Maureen, what one believes has nothing to do with education. There are educated people all of the world that believe in fantasy's and fiction, Like Islam, Hindu, Christianity, the TeNACH (OT)
Fox is not regulated by the FCC, because it is not over the air, and it doesn't matter, because Clinton's Telecommunication Act of 1996, voided the requirement to be fair and balanced.
News was once it's own separate division, and no ads were allowed, now it is part of a division called Infotainment, it is no different than a reality show, Last Week Tonight. The Today Show.
And according to the 1st Amendment, Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press and speech.
In fact those are exactly what Trump and his cult in congress will do, if elected and I am scared sh..less that he will be. We have to fight harder and turn out to vote, whatever it takes.
Maureen, you make some very cogent points, thank you. I would only add that Trump's brainwashed masses are physically grown children raised by dysfunctionally authoritarian parents/caregivers who never acknowledge their offspring's native intelligence or encourage it to develop. Instead, they bully to enforce abject, unquestioning obedience in the narrow interest of their own need for power and control. Though some of these dysfunctionally reared children may eventually rebel against such an upbringing, they do so handicapped by the limited parameters of their lives. That is why they are drawn to dictators and other authoritarian figures who offer what their parents/caregivers did not; false protection, hope and love.
Ugh . . . Sounds just like my hopelessly Catholic parents and the family I grew up in. Thankfully, I am an independent thinker. Sure wish I could say the same about my uneducated, evangelical Christian brother who believes Trump was sent by God to do . . . what, I don't know, but he refuses to have anything at all to do with me, 'tho we live only 20 miles from each other. Perhaps at the end of his life, just like my father on his death bed, will be saying, "I am going to hell." Yes, possibly the latter did and the former might be is all I have to say about that.
I read in addition, that in general, the less people know about something, the more likely they are to think that their opinion on the subject is correct. In contrast, people who have studied a subject a lot are willing to listen to new or contrary views, and decide if they make sense or not. People who are sure that they know what they are talking about are not able to learn more about the subject.
I don't know if this is true, but it suggests that people should open their minds to contrary opinion in order to learn more. The know-it-all is unable to learn.
It's called the Dunning–Kruger effect: a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. Some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers: their tendency to underestimate their skills.
Now that's a frightening thought; a Minister of Truth? What 'trustworthy' organization gets to vet this person? Under amenable circumstances, everyone is potentially venal.
Capitalism, is the system flawed or is it just us? To me, the premise behind what drives this country is in need of a few tweaks. I'm a fairness freak. I always try to find changes in a system that will bring an evenness to all concerned. Look at this country's golf courses and country clubs. These beautiful expanses of natural beauty bear a hefty price in order for its members to belong. Membership dues help maintain a healthy grounds crew that are needed in order to keep the course in top condition. No one is exempt, everyone must pay, and they do it with pride. This country is very similar to a high-end golf course that demands dues from all who wish to play. These dues come in the form of "Taxes." A country club that has members who find ways to escape paying their fair share will fall into disrepair and suffer in the long run. Capitalism must find a way to get huge concerns to pay their fair share of the tax burden which faces the rest of us in this country. Hiding beneath the skirts of Mother Liberty is no way to exist in this country. We must all step up and pay our dues if this country club is to stay open for business. The cheaters and the Trumps must be forced to pay if we are to continue.
Capitalism always leads to Fascism if not controlled. Good luck trying to make the wealthy pay up. They control the government which they bought and paid for.
@Donald. Your suggestion points up another problem with our system. A flat tax would only help in some imaginary world where high incomes were taxed at the same rate as low incomes (meaning of "flat tax"). But in our world every asshole congressman who has drafted up a flat tax still implements loop holes, exempts capital gains, caps off the tax at a certain maximum income (so higher incomes are exempt) with the end result that flat taxes are more punitive and regressive than even our current unfair practices. When someone proposes a "flat tax" it is time to read the small print!
We had a flat tax (9%) with a large personal exemption for a while in Alberta (Canada). The people at the bottom paid nothing; the people in the middle paid about what they would have under a progressive tax, and the people at the top paid a lot less. It also provided inadequate revenue for the province.
I once found myself in Palm Beach with a friend. We had on street clothes. Nothing shabby but nothing fancy. There was a restaurant. The limos would drive up and dispense. We got on the waiting to get in. After some time I checked and was told they called us but no response. Not true. We were deliberately excluded. Couldn't wait to get out of there.
Donald, I think you are trying to say that if only everyone played fair, then somehow capitalism would work for everyone. tRUMP is the perfect example of one who won’t play fair, and he is the current leader of the neofascists. Capitalism can only work for most of us if it is heavily regulated, and only then if those creating and enforcing the regulations are not corrupted by greed and/or thirst for power.
Your analogy of the beautiful, green golf course and country club is very flawed. The golf course monopolizes land that could be used to much better advantage for most of us who don’t play golf, can’t afford the golf clubs or the heavy dues. The golf course is maintained with a cocktail of dangerous chemicals that are bad for the environment and the workers who maintain it. The golf course is maintained with heavy doses of water in a world that doesn’t have enough for drinking and raising crops. And the heavy dues help to exclude a more diversified clientele. Turn them all into public parks!
I like the golf course analogy, and the apt connection doesn't escape me. One question: how can the analogy be expanded to include how the membership dues impart favoritism for "gold card" members?
Members of high-end country/golf clubs down here in Australia just pass the yearly fee invoice on to their company to be "legally" expensed along with their bar fees of course. It's just seen as an expense of doing business !!!
Yes the system is rigged for the rich and powerful! My father always said the USA is an oligarchy not a true democracy like India with it's "one man one vote" system.
It's hard for the poor, uneducated (white Christian evangelicals) and most of the republican south to wake up when they're living paycheck to paycheck or as my mother used to say "hoof to mouth".
Yes. Getting one’s message across is paramount. Often needing to get it across with very little time, to people with much on their minds and a short attention span.
People fear what they see as the establishment. It wasn't always so. In the 1950s, for example, it was considered poor form to make fun of the President. But starting in 1980, Reagan and his acolytes made government the enemy. And the reason was simple: they wanted to lower taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Who collects taxes? The government, so the government has to be vilified. This cartwheeled into distrust of authority, and descended into the current morass of vaccine skepticism, Fauci hatred, and even Q 'Anon. The flip side of this is that the wealthy have grown ever wealthier and more powerful, year after year.
Piketty is right, when the return on capital exceeds the rate of growth you get aristocracy, where the wealthiest are able to pass on their wealth to their children, unhindered by government intervention.
How did we get here? The main culprit, I believe, is southern voters switching from Democrat to Republican in the wake of Civil Rights, then doubling down on their support for the GOP when they didn't like the result. It was this switch that made Powell and Reagan possible.
We can berate this all we want, but the key to restoring a stable economy with a strong middle class is simple: a massive increase in taxation on the wealthy. Turn the clock back to 1980. Let's start over. It's what 70% of Americans (including southerners) want.
Michael, I agree. I can remember growing up, my mom was a Democrat and my pop was republican. That would probably be unheard of today but boy did we have some spirited conversations at dinner!! Even though they were from different parties, they had respect for the government and taught us to do the same. I think for me, when Reagan came into the oval office, I simply could not wrap my brain around the fact that this guy was a Hollywood actor! I know I was being prejudice because I felt like every time he was on TV, he was acting instead of being the president!! I lived through the tumultuous 60s and was active in protests for civil rights. I do want to restore the balance back to before the richy rich started getting everything!!
And as I recall, Reagan was a Dem before he fell for Nancy and when her father, a full on conservative got hold of him he switched to be accepted so he could have her affection and marry her. He was just a tool for the party since he really was not a very intelligent man.
It would have been better to see him model that, instead of rw 'president'. There was his 'signature movie " "Bedtime for Bonzo", which featured a monkey? I never watched it, but remember a publicity still. It was in 1951, and before I was watching movies.
You know, it seems to me that Americans may be way too invested in entertainment to think clearly. Perhaps that is why we have elected two 'actors' to our highest position in our government.
I guess we as a society are way too invested in entertainment to be logical and truly thoughtful in our political management.
If we didn't maintain the obvious regard we have for "capitalism", what would we replace it with, and how would that change effect on our Democracy? Settlers traveled great distances across this country during its infancy. A vital food source was the apple. Each wagon would carry a full barrel of these valuable food stuffs. Hense, the old saying "one rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel." Through diligence we should be able to reject members such as George Santos from our government to ensure the rest of the barrel stays safe and fresh. Now, a barrel of bad "oranges" maybe Donnie Boy could help with that one.
Because Santos is from Brazil and he did a felony there. He's not a good citizen in the US. Almost every area of the earth is owned or occupied not free to dump people not wanted.
A least unlike Trump Reagan had government experience. He was governor of CA. Trump has no experience in government before office as President. It showed.
@ Michael Hutchinson. You are right, especially the part about "voters switching from Democrat to Republican in the wake of Civil Rights, then doubling down on their support for the GOP when they didn't like the result."
Economically 90% of these folks do better under Democratic policies. The Catfood commission is a greater threat to them than to the general population. And they are not just denizens of the south. IMHO all are transfixed by "country" culture. Think Nashville. Branson. Austin. My advice to the DNC, and I'm on a conference call today, is to saturate country media. Hit 'em where it hertz.
I'm not kidding when I say channel Taylor Swift.
In antediluvian time, I took a course on literary criticism, where we had to analyze Hamlet every time we came to class using a different method. E.G. An historical view. An Aristotelian view. A Freudian view. Among the stuff covered were comparisons to political figures. other plays, etc. The center of all stories are archetypes.
As Thom Hartmann says "The closest to movement politics we have at the moment are the millions of American women (and their male allies) who want control of their bodies and are outraged at GOP attempts to return them to the status of men’s servants and playthings, from the boardroom to the bedroom."
Taylor Swift is not a politician and I don't want her to become one. I think she is the modern archetypal hero for Gen Z. She outsells anybody else. She made a market in album and even in ticket sales. And she is able to develop the myth we need. 40% of the electorate will be GenZ. Person of the Year. Personable. Charitable. Beloved by a majority of the demographic we need. And she was so sophisticated that she took on an entire industry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odYlgsKlOP4
Gen Z followers support Taylor Swift's marketing by staying connected through social media, buying her merchandise and talking about her on social media. Taylor Swift doesn't necessarily need to always market herself because so much of her audience does it for her.
She supports abortion rights. She has identified as a feminist and advocated for LGBTQ rights and gun control. She's been critical of police brutality, racism and white supremacy. She has used her influence and social media power to spotlight issues within the industry and society at large, such as fostering reforms to Spotify, Apple Music, Ticketmaster, recording and distribution contracts, and drawing attention to artists' rights, masters, intellectual property, corporate greed, sexism and racism, while being a subject of scrutiny and controversy herself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_Taylor_Swift#:~:text=With%20a%20strong%20political%20and,to%20artists'%20rights%2C%20masters%2C
I have not been paying much attention to her and most of the new music. But I still love that she is a hero to the new generation coming up. And Dolly, although she does not talk politics at all, is still out there doing good while maintaining her nonpartisan demeanor. And there are others who have a quiet presence for our belief in TRUE freedoms. We must support and hold on to all our champions who are the only sane voice for our Democracy. Otherwise, we will be toast.
Actually, I’ve heard people say that she would be a billionaire if she had not given such large bonuses to the people who worked on her tour. She gave $100,000 (after tax, she paid the tax gross-up so the $100K was free and clear) to each of the 55 truck drives and that much or more to everyone else. Reportedly about $250 million total. Regardless of whether she is a billionaire or not, that kind of behavior, and the publicity that comes with it, further cements her image as a hero aligned with everyday people against the oligarchy.
David I lost the your reply to my reply so I’m adding it’s here .
I might be wrong, but I read that Warren Buffett’s children are on the boards of his multiple foundations. I’m sorry I don’t have any facts or attributable sources to back that up but if one percent of Warren‘s fortune gets diverted to his children through a foundation that kind of makes sense to completely disinherit his children from his fortune, would be rather draconian without any causes factor that I’ve known of.
WB putting children on a foundation board is one way to protect them from Fortune hunters, etc. and still provide for them in some manner .
I did not make up facts to fit the view.
Rhetorical question would be who is on the board of
Right now, there are at least two other things I can think of to be done-double the Supreme Court by Biden's picks and use the Cudgel of Blue State economic strengths to require the Red states to STOP turning us back 400 years or no more money.. NO more of my TAX MONEY to these Mobsters turning the Clock Back to the RED Capes and punish, punish , punish. Never mind the continued destruction of Mother Nature, climate chaos, species extinction.
Sanders got a 70% rating when he promised massive tax increases in 2016, just before he was sandbagged by the DNC. In hypothetical matchups at that time, Sanders was consistently beating Trump 70-30, with practically no undecided voters. On the other hand, Hillary was 35-35, with 30% undecided. The early polls 'aint wrong.
Fact don’t make you feel warm and fuzzy. A Good Lie Goes a lot farther and makes your warm and Fuzzy 🥰 places tingle and make you feel safe and cared for...
Lies don't make you feel warm and fuzzy. They fire up your insecurities and give you lots of false ideas about reality. In that way, they gain strength and perpetuate the lies you tell yourself. It is a vicious cycle which is why we are in this crazy predicament with the fascists moving in on our country and our real freedoms.
Gina, I agree; however, I also admit that some lies can make you feel warm and fuzzy for about 5 min., and then you’re left feeling more fearful and bereft when the truth comes out, and it always does.
Yes, and sadly by then it is too late. That is what I am afraid of now. People will gravitate toward those lies as truths thinking they will be 'saved'. And that is how evil ones work. It was demonstrated in the Garden of Eden story which is STILL believed by people because it is such a simple explanation of human occupation of this planet.
But then we do not have any knowledge (yet) of life elsewhere in this vast cosmos. Once we do that will create a whole new story.
I was told “ eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”
No free lunch no matter what the idiot box (TV) tells us. TV is now about you feeling good and part of the crowd hence the trumpets 🎺 communication success. Everyone want to believe there is a higher power ( our parents when we were children ) 🎺 played into that “I’d end the Ukraine War in 24 hours.”
Sure he would and give pal Putin the Ukraine. When Russia then tries to retake Estonia Poland and Finland WWIII ;
But trumpet 🎺 would have made his money and retired and/or died by then.
I agree. That would be the effect of another Trump presidency.
I also muse that had Trump not been president he would have gotten covid and probably not made it. I have a notion that he was given drugs that they were not using, or still testing, when he made it to Walter Reed. And that may be the only reason he did not die. He is as unhealthy as anyone in the poor classes he so despises.
We’re ignorant of what we don’t know - one human condition (of many) that led us to try to respect, if not enshrine, tolerance toward those with whom we disagree.
My acquaintances, friends and family are self-partitioning to red or blue geographies- this does not bode well for the future of the Union. This reflects a Major individual family’s investment in the American schism, x 30M now.
But talking things through before and during a weighty action is not SO bad - if it doesn't end there - but ACTIONs must be the end & value of these discussions.
Shoot others lest they dream of shooting you- killing others is a societal benefit? If so, what's the difference between Republican cant and the wild west?
Are you responding to what I wrote? Where does "dream" come from in your response? Or societal benefit? Does self defense exist as a concept in common law, or doesn't it? Note that my lead-in was "and yet."
I agree, but to fix the problem we need to fix the Constitution. It must be updated to make it fair for everyone. 2 Senators for every state? That is absurd when some states have fewer residents than other states have in one city. Also the House should be enlarged for the increase in population. Whose idea was it to have 2 parties with power over all elections? Not the founding fathers. This must change. And fixing the gun problem. There should be laws to keep the states from discriminating against ethnic groups by changing state law. There is a lot of work to be done and we must elect lawmakers willing to do it.
(I’m a reasonable guy, one who at least aspires to be good, -& got at Least one ‘like’ from you in recent past {Tnx!}, and yet have finished ‘first’ unfairly often in my life, in sports, at Harvard & MIT, in government, … but perhaps thankfully, never in looks, wealth, popularity… or height!)
But as a MUCH better known counterfactual, it is said of the entire Quaker movement, “They came [to America] to do good - and they ended up doing well”.
It's too bad there weren't more Quakers in this country and today. You would think with all the wasted lives and money on wars where nothing was accomplished except destruction there would be more consideration taken before starting new ones, but here we are again. Will there always be egos that determine whether to go to war? "Egos for power" should be the logo for today. Netanyahu and Putin, the egomaniacs of today with their followers.
What a coincidence, was thinking of attending Meeting for ~the first time in 53 years... perhaps why that 'did well' quote came to mind; maybe we're having a resurgence! ;)
There's a meetinghouse just a few steps off the bike path here in Madison, WI, perhaps a block or two past the UW stadium, but I've never attended - other than to stop, look around and reminisce a bit. No hours posted, but expect it will be unlocked in the am. And, perhaps entirely unattended - sad.
(Dad was a Quaker minister - a 'pastoral Quaker'... & not one of those that 'did well', but one that mostly 'did good', in my fond memories.)
Our is not so much a Friendly era, perhaps that IS a statement of need. :)
While the last 5 years have been chaotic people will see what they want to see.Most of my relations went down the rabbit hole of social media,little robots in vaccines,the Gates plan to kill everybody etc.Something as simple as birth control pills in Africa to reduce poverty,2 babies to bring up in poverty is easier than 6 or 8 to keep them in awful grinding poverty.
This birth control of course was undeniable proof that Gates was trying to reduce the world population ,so he could get richer,Crazy !!.
A highly respected epidemiologist had a lecture at my local university. She is part of doctors without borders,and was sent in with a medical team when Ebola broke out in Africa.Bill Gates paid for it .This was just as Covid was breaking out but no isolation had been brought in then,3 weeks later it was.
When asked is Covid dangerous and what will happen.The answer was astonishingly accurate.When we went to Africa we were welcomed,we took the most infected out of the village to stop Ebola spreading.These people would die,nothing could save them,but the majority of the village may be saved.Didn't take long.Has anybody noticed the foreigners take people away and they never come back.They are not here to help us they are here to kill us.Village social media ( gossip) or world wide social media ,exactly the same. One big echo chamber .People look for the echo chamber that agrees with what they want to see.
....Or what they fear most. The Right’s intentional role as provocateurs of fear and anger have successfully stimulated the amygdala of the nation. Our prefrontal cortex is overridden by fight/flight/freeze, and we are less able to control our emotions or utilize our cognitive capacity to figure out what is going on. They have dumbed us down. How clever.
It is not cognitive dissonance. CG is when the mouth is saying something that the brain does not believe, the result is a physical manifestation of CG. Sweat, physical discomfort, nervousness, trembling of hands, and limbs
I understand what you are saying Grrl, but cognitive dissonance is an unsettling feeling one gets, when one declares one thing, and the Id knows another. It is very uncomfortable and unsettling, physical signs are nervousness, sweat, trembling.
I know, 45 years ago, I “converted” to Catholicism, to marry a woman, she insisted on being married in church (this was in Panama, quite different from Norte America)
I experienced cognitive dissonance, once we returned to the states, and to overcome my DC I became a rad trad Catholic, eventually I came to my senses,.
The purpose of overcoming DC was to convince others of my true conversion, but mostly myself.
I find it strange that those who mistrusted corporations and their lackeys in government enough to trust Pfizer and Moderna enough to subject themselves, their children, and to try to coerce everyone else to become subjects of their medical experimentation without informed consent.
It happened during Weimar Germany when the scientists and medical physicians caved into the nationalist socialists framing Hitler´s ascent. High unemployment, declining conditions, appetite for censorship (resulting in the elimination of all but a handful of scholarly journals), and endless demonisation of "foreign interests".
Did America listen to the voices of protest (among which there were those of Albert Einstein)? No. Did the State Department. No. Did Roosevelt? No.
America has a credibility problem because its electorate and leadership prefer to see itself as the only democratic model on earth -- not merely as the best, but as the only.
If your idea of democracy includes the kinds of evil fun and games with race and religion, the evil assumption of the majority concerning the Second Amendment, the construal of real estate as supporting human dignity, and the endless extollation of life as a "premium" to either be selfishly kept for one´s own or doled out as the modern-day slavery known as American social assistance, then fine.
America, the country, fine. America, the empire: rotgut evil.
I understand what you are saying Grrl, but cognitive dissonance is an unsettling feeling one gets, when one declares one thing, and the Id knows another. It is very uncomfortable and unsettling, physical signs are nervousness, sweat, trembling.
I know, 45 years ago, I “converted” to Catholicism, to marry a woman, she insisted on being married in church (this was in Panama, quite different from Norte America)
I experienced cognitive dissonance, once we returned to the states, and to overcome my DC I became a rad trad Catholic, eventually I came to my senses,.
The purpose of overcoming DC was to convince others of my true conversion, but mostly myself.
We have vaccines that are remarkably effective in fighting Covid, the flu, and RSV. People vaccinated this season runs in the teens to 30's per cent depending on the vaccine.
Covid injections do not provide any significant intermediate to long term protection against infections, transmission, or have any significant impact on hospitalizations or deaths. In fact, a study just published found that after a 4th shot, there was a short 3 month window of somewhat lower infections, followed by 6 months of higher in infection. The entire episode was rife with scientific fraud, deceptive marketing, and a despotic censorship campaign. So many of you view yourselves as enlightened, yet you allowed fear and panic to overcome reason.
Republicans Have Always Claimed That They Are For Small Government
Republicans also claim to be CON-servatives and Christians
I have thought about this for years and I believe
this the “MAGA Republican Plan” for a Small Government.
1. Reduce the number of people working in the federal government and government institutions
2. Give a lot less people much more power to control everything we are able to do (our rights and freedoms will be taken away)
3. Make Christian Nationalism the country’s religion for everyone
4. Reduce corporate regulations so they can continue to pollute our planet without restrictions
5. Reduce gun laws that are already on the books and enforced
6. With their new power boost they will outlaw abortion, deport anyone they don’t like, outlaw LBGTQ, make women 2nd class citizens
7. They will pull the United States out of NATO and break bread with our adversaries
True conservatives do not waste, they conserve natural resources. They don’t continue polluting when experts tell them that they are destroying the planet!
Congress is leaving for their holiday break, returning in the second week of January. They gave Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him by not giving Ukraine a supplemental arms package! It’s obvious now, they are Putin’s useful idiots!
The entire House Republican Party voted to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Biden before they left!
What an embarrassment for America! Another Xmas gift for our adversaries!!!
And they want to do the same thing in Canada! We've already had Bannon and Stone in Canada during the Freedom Convoy! And Alberta and Ontario like the idea of private hospitals !🤬🤬
Keith, you just wrote the GOP's campaign platform for them!! Naturally, they will never use it but you definitely nailed it! I can't believe these sad politicians are actually conning so many Americans with their lies!! I thought our country was smarter than that!
Peggy Freeman : the present 'speaker' has said out loud that the Bible is his Constitution! So there is the platform.?! Similar to law: interpretation is everything ? What happened to separation of church and state? Women's rights? HIPPA? speech for average voters? (Humans).
Laurie, I don't know which Bible the speaker is using, but it isn't the one I grew up with! Yes, there is suppose to be separation of church and state. One of the reasons so many came to America was to have the freedom to worship as they pleased.
I think Jesus actually supported a separation of church and state - If I am not mistaken, he said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars, and render unto God that which is God’s”
Now, I can see that as saying, “Caesar runs the government and sets value on money, but God leads in your heart and places value on love and decency..” That sounds like something Jesus might say.
Yes.Making a whip from a rope, the passages say he thrashed the money changers and drove them away from the Temple, throwing over their tables and reigning chaos down on them. It is out of character, but it’s often used to indicate that even Jesus had his limits, and certain behaviors brought out his rage. Apparently, dealing with money at the Temple was the one thing that could get to him in all the ways people behaved, but … Whatever. Yes, I’m not an expert, but there is some doubt as to whether he could have done that and not been arrested and jailed on the spot. Anyway, it has always seemed to be like a story that doesn’t pass muster, but then, I’m an unbeliever, and I look at it all skeptically.
No, not wrong. Jesus placed value on love, empathy, and compassion. Remember how he ran the money changers out of the temple? I believe in treating others decently and with kindness. That is definitely what Jesus taught.
I am not a Christian, though I find the study of religions fascinating. I have questions about many Bible stories, knowing that a great deal was written long after the ostensible time of the Christ, and a great deal was written in hundreds of years later, crafting stories that would help rulers use the religion to control the populace.
I can’t read the Bible in original Greek or Aramaic, or necessarily analyze the syntax to see where things were likely added or altered.. That is a detailed exegesis that is done by others. Occasionally, though, I look up passages and try to find out when they were written or if they were altered long after the reported life of the Christ.
Some people question whether the money changers story is authentic, or was added to give greater weight to the depiction of Jesus’s betrayal by the Pharisees.
I can’t say. But I don’t see the person of Jesus crafting a whip and wielding it against people. I also don’t see him getting away with it in the Temple — people who wanted to offer sacrifices needed to avail themselves of that service, and they were not all followers of the Galilean. He would have been putting himself squarely in the way of their dovotion to their God.
Behaving that way is out of character with all the rest of his lore, as well. One could make a case for it, but …. If he wanted them out of there, I’d suspect the man written about in the gospels would have been insistent and less violent. But that’s just me reading without a belief in the inerrancy …
On the other hand, as you note, Peggy, he stressed decency. He stressed a lack of self-righteousness {let he who is without sin cast the first stone; tend to the beam in your own eye before you address the mote in your neighbor’s eye; turn the other cheek}.
Recently, I hear that SOME MAGA types even say they aren’t fond of the soft Jesus, and his gentle Love thy Neighbor message is no longer operational. Wow. The Heritage [Hate-and-Rage] Society is changing hearts and minds, alright
It's so unthinkable that a large number of people might be voting their right to vote away. If we were a "person", then I think we would have an autoimmunity disorder. If they vote for autocracy, and then they don't like it, do they think they can just put it back like it was? It will be too late - and our citizens will be at war with our government - citizens, and our soldiers, shooting at each other. That would just be the beginning.
Reduce the IRS so the rich can steal ( not pay their share of Taxes) first comment the moneyed class sprouts off about is the dollar amount they pay in taxes But when you start talking the PERCENTAGE of income paid in taxes the silence is their answer.
Warren Buffett stated my secetary makes $ 60,000 a year but pays about 40% of her gross income in taxes ,(Federal, State, county, city , school utility, and sales taxes ) I make X millions of Dollars 💵 a year but I pay .0003 % in Taxes . When you make a lot of money you pay very little in taxes in the United States. Every Republican except Bush ( the first ) has reduced taxes for the rich and thrown Penny’s to the working poor. That’s what gets you the Republican nominations for president.
Ronal Regan ( truly an Empty Head ) said
“ we are going to get Government off the back of the people and let our economy grow less regulation , financial lending crises , Boeing aircraft crashes, the stock market crash of 2008 it took time but the the lack of Government regulation caught up with our nation.
They are free NOT to choose abortion, say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays,"
home school their kids, condemn "alternate lifestyles," not attend a drag show, consider non-whites inferior, say "no thank you" to Social Security, carry weapons, etc etc etc!!!
I was always taught that Government can/should be an instrument for the Common Good!
They appear to consider it some kind of foreign entity that gets in their way... REALLY?
David Sambora ; By 'they', I am thinking of the billionaires who buy Congressional seats and votes and judges, even on the Supreme court. Who buy elections and have a bigger louder megaphone because money is speech and they have way too much money and , therefore, speech! i also believe that government should facilitate the Common Good. Somehow, the use of 'they' is misconstrued here. Billionaires want US to be confused and attacking each other or distracted by culture wars, so we are not looking at their obscene wealth which interferes with the Common Good and Democracy, and working to remedy the situation! They want us off balance and oppressed!
David Dambora — I wonder who made that “Patriot” statement up? Of course, people who think in memes might not deconstruct and analyze it. That is our problem.
How many people even KNEW that Aw Shucks Ronnie Reagan was setting the stage for this Fascist Hero Worshipping Crapola when he said government can’t solve the problem … government is the problem.” And that cutesy line about not wanting to hear government say “…..I’m here to help.” [Ask anybody who suffered a flood or a raging forest fire this year if they feared or desperately needed to hear those words!]
Y’all see how easy the not-prone-to-critical-thinking masses can be swept up in that cutesy-ness, though, right
Egad. [And the right wind went on a tear against promoting “critical thinking,” too, calling it “code for challenging your parents and your church.”]
Yes, Keith Olsen, your plan for the MAGA gov looks about right.
But every one of those will be dressed in camouflage, so the Great Unwashed will not reconize what’s happening:
1. Dismantle “the deep state” and cut federal budgets
2. A result of #1, so less obvious, but also touted as efficient consolidation of effort.
3. Claim it is what the founders wanted all along …{The Founders are the infallible saints of our history—what they wrote down then is so much more important than what we need today, even though some of what they put in place still holds up well.}
4. Get rid of pesky regulations that impede our Sacred and Sovereign Commerce.
5. Second Amendment! Second Amendment! All Hail Our Second Amendment!!!!
Geniuses of the 18th century had few clues about 21st century situations and problems. How about whatever is found on Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Chinese, Greek, Roman, Medieval, .... writings?
You sure make it obvious that we have been lied to by our leaders for decades!
Most of the people I talk with are so fed up with their government lying to them about almost everything that they are willing to vote for a born loser as revenge against them!
1. Repeal Citizens United (get money out of politics) make them earn their money by working together for the American people to pass legislation that will help us!
2. The average American citizens need to unionize. That is the best way to take money from the oligarchs because without the middle class the oligarchs would not be oligarchs!
Yes sir! Unions are what built our country!! They were strong and definitely took care of the workers. I would love to see Citizens United repealed. I want to see candidates work for grass root dollars. I want to see them going from town to town in their district talking to the voters, holding town halls, and actually LISTENING to what the constituency want!! I want it to be illegal for politicians and candidates for office to accept large amounts of money from corporations and the wealthy. I want it to be illegal for politicians and candidates for office to accept bribes, gifts, or anything else from the wealthy. Also, these super pacs or whatever they are should be dissolved.
It all comes down to updating the Constitution. Eliminate the Electoral College. Base the House and Senate numbers on population. Enlarge the Supreme Court. It's time for the people to have a say in the government again.
Margaret, I agree with you that we need to eliminate the Electoral College. I read a piece the other day about how republicans are determined to basically dismantle our Constitution in favor of authoritarianism. It was quite the scary read because apparently this has been their goal for many years! For people to have a say in government, our Constitution must be stronger in that measure. Politicians can not be allowed to take the words of our Constitution and twist them around to justify them being absolute a@#holes!!
We must not open up the Constitution to revision now. The moneyed class and Republicans would usurp the process and the results would be the opposite of what we would have hoped to see.
They seem to be twisting the words of the Constitution now with the help of the Supremes. To them everything in the Constitution must be based on the founding fathers desires and not the needs of today.
To change the Constitution? It would probably take an outpouring from the people to get Congress to do it. Getting the people to get on board may be a challenge.
Thank you, Keith! That's high praise! At 71 years old, my activist days are behind me. I will always use my voice to speak truth to lies and point out the absurdity of it all, but I will leave running for office and protests for the younger folks coming up. We need to get the young people behind Democracy. Yes, we must continue to fight climate change, we must work out the best solution for our borders, we need to reestablish a woman's right to choose, we need to change gun laws, and a myriad of other things. The best way I see to do that is to put candidates in office that will number one, keep our Democracy alive but will also go to work building the middle and effecting change for the better.
I wish Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger would start a new Conservative Party because we need to have a two party system To keep us balanced. It’s like the old “Tug of War” where the white flag drifts to the right and then back to the left and back and forth.
We just need to vote the fascists out of the government!
I’m 70 years old so I think you can relate to my metaphor.
Absolutely! You know, Keith, if Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger did start a new Conservative Party, I truly believe they would be larger than the GOP because the Republicans that truly hate what has happened to their party would definitely move to the new one! Wouldn't that be one for the record books? The GOP downgraded to a third party that contains the wack-a-doos and idiots!!
All I might add to Peggy's comment is, that voting out all Republicans while also voting in large majorities for Democrats (the Presidency, both houses, state Governors, state legislatures) will remove any excuses; nothing would stand in the way of passing the legislation. Thinking along that line, isn't it going to be necessary to deal with the Supreme Court? 'Nuff said.
Why do you imagine I'm looking for a path to no more excuses? Is it because I have never seen Democrats turn rotten? You are not responding to what I am writing, just seeming to find a way to disagree with whatever is bothering you.
Well the ORANGE 😡 Jesus appeals to the Lower Reaches of our Evolved Brains.
He will Stand Up For us and Drain The Swamp but instead he just wanted to repopulate the Swamp with his Loyalists and other megalomaniac types. He is an Excellent Communicatorwith true skills first he Tell the Big Lie Second he repeats His self serving lies over and over when challenged he Doubles Down on the big Lies and has parrots 🦜 Join in like a Greek chorus. When his accomplices are caught in the Legal System he pardons them protecting them from prosecution.
He has excellent leadership skills that emboldened the Bannons and Stones of the world to really operate behind the Scene effectively.
“Buckle Up Buttercup “. He uses money to. Buy whoever can be bought and verbally assaults and Steamroll Any opposition or Disloyalty...
“Just ask anybody”
He needs a nemesis We need majority to shut this blowhard down Joe Biden is our best bet as a political Leader..,
David I lost the thread where you replied to my reply . But ( I might be wrong ) I read that all of WN children are on the boards of his many foundations .
WB disinherit his children seems counterproductive, but put putting them on the board of the foundation, gives them income and protect them from the negatives of being related to one of the worlds richest people and of course they’re doing charity work .
One of the questions that should be asked along those lines who is on the board of Bill Gates foundations, and do they draw a salary thank you citizen J
I enjoy reading Professor Reich's pieces and I love the conversation afterwards! I guess today while I was drinking my coffee, I was really into the conversations. Wow, I beat an AI bot? Is that how you tell? They reply very quickly? I don't know that much about AI so I guess I better start boning up. I have to wonder if those science fiction movies and shows that depicted robots taking over wasn't actually science fiction?
While I agree with small alterations which don't really matter,there is the small matter of reality.Right or left they both refuse to see reality,forever.
There is very little or no difference at all between this site or a far right site,no reality.
"Just ask anybody "should be replaced with "a lot of people are saying" .People want to be part of a crowd,no matter how wrong that crowd is.
The richest man in the world gave it all away,as they all do from Carnegie on.Bill Gates avoided being the world's first trillionaire by giving it away.He owned 45% of the company he started,Microsoft,I forget the name of the other guy.An old quote,the reasonable man accepts he should change as the world changes.The unreasonable man insists the world should change to fit in with what he wants to see.
Back to Gates,his 45% shareholding would now be worth over $1 trillion.Microsoft has a market cap of around $3 trillion,slightly less,so Gates would be worth 45% of $3 trillion.He gave the shares away to his charity.
He now owns around 1.2% of the company, 130 million shares @ ~ $290 each.Dividend is around $3 each,so an income of $390 million . See any difference,Trump et al are always going to come up with "proof" that doesn't exist and never will.On this board the exact same happens,SEC filings etc will tell you exactly how many shares he owns,it will be denied strongly,the truth is always denied.You do what rich people do,you get rich ,all they have to do is buy shares in Microsoft,that will always be denied,forever.
Why do people not ring the IRS and demand that Gates pays tax on his $390 million.Obviously he does,the IRS knows exactly how much his income is,the share registry reports it to them,a ridiculously simple system.A system that will be denied just as fanatically as Trump supporters deny reality.
Every report you will ever see will tell you that the top 10% pay the majority of tax collected,it will still be denied.This is true in every first world country.
The thrust of the article is correct,jobs have been exported,if you want a cheap TV it will be made in China,if you are prepared to pay for an expensive TV it will be made in the USA and perform exactly the same as the Chinese TV.
By all accounts the US economy is performing well,perhaps/probably better than the rest of the world as they come out of it slowly.Trump supporters will refuse to see that just as everything on here will be "the rich people" to blame.
That's it.Thanks.I think he went into deep sea diving technology for undiscovered war graves etc
I'm not certain but a war mystery off the coast of Western Australia,HMAS Sydney. The ship was lost with all hands when it was sunk by a decoy ship,Cormorant,part of the German navy.A decoy "harmless" merchant ship which was hailed by Sydney for identification,once it was close it dropped camoflauge screens and Sydney sank very quickly.
I think it was Paul Allen that funded the search so relatives could have their minds put to rest and know where the war graves was. Thanks.
They don’t really give it away even Warren Buffett charities are run by his children that is the general description Andrew Carnegie I don’t know what the current disposition of his fortune is ...
They do give it away,a company has a board of directors to run the company.A charity ( 501 (C ) ( 3 ) has a board of trustees to allocate funds to whoever/ whatever they want to support.
Howard Buffett probably is on the board of trustees,he doesn't run the charity.
Carnegie fund ,all you have to do is google it and it will take you straight there The menu will then tell you who the board of trustees are.How much money has been granted this year,and perhaps in total.
I would be 99.9% certain that every rich person/ company has a foundation.Just google them.Hershey,Kellogg,Levi Strauss on and on.
Jeff Bezos has his earth foundation for research into climate change A US$ 10 billion donation from Bezos to start it .
Musk will have his fund,probably for research into renewable energy.They all do the same thing.
Pumpkin head of course would be the odd man out
There was a brilliant cartoon probably around the time of his wife's awful choice of clothing with the writing on the back.
A banner with AMERICA written on it.Trump walking away from it with his big coat on,somehow the two letters ME had detached from the banner and were stuck on the back of his coat.
How about putting some blame on the Russian Secret Service for this insane run of fascist behavior. After all, the destabilization of governments is what they do so extremely well. Yes, all of what you say is true Prof but at least consider the possibility of Russian interference in our politics. Perhaps they did get trump elected. We will never know the extent to which they were involved. Oh I know that you will say there are no conspiracies in this regard but, I’ll be damned if I can think of anything else. The Koch brothers et.al. Have poured huge sums of money to the same end. Destabilize this country through mis/dis information. This country has had its head up its a..! We let this happen by listening to conservatives as if they had our interests at heart. Employment law is virtually non-existent. Human Resources departments are a joke. We now have to put mom and dad to work to just keep a roof over our heads. Our kids are going to a ruinous day care system and are so immersed in their phones that they become delusional. This country is suffering a nervous breakdown. We don’t know what the hell truth is anymore. We mistrust our institutions and in particular our judicial systems and electoral system. Who in the hell is running this country? It certainly isn’t the government. What is going on here?
The most important achievement was that Big Money and Big Business got control over the politicians and thus politics. They are now expanding to other parts of society eg Education, Media etc to further increase control over the population.
No Americans may feel powerless but are so powerful if they use their Vote sensibly!
Trump is riding high because of American stupidity, what did he really do in his first term apart from RHETORIC , he gave massive TAX CUTS to the rich and big corporations, made America look incompetent in the rest of the world , messed up COVID response and resulted in hundreds of thousands deaths on the other hand Biden had to clean up the SHIT, inflation was not created by Biden and has been a worldwide problem and really the USA HAS PROBABLY been one of the least badly affected,bought back semblance of stability and some respect back to the USA ,some of this respect has been lost recently because of unconditional support of Israel and the genocide of Palestinians!
True - no one on the republican side wants to remind voters that it was trump who added 8 trillion dollars to the deficit. They deflect the fact that instead of voting in a bipartisan way for immigration (their so called number one issue) they are refusing to engage because it leaves them with something to campaign on later. They try not to remind us that they have actually done nothing meaningful while in congress except waste time and taxpayers money while we wait for them to bicker some more about the future budget and our possible default. Not to mention that people are going to continue to die in wars that they did not choose without our help. The republicans would rather kiss ass to some of the most disgraceful people around (allowing Alex Jones back on to Twitter near the anniversary of Sandy Hook, Putin, leaders such as from North Korea, Hungary, etc.) including trump instead of growing a set and denouncing such hatred (that they started and continue to stoke) boggles the mind. People seem to forget that trump also comes from money and will do whatever he can to keep both his money and power. He has proven time and again that he is only in it for himself and whoever will help him stay that way.
The explanation you have given this morning makes a lot of sense to those on your forum, but how do we reach those who are not a part of this forum and our point of view by reason? I have pondered this a lot, and I think it’s an important topic to discuss. Heather Cox Richardson urges those who listen to her talks to go out and talk to as many people as possible about their beliefs if they you them saying things that are untrue. How do we reach these people? When we do meet them it takes some courage to attempt to engage them in rational conversation, but the more we practice, the better we will get at it. We ourselves have sometimes become uncomfortable just thinking about engaging directly in this manner. Without Big Money behind us we can make a difference if we connect citizen to citizen.
“A lie goes halfway around the world before the truth gets it’s pants on.” - Mark Twain. In the internet age, a lie gats all of the way around the wold in seconds.
Marc, your question is spot on! I live in a blood red area. In fact, my state is pretty red! I am 71 years old and believe me when I say the thought of talking to any of these people about politics makes me break out in hives!! I finally got my courage up and decided the next time I was in a group and they began to wax on about their orange Jesus, I would open my mouth and say something. Well, the first time didn't go very well because when I spoke, their reaction was 'Oh my God! You're a bleeding heart liberal!' I tried my best but all they did was get louder and more in my face!! It was embarrassing because we were in a public place!! Needless to say, those in that group have nothing else to do with me but I learned something important. I could use my voice! I find it much easier now to speak up and bring truth to a lie. In my area, I have been branded so to speak but honestly, I wear the brand of bleeding heart liberal Democrat with pride!
I, too, live in a very red area. I used to see and briefly chat with a neighbor walking her dog until one day she gave me the side eye and said, "let's go Brandon." I was dumbfounded that she said that to me. I just stared at her without a word. She could tell I was not happy. "Oh, you're a democrat"...and she never walked by my house again. People are funny/strange. But congrats to you, Peggy. I'll keep trying.
Kudos to you, too, Kathy!! You should have said in a witchy voice, "I'll get you....and your little dog, too!" No, I'm just kidding! People are funny and strange but yes, I will keep using my voice. I have watched some people when the gauzy curtain that is republican lies falls from their face. It is sad because they are feeling embarrassed and humiliated, but it is glorious because they realize they have been conned!!
Peggy, I will never forget having a conversation with a Republican - on a boat in the middle of the Nile River of all places. He trotted out a Republican lie and I calmly supported the opposite position. There would be a moment when he looked confused - and a little afraid. Then he got that “deer in the headlights” look that meant his prefrontal cortex was frozen - nothing going on in there. So he completely switched topics and did a “yeah but what about...” followed by another Republican talking point. Which I calmly refuted. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. It was one of the most fascinating and overt experiences of cognitive dissonance I’ve ever seen. But it certainly didn’t bode well for changing minds!
Marge, I would have loved to be a fly on the sails watching that exchange!! The key there is, you stayed calm and simply spoke the truth! Republicans do not know how to handle that! They lie and when called on it, they think bullying or intimidation. If that doesn't work, they change the subject but like a broken record keep going back in order to make them face it and explain it. You will find they can't!
Peggy, your story of gaining the confidence to speak truth to so much power around you is so inspiring. I think it is a great strategy to wear “the brand of a bleeding heart liberal“ proudly.
Thanks, Marc! Believe me, it is scary when you're surrounded by so much red! Democrats need to speak up! Loudly and boldly! We all must speak the truth no matter how uncomfortable it is!
D. Allen, it is scary to me sometimes, too! People that you know and speak to in passing every day surprise you with their vehement loyalty to the orange man! Many on this feed have offered suggestions for those of us living in a sea of red and I am putting them in my go-to bag to use as needed. Hang in there! Hopefully we won't get shot and we'll come out better in the long run for fighting the good fight!
Try to find a topic where you both have common ground. I find that nobody likes rich people as a group. Even Trump supporters! Contrast how the Democrats deal with the rich versus how the Republicans deal with the rich. I find most agree that the Democrats are better! They will at least look a bit more favorable toward the Democrats in the future. My two cents...
Tim, that is a very useful tool! I have spoken to some of my republican friends about how trump gave a huge tax break to corporations and the rich and asked if they thought he would continue to give breaks to them if reelected. I should have talked about the Democrats wanting to tax the rich so that everyone is paying their fair share. I will use that next time if the subject comes up again.
Focus on state races where you can win. In Missouri 50 years ago the republicans were completely defeated. One republican worked tirelessly to build Repub clubs.
Marc, on Thanksgiving I got the subject of unions rolling and everyone was jumping in. When I sang, "which side are you on boys, which side are you"... the whole crowd was on the union side. It was a rolling good time. We are in Kentucky and everyone had some union story to tell.
In the future, I will drag unions into every political discussion we have - and I bet you dollars to donuts, I start changing minds. .
Peggy, keep singing - and loudly too. On Thanksgiving I said they couldn't break our unions so they shipped our jobs overseas... and that really got people going.
Hahahaha! I bet your Thanksgiving was lively! My family is a mix of Democrats and Republicans so when we get together it is quite a rousing discussion!! I like to bring up little nuggets like the one you lobbed at Thanksgiving and then watch what happens! Debate is still alive and well with most people! I do need to say, the Republicans in my family do NOT support the little orange blob. They are actually saddened by what the MAGA group has done to their party.
Peggy, its the same here. I'm starting to think reporters and op-ed writers are reporting on what happens in their social circles, not what goes on with us regular folks.
We have a general culture of money worship in this country, a culture of proclaimed rugged individualism, and that caring about others is for suckers, which has allowed what Prof. Reich describes to happen. People who aren't themselves wealthy are simply wealthy-people-in-waiting. In this vein, many of Trump's supporters admire him because he is wealthy and presents an image of a successful businessman.
One of the Republican candidates for governor here in Indiana is running campaign commercials proclaiming himself a self-made businessman. It irritates me every time I see it.
Surely your bizarre voting system has a lot to do with it. Here in Australia voting is compulsory and although some bitch and moan about having to shuffle off to their local school or town hall to spend five minutes wielding a pencil, it’s a powerful antidote to the sickness that ails the USA; vote buying etc. And the Electoral College - what an anti-democratic anachronism.
I also still cannot believe that it is acceptable for a judge who presided over a criminal trial to hear the appeal (West Memphis Three) or that you vote for judges. Completely confounding.
I believe Obama blew it during his 1st two years in office when there were 60 Democrat Senators. Americans moved left in response to the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. He should have lowered Medicare age to 55 and prosecuted Wall Street’s massive fraud. He passed a weak health care law that benefited insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and failed to prosecute any one for the financial crisis. This is part of why people are attracted to Trump: he wants to destroy the system and it’s institutions while maintaining white male christian dominance.
Trump according to MSM and/or polls currently has far less than 50% support. So the majority does not support him [nor the other candidates]. The majority does not support any candidate. I think that is encouraging and speaks well for the citizens of this country.
Yes! Thank you. More reasons why voters would turn away from Democrats. Now Biden needs to firmly tell Israel to stop the slaughter or Biden is going to start losing votes. There are better ways to find neutralize Hamas then obliterating Palestine and its people.
I actually think Biden, in contrast to Clinton and Obama, has done alot of good things: vigorous anti-trust actions, pro-union actions in the successful auto workers strike, the CHIPs Act that has caused an explosion in domestic high tech manufacturing in the US, the Inflation Reduction Act that has brought a dramatic increase in green manufacturing in the US, his elimination of over $100 billion in student debt, which would have been more but for the Supreme Court. The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza would be difficult for any President to handle and there are no simple solutions to, and anyone who says there are simple solutions to that conflict is kidding themselves.
I totally agree. We watched "Three Days of the Condor" again the other night and contemplated the words at the end of the movie about what US citizens would want their country to do if they had no heat in their homes or fuel to grow food and such. It must be more complicated than we are told or the answer would be to simply stop the bombing. Biden has done more than Clinton or Obama and I don't want to see him lose the election. Or worse, that Trump wins the election rather than a more rational Republican.
I still say socialism is best, but not the Communist way. Capitalism is simply profit-based.
Call up a technician for help on your computer, and no matter which company it uses, you’ll be answered by somebody with a foreign accent. Now, this is NOT to debase those who weren’t born in America. I’m 100% for immigrant rights, and away with ICE and closed, barbed-wire borders. Ask where that person is and it’s usually India. Long-distance technology is wonderful. For the first time the other night I finally got somebody in the US--California! THAT is rare. That’s because of what’s called offshoring. Robert is right about that.
Trump says he’ll fight for us. Wanna bet? Look at Mar-a-Largo. Think that’s a man who loves low-income people? Oh, he treasures us, bless our hearts.
He says he can’t be tried for what he did while President because of Presidential immunity. He was protected, you see, because of his Presidential duties which he had to be free to carry out. Does the Constitutional list of Presidential duties include sexual assault, say? Does it include inciting an insurrection or attempting to interfere with an election? Does it include misstating the value of his properties (“an art, not a science”)? Not all of these things are claimed by him to be covered by Presidential immunity, of course, but let’s see where he takes them if he’s threatened with bankruptcy or imprisonment. The insurgency charge and the attempted interference with election are definitely going to come under Prez duties. Some duties.
I’m sure Jack Smith has Aces up his sleeve if the Supreme Court rules against him.
OK I'm terrified of what America might become on November 6! My one suggestion is actually about Liz Cheney. Perhaps "we" should consider inviting her into the tent. Maybe not the big D (Democrats) but at least the small d (democracy). I suggest this partly because I want to see your cartoon: {Bridge, dark stormy night, two cars parked at either end (one red one blue), small clusters of official looking people each guiding one individual, meeting surreptitiously at the middle of the bridge and then the hand off, Liz for Joe Manchin!} I'm actually not kidding.
She’s made it clear in her speeches that she is still a Republican. And the only position she has ever taken that I agree with is that DJT should never be president again. And she’s fighting for that, which is good enough for me!
The elimination of capital export controls in the 1990s in the usa and Europe sucked all the money into China etc. The rest is no jobs and no paychecks and angry collapsing middle classes.
Why do so many millions now worship Hitler, Stalin, Putin, Trump and Mobsters? Many ego-challenged idiots dream of being cruel bullies with impunity, so they admire and worship and promote scumbags to feel their power a bit #MangoWanker Turdking #GOPtraitors against America
i always find it strange that people who don't trust scientists and doctors especially -- people whose acts can be fact-checked -- are willing to believe loudmouthed egomaniacs whose assertions are mere hot air with no real-life effects. the cognitive dissonance is astounding.
They don't trust scientists and doctors because they are too poorly educated to understand what they say--a condition the GQP works very hard to maintain. That scientists and doctors can be fact-checked is another disadvantage because they don't understand the fact-checking either, nor do they know the difference between a fact, an opinion, and a lie.
They are willing to believe loudmouthed egomaniacs whose assertions are mere hot air with no real-life effects because the egomaniacs simplify things (adding in lies as necessary) so they think they understand. More importantly, the egomaniacs appeal almost exclusively to emotions--particularly fear--which relieves the people of the need to think at all--all they need do is react.
True and the egomaniac is entertaining and everyone wants to be entertained these days. It's easier than thinking!
It reminds me of "Professional" Wrestling. I grew up watching Hulk Hogan as the ultimate "good guy". I quit watching in the 90s, and I guess people were bored with the "good guy". The new hero was the 'bad guy" that was supposed to be anti-establishment. Stone Cold Steve Austin was supposed to be the "bad guy" but somehow became the champion of the people. He did whatever he wanted, and the people loved it. It seems to me that Trump is the Stone Cold Steve Austin of politics, and people seem to love it. (Even Hulk Hogan came back as kind of anti-establishment, and it prolonged his career)
Bruno Sammartino, a wrestler from my Pittsburgh area, was a hero of mine as a kid (1960s). A class act!
In Nev York he had an Italian accent, in Pgh used "yinz" and "Stillers."
Seriously folks...something funny happened....
https://www.youtube.com/@AlienSuperShow
Funny, but sad too because many truly believe that space aliens "control" us. See my comment below.
When our Congress investigated aliens in space I knew they were looking for things to do to stall and not do their real jobs.
Break out the space lasers; we need to fight back.
Spot on Daniel
Thinking is hard, sorry sometimes sarcasm takes over my body.
I like that assertion !! Living among people like that is hard and it is generally easier and quieter to just say nothing. The only way forward is some huge crisis which will see the idiots like Trump totally discredited ! Maybe though that may come too late to save us all !!!
Very true! As I have mentioned before, my family members are hardcore Trump supporters. Their favorite TV shows feature UFOs and space aliens kidnapping people and "controlling" Earth for centuries, ghost hunting, looking for Bigfoot and the Swamp Rat and other monsters, and similar nonsense. They believe that if it's on TV it must be true! If a real science program like on NOVA is observed, they change the channel. No wonder they love Trump's fairy tales and BS!
Please do not assume all of us Sci-Fi fans are pro Trump...I know i certainly am not.
I LOVE Sci-Fi too, but this reality TV stuff is being promoted as facts not fiction. A member of my family has spent hundreds of dollars on ghost hunting equipment that he saw on TV. No evidence that it will detect anything other than stray magnetic fields from house wiring!
wow, they needed a fraud detector.
Problem? Lack of education/intelligence. Uneducated people tend to believe any nonsense that confirms their bias.
And now the same right wing Republi -Con system is lying to people now living in the rust belt saying to vote right wing Republi -Con because the Democrats want to hurt them in some way. AND THE TRUTH IS: the Cons have nothing to offer people except more lies. That is the tragedy facing Americans today. The Cons have no solutions only more snake oil and more lies.
Oh dear !!!
Maureen Actually being poorly educated has nothing to do with being antivaxx you see them on the web all of the time, Antivaxxers run the gamut from PhD's to high school drop outs.
Look at RFK jr, is he poorly educated.
It is all about the cult and who one listens to. I will step on a limb here and say that 100% of the antivaxxers are Fox addicts.
https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/
If they're well-educated, their education didn't take.
Maureen, what one believes has nothing to do with education. There are educated people all of the world that believe in fantasy's and fiction, Like Islam, Hindu, Christianity, the TeNACH (OT)
People believe in ideologies.
The list goes on.
Why is Fox news still on the air? It's not news it's entertainment and dangerous at that!
Your question was rhetorical, I gather.
Fox is not regulated by the FCC, because it is not over the air, and it doesn't matter, because Clinton's Telecommunication Act of 1996, voided the requirement to be fair and balanced.
News was once it's own separate division, and no ads were allowed, now it is part of a division called Infotainment, it is no different than a reality show, Last Week Tonight. The Today Show.
And according to the 1st Amendment, Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press and speech.
In fact those are exactly what Trump and his cult in congress will do, if elected and I am scared sh..less that he will be. We have to fight harder and turn out to vote, whatever it takes.
I thought it was Reagan overturning the “Fairness Doctrine” that led to outrageous broadcasting by Fox.
Reagan directed the FCC to ignore it. Bill Clinton signed the legislation, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, that removed it from the books.
Maureen, you make some very cogent points, thank you. I would only add that Trump's brainwashed masses are physically grown children raised by dysfunctionally authoritarian parents/caregivers who never acknowledge their offspring's native intelligence or encourage it to develop. Instead, they bully to enforce abject, unquestioning obedience in the narrow interest of their own need for power and control. Though some of these dysfunctionally reared children may eventually rebel against such an upbringing, they do so handicapped by the limited parameters of their lives. That is why they are drawn to dictators and other authoritarian figures who offer what their parents/caregivers did not; false protection, hope and love.
Well said.
Ugh . . . Sounds just like my hopelessly Catholic parents and the family I grew up in. Thankfully, I am an independent thinker. Sure wish I could say the same about my uneducated, evangelical Christian brother who believes Trump was sent by God to do . . . what, I don't know, but he refuses to have anything at all to do with me, 'tho we live only 20 miles from each other. Perhaps at the end of his life, just like my father on his death bed, will be saying, "I am going to hell." Yes, possibly the latter did and the former might be is all I have to say about that.
Thank you. I agree with you.
I read in addition, that in general, the less people know about something, the more likely they are to think that their opinion on the subject is correct. In contrast, people who have studied a subject a lot are willing to listen to new or contrary views, and decide if they make sense or not. People who are sure that they know what they are talking about are not able to learn more about the subject.
I don't know if this is true, but it suggests that people should open their minds to contrary opinion in order to learn more. The know-it-all is unable to learn.
It's called the Dunning–Kruger effect: a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. Some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers: their tendency to underestimate their skills.
Maureen, you state the facts exactly, bravo!
Thank you.
You have articulated exactly what I have had in my head but could not have said as precisely as you---a pleasure to read. Thank you.
Thank you.
Now that's a frightening thought; a Minister of Truth? What 'trustworthy' organization gets to vet this person? Under amenable circumstances, everyone is potentially venal.
Mark Twain said "that one has no principles unless one is well fed".
I agree.
Some claim it's Donald tRump, who avoids truth like the plague he supported.
I agree hate speech shouldn't be included in free speech.
In extremum, yes.
Capitalism, is the system flawed or is it just us? To me, the premise behind what drives this country is in need of a few tweaks. I'm a fairness freak. I always try to find changes in a system that will bring an evenness to all concerned. Look at this country's golf courses and country clubs. These beautiful expanses of natural beauty bear a hefty price in order for its members to belong. Membership dues help maintain a healthy grounds crew that are needed in order to keep the course in top condition. No one is exempt, everyone must pay, and they do it with pride. This country is very similar to a high-end golf course that demands dues from all who wish to play. These dues come in the form of "Taxes." A country club that has members who find ways to escape paying their fair share will fall into disrepair and suffer in the long run. Capitalism must find a way to get huge concerns to pay their fair share of the tax burden which faces the rest of us in this country. Hiding beneath the skirts of Mother Liberty is no way to exist in this country. We must all step up and pay our dues if this country club is to stay open for business. The cheaters and the Trumps must be forced to pay if we are to continue.
Capitalism always leads to Fascism if not controlled. Good luck trying to make the wealthy pay up. They control the government which they bought and paid for.
Margaret--A flat tax might help.
@Donald. Your suggestion points up another problem with our system. A flat tax would only help in some imaginary world where high incomes were taxed at the same rate as low incomes (meaning of "flat tax"). But in our world every asshole congressman who has drafted up a flat tax still implements loop holes, exempts capital gains, caps off the tax at a certain maximum income (so higher incomes are exempt) with the end result that flat taxes are more punitive and regressive than even our current unfair practices. When someone proposes a "flat tax" it is time to read the small print!
We had a flat tax (9%) with a large personal exemption for a while in Alberta (Canada). The people at the bottom paid nothing; the people in the middle paid about what they would have under a progressive tax, and the people at the top paid a lot less. It also provided inadequate revenue for the province.
https://macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/the-winners-and-losers-if-alberta-returns-to-a-flat-tax-system/#:~:text=The%20Alberta%20%E2%80%9Cflat%20tax%E2%80%9D%20dates,with%20a%20generous%20personal%20exemption.
Margaret--Capitalism always leads to Fascism is a pretty direct statement, what example do you have to prove your point.
I agree.
I once found myself in Palm Beach with a friend. We had on street clothes. Nothing shabby but nothing fancy. There was a restaurant. The limos would drive up and dispense. We got on the waiting to get in. After some time I checked and was told they called us but no response. Not true. We were deliberately excluded. Couldn't wait to get out of there.
Donald, I think you are trying to say that if only everyone played fair, then somehow capitalism would work for everyone. tRUMP is the perfect example of one who won’t play fair, and he is the current leader of the neofascists. Capitalism can only work for most of us if it is heavily regulated, and only then if those creating and enforcing the regulations are not corrupted by greed and/or thirst for power.
Your analogy of the beautiful, green golf course and country club is very flawed. The golf course monopolizes land that could be used to much better advantage for most of us who don’t play golf, can’t afford the golf clubs or the heavy dues. The golf course is maintained with a cocktail of dangerous chemicals that are bad for the environment and the workers who maintain it. The golf course is maintained with heavy doses of water in a world that doesn’t have enough for drinking and raising crops. And the heavy dues help to exclude a more diversified clientele. Turn them all into public parks!
Joe--Capone wouldn't "Pay" fair either, Trump would enjoy the same type of permanent vacation.
I like the golf course analogy, and the apt connection doesn't escape me. One question: how can the analogy be expanded to include how the membership dues impart favoritism for "gold card" members?
Les--If they contribute more than is required, they get the "Au" card.
Members of high-end country/golf clubs down here in Australia just pass the yearly fee invoice on to their company to be "legally" expensed along with their bar fees of course. It's just seen as an expense of doing business !!!
Yes the system is rigged for the rich and powerful! My father always said the USA is an oligarchy not a true democracy like India with it's "one man one vote" system.
Cynthia--We need a fix
We certainly do and it starts with grassroots activism and advocacy for the disenfranchised.
So should psychologists consider conspiratorial nonsense, such as this note?
Ok in principle. On what?
Too bad Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn't retire during Obama's terms.
Explain "one of the common causes of suicide ...the therapist". I do risk assessments for suicide and homicide.
You mean like wake up?
It's hard for the poor, uneducated (white Christian evangelicals) and most of the republican south to wake up when they're living paycheck to paycheck or as my mother used to say "hoof to mouth".
Yes. Getting one’s message across is paramount. Often needing to get it across with very little time, to people with much on their minds and a short attention span.
Good one!
People fear what they see as the establishment. It wasn't always so. In the 1950s, for example, it was considered poor form to make fun of the President. But starting in 1980, Reagan and his acolytes made government the enemy. And the reason was simple: they wanted to lower taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Who collects taxes? The government, so the government has to be vilified. This cartwheeled into distrust of authority, and descended into the current morass of vaccine skepticism, Fauci hatred, and even Q 'Anon. The flip side of this is that the wealthy have grown ever wealthier and more powerful, year after year.
Piketty is right, when the return on capital exceeds the rate of growth you get aristocracy, where the wealthiest are able to pass on their wealth to their children, unhindered by government intervention.
How did we get here? The main culprit, I believe, is southern voters switching from Democrat to Republican in the wake of Civil Rights, then doubling down on their support for the GOP when they didn't like the result. It was this switch that made Powell and Reagan possible.
We can berate this all we want, but the key to restoring a stable economy with a strong middle class is simple: a massive increase in taxation on the wealthy. Turn the clock back to 1980. Let's start over. It's what 70% of Americans (including southerners) want.
Michael, I agree. I can remember growing up, my mom was a Democrat and my pop was republican. That would probably be unheard of today but boy did we have some spirited conversations at dinner!! Even though they were from different parties, they had respect for the government and taught us to do the same. I think for me, when Reagan came into the oval office, I simply could not wrap my brain around the fact that this guy was a Hollywood actor! I know I was being prejudice because I felt like every time he was on TV, he was acting instead of being the president!! I lived through the tumultuous 60s and was active in protests for civil rights. I do want to restore the balance back to before the richy rich started getting everything!!
RIGHT ON, Peggy!
Every time I see/hear a reference to Reagan, the soundtrack in my mind is
"The Great Pretender"
And as I recall, Reagan was a Dem before he fell for Nancy and when her father, a full on conservative got hold of him he switched to be accepted so he could have her affection and marry her. He was just a tool for the party since he really was not a very intelligent man.
The demented actor. Nancy was president.
Hahahahahaha! That is a good one!
Playing President was Ronnie's best role!
I would have preferred his role be Mr. Smith Goes to Washington instead of a RWer.
It would have been better to see him model that, instead of rw 'president'. There was his 'signature movie " "Bedtime for Bonzo", which featured a monkey? I never watched it, but remember a publicity still. It was in 1951, and before I was watching movies.
You know, it seems to me that Americans may be way too invested in entertainment to think clearly. Perhaps that is why we have elected two 'actors' to our highest position in our government.
I guess we as a society are way too invested in entertainment to be logical and truly thoughtful in our political management.
What can we do about that?
Hey, I know, invest more thought into education!
If we didn't maintain the obvious regard we have for "capitalism", what would we replace it with, and how would that change effect on our Democracy? Settlers traveled great distances across this country during its infancy. A vital food source was the apple. Each wagon would carry a full barrel of these valuable food stuffs. Hense, the old saying "one rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel." Through diligence we should be able to reject members such as George Santos from our government to ensure the rest of the barrel stays safe and fresh. Now, a barrel of bad "oranges" maybe Donnie Boy could help with that one.
Trial and then deport him for his crimes back in Brazil.
Judith--Why punish that South American country? How about a destination where no one else lives?
Just what is Donald's substack? What is its objective?
@Donald. I hear the Chinese are hoping to build a moon base...
Because Santos is from Brazil and he did a felony there. He's not a good citizen in the US. Almost every area of the earth is owned or occupied not free to dump people not wanted.
@Donald. Capitalism is the worst damn form of economy; Except for all the others.
Ben--The award for the remark of the day belongs to you sir.
A least unlike Trump Reagan had government experience. He was governor of CA. Trump has no experience in government before office as President. It showed.
@ Michael Hutchinson. You are right, especially the part about "voters switching from Democrat to Republican in the wake of Civil Rights, then doubling down on their support for the GOP when they didn't like the result."
Economically 90% of these folks do better under Democratic policies. The Catfood commission is a greater threat to them than to the general population. And they are not just denizens of the south. IMHO all are transfixed by "country" culture. Think Nashville. Branson. Austin. My advice to the DNC, and I'm on a conference call today, is to saturate country media. Hit 'em where it hertz.
I'm not kidding when I say channel Taylor Swift.
In antediluvian time, I took a course on literary criticism, where we had to analyze Hamlet every time we came to class using a different method. E.G. An historical view. An Aristotelian view. A Freudian view. Among the stuff covered were comparisons to political figures. other plays, etc. The center of all stories are archetypes.
As Thom Hartmann says "The closest to movement politics we have at the moment are the millions of American women (and their male allies) who want control of their bodies and are outraged at GOP attempts to return them to the status of men’s servants and playthings, from the boardroom to the bedroom."
Taylor Swift is not a politician and I don't want her to become one. I think she is the modern archetypal hero for Gen Z. She outsells anybody else. She made a market in album and even in ticket sales. And she is able to develop the myth we need. 40% of the electorate will be GenZ. Person of the Year. Personable. Charitable. Beloved by a majority of the demographic we need. And she was so sophisticated that she took on an entire industry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odYlgsKlOP4
Gen Z followers support Taylor Swift's marketing by staying connected through social media, buying her merchandise and talking about her on social media. Taylor Swift doesn't necessarily need to always market herself because so much of her audience does it for her.
She supports abortion rights. She has identified as a feminist and advocated for LGBTQ rights and gun control. She's been critical of police brutality, racism and white supremacy. She has used her influence and social media power to spotlight issues within the industry and society at large, such as fostering reforms to Spotify, Apple Music, Ticketmaster, recording and distribution contracts, and drawing attention to artists' rights, masters, intellectual property, corporate greed, sexism and racism, while being a subject of scrutiny and controversy herself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_Taylor_Swift#:~:text=With%20a%20strong%20political%20and,to%20artists'%20rights%2C%20masters%2C
She has supported Biden, and hopefully she will have the same effect on his campaign as she has had on ancillary products she supports. https://www.marketingdive.com/news/taylor-swift-era-marketing-ads-numbers-statistics/695775/
We also have support from old timers, like Willie Nelson.
Well done Daniel!
I have not been paying much attention to her and most of the new music. But I still love that she is a hero to the new generation coming up. And Dolly, although she does not talk politics at all, is still out there doing good while maintaining her nonpartisan demeanor. And there are others who have a quiet presence for our belief in TRUE freedoms. We must support and hold on to all our champions who are the only sane voice for our Democracy. Otherwise, we will be toast.
and she's a billionaire, they say. I mean this as a postive thing for her messaging, not a negative thing.
Actually, I’ve heard people say that she would be a billionaire if she had not given such large bonuses to the people who worked on her tour. She gave $100,000 (after tax, she paid the tax gross-up so the $100K was free and clear) to each of the 55 truck drives and that much or more to everyone else. Reportedly about $250 million total. Regardless of whether she is a billionaire or not, that kind of behavior, and the publicity that comes with it, further cements her image as a hero aligned with everyday people against the oligarchy.
what a good quote from Thom Hartmann. All the comments here are good. It's so distressing where we are in our disharmony.
Yes we can't get anything productive or meaningful done or passed because of all of the acrimony.
And she supports Biden. I was glad to hear that, very much so.
David I lost the your reply to my reply so I’m adding it’s here .
I might be wrong, but I read that Warren Buffett’s children are on the boards of his multiple foundations. I’m sorry I don’t have any facts or attributable sources to back that up but if one percent of Warren‘s fortune gets diverted to his children through a foundation that kind of makes sense to completely disinherit his children from his fortune, would be rather draconian without any causes factor that I’ve known of.
WB putting children on a foundation board is one way to protect them from Fortune hunters, etc. and still provide for them in some manner .
I did not make up facts to fit the view.
Rhetorical question would be who is on the board of
Taylor Swift does not like Trump. She is very verbal about it.
@ Daniel. Let's get Willie "On the Road Again"!
Right now, there are at least two other things I can think of to be done-double the Supreme Court by Biden's picks and use the Cudgel of Blue State economic strengths to require the Red states to STOP turning us back 400 years or no more money.. NO more of my TAX MONEY to these Mobsters turning the Clock Back to the RED Capes and punish, punish , punish. Never mind the continued destruction of Mother Nature, climate chaos, species extinction.
Let's be a little realistic. Hard enough to pass a small tax increase let alone a massive increase. Baby steps.
Sanders got a 70% rating when he promised massive tax increases in 2016, just before he was sandbagged by the DNC. In hypothetical matchups at that time, Sanders was consistently beating Trump 70-30, with practically no undecided voters. On the other hand, Hillary was 35-35, with 30% undecided. The early polls 'aint wrong.
Sorry I was talking reality not political messaging, Sure whatever sells to get into office.
This baby Congress doesn't walk but cries all the time.
Vote out the diaper crew !
Exactly!!!
Fact don’t make you feel warm and fuzzy. A Good Lie Goes a lot farther and makes your warm and Fuzzy 🥰 places tingle and make you feel safe and cared for...
I agree that Dems need to add warm and fuzzy to wonk.
Warm and fuzzy:
Stock markets hit a new high. Bidenomics works. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/12/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
Wonk (as tested by yours truly every day on social media).
Channel Taylor Swift. (I have a picture of her supporting Biden.)
Trump hates pets. (I quote Ivana when pushed.)
Trump family charity stole from kids with cancer. (lots of verification on google.)
Ditto for veterans.
He also called some veterans "losers" if they had been captured and been POWs.
He calls all of us "suckers and losers."
Yes, he does: it's especially reprehensible that he calls those who served and were captured and imprisoned losers though.
All while avoiding the draft with immobility lies.
Lies don't make you feel warm and fuzzy. They fire up your insecurities and give you lots of false ideas about reality. In that way, they gain strength and perpetuate the lies you tell yourself. It is a vicious cycle which is why we are in this crazy predicament with the fascists moving in on our country and our real freedoms.
Gina, I agree; however, I also admit that some lies can make you feel warm and fuzzy for about 5 min., and then you’re left feeling more fearful and bereft when the truth comes out, and it always does.
Yes, and sadly by then it is too late. That is what I am afraid of now. People will gravitate toward those lies as truths thinking they will be 'saved'. And that is how evil ones work. It was demonstrated in the Garden of Eden story which is STILL believed by people because it is such a simple explanation of human occupation of this planet.
But then we do not have any knowledge (yet) of life elsewhere in this vast cosmos. Once we do that will create a whole new story.
I was told “ eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”
No free lunch no matter what the idiot box (TV) tells us. TV is now about you feeling good and part of the crowd hence the trumpets 🎺 communication success. Everyone want to believe there is a higher power ( our parents when we were children ) 🎺 played into that “I’d end the Ukraine War in 24 hours.”
Sure he would and give pal Putin the Ukraine. When Russia then tries to retake Estonia Poland and Finland WWIII ;
But trumpet 🎺 would have made his money and retired and/or died by then.
I agree. That would be the effect of another Trump presidency.
I also muse that had Trump not been president he would have gotten covid and probably not made it. I have a notion that he was given drugs that they were not using, or still testing, when he made it to Walter Reed. And that may be the only reason he did not die. He is as unhealthy as anyone in the poor classes he so despises.
We’re ignorant of what we don’t know - one human condition (of many) that led us to try to respect, if not enshrine, tolerance toward those with whom we disagree.
Nice, but contrary to the current drift of things
Precisely!
I’m Also not keen on current drift!
My acquaintances, friends and family are self-partitioning to red or blue geographies- this does not bode well for the future of the Union. This reflects a Major individual family’s investment in the American schism, x 30M now.
Hello, anyone?
Are we fixing this here? Or doubling down?
Complaining and praying.
Afraid of that possibility!
But talking things through before and during a weighty action is not SO bad - if it doesn't end there - but ACTIONs must be the end & value of these discussions.
And yet common law includes the concept of self defense.
Shoot others lest they dream of shooting you- killing others is a societal benefit? If so, what's the difference between Republican cant and the wild west?
Are you responding to what I wrote? Where does "dream" come from in your response? Or societal benefit? Does self defense exist as a concept in common law, or doesn't it? Note that my lead-in was "and yet."
I stand corrected. Better: Shoot others lest they shoot you. Les Rittenhaus is an example.
This may be our downfall!
Our downfall, as Lincoln said, and had best cause to know, will come when we are divided against ourselves.
The limited antecedent of the ‘our’ in your comment is as much a symptom as is the limited antecedent in the ‘us’ of Fox.
Trump is a symptom and a symbol.
We must indeed resist the symbol, but unless we also cure the disease that produced the symptom, our task is Sisyphean.
I agree, but to fix the problem we need to fix the Constitution. It must be updated to make it fair for everyone. 2 Senators for every state? That is absurd when some states have fewer residents than other states have in one city. Also the House should be enlarged for the increase in population. Whose idea was it to have 2 parties with power over all elections? Not the founding fathers. This must change. And fixing the gun problem. There should be laws to keep the states from discriminating against ethnic groups by changing state law. There is a lot of work to be done and we must elect lawmakers willing to do it.
Nice guys finish last!
Only in unfortunate dystopian times, in my view.
(I’m a reasonable guy, one who at least aspires to be good, -& got at Least one ‘like’ from you in recent past {Tnx!}, and yet have finished ‘first’ unfairly often in my life, in sports, at Harvard & MIT, in government, … but perhaps thankfully, never in looks, wealth, popularity… or height!)
But as a MUCH better known counterfactual, it is said of the entire Quaker movement, “They came [to America] to do good - and they ended up doing well”.
I think this dynamic still works.
I think it works best when it is acclaimed.
It's too bad there weren't more Quakers in this country and today. You would think with all the wasted lives and money on wars where nothing was accomplished except destruction there would be more consideration taken before starting new ones, but here we are again. Will there always be egos that determine whether to go to war? "Egos for power" should be the logo for today. Netanyahu and Putin, the egomaniacs of today with their followers.
"It's too bad..." Ah, thanks again. :)
What a coincidence, was thinking of attending Meeting for ~the first time in 53 years... perhaps why that 'did well' quote came to mind; maybe we're having a resurgence! ;)
There's a meetinghouse just a few steps off the bike path here in Madison, WI, perhaps a block or two past the UW stadium, but I've never attended - other than to stop, look around and reminisce a bit. No hours posted, but expect it will be unlocked in the am. And, perhaps entirely unattended - sad.
(Dad was a Quaker minister - a 'pastoral Quaker'... & not one of those that 'did well', but one that mostly 'did good', in my fond memories.)
Our is not so much a Friendly era, perhaps that IS a statement of need. :)
While the last 5 years have been chaotic people will see what they want to see.Most of my relations went down the rabbit hole of social media,little robots in vaccines,the Gates plan to kill everybody etc.Something as simple as birth control pills in Africa to reduce poverty,2 babies to bring up in poverty is easier than 6 or 8 to keep them in awful grinding poverty.
This birth control of course was undeniable proof that Gates was trying to reduce the world population ,so he could get richer,Crazy !!.
A highly respected epidemiologist had a lecture at my local university. She is part of doctors without borders,and was sent in with a medical team when Ebola broke out in Africa.Bill Gates paid for it .This was just as Covid was breaking out but no isolation had been brought in then,3 weeks later it was.
When asked is Covid dangerous and what will happen.The answer was astonishingly accurate.When we went to Africa we were welcomed,we took the most infected out of the village to stop Ebola spreading.These people would die,nothing could save them,but the majority of the village may be saved.Didn't take long.Has anybody noticed the foreigners take people away and they never come back.They are not here to help us they are here to kill us.Village social media ( gossip) or world wide social media ,exactly the same. One big echo chamber .People look for the echo chamber that agrees with what they want to see.
....Or what they fear most. The Right’s intentional role as provocateurs of fear and anger have successfully stimulated the amygdala of the nation. Our prefrontal cortex is overridden by fight/flight/freeze, and we are less able to control our emotions or utilize our cognitive capacity to figure out what is going on. They have dumbed us down. How clever.
Right you are. FEAR instilled in humans, or any animal, is the ticket to CONTROL.
I couldn't follow what you were saying.
It is not cognitive dissonance. CG is when the mouth is saying something that the brain does not believe, the result is a physical manifestation of CG. Sweat, physical discomfort, nervousness, trembling of hands, and limbs
I understand what you are saying Grrl, but cognitive dissonance is an unsettling feeling one gets, when one declares one thing, and the Id knows another. It is very uncomfortable and unsettling, physical signs are nervousness, sweat, trembling.
I know, 45 years ago, I “converted” to Catholicism, to marry a woman, she insisted on being married in church (this was in Panama, quite different from Norte America)
I experienced cognitive dissonance, once we returned to the states, and to overcome my DC I became a rad trad Catholic, eventually I came to my senses,.
The purpose of overcoming DC was to convince others of my true conversion, but mostly myself.
The Right to Your Own Facks! . . Resist the Nazi HealthCare Attack . .Quite a High Rise of Covid Coffins stacked . . .. #He Touches It Dies .. ..
a He Touches It Dies . . Worthy of The Damien Franchise . . an anti Savior . .in Alt Reality disguise . . .. # "The Chosen One"
I find it strange that those who mistrusted corporations and their lackeys in government enough to trust Pfizer and Moderna enough to subject themselves, their children, and to try to coerce everyone else to become subjects of their medical experimentation without informed consent.
Thank you!
It happened during Weimar Germany when the scientists and medical physicians caved into the nationalist socialists framing Hitler´s ascent. High unemployment, declining conditions, appetite for censorship (resulting in the elimination of all but a handful of scholarly journals), and endless demonisation of "foreign interests".
Did America listen to the voices of protest (among which there were those of Albert Einstein)? No. Did the State Department. No. Did Roosevelt? No.
America has a credibility problem because its electorate and leadership prefer to see itself as the only democratic model on earth -- not merely as the best, but as the only.
If your idea of democracy includes the kinds of evil fun and games with race and religion, the evil assumption of the majority concerning the Second Amendment, the construal of real estate as supporting human dignity, and the endless extollation of life as a "premium" to either be selfishly kept for one´s own or doled out as the modern-day slavery known as American social assistance, then fine.
America, the country, fine. America, the empire: rotgut evil.
I understand what you are saying Grrl, but cognitive dissonance is an unsettling feeling one gets, when one declares one thing, and the Id knows another. It is very uncomfortable and unsettling, physical signs are nervousness, sweat, trembling.
I know, 45 years ago, I “converted” to Catholicism, to marry a woman, she insisted on being married in church (this was in Panama, quite different from Norte America)
I experienced cognitive dissonance, once we returned to the states, and to overcome my DC I became a rad trad Catholic, eventually I came to my senses,.
The purpose of overcoming DC was to convince others of my true conversion, but mostly myself.
We have vaccines that are remarkably effective in fighting Covid, the flu, and RSV. People vaccinated this season runs in the teens to 30's per cent depending on the vaccine.
Covid injections do not provide any significant intermediate to long term protection against infections, transmission, or have any significant impact on hospitalizations or deaths. In fact, a study just published found that after a 4th shot, there was a short 3 month window of somewhat lower infections, followed by 6 months of higher in infection. The entire episode was rife with scientific fraud, deceptive marketing, and a despotic censorship campaign. So many of you view yourselves as enlightened, yet you allowed fear and panic to overcome reason.
Absolutely!
Republicans Have Always Claimed That They Are For Small Government
Republicans also claim to be CON-servatives and Christians
I have thought about this for years and I believe
this the “MAGA Republican Plan” for a Small Government.
1. Reduce the number of people working in the federal government and government institutions
2. Give a lot less people much more power to control everything we are able to do (our rights and freedoms will be taken away)
3. Make Christian Nationalism the country’s religion for everyone
4. Reduce corporate regulations so they can continue to pollute our planet without restrictions
5. Reduce gun laws that are already on the books and enforced
6. With their new power boost they will outlaw abortion, deport anyone they don’t like, outlaw LBGTQ, make women 2nd class citizens
7. They will pull the United States out of NATO and break bread with our adversaries
True conservatives do not waste, they conserve natural resources. They don’t continue polluting when experts tell them that they are destroying the planet!
Congress is leaving for their holiday break, returning in the second week of January. They gave Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him by not giving Ukraine a supplemental arms package! It’s obvious now, they are Putin’s useful idiots!
The entire House Republican Party voted to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Biden before they left!
What an embarrassment for America! Another Xmas gift for our adversaries!!!
Excellent analysis by Prof Reich. I fear where USA leads the UK is following in the drift towards authoritarianism and fascism.
And they want to do the same thing in Canada! We've already had Bannon and Stone in Canada during the Freedom Convoy! And Alberta and Ontario like the idea of private hospitals !🤬🤬
GOP = Government of Putin. They have sold themselves (and us in the U.S.) to the devil.
Clever
Keith, you just wrote the GOP's campaign platform for them!! Naturally, they will never use it but you definitely nailed it! I can't believe these sad politicians are actually conning so many Americans with their lies!! I thought our country was smarter than that!
Peggy Freeman : the present 'speaker' has said out loud that the Bible is his Constitution! So there is the platform.?! Similar to law: interpretation is everything ? What happened to separation of church and state? Women's rights? HIPPA? speech for average voters? (Humans).
Laurie, I don't know which Bible the speaker is using, but it isn't the one I grew up with! Yes, there is suppose to be separation of church and state. One of the reasons so many came to America was to have the freedom to worship as they pleased.
Or not worship.
True!
@Laurie. Applying "natural law" Clarence Thomas and Alito admit that they apply gospel before Constitution.
I don't understand why lawyers don't call them on it.
I think Jesus actually supported a separation of church and state - If I am not mistaken, he said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars, and render unto God that which is God’s”
Now, I can see that as saying, “Caesar runs the government and sets value on money, but God leads in your heart and places value on love and decency..” That sounds like something Jesus might say.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Pat Goudey OBrien ; Was that when Jesus upended the tables where the money changers were working in the temple?
Yes.Making a whip from a rope, the passages say he thrashed the money changers and drove them away from the Temple, throwing over their tables and reigning chaos down on them. It is out of character, but it’s often used to indicate that even Jesus had his limits, and certain behaviors brought out his rage. Apparently, dealing with money at the Temple was the one thing that could get to him in all the ways people behaved, but … Whatever. Yes, I’m not an expert, but there is some doubt as to whether he could have done that and not been arrested and jailed on the spot. Anyway, it has always seemed to be like a story that doesn’t pass muster, but then, I’m an unbeliever, and I look at it all skeptically.
No, not wrong. Jesus placed value on love, empathy, and compassion. Remember how he ran the money changers out of the temple? I believe in treating others decently and with kindness. That is definitely what Jesus taught.
I am not a Christian, though I find the study of religions fascinating. I have questions about many Bible stories, knowing that a great deal was written long after the ostensible time of the Christ, and a great deal was written in hundreds of years later, crafting stories that would help rulers use the religion to control the populace.
I can’t read the Bible in original Greek or Aramaic, or necessarily analyze the syntax to see where things were likely added or altered.. That is a detailed exegesis that is done by others. Occasionally, though, I look up passages and try to find out when they were written or if they were altered long after the reported life of the Christ.
Some people question whether the money changers story is authentic, or was added to give greater weight to the depiction of Jesus’s betrayal by the Pharisees.
I can’t say. But I don’t see the person of Jesus crafting a whip and wielding it against people. I also don’t see him getting away with it in the Temple — people who wanted to offer sacrifices needed to avail themselves of that service, and they were not all followers of the Galilean. He would have been putting himself squarely in the way of their dovotion to their God.
Behaving that way is out of character with all the rest of his lore, as well. One could make a case for it, but …. If he wanted them out of there, I’d suspect the man written about in the gospels would have been insistent and less violent. But that’s just me reading without a belief in the inerrancy …
On the other hand, as you note, Peggy, he stressed decency. He stressed a lack of self-righteousness {let he who is without sin cast the first stone; tend to the beam in your own eye before you address the mote in your neighbor’s eye; turn the other cheek}.
Recently, I hear that SOME MAGA types even say they aren’t fond of the soft Jesus, and his gentle Love thy Neighbor message is no longer operational. Wow. The Heritage [Hate-and-Rage] Society is changing hearts and minds, alright
He also said, Those who will not have me reign over them, bring them before me and slay them.
Sell your cloak and buy a sword, both are in Luke.
Yes, scary stuff from the Speaker. He is as dangerous as Trump.
Margaret Reis :Yes, he works for tRump.
Or maybe himself?
He obviously intends to gain, But will it truly be a positive for him in the long run?
Thank God the majority is smarter and will save our country
Ummmmmm, I don’t believe in God.
I hope we do it, though.
Me neither.
If there is a God ; I hope they believe in US!
❤️
It's so unthinkable that a large number of people might be voting their right to vote away. If we were a "person", then I think we would have an autoimmunity disorder. If they vote for autocracy, and then they don't like it, do they think they can just put it back like it was? It will be too late - and our citizens will be at war with our government - citizens, and our soldiers, shooting at each other. That would just be the beginning.
It is scary to contemplate, Gordon! I hope with all my might that wiser heads will prevail at election time!
Reduce the IRS so the rich can steal ( not pay their share of Taxes) first comment the moneyed class sprouts off about is the dollar amount they pay in taxes But when you start talking the PERCENTAGE of income paid in taxes the silence is their answer.
Warren Buffett stated my secetary makes $ 60,000 a year but pays about 40% of her gross income in taxes ,(Federal, State, county, city , school utility, and sales taxes ) I make X millions of Dollars 💵 a year but I pay .0003 % in Taxes . When you make a lot of money you pay very little in taxes in the United States. Every Republican except Bush ( the first ) has reduced taxes for the rich and thrown Penny’s to the working poor. That’s what gets you the Republican nominations for president.
Ronal Regan ( truly an Empty Head ) said
“ we are going to get Government off the back of the people and let our economy grow less regulation , financial lending crises , Boeing aircraft crashes, the stock market crash of 2008 it took time but the the lack of Government regulation caught up with our nation.
Renal Regan?
Saw the most chilling bumper sticker that really hit home with me:
"It is the duty of a Patriot to protect his country against his government"
WOW...
This is what happens when we have seditious networks FOX, NewsMAX ,and OAN.
And carriers who carry them. And advertisers who support them. And viewers who believe them. In the dark corners Rwanda.
And their view of what the country should be is scary stuff!
4 SURE BUT...
It is the ABSOLUTE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING of what government could/should be if
THE PEOPLE are willing to do the difficult work to make it happen, that really astounds me!
REALLY??? Government AS the enemy??!!?? (pinch me hard)
David they are worried about government of by and for the humans! Self rule for US! not Them!
But Laurie, NO ONE is bothering them!
They are free NOT to choose abortion, say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays,"
home school their kids, condemn "alternate lifestyles," not attend a drag show, consider non-whites inferior, say "no thank you" to Social Security, carry weapons, etc etc etc!!!
I was always taught that Government can/should be an instrument for the Common Good!
They appear to consider it some kind of foreign entity that gets in their way... REALLY?
David Sambora ; By 'they', I am thinking of the billionaires who buy Congressional seats and votes and judges, even on the Supreme court. Who buy elections and have a bigger louder megaphone because money is speech and they have way too much money and , therefore, speech! i also believe that government should facilitate the Common Good. Somehow, the use of 'they' is misconstrued here. Billionaires want US to be confused and attacking each other or distracted by culture wars, so we are not looking at their obscene wealth which interferes with the Common Good and Democracy, and working to remedy the situation! They want us off balance and oppressed!
David Dambora — I wonder who made that “Patriot” statement up? Of course, people who think in memes might not deconstruct and analyze it. That is our problem.
How many people even KNEW that Aw Shucks Ronnie Reagan was setting the stage for this Fascist Hero Worshipping Crapola when he said government can’t solve the problem … government is the problem.” And that cutesy line about not wanting to hear government say “…..I’m here to help.” [Ask anybody who suffered a flood or a raging forest fire this year if they feared or desperately needed to hear those words!]
Y’all see how easy the not-prone-to-critical-thinking masses can be swept up in that cutesy-ness, though, right
Egad. [And the right wind went on a tear against promoting “critical thinking,” too, calling it “code for challenging your parents and your church.”]
Egad, egad, egad.
Slogans uber alles.
Yes, Keith Olsen, your plan for the MAGA gov looks about right.
But every one of those will be dressed in camouflage, so the Great Unwashed will not reconize what’s happening:
1. Dismantle “the deep state” and cut federal budgets
2. A result of #1, so less obvious, but also touted as efficient consolidation of effort.
3. Claim it is what the founders wanted all along …{The Founders are the infallible saints of our history—what they wrote down then is so much more important than what we need today, even though some of what they put in place still holds up well.}
4. Get rid of pesky regulations that impede our Sacred and Sovereign Commerce.
5. Second Amendment! Second Amendment! All Hail Our Second Amendment!!!!
6. For God, Country and the Koch Brothers.
Geniuses of the 18th century had few clues about 21st century situations and problems. How about whatever is found on Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Chinese, Greek, Roman, Medieval, .... writings?
They had some interesting idea way back … amazingly accurate ideas about human nature. Kind of light on understanding the REST of nature, but …😎
That Xmas gift from GOP is an empty box. No there there.
I feel sorry for their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters! 2nd class people
R Congress is Ronald Regan on a larger scale “useful idiots”
True conservatives like Ronald Reagan, William F Buckley have brought us to the brink of a fascist dictatorship under Trump
Right!
Good imagination.
Can you define "True Conservatives"? Old-style republicans? Father Coughlin? Huey Long?
And so many more...like honesty.
Trump hates everything in your list!
Good. Hate is a cancer and it grows inside the body as well as inside the mind.
Love of course is the exact opposite.
So we are cancerous as a nation?
Well, cancer has been a medical challenge for a very long time. It is also a big money maker. So you tell me? are we as a nation cancerous?
Thank you Mr. Reich,
You sure make it obvious that we have been lied to by our leaders for decades!
Most of the people I talk with are so fed up with their government lying to them about almost everything that they are willing to vote for a born loser as revenge against them!
1. Repeal Citizens United (get money out of politics) make them earn their money by working together for the American people to pass legislation that will help us!
2. The average American citizens need to unionize. That is the best way to take money from the oligarchs because without the middle class the oligarchs would not be oligarchs!
Yes sir! Unions are what built our country!! They were strong and definitely took care of the workers. I would love to see Citizens United repealed. I want to see candidates work for grass root dollars. I want to see them going from town to town in their district talking to the voters, holding town halls, and actually LISTENING to what the constituency want!! I want it to be illegal for politicians and candidates for office to accept large amounts of money from corporations and the wealthy. I want it to be illegal for politicians and candidates for office to accept bribes, gifts, or anything else from the wealthy. Also, these super pacs or whatever they are should be dissolved.
It all comes down to updating the Constitution. Eliminate the Electoral College. Base the House and Senate numbers on population. Enlarge the Supreme Court. It's time for the people to have a say in the government again.
Margaret, I agree with you that we need to eliminate the Electoral College. I read a piece the other day about how republicans are determined to basically dismantle our Constitution in favor of authoritarianism. It was quite the scary read because apparently this has been their goal for many years! For people to have a say in government, our Constitution must be stronger in that measure. Politicians can not be allowed to take the words of our Constitution and twist them around to justify them being absolute a@#holes!!
We must not open up the Constitution to revision now. The moneyed class and Republicans would usurp the process and the results would be the opposite of what we would have hoped to see.
Exactly! We need to wait until we have politicians that use common sense and listen to the voice of their constituency.
They seem to be twisting the words of the Constitution now with the help of the Supremes. To them everything in the Constitution must be based on the founding fathers desires and not the needs of today.
Thom Hartmann all over it. https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-secret-gop-plot-to-change-our-01b?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=139736253&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=zc69i&utm_medium=email
Yes yes yes and YES!
My thoughts also!
How?
To change the Constitution? It would probably take an outpouring from the people to get Congress to do it. Getting the people to get on board may be a challenge.
Wow, I would vote for you!
Thank you, Keith! That's high praise! At 71 years old, my activist days are behind me. I will always use my voice to speak truth to lies and point out the absurdity of it all, but I will leave running for office and protests for the younger folks coming up. We need to get the young people behind Democracy. Yes, we must continue to fight climate change, we must work out the best solution for our borders, we need to reestablish a woman's right to choose, we need to change gun laws, and a myriad of other things. The best way I see to do that is to put candidates in office that will number one, keep our Democracy alive but will also go to work building the middle and effecting change for the better.
I wish Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger would start a new Conservative Party because we need to have a two party system To keep us balanced. It’s like the old “Tug of War” where the white flag drifts to the right and then back to the left and back and forth.
We just need to vote the fascists out of the government!
I’m 70 years old so I think you can relate to my metaphor.
Absolutely! You know, Keith, if Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger did start a new Conservative Party, I truly believe they would be larger than the GOP because the Republicans that truly hate what has happened to their party would definitely move to the new one! Wouldn't that be one for the record books? The GOP downgraded to a third party that contains the wack-a-doos and idiots!!
All I might add to Peggy's comment is, that voting out all Republicans while also voting in large majorities for Democrats (the Presidency, both houses, state Governors, state legislatures) will remove any excuses; nothing would stand in the way of passing the legislation. Thinking along that line, isn't it going to be necessary to deal with the Supreme Court? 'Nuff said.
Not really. Given enough power, the Democrats could turn rotten too.
Why do you imagine I'm looking for a path to no more excuses? Is it because I have never seen Democrats turn rotten? You are not responding to what I am writing, just seeming to find a way to disagree with whatever is bothering you.
Well the ORANGE 😡 Jesus appeals to the Lower Reaches of our Evolved Brains.
He will Stand Up For us and Drain The Swamp but instead he just wanted to repopulate the Swamp with his Loyalists and other megalomaniac types. He is an Excellent Communicatorwith true skills first he Tell the Big Lie Second he repeats His self serving lies over and over when challenged he Doubles Down on the big Lies and has parrots 🦜 Join in like a Greek chorus. When his accomplices are caught in the Legal System he pardons them protecting them from prosecution.
He has excellent leadership skills that emboldened the Bannons and Stones of the world to really operate behind the Scene effectively.
“Buckle Up Buttercup “. He uses money to. Buy whoever can be bought and verbally assaults and Steamroll Any opposition or Disloyalty...
“Just ask anybody”
He needs a nemesis We need majority to shut this blowhard down Joe Biden is our best bet as a political Leader..,
Orange Antichrist!
David I lost the thread where you replied to my reply . But ( I might be wrong ) I read that all of WN children are on the boards of his many foundations .
WB disinherit his children seems counterproductive, but put putting them on the board of the foundation, gives them income and protect them from the negatives of being related to one of the worlds richest people and of course they’re doing charity work .
One of the questions that should be asked along those lines who is on the board of Bill Gates foundations, and do they draw a salary thank you citizen J
Agreed!
Peggy are you real, or are you an AI bot?
Frank, I am for sure real!! Why did you ask if I was an AI bot? Do I sound like one?
... because you replied so quickly in context to all previous comments. Congratulations for beating an AI bot.
I enjoy reading Professor Reich's pieces and I love the conversation afterwards! I guess today while I was drinking my coffee, I was really into the conversations. Wow, I beat an AI bot? Is that how you tell? They reply very quickly? I don't know that much about AI so I guess I better start boning up. I have to wonder if those science fiction movies and shows that depicted robots taking over wasn't actually science fiction?
I write because I. Like writing. And the 4:02 AM release time of Robert Reich daily missive coincides with my call of nature ...
While I agree with small alterations which don't really matter,there is the small matter of reality.Right or left they both refuse to see reality,forever.
There is very little or no difference at all between this site or a far right site,no reality.
"Just ask anybody "should be replaced with "a lot of people are saying" .People want to be part of a crowd,no matter how wrong that crowd is.
The richest man in the world gave it all away,as they all do from Carnegie on.Bill Gates avoided being the world's first trillionaire by giving it away.He owned 45% of the company he started,Microsoft,I forget the name of the other guy.An old quote,the reasonable man accepts he should change as the world changes.The unreasonable man insists the world should change to fit in with what he wants to see.
Back to Gates,his 45% shareholding would now be worth over $1 trillion.Microsoft has a market cap of around $3 trillion,slightly less,so Gates would be worth 45% of $3 trillion.He gave the shares away to his charity.
He now owns around 1.2% of the company, 130 million shares @ ~ $290 each.Dividend is around $3 each,so an income of $390 million . See any difference,Trump et al are always going to come up with "proof" that doesn't exist and never will.On this board the exact same happens,SEC filings etc will tell you exactly how many shares he owns,it will be denied strongly,the truth is always denied.You do what rich people do,you get rich ,all they have to do is buy shares in Microsoft,that will always be denied,forever.
Why do people not ring the IRS and demand that Gates pays tax on his $390 million.Obviously he does,the IRS knows exactly how much his income is,the share registry reports it to them,a ridiculously simple system.A system that will be denied just as fanatically as Trump supporters deny reality.
Every report you will ever see will tell you that the top 10% pay the majority of tax collected,it will still be denied.This is true in every first world country.
The thrust of the article is correct,jobs have been exported,if you want a cheap TV it will be made in China,if you are prepared to pay for an expensive TV it will be made in the USA and perform exactly the same as the Chinese TV.
By all accounts the US economy is performing well,perhaps/probably better than the rest of the world as they come out of it slowly.Trump supporters will refuse to see that just as everything on here will be "the rich people" to blame.
Keep away from crazy,and try to see reality.
Aussie, The other guys name is the late Paul Allen. ( referring to Gates partner in
founding Microsoft)
That's it.Thanks.I think he went into deep sea diving technology for undiscovered war graves etc
I'm not certain but a war mystery off the coast of Western Australia,HMAS Sydney. The ship was lost with all hands when it was sunk by a decoy ship,Cormorant,part of the German navy.A decoy "harmless" merchant ship which was hailed by Sydney for identification,once it was close it dropped camoflauge screens and Sydney sank very quickly.
I think it was Paul Allen that funded the search so relatives could have their minds put to rest and know where the war graves was. Thanks.
They don’t really give it away even Warren Buffett charities are run by his children that is the general description Andrew Carnegie I don’t know what the current disposition of his fortune is ...
They do give it away,a company has a board of directors to run the company.A charity ( 501 (C ) ( 3 ) has a board of trustees to allocate funds to whoever/ whatever they want to support.
Howard Buffett probably is on the board of trustees,he doesn't run the charity.
Carnegie fund ,all you have to do is google it and it will take you straight there The menu will then tell you who the board of trustees are.How much money has been granted this year,and perhaps in total.
I would be 99.9% certain that every rich person/ company has a foundation.Just google them.Hershey,Kellogg,Levi Strauss on and on.
Jeff Bezos has his earth foundation for research into climate change A US$ 10 billion donation from Bezos to start it .
Musk will have his fund,probably for research into renewable energy.They all do the same thing.
Pumpkin head of course would be the odd man out
There was a brilliant cartoon probably around the time of his wife's awful choice of clothing with the writing on the back.
A banner with AMERICA written on it.Trump walking away from it with his big coat on,somehow the two letters ME had detached from the banner and were stuck on the back of his coat.
He gave most of his money to the Gates Foundation. Cut his kids out of his will.
Nonsense, or an unfunny comment.
"Billionaire investor Warren Buffet famously told Fortune in 1986 that he would give his children “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” 36 years later, at age 91, Buffett maintains his children won't be receiving an inheritance from his $96 billion " https://fortune.com/2022/07/09/warren-buffett-pledged-to-give-away-his-96-billion-fortune-what-will-his-three-children-get/
How about putting some blame on the Russian Secret Service for this insane run of fascist behavior. After all, the destabilization of governments is what they do so extremely well. Yes, all of what you say is true Prof but at least consider the possibility of Russian interference in our politics. Perhaps they did get trump elected. We will never know the extent to which they were involved. Oh I know that you will say there are no conspiracies in this regard but, I’ll be damned if I can think of anything else. The Koch brothers et.al. Have poured huge sums of money to the same end. Destabilize this country through mis/dis information. This country has had its head up its a..! We let this happen by listening to conservatives as if they had our interests at heart. Employment law is virtually non-existent. Human Resources departments are a joke. We now have to put mom and dad to work to just keep a roof over our heads. Our kids are going to a ruinous day care system and are so immersed in their phones that they become delusional. This country is suffering a nervous breakdown. We don’t know what the hell truth is anymore. We mistrust our institutions and in particular our judicial systems and electoral system. Who in the hell is running this country? It certainly isn’t the government. What is going on here?
Plus OPEC/Saudi/Russia gave us worldwide inflation, supports the war in Ukraine, and Donald J. Trump's candidacy.
And just how many folks blame inflation on Biden? Too many, I just don’t get it.
Stephen, there’s no question that Russia helped
get Trump elected. I think it was the Mueller Report
that said Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort
met with a Russian oligarch and gave him data
about Facebook users. Russia then began targeting
the Facebook users with propaganda based on what they were most fearful of.
How about our native fascists and sycophants? Why does Russia get all the credit for convincing American fools?
The most important achievement was that Big Money and Big Business got control over the politicians and thus politics. They are now expanding to other parts of society eg Education, Media etc to further increase control over the population.
Excellent series, Robert. Write on!
No Americans may feel powerless but are so powerful if they use their Vote sensibly!
Trump is riding high because of American stupidity, what did he really do in his first term apart from RHETORIC , he gave massive TAX CUTS to the rich and big corporations, made America look incompetent in the rest of the world , messed up COVID response and resulted in hundreds of thousands deaths on the other hand Biden had to clean up the SHIT, inflation was not created by Biden and has been a worldwide problem and really the USA HAS PROBABLY been one of the least badly affected,bought back semblance of stability and some respect back to the USA ,some of this respect has been lost recently because of unconditional support of Israel and the genocide of Palestinians!
SO PLEASE USE YOUR VOTE WISELY
True - no one on the republican side wants to remind voters that it was trump who added 8 trillion dollars to the deficit. They deflect the fact that instead of voting in a bipartisan way for immigration (their so called number one issue) they are refusing to engage because it leaves them with something to campaign on later. They try not to remind us that they have actually done nothing meaningful while in congress except waste time and taxpayers money while we wait for them to bicker some more about the future budget and our possible default. Not to mention that people are going to continue to die in wars that they did not choose without our help. The republicans would rather kiss ass to some of the most disgraceful people around (allowing Alex Jones back on to Twitter near the anniversary of Sandy Hook, Putin, leaders such as from North Korea, Hungary, etc.) including trump instead of growing a set and denouncing such hatred (that they started and continue to stoke) boggles the mind. People seem to forget that trump also comes from money and will do whatever he can to keep both his money and power. He has proven time and again that he is only in it for himself and whoever will help him stay that way.
What works for me.
1. Trump hates dogs.
2. Trump family charity stole from kids with cancer.
I have proof I can give them.
please send the proof , it helps as every Vote against Trump matters for the existence of USA .
For if Trump wins you will have a civil war I predict
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/opinion/trump-military-dog.html
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/donald-j-trump-pays-court-ordered-2-million-illegally-using-trump-foundation
My concern is how do we reach the undecided voters in the key states and convince them to vote for Biden and not Trump?
The explanation you have given this morning makes a lot of sense to those on your forum, but how do we reach those who are not a part of this forum and our point of view by reason? I have pondered this a lot, and I think it’s an important topic to discuss. Heather Cox Richardson urges those who listen to her talks to go out and talk to as many people as possible about their beliefs if they you them saying things that are untrue. How do we reach these people? When we do meet them it takes some courage to attempt to engage them in rational conversation, but the more we practice, the better we will get at it. We ourselves have sometimes become uncomfortable just thinking about engaging directly in this manner. Without Big Money behind us we can make a difference if we connect citizen to citizen.
“A lie goes halfway around the world before the truth gets it’s pants on.” - Mark Twain. In the internet age, a lie gats all of the way around the wold in seconds.
Marc, your question is spot on! I live in a blood red area. In fact, my state is pretty red! I am 71 years old and believe me when I say the thought of talking to any of these people about politics makes me break out in hives!! I finally got my courage up and decided the next time I was in a group and they began to wax on about their orange Jesus, I would open my mouth and say something. Well, the first time didn't go very well because when I spoke, their reaction was 'Oh my God! You're a bleeding heart liberal!' I tried my best but all they did was get louder and more in my face!! It was embarrassing because we were in a public place!! Needless to say, those in that group have nothing else to do with me but I learned something important. I could use my voice! I find it much easier now to speak up and bring truth to a lie. In my area, I have been branded so to speak but honestly, I wear the brand of bleeding heart liberal Democrat with pride!
I, too, live in a very red area. I used to see and briefly chat with a neighbor walking her dog until one day she gave me the side eye and said, "let's go Brandon." I was dumbfounded that she said that to me. I just stared at her without a word. She could tell I was not happy. "Oh, you're a democrat"...and she never walked by my house again. People are funny/strange. But congrats to you, Peggy. I'll keep trying.
Kudos to you, too, Kathy!! You should have said in a witchy voice, "I'll get you....and your little dog, too!" No, I'm just kidding! People are funny and strange but yes, I will keep using my voice. I have watched some people when the gauzy curtain that is republican lies falls from their face. It is sad because they are feeling embarrassed and humiliated, but it is glorious because they realize they have been conned!!
Peggy, I will never forget having a conversation with a Republican - on a boat in the middle of the Nile River of all places. He trotted out a Republican lie and I calmly supported the opposite position. There would be a moment when he looked confused - and a little afraid. Then he got that “deer in the headlights” look that meant his prefrontal cortex was frozen - nothing going on in there. So he completely switched topics and did a “yeah but what about...” followed by another Republican talking point. Which I calmly refuted. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. It was one of the most fascinating and overt experiences of cognitive dissonance I’ve ever seen. But it certainly didn’t bode well for changing minds!
Marge, I would have loved to be a fly on the sails watching that exchange!! The key there is, you stayed calm and simply spoke the truth! Republicans do not know how to handle that! They lie and when called on it, they think bullying or intimidation. If that doesn't work, they change the subject but like a broken record keep going back in order to make them face it and explain it. You will find they can't!
@ Kathy. At the dog park, just say "Trump hates dogs."
Spreads like wildfires in California.
I love it!
Peggy, your story of gaining the confidence to speak truth to so much power around you is so inspiring. I think it is a great strategy to wear “the brand of a bleeding heart liberal“ proudly.
Thanks, Marc! Believe me, it is scary when you're surrounded by so much red! Democrats need to speak up! Loudly and boldly! We all must speak the truth no matter how uncomfortable it is!
In my state I could get shot for confronting a t supporter, really, it’s scary sometimes.
And it’s very confusing to see a neighbor who is kind & professes a faith in conservative Christianity, unexpectedly puts up a Republican yard sign.
D. Allen, it is scary to me sometimes, too! People that you know and speak to in passing every day surprise you with their vehement loyalty to the orange man! Many on this feed have offered suggestions for those of us living in a sea of red and I am putting them in my go-to bag to use as needed. Hang in there! Hopefully we won't get shot and we'll come out better in the long run for fighting the good fight!
Me too!
Try to find a topic where you both have common ground. I find that nobody likes rich people as a group. Even Trump supporters! Contrast how the Democrats deal with the rich versus how the Republicans deal with the rich. I find most agree that the Democrats are better! They will at least look a bit more favorable toward the Democrats in the future. My two cents...
Tim, that is a very useful tool! I have spoken to some of my republican friends about how trump gave a huge tax break to corporations and the rich and asked if they thought he would continue to give breaks to them if reelected. I should have talked about the Democrats wanting to tax the rich so that everyone is paying their fair share. I will use that next time if the subject comes up again.
Find groups in your area registering voters.
Focus on state races where you can win. In Missouri 50 years ago the republicans were completely defeated. One republican worked tirelessly to build Repub clubs.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Marc, on Thanksgiving I got the subject of unions rolling and everyone was jumping in. When I sang, "which side are you on boys, which side are you"... the whole crowd was on the union side. It was a rolling good time. We are in Kentucky and everyone had some union story to tell.
In the future, I will drag unions into every political discussion we have - and I bet you dollars to donuts, I start changing minds. .
I love this!! I find myself singing "Look for the union label" going about my business for the day. I believe you will start changing minds, Raffey!
Peggy, keep singing - and loudly too. On Thanksgiving I said they couldn't break our unions so they shipped our jobs overseas... and that really got people going.
Hahahaha! I bet your Thanksgiving was lively! My family is a mix of Democrats and Republicans so when we get together it is quite a rousing discussion!! I like to bring up little nuggets like the one you lobbed at Thanksgiving and then watch what happens! Debate is still alive and well with most people! I do need to say, the Republicans in my family do NOT support the little orange blob. They are actually saddened by what the MAGA group has done to their party.
Peggy, its the same here. I'm starting to think reporters and op-ed writers are reporting on what happens in their social circles, not what goes on with us regular folks.
Raffey,this is great to hear. Stories, like this help inspire the rest of us to find ways to move others towards the left.
When our unions were strong, we dragged the left and the right towards us.
@raffey, here is some music you might want to know:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P82HzA9PV_c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEqorIM7EBY
https://youtu.be/DwbzxemJZIc
https://youtu.be/G42QCF1yvrw
https://youtu.be/HKEr5U8ERgc
https://youtu.be/Ly5ZKjjxMNM
https://youtu.be/vuzbX6pfY-c
Martha, that's good stuff. Thank you :)
Key states for the Presidential/Electoral college election. For so-called down-ballot elections, all states matter.
1.Identify the races/states you consider key. President. Senate, House ? This will help https://www.270towin.com/
2. Go to the candidates website and support.
It's not necessary to reach voters with reason. Any means will do.
In addition to undecideds is the issue of turnout: motivation.
We have a general culture of money worship in this country, a culture of proclaimed rugged individualism, and that caring about others is for suckers, which has allowed what Prof. Reich describes to happen. People who aren't themselves wealthy are simply wealthy-people-in-waiting. In this vein, many of Trump's supporters admire him because he is wealthy and presents an image of a successful businessman.
One of the Republican candidates for governor here in Indiana is running campaign commercials proclaiming himself a self-made businessman. It irritates me every time I see it.
Look at what's happening to "self-made" business leaders in China- Can one be self-made with no credit given to society? That's Ayn Rand BS.
Surely your bizarre voting system has a lot to do with it. Here in Australia voting is compulsory and although some bitch and moan about having to shuffle off to their local school or town hall to spend five minutes wielding a pencil, it’s a powerful antidote to the sickness that ails the USA; vote buying etc. And the Electoral College - what an anti-democratic anachronism.
I also still cannot believe that it is acceptable for a judge who presided over a criminal trial to hear the appeal (West Memphis Three) or that you vote for judges. Completely confounding.
I believe Obama blew it during his 1st two years in office when there were 60 Democrat Senators. Americans moved left in response to the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. He should have lowered Medicare age to 55 and prosecuted Wall Street’s massive fraud. He passed a weak health care law that benefited insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and failed to prosecute any one for the financial crisis. This is part of why people are attracted to Trump: he wants to destroy the system and it’s institutions while maintaining white male christian dominance.
Peter V,
Trump according to MSM and/or polls currently has far less than 50% support. So the majority does not support him [nor the other candidates]. The majority does not support any candidate. I think that is encouraging and speaks well for the citizens of this country.
Agreed
Yes! Thank you. More reasons why voters would turn away from Democrats. Now Biden needs to firmly tell Israel to stop the slaughter or Biden is going to start losing votes. There are better ways to find neutralize Hamas then obliterating Palestine and its people.
I actually think Biden, in contrast to Clinton and Obama, has done alot of good things: vigorous anti-trust actions, pro-union actions in the successful auto workers strike, the CHIPs Act that has caused an explosion in domestic high tech manufacturing in the US, the Inflation Reduction Act that has brought a dramatic increase in green manufacturing in the US, his elimination of over $100 billion in student debt, which would have been more but for the Supreme Court. The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza would be difficult for any President to handle and there are no simple solutions to, and anyone who says there are simple solutions to that conflict is kidding themselves.
I totally agree. We watched "Three Days of the Condor" again the other night and contemplated the words at the end of the movie about what US citizens would want their country to do if they had no heat in their homes or fuel to grow food and such. It must be more complicated than we are told or the answer would be to simply stop the bombing. Biden has done more than Clinton or Obama and I don't want to see him lose the election. Or worse, that Trump wins the election rather than a more rational Republican.
Obama was mostly an actionless voice, except for Obamacare,
Robert, those are words well said.
I still say socialism is best, but not the Communist way. Capitalism is simply profit-based.
Call up a technician for help on your computer, and no matter which company it uses, you’ll be answered by somebody with a foreign accent. Now, this is NOT to debase those who weren’t born in America. I’m 100% for immigrant rights, and away with ICE and closed, barbed-wire borders. Ask where that person is and it’s usually India. Long-distance technology is wonderful. For the first time the other night I finally got somebody in the US--California! THAT is rare. That’s because of what’s called offshoring. Robert is right about that.
Trump says he’ll fight for us. Wanna bet? Look at Mar-a-Largo. Think that’s a man who loves low-income people? Oh, he treasures us, bless our hearts.
He says he can’t be tried for what he did while President because of Presidential immunity. He was protected, you see, because of his Presidential duties which he had to be free to carry out. Does the Constitutional list of Presidential duties include sexual assault, say? Does it include inciting an insurrection or attempting to interfere with an election? Does it include misstating the value of his properties (“an art, not a science”)? Not all of these things are claimed by him to be covered by Presidential immunity, of course, but let’s see where he takes them if he’s threatened with bankruptcy or imprisonment. The insurgency charge and the attempted interference with election are definitely going to come under Prez duties. Some duties.
I’m sure Jack Smith has Aces up his sleeve if the Supreme Court rules against him.
OK I'm terrified of what America might become on November 6! My one suggestion is actually about Liz Cheney. Perhaps "we" should consider inviting her into the tent. Maybe not the big D (Democrats) but at least the small d (democracy). I suggest this partly because I want to see your cartoon: {Bridge, dark stormy night, two cars parked at either end (one red one blue), small clusters of official looking people each guiding one individual, meeting surreptitiously at the middle of the bridge and then the hand off, Liz for Joe Manchin!} I'm actually not kidding.
She’s made it clear in her speeches that she is still a Republican. And the only position she has ever taken that I agree with is that DJT should never be president again. And she’s fighting for that, which is good enough for me!
I just want to thank you, Robert, for continuing to shine a light in the darkness
The elimination of capital export controls in the 1990s in the usa and Europe sucked all the money into China etc. The rest is no jobs and no paychecks and angry collapsing middle classes.
Why do so many millions now worship Hitler, Stalin, Putin, Trump and Mobsters? Many ego-challenged idiots dream of being cruel bullies with impunity, so they admire and worship and promote scumbags to feel their power a bit #MangoWanker Turdking #GOPtraitors against America
Bile beats sugar.