Congratulations on a brilliant summary of our political history. It was my privilege to have cast a ballot for Jimmy in Vail, Colorado - Gerald Ford's second home location. I will always associate Reagan's election with Nixon's twelve years earlier. Just as the Iran hostages were "magically" released on Reagan's inauguration, Nixon was elected after the Paris peace talks were sabotaged by his back-channel assurances he'd make a better deal. And my oh my, decades later, look who helped Trump get elected? Why, it was the Rooskies! In the interim, can somebody tell me why Bush let the royal Saudis fly home while the rest of our airspace was shut down after 9/11? Meanwhile, Democrats are constantly disparaged as suspiciously unpatriotic or unAmerican, and Jimmy was painted as weak by the flag-waving Reaganauts. Kushner is getting billions from the Arab petro-sheiks, but we're gonna get dragged into Hunter Biden's laptop again. The corporate class is funding the distraction, as always.
Symbolic for me is that as soon as he was inaugurated, Reagan immediately took the solar panels off the white house and the disabled were cut from the Social Security rolls without a hearing, Big oil and big money hoodwinked the "Reagan Democrats," who helped throw Jimmy and democratic capitalism down the tubes.
October Surprise: In 2017, a declassified CIA 1980 memo was released: "Iranian hardliners – especially Ayatollah Khomeini" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about Carter’s defeat in the November elections."
He was not perfect. Hunter Biden reminds me of Billy Carter.
Yup. The Reagan Democrats created the gig economy and the speculative real estate market that make their grandchildren’s lives so stressful, to say the least. The contrast between Reagan and Carter couldn’t possibly be greater: monetization and greed as opposed to morality and purpose.
Kerry and Daniel, totally on point! I was struck by Reagan's immediate firing of the Air Traffic Controllers! Unbelievable, right after came the corporate raiders and we've been screwed ever since.
...Ain't sure about who you'd include within your "Reagan Democrats" bivouac, Kerry, while I'd instead heartily contend that it was 'Slick Willy' who began the rot further to him having got rid of Glass Steagall, while perhaps our dear Professor Reich is able to assist with some elucidation on the subject further to him having been inside the tent?
To be clear, I’m talking about the working class voters, mostly unionized, who were seduced by Reagan, and left the Democratic Party. They were fooled by Nixon, deserted Carter, and returned for Clinton. The neolibs might look better in retrospect, perhaps correcting their errors, but a President who couldn’t keep his pants zipped changed history for the worse. Just ask an Iraqi.
....Don't know about the Dem working class returning to Clinton, Kerry, given that it was him more than any other President who alienated the Democratic working class base after both he and Hillary sought to court and imitate Wall Street and 5th Avenue, while the DWC has now "returned" to Trump! J. C. on the other hand, DID try to support the USA W.C. via what Professor Reich has called 'democratic capitalism, even if I find this term to be rather oxymoronic.
If they didn’t return to Clinton, how did he beat Bush? And get re-elected? I’m just using the electoral numbers. The WC sure as heck didn’t vote for Poppy Bush or Bob Dole.
Daniel, you are right that Carter was not perfect, but he sure did try to make things better for the American people. He also, as a scientist, saw that we needed better, more reliable energy sources in all meanings of that term. He did believe peace could be had through negotiation and just talking with foes as real people. Reagan taught this nation that there is no money in that approach and that different energy production was not worth the money either. I guess it is hard to bring real progress when every time Democrats get something positive going after having to clean up from the past presidency, the American white states vote for someone who will undo all of that. I guess it gives them a regular source of things they can gleefully whine about, and they do.
For me, the privatization and deregulation is tragic. Bring back the ICC. Small airports were unable to compete as big companies ate the little ones. Stagflation. High interest rates. He should have declared a trade war against Saudi and OPEC.
I was involved when Japan and other countries destroyed our domestic steel industry. Youngstown Ohio went from being the 5th largest steel cent in the world to producing no (0.00) steel by 1980.
On the other hand, his administration was far superior to the Nixon/Ford administration, and his judicial appointments have withstood the test of time.
Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world.
He initiated a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Removing the solar panels was the signal to the world that the U.S. would indeed remain dependent on foreign oil for years to come. One of the most clueless things Reagan ever did, among so many others.
I cried as I voted for Reagan that first time only. I loved President Carter but I was newly divorced and trying to find a job when interest rates ballooned. Had it not been for my mom’s help, I would have been in deep doodoo. It was evident that I had made a monumental mistake when the solar panels came down. It was then when we got a glimpse of what kind of man we had traded for. That was my last ever vote for a republican though.
I foolishly threw my vote into the dumpster by voting for third party candidate John Anderson? I look back and think how naive I was. I admire your courage to recognize your fallibility.
I pleaded with some young people I know not to vote for Bernie Sanders in 2015. But it really takes some hindsight to learn that a 3rd party vote in our country's ridiculous election system is indeed a wasted vote. I remember doing something like that when I was in my 20s, though. Good on you for admitting it!
Remember how the press mocked Carter for appearing in a sweater and telling us all to "put on a sweater and turn down the heat." Imagine if everyone in American had followed that very sane suggestion.
I was doing labor work in roofing at the time and the laborers loved the macho appeal of Reagan. Those were the days of pulling up the hot pitch by rope pulleys and then carrying the buckets across the roof. It was brutal work in a hot sun but those guys handled it even after a night out of drinking.
William Cash. Carter, of course was a graduate of ISNA and had been a nuclear engineer and sub commander. The joke is that Reagan never served, was a snitch to the House UnAmerican Committee, turned in his own union brothers on his way up.
He personally may have not caused the October Surprise, but was the beneficiary of Iranian hostility to Carter.
In 1983, an Iranian national drove a truck bomb into U.S. Marine Barracks – Iranian-backed terror group, Hezbollah, took credit. The attack claimed the lives of 241 American service members including 220 Marines. Reagan never retaliated. Instead, he initiated a secret operation to secretly send weapons to a known enemy and send financial aid to a rebel force. Iran Contra.
Daniel Solomon ; Criminals are sometimes incoherent with greed, but senility would make it easier to influence and control him. In the end , what would it matter? Greed kills.
I laugh when the redneck morons bedeck themselves in flags and guns and talk about how “these colors never run”. These are the same idiots who loved John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. Nobody ever ran faster or more cowardly than Ronnie after Beirut. But boy, he could sure talk tough.
William Cash ; Youth is sometimes wasted on the young. If only they knew what that kind of work could do to a future body. I hope they at least paid you well.
Laurie, it was an odd time. Unions were still strong and labor wages were pretty good. But this is when the laborers loved the macho appeal of Reagan and, even though he was destroying their unions, which would bring down their wages and benefits, they strongly supported him.
Stan of Stanistan : After hurricane Katrina, there were roofers from Mexico who were stiffed by subcontractors after doing work in Florida and much if the South that was impacted.. They were illegals who were just left in the lurch with no pay. Had no recourse to sue or even report the theft of their unpaid labor.
Yes, undocumented workers not only destabilize the labor market for US citizens, but the undocumented also are totally vulnerable to unscrupulous small-business firms.
And 'big shots' like tfg. who is well known as a person who does not pay when the job is done.
I have a conservative client who knows this, because he was in a related industry. Word gets around, even if the victims are relatively powerless, and fear deportation (or worse), if they tried to report this crime. The fact that roofing is an incredibly hard job in the Southern heat especially after an event that caused so much widespread damage ; makes the use of desperate people even cheaper when they dare not fight for justice. There is a place in hell for people who do that to workers, whether immigrant or US.
Oh Kerry, you are so right about this history. Republicans in the past 50 years and more have been working to undermine our democracy and the money is right with them. Money certainly does get people to do a lot of forgetting and acting badly. When the money even runs the media, it is hard to fight hard enough to even be heard. The "polls" that said Americans in large numbers didn't have a clue about all the things Biden has actually done for the people of this nation proved the media is not patriotic, cares very little for this nation because they are flexible enough to serve under any dictator, and will pump out lies and do gaslighting as often as they feel it helps them get more money and power, the two things that motivate Republicans. It is too bad their electorate does not see it, or rather, maybe they just want to be it.
Why you ask? Those evil Saudis, (come on: call a spade a spade), are EXTREMELY wealthy with their oil money! We all know that common sense and laws NEVER have pertained to the grossly wealthy.
I am looking forward to seeing them freak out when their is no more oil left on Earth in my lifetime! (I am 35 and hope to live AT LEAST until my sixties, but I believe that will happen in the next 5-10 years.)
Something much worse is in the future, something LONG predicted by those paying attention: the privatization of WATER,essential for all life, potable fresh water becoming more scarce by the day and being bought up and held in private, profiteering control. The Saudis already own huge amounts of "American" acreage in the desert southwest, using tremendous amounts of dwindling water to irrigate the crop they then send back to Saudi Arabia to feed their horses.The astounding number of gallons of water PER MINUTE "extracted" from Michigan by Nestle (sold not long ago to "capitol equity" corporation under name Blue Triton), put into plastic bottles, shipped everywhere in fossil fuel powered transport is human folly writ large. An excellent essay by a midwestern family farm operator describes how much American farmland, and "water rights" are owned (and increasing in amount regularly) by Bill Gates. Water, land, food production - not oil - these will be the factors for conflict.
Why do you think they’ve pulled out their big phallic symbols to do their best to find out how to get the heck away from this earth? And believe me when I tell y’all that this comment could have been much saltier.
The instant we learned the origins of the 9/11 terrorists, we should have invaded Saudi Arabia and castrated every adult male member of the Saudi "royalty" before feeding them to pigs. Saudi Arabia is not all that far from the Shores of Tripoli...it would have been a good opportunity for the Marines to add another stanza to their hymn.
Nope. Ph.D. in environmental history, reading fluency in English, French and German. Junior NRA sharpshooter at the age of 8. The Saudi men are the closest thing human societies have to Neanderthals.
Bush not only let the royal Saudis fly home after 9/11; he also facilitated the return home of all the Bin Ladens in the US, with their computers and paper files, and dropped them off in Kuwait, a Ryan Air flight that was paid for by our taxes.
Carter’s lasting achievement was instilling the concept of human rights in international relations. Protecting human rights is a basic objective in diplomacy today even though authoritarian regimes reject that ambition. But Carter created the foundation which calls China to account for its abuses . That challenges Middle Eastern policy both for Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia ‘s treatment of Hutus. Human Rights is the now the key consideration in diplomatic discourse. Fulfilling Carter’s ambition is a distant goal. But Jimmy Carter began a conversation fundamental to Liberty and Justice for all the World’s people . Americans should be proud of him for that.
Robert, I am proud of Carter for his human rights work and the way he tried to live his belief in human rights. I guess macho Ronnie had more appeal than weak human rights work. It is more gratifying to the male ego, I guess, to bomb the hell out of people rather than to talk with them. That's what Putin did last year and there are a lot of Americans who admire his aggression and care nothing for the death and destruction this paranoid little man, Putin caused.
Putin should be brought to trial at Nuremberg, as the Nazis were, and hanged on the same gallows where we hanged them. Or, more fittingly, he could be beheaded and his head displayed encased in a wild sow's uterus in Red Square.
No, I think banishment is the fitting punishment for Vlad and his cronies. In a just world they will all be captured. Their stolen money confiscated and used to rebuild the Ukraine and some should go to the Russian widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers are being slaughtered in the war horror Putin has unleashed. Round up the war criminals responsible . Find an island and leave them there with basic tools, hoes and carpentry tools to build their own community of thieves. They can spend the rest of their lives surviving by their own physical labour. Or not.
No. Convict him along with his fellow kleptocrats. Then ship them to an island with the basic tools necessary to support life. Then let them figure out how they will survive by their own manual labor. Their looted money should go to re build the Ukraine and to educate the Russian orphans Putin’s war created.
Carter was deeply mistaken about the Palestinian problem. A true humanitarian sees problems on both sides, yet Carter wrongly blamed ONLY Israel and NEVER non-Israeli terrorists who were cheerfully PAID to murder innocent Jewish civilians. Israeli Arabs (or Palestinians) CHOOSE to remain Israel! They have full freedoms that other Arabs have in NO other Middle East country. Shane on Carter for his Jew-Hatred that was responsible for endless murders of Israelis! He was never a historian yet he believed only HE permanently blamed ONLY Israel forever. PURE NONSENSE!! Ibxan assume Carter as ab admirer of Hitler.
At Malkie4. It is you who are blinded. How would you like it if the global community said, the US was stolen from Native Indian population. It is now all theirs. They will restrict where you can go. They may cut off water supplies, on and on. Of course there is violence on both sides. It is you who should be shamed by your narrow views on this.
Malkie4, what nonsense! Carter did see a range of sides, but like any negotiator, he tried to see that those involved walked from the meetings with something valuable. Israel and Egypt having peace was a big deal for both sides. Israel's conflict with the Palestinians was not Carter's doing. It is the responsibility of ultra-right Israeli and Palestinian leaders who can't imagine a strong 2-state model where both can prosper.
You are an idiot. Israel was born in the great values of Judaism and has since been taken down the sewer of racism. I had good older American Jewish friends who made the pilgrimage to Israel, wandered into a radical Zionist neighborhood, and the residents came out into the street and spat on them. Religion is the Devil's work. My ancestors came to New England in the 17th century as refugees from the wars of the Reformation, during which Protestants and Catholics cheerfully butchered each other in the name of their God of love.
I’m the child and grandchild of Holocaust AND Arab terror survivors. It’s truly dumb of me to realize that another Jewish Holocaust is now developing worldwide. Nobody is jailed anywhere for harming and maiming Jews ANYWHERE. White Christian nationalists RULE. Instead of battling deteriorating Jewish human rights ANYWHERE once again, I will focus on moving my grandchildren to SAFE Israel so they can simply breath air and join a nation far more creative and brilliant than 98% of others. Each of you likely own amazing products created in Israel without your knowledge. THAT world is mine. No “humanitarian Nazis” are welcome. Goodbye.
Malkie4, as I read your words, it seems to me that you are speaking here from a place of pure, unreleased, un-dealt-with trauma. And as I read your words, I feel real compassion for you, because the trauma of the Holocaust and whatever Arab violence that your family experienced appears to be baked and wired, literally, into your nervous system, and that’s totally understandable. Until (and if) you are able to release that trauma, and soften your nervous system’s reaction to the trauma - which you did not directly experience, but you’re speaking as if you did - you won’t be able to see any realities clearly for what they are: nuanced and complex, with GOOD as well as bad actors on all sides of an issue, including the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Just to let you know that people actually DO care for Jews: here in Los Angeles, only last week, 2 Jews were shot as they were leaving their synagogue. It was an act of pure antisemitism. Our Los Angeles police force is completely handling this incident for precisely what it is: a discriminatory, antisemitic hate crime. The shooter will be prosecuted to the greatest extent allowed by law, and will suffer the consequences of his actions. The LA Jewish community IS being protected to the greatest extent possible; we aren’t being thrown under the bus by the legal system here. I think it’s important for you, specifically, to know that THIS reality exists, too. Not everyone hates the Jews, Malkie.
Our world will never heal until each one of us does the necessary trauma release work (IMHO). Don’t know if our species, and others, will survive long enough to find out; we might do ourselves in before that happens. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do our best to lift ourselves and each other out of generations of passed down trauma, whatever our cultural and religious backgrounds.
Misleading comments like the ones found on this newsletter give food and sustenance to those that would like to see Israel thrown into the sea. "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".
Malkie4, OK, that's your choice. I hope that when you are in Israel, you will work for peace, because that is the only way businesses will be able to continue functioning well without threat. Most people of the world are not against Jewish people. Yes, there are some and they get a lot of attention because of their violence. Blaming the world for how you feel is not fair, but it does not seem fair is what you are thinking about.
Those getting major attention for their violence are young Palestinians trained from birth to be “martyrs.” IF they murder an innocent adult or child, their families earn permanent pensions paid for the UN and members, including the USA. My tax money pays for training children to MURDER Israeli residents!! They are permanent “victims” of whatever. Why is the USA AND our allies helping the Useless Nations have a permanent refugee committee to help ONLY Palestinians?? So many others worldwide need such help BUT ONLY whining generations of Palestinians get permanent cash?? This is so very wrong! We’re telling the world that everyone, living anywhere, can claim UN money forever and ever. This is unheard of!
Trump had cut off this UN funding but Biden donated immediately. One billion $$ raised the murder of civilian Jews and children by about 800%.
I work only for peace in Israel. I’m only a USA citizen and can’t vote in their elections. I do everything possible to promote pEACE only.
Yy my counterparts NEVER want a 2-state solution. They want ONE State ONLY, a Muslim theocracy, where Christians AND Jews will be demolished.
Review some current and previous history. Sadly, I’m correct!
Malkie4, first of all, I don't believe most of what you are saying is true, but it sure does sound good if propaganda is one's aim. And, if it is so bad, what are you doing in a positive way to make things better there. It is your chosen home, so what are you doing to get to know Palestinians? Have you actually looked at the tax code to see if it is supporting terrorists. I doubt that and if you point it out, your Prime Minister would fix it immediately as much as he despises Palestinians. Pumping out your belief that everyone hates Jewish people is not a positive in addition to being untrue.
Thank you Ruth. You are correct in your thinking. What many here don’t seem to realize is that Jews and Palestinians lived side by side in relative peace until a very guilty-minded USA via a spanking new UN decided to carve out a very important part of the country of Palestine and hand it over to the Jews that managed to survive the murderous pogroms of the Nazis. Jerusalem(the old city)was the prize and even it got carved up into Arab, Christian, Armenian and Jewish sections.
The people who live here are wonderful, one on one, but I have never understood the concept of the blood feud within a modern civilization. Of course, I live in the US where we have almost wiped out our Native populations, we enslaved and built an economy on the backs of Blacks(primarily)and now, gouts of us are doing their damndest to eradicate them. If you don’t wear white, religious skin in this country, you might have a target on your forehead or throat or your back. We are thriving on death here and yet, we dare preach to others.
James Earl Carter saw this and did everything he could to head it off. He has fought the good fight. He has nothing to regret.
Ruth, it is a well known fact that a martyr's family earns a monetary reward. The Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund is a fund operated by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the purpose of paying a monthly cash stipend to the families of Palestinians killed, injured or imprisoned for involvement in attacking, assisting in attacking, or planning to attack Israelis. The Jerusalem Post, a well respected news paper, reported that a comprehensive report on Medrasas revealed endemic hate education in Palestinian Schools. AIthough I am not interested in fighting the Palestinian/ Israeli war on the Reich newsletter, many of the comments I've read are without merit or misleading. Four US Presidents and 10 attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement for a two state solution have produced very little. Israel won eight wars starting with its war of independence in 1948, the Gaza was returned to the Arabs as a peace offering by Ariel Sharon, and in return Hamas, an Islamist terrorist org., has sent thousands of missiles into Israel killing innocent Israeli's. The greater issue today is Netanyahu and the Likud party's willingness to eliminate the power of the judicial system, which will see the demise of the only democratic country in the Middle East. Israel is fighting the same war we in America are fighting. It's Democracy vs. Authoritarianism.
Eadie, I am concerned that Israel considers itself a democracy while it keeps captive a lot of people who are neither respected by that democracy nor full participants in it. This seems to me a whole lot like what white Americans did to Native American communities. Those communities didn't have rockets and stuff as the Palestinians do, but their need for a real place in society is important and they will continue to make life really difficult for Israelis until there is a positive solution.
I think you are mistaken. There are fanatics in every religion--it is a core tenet of most religions that the best believer is a wacko believer. But most Palestinians are not bloodthirsty--they wish only to be allowed to live where their ancestors lived before Israel existed. If we are to take seriously the pretense that Israelis have a right to the land where their ancestors lived two thousand years ago, then we should give North America back to its rightful owners--the REAL Native Americans--and return to the Europe of our ancestors.
I have family whose ashes are dispersed into the ground around Auschwitz. My father is buried in Israel. You, sir, sound like someone who regards Yigal Amir as a hero. You are not more Jewish than me, no matter what you or your ilk think. As a matter of fact, you are less Jewish, because your inability to perceive justice is tainted by your tribalism. Carter spoke truth about the apartheid visited upon the Palestinians. No amount of brainwashing can cover up the truth of their disenfranchisement by an Israeli right wing that covers up its expansionism by explanations of security followed by biblical justifications. Netanyahu attempting to dissolve the judicial restraints on his autocratic power is the latest transparent maneuver of a demagogue. I mourn the death of Rabin and Peres and other who strove for peace and justice. And I despise Amir and Baruch Goldstein, who are the agents of your group.
Carter was not accurate about apartheid. "Carter accused Netanyahu of adopting a “one-state solution,” and lamented that the “US had withdrawn” from making further efforts. He further accused the Jewish state of denying Palestinians equal rights, but stopped short of labeling Israel an apartheid state, a term he utilized in his 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
“These are the worst prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for years. At this moment, there is zero chance of the two-state solution,” Carter said."
I have always viewed the settlements as bargaining chips. I don't think Carter had a handle on the state of negotiations when he wrote his book. In 2015 Trump was president. Netanyahu was not negotiating, but neither were the "Palestinians."
IMHO as long as Arabs refuse to admit the legitimacy of Israel and their policy is to kill all Jews, there won't be a deal. There have been some breakthroughs -- like Camp David. But note that NO "Palestinians" were involved. The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin Soon Sadat would be murdered -- by the Moslem Brotherhood.
It takes at least two to tango and as of today, the "Palestinians" won't negotiate. The west bank is their territory and Israel is an occupier there but that doesn't mean that there is apartheid in Israel, proper. Israeli Arabs have greater due process rights in Isreal than they have in ANY Arab country.
Mr. Leavenworth. Jews did not displace anyone without giving them the same eminent domain rights we have under the US Constitution. Jews have, despite the propaganda, lived continuously in Israel, It is true that England created a Jewish homeland - but at the same time created Trans Jordan. The people on the West Bank have Jordanian citizenship. Jordan doesn't want them back. As a matter of fact, the Arabs stole the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem in 1948. More Jews were expelled from Arab countries than Arabs claim "a right of return." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_the_Muslim_world
To label Israel as a villain rather than a victim gives support for suicide killings and other murders by people who would exterminate us.
On the other hand, Netanyahu is a crook and a demagogue. He wins because of fear of extermination.
Daniel, thank you for putting Israel's history into perspective. Jews have lived on this land for centuries. The JNF purchased much of the swamp land wealthy sheiks were only to glad to get rid of long before Israel was created. Churchill made a deal with his friend Abdullah and gave away 80% of the land promised in the Balfour Declaration to Israel.The land was called Trans Jordan at the time.Israel was left with a postage stamp, the size of Connecticut.
Thank you Kerry for your testimony. That was profound and a lot of folks living in dictatorships or dictator wannabee states should read and heed your words.
A wonderful riposte and defense/offence Kerry, while you are clearly among those most decent and humane of Jewish peoples who can see through the lies and the obfuscations carried on by Netanyahu and the Israeli hard Right further to them only wanting - despite their pretences - a one-state solution.
Let me know when you're leaving and I'll help you pack.
You know what's interesting? The Jews were treated absolutely *despicably* in central Europe during the mid 1930s, expanding to most of Europe by the early 1940s. The Jews -- and the Gypsies, the Roma, Slavs, Social Democrats and homosexuals were most certainly victimized.
So what has happened? Courtesy of Britain, who mismanaged their rule of Palestine (pretty much as they mismanaged their rule of India and other countries) created a country called "Israel". Israel proved it has a right to exist -- and then interesting, they started acting just like the people who had persecuted them back in the 1930s -- with the Palestinians, but also with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other Arab states. In the 1967 war, Israel helped itself to a huge chunk of Jordan, a nice chunk of Syria and some of Lebanon, to boot. The Palestinians who remain in Israel have been packed into ghettoes (sound familiar?). Under Netanyahu and the ultra-orthodox religious parties, Israel has begun behaving exactly as those central Europeans who persecuted and terrorized the Jews in the 1930s, with exactly the same justifications against the Palestinians as Germany used against the Jews.
Now, I grew up as a fundamentalist Christian, so I'm very much aware that fundamentalist Christians believe that Israel has to reclaim all of its Old Testament Bibllical terroritory so the Battle of Armageddon can occur and Jesus will come in on flying horses to spirit all the True Christians™ and True Americans™ off to Heaven where they can watch everybody on Earth be judged and tossed into the Eternal Lake of Fire -- which, by the way, includes the Jews since "the Jews killed Christ" and "the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah". Besides, any good fundamentalist Christian knows you must be a baptized, fundamentalist Christian, attend a Bible-believing church, and vote Republican in order to go to Fundamentalist Christian Heaven. (I recognize bad theology when I see it, so now you know why I'm one of those "chancel-prancin', reads their prayers outta a BOOK, lets the wimmins be PRIESTS and drinks the WAHN durin' their services" Episcopalians).
Those who do not recall the past are condemned to repeat it. Bear this in mind: "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Ezekiel 16:49-50
Let me know when you're moving, and I'll help you pack. (I'll wear gloves, since people like you believe that I'm an unclean "goyim". I certainly wouldn't want to render your dishes, your furniture or your clothes "unclean".)
The aspect of Israeli policy that is especially galling is their forced purchase of Palestinian land. German Jews have the right now to reclaim property seized by the Nazis. And that is Justice. But then the Israel gov't institutes a policy similar to Nazi seizures in the 1930's to grab Palestinian property. Blindness ! How can such a contradiction be allowed by a society that believes it is just. Complete reversal of History's lesson.
We can go back and forth about who's been the worst oppressor, but I like to focus on who's suffering now. And that's the Palestinians, mainly. Getting to a peace accord means letting go of the past, not repeating it. It's a crappy situation, not unlike the one in Northern Ireland (another Churchill blunder.) But it can be remedied, given enough will, and a lessening of provocation. Like the IRA and the UDF, there seems to be a lot of folks (and nations) that have a vested interest in keeping this conflict alive. Palestinians have to give up violence, and Israel has to give up the pretense of "oh, they abandoned this land, and it's ours now." But I doubt it. The Palestinian birthrate will swamp the demographics of a one-state, and the theocracy in place already won't allow it. I don't see much hope.
The relentless criticism of Jimmy Carter that has persisted even to the present has mostly been the repetition of mindless cliches, like the "worst President/best post-Presidency" nonsense. His time in the White House is a prime example of the predatory primacy of special interests, greed and deception, directed at him and aimed to undermine his Presidency or any possibility of cleaner government taking hold.
The Clintons were terrible to Jimmy Carter but obsequious to the Bush family who were also terrible to Jimmy Carter. When they were around Jimmy Carter, and their avoidance of proximity or any semblance of familiarity with him was noticeable, it always reminded me of Dracula's abhorrence and avoidance of the crucifix, in fictional depictions. It always seemed that they couldn't abide 'goodness' and honesty and the prospect of clean government or any decline in their wealth and power.
Because no human is perfect, I do not think Jimmy Carter is perfect or a saint, but he sure does seem to be a genuinely good person, and I would add, was an excellent President AND post-President, both. It was America that was not worthy of him, not that he was not worthy of or not competent for the Presidency.
It is very, very difficult to think that Jimmy Carter is going to die. Just knowing that he was still there, in Plains, still with us, has been a kind of comfort. If he came to mind, and he did from time to time, one might think, “well, if Jimmy Carter has not given in to despair about our country yet, then neither should we….” When he announced his cancer diagnosis and made some remarks about death, he was not afraid, and he was comforting and inspiring.
We needed him and still do, but we did not deserve him and that is even more true now. Smart, decent, faithful, good-humored, humble, focused, talented, kind, funny, wise.....
I've been watching on YouTube some archived material of/about the late Christopher Hitchens whose intellect, wit and brilliance were and still are dazzling. His views of the Clintons are razor-sharp and so keenly honest and insightful; in a word, he had profound contempt for them. Again, their treatment of Jimmy Carter invariably showed such disrespect for him when, in point of fact, they could not hold a candle to him. Sadly we cannot hear his views anymore giving voice to our disgust and contempt for the indecent among us, and soon we will not have Jimmy Carter to give us hope and inspiration to be better, not to lose hope, to keep trying to make things better..
I long to hear Christopher Hitchens' comments on events in this country, his adopted home, in recent years, and would love to hear his views of Jimmy Carter now, as we are apparently about to lose his presence among us. Hitchens was at Oxford when Bill Clinton was, as well as Robert Reich. I wonder what Professor Reich’s thoughts about Hitchens as well as the Clintons.
Hitchens and Jimmy Carter could not be more different public personalities and yet in some ways very similar. Authentic, honest, unabashed and unafraid, non-hypocrites.....
Why is the likes of Trump still out there tweeting while we are about to lose another great one...
Carter called out Palestinian apartheid by Israelis. What other politician would have the honesty to come out with that one? Not that the US should wag our fingers much.
With thanks for your wonderfully thoughtful and illuminating remarks, Annie, while they're worth more than the familiar egocentric ramblings that many responders have sought to espouse here!
As a Democrat and Georgia native I found the Clintons' treatment of Jimmy Carter excruciating when it seems to me Carter's experienced alliance could have aided them both. A head scratcher, for sure.
God help us. The man put on a sweater and put solar panels on the White House. He tried to warn us about our unsustainable energy policy, and he was right. “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country.”
What would JC do? Jimmy Carter that is, he was a good man. Possibly too good to survive politics. He proved that his (and Rosalyn’s) real calling was in helping people who had been offered very little help by the “great” USA. Putting a roof over someone’s head - a single mother with 3 kids, a disabled vet who could not get a traditional mortgage, etc.
is an act that could go unsung.
But President Carter’s participation in Habitat put the program in people’s consciousness.
Toni, I appreciate your tribute to Carter. I, too, think he was a special human being. He really did care about those in need but unfortunately couldn't get enough people around him to get more done for those folks. Maybe a national commitment to those most in need of our help should be promoted. Republicans will never go for it, though, but Democrats and independents might.
"Carter lost his reelection bid not because his presidency failed but because the Federal Reserve Board hiked interest rates so high as to bring on a recession"
plus Reagan's secret deal with Iran NOT to release hostages until AFTER the election.
William, yes, and of course neither Volker nor Reagan were ever held accountable for their actions. I just hope we the people can keep Republican Fed chair Powell and his cronies from messing up our economy as Volker did. I know he wants a recession so his buddy Donnie, the former prez with dementia can win in 2024. Oh yes, Powell might like Haley as prez instead if he can get enough money to go along with it and keep the interest rates rising toward recession. I hope businesses will note that recession is a terrible idea and will demand Powell just stop!
And again one must ask: why is Trump-appointed Powell still in place two years into Biden's administration? And why is Louis DeJoy still in place at the US Postal Service, still allowed to fulfill his long-held aim of destroying it? Citizens who care about good government, clean government, need to recognize that corruption, cronyism, and other enemies of good government do not belong to any one political party. We need to know what our principles and values are and then identify people who represent them on our behalf in government and then demand that they uphold their end of the "agreement" that led us to give them our trust in the form of our precious vote!
We don't have a democracy. We have a corporatocracy - of, by and for the plutocracy -, run by an oligarchy, executing an extractive* economy, benefitting a kleptocracy based on fascistic principles and ethics.
* The rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer.
It is sad that Corporations are bullies. It is also sad that as a country our ability to decipher the truth of political events has costs presidencies. Cost of food, pharma, gas, etc. is outside the control of the President yet we judge them based on these markers. Please continue to educate the public so the cycle does not repeat in 2024.
Jimmy Carter along with Lincoln, FDR, and JFK ranks as my top Presidents. While his post Presidency is, no doubt, the best of any and he is one of the few who truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. While he is 98 yearsI old, I was wishing he would make it to 100. His continued presence on the American landscape gives me the feeling that the American spirit continues to live with a bright light. While the economic issues were beyond his control, the hostage taking in Iran created a clamor that showed America was weak. I did not share that view. All the hostages came back alive and we weren't in another war. Thank you President Carter.
There was a deal made to hold announcing the hostages were free until Carter stepped out of the White House. Shows how very low republicans are in the habit of going. Talk about outrageous!
Seeking Reason, that hostage agreement goes right along with the Nixon sabotage of the Vietnam Peace Talks and the Supreme Court giving an election to a man who didn't win the popular vote when the FL voting was unworkable. That's that no shame thing Prof. Reich was talking about last week. Repubs will do anything and feel no shame as they do it.
The SCOTUS gave the presidency to Someone who did not win the popular vote, nor the electoral. That’s how we got W. Clearly the citizens of the US have not gotten their popular vote winner numerous times! This prevents the majority from getting much needed changes. It really is both dangerous and outrageous.
Seeking Reason, I agree this electoral nonsense is a burden we should not have to bear. I know a lot of mostly Republicans, but for sure, small states want to keep the BS electoral college because they know it gives them more power in our government than they should have. How do we fix this with such a divide?
There is already talk of forming a Blue State coalition that requires the winner to receive all the electoral votes, rather than divvy them up as some do. And we must prosecute multi criminals like trump et al to put an end to their crime sprees and legal violations that keep this going.
A multi state coalition or compact is a long shot, but it is the only way we can get it done. Amending the Constitution instead will end democratic governance in the United States and replace it with a constitutional plutocracy. That's because our amendment procedure gives each state exactly one vote, and anti-democracy red states outnumber the others. The Koch dynasty has been working on this for many decades toward this and they are now very very close to getting it passed.
Seeking Reason, I am glad to hear of the moves toward a positive normalization. I just can't believe red states folks really don't want democracy. Do they not understand what suffering fascism would be for them or are they so deluded they believe that somehow they will be among those who get to abuse the rest of the population as a lot of "good people" supposedly did in Nazi Germany? I get it that rural and small town people tend to be more conservative, but what are they conserving, their struggles, the racism that runs wild in such communities, the misogyny, what?
I am forever grateful for President Carter and his efforts to lead us in a more democratic and just direction. But now that our system has been broken and rigged, only HJR48, the We the People Amendment can and will restore it. Please help us grow this movement at movetoamend.org. We the People need you. ♥️
Corporations will continue to unfairly dominate U.S. politics until either the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is overturned or HJR 48, the
"We the People" amendment, passes. With our current Republican SCOTUS, as well as the Republican House majority, both unfortunately are long shots, I think.
"deregulating the airline, trucking, and railroad industries (resulting in lower transportation costs for industry and consumers) — were commendable."
I had thought deregulating corporate industries was a Republican thing and that Democrats have generally (if not very successfully) supported industry regulation in order to protect consumers and the environment against the most egregious corporate behavior.
Let’s not forget that Carter lost to Reagan in large part because the press didn’t like Carter, and they did like Reagan. Reporters, and columnists and analysts relentlessly mocked his accent, and his faith. The news kept the Iran “hostage crisis” at the forefront of the American consciousness by noting every day that it Day [Whatever] of the hostage crisis. Reagan, like Trump after him, got a pass on gaffes and lies. Carter never got a pass on anything. Remember the rabbit in the water incident? The media liked Reagan’s style better than Carter’s substance. On climate change alone, the result has been catastrophic.
Afraid I have to agree with you. Jimmy Carter was just not slick enough for some Democrats and the press. He has never discarded his lived Christianity. Certain DC hostesses found him too square. A few years ago, I learned that when New Orleans first Black mayor and his wife (Dutch and Sybil Morial) visited the Carters for lunch they were were served in the Carters personal dining room upstairs. When the Carters moved back to Plains they returned to the modest brick ranch house where they lived before he was in public office.And when they visited the Carter library in Atlanta, they slept on a pull-out sofa. Turns out the simple life can be a good one. I suspect most of us have a bigger carbon footprint.
I love reality-based history I can trust. And this info I am convinced I can trust. The Fox News/Rupert Murdoch fiasco has demonstrated how far disinformation has spread.
There is no more important issue than the separation of wealth and power to the future destiny of America. Unfortunately it seems that wealth is inversely tied to ethics and compassion. While I know many generous 1%ers in my role as a community foundation board member I also know that the deck is stacked against the majority. I can never understand how the unbalanced division of wealth is a long term win for those, who today, hold all of the chips. As always, our society is a victim of short term thinking.
Congratulations on a brilliant summary of our political history. It was my privilege to have cast a ballot for Jimmy in Vail, Colorado - Gerald Ford's second home location. I will always associate Reagan's election with Nixon's twelve years earlier. Just as the Iran hostages were "magically" released on Reagan's inauguration, Nixon was elected after the Paris peace talks were sabotaged by his back-channel assurances he'd make a better deal. And my oh my, decades later, look who helped Trump get elected? Why, it was the Rooskies! In the interim, can somebody tell me why Bush let the royal Saudis fly home while the rest of our airspace was shut down after 9/11? Meanwhile, Democrats are constantly disparaged as suspiciously unpatriotic or unAmerican, and Jimmy was painted as weak by the flag-waving Reaganauts. Kushner is getting billions from the Arab petro-sheiks, but we're gonna get dragged into Hunter Biden's laptop again. The corporate class is funding the distraction, as always.
Symbolic for me is that as soon as he was inaugurated, Reagan immediately took the solar panels off the white house and the disabled were cut from the Social Security rolls without a hearing, Big oil and big money hoodwinked the "Reagan Democrats," who helped throw Jimmy and democratic capitalism down the tubes.
October Surprise: In 2017, a declassified CIA 1980 memo was released: "Iranian hardliners – especially Ayatollah Khomeini" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about Carter’s defeat in the November elections."
He was not perfect. Hunter Biden reminds me of Billy Carter.
Yup. The Reagan Democrats created the gig economy and the speculative real estate market that make their grandchildren’s lives so stressful, to say the least. The contrast between Reagan and Carter couldn’t possibly be greater: monetization and greed as opposed to morality and purpose.
Kerry and Daniel, totally on point! I was struck by Reagan's immediate firing of the Air Traffic Controllers! Unbelievable, right after came the corporate raiders and we've been screwed ever since.
Not unbelievable, exactly what was to be expected of RR.
...Ain't sure about who you'd include within your "Reagan Democrats" bivouac, Kerry, while I'd instead heartily contend that it was 'Slick Willy' who began the rot further to him having got rid of Glass Steagall, while perhaps our dear Professor Reich is able to assist with some elucidation on the subject further to him having been inside the tent?
To be clear, I’m talking about the working class voters, mostly unionized, who were seduced by Reagan, and left the Democratic Party. They were fooled by Nixon, deserted Carter, and returned for Clinton. The neolibs might look better in retrospect, perhaps correcting their errors, but a President who couldn’t keep his pants zipped changed history for the worse. Just ask an Iraqi.
....Don't know about the Dem working class returning to Clinton, Kerry, given that it was him more than any other President who alienated the Democratic working class base after both he and Hillary sought to court and imitate Wall Street and 5th Avenue, while the DWC has now "returned" to Trump! J. C. on the other hand, DID try to support the USA W.C. via what Professor Reich has called 'democratic capitalism, even if I find this term to be rather oxymoronic.
If they didn’t return to Clinton, how did he beat Bush? And get re-elected? I’m just using the electoral numbers. The WC sure as heck didn’t vote for Poppy Bush or Bob Dole.
Daniel, you are right that Carter was not perfect, but he sure did try to make things better for the American people. He also, as a scientist, saw that we needed better, more reliable energy sources in all meanings of that term. He did believe peace could be had through negotiation and just talking with foes as real people. Reagan taught this nation that there is no money in that approach and that different energy production was not worth the money either. I guess it is hard to bring real progress when every time Democrats get something positive going after having to clean up from the past presidency, the American white states vote for someone who will undo all of that. I guess it gives them a regular source of things they can gleefully whine about, and they do.
For me, the privatization and deregulation is tragic. Bring back the ICC. Small airports were unable to compete as big companies ate the little ones. Stagflation. High interest rates. He should have declared a trade war against Saudi and OPEC.
I was involved when Japan and other countries destroyed our domestic steel industry. Youngstown Ohio went from being the 5th largest steel cent in the world to producing no (0.00) steel by 1980.
On the other hand, his administration was far superior to the Nixon/Ford administration, and his judicial appointments have withstood the test of time.
Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world.
He initiated a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Thanks, Daniel. When I see your name I know I'm going to learn something 👍.
Removing the solar panels was the signal to the world that the U.S. would indeed remain dependent on foreign oil for years to come. One of the most clueless things Reagan ever did, among so many others.
I cried as I voted for Reagan that first time only. I loved President Carter but I was newly divorced and trying to find a job when interest rates ballooned. Had it not been for my mom’s help, I would have been in deep doodoo. It was evident that I had made a monumental mistake when the solar panels came down. It was then when we got a glimpse of what kind of man we had traded for. That was my last ever vote for a republican though.
I foolishly threw my vote into the dumpster by voting for third party candidate John Anderson? I look back and think how naive I was. I admire your courage to recognize your fallibility.
I pleaded with some young people I know not to vote for Bernie Sanders in 2015. But it really takes some hindsight to learn that a 3rd party vote in our country's ridiculous election system is indeed a wasted vote. I remember doing something like that when I was in my 20s, though. Good on you for admitting it!
2015
With a bit of age comes a whole lot of experience and perspective.
At 74 I am humbled. Thank you for your kindness
Remember how the press mocked Carter for appearing in a sweater and telling us all to "put on a sweater and turn down the heat." Imagine if everyone in American had followed that very sane suggestion.
I do remember that. The media has ben compliant.
I agree but it was seen at the time as a strong, macho move which appealed very strongly to the white men.
mutual dependency is a good ground for peace, but Reagan had a different Idea of getting the oil.
I was doing labor work in roofing at the time and the laborers loved the macho appeal of Reagan. Those were the days of pulling up the hot pitch by rope pulleys and then carrying the buckets across the roof. It was brutal work in a hot sun but those guys handled it even after a night out of drinking.
William Cash. Carter, of course was a graduate of ISNA and had been a nuclear engineer and sub commander. The joke is that Reagan never served, was a snitch to the House UnAmerican Committee, turned in his own union brothers on his way up.
He personally may have not caused the October Surprise, but was the beneficiary of Iranian hostility to Carter.
In 1983, an Iranian national drove a truck bomb into U.S. Marine Barracks – Iranian-backed terror group, Hezbollah, took credit. The attack claimed the lives of 241 American service members including 220 Marines. Reagan never retaliated. Instead, he initiated a secret operation to secretly send weapons to a known enemy and send financial aid to a rebel force. Iran Contra.
Was he coherent at that time or senile?
Daniel Solomon ; Criminals are sometimes incoherent with greed, but senility would make it easier to influence and control him. In the end , what would it matter? Greed kills.
I laugh when the redneck morons bedeck themselves in flags and guns and talk about how “these colors never run”. These are the same idiots who loved John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. Nobody ever ran faster or more cowardly than Ronnie after Beirut. But boy, he could sure talk tough.
But don't forget that he attacked Grenada to prove his he man creds.
Don’t rule out mean, petty and ignorant
William Cash ; Youth is sometimes wasted on the young. If only they knew what that kind of work could do to a future body. I hope they at least paid you well.
Laurie, it was an odd time. Unions were still strong and labor wages were pretty good. But this is when the laborers loved the macho appeal of Reagan and, even though he was destroying their unions, which would bring down their wages and benefits, they strongly supported him.
For the time, they did.
Roof workers here in Florida are almost always non-English speakers. How the workplace has changed!
Stan of Stanistan : After hurricane Katrina, there were roofers from Mexico who were stiffed by subcontractors after doing work in Florida and much if the South that was impacted.. They were illegals who were just left in the lurch with no pay. Had no recourse to sue or even report the theft of their unpaid labor.
Yes, undocumented workers not only destabilize the labor market for US citizens, but the undocumented also are totally vulnerable to unscrupulous small-business firms.
And 'big shots' like tfg. who is well known as a person who does not pay when the job is done.
I have a conservative client who knows this, because he was in a related industry. Word gets around, even if the victims are relatively powerless, and fear deportation (or worse), if they tried to report this crime. The fact that roofing is an incredibly hard job in the Southern heat especially after an event that caused so much widespread damage ; makes the use of desperate people even cheaper when they dare not fight for justice. There is a place in hell for people who do that to workers, whether immigrant or US.
Oh Kerry, you are so right about this history. Republicans in the past 50 years and more have been working to undermine our democracy and the money is right with them. Money certainly does get people to do a lot of forgetting and acting badly. When the money even runs the media, it is hard to fight hard enough to even be heard. The "polls" that said Americans in large numbers didn't have a clue about all the things Biden has actually done for the people of this nation proved the media is not patriotic, cares very little for this nation because they are flexible enough to serve under any dictator, and will pump out lies and do gaslighting as often as they feel it helps them get more money and power, the two things that motivate Republicans. It is too bad their electorate does not see it, or rather, maybe they just want to be it.
They want to be it... The land of opportunity until it's not.
I have always found Mr Carter to be an inspiration and a beacon of hope. Always. I remember voting for him.
Why you ask? Those evil Saudis, (come on: call a spade a spade), are EXTREMELY wealthy with their oil money! We all know that common sense and laws NEVER have pertained to the grossly wealthy.
I am looking forward to seeing them freak out when their is no more oil left on Earth in my lifetime! (I am 35 and hope to live AT LEAST until my sixties, but I believe that will happen in the next 5-10 years.)
Something much worse is in the future, something LONG predicted by those paying attention: the privatization of WATER,essential for all life, potable fresh water becoming more scarce by the day and being bought up and held in private, profiteering control. The Saudis already own huge amounts of "American" acreage in the desert southwest, using tremendous amounts of dwindling water to irrigate the crop they then send back to Saudi Arabia to feed their horses.The astounding number of gallons of water PER MINUTE "extracted" from Michigan by Nestle (sold not long ago to "capitol equity" corporation under name Blue Triton), put into plastic bottles, shipped everywhere in fossil fuel powered transport is human folly writ large. An excellent essay by a midwestern family farm operator describes how much American farmland, and "water rights" are owned (and increasing in amount regularly) by Bill Gates. Water, land, food production - not oil - these will be the factors for conflict.
Let them dine on sand which is theirs
Why do you think they’ve pulled out their big phallic symbols to do their best to find out how to get the heck away from this earth? And believe me when I tell y’all that this comment could have been much saltier.
The instant we learned the origins of the 9/11 terrorists, we should have invaded Saudi Arabia and castrated every adult male member of the Saudi "royalty" before feeding them to pigs. Saudi Arabia is not all that far from the Shores of Tripoli...it would have been a good opportunity for the Marines to add another stanza to their hymn.
Are you freaking insane?
Nope. Ph.D. in environmental history, reading fluency in English, French and German. Junior NRA sharpshooter at the age of 8. The Saudi men are the closest thing human societies have to Neanderthals.
Bush not only let the royal Saudis fly home after 9/11; he also facilitated the return home of all the Bin Ladens in the US, with their computers and paper files, and dropped them off in Kuwait, a Ryan Air flight that was paid for by our taxes.
Carter’s lasting achievement was instilling the concept of human rights in international relations. Protecting human rights is a basic objective in diplomacy today even though authoritarian regimes reject that ambition. But Carter created the foundation which calls China to account for its abuses . That challenges Middle Eastern policy both for Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia ‘s treatment of Hutus. Human Rights is the now the key consideration in diplomatic discourse. Fulfilling Carter’s ambition is a distant goal. But Jimmy Carter began a conversation fundamental to Liberty and Justice for all the World’s people . Americans should be proud of him for that.
Truth. The only president we ever had who actually cared about human rights and ending violence as a state policy.
Robert, I am proud of Carter for his human rights work and the way he tried to live his belief in human rights. I guess macho Ronnie had more appeal than weak human rights work. It is more gratifying to the male ego, I guess, to bomb the hell out of people rather than to talk with them. That's what Putin did last year and there are a lot of Americans who admire his aggression and care nothing for the death and destruction this paranoid little man, Putin caused.
Putin should be brought to trial at Nuremberg, as the Nazis were, and hanged on the same gallows where we hanged them. Or, more fittingly, he could be beheaded and his head displayed encased in a wild sow's uterus in Red Square.
No, I think banishment is the fitting punishment for Vlad and his cronies. In a just world they will all be captured. Their stolen money confiscated and used to rebuild the Ukraine and some should go to the Russian widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers are being slaughtered in the war horror Putin has unleashed. Round up the war criminals responsible . Find an island and leave them there with basic tools, hoes and carpentry tools to build their own community of thieves. They can spend the rest of their lives surviving by their own physical labour. Or not.
No. Convict him along with his fellow kleptocrats. Then ship them to an island with the basic tools necessary to support life. Then let them figure out how they will survive by their own manual labor. Their looted money should go to re build the Ukraine and to educate the Russian orphans Putin’s war created.
Hey brother, don’t pull those punches. 🥂
Carter was deeply mistaken about the Palestinian problem. A true humanitarian sees problems on both sides, yet Carter wrongly blamed ONLY Israel and NEVER non-Israeli terrorists who were cheerfully PAID to murder innocent Jewish civilians. Israeli Arabs (or Palestinians) CHOOSE to remain Israel! They have full freedoms that other Arabs have in NO other Middle East country. Shane on Carter for his Jew-Hatred that was responsible for endless murders of Israelis! He was never a historian yet he believed only HE permanently blamed ONLY Israel forever. PURE NONSENSE!! Ibxan assume Carter as ab admirer of Hitler.
At Malkie4. It is you who are blinded. How would you like it if the global community said, the US was stolen from Native Indian population. It is now all theirs. They will restrict where you can go. They may cut off water supplies, on and on. Of course there is violence on both sides. It is you who should be shamed by your narrow views on this.
Malkie4, what nonsense! Carter did see a range of sides, but like any negotiator, he tried to see that those involved walked from the meetings with something valuable. Israel and Egypt having peace was a big deal for both sides. Israel's conflict with the Palestinians was not Carter's doing. It is the responsibility of ultra-right Israeli and Palestinian leaders who can't imagine a strong 2-state model where both can prosper.
You are an idiot. Israel was born in the great values of Judaism and has since been taken down the sewer of racism. I had good older American Jewish friends who made the pilgrimage to Israel, wandered into a radical Zionist neighborhood, and the residents came out into the street and spat on them. Religion is the Devil's work. My ancestors came to New England in the 17th century as refugees from the wars of the Reformation, during which Protestants and Catholics cheerfully butchered each other in the name of their God of love.
What?????
Nonsense
I’m the child and grandchild of Holocaust AND Arab terror survivors. It’s truly dumb of me to realize that another Jewish Holocaust is now developing worldwide. Nobody is jailed anywhere for harming and maiming Jews ANYWHERE. White Christian nationalists RULE. Instead of battling deteriorating Jewish human rights ANYWHERE once again, I will focus on moving my grandchildren to SAFE Israel so they can simply breath air and join a nation far more creative and brilliant than 98% of others. Each of you likely own amazing products created in Israel without your knowledge. THAT world is mine. No “humanitarian Nazis” are welcome. Goodbye.
Malkie4, as I read your words, it seems to me that you are speaking here from a place of pure, unreleased, un-dealt-with trauma. And as I read your words, I feel real compassion for you, because the trauma of the Holocaust and whatever Arab violence that your family experienced appears to be baked and wired, literally, into your nervous system, and that’s totally understandable. Until (and if) you are able to release that trauma, and soften your nervous system’s reaction to the trauma - which you did not directly experience, but you’re speaking as if you did - you won’t be able to see any realities clearly for what they are: nuanced and complex, with GOOD as well as bad actors on all sides of an issue, including the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Just to let you know that people actually DO care for Jews: here in Los Angeles, only last week, 2 Jews were shot as they were leaving their synagogue. It was an act of pure antisemitism. Our Los Angeles police force is completely handling this incident for precisely what it is: a discriminatory, antisemitic hate crime. The shooter will be prosecuted to the greatest extent allowed by law, and will suffer the consequences of his actions. The LA Jewish community IS being protected to the greatest extent possible; we aren’t being thrown under the bus by the legal system here. I think it’s important for you, specifically, to know that THIS reality exists, too. Not everyone hates the Jews, Malkie.
Well said, Mitzi Schwarz!
Thank you, Terry.
Our world will never heal until each one of us does the necessary trauma release work (IMHO). Don’t know if our species, and others, will survive long enough to find out; we might do ourselves in before that happens. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do our best to lift ourselves and each other out of generations of passed down trauma, whatever our cultural and religious backgrounds.
Misleading comments like the ones found on this newsletter give food and sustenance to those that would like to see Israel thrown into the sea. "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".
Malkie4, OK, that's your choice. I hope that when you are in Israel, you will work for peace, because that is the only way businesses will be able to continue functioning well without threat. Most people of the world are not against Jewish people. Yes, there are some and they get a lot of attention because of their violence. Blaming the world for how you feel is not fair, but it does not seem fair is what you are thinking about.
Those getting major attention for their violence are young Palestinians trained from birth to be “martyrs.” IF they murder an innocent adult or child, their families earn permanent pensions paid for the UN and members, including the USA. My tax money pays for training children to MURDER Israeli residents!! They are permanent “victims” of whatever. Why is the USA AND our allies helping the Useless Nations have a permanent refugee committee to help ONLY Palestinians?? So many others worldwide need such help BUT ONLY whining generations of Palestinians get permanent cash?? This is so very wrong! We’re telling the world that everyone, living anywhere, can claim UN money forever and ever. This is unheard of!
Trump had cut off this UN funding but Biden donated immediately. One billion $$ raised the murder of civilian Jews and children by about 800%.
I work only for peace in Israel. I’m only a USA citizen and can’t vote in their elections. I do everything possible to promote pEACE only.
Yy my counterparts NEVER want a 2-state solution. They want ONE State ONLY, a Muslim theocracy, where Christians AND Jews will be demolished.
Review some current and previous history. Sadly, I’m correct!
Malkie4, first of all, I don't believe most of what you are saying is true, but it sure does sound good if propaganda is one's aim. And, if it is so bad, what are you doing in a positive way to make things better there. It is your chosen home, so what are you doing to get to know Palestinians? Have you actually looked at the tax code to see if it is supporting terrorists. I doubt that and if you point it out, your Prime Minister would fix it immediately as much as he despises Palestinians. Pumping out your belief that everyone hates Jewish people is not a positive in addition to being untrue.
Thank you Ruth. You are correct in your thinking. What many here don’t seem to realize is that Jews and Palestinians lived side by side in relative peace until a very guilty-minded USA via a spanking new UN decided to carve out a very important part of the country of Palestine and hand it over to the Jews that managed to survive the murderous pogroms of the Nazis. Jerusalem(the old city)was the prize and even it got carved up into Arab, Christian, Armenian and Jewish sections.
The people who live here are wonderful, one on one, but I have never understood the concept of the blood feud within a modern civilization. Of course, I live in the US where we have almost wiped out our Native populations, we enslaved and built an economy on the backs of Blacks(primarily)and now, gouts of us are doing their damndest to eradicate them. If you don’t wear white, religious skin in this country, you might have a target on your forehead or throat or your back. We are thriving on death here and yet, we dare preach to others.
James Earl Carter saw this and did everything he could to head it off. He has fought the good fight. He has nothing to regret.
Ruth, it is a well known fact that a martyr's family earns a monetary reward. The Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund is a fund operated by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the purpose of paying a monthly cash stipend to the families of Palestinians killed, injured or imprisoned for involvement in attacking, assisting in attacking, or planning to attack Israelis. The Jerusalem Post, a well respected news paper, reported that a comprehensive report on Medrasas revealed endemic hate education in Palestinian Schools. AIthough I am not interested in fighting the Palestinian/ Israeli war on the Reich newsletter, many of the comments I've read are without merit or misleading. Four US Presidents and 10 attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement for a two state solution have produced very little. Israel won eight wars starting with its war of independence in 1948, the Gaza was returned to the Arabs as a peace offering by Ariel Sharon, and in return Hamas, an Islamist terrorist org., has sent thousands of missiles into Israel killing innocent Israeli's. The greater issue today is Netanyahu and the Likud party's willingness to eliminate the power of the judicial system, which will see the demise of the only democratic country in the Middle East. Israel is fighting the same war we in America are fighting. It's Democracy vs. Authoritarianism.
Eadie, I am concerned that Israel considers itself a democracy while it keeps captive a lot of people who are neither respected by that democracy nor full participants in it. This seems to me a whole lot like what white Americans did to Native American communities. Those communities didn't have rockets and stuff as the Palestinians do, but their need for a real place in society is important and they will continue to make life really difficult for Israelis until there is a positive solution.
I think you are mistaken. There are fanatics in every religion--it is a core tenet of most religions that the best believer is a wacko believer. But most Palestinians are not bloodthirsty--they wish only to be allowed to live where their ancestors lived before Israel existed. If we are to take seriously the pretense that Israelis have a right to the land where their ancestors lived two thousand years ago, then we should give North America back to its rightful owners--the REAL Native Americans--and return to the Europe of our ancestors.
I have family whose ashes are dispersed into the ground around Auschwitz. My father is buried in Israel. You, sir, sound like someone who regards Yigal Amir as a hero. You are not more Jewish than me, no matter what you or your ilk think. As a matter of fact, you are less Jewish, because your inability to perceive justice is tainted by your tribalism. Carter spoke truth about the apartheid visited upon the Palestinians. No amount of brainwashing can cover up the truth of their disenfranchisement by an Israeli right wing that covers up its expansionism by explanations of security followed by biblical justifications. Netanyahu attempting to dissolve the judicial restraints on his autocratic power is the latest transparent maneuver of a demagogue. I mourn the death of Rabin and Peres and other who strove for peace and justice. And I despise Amir and Baruch Goldstein, who are the agents of your group.
Carter was not accurate about apartheid. "Carter accused Netanyahu of adopting a “one-state solution,” and lamented that the “US had withdrawn” from making further efforts. He further accused the Jewish state of denying Palestinians equal rights, but stopped short of labeling Israel an apartheid state, a term he utilized in his 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
“These are the worst prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for years. At this moment, there is zero chance of the two-state solution,” Carter said."
I have always viewed the settlements as bargaining chips. I don't think Carter had a handle on the state of negotiations when he wrote his book. In 2015 Trump was president. Netanyahu was not negotiating, but neither were the "Palestinians."
IMHO as long as Arabs refuse to admit the legitimacy of Israel and their policy is to kill all Jews, there won't be a deal. There have been some breakthroughs -- like Camp David. But note that NO "Palestinians" were involved. The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin Soon Sadat would be murdered -- by the Moslem Brotherhood.
Israel tried to unilaterally disengage from Gaza, controlled by Hamas, starting in 2003. Returned settlements in 2005. There is no negotiating with Hamas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza
It takes at least two to tango and as of today, the "Palestinians" won't negotiate. The west bank is their territory and Israel is an occupier there but that doesn't mean that there is apartheid in Israel, proper. Israeli Arabs have greater due process rights in Isreal than they have in ANY Arab country.
Mr. Leavenworth. Jews did not displace anyone without giving them the same eminent domain rights we have under the US Constitution. Jews have, despite the propaganda, lived continuously in Israel, It is true that England created a Jewish homeland - but at the same time created Trans Jordan. The people on the West Bank have Jordanian citizenship. Jordan doesn't want them back. As a matter of fact, the Arabs stole the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem in 1948. More Jews were expelled from Arab countries than Arabs claim "a right of return." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_the_Muslim_world
To label Israel as a villain rather than a victim gives support for suicide killings and other murders by people who would exterminate us.
On the other hand, Netanyahu is a crook and a demagogue. He wins because of fear of extermination.
Daniel, thank you for putting Israel's history into perspective. Jews have lived on this land for centuries. The JNF purchased much of the swamp land wealthy sheiks were only to glad to get rid of long before Israel was created. Churchill made a deal with his friend Abdullah and gave away 80% of the land promised in the Balfour Declaration to Israel.The land was called Trans Jordan at the time.Israel was left with a postage stamp, the size of Connecticut.
Thank you Kerry for your testimony. That was profound and a lot of folks living in dictatorships or dictator wannabee states should read and heed your words.
A wonderful riposte and defense/offence Kerry, while you are clearly among those most decent and humane of Jewish peoples who can see through the lies and the obfuscations carried on by Netanyahu and the Israeli hard Right further to them only wanting - despite their pretences - a one-state solution.
Let me know when you're leaving and I'll help you pack.
You know what's interesting? The Jews were treated absolutely *despicably* in central Europe during the mid 1930s, expanding to most of Europe by the early 1940s. The Jews -- and the Gypsies, the Roma, Slavs, Social Democrats and homosexuals were most certainly victimized.
So what has happened? Courtesy of Britain, who mismanaged their rule of Palestine (pretty much as they mismanaged their rule of India and other countries) created a country called "Israel". Israel proved it has a right to exist -- and then interesting, they started acting just like the people who had persecuted them back in the 1930s -- with the Palestinians, but also with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other Arab states. In the 1967 war, Israel helped itself to a huge chunk of Jordan, a nice chunk of Syria and some of Lebanon, to boot. The Palestinians who remain in Israel have been packed into ghettoes (sound familiar?). Under Netanyahu and the ultra-orthodox religious parties, Israel has begun behaving exactly as those central Europeans who persecuted and terrorized the Jews in the 1930s, with exactly the same justifications against the Palestinians as Germany used against the Jews.
Now, I grew up as a fundamentalist Christian, so I'm very much aware that fundamentalist Christians believe that Israel has to reclaim all of its Old Testament Bibllical terroritory so the Battle of Armageddon can occur and Jesus will come in on flying horses to spirit all the True Christians™ and True Americans™ off to Heaven where they can watch everybody on Earth be judged and tossed into the Eternal Lake of Fire -- which, by the way, includes the Jews since "the Jews killed Christ" and "the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah". Besides, any good fundamentalist Christian knows you must be a baptized, fundamentalist Christian, attend a Bible-believing church, and vote Republican in order to go to Fundamentalist Christian Heaven. (I recognize bad theology when I see it, so now you know why I'm one of those "chancel-prancin', reads their prayers outta a BOOK, lets the wimmins be PRIESTS and drinks the WAHN durin' their services" Episcopalians).
Those who do not recall the past are condemned to repeat it. Bear this in mind: "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Ezekiel 16:49-50
Let me know when you're moving, and I'll help you pack. (I'll wear gloves, since people like you believe that I'm an unclean "goyim". I certainly wouldn't want to render your dishes, your furniture or your clothes "unclean".)
The aspect of Israeli policy that is especially galling is their forced purchase of Palestinian land. German Jews have the right now to reclaim property seized by the Nazis. And that is Justice. But then the Israel gov't institutes a policy similar to Nazi seizures in the 1930's to grab Palestinian property. Blindness ! How can such a contradiction be allowed by a society that believes it is just. Complete reversal of History's lesson.
We can go back and forth about who's been the worst oppressor, but I like to focus on who's suffering now. And that's the Palestinians, mainly. Getting to a peace accord means letting go of the past, not repeating it. It's a crappy situation, not unlike the one in Northern Ireland (another Churchill blunder.) But it can be remedied, given enough will, and a lessening of provocation. Like the IRA and the UDF, there seems to be a lot of folks (and nations) that have a vested interest in keeping this conflict alive. Palestinians have to give up violence, and Israel has to give up the pretense of "oh, they abandoned this land, and it's ours now." But I doubt it. The Palestinian birthrate will swamp the demographics of a one-state, and the theocracy in place already won't allow it. I don't see much hope.
The relentless criticism of Jimmy Carter that has persisted even to the present has mostly been the repetition of mindless cliches, like the "worst President/best post-Presidency" nonsense. His time in the White House is a prime example of the predatory primacy of special interests, greed and deception, directed at him and aimed to undermine his Presidency or any possibility of cleaner government taking hold.
The Clintons were terrible to Jimmy Carter but obsequious to the Bush family who were also terrible to Jimmy Carter. When they were around Jimmy Carter, and their avoidance of proximity or any semblance of familiarity with him was noticeable, it always reminded me of Dracula's abhorrence and avoidance of the crucifix, in fictional depictions. It always seemed that they couldn't abide 'goodness' and honesty and the prospect of clean government or any decline in their wealth and power.
Because no human is perfect, I do not think Jimmy Carter is perfect or a saint, but he sure does seem to be a genuinely good person, and I would add, was an excellent President AND post-President, both. It was America that was not worthy of him, not that he was not worthy of or not competent for the Presidency.
It is very, very difficult to think that Jimmy Carter is going to die. Just knowing that he was still there, in Plains, still with us, has been a kind of comfort. If he came to mind, and he did from time to time, one might think, “well, if Jimmy Carter has not given in to despair about our country yet, then neither should we….” When he announced his cancer diagnosis and made some remarks about death, he was not afraid, and he was comforting and inspiring.
We needed him and still do, but we did not deserve him and that is even more true now. Smart, decent, faithful, good-humored, humble, focused, talented, kind, funny, wise.....
I've been watching on YouTube some archived material of/about the late Christopher Hitchens whose intellect, wit and brilliance were and still are dazzling. His views of the Clintons are razor-sharp and so keenly honest and insightful; in a word, he had profound contempt for them. Again, their treatment of Jimmy Carter invariably showed such disrespect for him when, in point of fact, they could not hold a candle to him. Sadly we cannot hear his views anymore giving voice to our disgust and contempt for the indecent among us, and soon we will not have Jimmy Carter to give us hope and inspiration to be better, not to lose hope, to keep trying to make things better..
I long to hear Christopher Hitchens' comments on events in this country, his adopted home, in recent years, and would love to hear his views of Jimmy Carter now, as we are apparently about to lose his presence among us. Hitchens was at Oxford when Bill Clinton was, as well as Robert Reich. I wonder what Professor Reich’s thoughts about Hitchens as well as the Clintons.
Hitchens and Jimmy Carter could not be more different public personalities and yet in some ways very similar. Authentic, honest, unabashed and unafraid, non-hypocrites.....
Why is the likes of Trump still out there tweeting while we are about to lose another great one...
Carter called out Palestinian apartheid by Israelis. What other politician would have the honesty to come out with that one? Not that the US should wag our fingers much.
With thanks for your wonderfully thoughtful and illuminating remarks, Annie, while they're worth more than the familiar egocentric ramblings that many responders have sought to espouse here!
Terrific comment!
As a Democrat and Georgia native I found the Clintons' treatment of Jimmy Carter excruciating when it seems to me Carter's experienced alliance could have aided them both. A head scratcher, for sure.
God help us. The man put on a sweater and put solar panels on the White House. He tried to warn us about our unsustainable energy policy, and he was right. “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country.”
What would JC do? Jimmy Carter that is, he was a good man. Possibly too good to survive politics. He proved that his (and Rosalyn’s) real calling was in helping people who had been offered very little help by the “great” USA. Putting a roof over someone’s head - a single mother with 3 kids, a disabled vet who could not get a traditional mortgage, etc.
is an act that could go unsung.
But President Carter’s participation in Habitat put the program in people’s consciousness.
A Good Man
He is quite the humanitarian! How odd to say that about anyone in That’s been in politics in Washington.
Toni, I appreciate your tribute to Carter. I, too, think he was a special human being. He really did care about those in need but unfortunately couldn't get enough people around him to get more done for those folks. Maybe a national commitment to those most in need of our help should be promoted. Republicans will never go for it, though, but Democrats and independents might.
"Carter lost his reelection bid not because his presidency failed but because the Federal Reserve Board hiked interest rates so high as to bring on a recession"
plus Reagan's secret deal with Iran NOT to release hostages until AFTER the election.
William, yes, and of course neither Volker nor Reagan were ever held accountable for their actions. I just hope we the people can keep Republican Fed chair Powell and his cronies from messing up our economy as Volker did. I know he wants a recession so his buddy Donnie, the former prez with dementia can win in 2024. Oh yes, Powell might like Haley as prez instead if he can get enough money to go along with it and keep the interest rates rising toward recession. I hope businesses will note that recession is a terrible idea and will demand Powell just stop!
And again one must ask: why is Trump-appointed Powell still in place two years into Biden's administration? And why is Louis DeJoy still in place at the US Postal Service, still allowed to fulfill his long-held aim of destroying it? Citizens who care about good government, clean government, need to recognize that corruption, cronyism, and other enemies of good government do not belong to any one political party. We need to know what our principles and values are and then identify people who represent them on our behalf in government and then demand that they uphold their end of the "agreement" that led us to give them our trust in the form of our precious vote!
Exactly!!
We don't have a democracy. We have a corporatocracy - of, by and for the plutocracy -, run by an oligarchy, executing an extractive* economy, benefitting a kleptocracy based on fascistic principles and ethics.
* The rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer.
It is sad that Corporations are bullies. It is also sad that as a country our ability to decipher the truth of political events has costs presidencies. Cost of food, pharma, gas, etc. is outside the control of the President yet we judge them based on these markers. Please continue to educate the public so the cycle does not repeat in 2024.
Jimmy Carter along with Lincoln, FDR, and JFK ranks as my top Presidents. While his post Presidency is, no doubt, the best of any and he is one of the few who truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. While he is 98 yearsI old, I was wishing he would make it to 100. His continued presence on the American landscape gives me the feeling that the American spirit continues to live with a bright light. While the economic issues were beyond his control, the hostage taking in Iran created a clamor that showed America was weak. I did not share that view. All the hostages came back alive and we weren't in another war. Thank you President Carter.
There was a deal made to hold announcing the hostages were free until Carter stepped out of the White House. Shows how very low republicans are in the habit of going. Talk about outrageous!
Seeking Reason, that hostage agreement goes right along with the Nixon sabotage of the Vietnam Peace Talks and the Supreme Court giving an election to a man who didn't win the popular vote when the FL voting was unworkable. That's that no shame thing Prof. Reich was talking about last week. Repubs will do anything and feel no shame as they do it.
The SCOTUS gave the presidency to Someone who did not win the popular vote, nor the electoral. That’s how we got W. Clearly the citizens of the US have not gotten their popular vote winner numerous times! This prevents the majority from getting much needed changes. It really is both dangerous and outrageous.
Seeking Reason, I agree this electoral nonsense is a burden we should not have to bear. I know a lot of mostly Republicans, but for sure, small states want to keep the BS electoral college because they know it gives them more power in our government than they should have. How do we fix this with such a divide?
There is already talk of forming a Blue State coalition that requires the winner to receive all the electoral votes, rather than divvy them up as some do. And we must prosecute multi criminals like trump et al to put an end to their crime sprees and legal violations that keep this going.
A multi state coalition or compact is a long shot, but it is the only way we can get it done. Amending the Constitution instead will end democratic governance in the United States and replace it with a constitutional plutocracy. That's because our amendment procedure gives each state exactly one vote, and anti-democracy red states outnumber the others. The Koch dynasty has been working on this for many decades toward this and they are now very very close to getting it passed.
Seeking Reason, I am glad to hear of the moves toward a positive normalization. I just can't believe red states folks really don't want democracy. Do they not understand what suffering fascism would be for them or are they so deluded they believe that somehow they will be among those who get to abuse the rest of the population as a lot of "good people" supposedly did in Nazi Germany? I get it that rural and small town people tend to be more conservative, but what are they conserving, their struggles, the racism that runs wild in such communities, the misogyny, what?
I am forever grateful for President Carter and his efforts to lead us in a more democratic and just direction. But now that our system has been broken and rigged, only HJR48, the We the People Amendment can and will restore it. Please help us grow this movement at movetoamend.org. We the People need you. ♥️
Corporations will continue to unfairly dominate U.S. politics until either the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is overturned or HJR 48, the
"We the People" amendment, passes. With our current Republican SCOTUS, as well as the Republican House majority, both unfortunately are long shots, I think.
Sadly such corporate behaviour is happening worldwide now.
This behaviour is becoming a major issue in Australia with corporations using created accounts to get around donor laws to political parties.
Canberra was more of a sleepy backwater than Washington DC but is not now.
"deregulating the airline, trucking, and railroad industries (resulting in lower transportation costs for industry and consumers) — were commendable."
I had thought deregulating corporate industries was a Republican thing and that Democrats have generally (if not very successfully) supported industry regulation in order to protect consumers and the environment against the most egregious corporate behavior.
I will miss Jimmy Carter. A true humanitarian. A kind man who inspired many to come to the aid of people in need.
Let’s not forget that Carter lost to Reagan in large part because the press didn’t like Carter, and they did like Reagan. Reporters, and columnists and analysts relentlessly mocked his accent, and his faith. The news kept the Iran “hostage crisis” at the forefront of the American consciousness by noting every day that it Day [Whatever] of the hostage crisis. Reagan, like Trump after him, got a pass on gaffes and lies. Carter never got a pass on anything. Remember the rabbit in the water incident? The media liked Reagan’s style better than Carter’s substance. On climate change alone, the result has been catastrophic.
Afraid I have to agree with you. Jimmy Carter was just not slick enough for some Democrats and the press. He has never discarded his lived Christianity. Certain DC hostesses found him too square. A few years ago, I learned that when New Orleans first Black mayor and his wife (Dutch and Sybil Morial) visited the Carters for lunch they were were served in the Carters personal dining room upstairs. When the Carters moved back to Plains they returned to the modest brick ranch house where they lived before he was in public office.And when they visited the Carter library in Atlanta, they slept on a pull-out sofa. Turns out the simple life can be a good one. I suspect most of us have a bigger carbon footprint.
I love reality-based history I can trust. And this info I am convinced I can trust. The Fox News/Rupert Murdoch fiasco has demonstrated how far disinformation has spread.
There is no more important issue than the separation of wealth and power to the future destiny of America. Unfortunately it seems that wealth is inversely tied to ethics and compassion. While I know many generous 1%ers in my role as a community foundation board member I also know that the deck is stacked against the majority. I can never understand how the unbalanced division of wealth is a long term win for those, who today, hold all of the chips. As always, our society is a victim of short term thinking.