Professor Reich: everyone who holds a blue-collar job back in those days, including family members of mine, were quite WEALTHY compared to people like me, who truly were poor and hungry (and looked down on). i guess it's quite a masterful lie to convince them that they were overlooked and ignored when in fact, they were the backbone of this country.
but like you, i share your belief that Republican cultural populism would never have got this far if Democrats been more willing to follow FDR and embrace economic populism. But i recall the "red scare" and how being a communist was worse than death. that claim also was some mighty intense lies, i think.
GrrlScientist, Senator Joe McCarthy did not do America any favors by using the "red scare" to intimidate American citizens. Back then, everyone was terrified of "communism" and believed communists were the enemy. He caused many to lose their jobs and were basically pariahs in their communities. That is a masterful lie that he helped perpetuate. Today, many people do like the ideas of a class war and publicly owned property but it certainly isn't what the majority believe. Some of us would simply like the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, women's rights to make their own decisions about their bodies, affordable housing, the breaking up of monopolistic corporations and a humane and logical solution to what the orange man thinks is a crisis at our border. Some of us believe in providing assistance to those that need it. Granted there are people that abuse the system but those are the people that should be targeted, not the ones actually needing it! Oh, I'm sorry, I got on my soap box and started preaching didn't I? Yes, I agree, we should have followed FDR and embraced economic populism! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Peggy, do you know someone who abuses the system, or are you just guessing that there must be some? I'm guessing many people qualify for assistance but don't have the stamina to jump through the hoops and be disappointed repeatedly when they are denied, even though they have supplied the paperwork and proved they need and are justified in receiving the benefits.
For example, I went through two appeals of a decision by our Medicare Advantage plan that denied to pay for a continuous glucose monitor that my doctor prescribed due to my medical history. Maximus, a private contractor for Medicare, overruled the insurance company and agreed with my physician that a continuous glucose monitor is medically necessary. I received the sensors and soon was able to see why I had fainted multiple times in the past several years. My blood sugar spikes, then rapidly falls within 30 minutes, too soon for me to react without the CGS's alarm because I have set the low alarm to where I can consume something to stop the blood sugar crash.
Now, Maximus has changed their mind and agrees with the insurance company that reconsidered Maximus' decision because Medicare rules say the CGM is unnecessary because I am not on insulin. I haven't proven that my blood glucose goes below 55 mg/dl. Almost anyone with a blood sugar that is low or lower is unconscious and unable to do a finger stick and check the level with a glucometer. I become confused and have blurred vision before my blood sugar gets that low, and I faint. This is the standard that everyone on Medicare is held to. Even though the CGM is a new life-saving device, Big Insurance can manipulate the decision to their profit-maximizing advantage as they raid the Medicare trust fund.
I'm supposed to decide if I want a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. I am overwhelmed, and my physician has already jumped through many paperwork hoops to get me this far! What do you think I should do? Will I be charged for the CGM sensors I already received from the pharmacy? They're expensive for me.
Peggy, it is more likely that people are refused the help they need by the government and, in this case, paid into the fund out of my paychecks for many years than that there are even a few free-riders.
A few years back I read an article about a study that was done to identify just how many people abuse Welfare. It was less than 3%. I can live with that.
Gloria, you are one of the ones being abused by the system! I truly sympathize with your situation. What I was trying to point out was the fact that there are some people who will use the system for their own personal gain. They call this Medicare fraud and it is when an individual, a group or and institution intentionally tries to get payments from the Medicare program when they are not entitled to them. When healthcare providers charge Medicare for an appointment scheduled but not attended, charge for services that were not performed or charged for medical supplies the recipient did not receive. These providers could also charge Medicare for unnecessary medications, tests and supplies aimed at increasing the amount Medicare pays them. Someone could offer a Medicare recipient a discount or kickback to that recipient to get their Medicare number and then file false claims. There are laws that penalize these types of abuse/fraud. In September of 2021, the Medicare Fraud Task Force reported 3,202 indictments that came to 3.99 billion dollars. You are one of the ones who actually need this service and because of these fraudsters, you are in jeopardy of not receiving the health care you deserve and are entitled to! I believe we need a much stronger task force to get out there and round up the individuals that are causing the problem so that the ones needing the service can get it without having to go to court so to speak. I'm sorry if I was not clear. I hope you will be able to resolve your issue and get the service your doctor has shown you need. This same issue is rampant in welfare as well. There are always going to be some that are looking for quick bucks. Our government needs to be more diligent in identifying them.
I'm glad you cleared that up. I read your comments daily and was surprised you would "victim blame." Medicare Advantage insurance is "legal thieves" robbing the Medicare Trust Fund. They are as bad as the fraudsters, no worse because they cleverly use their money to buy politicians and manipulate the system.
Wendall Potter posted a substack yesterday explaining how ERISA, a law to protect consumers' employment benefits, has gradually whittled down and distorted through the courts over the past 50 years to be used by Big Insurance to protect insurers instead of consumers. Potter includes his court testimony in an attachment to his substack.
If you recall, he was in Michael Moore's movie, I think, "Sicko." He was a big shot in an insurance company whose conscience got the better of him. He became a whistle-blower. Thom Hartmann mentioned him in his book, "The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich." He is in a subchapter, "Wendall Potter: A Good Man in a Bad Job."
Gloria, thank you for your exposure of the robbers of Medicare, and the reference to 'Sicko' and Hartmann. The only reasonable solution to this morass is a universal healthcare system.
Gloria, and then there are, apparently, elected Congress critters who may? likely? probably? dabbled in Medicare thumbs-on-the-profit-scale to enrich themselves and/or their businesses, such as Rick Scott, Florida Rep: https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/08/30/democrats-medicare-fraud-is-fungus-scott-will-never-get-rid-of-573155 There will always be a segment of people who try to game the system…..many of them NOT in need—think tax fraud/evasion, etc., but in my experience most folks want to do the right thing, especially if the “rules” are fair (many are not, as you indicate). The health/pharmacy segments in this country seem to have become such a money making racket (looking at you private equity vampires) that those honest folks involved have to swim upstream against the offal (awful!) floating down! Best of luck to you in your quest to stay healthy….live long and prosper 🖖!
Advantage Plans were the first steps to privatizing Medicare. That was the purpose of introducing them. We are bombarded with ads promising us (the elderly) the moon with these plans. In my county in Fl, I haven't met a Dr yet that accepts these plans. It's criminal what insurance companies are doing.
I'm glad, too, Gloria! I look forward to our conversations here. Sometimes I don't relate what I am trying to say very well! Hope you get your situation straightened out!
The worst abusers of the system during the 14 years I worked in a County Department of Social Services, were not the recipients, they were the providers and of them the absolute fraudsters were those who provided medical equipment (at that time, Florida had struck the bottom of the barrel for fraud but Southern California was bad too). This is probably part of the cause of Gloria's mistreatment of the system. Insurance companies have been notorious for squirreling out of paying for needed medical procedures. And kudos to Gloria for managing her diabetes so well when she had the monitor.
Another current problem for recipients are for those in need of c-pap machines. The manufacturer (Phillips) which knowingly produced machines with a defect. Now it is difficult for people on Medicaid or Medicare to obtain these units.
I'm sure you meant Gloria's mistreatment BY the system. I still have the sensors. I will appeal again. It will be a hardship to afford if they get away with not paying.
yes I did mean by, thank you. And good luck to you. I don't know which State you live in, Gloria. In California we have California Rural Legal Aid Society and other Legal aid that offer free services to persons with disabilities to work their way through the many regulations of the system. When I was an Eligibility Worker and Employment and Training Counselor I frequently used these groups to help my recipients get the services they needed.
It's not just me who can't provide evidence of dangerously low blood sugar; it's anybody not already on a continuous glucose monitor which is too expensive for most people to afford on Social Security. It's at least $200 a month for the sensors. It should still be cheaper for insurers than paying for brain scans and bone fracture care. If an older person faints and or dies, who cares? Just assume it's a heart attack and bury you. The system saves much more money than if you lived another 20 years. You can't prove it with a fingerstick glucometer because when the blood sugar is below 55 mg/dl, the person is incapacitated. Unless you have someone who will do the fingerstick for you while you are unconscious on the floor, you can't prove it!
Once on a “Medicare Advantage “ plan, it may be hard-to-impossible to get on standard Medicare along with “medigap” coverage. Those plans will just not insure anyone with pre-existing conditions. Unless one is wealthy enough to be able to handle the 20% not covered my Medicare.
I understand fully and agree that any inclusion of "private" companies or corporations works to the disadvantage of those in need - especially true of insurance companies
Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla) made his millions with his HMO/hospital systems. His company was sued by the Fed. Gov. for stealing the largest amount ever from Medicare by fraud. They paid the largest fine ever, $1.7 billion, for fraud but Scott didn't answer for any of it. Claimed he didn't know "that" was going on in his company. He opposes any government health care. Of course he would. A few years later he ran for Gov. of Fla. and millions of Medicare recipients in Fla. voted him in... twice. After that he conned the Fla. voters into electing him U.S. Senator and is running this year for a second term. His opponent is Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. She is being outspent 4 to 1 by Scott. Please send her any amount of money you can afford. In Scott's first Senate run he dumped $74 million of his own money in to win. Who knows how much this time. If he wins he is going to try to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate leader. Do we see anything wrong with this picture? Why do all of those retired voters in Fla., who depend on Social Security and Medicare continue to vote for GOP folks who are determined to destroy both as soon as they get the power to do so. I don't get it. Vote Big Blue. Cheers... GH
As a homecare nurse I second this- there are many more people that qualify for a variety of federal benefits that simply never collect because they can’t negotiate the system. When pundits say Medicare is going broke, they are FOS - NO ONE ever calculates the unclaimed benefits that lay on the table every year. They Way outnumber the grifters
Medicare advantage plans are what's caused these type of denial . Get rid of the advantage plans their corruption oriented. Medicare alone wouldn't do this . Medicare advantage is a scam and once your locked in your stuck ... Until medicare open enrollment is available. So many elderly are getting scammed into this thinking .
The advantage plans court you ,including one I know of that sends gifts, freebies, you did not ask for or need. Then one becomes set, and maybe "loyal"? My late friend got gifts that delighted her, some unnecessary, but when it came to the cancer drug she needed it was not available to her.
Medicare Advantage is no advantage or improvement on regular medicare at all. Get off medicare advantage asap and you'll get the care you need. It is hard to get off M.A. but M.A. is Geo W. Bush's scam to kill medicare and privatize healthcare in America.
The finger sticks and glucometer doesn't give continuous blood sugar levels which is what I need. It's better than nothing but won't alert me to a sudden crash that can be prevented with the continuous monitor with the alarm. A patch goes on the back of the arm and sends the readings to an iPhone which alarms in time for me to seat down and eat or drink something and prevent the crash and fainting. It's impossible to prove a lower than 55 mg/dl without the continuous monitor because you can't do a finger stick check when unconscious.
Yes! Go to the judge. Tell it just like you said it here. I did that once for a medical issue and it worked. Explain how much you are saving them by not going to the ER when you pass out. And point out that this is literally life and death. All the best to you.
we must accept the fact that a few will cheat in any system, and not let that % justify the complex "qualifying" rules for public assistance that have such a negative effect on the recipients.
Miriam, agree….way back in the early ‘70’s my then husband and I were visiting friends in the hills of southern Humboldt county (“back to the land” folk); they also had visitors who lived on the Humboldt & Mendocino county borderline….they boasted that, as a young family w/ a couple of kids, they gamed the system and were getting benefits from BOTH Humboldt and Mendocino counties…needless to say their boast landed with a resounding thud in the room. Some years later I was visiting my now ex-hubbby (we remained friends for life) at the Univ in Washington (state) where he was doing grad work. I was sitting on the lawn on campus in a circle of students & we were discussing the cost of school, money woes, etc. and student loan debt (I worked in a student aid office at a CA state univ), when one fellow boasted that he was going to get as much student loan $ as he could & then default on payment to “stick it to the man”. Well well well, all the other students quickly and vehemently verbally jumped on him for it (and I knew that path would = a world of hurt & impact him later on). Most people I’ve experienced who need such safety-net benefits don’t WANT to need them; I’d counseled a number of students, particularly single young parents trying to get their education, be reluctant to apply for foodstamps, AFDC (as it was called then & what many call “welfare”) or Medi-Cal (health/medical benefits). I would go over their budget and tell them that I know you don’t WANT to, but your family NEEDS this to thrive/stay healthy. I would remind them that they were working so hard to get an education to make a better life for them & their family and that the handful of years in which they receive assistance will be offset by the years they will pay into “the system” via their future taxes….and to think of part of their future taxes as “paying it forward” to those families who will need similar help someday. For many it helped reframe the issue.
Happiest day for my older sister was the day she was able to get off welfare and support herself and her son , I didn't realize it at the time I was 8-9 at the time but I remember how happy she was, yes she could of abused it but that wasn't her style, independence and a certain amount of pride I suspect were more important. It took me a few years but I never forgot that day and I was so proud of her, because face it if you really need it to survive then it's simple use it. We were considered middle class. I can't believe I voted for Nixon, as we used to say I've come a long way baby.
Thank you, Peggy and GrrlScientist, and a huge kudo to Prof. Reich for his incisive analytical narrative of our warped economics and politics of ninety years. This current of corruption has held sway over our political system since the Constitution was first inked, so it should not come as a surprise that it has sunk to this level. Obtusely, the more skillful
the pack of liars, the more political power that they have been able to generate herky-jerky since FDR and the Great War. The current remains unbroken, from the obscene self-proclaimed anti-Communist Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI), his absolutely vicious mob lawyer Roy Cohn, through Ike's VP Nixon, Fred Trump Sr. and directly into our present anti-Democracy ticket of Trump and Vance. My parents, both active participants in the War effort of the 1940's, despised McCarthy, Cohn, and Nixon. Small wonder that we have reached the brink of ruin. As regards the Rethug ticket in oratory skills, they are possessed by a mental vacuum and would be dismantled into piles of rubble by a truly skilled orator such as Cicero or Caesar of the ancients.
Peggy: Joe McCarthy's legal advisor and water boy Ron Cohn, the master of the "Red Scare" and later a sleazy fixer in New York City whose grasp extended well beyond the borders of the city, was a long-term mentor and advisor to none other than Donald Trump, who abandoned his friendship when it came out that Cohn had AIDS (see the mostly fictional "Angels in America").
Notable lessons Trump learned from Cohn was to attack legally whenever criticized, and how to avoid paying bills. I'm sure there were many more.
You're right, Porter! One of the many evil and corrupt things Cohn taught the orange man was to lie and embellish everything! He told him that when he repeats the same lie over and over, someone is going to believe it! That's why we have MAGA today!
So agree Peggy. Joe McCarthy was just pure evil and cause so much destruction and even death with his lies, ruining many lives before they finally stood up to him and stopped the debacle, just not soon enough to avoid his nefarious ways. With 30+ days left for voting, the only thing needed now is to Vote Blue up and down the ticket with the biggest wave possible not just to win but to lessen the chances of challenges to the results. MAGA must be stopped.
Absolutely, Chris! Remind everyone to vote. A blue tsunami to wash over our political landscape telling the orange man and his MAGA cult we will never go back! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
GrrlScientist…You got it. The whole excuse to accuse others of GODLESS Communism is laughable considering the damage both Capitalism & religion have done..and I include all religion here.
Cancel student debt now. It's by design to discourage the middle class from getting an education ; otherwise, the elite wouldn't have to pay to get this kids into these schools by cheating.
Fund colleges - there is no reason to draw the line at high schools. None.
#NeverForget2008 25K for all homeowners to have a house - today.
In Italy it is considered the right of every citizen to gain the level of education that they personally desire. Funding higher education - to the doctorate level, is considered an investment by the citizens in their citizenry for their community. Makes sense to me.
Janet I worked for 40+ years at Univ student aid offices, starting a few scant years after the 1965 Higher Education Act was signed into law (the stories I could tell!), & have known since the early 80’s that the student loan programs were on the road to becoming a HUGE problem. Often when new federal rules (student aid programs had to be periodically reauthorized by Congress & they’d tweak provisions) we’d sometimes just shake our heads and say “what were they thinking?”….the rule of unintended consequences. Much thoughtful work is needed to revamp the system AND particularly to have oversight w/ the “private market” involvement—thinking of the resounding failure of many loan “servicers” to do their job correctly & left many borrowers in a world of hurt NOT of their own making. I think the loan forgiveness program Biden has done & is attempting to expand, despite pushback & court roadblocks, is an attempt to remedy this FUBAR situation. We need thoughtful, practical, creative, forward thinking folks to come up with a better system & one that looks at “higher ed” (education past high school) as not ONLY college-based (think trade schools, apprenticeships, etc).🤞
yes, and Reagan defunded colleges to keep the middle classes from protesting wars and get in line. The loan system is dysfunctional by design. It's working exactly as it was intended.
Mr. Biden (from the state with the most corporations) can step it up and use the proper legal strategy this time - he needs to save democracy.
If trade schools pay so well and are wonderful then why are the billionaire kids not going to them?
Janet, I was working in the CA State College system at the time Reagan gutted it (along with many other social safety net programs); they have never recovered to the level of the “before” times. I had a number of students who participated in Peace Corps, Ameri-Corp, Conservation Corp, etc.) that learned much from their hands-on experience and wanted to do similar work as civil servants in adjacent fields. For so long there was such a push for a college degree education, which sadly today often does not give a boost to graduates who sometime struggle to find work commensurate with their degree. My county’s Comm College offers an assoc degree as well as trade-based education programs, so there is an amalgam of both; my CA State College (recently reimagined as a Cal Polytechnic) initially offered courses in various Industrial Arts (renamed Industrial Tech before the dept was basically abandoned, as was the degree in Business Admin)—as a student there (as well as on staff), I took autoshop, welding, woodwork, tailoring & other home economic classes & learned a lot of very useful skills. We need skilled trades, paid what they are worth, and there is a paucity of them at present.
*😁😁😁😁😁😁We should honor the indigenous that lived on this Earth😁😁😁*, especially our Ancestor with a Unique Mutation: DISGUST. We evolved DISGUST so we wouldn't EAT SHIT AND DIE. But DISGUST kept MUTATING: One tenth of the US is so DISGUSTED with themselves EVERY YEAR that they want to suicide. One fifth of the world die because of alcohol, aka we're not DISGUSTED enough to stop drinking.
Now add Americans' Exceptional ability to READ MINDS of our ENEMY and find an ENEMY where there is no ENEMY. (e.g., Saddam did 911.).
We EXAGGERATE THREATS and EXAGGERATE POWER(e.g., our imagined POWER to READ MINDS)
STEP ONE: CHOOSE Ms.FDR over the OPIOID CRISES LAUNCHER:
"Do one thing every day that scares you." over Purdue Pharma:"Ignore Eleanor Roosevelt's SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM FROM FEAR...you never have to face your fear, just keep popping Valium....OUR PILLS AREN'T ADDICTIVE!!! "
All Americans are fearful enough to seek a cure. Up to60% of fearful people are cured by placebo. Examples of placebo: MAGA, FOX NEWS, anger, FB algorithm, Twitter algorithm, etc
The term Communist took on a meaning other than the word's actual definition. I used to know someone who jokingly called anyone he didn't agree with a Communist or any policy he didn't like Communism.
@Grrl. Wealth and poverty are comparative - when I was young, and before "grunge" became a fashion statement, I had holes in my jeans and old shoes. But so did a lot of my neighbors. "Clean and well-patched" were words of admiration in those days. Today, the media portrays everyone as upper middle class, making regular folks underestimate how well they are doing. Add to that the reality that corporations actually are exporting jobs and hollowing out communities. A lot of folks that you might otherwise like on a personal level, are resentful and angry. I wish they could get the truth, that Trump (and people like him) are the root cause of those economic problems. Cultural Economics - moneyed interests using cultural wedge issues to separate people from their own interests and from each other. We really do need the Democrats to return to putting regular folks first and bringing moneyed interests back into some semblance of responsibility: stakeholder capitalism, employee Board members, limited but effective regulation, progressive but fair taxation, investment incentives to produce in the USA, incentives to start a business, incentives to buy a house, medical care for everyone, child care for everyone, at least two years of college at public expense, vocational training, clean power initiatives. All of these, and others, are in the Harris/Walz platform.
Thank you for pointing this out, Benjamin. Unfortunately, some billionaires want to destroy our democracy rather than share their wealth. They even have injected religion into their long game.
There was one other small conceit in what Professor Reich wrote: "The construction workers who attacked the demonstrators on May 8, 1970 and the police who egged them on were more likely to have family and friends in Vietnam than the college students who demonstrated." (Do we figure that true, i.e. given how broadly the war impacted the American populace, i.e. after the draft? Everyone had a friend, family, friend of family, etc....)
PS: The PBS Newshour - just yesterday - shared a statistic (between segments) that 40% of college students experience food insecurity at some point...
It is NOT going to be a debate. Vance will lie about everything and turn it in to a MAGA lie fest. No point in having a debate against people like Donald and Vance.
What’s the purpose of a debate when moderators choose to allow people to lie?
I think I won't be watching it. I won't let them force me to watch Vance spew lies with no one to challenge them but Walz. That'll mean that Tim Walz will be forced to spend ALL his time debunking MAGA conspiracy theories.
I can't wait until November. The utter void of any intelligence or capacity for self-determination scares me among any whack job that would vote Republican. It should scare everyone!
Imagine wearing these t-shirts in front of your MAGA neighbor 👇 🤣
Heather: I’m going to believe Walz (my Guv) will adopt the tactics that worked so well for Kamala. She didn’t try to fact-check all of Trump’s lies - just the ones where she wanted to take a stand. And she spent more time attacking his record than being the chief fact-checker. Tim is smarter than JD, has decades more public service/political experience, and has a savvy sense of humor. I’m watching tonight with every expectation that Tim will zing him.
My bet is Walz will toss Vance around the ring. As long as he let's his inner Walz come through and is not too coached. Expect Vance will talk about transgender alot!
Hoping Walz strong on economic populism. Tell people what Trump will DO to them for heavens sake in a way that moves them emotionally.
I doubt that Tim is smarter than Vance-he might win,however.i remember the 2016 vp debate when Tim Kaine,a supposedly great debater,was soundly beaten by Pence.Why?his plan was to attack Trump,and Pence said what Trump would do, and positivity prevailed-people preferred it.now that we know Trump ,attacks might fare better-tactics matter-we'll see-maybe CBS should've hired a smart childless cat lady like Taylor Swift to fact-check
@ Brooks. Walz is wiser than Vance, the latter putting all his eggs in his one chance at 15 minutes of fame. When Trump goes down in November, Vance WILL be his heir - heir to all the ridicule and ignominy.
For me, there is only one reason to vote blue; I want our country to be led by people who have a heart of wisdom, not by a couple of devils’ spawn with lumps of coal in place of their hearts.
there's a time for fast thinking and a time for slow thinking-we need men and women of discernment and wisdom to know when each is appropriate and to adjust their thinking accordingly
I agree about the debate! Are they afraid to fact check that disgusting, despicable Vance? What a waste of effort for Waltz and Americans with a brain! The MAGA party is ruining our lives, our democracy, and the American dream.
We listen to Olbermann while I prepare and eat breakfast. I agree with Olbermann that CBS is shrugging its responsibility to the public by not fact-checking and that the advertising money will prevent it from canceling. I want to see Walz's strategy and how he deals with the shameless, humorless liar.
@Daniel. Walz should say, "hey JD, I brought a couple of pets along in case you get hungry..." Kamala did a good job of ridiculing Trump with almost nothing but her facial expressions and laughter. Walz should roast this spineless huckster...
@Victor. Inflation is over already. Constant battle, it will be back someday, but not the topic of the moment except some talking heads. Affordability is something Harris addresses. The border will be quickly fixed by the same bi-partisan legislation that Trump killed, but again, there will always be immigration issues that will need attention. For this election cycle those issues have to be mentioned as you say, but those are not IMO the real issues of the day.
ratings,pseudo-prestige for C BS,a good 'get'-even if they say nothing illuminating or meaningful-as Dan Rather said yest.,CBS used to mean something-reme
mber'the most trusted man in America'?Walter Cronkite?those days are long gone
You are asking the moderators to do what the audience should do. I don't really think that's their job to fact check. The net result of doing that is they would just lose credibility with the audience. Like the trump voters.
Yes, but the moderators must not ignore Vance's lack of administrative experience and his flip flopping on Trump. His pretension and shamelessness are very relevant in a candidate who might be our next president.
not their job. It's Walz job to point that out. Vance is a confident liar and dissembler, like Josh Hawley., who makes Vance look like a pretty upstanding guy.
And the consequence of the anti war demonstrators was to stiffen the resolve and support for the war, as the attack by construction workers indicates.
It was only the increasing flow of caskets and funerals, and the lament of middle America as it buried it's fathers,sons, brothers, cousins that convinced Nixon to wind down America's involvement.,not the demonstrators.
You are correct about that, William. It was the continuing numbers of dead and injured soldiers that turned the U.S. against the war, but Nixon and Kissinger prolonged the war for another five years while pretending to have a secret peace plan. Before the 1968 elections, they encouraged South Vietnam’s government to refuse to cooperate with the 1968 Paris Peace Talks, and we remained in Vietnam until 1973.
Horrible, wasn't it?? The carpet bombing, drawing in Cambodia and Laos. God, HELL must be quite full . . . of murderous, lying, sons-of-bitches politicians. I hope Vance and Trump enjoy Nixon's and Kissinger's company when THEY get there!
Carpet bombing targeted VC and NVA battalions and regiments, even divisions.
Soldiers not civilians, soldiers that were killing our civilians. The rules of engagement in Vietnam were you canonly return fire, not initiate it, and civilian populations were off limits. We could not invade North Vietnam hence the demilitarized zone (DMZ.
Hanoi was off limits to bombing during the Vietnam War due to restrictions imposed by the US to avoid provoking China and Soviet forces. The US military established bombing sanctuaries around Hanoi and Haiphong, North Vietnam's main port, and a buffer zone along the Chinese border. The US also placed many types of targets off limits, including enemy airfields, surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites, and petroleum facilities.
The US bombing campaign in Vietnam was known as Operation Rolling Thunder. The campaign's purpose was to weaken the enemy's will by denying North Vietnam its petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL). However, the campaign was undermined by the restrictions on bombing, which made it less effective.
I was a mile from B-52's carpet bombing NVA positions and am thankful they did, I am still here, as are my team mates and G.I.s who survived the siege of Khe Sanh, many of whom were draftees, not volunteers.
Your comment is indicative of the problem when ignorant people, jump on information and bandwagons based on trigger words and phrases.
I use the word ignorant in the sense of lacking knowledge of the subject of which they deign to speak.
The social fragmentation of that war carries through all the way to now, in some respects. We were manipulated into fighting with each other, instead of focusing on Nixon and war profiteers extending the fighting and expanding it beyond Vietnam borders … all based on lies that got us into it in the first place.
YES, those body bags were horrendous, as were the daily “body count” reports of Vietnamese dead, and the flag-draped coffins of our own soldiers returning home, that finally turned our people against that horrid war … But for too long, opposition to it was manipulated to seem like a cultural rift WITHIN our society, based on class and race. Once again, our anger was redirected to chewing our own entrails, rather than resisting those who dragged us into that war …
History recounts how that war was handled in the halls of government AND on the ground in the depths of Vietnam. Our youngest and most vulnerable were sent totally unprepared to understand what was happening there {it was a fraud war} or to deal with the cultural shock — kids who could NOT use college to “protect” them from being drafted. Non-college bound kids and poor kids, including POC shipped off like so much cannon fodder. But instead of making common cause to stop the war and protect our own kids, our culture was fragmented along faux-patriotic lines and class lines, and we were set on each other as protests grew…
There’s so much social and psychological nuance to how the war was waged and how our culture was manipulated and fragmented to fight among ourselves as the opposition grew — But in the end, we turned on each other far too often, and some of those fractures still linger. They are manipulated AGAIN now, as we let the likes of MAGA coopt “patriotism” and love of country, claiming that those who oppose MAGA “hate” … well … you know the garbage he spouts …
The echoes of those fractures continue, and pitting us against each other does, too … Voices here have mentioned how the blue-collar segment of our country was once able to earn excellent incomes, comparable to college-educated careers, which is no longer as common. While we were {and are?} fighting false grudge fights, the wealth has been quietly migrating upward, and now both blue-collar AND college educated can’t hold households together on a single income — even DOUBLE incomes of Mom AND Dad aren’t holding that line. Young families are hard-pressed to find affordable homes to rent, much less to buy …
Don’t we see that the appearance of “billionaires” these days in NOT a mark of the success of an economy that allows for billionaires to succeed, it is evidence of the migration of wealth out of the mainstream of our society and into the upper-upper echelons, up to the Oligarchs and corporate boardrooms. While we fought internecine battles between classes and races—instead of making common cause together for a strong and prosperous nation—we let Oligarchs eat our lunch, pit us against each other, and siphon our earnings out of our pockets.
Truth Kathy, Truth. You nailed the essence of Nixon's presidency. BTW I tried to edit, Nixon's 1968 Treason into the wikipedia article, even used a reliable secondary source as required by wikipedia, and a right wing hall monitor reverted my entry, I reverted his entry, and then he reverted mine, on the talk page he used a facetious and false reason. If I had reverted his second revert he would have called me before the moderation committee, and he had standing with said committtee.
The same problem with Ronald Reagan and his treasonous act with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Where he promised aid to Iran in it's war with Iraq, which the US was supporting,if he held the hostages until Reagan was sworn in.
No sooner had Reagan taken his hand off the bible, than Khomeini released the hostages, the Ayatollah Bani al Sadr reported that in the Christian Science Monitor. I quoted it and used the CSM, a reliable 2ndary source, and that too was reverted.
Anyone can edit wikipedia, but if you join with a screen name, you can put pages on a watch list, and any time someone posts anything on that article you are alerted and can spring into action, on of which is reverting a comment.
There are tabs at the top of WP articles on the left hand side is one called Talk, the talk pages are of interest because it is where edits are challenged and discussed.
At this point it has. The radicals of the 60s were never as effective as they thought, but the Trump MAGA brigades are scarily effective at marketing violence against people who disagree with them. Trump is a sadist who marinates in violence and doesn’t want to dirty his own tiny hands. On January 6, 2021, he was watching his groupies attack the Capitol Police and the DC Metro Police, and no doubt enjoyed the entire spectacle.
At least acknowledge that people marching in the streets made middle America more aware of an increasingly horrible situation. What if America’s young men had just obediently marched on down to be inducted? What would this country be like if people had the attitude that Uncle Sam was always right and that we all owe our very lives to the nation no matter what. Smells like Fascism to me.
PS - you already know that I respect your opinion (even when you're full of it).
Yeah, I don't believe that the demonstrations were inconsequential as reich and others here seem to think. In any movement there is always the vanguard of those more actiively engaged.But it is hard to pin down just how consequential they were.
I don't disagree with William re the backlash, but I reject the implied blame. As if longhaired demonstrators should have restrained themselves so blue-collar middle-class Americans didn't get their panties in a bunch. History just does not unfold like that. We protested, they reacted. The dialectic principle in action.
The demonstrators did make a difference. I was an ignorant 18-year-old woman in 1968 using the library at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque when I was approached by protesters and educated about the war.
My husband just placed his signs in our yard that say, "I'm a veteran, not a sucker or a loser." I hope low-information voters understand where that came from. Veterans should.
Yeah, William, the first “war” carnage footage that was on the evening news for all to see. I know as a teen I was horrified. Also lost friends there, as well as those I knew who returned broken and traumatized. Edwin Starr’s “War What Is It Good For”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZI2aLQ9Sw
All wars are media events. If it bleeds it leads. The media sensationalizes everything, to sell papers and advertising space.
You might not recall how the media made a big thing of the "barbarism" of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, take NVA ears, but they don't tell you the back story.
I had just arrived at Dak To in support of the 173rd, when I could hear over the PrC-25,an FM line of sight radio, the paniked cry of an RTO, Radio Telephone Operator,
he was screaming for help. The base camp RTO told him to slow down, he couldn't copy (understand him), he hollered you would scream too if you had six bullet holes in you.
It took almost a day for relief to reach the company, and what they found was 72 men dead and mutilated, they hauled the remains back to base camp, and in the mortuary tent it was discovered that the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) had swapped\ Dog Tags, it was only discovered when the Dog tag was that of a white soldier and the dog tag that of a black soldier.
As a consequence the bodies, in body bags, sat outside the mortuary tent for three days, till all of the brigade had come in from the field, to personally ID the bodies.
The smell permeated the whole camp, and I close my eyes and can smell it today.
I had watched Roger Mudd, distort the reporting on the news, we did get the news, on TV in Vietnam. And later found myself on a plane with him, we talked in a loud voice about what we would do to him, when the plane landed. it was a C130, when they opened the ramp and dropped the tail gate while taxing, he jumped out and run, before the plane stopped.
Then there was the infamous photo of the Saigon Chief of Police shooting that VC in th head, oh how the anti war crowd made hay with that "barbarism". back story, is that dude had run though that street,slaughtering every man, woman and child, including the best friends of the Chief of Police.
The media never tells you the whole story. Nor have they told us that the Navy Pilots were instructed to drop unexpended ordinance in particular areas, those areas just happened to be where oil is now being extracted. (Seismic detectors)
ExxonMobil has been involved in oil and gas exploration and development in Vietnam, including:
Opening a venture office
In 2008, ExxonMobil opened a venture office in Hanoi to conduct oil and gas exploration activities.
Acquiring seismic data
ExxonMobil acquired seismic data as part of its exploration activities.
Drilling exploratory wells
ExxonMobil drilled exploratory wells as part of its exploration activities.
Developing the Ca Voi Xanh project
ExxonMobil is involved in the Ca Voi Xanh project, also known as the Blue Whale project, to produce natural gas from offshore central Vietnam. The project includes:
An offshore platform
A pipeline to transport gas to shore
An onshore gas treatment plant
Pipelines to feed gas to power plants
Five power plants with a combined capacity of nearly 4 gigawatts (GW)
Holding an operating license
ExxonMobil holds an operating license under a petroleum production-sharing contract (PSC) for blocks 117-119 offshore central Vietnam.
On The Wall, in the area reserved for Sept 1967 are the names of four of my teammates, they died that McDonalds and KFC could have franchises in Saigon and Hanoi.,and Exxon Mobil could make yet more profit.
And instead of a Domino effect, the Army of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, beat the shit of the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) and drove them out of power, and turned around whipped China's ass when it tried to invade the north.
Paradoxically Vietnam has a Socialist oriented Market Economy with a goal of escaping socialism
Ho Chi Minh was not a communist, he was a nationalist, and communism was simply a tool to purge his country of foreigners, the French, then the Americans.
Impression that you had something to ya. I was right.
This explains a lot. I had heard that the “fighting Communism” business was a ruse, that it was American Imperialism and control of natural resources, that is, oil and gas, that the government was after, and they didn’t mind killing off my friends to get it. Your comment is succinct and spot on. I like primary sources for my history education. Thanks.
Imperialism is the wrong word. The Brits and French were imperialist, Russia was and is imperialist. Imperialism requires not only an armed occupation, but rule by a foreign power.
We never ruled Vietnam, though we had what might be called satrops, like Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky, but they, not the Americans had the ultimate last word. For instance Nixon stopped the Paris Peace Accords, which Thieu was to attend, in an act of treason by telling Thieu that if he didn't go to Parish, then he, Nixon, would provide more and better weapons and military assistance.
BTW, Johnson was being accused of a commie, echoed by our fucking media of course, because of the Civil Rights, Voting Rights Act and Great Society program and had to prove he wasn't, his solution was the faked event on a ship in the Bay of Tonkin and the Bay of Tonkin Resolution.
Only a Democrat could have done that, just like only a Republican (Nixon) could go to China and meet Mao Tse Dung.
We have been bamboozled, used and a bused so much, that when a real threat comes along we are suspicious. Kind of like the boy who cried wolf.
Ho Chi Minh asked US for help in keeping the French imperialists out of his country post-WW2 but we were not the revolutionary nation he thought we were. Then somehow we got all ramped up about the Domino effect and in we went. Fucking Christ. Some Texas yahoo who wasn't even born yet told me we lost because of a bunch of stoned draftees. We bombed the living shit out of that country and still could not force them to give up.
Re the media distorting the news -- it was the Defense Dept. that lied about body counts, nicht wahr?
have head all kind of shit from the yahoos, it hurts their self image and pride to admit being beaten by a bunch of "inferiors" they called them gooks and zipper heads, they demeaned and dehumanized them the way their sons are doing women, queers, brown and black people.
I knew some VC personally and they were brave, persistent mo fo's.
In fact the night and day (Feb 1st, 1968, of the Tet Offensive they saved my life, while other "ugly Americans" paid with their's, and no I was not a symp, I simply respected the people, and they were my friends and in turn repaid that respect and friendship by saving my life.
That folks,is another story, perhaps singular as I had the occasion of watching the opening shots and response from a Cobra spewing grenandes and minigun, from a roof top dressed in my usual nightwear, black pajamas.
William Farrar, so glad my "ignorant comment" about Cambodia and Laos inspired you to reveal the entire history of the war in Vietnam and what it was really all about. BTW: There is a saying that too much knowledge just makes one incredibly boring.
I totally agree that Republican cultural populism would never have got this far had Democrats been more willing to follow FDR and embrace economic populism. Thank goodness Biden has tried to restore FDR's value (domestically, at least). I just hope Harris will do the same.
Biden's domestic policies have been good for the US, but I hope Harris has better foreign policies: Ukraine needs more support and the Palestinians need at least SOME support.
As the New Deal got eroded in the 70s and 80s, the middle and working classes became alienated from the new corporate Democrats who moved too far to the Right, the Dems lost alot of their voting base
I have lost all confidence in Biden's handling of the ME.
His job was to defend America's national security by constraining Israel to keep the US from getting involved in a war. That's going badly. Nor do I think our Ukraine support is what it should be. I am really disappointed in Team Biden. Get him off the stage.
@steve. It's not zero sum - in 2020 you were going to get one or the other. Obvious that Biden was the better choice. Of course things move on. Need a new face and a new policy now, on that we can agree. I have written at more length on Netanyahu, on US policy, on my substack.
I heard several reporters say that the moderators will not be doing any fact-checking during the debate, that the two candidates will "have to do their own fact-checking."
Isn't it amazing that this is even a "thing" - the need for fact-checking?! If it is necessary for Walz to to his own fact-checking, there will be no time for him to do anything else.
By the way, Rachel Maddow did a worth-watching program 9/30, MSNBC, about more of Vance's ideas and their origins. She recounts his past interviews in which he advocates "ripping out our government 'like a tumor' and he advocates eradicating universities/colleges - and other ideas that he has espoused in his past. One hopes that the Harris-Walz campaign was watching her program so they can incorporate some of his truly, deeply disturbing ideas in Walz's debate work.
Trump is quite experienced at the gish gallop technique, aka the fire hose of lies, Vance does not seem to have that skill down yet, maybe his debate prep has developed those skills.
It is impossible to fact check against gish gallop, and Walz,if he tried to fact check, will be playing into their hands, and on the defense.
Kamala played her hand correctly. Walz needs to ignore Vance's claims and use them as a springboard,to attack Vance's position on women, education and government.
LOL. Walz has too much class for that dig, but it is not beyond Vance to make personal digs, in fact I predict that his entire rant will be a series of personal digs, devoid of fact of course, but often based on a kernel of (distorted) truth.
I'm looking to see if Vance has learned the gish gallop technique, I just wish Democrats would employ the tactics that Republicans have found effective.
On the other hand, Kamala ripped Trump a new one, by using facial gestures and body language to mock his rant, and then hitting him where it hurts , his ego.
Has anyone bothered to identify Vance's weak spot.
Mercenaries have no ideological motive or connection. Mercs are hired guns, their weak spot is the paycheck. Vance is motivated by more than paycheck,he is motivated by male supremacy, he married a woman born into a submissive culture
Peter Thiel is like Mark Robinson, Kanye, Clarence Thomas Herscel Walker, they are mercenaries, it is all about money, social position and dominance.
Peter Thiel is gay, claims now to be ex gay, and the Republican party is the epitome of a gay hostile culture, yet he backs Vance and Trump. Go figure, in fact the Log Cabin Republicans are proof at the top that Republicanism,is all about the dollar.
Chris Jansing does a great job, as do Alex Wagner, Joy Reid, Stephanie Ruhle, and Ayman Mohyeldin. They all have their own "style" of hosting their programs. Lawrence O'Donnell can be a bit smug and self-important, but he's not alone in that.
NPR "News Hour" and NPR/CNN Christiane Amanpour are great TV news sources.
PBS Frontline compared Trump and Harris throughout their lifetimes. I recommend everyone watch it. I thought I knew all about Trump, but now I understand why he never admits losing, even when he knows he lost.
The Democrats in Congress ( his own party blocked his agenda) but not the President. Wouldn't you categorize Jimmy Carter as an economic populist? And Mondale?
Jimmy Carter turns 100yrs old today. According to Jason Carter he's holding on in order to live long enough to vote for VP Harris and Tim Walz.
Murrow"s Girl, thanks so much for the reminder of Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday today. He is a gem and I couldn't agree more with you that he represents the best of us. Want a good role model? Jimmy Carter, is it.
Stymied by his own party which led to as big a lie as trump ever told that trickle down economics would somehow improve regular people's lives.
Income inequality exists because of Reagan. It's hard not to reflect on how we got here when given a ballot that is literally asking you to choose between Democracy and Facism.
Problem is that ballot is worthless...our votes too . When a fake Electrol voter casts his vote for the biggest purse . Why since the 60s ...it was why vote in California when the election was over before we voted . ..the Electrol vote needs to be cancelled. Every vote should be counted ,down to the last ballot .Or obviously our voices aren't heard . This is why the Republican party has been so successful in their greedy take over . Most Democrats knew it didn't make a difference but obviously those of us that lived this long have realized being mellow ,thinking to things will bo ok overall ...were horrendously wrong
And why there should be NO electrols changing your vote or mine. This was proven by tRump himself last election . He tried ...thank God it didn't work but 4 years later these fake electrols need to be incarcerated with no voting rights forever
There was a lot of disdain and contempt for Jimmy Carter at the time he was running for a second term, but the truth is that he was only too correct. I was 17 when Reagan was running for president and even I could see his policies would damage less wealthy people, and they did. Jimmy Carter was hit by the consequences of policies that had occurred years before, like the ousting of Iran’s PM in 1953, only to see the ousting of the Shah in 1978. Iran has the terrible government it has because the Islamist parties were the ones with the mass support and organization to take over Iran.
Kathy, I can never forget how Reagan attacked government workers at the exact moment I was entering my career in government human services. The escalation of racism was shocking to me then. Reagan was Trump with social skills. And I remember (hopefully correctly) that CA Governor Reagan closed the state hospitals while investing in the nursing home industry where many of the most vulnerable patients ended up.
I too became a federal employee in 1980 by becoming a US Postal employee. I joined the union. We lived in deathly fear during his and subsequent Bush presidencies that the Postal Service would be privatized.
We were able to fight back as we still had the strength of the unions to fight back with. But no longer. DeJoy is still there and the Senate isn't even holding confirmation hearings for President Biden's 3 nominees to the Board of Governors that could change the makeup to Democratic majority and remove DeJoy.
Driving a gas fueled pick up truck is part of the American Dream, according to a prominent Republican. Nobody asked him what's wrong with driving an EV. We all know why, because we know who funds the Republican Party.
What is so different now is the Republican's and the Supreme Court justices hide very little of their intentions. In the Nixon, Reagan and Bush decades I thought there was difference of opinion. Looking back I realize it was much more.
Frankom, you are so right! Have you read American Crusade - How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Freedom of Religion? Shocking. And imagine if Nixon had social media and Elon Musk?!!!
A bigger con than trump ever accomplished. Only a small faction of the American people are truly conned by trump. The corporate media makes it seem like half the country is maga
It's not.
Reagan and Bush conned virtually the entire country.
Exactly. And Reagan put in the pieces in place for the managed care debacle that has crashed our present healthcare system (allowing for profit to drive patient care- the inmates are running the asylum). Those were very rough times for young people starting out- very similar to now- young adults couldn’t afford to live in the towns they grew up in (mortgage interest 12%), women couldn’t get ANY credit without a MALE co-signer, no one could afford American made cars- no different than now.
Marge, I was a state of CA employee, proud to be a “public servant”, and watched him do that and more…he effectively gutted one of CA’s “jewel in the crown”—the state’s educations system, particularly the Comm College, State College and Univ systems….they have never recovered that lost ground.
True enough Kathy but, don’t forget, how bad the Shah of Iran was to his people with the full support, weapons and money, of the US government. It was another example of the US supporting a vile man who craved wealth and power, over his people. Not hard to understand why the people turned to theology as an answer. Damn shame we do not care more about being fair but, we will take the money and run leaving behind brutal leaders,to further fleece, the natives.
Mr. Carter has received his absentee (mail-in) ballot, and I'm sure he did not waste any time in returning it. He commented today that voting for Harris-Walz was much more important than his turning 100.
One of the best of us... yeah, right. Well, Jimmy is one good old boy. I tried but failed with him. He was one who got away. He just kept trying to do good things for people. I hate that!
It's a fascinating and disheartening history. It is Professor Reich's last sentence about the Democratic Party's own history of distancing from FDR's policies (and values) that is the most salient for our times. I think if those policies had been honored all these years, that the emergence of the demagogues and fascistic despots would have been far less likely. As it is, one is left to wonder: who are we and what is this country, really.
It was the emergence of demagogues and fascists in Europe that lead FDR to create our now cherished social welfare programs. We remember FDR as a champion of the "Common Man" - but he himself was an elite. He was an educated man who lived in a world where (wealthy) people travelled the world. FDR was well aware of what was happening in post WWI Europe, as well as what led to the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. FDR was determined not to allow this to happen here. We are still fighting the forces that FDR battled.
It was just was not so long ago that many theorists and commentators were arguing that ‘history has ended’ ..the world had arrived at an understanding that democracy was the best way to tame the leviathan. I look at this historical lesson and wonder how much the examples of these old tactics of former authoritarian wannabes rising into their power influence our current crop of MAGA politicians and how much is a consequence of human nature. Would the same distortion of reality and ginning up of rage and racism arise independent of the historical context? For me, I take heart and gain sustenance from the narratives in history where people have resisted and preserved and succeeded when faced with the daunting, ‘nasty’ and ‘brutish’ energies of authoritarian movements and power. Of course, it is so crucial to do this work and win this fight before the former becomes the latter.
Absolutely, the other dynamic about that situation that floors me…and I am certainly not very informed in that period in terms of war strategy…is how much pressure Churchill was getting from people in his own government to appease Hitler and how he had the courage to wait for the US and its capacity and commitment to send ships across the Atlantic. What a lot of unknowns and what a show of determination.
WW2 was a hell of a fight........and in spite of the world being against Germany ,it was touch and go that they did not win! Had they not made the mistake of turning on Russia, without truly understanding their weather .............Let's hope the 5th November is an easier fight.
Ah, the good old days! As a peace freak and conscientious objector, I remember them well. I was working nights (blue collar), living with my parents when Nixon was re-elected. My Republican parents had a huge party that night so I awoke to go to work with a house full of drunk, celebrating Nixonites who delighted in verbally assaulting me when I suddenly appeared.
I wish I had collected their names and phone numbers so I could call them - perhaps at midnight - a few years later and remind them that they'd already been told that Nixon was a lair, thug and crook. Here we go again. May Walz make the winning touchdown tonight and may Harris/ Walz win and may it be very clear to everyone they did it legally.
That was an excellent read, Professor Reich! I do believe that American citizens are well and truly fed up with the way it appears everything in their lives is being controlled by others. The people in power seem to be using all of us as just fodder to continue to push their own ideas and beliefs on the American people. While a relative few believe the way these others do, many of us are pushing back and protesting. Kevin Roberts even said what we all recognized as happening. "We are in the process of a second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless-if the left allows it to be." Those words were chilling to say the least, but I believe that MAGA truly believes we are in another revolution. What happens in November will set the stage as to whether the United States continues to progress and move forward or will we move backward and have to refight for those ideas and beliefs we had already won that will be taken away. The poor, the blue collar, the middle class, the educated and uneducated, women, LGBQT+, Hispanics, Latinos, Blacks, Whites and anyone else having a stake in our Democracy has to decide which way they want to go - forward or backward. Right now, I continue to write post cards, letters, sign petitions, talk to people and will vote blue up and down the ballot. If the orange man should win, it will not stop my personal fight. I will continue to write letters and sign petitions and speak out. Our beautiful country may have problems, but I will fight until my last breath to ensure America stays a Democracy! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Sadly, too many of the poor, the middle class, people of color and naturalized Americans believe that Democrats are ruining the country. Many would like to go back a few decades (failing to understand that progress could be in their own best interest). I don’t know how we can break through their stress overload and information bubble. The combination is killing our democracy.
Marge, the far-right extremists only believe in isolationism, dictators and a white, Christian nationalist country. They are afraid of the progress we have made and they want so very much to stop it! They do not realize that the white population is not in control anymore and simply cannot embrace anything that is "different". The orange man and his running mate have capitalized on that and are convincing people that every single thing bad in our country is because of Democrats. Even though that is not true, many hear the orange man saying he will fix it if they put him back in the White House so they support him. It is a lethal combination for killing Democracy but I can only hope there are enough sane Americans who understand which party has their best interests at heart and will work for all of the American people, not just a few. I will be saddened if the orange man becomes president because those very same people that believed him will wonder why once he is in office he abandoned them and even targeted many of them. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Peggy, this has long been my energy-boosting “fight” (non-violent) song….and you can dance to it! Jackson’s Browne’s “‘Til I Go Down” (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
Excellent song, Barbara! We must continue to fight and get in "good trouble" to keep our Democracy alive and moving forward! I will not shut my mouth about it! Write post cards, letters, sign petitions, talk, talk, talk to people! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
I always find it interesting when reading pieces like this one on "blue collar workers" that those who perpetrated much of the damage to those mostly white men are never identified or held responsible. Nixon and those Republicans who came after him were very much in favor of corporations sending jobs out of country for the benefit of those corporate owners and CEOs. I remember when hoping to get some unemployment help, I had to stand in huge lines at our local office each week along with the hundreds of newly unemployed due to the steel plant closing and the jobs sent overseas. I am not sure to where, though. That was 1975 and Ford was president. At the same time, there were other businesses that closed in the area where I now live, beginning around the same time and ending in the early 1990s. Those jobs went overseas or to Florida where their "right to work" laws meant they could have the work done and not have to deal with unions. Most of that departure effort was under Republican administrations. I am interested to learn just how Democrats ignored those "blue collar" workers and what could have been done to "save" them and if those guys would even have noticed. It has been Democrats in the past decades who have worked to get more jobs in renewable energy, road and bridge repair, and reopened factories, but if those "blue collar" guys were asked who was helping them, it would not be Democrats they name. I think the most powerful factors for those "blue collar" boys are racism which has been baked in for them for generations and fear of change. Despite the fact that change was part of their lives as new cars came along with different parts to work on, those folks feared change which I believe may be why they cling to Donald Trump, a convicted criminal, serial cheater, rapist, breaker of contracts, guy who never worked a day in his life. He claims to want to "Make America Great Again," and those blue collars thought when they had those "good" jobs things wouldn't change for them. They want that back again, factories where it was mostly white men, few people of color and no women. That was a power high for them or at least it was, in their memory. I want to know how to even begin to reach those men and what could be offered to them that would begin to match their nostalgia over jobs that are long gone.
I have always thought that jobs created by transitioning away from coal and petroleum to wind and solar would have been a huge incentive for blue collar workers to vote Blue.
Smokey, I would have thought so too, but I understand that change, no matter how much it improves things, can be really hard for some people and it seems "blue collar" guys are among those. Despite the injuries on the job, the illnesses like black lung, those guys will keep doing it till death and fighting to keep doing it because it is what they know. How can we reach people who can't change even when their livelihood is being retired as coal is and soon oil will have to be? I think we all need to put a lot of thought into that because those "blue collars" are easily armed and directed to people they think have done them wrong.
Terri, it seems truth is not a commodity people want to trade in anymore, particularly when lies are so much like what people want to believe is the truth.
The debate will be a repeat performance of the previous debate with Trump and his multitude of lies. The difference: there will be no fact checking which is unconscionable.
And, after reading Robert's article this morning, Pat Buchanan and Richard Nixon would have accelerated the Trumpism movement even further if the Murdoch's and Roger Ailes were more organized with Fox News lies, Newsmax lies, and the rest of the lies on social media.
Thank you for this important history lesson. I’m sickened by the blatant manipulation of a segment of Americans that are already suffering from the greed and callousness of the wealthy and powerful. My biggest hope is that they will see they are being played by the very powers that would continue to siphon off what’s left of the working and middle class’s quality of life.
Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter. Brought Sadat and Begin together to sign the Camp David Accords, and was early to condemn Israel as the apartheid state it is.
It was said that Carter was the only one to use the presidency as a stepping stone to do greater things.
Nixon’s 1950 campaign against Helen Gahagan arguably is a template for the insidious corruption of the GOP and its collapse through the Reagan, but especially GW Bush administrations, resulting in the rise of neo-Fascist MAGAism and Trump. https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/11/16/tricky-dick-vs-the-pink-lady
Professor Reich: everyone who holds a blue-collar job back in those days, including family members of mine, were quite WEALTHY compared to people like me, who truly were poor and hungry (and looked down on). i guess it's quite a masterful lie to convince them that they were overlooked and ignored when in fact, they were the backbone of this country.
but like you, i share your belief that Republican cultural populism would never have got this far if Democrats been more willing to follow FDR and embrace economic populism. But i recall the "red scare" and how being a communist was worse than death. that claim also was some mighty intense lies, i think.
GrrlScientist, Senator Joe McCarthy did not do America any favors by using the "red scare" to intimidate American citizens. Back then, everyone was terrified of "communism" and believed communists were the enemy. He caused many to lose their jobs and were basically pariahs in their communities. That is a masterful lie that he helped perpetuate. Today, many people do like the ideas of a class war and publicly owned property but it certainly isn't what the majority believe. Some of us would simply like the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, women's rights to make their own decisions about their bodies, affordable housing, the breaking up of monopolistic corporations and a humane and logical solution to what the orange man thinks is a crisis at our border. Some of us believe in providing assistance to those that need it. Granted there are people that abuse the system but those are the people that should be targeted, not the ones actually needing it! Oh, I'm sorry, I got on my soap box and started preaching didn't I? Yes, I agree, we should have followed FDR and embraced economic populism! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Peggy, do you know someone who abuses the system, or are you just guessing that there must be some? I'm guessing many people qualify for assistance but don't have the stamina to jump through the hoops and be disappointed repeatedly when they are denied, even though they have supplied the paperwork and proved they need and are justified in receiving the benefits.
For example, I went through two appeals of a decision by our Medicare Advantage plan that denied to pay for a continuous glucose monitor that my doctor prescribed due to my medical history. Maximus, a private contractor for Medicare, overruled the insurance company and agreed with my physician that a continuous glucose monitor is medically necessary. I received the sensors and soon was able to see why I had fainted multiple times in the past several years. My blood sugar spikes, then rapidly falls within 30 minutes, too soon for me to react without the CGS's alarm because I have set the low alarm to where I can consume something to stop the blood sugar crash.
Now, Maximus has changed their mind and agrees with the insurance company that reconsidered Maximus' decision because Medicare rules say the CGM is unnecessary because I am not on insulin. I haven't proven that my blood glucose goes below 55 mg/dl. Almost anyone with a blood sugar that is low or lower is unconscious and unable to do a finger stick and check the level with a glucometer. I become confused and have blurred vision before my blood sugar gets that low, and I faint. This is the standard that everyone on Medicare is held to. Even though the CGM is a new life-saving device, Big Insurance can manipulate the decision to their profit-maximizing advantage as they raid the Medicare trust fund.
I'm supposed to decide if I want a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. I am overwhelmed, and my physician has already jumped through many paperwork hoops to get me this far! What do you think I should do? Will I be charged for the CGM sensors I already received from the pharmacy? They're expensive for me.
Peggy, it is more likely that people are refused the help they need by the government and, in this case, paid into the fund out of my paychecks for many years than that there are even a few free-riders.
A few years back I read an article about a study that was done to identify just how many people abuse Welfare. It was less than 3%. I can live with that.
Gloria, you are one of the ones being abused by the system! I truly sympathize with your situation. What I was trying to point out was the fact that there are some people who will use the system for their own personal gain. They call this Medicare fraud and it is when an individual, a group or and institution intentionally tries to get payments from the Medicare program when they are not entitled to them. When healthcare providers charge Medicare for an appointment scheduled but not attended, charge for services that were not performed or charged for medical supplies the recipient did not receive. These providers could also charge Medicare for unnecessary medications, tests and supplies aimed at increasing the amount Medicare pays them. Someone could offer a Medicare recipient a discount or kickback to that recipient to get their Medicare number and then file false claims. There are laws that penalize these types of abuse/fraud. In September of 2021, the Medicare Fraud Task Force reported 3,202 indictments that came to 3.99 billion dollars. You are one of the ones who actually need this service and because of these fraudsters, you are in jeopardy of not receiving the health care you deserve and are entitled to! I believe we need a much stronger task force to get out there and round up the individuals that are causing the problem so that the ones needing the service can get it without having to go to court so to speak. I'm sorry if I was not clear. I hope you will be able to resolve your issue and get the service your doctor has shown you need. This same issue is rampant in welfare as well. There are always going to be some that are looking for quick bucks. Our government needs to be more diligent in identifying them.
I'm glad you cleared that up. I read your comments daily and was surprised you would "victim blame." Medicare Advantage insurance is "legal thieves" robbing the Medicare Trust Fund. They are as bad as the fraudsters, no worse because they cleverly use their money to buy politicians and manipulate the system.
Wendall Potter posted a substack yesterday explaining how ERISA, a law to protect consumers' employment benefits, has gradually whittled down and distorted through the courts over the past 50 years to be used by Big Insurance to protect insurers instead of consumers. Potter includes his court testimony in an attachment to his substack.
If you recall, he was in Michael Moore's movie, I think, "Sicko." He was a big shot in an insurance company whose conscience got the better of him. He became a whistle-blower. Thom Hartmann mentioned him in his book, "The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich." He is in a subchapter, "Wendall Potter: A Good Man in a Bad Job."
Gloria, thank you for your exposure of the robbers of Medicare, and the reference to 'Sicko' and Hartmann. The only reasonable solution to this morass is a universal healthcare system.
Yes please. I've lived long in Denmark and New Zealand...
Gloria, and then there are, apparently, elected Congress critters who may? likely? probably? dabbled in Medicare thumbs-on-the-profit-scale to enrich themselves and/or their businesses, such as Rick Scott, Florida Rep: https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/08/30/democrats-medicare-fraud-is-fungus-scott-will-never-get-rid-of-573155 There will always be a segment of people who try to game the system…..many of them NOT in need—think tax fraud/evasion, etc., but in my experience most folks want to do the right thing, especially if the “rules” are fair (many are not, as you indicate). The health/pharmacy segments in this country seem to have become such a money making racket (looking at you private equity vampires) that those honest folks involved have to swim upstream against the offal (awful!) floating down! Best of luck to you in your quest to stay healthy….live long and prosper 🖖!
Thank you, Barbara.
Advantage Plans were the first steps to privatizing Medicare. That was the purpose of introducing them. We are bombarded with ads promising us (the elderly) the moon with these plans. In my county in Fl, I haven't met a Dr yet that accepts these plans. It's criminal what insurance companies are doing.
I'm glad, too, Gloria! I look forward to our conversations here. Sometimes I don't relate what I am trying to say very well! Hope you get your situation straightened out!
It's abuse by design. They want us back in the 1800s. It's just that most Americans do not realize what life was really like then..
The worst abusers of the system during the 14 years I worked in a County Department of Social Services, were not the recipients, they were the providers and of them the absolute fraudsters were those who provided medical equipment (at that time, Florida had struck the bottom of the barrel for fraud but Southern California was bad too). This is probably part of the cause of Gloria's mistreatment of the system. Insurance companies have been notorious for squirreling out of paying for needed medical procedures. And kudos to Gloria for managing her diabetes so well when she had the monitor.
Another current problem for recipients are for those in need of c-pap machines. The manufacturer (Phillips) which knowingly produced machines with a defect. Now it is difficult for people on Medicaid or Medicare to obtain these units.
I'm sure you meant Gloria's mistreatment BY the system. I still have the sensors. I will appeal again. It will be a hardship to afford if they get away with not paying.
yes I did mean by, thank you. And good luck to you. I don't know which State you live in, Gloria. In California we have California Rural Legal Aid Society and other Legal aid that offer free services to persons with disabilities to work their way through the many regulations of the system. When I was an Eligibility Worker and Employment and Training Counselor I frequently used these groups to help my recipients get the services they needed.
It's not just me who can't provide evidence of dangerously low blood sugar; it's anybody not already on a continuous glucose monitor which is too expensive for most people to afford on Social Security. It's at least $200 a month for the sensors. It should still be cheaper for insurers than paying for brain scans and bone fracture care. If an older person faints and or dies, who cares? Just assume it's a heart attack and bury you. The system saves much more money than if you lived another 20 years. You can't prove it with a fingerstick glucometer because when the blood sugar is below 55 mg/dl, the person is incapacitated. Unless you have someone who will do the fingerstick for you while you are unconscious on the floor, you can't prove it!
Advantage plans are a bad deal all around it seems. We have moved to straight Medicare years ago and are happy for the most part.
Once on a “Medicare Advantage “ plan, it may be hard-to-impossible to get on standard Medicare along with “medigap” coverage. Those plans will just not insure anyone with pre-existing conditions. Unless one is wealthy enough to be able to handle the 20% not covered my Medicare.
I understand fully and agree that any inclusion of "private" companies or corporations works to the disadvantage of those in need - especially true of insurance companies
Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla) made his millions with his HMO/hospital systems. His company was sued by the Fed. Gov. for stealing the largest amount ever from Medicare by fraud. They paid the largest fine ever, $1.7 billion, for fraud but Scott didn't answer for any of it. Claimed he didn't know "that" was going on in his company. He opposes any government health care. Of course he would. A few years later he ran for Gov. of Fla. and millions of Medicare recipients in Fla. voted him in... twice. After that he conned the Fla. voters into electing him U.S. Senator and is running this year for a second term. His opponent is Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. She is being outspent 4 to 1 by Scott. Please send her any amount of money you can afford. In Scott's first Senate run he dumped $74 million of his own money in to win. Who knows how much this time. If he wins he is going to try to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate leader. Do we see anything wrong with this picture? Why do all of those retired voters in Fla., who depend on Social Security and Medicare continue to vote for GOP folks who are determined to destroy both as soon as they get the power to do so. I don't get it. Vote Big Blue. Cheers... GH
Very well said, Gary!
As a homecare nurse I second this- there are many more people that qualify for a variety of federal benefits that simply never collect because they can’t negotiate the system. When pundits say Medicare is going broke, they are FOS - NO ONE ever calculates the unclaimed benefits that lay on the table every year. They Way outnumber the grifters
Medicare advantage plans are what's caused these type of denial . Get rid of the advantage plans their corruption oriented. Medicare alone wouldn't do this . Medicare advantage is a scam and once your locked in your stuck ... Until medicare open enrollment is available. So many elderly are getting scammed into this thinking .
The advantage plans court you ,including one I know of that sends gifts, freebies, you did not ask for or need. Then one becomes set, and maybe "loyal"? My late friend got gifts that delighted her, some unnecessary, but when it came to the cancer drug she needed it was not available to her.
Medicare Advantage is no advantage or improvement on regular medicare at all. Get off medicare advantage asap and you'll get the care you need. It is hard to get off M.A. but M.A. is Geo W. Bush's scam to kill medicare and privatize healthcare in America.
Listen to Thom Hartmann, he tells it like it is.
My wife and I are offered this but turn them down. https://www.livongo.com/?utm_medium=sem&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=GGL_CCM_US_Web_DSKTP_SEM_NB_DM_Meter_Alpha&utm_content=search_tdh_ccm_dm_nb-diabetes_text_na_na_na_na_liv-dbt&utm_term=exact_glucose-meter_all_18andUp&campaign_id=17493221960&adset_id=150835472793&ad_id=659606032463&keyword=kwd-10577419179&pk_cid=HMI_CCM_SEM_GGL_SEM_CNV_NBRD_DM_USA&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu-63BhC9ARIsAMMTLXR_PGRIyxiKCz4Q7jsGZaWF8q6AQpFJEkwvuUpiAf1SemD8jPUBREcaAlHKEALw_wcB
The finger sticks and glucometer doesn't give continuous blood sugar levels which is what I need. It's better than nothing but won't alert me to a sudden crash that can be prevented with the continuous monitor with the alarm. A patch goes on the back of the arm and sends the readings to an iPhone which alarms in time for me to seat down and eat or drink something and prevent the crash and fainting. It's impossible to prove a lower than 55 mg/dl without the continuous monitor because you can't do a finger stick check when unconscious.
That's what Livongo offers.
We're sticking with Accucheck.
How often do you stick your fingers?
There are also folks who believe it is “wrong” to accept government help.
Like Ayn Rand?
'First do no harm.' Does that ring a bell?
Yes! Go to the judge. Tell it just like you said it here. I did that once for a medical issue and it worked. Explain how much you are saving them by not going to the ER when you pass out. And point out that this is literally life and death. All the best to you.
we must accept the fact that a few will cheat in any system, and not let that % justify the complex "qualifying" rules for public assistance that have such a negative effect on the recipients.
Miriam, agree….way back in the early ‘70’s my then husband and I were visiting friends in the hills of southern Humboldt county (“back to the land” folk); they also had visitors who lived on the Humboldt & Mendocino county borderline….they boasted that, as a young family w/ a couple of kids, they gamed the system and were getting benefits from BOTH Humboldt and Mendocino counties…needless to say their boast landed with a resounding thud in the room. Some years later I was visiting my now ex-hubbby (we remained friends for life) at the Univ in Washington (state) where he was doing grad work. I was sitting on the lawn on campus in a circle of students & we were discussing the cost of school, money woes, etc. and student loan debt (I worked in a student aid office at a CA state univ), when one fellow boasted that he was going to get as much student loan $ as he could & then default on payment to “stick it to the man”. Well well well, all the other students quickly and vehemently verbally jumped on him for it (and I knew that path would = a world of hurt & impact him later on). Most people I’ve experienced who need such safety-net benefits don’t WANT to need them; I’d counseled a number of students, particularly single young parents trying to get their education, be reluctant to apply for foodstamps, AFDC (as it was called then & what many call “welfare”) or Medi-Cal (health/medical benefits). I would go over their budget and tell them that I know you don’t WANT to, but your family NEEDS this to thrive/stay healthy. I would remind them that they were working so hard to get an education to make a better life for them & their family and that the handful of years in which they receive assistance will be offset by the years they will pay into “the system” via their future taxes….and to think of part of their future taxes as “paying it forward” to those families who will need similar help someday. For many it helped reframe the issue.
Thanks for letting us know that 50 yrs ago some hippies “stuck it to the man.”
Well said, Barbara. Education is an investment. We should encourage it.
100% agree, Miriam!
Happiest day for my older sister was the day she was able to get off welfare and support herself and her son , I didn't realize it at the time I was 8-9 at the time but I remember how happy she was, yes she could of abused it but that wasn't her style, independence and a certain amount of pride I suspect were more important. It took me a few years but I never forgot that day and I was so proud of her, because face it if you really need it to survive then it's simple use it. We were considered middle class. I can't believe I voted for Nixon, as we used to say I've come a long way baby.
Thank you, Peggy and GrrlScientist, and a huge kudo to Prof. Reich for his incisive analytical narrative of our warped economics and politics of ninety years. This current of corruption has held sway over our political system since the Constitution was first inked, so it should not come as a surprise that it has sunk to this level. Obtusely, the more skillful
the pack of liars, the more political power that they have been able to generate herky-jerky since FDR and the Great War. The current remains unbroken, from the obscene self-proclaimed anti-Communist Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI), his absolutely vicious mob lawyer Roy Cohn, through Ike's VP Nixon, Fred Trump Sr. and directly into our present anti-Democracy ticket of Trump and Vance. My parents, both active participants in the War effort of the 1940's, despised McCarthy, Cohn, and Nixon. Small wonder that we have reached the brink of ruin. As regards the Rethug ticket in oratory skills, they are possessed by a mental vacuum and would be dismantled into piles of rubble by a truly skilled orator such as Cicero or Caesar of the ancients.
Well said, Dennis.
Peggy: Joe McCarthy's legal advisor and water boy Ron Cohn, the master of the "Red Scare" and later a sleazy fixer in New York City whose grasp extended well beyond the borders of the city, was a long-term mentor and advisor to none other than Donald Trump, who abandoned his friendship when it came out that Cohn had AIDS (see the mostly fictional "Angels in America").
Notable lessons Trump learned from Cohn was to attack legally whenever criticized, and how to avoid paying bills. I'm sure there were many more.
You're right, Porter! One of the many evil and corrupt things Cohn taught the orange man was to lie and embellish everything! He told him that when he repeats the same lie over and over, someone is going to believe it! That's why we have MAGA today!
Agreed, Peggy, in full.
So agree Peggy. Joe McCarthy was just pure evil and cause so much destruction and even death with his lies, ruining many lives before they finally stood up to him and stopped the debacle, just not soon enough to avoid his nefarious ways. With 30+ days left for voting, the only thing needed now is to Vote Blue up and down the ticket with the biggest wave possible not just to win but to lessen the chances of challenges to the results. MAGA must be stopped.
Absolutely, Chris! Remind everyone to vote. A blue tsunami to wash over our political landscape telling the orange man and his MAGA cult we will never go back! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
GrrlScientist…You got it. The whole excuse to accuse others of GODLESS Communism is laughable considering the damage both Capitalism & religion have done..and I include all religion here.
Cancel student debt now. It's by design to discourage the middle class from getting an education ; otherwise, the elite wouldn't have to pay to get this kids into these schools by cheating.
Fund colleges - there is no reason to draw the line at high schools. None.
#NeverForget2008 25K for all homeowners to have a house - today.
In Italy it is considered the right of every citizen to gain the level of education that they personally desire. Funding higher education - to the doctorate level, is considered an investment by the citizens in their citizenry for their community. Makes sense to me.
Exactly as it should be. 100 thumbs up
Italy is a great country in more ways than one!
Janet I worked for 40+ years at Univ student aid offices, starting a few scant years after the 1965 Higher Education Act was signed into law (the stories I could tell!), & have known since the early 80’s that the student loan programs were on the road to becoming a HUGE problem. Often when new federal rules (student aid programs had to be periodically reauthorized by Congress & they’d tweak provisions) we’d sometimes just shake our heads and say “what were they thinking?”….the rule of unintended consequences. Much thoughtful work is needed to revamp the system AND particularly to have oversight w/ the “private market” involvement—thinking of the resounding failure of many loan “servicers” to do their job correctly & left many borrowers in a world of hurt NOT of their own making. I think the loan forgiveness program Biden has done & is attempting to expand, despite pushback & court roadblocks, is an attempt to remedy this FUBAR situation. We need thoughtful, practical, creative, forward thinking folks to come up with a better system & one that looks at “higher ed” (education past high school) as not ONLY college-based (think trade schools, apprenticeships, etc).🤞
yes, and Reagan defunded colleges to keep the middle classes from protesting wars and get in line. The loan system is dysfunctional by design. It's working exactly as it was intended.
Mr. Biden (from the state with the most corporations) can step it up and use the proper legal strategy this time - he needs to save democracy.
If trade schools pay so well and are wonderful then why are the billionaire kids not going to them?
Janet, I was working in the CA State College system at the time Reagan gutted it (along with many other social safety net programs); they have never recovered to the level of the “before” times. I had a number of students who participated in Peace Corps, Ameri-Corp, Conservation Corp, etc.) that learned much from their hands-on experience and wanted to do similar work as civil servants in adjacent fields. For so long there was such a push for a college degree education, which sadly today often does not give a boost to graduates who sometime struggle to find work commensurate with their degree. My county’s Comm College offers an assoc degree as well as trade-based education programs, so there is an amalgam of both; my CA State College (recently reimagined as a Cal Polytechnic) initially offered courses in various Industrial Arts (renamed Industrial Tech before the dept was basically abandoned, as was the degree in Business Admin)—as a student there (as well as on staff), I took autoshop, welding, woodwork, tailoring & other home economic classes & learned a lot of very useful skills. We need skilled trades, paid what they are worth, and there is a paucity of them at present.
Yes, I think we should all have choices. I'd like my PhD right now. No money - no choices - no options.
Yes, those are skills we all need - the 1% need them too ;)
I'd like to see Biden take a steps going in the correct direction...
The degrees are good for the 1% - I want their cushy jobs. ;)
*😁😁😁😁😁😁We should honor the indigenous that lived on this Earth😁😁😁*, especially our Ancestor with a Unique Mutation: DISGUST. We evolved DISGUST so we wouldn't EAT SHIT AND DIE. But DISGUST kept MUTATING: One tenth of the US is so DISGUSTED with themselves EVERY YEAR that they want to suicide. One fifth of the world die because of alcohol, aka we're not DISGUSTED enough to stop drinking.
Now add Americans' Exceptional ability to READ MINDS of our ENEMY and find an ENEMY where there is no ENEMY. (e.g., Saddam did 911.).
We EXAGGERATE THREATS and EXAGGERATE POWER(e.g., our imagined POWER to READ MINDS)
QUIT WINING AND WIN!
Still can register more Democrats. https://www.fieldteam6.org/all-volunteer-ops/volunteer
Voter registration guidelines. https://www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines/
@Daniel. Quit whining... I'm sure you meant.
Right.
SUPPORT our legal efforts to force our government to stop the killing by promoting the scientific treatment to STOP SCIENCE DENIAL.
STEP ONE: CHOOSE Ms.FDR over the OPIOID CRISES LAUNCHER:
"Do one thing every day that scares you." over Purdue Pharma:"Ignore Eleanor Roosevelt's SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM FROM FEAR...you never have to face your fear, just keep popping Valium....OUR PILLS AREN'T ADDICTIVE!!! "
*beginning and ending of the "woke joke"
All Americans are fearful enough to seek a cure. Up to60% of fearful people are cured by placebo. Examples of placebo: MAGA, FOX NEWS, anger, FB algorithm, Twitter algorithm, etc
STOP THESE PLACEBOS BY STOPPING SCIENCE DENIAL😁😁😁
Do you have ANY idea what the fuck you are ranting on about? Disappear, troll!
My father's parents thought that FDR was a Communist! Even though his policies helped them
The term Communist took on a meaning other than the word's actual definition. I used to know someone who jokingly called anyone he didn't agree with a Communist or any policy he didn't like Communism.
Was his name Joseph McCarthy?
Waltz should say to Vance, “Sir, have you no decency?”
Mario, good one.
@Grrl. Wealth and poverty are comparative - when I was young, and before "grunge" became a fashion statement, I had holes in my jeans and old shoes. But so did a lot of my neighbors. "Clean and well-patched" were words of admiration in those days. Today, the media portrays everyone as upper middle class, making regular folks underestimate how well they are doing. Add to that the reality that corporations actually are exporting jobs and hollowing out communities. A lot of folks that you might otherwise like on a personal level, are resentful and angry. I wish they could get the truth, that Trump (and people like him) are the root cause of those economic problems. Cultural Economics - moneyed interests using cultural wedge issues to separate people from their own interests and from each other. We really do need the Democrats to return to putting regular folks first and bringing moneyed interests back into some semblance of responsibility: stakeholder capitalism, employee Board members, limited but effective regulation, progressive but fair taxation, investment incentives to produce in the USA, incentives to start a business, incentives to buy a house, medical care for everyone, child care for everyone, at least two years of college at public expense, vocational training, clean power initiatives. All of these, and others, are in the Harris/Walz platform.
Thank you for pointing this out, Benjamin. Unfortunately, some billionaires want to destroy our democracy rather than share their wealth. They even have injected religion into their long game.
@Victor. But do you really think so? Or is this just another wedge issue that is being manipulated to distract people from the real issues?
Harris/Walz must win.
There was one other small conceit in what Professor Reich wrote: "The construction workers who attacked the demonstrators on May 8, 1970 and the police who egged them on were more likely to have family and friends in Vietnam than the college students who demonstrated." (Do we figure that true, i.e. given how broadly the war impacted the American populace, i.e. after the draft? Everyone had a friend, family, friend of family, etc....)
PS: The PBS Newshour - just yesterday - shared a statistic (between segments) that 40% of college students experience food insecurity at some point...
It is NOT going to be a debate. Vance will lie about everything and turn it in to a MAGA lie fest. No point in having a debate against people like Donald and Vance.
What’s the purpose of a debate when moderators choose to allow people to lie?
I think I won't be watching it. I won't let them force me to watch Vance spew lies with no one to challenge them but Walz. That'll mean that Tim Walz will be forced to spend ALL his time debunking MAGA conspiracy theories.
I can't wait until November. The utter void of any intelligence or capacity for self-determination scares me among any whack job that would vote Republican. It should scare everyone!
Imagine wearing these t-shirts in front of your MAGA neighbor 👇 🤣
https://shorter.me/Iz5Rp
Heather: I’m going to believe Walz (my Guv) will adopt the tactics that worked so well for Kamala. She didn’t try to fact-check all of Trump’s lies - just the ones where she wanted to take a stand. And she spent more time attacking his record than being the chief fact-checker. Tim is smarter than JD, has decades more public service/political experience, and has a savvy sense of humor. I’m watching tonight with every expectation that Tim will zing him.
My bet is Walz will toss Vance around the ring. As long as he let's his inner Walz come through and is not too coached. Expect Vance will talk about transgender alot!
Hoping Walz strong on economic populism. Tell people what Trump will DO to them for heavens sake in a way that moves them emotionally.
I would not want to be JD today, or any day.
not going that great for Walz at minute 15. Vance is a more polished confident speaker. Catch the rest later.
I doubt that Tim is smarter than Vance-he might win,however.i remember the 2016 vp debate when Tim Kaine,a supposedly great debater,was soundly beaten by Pence.Why?his plan was to attack Trump,and Pence said what Trump would do, and positivity prevailed-people preferred it.now that we know Trump ,attacks might fare better-tactics matter-we'll see-maybe CBS should've hired a smart childless cat lady like Taylor Swift to fact-check
Walz is smarter than Vance.
there are many kinds of 'smart'-we need wisdom
@ Brooks. Walz is wiser than Vance, the latter putting all his eggs in his one chance at 15 minutes of fame. When Trump goes down in November, Vance WILL be his heir - heir to all the ridicule and ignominy.
hope so
For me, there is only one reason to vote blue; I want our country to be led by people who have a heart of wisdom, not by a couple of devils’ spawn with lumps of coal in place of their hearts.
there's a time for fast thinking and a time for slow thinking-we need men and women of discernment and wisdom to know when each is appropriate and to adjust their thinking accordingly
Wisdom starts with honesty, and Vance has been fairly honest. He is OK serving as Trump's lackey.
Without a doubt!
I agree about the debate! Are they afraid to fact check that disgusting, despicable Vance? What a waste of effort for Waltz and Americans with a brain! The MAGA party is ruining our lives, our democracy, and the American dream.
Olbernann says CBS should cancel -- Vance is a liar who fabricated the Springfield BS story and endangers lives.
We listen to Olbermann while I prepare and eat breakfast. I agree with Olbermann that CBS is shrugging its responsibility to the public by not fact-checking and that the advertising money will prevent it from canceling. I want to see Walz's strategy and how he deals with the shameless, humorless liar.
that will be interesting
@Daniel. Walz should say, "hey JD, I brought a couple of pets along in case you get hungry..." Kamala did a good job of ridiculing Trump with almost nothing but her facial expressions and laughter. Walz should roast this spineless huckster...
I know, right? Ben, she spoke volumes w/o having to say a word….her facial expressions were priceless!
Inflation and the border are the issues of the day, no laughing matter.
@Victor. Inflation is over already. Constant battle, it will be back someday, but not the topic of the moment except some talking heads. Affordability is something Harris addresses. The border will be quickly fixed by the same bi-partisan legislation that Trump killed, but again, there will always be immigration issues that will need attention. For this election cycle those issues have to be mentioned as you say, but those are not IMO the real issues of the day.
He has a good point. Why do we even allow this entertainment?
ratings,pseudo-prestige for C BS,a good 'get'-even if they say nothing illuminating or meaningful-as Dan Rather said yest.,CBS used to mean something-reme
mber'the most trusted man in America'?Walter Cronkite?those days are long gone
Entertainment.....that's exactly why....
Entertainment = 💰💰💰💰💰
Overman is absolutely right Daniel. It's going to be a total fiasco IMHO.
Love the T/shirts!
You are asking the moderators to do what the audience should do. I don't really think that's their job to fact check. The net result of doing that is they would just lose credibility with the audience. Like the trump voters.
Yes, but the moderators must not ignore Vance's lack of administrative experience and his flip flopping on Trump. His pretension and shamelessness are very relevant in a candidate who might be our next president.
not their job. It's Walz job to point that out. Vance is a confident liar and dissembler, like Josh Hawley., who makes Vance look like a pretty upstanding guy.
I was one of those demonstrators that had a run in with construction workers on May 8th 1970.
And the consequence of the anti war demonstrators was to stiffen the resolve and support for the war, as the attack by construction workers indicates.
It was only the increasing flow of caskets and funerals, and the lament of middle America as it buried it's fathers,sons, brothers, cousins that convinced Nixon to wind down America's involvement.,not the demonstrators.
You are correct about that, William. It was the continuing numbers of dead and injured soldiers that turned the U.S. against the war, but Nixon and Kissinger prolonged the war for another five years while pretending to have a secret peace plan. Before the 1968 elections, they encouraged South Vietnam’s government to refuse to cooperate with the 1968 Paris Peace Talks, and we remained in Vietnam until 1973.
Horrible, wasn't it?? The carpet bombing, drawing in Cambodia and Laos. God, HELL must be quite full . . . of murderous, lying, sons-of-bitches politicians. I hope Vance and Trump enjoy Nixon's and Kissinger's company when THEY get there!
Carpet bombing targeted VC and NVA battalions and regiments, even divisions.
Soldiers not civilians, soldiers that were killing our civilians. The rules of engagement in Vietnam were you canonly return fire, not initiate it, and civilian populations were off limits. We could not invade North Vietnam hence the demilitarized zone (DMZ.
Hanoi was off limits to bombing during the Vietnam War due to restrictions imposed by the US to avoid provoking China and Soviet forces. The US military established bombing sanctuaries around Hanoi and Haiphong, North Vietnam's main port, and a buffer zone along the Chinese border. The US also placed many types of targets off limits, including enemy airfields, surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites, and petroleum facilities.
The US bombing campaign in Vietnam was known as Operation Rolling Thunder. The campaign's purpose was to weaken the enemy's will by denying North Vietnam its petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL). However, the campaign was undermined by the restrictions on bombing, which made it less effective.
I was a mile from B-52's carpet bombing NVA positions and am thankful they did, I am still here, as are my team mates and G.I.s who survived the siege of Khe Sanh, many of whom were draftees, not volunteers.
Your comment is indicative of the problem when ignorant people, jump on information and bandwagons based on trigger words and phrases.
I use the word ignorant in the sense of lacking knowledge of the subject of which they deign to speak.
William - Thank you for your service (and sacrifices).
William, you were sent into a trap by brilliant but misinformed and arrogant men. Glad you made it back.
How about the voters who trusted Nixon? His claim that he had a "secret plan" to end the war only a fool could believe.
The social fragmentation of that war carries through all the way to now, in some respects. We were manipulated into fighting with each other, instead of focusing on Nixon and war profiteers extending the fighting and expanding it beyond Vietnam borders … all based on lies that got us into it in the first place.
YES, those body bags were horrendous, as were the daily “body count” reports of Vietnamese dead, and the flag-draped coffins of our own soldiers returning home, that finally turned our people against that horrid war … But for too long, opposition to it was manipulated to seem like a cultural rift WITHIN our society, based on class and race. Once again, our anger was redirected to chewing our own entrails, rather than resisting those who dragged us into that war …
History recounts how that war was handled in the halls of government AND on the ground in the depths of Vietnam. Our youngest and most vulnerable were sent totally unprepared to understand what was happening there {it was a fraud war} or to deal with the cultural shock — kids who could NOT use college to “protect” them from being drafted. Non-college bound kids and poor kids, including POC shipped off like so much cannon fodder. But instead of making common cause to stop the war and protect our own kids, our culture was fragmented along faux-patriotic lines and class lines, and we were set on each other as protests grew…
There’s so much social and psychological nuance to how the war was waged and how our culture was manipulated and fragmented to fight among ourselves as the opposition grew — But in the end, we turned on each other far too often, and some of those fractures still linger. They are manipulated AGAIN now, as we let the likes of MAGA coopt “patriotism” and love of country, claiming that those who oppose MAGA “hate” … well … you know the garbage he spouts …
The echoes of those fractures continue, and pitting us against each other does, too … Voices here have mentioned how the blue-collar segment of our country was once able to earn excellent incomes, comparable to college-educated careers, which is no longer as common. While we were {and are?} fighting false grudge fights, the wealth has been quietly migrating upward, and now both blue-collar AND college educated can’t hold households together on a single income — even DOUBLE incomes of Mom AND Dad aren’t holding that line. Young families are hard-pressed to find affordable homes to rent, much less to buy …
Don’t we see that the appearance of “billionaires” these days in NOT a mark of the success of an economy that allows for billionaires to succeed, it is evidence of the migration of wealth out of the mainstream of our society and into the upper-upper echelons, up to the Oligarchs and corporate boardrooms. While we fought internecine battles between classes and races—instead of making common cause together for a strong and prosperous nation—we let Oligarchs eat our lunch, pit us against each other, and siphon our earnings out of our pockets.
And we’re still letting them get away with it.
That’s the legacy of the NIxon era, to my mind.
War is such a waste.
War..... what is it good for? ... Absolutely nothin'.
("Friend only to the undertaker.")
Truth Kathy, Truth. You nailed the essence of Nixon's presidency. BTW I tried to edit, Nixon's 1968 Treason into the wikipedia article, even used a reliable secondary source as required by wikipedia, and a right wing hall monitor reverted my entry, I reverted his entry, and then he reverted mine, on the talk page he used a facetious and false reason. If I had reverted his second revert he would have called me before the moderation committee, and he had standing with said committtee.
The same problem with Ronald Reagan and his treasonous act with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Where he promised aid to Iran in it's war with Iraq, which the US was supporting,if he held the hostages until Reagan was sworn in.
No sooner had Reagan taken his hand off the bible, than Khomeini released the hostages, the Ayatollah Bani al Sadr reported that in the Christian Science Monitor. I quoted it and used the CSM, a reliable 2ndary source, and that too was reverted.
Anyone can edit wikipedia, but if you join with a screen name, you can put pages on a watch list, and any time someone posts anything on that article you are alerted and can spring into action, on of which is reverting a comment.
There are tabs at the top of WP articles on the left hand side is one called Talk, the talk pages are of interest because it is where edits are challenged and discussed.
Thank you for sharing, William.
Violence, for the most part has been co-opted by the right.
At this point it has. The radicals of the 60s were never as effective as they thought, but the Trump MAGA brigades are scarily effective at marketing violence against people who disagree with them. Trump is a sadist who marinates in violence and doesn’t want to dirty his own tiny hands. On January 6, 2021, he was watching his groupies attack the Capitol Police and the DC Metro Police, and no doubt enjoyed the entire spectacle.
Pardon me, William, but !Que mierda!
At least acknowledge that people marching in the streets made middle America more aware of an increasingly horrible situation. What if America’s young men had just obediently marched on down to be inducted? What would this country be like if people had the attitude that Uncle Sam was always right and that we all owe our very lives to the nation no matter what. Smells like Fascism to me.
PS - you already know that I respect your opinion (even when you're full of it).
Yeah, I don't believe that the demonstrations were inconsequential as reich and others here seem to think. In any movement there is always the vanguard of those more actiively engaged.But it is hard to pin down just how consequential they were.
I don't disagree with William re the backlash, but I reject the implied blame. As if longhaired demonstrators should have restrained themselves so blue-collar middle-class Americans didn't get their panties in a bunch. History just does not unfold like that. We protested, they reacted. The dialectic principle in action.
Well of course there was backlash.
If you're not being criticized you're not doing anything.
And the caskets coming out of military planes every night on Walter Cronkite. The visuals drove it home.
Answering Farrar
The demonstrators did make a difference. I was an ignorant 18-year-old woman in 1968 using the library at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque when I was approached by protesters and educated about the war.
My husband just placed his signs in our yard that say, "I'm a veteran, not a sucker or a loser." I hope low-information voters understand where that came from. Veterans should.
@Gloria. I'm going to see if I can get one of those signs. I'm a veteran, not a sucker or a loser.
Good for you!
I really like that! Damn! I like it!
I really liked your emphatic response, Smokey! Not a joke this time...but you sure made me smile!
I like that!
Gloria, I saw a photo of one yard sign that said “I’m a Republican, but I’m NOT stupid”. Kinda liked that “dig”!
Yeah, William, the first “war” carnage footage that was on the evening news for all to see. I know as a teen I was horrified. Also lost friends there, as well as those I knew who returned broken and traumatized. Edwin Starr’s “War What Is It Good For”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZI2aLQ9Sw
All wars are media events. If it bleeds it leads. The media sensationalizes everything, to sell papers and advertising space.
You might not recall how the media made a big thing of the "barbarism" of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, take NVA ears, but they don't tell you the back story.
I had just arrived at Dak To in support of the 173rd, when I could hear over the PrC-25,an FM line of sight radio, the paniked cry of an RTO, Radio Telephone Operator,
he was screaming for help. The base camp RTO told him to slow down, he couldn't copy (understand him), he hollered you would scream too if you had six bullet holes in you.
It took almost a day for relief to reach the company, and what they found was 72 men dead and mutilated, they hauled the remains back to base camp, and in the mortuary tent it was discovered that the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) had swapped\ Dog Tags, it was only discovered when the Dog tag was that of a white soldier and the dog tag that of a black soldier.
As a consequence the bodies, in body bags, sat outside the mortuary tent for three days, till all of the brigade had come in from the field, to personally ID the bodies.
The smell permeated the whole camp, and I close my eyes and can smell it today.
I had watched Roger Mudd, distort the reporting on the news, we did get the news, on TV in Vietnam. And later found myself on a plane with him, we talked in a loud voice about what we would do to him, when the plane landed. it was a C130, when they opened the ramp and dropped the tail gate while taxing, he jumped out and run, before the plane stopped.
Then there was the infamous photo of the Saigon Chief of Police shooting that VC in th head, oh how the anti war crowd made hay with that "barbarism". back story, is that dude had run though that street,slaughtering every man, woman and child, including the best friends of the Chief of Police.
The media never tells you the whole story. Nor have they told us that the Navy Pilots were instructed to drop unexpended ordinance in particular areas, those areas just happened to be where oil is now being extracted. (Seismic detectors)
ExxonMobil has been involved in oil and gas exploration and development in Vietnam, including:
Opening a venture office
In 2008, ExxonMobil opened a venture office in Hanoi to conduct oil and gas exploration activities.
Acquiring seismic data
ExxonMobil acquired seismic data as part of its exploration activities.
Drilling exploratory wells
ExxonMobil drilled exploratory wells as part of its exploration activities.
Developing the Ca Voi Xanh project
ExxonMobil is involved in the Ca Voi Xanh project, also known as the Blue Whale project, to produce natural gas from offshore central Vietnam. The project includes:
An offshore platform
A pipeline to transport gas to shore
An onshore gas treatment plant
Pipelines to feed gas to power plants
Five power plants with a combined capacity of nearly 4 gigawatts (GW)
Holding an operating license
ExxonMobil holds an operating license under a petroleum production-sharing contract (PSC) for blocks 117-119 offshore central Vietnam.
On The Wall, in the area reserved for Sept 1967 are the names of four of my teammates, they died that McDonalds and KFC could have franchises in Saigon and Hanoi.,and Exxon Mobil could make yet more profit.
And instead of a Domino effect, the Army of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, beat the shit of the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) and drove them out of power, and turned around whipped China's ass when it tried to invade the north.
Paradoxically Vietnam has a Socialist oriented Market Economy with a goal of escaping socialism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist-oriented_market_economy
Ho Chi Minh was not a communist, he was a nationalist, and communism was simply a tool to purge his country of foreigners, the French, then the Americans.
Farrar, I’ve always gotten the
Impression that you had something to ya. I was right.
This explains a lot. I had heard that the “fighting Communism” business was a ruse, that it was American Imperialism and control of natural resources, that is, oil and gas, that the government was after, and they didn’t mind killing off my friends to get it. Your comment is succinct and spot on. I like primary sources for my history education. Thanks.
Imperialism is the wrong word. The Brits and French were imperialist, Russia was and is imperialist. Imperialism requires not only an armed occupation, but rule by a foreign power.
We never ruled Vietnam, though we had what might be called satrops, like Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky, but they, not the Americans had the ultimate last word. For instance Nixon stopped the Paris Peace Accords, which Thieu was to attend, in an act of treason by telling Thieu that if he didn't go to Parish, then he, Nixon, would provide more and better weapons and military assistance.
BTW, Johnson was being accused of a commie, echoed by our fucking media of course, because of the Civil Rights, Voting Rights Act and Great Society program and had to prove he wasn't, his solution was the faked event on a ship in the Bay of Tonkin and the Bay of Tonkin Resolution.
Only a Democrat could have done that, just like only a Republican (Nixon) could go to China and meet Mao Tse Dung.
We have been bamboozled, used and a bused so much, that when a real threat comes along we are suspicious. Kind of like the boy who cried wolf.
Ho Chi Minh asked US for help in keeping the French imperialists out of his country post-WW2 but we were not the revolutionary nation he thought we were. Then somehow we got all ramped up about the Domino effect and in we went. Fucking Christ. Some Texas yahoo who wasn't even born yet told me we lost because of a bunch of stoned draftees. We bombed the living shit out of that country and still could not force them to give up.
Re the media distorting the news -- it was the Defense Dept. that lied about body counts, nicht wahr?
Thank you for your service, WF.
have head all kind of shit from the yahoos, it hurts their self image and pride to admit being beaten by a bunch of "inferiors" they called them gooks and zipper heads, they demeaned and dehumanized them the way their sons are doing women, queers, brown and black people.
I knew some VC personally and they were brave, persistent mo fo's.
In fact the night and day (Feb 1st, 1968, of the Tet Offensive they saved my life, while other "ugly Americans" paid with their's, and no I was not a symp, I simply respected the people, and they were my friends and in turn repaid that respect and friendship by saving my life.
That folks,is another story, perhaps singular as I had the occasion of watching the opening shots and response from a Cobra spewing grenandes and minigun, from a roof top dressed in my usual nightwear, black pajamas.
William Farrar, so glad my "ignorant comment" about Cambodia and Laos inspired you to reveal the entire history of the war in Vietnam and what it was really all about. BTW: There is a saying that too much knowledge just makes one incredibly boring.
Black Pajamas -- sounds subversive! Did you wear sandals made from tire treads? Ha-ha!
Cool.
I totally agree that Republican cultural populism would never have got this far had Democrats been more willing to follow FDR and embrace economic populism. Thank goodness Biden has tried to restore FDR's value (domestically, at least). I just hope Harris will do the same.
Biden's domestic policies have been good for the US, but I hope Harris has better foreign policies: Ukraine needs more support and the Palestinians need at least SOME support.
As the New Deal got eroded in the 70s and 80s, the middle and working classes became alienated from the new corporate Democrats who moved too far to the Right, the Dems lost alot of their voting base
Although….per Robert’s column here… the cultural divisions were weaponized by Nixon and the GOP has learned from him.
I have lost all confidence in Biden's handling of the ME.
His job was to defend America's national security by constraining Israel to keep the US from getting involved in a war. That's going badly. Nor do I think our Ukraine support is what it should be. I am really disappointed in Team Biden. Get him off the stage.
Voting for the lesser evil can actually do some good.
@steve. It's not zero sum - in 2020 you were going to get one or the other. Obvious that Biden was the better choice. Of course things move on. Need a new face and a new policy now, on that we can agree. I have written at more length on Netanyahu, on US policy, on my substack.
I see very little joy in don-old and jd. their cult is the same. They are going backwards.
My hope is for a better future. There is only one clear way. I’m voting for Harris- Walz.
I hope there is a fact checker tonight during the debate.
I heard several reporters say that the moderators will not be doing any fact-checking during the debate, that the two candidates will "have to do their own fact-checking."
Isn't it amazing that this is even a "thing" - the need for fact-checking?! If it is necessary for Walz to to his own fact-checking, there will be no time for him to do anything else.
By the way, Rachel Maddow did a worth-watching program 9/30, MSNBC, about more of Vance's ideas and their origins. She recounts his past interviews in which he advocates "ripping out our government 'like a tumor' and he advocates eradicating universities/colleges - and other ideas that he has espoused in his past. One hopes that the Harris-Walz campaign was watching her program so they can incorporate some of his truly, deeply disturbing ideas in Walz's debate work.
Trump is quite experienced at the gish gallop technique, aka the fire hose of lies, Vance does not seem to have that skill down yet, maybe his debate prep has developed those skills.
It is impossible to fact check against gish gallop, and Walz,if he tried to fact check, will be playing into their hands, and on the defense.
Kamala played her hand correctly. Walz needs to ignore Vance's claims and use them as a springboard,to attack Vance's position on women, education and government.
I’m imagining the Joyful Warrior vs the dark, twisted presentation of the Trump VP.
Lord of the Rings complete evil vs beings who simply want to live.
@William. And ridicule that spineless huckster. "hey JD, I brought along some pets in case you get hungry..."
LOL. Walz has too much class for that dig, but it is not beyond Vance to make personal digs, in fact I predict that his entire rant will be a series of personal digs, devoid of fact of course, but often based on a kernel of (distorted) truth.
I'm looking to see if Vance has learned the gish gallop technique, I just wish Democrats would employ the tactics that Republicans have found effective.
On the other hand, Kamala ripped Trump a new one, by using facial gestures and body language to mock his rant, and then hitting him where it hurts , his ego.
Has anyone bothered to identify Vance's weak spot.
Vance is a mercenary in the service of Peer Thiel. Mercenaries have no weak spots.
Mercenaries have no ideological motive or connection. Mercs are hired guns, their weak spot is the paycheck. Vance is motivated by more than paycheck,he is motivated by male supremacy, he married a woman born into a submissive culture
Peter Thiel is like Mark Robinson, Kanye, Clarence Thomas Herscel Walker, they are mercenaries, it is all about money, social position and dominance.
Peter Thiel is gay, claims now to be ex gay, and the Republican party is the epitome of a gay hostile culture, yet he backs Vance and Trump. Go figure, in fact the Log Cabin Republicans are proof at the top that Republicanism,is all about the dollar.
@William. He has two, one between his ears where his "decency" is supposed to be and the other in his heart where his "honor" is supposed to be.
We renewed our Passports last year.
I agree, what would we do with out Rachel and Lawrence? The best two anchors on the air !
Chris Jansing does a great job, as do Alex Wagner, Joy Reid, Stephanie Ruhle, and Ayman Mohyeldin. They all have their own "style" of hosting their programs. Lawrence O'Donnell can be a bit smug and self-important, but he's not alone in that.
NPR "News Hour" and NPR/CNN Christiane Amanpour are great TV news sources.
PBS Frontline compared Trump and Harris throughout their lifetimes. I recommend everyone watch it. I thought I knew all about Trump, but now I understand why he never admits losing, even when he knows he lost.
Lawrence is not smug, that is knowledge and smarts The rest just repeat what the anchor before talks about. Rachael and Lawrence actually do the work.
Well said
I saw that. It was sobering. I thought book banning was bad. You’re right you shouldn’t NEED to fact check.
The Democrats in Congress ( his own party blocked his agenda) but not the President. Wouldn't you categorize Jimmy Carter as an economic populist? And Mondale?
Jimmy Carter turns 100yrs old today. According to Jason Carter he's holding on in order to live long enough to vote for VP Harris and Tim Walz.
Jimmy Carter represents the best of us.
Murrow"s Girl, thanks so much for the reminder of Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday today. He is a gem and I couldn't agree more with you that he represents the best of us. Want a good role model? Jimmy Carter, is it.
Stymied by his own party which led to as big a lie as trump ever told that trickle down economics would somehow improve regular people's lives.
Income inequality exists because of Reagan. It's hard not to reflect on how we got here when given a ballot that is literally asking you to choose between Democracy and Facism.
Problem is that ballot is worthless...our votes too . When a fake Electrol voter casts his vote for the biggest purse . Why since the 60s ...it was why vote in California when the election was over before we voted . ..the Electrol vote needs to be cancelled. Every vote should be counted ,down to the last ballot .Or obviously our voices aren't heard . This is why the Republican party has been so successful in their greedy take over . Most Democrats knew it didn't make a difference but obviously those of us that lived this long have realized being mellow ,thinking to things will bo ok overall ...were horrendously wrong
You are contradicting yourself. You say the ballot is worthless. But the ONLY way to tell a real elector from a fake one -- is by that SAME ballot.
And why there should be NO electrols changing your vote or mine. This was proven by tRump himself last election . He tried ...thank God it didn't work but 4 years later these fake electrols need to be incarcerated with no voting rights forever
The ballot is what needs to count ...not a guy saying his one vote overrides all votes ...this is the problem
There was a lot of disdain and contempt for Jimmy Carter at the time he was running for a second term, but the truth is that he was only too correct. I was 17 when Reagan was running for president and even I could see his policies would damage less wealthy people, and they did. Jimmy Carter was hit by the consequences of policies that had occurred years before, like the ousting of Iran’s PM in 1953, only to see the ousting of the Shah in 1978. Iran has the terrible government it has because the Islamist parties were the ones with the mass support and organization to take over Iran.
Kathy, I can never forget how Reagan attacked government workers at the exact moment I was entering my career in government human services. The escalation of racism was shocking to me then. Reagan was Trump with social skills. And I remember (hopefully correctly) that CA Governor Reagan closed the state hospitals while investing in the nursing home industry where many of the most vulnerable patients ended up.
I too became a federal employee in 1980 by becoming a US Postal employee. I joined the union. We lived in deathly fear during his and subsequent Bush presidencies that the Postal Service would be privatized.
We were able to fight back as we still had the strength of the unions to fight back with. But no longer. DeJoy is still there and the Senate isn't even holding confirmation hearings for President Biden's 3 nominees to the Board of Governors that could change the makeup to Democratic majority and remove DeJoy.
If the Republicans could they would dismantle the government entirely except for the parts that enable plunder for themselves and their friends.
That's their goal. An oligarchic crony capitalism. Dress it up in a flag and call it innovation and the American Dream.
Driving a gas fueled pick up truck is part of the American Dream, according to a prominent Republican. Nobody asked him what's wrong with driving an EV. We all know why, because we know who funds the Republican Party.
Or, Steve, if not dismantle it, “privatize” it….yeah, what could possibly go wrong? 🤬🤦🏻♀️
What is so different now is the Republican's and the Supreme Court justices hide very little of their intentions. In the Nixon, Reagan and Bush decades I thought there was difference of opinion. Looking back I realize it was much more.
Frankom, you are so right! Have you read American Crusade - How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Freedom of Religion? Shocking. And imagine if Nixon had social media and Elon Musk?!!!
A bigger con than trump ever accomplished. Only a small faction of the American people are truly conned by trump. The corporate media makes it seem like half the country is maga
It's not.
Reagan and Bush conned virtually the entire country.
Exactly. And Reagan put in the pieces in place for the managed care debacle that has crashed our present healthcare system (allowing for profit to drive patient care- the inmates are running the asylum). Those were very rough times for young people starting out- very similar to now- young adults couldn’t afford to live in the towns they grew up in (mortgage interest 12%), women couldn’t get ANY credit without a MALE co-signer, no one could afford American made cars- no different than now.
Marge, I was a state of CA employee, proud to be a “public servant”, and watched him do that and more…he effectively gutted one of CA’s “jewel in the crown”—the state’s educations system, particularly the Comm College, State College and Univ systems….they have never recovered that lost ground.
True enough Kathy but, don’t forget, how bad the Shah of Iran was to his people with the full support, weapons and money, of the US government. It was another example of the US supporting a vile man who craved wealth and power, over his people. Not hard to understand why the people turned to theology as an answer. Damn shame we do not care more about being fair but, we will take the money and run leaving behind brutal leaders,to further fleece, the natives.
Mr. Carter has received his absentee (mail-in) ballot, and I'm sure he did not waste any time in returning it. He commented today that voting for Harris-Walz was much more important than his turning 100.
I wish I could rise to half the person he is.
Georgia doesn't start mailing out it's absentee ballots until the 7th.
So no. Not yet. But he's going to make it. I don't want to believe that life can be that cruel that he'll be taken from us before then.
You are correct, and I appreciate the correction.
One of the best of us... yeah, right. Well, Jimmy is one good old boy. I tried but failed with him. He was one who got away. He just kept trying to do good things for people. I hate that!
It's a fascinating and disheartening history. It is Professor Reich's last sentence about the Democratic Party's own history of distancing from FDR's policies (and values) that is the most salient for our times. I think if those policies had been honored all these years, that the emergence of the demagogues and fascistic despots would have been far less likely. As it is, one is left to wonder: who are we and what is this country, really.
Agree!! Nixon was actually a far worse Jerk than given credit to be!!
If "Reagan was Trump with social skills", Nixon was the blueprint.
Perfect!!
It was the emergence of demagogues and fascists in Europe that lead FDR to create our now cherished social welfare programs. We remember FDR as a champion of the "Common Man" - but he himself was an elite. He was an educated man who lived in a world where (wealthy) people travelled the world. FDR was well aware of what was happening in post WWI Europe, as well as what led to the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. FDR was determined not to allow this to happen here. We are still fighting the forces that FDR battled.
It was just was not so long ago that many theorists and commentators were arguing that ‘history has ended’ ..the world had arrived at an understanding that democracy was the best way to tame the leviathan. I look at this historical lesson and wonder how much the examples of these old tactics of former authoritarian wannabes rising into their power influence our current crop of MAGA politicians and how much is a consequence of human nature. Would the same distortion of reality and ginning up of rage and racism arise independent of the historical context? For me, I take heart and gain sustenance from the narratives in history where people have resisted and preserved and succeeded when faced with the daunting, ‘nasty’ and ‘brutish’ energies of authoritarian movements and power. Of course, it is so crucial to do this work and win this fight before the former becomes the latter.
Absolutely, the other dynamic about that situation that floors me…and I am certainly not very informed in that period in terms of war strategy…is how much pressure Churchill was getting from people in his own government to appease Hitler and how he had the courage to wait for the US and its capacity and commitment to send ships across the Atlantic. What a lot of unknowns and what a show of determination.
WW2 was a hell of a fight........and in spite of the world being against Germany ,it was touch and go that they did not win! Had they not made the mistake of turning on Russia, without truly understanding their weather .............Let's hope the 5th November is an easier fight.
we had some real luck, including Hitler's bad military judgement. Dunkirk.
Ah, the good old days! As a peace freak and conscientious objector, I remember them well. I was working nights (blue collar), living with my parents when Nixon was re-elected. My Republican parents had a huge party that night so I awoke to go to work with a house full of drunk, celebrating Nixonites who delighted in verbally assaulting me when I suddenly appeared.
I wish I had collected their names and phone numbers so I could call them - perhaps at midnight - a few years later and remind them that they'd already been told that Nixon was a lair, thug and crook. Here we go again. May Walz make the winning touchdown tonight and may Harris/ Walz win and may it be very clear to everyone they did it legally.
and yet, had you reached them, how many would say, "gosh Tom you were so right." Such is the power of rationalization.
That was an excellent read, Professor Reich! I do believe that American citizens are well and truly fed up with the way it appears everything in their lives is being controlled by others. The people in power seem to be using all of us as just fodder to continue to push their own ideas and beliefs on the American people. While a relative few believe the way these others do, many of us are pushing back and protesting. Kevin Roberts even said what we all recognized as happening. "We are in the process of a second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless-if the left allows it to be." Those words were chilling to say the least, but I believe that MAGA truly believes we are in another revolution. What happens in November will set the stage as to whether the United States continues to progress and move forward or will we move backward and have to refight for those ideas and beliefs we had already won that will be taken away. The poor, the blue collar, the middle class, the educated and uneducated, women, LGBQT+, Hispanics, Latinos, Blacks, Whites and anyone else having a stake in our Democracy has to decide which way they want to go - forward or backward. Right now, I continue to write post cards, letters, sign petitions, talk to people and will vote blue up and down the ballot. If the orange man should win, it will not stop my personal fight. I will continue to write letters and sign petitions and speak out. Our beautiful country may have problems, but I will fight until my last breath to ensure America stays a Democracy! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Sadly, too many of the poor, the middle class, people of color and naturalized Americans believe that Democrats are ruining the country. Many would like to go back a few decades (failing to understand that progress could be in their own best interest). I don’t know how we can break through their stress overload and information bubble. The combination is killing our democracy.
Marge, the far-right extremists only believe in isolationism, dictators and a white, Christian nationalist country. They are afraid of the progress we have made and they want so very much to stop it! They do not realize that the white population is not in control anymore and simply cannot embrace anything that is "different". The orange man and his running mate have capitalized on that and are convincing people that every single thing bad in our country is because of Democrats. Even though that is not true, many hear the orange man saying he will fix it if they put him back in the White House so they support him. It is a lethal combination for killing Democracy but I can only hope there are enough sane Americans who understand which party has their best interests at heart and will work for all of the American people, not just a few. I will be saddened if the orange man becomes president because those very same people that believed him will wonder why once he is in office he abandoned them and even targeted many of them. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Peggy, this has long been my energy-boosting “fight” (non-violent) song….and you can dance to it! Jackson’s Browne’s “‘Til I Go Down” (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
Excellent song, Barbara! We must continue to fight and get in "good trouble" to keep our Democracy alive and moving forward! I will not shut my mouth about it! Write post cards, letters, sign petitions, talk, talk, talk to people! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
I read recently, I wish I saved the link, that Putin said, if Trump wins Russia can take America without any blood shed. That was chilling.
That is very chilling, Diane! There are so very many Americans still today who would definitely create bloodshed! I would be one of them!
I always find it interesting when reading pieces like this one on "blue collar workers" that those who perpetrated much of the damage to those mostly white men are never identified or held responsible. Nixon and those Republicans who came after him were very much in favor of corporations sending jobs out of country for the benefit of those corporate owners and CEOs. I remember when hoping to get some unemployment help, I had to stand in huge lines at our local office each week along with the hundreds of newly unemployed due to the steel plant closing and the jobs sent overseas. I am not sure to where, though. That was 1975 and Ford was president. At the same time, there were other businesses that closed in the area where I now live, beginning around the same time and ending in the early 1990s. Those jobs went overseas or to Florida where their "right to work" laws meant they could have the work done and not have to deal with unions. Most of that departure effort was under Republican administrations. I am interested to learn just how Democrats ignored those "blue collar" workers and what could have been done to "save" them and if those guys would even have noticed. It has been Democrats in the past decades who have worked to get more jobs in renewable energy, road and bridge repair, and reopened factories, but if those "blue collar" guys were asked who was helping them, it would not be Democrats they name. I think the most powerful factors for those "blue collar" boys are racism which has been baked in for them for generations and fear of change. Despite the fact that change was part of their lives as new cars came along with different parts to work on, those folks feared change which I believe may be why they cling to Donald Trump, a convicted criminal, serial cheater, rapist, breaker of contracts, guy who never worked a day in his life. He claims to want to "Make America Great Again," and those blue collars thought when they had those "good" jobs things wouldn't change for them. They want that back again, factories where it was mostly white men, few people of color and no women. That was a power high for them or at least it was, in their memory. I want to know how to even begin to reach those men and what could be offered to them that would begin to match their nostalgia over jobs that are long gone.
I have always thought that jobs created by transitioning away from coal and petroleum to wind and solar would have been a huge incentive for blue collar workers to vote Blue.
Smokey, I would have thought so too, but I understand that change, no matter how much it improves things, can be really hard for some people and it seems "blue collar" guys are among those. Despite the injuries on the job, the illnesses like black lung, those guys will keep doing it till death and fighting to keep doing it because it is what they know. How can we reach people who can't change even when their livelihood is being retired as coal is and soon oil will have to be? I think we all need to put a lot of thought into that because those "blue collars" are easily armed and directed to people they think have done them wrong.
Except now they're moving the jobs overseas and blaming the "illegal immigrants" for taking them! Oh, and they're "taking your "black jobs"! SMH!
Terri, it seems truth is not a commodity people want to trade in anymore, particularly when lies are so much like what people want to believe is the truth.
The debate will be a repeat performance of the previous debate with Trump and his multitude of lies. The difference: there will be no fact checking which is unconscionable.
And, after reading Robert's article this morning, Pat Buchanan and Richard Nixon would have accelerated the Trumpism movement even further if the Murdoch's and Roger Ailes were more organized with Fox News lies, Newsmax lies, and the rest of the lies on social media.
Thank you for this important history lesson. I’m sickened by the blatant manipulation of a segment of Americans that are already suffering from the greed and callousness of the wealthy and powerful. My biggest hope is that they will see they are being played by the very powers that would continue to siphon off what’s left of the working and middle class’s quality of life.
Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter. Brought Sadat and Begin together to sign the Camp David Accords, and was early to condemn Israel as the apartheid state it is.
It was said that Carter was the only one to use the presidency as a stepping stone to do greater things.
Nixon’s 1950 campaign against Helen Gahagan arguably is a template for the insidious corruption of the GOP and its collapse through the Reagan, but especially GW Bush administrations, resulting in the rise of neo-Fascist MAGAism and Trump. https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/11/16/tricky-dick-vs-the-pink-lady
https://archive.org/details/faith-certainty-and-the-presidency-of-george-w.-bush-the-new-york-times