The tactic of the Right is to accuse their accusers of the crime they ( the Right) are in fact committing. The GOP candidates last night are all in the pocket of Capital. They pose as defenders of the little guy when they don’t give a damn about him/her. They only care about their payoff from the rich.
Quite right. I think that Trump will disappear, and the eventual GOP candidate in 2024 will be one of the losers on the stage last night. I don't believe Trump's support is monolithic, and it will be possible for the DNC to peel off disaffected Trumpers, but only with a liberal platform. DNC tactics to date have not been encouraging, however. They must change, and soon.
or Youngkin. There is a reason Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have raised the alarm with Biden about the VA Senate flipping red. I can't predict the nominee. But if it's Youngkin we got real problems.
To quote a line from my favorite film, The Big Lebowski: They're nihilists man, they believe in Nothing! Except they do believe in one thing -- and one thing only -- "Show Me The Money!"*from another film, Jerry McGuire. 🤣🤪💙
I'd be interested in knowing how many US taxpayer dollars are being spent on protecting ol' P01135809 when he reports in for his mug shot today. I know it's irrelevant to the discussion here, but it kind'a goes to Mr Fisher's comment on how Яepubлиkans try to pass themselves off as the bulwark of law enforcement. Bulwark, all right! They're full of bull and ruthlessly work the taxpayers' perceptions!
Well, will his Secret Service detail obey orders should Donny try to flee to Russia? And haul
Him in. Maybe it’s good he is ‘ protected’ by agents sworn to uphold the Constitution who haven’t swallowed his delusions . On the other hand, maybe all that proximity has warped them?
If he goes to prison I think he should be stripped of his presidential rights including secret service protection. Let him hire his own.
Furthermore, it angers me to think MTG is getting so much money, top notch health insurance and will receive a hefty pension. All for being nasty and trying to sabotage our county.
I wonder how many of the Republican Representatives and Senators would stay if they didn’t have those benefits? Most people don’t get pensions anymore.
Exactly. The alt right has ZERO policies. Their ONLY tactics are: whataboutisms, projection and HOPEHOPEHOPE that their base is too stupid to realize what losers they are.
Remember: losers are good at what? LOSING. What is the alt right's biggest strength? LOSING.
In the GOP "debate" cum-shouting-match there was not one word about public policy nor any mention about helping the middle and under classes. Truly, it's true: They have absolutely no desire to govern. It's very sad to see the R party sink to such depths of political depravity.
JoAnn, You have hit the target when you use the world "oligarchical." However it is not the politicians that are the oligarchs, it is the few ultra wealthy oligarchs that are purchasing the votes of the politicians at market price. Joe Manchin is a perfect example of this and also demonstrates that this oligarchic system has penetrated the ranks of the Democrats also. We need to envision and implement a system that cuts out oligarchs and it is called Economic Democracy." Ask chat GPT "What is economic democracy?" and you will get a concise answer. then you can ask "What is an oligarch" and you will also get a good description of those that are influencing and controlling our politicians.
It is not that the Republicans are dumb, it is that the oligarchs are very smart and have no scruples. They will steal my children's and grandchildren's future to amass more wealth and the environment be damned.
Most Americans, including relatively wealthy individuals, hold stocks mostly in their retirement plans where the lower tax rate on capital gains is irrelevant. Gains on donated stocks are not taxed.
"Under the fourth alternative, a surtax of 2 percentage point s would be imposed on adjusted gross income above the sum of the standard deduction, personal exemptions, and the threshold of the fourth ordinary income bracket ($95,375 for single filers and $190,750 for joint filers in 2023). For example, a single taxpayer with AGI of $1,000,000 in 2023 would pay a 2 percent tax on the $890,775 of his or her AGI that was above $109,225 (a standard deduction of $13,850, a personal exemption of zero, and the threshold of the fourth ordinary income bracket for single filers)."
An excellent source for further reading about oligarchy in the United States is Jeffrey Winters, a professor at Northwestern. I found his book and a number of his articles really illuminating. He has characterized the US oligarchy as a “civil oligarchy,” one in which government serves to defend oligarchs’ enormous wealth, so that they can focus their efforts on defending their income from the principal threat, taxes.
I’m sure it’s an obvious point to everyone on this thread, but the Supreme Court has created a jurisprudence intended to protect political influence-buying. It will be very difficult to take policy actions commensurate with the scale of the climate crisis without getting $$ in politics under control, and to do that, we need to break apart this jurisprudence. It probably requires reform of the Court itself.
Oligarchy has been opposed to democracy since the colonial era. One option to recover democratic freedoms and responsibilities is for a state to secede, and several states could join under a state centered form like the Articles of Confederation. Another option is to amend the Constitution to cut back federal powers and perhaps restrain the SCt . Preliminary reforms such as reversing Citizens United and banning money from politics would probably be necessary to then take up any of these options. https://youtu.be/3QMSDJn2wSU?si=YyPZggo_v7nUj_YQ
I don’t think that we can get a Reformation of the Supreme Court without the Reformation of our whole political system as it now operates. It will take more than just electing Biden for four more years, but that will be vital to hold off any further depredations by the Republicans.
I agree that reform of the SC is not in any way a project that can be tackled separately from reform of our political system. My view is that we must understand and be willing to challenge the ideological purpose of the American constitutional order. This sounds outlandish except when I consider how much climate change will destabilize the current system. Just the physical dislocation of population and sheer scale of property destruction that is coming out way is staggering to contemplate. https://thedissonance.substack.com
I can go toe to toe with any of you chumps all day long and not break a sweat. Let's start. Every done any real modeling of a system? I have - in particular, modeling of hydrology, water resources engineering and hydraulics. Want to discuss the assumptions in numerical modeling and what they might mean for discussions about the "climate crisis"?
Published in 1843 by Dan Emmett (the author of “Dixie”), who also claimed authorship, “Old Dan Tucker” may have evolved from a popular slaves song about a part-time minister who lived near Elberton, Georgia. The song was popular around both Northern and Southern campfires.
You may like wearing that, but you don't actually believe any of that. Most "liberals" aren't really liberals. You don't actually believe in human rights or free speech, or equality - you would take away the right to free speech from every person in this country who disagrees with you, if you could, and you're perfectly fine with black neighborhoods being as violent as third world countries and black kids getting horrible educations. I think most of you supposed "liberals" like it that way.
I'm right, aren't I, Russell? You American "liberals" are horrible bigots and tyrants who congratulate yourselves on your self-perceived virtues, and the best any of you can muster when called out on your bullshit is to throw childish comebacks and slurs. Everything I said about stands, and is true.
No, it's what you are. You are attack dogs ready to be mustered by your masters. I've seen it in political debates in my hometown, and with "liberal" co-workers snacked on unbuttered popcorn and drove a Prius. Good thing many of you are childless, though. That's a petty swipe but I mean every inch of it.
Everything you said is unsupported opinion. Just like your "news" sources!
Also, it's interesting that you use the phrase "American 'Liberals'". This indicates to me that you are not American, so do you work for Putin's troll farm? Are you a high schooler in Macedonia? Nah, I'm putting my money on Islamic Jihadist.
Sorry bud, you are missing a big part of reality. Your beliefs are not supported by reality or facts. What are you comparing “American liberals” to? Being fair is not that difficult, please try.
See my comments below. I've known many so-called "liberals". They aren't liberals. They are tyrants and bigots and liars. Real liberals are Matt Taibbi and Jimmy Dore, not the fake ass chumps responding to me with emojis like teenagers.
Boy are you a brainwashed Trump supporter. I have a wonderful gay, black neighbor, I believe in equality and support the dreamers at our college with scholarships. And I don't think the immigrants should be limited to lily white peoples. And I am proud to be liberal. If conservatives ran this country we would still be using horse and carriages.
You aren't liberal. You a religious zealot, except that your religion doesn't involve a god. Your comments show that you believe that you have a moral superiority. People like you would justify the most despicable actions possible with your moral justifications.
Despicable??? There is no one more despicable than Rethuglicans are. Projection, projection, projection, projection, projection, that all your dimwits know how to do. GO TROLL ELSEWHERE, you projectionist TROLL.
@ Daniel Tucker. Glib characterizations of various partisans are useless. Your cartoonish depiction of "Liberals" is a good example of inflammatory, useless, hate speech. Beware your own cognition; using such simplistic "stick figures" blocks you from really understanding "liberals".
I've been around many "liberals". They weren't liberal at all. They were monsters, when it came to it. They'd murder on command if it came to it and they felt empowered to do so and protected from repercussions. Understanding the Red Terror in the Soviet Union, or the socialist terror before 1917, is terribly easy once you've been around American left-wing fanatics. The only difference between many American liberals and the members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in pre-USSR Russia is that many American "liberals" are way, way, too affluent, comfortable, and cowardly, to undertake the bombings and murders of the SR's.
Reading Solzhenitsyn's "1914" and his description of the behavior of SR members of the Duma in those years *exactly* parallels Democratic representative behavior in Congress these days.
American Democratic Party members are in many cases, the furthest thing from liberals. They are tyrants in waiting, authoritarians and oppressors waiting for their time to come.
That is pure projection! You are either extremely deluded, having been completely indoctrinated by russorepublochristofascist propaganda, or a hateful sadist.
you want real liberalism and not the horseshit peddled by the likes of Robert Reich? Go over to Matt Taibbi's Racket News, or find Walter Kirn, or Ruy Teixeira's "Liberal Patriot" Substack page.
The Republicans do care about climate change they just won't do anything about it because "Big" business, which they support aggressively, Is the primary cause of the changes we are experiencing as we speak. To fight the effects of the change would be to go against all the economic instructions that keep the party in power through their generous donations. One hand feed the other, remember Trump's wonderous discovery that there was such a thing as "clean coal." If that guy was a fish he would have been caught hook, line, and sinker, a long time ago. What a schmuck. I really feel he should look into the possibility of his ground breaking discovery that regular house hold disinfectants might, if injected into the human body, cure the civid virus, way to go Donnie. The act would most likely cure everything else that was wrong with you at the same time.
I am reminded of the Republican Secty of the Interior (was it Watts?) who basically said "drill, baby, drill" with regard to fossil fuels, mining in national parks, etc., on the grounds that the "Second Coming" was imminent, so there was no need to think about the loss of such things for future generations.
Daniel--I was a plumber for 25 years and I spent a considerable amount of time in machinal rooms where i only wished there were a few good scrubbers actively in use. Next!
No, that isn't true. Not at all. See, folks like you (based upon your actions) act as though the "right" to abuse others belongs to YOU and anyone who tries to prevent YOUR abusing THEM is actually abusing YOU!
You become the victim by means of rhetoric and the victim is thus tranformed into the victimizer, by means of the same BS premise.
So you rail about 'free speech" when all you want to do is disseminate "hate speech" with absolutely no consequence and accuse others of what you would do.
Lastly. I have yet to see you address the topic under discussion. That being climate change. And you are not alone in getting deflected. Many that you consider liberal are doing the same in these threads. All should keep on topic. Climate change is no hoax. There is a plethora of data out there indicating it is not natural variation but man made. One just has to decide where to look. Tick Tok, YouTube, where dribble resides without valid references/data or real science articles that quote actual data and reviewed references. But reading and understanding real science requires education doesn’t it?
There are morons on both sides of this right-left debate. I lived through the 60’s and 70’s where there was real left wing violence. Just 2 miles from my residence in Madison, Wi, a terrorist used a nitrate fertilizer filled van to bomb the math research center on the University of Wisconsin campus back in the early 70’s. That was all about the Vietnam war conflict. Today’s violence, is perpetrated primarily by the right over one man’s delusion and lies about his status in the world.
So Portland in 2020 was due to "right wing" violence? What about Chaz in Seattle? Who's causing what's happening in the Kensington area of Philadelphia right now? Look it up. Is the "Right Wing" causing that?
Could it be that your assumptions are all wrong? Would you admit it if they were?
My son had an apartment overlooking the protest area at the time – which was basically a two block area. Despite the burning mattress, he thought the protests we’re basically peaceful until the outside agitators came in vans to shake things up. The conservative media portrayal of Portland as a city in flames was a gross exaggeration.
I am speaking about political violence. Portland has a gang issue. On the Seattle Chaz issue, I agree it’s a shit show. Not sure it’s political in nature, more of a life style issue, that I don’t agree with. So yes, I can be persuaded but I have yet to see you blast Trump’s call for violence, all in an effort to keep his ass out of jail. Remember, he stole classified documents that put everyone at grave risk, even you and the lied about having them and then tried to obstruct Justice hiding his crime. A beach of his oath of office at best.
U.S. human assets all over the GD world died because the Orange Crevasse's avarice. He sold them/us out to our adversaries to line his filthy pockets.
I would love to meet anyone who still supports his agenda for a "discussion," that would likely end with them being rendered tar-less, having had it all beaten out of them.
There is no actual discussion with anyone unwilling to accept basic fact, be it history, science or what. If one insists on believing nonsense and prefers conspiracy theories to actual fact, there is nothing left to discuss.
Let’s talk education. I for one agree that the black community has been set back in many ways. Many of which are outside of their control. But everyone, white, black, brown, has at least the right to get a high school education. Wether or not it’s equal is always the question. And unfortunately, that’s been the case for quite a while. But everyone also has the responsibility to see it through to the best of their ability and circumstances. Not saying it makes no difference and not even trying does no one any good. My wife teaches grade school in a mixed neighborhood and sees this mind set all too often. It’s damed scary that it’s grand parents trying to instill this need to learn attitude in their grandchildren, while parents, who have seen less blatant discrimination than their parents, sometimes do not seem to give a damn. So, is that bad attitude the fault of progressives?
A direct answer to a basic question will clear up your real nature. Does atmospheric CO2 control the temperature of the earth or not? Answer if you dare.
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas. The earth's temperature is controlled by the radiation the earth receives from the sun, and the radiation the earth emits to space. Other green house gases contribute. The reflectivty of the earth has an effect. But CO2 is the main issue.
I have too. They're lunatics when the surface is scratched. I worked in a government office full of them (USGS). They were all boomers, all had degrees, many advanced degrees, and every one of them was an intolerant dictator when it came to it. Affluent white liberals in particular mistake liberalism for "Agree with everything I believe about the world, or else..."
The responses last night reminded me of the points made in this powerful piece by Chris Hedges, The Age of Social Murder: "The ruling elites, despite the accelerating and tangible ecological collapse, mollify us, either by meaningless gestures or denial."
Hedges says that Biden won't do the job but fails to tell us how the job can get done. I like Hedges but like so many he ignores the reality we are in. Republicans control the house, can stop most things in the senate and control much of the court system, including the supreme court. Let him tell us how Biden is supposed to do what has to be done in the face of that opposition. Biden has tried to do many correct things but has them stopped by the republicans and the courts. If Hedges knows a way around that, let him speak now.
It is not Chris Hedges' job to supply solutions. We must stop wringing our hands that we do not have a saviour or saviours who can do it all, including providing us with instructions on mitigating the political reality. That is up to us, the citizenry, to do.
It's everyone's job - role - responsibility to seek and supply and be part of solutions! The biggest barrier to solving the democracy challenge and climate challenge is opening up opportunities for people to demonstrate how their caring can be channeled into something that makes a difference. People wonder "What can I do - I'm just one person?" Big massive gnarly issues get solved when people believe they can do it, they see how their personal caring can be channeled into new behaviors that collectively expand the impact! There are groups out there like RARE - https://behavior.rare.org/ that are featuring all the ways to shift behavior ad beliefs about climate and increase the knowledge that together we make a difference. Groups like Protect Democracy and Democracy Docket are organizations similarly focused on restoring confidence and the healthy functionality of democratic processes and institutions, There are millions of people doing more and millions more wondering how to do more. But make no mistake - ONLY ONE political party has the courage, and the leadership skills to take action to support a thriving future for American children, and all of the children of the world.
I like your post, except the last part. if the democrats had leadership skills, we wouldn't have had trump. we'd have had bernie. but the "leadership" torpedoed that campaign. if the democrats had leadership skills, they would funnel some money to media and messaging. there are some leaders, such as Schiff, Raskin, AOC, Tlaib, Swawell, but they're not in "power", and the "leadership" doesn't publicize their rhetoric, comments. actions.
I disagree. Anyone can point out what needs to be done and criticize people not doing it. The solutions are the hard part and most needed part.
I was in the Green party for awhile and had the same criticisms of them. They loved castigating the other parties for their ethical failures and lack of solutions but never dealt with the realities facing the people trying to improve things.
The Green Party in the United States is a relatively new phenomenon and as such at least plays a role in accurate identification and articulation of what is wrong. Where the party has been long established (Western Europe), it has enough practical governance experience that it is treated the same as all other parties with such experience, with voters having the same expectations of it regarding its political and policy abilities, including successes, failures, and everything in between. My impression overall of your comments is that you may not value accurate and articulate descriptions of what ails a society. In my view, unless a good diagnosis is made, it is unlikely that appropriate treatments, preventions, and cures will be applied. People like Chris Hedges show us the sources of problems, and show us the ways those problems express themselves in our lives and in our society. America has more than 300 million people. Surely a few of them could look at Hedges' diagnoses and together develop practical, doable, appropriate treatments for the problems.
And I am afraid it will take a catastrophe on the level of millions of deaths in a severe heat wave or flood to awaken people globally. (read The Ministry for the Future).
It will take millions of deaths of the very richest humans, you mean. No one else matters; otherwise we would not have wars, the goal of which is always to kill and maim as many civilians as possible but to only focus, in public, on well-armed military participants, who have much lower risk of dying and at least have a fighting chance. There are already entire small countries sinking under the ocean. Few people bat an eye. We already have populations known as "climate refugees" roaming the planet. I share Michael Moore's view that we have probably less than a decade left...and I don't mean to respond to the challenges. I mean, just to exist as a species. It's phenomenal, what has occurred in the last 150 years.
I value those comments but see them being made by many people, not just Hedges. What needs to be done is common knowledge. How to get it done is the difficult part.
Ah! That is the corundum. Isn’t “common knowledge” in the eye of the beholder? Even in science, you can have individuals who don’t interpret existing data the same as the next guy. In a way, that’s good, because it helps minimize confirmation bias. A checks and balance system so to speak. But in politics, it is all about confirmation bias. And there, you typically get individuals who are so locked in, that a rational dialogue is virtually impossible, even in the face of massive evidence. So how do we overcome that? I’d like to hear meaningful ideas from the audience, not just more banter that gets us nowhere.
Judging by performance, Chris Hedges's job is to try to out-sanctimonious Cornell West. Are the self-righteous duo evidence of what religious training produces absent a congregation?
I have friends who like Mr.West (not to be confused with Allen West) and I appreciate what he brings to the conversation but in my opinion he is unelectable.
That's without consideration of an immediate tax problem he had aired by media, that he countered with the lamest escuses in the known universe (akin to claiming that the family dog unexpectedly devoured one's homework before one could stop him) and whatever other dumb-ish he's got going in the background.
My dislike for Cornell West is so visceral I can't engage in rational public discussion about him. To me, he's a world-class passive-aggressive who (like Joe Manchin) considers any day a bad day if his name is not in headlines. Anything else is peripheral. (Not sure who Allen West is—a tv star?)
Except there are solution-oriented politicians & technicians who do devise carefully thought out plans & prescriptions on how to solve our problems. Bernie has long had a running list of problems & their solutions that he's been repeating for years. Inslee had a comprehensive & surprisingly intricate plan for how to address climate & the environment. Yang had ideas on how to solve a long list of problems. Warren had carefully thought out plans for just about all our major problems & was willing to borrow from other plans (& properly credit them) & refine hers as she got feedback & learned more about the subject. (Gosh, she would've been a brilliant problem-solving Rooseveltian President. How did we pass our chance to grab her?). AOC was instrumental, along with Bernie, in coming up with the Green New Deal & later on the Build Back Better bill, & Tlaib, Khanna & others have come up with some great ideas, too. Also numerous environmental & progressive political organizations come up with great ideas as well.
Unfortunately, all these solutions involve taking on the extremely wealthy & powerful corporate PTB, such as the fossil fuel corporations, who as soon as they get wind of any of these solutions, put their limitless funds into disinformational propaganda & character assassination attacking the problem solvers & their solutions, & the ignorant, gullible people that form close to half of the American voting population fall for their lies.
If I were Biden I would use the bully pulpit, but he simply doesn't understand how to use the media. I would unleash Harris, who is infinitely more articulate than he is. the presidency is his to lose, and for us to be lost. oh well.
He regularly states what needs to be done, but people do not want to do it. We need to apply pressure in ways that acknowledge the risks we are facing: civil disobedience, massive protests and strikes that shut down the economic machine destroying the planet, speaking up within all of our organizations to force them to stop their harmful practices, refusing to keep accepting excuses of political elites who cave to corporate titans, etc. He and many others repeatedly provide guidance, it's just that we may very well not be willing to do what's necessary to save our species.
Many people state what needs to be done. AOC and Bernie Sanders tell us those things all the time but they are also trying to do those things. Hedges undermines Biden who is trying to do many of those things. Who does he think will do them and how will they do them?
AOC and Sanders are elected representatives who do their jobs as legislators. Hedges is a social critic and he is correct to be objective regarding his assessment of politicians regardless of party.
It's not correct to blame a president for not doing something he's try8ing to do but being stopped all the time by the opposition. Don't blame Biden, put the blame where it belongs, on the GOP.
Not true. Much of what Biden does is performative like his means-tested, buraeaucracy-laden student debt relief program. All he had to do is forgive all the debt and send out checks. Instead, he parsed it to relieve a fraction (20%) if the $1.7 trillion in debt AND did not have the application website available until 2 months after the program was rolled out, allowing time for legal challenges. He expanded Trump's heinous Title 42 TWICE which has nothing to do with Republicans (except that it was a Trump era program) denying hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers their legal right to asylum and deporting far more refugees and immigrants than Trump. He has expanded oil pipeline projects and his climate initiatives state that for every green energy project there must be a lease for oil and gas drilling granted. Need I go on? Where was ANY attempt at diplomacy with Putin whom he has known for decades? Why is he selling more weapons around the world than any other president including almost 60% to autocracies? I mean I could go on with dozens more points, but stop blaming the Republicans and look in the mirror. You tell me anything at all that Chris Hedges or Dr Cornel West says about Democrats that is false, anything. You cannot because they tell the truth or do their best to diagnose the problem, you are just blindly defending one of the worst politicians of our time.
On a practical level, the goal of protest in the United States at this time (note, I am not American) should be to hammer on taxation without representation, which as I understand it resonates with American sensibilities.
"The two million deaths that have resulted from the ruling elites mishandling of the global pandemic will be dwarfed by what is to follow. The global catastrophe that awaits us, already baked into the ecosystem from the failure to curb the use of fossil fuels and animal agriculture, presage new, deadlier pandemics, mass migrations of billions of desperate people, plummeting crop yields, mass starvation and systems collapse. " It's not up to any one individual to solve, we all must unite or our children, grandchildren, all humanity, is doomed. Do we just complain and talk about how mean the Republicans are, while allowing them to destroy us? Do we follow a cult leader into oblivion or do we take charge of our futures, at least for the sake of salvaging human life on our planet? That's how high the stakes are. Last night candidates for President vowed to put trump back in the WH, even if indicted. Rolling back climate mitigation is part of the plan. In other words, death of our eco system is being planned.
You're listening to Chris Hedges, and then thinking that *Robert Reich* isn't one of those elites??
Hedges statement about the elites is true. There is no ecological collapse, however. This is insane scaremongering. I really hope this narrative gets shattered into a thousand pieces soon.
BTW, Reich was a neighbor of mine in a small town in California for a few years. I can assure you he is no "elite". He works tirelessly to teach us how the country could achieve Capitalism that works for all, not just the 1%. I greatly admire his determination to not give up in his quest for equality and opportunity for all Americans. That's the whole point of progressivism and "woke".
You're projecting. The only thing I fear is you lunatics who would blindly follow someone like Robert Reich, a man who's been far closer to concentrations of power than you or I ever will be. I see sheep on this Substack, not skeptical inquirers. You included.
Blindly follow? Excuse me, but having taken Professor Reich's Wealth and Poverty class twice and reading multiple books by various authors in my book club such as Timothy Snyder, Madeleine Albright, Naomi Orestes, Fiona Hill, Dan Rather to name only a few it is ridiculous that you assume what people here "believe." Free speech is about debate not name calling.
Continue babbling on, ,attacking & denigrating the problem solvers who are trying to make a better world. There are far too many of your kind who try to create chaos instead of solutions. You & the sadonarcissists you support, follow, revere & obey are no better than the Nazis of 80-90 years ago, & you're the reason for the decline of this nation & world. You keep standing in the way of progress, slandering those who offer solutions & backing those complicit in the destruction of the world.
"Nazi" - You're programmed to say that and to use it as an attack. Think about it.
What do you for a living? I'm a civil engineer, so I spend each and every day problem solving. I've designed stream restoration projects, I've designed water quality basins, hydraulic features in residential developments, hydraulically modeled and re-mapped floodplains so that homeowners could receive lowered insurance rates. I've created temporary water use plans for small water users in Colorado so they could stay in compliance with state water use rules.
I've modeled hydrologic events for large (>20 sq. mi) watersheds and for parking lots.
I do what I can with the life and reach that I have, and that's all I can do. There's been a lot of problem solving involved. Go on. Tell me more about what I am, and what I'm not.
Then what are you doing on a forum with people trying to come up with solutions to our problems & attacking them? Why lash out at the problem solvers rather than the ones -- corporate executives & their (mostly but not exclusively) Republican sycophants who control the government, media, economy & society -- who have been creating & exacerbating our crises?
Isn’t a large segment of the population following ONE man named Trump blindly? I see no attempt to really reflect on his words and actions that might cause one to pause and think that he might ultimately be a danger to themselves eventually. Remember, he cares not about you, only himself. And if elected, he will only hire yes men, who have no clue how to govern nor care to. So the world you care about will be turned on its head by total incompetence and or corruption on a scale similar to Putin’s Russia. That is the pathway for all dictatorships. And it ultimately doesn’t end well.
Good question! There are too many of his kind that infect discussion forums everywhere. Some are sent by Putin's russofascist troll farm, others from their practically indistinguishable American ally, the corporate funded (especially by the fossil fuel companies) disinformational republofascist propaganda machine. But correctly pinpointing their identity is probably futile, except to keep in mind they are nothing more than automatons that the corporate/fascist PTB disperse to prevent solutions to the crises they create & perpetuate.
There absolutely is climate chaos, environmental destruction, ecosystem disintegration & mass extinction in the works all working synergistically with scores of anthropogenic disasters to bring about biospheric collapse much sooner than is popularly imagined.
OR..none of those things are happening at the scale you think they are, and you are the left-liberal analogue to the "Trump voters" you probably despise and vilify, who have their own set of fears and grievances and who like you, have been extensively propagandized by the media into believing that Doomsday is imminent so that you can be weaponized against your supposed "enemies". I think this is a far likelier scenario than the one you paint.
And what you have been programmed to "think" & say by your destructive, fossil fuel funded corporate/fascist overlords has absolutely nothing to do with reality.
Have you ever heard of a scrubber in power plant generation? Do you think that power plant exhaust is just vented to the atmosphere? What do you really know of such processes?
"Fascist"? - again, you're repeating the lines of your overlords. Do you really know that, or do you believe it because of the words of others?
All the thoughts I express are my own, so if you don't like them, blame me, not anyone else. I think for myself based on observation, facts & reason.
On the other hand, your comments are just like so many others I've seen by those repeating the talking points of their corporate & political overlords, both russofascist & republofascist, which are virtually indistinguishable.
Oh...don't you know? There is NO climate changed caused by humans. It's regular cyclical global changes....
OMG! I'm NOT serious, but how the hell do you convince people who DO say that? As I've said in past comments for other of Mr. Reich's posts, people have a natural impulse to never admit they're wrong no matter how many facts are presented to them.
I could not watch the debate or the pre-recorded Trump interview because all they do is lie and the sheep listen and follow along. If we try to convince them with facts, they all say crap like, 'Well the democrats do the same thing and lie.'
How do we combat this? Where is the strong leadership in the Democratic Party to get in public and regularly show a one party stand on these issues and support our current administration, instead of bickering?
Hi Dave, I agree with most of your statements, except, "people have a natural impulse to never admit they're wrong". For some people that is true. But for those who are better educated, and those brought up by parents who admitted to being wrong, it is not true.
An interesting video clip. In the effect on how people arrive at their preconceived notions I have limited agreement. If you are raised in a household that is very devoutly religious for instance, chances are you, too, will follow that religion, especially if all your same age group friends are also in that religious group. But if you are raised in a household where one parent is fond of you and encourages you to independent thought (as I was) you are more likely to research and question what you are told. I thank my long deceased father every day for encouraging me to think, question, and research before forming an opinion.
"How will you as both president and leader of the Republican Party calm the fear that the Republican party doesn’t care about climate change?"
Answer: They won't do anything to calm the fear. They'll simply prove that it's well founded.
What I don't get about those who want to role back environmental protections is what they have against clean air and water. We have photographs of what our land was like between the Industrial Revolution and the creation of the EPA, and it's not pretty. Even if you don't believe in climate change, you can't deny that we need breathable air and drinkable water.
Considering the deniers most likely have cell phones in their pockets and appreciate the science that makes that possible........They pick and choose which science fits their worldview, adding up to nonsense.
How do you convince someone who is more likely to believe Trump over family and friends over any other source of information? The 5 minutes that I watched of the debate reinforced my belief that it would be an echo chamber of perceived grievances and a retelling of the lies.
I don't know the answer, but today's newsletter from Mr. Reich was excellent about how far gone our democracy is since Nixon regarding the loss of common good.
It's more of a rhetorical question, because there isn't an easy answer. Bringing back something like the Fairness Doctrine might be a start. Veracity in the news media would be a start.
Today's field of Republican Presidential candidates ALL deny scientific reality AND hold positions that are firmly opposed by 50+% of the American people.
I agree but the reality is that when you get the republican nomination for president, you automatically have the support of 47% of the people. All it takes to win is a downturn in the economy just before the election.
...which House Republicans are determined to bring about, using the debt ceiling & threat not to live up to our financial obligations to accomplish that.
When? The 1960s assassinations & Vietnam quagmire? The ascendancy of Nixon to the presidency through perfidy, the Watergate scandal & Nixon's pardon? The ascendancy of Reagan to the presidency through treachery, the Iran/Contra scandal & his "greed is good" corporatization of America? The ascendancy of Bush Jr to the presidency through SCOTUS ordered suspension of vote tabulation when it became clear the corporate choice couldn't win legitimately, & plunging us into debt, scandal & recession by succumbing to corporate pressure to slash corporate taxes & regulations? Further entrenchment of corporate control over the government, media, economy & society with Citizens United & other antidemocratic decisions by the increasingly fascist SCOTUS, & the constant division & obstruction directed at the Obama administration in nonstop treasonous attempts to cause his presidency to fail (now being repeated against the Biden presidency)? The ascendancy of Trump to the presidency by allowing Russian interference in the election & collusion with the Trump campaign, & endless corruption, crime & treason by Trump, his administration & Republican confederates in Congress & right-wing media to go unpunished?
The most difficult challenge we face is getting voters to realize that the GOP is not only wrong about almost everything, but are downright dangerous.
If we don’t do more to aggressively address climate change the entire planet will ultimately become uninhabitable. These candidates do not care. All they care about is filling their pockets with money from fossil fuel industries.
No issue matters more than addressing climate change. Without a relatively stable environment, all our energies, emotionally and financially will be used to rebuild over and over again in endless loop.
Deniers kept saying that it was too expensive to invest so much money to guard against something for which there wasn't 100% scientific consensus (as if there ever is). I kept saying that the consequences of not taking action for which there was 97% scientific consensus would be much more expensive in the long run as well as horrific, while by taking action we would derive a lot of additional benefits such as clean air & water, the preservation of more animals & plants, less land covered by concrete & asphalt pavement & livestock lots & ranges & monocultural crops & more by natural vegetation.
Someone should ask Ramaswamy (who wants to raise the minimum voting age to 25 so that the more progressive Z generation can't vote, but says nothing about raising the minimum age to become President to 40 so that he can't run), who at 38 is young enough to, if he were to live an average lifetime based on current data, which would give him another 40 years, experience the mass extinction, total collapse of human society, billions of human deaths & disintegration of the biosphere our present trajectory portends, how his wealth & lack of solutions will save him from the impending catastrophe.
I listened to the historic musical production of "We Are the World" yesterday and it hit me: the YOUNG people of this world are the most climate-concerned and in many ways most active and vocal about the threats they see ahead; this great tune needs a global, on-line and on-Earth re-birth for a worldwide cry to make this The World's First Concern. Our young people could be our only hope.
Every day I wake up hoping for better, but the GOP has recreated itself as a tower of selfish ignorance and disinformation. No foreign forces could ever conspire to inflict the level of disruption and cultural division that they do. I’m astounded at how readily they abandon their own as well. In that regard, almost everyone has become cordwood for their fires. The only things we can be assured of is that they are committed to working against anything that will better Americans of all walks, and the world at large. God help us.
Thank you, Prof. Reich for watching the debate for me. I couldn't bear it! The eight were sure to act like the child-men and child-woman they are and your observation of their response to a question about global warming, the most significant issue of our time proves I was right to do other things instead of taxing my brain with the incomprehensible, the unnecessary, the ridiculous. I did hear samples from the "debate" on MSNBC's wrap-up at 11:00 last night, though and the pieces I heard were truly disturbing. OK, DeSantis just by himself is disturbing, an unapologetic fascist who wants to be president. (OK, Pence is such a whining religious nut who couldn't even defend himself against a man who wanted him dead.) I hope Harvard and Yale are both embarrassed they graduated someone so lacking in humanity as DeSantis. He claims they warped him (OK, not those words) but I doubt it. I suspect they didn't help him, though. Again thanks for reporting on this Republican inability to face reality and to deliberately remain ignorant and childishly stubborn about it.
I too chose not to give those lunatics a single second of my time. It does wonders for my health to turn them off and gives me more time to act and advocate for what is right. It is not at all surprising that the most egregious of the bunch was DeSatan! I only wish he would start sporting a little mustache to appear more visibly like Hitler since he emulates him in word and deed!
Carol Ann (when growing up, Carol Ann was my favorite name. My best doll I named Carol Ann. I still think it's a pretty terrific name) Anyway, you are so right about not wanting to give any time to the pathetic child-men and one child-woman who filled the stage last night. I understand no one learned anything they didn't already know about those folks and the moderators who were, I understand, rather slanted in their questioning and who they allowed to speak longer than their time (Pence, someone we already know is incompetent). I just hope Democrats will be able to get good messaging going to counter the crazies on the right. They were trying to outdo each other in their leaving reality behind. Haley was the only one who came even close to making sense, but her views even then are so opposite of what most Americans believe it can make one sick. They are living on their own fantasy planet and dragging the unthinking, also unconnected to reality along with them which may also end up dragging us all over a cliff that it will be hard to come back from. Gag!
I understand that Haley's criticisms of her competitors -- I think it may have been about their lack of support for Ukraine -- has already been used in an ad supporting Biden.
And too many people listen to that false narrative because it’s easier for them to deny than accept we need to make radical changes in order to have a livable planet. These politicians are desperately trying to create enemies so that they have a political angle, but the irony is that they themselves are the enemies at the gates. It’s a tried and true authoritarian tactic to gaslight us all.
It’s party over people, country and environment. Pathetic that we are where we are given how far education has supposedly come. The punch line is that Vivek says emphatically that “God is real”. I’ll wait for the proof on that one.
Ramaswamy was right about one thing: The others are bought and paid for. But he is no better. He is clearly not serious about governing, just spewing attention-grabbing inflammatory rhetoric.
And their climate change "solution?" Order China and India to reduce their carbon emissions, while our country can emit all the carbon we want. These people might want to be president, but they plainly do not want to do the difficult job of president.
Let's me real about DeSantis. He's a fascist and has made Florida a terrible state to live in, to school children, and because of his policies during the pandemic, Florida had one of the highest death rates in the country. So much for forcing kids to go back to school and scolding them for wearing masks! But this guy has no business even being considered for the presidency. H really is a fascist, fires people (state attorneys) who were ELECTED to office and is a despot. Let's be real. And if you want to really get into it----he's doing some illegal stuff raising money for his campaign and got the state to pass a law that they cannot report his flights and trips to other states for his campaign. He is using STATE money for that travel!!!! Terri Quint
On the contrary: Republicans in Congress are very smart. Their opposition to protecting the environment is political calculation. Which means they are mendacious, not ignorant. I wonder how they can do it? Do they not have families? The best I can come up with is this: they are like the guy in a meat processing plant who kills the steers as they come in. It is his job, he does it, and he doesn't concern himself about anything else, least of all the steers.
@ Bob. I think your metaphor is apt. similarly, an investor buys oil stocks based on a hope to optimize next quarter's income. Destruction of the world is in a different category, does not play into the investment decision.
I don't believe they lack education because there's super intelligent people, as well, who are staunch Republicans. A big part of the problem is that people don't want to take the time to READ into the issues. They listen to sound bites, they listen to the same lies over and over until it becomes their truth, and once that happens, no amount of facts and evidence will ever convince them to change their minds because as I said, in my earlier comment, people have a natural instinct to NOT want to be shown they're wrong and they don't want to have to admit it.
Don’t forget the “friends and neighbors” angle of this denial. Many people are reflexively status-conscious and stay “in line” with the group-think of the alphas in their peer squad. Plus many christians are taught from birth or rebirth not to question nonsense. The need to be accepted by the group, to submit to the group-think is hyper important to their identity and self worth. You cannot ask “But how can........?” Or “But maybe......?” This is irrespective of education level. This is deeper, and more easily manipulated.
I have a niece and her family who are big Trump supporters; The ONLY family members who actually believe in Trump. My brother (her father) has spoken to her asking her how in the world she can believe in the guy and her response is "well the democrats do the SAME thing. It's just a big witch hunt against him.' But when she is immersed in listening to her Church friends and ministers who are regularly preaching about how bad the democrats are and how good Trump was for the country, what else is she going to believe? She won't take the initiative to actually look beyond that and Fox News.
And Fox News...the MOST watched cable news network for two decades or more spewing these lies, hour-after-hour, day-after-day.. People believe this.
And the Democratic party can't find a strong enough leader. There's so much bickering and dislike of Biden within the party, that this looks like a recipe for disaster for the next election. I really hope I'm wrong. Biden has done a crap load that he's not been given credit for.
Newsletters, like Mr. Reich's, Heather Cox Richardson's, Dan Rather's, and others have cited all the good things this administration has done and not gotten credit for. WHY can't the Democrats get behind this administration and project a strong front?
The tactic of the Right is to accuse their accusers of the crime they ( the Right) are in fact committing. The GOP candidates last night are all in the pocket of Capital. They pose as defenders of the little guy when they don’t give a damn about him/her. They only care about their payoff from the rich.
Quite right. I think that Trump will disappear, and the eventual GOP candidate in 2024 will be one of the losers on the stage last night. I don't believe Trump's support is monolithic, and it will be possible for the DNC to peel off disaffected Trumpers, but only with a liberal platform. DNC tactics to date have not been encouraging, however. They must change, and soon.
or Youngkin. There is a reason Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have raised the alarm with Biden about the VA Senate flipping red. I can't predict the nominee. But if it's Youngkin we got real problems.
To quote a line from my favorite film, The Big Lebowski: They're nihilists man, they believe in Nothing! Except they do believe in one thing -- and one thing only -- "Show Me The Money!"*from another film, Jerry McGuire. 🤣🤪💙
I'd be interested in knowing how many US taxpayer dollars are being spent on protecting ol' P01135809 when he reports in for his mug shot today. I know it's irrelevant to the discussion here, but it kind'a goes to Mr Fisher's comment on how Яepubлиkans try to pass themselves off as the bulwark of law enforcement. Bulwark, all right! They're full of bull and ruthlessly work the taxpayers' perceptions!
But I WOULD like to know the $$$ amount we spend to coddle the ex-president so he can keep tweaking the nose of law enforcement and civil norms.
Well, will his Secret Service detail obey orders should Donny try to flee to Russia? And haul
Him in. Maybe it’s good he is ‘ protected’ by agents sworn to uphold the Constitution who haven’t swallowed his delusions . On the other hand, maybe all that proximity has warped them?
If he goes to prison I think he should be stripped of his presidential rights including secret service protection. Let him hire his own.
Furthermore, it angers me to think MTG is getting so much money, top notch health insurance and will receive a hefty pension. All for being nasty and trying to sabotage our county.
I wonder how many of the Republican Representatives and Senators would stay if they didn’t have those benefits? Most people don’t get pensions anymore.
👍
Exactly. The alt right has ZERO policies. Their ONLY tactics are: whataboutisms, projection and HOPEHOPEHOPE that their base is too stupid to realize what losers they are.
Remember: losers are good at what? LOSING. What is the alt right's biggest strength? LOSING.
In the GOP "debate" cum-shouting-match there was not one word about public policy nor any mention about helping the middle and under classes. Truly, it's true: They have absolutely no desire to govern. It's very sad to see the R party sink to such depths of political depravity.
"The tactic of the Right is to accuse their accusers of the crime they (the Right) are in fact committing."
Which is the number one tactic in the narcissist handbook. Trump has been teaching the right how to be better - no, - more effective narcissists.
Unfortunately, many if not most Dems are bribed by
Big Money interests as well. It’s a systemic problem.
And...GOP = Governmental Oligarchical Politicians
JoAnn, You have hit the target when you use the world "oligarchical." However it is not the politicians that are the oligarchs, it is the few ultra wealthy oligarchs that are purchasing the votes of the politicians at market price. Joe Manchin is a perfect example of this and also demonstrates that this oligarchic system has penetrated the ranks of the Democrats also. We need to envision and implement a system that cuts out oligarchs and it is called Economic Democracy." Ask chat GPT "What is economic democracy?" and you will get a concise answer. then you can ask "What is an oligarch" and you will also get a good description of those that are influencing and controlling our politicians.
It is not that the Republicans are dumb, it is that the oligarchs are very smart and have no scruples. They will steal my children's and grandchildren's future to amass more wealth and the environment be damned.
To help reduce the power of the oligarchs, we should tax capital gains as ordinary income.
Gerald rogan ; Bribery should be a crime, like it used to be. But I agree that capital gains should be taxed.
Most Americans, including relatively wealthy individuals, hold stocks mostly in their retirement plans where the lower tax rate on capital gains is irrelevant. Gains on donated stocks are not taxed.
see https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/58688
I support CBO's fourth alternative option:
"Under the fourth alternative, a surtax of 2 percentage point s would be imposed on adjusted gross income above the sum of the standard deduction, personal exemptions, and the threshold of the fourth ordinary income bracket ($95,375 for single filers and $190,750 for joint filers in 2023). For example, a single taxpayer with AGI of $1,000,000 in 2023 would pay a 2 percent tax on the $890,775 of his or her AGI that was above $109,225 (a standard deduction of $13,850, a personal exemption of zero, and the threshold of the fourth ordinary income bracket for single filers)."
An excellent source for further reading about oligarchy in the United States is Jeffrey Winters, a professor at Northwestern. I found his book and a number of his articles really illuminating. He has characterized the US oligarchy as a “civil oligarchy,” one in which government serves to defend oligarchs’ enormous wealth, so that they can focus their efforts on defending their income from the principal threat, taxes.
I’m sure it’s an obvious point to everyone on this thread, but the Supreme Court has created a jurisprudence intended to protect political influence-buying. It will be very difficult to take policy actions commensurate with the scale of the climate crisis without getting $$ in politics under control, and to do that, we need to break apart this jurisprudence. It probably requires reform of the Court itself.
Oligarchy has been opposed to democracy since the colonial era. One option to recover democratic freedoms and responsibilities is for a state to secede, and several states could join under a state centered form like the Articles of Confederation. Another option is to amend the Constitution to cut back federal powers and perhaps restrain the SCt . Preliminary reforms such as reversing Citizens United and banning money from politics would probably be necessary to then take up any of these options. https://youtu.be/3QMSDJn2wSU?si=YyPZggo_v7nUj_YQ
I don’t think that we can get a Reformation of the Supreme Court without the Reformation of our whole political system as it now operates. It will take more than just electing Biden for four more years, but that will be vital to hold off any further depredations by the Republicans.
I agree that reform of the SC is not in any way a project that can be tackled separately from reform of our political system. My view is that we must understand and be willing to challenge the ideological purpose of the American constitutional order. This sounds outlandish except when I consider how much climate change will destabilize the current system. Just the physical dislocation of population and sheer scale of property destruction that is coming out way is staggering to contemplate. https://thedissonance.substack.com
What is the best Chat GPT app to get?
I use “open ai ChatGPT” but I’m not sure it is the best.
The link to sign up is
https://chat.openai.com/auth/login
Make that Grifting Ornery Putzes.
I'm going to add - my own - interpretation of - G O P
= "Gross Old Perverts" !
Love this. Who is throwing childish comebacks? Mr Tucker perhaps?
I can go toe to toe with any of you chumps all day long and not break a sweat. Let's start. Every done any real modeling of a system? I have - in particular, modeling of hydrology, water resources engineering and hydraulics. Want to discuss the assumptions in numerical modeling and what they might mean for discussions about the "climate crisis"?
Old Dan Tucker
Old Dan Tucker, was a fine old man,
Washed his face in a frying pan
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel
And died with a toothache in his heel
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper.
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper.
Old Dan Tucker, he'd come to town
Riding a billy goat, leading a hound
The hound dog barked, the billy goat jumped
Landed 'Ol Tucker on a stump!
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Now Old Dan Tucker got drunk and fell
In the fire and kicked up holy hell
A red-hot coal fell in his shoe
And oh my Lord the ashes flew
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Now old Dan Tucker has come to town
Swinging them ladies all around
First to the right and then to the left
Then to the gal that he loves best
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Get out the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Published in 1843 by Dan Emmett (the author of “Dixie”), who also claimed authorship, “Old Dan Tucker” may have evolved from a popular slaves song about a part-time minister who lived near Elberton, Georgia. The song was popular around both Northern and Southern campfires.
Cool! a little bit of American history in song.
Daniel 'Tucker' ; Dry up , you drip! Hydrology, so you are an expert at governing? Water seeks its own level. The present 'right' are below low.
Go on. Im on the edge of my seat.
You may like wearing that, but you don't actually believe any of that. Most "liberals" aren't really liberals. You don't actually believe in human rights or free speech, or equality - you would take away the right to free speech from every person in this country who disagrees with you, if you could, and you're perfectly fine with black neighborhoods being as violent as third world countries and black kids getting horrible educations. I think most of you supposed "liberals" like it that way.
Seriously? Shouldn't you be hiding under a bridge somewhere?
Actually, I try to lead a Christ-like life instead of worshiping the seven deadly sins conveniently packaged in one deranged Oompa Loompa.
I'm right, aren't I, Russell? You American "liberals" are horrible bigots and tyrants who congratulate yourselves on your self-perceived virtues, and the best any of you can muster when called out on your bullshit is to throw childish comebacks and slurs. Everything I said about stands, and is true.
You mean that calling 'liberals' horrible bigots and tyrants isn't a childish comeback?
No, it's what you are. You are attack dogs ready to be mustered by your masters. I've seen it in political debates in my hometown, and with "liberal" co-workers snacked on unbuttered popcorn and drove a Prius. Good thing many of you are childless, though. That's a petty swipe but I mean every inch of it.
Everything you said is unsupported opinion. Just like your "news" sources!
Also, it's interesting that you use the phrase "American 'Liberals'". This indicates to me that you are not American, so do you work for Putin's troll farm? Are you a high schooler in Macedonia? Nah, I'm putting my money on Islamic Jihadist.
Yawn. Putin? Macedonia? Jihadist? Seriously, what the fuck are you even talking about? You are a fleshy CNN headline.
D Tucker
I’m sorry to see you carry such a heavy burden.
Don't be sorry, because you don't know me and don't know what I carry or don't carry.
We do get tired of being right all the time about so many things.
Sorry bud, you are missing a big part of reality. Your beliefs are not supported by reality or facts. What are you comparing “American liberals” to? Being fair is not that difficult, please try.
See my comments below. I've known many so-called "liberals". They aren't liberals. They are tyrants and bigots and liars. Real liberals are Matt Taibbi and Jimmy Dore, not the fake ass chumps responding to me with emojis like teenagers.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Daniel Tucker, is that you Tucker Carlson?
He may be Tucker Carlson's dimwit son. He sure behaves like Tucker Carlson.
John T Phillips, that's what I thought, sure sounds like him.. Ha!
Boy are you a brainwashed Trump supporter. I have a wonderful gay, black neighbor, I believe in equality and support the dreamers at our college with scholarships. And I don't think the immigrants should be limited to lily white peoples. And I am proud to be liberal. If conservatives ran this country we would still be using horse and carriages.
You aren't liberal. You a religious zealot, except that your religion doesn't involve a god. Your comments show that you believe that you have a moral superiority. People like you would justify the most despicable actions possible with your moral justifications.
Despicable??? There is no one more despicable than Rethuglicans are. Projection, projection, projection, projection, projection, that all your dimwits know how to do. GO TROLL ELSEWHERE, you projectionist TROLL.
Please have respect and don’t call Donald Trump, Mr. poopy pants.
President Dementia Patient. President Pudding Eater. Better?
What are you talking about solar panels in the dark. Not sure where you are but it must be a far planet.
Most likely Siberia, so you're not far off.
Boy Betts ; another pathetic climate destruction denier working for the fossil fuel industry.
@ Daniel Tucker. Glib characterizations of various partisans are useless. Your cartoonish depiction of "Liberals" is a good example of inflammatory, useless, hate speech. Beware your own cognition; using such simplistic "stick figures" blocks you from really understanding "liberals".
I've been around many "liberals". They weren't liberal at all. They were monsters, when it came to it. They'd murder on command if it came to it and they felt empowered to do so and protected from repercussions. Understanding the Red Terror in the Soviet Union, or the socialist terror before 1917, is terribly easy once you've been around American left-wing fanatics. The only difference between many American liberals and the members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in pre-USSR Russia is that many American "liberals" are way, way, too affluent, comfortable, and cowardly, to undertake the bombings and murders of the SR's.
Reading Solzhenitsyn's "1914" and his description of the behavior of SR members of the Duma in those years *exactly* parallels Democratic representative behavior in Congress these days.
American Democratic Party members are in many cases, the furthest thing from liberals. They are tyrants in waiting, authoritarians and oppressors waiting for their time to come.
@Daniel Tucker. That is an aberrant view, counter-factual and deluded in the horribly distorted comparisons.
WRONG, dimwit, you are describing exactly what your Fascist/NAZI Rethugs are. Go elsewhere with your projectionist BS.
Why do you keep on projecting your own character & urges on "liberals"?
That is pure projection! You are either extremely deluded, having been completely indoctrinated by russorepublochristofascist propaganda, or a hateful sadist.
you want real liberalism and not the horseshit peddled by the likes of Robert Reich? Go over to Matt Taibbi's Racket News, or find Walter Kirn, or Ruy Teixeira's "Liberal Patriot" Substack page.
Daniel Tucker : I wonder if your real name is Tucker Carlson.......
Haven't you had your lips glued to Donald TUMPs nasty rear end long enough?
The Orange Crevasse. Proper terminology is important!
Lol.
The Republicans do care about climate change they just won't do anything about it because "Big" business, which they support aggressively, Is the primary cause of the changes we are experiencing as we speak. To fight the effects of the change would be to go against all the economic instructions that keep the party in power through their generous donations. One hand feed the other, remember Trump's wonderous discovery that there was such a thing as "clean coal." If that guy was a fish he would have been caught hook, line, and sinker, a long time ago. What a schmuck. I really feel he should look into the possibility of his ground breaking discovery that regular house hold disinfectants might, if injected into the human body, cure the civid virus, way to go Donnie. The act would most likely cure everything else that was wrong with you at the same time.
I am reminded of the Republican Secty of the Interior (was it Watts?) who basically said "drill, baby, drill" with regard to fossil fuels, mining in national parks, etc., on the grounds that the "Second Coming" was imminent, so there was no need to think about the loss of such things for future generations.
Sandra--That's the problem with most wealthy Republicans, they could care less about any future generation.
Can you tell me, offhand and without looking it up, what the function of a scrubber is in industrial and power plant exhausts?
Daniel--It helps purify the air.
Daniel--I was a plumber for 25 years and I spent a considerable amount of time in machinal rooms where i only wished there were a few good scrubbers actively in use. Next!
removal of SO2 from coal fired stack gases.
No, that isn't true. Not at all. See, folks like you (based upon your actions) act as though the "right" to abuse others belongs to YOU and anyone who tries to prevent YOUR abusing THEM is actually abusing YOU!
You become the victim by means of rhetoric and the victim is thus tranformed into the victimizer, by means of the same BS premise.
So you rail about 'free speech" when all you want to do is disseminate "hate speech" with absolutely no consequence and accuse others of what you would do.
Perhaps you're in the wrong forum.
Lastly. I have yet to see you address the topic under discussion. That being climate change. And you are not alone in getting deflected. Many that you consider liberal are doing the same in these threads. All should keep on topic. Climate change is no hoax. There is a plethora of data out there indicating it is not natural variation but man made. One just has to decide where to look. Tick Tok, YouTube, where dribble resides without valid references/data or real science articles that quote actual data and reviewed references. But reading and understanding real science requires education doesn’t it?
There are morons on both sides of this right-left debate. I lived through the 60’s and 70’s where there was real left wing violence. Just 2 miles from my residence in Madison, Wi, a terrorist used a nitrate fertilizer filled van to bomb the math research center on the University of Wisconsin campus back in the early 70’s. That was all about the Vietnam war conflict. Today’s violence, is perpetrated primarily by the right over one man’s delusion and lies about his status in the world.
So Portland in 2020 was due to "right wing" violence? What about Chaz in Seattle? Who's causing what's happening in the Kensington area of Philadelphia right now? Look it up. Is the "Right Wing" causing that?
Could it be that your assumptions are all wrong? Would you admit it if they were?
My son had an apartment overlooking the protest area at the time – which was basically a two block area. Despite the burning mattress, he thought the protests we’re basically peaceful until the outside agitators came in vans to shake things up. The conservative media portrayal of Portland as a city in flames was a gross exaggeration.
Thank you for the clarification. There you go Tucker. Someone actually on the scene.
I am speaking about political violence. Portland has a gang issue. On the Seattle Chaz issue, I agree it’s a shit show. Not sure it’s political in nature, more of a life style issue, that I don’t agree with. So yes, I can be persuaded but I have yet to see you blast Trump’s call for violence, all in an effort to keep his ass out of jail. Remember, he stole classified documents that put everyone at grave risk, even you and the lied about having them and then tried to obstruct Justice hiding his crime. A beach of his oath of office at best.
U.S. human assets all over the GD world died because the Orange Crevasse's avarice. He sold them/us out to our adversaries to line his filthy pockets.
I would love to meet anyone who still supports his agenda for a "discussion," that would likely end with them being rendered tar-less, having had it all beaten out of them.
There is no actual discussion with anyone unwilling to accept basic fact, be it history, science or what. If one insists on believing nonsense and prefers conspiracy theories to actual fact, there is nothing left to discuss.
Let’s talk education. I for one agree that the black community has been set back in many ways. Many of which are outside of their control. But everyone, white, black, brown, has at least the right to get a high school education. Wether or not it’s equal is always the question. And unfortunately, that’s been the case for quite a while. But everyone also has the responsibility to see it through to the best of their ability and circumstances. Not saying it makes no difference and not even trying does no one any good. My wife teaches grade school in a mixed neighborhood and sees this mind set all too often. It’s damed scary that it’s grand parents trying to instill this need to learn attitude in their grandchildren, while parents, who have seen less blatant discrimination than their parents, sometimes do not seem to give a damn. So, is that bad attitude the fault of progressives?
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Idiot liar, like Tucker Carlson . Troll! Go troll some other place.
A direct answer to a basic question will clear up your real nature. Does atmospheric CO2 control the temperature of the earth or not? Answer if you dare.
Not sure "control" is the best word for it, but "affect" or "impact", certainly.
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas. The earth's temperature is controlled by the radiation the earth receives from the sun, and the radiation the earth emits to space. Other green house gases contribute. The reflectivty of the earth has an effect. But CO2 is the main issue.
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I've met a few Americans who called themselves liberals and your description fits like a glove.
I have too. They're lunatics when the surface is scratched. I worked in a government office full of them (USGS). They were all boomers, all had degrees, many advanced degrees, and every one of them was an intolerant dictator when it came to it. Affluent white liberals in particular mistake liberalism for "Agree with everything I believe about the world, or else..."
LIKE!
The responses last night reminded me of the points made in this powerful piece by Chris Hedges, The Age of Social Murder: "The ruling elites, despite the accelerating and tangible ecological collapse, mollify us, either by meaningless gestures or denial."
https://scheerpost.com/2021/03/02/hedges-the-age-of-social-murder/
Hedges says that Biden won't do the job but fails to tell us how the job can get done. I like Hedges but like so many he ignores the reality we are in. Republicans control the house, can stop most things in the senate and control much of the court system, including the supreme court. Let him tell us how Biden is supposed to do what has to be done in the face of that opposition. Biden has tried to do many correct things but has them stopped by the republicans and the courts. If Hedges knows a way around that, let him speak now.
It is not Chris Hedges' job to supply solutions. We must stop wringing our hands that we do not have a saviour or saviours who can do it all, including providing us with instructions on mitigating the political reality. That is up to us, the citizenry, to do.
It's everyone's job - role - responsibility to seek and supply and be part of solutions! The biggest barrier to solving the democracy challenge and climate challenge is opening up opportunities for people to demonstrate how their caring can be channeled into something that makes a difference. People wonder "What can I do - I'm just one person?" Big massive gnarly issues get solved when people believe they can do it, they see how their personal caring can be channeled into new behaviors that collectively expand the impact! There are groups out there like RARE - https://behavior.rare.org/ that are featuring all the ways to shift behavior ad beliefs about climate and increase the knowledge that together we make a difference. Groups like Protect Democracy and Democracy Docket are organizations similarly focused on restoring confidence and the healthy functionality of democratic processes and institutions, There are millions of people doing more and millions more wondering how to do more. But make no mistake - ONLY ONE political party has the courage, and the leadership skills to take action to support a thriving future for American children, and all of the children of the world.
I like your post, except the last part. if the democrats had leadership skills, we wouldn't have had trump. we'd have had bernie. but the "leadership" torpedoed that campaign. if the democrats had leadership skills, they would funnel some money to media and messaging. there are some leaders, such as Schiff, Raskin, AOC, Tlaib, Swawell, but they're not in "power", and the "leadership" doesn't publicize their rhetoric, comments. actions.
I disagree. Anyone can point out what needs to be done and criticize people not doing it. The solutions are the hard part and most needed part.
I was in the Green party for awhile and had the same criticisms of them. They loved castigating the other parties for their ethical failures and lack of solutions but never dealt with the realities facing the people trying to improve things.
The Green Party in the United States is a relatively new phenomenon and as such at least plays a role in accurate identification and articulation of what is wrong. Where the party has been long established (Western Europe), it has enough practical governance experience that it is treated the same as all other parties with such experience, with voters having the same expectations of it regarding its political and policy abilities, including successes, failures, and everything in between. My impression overall of your comments is that you may not value accurate and articulate descriptions of what ails a society. In my view, unless a good diagnosis is made, it is unlikely that appropriate treatments, preventions, and cures will be applied. People like Chris Hedges show us the sources of problems, and show us the ways those problems express themselves in our lives and in our society. America has more than 300 million people. Surely a few of them could look at Hedges' diagnoses and together develop practical, doable, appropriate treatments for the problems.
And I am afraid it will take a catastrophe on the level of millions of deaths in a severe heat wave or flood to awaken people globally. (read The Ministry for the Future).
It will take millions of deaths of the very richest humans, you mean. No one else matters; otherwise we would not have wars, the goal of which is always to kill and maim as many civilians as possible but to only focus, in public, on well-armed military participants, who have much lower risk of dying and at least have a fighting chance. There are already entire small countries sinking under the ocean. Few people bat an eye. We already have populations known as "climate refugees" roaming the planet. I share Michael Moore's view that we have probably less than a decade left...and I don't mean to respond to the challenges. I mean, just to exist as a species. It's phenomenal, what has occurred in the last 150 years.
I value those comments but see them being made by many people, not just Hedges. What needs to be done is common knowledge. How to get it done is the difficult part.
And we have to accept that that difficult part really is up to all of us, as messy as that is.
Ah! That is the corundum. Isn’t “common knowledge” in the eye of the beholder? Even in science, you can have individuals who don’t interpret existing data the same as the next guy. In a way, that’s good, because it helps minimize confirmation bias. A checks and balance system so to speak. But in politics, it is all about confirmation bias. And there, you typically get individuals who are so locked in, that a rational dialogue is virtually impossible, even in the face of massive evidence. So how do we overcome that? I’d like to hear meaningful ideas from the audience, not just more banter that gets us nowhere.
Judging by performance, Chris Hedges's job is to try to out-sanctimonious Cornell West. Are the self-righteous duo evidence of what religious training produces absent a congregation?
I have friends who like Mr.West (not to be confused with Allen West) and I appreciate what he brings to the conversation but in my opinion he is unelectable.
That's without consideration of an immediate tax problem he had aired by media, that he countered with the lamest escuses in the known universe (akin to claiming that the family dog unexpectedly devoured one's homework before one could stop him) and whatever other dumb-ish he's got going in the background.
This dude wants to be president?!
My dislike for Cornell West is so visceral I can't engage in rational public discussion about him. To me, he's a world-class passive-aggressive who (like Joe Manchin) considers any day a bad day if his name is not in headlines. Anything else is peripheral. (Not sure who Allen West is—a tv star?)
No TV star this one, unless you count Blaze TV:
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/07/allen-west-texas-gop/
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Except there are solution-oriented politicians & technicians who do devise carefully thought out plans & prescriptions on how to solve our problems. Bernie has long had a running list of problems & their solutions that he's been repeating for years. Inslee had a comprehensive & surprisingly intricate plan for how to address climate & the environment. Yang had ideas on how to solve a long list of problems. Warren had carefully thought out plans for just about all our major problems & was willing to borrow from other plans (& properly credit them) & refine hers as she got feedback & learned more about the subject. (Gosh, she would've been a brilliant problem-solving Rooseveltian President. How did we pass our chance to grab her?). AOC was instrumental, along with Bernie, in coming up with the Green New Deal & later on the Build Back Better bill, & Tlaib, Khanna & others have come up with some great ideas, too. Also numerous environmental & progressive political organizations come up with great ideas as well.
Unfortunately, all these solutions involve taking on the extremely wealthy & powerful corporate PTB, such as the fossil fuel corporations, who as soon as they get wind of any of these solutions, put their limitless funds into disinformational propaganda & character assassination attacking the problem solvers & their solutions, & the ignorant, gullible people that form close to half of the American voting population fall for their lies.
Bingo! Thank you!
If I were Biden I would use the bully pulpit, but he simply doesn't understand how to use the media. I would unleash Harris, who is infinitely more articulate than he is. the presidency is his to lose, and for us to be lost. oh well.
He regularly states what needs to be done, but people do not want to do it. We need to apply pressure in ways that acknowledge the risks we are facing: civil disobedience, massive protests and strikes that shut down the economic machine destroying the planet, speaking up within all of our organizations to force them to stop their harmful practices, refusing to keep accepting excuses of political elites who cave to corporate titans, etc. He and many others repeatedly provide guidance, it's just that we may very well not be willing to do what's necessary to save our species.
Many people state what needs to be done. AOC and Bernie Sanders tell us those things all the time but they are also trying to do those things. Hedges undermines Biden who is trying to do many of those things. Who does he think will do them and how will they do them?
AOC and Sanders are elected representatives who do their jobs as legislators. Hedges is a social critic and he is correct to be objective regarding his assessment of politicians regardless of party.
It's not correct to blame a president for not doing something he's try8ing to do but being stopped all the time by the opposition. Don't blame Biden, put the blame where it belongs, on the GOP.
Not true. Much of what Biden does is performative like his means-tested, buraeaucracy-laden student debt relief program. All he had to do is forgive all the debt and send out checks. Instead, he parsed it to relieve a fraction (20%) if the $1.7 trillion in debt AND did not have the application website available until 2 months after the program was rolled out, allowing time for legal challenges. He expanded Trump's heinous Title 42 TWICE which has nothing to do with Republicans (except that it was a Trump era program) denying hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers their legal right to asylum and deporting far more refugees and immigrants than Trump. He has expanded oil pipeline projects and his climate initiatives state that for every green energy project there must be a lease for oil and gas drilling granted. Need I go on? Where was ANY attempt at diplomacy with Putin whom he has known for decades? Why is he selling more weapons around the world than any other president including almost 60% to autocracies? I mean I could go on with dozens more points, but stop blaming the Republicans and look in the mirror. You tell me anything at all that Chris Hedges or Dr Cornel West says about Democrats that is false, anything. You cannot because they tell the truth or do their best to diagnose the problem, you are just blindly defending one of the worst politicians of our time.
On a practical level, the goal of protest in the United States at this time (note, I am not American) should be to hammer on taxation without representation, which as I understand it resonates with American sensibilities.
At one point, Hedges insisted revolution by the people was the only solution.
Revolution is really dangerous. You never know what you'll get and, often, it is worse than what you rebelled against.
"The two million deaths that have resulted from the ruling elites mishandling of the global pandemic will be dwarfed by what is to follow. The global catastrophe that awaits us, already baked into the ecosystem from the failure to curb the use of fossil fuels and animal agriculture, presage new, deadlier pandemics, mass migrations of billions of desperate people, plummeting crop yields, mass starvation and systems collapse. " It's not up to any one individual to solve, we all must unite or our children, grandchildren, all humanity, is doomed. Do we just complain and talk about how mean the Republicans are, while allowing them to destroy us? Do we follow a cult leader into oblivion or do we take charge of our futures, at least for the sake of salvaging human life on our planet? That's how high the stakes are. Last night candidates for President vowed to put trump back in the WH, even if indicted. Rolling back climate mitigation is part of the plan. In other words, death of our eco system is being planned.
You're listening to Chris Hedges, and then thinking that *Robert Reich* isn't one of those elites??
Hedges statement about the elites is true. There is no ecological collapse, however. This is insane scaremongering. I really hope this narrative gets shattered into a thousand pieces soon.
BTW, Reich was a neighbor of mine in a small town in California for a few years. I can assure you he is no "elite". He works tirelessly to teach us how the country could achieve Capitalism that works for all, not just the 1%. I greatly admire his determination to not give up in his quest for equality and opportunity for all Americans. That's the whole point of progressivism and "woke".
Wow. But cheer up. Things are already shattering into billions of pieces. I am sorry it scares you.
You're projecting. The only thing I fear is you lunatics who would blindly follow someone like Robert Reich, a man who's been far closer to concentrations of power than you or I ever will be. I see sheep on this Substack, not skeptical inquirers. You included.
Blindly follow? Excuse me, but having taken Professor Reich's Wealth and Poverty class twice and reading multiple books by various authors in my book club such as Timothy Snyder, Madeleine Albright, Naomi Orestes, Fiona Hill, Dan Rather to name only a few it is ridiculous that you assume what people here "believe." Free speech is about debate not name calling.
Oh, Daniel. Carry on.
Continue babbling on, ,attacking & denigrating the problem solvers who are trying to make a better world. There are far too many of your kind who try to create chaos instead of solutions. You & the sadonarcissists you support, follow, revere & obey are no better than the Nazis of 80-90 years ago, & you're the reason for the decline of this nation & world. You keep standing in the way of progress, slandering those who offer solutions & backing those complicit in the destruction of the world.
"Nazi" - You're programmed to say that and to use it as an attack. Think about it.
What do you for a living? I'm a civil engineer, so I spend each and every day problem solving. I've designed stream restoration projects, I've designed water quality basins, hydraulic features in residential developments, hydraulically modeled and re-mapped floodplains so that homeowners could receive lowered insurance rates. I've created temporary water use plans for small water users in Colorado so they could stay in compliance with state water use rules.
I've modeled hydrologic events for large (>20 sq. mi) watersheds and for parking lots.
I do what I can with the life and reach that I have, and that's all I can do. There's been a lot of problem solving involved. Go on. Tell me more about what I am, and what I'm not.
Then what are you doing on a forum with people trying to come up with solutions to our problems & attacking them? Why lash out at the problem solvers rather than the ones -- corporate executives & their (mostly but not exclusively) Republican sycophants who control the government, media, economy & society -- who have been creating & exacerbating our crises?
Isn’t a large segment of the population following ONE man named Trump blindly? I see no attempt to really reflect on his words and actions that might cause one to pause and think that he might ultimately be a danger to themselves eventually. Remember, he cares not about you, only himself. And if elected, he will only hire yes men, who have no clue how to govern nor care to. So the world you care about will be turned on its head by total incompetence and or corruption on a scale similar to Putin’s Russia. That is the pathway for all dictatorships. And it ultimately doesn’t end well.
Who are you really?
Good question! There are too many of his kind that infect discussion forums everywhere. Some are sent by Putin's russofascist troll farm, others from their practically indistinguishable American ally, the corporate funded (especially by the fossil fuel companies) disinformational republofascist propaganda machine. But correctly pinpointing their identity is probably futile, except to keep in mind they are nothing more than automatons that the corporate/fascist PTB disperse to prevent solutions to the crises they create & perpetuate.
Daniel Tucker, Is that you Tucker Carlson?
There absolutely is climate chaos, environmental destruction, ecosystem disintegration & mass extinction in the works all working synergistically with scores of anthropogenic disasters to bring about biospheric collapse much sooner than is popularly imagined.
OR..none of those things are happening at the scale you think they are, and you are the left-liberal analogue to the "Trump voters" you probably despise and vilify, who have their own set of fears and grievances and who like you, have been extensively propagandized by the media into believing that Doomsday is imminent so that you can be weaponized against your supposed "enemies". I think this is a far likelier scenario than the one you paint.
And what you have been programmed to "think" & say by your destructive, fossil fuel funded corporate/fascist overlords has absolutely nothing to do with reality.
Have you ever heard of a scrubber in power plant generation? Do you think that power plant exhaust is just vented to the atmosphere? What do you really know of such processes?
"Fascist"? - again, you're repeating the lines of your overlords. Do you really know that, or do you believe it because of the words of others?
All the thoughts I express are my own, so if you don't like them, blame me, not anyone else. I think for myself based on observation, facts & reason.
On the other hand, your comments are just like so many others I've seen by those repeating the talking points of their corporate & political overlords, both russofascist & republofascist, which are virtually indistinguishable.
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Oh...don't you know? There is NO climate changed caused by humans. It's regular cyclical global changes....
OMG! I'm NOT serious, but how the hell do you convince people who DO say that? As I've said in past comments for other of Mr. Reich's posts, people have a natural impulse to never admit they're wrong no matter how many facts are presented to them.
I could not watch the debate or the pre-recorded Trump interview because all they do is lie and the sheep listen and follow along. If we try to convince them with facts, they all say crap like, 'Well the democrats do the same thing and lie.'
How do we combat this? Where is the strong leadership in the Democratic Party to get in public and regularly show a one party stand on these issues and support our current administration, instead of bickering?
Hi Dave, I agree with most of your statements, except, "people have a natural impulse to never admit they're wrong". For some people that is true. But for those who are better educated, and those brought up by parents who admitted to being wrong, it is not true.
Fay...that's a good point.
Watch this ASAP Science video....it's really interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEWLY3mdk8E I saw this a few years ago, and it's really super
An interesting video clip. In the effect on how people arrive at their preconceived notions I have limited agreement. If you are raised in a household that is very devoutly religious for instance, chances are you, too, will follow that religion, especially if all your same age group friends are also in that religious group. But if you are raised in a household where one parent is fond of you and encourages you to independent thought (as I was) you are more likely to research and question what you are told. I thank my long deceased father every day for encouraging me to think, question, and research before forming an opinion.
"How will you as both president and leader of the Republican Party calm the fear that the Republican party doesn’t care about climate change?"
Answer: They won't do anything to calm the fear. They'll simply prove that it's well founded.
What I don't get about those who want to role back environmental protections is what they have against clean air and water. We have photographs of what our land was like between the Industrial Revolution and the creation of the EPA, and it's not pretty. Even if you don't believe in climate change, you can't deny that we need breathable air and drinkable water.
Considering the deniers most likely have cell phones in their pockets and appreciate the science that makes that possible........They pick and choose which science fits their worldview, adding up to nonsense.
How do you convince someone who is more likely to believe Trump over family and friends over any other source of information? The 5 minutes that I watched of the debate reinforced my belief that it would be an echo chamber of perceived grievances and a retelling of the lies.
I don't know the answer, but today's newsletter from Mr. Reich was excellent about how far gone our democracy is since Nixon regarding the loss of common good.
It's more of a rhetorical question, because there isn't an easy answer. Bringing back something like the Fairness Doctrine might be a start. Veracity in the news media would be a start.
But yes, things have gone downhill.
Today's field of Republican Presidential candidates ALL deny scientific reality AND hold positions that are firmly opposed by 50+% of the American people.
But still get elected.
And because huge swaths of people are ignorant and gullible enough to believe GOP lies and vote against their own interests.
I agree but the reality is that when you get the republican nomination for president, you automatically have the support of 47% of the people. All it takes to win is a downturn in the economy just before the election.
...which House Republicans are determined to bring about, using the debt ceiling & threat not to live up to our financial obligations to accomplish that.
I can tell you who didn't win the GOP nomination last night, Democracy.
ARRRRRRG! Sorry Docter Reich. I had to get that my chest. Frankly, I am embarrassed as an American, that these ass-clowns represent us?
Or want to be President?
When did we all fall into The Twilight Zone? Thank you Professor, for keeping the battle moving forward and may God bless you!
When? The 1960s assassinations & Vietnam quagmire? The ascendancy of Nixon to the presidency through perfidy, the Watergate scandal & Nixon's pardon? The ascendancy of Reagan to the presidency through treachery, the Iran/Contra scandal & his "greed is good" corporatization of America? The ascendancy of Bush Jr to the presidency through SCOTUS ordered suspension of vote tabulation when it became clear the corporate choice couldn't win legitimately, & plunging us into debt, scandal & recession by succumbing to corporate pressure to slash corporate taxes & regulations? Further entrenchment of corporate control over the government, media, economy & society with Citizens United & other antidemocratic decisions by the increasingly fascist SCOTUS, & the constant division & obstruction directed at the Obama administration in nonstop treasonous attempts to cause his presidency to fail (now being repeated against the Biden presidency)? The ascendancy of Trump to the presidency by allowing Russian interference in the election & collusion with the Trump campaign, & endless corruption, crime & treason by Trump, his administration & Republican confederates in Congress & right-wing media to go unpunished?
The most difficult challenge we face is getting voters to realize that the GOP is not only wrong about almost everything, but are downright dangerous.
If we don’t do more to aggressively address climate change the entire planet will ultimately become uninhabitable. These candidates do not care. All they care about is filling their pockets with money from fossil fuel industries.
No issue matters more than addressing climate change. Without a relatively stable environment, all our energies, emotionally and financially will be used to rebuild over and over again in endless loop.
Exactly!
Deniers kept saying that it was too expensive to invest so much money to guard against something for which there wasn't 100% scientific consensus (as if there ever is). I kept saying that the consequences of not taking action for which there was 97% scientific consensus would be much more expensive in the long run as well as horrific, while by taking action we would derive a lot of additional benefits such as clean air & water, the preservation of more animals & plants, less land covered by concrete & asphalt pavement & livestock lots & ranges & monocultural crops & more by natural vegetation.
Someone should ask Ramaswamy (who wants to raise the minimum voting age to 25 so that the more progressive Z generation can't vote, but says nothing about raising the minimum age to become President to 40 so that he can't run), who at 38 is young enough to, if he were to live an average lifetime based on current data, which would give him another 40 years, experience the mass extinction, total collapse of human society, billions of human deaths & disintegration of the biosphere our present trajectory portends, how his wealth & lack of solutions will save him from the impending catastrophe.
I listened to the historic musical production of "We Are the World" yesterday and it hit me: the YOUNG people of this world are the most climate-concerned and in many ways most active and vocal about the threats they see ahead; this great tune needs a global, on-line and on-Earth re-birth for a worldwide cry to make this The World's First Concern. Our young people could be our only hope.
Every day I wake up hoping for better, but the GOP has recreated itself as a tower of selfish ignorance and disinformation. No foreign forces could ever conspire to inflict the level of disruption and cultural division that they do. I’m astounded at how readily they abandon their own as well. In that regard, almost everyone has become cordwood for their fires. The only things we can be assured of is that they are committed to working against anything that will better Americans of all walks, and the world at large. God help us.
"No foreign forces could ever conspire to inflict the level of disruption and cultural division that they do."
This doesn't get said nearly enough. Excellent post all around, Tim!
Thank you, Prof. Reich for watching the debate for me. I couldn't bear it! The eight were sure to act like the child-men and child-woman they are and your observation of their response to a question about global warming, the most significant issue of our time proves I was right to do other things instead of taxing my brain with the incomprehensible, the unnecessary, the ridiculous. I did hear samples from the "debate" on MSNBC's wrap-up at 11:00 last night, though and the pieces I heard were truly disturbing. OK, DeSantis just by himself is disturbing, an unapologetic fascist who wants to be president. (OK, Pence is such a whining religious nut who couldn't even defend himself against a man who wanted him dead.) I hope Harvard and Yale are both embarrassed they graduated someone so lacking in humanity as DeSantis. He claims they warped him (OK, not those words) but I doubt it. I suspect they didn't help him, though. Again thanks for reporting on this Republican inability to face reality and to deliberately remain ignorant and childishly stubborn about it.
I too chose not to give those lunatics a single second of my time. It does wonders for my health to turn them off and gives me more time to act and advocate for what is right. It is not at all surprising that the most egregious of the bunch was DeSatan! I only wish he would start sporting a little mustache to appear more visibly like Hitler since he emulates him in word and deed!
Carol Ann (when growing up, Carol Ann was my favorite name. My best doll I named Carol Ann. I still think it's a pretty terrific name) Anyway, you are so right about not wanting to give any time to the pathetic child-men and one child-woman who filled the stage last night. I understand no one learned anything they didn't already know about those folks and the moderators who were, I understand, rather slanted in their questioning and who they allowed to speak longer than their time (Pence, someone we already know is incompetent). I just hope Democrats will be able to get good messaging going to counter the crazies on the right. They were trying to outdo each other in their leaving reality behind. Haley was the only one who came even close to making sense, but her views even then are so opposite of what most Americans believe it can make one sick. They are living on their own fantasy planet and dragging the unthinking, also unconnected to reality along with them which may also end up dragging us all over a cliff that it will be hard to come back from. Gag!
My favorite name is Carol Ann too!
Carol Ann Heasley
I understand that Haley's criticisms of her competitors -- I think it may have been about their lack of support for Ukraine -- has already been used in an ad supporting Biden.
And too many people listen to that false narrative because it’s easier for them to deny than accept we need to make radical changes in order to have a livable planet. These politicians are desperately trying to create enemies so that they have a political angle, but the irony is that they themselves are the enemies at the gates. It’s a tried and true authoritarian tactic to gaslight us all.
It’s party over people, country and environment. Pathetic that we are where we are given how far education has supposedly come. The punch line is that Vivek says emphatically that “God is real”. I’ll wait for the proof on that one.
Ramaswamy was right about one thing: The others are bought and paid for. But he is no better. He is clearly not serious about governing, just spewing attention-grabbing inflammatory rhetoric.
And their climate change "solution?" Order China and India to reduce their carbon emissions, while our country can emit all the carbon we want. These people might want to be president, but they plainly do not want to do the difficult job of president.
Let's me real about DeSantis. He's a fascist and has made Florida a terrible state to live in, to school children, and because of his policies during the pandemic, Florida had one of the highest death rates in the country. So much for forcing kids to go back to school and scolding them for wearing masks! But this guy has no business even being considered for the presidency. H really is a fascist, fires people (state attorneys) who were ELECTED to office and is a despot. Let's be real. And if you want to really get into it----he's doing some illegal stuff raising money for his campaign and got the state to pass a law that they cannot report his flights and trips to other states for his campaign. He is using STATE money for that travel!!!! Terri Quint
Why are people voting for him?
Republicans lack education or just No brai
On the contrary: Republicans in Congress are very smart. Their opposition to protecting the environment is political calculation. Which means they are mendacious, not ignorant. I wonder how they can do it? Do they not have families? The best I can come up with is this: they are like the guy in a meat processing plant who kills the steers as they come in. It is his job, he does it, and he doesn't concern himself about anything else, least of all the steers.
I wouldn't say very smart. I'd say willing to sell their souls.
The GQP are terrorists!
@ Bob. I think your metaphor is apt. similarly, an investor buys oil stocks based on a hope to optimize next quarter's income. Destruction of the world is in a different category, does not play into the investment decision.
I would appreciate a Robert Reich session on how elected American politicians have compromised us out of legislation for the common good.
I don't believe they lack education because there's super intelligent people, as well, who are staunch Republicans. A big part of the problem is that people don't want to take the time to READ into the issues. They listen to sound bites, they listen to the same lies over and over until it becomes their truth, and once that happens, no amount of facts and evidence will ever convince them to change their minds because as I said, in my earlier comment, people have a natural instinct to NOT want to be shown they're wrong and they don't want to have to admit it.
Don’t forget the “friends and neighbors” angle of this denial. Many people are reflexively status-conscious and stay “in line” with the group-think of the alphas in their peer squad. Plus many christians are taught from birth or rebirth not to question nonsense. The need to be accepted by the group, to submit to the group-think is hyper important to their identity and self worth. You cannot ask “But how can........?” Or “But maybe......?” This is irrespective of education level. This is deeper, and more easily manipulated.
I have a niece and her family who are big Trump supporters; The ONLY family members who actually believe in Trump. My brother (her father) has spoken to her asking her how in the world she can believe in the guy and her response is "well the democrats do the SAME thing. It's just a big witch hunt against him.' But when she is immersed in listening to her Church friends and ministers who are regularly preaching about how bad the democrats are and how good Trump was for the country, what else is she going to believe? She won't take the initiative to actually look beyond that and Fox News.
And Fox News...the MOST watched cable news network for two decades or more spewing these lies, hour-after-hour, day-after-day.. People believe this.
And the Democratic party can't find a strong enough leader. There's so much bickering and dislike of Biden within the party, that this looks like a recipe for disaster for the next election. I really hope I'm wrong. Biden has done a crap load that he's not been given credit for.
Newsletters, like Mr. Reich's, Heather Cox Richardson's, Dan Rather's, and others have cited all the good things this administration has done and not gotten credit for. WHY can't the Democrats get behind this administration and project a strong front?