Jamie Dimon, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett have spoken out on everything else but are afraid to come out against Trump. They are relinquishing whatever claims they had to leadership in America.
When Hitler came to power, my father was a 10 year old Jewish kid living in Cologne, Germany. If my grandparents had not succeeded in making it to London, with my father and aunt, then I and the almost 100 other descendants would never have been born.
If my dad and my grandparents were alive today, I’m sure they would recognize the truth of what you and General Kelly are saying.
Trump really is a fascist dictator in his approach to gaining power again and his ability to frighten wealthy Democratic supporters into silence is proof of this.
This situation reminds me very strongly of the famous statement by the German Theologian Pastor Niemoller:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me."
2. Please repeatedly post "not suckers or losers" comments in social media. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans and active duty members on Facebook, as well as 12.5 million family members and 242 million friends with veterans or active duty members. Military sites, veterans; organizations, historical sites.
Vote vets has already flipped many 2016 and 2020 Trump voters.
❤🔍🤔There is a woman president AND women's health care on the ballot ... both may be contributing to men voting differently from their "better half"(female partner)...?
Women and/or their confidants may mention a resulting "spousal voter intimidation" by their male partner...?
How can we counsel these "victims" to deal with voter intimidation?
Please consider the proposal below(especially for voters in the "swing states" of Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, No.Carolina and Georgia).
Dear Secretary of State(for each state, in charge of running the election)
We should report this voter intimidation to the FBI so they can use their sizable budget to educate confidants on how to become informers? For example:
FBI EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM:"Please report any credible stories of spousal voter intimidation or other voter intimidation to the FBI voter intimidation contact<contact info>. If you have received a credible story of voter intimidation, such as spousal voter intimidation, please find the courage to tell the victim that you feel obliged to violate confidentiality to AVOID BEING COMPLICIT IN CRIMINAL VOTER INTIMIDATION. Then the victim("J.Doe") can tell the perpetrator that he or she(J.Doe) innocently confided the story... and now that the "cat is out of the bag"... the victim can't stop the FBI investigating the male perpetrators of voter intimidation."
aka Though there is no time to investigate, the perpetrator may back off?
Jamie Dimon wants to privatize Social Security, that the fund and our payments can be used to juice the stockmarket, and rip off commissions, apparently he sees the threat that Trump poses, but neither he,nor Gates nor any of the more perceptive billionaires want to antagonize Trump by denouncing him or backing Harris, they believe Trump's threats, and are quite aware that the Republicans have interfered in the election with laws, law suits, voter suppression, intimidation and outright force and fraud and fear what will happen to them if they boldly denounce Trump.
It will happen anyway, a Trump presidency will destroy this Democratic Republic,it's economy, Wall Street, Global trade and our standing in the world.
The business group increasingly suck the average American dry and create stress. Our lives do not have to be so stressful. They were made that way. Privatizing SS is just another way to skim money from the people. Affordable housing is so hard to find because home is now just another commodity to investors. When one man has more wealth than so many, there will be problems.
Monopoly and Dictatorship are the natural results of freedom in business. The government must step in to prevent the extreme concentration of wealth and power in order to maintain a democracy.
The MAGA/Trumpians are an army of conmen and women peddling a vast nightmare disguised as the ‘American dream’. We can beg God to ‘forgive them for they know not what they do’ but we must all work together and vote blue to avoid letting them crucify us on a swastika.
Good points, William. So Dimon's (Demon's?) statement that he values his country above his company is as false as everything else about the cowardly billionaires. Dimon is old; he may get a couple more billion out of privatizing Social Security under a Trump regime before he kicks the bucket, and that must be worth hedging his bets and staying silent on Harris.
How can you tell Trump is lying ? His lips are moving.
Dimon's idea of our country is quite a bit different than yours.
To understand, fully, what these people mean, one needs to ask follow up questions, Like exactly what is there about this country that you value, and what is there that you don't value. And it is not the answers that are important, but what is not in the answers.
Humans are foolish word controlled and word beguiled creatures.
A lover rolls over and lights a cigarette and mutters softly and tenderly "I love you" and the listener takes it literally, or projects meaning that accords with their psyche and emotional state, When the statement might be as simple as "that was a great orgasm, and you are a great lay, I'll see you next time, not I want to build a life with you.
Yeh Jamie Dimon values this country, he isn't lying, but what is it he values and why, and what is it that he devalues.
I thought so too, Daniel Solomon, about those connected to the US Military. Surely trump’s words about McCain; those John Kelly & others reported said at Kelly’s son’s grave at Arlington; Trump’s other disdain of and desire for loyalists in service to him v the Constitution would clearly persuade, a GOP colleague who works with military veterans. This time if not the last or first. They were offended, angry that I even suggested such. They were offended that I even suggested they’d vote other than GOP-labeled and that it was an insult to the veterans they work with. Values matter. I hope VoteVets does more with others.
As a retired mustang and special ops team leader, I don't hold out much hope for the military. It is a cloistered society, even monkish, and conservative
Despite the gains, racism and sexism permeates, and the troops have a macho self image, and Trump's plays into that. also most enlisted are from the south and rural America and join for jobs, an income, to get away from their roots, , anything but, unless there is an attack like 9/11 anything but patriotism.
The recruiting ads on TV appeal to the macho fantasy.
Gen Kelley knew what Trump was, before he accepted the position of Chief of Staff, so did Gen Mattis and other generals who worked for Trump, and at first they agreed with Trump, that's why they went to work for him, that and careerism. Milley didn't mind being Trump's lackey, until MAYBE (I repeat Maybe) Lafayette Park and the Bible spectacle.
Mike Flynn is a retired Lt General his brother Charles is now a four star general, but then a Lt General who sat at the desk in the Pentagon letting the phone ring off the hook, as Nancy and even Pence called in asking for the National Guard on Jan 6th. Charles not only would not answer the phone, but Biden, inexplicably promoted him 1st to Commander Pacific Forces and 2nd to Four star general.
I frankly do not hold out much hope for an enlightened military., then again what do I know, I retired 42 years ago
@ William Farrar. No hope flipping the Flynn brothers. But I worked with many high ranking officers who have flipped. Most had been military judges.
The people you might influence are younger people who do not get MSM, many who had parents or grandparents who served and do not know about "suckers and losers" or Trump's relationship with Putin. Sometimes it takes several "touches" to sink in.
I agree. Fox not only on every military base TV, but every gym and many public places like restaurants. 28 years of damage. I now hear Fox sound bites emerge unthinkingly from the mouths of my otherwise very nice neighbors. They don't even know what's happened to their brains, because they don't think. They just listen, absorb, and unthinkingly regurgitate. And vote, unfortunately.
It's up to people like you who are on social media.... when you comment you'll see what I mean. Many of the people involved are dependents, family members, friends and neighbors who are interested in the military and or national security and for whom this is news. Takes repetition and substantiation by people they trust.
I am a Vietnam combat veteran -- probably the lone survivor from my units. I have been a "veteran since Jan 21, 1968. The grandchildren (or great-grandchildren) of my late colleagues want to hear form someone like me.....
When you post on say a FB history site, you may start a conversation with potential voters who may flip on this basis....
You are to be commended, sir, for your service. I am always drawn back to a passage from Dad's 3rd Armored Division Memorial book, in which 4 grunts were charged with holding off a Panzer platoon at a forsaken Belgian crossroads. It seems that the bleakest of humor comes from those in the sights of the big gun, at the expense of the brass back at HQ.
Unlike Mrs. Bonespurs, as his age and obesity make him a WOMAN, General John Kelly and ALL Veterans are TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOTS. I know Our Troops will carry President Harris to an easy victory.
Daniel H ; tRUMP has been so bad, that he has shown what a danger he is, The majority of voters will vote blue and , because he is such a fail, and ironically he Will make America Great again as we resist him and his sycophants. We either vote him out and refuse his garbage, or become victims of a sort of "fourth Reich". I don't see Americans allowing that. AT all!
Vote Vets tracks them. Have been declining. my demographic -- the Agent Orange generation is dying off rapidly. I was on my DNC vet group zoom this morning. We think vets are flipping.
The demographic we influence need to be educated about McCain, Trump + Putin, etc. Dependents of active duty military. Offspring of dead vets.
Get ready for a rough ride. Remember, tRump defied the polls when Hillary was far ahead. This time, the polls are neck and neck. Big money is backing tRump, so as horrifying as it sounds, buckle up—this could turn into a nightmare if it plays out as expected. The reason? It's all about tRump's unwavering support for a leader who mimics the worst authoritarian traits. There are enough misguided Americans seeking revenge against Democrats and liberals for standing up for the rights of minorities, and for calling out their own biases and bigotry.
The reason for the neck and neck polling to me seems like bought polls. With the intention to disuading people from voting due to apathy as to the result.
In another venue, we discuss this...some of us track VAT, VAN and state divisions of elections. Besides being a FT 6 volunteer, and monitoring Movement Labs, I belong to the Florida Data Directors Committee. IMHO we are out registering them... but can't actually prove it.
The Republicans are presenting a false narrative that the polling favors them in order to justify objecting to the electoral count.
There are some nasty roadside signs appearing in Arizona, urging readers of them to vote against the proposition that will safeguard abortion in the state constitution, "because abortion in Arizona is already legal until week 15." Yeah, until some judge or state legislator changes that! Pernicious.
Indeed, fascism requires scapegoats to gain and remain in power. Condemning Trump, a wannabe fascist dictator, only privately does nothing to warn and change minds of those who are unaware if how unfit and dangerous he is. A number of years ago Bill Gates asked women around the world especially in poorer countries, and I am paraphrasing here what would help them the most? Their answer: Birth Control. The consequence of unwanted pregnancies affected their health, their children's health and only increased their suffering and poverty further. Think how the anti-abortion movement in this country is not only harming women in this country but harming women worldwide..
Betty, you make a point of paramount importance. Making contraception widely available would greatly reduce the number of abortions, and it would improve the lives of millions. Yet many religious folks oppose it.
True Victor, but there are many people of faith who feel it is a personal choice. in our country, you have the freedom to practice your faith provided you do not use rhetoric or conduct to harm others.
Yes. It's the old bumper-sticker: "If you don't approve of abortion, don't have one." We have utterly abandoned the separation of church and faith in our country in 2024. (Well, the Trump MAGA people have.)
Lack of birth control and abortion access harms women's ECONOMIC power to have sovereignty over their lives. Women whose male partners desert them have to educate themselves and work at high-paying jobs. How can they do this if they have one, two, three or more little kids depending on them for 24/7 care, feeding, safeguarding? No one person can take care of children 100% and earn a viable living simultaneously. Birth control and abortion access = economic viability for women. The right-wingers know and hate this.
Christina Kasica : True, Self determination for women is their nightmare. They don't like the fact that more women are college educated these days ; outnumbering college educated men. When and if they have children, they are more likely to have critical thinking skills and be difficult to misinform.
Boeing is a lost, lost cause ! And in my life time ! First as an American icon and now as a case study in every business school in outright failure, financially and ethically. Thanks to a whole bunch of Jack Welch’s buddies from GE.
The amount of money spent in the run up to this election is obscene. Half of which is devoted to doing exactly what you wrote - no FEMA funds, remove Obamacare, no SNAP funds for food insufficiency. Back to Dickensian times, poor, houses, orphanages, beggars, TB, cholera etc ! I voted but I am not elated. We just might see that electing Kamala was easy compared to trying to right the ship of State.
Frankly, I doubt they seriously care who is in power. As long as they can continue earning lots of money for themselves and their friends. The poor in America have been bamboozled by the corporations into believing in their ultimate “goodness”. They have been taught to accept their fates and not make any noise about it. And especially to not agitate for a union. Or higher wages. They have also been taught that social programs or welfare are “wrong”—that, after all is the great bogeyman Socialism. And guess who’s side Trump is on?
Dear BCBob, Your family has suffered the cruelest treatment in the history of humanity. My dad and two uncles marched and gunned their way through Europe in 1944, and saw and smelled some of what you described. The horror inflicted upon the millions cannot be overstated, hell on earth.Thanks for your vignette. Herr Drumpf is the quintessential absolute coward, and those hold their silence are in league with him. He is a lying, scheming bastard and always has been. He has described his world view rather clearly long ago: "Everybody is out to get you. They'll steal your house, your wife, your car...even your dog..." he has deadened the minds of the 80 million and there's no turning back for them. There has to be a turnabout for us in the next few days or another round of extreme brutality will be for us. Thank you again.
Wow! Dude! Responding to William)What a narrative! I had friends who were black that were forced to eat in the kitchen of restaurants as they crossed the country, even though they were in uniform! To return to such times would be worse than despicable. Love your Buddy’s poem!
We should report this voter intimidation to the FBI so they can use their sizable budget to educate confidants on how to become informers? For example:
FBI EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM:"Please report any credible stories of spousal voter intimidation or other voter intimidation to the FBI voter intimidation contact<contact info>. If you have received a credible story of voter intimidation, such as spousal voter intimidation, please find the courage to tell the victim that you feel obliged to violate confidentiality to AVOID BEING COMPLICIT IN CRIMINAL VOTER INTIMIDATION. Then the victim("J.Doe") can tell the perpetrator that he or she(J.Doe) innocently confided the story... and now that the "cat is out of the bag"... the victim can't stop the FBI investigating the male perpetrators of voter intimidation."
aka Though there is no time to investigate, the perpetrator may back off?
As reported on MSNBC, a woman in Georgia told the reporter. I am 82 years old and this is my first time voting. When asked why she didn't vote, she said my husband told me I didn't need to, he died last year".
I was told the same thing by my husband. He passed away in 2002, and my first vote was for Kerry in '04. I've been active ever since. I was busy raising 3 children and working full-time, and he used his 2 hour commute time to read 4 newspapers a day, so it seemed reasonable to me. We didn't have the option of mail-in ballots back then, either.
Now I'm elderly and disabled and have all the time in the world to read up on politics and world news, but it breaks my heart to know that far too many women and young people are too busy living their lives to learn about the danger we are facing 💔.
Several years ago, I was doing door-knocking for a ballot measure. A man came to the door. After hearing the info, he said he liked it and would vote for it. Then he said his wife would too because his wife votes the way he tells her to.
I also talked with an older woman that said her husband always tells her how to vote. She agrees with him to keep the peace but when she gets in the voting booth, she votes her own mind.
It is the very foundation of a Democracy. No one should ever believe they are obligated to tell anyone how they voted/will vote. Especially not the exit pollsters!
I beleive their are many republicans who don't like or want fascism and plump,but also because they were raised repubs and influenced heavily by family belief wont vote Democrat,so they won't vote at all. That's a huge loss of votes!!!!!
Lynette, if they can't bring themselves to vote for Harris, but don't want to be fascists, so they don't vote at all, that's a GOOD thing! One less vote for Trump.
I would much rather be wrong. But People with my kind of background tend to have what I call healthy paranoia. I have always been on the alert for racism, Fascism, and xenophobia, and I was brought up to think that never a game should apply to all people everywhere.
I came up in a very racist culture. I learned the only way for me to walk in another’s shoes was reading. It has taken my adult lifetime to relearn those childhood lessons.
It helps having friends, Back in the 50's four of us were tight as thieves, myself, Pat, Dennis and Curtis. Curtis was black from Oakland, we tried to go into a bar together but were refused because of Curtis, the only place we could go was Diogenes Lantern, a coffee house, where beats hung out. Curtis got a one hand clapping applause for his poem "He was a carpenter, they hung him on a tree and he just hung there".
Later when in Vietnam, I was sequestered for a week in the squad tent of the LRRP unit (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) a crazy bunch with short life spans, in the rear of the tent were two men that were lovers, nobody cared, and in fact were sympathetic when one of the two died. Then along came peace time and Clinton's Don't Ask Don't tell, and racism, sexism, homophobia reared their heads again.
Years ago I taught high school kids Holocaust Studies. it was apparent to me 20 years ago what the GOP was doing. I saw the parallels to Nazi Germany. Stunningly, today, I have Jewish friends who are Republican/Trumpers. What these people don't know about their history, can't recognize Fascism today is unbelievable. However, every one of them shares the Trump grievance, they all hold anger about whatever it is they think they didn't get and they are bigots, racists...to the core now. Surely if Trump can be awarded the presidency (one way he can win) I will not b able to maintain these friendships....I will be too busy moving out of the country.
I can understand your anger that people would vote for Trump. However I am concerned that by focussing on the relatively small minority of Jewish voters who are doing this you are Making the same error Trump does when he says if he loses Jews will be to blame.
Sadly, there are lots of people who are making the same mistake of not recognizing just how dangerous Trump is.
Yes, there are some Jews and people from other minority groups who will vote for Trump. It is hard to fathom why since it is certainly not what I would do. However they are no better or worse people than the rest of us. They are just taken in by his snake oil salesmanship, vulgar wealth and rabid racism. I have never understood why being very wealthy seems to give others the sense that you are smarter than them or wiser.
But What I think we need to focus on is why Trump can so successfully use hatred as a political tool to try to get elected, just like Hitler did 90 years ago.
Plan B, Claire. I learned that if you are an immigrant family and if you apply for dual citizenship with the country your forebears came from, and that country is in the EU, you can live freely and fully in any EU country. I hope Plan A--a Harris victory--occurs, though. I love my country.
We are all born authoritarians and tribal, but later some of us learn that there is a better way. That better way requires self-restraint and self-criticism; it involves slow thinking. Fast thinking remains our default mode, and quite often it is no thinking at all, just self delusion.
Yes Claire, the GOP has been up to their insidious bigotry since the became known as "Democrats" perhaps in the 1870's and were protected by the KKK from prosecution of federal law. Then Reagan brought them into the Republican party as part of his "Southern Strategy" to expand their political corporate power, with the blessing of the bigot George Wallace.
These billionaire cowards' silence will help in the attacks on and destruction of our country that we are all facing, and make it a much harder lift for each of us citizens and patriots. And don't think our speaking out is without danger. They have all our emails, you know. They will easily coerce Google to disgorge our personal information if Harris loses.
Your quote of German Theologain Pastor Niemoller is so true. My German grandfather, born in the US in 1880, was a Congregational Sunday school teacher. Would loved to have gone to one of his classes as his favorite writers were Jewish theologians (hence my first introduction to Niemoller) and Jewish existentialist philosophers. Why have we not learned!
Allegedly John F. Kelley has installed Bullet-Proof Glass for Windows in his Home... Mitt Romney retained Private Security at $5,000 per Month after Mitt voted for Impeachment of DJT... DJT is Feral, Vindictive, and is further disheveling.... The fears of Dimon, Gates, and Buffet are Warranted...
Would a "Billionaires for Harris" headline help her campaign? I would rather see this headline: "Why Billionaires support Trump?" How about focusing on the oil-anointed Texas billionaires behind Project 2025 and Christian nationalism?
I have yet to recover from her primary defeat to Schiff. BIG business funded his campaign. My heart aches that she will not be in Washington after January of next year. The American people desperately need her ability to speak truth to power in D.C. Let's hope for her quick return.
There are so many parallels with Germany in the 1930s. So many businessmen joined the Nazi party purely for selfish reasons to ensure they could carry on making money.
The climate of fear has pervaded through so many sectors. The most insidious is in the mainstream media. They are failing to warn of the dangers, including that of Trump’s mental health.
It’s terrifying to watch. I can only hope that in the privacy of the voting booth, people will find the courage to stop this madman.
The two most powerful industrial corporations in Europe cast in lots with Hitler completely in 1933: Krupp Works (ALL the hardware for the Wehrmacht) and IG Farben (all the explosives and poison gas). They will live in infamy for eternity.
Die 'Kruppwerke in Essen" or Krupp Foundry was known as the "Weapons forge of the German Reich" until it was functionally destroyed by allied bombing in 1945. The scrap metal was sold off as part of war reparations (WIKI). It occupied about 2 square miles. Krupp had a new plant after the war, a total rebuild. A new industrial plant was erected by Thyssen AG in the 1960's. The evil Gustav Krupp died soon after the War.
I’m a poll worker and you can be sure that no one will mess with us or our voters in my polling place. I have been trained, know the rules, and will not hesitate to stand up to anyone trying to disrupt the voting process and call the police if necessary. Watchers and monitors will keep their distance and act appropriately or they will be escorted out.
Thank you, sir, for being so clear.
When Hitler came to power, my father was a 10 year old Jewish kid living in Cologne, Germany. If my grandparents had not succeeded in making it to London, with my father and aunt, then I and the almost 100 other descendants would never have been born.
If my dad and my grandparents were alive today, I’m sure they would recognize the truth of what you and General Kelly are saying.
Trump really is a fascist dictator in his approach to gaining power again and his ability to frighten wealthy Democratic supporters into silence is proof of this.
This situation reminds me very strongly of the famous statement by the German Theologian Pastor Niemoller:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me."
If we do not defend others against the bully. We will in turn ourselves be bullied.
READER ENGAGEMENT
1. Uncle Sam needs you! https://www.mobilize.us/ (And me.)
2. Please repeatedly post "not suckers or losers" comments in social media. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans and active duty members on Facebook, as well as 12.5 million family members and 242 million friends with veterans or active duty members. Military sites, veterans; organizations, historical sites.
Vote vets has already flipped many 2016 and 2020 Trump voters.
This vet is voting for Harris-Walz.
❤🔍🤔There is a woman president AND women's health care on the ballot ... both may be contributing to men voting differently from their "better half"(female partner)...?
Women and/or their confidants may mention a resulting "spousal voter intimidation" by their male partner...?
How can we counsel these "victims" to deal with voter intimidation?
Please consider the proposal below(especially for voters in the "swing states" of Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, No.Carolina and Georgia).
Dear Secretary of State(for each state, in charge of running the election)
Please HELP:
https://stevenwhysel.substack.com/p/so-your-husband-wants-you-to-vote
We should report this voter intimidation to the FBI so they can use their sizable budget to educate confidants on how to become informers? For example:
FBI EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM:"Please report any credible stories of spousal voter intimidation or other voter intimidation to the FBI voter intimidation contact<contact info>. If you have received a credible story of voter intimidation, such as spousal voter intimidation, please find the courage to tell the victim that you feel obliged to violate confidentiality to AVOID BEING COMPLICIT IN CRIMINAL VOTER INTIMIDATION. Then the victim("J.Doe") can tell the perpetrator that he or she(J.Doe) innocently confided the story... and now that the "cat is out of the bag"... the victim can't stop the FBI investigating the male perpetrators of voter intimidation."
aka Though there is no time to investigate, the perpetrator may back off?
...but on:
usa.gov/voter-fraud
" voter intimidation... three ways you can report it:"
usa.gov/state-election-office
civilrights.justice.gov/#phone-footer
https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/
Ain't no use in feelin blue....
Jamie Dimon wants to privatize Social Security, that the fund and our payments can be used to juice the stockmarket, and rip off commissions, apparently he sees the threat that Trump poses, but neither he,nor Gates nor any of the more perceptive billionaires want to antagonize Trump by denouncing him or backing Harris, they believe Trump's threats, and are quite aware that the Republicans have interfered in the election with laws, law suits, voter suppression, intimidation and outright force and fraud and fear what will happen to them if they boldly denounce Trump.
It will happen anyway, a Trump presidency will destroy this Democratic Republic,it's economy, Wall Street, Global trade and our standing in the world.
The business group increasingly suck the average American dry and create stress. Our lives do not have to be so stressful. They were made that way. Privatizing SS is just another way to skim money from the people. Affordable housing is so hard to find because home is now just another commodity to investors. When one man has more wealth than so many, there will be problems.
Monopoly and Dictatorship are the natural results of freedom in business. The government must step in to prevent the extreme concentration of wealth and power in order to maintain a democracy.
The three legs of government are supposed to provide balance and a system of checks on the abuse of power. They're not doing so well at that.
Agree
Absolutely frightening to consider, yet I believe this is where the US is headed if Trump should win.
Well said, William. After Trump America will never be great again.
The MAGA/Trumpians are an army of conmen and women peddling a vast nightmare disguised as the ‘American dream’. We can beg God to ‘forgive them for they know not what they do’ but we must all work together and vote blue to avoid letting them crucify us on a swastika.
Good points, William. So Dimon's (Demon's?) statement that he values his country above his company is as false as everything else about the cowardly billionaires. Dimon is old; he may get a couple more billion out of privatizing Social Security under a Trump regime before he kicks the bucket, and that must be worth hedging his bets and staying silent on Harris.
How can you tell Trump is lying ? His lips are moving.
Dimon's idea of our country is quite a bit different than yours.
To understand, fully, what these people mean, one needs to ask follow up questions, Like exactly what is there about this country that you value, and what is there that you don't value. And it is not the answers that are important, but what is not in the answers.
Humans are foolish word controlled and word beguiled creatures.
A lover rolls over and lights a cigarette and mutters softly and tenderly "I love you" and the listener takes it literally, or projects meaning that accords with their psyche and emotional state, When the statement might be as simple as "that was a great orgasm, and you are a great lay, I'll see you next time, not I want to build a life with you.
Yeh Jamie Dimon values this country, he isn't lying, but what is it he values and why, and what is it that he devalues.
I would agree
I thought so too, Daniel Solomon, about those connected to the US Military. Surely trump’s words about McCain; those John Kelly & others reported said at Kelly’s son’s grave at Arlington; Trump’s other disdain of and desire for loyalists in service to him v the Constitution would clearly persuade, a GOP colleague who works with military veterans. This time if not the last or first. They were offended, angry that I even suggested such. They were offended that I even suggested they’d vote other than GOP-labeled and that it was an insult to the veterans they work with. Values matter. I hope VoteVets does more with others.
As a retired mustang and special ops team leader, I don't hold out much hope for the military. It is a cloistered society, even monkish, and conservative
Despite the gains, racism and sexism permeates, and the troops have a macho self image, and Trump's plays into that. also most enlisted are from the south and rural America and join for jobs, an income, to get away from their roots, , anything but, unless there is an attack like 9/11 anything but patriotism.
The recruiting ads on TV appeal to the macho fantasy.
Gen Kelley knew what Trump was, before he accepted the position of Chief of Staff, so did Gen Mattis and other generals who worked for Trump, and at first they agreed with Trump, that's why they went to work for him, that and careerism. Milley didn't mind being Trump's lackey, until MAYBE (I repeat Maybe) Lafayette Park and the Bible spectacle.
Mike Flynn is a retired Lt General his brother Charles is now a four star general, but then a Lt General who sat at the desk in the Pentagon letting the phone ring off the hook, as Nancy and even Pence called in asking for the National Guard on Jan 6th. Charles not only would not answer the phone, but Biden, inexplicably promoted him 1st to Commander Pacific Forces and 2nd to Four star general.
I frankly do not hold out much hope for an enlightened military., then again what do I know, I retired 42 years ago
I personally have flipped dozens.
Bravo!
I was shocked at promotion of Charles Flynn.
It doesn’t help that the military plays Fox News on all its TVs.
Republicans know they are losing the military vote and are trying to kill it. https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-5159996/uocava-overseas-voters-military-lawsuit-republican
@ William Farrar. No hope flipping the Flynn brothers. But I worked with many high ranking officers who have flipped. Most had been military judges.
The people you might influence are younger people who do not get MSM, many who had parents or grandparents who served and do not know about "suckers and losers" or Trump's relationship with Putin. Sometimes it takes several "touches" to sink in.
Sometimes you plant a seed, another person waters, another person removes weeds. Sometimes it takes time and some sunshine.
This is mind-boggling
Indeed! Rupert Murdoch is a Putin ally for all practical purposes--and a traitor to his adopted country..
I agree. Fox not only on every military base TV, but every gym and many public places like restaurants. 28 years of damage. I now hear Fox sound bites emerge unthinkingly from the mouths of my otherwise very nice neighbors. They don't even know what's happened to their brains, because they don't think. They just listen, absorb, and unthinkingly regurgitate. And vote, unfortunately.
It's up to people like you who are on social media.... when you comment you'll see what I mean. Many of the people involved are dependents, family members, friends and neighbors who are interested in the military and or national security and for whom this is news. Takes repetition and substantiation by people they trust.
I am a Vietnam combat veteran -- probably the lone survivor from my units. I have been a "veteran since Jan 21, 1968. The grandchildren (or great-grandchildren) of my late colleagues want to hear form someone like me.....
When you post on say a FB history site, you may start a conversation with potential voters who may flip on this basis....
You are to be commended, sir, for your service. I am always drawn back to a passage from Dad's 3rd Armored Division Memorial book, in which 4 grunts were charged with holding off a Panzer platoon at a forsaken Belgian crossroads. It seems that the bleakest of humor comes from those in the sights of the big gun, at the expense of the brass back at HQ.
I' rather be commended for flipping MAGATS. Only 300 hours to go....
Unlike Mrs. Bonespurs, as his age and obesity make him a WOMAN, General John Kelly and ALL Veterans are TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOTS. I know Our Troops will carry President Harris to an easy victory.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
Daniel H ; tRUMP has been so bad, that he has shown what a danger he is, The majority of voters will vote blue and , because he is such a fail, and ironically he Will make America Great again as we resist him and his sycophants. We either vote him out and refuse his garbage, or become victims of a sort of "fourth Reich". I don't see Americans allowing that. AT all!
Thank you to all @VoteVets who have spoken out against Trump/MAGA tyranny.
61% of vet suppoet tRump. If that doesn't turn you stomach...
Vote Vets tracks them. Have been declining. my demographic -- the Agent Orange generation is dying off rapidly. I was on my DNC vet group zoom this morning. We think vets are flipping.
The demographic we influence need to be educated about McCain, Trump + Putin, etc. Dependents of active duty military. Offspring of dead vets.
Get ready for a rough ride. Remember, tRump defied the polls when Hillary was far ahead. This time, the polls are neck and neck. Big money is backing tRump, so as horrifying as it sounds, buckle up—this could turn into a nightmare if it plays out as expected. The reason? It's all about tRump's unwavering support for a leader who mimics the worst authoritarian traits. There are enough misguided Americans seeking revenge against Democrats and liberals for standing up for the rights of minorities, and for calling out their own biases and bigotry.
Not necessarily! Big Money is SPLIT, with some of the most "nasty" Republicans backing HARRISWALZ.
1. In the primaries, Trump underperformed in 19 of 20 states.
2. This election involves abortion.
The reason for the neck and neck polling to me seems like bought polls. With the intention to disuading people from voting due to apathy as to the result.
In another venue, we discuss this...some of us track VAT, VAN and state divisions of elections. Besides being a FT 6 volunteer, and monitoring Movement Labs, I belong to the Florida Data Directors Committee. IMHO we are out registering them... but can't actually prove it.
The Republicans are presenting a false narrative that the polling favors them in order to justify objecting to the electoral count.
Bill Reitz ; Yes ; If not bought ; already owned by the enemies of Democracy, which is the same thing, basically.
There are some nasty roadside signs appearing in Arizona, urging readers of them to vote against the proposition that will safeguard abortion in the state constitution, "because abortion in Arizona is already legal until week 15." Yeah, until some judge or state legislator changes that! Pernicious.
Dick Cheney is certainly a nasty Republican backing Harris. I'll take what I can get!
Indeed, fascism requires scapegoats to gain and remain in power. Condemning Trump, a wannabe fascist dictator, only privately does nothing to warn and change minds of those who are unaware if how unfit and dangerous he is. A number of years ago Bill Gates asked women around the world especially in poorer countries, and I am paraphrasing here what would help them the most? Their answer: Birth Control. The consequence of unwanted pregnancies affected their health, their children's health and only increased their suffering and poverty further. Think how the anti-abortion movement in this country is not only harming women in this country but harming women worldwide..
Betty, you make a point of paramount importance. Making contraception widely available would greatly reduce the number of abortions, and it would improve the lives of millions. Yet many religious folks oppose it.
True Victor, but there are many people of faith who feel it is a personal choice. in our country, you have the freedom to practice your faith provided you do not use rhetoric or conduct to harm others.
Yes. It's the old bumper-sticker: "If you don't approve of abortion, don't have one." We have utterly abandoned the separation of church and faith in our country in 2024. (Well, the Trump MAGA people have.)
sorry, I meant the separation of church and state, not faith!
I an not sure I understand you. In our country rhetoric and conduct is used all the time to harm others, and it's done with impunity.
If that is the case and they think it's okay to behave that way, I can only say I do not think it's okay.
Lack of birth control and abortion access harms women's ECONOMIC power to have sovereignty over their lives. Women whose male partners desert them have to educate themselves and work at high-paying jobs. How can they do this if they have one, two, three or more little kids depending on them for 24/7 care, feeding, safeguarding? No one person can take care of children 100% and earn a viable living simultaneously. Birth control and abortion access = economic viability for women. The right-wingers know and hate this.
Christina Kasica : True, Self determination for women is their nightmare. They don't like the fact that more women are college educated these days ; outnumbering college educated men. When and if they have children, they are more likely to have critical thinking skills and be difficult to misinform.
Of course, it's a lot more than bullying. PEOPLE WILL BE ERASED.
Well said. Id say the same for CEOs of companies.
Boeing is a lost, lost cause ! And in my life time ! First as an American icon and now as a case study in every business school in outright failure, financially and ethically. Thanks to a whole bunch of Jack Welch’s buddies from GE.
The amount of money spent in the run up to this election is obscene. Half of which is devoted to doing exactly what you wrote - no FEMA funds, remove Obamacare, no SNAP funds for food insufficiency. Back to Dickensian times, poor, houses, orphanages, beggars, TB, cholera etc ! I voted but I am not elated. We just might see that electing Kamala was easy compared to trying to right the ship of State.
Who says there are no FEMA funds?
Frankly, I doubt they seriously care who is in power. As long as they can continue earning lots of money for themselves and their friends. The poor in America have been bamboozled by the corporations into believing in their ultimate “goodness”. They have been taught to accept their fates and not make any noise about it. And especially to not agitate for a union. Or higher wages. They have also been taught that social programs or welfare are “wrong”—that, after all is the great bogeyman Socialism. And guess who’s side Trump is on?
Dear BCBob, Your family has suffered the cruelest treatment in the history of humanity. My dad and two uncles marched and gunned their way through Europe in 1944, and saw and smelled some of what you described. The horror inflicted upon the millions cannot be overstated, hell on earth.Thanks for your vignette. Herr Drumpf is the quintessential absolute coward, and those hold their silence are in league with him. He is a lying, scheming bastard and always has been. He has described his world view rather clearly long ago: "Everybody is out to get you. They'll steal your house, your wife, your car...even your dog..." he has deadened the minds of the 80 million and there's no turning back for them. There has to be a turnabout for us in the next few days or another round of extreme brutality will be for us. Thank you again.
Hi Dennis
I appreciate those three brothers service. I know that was not an easy experience to go through.
Thank you for sharing about their service. Of course not being able to appreciate that is one of Trump’s issues.
Wow! Dude! Responding to William)What a narrative! I had friends who were black that were forced to eat in the kitchen of restaurants as they crossed the country, even though they were in uniform! To return to such times would be worse than despicable. Love your Buddy’s poem!
❤🔍🤔A woman president AND women's health are on the ballot ... contributing to men voting differently from their "better half"...?
Women and or their confidants may mention a resulting "spousal voter intimidation"...?
How can we counsel them to deal with any voter intimidation?
Please consider the proposal below(especially for voters in the "swing states" of Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia).
Dear SecretaryofState
Please HELP:
https://stevenwhysel.substack.com/p/so-your-husband-wants-you-to-vote
We should report this voter intimidation to the FBI so they can use their sizable budget to educate confidants on how to become informers? For example:
FBI EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM:"Please report any credible stories of spousal voter intimidation or other voter intimidation to the FBI voter intimidation contact<contact info>. If you have received a credible story of voter intimidation, such as spousal voter intimidation, please find the courage to tell the victim that you feel obliged to violate confidentiality to AVOID BEING COMPLICIT IN CRIMINAL VOTER INTIMIDATION. Then the victim("J.Doe") can tell the perpetrator that he or she(J.Doe) innocently confided the story... and now that the "cat is out of the bag"... the victim can't stop the FBI investigating the male perpetrators of voter intimidation."
aka Though there is no time to investigate, the perpetrator may back off?
As reported on MSNBC, a woman in Georgia told the reporter. I am 82 years old and this is my first time voting. When asked why she didn't vote, she said my husband told me I didn't need to, he died last year".
I was told the same thing by my husband. He passed away in 2002, and my first vote was for Kerry in '04. I've been active ever since. I was busy raising 3 children and working full-time, and he used his 2 hour commute time to read 4 newspapers a day, so it seemed reasonable to me. We didn't have the option of mail-in ballots back then, either.
Now I'm elderly and disabled and have all the time in the world to read up on politics and world news, but it breaks my heart to know that far too many women and young people are too busy living their lives to learn about the danger we are facing 💔.
You are a remarkable woman, Paula. Stay active!
Several years ago, I was doing door-knocking for a ballot measure. A man came to the door. After hearing the info, he said he liked it and would vote for it. Then he said his wife would too because his wife votes the way he tells her to.
I also talked with an older woman that said her husband always tells her how to vote. She agrees with him to keep the peace but when she gets in the voting booth, she votes her own mind.
It's called a secret ballot. We still have that.
It is the very foundation of a Democracy. No one should ever believe they are obligated to tell anyone how they voted/will vote. Especially not the exit pollsters!
Great reference, P.C. Everyone should be freed from fear and vote their conscience.
I beleive their are many republicans who don't like or want fascism and plump,but also because they were raised repubs and influenced heavily by family belief wont vote Democrat,so they won't vote at all. That's a huge loss of votes!!!!!
Lynette, if they can't bring themselves to vote for Harris, but don't want to be fascists, so they don't vote at all, that's a GOOD thing! One less vote for Trump.
You are so very correct in your analysis of history and of it repeating in that trump dude.
Thanks Steven
I would much rather be wrong. But People with my kind of background tend to have what I call healthy paranoia. I have always been on the alert for racism, Fascism, and xenophobia, and I was brought up to think that never a game should apply to all people everywhere.
I came up in a very racist culture. I learned the only way for me to walk in another’s shoes was reading. It has taken my adult lifetime to relearn those childhood lessons.
it's a rare person who tells it like it was and is
It helps having friends, Back in the 50's four of us were tight as thieves, myself, Pat, Dennis and Curtis. Curtis was black from Oakland, we tried to go into a bar together but were refused because of Curtis, the only place we could go was Diogenes Lantern, a coffee house, where beats hung out. Curtis got a one hand clapping applause for his poem "He was a carpenter, they hung him on a tree and he just hung there".
Later when in Vietnam, I was sequestered for a week in the squad tent of the LRRP unit (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) a crazy bunch with short life spans, in the rear of the tent were two men that were lovers, nobody cared, and in fact were sympathetic when one of the two died. Then along came peace time and Clinton's Don't Ask Don't tell, and racism, sexism, homophobia reared their heads again.
Thank you, Bcbob, it’s timely to be reminded of this great quote. So glad your grandparents escaped and your family has done well.
Thank you for your kind response.
Years ago I taught high school kids Holocaust Studies. it was apparent to me 20 years ago what the GOP was doing. I saw the parallels to Nazi Germany. Stunningly, today, I have Jewish friends who are Republican/Trumpers. What these people don't know about their history, can't recognize Fascism today is unbelievable. However, every one of them shares the Trump grievance, they all hold anger about whatever it is they think they didn't get and they are bigots, racists...to the core now. Surely if Trump can be awarded the presidency (one way he can win) I will not b able to maintain these friendships....I will be too busy moving out of the country.
Hi Claire
I can understand your anger that people would vote for Trump. However I am concerned that by focussing on the relatively small minority of Jewish voters who are doing this you are Making the same error Trump does when he says if he loses Jews will be to blame.
Sadly, there are lots of people who are making the same mistake of not recognizing just how dangerous Trump is.
Yes, there are some Jews and people from other minority groups who will vote for Trump. It is hard to fathom why since it is certainly not what I would do. However they are no better or worse people than the rest of us. They are just taken in by his snake oil salesmanship, vulgar wealth and rabid racism. I have never understood why being very wealthy seems to give others the sense that you are smarter than them or wiser.
But What I think we need to focus on is why Trump can so successfully use hatred as a political tool to try to get elected, just like Hitler did 90 years ago.
Plan B, Claire. I learned that if you are an immigrant family and if you apply for dual citizenship with the country your forebears came from, and that country is in the EU, you can live freely and fully in any EU country. I hope Plan A--a Harris victory--occurs, though. I love my country.
We are all born authoritarians and tribal, but later some of us learn that there is a better way. That better way requires self-restraint and self-criticism; it involves slow thinking. Fast thinking remains our default mode, and quite often it is no thinking at all, just self delusion.
Yes Claire, the GOP has been up to their insidious bigotry since the became known as "Democrats" perhaps in the 1870's and were protected by the KKK from prosecution of federal law. Then Reagan brought them into the Republican party as part of his "Southern Strategy" to expand their political corporate power, with the blessing of the bigot George Wallace.
These billionaire cowards' silence will help in the attacks on and destruction of our country that we are all facing, and make it a much harder lift for each of us citizens and patriots. And don't think our speaking out is without danger. They have all our emails, you know. They will easily coerce Google to disgorge our personal information if Harris loses.
When Melinda French left Bill gates it told me all I needed to know (be reminded of) about Bill Gates Lack of Character.
Your quote of German Theologain Pastor Niemoller is so true. My German grandfather, born in the US in 1880, was a Congregational Sunday school teacher. Would loved to have gone to one of his classes as his favorite writers were Jewish theologians (hence my first introduction to Niemoller) and Jewish existentialist philosophers. Why have we not learned!
Allegedly John F. Kelley has installed Bullet-Proof Glass for Windows in his Home... Mitt Romney retained Private Security at $5,000 per Month after Mitt voted for Impeachment of DJT... DJT is Feral, Vindictive, and is further disheveling.... The fears of Dimon, Gates, and Buffet are Warranted...
Would a "Billionaires for Harris" headline help her campaign? I would rather see this headline: "Why Billionaires support Trump?" How about focusing on the oil-anointed Texas billionaires behind Project 2025 and Christian nationalism?
I have yet to recover from her primary defeat to Schiff. BIG business funded his campaign. My heart aches that she will not be in Washington after January of next year. The American people desperately need her ability to speak truth to power in D.C. Let's hope for her quick return.
There are so many parallels with Germany in the 1930s. So many businessmen joined the Nazi party purely for selfish reasons to ensure they could carry on making money.
The climate of fear has pervaded through so many sectors. The most insidious is in the mainstream media. They are failing to warn of the dangers, including that of Trump’s mental health.
It’s terrifying to watch. I can only hope that in the privacy of the voting booth, people will find the courage to stop this madman.
The two most powerful industrial corporations in Europe cast in lots with Hitler completely in 1933: Krupp Works (ALL the hardware for the Wehrmacht) and IG Farben (all the explosives and poison gas). They will live in infamy for eternity.
I read that trump’s father also supported Hitler’s interests with his business. Anything for money.
No, Krupp had a nuclear facility after the war.
Die 'Kruppwerke in Essen" or Krupp Foundry was known as the "Weapons forge of the German Reich" until it was functionally destroyed by allied bombing in 1945. The scrap metal was sold off as part of war reparations (WIKI). It occupied about 2 square miles. Krupp had a new plant after the war, a total rebuild. A new industrial plant was erected by Thyssen AG in the 1960's. The evil Gustav Krupp died soon after the War.
Is the voting booth really going to be private this time? Think of republican plans to recruit poll watchers and election monitors.
I’m a poll worker and you can be sure that no one will mess with us or our voters in my polling place. I have been trained, know the rules, and will not hesitate to stand up to anyone trying to disrupt the voting process and call the police if necessary. Watchers and monitors will keep their distance and act appropriately or they will be escorted out.