Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), where we explore the highs and lows of the past week.
Feb 11, 2023Liked by Robert Reich, Heather Lofthouse
This may just sound like an old codger yelling at kids to get off his lawn, but...one of my complaints about our current era is the infantilism that has taken over every facet of society. We live in an age of immediate gratification and exhibitionism. Poetry and music have been usurped by "performative expression". I could go on. Mitt Romney and Joe Biden are the faces of earlier days, when congressional members acted with gravitas, and acknowledged their responsibilities with solemnity and a sense of duty. The unhinged behavior of Republicans is a part of the Kardashian Era, perfectly epitomized by Donald J. Trump, the egotistical boy-child.
I agree. Marjorie Taylor Greene et al are exactly that, and for her performance Greene was immediately remunerated $8 million from donors. I know I sound like the broken record, but her target audience has a racist collective subconscious.
IMHO Greene, Bobert, Gaetz are familiar archetypal villains. This is not a recent phenomenon. You're right about Trump, but we've seen this before. Huey P. Long, Father Coughlin, Gerald L.K. Smith. These were American would be demagogues. The "villain" archetype is a character who displays characteristics of pure evil.
From Wikipedia:: Greene has promoted antisemitic, white supremacist, and far-right conspiracy theories, including the white genocide conspiracy theory, QAnon, and Pizzagate. Other extremist conspiracy theories she has promoted include government involvement in mass shootings in the United States, murders perpetrated by the Clinton family (Clinton body count), and 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Before running for Congress, she supported calls to execute prominent Democratic Party politicians, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
As a congresswoman, she equated the Democratic Party with Nazis, and compared COVID-19 safety measures to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, later apologizing for this comparison. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Greene promoted Russian propaganda and praised Vladimir Putin. Greene identifies as a Christian nationalist.
Thanks so much for this Daniel. Greene made $8 million from donors from her obnoxious behavior at the State of the Union!!!??? That's deeply shocking and disturbing.
The speaker shall have the following powers and duties:
(B) The speaker shall preserve order and decorum, and in case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct within the chamber or legislative area, shall order the sergeant at arms to suppress the same and may order the sergeant at arms to remove any person creating any disturbance within the house chamber or legislative area.
Democrats should make a motion -- see whether any Republicans were offended.
MTG "fined"? Read Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. MTG & crew should not even BE there! Yet these days it seems no one is willing to enforce laws, policies, etc. upon those above a certain level of wealth, power, or privilege.
I respectfully disagree, Bill. Enforcement of the laws is done through the courts. Article 14, section 3 does not automatically bar anyone whom you or I might believe to have engaged in insurrection or rebellion. Each case must be individually litigated.
To date, there has been only one such case at the federal level, Cawthorne v. Amalfi. Cawthorne was a member of Congress and his candidacy for re-election was challenged based on Article 14, section 3, in January, 2022.
On May 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the 1872 Amnesty Act lifted the ban on Members of Congress. Near the end of the court's 73 page decision, they stated:
"The only actor in our American constitutional system that can judge the qualifications of members of the House of Representatives is the House of Representatives itself. That restriction restrains the jurisdiction of federal courts—the very power of the courts to consider the question. The judging of congressional qualifications—or the qualification of candidates—is a political question committed exclusively to each House of Congress. This court cannot do it. The district court cannot do it. Only the appropriate House of Congress can."
The decision was not appealed. So it now stands until anyone again challenges a Member's qualification to serve in Congress based on Section 3.
Let me add that despite the strains put upon our institutions during the Trump presidency, and especially January 6, 2021, those institutions have in fact endured. And while they are obviously in need of reform, I think that we need to guard against cynicism. When the left joins the chorus that we are powerless in the face of big money, big media, big tech, etc., we essentially surrender what power we have.
Nothing happens by itself. Dr. King's arc of the moral universe bends towards justice only when people use their hands and minds to bend it.
Thanks Jerry, I only have a layman's understanding of these matters - I appreciate the extra context. Your final paragraph highlights our challenge. Yet who or how is it to be done?
Rule 4 designates the Speaker as the one to enforce order and decorum. In this case, that would require the servant to reprimand his master -- thus unlikely to happen.
Excuse me, Daniel, for not reading everything you write. You may be retired, I am not. Lighten up, man. It was just meant to evoke a smile.
But as to the substance, I don't believe that any member can make any motion at any time, and that all business would then halt so the motion can be considered. It would be ruled out of order, and that would be the end of it.
Right on, Daniel! Your description as as archetypal villains is spot on, I can envision them twirling their waxed mustaches as in the old silent movies! Ha Ha
Kerry; Do you remember Mitt Romney in the infamous 47 % video? It was recorded surreptitiously by a lowly young bartender at a posh fundraiser. There may be a style difference in performance today, but pure evil speaks for itself. The film may be called the 47 percent tape. Different era, same corruption, greed and racism/sexism : this time, against young Asian women working for their dowries, in preparation for marriage. 100 of them, living in ten rooms ( ten to a room, and all sharing one bathroom down the hall. Working " for a pittance", as Romney enthused. Exploitation at its finest.
There have always been the sponsors of privilege and the malefactors in Congress, although Mitt is far from being the worst of them. In the past, they certainly behaved with decorum and maturity despite their unpalatable agenda.
Kerry ; If you even heard the audio, I'm sure you would not shrug it off. The workplace was on an island off China, I believe, Romney joked that the barbed wire surrounding the place to keep people from coming in, the job was so desirable to 'them' When an observer asked why the women did not even look up when visitors passed by their work stations, a man holding a gun said they were trained to 'attend to their work'. Yes ; An 'unpalatable agenda'. Especially to those women, no doubt. Far from 'the worst' but still awful, unethical, and lacking decency and empathy. How often have we had to 'settle' for 'the least worst' in a candidate?
I guess I need to hear it. I mean, I'm no Romney apologist, and I certainly think anybody who ties a dog to a roof rack ought to be drawn and quartered. But I also remember Romney as the guy who actually gave birth to what was later called Obamacare. And the impeachment conviction vote. He's a mixed bag.
Kerry : Understandable ; As a resident of MA , we had him as Governor, and when my mother said she voted for him, I asked her why. She said he had supported a bill that allowed elders to stay in their home and get assistance from home health care aides. That made sense to me. Romney is clever enough to know how to look good. Ironically, my feisty mom developed Alzheimers and when the nice lady came to help, she said " No! I can bathe myself! And don't you dare mess with my meds! Funny! Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans!
mth ; I googled it as Mitt Romney 47% tape/video and Mother Jones link popped up. It was 2012. I am not able to figure out how to get the link to share here. There are several sites featuring it though, where I found it.
Absolutely. Rage of the petulant is a step in revolution. We The People must be degraded into a mob before the revolution can progress. Immaturity isn’t a coincidence. It’s essential to degrade individual freedoms in a cult. Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island has a warning moral-who’s paying for all the fun? It describes the two phases of revolution well. After !smash it up! Comes the unexpected horror.
Life isn't fair. Most Phds in Music need transferrable skills to make a living. Luck rather than supply and demand..... Real money is in bartending....
In academics no demand. Over supply.
On the other hand, shouldn't cost much to have your stuff performed and memorialized on Youtube.
Feb 11, 2023·edited Feb 11, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
I will use my own congressional district to illustrate what I think happened to the Republicans in Congress.
For 28 years, Bill Thomas was our congressman (1979 – 2007). From 1987 to 2002, Kevin McCarthy served on the staff of Congressman Bill Thomas. When Washingtonian magazine polled congressional aides on the "best and worst" of Congress, Bill Thomas was voted #2 for "brainiest", #3 for "workhorse", and #1 for "meanest" and overwhelmingly for "hottest temper" in the House.
Bill Tomas stayed in office for 28 years, because he answered to oil, ag, mining, the real estate/development industry and the military industry (China Lake, Edwards Air Force Base, Lockheed, and Northrop).
Thomas had been in office 23 years, when a Congressional Research Service study, reported that his region was worse off than Appalachia in so many socio-economic indicators, they suggested congress consider intervening in the region. The CRS was correct. That is the reason, that our region is often referred to as colonized, apartheid or Third World.
The income gap in our district is gigantic. Mining, oil, and agriculture is back-breaking, dangerous work, for very low pay, often seasonal. We are home to the United Farmworker’s Union (Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta) who represent some of the most exploited and lowest paid workers in the nation.
During Thomas’s time in office, the Republicans in our district built two, competing, political machines. However, both the Abernathy and the Bill Thomas machines were competing for BIG dollars from BIG corporations – NOT the votes of the underserved populations in our region.
Thomas had gained way too much power to simply retire. Thomas was known for studying testimony and research reports himself instead of relying on executive summaries from his aides. Kevin McCarthy was very well known as a puppet. His former teachers and professors say McCarthy was not a bright student (and that’s putting it nicely).
Thomas trusted McCarthy would do what he was told and when he retired, he backed McCarthy.
In a nutshell. 3 bad things happened to the Republican Party at the same time.
(1) Old Republican powerbrokers, like Bill Thomas and Mitch McConnell clung to power.
(2) Conservative Billionaire’s Think Tanks assumed the responsibility for legislation. In turn the Republican Party leadership backed puppets– not thinkers, statesmen, or brilliant politicians.
(3) The Republican base tried to get rid of the old powerbrokers with primary challenges. Conservative Billionaires squashed the uprising, by making the Tea Party dependent on them for funding.
When the conservative’s whole, stupid strategy finally backfired, it got Trump elected. Trump’s base is largely the Tea Party types who tried to clean the Republican house and failed. To keep these voters, Republicans have to make them hate and fear Democrats so much, they won't change party.
Turns out, billionaires can’t sit in Ivory Towers, and run a country with puppets. The Republican Party has no viable candidates because they did not develop them. They backed puppets, idiots, and yes-men (not leaders, skilled politicians. or legislators). What’s left of brains and thinkers in the Republican Party, do NOT have the personality, speaking skills, and appeal necessary to win elections.
The Democrats, and all of us, need to learn how to cope with idiots, because they are here to stay for a very long time.
All politics is local. Boron Mule Team Borax, the sponsor of Ronald Reagan is also a denizen of Kern County.
HULU is running a documentary produced by Midas Touch that hists hard at Bakersfield and by necessary implication people like Thomas and McCarthy. "Killing County is a 3-part Hulu docuseries about the Jorge Ramirez, Jr. case, which brought out a history of rampant corruption in both the Bakersfield, CA police department and the Kern County Sheriff’s department. It not only examines the Ramirez case, but other cases that show both law enforcement organizations using excessive force then sweeping the investigations under the rug." Cops SELLING drugs.
When I was holding hearings, Kern County had the lowest average per capita IQ in the US. .I'm sure that SSA statistics will confirm the high number of awards for low intellectual capacity. I also credit the Bakersfield culture for local politics, Buck, Buddy, Merle, etc. Merle had an epiphany and by the time of his demise renounced the red neck anthem Okie From Muskogee. https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/2008/10/merle_haggard_is_changing_his.html
It used to be that cattle far outnumbered the human population but that ended long ago. By now, one would expect that the immigrant farm workers would far outnumber the Okies and Arkies and that they can be registered to vote. Even Okies and Arkies need government benefits. I note that there is no love among the various and several ethnic groups, but all of them should be motivated to vote for the party of "givers." . .
Daniel, you were doing so well, and then you went all eugenics. Eugenics is not science and has been totally and completely discredited and disavowed by the scientific community.
Those frigging IQ tests were intentionally created by eugenicists to make darned sure that the people they deemed “unfit” would fail them. To be clear about this. Eugenicists intentionally and deliberately designed IQ tests to weed out people who were NOT raised in White Anglo Saxon Protestant, middle, or upper class, American communities.
Using eugenics tools to measure our intellectual capacity is pure, raw racism. It may feel right to you, but it is deeply insulting to me.
Kern County has a huge multi-lingual population. We speak more languages and more dialects in Kern County, than most anywhere else in the country. We have doctors, scientists, researchers, etc. who were educated in their homelands. For example, my 162 IQ, my degrees, and my math and engineering skills are worthless in a place as corrupt as Kern County.
Republicans work their tails to stop immigration policies that would allow legally documented immigrants to vote. Immigrants pay social security, unemployment insurance, etc. but they cannot use those benefits – ever. We’ve been fighting this issue for decades.
We get nowhere because most Americans have no idea how the taxation system works. They don’t know how local government, state government, the federal government and various social programs are funded. Most American are so ignorant, they actually think the taxes they pay take care of every public service they use. That level of ignorance is a national problem, not an isolated one.
That’s the end of my comment. Thanks for hearing me out.
Totally agree. Thank you. I argue against IQ tests every chance I get. Some extremely intelligent problem-solving creative folk can be basically illiterate. Or if not, might actually flunk said tests for a multitude of reasons. But IQ tests are a class-entrenched method of weeding out "the other". Eugenics made manifest.
H. How do we [SSA] document and evaluate intellectual disorder under 112.05?
General. Listing 112.05 is based on the two elements that characterize intellectual disorder for children up to age 18: significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning and significant deficits in current adaptive functioning.
Establishing significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning.
Definition. Intellectual functioning refers to the general mental capacity to learn, reason, plan, solve problems, and perform other cognitive functions. Under 112.05A, we identify significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning by the cognitive inability to function at a level required to participate in standardized intelligence testing. Our findings under 112.05A are based on evidence from an acceptable medical source. Under 112.05B, we identify significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning by an IQ score(s) on an individually administered standardized test of general intelligence that meets program requirements and has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. A qualified specialist (see 112.00H2c) must administer the standardized intelligence testing.
Psychometric standards. We will find standardized intelligence test results usable for the purposes of 112.05B1 when the measure employed meets contemporary psychometric standards for validity, reliability, normative data, and scope of measurement; and a qualified specialist has individually administered the test according to all pre-requisite testing conditions.
I pointed out that there are culture patterns that do not necessarily blend. In fact, there is a redneck culture that emanates from Bakersfield via Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and many other entertainers that started there. At one time they praised violence against say, Vietnam War protestors, and extended to liberals.
I hear people talkin' bad about the way we have to live here in this country
Harpin' on the wars we fight, an' gripin' 'bout the way things oughta be
An' I don't mind 'em switchin' sides, an' standin' up for things they believe in
When they're runnin' down my country, man
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Runnin' down a way of life our fightin' men have fought and died to keep
Daniel, okay, you were referring to the culture. However, what you call the "redneck" culture emerged in response to the existing culture that the Dust Bowl refugees found when they arrived in Kern County and were treated so brutally and unfairly. Don't forget, that John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was set in the migrant labour camps located in Arvin and Delano, in Kern County. Today, big ag/big growers in the region, still treat farmworkers the same way - and their living conditions are awful.
Kern County was built on resource extraction and cheap labour which is also known as colonialism. That's what those Bakersfield musicians were singing about. Those guys hated "colonialism". Maybe you have to live and work in one of these regions to really get it. Maybe its not something you can tell someone and be believed. Nonetheless, I am giving you first hand experience, and an eyewitness account of life inside these areas of the country. Life in a colony is hell.
While most of our country is free and Democracy is working, colonialism permeates all 19 counties in California's Central Valley. I mean that literally - 19 counties are still colonized and people are living under colonial rule, not American Democracy. People like Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin are determined to keep areas rich in natural resources colonies.
I'd like to read the couple of books that could emerge jointly from your and Daniel's discussion, Raffey. He doesn't mention here that he grew in western Pennsylvania. I'm an Ohio Valley native, from maybe midway between there and where you are now. So much of today's right-wing politics everywhere is rooted there, yet I still await a satisfactory explanation why. Kern County sounds like the aggressive component of the passive populations that let robber barons exploit natural resources for their exclusive gain—but only after organizing and fighting fiercely ((Mother Jones, Blair Mountain, even Walter Reuther) before giving up, finally I guess to opioids. What gives with all those people?
Daniel, the following might help explain my concerns, and opinions. Please note, this apology was released in 2021, just 2 years ago. The discipline has a lot of catching up to do, before they are ready to measure intelligence.
APA's Apology to Black, Indigenous and People of Color for Its Support of Structural Racism in Psychiatry
January 18, 2021
Today, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the oldest national physician association in the country, is taking an important step in addressing racism in psychiatry. The APA is beginning the process of making amends for both the direct and indirect acts of racism in psychiatry. The APA Board of Trustees (BOT) apologizes to its members, patients, their families, and the public for enabling discriminatory and prejudicial actions within the APA and racist practices in psychiatric treatment for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The APA is committed to identifying, understanding, and rectifying our past injustices, as well as developing anti-racist policies that promote equity in mental health for all.
Early psychiatric practices laid the groundwork for the inequities in clinical treatment that have historically limited quality access to psychiatric care for BIPOC. These actions sadly connect with larger social issues, such as race-based discrimination and racial injustice, that have furthered poverty along with other adverse outcomes. Since the APA's inception, practitioners have at times subjected persons of African descent and Indigenous people who suffered from mental illness to abusive treatment, experimentation, victimization in the name of "scientific evidence," along with racialized theories that attempted to confirm their deficit status. Similar race-based discrepancies in care also exist in medical practice today as evidenced by the variations in schizophrenia diagnosis between white and BIPOC patients, for instance. These appalling past actions, as well as their harmful effects, are ingrained in the structure of psychiatric practice and continue to harm BIPOC psychological well-being even today. Unfortunately, the APA has historically remained silent on these issues. As the leading American organization in psychiatric care, the APA recognizes that this inaction has contributed to perpetuation of structural racism that has adversely impacted not just its own BIPOC members, but also psychiatric patients across America.
Events in 2020 have clearly highlighted the need for action by the APA to reverse the persistent tone of privilege built upon the inhumanity of past events. Inequities in access to quality psychiatric care, research opportunities, education/training, and representation in leadership can no longer be tolerated. The APA apologizes for our contributions to the structural racism in our nation and pledges to enact corresponding anti-racist practices. We commit to working together with members and patients in order to achieve the social equality, health equity, and fairness that all human beings deserve. We hope this apology will be a turning point as we strive to make the future of psychiatry more equitable for all.
Daniel, Colin Kaepernick’s company produced the “Killing County” - the HULU documentary on Kern County. During the BLM protests, three black men were found hanging in Kern County, but we barely heard a word about these three incidents, anywhere, in the media.
Police in Kern County, California, have killed more people per capita than in any other American county.
Kaepernick aimed directly at the source of power in Washington DC and he hit his mark. He is exposing the truth about districts represented by the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Joe Manchin, and Mitch McConnell.
Today, there are 19 prisons in Kern County filled with inmates from the southland, bay area and coastline cities. Together, the police, sheriff, fire and prison guard unions are the most powerful organized force in the entire state of California. “Welcome to kern county, come on vacation, leave on probation” is not a local joke. It is a sad lament and warning, that the people who run Kern County are well armed and shoot on sight. When campaigning, police chiefs publicly brag about their officers shooting someone several dozen times. It is sickening to hear.
Prison guards open carry everywhere in the county, serve on citizen patrols for police and sheriff departments, serve in elected office on school boards, city councils and the county board of supervisors and serve on juries.
Kern County is 8,165 square miles big, and the Mojave Desert covers the eastern half of the county. And it is a vast and lawless place. The Mojave is so big, so sparsely populated and so hard to police, that meth labs, drug cartels, violent white supremacist gangs, anti-government militias, biker gangs, and human traffickers run free. Highways running across the Mojave connect huge population centers – like Los Angeles and Las Vegas. People engaged in illegal activities in the Mojave desert use these highways too.
During world war 2, the government located an internment camp for Japanese Americans in Kern County, California. Manzanar is in the Mojave desert, where the brutal heat and endless desert served as the only choice – stay or die.
Daniel, you are spot on! That borax mine is in the Mojave Desert, in Kern County, California (Kevin McCarthy’s district). It is the largest borax mine in the world and an essential mineral for all kinds of things.
Boron is a dirt poor, tiny town, where the miners and their families live. It is just like the company towns here in coal country, Kentucky, where I now live. I can’t believe this is still legal, but it is, so here were are.
Like Appalachia, Kern County, California, is filthy rich with minerals. Our workers pull trillions of dollars’ worth of oil, silver, gold, borax, gas etc. out of the ground, but the corporations are taxed where they are headquartered – NOT where they get the minerals. As a result, we remain dirt poor while Houston, Delaware and London get the largest share of tax revenue generated by us poor folk.
Our representatives in Congress answer to the corporations – NOT the workers. Republicans preach JOBS, JOBS, JOBS because more work, harder work, more dangerous work is all their donors “allow” them to offer us.
People who say we vote against our own interests are stupid. We, the workers, know exactly how things work. If a corporation is taxed higher, they will pay those taxes, by cutting our wages and our benefits, lay us off, or fire us. Anyone who wants to tax the rich, or corporations is mean and stupid. Unless they fix the tax distribution system first, they will help the already rich and hurt the already poor.
Thanks for the McCarthy "origin story". Helps us understand why such a lightweight ended up second in line to the Presidency. I shivered when I said that...
Your point makes great sense. Much as I disliked them for policy reasons, Eric Kantor and Paul Ryan were not idiots or puppets. Their replacements can’t participate in ideological argument because they are irrational and juvenile.
Terry - you just got into the deep roots, of scandal in Kern County. "Before the Watergate scandal, Teapot Dome was regarded as the "greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics.
In the early 20th century, the U.S. Navy largely obtained fuel oil by converting it from coal. To ensure that the Navy would always have enough fuel available, President Taft designated several oil-producing areas as naval oil-reserves. In 1921, President Harding issued an executive order that transferred control of Teapot Dome Oil Field in Natrona County, Wyoming, and the Elk Hills and Buena Vista Oil Fields in Kern County, California, from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior."
Wikipedia offers the gist of how things went from there.
I too assumed Oklahoma or Texas through probably a dozen viewings. The Kern County context that Raffey introduces here makes the trap Bobby's in all the more poignant.
Young Englishman Raymond Chandler while on a liner to the US befriended a California oil baron (Dabney?) and his family. This family became the wealthy, California Sternwoods in Chandler's hit novel "The Big Sleep."
Yeah, Kern County is loaded with famous stories. In Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, the labor camps were in Kern County. For years, the book was banned in Kern County schools and libraries.
The 1980s Witch Hunts, satanic rituals and pedophile frenzy that swept across the nation, started in Kern County, where 36 innocent people were convicted. Eventually, the children grew up and all of them recanted their testimony and admitted they'd lie. By then, two innocent people had died in prison, and the other 34 were released after serving decades. By then, the insanity had spread - remember the McMartin preschool trials that last ten years and ended with no convictions? The more recent Pizzagate episode is a repeat of the same garbage.
The GOP has a serious case of arrested development. Those like MTG are teenagers dressed as adults. Wa wa wa I never got enough attention. And all the Americans who follow them are feeling the same way. What about me?? What about me?? They are self centered individuals with huge egos and even bigger inferiority complexes.
Overall the Republican Party is a disgrace to this country. They lack civility, grace, compassion and empathy all of which which President Biden exemplifies.
About Miss Taylor (Perry Greene divorced her right after the November elections). She was calling out to her base last week that her congressional salary is way too low. That she (actually her husband Perry Greene) was making lots and lots more money back home. Some big donor heard her cries for help, gave her 8Million for her recent performances in Congress.
Extremism breeds craziness, but it also raises money! Think rooting for 'your team'. They get that feeling that , for them ; Anything goes! They can get away with breaking the rules ; even threatening anyone who is not them! I can't help but wonder where this is heading. Meanwhile : There are all those people in Turkey and Syria killed and injured by the natural disaster that is a big earthquake. Somehow, I just don't feel like watching the Superbowl. We are going to have lunch with our son, who is an hour and twenty minutes down the road. We can take football or leave it.
What I find shocking is that Dr Reich didn't mention professional sports' dark companion, the impending epidemic gambling addiction that >will< result from the legalization of "sports books." I'm not convinced that the sort of balkanization, or tribalism, factionalism. or whatever you wish to call it, hasn't been cultivated by professional sports. Think "soccer hooligans in Congress!"
Indeed!! Therefore let us take our leave to attend the great gladitorial event presented for our enternainment from Corperate America The NFL Superbowl !!!!
I failed to mention that gambling is a "pure addiction." It's a >completely< internal addiction. It requires >nothing<, no external substance or activity to reinforce itself. It's the role model of all addiction. The last I heard, which was long ago, psychologists study gambling addiction to understand what drives all other addictions. (Take that last sentence under advisement. I can't locate a source link to support it.)
I responded that "extremism breeds craziness." What immediately comes to mind is the 1955 flick "Night of the Hunter," which is apparently based on true events:
To claim our current crop are Christian and not Islamic is a distinction without a difference. I'd throw them all in a "ThunderDome" and shoot the "one [who] walks out."
Football and baseball are ruined by the hoopla and focus on talking heads. Soccer remains as a good optic although that too will likely go down the tube.
Frankom ; I agree! Similarly, politics can be ruined by all the hoopla and talking heads too. I recorded what I thought was the SOTU and found that it was all pundits interpreting and analyzing something I had not even seen yet, and don't forget the pageantry and who's who of the ' 'court of king correcticus' ' who 'just walked by'. Think the owners of media want to sway your thinking? So I went on You Tube and watched it. Much better! BIDEN ROCKED IT! In your face : Republican MAGAts!
Playing to their base....they love their social media. In their minds, acting up gets votes.
They should know better.....and would if they hadn't sat in the back of the class and not done their homework. As Tip O'Neil and T Boone Pickens (and others) have said, "The higher the monkey climbs the tree the more people can see its ass. Or as was said in the 16th century "He doth like the ape that the higher he clymbes, the more he shews his ars."
Extremism breeds insanity. And uncouthness. President Biden rose above it all and outshone every single one of the GOP including the bored-looking guy seated behind him.
Instead of buying chocolates and flowers for my mom this Valentine’s I am sending Médecins Sans Frontières a check to aid in Syria and Turkey on her behalf. She will appreciate it much more.
Thanks for the entertaining wake-up, Professor and Heather. I like your take on football and how rivalries are so much better and healthier in sporting events than the rifts we have between our own families and friends over politics. Enjoy the game, and that seven-layer dip! A.🌻
They are extreme but they all love trump and use him as their example. They are not conservatives but flame throwers trying to own the libs. They have no political philosophy other than a destructive desire
1. Gerrymandering has left so many Republicans in safe districts.
2. In our modern political sphere, donations are driven by social media.
3. Conflict is click-bait, allowing the unalloyed crazy to come out.
Ergo, a crazy GOP.
Now (see the new "Weaponization of the Federal Gubmint" House subcommittee) the Republicans are engaged in axe-throwing while the Democrats are left being axe-catchers.
I hate football because it causes too much cerebral damage. However, my undearly departed loved the sport. He would scream: kill em, smash em and had wonderful cathartic time.
Great Kaffeeklatsch with my green matcha tea!! 😜 I don't know about Heather's axe throwing to release frustration; personally I prefer to beat up my sourdough 🤣. Great exercise and -Frust-Release with an "oh so satisfying" crunchy crust as a result. And it's healthy if you add enough whole grain!! Happy weekend!
The recent SOTU address was one of the very few times where the crudeness of MAGA was exposed as the loser card. The over-confident blowhards usually don't win when civil discourse rules. The sad reality is that TFG nd MTG are blowhards and can appear to be winning and thus get votes.
Finally, Biden trapped and embarrassed them publicly which is more than Hillary or any prominent Dem has done since 2015.
I think as long as these Republicans support and implement policies their monied doners want--tax cuts, no IRS enforcement of rich tax cheats, no social policies that help promote the less fortunate, promote ‘culture’ wars that divide and misdirect--they could not care less how these folks conduct themselves.
Welcome, Rishi! Agreed! Have you tried organic mushroom coffee, or Willie Nelson's CBD coffee, Willie's Remedy? Now that's "the Breakfast of Champions!" I highly recommend it with a French Press. :-p
I see working class people feeling angry that they have been cheated, left out, and that anger was adopted by Donald Trump, who seemed wonderfully free and unafraid to them , when he said he was going to "drain the swamp." Some of my Northern Vermont Trumpster neighbors used to be Bernie supporters. He, Bernie, takes that anger and analyzes how to equalize the unjust gap between wealthy investor/ worker who actually does the work building upon our country mostly built by enslaved people. Taxing the rich and raising corporate taxes, plus giving everyone healthcare, higher education without loans, fewer destructive, expensive wars, hopefully programs that you don't have to apply for by proving how poor you are. (see Thaddeus Stevens, champion of free education)To some of those less priveledged people we Democrats are like schoolteachers, and not saying what we think about issues. Not true of Bernie Sanders and i commend Joe BIden for being open to Bernie's progressive ideas. I cant stand Biden's "Leader of the free world talk" though.
All of the reasons, and another is what I hate to admit, Donald Trump has a kind of charisma !! toxic as it may be and a classy looking wife. Excuse me while I go vomit..
This may just sound like an old codger yelling at kids to get off his lawn, but...one of my complaints about our current era is the infantilism that has taken over every facet of society. We live in an age of immediate gratification and exhibitionism. Poetry and music have been usurped by "performative expression". I could go on. Mitt Romney and Joe Biden are the faces of earlier days, when congressional members acted with gravitas, and acknowledged their responsibilities with solemnity and a sense of duty. The unhinged behavior of Republicans is a part of the Kardashian Era, perfectly epitomized by Donald J. Trump, the egotistical boy-child.
I agree. Marjorie Taylor Greene et al are exactly that, and for her performance Greene was immediately remunerated $8 million from donors. I know I sound like the broken record, but her target audience has a racist collective subconscious.
IMHO Greene, Bobert, Gaetz are familiar archetypal villains. This is not a recent phenomenon. You're right about Trump, but we've seen this before. Huey P. Long, Father Coughlin, Gerald L.K. Smith. These were American would be demagogues. The "villain" archetype is a character who displays characteristics of pure evil.
From Wikipedia:: Greene has promoted antisemitic, white supremacist, and far-right conspiracy theories, including the white genocide conspiracy theory, QAnon, and Pizzagate. Other extremist conspiracy theories she has promoted include government involvement in mass shootings in the United States, murders perpetrated by the Clinton family (Clinton body count), and 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Before running for Congress, she supported calls to execute prominent Democratic Party politicians, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
As a congresswoman, she equated the Democratic Party with Nazis, and compared COVID-19 safety measures to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, later apologizing for this comparison. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Greene promoted Russian propaganda and praised Vladimir Putin. Greene identifies as a Christian nationalist.
See Ronald K. Richardson. The White Supremacist Collective Subconscious https://www.bu.edu/history/files/2021/01/The-White-Supremacist-Collective-Unconscious-1-13-212.pdf
Thanks so much for this Daniel. Greene made $8 million from donors from her obnoxious behavior at the State of the Union!!!??? That's deeply shocking and disturbing.
She committed contempt and should be fined.
Rule 4 - Powers and Duties of the Speaker
The speaker shall have the following powers and duties:
(B) The speaker shall preserve order and decorum, and in case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct within the chamber or legislative area, shall order the sergeant at arms to suppress the same and may order the sergeant at arms to remove any person creating any disturbance within the house chamber or legislative area.
Democrats should make a motion -- see whether any Republicans were offended.
MTG "fined"? Read Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. MTG & crew should not even BE there! Yet these days it seems no one is willing to enforce laws, policies, etc. upon those above a certain level of wealth, power, or privilege.
I respectfully disagree, Bill. Enforcement of the laws is done through the courts. Article 14, section 3 does not automatically bar anyone whom you or I might believe to have engaged in insurrection or rebellion. Each case must be individually litigated.
To date, there has been only one such case at the federal level, Cawthorne v. Amalfi. Cawthorne was a member of Congress and his candidacy for re-election was challenged based on Article 14, section 3, in January, 2022.
On May 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the 1872 Amnesty Act lifted the ban on Members of Congress. Near the end of the court's 73 page decision, they stated:
"The only actor in our American constitutional system that can judge the qualifications of members of the House of Representatives is the House of Representatives itself. That restriction restrains the jurisdiction of federal courts—the very power of the courts to consider the question. The judging of congressional qualifications—or the qualification of candidates—is a political question committed exclusively to each House of Congress. This court cannot do it. The district court cannot do it. Only the appropriate House of Congress can."
The decision was not appealed. So it now stands until anyone again challenges a Member's qualification to serve in Congress based on Section 3.
Let me add that despite the strains put upon our institutions during the Trump presidency, and especially January 6, 2021, those institutions have in fact endured. And while they are obviously in need of reform, I think that we need to guard against cynicism. When the left joins the chorus that we are powerless in the face of big money, big media, big tech, etc., we essentially surrender what power we have.
Nothing happens by itself. Dr. King's arc of the moral universe bends towards justice only when people use their hands and minds to bend it.
Thanks Jerry, I only have a layman's understanding of these matters - I appreciate the extra context. Your final paragraph highlights our challenge. Yet who or how is it to be done?
I agree.
Rule 4 designates the Speaker as the one to enforce order and decorum. In this case, that would require the servant to reprimand his master -- thus unlikely to happen.
.
We live in a democracy. Members can make a motion.
If you read what I have been saying the gesture is enough and if there is a roll call members will be accountable at home.
Excuse me, Daniel, for not reading everything you write. You may be retired, I am not. Lighten up, man. It was just meant to evoke a smile.
But as to the substance, I don't believe that any member can make any motion at any time, and that all business would then halt so the motion can be considered. It would be ruled out of order, and that would be the end of it.
A rule that has ceased to be enforced.
I would love to be able to get the money out of politics.
So anyone know the identity of the largest donors to MTG?
Either the surviving Koch ancient baby or the Grand Wizard of the KKK?
Right on, Daniel! Your description as as archetypal villains is spot on, I can envision them twirling their waxed mustaches as in the old silent movies! Ha Ha
This old codger thinks you are on to something. Good assessment.
Kerry; Do you remember Mitt Romney in the infamous 47 % video? It was recorded surreptitiously by a lowly young bartender at a posh fundraiser. There may be a style difference in performance today, but pure evil speaks for itself. The film may be called the 47 percent tape. Different era, same corruption, greed and racism/sexism : this time, against young Asian women working for their dowries, in preparation for marriage. 100 of them, living in ten rooms ( ten to a room, and all sharing one bathroom down the hall. Working " for a pittance", as Romney enthused. Exploitation at its finest.
There have always been the sponsors of privilege and the malefactors in Congress, although Mitt is far from being the worst of them. In the past, they certainly behaved with decorum and maturity despite their unpalatable agenda.
Kerry ; If you even heard the audio, I'm sure you would not shrug it off. The workplace was on an island off China, I believe, Romney joked that the barbed wire surrounding the place to keep people from coming in, the job was so desirable to 'them' When an observer asked why the women did not even look up when visitors passed by their work stations, a man holding a gun said they were trained to 'attend to their work'. Yes ; An 'unpalatable agenda'. Especially to those women, no doubt. Far from 'the worst' but still awful, unethical, and lacking decency and empathy. How often have we had to 'settle' for 'the least worst' in a candidate?
I guess I need to hear it. I mean, I'm no Romney apologist, and I certainly think anybody who ties a dog to a roof rack ought to be drawn and quartered. But I also remember Romney as the guy who actually gave birth to what was later called Obamacare. And the impeachment conviction vote. He's a mixed bag.
Kerry : Understandable ; As a resident of MA , we had him as Governor, and when my mother said she voted for him, I asked her why. She said he had supported a bill that allowed elders to stay in their home and get assistance from home health care aides. That made sense to me. Romney is clever enough to know how to look good. Ironically, my feisty mom developed Alzheimers and when the nice lady came to help, she said " No! I can bathe myself! And don't you dare mess with my meds! Funny! Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans!
Laurie, can you provide a link to the video?
mth ; I googled it as Mitt Romney 47% tape/video and Mother Jones link popped up. It was 2012. I am not able to figure out how to get the link to share here. There are several sites featuring it though, where I found it.
Absolutely. Rage of the petulant is a step in revolution. We The People must be degraded into a mob before the revolution can progress. Immaturity isn’t a coincidence. It’s essential to degrade individual freedoms in a cult. Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island has a warning moral-who’s paying for all the fun? It describes the two phases of revolution well. After !smash it up! Comes the unexpected horror.
Steve O 'Cally ; At the very least is the illness the juvenile experiences living on 🍬 candy exclusively.
Life isn't fair. Most Phds in Music need transferrable skills to make a living. Luck rather than supply and demand..... Real money is in bartending....
In academics no demand. Over supply.
On the other hand, shouldn't cost much to have your stuff performed and memorialized on Youtube.
I will use my own congressional district to illustrate what I think happened to the Republicans in Congress.
For 28 years, Bill Thomas was our congressman (1979 – 2007). From 1987 to 2002, Kevin McCarthy served on the staff of Congressman Bill Thomas. When Washingtonian magazine polled congressional aides on the "best and worst" of Congress, Bill Thomas was voted #2 for "brainiest", #3 for "workhorse", and #1 for "meanest" and overwhelmingly for "hottest temper" in the House.
Bill Tomas stayed in office for 28 years, because he answered to oil, ag, mining, the real estate/development industry and the military industry (China Lake, Edwards Air Force Base, Lockheed, and Northrop).
Thomas had been in office 23 years, when a Congressional Research Service study, reported that his region was worse off than Appalachia in so many socio-economic indicators, they suggested congress consider intervening in the region. The CRS was correct. That is the reason, that our region is often referred to as colonized, apartheid or Third World.
The income gap in our district is gigantic. Mining, oil, and agriculture is back-breaking, dangerous work, for very low pay, often seasonal. We are home to the United Farmworker’s Union (Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta) who represent some of the most exploited and lowest paid workers in the nation.
During Thomas’s time in office, the Republicans in our district built two, competing, political machines. However, both the Abernathy and the Bill Thomas machines were competing for BIG dollars from BIG corporations – NOT the votes of the underserved populations in our region.
Thomas had gained way too much power to simply retire. Thomas was known for studying testimony and research reports himself instead of relying on executive summaries from his aides. Kevin McCarthy was very well known as a puppet. His former teachers and professors say McCarthy was not a bright student (and that’s putting it nicely).
Thomas trusted McCarthy would do what he was told and when he retired, he backed McCarthy.
In a nutshell. 3 bad things happened to the Republican Party at the same time.
(1) Old Republican powerbrokers, like Bill Thomas and Mitch McConnell clung to power.
(2) Conservative Billionaire’s Think Tanks assumed the responsibility for legislation. In turn the Republican Party leadership backed puppets– not thinkers, statesmen, or brilliant politicians.
(3) The Republican base tried to get rid of the old powerbrokers with primary challenges. Conservative Billionaires squashed the uprising, by making the Tea Party dependent on them for funding.
When the conservative’s whole, stupid strategy finally backfired, it got Trump elected. Trump’s base is largely the Tea Party types who tried to clean the Republican house and failed. To keep these voters, Republicans have to make them hate and fear Democrats so much, they won't change party.
Turns out, billionaires can’t sit in Ivory Towers, and run a country with puppets. The Republican Party has no viable candidates because they did not develop them. They backed puppets, idiots, and yes-men (not leaders, skilled politicians. or legislators). What’s left of brains and thinkers in the Republican Party, do NOT have the personality, speaking skills, and appeal necessary to win elections.
The Democrats, and all of us, need to learn how to cope with idiots, because they are here to stay for a very long time.
All politics is local. Boron Mule Team Borax, the sponsor of Ronald Reagan is also a denizen of Kern County.
HULU is running a documentary produced by Midas Touch that hists hard at Bakersfield and by necessary implication people like Thomas and McCarthy. "Killing County is a 3-part Hulu docuseries about the Jorge Ramirez, Jr. case, which brought out a history of rampant corruption in both the Bakersfield, CA police department and the Kern County Sheriff’s department. It not only examines the Ramirez case, but other cases that show both law enforcement organizations using excessive force then sweeping the investigations under the rug." Cops SELLING drugs.
When I was holding hearings, Kern County had the lowest average per capita IQ in the US. .I'm sure that SSA statistics will confirm the high number of awards for low intellectual capacity. I also credit the Bakersfield culture for local politics, Buck, Buddy, Merle, etc. Merle had an epiphany and by the time of his demise renounced the red neck anthem Okie From Muskogee. https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/2008/10/merle_haggard_is_changing_his.html
It used to be that cattle far outnumbered the human population but that ended long ago. By now, one would expect that the immigrant farm workers would far outnumber the Okies and Arkies and that they can be registered to vote. Even Okies and Arkies need government benefits. I note that there is no love among the various and several ethnic groups, but all of them should be motivated to vote for the party of "givers." . .
Daniel, you were doing so well, and then you went all eugenics. Eugenics is not science and has been totally and completely discredited and disavowed by the scientific community.
Those frigging IQ tests were intentionally created by eugenicists to make darned sure that the people they deemed “unfit” would fail them. To be clear about this. Eugenicists intentionally and deliberately designed IQ tests to weed out people who were NOT raised in White Anglo Saxon Protestant, middle, or upper class, American communities.
Using eugenics tools to measure our intellectual capacity is pure, raw racism. It may feel right to you, but it is deeply insulting to me.
Kern County has a huge multi-lingual population. We speak more languages and more dialects in Kern County, than most anywhere else in the country. We have doctors, scientists, researchers, etc. who were educated in their homelands. For example, my 162 IQ, my degrees, and my math and engineering skills are worthless in a place as corrupt as Kern County.
Republicans work their tails to stop immigration policies that would allow legally documented immigrants to vote. Immigrants pay social security, unemployment insurance, etc. but they cannot use those benefits – ever. We’ve been fighting this issue for decades.
We get nowhere because most Americans have no idea how the taxation system works. They don’t know how local government, state government, the federal government and various social programs are funded. Most American are so ignorant, they actually think the taxes they pay take care of every public service they use. That level of ignorance is a national problem, not an isolated one.
That’s the end of my comment. Thanks for hearing me out.
Totally agree. Thank you. I argue against IQ tests every chance I get. Some extremely intelligent problem-solving creative folk can be basically illiterate. Or if not, might actually flunk said tests for a multitude of reasons. But IQ tests are a class-entrenched method of weeding out "the other". Eugenics made manifest.
dnkarr, you are one of the few who even know what eugenics means. "Eugenics made manifest" is exactly right. Thank you for speaking up.
It may be racism, but we paid them.
H. How do we [SSA] document and evaluate intellectual disorder under 112.05?
General. Listing 112.05 is based on the two elements that characterize intellectual disorder for children up to age 18: significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning and significant deficits in current adaptive functioning.
Establishing significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning.
Definition. Intellectual functioning refers to the general mental capacity to learn, reason, plan, solve problems, and perform other cognitive functions. Under 112.05A, we identify significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning by the cognitive inability to function at a level required to participate in standardized intelligence testing. Our findings under 112.05A are based on evidence from an acceptable medical source. Under 112.05B, we identify significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning by an IQ score(s) on an individually administered standardized test of general intelligence that meets program requirements and has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. A qualified specialist (see 112.00H2c) must administer the standardized intelligence testing.
Psychometric standards. We will find standardized intelligence test results usable for the purposes of 112.05B1 when the measure employed meets contemporary psychometric standards for validity, reliability, normative data, and scope of measurement; and a qualified specialist has individually administered the test according to all pre-requisite testing conditions.
Daniel, you lost me. What do you mean "we" paid them? Who is "we"
I pointed out that there are culture patterns that do not necessarily blend. In fact, there is a redneck culture that emanates from Bakersfield via Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and many other entertainers that started there. At one time they praised violence against say, Vietnam War protestors, and extended to liberals.
I hear people talkin' bad about the way we have to live here in this country
Harpin' on the wars we fight, an' gripin' 'bout the way things oughta be
An' I don't mind 'em switchin' sides, an' standin' up for things they believe in
When they're runnin' down my country, man
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Runnin' down a way of life our fightin' men have fought and died to keep
If you don't love it, leave it
Let this song I'm singin' be a warnin'
When you're runnin' down my country, man
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Merle Haggard
Daniel, okay, you were referring to the culture. However, what you call the "redneck" culture emerged in response to the existing culture that the Dust Bowl refugees found when they arrived in Kern County and were treated so brutally and unfairly. Don't forget, that John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was set in the migrant labour camps located in Arvin and Delano, in Kern County. Today, big ag/big growers in the region, still treat farmworkers the same way - and their living conditions are awful.
Kern County was built on resource extraction and cheap labour which is also known as colonialism. That's what those Bakersfield musicians were singing about. Those guys hated "colonialism". Maybe you have to live and work in one of these regions to really get it. Maybe its not something you can tell someone and be believed. Nonetheless, I am giving you first hand experience, and an eyewitness account of life inside these areas of the country. Life in a colony is hell.
While most of our country is free and Democracy is working, colonialism permeates all 19 counties in California's Central Valley. I mean that literally - 19 counties are still colonized and people are living under colonial rule, not American Democracy. People like Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin are determined to keep areas rich in natural resources colonies.
Your turn.
I'd like to read the couple of books that could emerge jointly from your and Daniel's discussion, Raffey. He doesn't mention here that he grew in western Pennsylvania. I'm an Ohio Valley native, from maybe midway between there and where you are now. So much of today's right-wing politics everywhere is rooted there, yet I still await a satisfactory explanation why. Kern County sounds like the aggressive component of the passive populations that let robber barons exploit natural resources for their exclusive gain—but only after organizing and fighting fiercely ((Mother Jones, Blair Mountain, even Walter Reuther) before giving up, finally I guess to opioids. What gives with all those people?
Daniel, the following might help explain my concerns, and opinions. Please note, this apology was released in 2021, just 2 years ago. The discipline has a lot of catching up to do, before they are ready to measure intelligence.
APA's Apology to Black, Indigenous and People of Color for Its Support of Structural Racism in Psychiatry
January 18, 2021
Today, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the oldest national physician association in the country, is taking an important step in addressing racism in psychiatry. The APA is beginning the process of making amends for both the direct and indirect acts of racism in psychiatry. The APA Board of Trustees (BOT) apologizes to its members, patients, their families, and the public for enabling discriminatory and prejudicial actions within the APA and racist practices in psychiatric treatment for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The APA is committed to identifying, understanding, and rectifying our past injustices, as well as developing anti-racist policies that promote equity in mental health for all.
Early psychiatric practices laid the groundwork for the inequities in clinical treatment that have historically limited quality access to psychiatric care for BIPOC. These actions sadly connect with larger social issues, such as race-based discrimination and racial injustice, that have furthered poverty along with other adverse outcomes. Since the APA's inception, practitioners have at times subjected persons of African descent and Indigenous people who suffered from mental illness to abusive treatment, experimentation, victimization in the name of "scientific evidence," along with racialized theories that attempted to confirm their deficit status. Similar race-based discrepancies in care also exist in medical practice today as evidenced by the variations in schizophrenia diagnosis between white and BIPOC patients, for instance. These appalling past actions, as well as their harmful effects, are ingrained in the structure of psychiatric practice and continue to harm BIPOC psychological well-being even today. Unfortunately, the APA has historically remained silent on these issues. As the leading American organization in psychiatric care, the APA recognizes that this inaction has contributed to perpetuation of structural racism that has adversely impacted not just its own BIPOC members, but also psychiatric patients across America.
Events in 2020 have clearly highlighted the need for action by the APA to reverse the persistent tone of privilege built upon the inhumanity of past events. Inequities in access to quality psychiatric care, research opportunities, education/training, and representation in leadership can no longer be tolerated. The APA apologizes for our contributions to the structural racism in our nation and pledges to enact corresponding anti-racist practices. We commit to working together with members and patients in order to achieve the social equality, health equity, and fairness that all human beings deserve. We hope this apology will be a turning point as we strive to make the future of psychiatry more equitable for all.
Daniel, Colin Kaepernick’s company produced the “Killing County” - the HULU documentary on Kern County. During the BLM protests, three black men were found hanging in Kern County, but we barely heard a word about these three incidents, anywhere, in the media.
Police in Kern County, California, have killed more people per capita than in any other American county.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/01/the-county-kern-county-deadliest-police-killings
Kaepernick aimed directly at the source of power in Washington DC and he hit his mark. He is exposing the truth about districts represented by the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Joe Manchin, and Mitch McConnell.
Today, there are 19 prisons in Kern County filled with inmates from the southland, bay area and coastline cities. Together, the police, sheriff, fire and prison guard unions are the most powerful organized force in the entire state of California. “Welcome to kern county, come on vacation, leave on probation” is not a local joke. It is a sad lament and warning, that the people who run Kern County are well armed and shoot on sight. When campaigning, police chiefs publicly brag about their officers shooting someone several dozen times. It is sickening to hear.
Prison guards open carry everywhere in the county, serve on citizen patrols for police and sheriff departments, serve in elected office on school boards, city councils and the county board of supervisors and serve on juries.
Kern County is 8,165 square miles big, and the Mojave Desert covers the eastern half of the county. And it is a vast and lawless place. The Mojave is so big, so sparsely populated and so hard to police, that meth labs, drug cartels, violent white supremacist gangs, anti-government militias, biker gangs, and human traffickers run free. Highways running across the Mojave connect huge population centers – like Los Angeles and Las Vegas. People engaged in illegal activities in the Mojave desert use these highways too.
During world war 2, the government located an internment camp for Japanese Americans in Kern County, California. Manzanar is in the Mojave desert, where the brutal heat and endless desert served as the only choice – stay or die.
Stay tuned for part 3
Daniel, you are spot on! That borax mine is in the Mojave Desert, in Kern County, California (Kevin McCarthy’s district). It is the largest borax mine in the world and an essential mineral for all kinds of things.
Boron is a dirt poor, tiny town, where the miners and their families live. It is just like the company towns here in coal country, Kentucky, where I now live. I can’t believe this is still legal, but it is, so here were are.
Like Appalachia, Kern County, California, is filthy rich with minerals. Our workers pull trillions of dollars’ worth of oil, silver, gold, borax, gas etc. out of the ground, but the corporations are taxed where they are headquartered – NOT where they get the minerals. As a result, we remain dirt poor while Houston, Delaware and London get the largest share of tax revenue generated by us poor folk.
Our representatives in Congress answer to the corporations – NOT the workers. Republicans preach JOBS, JOBS, JOBS because more work, harder work, more dangerous work is all their donors “allow” them to offer us.
People who say we vote against our own interests are stupid. We, the workers, know exactly how things work. If a corporation is taxed higher, they will pay those taxes, by cutting our wages and our benefits, lay us off, or fire us. Anyone who wants to tax the rich, or corporations is mean and stupid. Unless they fix the tax distribution system first, they will help the already rich and hurt the already poor.
Stay tuned for part 2
I’ll change your flat tire, Merle.
The fighting Side of Me. Here's the rejoinder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDD-OJ01PyE
Thanks for the McCarthy "origin story". Helps us understand why such a lightweight ended up second in line to the Presidency. I shivered when I said that...
Perhaps unsurprisingly, McCarthy's district also has one of the highest crime rates in California.
Carolyn, you might be interested in my 3 replies to Daniel above here.
Your point makes great sense. Much as I disliked them for policy reasons, Eric Kantor and Paul Ryan were not idiots or puppets. Their replacements can’t participate in ideological argument because they are irrational and juvenile.
What a fascinating backgrounder—thank you, Raffey!
difny - Daniels' comments sparked me to add more in depth background. If you are interested, all 3 are above, under my replies to Daniel.
Wasn't 5 Easy Pieces supposed to have taken place there?
Jack works on an oil rig in California. I was surprised when I learned it was California, not Oklahoma or Texas.
The actual oil rig scene(s) were shot in Taft, California Some exterior shots in Bakersfield. So far removed from LA or SF.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065724/locations
Terry - you just got into the deep roots, of scandal in Kern County. "Before the Watergate scandal, Teapot Dome was regarded as the "greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics.
In the early 20th century, the U.S. Navy largely obtained fuel oil by converting it from coal. To ensure that the Navy would always have enough fuel available, President Taft designated several oil-producing areas as naval oil-reserves. In 1921, President Harding issued an executive order that transferred control of Teapot Dome Oil Field in Natrona County, Wyoming, and the Elk Hills and Buena Vista Oil Fields in Kern County, California, from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior."
Wikipedia offers the gist of how things went from there.
I too assumed Oklahoma or Texas through probably a dozen viewings. The Kern County context that Raffey introduces here makes the trap Bobby's in all the more poignant.
Cyrano, Kern County is around the 3rd largest oil producing county in the country.
Young Englishman Raymond Chandler while on a liner to the US befriended a California oil baron (Dabney?) and his family. This family became the wealthy, California Sternwoods in Chandler's hit novel "The Big Sleep."
Yeah, Kern County is loaded with famous stories. In Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, the labor camps were in Kern County. For years, the book was banned in Kern County schools and libraries.
The 1980s Witch Hunts, satanic rituals and pedophile frenzy that swept across the nation, started in Kern County, where 36 innocent people were convicted. Eventually, the children grew up and all of them recanted their testimony and admitted they'd lie. By then, two innocent people had died in prison, and the other 34 were released after serving decades. By then, the insanity had spread - remember the McMartin preschool trials that last ten years and ended with no convictions? The more recent Pizzagate episode is a repeat of the same garbage.
WSJ writer Dorothy Rabinowitz played a huge role in exposing those lethally destructive cult accusations.
Terry, There Will Be Blood was based on Kern County history.
Based on the Upton Sinclair novel "Oil!" Great title.
The GOP has a serious case of arrested development. Those like MTG are teenagers dressed as adults. Wa wa wa I never got enough attention. And all the Americans who follow them are feeling the same way. What about me?? What about me?? They are self centered individuals with huge egos and even bigger inferiority complexes.
Overall the Republican Party is a disgrace to this country. They lack civility, grace, compassion and empathy all of which which President Biden exemplifies.
It’s just sickening!!!
About Miss Taylor (Perry Greene divorced her right after the November elections). She was calling out to her base last week that her congressional salary is way too low. That she (actually her husband Perry Greene) was making lots and lots more money back home. Some big donor heard her cries for help, gave her 8Million for her recent performances in Congress.
Joan, 🎯
Extremism breeds craziness, but it also raises money! Think rooting for 'your team'. They get that feeling that , for them ; Anything goes! They can get away with breaking the rules ; even threatening anyone who is not them! I can't help but wonder where this is heading. Meanwhile : There are all those people in Turkey and Syria killed and injured by the natural disaster that is a big earthquake. Somehow, I just don't feel like watching the Superbowl. We are going to have lunch with our son, who is an hour and twenty minutes down the road. We can take football or leave it.
What I find shocking is that Dr Reich didn't mention professional sports' dark companion, the impending epidemic gambling addiction that >will< result from the legalization of "sports books." I'm not convinced that the sort of balkanization, or tribalism, factionalism. or whatever you wish to call it, hasn't been cultivated by professional sports. Think "soccer hooligans in Congress!"
It's nothing new. There were rabidly contentious political "factions" in ancient Rome revolving around chariot racing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot_racing , who became involved in every aspect of Roman life and politics. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/blue-versus-green-rocking-the-byzantine-empire-113325928/
Indeed!! Therefore let us take our leave to attend the great gladitorial event presented for our enternainment from Corperate America The NFL Superbowl !!!!
Exactly! How much ya' gon'na bet ‽
I failed to mention that gambling is a "pure addiction." It's a >completely< internal addiction. It requires >nothing<, no external substance or activity to reinforce itself. It's the role model of all addiction. The last I heard, which was long ago, psychologists study gambling addiction to understand what drives all other addictions. (Take that last sentence under advisement. I can't locate a source link to support it.)
I responded that "extremism breeds craziness." What immediately comes to mind is the 1955 flick "Night of the Hunter," which is apparently based on true events:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_of_the_Hunter_(film)
For youngsters here who haven't seen it:
https://www.amazon.com/Night-Hunter-Robert-Mitchum/dp/B01I0LLIRY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LLAQOE8IBHV4&keywords=night+of+the+hunter&qid=1676118827&s=instant-video&sprefix=night+of+the+hunter%2Cinstant-video%2C93&sr=1-1
To claim our current crop are Christian and not Islamic is a distinction without a difference. I'd throw them all in a "ThunderDome" and shoot the "one [who] walks out."
DZK ; That's cold! You are baddass!
LOL!
Now, if only Jack Smith could deliver !
https://youtu.be/QQXzvcYqd3c
thank you for that link, DZK.
Thanks for this DZK! I saw part of it on Lawrence O'Donnell, but liked the complete story.
🎯
I’m with you all the way Laurie!
Football and baseball are ruined by the hoopla and focus on talking heads. Soccer remains as a good optic although that too will likely go down the tube.
Frankom ; I agree! Similarly, politics can be ruined by all the hoopla and talking heads too. I recorded what I thought was the SOTU and found that it was all pundits interpreting and analyzing something I had not even seen yet, and don't forget the pageantry and who's who of the ' 'court of king correcticus' ' who 'just walked by'. Think the owners of media want to sway your thinking? So I went on You Tube and watched it. Much better! BIDEN ROCKED IT! In your face : Republican MAGAts!
Playing to their base....they love their social media. In their minds, acting up gets votes.
They should know better.....and would if they hadn't sat in the back of the class and not done their homework. As Tip O'Neil and T Boone Pickens (and others) have said, "The higher the monkey climbs the tree the more people can see its ass. Or as was said in the 16th century "He doth like the ape that the higher he clymbes, the more he shews his ars."
Winner comment of the day!! 😄😂👍🏼
Extremism breeds insanity. And uncouthness. President Biden rose above it all and outshone every single one of the GOP including the bored-looking guy seated behind him.
Instead of buying chocolates and flowers for my mom this Valentine’s I am sending Médecins Sans Frontières a check to aid in Syria and Turkey on her behalf. She will appreciate it much more.
Thanks for the entertaining wake-up, Professor and Heather. I like your take on football and how rivalries are so much better and healthier in sporting events than the rifts we have between our own families and friends over politics. Enjoy the game, and that seven-layer dip! A.🌻
They are extreme but they all love trump and use him as their example. They are not conservatives but flame throwers trying to own the libs. They have no political philosophy other than a destructive desire
1. Gerrymandering has left so many Republicans in safe districts.
2. In our modern political sphere, donations are driven by social media.
3. Conflict is click-bait, allowing the unalloyed crazy to come out.
Ergo, a crazy GOP.
Now (see the new "Weaponization of the Federal Gubmint" House subcommittee) the Republicans are engaged in axe-throwing while the Democrats are left being axe-catchers.
Watch witnesses humiliated on cross examination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3W8Nj9PfyQ
Another klatch when I am actually having my coffee while I listen! Thank you, Heather and Robert!
I hate football because it causes too much cerebral damage. However, my undearly departed loved the sport. He would scream: kill em, smash em and had wonderful cathartic time.
Yup, our gladiator sport.
Great Kaffeeklatsch with my green matcha tea!! 😜 I don't know about Heather's axe throwing to release frustration; personally I prefer to beat up my sourdough 🤣. Great exercise and -Frust-Release with an "oh so satisfying" crunchy crust as a result. And it's healthy if you add enough whole grain!! Happy weekend!
The media is complicit. They give the megaphone to the outrageous; not the quietly devoted.
The recent SOTU address was one of the very few times where the crudeness of MAGA was exposed as the loser card. The over-confident blowhards usually don't win when civil discourse rules. The sad reality is that TFG nd MTG are blowhards and can appear to be winning and thus get votes.
Finally, Biden trapped and embarrassed them publicly which is more than Hillary or any prominent Dem has done since 2015.
I think as long as these Republicans support and implement policies their monied doners want--tax cuts, no IRS enforcement of rich tax cheats, no social policies that help promote the less fortunate, promote ‘culture’ wars that divide and misdirect--they could not care less how these folks conduct themselves.
First post - so just going to suggest cold brew coffee with oat milk...
Welcome, Rishi! Agreed! Have you tried organic mushroom coffee, or Willie Nelson's CBD coffee, Willie's Remedy? Now that's "the Breakfast of Champions!" I highly recommend it with a French Press. :-p
A higher priority is probably a transcript of the coffee chats - but the suggestion is noted (here's to anticipating an early chance to indulge)...
= )
I see working class people feeling angry that they have been cheated, left out, and that anger was adopted by Donald Trump, who seemed wonderfully free and unafraid to them , when he said he was going to "drain the swamp." Some of my Northern Vermont Trumpster neighbors used to be Bernie supporters. He, Bernie, takes that anger and analyzes how to equalize the unjust gap between wealthy investor/ worker who actually does the work building upon our country mostly built by enslaved people. Taxing the rich and raising corporate taxes, plus giving everyone healthcare, higher education without loans, fewer destructive, expensive wars, hopefully programs that you don't have to apply for by proving how poor you are. (see Thaddeus Stevens, champion of free education)To some of those less priveledged people we Democrats are like schoolteachers, and not saying what we think about issues. Not true of Bernie Sanders and i commend Joe BIden for being open to Bernie's progressive ideas. I cant stand Biden's "Leader of the free world talk" though.
I forgot to mention Elizabeth Warren and her brilliance especially about college loan forgiveness.
All of the reasons, and another is what I hate to admit, Donald Trump has a kind of charisma !! toxic as it may be and a classy looking wife. Excuse me while I go vomit..