HOW? HOW? HOW? How do we fight back against all of this? I refuse to donate any more money!! I get these e-mails and texts telling me if I donate just $5 or $10, the orange man can be stopped or the muskrat will be sent packing! All it will take is my donation! Those types of demands and pleas don't mean anything to me now! I donated and donated to Vice-President Harris's campaign, I donated to abolish the electoral college, I donated to ensure the supreme court justices would be held accountable.........NOTHING! I cannot find anywhere specifically what I can do to stop all of this from happening! I feel helpless because these wealthy people and mega corporations are simply taking over! No accountability for them! No one seems to be doing anything. Jack Smith tried to. All of those attorneys tried to hold the orange man accountable but he just skates away! Because they have so much money, they buy their way out of everything!! It is sickening! We KNOW what they are doing! We KNOW what will be happening on J20! This is unbelievable! No one seems to care! I am tired! I have been insulted and ridiculed! Since when did having morals, insisting on truth, having compassion and empathy for those less fortunate, helping one another and working for the common good become "bad things"? It is as if America suddenly did a complete flip! Honesty and decency are now bad while lies, deceit, hate and retribution are what everyone seems to be striving for!! I can understand why so many have become cynical. I can see a lot of people changing from happy to angry almost overnight! It's all just extremely sad.
On January 20th Presidents Trump and Musk will have complete control of the United States, Congress, the Executive, the Judicial and even the cowardly 4th Estate. They will do what they want to do, aided and abetted by their cabinet choices,, and the 50,000 or so civil servants that hired from among the MAGAt applicants, to replace those that Trump fired with his Schedule F executive order, which he will revive.
I see too many parallels with 1933, too many for my comfort, and I am more than concerned I am worried. I don;t see anything riding to the rescue either. Not the compromised and complicit Democratic party apparatchiks. They are not about to change, too many professionals with too much investment in the status quo, and if they did it is probably too late.
With a compliant Congress and Cabinet, assisted by a Federalist Judiciary and a corrupt Opus Dei Supreme Court, and a cowardly and complicit 4th Estate, the Musk Trump presidency will be able to plow right through the constitution.
Laws are not a safeguard, when the interpretation of the law is in the hands of an ideological cabal.
While the DNC, has been spending all of their money and time on trying to put their hand on the control lever of the train, the Republican party has been replacing the gears, engine and drive shaft with their own. Now they control the whole train, from the axle to the control lever.
Every Democratic strategist, analyst, consultant member of the DNC is an effete,ineffective, soul sucking milquetoast.
We needed our own Frank Luntz, Jude Wanniski's, Karl Rove's, Roger Ailes, but who did we have the effete and ineffectual, Robert Biggs, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile's,
If there is any chance of surviving a fascist dictatorship, then the opposition has to be as ruthless and persistent as they. They don't play by the rules, and neither should we, if we wish to bring the authoritarian train to a stop.
In Russia, the government (Putin) controls the oligarchs
Yes, William, but Trump wants to be an autocrat, not a first among equals. He will make enemies within his own circle, and he will mess up. He is no Octavius; he is the same, old, stupid Trump. Hopefully, Democrats will find a new Abraham Lincoln before long.
Octavius was a ruthless bastard, he had the son of Julius Caesar killed, and he won a civil war at the cost of thousands of Roman lives, he wreaked vengeance on his enemies, as Trump will do, and he imposed the law of Pater Familia, which is in essence the culture war agenda of MAGAts.
He was also, like Trump a hypocrite, while he enforced this law, he had no problem ignoring it.
I disapprove of calling Trump stupid, because that is the way to downplay and ignore the threat he poses
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes totally ignorant of geography and history. Holmes response was, "why crowd my mind with useless information" His superpower was his powers of deduction.
Trump is admittedly ignorant of almost everything, because to him knowledge is unimportant, However he has street smarts, and knows how to use people and control them, that is how he has become so wealthy and powerful.
He doesn't know jack squat about finance, so he hires an expert account.
He doesn't know jack squat about the law, so he hires teams of lawyers.
He doesn't know shit about real estate, so he hires people who do.
He doesn't know jack squat about politics, so he hires people who do.
In his world there is no one who can't be bought, and consequently he too can be bought, and Elon Musk, just bought him. Along with a stable of oligarchs.
Al Capone, John Gotti, all of the mafia Dons, except Meyer Lansky, were stupid, but they knew how to use people, buy people and make people fear them.
If an Abraham Lincoln arose, he wouldn't be recognized by the DNC, and if he were able to gain enough fame, he would be assassinated either literally or politically by the party and the press.
Bernie as no Abe Lincoln and look what they did to him.
Our hope lies in the self destruction of the internecine warfare between the Leninists and the Muskrats.
Trump is a Nero, and the MAGA are the anti-Christian xenophobes. Rule by a praetorian guard is a real possibility. Hopefully, it will not be "Hitler's generals."
Actually the equivalent of the praetorian guard was Himmler's Schutzstaffel.
The SS was originally founded as Hitlers Life guards, its special service. the name translates into Protective Squadron or Protective Service. same meaning and purpose as the Secret Service which guards the president.
Himmler of course expanded it to an armed force under his command.
Which is something to look for with Trump.
There is not enough emphasis placed on the difference between the administration of 45 and the regime of 47.
In 45 he was a neophyte, at the mercy of a conservative establishment that handpicked his cabinet and advisors.
This time around he is no longer a neophyte and will surround himself with handpicked cabinet members and advisors who will ignore the constitution, administrative regulations, the institutions, and fulfill his wishes.
The office of the presidency is called the executive, because he executes laws passed by congress, but how he and what he executes is his discretion, and he rules by executive order,and verbal commands (requests)
He will have a cabinet and civil servants who are chosen for being loyal, and I wouldn't put a loyalty oath beyond him. How and when he will issue instructions to be executed is unknown, but according to Trump they will start Jan 21st.
The executive orders are already drawn up, awaiting his signature on Jan 20th.
The only thing he doesn't control, yet,is the Federal reserve
The rest of the machinery of government will be totally under his control and if they play the legal came, any cases that are ruled against him in lower courts will be reversed by the Supreme Court of Opus Dei traditonal Catholics.
Now how do we fight, not just fight but win. Especially when we go into a cage match with an MMA fighter, wearing gloves and fight Marquis of Queensbury rules.
Yet, Voldemoron believes that he's an expert on everything. So he only listens to those who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear. You tell him what he needs to hear in the morning, you've been fired by the afternoon via Twitter.
Is anyone else tired of reading/typing "X formerly Twitter"?
You lay out the crux of the problem, William, but then go on to decree that being venal and untrustworthy is some kind of fucking solution.
This I agree with: << While the DNC, has been spending [MODIFIED- most] of their money and time on trying to put their hand on the control lever of the train, the Republican party has been replacing the gears, engine and drive shaft with their own. Now they control the whole train, from the axle to the control lever.>>
That IS nearly where we are. We do still have a chance at the state and local levels to resist —AND, if there are ANY Republican members of Congress and the Senate who still have a hair’s breadth of integrity left, we might hold off on SOME of the depredations the Rs plan to unleash.
THIS I DISagree with: << If there is any chance of surviving a fascist dictatorship, then the opposition has to be as ruthless and persistent as they. They don't play by the rules, and neither should we, if we wish to bring the authoritarian train to a stop.>>
I do not say we need to be patsies who refuse to protect ourselves and our democracy with more savvy and determined strategies. We need savvy strategies. But, I say we will NOT save democracy by savaging it. We CAN — especially by finding a way to be more unified — resist the worst of what the Rs have in store.
YES, they’ve seeded our courts. [But Biden has been putting judges into the system,too}. YES, they hold slim majorities in both houses of Congress. YES, too many SCOTUS jurists are compromised. But NOT ALL OF THEM, and even one or two more MIGHT resist some of the worst that the Oligarchs have in store…It remains to be seen if the remnants of integrity can be revitalized or not … If we don’t try, we won’t know …
I find this tendency to tell us that all is lost unless we repudiate honor to be absolutely a prescription for doom. If we repudiate the rule of law on the cockamamie idea that we are preserving it, we are fucking idiots. Therein lies the old saw, “The operation was successful, but the patient died.” OR, “We have to destroy them to save them.”
Not mincing words, William. Bullshit. Fuck that.
We need a resistance. We need some savvy. We need a HOW … but if we enable monsters on the LEFT to vanquish monsters on the RIGHT, why the fuck bother? The people will be governed by monsters.
Mussolini or Putin? Nope. Neither for me, thank you very much!
Well Pat, do you have a solution. I mean a real one a workable one. I don't advocate being venal and untrustworthy, fighting the same war as he enemy is fghting is not bein venal and untrustworthy.
Politics ia an MMA cage match, and Democrats have been treating it like a boxing match with gloves and Marquis of Queensbury rules.
How soothing it is to be flung into a pit, knowing that at least you were moral and high handed.
When they go low, we go high, and look where that has landed us?
As the song goes, You take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be Scotland afore ye.
Tell me what strategies are possible, when the NAZI's control all the levers of government, and have cowed the 4th Estate into submission.
Let's talk about the slim majorities in Congress, Our only hope is that something happens to the Republican majority, as regards the Senate, The Republicans are all set to use the nuclear option and override the filibuster.
As regards pinning hopes on Jurists. Bear in mind judges are human, and humans above all have a survival instinct. You can see that instinct surfacing already in the media and even with Jack Smith filing to dismiss the cases.m he didn't have to do that, he could have left it to Trumps Attorney General.
There may be a few courageous judges Like Lewis A Kaplan who preside over the E Jean Carroll case, but there are judgles like Merchan and Kaplan, who couldn't dismiss the case fast enough, knowing that Trump will have his revenge.
This is war Pat, war for our personal survival and the survival of our way of life and our liberal democracy.
And you don't fight wars with one hand tied behind your back.
Eisenhower didn't play nice or fair, or ask permission before our troops landed on Normandy Beaches.
If one does not have the guts for a fight, then surrender is an option. otherwise don't complain or bitch about the tactics and style of the fight.
You are so damned absolutist and defeatist, William.
YES, if we are fighting a cage match, we have to be ready for the kind of hits we’re gonna get — READY, to take the hits and hit back. I am not advocating tying our hands. I am advocating preserving what we want to save. ..
Not soothing to be “flung into a pit.” Where have you seen me suggesting we should even ALLOW that? I have spoken here and elsewhere at how I was LIVID that the Dems let McConnell get away with his court packing as though there were ZERO procedural or legal remedies to that blatant power grab — McConnell seized on unwarranted power, and Dems rolled over. THAT IS WHAT I DO NOT ADVOCATE — I want savvy responses, not helpless ones.What are those savvy responses — well, we’d have to have serious talks about that, but I’m convinced the Dems let their chance go by.
Mmmm, the Dems TALKED about ditching the filiuster when they could have used the power, but they did not. Shit!
The Fourth Estate is not yet cowed into submission — the Oligarchs who own the mass media notwithstanding. {You see where we are writing, don’t you?}
Normandy was in a hot war. Appropriately waged.
What we want to SALVAGE here is our democracy … As long as we have it, we ned to try to hold onto THE RULE OF LAW.
If we let go of that, then the chaos IS what we have left — and all hell breaks loose.
You can blah-blah all the fight rhetoric you want, but we have to color at least ostensibly within the lines — using artistic license for the color we choose, and maybe even for where we carefully go outside the lines — but if we tear it apart to save it, what do we have when we’re done?
You are using rhetoric to make a point. And the rhetoric is baloney.
I want solid thought and plans for how we hold onto our society and democracy.
Pat ; the forum posted recently "The year in drawings" contains links from Marlo about the hacking of the 2024 election. Look for his post with information that he shared. I don't know how to send it, but it would be interesting to read if you have not done so.
I have … and I’m hearing a lot of chatter … We have so seriously criticized “challenging” elections, and at the same time we’ve so seriously polluted any trust in our systems - this is how they kill our democracy. Get us to hate it and distrust it and tear it down with our own hands, willy nilly.
THIS is the chaos and discord that serves THEIR purpose.
Damn! SOME poll-worker friends of mine have said these hacks are NOT as clear and simple as they’re presented. They’ve told me there ARE checks and balances. They said we may have had some irregularities, but not enough to change the final result.
Others are sure that cheating has been possible, but have not shown the actual evidence {like Donald was never able to do, other than to make accusations, but he never showed any convincing “proof”}.
I actually take the position that some others have taken — that Mr. Trump was in fact ineligible to even run, since he incited insurrection in 2021 … but that has only been supported by some courts and not substantiated by others.
I do feel an enormous frustration over ALL of this … I have {as do so many others} the firm sense that The Donald is a ludicrous and invalid “-elect” … but the levers of power that MIGHT seriously make that case need to be pulled by other people, and so far … !!
Do we hear talk of anything coming about? Other than some in the House and Senate refusing to certify Electors? {Not enough to bring it down, though? I’m at a loss, being a little old lady in Vermont, with only logic, and language, and ONE TINY LITTLE VOICE to bring to the struggle …}
There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that those who cried the loudest about a stolen election because they tried to steal 2020 have succeeded in stealing this one. I will bet that when all the investigations are complete, it will be revealed that this election was rigged. Uncounted mail-ins, voter suppression, and computer hacking - this election was stolen. They blew it in 2020, but learned their lessons.
"In Russia, the government (Putin) controls the oligarchs
in America, the oligarchs control the government."
Nice summary of your thoughts. You write a whole comment bewailing the "authoritarian train" in America, then pivot 180° in favor of a Russian style government to control the oligarchs. Mostly you want power to rule the country in accordance with your own beliefs, just like Robert Reich. Reich, who refuses day after day to define what he wants for DEMOCRACY at the FEDERAL level.
I thought you might have had a point, Bill Pound, until you lumped Robert in with the Democratic sycophants. You can’t be following Reich much,if that’s what you think…. OR, you are carrying water for those who WANT to see our system torn down.
I read Robert's posts nearly every day. He is a would-be leader of the Democrats, and most here who comment are his sycophants. I do WANT our current system torn down, at least to the point it can be directed to more useful results for more citizens. And I am not alone, witness the results of November 5th. And I am a snarky Grandpa.
I haven't pivoted an inch Bill Pound. I just merely stated and observable fact.
Now as regard Democracy and whatever it means to you. It died a cruel death on November 5th.
The qualities that made Democracy so attractive, freedoms, freedom of choice, freedom of speech, are the very thing that ends democracy. It did so in Germany in 1933, In Hungary with the election of Orban, in Turkey with the election of Erdogan., in Russia with the election of Putin.
I don't advocate or pivot in favor of anything. I simply describe the situation as it appears.
The reader can make of it what he wants, as you have done.
Before a thing can be fixed, one must know how it works. And what is causing it to malfunction or stop working.
And a long slog like Germany went through is NOT necessarily what is in store for us {our freedoms didn’t “die,” they were dealt a hateful blow, but they can survive if we work on holding onto them — so maybe knock off that rhetoric that kills our resolve …}.
YEAH, you gotta know how a thing is broke before you can fix it, but you gotta try to fix it in order to fix it, too. OR, you can throw it away and look for a replacement, but therein lies the risk of the replacement being worse.
Can we STOP with the absolutist crap that all is lost? It is only “lost” if we insist on covering it up with crap.
Reich keeps beating the drum about DEMOCRACY. You just added to his muddled (or is it lack of) thinking. Democracy didn't die November 5th. We have democracy at the Local and State levels, but not at the Federal level, by design. Our founders studied government designs from 2000 years, and after 167 years on the continent of North America, chose a representative Republic. They rejected democracy at the national level because it had failed everywhere it had been tried. The reason...it leads directly to tyranny by the majority (Bolshevik or majority Party in Russia, with the Mensheviks being the minority Party crushed by the Bolsheviks). In lieu of Reich's thunderous silence, perhaps you can tell us what you would expect from Democracy at the Federal level.
If you "don't advocate or pivot in favor of anything" why bore us with your thoughts at all? I looked out my window and saw a bush. "I simply describe the situation as it appears."
Wow, aren't you something. I guess I and everyone else should be standing in aw of your magnificence, except we are not. You are simply a bore.
FYI, you are obviously new and thus uninformed about me, other posters, even Robert Reich.
Let me acquaint you with what I've been saying, sans the personal antagonism of which I have plenty and am ready to unleashed on little Toto.
In short form. The founding "fathers" crafted together an agreement, in which the sovereign nations (states is a synonym for nations). came to an agreement in which they promised to suspend their sovereign claims, so long as a majority agreed to do the same,in some, not all circumstances, and that they retained their sovereignty,unless they forfeit that claim, in certain circumstances.
And the representatives of the agreed upon federal government, would be persons who had a vest interested in the success of that federal government,namely property owning men. Not even white men, at first, just property owning men.
The voting citizens in the first two elections were property owning men, but then other states, politicians, one by one, realized that they could gain a political advantage by enfranchising all men, not just property owners (and by property was mean human property)
What this gentleman founded was a Republic, rule by wise men (propertied men),not a democracy, at least not one as currently defined.
It took 130 years and three amendments, the 15th,17th and 19th to bring forth a true democracy in which all citizens were recognized as having a stake in the success of this corporation were recognized as having a vote.
And now spare us your self righteous bullshit, and vacate the premises, you ass hole.
SO you DON’T support national democracy? What the hell DO you want then? Democracy does NOT have to become tyranny by the majority — that was the wrong-headed argument at our founding that did NOT win, as guard rails were built in to respect the rights of minorities .., and to require super-majorities for certain things. The whole idea is to build in protections against mob rule … And we’ve been trying to make it better over the time we’ve been here with a bunch of amendments done and more t come..
In a world of BILLIONS of people, what WOULD you like to see prevail? I have no clue what you propose in the place of representative democracy, but absolutely NOTHING else occurs to me that I could possibly get behind.
Bill Pound ; I read a book by intelligence professional Malcom Nance, wherein he wrote that the Oligarchs hired Putin because they were looking for a Pinochet. Believe me, there is truth in the saying that "those who got the gold makes the rules"
Democracy makes fascism possible. Mussolini's fascism was born out of Democracy, Hitlers fascism was born out of the democracy of the Weimar Republic.
Putin's fascism was born out of the short lived post Soviet Republic.
Orban's fascism was born out of the post Soviet Hungarian democracy.
Franco's fascism was born out of the Catholic churches resistance to the "Second Spanish Republic", a democratic parliamentary system established in 1931 after the abdication of King Alfonso XIII; this period lasted until the start of the Civil War in 1936.
And always behind fascism and financing it is money.
What a crock. Fascism can arise out of any cesspool that is a government corrupted. Just because you can name some lousy governments that perverted democracies does not mean democracies are fundamentally flawed.
When you have a good thing, you have to PROTECT it … Once we let McConnell pervert our Supreme Court, that was the final piece that brought on our current trials … Dems failed to stop McConnell and here we are …. We had strugggles before we lost the Supreme Court, but it’s way worse now that we have THIS court plus Citizens United.
You are right that Russia is as much a fascist dictatorship as Orban’s Hungary, though.. Putin rules like Mussolini, and Stalin like Hitler. — autocrats and oligarch all ….
...I hear you on this. I am on a meagre social Security benefit which is less than what is s considered the "average" monthly benefit amount. . If i were just to give one dollar to each candidate and political concern that pumps me for donations would be broke before .the end of the month. I am also one of those who feels abandoned by the "party of the people's" centrist core.
After 2016 it was thought maybe the party would assess its shortcomings and change course. Back then it even promised to, but in the end nothing came of it and it continued down the "business as usual" path. This election it didn't take long for them to do so when they chose a 74 year old neoliberal centrist over a 35 year old progressive to head the all important House Oversight Committee. It was bad enough when it was discovered that some in the party turned to dark money sources to defeat more progressive candidates during the primaries but this last decisions was sort of a last straw..
Neoliberal policy with it's glacial "baby steps" approach is why people flocked to two populists in 2016. Voters were tired of hearing promises and seeing little or nothing get done .for them. This election it manifested itself ln a large number of people (particularly on the (D) side) simply not bothering to vote or just voting for state and local down ballot races and initiatives. Again it was because people felt the concerns that mattered the most to them (persisted high prices for food and rent, the ongoing healthcare crisis, and what to a majority was a hypocritical stand on the war in Gaza) were not addressed.
Yet as I mentioned above, the party apparently still did not, nor wanted to get the message that people are tired of go nowhere "business as usual" politics thy feel have left them behind. There are members of the party that want it to grow, to change course and become more responsible and responsive to needs and interests the people, but they have for the most part been shouted and shut down by the party's neoliberal core.
This is nothing new, it goes back to the early 20th century when progressive members of the (R) party endured a similar situation and with Teddy Roosevelt and later Bob Lafollette eventually split off to form their own party. Could that happen again? Or would it like its predecessors not make much of an impact as the electoral system is so heavily stacked in favour of the current duopoly. We saw that this cycle with the centre aright No Labels party which had corporate and big money sources backing them. No, for smaller parties to participate and have an impact though forming coalitions, we would need a major change in the structure of our government to a more parliamentary one, but that would never happen.
Hence why we have to much harder at getting mere younger and progressive minded people in the party and push for reform. Parties have changed before and can change again, like the (D)s becoming the party of "New Deal" and "Great Society" while the more recently, (R)s devolved into the party of MAGA and lies. The one difficulty we will have to do it via grassroots means as big and corporate money looks to preserve the status quo if we ant the party to once again be responsive and responsible to us.
There is a problems with that. Machiavelli explained that if your opponent "prince" wants to go amoral, to compete, you have to stoop to their level. Our "prince" though is the Constitution, an inherently moral document.
Documents don't save lives and nations, if they did then there would be no Presidents Musk Trump, nor a supreme court that disregards the document or interprets it as it wills.
I fell the same, Peggy. So I am reading slave narratives, at the moment, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative, by Greg Hecimovich, Foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr. It gives me the perspective I need to experience this current situation which seems insurmountable. They persevered. We must, too. Life is not always an exercise of cause and effect. It is our turn to carry some of this burden.
Either a third party, or FINALLY retake the Dem one for the people … It took the Rs a long time to get us where we are — If they didn’t make such a MESS of invading Iraq, they might have accomplished this even without The Donald as their foil ..
BUT, it still took them a while … We don’t have forty years to get our government back. We need a strong resistance …
BUT, keep in mind —- convincing populations that have little history with democracy to accept autocracy is easier than convincing a MAJORITY of Americans to accept Oligarchy.
The United States has a history of AT LEAST A MODICUM of democratic process — locally and in our states, and even in the House and the Senate, now and then.
We see right now a backlash even among the Trump cultists, when handed the Oligarch pronouncement that Wealthier Minds Shall Prevail, and they can take it or leave it
What are they saying? “This is not what we voted for!!”
OK, they still think of Democracy as their birthright …
We need to find people who believe in government by consent of the people — ALL the people, not just the white ones or the rich ones — and build our resistance!!!!!!!
There is still one area of bi-partisanship existing between Democratic and Republican politicians, which is that no third party will be allowed to gain power in American politics. When the two-party monopoly is broken, it will be done by independent voters. Independent voters are not a political party. They were created by the writing of the Constitution of the United States and the states that held the elections. There were no organized political parties in American government until the election of 1800.
Only if we give up … And I am suspicious of people who keep counseling that we abandon our Constitution for some pie-in-the-sky alternative that has no shape or form.
There was a question that first occurred to me when I was in grade school. Why was England able to abolish slavery in the entire British empire in 1834, while the United States could not abolish slavery 30 years later without having a Civil War? I recently found the answer, and in September of 2023 published a book explaining the reason entitled, A House Divided Against Itself, by Robert B. Winn, now available for purchase on Amazon Books and Barnes and Noble Online. For those who do not read books, Google the Declaration of Rights, an act of Parliament agreed to by William and Mary before they were confirmed king and queen of England by Parliament.
Perhaps this is a cynical response, but I think the British decided they no longer needed slavery, because they were importing cotton from the American South. The concept of slavery had become generally unpopular, so abolishment was a driving factor in improving their image, but a real stand against it should involve not purchasing cotton from the American South.
The Declaration of Rights was not about slavery. It was an attempt to avoid another Civil War in England. The war between King Charles I and Parliament was actually caused by James I, an unpopular king who began the practice of appointing judges to whom he gave the task of "striking down" acts of Parliament the king did not like. This increased the contention between the monarchy and Parliament to the point of Civil War during the reign of Charles I. The Declaration of Rights reformed the English judicial system in a couple of significant ways. 1. The king could not appoint his own judges or act as a judge himself. 2. English judges could no longer "strike down" acts of Parliament.
The American judicial system went the other way. Starting with a judicial system in which any judge could be just, a Supreme Court decision, Marbury v. Madison 1803 declared that the Supreme Court was "striking down" an act of Congress, which made Civil War in the United States inevitable. It made Congress to weak too resolve the slavery question because if Congress abolished slavery, the Supreme Court would just declare abolishment of slavery unconstitutional. What was actually unconstitutional was the use of the Supreme Court as a supreme legislature, and it had the same effect that "striking down" of acts of Parliament had caused in England, Civil War.
England didn’t need slaves. They had colonies and protectors. Many have only become independent during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They already had slaves
Thank you for this information, Robert… I'll look for your book. Years ago I read a wonderful book called something like, Breaking the Chains... about how England had abolition movements that over the decades gained ascendancy in probably the House of Commons. Abolitionists in England worked tirelessly just as they did here in the states, but the contexts were different including the ferocity of the slave holding oligarchs in the South.
I would certainly be interested in getting your opinion about the book. If you have any comments, criticisms, or ideas about it, here is my email address. rbwinn3@gmail.com
But again, the concerns over hacking aren't being addressed in any meaningful way. That's the problem. Well, it's the problem with all the problems, past, present, or future. I can have all the information and still not be able to affect meaningful change to a systemic problem(s).
I have many American friends who have moved to Europe because they cannot stand what America has become. Amazing really, when you think about all the corruption we accuse others of being and doing ,and here in good old honest America we are surrounded with it. Norman Rockwell must be churning in his grave! All very sad!
My friends are apparently not as capable as yours, they have all moved to Mexico. I considered uprooting to my favorite town on the Sea of Cortez,, but my son wants our tribe together to support each other. At least the hex is working on muskito, his Wikipedia plea backfired. I hear collective hexes garner more power.
Yes, tis’ terribly sad. I also planned to leave the U.S. and move to San Jose Del Cabo, my Favorite place. But hotels were taking over the pristine beaches.
Muskito is the most fitting name for Musk. The higher he climbs, the more devastating the fall, and- that he’s going to experience real soon. When his mind explodes, into never, never land. Are the movie scripts already being written? The more the merrier! Happy New Year America! 🇺🇸 🥳
Lesley, I agree with you about the cartels. As a lifelong lover of Mexico, though, my question of late has been: would Mexico even want us there? I’ve never had a problem visiting in the past, but in the past we didn’t have *rump.
I don't think they want most of us, how can they or anyone "trust" people who re-put the felonous imbecileass as commander in chief. There's a lot of timeshares & holiday homes U.S. citizens own there. I think laws will waffle, come & go -- he doesn't know what the hell he's doing anyway.
Victor, they exist, but prefer to avoid confrontation. Dubya Shrub supplied them w/weapons in an operation that backfired. Mexico values organic corn unlike the U.S. loveaffair w/GMO monsanto. I should be walking barefoot in the creamy sands of the world's 2nd most dramatic tidal shift savoring a mango paleta. (reposted didn't seem to appear)
Most people who have lived and worked their entire lives can't just move to another country. This is where we have lived. My family has been here since the Revolutionary War. So we should just leave because wealthy people don't care we gave our lives to service and our fathers fought in W.W. I.I.?
My father flew with the British RAF during the Second World War. Together with my parents and then later with my husband, who worked for US companies, I lived in 14 countries, many going back more than once or twice. It gives one a good perspective on life in this World. I am not rich and just a few years ago after becoming a widow, I moved to a new city in a new country and I am thinking of leaving the US permanently too........it is amazing how easy it can be to move to another country.
Immigrants from Europe that colonized North and South America immigrated despite the fact that their ancestors had lived in Europe for thousands if not tens of thousands of years. People either pick up and leave or stay and fight. But from what I’ve read in expat blogs, other countries mostly tolerate Americans being there. At worst, in places like Portugal, Malaysia, Spain and others there’s a growing of sense of resentment toward Americans because they are negatively impacting the economy and housing market of the communities they move to. It’s a double edged sword of our making.
Peggy, et.al. please see my other comment for information on TWO ACTIONS we can take to express what's being passed over by lawmakers and the mainstream press: Not even the Supreme Court has exonerated Trump of the treasonous crime of insurrection, and three states have specifically found him GUILTY: Maine, Illinois, and Colorado. The Supreme Court said those states couldn't keep him off their ballots but they did not comment on whether or not he was DISQUALIFIED from holding office again, as stipulated in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The country has been gaslighted and most of us are unaware. But we can make our feelings known to both our Congressional representatives and the press by participating in the actions I've listed above. We can also creatively engage in our own free speech locally, while we still can...we don't have to stand silently by while a pack of vengeful, sociopathic billionaires, with no moral or ethical limits, destroy our country by implementing the hate-filled "Project 2025."
I can't tell you how many times I have written to my congress people only to get back form letters which often had nothing to do with what I had written about. They don't read them, their staff does. They care only for what money they get from donors.
In general, I agree that money is a primary motivator. But, numbers can also make a big difference. Please keep on sending those letters, even if all you get back is a form letter.
On the contrary, it’s emerging from its long gaslighting by the Demshevik feminist acamedia CRT/DEI establishment, rubbing its eyes and realising that Russian collusion was bollox, the Hunter laptop was real, illegal immigration is a huge problem on several levels, and the Donald’s status as a “convicted felon” is rather a pointer to the Sovietisation of the US “justice” system.
Remember, Mandela, Solzhenitsyn, and Havel were all “convicted felons” once.
Your “Bannerman” (Yog-Soros? Zombama? Horrorei Klintonnister? Klaus Szwab?) will have to take you aside and say:
“Pat, how can you be so stupid? If it sounded trollish to you it had to be gold-standard accurately “fact-checked”…. you’ve had another lapse of memory …. you forgot that what looked trollish to you …. you may as well face it, Pat… WHAT ARE YOU?”
Pat (suppressing sobs): “I’m a Kultural Marxist and Islamist sleeper agent.”
They were imprisoned, not merely convicted. This contrasts with someone who could appoint his own judges and Supreme Court justices who keep him out of prison.
WELL SAID! Thank you for your wise words of encouragement. I like to think that progress is our most important purpose for participating in democracy. All struggles have setbacks from time to time, but I believe that principled persistence can prevail.
It's hard not to be down- hearted when we see who Dump wants in his administration and the insane agenda he has. If he tries to deport millions of people he will need the armed forces to make it happen. That will place them in a quandry: obey the dictator or the constitution? Historically we have had many honest, educated, and honorable military leaders whose first allegiance is to the law. I would bet on a military coup before the army acts illegally against immigrants, fake DOJ opinions notwithstanding. And remember where Mussolini ended up.
Are there even enough votes to disqualify him based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? Are there any remedies for Trump if Congress were to disqualify him? He obviously has been supported by a corrupt Supreme Court, but who knows what they would do?
Timothy, The stand being taken by many constitutional experts is that he is already disqualified because it was concluded by courts in three states, plus the bipartisan J6 Commitee that he had absolutely committed a treasonous attack and uprising against the Constitution of the United States.
My understanding is that what's being asked now is that his electoral votes not be counted because they were cast in favor of a man who committed insurrection and is therefore disqualified. So the votes of people who voted for an insurrectionist are unconstitutional and can't be counted.
If, all the Democrats hung together on this issue and refused to certify the electoral votes on January 6 that would be interesting! If that really came to pass, and it's extremely unlikely,, Kamala could be pronounced the president of the United States.
Another way this could go is that a bill would be put forward to offer "amnesty" to Trump, as per section 3 of the 14th amendment, because he's already an adjudicated insurrectionist. In order to remove that disqualification there would have to be a 2/3 vote in both houses for amnesty. If this were to come to pass, very likely they wouldn't get 2/3 in both houses voting to give him amnesty, which would mean that his disqualification would stick and it would be unconstitutional for him to be offered the oath of office.
Even though this outcome is unlikely, we are still urging our senators and representatives to take this stance because it is their duty to protect us from a dangerous and unfit leader, even if he won an election fair and square. That's why the framers included this section after the Civil War, because they realized that people can threaten the constitution, even if they fool the public into electing them.
And by the way, I don't believe for a minute that Trump won this election fair and square but that's not our issue right now. The issue is doing everything we possibly can to keep a dangerous, vengeful, emotionally volatile man out of the White House.
I know it's confusing, but I hope that made some kind of sense to you 😊
I wrote earlier about small scale, local level politics, volunteers, civilised mayors and administrators. Bob's analysis is perfect, as usual, but he fears he is feeding cyniscim.
There should be a strategy for the situation after the 20th.
That can be political: creating coalitions and majorities in Washington, but also local.
And a political party is not a machine for donations, but an organisation of people that want to think about politics, instead of applauding at mass rallies.
Thank you, Tom. You're right. Cynicism is rearing its ugly head and I have fallen for it. I am trying to remain optimistic; however, sometimes it becomes so overwhelming! It seems whether we start locally or in Washington, their machine has become so big I fear there is no stopping it. You are also right about donations. I have stopped my donations to political organizations and right now I only donate to charities that help people. I needed some clarity, Tom, and you provided that. Thank you.
Peggy, many women suffragettes never saw the results of their efforts. It took about 100 years. They died before they got the chance to vote. You do what you can knowing you may not see the results but in hopes that future generations will. It’s the long game.
You are correct there...long game. I've worked in a union of 'men only' up until the Trans Alaska Pipeline. I feel like I've been on the ground floor but have realized I'm simply one in a long succession of women who stepped into a world that didn't want or recognize them before. I've seen changes, yes, and yet there's a long way to go toward reaching a balance. I have fought and spoken up. The changes are slow because of the way society is with white men running pretty much everything. So here we are with a head of state who wants to be a darker shade of white, while being racist. It all makes me wonder about our species. We are less than a speck in the whole of the galaxy... universe. Knowing that lightens me up as it also keeps me going. Much can be done. We just need to stay the course and keep on going because "it's the long game."
Tell our representatives and Senators that we need a recount of two precincts per swing state to reveal the hacking of the election. According to election security experts. Just hand counting two precincts in each swing state will show irregularities that will prove that hacking has occurred.
Before the 20th as many readers as possible should read Matt's Tin Hat Times about the hacking of the 2024 election. Also Stephen Spooner's Substack about the same. And share it with as many as possible.
Don't give up. In 1984 George Orwell said there was truth and untruth and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad. It's hard, I know, but never been so necessary.
I'm like that little kitty on the poster hanging from the rope with just one tiny claw, but I'm still holding on! Somebody needs to provide some direction otherwise more and more people are just going to tune out.
I agree. To me Kamala Harris was that direction. The shredding of our social fabric was too much for even her to overcome. I am looking for a hole in the building storm to head to. Hopefully, enough people come to their senses before it gets completely out of control.
I think it's quite possible that powerful, seasoned, but younger Dems like Kamala Harris, Justin Jones in Tennessee, and others, will be around to help us persist, and rise up again.
I know what I said is easier said. The cat analogy you use is apropos. I suppose much of the reason we meet here on RR’s substack is not only to learn and be educated but to come to terms with feeling overwhelmed with the 24/7 amount of scary, depressing and horrendous news cycle information we encounter. It becomes to much to process that our minds need a break as organic beings or we will short circuit. It’s important to prioritize time to simply slow down and do nothing, find ways to relax, rest, and clear our minds. Let’s pursue ways individually and collectively to face the challenges ahead. I hold the fundamental belief that Trump 2.0 / Project 2025 is unsustainable and Democracy will ultimately prevail.
Wishing you and all Robert Reich’s Substack community a sincere wish for a healthy and happy New Year.
I care, Peggy Freeman, and it also seems that the honorable Robert Reich and Kamala Harris do as well - and many others. Let us not give up hope, please. It's been said that the longest journey begins with a single step - this article provides the step of helping us better understand the challenge ahead - which can even be seen as an opportunity ahead.
I have heard that one can view every situation we face in life as an opportunity to learn a valuable lesson, to develop more complete awareness of the realities of being human, and an opportunity to practice the basic principles that have guided many others through terribly tough times.
I think of what it must have been like at the end of the Roman Empire in ancient times, as well as what it was like for the descendants of slaves in this nation after Lincoln was assassinated and his vision of reconstruction perverted, and during the period after the assassination of hopes for civil rights and justice for all with the deaths of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr. when I was a teenager.
Humanity has always gone through cycles and spirals - as has the economy. We can, however, make a fresh start now, and then we can simply keep putting one foot in front of the other - making progress gradually and suddenly on the long and bending road that is the arc of history. It takes us from confusion to clarity, from disturbed emotions to serene wisdom. "Hope springs eternal..."
What you said was so true, Frank! I suppose I am guilty of being cynical that anything we do is going to make a difference. When I read your comment, I thought about that quote "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." M Tree gave me my single step. I am going to find out about becoming a Precinct Committee Person and go from there. I do care, Frank, I guess I started out anxious, worried and scared and it spiraled after reading Professor Reich's post. He is an honorable and decent human being and I appreciate the lessons he is teaching me. I was simply venting and now I will get back to work!
"Humanity has always gone through cycles and spirals - as has the economy. We can, however, make a fresh start now, and then we can simply keep putting one foot in front of the other - making progress gradually and suddenly on the long and bending road that is the arc of history. It takes us from confusion to clarity, from disturbed emotions to serene wisdom. "Hope springs eternal...""
Thank you, Frank Talk!
It's a way to see this problem is too big for the average person, that if we get riled up about it, but have nothing apparently to DO about it, we can at least remain stronger by viewing the longer-term solutions in a healthy light. Otherwise, we blitz our own minds.
I never thought tRump could be elected due to Article 14, section 3 of the Constitution, but we the country did it, so the problem is as huge as our population, via electorates.
I'm sure whatever spot you can find to make changes and do good will help your mental and physical state of health, so DO that. But do not have one solution at this point. I for one will join protests, as I've done in the past, but they aren't necessarily useful, they just make me feel better.
You're right, Miriam, what I said is not likable! I wish I knew the answer to your questions. I'd surely like to know what I did to bring all of this about! The important question I want answered is what can we do about it? For the life of me, I don't know what to do!
HARDBALL, yes. Use every twist and turn needed. STAND IN RESISTANCE when THEY pull a fast one — like NO ONE did when McConnell refused to even put a Supreme Court nomination up for consideration … WHY did Obama sit for nearly a year and let him do that? WHY did the Dems let him pack the court?
THEY PRETEND they are using our system to remake our system.
WE NEED TO RESIST — but NOT bring it down!! If we bring it down, they win.
They will use EITHER side to rebuild an oligarchy — Leftist Autocracy? Rightist Autocracy? Same difference.
Can we NOT let them use our system to keep destroying our system? {
Yeah, I know — wimps let the Donald skate for four years after his insurrection … I HATE to give up a virtuous fight …
We need the HOW, now.
ROBERT REICH — if you have some solid “HOW” in mind — including communication and persuasion, but more in-the-trenches stuff, too — now is the time to talk to us …
Peggy :Tell your representatives that you want an investigation of the swing states, with hand recounts in at least two precincts in each. Which will show the hacking of the election.
There was a question I started to ask myself back in early summer -- LONG before the election -- when I found myself spending around 20 to 30 minutes each and every day just cleaning out all the political donation requests out of my Inbox: "If other people are being inundated like this, won't it completely turn them off of politics altogether?"
And the follow-on: Is that what is being intended here? Is that the strategy? To turn millions of people off so they don't even vote?
Judging from the results of the election, Thomas, it very well could have been what was intended. The constant barrage of all the horrible things happening and are going to be happening are causing many to just ignore it all. My sister use to talk with me everyday about what was going on in politics. Now she refuses to watch any news, deletes the political emails and refuses to acknowledge anything that is going on! She tells me she is sick of it all!
My liberal sister won't discuss anything with me anymore. She is tuning me out of her life because my efforts at critical thinking about anything--philosophy, the psychology of what's happening, history (i.e. Heather Cox Richardson) and how democracy has survived before, are all off the list. She has closed the door. I cause her "too much anxiety." Even being positive and trying to learn and understand what attracts people to authoritarianism is "triggering" her to blame me for making her physically sick--recently vomiting and diarrhea when she just had the flu! If I can't talk to a family member who is most certainly in line with the democratic ideals, how can fight back instead of just submerging into the "I don't want to know anymore" nilism?
I've run into that too Annie. It's tough, and I'm sorry for that. I understand where their coming from, but I think we just find different people to talk to about it. Because I do believe we need to.
Annie, everyone has different tolerance levels. Maybe she needs a break. Maybe your local Democratic Party would have some members to befriend and talk with about these things? We do need to find our group.
The corporations bought the politicians who, with the help of the media, lied to us to cover their corruption. This has been a long time coming. I too am tired of appeals for money! New organizations spring up over night to fight one aspect after another & who knows if they ever even make an effort. I don’t know what to do either. I now listen to tarot card readers to lighten my mood & meditate. Supposedly ignoring the bad & focusing on imaging good will help. At the very least I am no longer having heart attacks.
Elizabeth, I agree they should publish his findings; however, they have published other findings and no one seems to care what they say! No one seems to be shocked. Nothing seems to get to these people!
Bad behavior has been normalized in this trump era. It even gets rewarded. At least the findings should be published for historical reasons. Though Bill Barr reminded us that history is written by winners. There is still hope that scraps of truth will remain
I also hope that Smith’s findings get made public, while he’s under investigation. And if he tries to hide them, you guys will make all sorts of excuses.
Feeling the same way. Massive sad truth. Knowing we can see it; understand it; didn't vote for it; didn't go gently and now have no clue what to do to help it? And I sign petitions and send emails daily to my reps and the white house. 🫣🫣🫣
Sin, it seems there are so many of us with our hands up saying what can we do? How do we start? I, too, sign petitions and send emails constantly; however, I don't think the ones that need to read them are paying that much attention!
Yes, I too am tired of all the money pleas that I get all the time. That seems to be what everyone is doing now begging for donations. And here we are on the brink of what may be the end for our democracy and many lives if Trump and his cronies have their way. Better to hold on to your money since you will need every penny when SS is cut.
You're right, Margaret! I live on such a limited income. I was donating even when it was questionable if I would make it through to my next Social Security check or my small retirement check! I'm hanging onto every dime and penny now preparing for the absolute shitstorm that is coming!
I would be careful of these requests. There are groups I’ve never heard of asking for donations. Our emails have been sold off. Never click on the email. If you want to donate to an organization, check them out first and donate from a legitimate site. Watch out for scams.
I donate to the League of Women Voters (LWV). Their email usually contain LWV. Lately I’ve been getting donation requests from LVW. See how they swapped the letters? Idk if it’s a legit org. Just be careful.
"HOW? HOW? HOW?" I feel ya. The saddest thing, in this sad situation, is the gormlessness of the left. I am in the UK and the Labor Party, which has come back in power with a huge majority of seats, is busy rearranging the chair of the Titanic. The problem is that, in a globalized economy, politics becomes equally globalized. If, for example, the government of one country raises income taxes, then companies relocates etc. It is possible to act at a multicountry level (eg the OECD has pushed a minimum tax level for multinationals) but it requires more effort. What we need is a new International.
Read Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter today. It sounds like trump’s spouting of taking over Greenland, etc is, in the bigger picture, about breaking NATO and pushing Europe away from America and towards Russia. The boys are trying to carve up the world into territories as they see fit. I’ve read that some prominent Russian said Russia should get Hawaii, Alaska and California.
This is a scary reality “Midwest”. Trump doesn’t joke… he uses commentary to gauge his world audience… his 2025 group is probably figuring out the details of a new world order as we all comment here. I keep thinking back when Trump and Putin met in Finland and against all protocols (somehow) Trump and Putin met ( no US translator present) for almost an hour as I recall. That meeting was never talked about and certainly not nowadays.Could that have been the start of all this? More recent when Trump called on his Evangelical base to get out and vote because they’d never have to vote again… then retracted that down the line to comment that they didn’t even need to vote… seems like he was in on something Americans didn’t know about… ? Was that the old sleight of hand trick?
After trump won the election, Putin announced it’s a new world order. Musk soon echoed that. So now do the oligarchs fight for turf? Will it become WWIII?
Musk and Bannon are now colliding. I can see some of Musk’s motivations but what is Bannon’s motivation? Is he really about the working man? I find it hard to believe. Is it just a fight to stay relevant? Idk. Can anyone shed some light?
nikal - Just waiting for another country to hack all of trump and companies emails and other information and reveal what they have been doing. Especially since he refused to use any of the proper channels or even a .gov domain.
Alex - The oligarchs collude with each other and with autocratic elements of governments. Musk and the German right, Orban and dumpster. More importantly to my way of thinking is that the surveillance state, aided and supercharged by AI is making all opposition efforts impossible. The means of communication can simply be eliminated or altered, the people involved can be marginalized, ostracized, jailed, or simply disappeared, as our CIA has been teaching dictators for decades. Have you had the pleasure of watching:
What’s the status of the 15% minimal tax on multinational corporations? Last I heard Yellen had helped create it. But has it become functional? No follow up news has been forthcoming.
I will read your articles. Anyway, the main point is that leftwing parties in Western countries should coordinate their action, if they want to make the tax system more equitable (which should be a key selling point for them)
The OECD is completely controlled by the western oligarchs. There is a resolution before the United Nations to apply a more effective tax to stop profit shifting and take that jurisdiction away from the OECD. It doesn't get any coverage in the media. Here's a link to the latest report on the progress that I can find: //www.iisd.org/articles/explainer/United-Nations-Tax-Negotiations
Peggy! Here is a hug from afar - I completely align with your state of mind. The way I feel that I can be most effective at "fighting back" is by paying close attention, helping my friends and neighbors as we always have - we're in this together!, signing every petition to Congress that I believe in (seems like all of them, these days), and staying true to the person that I am. A free and fair society depends on decency; I am going to live it and defend it as long as I am on the planet.
Lark, your comment brought tears to these tired old eyes! Thank you for the hug and I appreciate you! We are in this together and when one of us falters and tires out, there are so many that lift you up and carry you for a little ways. I, also, sign every single petition. Even though when I stay true to the person I am, I am ridiculed, insulted, called a Pollyanna and naive and told I am stupid, I continue to believe in decency, helping others and defending Democracy, as you say, for as long as I am on the planet! Have a very happy New Year!
My sentiments exactly. And those are the reasons I’ve become disengaged from watching MSNBC as religiously as before. Pulling back from participating in democracy cannot be a good thing but yet here I find myself with seemingly no lifeline. Very scary times are these as Jan. 20 approaches.
Ah, more inspiring truths! Now, if we could just get all the people who voted for Trump to understand all the things that Robert Reich has been saying! The problem, I believe, is that they are not intellectually curious enough to want to listen to what he's saying. Solutions, anyone?
Let me add that I think our society has regressed to being a society based on slavery - just no longer demarked by skin color and ethnicity, but instead by one's place in the economic hierarchy.
Until reality lands squarely in their own laps, under their own roof, within their own circle of friends, these people will never feel the need to be intellectually curious enough to grapple with the consequences of their actions. They need to see someone close to them being visited by the leopard. Once that happens, MAYBE, they'll then realize the 🐆 could actually come for them.
You reveal your contempt quite clearly for many people who are working to exhaustion to survive, and have no time to research, read, listen, or consider anything outside of the trap they are in. It’s hard to even think about wider subjects when you’re constantly worried and stressed beyond belief about food, rent, healthcare. Explanations aside, the more you reveal your acid contempt, the less likely your opinions are to be appealing to anyone who isn’t sure how to vote. Which begs the question about your own understanding.
Donna - I read your reply, and then reread my original comment, several times over. You are absolutely right. Although it stings to realize it, it did reveal to me a subconscious view that was skewing my thinking. Anyway, I do apologize for what the comment conveyed.
My intent was to discuss the problem of how to get Robert's ideas to people whose lives are made hard by the current system, but I veered completely off course when I mentioned lack of intellectual curiosity, which is not the issue.
You hit the nail on the head when you said "It’s hard to even think about wider subjects when you’re constantly worried and stressed beyond belief about food, rent, healthcare."
And regarding being in a trap, that was pretty much the idea behind my ending comment about having become a society of enslavers and the enslaved.
I totally accept. A few years ago, I apologized similarly, after I made a quip I thought was clever, one time in a different group. After being called out on it, I realized my quip was demeaning. That man forgave me. I don't forget it. We're good! Thanks for reaching out.
Some don't vote. Some vote for people their friends or family members say to vote for - "everybody" is voting for this guy - jump on the bandwagon with us. Some try to be aware of their candidates - but have limited time, so ads or a single "debate" has to be enough. I think people who choose not to vote because they don't know enough are probably right to not vote. Low information is a danger, and we are all in danger of being low information voters. A lot of main stream media selects what to report, and importantly, what not to report. Social media is full of inaccuracies. No one has time to look it all up and do primary research. That makes us all prey - even those of us who have time to "keep up" with news. I am tired of finding out after the fact that some candidate was sick, or did some great thing that got no press, or voted for something I'm against. What to do?
Yes, low information is a VERY real danger. I'm all for doing something about K-12 education as a starting point to fix that. I had a chance recently to participate in a zoom call with Admiral William McRaven. When asked what he thought the biggest threat to our national security was, he answered, "Our K-12 education system". I agree. Now we need to start voting into office people who will take that very seriously and do something about it.
Then we need to do something to make advanced education more available to people who today are not economically able to obtain it.
They're not! 3 people all women who voted for that Felon still think they will be better off! One of them is 63 and just lost her job to outsourcing to Mexico!
What would you prefer -- too stupid to understand that they are voting against their own interests and are taking the rest of the world with them down the road to Hell for cheaper eggs that they won't even get?
No, you misunderstand. Progressives like me like to draw fire from trolls like you when we see you picking on someone who doesn't deserve it. I don't have any hair left so there's no danger of it catching fire. Fill your boots.
Damn but you sure are one funny snowflake! Awww, you hurt my widdle feelings! (LMAO!!!)
Sure, you have freedom of speech, but you are not immune to criticism when you peddle your rightwing bullshit. So bring it on, big guy. Have YOU ever had one original thought in your life? I didn't think so. You are parroting FOX News, Newsmax and OANN.
Uh, you wanna explain that "vermin" comment (while also acknowledging that is out of the 1930s Germany Nazi playbook)?
I've yet to hear something Reich says that isn't accurate.
Yes, indeed! I'm not saying "Happy New Year." I'm struggling. I wished my enlightened friends a peaceful and Constitutional New Year. I doubt that coming to pass. And the violence that is being done is not what we normally think of as violence, i.e., street violence, but rather the violence to society and the working class by the oligarchs, just as Robert Reich here describes.
Oh, we know what the winning formula was…lie to the fools who think you give a 💩 about them. Then once you’re in…. blame the Democrats or the RINOs for your incompetency. You have no idea what his supporters have done. That self-serving degenerate doesn’t give a crap about us. Look who he’s surrounding himself with. This will change the whole face of the “good ole USA”. Money makes money makes power. Good luck if you aren’t in the 1%.
I am on SS only. No car. I live in a city/state governered by racist money hungry Republicans. Every thought in their heads is tied to "conservatism." I don't even know what that word means anymore except hate for anyone outside their echo chambers.
So in my very limited way, I decided to try and post flyers at my apartment complex about immigration. There are so many around me that are Mexican, speak little English, and I fear they don't know about the plans of mass deportation. I simply wanted to post signs that would refer my neighbors to immigration and social services to make sure their papers were in order and updated. Practical, non-political information and sources of help to navigate what's to come. My apartment manager, who is also Mexican, said she couldn't do that and was completely dismissive. I have no computer or printer and do not speak or write Spanish to do it myself, but she refused to help. I called three different immigration offices and a big Catholic Charity group, and all of them were sort of perplexed, and frankly disinterested at my requests for information to post, hand out, or even support in my efforts. I thought each little thing we could each do in our own little worlds might help. No one else even seemed to act like they knew what was going on. I was astonished at our local immigration offices and social services casting my ideas off with no desire much less encouragement.
I am a white woman who has no stake in the foreseeable atrocities of mass deportation or family separations, aside from my "left" view of humanity. So I went home...
Use your Google machine for those answers. It will be hard for you because you have already made decisions. The answers are there, but your ability to ignore history and apply critical thinking will hamper seeing reality. There are lots of problems, no doubt, but if you already believe that all the issues that list are the fault of progressives, you are lost. I hope you get what you think several fat white boys will deliver, but, homey, you do not know Jack Schitt. Read and think, please. Have a good day.
I am not complaining too much because I can afford to live in Italy on an SSA check (retired finally). But I had been on disability since 2017, although I was working on SSA's "ticket-to-work" program. In 2017, I filed a tax return, I think using TurboTax when I had some income via inheritance related to my deceased mother's estate and the disability payments. I at least filed my taxes, and tried to follow the directions. I also filed returns while working on disability and had to pay some tax on my business income while residing in the EU.
So, what does the IRS do ? They, or their AI algorithm audited my 2017 return, and I ended up being slapped with about 2,000.00 in taxes. I have paid about 2,000.00, but between interest and penalties (I applied for a deferment), I still owe maybe 2,000.00.
In the meantime, there are millionaires who have not even filed and billionaires who sometimes pay nothing. That is the kind of system we have. I at least have a halfway decent SSA payment because I did work substantially before being deemed disabled, and I continue to freelance a little because I have to. One solace is that if there is a Heaven or Hell, I might have a chance to knock on the better door.
I am sure the SSA payment will be next. When you get to be an old, wise, but unproductive member of society, capitalism is perfectly happy to X you out.
To the likes of Trump. Muskrat and Vivek Swampy, it's all par for the course, they never, ever, will have enough, the "little people, we have to all pay the price for their soulless abomination of utter greed, so they can live like Kings and besides, cruelty is also the point, that too, is what they live for, evil has it's names, and in this case, it's them
Sadly, the drug of choice for many on the right, is the one via the conduit of racism, it becomes an intoxicating means by which by peoples own early on formed attitudes to promote more of the same, so instead of man evolving, we devolve, like Trump, who might as well be an amoebae
I heard in Saudi Arabia, the drug that’s everywhere is the one Assad, from Syria, was making and supplying. So maybe that’s how the Saudi’s deal with their king.
VERY repetitious. Basically, 20 different categories of saying, "Things are Bad now, but they WILL get worse when Trump takes office on January 20th."
If I was going to point our current Realities, I would start with the Fact that We The People do NOT get to choose who the candidates will be that We will be permitted to vote for. That starts with the Reality that most Americans firmly believe that ONLY Democratic and Republicans stand a decent chance of being elected to office. (Legislators such as Independent Bernie Sanders are VERY rare, accounting for less than 1% of the members of Congress.) Because of that, while We are allowed to vote for candidates in the primaries, We had NO say -- zip, zilch, zero, nada -- whatsoever who those candidates would be. The candidates were screened and vetted by the people running the Parties (the Powers That Be). [And you can be certain that when conducting interviews with the wannabe candidates that a deal was made that "IF we give you our Party's endorsement, do you swear that if elected, you WILL serve the needs of the Party, first and foremost."]
An astute deduction at this point is that NONE of the current members of were picked by We The People. In fact, it has been _centuries_ since The People were given the opportunity to decide the slate of acceptable candidates that would appear on the ballot. Not since the first political Parties appeared.
The next important Reality that needs to be highlighted is that the current political System under which "Our" government operates has the members of Congress being paid @$200,000/year + benefits. (Most of We The People would salivate if any of Us were proffered such a deal.) But at the same time "Our" elected representatives are allowed to accept Big Money "campaign contributions" and lobbyist largess that amounts to many, _many_, MANY times the salary We give those legislators. Understandably, "Our" legislators are obviously more motivated to serve the Needs and desires of those personages throwing the larger sums their way. And it is actually quite easy to see just who that bought-and-paid-for majority in Congress has been _actually_ serving for the last half-century: How many pieces of legislation REALLY makes the lives of We The People better? Versus how many pieces of legislation seriously benefits the Wealthy and Big Business? (The latter being mostly owned, controlled, and operated by the Wealthy.) I should also mention that ONLY those legislators have the Power to adjust, change, or tweak the System under which they operate -- while they are heavily motivated to stick to the status quo.
In Truth, I am in agreement with Robert's 20 points. I just think that our priority lists significantly differ, with Robert not putting nearly enough emphasis on the things that are REALLY Bad for We The People.
Captain, thank you. With the death of Jimmy Carter, I cannot avoid the thought that Mr. Carter was the last Democratic president we have had. Did Clinton, Obama, or Biden don a hammer and create an organization dedicated to providing housing for the poor? Did any of the three travel the world upholding the norms of democratic elections? No, they ignored the - example of Harry Truman and Sam Rayburn, who lived modestly and died modestly. No, those three cashed out mightily. Did those three stand athwart that great sucking sound of our national wealth being vacuumed from the bottom sixty percent to the top five percent? No, they aided and abetted it. Did they stand against the off-shoring of American manufacturing jobs? I don’t think so. None of them opposed our appalling foreign policies, spending trillions after trillions of dollars in feckless, counterproductive military interventions including Biden’ idiocy both in challenging nuclear armed Russia on its very doorstep, and providing material assistance to the Israeli slaughter of the innocents.
To top it all off the Democratic Party has abandoned democracy. In 2016 the party big wigs put their thumbs on the scales against Bernie, and for Hillary. Can’t trust the people, can we? And I have yet to learn who decided they were our masters.and how they landed on Kamala as their anointed nominee. When you fail to permit your rank and file to vet candidates through demanding primaries, or in an open convention, you end up with weak tea Kamala. Kamala, against the most shrewd demagog ever? Really? In 2024 the Democratic Party had little to offer. Their towering political incompetence shaded from view anything positive they had to offer.
I say, burn it to the ground. Burn the Democratic Party to the ground and start over.
IMHO, the ONLY way to create a government that DOES actually serve the needs and desires of We The People is violent revolution. (Because the people currently controlling "Our" government will NOT peacefully accept the transfer of Power.) Unfortunately, despite how onerous Our existence is becoming -- and about to become much, much worse -- the LARGE majority of Americans are too much enjoying their relatively comfortable lifestyles. Too much to be willing to risk life and limb and possessions fighting against the US Military and every Law Enforcement agency across the nation. Our only possible hope is that many of the US Military units would join with the "rebels".... in which case We would be risking the possibility of a military junta.
Most of the reasons people cited for voting for Trump are inaccurate, based on lies and overall ignorance of voters, too often willful ignorance, and, of course, the sexism and racism that runs through the veins of this country.
FELON Trump will be recorded in the Annals of History as the BIGGEST and WORST Mistake America EVER made!
I will be wearing this "Totally Unhinged Radical Liberal" t-shirt the next four years 👇
Trump isn't only the "worst president in American history"; he is one of the worst people in the history of the world. What that says about Americans who voted for him is unspeakably horrendous.
People, many? like do get a good heaping dose of crap served to them, in the form of tyrant, like Trump, if it means they can hurt the other? and or willful ignorance, makes me sick just to think about it
"Tyrant" is the perfect word to describe Trump. Webster defines a tyrant as "an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution." That is Trump's objective. Somehow or some way, he has to be stopped.
If you ask me, I think the whole election resolution was hinky. There had been extensive documentation showing the numerous ways the Republicans intended to cheat to win, or at least cast the entire outcome into doubt. Further, there were a TREMENDOUS number of Early Voting ballots submitted. In several States, those would not be _hand-counted_ until AFTER the Election Day ballots had been tallied. That would have assured that the FINAL grand totals wouldn't be determined until ***several days*** after Election Day. Yet, Harris conceded within 24 hours of the polls closing. And without so much as a murmur about investigating any voting or ballot-counting irregularities. I usually ridicule those QAnon conspiracy theorists. But I gotta say, something stinks about how the 2024 election was resolved.
Yes, hate trumped logic, and it will continue to support Trump for quite some time. Standing in the way of that hate would not be wise. We must play a long game to make a comeback.
2. Two employees of the Russian state-owned propaganda network RT (Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afansayeva) were indicted for conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act for operating a money laundering operation that had sent at least $9.7 million[12] to support the creation and distribution of propaganda videos on American social media
3. On October 21, Wired reported that the Russian propaganda network Storm-1516 had been spreading fabricated claims about Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.[53] Experts on disinformation campaigns had also linked Storm-1516 to the conspiracy theory about Harris' supposed hit-and-run accident.[54] Two days later, the Washington Post reported that John Mark Dugan, a former deputy sheriff of Palm Beach County, has been paid by the GRU to produce misinformation attacking the Harris campaign.[55] On October 25, the U.S. Intelligence Community assessed that Russia had made a fake, viral video of mail-in ballots for Trump being ripped up and burned in Pennsylvania.[56]
On November 1, U.S. intelligence confirmed that Russia was behind a fake, viral video of supposed Haitian immigrants saying they were voting multiple times for Harris in Georgia. They also confirmed Russia was behind a fake post on X claiming Harris and her husband had tipped off Sean Combs about an FBI raid in exchange for $500,000.[57]
On November 4, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint statement that Russian "influence actors" were creating and circulating material "intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans", focusing their efforts on swing states.[58]
On November 5, during the official Election Day, several non-credible bomb threats that originated from Russia briefly disrupted voting in two polling places in Fulton County, Georgia.[59] Both re-opened after about 30 minutes. Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Russian interference was behind the Election Day bomb hoaxes. In a statement, the FBI said it was aware of non-credible bomb threats to polling locations in several states, with many of them originating from Russian email domains.[60] The bomb threats were solely made against Democratic-leaning areas.[61] On the same day, U.S. federal officials again reported that Russian sources were actively engaged in "influence operations", citing disinformation in specific videos that falsely claimed Kamala Harris had taken a bribe and false news stories about the Democratic Party and election fraud in Georgia.[62][63][64]
On November 8, it was reported that one of the Russian email addresses behind Election Day bomb threats was used in June 2024 bomb threats targeting LGBTQ+ events in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas.[65] NBC News reported on the same day that, out of 67 known bomb threats in 19 counties on Election Day, 56 were in 11 highly populated counties where Joe Biden won the majority of the vote in the 2020 election. These counties were in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania,[66] all of whom are considered swing states.[67] Georgia alone had over 60 bomb threats on Election Day,[68] while Pennsylvania had threats in at least 32 counties.[69] While Russian email addresses were used for some of the threats, as of November 2024, the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators is unknown.[66]
Bomb threats were also sent after Election Day in over half of the counties in Minnesota,[70] 15 jurisdictions in Maryland,[71][72] and five counties in California.[71][72][73][74][75]
These bomb threats have been characterized by journalists as an escalation by Russia, designed to send a message about American support for Ukraine.[76]
Cornell. Aerospace Engineer. Writer of short stories, essays & commentaries. Podcast consumer. Interests: History, Philosophy, Psychology, Relationships, Politics, Astronomy, and more. Knows a little about a lot and a lot about a little.
119 subscribers
Sounds like a real asshole. Oh wait! That's you? And you promote Thomas Sowell? Hahaha. You foolish fool! You've been fooled and bamboozled. You're guzzling the milk of idiocy.
Cornell? A lie!!! Aerospace? HA!The space between Uranus and your ears, right? Take your sorry ass on to 4chan you lame piker.
To the likes of Trump. Muskrat and Vivek Swampy, it's all par for the course, they never, ever, will have enough, the "little people, we have to all pay the price for their soulless abomination of utter greed, so they can live like Kings and besides, cruelty is also the point, that too, is what they live for, evil has it's names, and in this case, it's them
In January, America will get a kleptocratic kakistocracy. Me, me, me and I WANT MORE. Not for the average citizen, but instead the kleptocrats. A kakistocracy is an incompetent government made out of the worst people. Interestingly the Dutch/Afrikaans slang word for shit is kak.
Why it's so hard to have schadenfreude for Trump voters
There's little comfort to be had in knowing the hammer of the president-elect's worst policies will also fall on some of his supporters.
As we get closer to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the likely effects of his impending second term are coming into sharper focus. Accordingly, we’re seeing more stories about the ways that his policies will likely hurt many of the more vulnerable Americans who either cast their ballot for Trump or opted to stay home.
The Washington Post recently spoke with Pennsylvania Trump voters who depend on the government benefits Trump has promised to slash. A deeply emotional feature in The New York Times zoomed in on one undocumented man in Georgia whose family members voted for Trump because they support his plan to carry out mass deportations — but insist that their relative will be fine. Trump-supporting farmers whose business depend on migrant labor are getting nervous about how their workers will fare under the planned immigration crackdown.
The common denominator is an ongoing refusal to take Trump’s own words at face value. Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, it became clear that many of his supporters only believed what they wanted to believe and with a wave of their hand dismissed the most brutal or authoritarian of his promises. In a post-election New York Times focus group, many of the 14 participants who voted for him were still praising Trump for policies he doesn’t support or beliefs he doesn’t hold. There likewise appears to be a broad assumption among many of his voters that if Trump’s policies produce negative results, then they, their businesses and their loved ones
will somehow be part of the exception, not the rule.
Their suspension of belief didn’t come from nowhere, though. Trump is a master of telling an audience exactly what it wants to hear. When talking about abortion, he has sought to dodge and weave. In an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker, he denied wanting his Justice Department to persecute his political enemies even when his own speeches and supporters have made clear his intention to do so. His proposed solutions to specific problems like inflation are vague enough to become a blank vessel for people to fill with their own hopes and desires. It doesn’t help that some of his supporters’ media diet means that they’re not getting the clearest view of his plans.
This isn’t meant to be a backhanded defense of Trump voters. The bright, flashing warning signs were there throughout the campaign for anyone who wanted to see them. It seems impossible that anyone could be unaware of what a vote for him could mean, not after almost a decade of him dominating the country’s political attention. Agency rests squarely on the shoulders of Trump voters, who chose him despite the overwhelming evidence that his plans would be harmful.
The recent tales of early-stage regret and fear are prompting a sense of grim satisfaction from some on the left. A classic meme — “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party” — has gone around enough among the rump of the #Resistance to become cliché. The sentiment, though, is clear: Whatever happens, these Trump supporters will be getting what they deserve.
It’s hard for me to reach that conclusion, though. The schadenfreude that others are feeling or anticipating seems as hollow as the beliefs that Trump supporters projected onto him. As I see it, the problem with taking solace in the suffering of others in this case is that it still requires the suffering of others.
I understand the desire to see people endure consequences for their own actions. But it simply ignores the very selfish reality that in this scenario, we’re all suffering too. The hardships that Americans will face should Republicans succeed in decimating the social safety net will be immense. There’ll be no comfort that some of the people crashing to the ground thought they were only voting to have that net taken from others. After all, they were told that they’d be able to fly just fine without it.
YOU GET WHAT YOU VOTE FOR, IN THIS CASE, A HEAPING PILE OF DUNG!😠
For those of us who can't silently assent to Trump waltzing into the White House again with his plans for revenge and his emotional volatility, there are TWO ACTIONS we can participate in:
1) Text: PGZBAX to 50409. They'll ask for your name, address, and email and send messages to your Congressional representatives urging them to force a vote to give "amnesty" to Trump for the insurrection. According to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, he is DISQUALIFIED from running for office because he fomented a treasonous insurrection against the Constitution. It takes a 2/3 vote of each house to exonerate him (amnesty) which won't be achieved. This action would force each lawmaker to publicly reveal whether THEY are OK with an adjudicated insurrectionist being handed the reigns of control yet again. It would also make it UNCONSTITUTIONAL to swear him into office.
2) Demonstrations will occur in DC from January 3 to 5, 2025, declaring Trump's DISQUALIFICATION from holding any office again. We can support them from home if we can't go in person. For information, go to: nowmarch.org
We will not stand idly by while a DANGEROUS and UNFIT man installs a sociocracy, destroying our democratic republic from within. The Constitution provides a backstop against someone who flagrantly breaks a previous oath of allegiance to our Constitution and attempts a violent coup d'état. We have a right to demand that lawmakers PROTECT US from such a man rather than blithely handing us over to him. We still have the right to protest and WE DISSENT.
Opinion: Elon Musk wants to ‘delete’ many Americans’ financial lifeline
Nearly every exit poll conducted on Election Day found that, more than any other issues, voters’ concerns about the economy helped to return Donald Trump to the White House and put Republicans back in charge of both houses of Congress. Americans who felt the sting of inflation and who had trouble making ends meet, as companies steadily increased prices for essential goods like groceries and clothing, voted in the hopes that a new administration and new Congress would bring relief for their families.
So it is especially surprising that one of the first federal agencies to come under scrutiny from the incoming administration is one that has returned billions of dollars to many of the same consumers who were counting on leaders in Washington to look out for their wallets.
On Nov. 27, Elon Musk — who, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, has been tasked by President-Elect Trump with running a new Department of Government Efficiency — posted on his platform X that he wants to “Delete CFPB,” referring to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency, Musk said, was part of a problem of “too many duplicative regulatory agencies” in Washington. But there are no other agencies in the federal government returning money to Americans’ bank accounts in the way the CFPB does.
Since its founding, the agency has returned more than $19 billion in cash to people who have been scammed by financial institutions, including predatory payday lenders and even some of the largest banks in the country. It has done so under Republican and Democratic presidents, including major actions against Wells Fargo and Equifax during President Trump’s first term in office, which, combined, returned $425 million to consumers. (Those actions both began under the Obama administration, but Trump’s CFPB directors oversaw the execution of those fines.)
The money recovered is made available to those who have been impacted by the institutions’ wrongdoing through the CFPB’s victims’ relief fund. To date, more than 200 million Americans have been eligible for payments from the fund. The agency has also cancelled many consumers’ debts altogether and reduced loan principles for many others.
In fact, just days after Musk posted his message on X, the CFPB announced that it was mailing refund checks to more than 4 million people who were scammed by so-called credit repair companies, including Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com, which illegally collected fees from consumers seeking relief for the effects of economic woes weighing down them and their families. The companies will pay $2.7 billion in consumer redress and civil penalties; $1.8 billion of that will go directly to those who lost money as a result of the scam.
t’s no wonder the agency enjoys broad, bipartisan support, with more than eight in 10 Americans supporting the CFPB’s various enforcement actions. In red and blue states, Americans seem to support returning money to those who have been cheated.
The agency’s impact is felt in other ways, too. In Oklahoma, CFPB collected evidence that helped retired Lt. Col. Susan Parisi in her fight against loan company GreenSky — which scammed her into a high-interest loan she never agreed to. The CFPB found that GreenSky was using “deceptive” and “fraudulent” tactics and ordered the company to return $9 million to consumers. My organization is representing Lt. Col. Parisi in her class action on behalf of others who were scammed by GreenSky.
So why is an agency that has been so effective, and returned so much money to so many people, being targeted for “deletion?” Because, in the course of holding wrongdoers accountable, it has crossed paths with some of the most powerful people in the country.
Musk’s post on X, for example, seems to have been prompted by complaints from Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist whose companies have been sanctioned (and, in the case of LendUp Loans, shuttered) because of CFPB investigations and actions. Andreessen accused the agency of “terrorizing financial institutions,” and was clearly infuriated when the CFPB found that LendUp had misled customers about high-interest loans and overcharged U.S. service personnel.
President-elect Trump and Republicans in Congress should not let Andreessen’s views overshadow the overwhelming opinion among Americans that the agency is doing important work that makes a real difference to those who turn to financial institutions and lenders for help during tough financial times. By one count, even under the first Trump administration’s CFPB directors — who tended to enforce far fewer fines against companies than Biden and Obama appointees — the agency brought more than $1 billion in redress back to consumers’ wallets. That’s direct relief, and money in wallets, for millions of Americans. “Deleting” the agency would almost certainly ensure that no such future relief ever reaches consumers again.
Fortunately, neither Musk nor the incoming administration can completely eliminate the CFPB, whose funding comes from the Federal Reserve in a model, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, that is meant to protect it from political meddling. Republicans and Democrats alike should ensure that firewall remains in place, and the CFPB remains on the job, if they’re serious about providing real, meaningful economic relief to Americans.
Sharon McGowan is the chief executive officer of legal advocacy organization Public Justice.
--Ordinary people just don't realize how much they 'benefit' from many of the agencies Musk wants to cut. They will soon find out - only then it will be too late. By the way, does anyone think Trump or Musk will suffer financially by their policies? It's amazing how working-class people (especially White people) tend to vote against their own interests because they believe rich White men (such as Trump and Musk) care about them.
Musk’s control of Starlink can alter the course of a war as we saw it affect the war in Ukraine. There is more going on with weaponization of space and if there is as little concern about it as Musk shows in the Tesla self-driving car accidents, we have even more troubles.
As I look at the trump kids and the Musk passel of kids, I see another generation taught to be greedy and predatory. The world needs to get a handle on ultra wealth.
Thank you, Robert, for educating us about the transition of our system of democratic capitalism to oligarchic capitalism. This shift, as you've explained, is marked by the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few, rather than the democratic distribution of these resources. But we should also remember what Abraham Lincoln said in 1865, which I still believe is true today, "Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration."
Organized labor, as history has shown, has the potential to be the most powerful force on earth. It didn't begin following the laws of the time. It began when the people had nothing left to lose and it will grow as the majority near that point again. As Michael Moore often reminds us, there are more of us than there are of them. This power is in our hands, and it's time to wield it.
I am copying this newsletter as a reminder of how to understand our new system of government as it unfolds. Your role in this understanding is crucial and your efforts are greatly appreciated.
If only he'd take on cutting this off at the pass. These are the times that try (wo)men's souls.
Constitutional scholars agree. In spite of the ruling in Trump v. Anderson, Donald Trump remains Constitutionally disqualified from holding office.
“The upshot is that Donald Trump remains constitutionally disqualified from the presidency and may not lawfully serve in that office or any other unless Congress removes the disqualification by two-thirds majorities of both houses. Nothing in Trump v. Anderson changes that legal reality.”
William Baude and Michael Paulsen, Harvard Law Review, Sweeping Section Three under the Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson
Thanks Robert. As I read that on a cold wet New Year’s Eve in West Cumbria, Spotify chose ‘Ohio’ for me.
‘Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming.
We’re finally on our own’.
The synchronicity of that choice in this moment and those words? Thats a theme tune for us in 2025. Good speed Americans standing against the fascists. Good speed us all who plan to stand up now. If not now then when? 🙏🏻
HOW? HOW? HOW? How do we fight back against all of this? I refuse to donate any more money!! I get these e-mails and texts telling me if I donate just $5 or $10, the orange man can be stopped or the muskrat will be sent packing! All it will take is my donation! Those types of demands and pleas don't mean anything to me now! I donated and donated to Vice-President Harris's campaign, I donated to abolish the electoral college, I donated to ensure the supreme court justices would be held accountable.........NOTHING! I cannot find anywhere specifically what I can do to stop all of this from happening! I feel helpless because these wealthy people and mega corporations are simply taking over! No accountability for them! No one seems to be doing anything. Jack Smith tried to. All of those attorneys tried to hold the orange man accountable but he just skates away! Because they have so much money, they buy their way out of everything!! It is sickening! We KNOW what they are doing! We KNOW what will be happening on J20! This is unbelievable! No one seems to care! I am tired! I have been insulted and ridiculed! Since when did having morals, insisting on truth, having compassion and empathy for those less fortunate, helping one another and working for the common good become "bad things"? It is as if America suddenly did a complete flip! Honesty and decency are now bad while lies, deceit, hate and retribution are what everyone seems to be striving for!! I can understand why so many have become cynical. I can see a lot of people changing from happy to angry almost overnight! It's all just extremely sad.
Well said Peggy! I couldn’t agree more with you!
On January 20th Presidents Trump and Musk will have complete control of the United States, Congress, the Executive, the Judicial and even the cowardly 4th Estate. They will do what they want to do, aided and abetted by their cabinet choices,, and the 50,000 or so civil servants that hired from among the MAGAt applicants, to replace those that Trump fired with his Schedule F executive order, which he will revive.
I see too many parallels with 1933, too many for my comfort, and I am more than concerned I am worried. I don;t see anything riding to the rescue either. Not the compromised and complicit Democratic party apparatchiks. They are not about to change, too many professionals with too much investment in the status quo, and if they did it is probably too late.
With a compliant Congress and Cabinet, assisted by a Federalist Judiciary and a corrupt Opus Dei Supreme Court, and a cowardly and complicit 4th Estate, the Musk Trump presidency will be able to plow right through the constitution.
Laws are not a safeguard, when the interpretation of the law is in the hands of an ideological cabal.
While the DNC, has been spending all of their money and time on trying to put their hand on the control lever of the train, the Republican party has been replacing the gears, engine and drive shaft with their own. Now they control the whole train, from the axle to the control lever.
Every Democratic strategist, analyst, consultant member of the DNC is an effete,ineffective, soul sucking milquetoast.
We needed our own Frank Luntz, Jude Wanniski's, Karl Rove's, Roger Ailes, but who did we have the effete and ineffectual, Robert Biggs, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile's,
If there is any chance of surviving a fascist dictatorship, then the opposition has to be as ruthless and persistent as they. They don't play by the rules, and neither should we, if we wish to bring the authoritarian train to a stop.
In Russia, the government (Putin) controls the oligarchs
in America, the oligarchs control the government.
Yes, William, but Trump wants to be an autocrat, not a first among equals. He will make enemies within his own circle, and he will mess up. He is no Octavius; he is the same, old, stupid Trump. Hopefully, Democrats will find a new Abraham Lincoln before long.
Octavius was a ruthless bastard, he had the son of Julius Caesar killed, and he won a civil war at the cost of thousands of Roman lives, he wreaked vengeance on his enemies, as Trump will do, and he imposed the law of Pater Familia, which is in essence the culture war agenda of MAGAts.
He was also, like Trump a hypocrite, while he enforced this law, he had no problem ignoring it.
I disapprove of calling Trump stupid, because that is the way to downplay and ignore the threat he poses
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes totally ignorant of geography and history. Holmes response was, "why crowd my mind with useless information" His superpower was his powers of deduction.
Trump is admittedly ignorant of almost everything, because to him knowledge is unimportant, However he has street smarts, and knows how to use people and control them, that is how he has become so wealthy and powerful.
He doesn't know jack squat about finance, so he hires an expert account.
He doesn't know jack squat about the law, so he hires teams of lawyers.
He doesn't know shit about real estate, so he hires people who do.
He doesn't know jack squat about politics, so he hires people who do.
In his world there is no one who can't be bought, and consequently he too can be bought, and Elon Musk, just bought him. Along with a stable of oligarchs.
Al Capone, John Gotti, all of the mafia Dons, except Meyer Lansky, were stupid, but they knew how to use people, buy people and make people fear them.
If an Abraham Lincoln arose, he wouldn't be recognized by the DNC, and if he were able to gain enough fame, he would be assassinated either literally or politically by the party and the press.
Bernie as no Abe Lincoln and look what they did to him.
Our hope lies in the self destruction of the internecine warfare between the Leninists and the Muskrats.
A warfare we should be encouraging.
.
Trump is a Nero, and the MAGA are the anti-Christian xenophobes. Rule by a praetorian guard is a real possibility. Hopefully, it will not be "Hitler's generals."
A praetorian guard is Hitlers Generals.
Actually the equivalent of the praetorian guard was Himmler's Schutzstaffel.
The SS was originally founded as Hitlers Life guards, its special service. the name translates into Protective Squadron or Protective Service. same meaning and purpose as the Secret Service which guards the president.
Himmler of course expanded it to an armed force under his command.
Which is something to look for with Trump.
There is not enough emphasis placed on the difference between the administration of 45 and the regime of 47.
In 45 he was a neophyte, at the mercy of a conservative establishment that handpicked his cabinet and advisors.
This time around he is no longer a neophyte and will surround himself with handpicked cabinet members and advisors who will ignore the constitution, administrative regulations, the institutions, and fulfill his wishes.
The office of the presidency is called the executive, because he executes laws passed by congress, but how he and what he executes is his discretion, and he rules by executive order,and verbal commands (requests)
He will have a cabinet and civil servants who are chosen for being loyal, and I wouldn't put a loyalty oath beyond him. How and when he will issue instructions to be executed is unknown, but according to Trump they will start Jan 21st.
The executive orders are already drawn up, awaiting his signature on Jan 20th.
The only thing he doesn't control, yet,is the Federal reserve
The rest of the machinery of government will be totally under his control and if they play the legal came, any cases that are ruled against him in lower courts will be reversed by the Supreme Court of Opus Dei traditonal Catholics.
Now how do we fight, not just fight but win. Especially when we go into a cage match with an MMA fighter, wearing gloves and fight Marquis of Queensbury rules.
Or if you wish a pillow to a knife fight.
Please strive to remember that despite their best efforts, "Hitler's generals" LOST WWII.
and if Jesus came back he wouldn't be recognised by the Christonationalists, he would be killed again, for being 'woke'.
That and a long haired effeminate hippy.
If hiring experts is all it takes, Trump wouldn't be a crook and a failure in all his undertakings.
Yet, Voldemoron believes that he's an expert on everything. So he only listens to those who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear. You tell him what he needs to hear in the morning, you've been fired by the afternoon via Twitter.
Is anyone else tired of reading/typing "X formerly Twitter"?
If Trump were a failure in all of his undertakings, we wouldn't be talking about him.
Everything he touches dies, but yet he is a billionaire, or believe to be one, and will be President again in 20 days.
He is being judged by the wrong yardstick.
Sherlock Holmes, could not have exposed a more thorough deduction of all the facts.
Trump also has dementia, only gets worse as time goes on. This is going to be a hideous soap opera of insanity.
You lay out the crux of the problem, William, but then go on to decree that being venal and untrustworthy is some kind of fucking solution.
This I agree with: << While the DNC, has been spending [MODIFIED- most] of their money and time on trying to put their hand on the control lever of the train, the Republican party has been replacing the gears, engine and drive shaft with their own. Now they control the whole train, from the axle to the control lever.>>
That IS nearly where we are. We do still have a chance at the state and local levels to resist —AND, if there are ANY Republican members of Congress and the Senate who still have a hair’s breadth of integrity left, we might hold off on SOME of the depredations the Rs plan to unleash.
THIS I DISagree with: << If there is any chance of surviving a fascist dictatorship, then the opposition has to be as ruthless and persistent as they. They don't play by the rules, and neither should we, if we wish to bring the authoritarian train to a stop.>>
I do not say we need to be patsies who refuse to protect ourselves and our democracy with more savvy and determined strategies. We need savvy strategies. But, I say we will NOT save democracy by savaging it. We CAN — especially by finding a way to be more unified — resist the worst of what the Rs have in store.
YES, they’ve seeded our courts. [But Biden has been putting judges into the system,too}. YES, they hold slim majorities in both houses of Congress. YES, too many SCOTUS jurists are compromised. But NOT ALL OF THEM, and even one or two more MIGHT resist some of the worst that the Oligarchs have in store…It remains to be seen if the remnants of integrity can be revitalized or not … If we don’t try, we won’t know …
I find this tendency to tell us that all is lost unless we repudiate honor to be absolutely a prescription for doom. If we repudiate the rule of law on the cockamamie idea that we are preserving it, we are fucking idiots. Therein lies the old saw, “The operation was successful, but the patient died.” OR, “We have to destroy them to save them.”
Not mincing words, William. Bullshit. Fuck that.
We need a resistance. We need some savvy. We need a HOW … but if we enable monsters on the LEFT to vanquish monsters on the RIGHT, why the fuck bother? The people will be governed by monsters.
Mussolini or Putin? Nope. Neither for me, thank you very much!
Well Pat, do you have a solution. I mean a real one a workable one. I don't advocate being venal and untrustworthy, fighting the same war as he enemy is fghting is not bein venal and untrustworthy.
Politics ia an MMA cage match, and Democrats have been treating it like a boxing match with gloves and Marquis of Queensbury rules.
How soothing it is to be flung into a pit, knowing that at least you were moral and high handed.
When they go low, we go high, and look where that has landed us?
As the song goes, You take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be Scotland afore ye.
Tell me what strategies are possible, when the NAZI's control all the levers of government, and have cowed the 4th Estate into submission.
Let's talk about the slim majorities in Congress, Our only hope is that something happens to the Republican majority, as regards the Senate, The Republicans are all set to use the nuclear option and override the filibuster.
As regards pinning hopes on Jurists. Bear in mind judges are human, and humans above all have a survival instinct. You can see that instinct surfacing already in the media and even with Jack Smith filing to dismiss the cases.m he didn't have to do that, he could have left it to Trumps Attorney General.
There may be a few courageous judges Like Lewis A Kaplan who preside over the E Jean Carroll case, but there are judgles like Merchan and Kaplan, who couldn't dismiss the case fast enough, knowing that Trump will have his revenge.
This is war Pat, war for our personal survival and the survival of our way of life and our liberal democracy.
And you don't fight wars with one hand tied behind your back.
Eisenhower didn't play nice or fair, or ask permission before our troops landed on Normandy Beaches.
If one does not have the guts for a fight, then surrender is an option. otherwise don't complain or bitch about the tactics and style of the fight.
You are so damned absolutist and defeatist, William.
YES, if we are fighting a cage match, we have to be ready for the kind of hits we’re gonna get — READY, to take the hits and hit back. I am not advocating tying our hands. I am advocating preserving what we want to save. ..
Not soothing to be “flung into a pit.” Where have you seen me suggesting we should even ALLOW that? I have spoken here and elsewhere at how I was LIVID that the Dems let McConnell get away with his court packing as though there were ZERO procedural or legal remedies to that blatant power grab — McConnell seized on unwarranted power, and Dems rolled over. THAT IS WHAT I DO NOT ADVOCATE — I want savvy responses, not helpless ones.What are those savvy responses — well, we’d have to have serious talks about that, but I’m convinced the Dems let their chance go by.
Mmmm, the Dems TALKED about ditching the filiuster when they could have used the power, but they did not. Shit!
The Fourth Estate is not yet cowed into submission — the Oligarchs who own the mass media notwithstanding. {You see where we are writing, don’t you?}
Normandy was in a hot war. Appropriately waged.
What we want to SALVAGE here is our democracy … As long as we have it, we ned to try to hold onto THE RULE OF LAW.
If we let go of that, then the chaos IS what we have left — and all hell breaks loose.
You can blah-blah all the fight rhetoric you want, but we have to color at least ostensibly within the lines — using artistic license for the color we choose, and maybe even for where we carefully go outside the lines — but if we tear it apart to save it, what do we have when we’re done?
You are using rhetoric to make a point. And the rhetoric is baloney.
I want solid thought and plans for how we hold onto our society and democracy.
There you go again Pat, personalizing everything, telling me what I am.
If I disturb your world view, that is your problem.
Meanwhile keep your opinion and assessment of me to yourself. I really don't care.
thank you for your attention to this matter.
Pat Goudey OBrien : read Stephen Spooner's Substack and spread the word about how 2024 was hacked!
Pat ; the forum posted recently "The year in drawings" contains links from Marlo about the hacking of the 2024 election. Look for his post with information that he shared. I don't know how to send it, but it would be interesting to read if you have not done so.
I have … and I’m hearing a lot of chatter … We have so seriously criticized “challenging” elections, and at the same time we’ve so seriously polluted any trust in our systems - this is how they kill our democracy. Get us to hate it and distrust it and tear it down with our own hands, willy nilly.
THIS is the chaos and discord that serves THEIR purpose.
Damn! SOME poll-worker friends of mine have said these hacks are NOT as clear and simple as they’re presented. They’ve told me there ARE checks and balances. They said we may have had some irregularities, but not enough to change the final result.
Others are sure that cheating has been possible, but have not shown the actual evidence {like Donald was never able to do, other than to make accusations, but he never showed any convincing “proof”}.
I actually take the position that some others have taken — that Mr. Trump was in fact ineligible to even run, since he incited insurrection in 2021 … but that has only been supported by some courts and not substantiated by others.
I do feel an enormous frustration over ALL of this … I have {as do so many others} the firm sense that The Donald is a ludicrous and invalid “-elect” … but the levers of power that MIGHT seriously make that case need to be pulled by other people, and so far … !!
Do we hear talk of anything coming about? Other than some in the House and Senate refusing to certify Electors? {Not enough to bring it down, though? I’m at a loss, being a little old lady in Vermont, with only logic, and language, and ONE TINY LITTLE VOICE to bring to the struggle …}
There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that those who cried the loudest about a stolen election because they tried to steal 2020 have succeeded in stealing this one. I will bet that when all the investigations are complete, it will be revealed that this election was rigged. Uncounted mail-ins, voter suppression, and computer hacking - this election was stolen. They blew it in 2020, but learned their lessons.
"In Russia, the government (Putin) controls the oligarchs
in America, the oligarchs control the government."
Nice summary of your thoughts. You write a whole comment bewailing the "authoritarian train" in America, then pivot 180° in favor of a Russian style government to control the oligarchs. Mostly you want power to rule the country in accordance with your own beliefs, just like Robert Reich. Reich, who refuses day after day to define what he wants for DEMOCRACY at the FEDERAL level.
I thought you might have had a point, Bill Pound, until you lumped Robert in with the Democratic sycophants. You can’t be following Reich much,if that’s what you think…. OR, you are carrying water for those who WANT to see our system torn down.
Either way, you are wrong …
I read Robert's posts nearly every day. He is a would-be leader of the Democrats, and most here who comment are his sycophants. I do WANT our current system torn down, at least to the point it can be directed to more useful results for more citizens. And I am not alone, witness the results of November 5th. And I am a snarky Grandpa.
Go pound sand ; troll!
I haven't pivoted an inch Bill Pound. I just merely stated and observable fact.
Now as regard Democracy and whatever it means to you. It died a cruel death on November 5th.
The qualities that made Democracy so attractive, freedoms, freedom of choice, freedom of speech, are the very thing that ends democracy. It did so in Germany in 1933, In Hungary with the election of Orban, in Turkey with the election of Erdogan., in Russia with the election of Putin.
I don't advocate or pivot in favor of anything. I simply describe the situation as it appears.
The reader can make of it what he wants, as you have done.
Before a thing can be fixed, one must know how it works. And what is causing it to malfunction or stop working.
And a long slog like Germany went through is NOT necessarily what is in store for us {our freedoms didn’t “die,” they were dealt a hateful blow, but they can survive if we work on holding onto them — so maybe knock off that rhetoric that kills our resolve …}.
YEAH, you gotta know how a thing is broke before you can fix it, but you gotta try to fix it in order to fix it, too. OR, you can throw it away and look for a replacement, but therein lies the risk of the replacement being worse.
Can we STOP with the absolutist crap that all is lost? It is only “lost” if we insist on covering it up with crap.
Reich keeps beating the drum about DEMOCRACY. You just added to his muddled (or is it lack of) thinking. Democracy didn't die November 5th. We have democracy at the Local and State levels, but not at the Federal level, by design. Our founders studied government designs from 2000 years, and after 167 years on the continent of North America, chose a representative Republic. They rejected democracy at the national level because it had failed everywhere it had been tried. The reason...it leads directly to tyranny by the majority (Bolshevik or majority Party in Russia, with the Mensheviks being the minority Party crushed by the Bolsheviks). In lieu of Reich's thunderous silence, perhaps you can tell us what you would expect from Democracy at the Federal level.
If you "don't advocate or pivot in favor of anything" why bore us with your thoughts at all? I looked out my window and saw a bush. "I simply describe the situation as it appears."
Wow, aren't you something. I guess I and everyone else should be standing in aw of your magnificence, except we are not. You are simply a bore.
FYI, you are obviously new and thus uninformed about me, other posters, even Robert Reich.
Let me acquaint you with what I've been saying, sans the personal antagonism of which I have plenty and am ready to unleashed on little Toto.
In short form. The founding "fathers" crafted together an agreement, in which the sovereign nations (states is a synonym for nations). came to an agreement in which they promised to suspend their sovereign claims, so long as a majority agreed to do the same,in some, not all circumstances, and that they retained their sovereignty,unless they forfeit that claim, in certain circumstances.
And the representatives of the agreed upon federal government, would be persons who had a vest interested in the success of that federal government,namely property owning men. Not even white men, at first, just property owning men.
The voting citizens in the first two elections were property owning men, but then other states, politicians, one by one, realized that they could gain a political advantage by enfranchising all men, not just property owners (and by property was mean human property)
What this gentleman founded was a Republic, rule by wise men (propertied men),not a democracy, at least not one as currently defined.
It took 130 years and three amendments, the 15th,17th and 19th to bring forth a true democracy in which all citizens were recognized as having a stake in the success of this corporation were recognized as having a vote.
And now spare us your self righteous bullshit, and vacate the premises, you ass hole.
SO you DON’T support national democracy? What the hell DO you want then? Democracy does NOT have to become tyranny by the majority — that was the wrong-headed argument at our founding that did NOT win, as guard rails were built in to respect the rights of minorities .., and to require super-majorities for certain things. The whole idea is to build in protections against mob rule … And we’ve been trying to make it better over the time we’ve been here with a bunch of amendments done and more t come..
In a world of BILLIONS of people, what WOULD you like to see prevail? I have no clue what you propose in the place of representative democracy, but absolutely NOTHING else occurs to me that I could possibly get behind.
Bill Pound ; I read a book by intelligence professional Malcom Nance, wherein he wrote that the Oligarchs hired Putin because they were looking for a Pinochet. Believe me, there is truth in the saying that "those who got the gold makes the rules"
Neither is desirable.
Seems to me that the Oligarchs and Democracy do not mix but cross each other out?
Democracy makes fascism possible. Mussolini's fascism was born out of Democracy, Hitlers fascism was born out of the democracy of the Weimar Republic.
Putin's fascism was born out of the short lived post Soviet Republic.
Orban's fascism was born out of the post Soviet Hungarian democracy.
Franco's fascism was born out of the Catholic churches resistance to the "Second Spanish Republic", a democratic parliamentary system established in 1931 after the abdication of King Alfonso XIII; this period lasted until the start of the Civil War in 1936.
And always behind fascism and financing it is money.
I think you will enjoy and be enlightened by: https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/how-fascism-came-read-by-eunice-wong?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=9q8rt&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
What a crock. Fascism can arise out of any cesspool that is a government corrupted. Just because you can name some lousy governments that perverted democracies does not mean democracies are fundamentally flawed.
When you have a good thing, you have to PROTECT it … Once we let McConnell pervert our Supreme Court, that was the final piece that brought on our current trials … Dems failed to stop McConnell and here we are …. We had strugggles before we lost the Supreme Court, but it’s way worse now that we have THIS court plus Citizens United.
You are right that Russia is as much a fascist dictatorship as Orban’s Hungary, though.. Putin rules like Mussolini, and Stalin like Hitler. — autocrats and oligarch all ….
What I said Pat is that the greatest strength about Democracy, that which makes it desirable is also it's weakness.
The very freedoms that democracy enables are used to destroy it.
Vigilance is required and freedoms are not absolute.
I believe it was OBL that said, we will use your freedoms to destroy you.
Orban used the freedoms of a democratic Hungary to take over the country.
Our home grown fascists have used the freedoms afforded by our Constitution and laws, to create what appears to be a nascent autocracy.
Berkeley was the home of the Free Speech movement, until it became free speech for me and not for thee.
Vigilance is required to keep and maintain our democratic values, but the vast majority of our population sleep walks.
I live in the world that is Pat, not in the world that I wish it was or want it to be.
...I hear you on this. I am on a meagre social Security benefit which is less than what is s considered the "average" monthly benefit amount. . If i were just to give one dollar to each candidate and political concern that pumps me for donations would be broke before .the end of the month. I am also one of those who feels abandoned by the "party of the people's" centrist core.
After 2016 it was thought maybe the party would assess its shortcomings and change course. Back then it even promised to, but in the end nothing came of it and it continued down the "business as usual" path. This election it didn't take long for them to do so when they chose a 74 year old neoliberal centrist over a 35 year old progressive to head the all important House Oversight Committee. It was bad enough when it was discovered that some in the party turned to dark money sources to defeat more progressive candidates during the primaries but this last decisions was sort of a last straw..
Neoliberal policy with it's glacial "baby steps" approach is why people flocked to two populists in 2016. Voters were tired of hearing promises and seeing little or nothing get done .for them. This election it manifested itself ln a large number of people (particularly on the (D) side) simply not bothering to vote or just voting for state and local down ballot races and initiatives. Again it was because people felt the concerns that mattered the most to them (persisted high prices for food and rent, the ongoing healthcare crisis, and what to a majority was a hypocritical stand on the war in Gaza) were not addressed.
Yet as I mentioned above, the party apparently still did not, nor wanted to get the message that people are tired of go nowhere "business as usual" politics thy feel have left them behind. There are members of the party that want it to grow, to change course and become more responsible and responsive to needs and interests the people, but they have for the most part been shouted and shut down by the party's neoliberal core.
This is nothing new, it goes back to the early 20th century when progressive members of the (R) party endured a similar situation and with Teddy Roosevelt and later Bob Lafollette eventually split off to form their own party. Could that happen again? Or would it like its predecessors not make much of an impact as the electoral system is so heavily stacked in favour of the current duopoly. We saw that this cycle with the centre aright No Labels party which had corporate and big money sources backing them. No, for smaller parties to participate and have an impact though forming coalitions, we would need a major change in the structure of our government to a more parliamentary one, but that would never happen.
Hence why we have to much harder at getting mere younger and progressive minded people in the party and push for reform. Parties have changed before and can change again, like the (D)s becoming the party of "New Deal" and "Great Society" while the more recently, (R)s devolved into the party of MAGA and lies. The one difficulty we will have to do it via grassroots means as big and corporate money looks to preserve the status quo if we ant the party to once again be responsive and responsible to us.
Sadly agree
There is a problems with that. Machiavelli explained that if your opponent "prince" wants to go amoral, to compete, you have to stoop to their level. Our "prince" though is the Constitution, an inherently moral document.
Documents don't save lives and nations, if they did then there would be no Presidents Musk Trump, nor a supreme court that disregards the document or interprets it as it wills.
Indeed, my good man, indeed.
Amen!
Tranquilo Peggy .
Visit " People's World" for inspiration.
You are not alone!
Same here, how's the weather over there?
I fell the same, Peggy. So I am reading slave narratives, at the moment, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative, by Greg Hecimovich, Foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr. It gives me the perspective I need to experience this current situation which seems insurmountable. They persevered. We must, too. Life is not always an exercise of cause and effect. It is our turn to carry some of this burden.
It is our turn. I agree
Are we inspired by MMK, and many others who committed themselves to the cause of justice.
We need a third party, I am thinking..
Hello, Bernie!
Either a third party, or FINALLY retake the Dem one for the people … It took the Rs a long time to get us where we are — If they didn’t make such a MESS of invading Iraq, they might have accomplished this even without The Donald as their foil ..
BUT, it still took them a while … We don’t have forty years to get our government back. We need a strong resistance …
BUT, keep in mind —- convincing populations that have little history with democracy to accept autocracy is easier than convincing a MAJORITY of Americans to accept Oligarchy.
The United States has a history of AT LEAST A MODICUM of democratic process — locally and in our states, and even in the House and the Senate, now and then.
We see right now a backlash even among the Trump cultists, when handed the Oligarch pronouncement that Wealthier Minds Shall Prevail, and they can take it or leave it
What are they saying? “This is not what we voted for!!”
OK, they still think of Democracy as their birthright …
We need to find people who believe in government by consent of the people — ALL the people, not just the white ones or the rich ones — and build our resistance!!!!!!!
I hope, for fuck’s sake.
We need to retake the Democratic Party
AOC should have been the chair of the oversight committee.
Most absolutely 💯!
Tell me how many third-party candidates are in ANY position of power.
There is still one area of bi-partisanship existing between Democratic and Republican politicians, which is that no third party will be allowed to gain power in American politics. When the two-party monopoly is broken, it will be done by independent voters. Independent voters are not a political party. They were created by the writing of the Constitution of the United States and the states that held the elections. There were no organized political parties in American government until the election of 1800.
THEY took over the R’s party.
WE need to take back the Dems.
That is our task!!!!
Too late. Independents are 43% of voters. The two-party system is now at 48% of voters. The two-party system is done.
Only if we give up … And I am suspicious of people who keep counseling that we abandon our Constitution for some pie-in-the-sky alternative that has no shape or form.
Screw that!
YES! Excellent Plan! 👏👏👏👏🥳
There was a question that first occurred to me when I was in grade school. Why was England able to abolish slavery in the entire British empire in 1834, while the United States could not abolish slavery 30 years later without having a Civil War? I recently found the answer, and in September of 2023 published a book explaining the reason entitled, A House Divided Against Itself, by Robert B. Winn, now available for purchase on Amazon Books and Barnes and Noble Online. For those who do not read books, Google the Declaration of Rights, an act of Parliament agreed to by William and Mary before they were confirmed king and queen of England by Parliament.
Perhaps this is a cynical response, but I think the British decided they no longer needed slavery, because they were importing cotton from the American South. The concept of slavery had become generally unpopular, so abolishment was a driving factor in improving their image, but a real stand against it should involve not purchasing cotton from the American South.
The Declaration of Rights was not about slavery. It was an attempt to avoid another Civil War in England. The war between King Charles I and Parliament was actually caused by James I, an unpopular king who began the practice of appointing judges to whom he gave the task of "striking down" acts of Parliament the king did not like. This increased the contention between the monarchy and Parliament to the point of Civil War during the reign of Charles I. The Declaration of Rights reformed the English judicial system in a couple of significant ways. 1. The king could not appoint his own judges or act as a judge himself. 2. English judges could no longer "strike down" acts of Parliament.
The American judicial system went the other way. Starting with a judicial system in which any judge could be just, a Supreme Court decision, Marbury v. Madison 1803 declared that the Supreme Court was "striking down" an act of Congress, which made Civil War in the United States inevitable. It made Congress to weak too resolve the slavery question because if Congress abolished slavery, the Supreme Court would just declare abolishment of slavery unconstitutional. What was actually unconstitutional was the use of the Supreme Court as a supreme legislature, and it had the same effect that "striking down" of acts of Parliament had caused in England, Civil War.
England didn’t need slaves. They had colonies and protectors. Many have only become independent during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They already had slaves
Yes! The answer is always follow the money trail to political action…or war for that matter.
But the people who immigrated to the southern colonies were largely English, bringing their peculiarly cruel tendencies with them.
There have always been cruel people in every society. The goal is to have laws and a judicial system that does not reward cruel people.
Thank you for this information, Robert… I'll look for your book. Years ago I read a wonderful book called something like, Breaking the Chains... about how England had abolition movements that over the decades gained ascendancy in probably the House of Commons. Abolitionists in England worked tirelessly just as they did here in the states, but the contexts were different including the ferocity of the slave holding oligarchs in the South.
I would certainly be interested in getting your opinion about the book. If you have any comments, criticisms, or ideas about it, here is my email address. rbwinn3@gmail.com
Great reading list! Thank you for sharing!
Donna: Read Stephen Spooner's Substack and spread the word about how the 2024 election was hacked.
But again, the concerns over hacking aren't being addressed in any meaningful way. That's the problem. Well, it's the problem with all the problems, past, present, or future. I can have all the information and still not be able to affect meaningful change to a systemic problem(s).
I have many American friends who have moved to Europe because they cannot stand what America has become. Amazing really, when you think about all the corruption we accuse others of being and doing ,and here in good old honest America we are surrounded with it. Norman Rockwell must be churning in his grave! All very sad!
My friends are apparently not as capable as yours, they have all moved to Mexico. I considered uprooting to my favorite town on the Sea of Cortez,, but my son wants our tribe together to support each other. At least the hex is working on muskito, his Wikipedia plea backfired. I hear collective hexes garner more power.
Yes, tis’ terribly sad. I also planned to leave the U.S. and move to San Jose Del Cabo, my Favorite place. But hotels were taking over the pristine beaches.
Call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye 🧐
I feel your pain.
Muskito is the most fitting name for Musk. The higher he climbs, the more devastating the fall, and- that he’s going to experience real soon. When his mind explodes, into never, never land. Are the movie scripts already being written? The more the merrier! Happy New Year America! 🇺🇸 🥳
Funny you should say that; I'm a screenwriter (wink-wink)
Yes Lesley collective ‘energy’ works
🌬️
Lesley, I agree with you about the cartels. As a lifelong lover of Mexico, though, my question of late has been: would Mexico even want us there? I’ve never had a problem visiting in the past, but in the past we didn’t have *rump.
I don't think they want most of us, how can they or anyone "trust" people who re-put the felonous imbecileass as commander in chief. There's a lot of timeshares & holiday homes U.S. citizens own there. I think laws will waffle, come & go -- he doesn't know what the hell he's doing anyway.
Isn't Mexico being overrun by drug cartels?
Victor, they exist, but prefer to avoid confrontation. Dubya Shrub supplied them w/weapons in an operation that backfired. Mexico values organic corn unlike the U.S. loveaffair w/GMO monsanto. I should be walking barefoot in the creamy sands of the world's 2nd most dramatic tidal shift savoring a mango paleta. (reposted didn't seem to appear)
Most people who have lived and worked their entire lives can't just move to another country. This is where we have lived. My family has been here since the Revolutionary War. So we should just leave because wealthy people don't care we gave our lives to service and our fathers fought in W.W. I.I.?
My father flew with the British RAF during the Second World War. Together with my parents and then later with my husband, who worked for US companies, I lived in 14 countries, many going back more than once or twice. It gives one a good perspective on life in this World. I am not rich and just a few years ago after becoming a widow, I moved to a new city in a new country and I am thinking of leaving the US permanently too........it is amazing how easy it can be to move to another country.
We can not give up on America, remember those famous words - ‘America, IF! We can keep it.’
Immigrants from Europe that colonized North and South America immigrated despite the fact that their ancestors had lived in Europe for thousands if not tens of thousands of years. People either pick up and leave or stay and fight. But from what I’ve read in expat blogs, other countries mostly tolerate Americans being there. At worst, in places like Portugal, Malaysia, Spain and others there’s a growing of sense of resentment toward Americans because they are negatively impacting the economy and housing market of the communities they move to. It’s a double edged sword of our making.
I think the Founding Fathers would be horrified if they knew what was happening to the country.
Yea you are right Margaret
Peggy, et.al. please see my other comment for information on TWO ACTIONS we can take to express what's being passed over by lawmakers and the mainstream press: Not even the Supreme Court has exonerated Trump of the treasonous crime of insurrection, and three states have specifically found him GUILTY: Maine, Illinois, and Colorado. The Supreme Court said those states couldn't keep him off their ballots but they did not comment on whether or not he was DISQUALIFIED from holding office again, as stipulated in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The country has been gaslighted and most of us are unaware. But we can make our feelings known to both our Congressional representatives and the press by participating in the actions I've listed above. We can also creatively engage in our own free speech locally, while we still can...we don't have to stand silently by while a pack of vengeful, sociopathic billionaires, with no moral or ethical limits, destroy our country by implementing the hate-filled "Project 2025."
I can't tell you how many times I have written to my congress people only to get back form letters which often had nothing to do with what I had written about. They don't read them, their staff does. They care only for what money they get from donors.
Same here. I don’t even think their staff reads them!
In general, I agree that money is a primary motivator. But, numbers can also make a big difference. Please keep on sending those letters, even if all you get back is a form letter.
Yes, and organized numbers do carry power.
Organize, join organizations! Power comes with organization.
Unfortunately true!😢
Margaret - Same.
“The country has been gaslighted” - perfect encapsulation of what has happened.
On the contrary, it’s emerging from its long gaslighting by the Demshevik feminist acamedia CRT/DEI establishment, rubbing its eyes and realising that Russian collusion was bollox, the Hunter laptop was real, illegal immigration is a huge problem on several levels, and the Donald’s status as a “convicted felon” is rather a pointer to the Sovietisation of the US “justice” system.
Remember, Mandela, Solzhenitsyn, and Havel were all “convicted felons” once.
Troll
“Troll”
Pat, you’re playing the same role as Cromer in Frank Belknap Long’s It Will Come to You
(p. 106 at the enclosed Internet Archive Link)
https://archive.org/details/Unknown_v06n04_1942-12_PDF_unz.org/page/n105/mode/2up
Your “Bannerman” (Yog-Soros? Zombama? Horrorei Klintonnister? Klaus Szwab?) will have to take you aside and say:
“Pat, how can you be so stupid? If it sounded trollish to you it had to be gold-standard accurately “fact-checked”…. you’ve had another lapse of memory …. you forgot that what looked trollish to you …. you may as well face it, Pat… WHAT ARE YOU?”
Pat (suppressing sobs): “I’m a Kultural Marxist and Islamist sleeper agent.”
Happy New Year, btw.
They were imprisoned, not merely convicted. This contrasts with someone who could appoint his own judges and Supreme Court justices who keep him out of prison.
“His own judges”. - Judge EN(go)RON?
and Trump is a Putin admirer!
WELL SAID! Thank you for your wise words of encouragement. I like to think that progress is our most important purpose for participating in democracy. All struggles have setbacks from time to time, but I believe that principled persistence can prevail.
And if the orange maggot starts sprouting up daises we have JD Vance in charge, I feel a further decline coming in with this outcome.
If the electoral votes awarded Trump and Vance are disqualified because of section 3/14, it would be Kamala Harris who becomes president.
It's hard not to be down- hearted when we see who Dump wants in his administration and the insane agenda he has. If he tries to deport millions of people he will need the armed forces to make it happen. That will place them in a quandry: obey the dictator or the constitution? Historically we have had many honest, educated, and honorable military leaders whose first allegiance is to the law. I would bet on a military coup before the army acts illegally against immigrants, fake DOJ opinions notwithstanding. And remember where Mussolini ended up.
TUCK FRUMP.
Wow that is really insightful. Thanks for sharing that info
Are there even enough votes to disqualify him based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? Are there any remedies for Trump if Congress were to disqualify him? He obviously has been supported by a corrupt Supreme Court, but who knows what they would do?
Timothy, The stand being taken by many constitutional experts is that he is already disqualified because it was concluded by courts in three states, plus the bipartisan J6 Commitee that he had absolutely committed a treasonous attack and uprising against the Constitution of the United States.
My understanding is that what's being asked now is that his electoral votes not be counted because they were cast in favor of a man who committed insurrection and is therefore disqualified. So the votes of people who voted for an insurrectionist are unconstitutional and can't be counted.
If, all the Democrats hung together on this issue and refused to certify the electoral votes on January 6 that would be interesting! If that really came to pass, and it's extremely unlikely,, Kamala could be pronounced the president of the United States.
Another way this could go is that a bill would be put forward to offer "amnesty" to Trump, as per section 3 of the 14th amendment, because he's already an adjudicated insurrectionist. In order to remove that disqualification there would have to be a 2/3 vote in both houses for amnesty. If this were to come to pass, very likely they wouldn't get 2/3 in both houses voting to give him amnesty, which would mean that his disqualification would stick and it would be unconstitutional for him to be offered the oath of office.
Even though this outcome is unlikely, we are still urging our senators and representatives to take this stance because it is their duty to protect us from a dangerous and unfit leader, even if he won an election fair and square. That's why the framers included this section after the Civil War, because they realized that people can threaten the constitution, even if they fool the public into electing them.
And by the way, I don't believe for a minute that Trump won this election fair and square but that's not our issue right now. The issue is doing everything we possibly can to keep a dangerous, vengeful, emotionally volatile man out of the White House.
I know it's confusing, but I hope that made some kind of sense to you 😊
Dear Dr Taylor,
Maybe I’m looking right at it, but I can’t find the other two actions that you’ve mentioned?
Camille it should be under my name somewhere on this thread. You may have to open where it says thread continued, maybe under Peggy's post.
1) Text: PGZBAX to 50409
2) nowmarch.org
Thanks very much
Yes Peggy, and now what?
I wrote earlier about small scale, local level politics, volunteers, civilised mayors and administrators. Bob's analysis is perfect, as usual, but he fears he is feeding cyniscim.
There should be a strategy for the situation after the 20th.
That can be political: creating coalitions and majorities in Washington, but also local.
And a political party is not a machine for donations, but an organisation of people that want to think about politics, instead of applauding at mass rallies.
Thank you, Tom. You're right. Cynicism is rearing its ugly head and I have fallen for it. I am trying to remain optimistic; however, sometimes it becomes so overwhelming! It seems whether we start locally or in Washington, their machine has become so big I fear there is no stopping it. You are also right about donations. I have stopped my donations to political organizations and right now I only donate to charities that help people. I needed some clarity, Tom, and you provided that. Thank you.
Peggy, many women suffragettes never saw the results of their efforts. It took about 100 years. They died before they got the chance to vote. You do what you can knowing you may not see the results but in hopes that future generations will. It’s the long game.
You are correct there...long game. I've worked in a union of 'men only' up until the Trans Alaska Pipeline. I feel like I've been on the ground floor but have realized I'm simply one in a long succession of women who stepped into a world that didn't want or recognize them before. I've seen changes, yes, and yet there's a long way to go toward reaching a balance. I have fought and spoken up. The changes are slow because of the way society is with white men running pretty much everything. So here we are with a head of state who wants to be a darker shade of white, while being racist. It all makes me wonder about our species. We are less than a speck in the whole of the galaxy... universe. Knowing that lightens me up as it also keeps me going. Much can be done. We just need to stay the course and keep on going because "it's the long game."
Tell our representatives and Senators that we need a recount of two precincts per swing state to reveal the hacking of the election. According to election security experts. Just hand counting two precincts in each swing state will show irregularities that will prove that hacking has occurred.
I cannot sleep as well. And I live in Europe. But the problem is the same: no cyniscism, but creativiteit in political habits…
Before the 20th as many readers as possible should read Matt's Tin Hat Times about the hacking of the 2024 election. Also Stephen Spooner's Substack about the same. And share it with as many as possible.
A third party.
Don't give up. In 1984 George Orwell said there was truth and untruth and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad. It's hard, I know, but never been so necessary.
I'm like that little kitty on the poster hanging from the rope with just one tiny claw, but I'm still holding on! Somebody needs to provide some direction otherwise more and more people are just going to tune out.
I agree. To me Kamala Harris was that direction. The shredding of our social fabric was too much for even her to overcome. I am looking for a hole in the building storm to head to. Hopefully, enough people come to their senses before it gets completely out of control.
I think it's quite possible that powerful, seasoned, but younger Dems like Kamala Harris, Justin Jones in Tennessee, and others, will be around to help us persist, and rise up again.
You’re not helpless like that kitty. You have more powerful than you think you are. Let go
(cats are famous for landing on their feet). Then do what you can. Resist!
Bless you, Robert! You're like a breath of fresh air! Thank you!
Peggy,
I know what I said is easier said. The cat analogy you use is apropos. I suppose much of the reason we meet here on RR’s substack is not only to learn and be educated but to come to terms with feeling overwhelmed with the 24/7 amount of scary, depressing and horrendous news cycle information we encounter. It becomes to much to process that our minds need a break as organic beings or we will short circuit. It’s important to prioritize time to simply slow down and do nothing, find ways to relax, rest, and clear our minds. Let’s pursue ways individually and collectively to face the challenges ahead. I hold the fundamental belief that Trump 2.0 / Project 2025 is unsustainable and Democracy will ultimately prevail.
Wishing you and all Robert Reich’s Substack community a sincere wish for a healthy and happy New Year.
Your sentiments are greatly appreciated, Robert! Have a very happy New Year!
Ps. Thank you for your kind words.
Read about how the 2024 election was hacked on Matts tin hat Times, also. On Stephen Spooner's substack. And share. Pass the word. It' documented.
Thank you for the reference to George Orwell. He understood what we are facing.
Errrr …. George Orwell died in 1949, I think.
The book with the title "1984" or Nineteen Eightyfour if you prefer but I think you might be trying to cheer us up with a little joke.
I care, Peggy Freeman, and it also seems that the honorable Robert Reich and Kamala Harris do as well - and many others. Let us not give up hope, please. It's been said that the longest journey begins with a single step - this article provides the step of helping us better understand the challenge ahead - which can even be seen as an opportunity ahead.
I have heard that one can view every situation we face in life as an opportunity to learn a valuable lesson, to develop more complete awareness of the realities of being human, and an opportunity to practice the basic principles that have guided many others through terribly tough times.
I think of what it must have been like at the end of the Roman Empire in ancient times, as well as what it was like for the descendants of slaves in this nation after Lincoln was assassinated and his vision of reconstruction perverted, and during the period after the assassination of hopes for civil rights and justice for all with the deaths of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr. when I was a teenager.
Humanity has always gone through cycles and spirals - as has the economy. We can, however, make a fresh start now, and then we can simply keep putting one foot in front of the other - making progress gradually and suddenly on the long and bending road that is the arc of history. It takes us from confusion to clarity, from disturbed emotions to serene wisdom. "Hope springs eternal..."
What you said was so true, Frank! I suppose I am guilty of being cynical that anything we do is going to make a difference. When I read your comment, I thought about that quote "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." M Tree gave me my single step. I am going to find out about becoming a Precinct Committee Person and go from there. I do care, Frank, I guess I started out anxious, worried and scared and it spiraled after reading Professor Reich's post. He is an honorable and decent human being and I appreciate the lessons he is teaching me. I was simply venting and now I will get back to work!
I subscribe to this:
"Humanity has always gone through cycles and spirals - as has the economy. We can, however, make a fresh start now, and then we can simply keep putting one foot in front of the other - making progress gradually and suddenly on the long and bending road that is the arc of history. It takes us from confusion to clarity, from disturbed emotions to serene wisdom. "Hope springs eternal...""
Thank you, Frank Talk!
It's a way to see this problem is too big for the average person, that if we get riled up about it, but have nothing apparently to DO about it, we can at least remain stronger by viewing the longer-term solutions in a healthy light. Otherwise, we blitz our own minds.
I never thought tRump could be elected due to Article 14, section 3 of the Constitution, but we the country did it, so the problem is as huge as our population, via electorates.
I'm sure whatever spot you can find to make changes and do good will help your mental and physical state of health, so DO that. But do not have one solution at this point. I for one will join protests, as I've done in the past, but they aren't necessarily useful, they just make me feel better.
I can't "like" what you said because it's true. Is it enough to become "the opposition?" How much of this did we do to ourselves. How much done to us?
You're right, Miriam, what I said is not likable! I wish I knew the answer to your questions. I'd surely like to know what I did to bring all of this about! The important question I want answered is what can we do about it? For the life of me, I don't know what to do!
Play hardball, they will piss and moan that it is unfair when that is exactly what they are doing.
HARDBALL, yes. Use every twist and turn needed. STAND IN RESISTANCE when THEY pull a fast one — like NO ONE did when McConnell refused to even put a Supreme Court nomination up for consideration … WHY did Obama sit for nearly a year and let him do that? WHY did the Dems let him pack the court?
THEY PRETEND they are using our system to remake our system.
WE NEED TO RESIST — but NOT bring it down!! If we bring it down, they win.
They will use EITHER side to rebuild an oligarchy — Leftist Autocracy? Rightist Autocracy? Same difference.
Can we NOT let them use our system to keep destroying our system? {
Yeah, I know — wimps let the Donald skate for four years after his insurrection … I HATE to give up a virtuous fight …
We need the HOW, now.
ROBERT REICH — if you have some solid “HOW” in mind — including communication and persuasion, but more in-the-trenches stuff, too — now is the time to talk to us …
1) Text: PGZBAX to 50409
2) nowmarch.org
Peggy :Tell your representatives that you want an investigation of the swing states, with hand recounts in at least two precincts in each. Which will show the hacking of the election.
Start here . . . . "Less is more"
Less is less, in the case of investigating the fraud that was the 2024 election and theft of our country.
No, we need to have an investigation of the votes in the swing states. Hand recount in two precincts per swing state.
There was a question I started to ask myself back in early summer -- LONG before the election -- when I found myself spending around 20 to 30 minutes each and every day just cleaning out all the political donation requests out of my Inbox: "If other people are being inundated like this, won't it completely turn them off of politics altogether?"
And the follow-on: Is that what is being intended here? Is that the strategy? To turn millions of people off so they don't even vote?
Judging from the results of the election, Thomas, it very well could have been what was intended. The constant barrage of all the horrible things happening and are going to be happening are causing many to just ignore it all. My sister use to talk with me everyday about what was going on in politics. Now she refuses to watch any news, deletes the political emails and refuses to acknowledge anything that is going on! She tells me she is sick of it all!
My liberal sister won't discuss anything with me anymore. She is tuning me out of her life because my efforts at critical thinking about anything--philosophy, the psychology of what's happening, history (i.e. Heather Cox Richardson) and how democracy has survived before, are all off the list. She has closed the door. I cause her "too much anxiety." Even being positive and trying to learn and understand what attracts people to authoritarianism is "triggering" her to blame me for making her physically sick--recently vomiting and diarrhea when she just had the flu! If I can't talk to a family member who is most certainly in line with the democratic ideals, how can fight back instead of just submerging into the "I don't want to know anymore" nilism?
I've run into that too Annie. It's tough, and I'm sorry for that. I understand where their coming from, but I think we just find different people to talk to about it. Because I do believe we need to.
Annie, everyone has different tolerance levels. Maybe she needs a break. Maybe your local Democratic Party would have some members to befriend and talk with about these things? We do need to find our group.
Annie, if someone comes up with an answer for that, please let me know!
The corporations bought the politicians who, with the help of the media, lied to us to cover their corruption. This has been a long time coming. I too am tired of appeals for money! New organizations spring up over night to fight one aspect after another & who knows if they ever even make an effort. I don’t know what to do either. I now listen to tarot card readers to lighten my mood & meditate. Supposedly ignoring the bad & focusing on imaging good will help. At the very least I am no longer having heart attacks.
Yes, I agree with you. I tried to concentrate on other things rather than depressing myself over politics.
I feel exactly the same. I thought Jack Smith was our hope. He did his best. I hope he makes public all his findings. Maybe that will do something .
Elizabeth, I agree they should publish his findings; however, they have published other findings and no one seems to care what they say! No one seems to be shocked. Nothing seems to get to these people!
Bad behavior has been normalized in this trump era. It even gets rewarded. At least the findings should be published for historical reasons. Though Bill Barr reminded us that history is written by winners. There is still hope that scraps of truth will remain
“I thought Jack Smith was our hope”.
Yeah. Once Beria was the hope of people like you.
I also hope that Smith’s findings get made public, while he’s under investigation. And if he tries to hide them, you guys will make all sorts of excuses.
Robert's mention of Beria reveals him as a Putin troll.
How?
Feeling the same way. Massive sad truth. Knowing we can see it; understand it; didn't vote for it; didn't go gently and now have no clue what to do to help it? And I sign petitions and send emails daily to my reps and the white house. 🫣🫣🫣
Sin, it seems there are so many of us with our hands up saying what can we do? How do we start? I, too, sign petitions and send emails constantly; however, I don't think the ones that need to read them are paying that much attention!
Why not become a producer at Rebel News (Canada’s foremost non-fake news outlet), or join the Mark Steyn club?
Excellent commentary, and keeping them afloat really helps.
Yes, I too am tired of all the money pleas that I get all the time. That seems to be what everyone is doing now begging for donations. And here we are on the brink of what may be the end for our democracy and many lives if Trump and his cronies have their way. Better to hold on to your money since you will need every penny when SS is cut.
You're right, Margaret! I live on such a limited income. I was donating even when it was questionable if I would make it through to my next Social Security check or my small retirement check! I'm hanging onto every dime and penny now preparing for the absolute shitstorm that is coming!
I would be careful of these requests. There are groups I’ve never heard of asking for donations. Our emails have been sold off. Never click on the email. If you want to donate to an organization, check them out first and donate from a legitimate site. Watch out for scams.
I donate to the League of Women Voters (LWV). Their email usually contain LWV. Lately I’ve been getting donation requests from LVW. See how they swapped the letters? Idk if it’s a legit org. Just be careful.
"HOW? HOW? HOW?" I feel ya. The saddest thing, in this sad situation, is the gormlessness of the left. I am in the UK and the Labor Party, which has come back in power with a huge majority of seats, is busy rearranging the chair of the Titanic. The problem is that, in a globalized economy, politics becomes equally globalized. If, for example, the government of one country raises income taxes, then companies relocates etc. It is possible to act at a multicountry level (eg the OECD has pushed a minimum tax level for multinationals) but it requires more effort. What we need is a new International.
Case in point - the headline where Musk supports far right German candidate. Gathering momentum in global politics is very scary.
Read Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter today. It sounds like trump’s spouting of taking over Greenland, etc is, in the bigger picture, about breaking NATO and pushing Europe away from America and towards Russia. The boys are trying to carve up the world into territories as they see fit. I’ve read that some prominent Russian said Russia should get Hawaii, Alaska and California.
This is a scary reality “Midwest”. Trump doesn’t joke… he uses commentary to gauge his world audience… his 2025 group is probably figuring out the details of a new world order as we all comment here. I keep thinking back when Trump and Putin met in Finland and against all protocols (somehow) Trump and Putin met ( no US translator present) for almost an hour as I recall. That meeting was never talked about and certainly not nowadays.Could that have been the start of all this? More recent when Trump called on his Evangelical base to get out and vote because they’d never have to vote again… then retracted that down the line to comment that they didn’t even need to vote… seems like he was in on something Americans didn’t know about… ? Was that the old sleight of hand trick?
After trump won the election, Putin announced it’s a new world order. Musk soon echoed that. So now do the oligarchs fight for turf? Will it become WWIII?
Musk and Bannon are now colliding. I can see some of Musk’s motivations but what is Bannon’s motivation? Is he really about the working man? I find it hard to believe. Is it just a fight to stay relevant? Idk. Can anyone shed some light?
nikal - Just waiting for another country to hack all of trump and companies emails and other information and reveal what they have been doing. Especially since he refused to use any of the proper channels or even a .gov domain.
when Theodore Roosevelt,the trustbuster,talked about 'malefactors of great wealth',he might've been predicting musk
Alex - The oligarchs collude with each other and with autocratic elements of governments. Musk and the German right, Orban and dumpster. More importantly to my way of thinking is that the surveillance state, aided and supercharged by AI is making all opposition efforts impossible. The means of communication can simply be eliminated or altered, the people involved can be marginalized, ostracized, jailed, or simply disappeared, as our CIA has been teaching dictators for decades. Have you had the pleasure of watching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18bzqx0tf00
What’s the status of the 15% minimal tax on multinational corporations? Last I heard Yellen had helped create it. But has it become functional? No follow up news has been forthcoming.
That tax is merely window dressing. The tax havens charged the 15% but then give grants back to the company reducing the tax to a minimum. Switzerland of course, leaves the way. I write about this and other ways reforms to economic inequality always fail. Here's a link to the one on the 15% tax. If you find it interesting you might look at the articles before and after giving more background. https://janweirlaw.medium.com/the-new-15-global-minimum-tax-solution-or-subterfuge-7b558035669b?source=user_profile_page---------21-------------13eaea2fcdee---------------
I will read your articles. Anyway, the main point is that leftwing parties in Western countries should coordinate their action, if they want to make the tax system more equitable (which should be a key selling point for them)
The OECD is completely controlled by the western oligarchs. There is a resolution before the United Nations to apply a more effective tax to stop profit shifting and take that jurisdiction away from the OECD. It doesn't get any coverage in the media. Here's a link to the latest report on the progress that I can find: //www.iisd.org/articles/explainer/United-Nations-Tax-Negotiations
aAso, I do not ask for donations.
Excellent point, Alex!
Peggy! Here is a hug from afar - I completely align with your state of mind. The way I feel that I can be most effective at "fighting back" is by paying close attention, helping my friends and neighbors as we always have - we're in this together!, signing every petition to Congress that I believe in (seems like all of them, these days), and staying true to the person that I am. A free and fair society depends on decency; I am going to live it and defend it as long as I am on the planet.
Lark, your comment brought tears to these tired old eyes! Thank you for the hug and I appreciate you! We are in this together and when one of us falters and tires out, there are so many that lift you up and carry you for a little ways. I, also, sign every single petition. Even though when I stay true to the person I am, I am ridiculed, insulted, called a Pollyanna and naive and told I am stupid, I continue to believe in decency, helping others and defending Democracy, as you say, for as long as I am on the planet! Have a very happy New Year!
My sentiments exactly. And those are the reasons I’ve become disengaged from watching MSNBC as religiously as before. Pulling back from participating in democracy cannot be a good thing but yet here I find myself with seemingly no lifeline. Very scary times are these as Jan. 20 approaches.
I find it harder to find reliable news. While going for the next shiny object, there are important things the media are skipping over.
Ah, more inspiring truths! Now, if we could just get all the people who voted for Trump to understand all the things that Robert Reich has been saying! The problem, I believe, is that they are not intellectually curious enough to want to listen to what he's saying. Solutions, anyone?
Let me add that I think our society has regressed to being a society based on slavery - just no longer demarked by skin color and ethnicity, but instead by one's place in the economic hierarchy.
Until reality lands squarely in their own laps, under their own roof, within their own circle of friends, these people will never feel the need to be intellectually curious enough to grapple with the consequences of their actions. They need to see someone close to them being visited by the leopard. Once that happens, MAYBE, they'll then realize the 🐆 could actually come for them.
Well said
You reveal your contempt quite clearly for many people who are working to exhaustion to survive, and have no time to research, read, listen, or consider anything outside of the trap they are in. It’s hard to even think about wider subjects when you’re constantly worried and stressed beyond belief about food, rent, healthcare. Explanations aside, the more you reveal your acid contempt, the less likely your opinions are to be appealing to anyone who isn’t sure how to vote. Which begs the question about your own understanding.
Donna - I read your reply, and then reread my original comment, several times over. You are absolutely right. Although it stings to realize it, it did reveal to me a subconscious view that was skewing my thinking. Anyway, I do apologize for what the comment conveyed.
My intent was to discuss the problem of how to get Robert's ideas to people whose lives are made hard by the current system, but I veered completely off course when I mentioned lack of intellectual curiosity, which is not the issue.
You hit the nail on the head when you said "It’s hard to even think about wider subjects when you’re constantly worried and stressed beyond belief about food, rent, healthcare."
And regarding being in a trap, that was pretty much the idea behind my ending comment about having become a society of enslavers and the enslaved.
I hope you you will accept my apology.
I totally accept. A few years ago, I apologized similarly, after I made a quip I thought was clever, one time in a different group. After being called out on it, I realized my quip was demeaning. That man forgave me. I don't forget it. We're good! Thanks for reaching out.
Thank you, Donna - I feel much better - Doug :-)
Hey Doug you’re okay in my book
Who do all those struggling, as you point out, vote for?
Some don't vote. Some vote for people their friends or family members say to vote for - "everybody" is voting for this guy - jump on the bandwagon with us. Some try to be aware of their candidates - but have limited time, so ads or a single "debate" has to be enough. I think people who choose not to vote because they don't know enough are probably right to not vote. Low information is a danger, and we are all in danger of being low information voters. A lot of main stream media selects what to report, and importantly, what not to report. Social media is full of inaccuracies. No one has time to look it all up and do primary research. That makes us all prey - even those of us who have time to "keep up" with news. I am tired of finding out after the fact that some candidate was sick, or did some great thing that got no press, or voted for something I'm against. What to do?
Yes, low information is a VERY real danger. I'm all for doing something about K-12 education as a starting point to fix that. I had a chance recently to participate in a zoom call with Admiral William McRaven. When asked what he thought the biggest threat to our national security was, he answered, "Our K-12 education system". I agree. Now we need to start voting into office people who will take that very seriously and do something about it.
Then we need to do something to make advanced education more available to people who today are not economically able to obtain it.
They're not! 3 people all women who voted for that Felon still think they will be better off! One of them is 63 and just lost her job to outsourcing to Mexico!
What would you prefer -- too stupid to understand that they are voting against their own interests and are taking the rest of the world with them down the road to Hell for cheaper eggs that they won't even get?
Sad fools like you seem to even lack the ability to assess "qualifications"
Troll elsewhere
No, you misunderstand. Progressives like me like to draw fire from trolls like you when we see you picking on someone who doesn't deserve it. I don't have any hair left so there's no danger of it catching fire. Fill your boots.
Spoken like a true MAGAt. How about you go somewhere else to peddle your crap?
Damn but you sure are one funny snowflake! Awww, you hurt my widdle feelings! (LMAO!!!)
Sure, you have freedom of speech, but you are not immune to criticism when you peddle your rightwing bullshit. So bring it on, big guy. Have YOU ever had one original thought in your life? I didn't think so. You are parroting FOX News, Newsmax and OANN.
Uh, you wanna explain that "vermin" comment (while also acknowledging that is out of the 1930s Germany Nazi playbook)?
I've yet to hear something Reich says that isn't accurate.
I dunno, I spent my life creating a better world for the women I treated for 40 years, which is more than you can say.
Perhaps you also lack intellectual curiosity.
It is in my experience the single most significant mark of intelligence.
Nice of you to act outraged by a fact.
Being curious and thriving to continue to question and educate yourself is a hallmark of being human.
I am constantly asking “why”. I watch a lot of documentaries. I love talking to people. Knowledge is everywhere.
You don’t need to have gone to college to be well educated. There are libraries to get information.
My greatest joy is asking more questions and striving for answers
My phrase would be "defiantly and proudly stupid." Ignorance can be alleviated with education. Stupidity can't be cured.
I guess saying “Happy New Year” is more of a wish than reality in today’s American society!
Yes, indeed! I'm not saying "Happy New Year." I'm struggling. I wished my enlightened friends a peaceful and Constitutional New Year. I doubt that coming to pass. And the violence that is being done is not what we normally think of as violence, i.e., street violence, but rather the violence to society and the working class by the oligarchs, just as Robert Reich here describes.
Oh, we know what the winning formula was…lie to the fools who think you give a 💩 about them. Then once you’re in…. blame the Democrats or the RINOs for your incompetency. You have no idea what his supporters have done. That self-serving degenerate doesn’t give a crap about us. Look who he’s surrounding himself with. This will change the whole face of the “good ole USA”. Money makes money makes power. Good luck if you aren’t in the 1%.
I am on SS only. No car. I live in a city/state governered by racist money hungry Republicans. Every thought in their heads is tied to "conservatism." I don't even know what that word means anymore except hate for anyone outside their echo chambers.
So in my very limited way, I decided to try and post flyers at my apartment complex about immigration. There are so many around me that are Mexican, speak little English, and I fear they don't know about the plans of mass deportation. I simply wanted to post signs that would refer my neighbors to immigration and social services to make sure their papers were in order and updated. Practical, non-political information and sources of help to navigate what's to come. My apartment manager, who is also Mexican, said she couldn't do that and was completely dismissive. I have no computer or printer and do not speak or write Spanish to do it myself, but she refused to help. I called three different immigration offices and a big Catholic Charity group, and all of them were sort of perplexed, and frankly disinterested at my requests for information to post, hand out, or even support in my efforts. I thought each little thing we could each do in our own little worlds might help. No one else even seemed to act like they knew what was going on. I was astonished at our local immigration offices and social services casting my ideas off with no desire much less encouragement.
I am a white woman who has no stake in the foreseeable atrocities of mass deportation or family separations, aside from my "left" view of humanity. So I went home...
Robert P., you seem to be averse to truth. So perhaps it's you who lack introspection the most.
Hello Bob. You sound like a big old pussy... cat.
I don't hate my fellow Americans. As a former US Marine, I served my country. Did you serve?
But I must confess to an intense dislike for an ass-hat like you.
No need to reply. You've already gotten more attention than you deserve.
While I have disagreements with Bob and the progressive leadership
Your virtue signaling is telling
So what you were a marine big deal.
People serve in more ways then the Military
Bob served his country all his life
His service is just as valuable to America
Use your Google machine for those answers. It will be hard for you because you have already made decisions. The answers are there, but your ability to ignore history and apply critical thinking will hamper seeing reality. There are lots of problems, no doubt, but if you already believe that all the issues that list are the fault of progressives, you are lost. I hope you get what you think several fat white boys will deliver, but, homey, you do not know Jack Schitt. Read and think, please. Have a good day.
Brilliant writer write up thank you Robert Reich. You’re the best the most knowledgeable, the most respected.
Trump's retrograde approach to climate change is an existential threat to the entire world.
All he sees like his decrepit minions, is dollar signs, the future of this planet is not theirs to own and abuse
... and a serious concern if the SDG's are to be achieved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals
Clearly you are only here to troll. Which actually renders your words powerless, Robt P.
Your comments are nonsensical to me. WTF?
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax
???? What ?
I am not complaining too much because I can afford to live in Italy on an SSA check (retired finally). But I had been on disability since 2017, although I was working on SSA's "ticket-to-work" program. In 2017, I filed a tax return, I think using TurboTax when I had some income via inheritance related to my deceased mother's estate and the disability payments. I at least filed my taxes, and tried to follow the directions. I also filed returns while working on disability and had to pay some tax on my business income while residing in the EU.
So, what does the IRS do ? They, or their AI algorithm audited my 2017 return, and I ended up being slapped with about 2,000.00 in taxes. I have paid about 2,000.00, but between interest and penalties (I applied for a deferment), I still owe maybe 2,000.00.
In the meantime, there are millionaires who have not even filed and billionaires who sometimes pay nothing. That is the kind of system we have. I at least have a halfway decent SSA payment because I did work substantially before being deemed disabled, and I continue to freelance a little because I have to. One solace is that if there is a Heaven or Hell, I might have a chance to knock on the better door.
I am sure the SSA payment will be next. When you get to be an old, wise, but unproductive member of society, capitalism is perfectly happy to X you out.
To the likes of Trump. Muskrat and Vivek Swampy, it's all par for the course, they never, ever, will have enough, the "little people, we have to all pay the price for their soulless abomination of utter greed, so they can live like Kings and besides, cruelty is also the point, that too, is what they live for, evil has it's names, and in this case, it's them
Fentanyl and OxyContin are just as effective apparently.
Sadly, the drug of choice for many on the right, is the one via the conduit of racism, it becomes an intoxicating means by which by peoples own early on formed attitudes to promote more of the same, so instead of man evolving, we devolve, like Trump, who might as well be an amoebae
It might be worth reading Marx again given the current historical context. Not that I am a communist. Socialism is not a bad word or system.
We have socialism already, it's called Corporations Are People and for the very rich, it's all for me and none for the thee
John Christopher or John Denver ?
LOL
We have all te bad things about socialism and none of the good such as Universal Healthcare and Universal Preschool!
I heard in Saudi Arabia, the drug that’s everywhere is the one Assad, from Syria, was making and supplying. So maybe that’s how the Saudi’s deal with their king.
That is how religion becomes an opiate for the masses.
Oops !! That was Karl Marx. He may have been correct about some things and wrong about others, like most people.
VERY repetitious. Basically, 20 different categories of saying, "Things are Bad now, but they WILL get worse when Trump takes office on January 20th."
If I was going to point our current Realities, I would start with the Fact that We The People do NOT get to choose who the candidates will be that We will be permitted to vote for. That starts with the Reality that most Americans firmly believe that ONLY Democratic and Republicans stand a decent chance of being elected to office. (Legislators such as Independent Bernie Sanders are VERY rare, accounting for less than 1% of the members of Congress.) Because of that, while We are allowed to vote for candidates in the primaries, We had NO say -- zip, zilch, zero, nada -- whatsoever who those candidates would be. The candidates were screened and vetted by the people running the Parties (the Powers That Be). [And you can be certain that when conducting interviews with the wannabe candidates that a deal was made that "IF we give you our Party's endorsement, do you swear that if elected, you WILL serve the needs of the Party, first and foremost."]
An astute deduction at this point is that NONE of the current members of were picked by We The People. In fact, it has been _centuries_ since The People were given the opportunity to decide the slate of acceptable candidates that would appear on the ballot. Not since the first political Parties appeared.
The next important Reality that needs to be highlighted is that the current political System under which "Our" government operates has the members of Congress being paid @$200,000/year + benefits. (Most of We The People would salivate if any of Us were proffered such a deal.) But at the same time "Our" elected representatives are allowed to accept Big Money "campaign contributions" and lobbyist largess that amounts to many, _many_, MANY times the salary We give those legislators. Understandably, "Our" legislators are obviously more motivated to serve the Needs and desires of those personages throwing the larger sums their way. And it is actually quite easy to see just who that bought-and-paid-for majority in Congress has been _actually_ serving for the last half-century: How many pieces of legislation REALLY makes the lives of We The People better? Versus how many pieces of legislation seriously benefits the Wealthy and Big Business? (The latter being mostly owned, controlled, and operated by the Wealthy.) I should also mention that ONLY those legislators have the Power to adjust, change, or tweak the System under which they operate -- while they are heavily motivated to stick to the status quo.
In Truth, I am in agreement with Robert's 20 points. I just think that our priority lists significantly differ, with Robert not putting nearly enough emphasis on the things that are REALLY Bad for We The People.
Captain, thank you. With the death of Jimmy Carter, I cannot avoid the thought that Mr. Carter was the last Democratic president we have had. Did Clinton, Obama, or Biden don a hammer and create an organization dedicated to providing housing for the poor? Did any of the three travel the world upholding the norms of democratic elections? No, they ignored the - example of Harry Truman and Sam Rayburn, who lived modestly and died modestly. No, those three cashed out mightily. Did those three stand athwart that great sucking sound of our national wealth being vacuumed from the bottom sixty percent to the top five percent? No, they aided and abetted it. Did they stand against the off-shoring of American manufacturing jobs? I don’t think so. None of them opposed our appalling foreign policies, spending trillions after trillions of dollars in feckless, counterproductive military interventions including Biden’ idiocy both in challenging nuclear armed Russia on its very doorstep, and providing material assistance to the Israeli slaughter of the innocents.
To top it all off the Democratic Party has abandoned democracy. In 2016 the party big wigs put their thumbs on the scales against Bernie, and for Hillary. Can’t trust the people, can we? And I have yet to learn who decided they were our masters.and how they landed on Kamala as their anointed nominee. When you fail to permit your rank and file to vet candidates through demanding primaries, or in an open convention, you end up with weak tea Kamala. Kamala, against the most shrewd demagog ever? Really? In 2024 the Democratic Party had little to offer. Their towering political incompetence shaded from view anything positive they had to offer.
I say, burn it to the ground. Burn the Democratic Party to the ground and start over.
IMHO, the ONLY way to create a government that DOES actually serve the needs and desires of We The People is violent revolution. (Because the people currently controlling "Our" government will NOT peacefully accept the transfer of Power.) Unfortunately, despite how onerous Our existence is becoming -- and about to become much, much worse -- the LARGE majority of Americans are too much enjoying their relatively comfortable lifestyles. Too much to be willing to risk life and limb and possessions fighting against the US Military and every Law Enforcement agency across the nation. Our only possible hope is that many of the US Military units would join with the "rebels".... in which case We would be risking the possibility of a military junta.
Well said, Captain.
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-is-using-unitary-executive-theory-in-his-bid-to-amass-supreme-power/
Dictator on day 1 unless we stand up.
January 3-5, Washington, D.C. Details coming soon
https://nowmarch.org/join-the-movement/ts the burden
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/5055171-constitution-insurrection-trump-disqualification/
On November 5, Americans chose:
Lies over truth,
Ignorance over knowledge,
Chaos over order,
Malice over good will,
Division over unity,
Cowardice over courage,
Sleaze over character,
The criminal over the law,
And billionaires over ordinary people.
Most of the reasons people cited for voting for Trump are inaccurate, based on lies and overall ignorance of voters, too often willful ignorance, and, of course, the sexism and racism that runs through the veins of this country.
FELON Trump will be recorded in the Annals of History as the BIGGEST and WORST Mistake America EVER made!
I will be wearing this "Totally Unhinged Radical Liberal" t-shirt the next four years 👇
https://libtees-2.creator-spring.com/listing/radlib
We must do everything we can to combat fascism!
He was already ranked worst president in American history and we voted him back in! 🤬
Trump isn't only the "worst president in American history"; he is one of the worst people in the history of the world. What that says about Americans who voted for him is unspeakably horrendous.
It leaves a pit in many? people's stomach, but should I really be surprised, answer-no
Jimmy Carter was one of the best presidents in American history and was voted out of office. Go figure.
MAGA voted for the opposite, they voted for instead, EVIL
People, many? like do get a good heaping dose of crap served to them, in the form of tyrant, like Trump, if it means they can hurt the other? and or willful ignorance, makes me sick just to think about it
"Tyrant" is the perfect word to describe Trump. Webster defines a tyrant as "an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution." That is Trump's objective. Somehow or some way, he has to be stopped.
The clique, where there is a will, there is a way, but I hope we can collectively acquire it, because democracy is not fought for and won in a vacuum
You seem to think you speak for "The good people of Substack"? You also tell me, "Welcome to Earth" after I have been on an "intergalactic flight"?
I have no idea what you are talking about. WTF?
I blame the jerks who stayed home for the horrible outcome of the election. How could ANYONE not know what these POSs are about???
MAGA, evidently wants more crapola served to them
MAGA wasn't around during Carter's time in office. I would like to know how Carter would have dealt with MAGA thugs compared to how Biden did.
If you ask me, I think the whole election resolution was hinky. There had been extensive documentation showing the numerous ways the Republicans intended to cheat to win, or at least cast the entire outcome into doubt. Further, there were a TREMENDOUS number of Early Voting ballots submitted. In several States, those would not be _hand-counted_ until AFTER the Election Day ballots had been tallied. That would have assured that the FINAL grand totals wouldn't be determined until ***several days*** after Election Day. Yet, Harris conceded within 24 hours of the polls closing. And without so much as a murmur about investigating any voting or ballot-counting irregularities. I usually ridicule those QAnon conspiracy theorists. But I gotta say, something stinks about how the 2024 election was resolved.
We were attackrd by Russia. Hate Trumped logic.
Yes, hate trumped logic, and it will continue to support Trump for quite some time. Standing in the way of that hate would not be wise. We must play a long game to make a comeback.
1, They friggin ADMIT it.
2. Two employees of the Russian state-owned propaganda network RT (Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afansayeva) were indicted for conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act for operating a money laundering operation that had sent at least $9.7 million[12] to support the creation and distribution of propaganda videos on American social media
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-disrupts-covert-russian-government-sponsored-foreign-malign-influence
3. On October 21, Wired reported that the Russian propaganda network Storm-1516 had been spreading fabricated claims about Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.[53] Experts on disinformation campaigns had also linked Storm-1516 to the conspiracy theory about Harris' supposed hit-and-run accident.[54] Two days later, the Washington Post reported that John Mark Dugan, a former deputy sheriff of Palm Beach County, has been paid by the GRU to produce misinformation attacking the Harris campaign.[55] On October 25, the U.S. Intelligence Community assessed that Russia had made a fake, viral video of mail-in ballots for Trump being ripped up and burned in Pennsylvania.[56]
On November 1, U.S. intelligence confirmed that Russia was behind a fake, viral video of supposed Haitian immigrants saying they were voting multiple times for Harris in Georgia. They also confirmed Russia was behind a fake post on X claiming Harris and her husband had tipped off Sean Combs about an FBI raid in exchange for $500,000.[57]
On November 4, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint statement that Russian "influence actors" were creating and circulating material "intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans", focusing their efforts on swing states.[58]
On November 5, during the official Election Day, several non-credible bomb threats that originated from Russia briefly disrupted voting in two polling places in Fulton County, Georgia.[59] Both re-opened after about 30 minutes. Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Russian interference was behind the Election Day bomb hoaxes. In a statement, the FBI said it was aware of non-credible bomb threats to polling locations in several states, with many of them originating from Russian email domains.[60] The bomb threats were solely made against Democratic-leaning areas.[61] On the same day, U.S. federal officials again reported that Russian sources were actively engaged in "influence operations", citing disinformation in specific videos that falsely claimed Kamala Harris had taken a bribe and false news stories about the Democratic Party and election fraud in Georgia.[62][63][64]
On November 8, it was reported that one of the Russian email addresses behind Election Day bomb threats was used in June 2024 bomb threats targeting LGBTQ+ events in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas.[65] NBC News reported on the same day that, out of 67 known bomb threats in 19 counties on Election Day, 56 were in 11 highly populated counties where Joe Biden won the majority of the vote in the 2020 election. These counties were in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania,[66] all of whom are considered swing states.[67] Georgia alone had over 60 bomb threats on Election Day,[68] while Pennsylvania had threats in at least 32 counties.[69] While Russian email addresses were used for some of the threats, as of November 2024, the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators is unknown.[66]
Bomb threats were also sent after Election Day in over half of the counties in Minnesota,[70] 15 jurisdictions in Maryland,[71][72] and five counties in California.[71][72][73][74][75]
These bomb threats have been characterized by journalists as an escalation by Russia, designed to send a message about American support for Ukraine.[76]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections#:~:text=The%20Russian%20government%20has%20interfered,support%20for%20Ukraine%20aid%20and
Bob the Pussy's self-description description:
Cornell. Aerospace Engineer. Writer of short stories, essays & commentaries. Podcast consumer. Interests: History, Philosophy, Psychology, Relationships, Politics, Astronomy, and more. Knows a little about a lot and a lot about a little.
119 subscribers
Sounds like a real asshole. Oh wait! That's you? And you promote Thomas Sowell? Hahaha. You foolish fool! You've been fooled and bamboozled. You're guzzling the milk of idiocy.
Cornell? A lie!!! Aerospace? HA!The space between Uranus and your ears, right? Take your sorry ass on to 4chan you lame piker.
To the likes of Trump. Muskrat and Vivek Swampy, it's all par for the course, they never, ever, will have enough, the "little people, we have to all pay the price for their soulless abomination of utter greed, so they can live like Kings and besides, cruelty is also the point, that too, is what they live for, evil has it's names, and in this case, it's them
In January, America will get a kleptocratic kakistocracy. Me, me, me and I WANT MORE. Not for the average citizen, but instead the kleptocrats. A kakistocracy is an incompetent government made out of the worst people. Interestingly the Dutch/Afrikaans slang word for shit is kak.
Indeed!!!
Why it's so hard to have schadenfreude for Trump voters
There's little comfort to be had in knowing the hammer of the president-elect's worst policies will also fall on some of his supporters.
As we get closer to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the likely effects of his impending second term are coming into sharper focus. Accordingly, we’re seeing more stories about the ways that his policies will likely hurt many of the more vulnerable Americans who either cast their ballot for Trump or opted to stay home.
The Washington Post recently spoke with Pennsylvania Trump voters who depend on the government benefits Trump has promised to slash. A deeply emotional feature in The New York Times zoomed in on one undocumented man in Georgia whose family members voted for Trump because they support his plan to carry out mass deportations — but insist that their relative will be fine. Trump-supporting farmers whose business depend on migrant labor are getting nervous about how their workers will fare under the planned immigration crackdown.
The common denominator is an ongoing refusal to take Trump’s own words at face value. Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, it became clear that many of his supporters only believed what they wanted to believe and with a wave of their hand dismissed the most brutal or authoritarian of his promises. In a post-election New York Times focus group, many of the 14 participants who voted for him were still praising Trump for policies he doesn’t support or beliefs he doesn’t hold. There likewise appears to be a broad assumption among many of his voters that if Trump’s policies produce negative results, then they, their businesses and their loved ones
will somehow be part of the exception, not the rule.
Their suspension of belief didn’t come from nowhere, though. Trump is a master of telling an audience exactly what it wants to hear. When talking about abortion, he has sought to dodge and weave. In an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker, he denied wanting his Justice Department to persecute his political enemies even when his own speeches and supporters have made clear his intention to do so. His proposed solutions to specific problems like inflation are vague enough to become a blank vessel for people to fill with their own hopes and desires. It doesn’t help that some of his supporters’ media diet means that they’re not getting the clearest view of his plans.
This isn’t meant to be a backhanded defense of Trump voters. The bright, flashing warning signs were there throughout the campaign for anyone who wanted to see them. It seems impossible that anyone could be unaware of what a vote for him could mean, not after almost a decade of him dominating the country’s political attention. Agency rests squarely on the shoulders of Trump voters, who chose him despite the overwhelming evidence that his plans would be harmful.
The recent tales of early-stage regret and fear are prompting a sense of grim satisfaction from some on the left. A classic meme — “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party” — has gone around enough among the rump of the #Resistance to become cliché. The sentiment, though, is clear: Whatever happens, these Trump supporters will be getting what they deserve.
It’s hard for me to reach that conclusion, though. The schadenfreude that others are feeling or anticipating seems as hollow as the beliefs that Trump supporters projected onto him. As I see it, the problem with taking solace in the suffering of others in this case is that it still requires the suffering of others.
I understand the desire to see people endure consequences for their own actions. But it simply ignores the very selfish reality that in this scenario, we’re all suffering too. The hardships that Americans will face should Republicans succeed in decimating the social safety net will be immense. There’ll be no comfort that some of the people crashing to the ground thought they were only voting to have that net taken from others. After all, they were told that they’d be able to fly just fine without it.
YOU GET WHAT YOU VOTE FOR, IN THIS CASE, A HEAPING PILE OF DUNG!😠
Exactly, a kakistocracy, more kak than ocracy.
For those of us who can't silently assent to Trump waltzing into the White House again with his plans for revenge and his emotional volatility, there are TWO ACTIONS we can participate in:
1) Text: PGZBAX to 50409. They'll ask for your name, address, and email and send messages to your Congressional representatives urging them to force a vote to give "amnesty" to Trump for the insurrection. According to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, he is DISQUALIFIED from running for office because he fomented a treasonous insurrection against the Constitution. It takes a 2/3 vote of each house to exonerate him (amnesty) which won't be achieved. This action would force each lawmaker to publicly reveal whether THEY are OK with an adjudicated insurrectionist being handed the reigns of control yet again. It would also make it UNCONSTITUTIONAL to swear him into office.
2) Demonstrations will occur in DC from January 3 to 5, 2025, declaring Trump's DISQUALIFICATION from holding any office again. We can support them from home if we can't go in person. For information, go to: nowmarch.org
We will not stand idly by while a DANGEROUS and UNFIT man installs a sociocracy, destroying our democratic republic from within. The Constitution provides a backstop against someone who flagrantly breaks a previous oath of allegiance to our Constitution and attempts a violent coup d'état. We have a right to demand that lawmakers PROTECT US from such a man rather than blithely handing us over to him. We still have the right to protest and WE DISSENT.
I just signed. Couldn't donate but was able to sign.
Opinion: Elon Musk wants to ‘delete’ many Americans’ financial lifeline
Nearly every exit poll conducted on Election Day found that, more than any other issues, voters’ concerns about the economy helped to return Donald Trump to the White House and put Republicans back in charge of both houses of Congress. Americans who felt the sting of inflation and who had trouble making ends meet, as companies steadily increased prices for essential goods like groceries and clothing, voted in the hopes that a new administration and new Congress would bring relief for their families.
So it is especially surprising that one of the first federal agencies to come under scrutiny from the incoming administration is one that has returned billions of dollars to many of the same consumers who were counting on leaders in Washington to look out for their wallets.
On Nov. 27, Elon Musk — who, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, has been tasked by President-Elect Trump with running a new Department of Government Efficiency — posted on his platform X that he wants to “Delete CFPB,” referring to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency, Musk said, was part of a problem of “too many duplicative regulatory agencies” in Washington. But there are no other agencies in the federal government returning money to Americans’ bank accounts in the way the CFPB does.
Since its founding, the agency has returned more than $19 billion in cash to people who have been scammed by financial institutions, including predatory payday lenders and even some of the largest banks in the country. It has done so under Republican and Democratic presidents, including major actions against Wells Fargo and Equifax during President Trump’s first term in office, which, combined, returned $425 million to consumers. (Those actions both began under the Obama administration, but Trump’s CFPB directors oversaw the execution of those fines.)
The money recovered is made available to those who have been impacted by the institutions’ wrongdoing through the CFPB’s victims’ relief fund. To date, more than 200 million Americans have been eligible for payments from the fund. The agency has also cancelled many consumers’ debts altogether and reduced loan principles for many others.
In fact, just days after Musk posted his message on X, the CFPB announced that it was mailing refund checks to more than 4 million people who were scammed by so-called credit repair companies, including Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com, which illegally collected fees from consumers seeking relief for the effects of economic woes weighing down them and their families. The companies will pay $2.7 billion in consumer redress and civil penalties; $1.8 billion of that will go directly to those who lost money as a result of the scam.
t’s no wonder the agency enjoys broad, bipartisan support, with more than eight in 10 Americans supporting the CFPB’s various enforcement actions. In red and blue states, Americans seem to support returning money to those who have been cheated.
The agency’s impact is felt in other ways, too. In Oklahoma, CFPB collected evidence that helped retired Lt. Col. Susan Parisi in her fight against loan company GreenSky — which scammed her into a high-interest loan she never agreed to. The CFPB found that GreenSky was using “deceptive” and “fraudulent” tactics and ordered the company to return $9 million to consumers. My organization is representing Lt. Col. Parisi in her class action on behalf of others who were scammed by GreenSky.
So why is an agency that has been so effective, and returned so much money to so many people, being targeted for “deletion?” Because, in the course of holding wrongdoers accountable, it has crossed paths with some of the most powerful people in the country.
Musk’s post on X, for example, seems to have been prompted by complaints from Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist whose companies have been sanctioned (and, in the case of LendUp Loans, shuttered) because of CFPB investigations and actions. Andreessen accused the agency of “terrorizing financial institutions,” and was clearly infuriated when the CFPB found that LendUp had misled customers about high-interest loans and overcharged U.S. service personnel.
President-elect Trump and Republicans in Congress should not let Andreessen’s views overshadow the overwhelming opinion among Americans that the agency is doing important work that makes a real difference to those who turn to financial institutions and lenders for help during tough financial times. By one count, even under the first Trump administration’s CFPB directors — who tended to enforce far fewer fines against companies than Biden and Obama appointees — the agency brought more than $1 billion in redress back to consumers’ wallets. That’s direct relief, and money in wallets, for millions of Americans. “Deleting” the agency would almost certainly ensure that no such future relief ever reaches consumers again.
Fortunately, neither Musk nor the incoming administration can completely eliminate the CFPB, whose funding comes from the Federal Reserve in a model, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, that is meant to protect it from political meddling. Republicans and Democrats alike should ensure that firewall remains in place, and the CFPB remains on the job, if they’re serious about providing real, meaningful economic relief to Americans.
Sharon McGowan is the chief executive officer of legal advocacy organization Public Justice.
--Ordinary people just don't realize how much they 'benefit' from many of the agencies Musk wants to cut. They will soon find out - only then it will be too late. By the way, does anyone think Trump or Musk will suffer financially by their policies? It's amazing how working-class people (especially White people) tend to vote against their own interests because they believe rich White men (such as Trump and Musk) care about them.
Btw, I thought Richard Cordray was a great director of the CFPB. He sure took a lot of heat from the GOP.
trump also wants control of the federal reserve
Indeed, and we might as well, along with Muskrat and Vivek Swampy, say they want to control everything!
Musk’s control of Starlink can alter the course of a war as we saw it affect the war in Ukraine. There is more going on with weaponization of space and if there is as little concern about it as Musk shows in the Tesla self-driving car accidents, we have even more troubles.
As I look at the trump kids and the Musk passel of kids, I see another generation taught to be greedy and predatory. The world needs to get a handle on ultra wealth.
The needs of the many, are the sins of the few, but the day? is forthcoming when judgement? will be due
Reading Secretary Reich religiously should earn one 3 credits. Great professor. Thank you.
First Church of Reich. Halalulah!
Thank you, Robert, for educating us about the transition of our system of democratic capitalism to oligarchic capitalism. This shift, as you've explained, is marked by the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few, rather than the democratic distribution of these resources. But we should also remember what Abraham Lincoln said in 1865, which I still believe is true today, "Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration."
Organized labor, as history has shown, has the potential to be the most powerful force on earth. It didn't begin following the laws of the time. It began when the people had nothing left to lose and it will grow as the majority near that point again. As Michael Moore often reminds us, there are more of us than there are of them. This power is in our hands, and it's time to wield it.
I am copying this newsletter as a reminder of how to understand our new system of government as it unfolds. Your role in this understanding is crucial and your efforts are greatly appreciated.
If only he'd take on cutting this off at the pass. These are the times that try (wo)men's souls.
Constitutional scholars agree. In spite of the ruling in Trump v. Anderson, Donald Trump remains Constitutionally disqualified from holding office.
“The upshot is that Donald Trump remains constitutionally disqualified from the presidency and may not lawfully serve in that office or any other unless Congress removes the disqualification by two-thirds majorities of both houses. Nothing in Trump v. Anderson changes that legal reality.”
William Baude and Michael Paulsen, Harvard Law Review, Sweeping Section Three under the Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson
Thanks Robert. As I read that on a cold wet New Year’s Eve in West Cumbria, Spotify chose ‘Ohio’ for me.
‘Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming.
We’re finally on our own’.
The synchronicity of that choice in this moment and those words? Thats a theme tune for us in 2025. Good speed Americans standing against the fascists. Good speed us all who plan to stand up now. If not now then when? 🙏🏻
This is really very impressive writing and analysis. Thank you.
Thank you for this excellent summation…Happy New Year and buckle up…