Nov 3, 2023·edited Nov 3, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
professor reich: this comment of yours cannot be repeated often enough: "those spending cuts will harm Americans dependent on such spending. Besides, the budget deficit and debt are largely the products of the Trump, George W. Bush, and Reagan tax cuts, all of which have mainly benefited big corporations and wealthy Americans (and almost none of which “trickled down” to average working people)."
besides, what is the purpose of government, if not to uplift the vulnerable, educate the masses and to protect the environment? taxes are the price we pay, as a civilised nation, for the privilege of social stability, economic equality and a healthy populace.
"At the least, we should condition such aid on Israel’s commitment to establish two fully sovereign states."
1. That happens to be our policy.
2. Biden, on Wednesday:
"I think we need a pause. A pause means give time to get the prisoners out. . . . . I’m the guy that convinced Bibi to call for that cease-fire to let the prisoners out."
Before we to far off topic, we should honor that the topic Professor Reich is focusing on today is “THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND TYRANY.” and I believe Professor Reich has again hit the nail right on the head. I doubt that any on this forum will refuse to vote for Biden and Democrats in next year’s elections but we risk being the choir singing loudly to ourselves. Biden, however is going out to the picket lines and the homeland of the small farmers to preach the gospel that to the working people and middle class of Americans that must be reached. Meanwhile the Republicans in the house fiddle while democracy burns. We should each follow Biden’s example in our own lives if we wish to keep the ship of Democracy from sinking even lower in the water. We must work ceaselessly to keep it not only afloat, but buoyant.
I'm involved w/ Public Citizen(in Wash. for over 50 yrs.),Indivisible(very proactive,
Receive emails from Common Cause,and more.If it's attending a Zoom mtg. to stay informed,signing petitions or actually attending group actions,they get good work done.
There's a big difference between a "pause" and a "ceasefire." Especially, in what is commonly acknowledged to be an "open-air concentration camp." Mere crumbs compared to the real enchilada of humanitarianism. Our collusion in apartheid Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians will be remembered every time the (mis)leadership BS exalts the USA's exceptionalism. Our backside is clearly visible.
We are not Israel. There are US citizens missing -- may be hostages. That "ethnic cleansing" is belied by the fact that Israeli Arabs have more civil rights than Arabs in any Moslem country.
I don't like Likud, I don't like Netanyahu, and I don't support the attacks by settlers -- where proven -- but that crap comes out of the blood libel refrain. Many of those killed by Hamas were Israeli and US "peaceniks."
"Let's be clear: the living conditions in Gaza before October 7th were horrific and inhumane – that was before Hamas ignited the latest war. Before this conflict, in Gaza, nearly 80 percent of people lived in poverty, and two-thirds were reliant on humanitarian assistance." (sanders.senate.gov)
"Gaza has become a “graveyard” for children with thousands now killed under Israeli bombardment, while more than a million face dire shortages of essentials and .." (news.un.org)
"4 days ago — Renowned physician and author Dr. Gabor Mate joins The Grayzone to offer his reflections on Israel's gruesome military operation in the ..."
"Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1946 to 2022 totaled $243.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II" (USAfacts.org)
When Hamas got funds, instead of developing the country -- for at least 15 years-- they "invested" in rockets, tunnels. Put military installations in public buildings like hospitals, schools. Hamas was the government. Sent kids as suicide bombers.
"For half a century, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinians living there.
Since the occupation first began in June 1967, Israel’s ruthless policies of land confiscation, illegal settlement and dispossession, coupled with rampant discrimination, have inflicted immense suffering on Palestinians, depriving them of their basic rights.
Israel’s military rule disrupts every aspect of daily life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It continues to affect whether, when and how Palestinians can travel to work or school, go abroad, visit their relatives, earn a living, attend a protest, access their farmland, or even access electricity or a clean water supply. It means daily humiliation, fear and oppression. People’s entire lives are effectively held hostage by Israel.
Israel has also adopted a complex web of military laws to crush dissent against its policies, and senior government officials have branded Israelis advocating for Palestinian rights as “traitors”. (www.amnesty.org)
Also Daniel Solomon, Please provide sources for your comments. Thank you.
Also Daniel, we should point out, it was Hamas that built those "refugee" (concentration) camps and forced the Palestinian people to live in abject poverty. Why? Because they needed those conditions to keep the Palestinians riled against the Jews. Had they, Hamas, accepted or allowed the humanitarian aid to teach the Palestinians how to farm, build, and create a prosperous life for themselves, where would they have found children willing to be suicide bombers?
This maddening public discourse cannot seem to get past the 'blaming' rhetoric that is burning between the question of 'which side is bad or which side is worse'. What don't both sides understand about the basic Commandment that was set in stone: 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'?
Hamas is reportedly supported by Iran. Humanitarian aid is and was targeted. Western aid was NOT provided to Hamas to arm, as if the West and civilians “are” Hamas. Damn, but, there is 2-side-ism in this, don’t pretend to believe Gaza was coddled by anyone including their guards. Hamas leadership is deadly, cunning, suicidal, but, while the lid to the cooker was on, Israel could let suffering simmer. With these foreseeable results.
Selina, what do you think the US should do? Biden is providing aid. Do you think Netanyahu should allow the Hamas terrorists to keep attacking Israel and keep holding the people of Gaza in poverty & atrocious conditions? Israel is our ALLY.
No non-Jewish Israelis have 'more civil rights than Arabs in any Moslem country'. That is absolute tosh. **All**l Arabs inside Israel live in an Apartheid-like condition.
Doctors, lawyers, etc. The Israeli Arab community, accounts for 21% of the population. Standard Arabic or Literary Arabic), is currently an auxiliary language in Israel and its use on government documents is mandated by law.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel
That's nonsense. There is a big difference between the Arabs who live peacefully among Jews in Israel and those who support Hamas. Our Jewish cousin in Israel lives and works among Arabs and teaches their kids in school. And they have a lot more freedom than the Muslims in Saudi Arabia or Iran where beheading is the solution to dissent.
How Arabs are treated in Gaza and the West Bank compared to Jordan are completely different, and please don’t compare.
And please don’t pretend that the 700k displaced from their homes and land at gunpoint to create Israel in 1967 should not feel the way they do. If anyone came into the U.S. and did the same thing it would be completely unacceptable. And this is what happened to both Christian and Muslim Palestinians. The story we would like to tell ourselves, the propaganda sold, is not what happened. And the above is what did. I’m a blond haired blue eyed freckled faced American and the above happened to my father and his family.
Both sides are responsible for the violence. The question is, who gains from it? Until the answer
to that question is resolved, it will be impossible
to have long-lasting peace. The two state solution would lend itself to having a peaceful co-existence because it would force the Palestinians to have a formal government.
Having a formal government means there are responsible people with whom the Israelis can negotiate--AFTER both sides set aside blame and
the tit for tat mentality of, “You killed x number
of my people, so we’re going to kill twice as many
of your people.” That kind of thinking is a road to
nowhere.
The only way to create long term peace is for both
Highly encourage the reading of Patrick Lawrence's piece today entitled "Deeper Into Depravity" (scheerpost.com)and the comments made by Kalen and Roundball Shaman.
Please also demand that Iran and the financiers of Hamas insist on a two state solution. Hamas and others deliberately created a response that will kill innocent children and civilians as they sit in deep bunkers beneath them. Their aim is to divide the world and stop the support for Israel and it is working.
Putin too is hoping we will tire of seeing his violence and stop helping the fight against him.
The world is tired of refugees and is doing less and less to help people escape the violence. Getting the civilians out of the war zone is the one thing we should focus on and not ask one side to be reasonable while the other continues to inflame hate and desire for more deaths, even to its own children. They aren’t human shields. They are there to die for emotional images.
The caption to each photo of suffering and grieving in Gaza needs to include, “brought to you by Hamas.”
My point is if we are making demands make them to both sides. The demand and seeing if it is rejected or accepted is the point. What is accomplished by making funding contingent on a 2 state solution when the other side won’t accept the concept.
Got to go with what is available. If Hamas, Islamic Jihad are diminished, they are not "the other side." The blueprint is supposed to be the Oslo Accords. Land for peace.
What if say, Saudi Arabia and other Sunnis, "guarantee" peace? Install a peace force? Man the checkpoints? Reduce corruption in the PA and enforce criminal law? Post a bond? Rebuild Gaza like Abu Dhabi?
@Daniel. We need both an internationally managed DMZ and a "Marshall Plan" level of re-investment and rebuilding of Gaza and a future defined Palestinian homeland.
Why would Israel expect Hamas to release the hostages for a cease fire if Hamas is getting the desired result of sympathy from the world and making Israel look bad? Would Israel know that Hamas won't release the hostages and use that excuse to kill as many Palestinians as possible and occupy Palestine, once and for all? In ten years, will we see "Victory Beach Resort" where the remains of Gaza City are now? What do you believe is the Israel plan for the future?
There is a good possibility that Israel is planning to bomb until every structure in Gaza is flattened. The numbers of Palestinians killed is irrelevant to them. This could be there is no stopping them unless the international community intervenes directly or there is a regionwide general strike including Israeli and Palestinians im the West Wank and Gaza
Hamas 's leaders do not care about the deaths of their own people. They must be overthrown. Same with Netanyahu. Only a revolution in the whole region will stop the killing. General Giap refused to fight the US with human waves as Mao had suggested. He went to Russia instead. The Hamas leaders are a suicide squad. The Israelis are are committing war crimes in the name of survival. These positions are nothing but death and destruction.
Excellent video! I learned a few things about the long history of Jewish persecution that shocked me. I really like that she said criticism about Israel is not always antisemitism. I have been saying that for years, especially about Netanyahu.
Well said. However, it seems that, for Republican leaders, the purpose of government is to divert all of the resources of this great country to their wealthy campaign contributors, while punishing ordinary people. They seek to criminalize everything: obtaining reproductive care, being LGBTQ, being Black or Brown, doctors treating patients, reading books, peacefully demonstrating. Their motto might be, "lock everyone up!"
It sure looks that way, Carolyn! Lock everyone up in a private, for profit prison, and get some ill gotten gains to boot!. Make prisoners ineligible to vote! Keep them ineligible to vote if they can't pay their fines.. They win and the lowly workers and middle class don't matter and have no voice, rights or freedom.
Look what Sanders did in Arkansas, a prisoner thru new evidence was found to be innocent! His two supposed co-horts were freed but that bitch Sanders said he didn't put in the paperwork with the evidence soon enough so he sits in jail even though he is innocent !! She is sòooooooo corrupt and just nasty !!
@ Laurie! You are grumpy today girl! However, I do think there is a role for "ordinary" law enforcement in the Gaza Strip. How is the big question. I mentioned many times my idea that we need a DMZ to separate the combatants, and we need a "Marshall Plan" level of re-investment into a Palestinian homeland (however defined through diplomacy).
I'm so very grateful a young man sees the false promise of crypto & has revealed that. It has seemed a perfect fraudulent attempt to garner people's hard earned money to me since it started.
"lock everyone up!" is a way to create an enslaved underclass -- which comprises all of us -- that live solely to serve the oligarchs and who die when we are no longer useful.
The far-right Republicans (if one includes their enablers, the far-right is stretching pretty wide these days) ultimate goal is the establishment of a fascist feudal economic state run for the sole benefit of the oligarchs under the cloak of Christo-nationalism.
They want a Gilead on the strongest of anabolic steroids possible, and even THAT would not be 'enough' for them, the patriarchal, white supremacist scum that they are. ;) :(
@Janet. Americans have been reducing debt under Obama, and now again under Biden. That big tax break that Trump and the Republicans have given to the 1% and the .01% is part of what is driving up the cost of borrowing. With a continuation of a Democratic majority in Congress and with Biden still in charge at the top, tax rates on corporations and high-wealth individuals can be gently and slowly raised ultimately to give us a much more fair tax system AND a greatly reduced national debt.
@Janet. It's complicated but in my view you are not all wrong. I hope you will find that among the alternatives the current set of Democratic candidates are the best we can hope for in this election cycle. Any other approach greatly increases chances that MAGA types will be returned to office, against our better interests.
I watched a video about the harm that neoliberalism did to the UK. The result is a drastic increase in inequality, just like here in the US. Who do we blame for these policies? It seems that in the past, they are corporate taxes and depreciation rates that aren't associated with political parties. Stellantis wouldn't restart the plant in Belvidere, Il. if they weren't going to make more money than is they moved to Mexico. Did the Biden administration change the corporate depreciation rate to favor corporations? The plant in Belvidere was built in 1966 and used to be Chrysler. I would like to believe the UAW has that much bargaining power, but I'm thinking there is more to the story.
Excellent points, and ones that cannot be repeated enough. But Professor Reich says the first step should be the repeal of the Defendant's tax cuts. While that's true, it won't happen, at least without some good faith effort on the other side, like a commitment to go after waste, fraud, and abuse. That should be easy (yeah, right, like adding more IRS agents to recover 3-6 times their cost from tax cheats). Republicans should understand return on investment, and maybe they need to be reminded of that at every turn. Many programs Democrats support have huge returns or cost avoidances. That should be a central message that I rarely hear.
Bob, it is worse than we realize. Not only is the IRS woefully understaffed, the tax code and regs are defective. They are intentionally made that way by Congress: full of loopholes and special favors to special friends of our legislators. As a CPA in private practice I often represented clients undergoing IRS audits. Over the years I came to feel sorry for the IRS auditors I opposed. One poor fellow had a nervous breakdown right there in our offices.
We have to get the 99% that are not paying attention to how and who is running the government to wake up and help take the government back to the people not large corporations.
@ Erik. Unless you are a corporation what in the world would entice you to diminish your own rights in favor of robber barons, inherited wealth and organized lobbyists? Citizens United is a travesty of ultra-radical, right wing constitutional distortion.
Yes. Get big business OUT OF POLITICS. Believe it was George W that gave businesses and corporations THE SAME RIGHTS as a civilian. They are allowed to DONATE AS MUCH as they like to WHOMEVER they feel will assist them in passing of bills and laws TO ASSIST that business and or industry, amongst other items that put individuals at a HUGE DISADVANTAGE.
Are you really serious, or is this a satirical parody of a crazed corporatocrat ecstatic at all the advantages Citizens United gives corporations & CEOs like him to seize wealth at the expense of ordinary citizens?
Correct. I erred. Was the same time Bush and Romney were both vocal members of the now defunct Republican Party... either or... this puts every American voter at a GIGANTIC DISADVANTAGE. How can individuals compete with billion dollar corporations? Corporations ARE NOT people or citizens.
@John Goodman. Mr. Romney is no democrat my friend. He is a corporate raider who made his money on buying companies, raping them via paying himself grandiose consulting fees, dressed up their books by "reducing costs" by laying off workers, then protecting his ill gotten gains by use of the special "carried interest" provisions of the distorted tax code. Not someone we would look to for a balanced view of Citizens United...
grrlscientist - you're mostly correct, but you left out the part about the role of the gov't to protect, encourage, and abet the exploitation, pillaging and looting of the labor and resources of vulnerable countries by our corporations, whether militarily, "diplomatically", or economically (world bank, IMF)
well, i understand your point but despite all the evil and horrors in the world, i remain an idealist, which means exploitation of other nations/peoples is a thing that is just plain wrong in my view.
GrrlScientist, yup. my sardonic comments don't translate well. no, the purpose of gov't. is not to facilitate the exploitation of 3rd world countries, but ever since the 1880s or so, our military has been coopted to do just that. See central america - C&H, Dole, United Fruit, The rise of the corporations has gone hand in hand with the militarization of this country. A similar story with the labor movement in this country.
Nov 3, 2023·edited Nov 3, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
I believe it's imperative young voters (along with progressives, independents, and "never Trumper" republicans) band together to purge these right wing republicans from public office - into the history books right next to Benedict Arnold where they belong. This will require voting into the "White House" a Democratic president for the next SEVERAL presidential elections along with enough democratic members of both the House and Senate to get legislation passed which is aimed at strengthening as opposed to weakening our democratic republic. Remember, the THREE right wing members of the Supreme Court are there because enough progressives voted for Jill Stein, and other "third party" candidates or didn't vote in 2016. The Supreme Court as it;'s constituted will be a threat to our republic for a generation. Just imagine if they get another right wing judge on that court?! Those of us who have benefited for years from the great Middle Class created in America after WW II and who are progressives (I'm 76) SHOULD be doing all we can to encourage young people to vote and to not waste their votes on the fringe candidates republicans will be funding - in order to peel off votes from Joe Biden. "We the people" SHOULD be able to understand the importance of voting AGAINST republicans! Full Stop!!
The problem is not so much that Republicans behave the way they do - that's to be expected - the problem is that the DNC has become dependent on corporate money. That's the reason elections are so damn close. That's the reason wankers like Johnson wield power.
Until and unless the DNC adopts a liberal program, along the lines put forward by Sanders, we are doomed to the Trumps and Johnsons of the world, which will make it all the more difficult to deal with other wankers like Putin and Netanyahu.
William--It seems the Republicans don't look at qualifications when it comes to candidates they want to put up for an election. Those things make people harder to control.
Tuberville also has no experience in the military. Never served a single day! But somehow he "knows" his stonewalling is not causing any problems for the military. What a putz!
Tuberville seems to have forgotten the "Separation of Church and State thing." The practice of abortions in the military is none of his business. He's a fool, lost in a bad dream, only to awaken to find he's a Republican. Now that's a nightmare.
Donald, and they look not at all at personal integrity, whether a person has a moral compass. The only qualification for a Republican candidate is to be manipulatable. Our new Speaker is the perfect case. Despite any intelligence Johnson is supposed to have, expressed through his having graduated from college, he got caught up in antiLGBTQ organizations that were scum, complete malpractice. I guess even that kind of power to destroy people's lives wasn't enough. He took his Bible on the road and thumped the parts he liked and ignored the care, love parts. Naturally his aim was to harm people whom the society has already made vulnerable; it's easier. Like his master, Baby Donnie, he regularly lies with a straight face and says things that make no sense, probably even to him to cover his character flaws. Now, he doesn't even have to do that because after all, he is speaker and the Toddler Caucus is "deeeeeelighted." Rich white individuals and corporations are deeeeeelighted too.
Is that a bible that this azzwipe is putting down next to the lectern every time he takes the speaker's seat, the book with all of those post-it 'flags' attached to the pages??
IF so, he is NOT supposed to be presiding/legislating over this body with ANY religion as a reference, 'guide', or final say, AT ALL, and must ONLY be using this land's CONSTITUTION as said 'guide', or rulebook!
William, this is an old refrain. To make it stick, you have to plausibly answer Christopher Hitchens' question: "What single thing has Hillary Clinton done to make you think she is smart?"
William, yes, Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate, but alas, she didn't have a penis, and even with a lot of Democrats, that is a huge deal (excuse the pun).
She was only qualified to promote the neoliberal nightmare that has landed us here today. Like her husband, she stood for free-market capitalism and deregulation. These policies are not progressive. They are the key to the enormous wealth disparity that provided economic power and political grease to the oligarchy. They are the cause of the disaffected masses that now flock to a strongman leader like Trump. I get your point that had Billary not been a woman she might have been elected. However, she was not qualified to lead us away from, only
forestall, the crisis we face today that was brought on by like minded neoliberal politician leading our government.
"Like her husband, she stood for free-market capitalism and deregulation."
Jonathan, free market capitalism and deregulation are two opposed things. It was only Reagan and Friedman who conjoined them and confused everybody. Regulation is a key component of a free market. Deregulation leads to monopoly and "socialism for the rich," which is the system we have now. Prior to 1980 America enjoyed a highly regulated market place, and had the greatest economy on earth. Since deregulation, everyone is at each others' throats.
Jonathan, what a bunch of nonsense! It sounds pretty misogynistic to me! Hillary Clinton was not a "neoliberal, whatever that is. I keep hearing the term, but the definitions are a joke because there is nothing "liberal" about it. Clinton stood for the American people. She actually had a history of improving public education in a red state, and seriously working to get medical coverage for all Americans. It was not she that brought that down, but the insurance industry and others who couldn't bear to potentially lose money while covering "poor" people. She got slammed for Ben Gazi when no Secretary of State can cover every nation's office and emails which at the time everyone was doing, as Trump and Kump did too. I honestly don't know where you got your info or, actually it's probably opinion. I guess you don't notice how bad it looks when men say such unfounded things about women. It happens all the time, but it still stinks. By the way, Hillary did win the popular vote and by quite a lot. She just couldn't get past the misogyny thing that still plagues this nation and the world, and there are too many red states.
@William: She was well qualified to be CEO of the corporatist wing of the Democratic party. Bernie handed her the keys to the Whitehouse but she threw them away because she couldn't see it. It wasn't enough to be well steeped in traditional politics and policy. Many working Americans felt left behind and wanted real change that would improve their lives. Hilary didn't connect with those aspirations the way Bernie did.
I realize this is water under the bridge, but it's part of how we got here.
Not against my wishes. I’m a Hillary supporter. I respect and admire Bernie but he doesn’t have the experience and ability to get things done that Hillary has. She was an excellent candidate who won the popular vote and should have been president, would have been if not for James Comey, Russian interference, and a 30-year smear campaign by right-wingers.
I sympathize with your view on Hillary, who won the popular vote in 2016. But she is too much a corporate Democrat. We need strong leadership from the left, which, surprisingly, middle-of-the-road Joe Biden is thankfully providing.
Every time I’ve heard her speak I thought she sounded more left-leaning than her reputation would suggest. I could be wrong. One of the problems that female candidates for higher office have is that many people (both men and women, sadly) have been conditioned to think that a woman isn’t strong enough to be the leader of the free world, so women have to walk a fine line between liberal and conservative. They have to be tough enough to stand up to Putin and compassionate enough to comfort the victims of violence and natural disasters. It’s strange that Trump is neither yet he beat Hillary Clinton, who is both, but he had the preferred plumbing.
Except that she won the popular vote. I distrust the Clintons because of Bill’s statement about the “inevitability” of globalism, a mistake that Obama also made.
Ruth Sheets: The problem with HRC is she is an advocate for neo liberal economics and that is why we are in the situation Robert Reich is talking about in this post. Neo liberal economics needs to be swept into the dustbin of history.
I don’t see how you can blame the election of Johnson on the Democrats. That particular circus was totally Republican while the Dems simply stood aside while the Republicans put on their spectacle.
Marc. That's the other trope for Republicans, be caught in the act of committing a despicable act, then blame it on the Democrats or whoever is available or claim "it wasn't us." It really works. The Supreme Court is working to perfect it. They blame the founders for all kinds of terrible decisions of their own or claim "it is in the Constitution" when as lawyers who should know the Constitution, they know it isn't. It is working for the Republican crew because the rich white guys want it to work and pay well for it.
Marc, IMHO you're missing the point. If the DNC was less corporate, there would be more Democrats elected to Congress, so Republican wankers would be put in their place.
Its like Saturday mornings when I was a kid. Cartoons and the "Three Stooges." Larry, Moe, and Curley. The fate of the world rests in the hands of these three social misfits. One wants to violently reshape Europe, one wants a place to light his Menorah so the bombs won't blow out the candles, and Trump would love a large bib to catch all the crap that falls from his mouth. The only real difference between the two threesomes is the one from my past made us laugh but the new group of "Stooges" leaves us in tears. History will no doubt play out as a tragedy, and Shakespeare didn't need to write a line.
Donald, I am feeling those tears right now because none of the three + the potential Johnson, care that so many have had their lives changed forever and for nothing but the greed and power-mongering of the stooges.
1. "the THREE right wing members of the Supreme Court are there because enough progressives voted for Jill Stein, and other "third party" candidates or didn't vote in 2016"
2. "get legislation passed which is aimed at strengthening as opposed to weakening our democratic republic"
David, A crucial piece of that legislation should be to mandate Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in all federal elections (See Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution re. Congressional authority to do this.) to deal with the spoiler effect referenced in the first quote from your text above. With our fatally defective One Choice Only, plurality voting system voters who prefer a third party or independent candidate are forced to choose between voting for whom they want to vote (and wasting their vote) or choosing whom they regard the "lesser of two evils". With RCV enabling rounds of instant runoff counts until a majority is gathered by the winning candidate, the voter can choose first his actual favorite and choose second whom he regards as the "lesser of two evils". When his first choice is eliminated his second choice is counted. and the spoiler effect is destroyed. Since voters with RCV know that the third party or independent vote is no longer wasted, that candidate might actually win. We could gradually move toward a multi-party system where all views are represented. And winning against multiple opponents will require gathering second place, third place, etc. votes to accumulate a winning majority after the winnowing of the instant runoffs is completed. This will require moderation and conciliation. Firebrands lose! The toxic politics we are witnessing would be a thing of the past.
Some states already have evolved to this plan and I agree it makes sense - although the individual states would need to adopt it themselves. Alaska has done so and, if I'm not mistaken, that is what kept Sarah Palin from being another "whacked out" member of the House of Representatives!
"although the individual states would need to adopt it themselves"
I'm certainly glad Alaska had it to keep Sarah Palin out of the House, but If Congress (when it's in the hands of the Democrats and they can vote to disarm the Senatorial filibuster) made use of the Constitution's Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 they could do it all at once for all federal elections in all the states. Personally, I think the issue of our defective voting system is too critically important for waiting the decades (if ever) it would take to accomplish it going state by state. We don't have to go that slow route.
Because of the installation of those three extreme rightwingnut activist 'judges', all progressives and women in this land can also send their thank you notes to ol' Jill for the DEATH of Roe v Wade as well.
We will lose MUCH MUCH MUCH more than simply SCOTUS seats if this next election goes to the SCUMp SHITler and his NAZI REGIME (partly because of the useless 3rd party/fringe candidates) as they will not even need the SC, or ANY judges in order to perpetrate their abject, sadistic EVIL on ALL of US!
Professor Reich, often I think that you have hit the nail right on the head and once again you have hit the nail right on the head! Of the unholy alliance of the four you have just mentioned, two are Americans. You are correct that we must do everything we can to prevent the rush to authoritarianism from taking further hold in the United States.
I doubt that any on this forum will refuse to vote for Biden and Democrats in next year’s elections but we risk being the choir singing loudly to ourselves. Biden, however is going out to the picket lines and the homeland of the small farmers to preach the gospel that to the working people and middle class of Americans that must be reached. Meanwhile the Republicans in the house fiddle while democracy burns. We should each follow Biden’s example in our own lives if we wish to keep the ship of Democracy from sinking even lower in the water. We must work ceaselessly to keep it not only afloat, but buoyant.
David Piper writes about the imperative that “young voters…band together to purge these right wing republicans from public office.” I fully agree. However, in scanning the biographies of participants in this forum I perceive we have not yet brought the young voters aboard in these discussions.
To win this battle and to win back democracy we will have to create a coalition and communication between us and the younger voters. Professor Reich has not only been "preaching to the choir,” (us) but he has been talking directly to the youth utilizing a variety of media as well as his long career of connection to the youth in the UC Berkeley lecture halls. We cannot just say “Those guys must get out and vote,” we must find ways to reach the young voters in the United States. Like Professor Reich we will have to go where they are, and engage the youth in the democratic process.
As a full time caregiver to my disabled wife, I cannot "go where they are, and engage youth in the democratic process". However I have found that Professor Reich does an excellent job doing this with his You Tube videos produced by his Inequality Media Civil Action group. His videos have been viewed over 440 million times! I contribute money to this excellent group as much as can afford, and recommend that others consider doing this too!
Mr.Reich , I’m seriously afraid that we will be drawn into WW 3 or wre will continue to destroy our Planet and have noting left to Live on all you mentioned are horrible greedy men who disregard the will of their own people we cannot as you said let the bastards win !
This should include the media taking more of a responsibility to call out the lies and inconsistencies of these neofascists candidates.
This week, I saw a CNN reporter asking Chris Christie if Trump should be disqualified from the ballot due to his documented Jan 6 negligence. He said ‘no’, the only way to defeat Trump is at the ballot box. Instead of challenging Christie by asking him what he thought the 2020 result was, if not a voter repudiation of Trump, the reporter just moved on to another question. Arghhhh!
All four men indeed are bullies and lack the compassion of democratic values and clear thinking that can lead to a just and better world peace and.freedom to live free of fear.
Many Israelis are furious at Netanyahu for his part in ignoring the immanent threat from Hamas in Gaza in the first place. After this is over he will likely end up in the trash bin of Israeli history.
"And this is the best way to improve Palestinian lives & promote a Palestinian state"
"Saudi Arabia assured the Biden administration that the kingdom is still interested in pursuing an agreement that would normalize relations with Israel after the war in Gaza ends, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters."
@Daniel. Unpacking your point a little bit, MBS may not be moderate at all, but rather has his own self-aggrandizing vision of power distribution in the Middle East. More than likely he would see his positions as strategic moves to counter Iranian influence in the "arena"? Western interests would have to watch carefully to detect and prevent a pivot by Saudis back to anti-American policies once they establish themselves ascendant to Iran.
Marc, I hope so. Netanyahu should never have held power of any kind, but as so often happens, people get scared into voting for the guy they think will protect them from something, whatever the fear factor de jour is. Trump does that too. It is usually pumping fear of Black men, the libs, and anyone he can't control. He and his team are expert fearmongers and use their skills well to do massive harm to people who have no idea they are his targets, and salivate in his presence. I guess that is part of being human since so many people do it.
I would like to finally make one distinction. Hamas' leader has said that the "blood of the elderly and the children are needed to inspire the warrior. " Consider that for a moment. He is calling for the Holocaust of his own people in order to prepare for a Holocaust in the world of the Jews. I therefore see that it is not the suffering in Gaza that is causing more Islamic militants and radicals NOT at all. It is the evil itself of Hamas that they are glorifying.
Exactly... so many miss this point! Hamas will not stop until Israel is destroyed. They do not care about Palestinians nor a 2 state plan - Hamas wants the end of Israel.
And with that goal, Hamas is the terrorist... to their own people, too.
Israel left Gaza in 2005.
Why does Gaza have no infrastructure ....but Hamas has fuel for bombs and missiles and tunnels? Mmhmm.
Hamas made its choice.
People say free Palestine... I respond, from whom are we freeing them? Hamas - that's who they needed freed from!
Yes, I'm not a hawk at all. I'm not just for war. But given the world threat of Hamas which does glorify evil, as you can see by the super orgy of evil committed by its own fighters on Israel, and the two choices, to live in fear or to go to war to purify myself, I would choose the latter. I'm sorry but one of the things Hamas asks for in their charter is a world caliphate. Make no mistake this isn't just another president where you read the newspaper and drink your coffee. This is a horde of beasts who rape and behead.
I don't think I have it all wrong, respectfully. I have been taking a crash course on the Israel situation re Palestinians and I have done a lot of research on Nazistic thought for a book I got a grant to write. I don't know the above organization. But a dialogue cannot always be effected by a ceasefire. Sometimes it takes war. With Hitler, it did.
Israel installed Hamas as an excuse to eliminate Palestine and its Semitic people. It’s how the Fascist Zionists roll. See JewishVoiceforPeace.org for peace.
Oh Marie, that is so insane!! I cannot wrap my mind around someone saying that!! How awful! What in the world is wrong with people that take that view of actual people? Especially their own people? My heart hurts for those poor innocents that apparently this Hamas leader does not even consider worthy of living!!
Hamas is a manipulator. The fighters are pawns-- they are heavily indoctrinated, even with drugs. Hamas is Mohammed Deif and a couple of others who glorify evil. But that dark side of Islam is a bit warrior like. Christ allows for the forgiveness of a soul. He came for that. And did not kill. But for us, some evil is beyond the pale. Some people forfeit their right to live in the world. Did Christ say that? Not exactly. But he did draw a line in the sand between the pigs (infidels and unbelievers) and the righteous. So when the pigs, real animals, go insane with the devils and run into the sea, it might be the solution.
You know, in my Sunday School classes, I remember my teacher explaining about how Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. I understood that. I also remember and keep in my mind how God said Thou shalt have no other gods before me. That always makes me think of Mr. Trump's followers who worship and idolize him yet claim to be Christians. I can't wrap my mind around that thinking either! I don't like these Hamas. They are evil and like all evil, they hide behind their belief that they are right and everyone else is wrong!
Well, I can't say that the Hamas fighters, who reveled in an evil orgy, are totally in control either. They were apparently high on coke at the time of the orgy. On the other hand, it is our tendency to try to normalize and to find the humanity in a person, even in a monster. The problem is that this is being used and manipulated in the media by various outlets including Al Jazeera to make it appear as if Israel's actions equal Hamas'. And this is totally false. Hamas reveled in a blood orgy, very hands on murderous debauchery, a personal glorification of evil that was also religious, Israel is at war. Yes, they are bombing Gaza, but they are targeting Hamas. It is not against the rules to go to war. And war is not the same as lying in bed and eating chocolates. People do get killed and wounded in war. Lots of people. In the war in South Sudan 380,000 civilians were killed. Radical Islam has a very serpentine tongue. And they will try to make talking points to win the battle verbally. But the fact remains, they are also butchers and rapists. That is what Hamas did. That is what they seek to justify. In seeking to justify rape and butchery they are themselves murderers and rapists.
By the way, I did write to the PM of Israel and asked him if war was necessary. You see war was their decision. I believe Netanyahu understands there to be no other way. On the other hand, I personally think Israel could be merciful also. And send in food, water, medicine, humanitarian aid such as Biden encourages.
Yes! Seriously, he wants Russia to be like it was when it was the USSR or before. Was he satisfied when he took a chunk of Georgia- No. was he satisfied when he took Crimea- No
P.J. I completely agree with you and your point of view does not come from the tabloids, unless you consider the New York Times and the Washington Post to be tabloids.
Not in terms of their printing format, but in terms of their content they might as well be, as all they do is to parrot the Administration’s current line of thought (if we can so characterise it).
‘Look...if we don’t stop Russia east of the Dnieper, Putin’s mighty armies will crash ever westward, across the Vistula; then the Oder; then the Rhine, until one day Macron will look out of his bedroom window and see the brutes watering their shaggy Cossack ponies in the Seine....and then it’s on to Lisbon!’
Can any sacrifice be too great to prevent such a catastrophe?
Marla, yes that is true, but it seems obvious that current media dysfunction plays a part in all of this. Case in point: Allowing Trump to suck all of the oxygen out of the room instead of treating him as an aberration, which he is. His circus makes money for them. That is a threat to all of us!
I don't disagree with you here. The treatment that TFG gets in the press is appalling. From the very beginning, he's been treated like a serious candidate, instead of the sideshow he truly is.
As someone who lived in NY in the '70s, I had a front row seat to his shenanigans. He's always been a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And the NY Times has known that from the beginning.
Well, now they and all of us are paying the price.
I read “The Art of the Deal” in the 80’s and didn’t get a favorable impression then, and it went down hill from there. The birther stunt to smear Barack Obama was the end for any smidgen of respect for Trump in my eyes.
U.S. insistence on expanding NATO is what provoked Putin to invade Ukraine. If he was bent on expanding Russia he would have massively attacked (as U.S. did in Iraq). He would not have tried to negotiate an end to the war less than two months later (deal brokered by Turkey) that Ukraine was ready to sign but was told not to by U.S. and Britain. He warned for years not to bring NATO to Ukraine. The U.S. promised it would not expand NATO when the USSR was dissolved).
No one put a gun to Putin's head and forced him to invade Ukraine. Putin is totally responsible for this war, regardless of verbal promises that were broken or meddling of outsiders in Ukraine's politics.
Putin will do whatever he thinks is best. But he's not stupid and do everything alone, Like every dictator, he has aides. Dugin is there to present a more or less consistent ideology both to inspire Putin to the next steps and to present it to the public.
WHY TF do soooo many in THIS land adore that cruel fascist DESPOT so effing much, and defend every single move he makes or word he says??
Is it simply because their very own worshiped putrid orange fuehrer-'savior' COMMANDS them to do so, or demands it by 'proxy' due to his show of love for Vlad The Impaler?!?
Or is it that they MUST admire and deify any/ALL evil, sadistic, autocratic, megalomaniacal 'strong men' because they think that their 'big daddy' will take care of all of their 'problems' with the 'socialist libtards' they are taught to loathe?
Retired 6th grade teacher - lol - I pity the students who had the misfortune to be taught by a half-wit who can’t spell and who thinks Google is where you look for the truth.
I believe in Jan 2022 when Putin lined up military at Ukraine border he said “ we are only performing military exercises “ and then invaded - yeah … he’s going to continue his march forward into Europe - he doesn’t like nato breathing at his back door
Forewarned or not, this is Putin's goal. If you have a chance, Julia Ioffe's 5-part series on Putin, "About a Boy: The Story of Vladimir Putin" is excellent. Thoroughly researched, compelling narrative storytelling of the background and influences that brought to life the thug.
Oh yes, CromwellW8! Putin's dream is to build back the Russian Empire. Those countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Moldova, Finland, the Caucasus, parts of central Asia, the Baltic Republics, and Turkey were all part of the Russian Empire. Putin wants all of it back to rebuild in his mind the Empire he would control. I may have missed country or two but the idea is for Putin those areas should and will be under his control again!
Central Asia will be next unless Putin's BFF Xi decides to fight him for it Stalin consolidated long Russian rule as an underpopulated place to ship extra kulaks, lots of arable land and lots of geological resources.
Should Putin succeed in his expansionist dreams in Ukraine, he will turn on Poland next. Putin’s dream is the restoration of the former Russian Empire. Prior to WWI and the Russian Revolution, Poland didn’t’t exist on the map. It was part of the old Russian Empire.
When the maps were redrawn after WWI, Poland was re-created.
Modern day Poland is a member of NATO. Should Putin not be stopped in Ukraine, he will march into Poland next. And the members of NATO will be required to come to Poland’s aid and defense.
Somehow, I doubt the world is jonesing for a third land war in Europe.
This is why Ukraine must be supported in its struggle against Putin.
Yes. Seriously !! The Russians do have form on this matter. I have Polish neighbours here in Australia and believe me their hatred of the Russians knows no bounds having escaped to the west many years ago !!
According to Alexandr Dugin, there's no place for Poles and Ukrainians in the future Great Russia, all they want is the land (fertile soil, ice free ports).
The USA needs to take a time out. I suggest about 100 years. Stop fuelling wars in the world. Tax your billionaires. War crimes are being committed in Gaza. Support the effort to prosecute war criminals.
Stephen, I agree that we need to stop sending our men over to places like we did in Afghanistan; however, we do need to help those countries who are fighting for their freedom. I believe in helping Ukraine because Putin had no reason to attack them except for his greed. I believe we need to help the innocents in the Gaza strip but not to send weapons or money to help with their war. The innocents had no choice whatsoever when the fighting started and many have lost their lives! I do not understand why the fighting broke out but I do know our country must always send help to those people who are caught in the crossfire! I also agree that we absolutely must begin taxing our billionaires and do away with all of their tax cuts. Our deficit would be better and the programs that many Americans rely on to live would be saved.
It isn’t just the men, it is the billions of dollars the USA pumps into war zones. They need to stop doing that. Throwing gasoline on the fire is what it is
Stephen. You can’t be serious about the need for the USA to prosecute war criminals. To do so in fact rather than rhetoric would require US to prosecute George W and Tiny Blair for war crimes in Iraq.
Agree with you very much. One note: Michael Johnson's puppet master may be Donald Dump, but in reality Dump's puppet masters have been Putin and Xi. Ever notice how SMUG Putin or Xi look when filmed in connection with Dump/USA? There was that famous incident in the White House when Dump met with Russian emissaries but refused to allow US press or staff into the room... I can assure you that Dump's #1 foreign policy concern visa vis Russia was to build a giant Dump Tower in Moscow, regardless of any cost to the US, NATO, or EU. One other point: we can certainly talk about the 1% oligarchs who own well over 90% of US capital... However, I'd like to know (can you tell us, Bob?) what percentage of those oligarchs (stock holders in corporations with US interests) are by now foreigners? Look at the publishing industry in New York... most of it owned by Europeans. That's Germans (Bertelsmann, Holtzbrinck, Springer) and one French outfit (Hachette); the Brits tried but failed (Penguin USA) so they sold to Bertelsmann; and finally the Australian muckraker whose Korporate Republikan allies handed him US citizenship only so he (Murderdork) could acquire billions of dollars worth of satellite network(s). Tell us more, Professor Bob. Ever your fan. JTC
As my mom use to say, "The world is going to hell in a hand basket!" That is how I feel today while reading Professor Reich's essay. Yes, I can see what is happening and others who value our Democracy can see what is happening. It feels to me like a steam roller heading down hill mowing down everything in its path. I don't like war and I am frightened that we are heading even closer to WWIII! I pray to God there are enough people here in the United States that will prevent Mr. Trump and others like him from taking over our country.
I agree. To throw in another metaphor, this historical moment feels like a pendulum that will not reverse direction until it completes its arc. Scary... And I don't think prayer is going to help.
My Victorian grandmother used to say that the world was going to hell in a hand basket, which conjured an image of comfortable consumers going about their day with ease, safety, and convenience. It’s ironic and seriously funny.
My father’s older sister had a koan-like expression, Lord love a duck! It was probably a substitute for swearing, but it was nonetheless a nonjudgmental and funny way of acknowledging the inane.
Mary, I love the Lord love a duck expression! I have heard that from my grandma and always thought well of course He would love one of his own creatures!! It wasn't until I was older that I realized it was her way of saying she just couldn't understand what was going on in the world!
The USA failed to heed Eisenhower’s warning. The Military Industrial (Corporate) Complex rules America. Does not matter whether Trump Republicans or Democrats are in charge. The U.S. is a war-dependent economic system run by Coroorate-funded and owned politicians. The American people are there for two purposes: to serve as canon fodder during wars and to fund deficits created by the “too big to fail” or should we say “too big to jail” corporations.
I have asked my congressional delegation, all republicans, why cut the money making agency and the safety net but help the rich. Of course I got no answers. Democracy? Not us!
To Mohammed Deif: You make sure to make what you (and your fighters) do seem like justification because you are an old hand at indoctrination and manipulation. But it is not for pity of the oppressed that you do what you do but for the glorification of evil. Not for poor Palestinians but to uphold an orgy of hatred. For hatred's sake.
I agree with most of what you said. The republicans are really full of it. People have to realize this and VOTE THEM OUT. They will not change on their own. On Israel, Hamas uses civilians to hide. If Israel wants to destroy them, how can they do it without killing civilians at the same time?
Marc, I feel any aid should solely be for the purpose of helping and providing for the refugees. No military aid (weapons, etc.) should be provided at all.
I don't hate many things. In fact, I can only think of two, lima beans and the word, "strongman". I know Robert Sir, that you did not come up with the word but I feel compelled to object to its use. The compound word states a strong man. It does not take strength but rather weakness, for a tyrant to be an extremely violent, cruel, abusive, deadly, poisonous, murderous monster. It takes strength to be kind.
Yes, we can argue that they get compliance through force so the word is acceptable. But it isn't. I imagine every tryant dictator and their followers around the world love the words, strong man. It is time to throw this misleading, tryant dictator complimenting word in the garbage forever.
Strongman is not the same as strong man. In fact, the connotation of strongman in politics is more weak man or strong man wannabe; the blunt instrument where nuance and diplomacy is required. The compound word acknowledges the irony of a slob like Trump exuding toxic masculinity from his golf cart while he whines about all the so-called injustices being heaped on him. He desperately wants to be Genghis Khan but he is really more like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.
Andrew Kelm, thanks for pointing out to me that some interpret the word as a backdoor way of stating weakness. When it comes to public discourse words of life and death importance in our present time, I believe we must speak explicitly, honestly, bravely without nuance. We must unwaveringly strive to use words that point people to the truth, in our struggle to survive as a Democracy.
I respect that, but if people were listening to content rather than emotional nuance, nobody would be supporting Trump now. The salient point is that so many people feel good about having someone in power who aspires to get his own way through brute force rather than following democratic norms.
Andrew Kelm, yes, I agree the overarching problem is some people want violence. And when individuals collect together to consolidate political power to pursue violence as a means and an end, it mostly harms the people who want peace. Most of those who seek violence look for rationalizations and justifications they can cling to, because deep down there is a knowing that violence is wrong. Let's take an action (that can't hurt) and remove the word, strong, so as to remove the lustre and the rationalization in their and their followers' minds, that they are strong. Dictator and tyrant are far better word choices.
I think it is meant as a warning to the wise that a bully is on the scene and there is an emergent threat to civil society. I despise the notion of bullying as an acceptable way to lead. Having a word for the looming threat is useful for discussion. I despise so called strongmen who have to have their way at all costs. Sometimes the rules of civil society fail and the legitimate use of force becomes necessary to keep the ogres from gorging themselves on the blood of innocents. Of course by that time the bullies have been made into strongmen by the passivity and dis-unity of those around them who failed to realize the threat. They gather the low self esteem crowd around them and promise to be their hero, and being weak, of course their fan base is in the thrall of their hideous hero. Yuck!
Mary. Boudreau, I agree they are awful. I think the words, dictator and tyrant serve us well in public discourse. There is no built in avenue in these words, for the awful ones to benefit.
M Tree ; I would suggest the word 'miscreant'. It describes one who thrives on criminal behavior. tfg has power because he uses mob boss moves to get it. He runs the former Republican party after pushing out those who have even just a little fealty to law and order and the Constitution. By gerrymander, intimidation, any kind of cheating, and ultimately, threats and actual violence done by goons, he has stolen power. He dictates the moves we are seeing in the Congress, which is weaponized against the Common Good and decency itself, not to mention the rule of law. His lawsuits should be shut down as it is evident that he is abusing the courts to continue his coup! The 14th amendment section 3 is supposed to be self executing. Hate to say this, but he is executing US if we can't find a remedy. Our country is under lethal attack and the Commander in chief needs to huddle with his best advisors to take charge. The balance of powers is a joke at this point when even Justice is cowed. Unitary Executive Theory may be needed here. Or recognition of the War Powers Act! Lock Him UP! without access to the media, internet or even a phone! Psst! We are at war! our people, even children, are 'soft targets" with nearly daily mass shootings! Guess who supports the NRA while he builds his private army!?!??
I also hate that word, and every single time the media/pundits use it they should be required to put it in quotes, in order to refute it's literal implications, and IMPLY it's actual signs of WEAKNESS, or give an explanation of such.
One of the only other things I truly loathe in this world are the actual cold, cruel, heartlessly sadistic, fascist despot 'strongmen' of this world, and those who blindly, and loyally follow and SERVE them in their evil acts. ;)
And let us not forget that the Biden administration is alienating the youth vote (and significant others) with its unconscionable stance against calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Those desperately needed voters may either sit out the 2024 election or only vote down ballot when we need every vote to combat the neo-fascist tendencies ready to take over the U.S. government.
professor reich: this comment of yours cannot be repeated often enough: "those spending cuts will harm Americans dependent on such spending. Besides, the budget deficit and debt are largely the products of the Trump, George W. Bush, and Reagan tax cuts, all of which have mainly benefited big corporations and wealthy Americans (and almost none of which “trickled down” to average working people)."
besides, what is the purpose of government, if not to uplift the vulnerable, educate the masses and to protect the environment? taxes are the price we pay, as a civilised nation, for the privilege of social stability, economic equality and a healthy populace.
"At the least, we should condition such aid on Israel’s commitment to establish two fully sovereign states."
1. That happens to be our policy.
2. Biden, on Wednesday:
"I think we need a pause. A pause means give time to get the prisoners out. . . . . I’m the guy that convinced Bibi to call for that cease-fire to let the prisoners out."
Give the guy credit.
Before we to far off topic, we should honor that the topic Professor Reich is focusing on today is “THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND TYRANY.” and I believe Professor Reich has again hit the nail right on the head. I doubt that any on this forum will refuse to vote for Biden and Democrats in next year’s elections but we risk being the choir singing loudly to ourselves. Biden, however is going out to the picket lines and the homeland of the small farmers to preach the gospel that to the working people and middle class of Americans that must be reached. Meanwhile the Republicans in the house fiddle while democracy burns. We should each follow Biden’s example in our own lives if we wish to keep the ship of Democracy from sinking even lower in the water. We must work ceaselessly to keep it not only afloat, but buoyant.
I'm involved w/ Public Citizen(in Wash. for over 50 yrs.),Indivisible(very proactive,
Receive emails from Common Cause,and more.If it's attending a Zoom mtg. to stay informed,signing petitions or actually attending group actions,they get good work done.
There's a big difference between a "pause" and a "ceasefire." Especially, in what is commonly acknowledged to be an "open-air concentration camp." Mere crumbs compared to the real enchilada of humanitarianism. Our collusion in apartheid Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians will be remembered every time the (mis)leadership BS exalts the USA's exceptionalism. Our backside is clearly visible.
We are not Israel. There are US citizens missing -- may be hostages. That "ethnic cleansing" is belied by the fact that Israeli Arabs have more civil rights than Arabs in any Moslem country.
I don't like Likud, I don't like Netanyahu, and I don't support the attacks by settlers -- where proven -- but that crap comes out of the blood libel refrain. Many of those killed by Hamas were Israeli and US "peaceniks."
"Let's be clear: the living conditions in Gaza before October 7th were horrific and inhumane – that was before Hamas ignited the latest war. Before this conflict, in Gaza, nearly 80 percent of people lived in poverty, and two-thirds were reliant on humanitarian assistance." (sanders.senate.gov)
"Gaza has become a “graveyard” for children with thousands now killed under Israeli bombardment, while more than a million face dire shortages of essentials and .." (news.un.org)
Dr. Gabor Mate: this is genocide (YouTube https://www.youtube.com) › watch
"4 days ago — Renowned physician and author Dr. Gabor Mate joins The Grayzone to offer his reflections on Israel's gruesome military operation in the ..."
"Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1946 to 2022 totaled $243.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II" (USAfacts.org)
When Hamas got funds, instead of developing the country -- for at least 15 years-- they "invested" in rockets, tunnels. Put military installations in public buildings like hospitals, schools. Hamas was the government. Sent kids as suicide bombers.
"For half a century, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinians living there.
Since the occupation first began in June 1967, Israel’s ruthless policies of land confiscation, illegal settlement and dispossession, coupled with rampant discrimination, have inflicted immense suffering on Palestinians, depriving them of their basic rights.
Israel’s military rule disrupts every aspect of daily life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It continues to affect whether, when and how Palestinians can travel to work or school, go abroad, visit their relatives, earn a living, attend a protest, access their farmland, or even access electricity or a clean water supply. It means daily humiliation, fear and oppression. People’s entire lives are effectively held hostage by Israel.
Israel has also adopted a complex web of military laws to crush dissent against its policies, and senior government officials have branded Israelis advocating for Palestinian rights as “traitors”. (www.amnesty.org)
Also Daniel Solomon, Please provide sources for your comments. Thank you.
Also Daniel, we should point out, it was Hamas that built those "refugee" (concentration) camps and forced the Palestinian people to live in abject poverty. Why? Because they needed those conditions to keep the Palestinians riled against the Jews. Had they, Hamas, accepted or allowed the humanitarian aid to teach the Palestinians how to farm, build, and create a prosperous life for themselves, where would they have found children willing to be suicide bombers?
This maddening public discourse cannot seem to get past the 'blaming' rhetoric that is burning between the question of 'which side is bad or which side is worse'. What don't both sides understand about the basic Commandment that was set in stone: 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'?
Don’t forget Bibi was partially funding Hamas. He’s got a LOT of blood on his hands.
Hamas is reportedly supported by Iran. Humanitarian aid is and was targeted. Western aid was NOT provided to Hamas to arm, as if the West and civilians “are” Hamas. Damn, but, there is 2-side-ism in this, don’t pretend to believe Gaza was coddled by anyone including their guards. Hamas leadership is deadly, cunning, suicidal, but, while the lid to the cooker was on, Israel could let suffering simmer. With these foreseeable results.
Selina, what do you think the US should do? Biden is providing aid. Do you think Netanyahu should allow the Hamas terrorists to keep attacking Israel and keep holding the people of Gaza in poverty & atrocious conditions? Israel is our ALLY.
Is Israel our ally, or are we Israel's ally?
I have always wondered why a prosperous Israel need foreign aid in the 21st century.
No non-Jewish Israelis have 'more civil rights than Arabs in any Moslem country'. That is absolute tosh. **All**l Arabs inside Israel live in an Apartheid-like condition.
Tom Priestly. There are Arabs in the Knesset. Part of the government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arab_members_of_the_Knesset
Doctors, lawyers, etc. The Israeli Arab community, accounts for 21% of the population. Standard Arabic or Literary Arabic), is currently an auxiliary language in Israel and its use on government documents is mandated by law.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel
That's nonsense. There is a big difference between the Arabs who live peacefully among Jews in Israel and those who support Hamas. Our Jewish cousin in Israel lives and works among Arabs and teaches their kids in school. And they have a lot more freedom than the Muslims in Saudi Arabia or Iran where beheading is the solution to dissent.
All Arabs live in authoritarian states, therefore all Arabs live in subjugation.
How Arabs are treated in Gaza and the West Bank compared to Jordan are completely different, and please don’t compare.
And please don’t pretend that the 700k displaced from their homes and land at gunpoint to create Israel in 1967 should not feel the way they do. If anyone came into the U.S. and did the same thing it would be completely unacceptable. And this is what happened to both Christian and Muslim Palestinians. The story we would like to tell ourselves, the propaganda sold, is not what happened. And the above is what did. I’m a blond haired blue eyed freckled faced American and the above happened to my father and his family.
Thank you, Daniel for saying so succinctly what I believe to be true.
Check this comment out, toward the end at the 13 min 30 sec mark. Sound familiar?
https://youtu.be/lkyaJPCV0bE?si=UbZFEcqrlR016ixS
After reading many of the comments here it’s
easy to see why it’s impossible to unravel the
complicated history behind why the people in
Gaza and Israel are behaving the way they are
today. Trying to figure out who is to blame for
what, is futile. It perpetuates the violence.
Both sides are responsible for the violence. The question is, who gains from it? Until the answer
to that question is resolved, it will be impossible
to have long-lasting peace. The two state solution would lend itself to having a peaceful co-existence because it would force the Palestinians to have a formal government.
Having a formal government means there are responsible people with whom the Israelis can negotiate--AFTER both sides set aside blame and
the tit for tat mentality of, “You killed x number
of my people, so we’re going to kill twice as many
of your people.” That kind of thinking is a road to
nowhere.
The only way to create long term peace is for both
Israelis and Palestinians to set aside blame and
most importantly, both sides must want peace.
Highly encourage the reading of Patrick Lawrence's piece today entitled "Deeper Into Depravity" (scheerpost.com)and the comments made by Kalen and Roundball Shaman.
Please also demand that Iran and the financiers of Hamas insist on a two state solution. Hamas and others deliberately created a response that will kill innocent children and civilians as they sit in deep bunkers beneath them. Their aim is to divide the world and stop the support for Israel and it is working.
Putin too is hoping we will tire of seeing his violence and stop helping the fight against him.
The world is tired of refugees and is doing less and less to help people escape the violence. Getting the civilians out of the war zone is the one thing we should focus on and not ask one side to be reasonable while the other continues to inflame hate and desire for more deaths, even to its own children. They aren’t human shields. They are there to die for emotional images.
The caption to each photo of suffering and grieving in Gaza needs to include, “brought to you by Hamas.”
I don't think Iran will cooperate. In another post, I indicated that Saudi Arabia might.
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/31/saudi-megadeal-normalization-israel-biden
My point is if we are making demands make them to both sides. The demand and seeing if it is rejected or accepted is the point. What is accomplished by making funding contingent on a 2 state solution when the other side won’t accept the concept.
Got to go with what is available. If Hamas, Islamic Jihad are diminished, they are not "the other side." The blueprint is supposed to be the Oslo Accords. Land for peace.
What if say, Saudi Arabia and other Sunnis, "guarantee" peace? Install a peace force? Man the checkpoints? Reduce corruption in the PA and enforce criminal law? Post a bond? Rebuild Gaza like Abu Dhabi?
@Daniel. We need both an internationally managed DMZ and a "Marshall Plan" level of re-investment and rebuilding of Gaza and a future defined Palestinian homeland.
Why would Israel expect Hamas to release the hostages for a cease fire if Hamas is getting the desired result of sympathy from the world and making Israel look bad? Would Israel know that Hamas won't release the hostages and use that excuse to kill as many Palestinians as possible and occupy Palestine, once and for all? In ten years, will we see "Victory Beach Resort" where the remains of Gaza City are now? What do you believe is the Israel plan for the future?
There is a good possibility that Israel is planning to bomb until every structure in Gaza is flattened. The numbers of Palestinians killed is irrelevant to them. This could be there is no stopping them unless the international community intervenes directly or there is a regionwide general strike including Israeli and Palestinians im the West Wank and Gaza
What would you do if you believed Hamas when they say they are willing to be Martyrs and will never stop killing
Hamas 's leaders do not care about the deaths of their own people. They must be overthrown. Same with Netanyahu. Only a revolution in the whole region will stop the killing. General Giap refused to fight the US with human waves as Mao had suggested. He went to Russia instead. The Hamas leaders are a suicide squad. The Israelis are are committing war crimes in the name of survival. These positions are nothing but death and destruction.
I agree with you!
Excellent video! I learned a few things about the long history of Jewish persecution that shocked me. I really like that she said criticism about Israel is not always antisemitism. I have been saying that for years, especially about Netanyahu.
WELL SAID, NOW VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY , DUMP TRAITOR REPUBLICONS EVERYWHERE.
Well said. However, it seems that, for Republican leaders, the purpose of government is to divert all of the resources of this great country to their wealthy campaign contributors, while punishing ordinary people. They seek to criminalize everything: obtaining reproductive care, being LGBTQ, being Black or Brown, doctors treating patients, reading books, peacefully demonstrating. Their motto might be, "lock everyone up!"
It sure looks that way, Carolyn! Lock everyone up in a private, for profit prison, and get some ill gotten gains to boot!. Make prisoners ineligible to vote! Keep them ineligible to vote if they can't pay their fines.. They win and the lowly workers and middle class don't matter and have no voice, rights or freedom.
Look what Sanders did in Arkansas, a prisoner thru new evidence was found to be innocent! His two supposed co-horts were freed but that bitch Sanders said he didn't put in the paperwork with the evidence soon enough so he sits in jail even though he is innocent !! She is sòooooooo corrupt and just nasty !!
Do you expect anything OTHERWISE from one who 'served' her putrid, evil, CRUEL, orange fuehrer with such vehemence??
Trading on the Huckabee name!
The infamous Huckabee name!
A real nasty scuzball!!!
@ Laurie! You are grumpy today girl! However, I do think there is a role for "ordinary" law enforcement in the Gaza Strip. How is the big question. I mentioned many times my idea that we need a DMZ to separate the combatants, and we need a "Marshall Plan" level of re-investment into a Palestinian homeland (however defined through diplomacy).
I'm so very grateful a young man sees the false promise of crypto & has revealed that. It has seemed a perfect fraudulent attempt to garner people's hard earned money to me since it started.
"lock everyone up!" is a way to create an enslaved underclass -- which comprises all of us -- that live solely to serve the oligarchs and who die when we are no longer useful.
The far-right Republicans (if one includes their enablers, the far-right is stretching pretty wide these days) ultimate goal is the establishment of a fascist feudal economic state run for the sole benefit of the oligarchs under the cloak of Christo-nationalism.
@ GrrlScientist. Soylent Green is next after we are all locked up! Not a way to go...
whew. i am green, but i am also vegan.
They want a Gilead on the strongest of anabolic steroids possible, and even THAT would not be 'enough' for them, the patriarchal, white supremacist scum that they are. ;) :(
@Janet. Americans have been reducing debt under Obama, and now again under Biden. That big tax break that Trump and the Republicans have given to the 1% and the .01% is part of what is driving up the cost of borrowing. With a continuation of a Democratic majority in Congress and with Biden still in charge at the top, tax rates on corporations and high-wealth individuals can be gently and slowly raised ultimately to give us a much more fair tax system AND a greatly reduced national debt.
@Janet. It's complicated but in my view you are not all wrong. I hope you will find that among the alternatives the current set of Democratic candidates are the best we can hope for in this election cycle. Any other approach greatly increases chances that MAGA types will be returned to office, against our better interests.
I watched a video about the harm that neoliberalism did to the UK. The result is a drastic increase in inequality, just like here in the US. Who do we blame for these policies? It seems that in the past, they are corporate taxes and depreciation rates that aren't associated with political parties. Stellantis wouldn't restart the plant in Belvidere, Il. if they weren't going to make more money than is they moved to Mexico. Did the Biden administration change the corporate depreciation rate to favor corporations? The plant in Belvidere was built in 1966 and used to be Chrysler. I would like to believe the UAW has that much bargaining power, but I'm thinking there is more to the story.
Wait till the shoe's on the other foot,it CAN happen.
Robert, I do not understand your post at all.
Marc, the video he's recommending is very good. If you watch it you will understand. He's not explaining it well.
Probably yet another Putin troll bot. ;)
No.
Excellent points, and ones that cannot be repeated enough. But Professor Reich says the first step should be the repeal of the Defendant's tax cuts. While that's true, it won't happen, at least without some good faith effort on the other side, like a commitment to go after waste, fraud, and abuse. That should be easy (yeah, right, like adding more IRS agents to recover 3-6 times their cost from tax cheats). Republicans should understand return on investment, and maybe they need to be reminded of that at every turn. Many programs Democrats support have huge returns or cost avoidances. That should be a central message that I rarely hear.
Bob, it is worse than we realize. Not only is the IRS woefully understaffed, the tax code and regs are defective. They are intentionally made that way by Congress: full of loopholes and special favors to special friends of our legislators. As a CPA in private practice I often represented clients undergoing IRS audits. Over the years I came to feel sorry for the IRS auditors I opposed. One poor fellow had a nervous breakdown right there in our offices.
Thanks, Bob. You're absolutely right. Hey, would you do me a favor? I just published a piece on my own Substack, https://open.substack.com/pub/bobmorgan/p/the-defendants-unreal-estate-valuation, that I wanted to get a CPA's opinion on. I'd appreciate your take on it. Thanks.
It's a hard sell but we need to protect the IRS. Rampant graft and gang government thrive where the taxman Goetz not.
Right On!!!! (Oops dating myself)
We have to get the 99% that are not paying attention to how and who is running the government to wake up and help take the government back to the people not large corporations.
Citizens United. Look into it. SUPPORT IT.
@ Erik. Unless you are a corporation what in the world would entice you to diminish your own rights in favor of robber barons, inherited wealth and organized lobbyists? Citizens United is a travesty of ultra-radical, right wing constitutional distortion.
Are you saying we should support Citizens United?!?!?
Citizens United is the ROOT Cause of bought out Politicians from the Oligarchs and Corporations- oh Hell No to those Skags!
@oilboomer2. I like that! Skags! LOL
Yes. Get big business OUT OF POLITICS. Believe it was George W that gave businesses and corporations THE SAME RIGHTS as a civilian. They are allowed to DONATE AS MUCH as they like to WHOMEVER they feel will assist them in passing of bills and laws TO ASSIST that business and or industry, amongst other items that put individuals at a HUGE DISADVANTAGE.
Erik S : It allows billionaires to buy supreme court judges and seats in government. It says money is speech. Crazy and unDemocratic.
Eric S, it would be beneficial to look at Citizens United before typing. A summary of the Supreme Court decision we call Citizens United can be found here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC#:~:text=The%20court%20held%205%E2%80%934,labor%20unions%2C%20and%20other%20associations. After you read about it, you might want to revisit your typing about George W. Bush.
Um. You've got to come down from the brown acid, Robert Weber.
Are you really serious, or is this a satirical parody of a crazed corporatocrat ecstatic at all the advantages Citizens United gives corporations & CEOs like him to seize wealth at the expense of ordinary citizens?
It was Mitt Romney that said, corporations are people too my friend.
Correct. I erred. Was the same time Bush and Romney were both vocal members of the now defunct Republican Party... either or... this puts every American voter at a GIGANTIC DISADVANTAGE. How can individuals compete with billion dollar corporations? Corporations ARE NOT people or citizens.
Thanks for acknowledging. Rs have a way of spinning language to make it sound opposite to its true intent.
@John Goodman. Mr. Romney is no democrat my friend. He is a corporate raider who made his money on buying companies, raping them via paying himself grandiose consulting fees, dressed up their books by "reducing costs" by laying off workers, then protecting his ill gotten gains by use of the special "carried interest" provisions of the distorted tax code. Not someone we would look to for a balanced view of Citizens United...
Keep spouting that same crap. Good way to get you blocked.
saying it twice won't make it true...
Erik S : WHAT?! BS ! Glad you don't really mean it!
“They” (the oligarchs) will never have “enough.” Such is their moral, emotional, mental sickness.
🎯
These spending cuts will most immediately harm Americans dependent on such spending, and not long after that the rest of mankind will be harmed.
Nicely said.
grrlscientist - you're mostly correct, but you left out the part about the role of the gov't to protect, encourage, and abet the exploitation, pillaging and looting of the labor and resources of vulnerable countries by our corporations, whether militarily, "diplomatically", or economically (world bank, IMF)
well, i understand your point but despite all the evil and horrors in the world, i remain an idealist, which means exploitation of other nations/peoples is a thing that is just plain wrong in my view.
GrrlScientist, yup. my sardonic comments don't translate well. no, the purpose of gov't. is not to facilitate the exploitation of 3rd world countries, but ever since the 1880s or so, our military has been coopted to do just that. See central america - C&H, Dole, United Fruit, The rise of the corporations has gone hand in hand with the militarization of this country. A similar story with the labor movement in this country.
I believe it's imperative young voters (along with progressives, independents, and "never Trumper" republicans) band together to purge these right wing republicans from public office - into the history books right next to Benedict Arnold where they belong. This will require voting into the "White House" a Democratic president for the next SEVERAL presidential elections along with enough democratic members of both the House and Senate to get legislation passed which is aimed at strengthening as opposed to weakening our democratic republic. Remember, the THREE right wing members of the Supreme Court are there because enough progressives voted for Jill Stein, and other "third party" candidates or didn't vote in 2016. The Supreme Court as it;'s constituted will be a threat to our republic for a generation. Just imagine if they get another right wing judge on that court?! Those of us who have benefited for years from the great Middle Class created in America after WW II and who are progressives (I'm 76) SHOULD be doing all we can to encourage young people to vote and to not waste their votes on the fringe candidates republicans will be funding - in order to peel off votes from Joe Biden. "We the people" SHOULD be able to understand the importance of voting AGAINST republicans! Full Stop!!
The problem is not so much that Republicans behave the way they do - that's to be expected - the problem is that the DNC has become dependent on corporate money. That's the reason elections are so damn close. That's the reason wankers like Johnson wield power.
Until and unless the DNC adopts a liberal program, along the lines put forward by Sanders, we are doomed to the Trumps and Johnsons of the world, which will make it all the more difficult to deal with other wankers like Putin and Netanyahu.
The DNC forced Bernie out and ran Hillary against our wishes.
Hillary was by far the most qualified candidate for president in the last 50 years.
William--It seems the Republicans don't look at qualifications when it comes to candidates they want to put up for an election. Those things make people harder to control.
I saw a pretty funny comment someone posted the other day concerning Tuberville's stonewalling military promotions saying:
"If ball coaches, having no experience in government, are qualified to be senators, then we should replace ball coaches with Pizza Hut managers!" 🤣
Tuberville also has no experience in the military. Never served a single day! But somehow he "knows" his stonewalling is not causing any problems for the military. What a putz!
Tuberville seems to have forgotten the "Separation of Church and State thing." The practice of abortions in the military is none of his business. He's a fool, lost in a bad dream, only to awaken to find he's a Republican. Now that's a nightmare.
Because turnout for primary elections is so low, it puts zealots and cult members in charge of #GOP candidates
William--That's one nightmare I want no part of. I know loads of good people who vote in every primary, its their civic duty.
Donald, and they look not at all at personal integrity, whether a person has a moral compass. The only qualification for a Republican candidate is to be manipulatable. Our new Speaker is the perfect case. Despite any intelligence Johnson is supposed to have, expressed through his having graduated from college, he got caught up in antiLGBTQ organizations that were scum, complete malpractice. I guess even that kind of power to destroy people's lives wasn't enough. He took his Bible on the road and thumped the parts he liked and ignored the care, love parts. Naturally his aim was to harm people whom the society has already made vulnerable; it's easier. Like his master, Baby Donnie, he regularly lies with a straight face and says things that make no sense, probably even to him to cover his character flaws. Now, he doesn't even have to do that because after all, he is speaker and the Toddler Caucus is "deeeeeelighted." Rich white individuals and corporations are deeeeeelighted too.
I hate people that hold up the Bible and say they follow it but know nothing of what is inside
Is that a bible that this azzwipe is putting down next to the lectern every time he takes the speaker's seat, the book with all of those post-it 'flags' attached to the pages??
IF so, he is NOT supposed to be presiding/legislating over this body with ANY religion as a reference, 'guide', or final say, AT ALL, and must ONLY be using this land's CONSTITUTION as said 'guide', or rulebook!
Ruth--Clay in the hands of a demented artist.
William, this is an old refrain. To make it stick, you have to plausibly answer Christopher Hitchens' question: "What single thing has Hillary Clinton done to make you think she is smart?"
Hillary has attained a position in life not because of her stupidity, the alternative holds the truth.
William, yes, Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate, but alas, she didn't have a penis, and even with a lot of Democrats, that is a huge deal (excuse the pun).
She was only qualified to promote the neoliberal nightmare that has landed us here today. Like her husband, she stood for free-market capitalism and deregulation. These policies are not progressive. They are the key to the enormous wealth disparity that provided economic power and political grease to the oligarchy. They are the cause of the disaffected masses that now flock to a strongman leader like Trump. I get your point that had Billary not been a woman she might have been elected. However, she was not qualified to lead us away from, only
forestall, the crisis we face today that was brought on by like minded neoliberal politician leading our government.
"Like her husband, she stood for free-market capitalism and deregulation."
Jonathan, free market capitalism and deregulation are two opposed things. It was only Reagan and Friedman who conjoined them and confused everybody. Regulation is a key component of a free market. Deregulation leads to monopoly and "socialism for the rich," which is the system we have now. Prior to 1980 America enjoyed a highly regulated market place, and had the greatest economy on earth. Since deregulation, everyone is at each others' throats.
Jonathan, what a bunch of nonsense! It sounds pretty misogynistic to me! Hillary Clinton was not a "neoliberal, whatever that is. I keep hearing the term, but the definitions are a joke because there is nothing "liberal" about it. Clinton stood for the American people. She actually had a history of improving public education in a red state, and seriously working to get medical coverage for all Americans. It was not she that brought that down, but the insurance industry and others who couldn't bear to potentially lose money while covering "poor" people. She got slammed for Ben Gazi when no Secretary of State can cover every nation's office and emails which at the time everyone was doing, as Trump and Kump did too. I honestly don't know where you got your info or, actually it's probably opinion. I guess you don't notice how bad it looks when men say such unfounded things about women. It happens all the time, but it still stinks. By the way, Hillary did win the popular vote and by quite a lot. She just couldn't get past the misogyny thing that still plagues this nation and the world, and there are too many red states.
@William: She was well qualified to be CEO of the corporatist wing of the Democratic party. Bernie handed her the keys to the Whitehouse but she threw them away because she couldn't see it. It wasn't enough to be well steeped in traditional politics and policy. Many working Americans felt left behind and wanted real change that would improve their lives. Hilary didn't connect with those aspirations the way Bernie did.
I realize this is water under the bridge, but it's part of how we got here.
Not against my wishes. I’m a Hillary supporter. I respect and admire Bernie but he doesn’t have the experience and ability to get things done that Hillary has. She was an excellent candidate who won the popular vote and should have been president, would have been if not for James Comey, Russian interference, and a 30-year smear campaign by right-wingers.
I sympathize with your view on Hillary, who won the popular vote in 2016. But she is too much a corporate Democrat. We need strong leadership from the left, which, surprisingly, middle-of-the-road Joe Biden is thankfully providing.
Every time I’ve heard her speak I thought she sounded more left-leaning than her reputation would suggest. I could be wrong. One of the problems that female candidates for higher office have is that many people (both men and women, sadly) have been conditioned to think that a woman isn’t strong enough to be the leader of the free world, so women have to walk a fine line between liberal and conservative. They have to be tough enough to stand up to Putin and compassionate enough to comfort the victims of violence and natural disasters. It’s strange that Trump is neither yet he beat Hillary Clinton, who is both, but he had the preferred plumbing.
Except that she won the popular vote. I distrust the Clintons because of Bill’s statement about the “inevitability” of globalism, a mistake that Obama also made.
Ruth Sheets: The problem with HRC is she is an advocate for neo liberal economics and that is why we are in the situation Robert Reich is talking about in this post. Neo liberal economics needs to be swept into the dustbin of history.
I don’t see how you can blame the election of Johnson on the Democrats. That particular circus was totally Republican while the Dems simply stood aside while the Republicans put on their spectacle.
Marc. That's the other trope for Republicans, be caught in the act of committing a despicable act, then blame it on the Democrats or whoever is available or claim "it wasn't us." It really works. The Supreme Court is working to perfect it. They blame the founders for all kinds of terrible decisions of their own or claim "it is in the Constitution" when as lawyers who should know the Constitution, they know it isn't. It is working for the Republican crew because the rich white guys want it to work and pay well for it.
Two options:
1. Democracy (such as it is.)
2. Fascism.
In an emergency, any internal division benefits the enemy.
I was about to say the same kind of thing. Ya' beat me to it!
Marc, IMHO you're missing the point. If the DNC was less corporate, there would be more Democrats elected to Congress, so Republican wankers would be put in their place.
Its like Saturday mornings when I was a kid. Cartoons and the "Three Stooges." Larry, Moe, and Curley. The fate of the world rests in the hands of these three social misfits. One wants to violently reshape Europe, one wants a place to light his Menorah so the bombs won't blow out the candles, and Trump would love a large bib to catch all the crap that falls from his mouth. The only real difference between the two threesomes is the one from my past made us laugh but the new group of "Stooges" leaves us in tears. History will no doubt play out as a tragedy, and Shakespeare didn't need to write a line.
Donald, I am feeling those tears right now because none of the three + the potential Johnson, care that so many have had their lives changed forever and for nothing but the greed and power-mongering of the stooges.
That's very true and why I don't donate directly to DNC anymore, despite their plea. I donate directly to the canidates of choice.
1. "the THREE right wing members of the Supreme Court are there because enough progressives voted for Jill Stein, and other "third party" candidates or didn't vote in 2016"
2. "get legislation passed which is aimed at strengthening as opposed to weakening our democratic republic"
David, A crucial piece of that legislation should be to mandate Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in all federal elections (See Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution re. Congressional authority to do this.) to deal with the spoiler effect referenced in the first quote from your text above. With our fatally defective One Choice Only, plurality voting system voters who prefer a third party or independent candidate are forced to choose between voting for whom they want to vote (and wasting their vote) or choosing whom they regard the "lesser of two evils". With RCV enabling rounds of instant runoff counts until a majority is gathered by the winning candidate, the voter can choose first his actual favorite and choose second whom he regards as the "lesser of two evils". When his first choice is eliminated his second choice is counted. and the spoiler effect is destroyed. Since voters with RCV know that the third party or independent vote is no longer wasted, that candidate might actually win. We could gradually move toward a multi-party system where all views are represented. And winning against multiple opponents will require gathering second place, third place, etc. votes to accumulate a winning majority after the winnowing of the instant runoffs is completed. This will require moderation and conciliation. Firebrands lose! The toxic politics we are witnessing would be a thing of the past.
Some states already have evolved to this plan and I agree it makes sense - although the individual states would need to adopt it themselves. Alaska has done so and, if I'm not mistaken, that is what kept Sarah Palin from being another "whacked out" member of the House of Representatives!
"although the individual states would need to adopt it themselves"
I'm certainly glad Alaska had it to keep Sarah Palin out of the House, but If Congress (when it's in the hands of the Democrats and they can vote to disarm the Senatorial filibuster) made use of the Constitution's Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 they could do it all at once for all federal elections in all the states. Personally, I think the issue of our defective voting system is too critically important for waiting the decades (if ever) it would take to accomplish it going state by state. We don't have to go that slow route.
YES, THANK YOU!
Because of the installation of those three extreme rightwingnut activist 'judges', all progressives and women in this land can also send their thank you notes to ol' Jill for the DEATH of Roe v Wade as well.
We will lose MUCH MUCH MUCH more than simply SCOTUS seats if this next election goes to the SCUMp SHITler and his NAZI REGIME (partly because of the useless 3rd party/fringe candidates) as they will not even need the SC, or ANY judges in order to perpetrate their abject, sadistic EVIL on ALL of US!
Professor Reich, often I think that you have hit the nail right on the head and once again you have hit the nail right on the head! Of the unholy alliance of the four you have just mentioned, two are Americans. You are correct that we must do everything we can to prevent the rush to authoritarianism from taking further hold in the United States.
I doubt that any on this forum will refuse to vote for Biden and Democrats in next year’s elections but we risk being the choir singing loudly to ourselves. Biden, however is going out to the picket lines and the homeland of the small farmers to preach the gospel that to the working people and middle class of Americans that must be reached. Meanwhile the Republicans in the house fiddle while democracy burns. We should each follow Biden’s example in our own lives if we wish to keep the ship of Democracy from sinking even lower in the water. We must work ceaselessly to keep it not only afloat, but buoyant.
David Piper writes about the imperative that “young voters…band together to purge these right wing republicans from public office.” I fully agree. However, in scanning the biographies of participants in this forum I perceive we have not yet brought the young voters aboard in these discussions.
To win this battle and to win back democracy we will have to create a coalition and communication between us and the younger voters. Professor Reich has not only been "preaching to the choir,” (us) but he has been talking directly to the youth utilizing a variety of media as well as his long career of connection to the youth in the UC Berkeley lecture halls. We cannot just say “Those guys must get out and vote,” we must find ways to reach the young voters in the United States. Like Professor Reich we will have to go where they are, and engage the youth in the democratic process.
As a full time caregiver to my disabled wife, I cannot "go where they are, and engage youth in the democratic process". However I have found that Professor Reich does an excellent job doing this with his You Tube videos produced by his Inequality Media Civil Action group. His videos have been viewed over 440 million times! I contribute money to this excellent group as much as can afford, and recommend that others consider doing this too!
Mr.Reich , I’m seriously afraid that we will be drawn into WW 3 or wre will continue to destroy our Planet and have noting left to Live on all you mentioned are horrible greedy men who disregard the will of their own people we cannot as you said let the bastards win !
This should include the media taking more of a responsibility to call out the lies and inconsistencies of these neofascists candidates.
This week, I saw a CNN reporter asking Chris Christie if Trump should be disqualified from the ballot due to his documented Jan 6 negligence. He said ‘no’, the only way to defeat Trump is at the ballot box. Instead of challenging Christie by asking him what he thought the 2020 result was, if not a voter repudiation of Trump, the reporter just moved on to another question. Arghhhh!
CNN is owned by capitalists, it cannot be relied on as a reliable source of news.
I understand your point, but there is more than CNN and that doesn’t excuse their responsibility as the fourth estate.
All four men indeed are bullies and lack the compassion of democratic values and clear thinking that can lead to a just and better world peace and.freedom to live free of fear.
With the caveat that Israel has a new coalition government, and Netanyahu is held responsible in the Knesset for being asleep at the switch on Oct. 7.
Many Israelis are furious at Netanyahu for his part in ignoring the immanent threat from Hamas in Gaza in the first place. After this is over he will likely end up in the trash bin of Israeli history.
Likewise, Saudis & moderate Arabs despise & reject Hamas.
"And this is the best way to improve Palestinian lives & promote a Palestinian state"
"Saudi Arabia assured the Biden administration that the kingdom is still interested in pursuing an agreement that would normalize relations with Israel after the war in Gaza ends, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters."
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/31/saudi-megadeal-normalization-israel-biden
@Daniel. Unpacking your point a little bit, MBS may not be moderate at all, but rather has his own self-aggrandizing vision of power distribution in the Middle East. More than likely he would see his positions as strategic moves to counter Iranian influence in the "arena"? Western interests would have to watch carefully to detect and prevent a pivot by Saudis back to anti-American policies once they establish themselves ascendant to Iran.
Daniel, I’m not very comfortable with the notion that Saudi Arabia and Mohammad bin Salman are “moderate”.
Compared to Klingons, look moderate.
Point taken.
Marc, I hope so. Netanyahu should never have held power of any kind, but as so often happens, people get scared into voting for the guy they think will protect them from something, whatever the fear factor de jour is. Trump does that too. It is usually pumping fear of Black men, the libs, and anyone he can't control. He and his team are expert fearmongers and use their skills well to do massive harm to people who have no idea they are his targets, and salivate in his presence. I guess that is part of being human since so many people do it.
And NetanYEEEHHHAAWW should 'know better' than to even appear, AT ALL, like a genocidal FASCIST. ;)
I would like to finally make one distinction. Hamas' leader has said that the "blood of the elderly and the children are needed to inspire the warrior. " Consider that for a moment. He is calling for the Holocaust of his own people in order to prepare for a Holocaust in the world of the Jews. I therefore see that it is not the suffering in Gaza that is causing more Islamic militants and radicals NOT at all. It is the evil itself of Hamas that they are glorifying.
Exactly... so many miss this point! Hamas will not stop until Israel is destroyed. They do not care about Palestinians nor a 2 state plan - Hamas wants the end of Israel.
And with that goal, Hamas is the terrorist... to their own people, too.
Israel left Gaza in 2005.
Why does Gaza have no infrastructure ....but Hamas has fuel for bombs and missiles and tunnels? Mmhmm.
Hamas made its choice.
People say free Palestine... I respond, from whom are we freeing them? Hamas - that's who they needed freed from!
Yes, I'm not a hawk at all. I'm not just for war. But given the world threat of Hamas which does glorify evil, as you can see by the super orgy of evil committed by its own fighters on Israel, and the two choices, to live in fear or to go to war to purify myself, I would choose the latter. I'm sorry but one of the things Hamas asks for in their charter is a world caliphate. Make no mistake this isn't just another president where you read the newspaper and drink your coffee. This is a horde of beasts who rape and behead.
You have it all wrong. Learn and grow with a JewishVoiceforPeace.org for peace.
I don't think I have it all wrong, respectfully. I have been taking a crash course on the Israel situation re Palestinians and I have done a lot of research on Nazistic thought for a book I got a grant to write. I don't know the above organization. But a dialogue cannot always be effected by a ceasefire. Sometimes it takes war. With Hitler, it did.
Yes, they wish to be free of Hamas and Zionist occupation. See JewishVoiceforPeace.org for peace.
Israel installed Hamas as an excuse to eliminate Palestine and its Semitic people. It’s how the Fascist Zionists roll. See JewishVoiceforPeace.org for peace.
Oh Marie, that is so insane!! I cannot wrap my mind around someone saying that!! How awful! What in the world is wrong with people that take that view of actual people? Especially their own people? My heart hurts for those poor innocents that apparently this Hamas leader does not even consider worthy of living!!
Hamas is a manipulator. The fighters are pawns-- they are heavily indoctrinated, even with drugs. Hamas is Mohammed Deif and a couple of others who glorify evil. But that dark side of Islam is a bit warrior like. Christ allows for the forgiveness of a soul. He came for that. And did not kill. But for us, some evil is beyond the pale. Some people forfeit their right to live in the world. Did Christ say that? Not exactly. But he did draw a line in the sand between the pigs (infidels and unbelievers) and the righteous. So when the pigs, real animals, go insane with the devils and run into the sea, it might be the solution.
You know, in my Sunday School classes, I remember my teacher explaining about how Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. I understood that. I also remember and keep in my mind how God said Thou shalt have no other gods before me. That always makes me think of Mr. Trump's followers who worship and idolize him yet claim to be Christians. I can't wrap my mind around that thinking either! I don't like these Hamas. They are evil and like all evil, they hide behind their belief that they are right and everyone else is wrong!
Well, I can't say that the Hamas fighters, who reveled in an evil orgy, are totally in control either. They were apparently high on coke at the time of the orgy. On the other hand, it is our tendency to try to normalize and to find the humanity in a person, even in a monster. The problem is that this is being used and manipulated in the media by various outlets including Al Jazeera to make it appear as if Israel's actions equal Hamas'. And this is totally false. Hamas reveled in a blood orgy, very hands on murderous debauchery, a personal glorification of evil that was also religious, Israel is at war. Yes, they are bombing Gaza, but they are targeting Hamas. It is not against the rules to go to war. And war is not the same as lying in bed and eating chocolates. People do get killed and wounded in war. Lots of people. In the war in South Sudan 380,000 civilians were killed. Radical Islam has a very serpentine tongue. And they will try to make talking points to win the battle verbally. But the fact remains, they are also butchers and rapists. That is what Hamas did. That is what they seek to justify. In seeking to justify rape and butchery they are themselves murderers and rapists.
By the way, I did write to the PM of Israel and asked him if war was necessary. You see war was their decision. I believe Netanyahu understands there to be no other way. On the other hand, I personally think Israel could be merciful also. And send in food, water, medicine, humanitarian aid such as Biden encourages.
If Ukraine loses the war Putin will push into Poland and the Baltic states...
Seriously....?
Yes! Seriously, he wants Russia to be like it was when it was the USSR or before. Was he satisfied when he took a chunk of Georgia- No. was he satisfied when he took Crimea- No
P.J. I completely agree with you and your point of view does not come from the tabloids, unless you consider the New York Times and the Washington Post to be tabloids.
Not in terms of their printing format, but in terms of their content they might as well be, as all they do is to parrot the Administration’s current line of thought (if we can so characterise it).
‘Look...if we don’t stop Russia east of the Dnieper, Putin’s mighty armies will crash ever westward, across the Vistula; then the Oder; then the Rhine, until one day Macron will look out of his bedroom window and see the brutes watering their shaggy Cossack ponies in the Seine....and then it’s on to Lisbon!’
Can any sacrifice be too great to prevent such a catastrophe?
More money for Ukraine!
That’s just tabloid nonsense - suggest you take the time properly to inform yourself about the history and background to this conflict.
Study history. Study WWI and the run up to it. Familiarize yourself with Russian history. Understand just how volatile that part of the world is.
Or bury your head in the sand and squawk about the ‘tabloid press’.
Marla, yes that is true, but it seems obvious that current media dysfunction plays a part in all of this. Case in point: Allowing Trump to suck all of the oxygen out of the room instead of treating him as an aberration, which he is. His circus makes money for them. That is a threat to all of us!
I don't disagree with you here. The treatment that TFG gets in the press is appalling. From the very beginning, he's been treated like a serious candidate, instead of the sideshow he truly is.
As someone who lived in NY in the '70s, I had a front row seat to his shenanigans. He's always been a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And the NY Times has known that from the beginning.
Well, now they and all of us are paying the price.
I read “The Art of the Deal” in the 80’s and didn’t get a favorable impression then, and it went down hill from there. The birther stunt to smear Barack Obama was the end for any smidgen of respect for Trump in my eyes.
Well Said Well Spoken Maria
U.S. insistence on expanding NATO is what provoked Putin to invade Ukraine. If he was bent on expanding Russia he would have massively attacked (as U.S. did in Iraq). He would not have tried to negotiate an end to the war less than two months later (deal brokered by Turkey) that Ukraine was ready to sign but was told not to by U.S. and Britain. He warned for years not to bring NATO to Ukraine. The U.S. promised it would not expand NATO when the USSR was dissolved).
No one put a gun to Putin's head and forced him to invade Ukraine. Putin is totally responsible for this war, regardless of verbal promises that were broken or meddling of outsiders in Ukraine's politics.
He's actually forewarned that his plan is to reconstitute the former Soviet Union. Ukraine was/is simply the first step!
No he didn’t - that’s something that you’ve invented. But by all means post the reference if you have one..
Inform yourself of Putin's chief ideologue https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin, then come again.
It looks to me that Putin’s chief ideologue is Putin.
Putin will do whatever he thinks is best. But he's not stupid and do everything alone, Like every dictator, he has aides. Dugin is there to present a more or less consistent ideology both to inspire Putin to the next steps and to present it to the public.
WHY TF do soooo many in THIS land adore that cruel fascist DESPOT so effing much, and defend every single move he makes or word he says??
Is it simply because their very own worshiped putrid orange fuehrer-'savior' COMMANDS them to do so, or demands it by 'proxy' due to his show of love for Vlad The Impaler?!?
Or is it that they MUST admire and deify any/ALL evil, sadistic, autocratic, megalomaniacal 'strong men' because they think that their 'big daddy' will take care of all of their 'problems' with the 'socialist libtards' they are taught to loathe?
Putin’s chief ideologue?
Is that a formal appointment? Dugin as some sort of Rasputin figure?
Russia, like the West, has no shortage of people prepared to say any number of silly things.
Best to apply a common sense filter, and not believe too much of what you read in the press.
What is legal in Russia? There's no rule of law there. The Russian government is not a clear structured institution like in democracies.
Trump did something similar with Bannon and Flynn though.
have you heard of Google? Try "Does Putin want to restor the Soviet Union?" And, then use your powers of inference.
Retired 6th grade teacher - lol - I pity the students who had the misfortune to be taught by a half-wit who can’t spell and who thinks Google is where you look for the truth.
Unsubscribed: I’ll try not to miss you.
Right wing troll. Yikes!!
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2022/03/01/putins-dark-designs-restore-pre-1917-russian-empire
I believe in Jan 2022 when Putin lined up military at Ukraine border he said “ we are only performing military exercises “ and then invaded - yeah … he’s going to continue his march forward into Europe - he doesn’t like nato breathing at his back door
Forewarned or not, this is Putin's goal. If you have a chance, Julia Ioffe's 5-part series on Putin, "About a Boy: The Story of Vladimir Putin" is excellent. Thoroughly researched, compelling narrative storytelling of the background and influences that brought to life the thug.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/about-a-boy-the-story-of-vladimir-putin/id1709963682?i=1000630143679
No credible sources re: this advanced U.S. Administration propaganda.
Not sure what you're talking about???
Oh yes, CromwellW8! Putin's dream is to build back the Russian Empire. Those countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Moldova, Finland, the Caucasus, parts of central Asia, the Baltic Republics, and Turkey were all part of the Russian Empire. Putin wants all of it back to rebuild in his mind the Empire he would control. I may have missed country or two but the idea is for Putin those areas should and will be under his control again!
Central Asia will be next unless Putin's BFF Xi decides to fight him for it Stalin consolidated long Russian rule as an underpopulated place to ship extra kulaks, lots of arable land and lots of geological resources.
Yes, seriously.
Should Putin succeed in his expansionist dreams in Ukraine, he will turn on Poland next. Putin’s dream is the restoration of the former Russian Empire. Prior to WWI and the Russian Revolution, Poland didn’t’t exist on the map. It was part of the old Russian Empire.
When the maps were redrawn after WWI, Poland was re-created.
Modern day Poland is a member of NATO. Should Putin not be stopped in Ukraine, he will march into Poland next. And the members of NATO will be required to come to Poland’s aid and defense.
Somehow, I doubt the world is jonesing for a third land war in Europe.
This is why Ukraine must be supported in its struggle against Putin.
Yes. Seriously !! The Russians do have form on this matter. I have Polish neighbours here in Australia and believe me their hatred of the Russians knows no bounds having escaped to the west many years ago !!
I’m sure you’re right... so why, in that case, would the Russians want to invade the place?
I mean, the Poles are hard enough to deal with even when they’re your friends....
How much is Putin paying you?
PRECISELY!!
It must be really slow in that Saint Petersburg troll farm complex right now. ;)
According to Alexandr Dugin, there's no place for Poles and Ukrainians in the future Great Russia, all they want is the land (fertile soil, ice free ports).
Putin will ship them to Kazakhstan.
Hear Hear, well said thanks!
Yeah.
The USA needs to take a time out. I suggest about 100 years. Stop fuelling wars in the world. Tax your billionaires. War crimes are being committed in Gaza. Support the effort to prosecute war criminals.
Stephen, I agree that we need to stop sending our men over to places like we did in Afghanistan; however, we do need to help those countries who are fighting for their freedom. I believe in helping Ukraine because Putin had no reason to attack them except for his greed. I believe we need to help the innocents in the Gaza strip but not to send weapons or money to help with their war. The innocents had no choice whatsoever when the fighting started and many have lost their lives! I do not understand why the fighting broke out but I do know our country must always send help to those people who are caught in the crossfire! I also agree that we absolutely must begin taxing our billionaires and do away with all of their tax cuts. Our deficit would be better and the programs that many Americans rely on to live would be saved.
It isn’t just the men, it is the billions of dollars the USA pumps into war zones. They need to stop doing that. Throwing gasoline on the fire is what it is
Yes, let’s make them stop. See JewishVoiceforPeace.org for peace.
Stephen. You can’t be serious about the need for the USA to prosecute war criminals. To do so in fact rather than rhetoric would require US to prosecute George W and Tiny Blair for war crimes in Iraq.
Yes, let’s do this. Help out at JewishVoiceforPeace.org
War crimes are happening in Ukraine as well
Agree with you very much. One note: Michael Johnson's puppet master may be Donald Dump, but in reality Dump's puppet masters have been Putin and Xi. Ever notice how SMUG Putin or Xi look when filmed in connection with Dump/USA? There was that famous incident in the White House when Dump met with Russian emissaries but refused to allow US press or staff into the room... I can assure you that Dump's #1 foreign policy concern visa vis Russia was to build a giant Dump Tower in Moscow, regardless of any cost to the US, NATO, or EU. One other point: we can certainly talk about the 1% oligarchs who own well over 90% of US capital... However, I'd like to know (can you tell us, Bob?) what percentage of those oligarchs (stock holders in corporations with US interests) are by now foreigners? Look at the publishing industry in New York... most of it owned by Europeans. That's Germans (Bertelsmann, Holtzbrinck, Springer) and one French outfit (Hachette); the Brits tried but failed (Penguin USA) so they sold to Bertelsmann; and finally the Australian muckraker whose Korporate Republikan allies handed him US citizenship only so he (Murderdork) could acquire billions of dollars worth of satellite network(s). Tell us more, Professor Bob. Ever your fan. JTC
As my mom use to say, "The world is going to hell in a hand basket!" That is how I feel today while reading Professor Reich's essay. Yes, I can see what is happening and others who value our Democracy can see what is happening. It feels to me like a steam roller heading down hill mowing down everything in its path. I don't like war and I am frightened that we are heading even closer to WWIII! I pray to God there are enough people here in the United States that will prevent Mr. Trump and others like him from taking over our country.
I agree. To throw in another metaphor, this historical moment feels like a pendulum that will not reverse direction until it completes its arc. Scary... And I don't think prayer is going to help.
My Victorian grandmother used to say that the world was going to hell in a hand basket, which conjured an image of comfortable consumers going about their day with ease, safety, and convenience. It’s ironic and seriously funny.
My father’s older sister had a koan-like expression, Lord love a duck! It was probably a substitute for swearing, but it was nonetheless a nonjudgmental and funny way of acknowledging the inane.
Mary, I love the Lord love a duck expression! I have heard that from my grandma and always thought well of course He would love one of his own creatures!! It wasn't until I was older that I realized it was her way of saying she just couldn't understand what was going on in the world!
The USA failed to heed Eisenhower’s warning. The Military Industrial (Corporate) Complex rules America. Does not matter whether Trump Republicans or Democrats are in charge. The U.S. is a war-dependent economic system run by Coroorate-funded and owned politicians. The American people are there for two purposes: to serve as canon fodder during wars and to fund deficits created by the “too big to fail” or should we say “too big to jail” corporations.
I have asked my congressional delegation, all republicans, why cut the money making agency and the safety net but help the rich. Of course I got no answers. Democracy? Not us!
Bond. George Bond.
To Mohammed Deif: You make sure to make what you (and your fighters) do seem like justification because you are an old hand at indoctrination and manipulation. But it is not for pity of the oppressed that you do what you do but for the glorification of evil. Not for poor Palestinians but to uphold an orgy of hatred. For hatred's sake.
I agree with most of what you said. The republicans are really full of it. People have to realize this and VOTE THEM OUT. They will not change on their own. On Israel, Hamas uses civilians to hide. If Israel wants to destroy them, how can they do it without killing civilians at the same time?
Marc, I feel any aid should solely be for the purpose of helping and providing for the refugees. No military aid (weapons, etc.) should be provided at all.
I don't hate many things. In fact, I can only think of two, lima beans and the word, "strongman". I know Robert Sir, that you did not come up with the word but I feel compelled to object to its use. The compound word states a strong man. It does not take strength but rather weakness, for a tyrant to be an extremely violent, cruel, abusive, deadly, poisonous, murderous monster. It takes strength to be kind.
Yes, we can argue that they get compliance through force so the word is acceptable. But it isn't. I imagine every tryant dictator and their followers around the world love the words, strong man. It is time to throw this misleading, tryant dictator complimenting word in the garbage forever.
Strongman is not the same as strong man. In fact, the connotation of strongman in politics is more weak man or strong man wannabe; the blunt instrument where nuance and diplomacy is required. The compound word acknowledges the irony of a slob like Trump exuding toxic masculinity from his golf cart while he whines about all the so-called injustices being heaped on him. He desperately wants to be Genghis Khan but he is really more like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.
Andrew Kelm, thanks for pointing out to me that some interpret the word as a backdoor way of stating weakness. When it comes to public discourse words of life and death importance in our present time, I believe we must speak explicitly, honestly, bravely without nuance. We must unwaveringly strive to use words that point people to the truth, in our struggle to survive as a Democracy.
I respect that, but if people were listening to content rather than emotional nuance, nobody would be supporting Trump now. The salient point is that so many people feel good about having someone in power who aspires to get his own way through brute force rather than following democratic norms.
Andrew Kelm, yes, I agree the overarching problem is some people want violence. And when individuals collect together to consolidate political power to pursue violence as a means and an end, it mostly harms the people who want peace. Most of those who seek violence look for rationalizations and justifications they can cling to, because deep down there is a knowing that violence is wrong. Let's take an action (that can't hurt) and remove the word, strong, so as to remove the lustre and the rationalization in their and their followers' minds, that they are strong. Dictator and tyrant are far better word choices.
Andrew Kelm ; If only he could be the Red Queen in a fiction! He needs to be incarcerated!
I think it is meant as a warning to the wise that a bully is on the scene and there is an emergent threat to civil society. I despise the notion of bullying as an acceptable way to lead. Having a word for the looming threat is useful for discussion. I despise so called strongmen who have to have their way at all costs. Sometimes the rules of civil society fail and the legitimate use of force becomes necessary to keep the ogres from gorging themselves on the blood of innocents. Of course by that time the bullies have been made into strongmen by the passivity and dis-unity of those around them who failed to realize the threat. They gather the low self esteem crowd around them and promise to be their hero, and being weak, of course their fan base is in the thrall of their hideous hero. Yuck!
Mary. Boudreau, I agree they are awful. I think the words, dictator and tyrant serve us well in public discourse. There is no built in avenue in these words, for the awful ones to benefit.
M Tree ; I would suggest the word 'miscreant'. It describes one who thrives on criminal behavior. tfg has power because he uses mob boss moves to get it. He runs the former Republican party after pushing out those who have even just a little fealty to law and order and the Constitution. By gerrymander, intimidation, any kind of cheating, and ultimately, threats and actual violence done by goons, he has stolen power. He dictates the moves we are seeing in the Congress, which is weaponized against the Common Good and decency itself, not to mention the rule of law. His lawsuits should be shut down as it is evident that he is abusing the courts to continue his coup! The 14th amendment section 3 is supposed to be self executing. Hate to say this, but he is executing US if we can't find a remedy. Our country is under lethal attack and the Commander in chief needs to huddle with his best advisors to take charge. The balance of powers is a joke at this point when even Justice is cowed. Unitary Executive Theory may be needed here. Or recognition of the War Powers Act! Lock Him UP! without access to the media, internet or even a phone! Psst! We are at war! our people, even children, are 'soft targets" with nearly daily mass shootings! Guess who supports the NRA while he builds his private army!?!??
Laurie Blair, I agree with your descriptions and passion for the truth.
THANK YOU!
I also hate that word, and every single time the media/pundits use it they should be required to put it in quotes, in order to refute it's literal implications, and IMPLY it's actual signs of WEAKNESS, or give an explanation of such.
One of the only other things I truly loathe in this world are the actual cold, cruel, heartlessly sadistic, fascist despot 'strongmen' of this world, and those who blindly, and loyally follow and SERVE them in their evil acts. ;)
And let us not forget that the Biden administration is alienating the youth vote (and significant others) with its unconscionable stance against calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Those desperately needed voters may either sit out the 2024 election or only vote down ballot when we need every vote to combat the neo-fascist tendencies ready to take over the U.S. government.