I think this is chilling stuff. We should be very alarmed. I live in the UK, which, I fear, would follow the lead of the U.S. were this to happen. The 'International Dictator Club' is always open to new members! We are sleepwalking into this and the Climate Emergency. What will our descendents say about us?
Yes, it is. Quite early during the Trump administration I predicted Trump would try to stay in power any way he could. It was his attitude towards dictators -- his obsequious deference to Putin (I called him "the Siberian Candidate" almost from the beginning), his open admiration for Xi ("wish I could be President for Life, too"), his "love affair" with Kim Jong Un (expressing his desire that Americans obediently rise & applaud Trump the way North Koreans do for KJU), & his tight connections with the Saudis & assisting MBS with his coverup of the Khashoggi murder -- his penchant for shutting down the government, his obstruction of the Mueller investigation, his capricious firing of members of his administration & installing unqualified people who would toe the line, attempts to undermine the 2020 elections & sowing doubt about the results, & various other authoritarian tendencies.
The insurrection against the Capitol was predictable. The only thing that I predicted that didn't come to pass was his declaration of martial law, but he was clearly contemplating it (Flynn urged him to do that). Apparently he chickened out at the last moment. I could see parallels between the GOP & German Nazis of the 1930s early on.
I am heartened that political commentators like Robert Reich & Thom Hartmann have caught on & been warning about the imminent danger to what's left of our democracy by Trump & the GOP, but most other journalists & politicians have been lagging woefully behind, still treating it like normal disputes between parties, & many journalists & media organizations are complicit. So are (& probably more so than any other entity aside from the GOP) the billionaire corporate donors that are pulling the strings in this corporatocracy. Russia has contributed substantially to our current political instability, too.
Unfortunately the media is perpetuating Trump and his supporters. Yesterday on the news (NBC) they seemed to be sympathizing with one of the fake electors stating she was 70 and would die in prison. Unbelievable! Here people did die because of the insurrection, what about sympathy for those people?
The media should not be slanting their reporting so as to give sympathy to criminals. Those 16 fake electors knew what they were doing and should suffer the consequences.
This story shows it's not just Trump-- there is a machine of people supporting the fascist-- er, I mean, "unitary executive theory"; Trump is just a vehicle; we can reasonably expect another Republican to espouse it as well.
This time, because of the almost 40% of NON-VOTING ELECTORATE, you'll have to do more: help get the BLUE VOTE out.
The challenge is how do we help those who don't follow politics, or those who just get sound bites, or those who have some sense for what's going on but don't vote SEE WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING so they WILL vote? It'd be important anyway, but with the potential of a third party to siphon off critical votes the challenge is even greater. The abortion issue has captured the attention of the majority of us -- possibly build on that, since it is represents only the beginning of what's about to go down if the fascists "win"??
Why can't they just report who-what-where-when-why, instead of wallowing in opinionism like everyone else... Oh! I know why!! Opinions garner clicks!! and the right-leaning owners just want to bury the truth and go for clicks/$$$.
Republicans are law breakers and they think that they should not face any consequences. They keep breaking more and more laws every day. With Republicans politicians in power, the democrats are having a hard time putting them in jail.
Agreed. If a person wishes to participate in an egregious crime, perhaps they should consider the potential consequences ahead of time. In this and many other cases of crazy schemes now being prosecuted, I keep wondering: WTF were these people thinking?!
They all drank the “Trump administered Kool Aide” filled with his poisonous LIES.
He told them he won the election. They believed him. He told them he would fight with them at the Capitol. They believed him. He told them the DOJ and the Democrats were on a “witch hunt” to destroy him politically. They believed him. He told him ‘I did not commit adultery with all those women; I didn’t rape anyone; I didn’t collude with Russia to win the election; none of my indicted cabinet members did anything wrong; I didn’t take and keep classified documents; I will lower your taxes, and I believe in abortion’ (after gloating that he was responsible for the Roe vs Wade being overturned). They believed him.
He is on record as the MOST notorious LIAR of all the presidents, and yet they continue to believe him.
You are right. They took him at his word. But he is a con man with a long, well established history and reputation for lying & grifting. It is amazing to me how willingly these people allow themselves to be manipulated. They must be very naive, ill informed or willfully ignorant. They seem incapable of critical thinking, and that is sad.
Same psychological type as Putin. Specifically, Drumpf's body language and facial expressions are not those of a liar (at least to me). That's because he believes whatever he says at the moment. But we know he's lying because we know how to analyze statements and research facts. Those of us with at least a little education have a highly developed Lingual Pollution Detector that ferrets out the Drumpf personality.
It's a cult of mind control,there's a book'The Cult of Trump',the author is sharing it and training clinicians how to deprogram folks.It can be done,Gave alot of hope .
I think that Trump may have a little difficulty with the abortion issue in the general election. Many of the right-wing Evangelical and Catholic voters were essentially single-issue voters. Now, if they don't follow politics too closely, they may still vote for him, presuming that he is still "pro-life." Some of them may be aware that he is now the best, greatest, most pro-choice candidate there ever was and still vote for him, thinking that he is still more "pro-life" than Biden, especially as Trump had Roe V. Wade overturned. Some may still vote for him, thinking that he is the most Christian candidate and will do more to implement "Christianity" in the country. But some of them may choose to sit this one out if they really were true, sincere "pro-life" voters only with neither candidate being "pro-life." He would have to make up for those lost votes somehow.
We allowed the media to become owned by a tiny handful of old, rich, white, men. We see, hear, and read what they allow us to. They are among our oligarchs. They like the idea of autocracy and dividing up the rest of the USA to reward themselves and the other oligarchs.
The history of WW2, and what lead up to it was still taught back when they were in high school, EVEN IF it was slanted a bit to make Nazism and fascism not look quite as bad as it actually was, in order to appease McCarthy/McCarthyism.
NO EFFING EXCUSES WHATSOEVER are acceptable from them!
I have NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT for those fascist destroyers of democracy fake electors, despite their age, and the consequences of that.
I despise them, especially how insistent and obstinate they were at the Michigan State House when confronting the Michigan State Troopers at that building's door, DESPITE knowing just how abjectly WRONG they were.
They knew PRECISELY what they were doing, and exactly what the consequences would be had they been successful in their evil endeavors.
FED UP WITH THE MEDIA MERRY-GO-ROUND. A FASCIST CRIMINAL SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN ANY LEEWAY TO AIR HIS VIEWS. HE LOST THAT RIGHT WHEN HE BROKE THE LAW AND VIOLATED SO MANY GUIDELINES!!
I agree! He’s a RAPIST on top of being an adulterer, a liar, a treasonous criminal, who has a major mental disorder that psychiatrists felt back in 2015 that he was not mentally equipped for the presidency.
I am aghast that SO FAR he is still being allowed to campaign for 2024, is being treated as a legitimate candidate when he is anything BUT, and worst of all, keeps going up in the polls every time he is indicted, like he is some kind of persecuted martyr.
He and especially his followers make me seriously ILL!! 😠
When I first got into liberal politics in Chicago in the 70's (against the Democratic machine of Richard J. Daley), I went to a meeting of people who were just starting to oppose that machine. There was a man, Donald Page Moore, who had run for States Attorney in Illinois and gave a rousing speech, saying in effect that you god damn liberals (that's a quote) need to get off your butts and go out there and work instead of being complacent that you have voted correctly, that it isn't good enough to just vote right. And, there was eventually a large group called the Independent Precinct Organization (IPO) that was several years later aligned with the IVI (Independent Voters of Illinois) which was the affiliate of ADA (Americans for Democratic Action). The IVI didn't do much action BUT they did review all the judges on the ballot and provided ballots to take into the polls so that we were not blindly voting for people that we didn't even know were good or not. BUT WE, the IPO took action. WE ran our own candidates, as well as endorsed other democratic liberal candidates (small d because there were a couple of liberal republicans) and we had a well organized cadre of our own precinct captains, area chairmen, and other organizational honchos, as well as publicity people, people who ran coffees, etc., etc. AND IT WAS ALL VOLUNTEER. AND WE WON ELECTIONS! We won state rep candidates and aldermanic candidates and worked for judicial reform and community problems. We had people canvassing voters to find out who was going to vote for our candidates and then our "job" was to get those people to the polls. We had election watchers in the precincts because you cannot even imagine what cheating went on because the machine had precinct captains whose jobs with the City were dependent on getting out their vote. We had watchers all day long in the polling places from 6 in the morning (to make sure no votes were already cast on the machines) to 7 or 8 or more at night to make sure the figures on the machines were counted right and written down right and to make sure no shenanigans were done during the day (and I could tell you hair raising stories). Times have changed and methods of voting have changed. But this is to say that the people need to be engaged, that they need to "rise up" and actually DO something . If everyone worked their areas all over the country, a Donald Trump or other dictator could not win, despite the stupid media.
Couldn't read all of your post but agree with the first part that it's going to take action and Democrats and reasonable Americans getting off their butt and doing some work. It's going to take action and it must start now!
It has taken DECADES to unseat Mike Madigan, aka Mr. Machine in the post-Daley era. Illiinois politics is a whole universe unto itself. Institutionalized corruption that has fits and starts of increments of reform, and Trump has some history in Chicago politics, but I think it may have beaten him. To use Chicago vernacular: Trump needs a tune-up and let's hope to goodness that Smith, Garland, and voters are ready and willing to administer that tune-up.
I don't live in Chicago anymore and all that I know is what I read, mostly about mayoral elections. But every now and then, I see something about a known machine guy, like Vredolyak (and I think I spelled that wrong) and remember all the crazies that went on at City Council.... like once when they turned Dick Simpson's microphone off and the how the general vote call would go. Daley would tell Bilandic and Bilandic would get the signal to say yes or no. And then they would go ward, by ward. All no's until the 5th ward (Abner Mikva) and then yes until the 16th Ward, Anna Langford and the no's all the way to Bill Singer and Dick Simpson (of the 43rd and 44th ward and possibly whomever was aldermen (or there was an alderwoman sometime later) of the 46th, 48th and 50 th wards.
What do you want to know? Our exact system? I can describe it in detail if you want. But ultimately the idea is that many times we beat the "machine" at their own game and without paying off anyone or even paying our leaders.
Yes, it is now very hard to believe that a polka-dotted unicorn with hen's teeth creature such as a 'liberal republican' has EVER EXISTED, given the steadfast, hellbent on outright fascism, 'Muricun NAZI Party they have become. :( :(
At the time i wasv alking about there was no place for a Democrat who was not a part of the Machine. So he would run on a Republican ticket. Illinois had a unique system for voting for state reps. It was called bullet voting. Each person had 3 votes. You could use 2 on 1 person oand 1 vote on another. To get good candidates in office we would bullet vote, that is casting all 3 of our votes on one person.
Keith Olbermann calls media that feel compelled to treat both sides equally as having "bothsiderism." I just received Hartmann's new book, "Rediscovering Humanity's Ancient Way of Living." Your post is going into my "time capsule" folder as one of my entries suggested. Well said.
Great comment. All the signs are here, we are headed for a dictatorship. Control the vote, and the count, and keep repeating the lie, and scapegoat some minorities - Nazi Germany here we go. Book burning, undermine institutions, dictate what can or can not be taught in schools. One more election and this democracy will be history. (Add RFK jr and No Label Party and Biden will not make it. The hand writing is on the wall, ignore at your peril.
It's hard to press "Like" to your comment because I do NOT like it, but I fear you are correct. I very much fear it. Whether Biden-Harris actually win the 2024 election, the Trump mob and crime syndicate and cult may create such chaos and frenzy, such misuse of the courts and the system of elections, not to mention violence and terrorizing activities, that the seemingly endless reign of terror will go on and on with Trump, or whoever his surrogate is, acting as an unelected - and unwanted by the majority - shadow government, with media feeding that beast even if it's reporting it as "bad news."
One of OUR problems is, to get people to understand the threat, especially to get through to the conservatives, you have to give them the info, and they see it as arrogant lecturing, and they’d rather see a meme.
It shouldn't be, but I don't see adequate nor timely pushback from the administration (including the DOJ, at least until Jack Smith got on the case), Congress, the courts, the media or the public, with a substantial number of elements in all these groups supporting & abetting Trump's treachery. Even international leaders & institutions have been quite quiet, without the admonitions we normally hear against a rogue state or their leader, although I know that many citizens of foreign countries are very concerned. Without forceful resistance it becomes possible for wannabe dictators to succeed.
I thought Trumplethinskin would institute martial law at some point in his presidency, too. Pretty much everything else he did I expected. I still haven’t come to terms with so many people that were ‘surprised’ he would do whatever it was he’d done that day. I saw it coming the day he announced his candidacy.
I remember saying of Trump, "he will never leave" - and that appears to be proving to be true. Even now, impeached, indicted, out of office, he dominates the news, all the time.
Chilling, yes. Terrifying, yes. Horrifying, yes. Possible? Because, when it comes to political changes most of us thought would never be possible, we now know they are.
One wonders what kinds of mentalities are seriously entertaining, even planning for, the transformation of this country into an authoritarian/totalitarian/dictatorial/oligarchic state.
We know some of the people -- Trump, Bannon, Flynn, Miller, McCarthy, Jordan, Greene, Paul, Cruz, Hawley, DeSantis, Abbott, Lake, Alito, Thomas & most of the Republican Party holding government positions; Murdoch, Koch, Mercer, Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Leo, Crowe & most of the billionaire corporate executives. Basically all those who think they would be part of the ruling class in a fascist oligarchy
Maryk, you are right in making the connection between what is happening now and what happened in 1930s Germany and Italy. Republicans are furious when the comparison is made, but the reality is there are close similarities, Republican leaders know it, want to keep the rest of us from knowing it too, and acting to stop it, and stop it we must if we are to keep going as a free people.
GOP 'anger' is, like all their public communications, a show in a scene they are hoping ends in 'unitary executive theory'.
What a load of it they expect Americans to buy into-- oh wait, if Republicans gain the majority, they won't even pretend to care what their electorate wants.
It makes one wonder WHY they even bother with the pretense of voting and elections in the FIRST place.
IF they feel all that omnipotently powerful, why not just get all of those in our military, law enforcement, and their heavily armed, foaming at the mouth brownshirt civilians, all who want fascism even MORE than they do, and go for an all-out, bloody, PHYSICAL PUTSCH to overthrow our democracy, and install a pure fascist dictatorship?
As Trump burst upon the political scene in 2015 {seeped out of the entertainment scene as from a burst soil pipe, maybe}, pundits began to say that he held the power to bring down our Democracy. I thought that was over-stated.
It wasn’t. It’s not Trump, per se, who is doing it, but he is the tool being used to do it. As a carnival barker attracts the rubes and talks them out of their money with promises of wonders to be seen, so Trump attracts the rubes and talks them out of their votes with promises of wonders to be achieved.
And talk them out of their money as well. I thought most of these people were from the rust belt and very poorly gifted when it comes to economics. In other words I thought they were poor. How can they afford to send all this money to tRump. The truth is they are members of the Trump cult. As such they send their nickels and dimes and quarters and dollars and $5 and $10 every time Trump asks. Therein lies the problem and they're in is a proof that they are members of a cult.
Some of them must have some actual money as well, despite being stone dumb, brain dead 'rubes' (a term which is MUCH TOO kind to them, BTW!), as there are only so many; $90K diesel dually coal rollas, multiple $45K side by sides (and the trailers to transport all of them!), and $50K's worth of war weapons of mass death and the ammo for them one can buy on credit, before one loses it all, and has no more credit to keep buying these peckerwood 'toyz'. ;)
Yeah, why I also call total BULLSHIT on their supposed 'economic anxiety' victimhood, which the effing media, and that POS fascism pusher J.D. Vance so insincerely writes about in his apologetically garbage book.
Ruth and Mary, And may I add to “ Republican leaders know,it, want to keep the rest of us from knowing it too,” not just knowing it but understanding it that some in their base may understand it. For when you understand, then you begin to question, and until you question you do nothing to to change the outcome. Excellent comments ladies. Thank you for your insight and commentary.
The Evangelical Right has been taught to obstruct teaching “critical thinking,” because it is “liberal code for questioning authority.”
That’s what they told me in the 1990s. Knows what’s happening? Understand what’s happening? QUESTION what’s happening? They’ve been getting rid of those behaviors for a while now …
You are quite right, Maryk. Then, as now, numerous disparate groups with competing political agendas refused to work together for Germany's common good while the rest of the public gave way to the true enemy: complacency.
at this rate, there won't be any (living) descendants left to curse us ...
but that's just my protective snark-shell. truth is, i'm extremely rattled by the slow-but-fast morphing of our once-great-nation into dictatorship. (being of Ashkenazi descent doesn't help). Yes, i'm very alarmed.
Lani: I am alarmed and fearful, as well. (In 1940, a gentile friend of my grandfather’s warned him he was on the list to be picked up by the Gestapo. He immediately packed a bag and left. My grandmother followed, packing up my aunt and my mother. They were on the last train out before the Nazis closed the German/Russian border. The remainder of our family died in a camp in Minsk.)
I’m with Maryk, below. It’s imperative we get out the BLUE VOTE.
Stephanie, Please encourage all your friends with a family history like yours to speak out because maybe descendants of Holocaust victims can make a greater impact than folks like me, who get labeled "bleeding heart liberals." Not that I'm shamed of the label...I desperately don't want your message to be ignored for the sake of our country and future generations. It breaks my heart to hear your story and I hope others will read it, feel it and do something so it will never happen again.
Carolyn, we need “bleeding heart liberals”. They’re the ones who say to others, “let me tell you about a friend/acquaintance of mine whose family…” All of you post, write letters, go to meetings and support each other and the rest of us. May the “Powers That Be in Nirvana” bless and keep us all!
YESSSS! I am Jewish, born in 1942, and was always aware that if my grandparents had not emigrated to the U.S. and I was born in Germany, there was little chance that I would live nor would my family.
Stephanie: thanks for sharing your powerful and chilling personal story. My heart goes out to you ... having to fear a repeat is too much for anyone to bear. This time around, i fear there will be nowhere to run to. And personally -- At 73, with a husband who is too challenged by physical ailments to consider leaving our home, and no relatives or connections outside of the U.S.A., I feel pretty much stuck here - no matter what. I've contemplated deleting 6 years of personal Facebook posts -- all political, all posting articles that clearly express my feelings of despair and rage. Doubt that would help, cause I'm sure "Meta" has it all archived. Additionally, the folks I follow on Medium and Sub-stack would be clear give-aways for where i stand. I'm starting to think (given my age) that a deliberate overdose might be the way to go if life becomes intolerable or we're in danger of a Nazi "final solution" -- right here in America. Haven't stocked up yet, but if the unthinkable happens in Nov. of 2024 it will be time to stock up. Meanwhile, I'm in awe of the bravery shown by the folks I follow --- and I do fear for them as I fear for all of us. I know that fear is neither healthy nor helpful ... but never-the-less, it's near impossible to to dispel for those of us with and active amygdala!
Lani, despite the challenges in your life, and they do sound difficult, please don’t “give up the ghost”. I’m 74 and the classic spinster, complete with white hair, books, and cats! Contemplating a possible Trumpian/authoritarian future scares the poo out of me also, but keep reminding yourself that all the posting you do keeps your opinions and insights in front of people. What you do and say comes from your lifetime of learning and experiences which are invaluable. No matter how old, infirm, or fearful we may be, we can speak out, write letters, email our congress critters, our government agencies, other supporting organizations, VOTE BLUE and encourage others to do likewise.
If worst comes to absolute worst, they’ll need little, old, unpreposessing ladies like us to do the small stuff any opposing organization needs. I’ve forgotten who said it, and the exact wording but “courage isn’t a lack of fear. Courage is being scared s—tless and doing it anyway.” (And tell your amygdala to shut up! It can come and visit mine and the lizards can hang out and commiserate with each other!)
I have MANY, from both sides of my family who did not make it out of; Poland, Galicia (now far western Ukraine), Brest-Litovsk, and the far southeastern Austro-Hungarian Empire. :(
Hitler, an early version of a unitary executive, was elected chancellor by the German people. That made German voters of the time responsible for Hitler.
And remember, Hitler loved the racists of the American south for their open and supposedly scientific justifications for his campaign of hate. Add to that the crash of '29, created by our own wonderful laissez faire lunatics, and you have the exact coalition we're up against now. Hitler did very poorly in '28. He didn't take off until the election of 1930. Similarly, the 2008 downturn Republicans created saw a great spike in reactionary right activity. Republicans create economic losers and then exploit their anger with invented cultural grievances. It's incredibly evil and scary.
“Republicans create economic losers and then exploit their anger with invented cultural grievances.”
Exactly. This is the time-honored playbook of the fascists. And it has worked over and over and over. Those who DO understand history are dooming us by repeating it.
The unitary executive theory is complete bullsh*t. It is exactly the opposite of what the founders had in mind. They fought a war to get out from under a king. So much for Scalia and his phony "originalism," a made up word to describe a made up legal idea.
Actually, did you know the instigation of the American Revolution was about a tree? A White Pine to be exact. It was the tree laws and the King taking them for his wars in Europe that started everything. The tax issue came later. I found an excellent book about it.
I have been saying this for some time. We can't forget the voters in this whole debacle. They have voted in too many anti-democracy, pro-big business career politicians who I consider to be a loosely organized plutocracy. We are headed for lunacy.
Maryk, you're right about the papers reporting the whining of Clark et al. What they are not reporting is what that would mean for real people, imprisoning people Trump and Kump don't like or are afraid of, resegregating areas of our nation so Black people and other people of color or LGBTQ people can be preyed upon by the Trumpers and Trumpettes for their own pleasure knowing nothing will be done to them (just like some police departments do now and the Jim Crowers did up until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s). They don't mention that christian nationalism will arise and only christian entities, particularly the white evangelicals will have rights to worship as they choose. Children will be indoctrinated into the right-wing BS that Gov. DeSantis and his crew are dying to begin. In short, our media need to get the word out about what life is likely to be under a second Trump presidency, and it ain't pretty.
Absolutely. Saying something like, 'we're losing our democracy' just doesn't cut it. People-- who are very busy trying to keep or get a roof over their head, enough to eat, and meaningful work-- don't have time/energy to parse "losing our democracy".
YES. A great idea: newspapers should report what will be done to (basically) all educates. EXAMPLE: Trump et al. plan to: "...strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to his agenda. And he plans to scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified ..." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html
WE'VE ALREADY SEEN WHERE TRUMP WAS TAKING IT: Education requirements for some/many federal jobs were removed with an executive order. Between gutting the State Dept. and hiring unqualified people-- he got a good start to dismantling the administration!
Maryk, now, how to we convince the newspapers and other media to begin stating that information about what Trump plans to do and how the ordinary people will suffer under that kind of child-man rule? Is there a way we can make it horrifying enough or glamorous enough to get their attention?
Inform them that unless they are currently about as extremist, fascist rightwing as possible, AND totally loyal and supportive of dear leader SCUMp at the same time, they will be GONE just as fast as all of us 'libtards, dissidents, progressives, and socialists' under his 4th Reich NAZI regime. ;)
They CANNOT 'bothsider' this evil anymore, or pussyfoot around with potentially genocidal fascist regimes!
Andy, unfortunately, the toddler-men care nothing of what will happen to their children or grandchildren. And, unfortunately, maybe because of their bad behavior now, there won't be posterity to think about us at all. We really are running out of time to act but are sucked up by the stupidity of contemplating indictments and trials for Trump and Kump which should have already happened, more than 2-1/2 hears past January 6th and the other Republican shenanigans that happened around the 2020 election. And, anyone who had stolen as many documents of a secret nature that Donald Trump did would be in jail right now. People have been jailed for just a few papers; Trump had at least a hundred that we know of. This distraction keeps us from seeing what the fossil fuelers are doing, that Biden is giving into their whining, the heat in the south and rain in the northeast are really doing harm to this nation, and state legislatures have been permitted to circumvent our Constitution for the whims of racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homo/transphobic rich white folks who are so worried about their position in their world, they care nothing for the rest of us. They ignore the first amendment with their book banning and dictator actions toward teachers, medical personnel, and anyone who does not agree with them. They ignore the 14th amendment that declares basic rights for everyone. They take cases to the Supreme Court that lets the whiny Catholics (except one) on the court granting "religious" people the right to discriminate against others, based on their religion and who cares about the religion clause in the first amendment. That's what we are facing, Republican generated chaos. We keep hearing of our polarized nation without the truth included that Republicans/conservatives have designed and wedged u s into the polarization. We the People who really care need to stand up. Maybe we need to march in the streets to get President Biden to declare a climate emergency. We are about a decade late in doing this, but I suppose it is better late than never.
Jamie you are so right. Anyone else having committed such crimes should be in jail and waiting trial. This clown, just because he was president, isn't that in jail. He is out busy causing problems for everyone and everything. I don't know how this man would even be allowed to run for a political position of dog catcher much less the president. What is wrong with our laws? I can blame the supreme Court now sure but what kind of into this position we're a politician can go criminal and we can't do it damn thing about it?
Just like the tobacconists, Big Oil knew decades ago, by way of of peer-reviewed research, the effects of CO2 on the atmosphere. They buried the research and undertook a PR disinformation campaign. Once again, profits at any cost, no accountability for the long-term impact. Frontline has an excellent 3-part series on YouTube, 'The Power of Big Oil'.
What about Canada?? That's where i want to go if he somehow steals the election and is installed as Dictator in Chief. What is your take on that, Andy?? I just wished the MSM would report this to the entire United States, but i know they are bought off and not say a darn thing about this as them and large corporations want that horrible SOB back in the White House.
If you have the proper qualifications, you could emigrate to Canada, John. You need to speak one of the official languages--French and English bilingualism is a plus. You must have a skill that is needed.
Be of a certain age range (usually 20s - late 40s) and have enough money to support yourself and your family
Have an education that is equivalent to the Canadian standard of education (usually a university degree, though if you have a skilled trade that is in high demand, that may be enough)
Have at least one year of work experience in a relevant field
Have a good level of English or French, or both
Have a clean police record in your home country
Have a valid job offer, a nomination from a province or territory, a sibling living in Canada, or strong French language skills (optional but helpful)
Right now, Canada is looking for people with technical skills. We opened a competition for people currently in the US on H-1B visas, but that closed in less than a day after we got 10,000 applicants.
I wish you luck, John.
I'm a dual Canadian-US citizen, and I wish all my fellow Americans luck--the kind of luck that doesn't mean you need to look for a democracy to emigrate to. VOTE BLUE!
This laundry list of immigration requirements (no offense you didnt create the requirements) is an inequality in itself. If Immigration law was far the people allowed in should be from all economic and age demographics. Choosing only skilled or only wealthy or only young it discriminates greatly and devalues people who dont fit into these categories. The white guy with the money bags should have to wait as long and have equal rights to the unskilled refugee, not get ahead in line. Again, not attacking you, just the unreasonable and discriminatory requests governments make to entry.
I wouldnt know. Depending on what state you hail from you may have a real good argument for refugee status. Florida (Climate, Culture Wars, Jailing of voters), Texas (Climate, Electricity and gun wars, voter discrimination and gerrymandering), numerous others extreme abortion restrictions and voting rights violations. Though go light on the climate sfuff, Canada might say heyyy we got a bunch of forest land that just burned up I mean opened up for settling.
If they actually are refugees, of course Canada will accept them, unlike the US which keeps breaking its international agreements.
Canada recently decided to accept up to 10,000 H-1B visa holders from the US; 10,000 had applied before the day was over. Increasingly, many immigrants would rather come to Canada than the US, or so many I know tell me.
It used to be that if you crossed between border crossings, you could claim asylum if you could prove you were a legitimate refugee. Unfortunately, the recently amended Safe Third Country Agreement designates the US as a "safe" country.
Where does this idea come from? I'm an 82 year old Dual National and have never seen any evidence of this assertion. Indeed, Canada has an extraordinary health care system that takes care of every citizen, which is a lot more than you can say for the US, which only supports the Insurance industry. By not having Universal health care, the US guarantees euthanasia for the unfortunate poor amongst others.
Dear Gloria. I must correct your statement. No one in Canada is medically assisted in their death without their specific consent and extensive requirements.
You can find these by looking up MAID law at justice.qc.ca
WHAT? As I understand it, Canada permits assisted suicide, under certain conditions. Is that what you mean by "pro-euthanasia"? If so, there's a world of difference between the two terms.
That is simply not true. In Canada one can have 'medical aid in dying' after extensive tests and meeting all criteria that no improvement in health can be made.
Yes I apologize for the projection. My gripe is with the US. The US has some doozies as far as messed up immigration goes. I find it interesting that Poland a boarder country just like the US also has autocratic leanings. I guess subjugating immigrants and not passing laws to help them is a sure fire indication that autocracy is on the way! Having different categories of immigrants is important so that we dont discriminate against the different groups. My opinion. I think there would be far less "illegal"/paperless immigration if we gave equal thrift to all classes of immigrants. It burns my butt that Milenia Trump got right through our system and brought less than nothing to benefit the US and the law tells us that an immigrant e
without papers who is willing to work isnt allowed to do so? A bad double standard.
Most countries offer an array of benefits that the US does not, hence they are protective of national health services and desire young, healthy workers who will increase the tax revenues (or those who can pay their own way).
It's logical, even if it leads to the ironic result that the US which has restricted immigration for decades is now the country least likely to have its own refugees welcomed by other countries.
No, people who have no qualification but wealth don't qualify.The white guy with the money bags does have to wait as long and does have equal rights to the unskilled refugee. Read the list again.
As for accepting anybody and everybody, even if we have to support them for the rest of their lives on welfare, it would be nice, but we can't afford to be a charity.
Be careful which province you move to. Alberta voted for a UCP government and they have the Take Back Alberta party. This party is aligned with the GOP ideology.
I would avoid Alberta too, as i have also heard they are into crazy crap just like here in the United States. I was thinking about the provinces of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick
The norder to Canada and the United States in reverse will be closed either by Trump or by the Canadians. If you wish to go to Canada do it now. If you wish to go to Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil do it now before it's too late. However, of you want to stay and fight these SOBs stay here make sure your eyes are open and Open the eyes of everybody around you. Trumpers are members of the Trump cult. They need to be treated as call members. You can't just tell them they are cult members because they won't believe it. They have to be shown what they're believing and what is really going on and that is probably going to take peer-to-peer conversation. What I mean is relative to relative. People who are in that family need to sit down with their fascist cousins and uncles and brothers and just discuss as relatives the various beliefs that they have and why they have them. This could easily call some of them to understand the BS they've been fed and the BS that they believe.
Would that be corporate democrats? Because, overall, I’m not seeing such a trend. Could you please provide a link to this info? You’ve perked my curiosity.
We had a chance in 2008 and 09 but Obama didn't put the bankers in jail. Yes, Mr. President is was illegal! It was appraisal fraud and liars loans. (Bill Black - How to Rob a Bank is to Own One) So now what? They caused a housing crisis that we still will not address which leads to hosts of other problems and/or makes it worse.
Now, we have voted in some Dems and nothing happens.
Are all the Americans going to run to Canada? That seems to be our MO, isn't it?
I sincerely hope the majority doesn't really believe in Trump but we need President Biden and the Dems to step it up and do more. :)
I believe we need to wake up the whole electorate and scour all the scoundrels from dogcatcher to the Congress. Until we get the greedy hands of the corporate scoundrels from the throats and pockets of those who set legislative goals, we are never going to have the kind of governance we need.
Agreed, we can't leave anyone behind. We have public education for everyone. And, at minimum 2 years of community college. We are only as strong as our weakest link.
If these despicable wannabe dictators have their way, one of them will unleash the nuclear war that everyone is afraid of. Then, there will be no descendants to criticize what fools we were to let this happen.
Ah yes, but then the devout Christian Nationalist, Christofascist evangelicals (and other sects like them) will finally get the 'rapture' they so longingly, and desperately want.
Little do they know that the current arsenal will even vaporize their vapid SOULS before they have a chance to ascend to 'the good place', such is it's force and obliterating fury.
Don't worry. There won't be any descendants. When someone was reminded that the scientists warned us about the climate decades ago, the response was, "Change is so inconvenient." My thought was, "So is death."
If we responded back then, the transition could've been smooth & seamless & relatively inexpensive, but now our future is destined to be catastrophic. What degree of catastrophe (survivability of most of mankind & most species or not) is the question.
Our descendents wont say anything because the majority will be dead from climate famine or climate related weather events. Though some in the UK might survive as the dome in Logan's Run was populated with english actors.
What will our descendants say about us? There won't be any if the climate models are correct. We don't know how much methane is under the permafrost, but we know we can't fix this in time to prevent that from happening. Even without that considered, our chances are marginal.
Republicans know they can't beat the demographics, so they run against democracy. It's a race for the next generation to come to power before Republicans can block the path.
Intelligent people tend to associate with other intelligent people. They then lose sight of how ignorant and stupid the common people are. Critical thinking is a learned skill and therefore is not present in the unlearned.
This old retired engineer with no kids has read too many technical papers on climate to believe we can win this battle that may already be lost. As they say, you can't fix stupid. But, you can fix ignorance. I see the corporate propagandists from the American Enterprise Institute on every other episode of Meet The Press. We get only political strategists from the Democrats. How can we get Robert Reich or someone similarly equipped with facts and integrity on to those panels?
The internet is driven by confirmation bias, so we aren't going to convert many people here.
But for Wales, Richy, for Wales? . .A Lie to Rise by, your Grail? . .Serving a corrupt King ..Your here and now Everything . .when in the end, At the Gate, Truth prevails?
Those alarm bells have been ringing since Bush v. Gore -- when we were put on notice that the Right had bought fully into an ends-justify-the-means quest for power, "perpetual rule" as Karl Rove memorably put it. I wrote -- and wrote, and wrote -- about this: see www.CodeRed2020.com. The alarm bells are now deafening.
I think the odds are against Trump but he does have a path. Whether the "best" who seem to lack all conviction would rise up against him if he seized power "legally" through "unitary executive" (and/or whatever other machinations were necessary) is an open question.
His path to power is made significantly more plausible by RFK Jr. and No Labels. It's quite surrealistic, but we're going to have to live it and do all we can to save our democracy.
Bush and Chaney made executive powers stronger in those 8 years and pursued Putinesque invasions (Weapons of mass media falsehoods). I guess lying to the American people is secomd nature for Republican presidents.
Bill, I suspect you are right about Republican power-grubbing. We have so many anti-American pieces in place from the Baby Bush days: ICE, the Patriot Act, the aftermath of wars we should never have started, the war on terror, and more Republican BS. We need to find ways to slip information about the rights even privileged white people have lost over time with Republican power-grubbing: the right to not be shot by a scared neighbor, the right to have their kids given a quality education, the right to not have to pay huge sums to military contractors who price-gouge the American people building up a huge debt for CEO and shareholder wealth, the right to earn a living wage for the work you do, and the right not to have to worship as some other people think you should. I suspect most Trumpers and Trumpettes have no idea of what Republicans/conservatives have done to them along with they power and money stolen from them. We need to force our media to get the word out. Now, how do we do that when our media is mostly owned by those conservative, mostly Republican supporters?
This the "why" I think. The "how" to coalesce and defeat the coming totalitarianism......there I draw a blank. But Hannah Arendt put it so perfectly:
"It’s a cliché among political philosophers that if you want to create the conditions for tyranny, you sever the bonds of intimate relationships and local community. “Totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals,” Hannah Arendt famously wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism."
As indicated earlier, German voters of the time gave Hitler his path to power, and the same thing could happen here. Getting out the vote is the only way to defeat Trump. Vote 2024!
As a Jew, I firmly support the reading of the Holocaust period of Nazism and the why the German people allowed themselves to participate in that insanity. The German politicians of that period made the mistake, like Trump's flunkeys in Washington, that they could control Hitler if he was elected Chancellor. How'd that work for the world? Those foolish Americans who think that can't ever happen here with Trump are just foolish.
Hard to even fathom that so many in THIS country, TODAY want that same exact thing, or even WORSE YET for all 'others' not like them, or who totally disagree with them.
It makes me lose what little faith I ever had in our species/humanity altogether.
But what about all those unreasonable people that vote for Trump? I don't think any of them are listening or care. They want a white Christian theocracy.
All we can hope is that they are a minority and with an honest election, Trump will not get elected.
we can wake up, but we don't have the how, or the consolidated message..... We are an inert population....we think about the awfulnesses that are coming, we write, we warn we talk about them...... but we lack a leader who can bring cohesion
It’s a cliché among political philosophers that if you want to create the conditions for tyranny, you sever the bonds of intimate relationships and local community. “Totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals,” Hannah Arendt famously wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism.
I am afraid, I have been afraid most of my adult life,
However, you teach, and taught me, that change is not only possible but inevitable. Your final lecture, told me not to be cynical. I will follow your advice and work to make the USA and the rest of the world better,
If Jack Smith won't indict trump for insurrection, does that invalidate or at lesst weaken the 14th Amendment option to disqualify trump?
I believe trump wants more than anything to get re-elected so he can absolve himself of all the crimes he's committed against our country. He wants to be above the law and also punish his enemies. And to keep breaking rules and laws. And to keep raking in money.
Very scary notion of trump as a “unitary executive” autocrat. Does his appeal come from bashing everything good Biden and the Dems do? What policies does he actually seek to advance that improves American workers and families?
TUMP has no policies, He doesn't give a darn about improving the lives of Americans or families.. He is a freak of nature and a horrible excuse for a human being. In my opinion, he is the worst thing that has ever happened to America, bar none!!!
And strangely reflective of the gadlfy fly by night influence of Oligarchs who think they know whats best for this country. How are dictator worshippers like Harlan Crow any different in their arbitrariness than Trump is? Once Trump is gone we will still have to contend with a "succession" of influence of a wholes like him.
Unfortunately TFG has led us to Truth that even without him, our Democracy is in peril. The repub party is dangerous to our present and future. We need to take back Democracy before it’s too late. And some way fix our courts because they further the dangerous repub agenda. Can we add justices?
Mark, great questions. Trump has no idea how to govern. He knows just a few things: how to cause harm to others, how to blame people he does not like for things he has done, how to recognize the scum who show up at his door and how he can use them to get more of whatever it is he wants, how to manipulate the media since they have come to believe or at least tolerate everything he says, how to project fear, anger, and resentment to vulnerable people, how to run up test balloons to see which whines an audience likes, lying which he is extraordinarily successful doing (over 30,000 lies in public while in office and who knows how many since then since he is covered nearly all the time and lies more than once each time he opens his mouth), and a few more equally destructive skills. Those are not the skills of a leader but definitely are the skills of a jerk, a grifter, a toddler-man in a family that lets him get away with whatever he wants, a user. Why would anyone vote for someone like that? I honestly don't get it.
The SCUMp SHITler's abject cruelty, 'viciousness' (which he himself has praised and admired as a most positive trait amongst all of the fascist despots he loves, and ENVIES so dearly), heartless/merciless inhumanity, and guarantees of extracting furious hellfire revenge on all of his 'enemies' and promising to go out of his way to 'burn/own the libtards which endears him (and is his major 'appeal') to his low life, foaming at their mouths, shitbilly Q'aNAZI MAGAt worshipers.
I find it unbelievable that we can seriously discuss this. I escaped from Hungary as a young woman after Soviet tanks crushed the 1956 revolt. I just could not see living there any longer. It was not an easy decision, leaving Parents. Brother and Friends behind. The USA , being mostly unknown to me, with all her faults and shortcomings still was like a Promised Land. Now comes trump, the Ignoramus if ever was one, try to crush all that is good , hopeful etc. The present Hungarian nitwit (Orban) causes suffering and discontent - I know that because I am getting emails from relatives and friends from Hungary.
Most of my family are MAGA Repubs. They are not bad people. The basic problem is that they are grossly misinformed since they get all their "facts" from right wing media sources, primarily Fox News, Newsmax, and talk radio. These sources tell them over and over that Trump, DeSantis, and other Republicans are the "good guys" protecting the USA from the "evil" Democrats and progressives who are out to destroy it with "woke" and "Socialist" policies. They refuse to listen to the mainstream media or people like Robert Reich.
Tim, how many of them rely on government benefits?
When I was calling during the election I found many people who didn't know that they were eligible for government benefits that would make a big difference in their lives.
We had this problem with one branch, but they have small kids who lost the child tax credit @ $300 per child, and after I showed them that Republican policy was to undermine Social Security and Medicare, they had an epiphany. Still repeat the Fox crap about Biden, but won't vote for any Republican.
Good idea! Some get Social Security and Medicare. The right wing media NEVER talks about the "benefits" of government. It's always the "problem" of government (thanks to Reagan's quote) and that the government wants to take things (religious freedom, for example) away from them. I'll try your benefits idea on them and see what happens.
WHO exactly do they 'think' is supplying that Social Security and Medicare, their savior-fuehrer SCUMp, or wealthy RepugnaCANTS directly out of their OWN pockets?!? LOL
Let them know that despite how they howl and LIE that they do not want to, or even never will touch those EARNED BENEFITS (NOT 'entitlements' as the fascists like to label them!), the 'Muricun NAZI Party are HELLBENT on eliminating those programs, even if you have fully paid into them your whole working life!
What you are describing is what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil." They are not bad people? They are not even people. They refuse to think, which is why they'll support every evil under the sun committed in their names.
I’m convinced that many of these folks are in a state of perpetual stress overload-- exactly as intended by the oligarchs and GOP fascists. Stress overload literally reduces a person’s ability to think. Their prefrontal cortex is undermined by the cascade of neurohormones associated with fight or flight (or freeze).
Conservatives have a larger/more active amygdala. Are they attracted to those who spout conspiracies because their amygdala is congenitally more active and attuned to fear and anger? Or does constant exposure to the Right’s fear and anger-mongering media keep reactivating their amygdala?
Either way, the parts of your brain that you use are strengthened and the parts you don’t (or can’t) use atrophy to some extent.
The symptoms of stress overload are exactly what I see, daily, in the behavior of so many. And since we progressives have the same wiring (though probably a less dominant amygdala, at least so far), we have to guard against our own stress overload!
I have relatives like yours. I'm not in denial over them. It's their choice to feed their minds with lies -- unquestioningly. I stand by my statement -- you should feel sorry for our country, and how it's become because of those people in your circle.
My anger is directed toward the people feeding them the lies. I think of the people in my circle as victims of these people. Not everyone has the critical thinking skills to escape their bubble. I am upset about is happening to our country too!
Then at what point are people responsible for their own choices?
Is anyone being forced to listen to the people feeding lies?
My brother is an intelligent guy, and a charitable person. I love him, but I absolutely don't defend his evangelical belief that the earth is only 6,000 years old. He chose his religious affiliation, and he chooses to believe all the nonsense. I would never grant the excuse that he's a victim.
My anger is directed toward the people feeding them the lies. I think of the people in my circle as victims of these people. Not everyone has the critical thinking skills to escape their bubble. I am upset about is happening to our country too!
We've stopped teaching critical thinking. Education now focuses on WHAT to think , not HOW to think. And THESE people want to continue that. As long as they control education, it will sadly continue.
They are people, though thoroughly misguided, brainwashed, and unable to see the truth. I hope that when Trump is indicted on the Jan 6 charges ( and hopefully found guilty), that he won't become a martyr.
To what Diane is saying, I will add this: The people in your circle don't care about the truth. They are hearing what they WANT to hear. Don't kid yourself. They've taken a stand -- and if some truth comes along that threatens them, they will kill the truth and the messenger. Their "bubble" is their security blanket. It takes courage to admit "This is wrong. What I believed was not right."
Some individuals in my family circle don't have that courage -- and I had extended family in eastern Europe who perished in the death camps. The massive amount of harm these people are doing to our country -- domestic enemies of our Constitution.
And because we have become a nation of sheep and cowards, it was easy pickings for the neo-Nazis and every other fringe group.
I think you are absolutely correct about the menacing source of misinformation having the lion’s share of exposure for unsuspecting audiences who, growing up misguided,in a naive belief that any news reports were to be taken at face value.
Further, if their educational experience is subpar, thru no fault of their own, it’s much easier to sit back and watch their 30 minutes of local or network news, while waiting for the broadcast of mindless sitcom formula, helps them forget about their troubles or dissatisfaction with their station in life. Thinking is not required.
Yes Eva. But the Hungarian people put Orban in power. I was there 1990-1992 when the young university instructors were so enthused about Fidesz (Orban's party) and could hardly wait to get rid of Communism and go for regime change. Unfortunately, you also have the right-wing nationalist paleo/neo-Nazis left over from WWII who could hardly wait to gain control. And Orban shapeshifter went for authoritarian power. And so will it happen in your adopted homeland if we are not vigilant, if we do not get out the vote, if we do not publicly protest. We know how to protest (we protested with the Freedom Rides, with the MLK Selma-Montgomery Marches, everywhere against the Vietnam War, against the murder of George Floyd) but for some reason we are loathe to do so now. Our very democracy is at stake. What will it take??
Eva, Republicans are definitely ignorant of much of what is going on, deliberately so. They are naive in the true sense of the word, child-adults who never had to mature into full adults partly because of white privilege and partly because of being pretty self-centered, only what they believe or want is important. Everyone else is just inferior but will try to get what I have if they can. In short, they are living a fantasy of their own creation and choose to stay in it even though it is keeping them down, supporting their naive, ignorant, unamerican leaders. I don't know how to reach them, but it is clear we are going to have to reach at least some of them with the possibility of a third party run looming.
My grandparents came from Hungary but early in 1900s. Or an is distressing just as all the dictators arising now. How could we not learn from history. Oh wait -- maybe some of the people who don't want history taught never learned it.
Eva, In my view there are philosophical differences that underlie people's political positions related to their beliefs about the utility/goodness of government and human nature. You can read my analysis on my Substack, Perspectives.
We need to get this message out -- not just to us, your readers, the choir. The media should pepper the ether with alarmist headlines: Do you want a King again? How important is your freedom? Do you want unchecked authoritarianism? Etc. it has to be hammered home exactly what we could lose.
Diane, good advice. Also we need to remind people that Trump has never done anything for anyone that he didn't get an even bigger portion of for doing it. He is racist in a diverse nation, misogynistic in a world where women demand and deserve equity with men, homo/trans phobic (at least in public) while LGBTQ persons want and expect full rights as citizens, a christian nationalist who is not really christian but is a nationalist if he knew what that was (holding up a bible does not make one a christian or anything else but cynical). Each of the Trumpers and Trumpettes who want power along with their Baby Donnie have the same baggage. I get it that white people are scared of being erased or some other such nonsense fed to them by the Republican leadership, but what Trump and Kump will do to them would be so much worse, and would be real. Someone should warn them: wages just what bosses decide they are worth, a broken economy where only the rich can afford to have whatever they want or anything at all, medical bills they can't afford for procedures poorly done, while they are suffering, having media that keeps telling them how wonderful things are under Trump and Kump while they scrounge for food, the inability to choose what they want to read - books decided by the thought police, actual police showing up only if you are rich enough to warrant their time and effort, and so much more. When will the run of the mill Trumpers and Trumpettes realize they are being used by Trump and Kump, but valued only for the power Trump and Kump can drain from their ignorant scared supporters? What will it take to get the word to them and get them to see the truth in it?
Leon, and Trump didn't even show up to fight for this nation, yet he is trying to take it over. He has sacrificed nothing, served no one but himself, cared for no one but himself and a few folks who are blindly loyal to him, and has no idea what is really in our Constitution. How anyone in the world sees him as worthy of being in charge of anything is beyond comprehension. Heck, he can't even take charge of himself.
EU here. I hate this, but the truth is whatever happens with the US situation will impact all of us everywhere. Glad to be watching from here and not there, but it is frightening to view from anywhere.
Agreed we cant let the autocrat dominoes fall. We did that before in our business interests in Africa, Central and South America. Now the pigeons have come to roost. We deserve what we created now we have to fix it.
Scalia wouldn't have supported the unitary executive theory if a Democrat were President, nor would the current Supreme Court, despite that ruling--hell, they won't even let Biden execute existing laws they don't like. But if a ReThuglican got in, they'd be all for it. All the more reason to VOTE BLUE--from school board to President.
There are only a very few ways this could happen. The election could be given to Trump if he has enough Secretaries of State to hand him the election, and the lawfully elected President caves in and allows this to happen, and the citizens of those States whose Secretary of State gave Trump the election against the will of the voters. This is very iffy. Second, if the US Military turned uniformly traitorous and literally fought the US Citizens. Third, if somehow Trump's dishonorable legal team managed to get his appeals on the electoral results to the current Supreme Court he could win 6-3 or 5-4. Frankly I don't feel like terrorizing myself with any of these scenarios. First, if enough of us email our Governors, Secretary of State and State Legislators asking them to invoke the Constitution, Amendment 14, Section 3, his name won't even appear on the ballot. Second, we can appeal to our young friends and relatives to vote. - It won't be enough for just us voting, we need a better turnout than we got in 2022. and that was pretty good.
I'd like to think the public would rise up against him and some will but it will not be enough people to make a difference. I'd like to think we would demand our democracy like the South Koreans did but I think we are too complacent. Sad.
It doesn’t take a majority of the population to “rise up.” It wasn’t a majority of the South Koreans recently, and it didn’t take a majority of Americans in the street to end the war in Vietnam or segregation at home. Just a lot of them. One way it begins is when ordinary people get over their embarrassment about marching and demonstrating and just do it.
Maryk, you are right, we need both ordinary people voting and the marching in the streets. The marching often lets the ordinary people know they should vote and how important it really is.
Bill, that's why we need to keep those crazies out of office in as many places as we can, and then get majorities in both houses of congress. Ditching Dems like Joe Manchin would help too. I hear he is running for president. Why anyone would vote for a guy who cares only for himself is beyond me. Oh wait, Trump is like that too and people vote for him. Gag!
OK you got a point. But I will say, a new resident here from another country felt super proud that she had marched... but she (and presumably her family) did not vote.
Are you faulting a new resident for not voting? I don't understand. It takes several years to become a citizen. I think it's good that she marched. She lives and pays taxes here, she should have some kind of voice, no?
Unfortunately these attempts have worked. There are many, many states in the US now where voting is practically impossible for parts of the population especially endangered by the situation, and where gerrymandering renders Democratic votes that do get cast all but meaningless. (Never mind the capture of the Democratic Party by anti-progressive forces in many areas.) Having spent years working on get-out-the-vote efforts, in ever more states, I'd suggest you ponder the real-life consequences of the important fact you point out here.
That's what's behind Bill McKibben's new organization for us, THird Act. Do you remember the photos all over the news March 21 and 22 of old folks in rocking chairs holding signs in front of Chase and Wells Fargo banks all over the country, in the big action against fossil fuels the day after the UN's special emergency report on climate change?
I imagine the coming election year will be very active, especially given the many grand jury and criminal trials Trump will be facing. Get yourself affiliated with activist organizations. They're linked up when it comes to promoting demonstrations and other kinds of activism across the country or state. One place to start is Mobilize, a kind of meta organization that also alerts you to GOTV activities: https://www.mobilize.us/ When there's a major anti-democratic development, or stupid act of national government (especially when it comes to SCOTUS, or climate change/the environment) I get notifications from many groups, including 350.org, Sunrise, and Bill McKibben's Third Act, for people over 65 and retired folks; Planned Parenthood, NOW, UltraViolet, and Avow (focused on abortion rights); Center for Constitutional Rights, Move to Amend, Black Lives Matter, NAACP, etc etc. It depends on who you are and where you live--in NYC there's Worker's Circle, if you're Native American there's Honor the Earth, IllumiNative, Four Directions, for union members or supporters there's SEIU, and so on.
I've noticed that demonstrations are getting smaller, not larger! WTF is wrong with people? I vote, write, call, donate; it isn't enough. I march. We all must.
This is in part because instead of all happening in DC or NYC or Chicago or LA, they are happening now in every city and town, and sometimes village! From the North Slope of Alaska to Guam. I stood out for 2 hours with 9 other people in a miserable sleet-storm at a highway crossroads in the wee town of Easthampton MA in 2019--and we got a whole lot of honks from commuters on their way home!
Unless they are shot in the head or secreted away to gulags. The protests would have to hit hard and fast and parallyzling before the Fascists could widdle the protrst leaders away.
This situation terrifies me. I am working to GOTV for elections this fall and next year, but in case they go south I’m also gathering facts and doing some visiting to determine whether a move to Ireland is feasible for a retired person.
I am also a retired person, and i am currently gathering facts and am going to do some visiting to determine whether to move to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia Canada. Both Canada and Ireland has a Social Security agreement with the United States, but i don't know about my pension though. I am most concerned with my stamina as i had major heart surgery 9 years ago and i get tired easily. I just can't fathom the thought of having to live under a Fascist Dictatorship, makes me sick just to think about it.
Bill, I must agree with you. Once a dictator takes over this nation, many others will follow. People often choose not to think clearly, even in the most enlightened democracies. For many people, autocracy seems to offer them the most benefits. It can happen at first, but gradually their rights trickle away and they are living at the whim of old white men who care nothing for them except for the adulation and tax money they can get from them. By that point, it is probably too late to do anything to stop them, as the people of Russia and the former members of the Soviet Union that were reabsorbed into Russia have learned. We have too much to lose here, so let's decide together we will not lose all to a child-man and the whining Republicans he wants to use to make him feel important. We need to pressure the powers that be related to the Trump indictments to get moving with some of the actual trials for the crimes Trump has already committed and from which he wants to be pardoned by himself if he is elected again. That is corruption 101 and We the People need to "just say 'no'" so we can save our nation.
There are reasons I may need to leave: I've fought fascism here for 50+ years and that comes with a price. You don't know Mr. Phillips' story either. Best to save our anger for people we know a lot about, whose deeds and behaviors may be affected by it. Joe Manchin's always a good target, I find! Justice Alito comes in handy too, though he has a job for life and doesn't care what I think....
I am not angry, Im middle aged (is that the same as being angry?) and my kids will have to deal with it if I dont. Ive heard the solution to many political differences being to run from them (from both Righties and Lefties) and that has always irked me. You are right I dont know his situation and god knows financially.we are all in a bind. It is better to pursue ones path than to listen to other people telling you what you should do.
I'm angry!--and using that anger I've been fighting for the kids since I was one, back in the Pleistocene. To repeat, I don't plan to "run from political differences." Nor if I went to Ireland would I stop fighting. I agree with you that we must fight, for all we're worth: it's our duty as parents of the next generations. I need to be in a position to be able to fight, that's all.
I sympathize-- have Long Covid so am also battling constant fatigue these last 3 or 4 years with no end in sight. It makes the whole thing feel impossible sometimes. But I'm heartened by the intense friendliness and generosity of Irish people in the places I've visited, mainly Galway and Cork. I don't know details about the Social Security agreement--I can presumably get my SS income checks anywhere, but my worry is that Medicare won't cover me in Ireland, and of course I wouldn't be covered under their version of it.
Glad you found help! I have no B12 or any other vitamin deficiency. Research is ongoing into micro-clots as an explanation for our exhaustion and difficulty breathing, but it's early days alas.
Yes, but do those 'agreements' still hold, and are they honored when the fascist gummint of the U.S. TOTALLY obliterates Social Security, as I expect would be one of the very FIRST things they do after seizing absolute power?!?
Either way, I am not sure what would happen if these Fascist Rethug, domestic terrorists totally kills Social Security,,, i am totally screwed either way, if i stay here i will be homeless and if i go to Canada i will be homeless. I will not be able to pay the mortgage here if they do that. The way homeowners insurance cost has went up, and with these Fascists in the county i live have tripled my property tax, it has almost doubled my mortgage payments. I pay more into my escrow now than what i pay on the mortgage to cover those expenses. My homeowners insurance was $800 a year 4 years ago, and now it's $2500 a year now, and my property tax went from $380 4 years ago to $1100 a year now. Guess i will have make me a cardboard house somewhere.
I am in even worse yet stead, as I will be out on the streets (not a homeowner) if they obliterate my EARNED BENEFITS just because it has "social" in the name, and that it saves their fascist oligarchal corporations/donors much coin.
So, at that point I may as well join an underground antiFAAAAHH (as their putrid orange POS fuehrer says it) resistance group, and live nomadically while at least trying to fight the pond scum 'Muricun Nazis until they capture and torture me, yup, even at 70 years of age.
I am 68 myself, i may have to do exactly the same thing as you are doing. I just can't understand why the Democrats are doing nothing to stop this violation of Federal Laws, especially our voter laws. If these Nazi, Fascist goons come after me, i am going to fight back with all i have. I know i will lose in the long run, but a few or them will be taken out if they come after me. I do not own any firearms at this time, but i may get one if these Fascist/NAZI Goons take over late next year. I wanted to go to Canada, but it seems they only let the ''elite'' people emigrate there now. I know of an area in Maine where i could cross illegally, but i would have to be desperate to try that.
Yes, I was up right along the border in Maine many years ago, maybe even over the border at times, and there is nothing there to stop anyone, and very few border agents patrolling up in that area.
But, the 4th REICH under SCUMp SHITler will most likely set up a Gestapo-like fascist goon squad (or just convert the FBI, Federal Marshals, etc. into one) to track down and rendition any of us that flee there anyway, to send us to their death camps.
Might as well FIGHT them with all we've got, and take out a few POS NAZIS along the way before they end us. ;)
Yes, I also hate the thought of buying one of their 'precious' symbol/icon weapons of mass death, but it will happen if they get into power, or if it even appears that they will take control of this land. :(
I don’t know if this is still true but since Canada has national health insurance, they used to do some level of health screening for potential emigres. They would never let me in! But I would never move somewhere with winters worse than Minnesota, so it’s probably a moot point for me.
Don't worry, Trump won't be elected President, because the Climate Emergency will trump him! If we take the most recent past Presidential elections as a guide, where the Democrats have been gaining an average of one million votes per year (they won the popular vote by 3 million in 2016 and 7 million in 2020), the 2024 results will be 11 million for Biden-Harris. And by the way, I'm also betting that Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee in 2028 and win by 16 million votes! Any takers out there?
Actually I'm not too pleased how the Democratic Party establishment foists their designated presidential nominees on us without a truly fair selection by its members, from Clinton to Biden to Harris, who was 1 of the first to drop out of the 2020 primary due to lack of support. As an Oregonian, the only time my vote counted was in 2008 between Obama & Clinton. Other than that, the primary is always already decided by the time I get to vote as the party establishment pressures other candidates to drop out & rally behind their choice. This time it's already a foregone conclusion before anyone has a chance to vote that it will be Biden/Harris even though there is serious concern about whether Biden's health can hold up.
I’ve always lived in lower populated states. With the exception of the election when we had just moved, I have always voted. If you end the Electoral College I won’t vote again. One vote out of potentially 258,000,000 votes? I don’t buy Powerball or Mega Million tickets for the same reason.
With the Electoral College only a few swing states matter, and none of them have small populations. OH & FL used to be swing states and are now solidly Red. VA & NC used to Red and are now Purple. The states with very small populations like VT, WY, ND, SD, ID are meaningless in presidential politics.
I was reading about this very subject in The Bulwark yesterday.If we aren't frightened, we're up the creek without a paddle.This is heavy duty serious stuff,folks.
I am reminded of Rage Against The Machine's "Wake Up"that is played at the end of the original Matrix.We Need to WAKE UP before it's too damned late to matter!!
And make absolutely no mistakes,if we allow Trump to get back in office,we are royally #*%#*$@.When we say he means to eliminate his"enemies",he means DEAD AS A DOORNAIL.Don't think for a single minute he wouldn't have people lined up and shot.He likely has a list already,and is adding to it every single day.He wants to be KING TRUMP,and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal.
And,BTW,I know that people are hearing about the backlog of passports that's been going on.Just to clarify,this is because people are trying to get ready to get the hell out of Dodge if Trump is allowed back in office.I believe he will close our borders so WE can't escape him.Do you really think he wants his enemies to escape him?
These prosecutors need to get the ducks in a row right NOW,and stop wasting time,and get him out of the way,before it's too late to matter.He would be very happy to put these people first on the list to be eliminated.He would make examples of all of them.
If you think this is hyperbole, remember what he's already tried to do before,and we managed to stop him.What if he can't be stopped the next time...???Do we really want to think about that?
Melissa - understood. But just want ya to know, I'm stuck in Greece waiting for a replacement passport so I can get back to the U.S. It'll take months and I just wanna get home. The U.S. needs me and I'm not going anywhere while I've still got the energy to be a pain-in-the-@ss. Trust me. I'm an expert.
Yes, one would THINK that would be some primo motivation for lightning SPEED on the part of Smith, and all of the other prosecutors and others indicting the SCUMp SHITler, in ALL of the cases against him.
QUESTION and FIGHT, tooth and nail, every single BS delay tactic that the orange turd's 'legal team' throws out there, or that the insipid sycophant 'judge' attempts to throw into the works to slow it down.
Their agencies, or anyone else for that matter will NOT be able to protect them once this evil POS DESPOT is in power FOR LIFE!
Trump was elected to kill "the deep state," and as president "pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in an eerie faceoff. On one side was the specter of a “Deep State” conspiracy-administrators threatening to thwart the will of the people and undercut the constitutional authority of the president they elected to lead them. On the other side was a raw personalization of presidential power, one that a theory of “the unitary executive” gussied up and allowed to run roughshod over reason and the rule of law. The Deep State and the unitary executive framed every major contest of the Trump presidency. Like phantom twins, they drew each other out and wrestled to light basic issues of governance long suppressed." https://global.oup.com/academic/product/phantoms-of-a-beleaguered-republic-9780197543085?cc=us&lang=en&#
Article II, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power in “a president of the United States.” Those words do not seem ambiguous. Under the Constitution, the President, and no one else, has executive power. The executive is therefore “unitary.”
However, the United States federal civil service is the civilian workforce (i.e., non-elected and non-military public sector employees) of the United States federal government's departments and agencies. The federal civil service was established in 1871 (5 U.S.C. § 2101) Before that a president could appoint or fire any employee at will. Some employees [like me] could be fired only for "cause."
The Constitution lists several "departments" of the executive branch: the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the other departments in the President's Cabinet are examples of administrative agencies. Other examples include the Social Security Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Labor Relations Board. The first "independent" agency, a hybrid of the executive and legislative branch, with power to enact its own rules was the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1881.
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Pub. L. 79–404, 60 Stat. 237, enacted June 11, 1946, is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations and it grants U.S. federal courts oversight over all agency actions.[2] According to Hickman & Pierce, it is one of the most important pieces of United States administrative law, and serves as a sort of "constitution" for U.S. administrative law.[3]
The APA applies to both the federal executive departments and the independent agencies.[ U.S. Senator Pat McCarran called the APA "a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated" by federal government agencies.
The U.S. civil service is managed by the Office of Personnel Management, which as of December 2011 reported approximately 2.79 million civil servants employed by the federal government, including employees in the departments and agencies run by any of the three branches of government (the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch) and the over 600,000 employees of the U.S. Postal Service.
FDR enlarged the number and authority of agencies, but he was faced with the depression and WWII. Reagan craved more power and Justice Roberts was a lawyer in the White House who tried to develop it as in 1987, Reagan issued a signing statement that declared: "If this provision were interpreted otherwise, so as to require the President to follow the orders of a subordinate, it would plainly constitute an unconstitutional infringement of the President's authority as head of a unitary executive branch."
The George W. Bush administration made the Unitary Executive Theory a common feature of signing statements.[22] For example, Bush once wrote in a signing statement that he would, "construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power."[23] Critics acknowledge that part of the President's duty is to "interpret what is, and is not constitutional, at least when overseeing the actions of executive agencies," but critics accused Bush of overstepping that duty by his perceived willingness to overrule US courts.
Unfortunately, even the Obama administration fell to power. Not only did he retain most of the security-related actions of the Bush presidency (the state secrets doctrine, targeted killings of terror suspects, warrantless wiretapping), but he went even farther than his predecessor in some areas (e.g., drone strikes). Moreover, he employed unilateral powers across an array of domestic policy areas (e.g., immigration policy, implementation of the Affordable Care Act), to the consternation of his opponents and the confusion of many of his supporters. Unilateralism became Obama’s preferred method for getting things done in Washington.
INHO Trump was forever looking for "emergencies" to declare himself unitary executive, i.e. king. In the first few months of Trump's administration, he signed three executive orders that gutted unions representing federal workers. He appointed three “anti-union” members to the Federal Labor Relations Board and a General Counsel who consistently issued anti-union rulings when advising the FLRB. Trump undermined OSHA protections and methodically implemented ten “requests” from the pro-business US Chamber of Commerce designed to weaken unions. In 2018, he went after people like me, appointed under Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution, to be appointed under a spoils system.
Daniel, a lot of great information, but that is really depressing. It does prove that absolute power does corrupt a lot if not absolutely. Trump does not have the wherewithall to understand all the bad things he can do if re-elected, but his equally corrupt cronies do and will kindly shovel that information to him in tiny tidbits he can understand while he gleefully watches a whole lot of people getting hurt while he remains above the law. Democrats and others who care about this nation need to be mobilizing against this potential outcome.
I did not know that it was that bad. Attack Federal labor unions to reduce their "push back" by employees (and also protections) when unitary "privledge" runs amok. You dont like it? Your fired.
No. I retired although I had the ability to become a "Senior Judge." I was 75. I was hired through merit selection, which Trump killed in favor of the spoils system.
Thank you, Daniel. Very informative. I've never really understood the "Deep State" concept that trump blames and wants to destroy. I guess his habits of lying and taking a victim position on virtually everything directed me to skepticism about his Deep State claims. While I can imagine a population of Civil Service employees contributing to the appearance of "bloat" in the government, I always assumed they were invisible and generally advancing the interests and performing necessary tasks and functions of government. I'm not likely to read 'Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic.' I appreciate your sharing some history of the tension between the delegated authorities and responsibilities of the Executive and the Executive himself.
What is your take on the Deep State vs Executive power struggle, please? Is the business of government served by those delegated authorities? Thank you. Part of me wants to simplify the dispute to petty bickering. At the top of government, perhaps petty bickering spills over into party politics and those eternal battles.
Thank you for your prompt response! I downloaded your paper and will read it later. I'm very glad to know our country has servants who think deeply about these issues!
We are facing worse than authoritarianism. The apex of the MAGA leadership features genocidal intentions. Believe it. They are genocidal. How are 5,000 children taken from their parents as "punishment" otherwise? How can so many unarmed blacks be shot to death by police over traffic stops and misdemeanors? Just recently a black man was stabbed just because ... he was black. And Kari Lake . . . She told an interviewer that the big problem with DeSantis's big mistake in his mistreatment of Venezuelan refugees was that "we're spreading them too far inland." The word "vermin" immediately popped into my head when I heard her say it. Even Melania ... her jacket bore the message, "I don't really care. Do you?" when she was on her way to visit an island ravaged by a terrible hurricane full of Latinos, and her husband the president didn't even know they were citizens of the U.S. And besides Neo-nazis, there's Moms for Liberty who quote Hitler and then own it. And of course, there's Margie. She claims that Satan took over the Catholic Church for two reasons which she equates: (a) pedophilia, and (b) they comforted and aided refugees crossing the southern border. My God! We cannot be indifferent when we see it coming. This is the greatest struggle of our lifetime! If you don't do anything else, volunteer with democrats. We don't have time for third parties, and fancy footwork. If Godzilla turns out to be the great opponent of the GOP, vote for Godzilla. We don't have any other chance on this burning planet.
I think this is chilling stuff. We should be very alarmed. I live in the UK, which, I fear, would follow the lead of the U.S. were this to happen. The 'International Dictator Club' is always open to new members! We are sleepwalking into this and the Climate Emergency. What will our descendents say about us?
This is an attempted replay of 1930s Germany. Prevent the spread!
Help get out the BLUE vote.
Yes, it is. Quite early during the Trump administration I predicted Trump would try to stay in power any way he could. It was his attitude towards dictators -- his obsequious deference to Putin (I called him "the Siberian Candidate" almost from the beginning), his open admiration for Xi ("wish I could be President for Life, too"), his "love affair" with Kim Jong Un (expressing his desire that Americans obediently rise & applaud Trump the way North Koreans do for KJU), & his tight connections with the Saudis & assisting MBS with his coverup of the Khashoggi murder -- his penchant for shutting down the government, his obstruction of the Mueller investigation, his capricious firing of members of his administration & installing unqualified people who would toe the line, attempts to undermine the 2020 elections & sowing doubt about the results, & various other authoritarian tendencies.
The insurrection against the Capitol was predictable. The only thing that I predicted that didn't come to pass was his declaration of martial law, but he was clearly contemplating it (Flynn urged him to do that). Apparently he chickened out at the last moment. I could see parallels between the GOP & German Nazis of the 1930s early on.
I am heartened that political commentators like Robert Reich & Thom Hartmann have caught on & been warning about the imminent danger to what's left of our democracy by Trump & the GOP, but most other journalists & politicians have been lagging woefully behind, still treating it like normal disputes between parties, & many journalists & media organizations are complicit. So are (& probably more so than any other entity aside from the GOP) the billionaire corporate donors that are pulling the strings in this corporatocracy. Russia has contributed substantially to our current political instability, too.
Unfortunately the media is perpetuating Trump and his supporters. Yesterday on the news (NBC) they seemed to be sympathizing with one of the fake electors stating she was 70 and would die in prison. Unbelievable! Here people did die because of the insurrection, what about sympathy for those people?
The media should not be slanting their reporting so as to give sympathy to criminals. Those 16 fake electors knew what they were doing and should suffer the consequences.
NY Times-- for one-- put a story the other day that simply reports on what Trump (and Republicans') plans are: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html
When they tell you who they are, vote them out.
This story shows it's not just Trump-- there is a machine of people supporting the fascist-- er, I mean, "unitary executive theory"; Trump is just a vehicle; we can reasonably expect another Republican to espouse it as well.
This time, because of the almost 40% of NON-VOTING ELECTORATE, you'll have to do more: help get the BLUE VOTE out.
The challenge is how do we help those who don't follow politics, or those who just get sound bites, or those who have some sense for what's going on but don't vote SEE WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING so they WILL vote? It'd be important anyway, but with the potential of a third party to siphon off critical votes the challenge is even greater. The abortion issue has captured the attention of the majority of us -- possibly build on that, since it is represents only the beginning of what's about to go down if the fascists "win"??
Chilling story
So sick of the media misleading … poor her …. It was her choice that has consequences…
Why can't they just report who-what-where-when-why, instead of wallowing in opinionism like everyone else... Oh! I know why!! Opinions garner clicks!! and the right-leaning owners just want to bury the truth and go for clicks/$$$.
If she is not too old to do the crime...she's not too old do the time!!!
Republicans are law breakers and they think that they should not face any consequences. They keep breaking more and more laws every day. With Republicans politicians in power, the democrats are having a hard time putting them in jail.
I don't understand why this is unless the House and Supreme Court still exert too much overall control. What the hell is the Justice Department doing?
Agreed. If a person wishes to participate in an egregious crime, perhaps they should consider the potential consequences ahead of time. In this and many other cases of crazy schemes now being prosecuted, I keep wondering: WTF were these people thinking?!
They all drank the “Trump administered Kool Aide” filled with his poisonous LIES.
He told them he won the election. They believed him. He told them he would fight with them at the Capitol. They believed him. He told them the DOJ and the Democrats were on a “witch hunt” to destroy him politically. They believed him. He told him ‘I did not commit adultery with all those women; I didn’t rape anyone; I didn’t collude with Russia to win the election; none of my indicted cabinet members did anything wrong; I didn’t take and keep classified documents; I will lower your taxes, and I believe in abortion’ (after gloating that he was responsible for the Roe vs Wade being overturned). They believed him.
He is on record as the MOST notorious LIAR of all the presidents, and yet they continue to believe him.
You are right. They took him at his word. But he is a con man with a long, well established history and reputation for lying & grifting. It is amazing to me how willingly these people allow themselves to be manipulated. They must be very naive, ill informed or willfully ignorant. They seem incapable of critical thinking, and that is sad.
Same psychological type as Putin. Specifically, Drumpf's body language and facial expressions are not those of a liar (at least to me). That's because he believes whatever he says at the moment. But we know he's lying because we know how to analyze statements and research facts. Those of us with at least a little education have a highly developed Lingual Pollution Detector that ferrets out the Drumpf personality.
"Most notorious" of ALL LIARS, anywhere, OF ALL TIME, NOT just of all of the presidents. ;)
It's a cult of mind control,there's a book'The Cult of Trump',the author is sharing it and training clinicians how to deprogram folks.It can be done,Gave alot of hope .
Just like Boris Johnson!
I think that Trump may have a little difficulty with the abortion issue in the general election. Many of the right-wing Evangelical and Catholic voters were essentially single-issue voters. Now, if they don't follow politics too closely, they may still vote for him, presuming that he is still "pro-life." Some of them may be aware that he is now the best, greatest, most pro-choice candidate there ever was and still vote for him, thinking that he is still more "pro-life" than Biden, especially as Trump had Roe V. Wade overturned. Some may still vote for him, thinking that he is the most Christian candidate and will do more to implement "Christianity" in the country. But some of them may choose to sit this one out if they really were true, sincere "pro-life" voters only with neither candidate being "pro-life." He would have to make up for those lost votes somehow.
I am white...I can do anything I want.
We allowed the media to become owned by a tiny handful of old, rich, white, men. We see, hear, and read what they allow us to. They are among our oligarchs. They like the idea of autocracy and dividing up the rest of the USA to reward themselves and the other oligarchs.
70-year-olds should know better.
This 80 YO DOES !
YES, THIS!!
The history of WW2, and what lead up to it was still taught back when they were in high school, EVEN IF it was slanted a bit to make Nazism and fascism not look quite as bad as it actually was, in order to appease McCarthy/McCarthyism.
NO EFFING EXCUSES WHATSOEVER are acceptable from them!
I have NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT for those fascist destroyers of democracy fake electors, despite their age, and the consequences of that.
I despise them, especially how insistent and obstinate they were at the Michigan State House when confronting the Michigan State Troopers at that building's door, DESPITE knowing just how abjectly WRONG they were.
They knew PRECISELY what they were doing, and exactly what the consequences would be had they been successful in their evil endeavors.
FED UP WITH THE MEDIA MERRY-GO-ROUND. A FASCIST CRIMINAL SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN ANY LEEWAY TO AIR HIS VIEWS. HE LOST THAT RIGHT WHEN HE BROKE THE LAW AND VIOLATED SO MANY GUIDELINES!!
I agree! He’s a RAPIST on top of being an adulterer, a liar, a treasonous criminal, who has a major mental disorder that psychiatrists felt back in 2015 that he was not mentally equipped for the presidency.
I am aghast that SO FAR he is still being allowed to campaign for 2024, is being treated as a legitimate candidate when he is anything BUT, and worst of all, keeps going up in the polls every time he is indicted, like he is some kind of persecuted martyr.
He and especially his followers make me seriously ILL!! 😠
She should be old enough to know better!!!
Right on the nose. And if the Electoral vote count had been fully delayed on Jan 6, you would have been correct about martial law as well.
When I first got into liberal politics in Chicago in the 70's (against the Democratic machine of Richard J. Daley), I went to a meeting of people who were just starting to oppose that machine. There was a man, Donald Page Moore, who had run for States Attorney in Illinois and gave a rousing speech, saying in effect that you god damn liberals (that's a quote) need to get off your butts and go out there and work instead of being complacent that you have voted correctly, that it isn't good enough to just vote right. And, there was eventually a large group called the Independent Precinct Organization (IPO) that was several years later aligned with the IVI (Independent Voters of Illinois) which was the affiliate of ADA (Americans for Democratic Action). The IVI didn't do much action BUT they did review all the judges on the ballot and provided ballots to take into the polls so that we were not blindly voting for people that we didn't even know were good or not. BUT WE, the IPO took action. WE ran our own candidates, as well as endorsed other democratic liberal candidates (small d because there were a couple of liberal republicans) and we had a well organized cadre of our own precinct captains, area chairmen, and other organizational honchos, as well as publicity people, people who ran coffees, etc., etc. AND IT WAS ALL VOLUNTEER. AND WE WON ELECTIONS! We won state rep candidates and aldermanic candidates and worked for judicial reform and community problems. We had people canvassing voters to find out who was going to vote for our candidates and then our "job" was to get those people to the polls. We had election watchers in the precincts because you cannot even imagine what cheating went on because the machine had precinct captains whose jobs with the City were dependent on getting out their vote. We had watchers all day long in the polling places from 6 in the morning (to make sure no votes were already cast on the machines) to 7 or 8 or more at night to make sure the figures on the machines were counted right and written down right and to make sure no shenanigans were done during the day (and I could tell you hair raising stories). Times have changed and methods of voting have changed. But this is to say that the people need to be engaged, that they need to "rise up" and actually DO something . If everyone worked their areas all over the country, a Donald Trump or other dictator could not win, despite the stupid media.
Couldn't read all of your post but agree with the first part that it's going to take action and Democrats and reasonable Americans getting off their butt and doing some work. It's going to take action and it must start now!
It has taken DECADES to unseat Mike Madigan, aka Mr. Machine in the post-Daley era. Illiinois politics is a whole universe unto itself. Institutionalized corruption that has fits and starts of increments of reform, and Trump has some history in Chicago politics, but I think it may have beaten him. To use Chicago vernacular: Trump needs a tune-up and let's hope to goodness that Smith, Garland, and voters are ready and willing to administer that tune-up.
I don't live in Chicago anymore and all that I know is what I read, mostly about mayoral elections. But every now and then, I see something about a known machine guy, like Vredolyak (and I think I spelled that wrong) and remember all the crazies that went on at City Council.... like once when they turned Dick Simpson's microphone off and the how the general vote call would go. Daley would tell Bilandic and Bilandic would get the signal to say yes or no. And then they would go ward, by ward. All no's until the 5th ward (Abner Mikva) and then yes until the 16th Ward, Anna Langford and the no's all the way to Bill Singer and Dick Simpson (of the 43rd and 44th ward and possibly whomever was aldermen (or there was an alderwoman sometime later) of the 46th, 48th and 50 th wards.
Fantastic? Please tell usore!
What do you want to know? Our exact system? I can describe it in detail if you want. But ultimately the idea is that many times we beat the "machine" at their own game and without paying off anyone or even paying our leaders.
Yes, it is now very hard to believe that a polka-dotted unicorn with hen's teeth creature such as a 'liberal republican' has EVER EXISTED, given the steadfast, hellbent on outright fascism, 'Muricun NAZI Party they have become. :( :(
At the time i wasv alking about there was no place for a Democrat who was not a part of the Machine. So he would run on a Republican ticket. Illinois had a unique system for voting for state reps. It was called bullet voting. Each person had 3 votes. You could use 2 on 1 person oand 1 vote on another. To get good candidates in office we would bullet vote, that is casting all 3 of our votes on one person.
Jill, I’m speechless. WOW!
Keith Olbermann calls media that feel compelled to treat both sides equally as having "bothsiderism." I just received Hartmann's new book, "Rediscovering Humanity's Ancient Way of Living." Your post is going into my "time capsule" folder as one of my entries suggested. Well said.
Oh, thanks!
Olbermann is another of my favorite political commentators. Very blunt, gets straight to the point!
I am MIGHTELY heartened by the fact that Trumplicans make up now LESS THAN 30% of this countryty! ([sic] Old habits die hard.)
OUR military makes up part of the AMERICAN half, even if a good number of the grunts hate us for not supporting Dear Leader.
Great comment. All the signs are here, we are headed for a dictatorship. Control the vote, and the count, and keep repeating the lie, and scapegoat some minorities - Nazi Germany here we go. Book burning, undermine institutions, dictate what can or can not be taught in schools. One more election and this democracy will be history. (Add RFK jr and No Label Party and Biden will not make it. The hand writing is on the wall, ignore at your peril.
Ain't gonna happen,keep the faith,the author of 'The Cult of Trump' knows how to deprogram folks,this can be done!
It's hard to press "Like" to your comment because I do NOT like it, but I fear you are correct. I very much fear it. Whether Biden-Harris actually win the 2024 election, the Trump mob and crime syndicate and cult may create such chaos and frenzy, such misuse of the courts and the system of elections, not to mention violence and terrorizing activities, that the seemingly endless reign of terror will go on and on with Trump, or whoever his surrogate is, acting as an unelected - and unwanted by the majority - shadow government, with media feeding that beast even if it's reporting it as "bad news."
That's the way it's been since Biden was elected. Constant agitation, obstruction & demagoguery from the republofascists.
One hundred percent agree.
One of OUR problems is, to get people to understand the threat, especially to get through to the conservatives, you have to give them the info, and they see it as arrogant lecturing, and they’d rather see a meme.
Maybe it should go out on social media,I wonder what that new'Thread' is like.
I agree that it is not surprising that Trump would want complete control but should it be possible for him to actually usurp our constitution?
It shouldn't be, but I don't see adequate nor timely pushback from the administration (including the DOJ, at least until Jack Smith got on the case), Congress, the courts, the media or the public, with a substantial number of elements in all these groups supporting & abetting Trump's treachery. Even international leaders & institutions have been quite quiet, without the admonitions we normally hear against a rogue state or their leader, although I know that many citizens of foreign countries are very concerned. Without forceful resistance it becomes possible for wannabe dictators to succeed.
The silent majority (?) Is killing democy
The irony is that 99% of Republicans vote contrary to their personal economic and health issues.
Most are "culture" a/k/a cult voters. Trump's major attraction for many is a cult of personality.
Jack Smith is a shark,he's going for the jugular.
Very well-expressed!
Unfortunately, this is based on facts.
I thought Trumplethinskin would institute martial law at some point in his presidency, too. Pretty much everything else he did I expected. I still haven’t come to terms with so many people that were ‘surprised’ he would do whatever it was he’d done that day. I saw it coming the day he announced his candidacy.
Exactly!
I remember saying of Trump, "he will never leave" - and that appears to be proving to be true. Even now, impeached, indicted, out of office, he dominates the news, all the time.
Chilling, yes. Terrifying, yes. Horrifying, yes. Possible? Because, when it comes to political changes most of us thought would never be possible, we now know they are.
One wonders what kinds of mentalities are seriously entertaining, even planning for, the transformation of this country into an authoritarian/totalitarian/dictatorial/oligarchic state.
We know some of the people -- Trump, Bannon, Flynn, Miller, McCarthy, Jordan, Greene, Paul, Cruz, Hawley, DeSantis, Abbott, Lake, Alito, Thomas & most of the Republican Party holding government positions; Murdoch, Koch, Mercer, Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Leo, Crowe & most of the billionaire corporate executives. Basically all those who think they would be part of the ruling class in a fascist oligarchy
Maryk, you are right in making the connection between what is happening now and what happened in 1930s Germany and Italy. Republicans are furious when the comparison is made, but the reality is there are close similarities, Republican leaders know it, want to keep the rest of us from knowing it too, and acting to stop it, and stop it we must if we are to keep going as a free people.
GOP 'anger' is, like all their public communications, a show in a scene they are hoping ends in 'unitary executive theory'.
What a load of it they expect Americans to buy into-- oh wait, if Republicans gain the majority, they won't even pretend to care what their electorate wants.
They obviously don't even care right now.
It makes one wonder WHY they even bother with the pretense of voting and elections in the FIRST place.
IF they feel all that omnipotently powerful, why not just get all of those in our military, law enforcement, and their heavily armed, foaming at the mouth brownshirt civilians, all who want fascism even MORE than they do, and go for an all-out, bloody, PHYSICAL PUTSCH to overthrow our democracy, and install a pure fascist dictatorship?
Not THAT confident, maybe??
As Trump burst upon the political scene in 2015 {seeped out of the entertainment scene as from a burst soil pipe, maybe}, pundits began to say that he held the power to bring down our Democracy. I thought that was over-stated.
It wasn’t. It’s not Trump, per se, who is doing it, but he is the tool being used to do it. As a carnival barker attracts the rubes and talks them out of their money with promises of wonders to be seen, so Trump attracts the rubes and talks them out of their votes with promises of wonders to be achieved.
Egad.
And talk them out of their money as well. I thought most of these people were from the rust belt and very poorly gifted when it comes to economics. In other words I thought they were poor. How can they afford to send all this money to tRump. The truth is they are members of the Trump cult. As such they send their nickels and dimes and quarters and dollars and $5 and $10 every time Trump asks. Therein lies the problem and they're in is a proof that they are members of a cult.
Some of them must have some actual money as well, despite being stone dumb, brain dead 'rubes' (a term which is MUCH TOO kind to them, BTW!), as there are only so many; $90K diesel dually coal rollas, multiple $45K side by sides (and the trailers to transport all of them!), and $50K's worth of war weapons of mass death and the ammo for them one can buy on credit, before one loses it all, and has no more credit to keep buying these peckerwood 'toyz'. ;)
Yeah, why I also call total BULLSHIT on their supposed 'economic anxiety' victimhood, which the effing media, and that POS fascism pusher J.D. Vance so insincerely writes about in his apologetically garbage book.
. . . a chicken in every pot, and a new pick-up truck in every driveway !
REDNECK DEFINITION OF HEAVEN?? 😑🤨
GOD HELP US
Ruth and Mary, And may I add to “ Republican leaders know,it, want to keep the rest of us from knowing it too,” not just knowing it but understanding it that some in their base may understand it. For when you understand, then you begin to question, and until you question you do nothing to to change the outcome. Excellent comments ladies. Thank you for your insight and commentary.
The Evangelical Right has been taught to obstruct teaching “critical thinking,” because it is “liberal code for questioning authority.”
That’s what they told me in the 1990s. Knows what’s happening? Understand what’s happening? QUESTION what’s happening? They’ve been getting rid of those behaviors for a while now …
You are quite right, Maryk. Then, as now, numerous disparate groups with competing political agendas refused to work together for Germany's common good while the rest of the public gave way to the true enemy: complacency.
at this rate, there won't be any (living) descendants left to curse us ...
but that's just my protective snark-shell. truth is, i'm extremely rattled by the slow-but-fast morphing of our once-great-nation into dictatorship. (being of Ashkenazi descent doesn't help). Yes, i'm very alarmed.
Lani: I am alarmed and fearful, as well. (In 1940, a gentile friend of my grandfather’s warned him he was on the list to be picked up by the Gestapo. He immediately packed a bag and left. My grandmother followed, packing up my aunt and my mother. They were on the last train out before the Nazis closed the German/Russian border. The remainder of our family died in a camp in Minsk.)
I’m with Maryk, below. It’s imperative we get out the BLUE VOTE.
Stephanie, Please encourage all your friends with a family history like yours to speak out because maybe descendants of Holocaust victims can make a greater impact than folks like me, who get labeled "bleeding heart liberals." Not that I'm shamed of the label...I desperately don't want your message to be ignored for the sake of our country and future generations. It breaks my heart to hear your story and I hope others will read it, feel it and do something so it will never happen again.
Carolyn, we need “bleeding heart liberals”. They’re the ones who say to others, “let me tell you about a friend/acquaintance of mine whose family…” All of you post, write letters, go to meetings and support each other and the rest of us. May the “Powers That Be in Nirvana” bless and keep us all!
YESSSS! I am Jewish, born in 1942, and was always aware that if my grandparents had not emigrated to the U.S. and I was born in Germany, there was little chance that I would live nor would my family.
Jill, please read my response to Stephanie Wellemeyer. Thank you for sharing your story and please ask others to do so.
Stephanie: thanks for sharing your powerful and chilling personal story. My heart goes out to you ... having to fear a repeat is too much for anyone to bear. This time around, i fear there will be nowhere to run to. And personally -- At 73, with a husband who is too challenged by physical ailments to consider leaving our home, and no relatives or connections outside of the U.S.A., I feel pretty much stuck here - no matter what. I've contemplated deleting 6 years of personal Facebook posts -- all political, all posting articles that clearly express my feelings of despair and rage. Doubt that would help, cause I'm sure "Meta" has it all archived. Additionally, the folks I follow on Medium and Sub-stack would be clear give-aways for where i stand. I'm starting to think (given my age) that a deliberate overdose might be the way to go if life becomes intolerable or we're in danger of a Nazi "final solution" -- right here in America. Haven't stocked up yet, but if the unthinkable happens in Nov. of 2024 it will be time to stock up. Meanwhile, I'm in awe of the bravery shown by the folks I follow --- and I do fear for them as I fear for all of us. I know that fear is neither healthy nor helpful ... but never-the-less, it's near impossible to to dispel for those of us with and active amygdala!
Lani, despite the challenges in your life, and they do sound difficult, please don’t “give up the ghost”. I’m 74 and the classic spinster, complete with white hair, books, and cats! Contemplating a possible Trumpian/authoritarian future scares the poo out of me also, but keep reminding yourself that all the posting you do keeps your opinions and insights in front of people. What you do and say comes from your lifetime of learning and experiences which are invaluable. No matter how old, infirm, or fearful we may be, we can speak out, write letters, email our congress critters, our government agencies, other supporting organizations, VOTE BLUE and encourage others to do likewise.
If worst comes to absolute worst, they’ll need little, old, unpreposessing ladies like us to do the small stuff any opposing organization needs. I’ve forgotten who said it, and the exact wording but “courage isn’t a lack of fear. Courage is being scared s—tless and doing it anyway.” (And tell your amygdala to shut up! It can come and visit mine and the lizards can hang out and commiserate with each other!)
I have MANY, from both sides of my family who did not make it out of; Poland, Galicia (now far western Ukraine), Brest-Litovsk, and the far southeastern Austro-Hungarian Empire. :(
I’m so sorry. It hurts. I’m glad you are here.
Hitler, an early version of a unitary executive, was elected chancellor by the German people. That made German voters of the time responsible for Hitler.
20 million dead later . . .
And remember, Hitler loved the racists of the American south for their open and supposedly scientific justifications for his campaign of hate. Add to that the crash of '29, created by our own wonderful laissez faire lunatics, and you have the exact coalition we're up against now. Hitler did very poorly in '28. He didn't take off until the election of 1930. Similarly, the 2008 downturn Republicans created saw a great spike in reactionary right activity. Republicans create economic losers and then exploit their anger with invented cultural grievances. It's incredibly evil and scary.
“Republicans create economic losers and then exploit their anger with invented cultural grievances.”
Exactly. This is the time-honored playbook of the fascists. And it has worked over and over and over. Those who DO understand history are dooming us by repeating it.
Well said.
The unitary executive theory is complete bullsh*t. It is exactly the opposite of what the founders had in mind. They fought a war to get out from under a king. So much for Scalia and his phony "originalism," a made up word to describe a made up legal idea.
Freedom Caucus, moms for liberty, they are masters of euphemism.
Actually, did you know the instigation of the American Revolution was about a tree? A White Pine to be exact. It was the tree laws and the King taking them for his wars in Europe that started everything. The tax issue came later. I found an excellent book about it.
I have been saying this for some time. We can't forget the voters in this whole debacle. They have voted in too many anti-democracy, pro-big business career politicians who I consider to be a loosely organized plutocracy. We are headed for lunacy.
...and to think THAT is what fully HALF of the cold, cruel, heartless, inhumane beings in THIS land want more than anything else, right now??!
Yes, as we are THE oldest 'go to' scapegoat/blame group in all of history, sadly.
I guess that is what was always meant as "The chosen people"??
Sympathzing greatly!!!
I am very alarmed by this. This scares the beejebers out of me!
It should.
The papers are reporting on what Jeffrey Clark and Russell Vought et al. will do, should Republicans win in 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html
Be scared? How about instead, get prepared?
VOTE REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE-- or you get what some politely call autocracy : fascism.
Maryk, you're right about the papers reporting the whining of Clark et al. What they are not reporting is what that would mean for real people, imprisoning people Trump and Kump don't like or are afraid of, resegregating areas of our nation so Black people and other people of color or LGBTQ people can be preyed upon by the Trumpers and Trumpettes for their own pleasure knowing nothing will be done to them (just like some police departments do now and the Jim Crowers did up until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s). They don't mention that christian nationalism will arise and only christian entities, particularly the white evangelicals will have rights to worship as they choose. Children will be indoctrinated into the right-wing BS that Gov. DeSantis and his crew are dying to begin. In short, our media need to get the word out about what life is likely to be under a second Trump presidency, and it ain't pretty.
Absolutely. Saying something like, 'we're losing our democracy' just doesn't cut it. People-- who are very busy trying to keep or get a roof over their head, enough to eat, and meaningful work-- don't have time/energy to parse "losing our democracy".
YES. A great idea: newspapers should report what will be done to (basically) all educates. EXAMPLE: Trump et al. plan to: "...strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to his agenda. And he plans to scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified ..." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html
WE'VE ALREADY SEEN WHERE TRUMP WAS TAKING IT: Education requirements for some/many federal jobs were removed with an executive order. Between gutting the State Dept. and hiring unqualified people-- he got a good start to dismantling the administration!
Maryk, now, how to we convince the newspapers and other media to begin stating that information about what Trump plans to do and how the ordinary people will suffer under that kind of child-man rule? Is there a way we can make it horrifying enough or glamorous enough to get their attention?
Inform them that unless they are currently about as extremist, fascist rightwing as possible, AND totally loyal and supportive of dear leader SCUMp at the same time, they will be GONE just as fast as all of us 'libtards, dissidents, progressives, and socialists' under his 4th Reich NAZI regime. ;)
They CANNOT 'bothsider' this evil anymore, or pussyfoot around with potentially genocidal fascist regimes!
I wish someone would gift this article.....
And Sam Alito for one supports it.
Andy, unfortunately, the toddler-men care nothing of what will happen to their children or grandchildren. And, unfortunately, maybe because of their bad behavior now, there won't be posterity to think about us at all. We really are running out of time to act but are sucked up by the stupidity of contemplating indictments and trials for Trump and Kump which should have already happened, more than 2-1/2 hears past January 6th and the other Republican shenanigans that happened around the 2020 election. And, anyone who had stolen as many documents of a secret nature that Donald Trump did would be in jail right now. People have been jailed for just a few papers; Trump had at least a hundred that we know of. This distraction keeps us from seeing what the fossil fuelers are doing, that Biden is giving into their whining, the heat in the south and rain in the northeast are really doing harm to this nation, and state legislatures have been permitted to circumvent our Constitution for the whims of racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homo/transphobic rich white folks who are so worried about their position in their world, they care nothing for the rest of us. They ignore the first amendment with their book banning and dictator actions toward teachers, medical personnel, and anyone who does not agree with them. They ignore the 14th amendment that declares basic rights for everyone. They take cases to the Supreme Court that lets the whiny Catholics (except one) on the court granting "religious" people the right to discriminate against others, based on their religion and who cares about the religion clause in the first amendment. That's what we are facing, Republican generated chaos. We keep hearing of our polarized nation without the truth included that Republicans/conservatives have designed and wedged u s into the polarization. We the People who really care need to stand up. Maybe we need to march in the streets to get President Biden to declare a climate emergency. We are about a decade late in doing this, but I suppose it is better late than never.
Trump should be in prison now while awaiting trial as a clear & present danger to public & national security.
Jamie you are so right. Anyone else having committed such crimes should be in jail and waiting trial. This clown, just because he was president, isn't that in jail. He is out busy causing problems for everyone and everything. I don't know how this man would even be allowed to run for a political position of dog catcher much less the president. What is wrong with our laws? I can blame the supreme Court now sure but what kind of into this position we're a politician can go criminal and we can't do it damn thing about it?
Why are politicians so afraid of the Insurrectionest? He wants to be a Dictator! Lock the asshole up before he creates any more division!!!! 👹🍼
Just like the tobacconists, Big Oil knew decades ago, by way of of peer-reviewed research, the effects of CO2 on the atmosphere. They buried the research and undertook a PR disinformation campaign. Once again, profits at any cost, no accountability for the long-term impact. Frontline has an excellent 3-part series on YouTube, 'The Power of Big Oil'.
What about Canada?? That's where i want to go if he somehow steals the election and is installed as Dictator in Chief. What is your take on that, Andy?? I just wished the MSM would report this to the entire United States, but i know they are bought off and not say a darn thing about this as them and large corporations want that horrible SOB back in the White House.
If you have the proper qualifications, you could emigrate to Canada, John. You need to speak one of the official languages--French and English bilingualism is a plus. You must have a skill that is needed.
Be of a certain age range (usually 20s - late 40s) and have enough money to support yourself and your family
Have an education that is equivalent to the Canadian standard of education (usually a university degree, though if you have a skilled trade that is in high demand, that may be enough)
Have at least one year of work experience in a relevant field
Have a good level of English or French, or both
Have a clean police record in your home country
Have a valid job offer, a nomination from a province or territory, a sibling living in Canada, or strong French language skills (optional but helpful)
Right now, Canada is looking for people with technical skills. We opened a competition for people currently in the US on H-1B visas, but that closed in less than a day after we got 10,000 applicants.
I wish you luck, John.
I'm a dual Canadian-US citizen, and I wish all my fellow Americans luck--the kind of luck that doesn't mean you need to look for a democracy to emigrate to. VOTE BLUE!
This laundry list of immigration requirements (no offense you didnt create the requirements) is an inequality in itself. If Immigration law was far the people allowed in should be from all economic and age demographics. Choosing only skilled or only wealthy or only young it discriminates greatly and devalues people who dont fit into these categories. The white guy with the money bags should have to wait as long and have equal rights to the unskilled refugee, not get ahead in line. Again, not attacking you, just the unreasonable and discriminatory requests governments make to entry.
I'm retired. Would Canada accept me as a political refugee?
I wouldnt know. Depending on what state you hail from you may have a real good argument for refugee status. Florida (Climate, Culture Wars, Jailing of voters), Texas (Climate, Electricity and gun wars, voter discrimination and gerrymandering), numerous others extreme abortion restrictions and voting rights violations. Though go light on the climate sfuff, Canada might say heyyy we got a bunch of forest land that just burned up I mean opened up for settling.
Great idea, i can't understand why they have to be so damn picky about emigration. I live in Georgia, it's almost as bad as Florida is.
I agree, but, unfortunately, the Safe Third Country Agreement designates the US as a "safe" country.
Worth a try. Works for “refugees” from south of the border.
If they actually are refugees, of course Canada will accept them, unlike the US which keeps breaking its international agreements.
Canada recently decided to accept up to 10,000 H-1B visa holders from the US; 10,000 had applied before the day was over. Increasingly, many immigrants would rather come to Canada than the US, or so many I know tell me.
Unfortunately, I doubt it--though, if things get bad enough in the States, who knows?
I might try that too. I know of an area in Maine where there is no border crossing, i may have to trade for a 4 WD vehicle to do it though.
It used to be that if you crossed between border crossings, you could claim asylum if you could prove you were a legitimate refugee. Unfortunately, the recently amended Safe Third Country Agreement designates the US as a "safe" country.
I wouldn't want to be a senior citizen in a country as pro-euthanasia as Canada.
Where does this idea come from? I'm an 82 year old Dual National and have never seen any evidence of this assertion. Indeed, Canada has an extraordinary health care system that takes care of every citizen, which is a lot more than you can say for the US, which only supports the Insurance industry. By not having Universal health care, the US guarantees euthanasia for the unfortunate poor amongst others.
Dear Gloria. I must correct your statement. No one in Canada is medically assisted in their death without their specific consent and extensive requirements.
You can find these by looking up MAID law at justice.qc.ca
WHAT? As I understand it, Canada permits assisted suicide, under certain conditions. Is that what you mean by "pro-euthanasia"? If so, there's a world of difference between the two terms.
That is simply not true. In Canada one can have 'medical aid in dying' after extensive tests and meeting all criteria that no improvement in health can be made.
Canada does accept a very large number of refugees. There are different categories of immigrants.
Yes I apologize for the projection. My gripe is with the US. The US has some doozies as far as messed up immigration goes. I find it interesting that Poland a boarder country just like the US also has autocratic leanings. I guess subjugating immigrants and not passing laws to help them is a sure fire indication that autocracy is on the way! Having different categories of immigrants is important so that we dont discriminate against the different groups. My opinion. I think there would be far less "illegal"/paperless immigration if we gave equal thrift to all classes of immigrants. It burns my butt that Milenia Trump got right through our system and brought less than nothing to benefit the US and the law tells us that an immigrant e
without papers who is willing to work isnt allowed to do so? A bad double standard.
Most countries offer an array of benefits that the US does not, hence they are protective of national health services and desire young, healthy workers who will increase the tax revenues (or those who can pay their own way).
It's logical, even if it leads to the ironic result that the US which has restricted immigration for decades is now the country least likely to have its own refugees welcomed by other countries.
No, people who have no qualification but wealth don't qualify.The white guy with the money bags does have to wait as long and does have equal rights to the unskilled refugee. Read the list again.
As for accepting anybody and everybody, even if we have to support them for the rest of their lives on welfare, it would be nice, but we can't afford to be a charity.
I agree with you all the way. I will enter illegally if i have to.
Be careful which province you move to. Alberta voted for a UCP government and they have the Take Back Alberta party. This party is aligned with the GOP ideology.
And Pierre Pollievre ( basically another MAGA) wants to replace Trudeau. Canada definitely has some political problems.
Yeah, but, fortunately, he doesn't have a chance. Stephen Harper poisoned that well for him.
I would avoid Alberta too, as i have also heard they are into crazy crap just like here in the United States. I was thinking about the provinces of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick
'Bleed over' from our bordering inter-mountain western Nazi Militia states, perhaps??
Very likely.
I totally agree. I, unfortunately, live in Alberta.
I’m also dual and hoping to move very soon.
Whatever you do, don't move to Alberta!
Definitely not. Vancouver Island.
Well, if migrants from Central and South America can crash our border with impunity, we can crash the Canadian border also.
Dream on.
Actually, the New York Times did publish an article about Trump's tyranny plan, which is why it is being discussed, in the MSM: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html?smid=url-share
PBS Newshour did a report about it yesterday.
The norder to Canada and the United States in reverse will be closed either by Trump or by the Canadians. If you wish to go to Canada do it now. If you wish to go to Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil do it now before it's too late. However, of you want to stay and fight these SOBs stay here make sure your eyes are open and Open the eyes of everybody around you. Trumpers are members of the Trump cult. They need to be treated as call members. You can't just tell them they are cult members because they won't believe it. They have to be shown what they're believing and what is really going on and that is probably going to take peer-to-peer conversation. What I mean is relative to relative. People who are in that family need to sit down with their fascist cousins and uncles and brothers and just discuss as relatives the various beliefs that they have and why they have them. This could easily call some of them to understand the BS they've been fed and the BS that they believe.
I’m trying to sell my house right now and move. I will still vote absentee but all the signs are there.
I think you are wrong on large corporations and big money donors. On balance more money flows into democratic coffers.
Oh please! Either you are a foolish person, you don't know what you're talking about, or you're a mattress troll. Either way, please go away.
You're not a mattress you're a fascist troll.
A pillow guy fascist troll?
Would that be corporate democrats? Because, overall, I’m not seeing such a trend. Could you please provide a link to this info? You’ve perked my curiosity.
We had a chance in 2008 and 09 but Obama didn't put the bankers in jail. Yes, Mr. President is was illegal! It was appraisal fraud and liars loans. (Bill Black - How to Rob a Bank is to Own One) So now what? They caused a housing crisis that we still will not address which leads to hosts of other problems and/or makes it worse.
Now, we have voted in some Dems and nothing happens.
Are all the Americans going to run to Canada? That seems to be our MO, isn't it?
I sincerely hope the majority doesn't really believe in Trump but we need President Biden and the Dems to step it up and do more. :)
I believe we need to wake up the whole electorate and scour all the scoundrels from dogcatcher to the Congress. Until we get the greedy hands of the corporate scoundrels from the throats and pockets of those who set legislative goals, we are never going to have the kind of governance we need.
Agreed, we can't leave anyone behind. We have public education for everyone. And, at minimum 2 years of community college. We are only as strong as our weakest link.
If these despicable wannabe dictators have their way, one of them will unleash the nuclear war that everyone is afraid of. Then, there will be no descendants to criticize what fools we were to let this happen.
Ah yes, but then the devout Christian Nationalist, Christofascist evangelicals (and other sects like them) will finally get the 'rapture' they so longingly, and desperately want.
Little do they know that the current arsenal will even vaporize their vapid SOULS before they have a chance to ascend to 'the good place', such is it's force and obliterating fury.
Don't worry. There won't be any descendants. When someone was reminded that the scientists warned us about the climate decades ago, the response was, "Change is so inconvenient." My thought was, "So is death."
The dead ones will be lucky. It will be the ones who have to live through the turmoil that will suffer.
If we responded back then, the transition could've been smooth & seamless & relatively inexpensive, but now our future is destined to be catastrophic. What degree of catastrophe (survivability of most of mankind & most species or not) is the question.
Our descendents wont say anything because the majority will be dead from climate famine or climate related weather events. Though some in the UK might survive as the dome in Logan's Run was populated with english actors.
Andy Brice ; IF we have descendants and they even learn about history, or study government policy, and law.
What will our descendants say about us? There won't be any if the climate models are correct. We don't know how much methane is under the permafrost, but we know we can't fix this in time to prevent that from happening. Even without that considered, our chances are marginal.
Republicans know they can't beat the demographics, so they run against democracy. It's a race for the next generation to come to power before Republicans can block the path.
Intelligent people tend to associate with other intelligent people. They then lose sight of how ignorant and stupid the common people are. Critical thinking is a learned skill and therefore is not present in the unlearned.
This old retired engineer with no kids has read too many technical papers on climate to believe we can win this battle that may already be lost. As they say, you can't fix stupid. But, you can fix ignorance. I see the corporate propagandists from the American Enterprise Institute on every other episode of Meet The Press. We get only political strategists from the Democrats. How can we get Robert Reich or someone similarly equipped with facts and integrity on to those panels?
The internet is driven by confirmation bias, so we aren't going to convert many people here.
Asked A Man . .
But for Wales, Richy, for Wales? . .A Lie to Rise by, your Grail? . .Serving a corrupt King ..Your here and now Everything . .when in the end, At the Gate, Truth prevails?
# For All Seasons . ..
Andy, what descendants?
If the major countries continue to ignore the climate crisis, we won't have descendants around to worry about.
If indeed we might even have descendants?... Spot on my friend!
Descendants? How optimistic.
Wake up reasonable people! The alarm bells are ringing!
Those alarm bells have been ringing since Bush v. Gore -- when we were put on notice that the Right had bought fully into an ends-justify-the-means quest for power, "perpetual rule" as Karl Rove memorably put it. I wrote -- and wrote, and wrote -- about this: see www.CodeRed2020.com. The alarm bells are now deafening.
I think the odds are against Trump but he does have a path. Whether the "best" who seem to lack all conviction would rise up against him if he seized power "legally" through "unitary executive" (and/or whatever other machinations were necessary) is an open question.
His path to power is made significantly more plausible by RFK Jr. and No Labels. It's quite surrealistic, but we're going to have to live it and do all we can to save our democracy.
Bush and Chaney made executive powers stronger in those 8 years and pursued Putinesque invasions (Weapons of mass media falsehoods). I guess lying to the American people is secomd nature for Republican presidents.
Bill, I suspect you are right about Republican power-grubbing. We have so many anti-American pieces in place from the Baby Bush days: ICE, the Patriot Act, the aftermath of wars we should never have started, the war on terror, and more Republican BS. We need to find ways to slip information about the rights even privileged white people have lost over time with Republican power-grubbing: the right to not be shot by a scared neighbor, the right to have their kids given a quality education, the right to not have to pay huge sums to military contractors who price-gouge the American people building up a huge debt for CEO and shareholder wealth, the right to earn a living wage for the work you do, and the right not to have to worship as some other people think you should. I suspect most Trumpers and Trumpettes have no idea of what Republicans/conservatives have done to them along with they power and money stolen from them. We need to force our media to get the word out. Now, how do we do that when our media is mostly owned by those conservative, mostly Republican supporters?
This the "why" I think. The "how" to coalesce and defeat the coming totalitarianism......there I draw a blank. But Hannah Arendt put it so perfectly:
"It’s a cliché among political philosophers that if you want to create the conditions for tyranny, you sever the bonds of intimate relationships and local community. “Totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals,” Hannah Arendt famously wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism."
I lay this out below.
As president they were able to get away with it with help by Roberts and SCOTUS. .
He only has a path if we let him pass.
Help get out the BLUE vote!
As indicated earlier, German voters of the time gave Hitler his path to power, and the same thing could happen here. Getting out the vote is the only way to defeat Trump. Vote 2024!
As a Jew, I firmly support the reading of the Holocaust period of Nazism and the why the German people allowed themselves to participate in that insanity. The German politicians of that period made the mistake, like Trump's flunkeys in Washington, that they could control Hitler if he was elected Chancellor. How'd that work for the world? Those foolish Americans who think that can't ever happen here with Trump are just foolish.
Of course it was not just Germans.
Shoah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_(film)
Shoah can be live streamed on You tube and Amazon Prime.
Hard to even fathom that so many in THIS country, TODAY want that same exact thing, or even WORSE YET for all 'others' not like them, or who totally disagree with them.
It makes me lose what little faith I ever had in our species/humanity altogether.
They literally worship pure EVIL. :( :(
It is the unreasonable that need to be woken.
But what about all those unreasonable people that vote for Trump? I don't think any of them are listening or care. They want a white Christian theocracy.
All we can hope is that they are a minority and with an honest election, Trump will not get elected.
As well as an evil, genocidal fascist dictatorship, because THAT is soooo 'Christian'?!?
we can wake up, but we don't have the how, or the consolidated message..... We are an inert population....we think about the awfulnesses that are coming, we write, we warn we talk about them...... but we lack a leader who can bring cohesion
It’s a cliché among political philosophers that if you want to create the conditions for tyranny, you sever the bonds of intimate relationships and local community. “Totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals,” Hannah Arendt famously wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism.
Professor
I am afraid, I have been afraid most of my adult life,
However, you teach, and taught me, that change is not only possible but inevitable. Your final lecture, told me not to be cynical. I will follow your advice and work to make the USA and the rest of the world better,
Thanks again.
If Jack Smith won't indict trump for insurrection, does that invalidate or at lesst weaken the 14th Amendment option to disqualify trump?
I believe trump wants more than anything to get re-elected so he can absolve himself of all the crimes he's committed against our country. He wants to be above the law and also punish his enemies. And to keep breaking rules and laws. And to keep raking in money.
Very scary notion of trump as a “unitary executive” autocrat. Does his appeal come from bashing everything good Biden and the Dems do? What policies does he actually seek to advance that improves American workers and families?
TUMP has no policies, He doesn't give a darn about improving the lives of Americans or families.. He is a freak of nature and a horrible excuse for a human being. In my opinion, he is the worst thing that has ever happened to America, bar none!!!
And strangely reflective of the gadlfy fly by night influence of Oligarchs who think they know whats best for this country. How are dictator worshippers like Harlan Crow any different in their arbitrariness than Trump is? Once Trump is gone we will still have to contend with a "succession" of influence of a wholes like him.
Unfortunately TFG has led us to Truth that even without him, our Democracy is in peril. The repub party is dangerous to our present and future. We need to take back Democracy before it’s too late. And some way fix our courts because they further the dangerous repub agenda. Can we add justices?
Mark, great questions. Trump has no idea how to govern. He knows just a few things: how to cause harm to others, how to blame people he does not like for things he has done, how to recognize the scum who show up at his door and how he can use them to get more of whatever it is he wants, how to manipulate the media since they have come to believe or at least tolerate everything he says, how to project fear, anger, and resentment to vulnerable people, how to run up test balloons to see which whines an audience likes, lying which he is extraordinarily successful doing (over 30,000 lies in public while in office and who knows how many since then since he is covered nearly all the time and lies more than once each time he opens his mouth), and a few more equally destructive skills. Those are not the skills of a leader but definitely are the skills of a jerk, a grifter, a toddler-man in a family that lets him get away with whatever he wants, a user. Why would anyone vote for someone like that? I honestly don't get it.
The SCUMp SHITler's abject cruelty, 'viciousness' (which he himself has praised and admired as a most positive trait amongst all of the fascist despots he loves, and ENVIES so dearly), heartless/merciless inhumanity, and guarantees of extracting furious hellfire revenge on all of his 'enemies' and promising to go out of his way to 'burn/own the libtards which endears him (and is his major 'appeal') to his low life, foaming at their mouths, shitbilly Q'aNAZI MAGAt worshipers.
I find it unbelievable that we can seriously discuss this. I escaped from Hungary as a young woman after Soviet tanks crushed the 1956 revolt. I just could not see living there any longer. It was not an easy decision, leaving Parents. Brother and Friends behind. The USA , being mostly unknown to me, with all her faults and shortcomings still was like a Promised Land. Now comes trump, the Ignoramus if ever was one, try to crush all that is good , hopeful etc. The present Hungarian nitwit (Orban) causes suffering and discontent - I know that because I am getting emails from relatives and friends from Hungary.
Are MAGA Repubs naive, ignorant or what?
Eva Foreman
Most of my family are MAGA Repubs. They are not bad people. The basic problem is that they are grossly misinformed since they get all their "facts" from right wing media sources, primarily Fox News, Newsmax, and talk radio. These sources tell them over and over that Trump, DeSantis, and other Republicans are the "good guys" protecting the USA from the "evil" Democrats and progressives who are out to destroy it with "woke" and "Socialist" policies. They refuse to listen to the mainstream media or people like Robert Reich.
Tim, how many of them rely on government benefits?
When I was calling during the election I found many people who didn't know that they were eligible for government benefits that would make a big difference in their lives.
We had this problem with one branch, but they have small kids who lost the child tax credit @ $300 per child, and after I showed them that Republican policy was to undermine Social Security and Medicare, they had an epiphany. Still repeat the Fox crap about Biden, but won't vote for any Republican.
Good idea! Some get Social Security and Medicare. The right wing media NEVER talks about the "benefits" of government. It's always the "problem" of government (thanks to Reagan's quote) and that the government wants to take things (religious freedom, for example) away from them. I'll try your benefits idea on them and see what happens.
WHO exactly do they 'think' is supplying that Social Security and Medicare, their savior-fuehrer SCUMp, or wealthy RepugnaCANTS directly out of their OWN pockets?!? LOL
Let them know that despite how they howl and LIE that they do not want to, or even never will touch those EARNED BENEFITS (NOT 'entitlements' as the fascists like to label them!), the 'Muricun NAZI Party are HELLBENT on eliminating those programs, even if you have fully paid into them your whole working life!
I'd like to hear the MAGAs' response to that. ;)
What you are describing is what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil." They are not bad people? They are not even people. They refuse to think, which is why they'll support every evil under the sun committed in their names.
I’m convinced that many of these folks are in a state of perpetual stress overload-- exactly as intended by the oligarchs and GOP fascists. Stress overload literally reduces a person’s ability to think. Their prefrontal cortex is undermined by the cascade of neurohormones associated with fight or flight (or freeze).
Conservatives have a larger/more active amygdala. Are they attracted to those who spout conspiracies because their amygdala is congenitally more active and attuned to fear and anger? Or does constant exposure to the Right’s fear and anger-mongering media keep reactivating their amygdala?
Either way, the parts of your brain that you use are strengthened and the parts you don’t (or can’t) use atrophy to some extent.
The symptoms of stress overload are exactly what I see, daily, in the behavior of so many. And since we progressives have the same wiring (though probably a less dominant amygdala, at least so far), we have to guard against our own stress overload!
Love you guys
"They are not even people". BS!
"Support every evil". More BS!
You seem filled with prejudice.
I feel sorry for you .
I have relatives like yours. I'm not in denial over them. It's their choice to feed their minds with lies -- unquestioningly. I stand by my statement -- you should feel sorry for our country, and how it's become because of those people in your circle.
My anger is directed toward the people feeding them the lies. I think of the people in my circle as victims of these people. Not everyone has the critical thinking skills to escape their bubble. I am upset about is happening to our country too!
Then at what point are people responsible for their own choices?
Is anyone being forced to listen to the people feeding lies?
My brother is an intelligent guy, and a charitable person. I love him, but I absolutely don't defend his evangelical belief that the earth is only 6,000 years old. He chose his religious affiliation, and he chooses to believe all the nonsense. I would never grant the excuse that he's a victim.
My anger is directed toward the people feeding them the lies. I think of the people in my circle as victims of these people. Not everyone has the critical thinking skills to escape their bubble. I am upset about is happening to our country too!
We've stopped teaching critical thinking. Education now focuses on WHAT to think , not HOW to think. And THESE people want to continue that. As long as they control education, it will sadly continue.
They are people, though thoroughly misguided, brainwashed, and unable to see the truth. I hope that when Trump is indicted on the Jan 6 charges ( and hopefully found guilty), that he won't become a martyr.
To what Diane is saying, I will add this: The people in your circle don't care about the truth. They are hearing what they WANT to hear. Don't kid yourself. They've taken a stand -- and if some truth comes along that threatens them, they will kill the truth and the messenger. Their "bubble" is their security blanket. It takes courage to admit "This is wrong. What I believed was not right."
Some individuals in my family circle don't have that courage -- and I had extended family in eastern Europe who perished in the death camps. The massive amount of harm these people are doing to our country -- domestic enemies of our Constitution.
And because we have become a nation of sheep and cowards, it was easy pickings for the neo-Nazis and every other fringe group.
I think you are absolutely correct about the menacing source of misinformation having the lion’s share of exposure for unsuspecting audiences who, growing up misguided,in a naive belief that any news reports were to be taken at face value.
Further, if their educational experience is subpar, thru no fault of their own, it’s much easier to sit back and watch their 30 minutes of local or network news, while waiting for the broadcast of mindless sitcom formula, helps them forget about their troubles or dissatisfaction with their station in life. Thinking is not required.
Yes Eva. But the Hungarian people put Orban in power. I was there 1990-1992 when the young university instructors were so enthused about Fidesz (Orban's party) and could hardly wait to get rid of Communism and go for regime change. Unfortunately, you also have the right-wing nationalist paleo/neo-Nazis left over from WWII who could hardly wait to gain control. And Orban shapeshifter went for authoritarian power. And so will it happen in your adopted homeland if we are not vigilant, if we do not get out the vote, if we do not publicly protest. We know how to protest (we protested with the Freedom Rides, with the MLK Selma-Montgomery Marches, everywhere against the Vietnam War, against the murder of George Floyd) but for some reason we are loathe to do so now. Our very democracy is at stake. What will it take??
Its the pursuit of money and power through autocrazy. Because (what is the title of Mary Trumps book?) "Too Much and Never Enough"
Eva, Republicans are definitely ignorant of much of what is going on, deliberately so. They are naive in the true sense of the word, child-adults who never had to mature into full adults partly because of white privilege and partly because of being pretty self-centered, only what they believe or want is important. Everyone else is just inferior but will try to get what I have if they can. In short, they are living a fantasy of their own creation and choose to stay in it even though it is keeping them down, supporting their naive, ignorant, unamerican leaders. I don't know how to reach them, but it is clear we are going to have to reach at least some of them with the possibility of a third party run looming.
My grandparents came from Hungary but early in 1900s. Or an is distressing just as all the dictators arising now. How could we not learn from history. Oh wait -- maybe some of the people who don't want history taught never learned it.
Eva, In my view there are philosophical differences that underlie people's political positions related to their beliefs about the utility/goodness of government and human nature. You can read my analysis on my Substack, Perspectives.
Yes.
We need to get this message out -- not just to us, your readers, the choir. The media should pepper the ether with alarmist headlines: Do you want a King again? How important is your freedom? Do you want unchecked authoritarianism? Etc. it has to be hammered home exactly what we could lose.
CNN was kind of doing that and an Oligarch shut it down. Most of mass media wont talk about Wealth and Inequality at best only about the symptoms.
Diane, good advice. Also we need to remind people that Trump has never done anything for anyone that he didn't get an even bigger portion of for doing it. He is racist in a diverse nation, misogynistic in a world where women demand and deserve equity with men, homo/trans phobic (at least in public) while LGBTQ persons want and expect full rights as citizens, a christian nationalist who is not really christian but is a nationalist if he knew what that was (holding up a bible does not make one a christian or anything else but cynical). Each of the Trumpers and Trumpettes who want power along with their Baby Donnie have the same baggage. I get it that white people are scared of being erased or some other such nonsense fed to them by the Republican leadership, but what Trump and Kump will do to them would be so much worse, and would be real. Someone should warn them: wages just what bosses decide they are worth, a broken economy where only the rich can afford to have whatever they want or anything at all, medical bills they can't afford for procedures poorly done, while they are suffering, having media that keeps telling them how wonderful things are under Trump and Kump while they scrounge for food, the inability to choose what they want to read - books decided by the thought police, actual police showing up only if you are rich enough to warrant their time and effort, and so much more. When will the run of the mill Trumpers and Trumpettes realize they are being used by Trump and Kump, but valued only for the power Trump and Kump can drain from their ignorant scared supporters? What will it take to get the word to them and get them to see the truth in it?
This is so 1984ish.
We can not allow Trump to become a Dictator. Too many people died defending our Democracy.
We can not allow Trump.
Leon, and Trump didn't even show up to fight for this nation, yet he is trying to take it over. He has sacrificed nothing, served no one but himself, cared for no one but himself and a few folks who are blindly loyal to him, and has no idea what is really in our Constitution. How anyone in the world sees him as worthy of being in charge of anything is beyond comprehension. Heck, he can't even take charge of himself.
EU here. I hate this, but the truth is whatever happens with the US situation will impact all of us everywhere. Glad to be watching from here and not there, but it is frightening to view from anywhere.
Agreed we cant let the autocrat dominoes fall. We did that before in our business interests in Africa, Central and South America. Now the pigeons have come to roost. We deserve what we created now we have to fix it.
Scalia wouldn't have supported the unitary executive theory if a Democrat were President, nor would the current Supreme Court, despite that ruling--hell, they won't even let Biden execute existing laws they don't like. But if a ReThuglican got in, they'd be all for it. All the more reason to VOTE BLUE--from school board to President.
Unitary executive power? They won't even allow Biden to forgive some student loans.
There are only a very few ways this could happen. The election could be given to Trump if he has enough Secretaries of State to hand him the election, and the lawfully elected President caves in and allows this to happen, and the citizens of those States whose Secretary of State gave Trump the election against the will of the voters. This is very iffy. Second, if the US Military turned uniformly traitorous and literally fought the US Citizens. Third, if somehow Trump's dishonorable legal team managed to get his appeals on the electoral results to the current Supreme Court he could win 6-3 or 5-4. Frankly I don't feel like terrorizing myself with any of these scenarios. First, if enough of us email our Governors, Secretary of State and State Legislators asking them to invoke the Constitution, Amendment 14, Section 3, his name won't even appear on the ballot. Second, we can appeal to our young friends and relatives to vote. - It won't be enough for just us voting, we need a better turnout than we got in 2022. and that was pretty good.
I'd like to think the public would rise up against him and some will but it will not be enough people to make a difference. I'd like to think we would demand our democracy like the South Koreans did but I think we are too complacent. Sad.
It doesn’t take a majority of the population to “rise up.” It wasn’t a majority of the South Koreans recently, and it didn’t take a majority of Americans in the street to end the war in Vietnam or segregation at home. Just a lot of them. One way it begins is when ordinary people get over their embarrassment about marching and demonstrating and just do it.
Yes. I really am amazed people are not out in the street!
I'm really amazed only approx. 67% of the electorate voted in the last presidential election!
Heat stroke weather.
And most get motivated (and biased) by online postings and groups
Fear of getting shot by the heavily armed fascist brownshirt shitbillies as well??
Actually, it begins when ordinary people vote.
If voting didn't matter, would you see so many attempts to block ordinary people from exercising theur vote?
March all you want!
Maryk, you are right, we need both ordinary people voting and the marching in the streets. The marching often lets the ordinary people know they should vote and how important it really is.
Bill, that's why we need to keep those crazies out of office in as many places as we can, and then get majorities in both houses of congress. Ditching Dems like Joe Manchin would help too. I hear he is running for president. Why anyone would vote for a guy who cares only for himself is beyond me. Oh wait, Trump is like that too and people vote for him. Gag!
OK you got a point. But I will say, a new resident here from another country felt super proud that she had marched... but she (and presumably her family) did not vote.
Are you faulting a new resident for not voting? I don't understand. It takes several years to become a citizen. I think it's good that she marched. She lives and pays taxes here, she should have some kind of voice, no?
Unfortunately these attempts have worked. There are many, many states in the US now where voting is practically impossible for parts of the population especially endangered by the situation, and where gerrymandering renders Democratic votes that do get cast all but meaningless. (Never mind the capture of the Democratic Party by anti-progressive forces in many areas.) Having spent years working on get-out-the-vote efforts, in ever more states, I'd suggest you ponder the real-life consequences of the important fact you point out here.
I wonder if some of the Protesting Generation are, like me, no longer able to march more than a block or two? Sigh.
That's what's behind Bill McKibben's new organization for us, THird Act. Do you remember the photos all over the news March 21 and 22 of old folks in rocking chairs holding signs in front of Chase and Wells Fargo banks all over the country, in the big action against fossil fuels the day after the UN's special emergency report on climate change?
I can't walk very far. For my last march my sign read, "Too old to march, too young to die." We sat on the curb and talked to everybody.
When do we get out there?
I imagine the coming election year will be very active, especially given the many grand jury and criminal trials Trump will be facing. Get yourself affiliated with activist organizations. They're linked up when it comes to promoting demonstrations and other kinds of activism across the country or state. One place to start is Mobilize, a kind of meta organization that also alerts you to GOTV activities: https://www.mobilize.us/ When there's a major anti-democratic development, or stupid act of national government (especially when it comes to SCOTUS, or climate change/the environment) I get notifications from many groups, including 350.org, Sunrise, and Bill McKibben's Third Act, for people over 65 and retired folks; Planned Parenthood, NOW, UltraViolet, and Avow (focused on abortion rights); Center for Constitutional Rights, Move to Amend, Black Lives Matter, NAACP, etc etc. It depends on who you are and where you live--in NYC there's Worker's Circle, if you're Native American there's Honor the Earth, IllumiNative, Four Directions, for union members or supporters there's SEIU, and so on.
I've noticed that demonstrations are getting smaller, not larger! WTF is wrong with people? I vote, write, call, donate; it isn't enough. I march. We all must.
This is in part because instead of all happening in DC or NYC or Chicago or LA, they are happening now in every city and town, and sometimes village! From the North Slope of Alaska to Guam. I stood out for 2 hours with 9 other people in a miserable sleet-storm at a highway crossroads in the wee town of Easthampton MA in 2019--and we got a whole lot of honks from commuters on their way home!
Unless they are shot in the head or secreted away to gulags. The protests would have to hit hard and fast and parallyzling before the Fascists could widdle the protrst leaders away.
This situation terrifies me. I am working to GOTV for elections this fall and next year, but in case they go south I’m also gathering facts and doing some visiting to determine whether a move to Ireland is feasible for a retired person.
I am also a retired person, and i am currently gathering facts and am going to do some visiting to determine whether to move to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia Canada. Both Canada and Ireland has a Social Security agreement with the United States, but i don't know about my pension though. I am most concerned with my stamina as i had major heart surgery 9 years ago and i get tired easily. I just can't fathom the thought of having to live under a Fascist Dictatorship, makes me sick just to think about it.
Fight Fascism here or delay the inevatble by waiting for Fascism to take over the place you flee too.
Bill, I must agree with you. Once a dictator takes over this nation, many others will follow. People often choose not to think clearly, even in the most enlightened democracies. For many people, autocracy seems to offer them the most benefits. It can happen at first, but gradually their rights trickle away and they are living at the whim of old white men who care nothing for them except for the adulation and tax money they can get from them. By that point, it is probably too late to do anything to stop them, as the people of Russia and the former members of the Soviet Union that were reabsorbed into Russia have learned. We have too much to lose here, so let's decide together we will not lose all to a child-man and the whining Republicans he wants to use to make him feel important. We need to pressure the powers that be related to the Trump indictments to get moving with some of the actual trials for the crimes Trump has already committed and from which he wants to be pardoned by himself if he is elected again. That is corruption 101 and We the People need to "just say 'no'" so we can save our nation.
New bumper sticker/poster/flag;
"JUST SAY NO TO FASCISM!"
There are reasons I may need to leave: I've fought fascism here for 50+ years and that comes with a price. You don't know Mr. Phillips' story either. Best to save our anger for people we know a lot about, whose deeds and behaviors may be affected by it. Joe Manchin's always a good target, I find! Justice Alito comes in handy too, though he has a job for life and doesn't care what I think....
I am not angry, Im middle aged (is that the same as being angry?) and my kids will have to deal with it if I dont. Ive heard the solution to many political differences being to run from them (from both Righties and Lefties) and that has always irked me. You are right I dont know his situation and god knows financially.we are all in a bind. It is better to pursue ones path than to listen to other people telling you what you should do.
I'm angry!--and using that anger I've been fighting for the kids since I was one, back in the Pleistocene. To repeat, I don't plan to "run from political differences." Nor if I went to Ireland would I stop fighting. I agree with you that we must fight, for all we're worth: it's our duty as parents of the next generations. I need to be in a position to be able to fight, that's all.
Understood
I sympathize-- have Long Covid so am also battling constant fatigue these last 3 or 4 years with no end in sight. It makes the whole thing feel impossible sometimes. But I'm heartened by the intense friendliness and generosity of Irish people in the places I've visited, mainly Galway and Cork. I don't know details about the Social Security agreement--I can presumably get my SS income checks anywhere, but my worry is that Medicare won't cover me in Ireland, and of course I wouldn't be covered under their version of it.
Glad you found help! I have no B12 or any other vitamin deficiency. Research is ongoing into micro-clots as an explanation for our exhaustion and difficulty breathing, but it's early days alas.
It would certainly keep Trump's energy levels down, which would be good for all of us!
Yes, but do those 'agreements' still hold, and are they honored when the fascist gummint of the U.S. TOTALLY obliterates Social Security, as I expect would be one of the very FIRST things they do after seizing absolute power?!?
Either way, I am not sure what would happen if these Fascist Rethug, domestic terrorists totally kills Social Security,,, i am totally screwed either way, if i stay here i will be homeless and if i go to Canada i will be homeless. I will not be able to pay the mortgage here if they do that. The way homeowners insurance cost has went up, and with these Fascists in the county i live have tripled my property tax, it has almost doubled my mortgage payments. I pay more into my escrow now than what i pay on the mortgage to cover those expenses. My homeowners insurance was $800 a year 4 years ago, and now it's $2500 a year now, and my property tax went from $380 4 years ago to $1100 a year now. Guess i will have make me a cardboard house somewhere.
I am in even worse yet stead, as I will be out on the streets (not a homeowner) if they obliterate my EARNED BENEFITS just because it has "social" in the name, and that it saves their fascist oligarchal corporations/donors much coin.
So, at that point I may as well join an underground antiFAAAAHH (as their putrid orange POS fuehrer says it) resistance group, and live nomadically while at least trying to fight the pond scum 'Muricun Nazis until they capture and torture me, yup, even at 70 years of age.
I am 68 myself, i may have to do exactly the same thing as you are doing. I just can't understand why the Democrats are doing nothing to stop this violation of Federal Laws, especially our voter laws. If these Nazi, Fascist goons come after me, i am going to fight back with all i have. I know i will lose in the long run, but a few or them will be taken out if they come after me. I do not own any firearms at this time, but i may get one if these Fascist/NAZI Goons take over late next year. I wanted to go to Canada, but it seems they only let the ''elite'' people emigrate there now. I know of an area in Maine where i could cross illegally, but i would have to be desperate to try that.
Yes, I was up right along the border in Maine many years ago, maybe even over the border at times, and there is nothing there to stop anyone, and very few border agents patrolling up in that area.
But, the 4th REICH under SCUMp SHITler will most likely set up a Gestapo-like fascist goon squad (or just convert the FBI, Federal Marshals, etc. into one) to track down and rendition any of us that flee there anyway, to send us to their death camps.
Might as well FIGHT them with all we've got, and take out a few POS NAZIS along the way before they end us. ;)
Yes, I also hate the thought of buying one of their 'precious' symbol/icon weapons of mass death, but it will happen if they get into power, or if it even appears that they will take control of this land. :(
I don’t know if this is still true but since Canada has national health insurance, they used to do some level of health screening for potential emigres. They would never let me in! But I would never move somewhere with winters worse than Minnesota, so it’s probably a moot point for me.
Don't worry, Trump won't be elected President, because the Climate Emergency will trump him! If we take the most recent past Presidential elections as a guide, where the Democrats have been gaining an average of one million votes per year (they won the popular vote by 3 million in 2016 and 7 million in 2020), the 2024 results will be 11 million for Biden-Harris. And by the way, I'm also betting that Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee in 2028 and win by 16 million votes! Any takers out there?
Presidents are not elected by popular vote....Hilary won the popular vote but lost the race.
She has my vote.
Actually I'm not too pleased how the Democratic Party establishment foists their designated presidential nominees on us without a truly fair selection by its members, from Clinton to Biden to Harris, who was 1 of the first to drop out of the 2020 primary due to lack of support. As an Oregonian, the only time my vote counted was in 2008 between Obama & Clinton. Other than that, the primary is always already decided by the time I get to vote as the party establishment pressures other candidates to drop out & rally behind their choice. This time it's already a foregone conclusion before anyone has a chance to vote that it will be Biden/Harris even though there is serious concern about whether Biden's health can hold up.
With our Electoral College, it isn't who has the most total votes unfortunately as we have seen over and over.
I’ve always lived in lower populated states. With the exception of the election when we had just moved, I have always voted. If you end the Electoral College I won’t vote again. One vote out of potentially 258,000,000 votes? I don’t buy Powerball or Mega Million tickets for the same reason.
With the Electoral College only a few swing states matter, and none of them have small populations. OH & FL used to be swing states and are now solidly Red. VA & NC used to Red and are now Purple. The states with very small populations like VT, WY, ND, SD, ID are meaningless in presidential politics.
From your computer to god's eyes!
I was reading about this very subject in The Bulwark yesterday.If we aren't frightened, we're up the creek without a paddle.This is heavy duty serious stuff,folks.
I am reminded of Rage Against The Machine's "Wake Up"that is played at the end of the original Matrix.We Need to WAKE UP before it's too damned late to matter!!
And make absolutely no mistakes,if we allow Trump to get back in office,we are royally #*%#*$@.When we say he means to eliminate his"enemies",he means DEAD AS A DOORNAIL.Don't think for a single minute he wouldn't have people lined up and shot.He likely has a list already,and is adding to it every single day.He wants to be KING TRUMP,and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal.
And,BTW,I know that people are hearing about the backlog of passports that's been going on.Just to clarify,this is because people are trying to get ready to get the hell out of Dodge if Trump is allowed back in office.I believe he will close our borders so WE can't escape him.Do you really think he wants his enemies to escape him?
These prosecutors need to get the ducks in a row right NOW,and stop wasting time,and get him out of the way,before it's too late to matter.He would be very happy to put these people first on the list to be eliminated.He would make examples of all of them.
If you think this is hyperbole, remember what he's already tried to do before,and we managed to stop him.What if he can't be stopped the next time...???Do we really want to think about that?
Vote Republicans out of office.
Help get out the BLUE vote today.
Melissa - understood. But just want ya to know, I'm stuck in Greece waiting for a replacement passport so I can get back to the U.S. It'll take months and I just wanna get home. The U.S. needs me and I'm not going anywhere while I've still got the energy to be a pain-in-the-@ss. Trust me. I'm an expert.
Yes, one would THINK that would be some primo motivation for lightning SPEED on the part of Smith, and all of the other prosecutors and others indicting the SCUMp SHITler, in ALL of the cases against him.
QUESTION and FIGHT, tooth and nail, every single BS delay tactic that the orange turd's 'legal team' throws out there, or that the insipid sycophant 'judge' attempts to throw into the works to slow it down.
Their agencies, or anyone else for that matter will NOT be able to protect them once this evil POS DESPOT is in power FOR LIFE!
Trump was elected to kill "the deep state," and as president "pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in an eerie faceoff. On one side was the specter of a “Deep State” conspiracy-administrators threatening to thwart the will of the people and undercut the constitutional authority of the president they elected to lead them. On the other side was a raw personalization of presidential power, one that a theory of “the unitary executive” gussied up and allowed to run roughshod over reason and the rule of law. The Deep State and the unitary executive framed every major contest of the Trump presidency. Like phantom twins, they drew each other out and wrestled to light basic issues of governance long suppressed." https://global.oup.com/academic/product/phantoms-of-a-beleaguered-republic-9780197543085?cc=us&lang=en&#
Article II, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power in “a president of the United States.” Those words do not seem ambiguous. Under the Constitution, the President, and no one else, has executive power. The executive is therefore “unitary.”
However, the United States federal civil service is the civilian workforce (i.e., non-elected and non-military public sector employees) of the United States federal government's departments and agencies. The federal civil service was established in 1871 (5 U.S.C. § 2101) Before that a president could appoint or fire any employee at will. Some employees [like me] could be fired only for "cause."
The Constitution lists several "departments" of the executive branch: the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the other departments in the President's Cabinet are examples of administrative agencies. Other examples include the Social Security Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Labor Relations Board. The first "independent" agency, a hybrid of the executive and legislative branch, with power to enact its own rules was the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1881.
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Pub. L. 79–404, 60 Stat. 237, enacted June 11, 1946, is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations and it grants U.S. federal courts oversight over all agency actions.[2] According to Hickman & Pierce, it is one of the most important pieces of United States administrative law, and serves as a sort of "constitution" for U.S. administrative law.[3]
The APA applies to both the federal executive departments and the independent agencies.[ U.S. Senator Pat McCarran called the APA "a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated" by federal government agencies.
The U.S. civil service is managed by the Office of Personnel Management, which as of December 2011 reported approximately 2.79 million civil servants employed by the federal government, including employees in the departments and agencies run by any of the three branches of government (the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch) and the over 600,000 employees of the U.S. Postal Service.
FDR enlarged the number and authority of agencies, but he was faced with the depression and WWII. Reagan craved more power and Justice Roberts was a lawyer in the White House who tried to develop it as in 1987, Reagan issued a signing statement that declared: "If this provision were interpreted otherwise, so as to require the President to follow the orders of a subordinate, it would plainly constitute an unconstitutional infringement of the President's authority as head of a unitary executive branch."
The George W. Bush administration made the Unitary Executive Theory a common feature of signing statements.[22] For example, Bush once wrote in a signing statement that he would, "construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power."[23] Critics acknowledge that part of the President's duty is to "interpret what is, and is not constitutional, at least when overseeing the actions of executive agencies," but critics accused Bush of overstepping that duty by his perceived willingness to overrule US courts.
Unfortunately, even the Obama administration fell to power. Not only did he retain most of the security-related actions of the Bush presidency (the state secrets doctrine, targeted killings of terror suspects, warrantless wiretapping), but he went even farther than his predecessor in some areas (e.g., drone strikes). Moreover, he employed unilateral powers across an array of domestic policy areas (e.g., immigration policy, implementation of the Affordable Care Act), to the consternation of his opponents and the confusion of many of his supporters. Unilateralism became Obama’s preferred method for getting things done in Washington.
INHO Trump was forever looking for "emergencies" to declare himself unitary executive, i.e. king. In the first few months of Trump's administration, he signed three executive orders that gutted unions representing federal workers. He appointed three “anti-union” members to the Federal Labor Relations Board and a General Counsel who consistently issued anti-union rulings when advising the FLRB. Trump undermined OSHA protections and methodically implemented ten “requests” from the pro-business US Chamber of Commerce designed to weaken unions. In 2018, he went after people like me, appointed under Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution, to be appointed under a spoils system.
Daniel, a lot of great information, but that is really depressing. It does prove that absolute power does corrupt a lot if not absolutely. Trump does not have the wherewithall to understand all the bad things he can do if re-elected, but his equally corrupt cronies do and will kindly shovel that information to him in tiny tidbits he can understand while he gleefully watches a whole lot of people getting hurt while he remains above the law. Democrats and others who care about this nation need to be mobilizing against this potential outcome.
Dictator! https://prospect.org/politics/2023-07-18-donald-trump-plotting-make-himself-dictator/
Daniel, thanks for sharing. A good, succinct overview of the plan....
I did not know that it was that bad. Attack Federal labor unions to reduce their "push back" by employees (and also protections) when unitary "privledge" runs amok. You dont like it? Your fired.
No. I retired although I had the ability to become a "Senior Judge." I was 75. I was hired through merit selection, which Trump killed in favor of the spoils system.
Trump Executive Order
https://www.govinfo.gov/link/cpd/executiveorder/13843
Spoils system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoils_system#:~:text=In%20politics%20and%20government%2C%20a,to%20keep%20working%20for%20the
"exception to the competitive hiring rules and examinations"
F Trump. Thats a power grab if I ever saw one. Aileen Cannons of the world unite.
Thank you, Daniel. Very informative. I've never really understood the "Deep State" concept that trump blames and wants to destroy. I guess his habits of lying and taking a victim position on virtually everything directed me to skepticism about his Deep State claims. While I can imagine a population of Civil Service employees contributing to the appearance of "bloat" in the government, I always assumed they were invisible and generally advancing the interests and performing necessary tasks and functions of government. I'm not likely to read 'Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic.' I appreciate your sharing some history of the tension between the delegated authorities and responsibilities of the Executive and the Executive himself.
What is your take on the Deep State vs Executive power struggle, please? Is the business of government served by those delegated authorities? Thank you. Part of me wants to simplify the dispute to petty bickering. At the top of government, perhaps petty bickering spills over into party politics and those eternal battles.
The issue is whether the public deserves partisan hacks to administer the government vs independent decisionmakers. Here's a paper from about ten years ago. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/naalj/vol33/iss1/3/
Thank you for your prompt response! I downloaded your paper and will read it later. I'm very glad to know our country has servants who think deeply about these issues!
We are facing worse than authoritarianism. The apex of the MAGA leadership features genocidal intentions. Believe it. They are genocidal. How are 5,000 children taken from their parents as "punishment" otherwise? How can so many unarmed blacks be shot to death by police over traffic stops and misdemeanors? Just recently a black man was stabbed just because ... he was black. And Kari Lake . . . She told an interviewer that the big problem with DeSantis's big mistake in his mistreatment of Venezuelan refugees was that "we're spreading them too far inland." The word "vermin" immediately popped into my head when I heard her say it. Even Melania ... her jacket bore the message, "I don't really care. Do you?" when she was on her way to visit an island ravaged by a terrible hurricane full of Latinos, and her husband the president didn't even know they were citizens of the U.S. And besides Neo-nazis, there's Moms for Liberty who quote Hitler and then own it. And of course, there's Margie. She claims that Satan took over the Catholic Church for two reasons which she equates: (a) pedophilia, and (b) they comforted and aided refugees crossing the southern border. My God! We cannot be indifferent when we see it coming. This is the greatest struggle of our lifetime! If you don't do anything else, volunteer with democrats. We don't have time for third parties, and fancy footwork. If Godzilla turns out to be the great opponent of the GOP, vote for Godzilla. We don't have any other chance on this burning planet.
MAGA is the new NAZI