This article reminded me that, at some point, we are once again going to hold a hearing for a Supreme Court Justice. They are going to be asked questions, pressed hard by the opposition party, have millions of words and countless hours spent dissecting their replies.....and NONE of it will matter. As the last few years have proved, it's all spectacle. It's all just a show. It does not matter one bit whether they blatantly lie, whether they are completely compromised ethically, whether they say one thing and two days later do another.
And therein lies the summary of what is happening in America right now. As our fiercest critics have claimed for years, at the end of the day, the nation truly does not stand for anything. Many of its people do, but such patriots are not the ones who end up in political power. Instead, we get hypocritical, spoiled, compromised, talking-point-delivering puppets who bow to power and corporations and answer to absolutely no one.
I understand your cynicism and despair, and I agree to an extent. But thinking there's nothing we can do means nothing will change.
I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime (I'm older than Dr. Reich) but I think what MUST happen is a nationwide rebellion/revolution, in which ordinary Americans stand up for their rights. Yes, I mean another 1776, 1789, or 1917. Do we have the political will to actually get off the couch and march? I don't know, but IMO it will take something just that massive to break the cycle. After all, the unions took down the robber barons at the beginning of the 20th century.
As long as some of us are comfy, we're okay with most of us being not okay. My thoughts. (I apologize if I'm not making sense; my cat Jack died yesterday, completely unexpectedly. "Wreck" doesn't begin to describe my state of mind.)
Sorry for your loss of Jack. I'll bet he was a sweetheart. I'm almost as old as Dr. Reich, but I'm willing to "march" (in a wheelchair). I'd love a wave of citizens standing up (or sitting down) to reverse the mess we're in. So sad Pres Biden wasn't more woke during the Anita Hill hearings. No one will be perfect, of course, but at least with Kamala there's a smidge of hope. Blessings to you, Karla, and Jack.
The one thing I will say about Biden is that he was willing to learn better and do better. I've heard him say that he regrets his actions in the Thomas hearing.
Linda, yes, Biden did apologize for his poor questioning and lack of understanding in the Thomas hearing. I honestly can't imagine Trump or Vance ever apologizing for anything they do even though it is far worse than what Biden did. It was not only one woman who was dismissed and insulted; it was the Trump Supreme Court and lower courts and Vance's ignorant misogynistic comments, that harmed our whole nation of women.
My sincere condolences on the passing of your cat Jack! As a long time pet owner and animal lover ❤️ I know from experience the sadness of losing a special family member!😥💔
I feel your loss having lost many simply wonderful dogs and cats. I too am older than Robert Reich but only by a few months. I vividly recall the Clarence Thomas hearings and can recall the sight of Biden turning toward Thomas as the questioning took place.
Our generation has seen it all. Daily I give thanks to Sally for giving me the guidance and support to be a better human being. Does the world 🌎 have time to grow up and learn from the past mistakes? I don’t know. With 5 daughters and 12 children between us all we can do is hope.
I agree with Karla and Nancy. Yes, it seems like a two steps forward three steps back, and terrible, awful, no good, very bad, but it's not. Our lives are so short and we cannot remember what life was like even 150 years ago. Think about what life was like for women in 1874! We have come a long, long and positive way. We must be like the ocean that beats upon the rocks to turn them into grains of sand.
This essay reminds me that possibly the low point of Joe Biden’s political career was his failure, during the Thomas hearings, to call witnesses who would have corroborated Anita Hill’s testimony.
Oh I absolutely believe there are things we can do. The challenge is reaching our breaking point of complacency. I thought it would happen after Iraq...then the great recession....then again after Trump...and after COVID. Sadly, I think the country may need to get knocked down a few more notches before a sufficient number of people realize, as the saying goes, democracy is not a spectator sport. More than anything else, we need an uprising to completely reconstruct our media and educational institutions.
I think Richy Rich and The Corporations have altered the rules in this now extremely violent USA , with guns everywhere, the right to take to the streets inhibited by Proud Boys and Police in a hurry to get violent with almost no provocation and this is why we are not in the streets and how democracy has been coopted by Oligarchy. Many want a 'strong man' because so called democracy, in name only, which many do not understand, because we are no longer protected. We are living in chaos. A world where words are thrown about and have little meaning now. Where 'entertainment', FOX, is mistakenly called news, but it is entertainment lies and not called out all the time for what it is.
After this past year of digging down into the dirt of how our lives have been coopted (50 years) by richy rich and the corporations, it seems we should be able to make a stand, but I don't think it will happen. WE have watched our true leaders assassinated, and ones who might stand for us be skewered and their intentions misappropriated by what we call social media, but is truly a heckling and dangerous place with few set rules and lots of corporate whitewash, and no accountability. Then, the CIA, FBI, Military have their own agendas, for which we pay but have no input. Citizens United makes it impossible to have representation for we the people. Democrats have not tackled this, and are under the same burial station, where money/power stops the progress. If democrats win all blue houses and the major changes described over the past year by Thom Hartmann, Robert REich ,etc..., it is all over. NO one will ever believe a democrat again. And, they should not.
I loathe watching Wall Street purchase US housing, as are Chinese Nationals, and watching our medical infrastructure,. paid for by our tax dollars, be eaten alive by rotten robbing hedgers. WE will see..
If we vote in a Democratic trifecta “and the major changes described over the past year” ARE NOT ENACTED….no one should believe a Democrat again. Vicki didn’t spell the part in caps out, but her meaning is clear to me. The very least we must insist on is that the filibuster for legislation is voided and the John Lewis VRAA is passed and signed. Kamala has campaigned on this promise. I also believe some change in the makeup of the USSC is going to be needed, because the anti-gerrymandering piece of the JLVRAA will be challenged by red state AGs, and the Federalist Society®️SC will over-rule them unless a sane balance of judicial perspective is restored, either by addition or subtraction.
Lewis, thank you for this explanation. During Trump's 4 years in "office," I made probably 650 phone calls to both Dems and Repugs, and sent letters to some, it seemed never to do any good. The Dems especially are infuriating for not listening. But they sure know where you live when it comes time to try to get you to donate to them during elections! I ignore them all now.
Sorry, Klara K., I could not get back on the site prior. Substack, like all platforms, does not like painful truths. They love wishy washy malarkey repeated over and over and over again. Thanks, Lewis.
Oh Victor, Yes I will vote and though I am in a bit of Maga neighbors, I am placing the sign regarding Project 2025 in my yard on a main route in my community. I bet some of the neighbors, will not even know what it means but will rip it down anyway.
On reviewing all the reading, writing that has been done to identify and document the horror we are currently living, I am not a fool/. I do not have my eyes closed. And, unlike many, who are willing to state, 'we have come so far', I say we have so far to go and since we have spoiled our own nests, like the stupid Apex Predators we are, I do not do the 'right thing', with naivety. I also hope that by calling this out, it may bring more energy to the urgency of dealing with the Project 2025 Walls that have been so successful and must be brought down. Like the Wall between EASt and West Germany, we must bring this horrible chapter to an end. No more excuses. NO more waiting until the 'time is ripe', while white men mostly, continue to destroy the possibilities of a good life on this earth for all beings.
I'm glad someone said this. Existing oversight is not resulting in prosecutions of fraudulent payments when it should. That leads to Getting Paid for Sadistic, Deliberate, Malpractice and Revenge. Not care for health.
I always find it darkly amusing to see progressives assume that the effects of change will ineluctably be in their preferred direction because they agitate and organize. The other side is also taking the passing time to consolidate and organize and why would their organizing not be more telling than our organizing. Now they have gathered physical weapons into their hands and have granted themselves the right to amass immense fortunes and to use their money for evil so they are doing damned well with their time. Gaza shows us what kinds of evil they can easily get away with with no consequences. The bending arc of justice is just a metaphor, not a law of progress. The most chilling part is that as they accumulate their power, our planet is preparing our extinction and they don't care. It seems to me that a hard boiled prediction must give their side most of the points in the coming years while we make do with disconnected symbolism.
They're on the Titanic but don't care because they have first-class cabins. The right has played a very long game, starting just after WWII. Despite Reagan and his miserable administration, Trump, the rise of American Nazis, etc., I still think we have a shot at a better country--if the planet doesn't kill us first, which it may well do. Won't they be surprised when they can't escape the 125-degree heat? "Where did it go wrong? Oh, woe is me!" It may seem easier to give up, but we can't.
You made perfect sense. My sincere condolences on Jack's death; it's truly a hole that is left for special friends and pets who die and leave us with memories.
Gjay, they're waiting for you at Rainbow Bridge. "The Rainbow Bridge: The True Story Behind History’s Most Influential Piece of Animal Mourning Literature"
RIP, Jack. For animal lovers, our pets are family too. 😢
Imo the majority of Americans don't have much political will. I heard on a British newscast around 25 years ago that the USA is considered "the best entertained and worst informed" nation in the First World. Totally cringeworthy, but undeniable.
We have (had) the guardrails, and they've been torn down. We need to restore them, which means electing officials who will, cleaning up the Supreme Court, and not backing off when the going gets tough. If we can do that, I'll feel ok (I'm older than Dr. Reich too).
Karla, sorry about the loss of your cat. I believe what you hope for could happen, but we haven't hit "rock bottom" yet. I believe we're on that trajectory with this election, and unfortunately I believe the oligarchs are rigging this upcoming election to cheat drumpf into office. I like your observation about comfort, and not caring about those without our comforts. It's a sad commentary, but true. We are all interdependent, and dependent on our mother earth. Greed will take us all down.
I think you hit the problem on the head. The misery is not yet widespread enough to get Americans off their lazy asses. It will take a massive event, such as a wide swath of the U.S. becoming uninhabitable due to heat, with the subsequent flood of climate refugees to the mountains and the PNW, and the strain it will put on those communities, before people get the point. It must be the type of all-encompassing revolution that established this country, took down the French aristocracy, and overthrew the Tsars. That will take something so widespread, and so debilitating, that even the strongest MAGA will see that the oligarchs they worship are NOT on their side. It's awful that it has to get that far before people see how serious this is, but I think that's what it will take. My two cents.
I just saw the name Jack and the thought of you being here afterwards being totally brave. Thinking it was a friend or a husband or one and the same. Losing an animal or having to put one down is one of the saddest moments to endure. They are a friend regardless and the last look, they know or at least my Elkhound did.
When I had pneumonia and no insurance and on the couch, still clothed, covered and still cold. Twice he crawled up on top of me. He was warm.
They do give much happiness. And then they are gone.
Condolences on Jack dying. How truly sad. As for your comments, they are clear. I would love to think things will change but certain technology is in the entertainment business and so many people want to be entertained. The only way to get their attention will be to take away the toys.
Karla, I'm so sorry about the loss of your beloved Jack. I know this is the hardest part of life that we must cope with..... I've recently lost 2 beloved cats and still haven't gotten over the intense grief.....there are no words to make the process of grieving any easier.
I grieve with you, may Jack's beautiful memory be a blessing to you 🙏💜🐾💜🙏
Justice is a process that moves much too glacially to engender any changes beneficial to the common good. People in positions of great power and influence can easily buy or deny their way out of the punishment they deserve for their egregious or traitorous actions. While no one wants to live under a dictatorship or an autocracy, we might learn from such terrible leaders how to efficiently handle people in power who disregard morality and human decency in favor of their own financial benefit. Adhering to the Byzantine legal process is an excuse for allowing these miscreants more space to do more damage. A seat on the Supreme Court should not automatically confer diplomatic or moral immunity nor should they be permitted to make laws or judge others through their own distorted lens.
"...we get hypocritical, spoiled, compromised, talking-point-delivering puppets who bow to power and corporations and answer to absolutely no one."
Sorry, Ian, but we vote for the "hypocritical... puppets." We aren't stuck with them, we MAKE them. If we want to stand for something, we have to do better.
I disagree with you. If the Democrats can hold the Senate and take over the House, The People are screaming for positive change every which way. We may get rid of Citizens United, we may be able to remove rogue justices, starting with the most unethical of all of them, fat, sloppy, UGLY, SCARY, LYING CLARENCE THOMAS, the token Black guy on the SC. We may be able to make a ton of positive changes because people are fired up! Stay tuned!
Seems to be the case on a local basis, also. Local members of gov bodies discuss all the correct stuff. Exactly what they should be considering. But when it comes time to vote, well, all that discussion gurgles down the drain.
I have said this repeatedly about Anita Hill. She was right back then and she is still right today. I was very angry when they confirmed thomas. It was very wrong. It was also wrong when they confirmed kavanaugh. When the supreme court justices can not see sexual assault and intimidation and harassment, they have no place on the bench of the highest court in our land.
As women we knew she was absolutely right-how many of us have experienced some sort of verbal sexist abuse by our bosses and expected to take it to keep our jobs!
Penni, I was trying to think about back then. I was very much an activist and I recall a T Shirt with I Believe Anita Hill written on it. I also remember the T Shirts that read The Bitch is Lying! I was so damn angry about those shirts. Every time I saw one, I wanted to rip it off whoever was wearing it! Back then, I was a bit more vocal and would get into yelling matches with the idiots that supported clarence thomas. Now, he sits on the supreme court and is trying his best to undo everything we worked so hard to get passed for the betterment of not only women, but everybody! He is corrupt and he is a misogynist!
So good. I marched in Washington in 1979 when I was 17 and with 20$ left in my pocket to get home, I spent $4 on a the t shirt that my granddaughter still wears. It says : A Woman’s place is in the House and the Senate. Can you imagine that we were not even bold enough to think: A Woman’s place is in the House- the Whitehouse.
The only magnet on my fridge reads: "Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult". (Charlotte Whitton) It's waaay past time to put a woman in the White House!
Penni, remember back then we were just getting started good! I remember that T Shirt! We have come so far over the years and I want our daughters and granddaughters to know we still have a way to go. What I am most proud of is the fact that women today stand up to misogynistic males and put them in their place with just a few very humiliating words. We absolutely MUST get Kamala elected in November! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
I think they don't understand it, because they've never suffered it personally, AND as a result , they have zero empathy. The moral compass, including knowledge, sympathy and empathetic thoughts are not in place, at all.
Men, for the most part, do not understand "What's Missing?". IF they have been bullied at some point, they can gain some understanding, but that can also create a monster that dishes out what was done to them. I'm not a psychologist but as a woman, with a narcissist mother, and two scary, scared marriages.... Empathy I've got.
They don't understand sexist abuse; but "they" also don't think it's important. How many times have I been told with impatience, "Oh, just get over it." And if I don't, I'm not invited to play--go to meetings, get good projects, keep my job. I'm old enough to remember women's liberation and consciousness-raising sessions and Marilyn French's The Women's Room. It breaks my heart that we've lost all that ground. A 40-year-old woman I work with, when I raised the notion of subtle but rampant sexism in our workplace, looked at me with pity and said, Oh, people aren't sexist anymore! She was so brainwashed she didn't even see it. Because "it's not important."
Of course they understand sexual abuse; they're the ones inventing it every time they do it.
They know exactly what rape is - better than we do. Because they're the rapists.
They know exactly what they're doing. It's not an accident. Neither is their collective refusal (it's not failure, since you can't fail if you never tried) to put a stop to it.
Men will **always** fall into lockstep with other men in defense of men's right to rape women.
Women oppress men by infringing on men's right to always get their way.
Men choose all of this because the violent subjugation of women by men creates products and privileges men want.
That's part of it. Another part is guilty participation. Guilty participation tends to result in frothing at the mouth, when confronted with an example of it happening at all.
Even more than their incapability of empathy, it's their sense of collective guilt in response to our collective rage that triggers their responses: hit dogs holler.
We have to learn to shift our empathy to compassion so we do not fall victims to narcissistic abuse. Narcissists prey on empaths and know how to bypass our alarms bc of our serious caring. So try that subtle but useful shift. And as my favorite friend use to say when she was alive: don’t get into their dream. In the case of the Trump disease of malignant messianic narcissism (and megalomania), we have to step out of the nightmare they create.
I love that! I think that's what Harris showed Trump in the debate in her facial expressions: compassion. You make a great distinction between empathy and compassion. Empathy is dangerously unstructured. And compassion is close to pity but less condescending. Compassion is a beautiful idea to bring to the political arena. Thank you.
Really wonderful analysis here Penni. I am an empath who has repeatedly fallen victim to narcissistic abuse. Not surprisingly, I blamed myself. I strongly supported Anita Hill and Blasey Ford. I’d been there. Tears streamed down my face as they testified.
I, too, had tears as I listened. I also believe them. The majority of women who illuminate these unspeakable acts of violence and abuse by others are victims who've suffered in silence for far too long. It's a cancer on our society that must be addressed and excised to its depths. Contemporary society must no longer tolerate any of that foul behavior. Everyone deserves respect and compassion.
It's a very sad state of affairs when the highest court in the land is helmed by several misogynistic abusers of women. 😢
I’m an empath and I was married to a constantly lying narcissist. It didn’t go well. It took years to see his patterns. It’s a miracle that our two sons turned out to be gentle and caring men!
I trained in firearm disarming techniques in Los Angeles, way back while this was all the talk, on the news. I was the only woman in the 25-something class. One of participants raised it as a subject, disparaging professor Hill. I pointed out that the media was giving tons of air time to the pervert during prime viewing hours, but relegating coverage of Hill, to a few minutes, during business hours, when most people are at work, and not free to pay attention. His response was vitriolic. I learned later, he was a domestic violence offender - - - undergoing training to - - - arrest criminals - - - such as those who attack women.
Having lied at their hearing should justify impeachment. Thomas is a disgusting partisan. Those conservatives are NOT conservatives they are partisan hacks.
Harvey, I sure would like to see the actual conservatives of the GOP back at the helm of their party! We need two parties so representation of ALL Americans happens when they hammer out legislation that will help everyone - Democrats and Republicans! Real conservatives and true republicans need to take back their party! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
I completely agree; however, what can we DO about it? That's my concern, the "do" part; what can we DO. We've tried so many legal and ethical ways to get our voices heard yet "they" confirm whom they choose along political lines. Can anyone give me an answer other than assassinating those we don't trust to act in an ethical manner?
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! Tell your friends, your neighbors and anyone who will listen to you. Write letters, postcards, sign petitions, get as many people to vote as possible and do not let up until the election in November! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Thanks for the response. However, I'm already doing all those things. It hasn't made a dent in the situation. Hatred and violence are advocated by too many politicians who have turned people's heads. Just take one look at the b.s. about Springfield, Ohio being spouted by the two ridiculous individuals with the loudest microphones. Innocent people are being targeted by bullies in neo-Nazi uniforms, afraid to send their children to school, and I don't have to remind anyone of the "experiments" Nazis carried out against women in the late 1930s-early1940s...
Yes, HGB, the situation in Springfield, Ohio is very dire. I have to put my faith in the police to take care of the situation. If it becomes really bad, I am hoping President Biden will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the citizens in that town. The orange man and his running mate are getting desperate right now and they are trying everything they can possibly think of to scare enough voters to vote for them. Our job is to keep a level head and continue the work to get Kamala and Tim elected in November. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Peggy, I have noticed in the last several years that people say the man's last name and the woman's first name. Remember in 2016? Trump and HILLARY were what everyone said. I'm tired of this specific sexism (as well as sexism in general). It's time we ALL say HARRIS instead of Kamala. I hope you agree...
At root of violence against women is male insecurity. Fragile ego's who can't stand being rebuffed and rejected (a prime reason for the anti abortion movement). Women who rebuff a males advances, women who say no, women who don't submit tot their "lord and master" are harshly dealt with, this in store for America if Trump and Vance crawl into the White House again.
J D Vance is not a man's man, he is an insecure, little man, who blusters and threatens to seem dominate. Just another twerp of the gun toting, big truck crowd.
Isn't it axiomatic that when you see a row of vehicles parked out of an event,that the biggest truck with the biggest wheels belongs to some twerp.?
I so agree. There are too many men whose fear of women is expressed in so much violence against us. All because they feel like inadequate men. Our culture supports this toxic masculinity and apparently the Republican Party (aka The American Nazi Party) has taken this as the appropriate stance for men in their party. Are there really that many men who feel so inadequate that they are driven to repeatedly try to prove the opposite? How do we produce so many of them? As an aside, most women know not to venture out alone in many areas of the world, lest they be attacked by a man or men. We feel unsafe in a lot of places. So it's by default a curfew for women. Why don't we institute a curfew for men instead? Of course that doesn't address the epidemic of intimate partner violence, but at least the streets would be safer if a women has to flee at night.
JNol, you just said something that proves that the female Christian and MAGAt enablers are as full of shit as Xmas turkey. Afraid to go out at night alone, Even the bitches like Boeber, Greene, Laura Loomer and those that wear T Shirts that Trump can grab them by their pussies, and who cling desperately to their "man", Like Ginnie Thomas are afraid to go out at night unaccompanied.
Actually, is it ever wise to go out alone at night for a long distance without someone else or a pet or some sort of pepper spray or key be one male or female? I understand your comment and to a certain point, agree, but. . . there's another aspect too for any of us in unknown areas. . . or even in known areas without some sort of circumspection.
Lauren Boebert is a low-self-esteem, low-confidence EXHIBITIONIST who ought to be forced to cover her boobs, to dress decently, or be censured and removed from Congress, period. She should have been kicked out after that video tape appeared of her and her date fondling each other at the "Beatlejuice" performance. THAT was disgusting! His hands all down inside her top . . . She attends meetings with constituents in Colorado dressed in very skimpy tops -- NO SELF-RESPECT AND NO REGARD FOR OTHERS EITHER!! WHAT A SLUT!!!!!!
I've spent some time in Texas where a big truck is de rigueur. My neighbor had a Japanese mini-pickup, but he was a bright guy and secure in his place in the world with a wife and two kids. A Ford 150 is what many of the good old boys drive, but a 250 or even 350 is what some of them need, whether for work or for parking down at the bar, I don't know. Did you ever see those chrome bull's testicles they hang from the rear bumper. That's Texas.
Yeh I'fve seen those bull testicles, I live in a blue county, in a blue state, and there are a few of those insecure males around. On shows up every 4th of July driving his big truck with a baled of hay with a huge flag sticking out of it.
By the way I spent yesterday resurecting a 2010 Ford F-150, that had been in the barn for years, gathering dust, bird and bat shit. The battery, an expensive one, had died, and I am going to have to go to town this afternoon and replace it.
The truck was my wife's idea, she just had to have it. so we bought it, that and a trailer to move our furniture, and there it sits doing nothing but collecting bird and bat shit. I took it out because we are going to have to make a dump run, we got a lot of stuff to dump. I was able to haul two bags of recyclables and one bag of trash to the dump about once a month in the back of my PT Cruiser, but that has replaced the truck in the barn. (Chrysler products are a pieces of shit)
Hope we can turn manufacturing around in this country and make American cars good again! Remember when they were the best? I wouldn't own one for love or money today. Because they're no good. They took planned obsolescence to the nth degree. Profits! Corporate greed! I think Harris is the person to turn manufacturing around, as well as small business, and even maybe bring quality back.
I have two back ups, the PT Cruiser and a Honda CRV. The battery is Dead period. I have a very good charger/Jumper hooked up to it, but it doesn't hold a charge. so a new battery it is. The last time I bought a battery it was over about $100, now this one is $200.
Florida also... especially up in the northern horse country part. The larger the truck, the higher the boot heel (see Desantis ) the larger the bravado of the mouth.
An ex-girlfriend used to say that men in big trucks had small penises. As her previous boyfriend had been a rich guy in a big 4x4 I assumed the spoke from experience!
Make me smile every time I see some guy climb down from a truck, even today.
And as for what it says about all those American guys in their favourite means of ego-transport, well... ladies, you have my sympathy! 😂
If you can spread it about so the idea takes off, and women start laughing at men in big trucks, (maybe while giving the 'droopy little finger' sign 😬), it might do more to cut American CO2 emissions than all the other Green policies put together!
That said, we've still got to be careful about whom we laugh at or make gestures to, etc. You know how crazy so many people are these days, some people just aren't wired right. I wouldn't want to provoke a
nutjob to attack someone..... just think about how people get into it at Walmart, over a pack of chewing gum ffs. 😆
I see LOTS of big trucks in the Walmart parking lot too (replete with the double large sized flags on each side of the rear bed, just in case you missed the first flag across the front grill ) lmao.
I live in a rural area and saw a monster Hummer roaring down the street, it looked like a military weaponized vehicle. The thing was so huge, it must take up two parking spots.
William Farrar, and if we dig even deeper in these violent men, we'll find trauma of abuse, neglect and little to no experience with unconditional love in their formative years. And the trauma has never been attended to.
I agree. Child abuse runs rampant in most cultures. And this often produces insecure and violent adults, although women who've been abused in childhood are more likely to turn the violence against themselves, either by finding a violent partner who will continue to mistreat them, or injuring themselves. While men who were abused as kids are more likely to grow into adults who lash out against others, often women, since they have a greater chance of being the victor with them than with men. It is usually an intergenerational tragedy, We still haven't successfully done something to change this trend, so until we do, women will more likely continue to be assaulted.
I can't say that parental neglect and childhood trauma are the cause.
I have never been violent towards women, always respected them, and never ever imitated any sexual contact. And I was raised by a single mother, who was pre occupied with her own woes, and too busy working for $1.00 an hour to raise me and my two sisters. Mom had a tendency to act out when angry, scared and frustrated. My sisters hated her, I didn't I understood her and why she was the way she was. When she would turn on me and beat me, I would stand there and disarm her by sying, Go ahead and beat me mom, if it will make you feel good, and she stopped and I was only 10 years old.
But I've never been one of those men, despite a 26 year career in special ops and as a team leader. I even had an emergency cal from one of my men, Ronnie, his wife was beating him, throwing shit at him, and he never laid a hand on her, he was in trouble..
Amazing! You gave your mom unconditional love, and she stopped beating you, because understood that she was scapegoating you and your sister. Good for you, William!
William Farrar, sorry. I'm glad you are okay. Did you have other adults in your orbit who modelled unconditional love or gave it to you personally? It seems at 10, you had some understanding of her motives and so maybe didn't take her actions personally as an affront to your existence.
No M Tree. I lived in a project and every family was in dire straits and preoccupied with their own needs. My mothers had sisters, but no unconditional love there, in fact Mom had resentment towards her sisters.
No the understanding of my mother came after I left home. I remembered the story of her life. How her beloved father, (she was Daddy's little girl) was bed ridden for two years and she walked in to find his corpse when she was 15. that was during he depression,her mother baked pies and took in laundry to support the family, and put the girls to work at age 15, but not her son, Uncle Harry, finished school because he was a male, and went to college, in fact when i was 15 he drove in from SoCal where he worked with Northrop on the B-49 Flying wing
I don't know what you are looking for to validate your beliefs, but I doubt that you will find it here.
My two sisters (may they RIP) and I share the same values and mentality, so it wasn't nurture that made us by nature.
The only thing my children are interested in is their own needs. I am by avocation a genetic genealogist, and in fact am the Project Admin for a DNA project.
My children (all of them grandparents, are not at all interested in their ancestry.
I've tested with three DNA companies, and on occasion get notifications of cousin matches. I have tried to contact them, to find out where we match,and to help them as my research is extensive. I've had responses from only four out of hundreds.
People don't test DNA to rsesearch their family tree, most test for the inexplicable reason to find out what their ethnic heritage is, a result of TV advertising you know the kilts or lederhosen thing.
The kicker is that the ethnic "predictions" are bullshit. I've received three different predictions from three different companies, and there alogrithms are based on the size of their sample and, wait for it, self reporting.
People self report all kinds of crap. a Person named Bulloni might think they are italian, but that is only because of their last name, there mother could have been Latvian, and the father;s mother Irish, and the grandfathers mother half Ashkenazi, and so on.
Apparently that is all they are interested in: Ethnicity. Perhaps because of America's preoccupation with race.
It is not surprising though, that most people who test, do so because they want to see if they have any American Indian. Strange,considering the embedded racism in our culture.
Did you know there is a surname, Mozingo, some of which are proud KKK members,and even a retired Alabama Judge, Anthony Mozingo, whose ancestor was an African warrior, and indentured servant named Edward who served out his indentury, married an Irish woman, also freed from her indenture, and settled on Pantico Run, VA.
There is a Mozingo DNA project, but it's results are private, even to members, because there are so many white descendants who might lose standing in the KKK and MAGAt community. There also black Mozingo's as well.
Another surname which has a lot of African DNA is Bass, and a lot of white Bass's are perplexed to find out that their ancestor was an Africa, not necessarily a slave, as slavery was not legalized in Virginia until 1661, by the House of Burgess, along with Miscegenation, previous all were indentured servants
The first case of legal slavery was adjudicated in Johnson v Casor in 1655
No not oxytocin, I am an expert on that hormone, it takes over and takes 4 years to be expunged the system, It is called the love hormone, and has nothing to do with a mother and son relationship.
I'm sorry for what you went through as a child. It damages the soul and makes it very hard to break free from the deep, personal injury. Thank you for doing your best to rise above it all. It's so hard coping with family violence, and Ronnie didn't deserve that kind of violence just like little kids and women don't. It's heartbreaking to know that so many are suffering, some with no way out.
Curious. Why do you think my soul was damaged as a child, was yours?
Actually I had a great childhood, and did not want to grow up. You see living in a project, with a mother that acted out, yet managed to teach me to stand up for myself, to be responsible, to care about others, Was a blessing.
My childhood enabled me to apply lessons learned to life, though I lived in what most would consider poverty, as a child, I now, at 85, live a comfortable and secure life, and overcame many obstacles, without harming anyone to get here.
Believe me my soul wasn't damaged, but I did learn the most valuable lessons one can. I was gifted.
Of course not all who were abused as kids grow into violent and/or self-harming adults. But it is definitely a major contributing factor for so many men being assaultive toward women.
Maybe J Nol. I would need to see stats on that. In the meanwhile I lay the blame on the culture. a patriarchal culture that stretches back thousands of years, a culture which demeans women, considers them little more than breed animals, domestic servants and nannies and sexual relief objects.
Now if you need to find some psychological and nurturing reason that is another issue, but none of this mistreatment of women and children is new or can be blamed on upbringing and trauma.
Culture is transmitted first by family to the next generations. Then gets reinforced by the larger society. So growing up in a family that demeans women, and over values men is often the first lesson children learn and again is reinforced by the messages conveyed by the larger society. It isn't until recently that we've even understood that children need something different from adults, so that gender based cruelty toward children has been part of the human landscape since forever. This is gets transmitted through the generations. Patriarchal culture exists because there's a two way interaction between what happens in the family and the messages conveyed by the larger society. You can't have one without the other. Many people still believe that they "own" their children and have the right to do close to whatever they want with them. Children being quite impressionable are often easy to convince that the adults around them are correct in their views of the world. It takes someone pretty exceptional to first see how they've been abused and misled, and then to break away from that.
Not to make light of any of this, but you have written about the Reptilian brain, yes? So, live-bearing fish and many reptiles eat their young. Caring for the newborn offspring evolved with Mammalia. There may be some flaws in the system yet.
God bless you, William Farrar. You are a hero. Thank you. Buddhists say it's karma that made you strong and enduringly loving at the same time. ('course, karma works both ways: do good, get good. Do bad, get bad! What did we "do" to get Trump? Maybe it will change and we'll get Harris.)
I am not one to believe in Karma or anything, but there might be something to it. I am 85 and have had 1st least six, that I know of, brushes with death. I survive and four of my team have there names inscribed on the wall in the Sep 67 area. Diagnosed with lung and brain cancer in Oct 2017, and still trucking. I still do the physical chores that my wife, 14 years my Junior, can't do without injuring herself or causing pain (fibromyalgia)
If Karma did work both ways, Trump would be in prison or six feet under.
Hitler survived long enough to take out over 26 million people, Pol Pot met Karma only after slaughtering half of the country. If there is Karma, why does it come after millions of people are slaughtered.
Jenghis Khan, perhaps the greatest mass murder of all time, died peacefully in bed.
Proponents of the law of karma, who claim that for every action in the moral sphere, there’s an equal and opposite reaction, also tend to believe in the theory of reincarnation, which conveniently postpones the equal and opposite reaction to the (wait for it) next lifetime. This is scheme dreamed up by PT Barnum.
Mother a J1 had a grandmother that was French American who was married to a German American. They were born about 1880. However neither was a Bass. My mother’s father was Ashley Stevenson Bass.
You only have mitochindrial DNA, your DNA comes down via the maternal line.
They discovered the skeleton of Richard III, under a parking lot, which had been built over the Grey Friars Chapel, in which Richard III was buried. The Chapel was pulled down by Henry VIII
They extracted both YDNA and mtDNA from his bones, They were able to trace his mtDNA via his grandmother to a man in Ohio, but his YDNA was a surprise, the only living males with Plantagenet, but the problem is that the YDNA of the living Plantagenets is different from Richards, Either they are descended from Bastards or Richard III was,
Thank you for this. The U.S. Still has to sign on to CEDAW. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, is an international
legal instrument that requires countries to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas and promoteswomen’s equal rights. CEDAW is often described as the international bill of rights for women. The United Na-tions adopted CEDAW on 18 December 1979. As of 2016, 189 countries have ratified CEDAW and the U.S. has never ratified it. It’s arguably the only industrialized democracy in the world that has yet to ratify CEDAW . The U.S. Joins Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga and Nauru who have not ratified CEDAW.
M Tree, not enough states ratified the ERA within the original time frame. That was waived by an act of Congress, and more states passed the ERA; the last one was VA in 2020. But it's never been formally adopted because of how long it took to get it done.
As with so many things, it's up to Congress. And we all know how helpful that is. 🙄
Unfortunately, American women are still subjected to misogyny every day. But at least Anita Hill has been vindicated. Joe Biden, being the good Catholic that he is, has sought redemption by nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, selecting Kamala Harris as his Vice President and supporting her run for President. I was outraged when Ginni Thomas left a message on Anita Hill's voicemail on the 30th anniversary of Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court nomination, demanding that Ms Hill APOLOGIZE for telling the truth about Clarence Thomas. The FBI verified the call but of course, Thomas suffered no consequences. As she has suffered no consequence for threatening Supreme Court law clerks, speaking out publicly in favor of the 1/6/21 attack ofnthe US Capitol and most recently, opposing Supreme Court reform. In a country where republicans want to strip women of their autonomy, it's unacceptable that conservative Supreme Court wives (re: Samuel Alito's wife Martha Bumgardner's upside down American flag) can demonstrate political bias yet their husbands won't recuse from the applicable court cases. If any of the non-conservative judges did the same, the MSM and the GOP would be demanding their heads.
SOOOO TRUE!💩💩💩💙💙💙💙 Question? What would happen to a woman needing a credit card if she has no living male relatives to sign for her like in my mother's day?
You haven't heard his most recent major speech, have you? BTW - the President cannot do it unilaterally. Congress has to pass a law changing the number of SCOTUS justices. Then POTUS can sign it.
“Long Dong Silver” That’s the name I think of whenever Clarence Thomas is mentioned, his alter-ego in the porn movie he wanted to watch with Anita Hill. He was a cad then and ever since. Obviously bought and paid for and as greedy as any of the $$Goons who plunk his strings. SCOTUS members can be impeached when they can’t be humiliated out of office. Voting Blue, up and down the ballot would be the first necessary step in such an impeachment and, all by itself, is justification for a Blue tsunami and I wish everybody would get on board.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, (D-NY), has filed impeachment papers in Congress against Clarence and Alito. Please consider writing her to encourage her to ramp it up.
Thank you Robert for remembering this historic legislation......younger women need to be reminded of where Women's Rights have come from and what still has not improved. It may seem on the surface that women are more "free" but its is an advertising illusion.......Society still has their boot on our necks especially concerning Women's Rights to their own bodies.....the abortion issue not only is affecting those women of child bearing years, but all women as we are losing Ob/Gyns . Older women as well as young women need healthcare offered by these individuals. March of Dimes has published a map that shows Women Health Care Deserts where there are limited access! I wish Kamala would bring this up because this is a covert attack on All Women's Health Rights.....
Prof. Reich, I really enjoyed reading this. At the age of 64, I just completed a Masters in Law at UCLA. Surviving the Socratic Method at my age, especially as a long-time and quite confident healthcare professional, it was more than intimidating. The final exams were crazy! (Scientists are not used to wordsmithed hypotheticals.) I can imagine that at Yale, it was REALLY intimidating. So interesting about Justice Thomas never being the one to raise his hand. Not surprising. Equally not surprising that Hillary was prepared and spoke eloquently. I hope that these facts will help wake up some of the younger women who need to be aware of the progress women made that has been slowly (and now more rapidly) eroded.
I salute you! I've considered going back to school for my masters in Library and information sciences. I'm 66 and been out of college for 45 years. I'm not sure I'm up to it.
Be brave, Linda, do it. I remember an interview of a woman bowling champion in her eighties. The interviewer asked, How long have you been doing this? She said, "Oh, about 20 years."
You're up to it!! You are limitless in what you can achieve for yourself. If you have the desire, go for it! If it's not for you, after trying, that's fine too, at least you tried it out and you'll still have learned something new to enrich your life and those around you. ☺️💕
I'd recently read about an 80 year old woman who just graduated from medical school!! It had been a dream of hers, so she just did it. 😉
Not to be discounted is the swelling rage that underpins the collective feminine psyche as these injustices reverberate barely beneath the surface crust of the civil society upon which we walk with assumed impunity.
Women have felt the brunt of men's anger since the beginning of time. Weaker men find the necessity to dominant whoever they can and in the end, women are the ones that suffer, due to their lack of physical prowess. Abusing women is a sickness and the men who regress to that level are little more than animals. We are better than that and so are they.
Donald, there were many, many cultures in pre-history where women were in charge. The male dominance didn't come into world culture much until the concept of Yahweh, a jealous god who insisted that pagans (female-centered and powered cultures) be destroyed, was introduced. This was around 1800 BC. Sophisticated cultures governed by women existed before them. There's a scholarly book on this history called When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone.
The thing is Donald is that actually we are all animals, men and women, and part of the natural world. With luck we may become more civilised over time and over the generations. But as has been pointed out each of us only have a limited lifespan. This is why history and education is so important for our children and young adults to impress on them that civil society is work in progress and that we must not go backwards ❓
This article reminded me that, at some point, we are once again going to hold a hearing for a Supreme Court Justice. They are going to be asked questions, pressed hard by the opposition party, have millions of words and countless hours spent dissecting their replies.....and NONE of it will matter. As the last few years have proved, it's all spectacle. It's all just a show. It does not matter one bit whether they blatantly lie, whether they are completely compromised ethically, whether they say one thing and two days later do another.
And therein lies the summary of what is happening in America right now. As our fiercest critics have claimed for years, at the end of the day, the nation truly does not stand for anything. Many of its people do, but such patriots are not the ones who end up in political power. Instead, we get hypocritical, spoiled, compromised, talking-point-delivering puppets who bow to power and corporations and answer to absolutely no one.
I understand your cynicism and despair, and I agree to an extent. But thinking there's nothing we can do means nothing will change.
I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime (I'm older than Dr. Reich) but I think what MUST happen is a nationwide rebellion/revolution, in which ordinary Americans stand up for their rights. Yes, I mean another 1776, 1789, or 1917. Do we have the political will to actually get off the couch and march? I don't know, but IMO it will take something just that massive to break the cycle. After all, the unions took down the robber barons at the beginning of the 20th century.
As long as some of us are comfy, we're okay with most of us being not okay. My thoughts. (I apologize if I'm not making sense; my cat Jack died yesterday, completely unexpectedly. "Wreck" doesn't begin to describe my state of mind.)
Sorry for your loss of Jack. I'll bet he was a sweetheart. I'm almost as old as Dr. Reich, but I'm willing to "march" (in a wheelchair). I'd love a wave of citizens standing up (or sitting down) to reverse the mess we're in. So sad Pres Biden wasn't more woke during the Anita Hill hearings. No one will be perfect, of course, but at least with Kamala there's a smidge of hope. Blessings to you, Karla, and Jack.
The one thing I will say about Biden is that he was willing to learn better and do better. I've heard him say that he regrets his actions in the Thomas hearing.
Biden has made a lot of progress, no doubt due to his wife's influence.
I hadn't heard that. Thank you. We're all a work in progress.
"We are all a work in progress." Quite true and reason for hope.
Linda, yes, Biden did apologize for his poor questioning and lack of understanding in the Thomas hearing. I honestly can't imagine Trump or Vance ever apologizing for anything they do even though it is far worse than what Biden did. It was not only one woman who was dismissed and insulted; it was the Trump Supreme Court and lower courts and Vance's ignorant misogynistic comments, that harmed our whole nation of women.
Hear are his White House Lawn remarks on the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act:
https://www.youtube.com/live/BVJ69ntEwNA?t=922s
Regrets is a kin to an apology. Something the orange monster won't do because Roy Cohn told him never to apologize.
My sincere condolences on the passing of your cat Jack! As a long time pet owner and animal lover ❤️ I know from experience the sadness of losing a special family member!😥💔
I feel your loss having lost many simply wonderful dogs and cats. I too am older than Robert Reich but only by a few months. I vividly recall the Clarence Thomas hearings and can recall the sight of Biden turning toward Thomas as the questioning took place.
Our generation has seen it all. Daily I give thanks to Sally for giving me the guidance and support to be a better human being. Does the world 🌎 have time to grow up and learn from the past mistakes? I don’t know. With 5 daughters and 12 children between us all we can do is hope.
Namaste 🙏🏻
I agree with Karla and Nancy. Yes, it seems like a two steps forward three steps back, and terrible, awful, no good, very bad, but it's not. Our lives are so short and we cannot remember what life was like even 150 years ago. Think about what life was like for women in 1874! We have come a long, long and positive way. We must be like the ocean that beats upon the rocks to turn them into grains of sand.
This essay reminds me that possibly the low point of Joe Biden’s political career was his failure, during the Thomas hearings, to call witnesses who would have corroborated Anita Hill’s testimony.
Oh I absolutely believe there are things we can do. The challenge is reaching our breaking point of complacency. I thought it would happen after Iraq...then the great recession....then again after Trump...and after COVID. Sadly, I think the country may need to get knocked down a few more notches before a sufficient number of people realize, as the saying goes, democracy is not a spectator sport. More than anything else, we need an uprising to completely reconstruct our media and educational institutions.
Ian,
I think Richy Rich and The Corporations have altered the rules in this now extremely violent USA , with guns everywhere, the right to take to the streets inhibited by Proud Boys and Police in a hurry to get violent with almost no provocation and this is why we are not in the streets and how democracy has been coopted by Oligarchy. Many want a 'strong man' because so called democracy, in name only, which many do not understand, because we are no longer protected. We are living in chaos. A world where words are thrown about and have little meaning now. Where 'entertainment', FOX, is mistakenly called news, but it is entertainment lies and not called out all the time for what it is.
After this past year of digging down into the dirt of how our lives have been coopted (50 years) by richy rich and the corporations, it seems we should be able to make a stand, but I don't think it will happen. WE have watched our true leaders assassinated, and ones who might stand for us be skewered and their intentions misappropriated by what we call social media, but is truly a heckling and dangerous place with few set rules and lots of corporate whitewash, and no accountability. Then, the CIA, FBI, Military have their own agendas, for which we pay but have no input. Citizens United makes it impossible to have representation for we the people. Democrats have not tackled this, and are under the same burial station, where money/power stops the progress. If democrats win all blue houses and the major changes described over the past year by Thom Hartmann, Robert REich ,etc..., it is all over. NO one will ever believe a democrat again. And, they should not.
I loathe watching Wall Street purchase US housing, as are Chinese Nationals, and watching our medical infrastructure,. paid for by our tax dollars, be eaten alive by rotten robbing hedgers. WE will see..
Dark, but probably close to accurate. 🙁
I don't get what you are saying . . . "If democrats win all blue houses . . . it is all over." Huh?? Please explain yourself.
If we vote in a Democratic trifecta “and the major changes described over the past year” ARE NOT ENACTED….no one should believe a Democrat again. Vicki didn’t spell the part in caps out, but her meaning is clear to me. The very least we must insist on is that the filibuster for legislation is voided and the John Lewis VRAA is passed and signed. Kamala has campaigned on this promise. I also believe some change in the makeup of the USSC is going to be needed, because the anti-gerrymandering piece of the JLVRAA will be challenged by red state AGs, and the Federalist Society®️SC will over-rule them unless a sane balance of judicial perspective is restored, either by addition or subtraction.
Lewis, thank you for this explanation. During Trump's 4 years in "office," I made probably 650 phone calls to both Dems and Repugs, and sent letters to some, it seemed never to do any good. The Dems especially are infuriating for not listening. But they sure know where you live when it comes time to try to get you to donate to them during elections! I ignore them all now.
Sorry, Klara K., I could not get back on the site prior. Substack, like all platforms, does not like painful truths. They love wishy washy malarkey repeated over and over and over again. Thanks, Lewis.
Hi, Vicki, just to "klar-i-fy," my name is "Klare," not "Klara" (which sounds like a cow's name!).
Thank you.
So you will not vote?
Oh Victor, Yes I will vote and though I am in a bit of Maga neighbors, I am placing the sign regarding Project 2025 in my yard on a main route in my community. I bet some of the neighbors, will not even know what it means but will rip it down anyway.
On reviewing all the reading, writing that has been done to identify and document the horror we are currently living, I am not a fool/. I do not have my eyes closed. And, unlike many, who are willing to state, 'we have come so far', I say we have so far to go and since we have spoiled our own nests, like the stupid Apex Predators we are, I do not do the 'right thing', with naivety. I also hope that by calling this out, it may bring more energy to the urgency of dealing with the Project 2025 Walls that have been so successful and must be brought down. Like the Wall between EASt and West Germany, we must bring this horrible chapter to an end. No more excuses. NO more waiting until the 'time is ripe', while white men mostly, continue to destroy the possibilities of a good life on this earth for all beings.
And health”care”. We need to reconstruct that too.
I'm glad someone said this. Existing oversight is not resulting in prosecutions of fraudulent payments when it should. That leads to Getting Paid for Sadistic, Deliberate, Malpractice and Revenge. Not care for health.
I always find it darkly amusing to see progressives assume that the effects of change will ineluctably be in their preferred direction because they agitate and organize. The other side is also taking the passing time to consolidate and organize and why would their organizing not be more telling than our organizing. Now they have gathered physical weapons into their hands and have granted themselves the right to amass immense fortunes and to use their money for evil so they are doing damned well with their time. Gaza shows us what kinds of evil they can easily get away with with no consequences. The bending arc of justice is just a metaphor, not a law of progress. The most chilling part is that as they accumulate their power, our planet is preparing our extinction and they don't care. It seems to me that a hard boiled prediction must give their side most of the points in the coming years while we make do with disconnected symbolism.
They're on the Titanic but don't care because they have first-class cabins. The right has played a very long game, starting just after WWII. Despite Reagan and his miserable administration, Trump, the rise of American Nazis, etc., I still think we have a shot at a better country--if the planet doesn't kill us first, which it may well do. Won't they be surprised when they can't escape the 125-degree heat? "Where did it go wrong? Oh, woe is me!" It may seem easier to give up, but we can't.
Have you not noticed how angry women are?
I know how horrible it is when our pet companions leave us. I am older and shorter than Dr. Reich but I love his opinions and column much. Thank you.
You made perfect sense. My sincere condolences on Jack's death; it's truly a hole that is left for special friends and pets who die and leave us with memories.
Also sorry about your loss of Jack. I do hope there is a heaven.If there is I know I will see all my dogs again.
Gjay, they're waiting for you at Rainbow Bridge. "The Rainbow Bridge: The True Story Behind History’s Most Influential Piece of Animal Mourning Literature"
Me too!😥
Here's that poem:
https://www.rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm
RIP, Jack. For animal lovers, our pets are family too. 😢
Imo the majority of Americans don't have much political will. I heard on a British newscast around 25 years ago that the USA is considered "the best entertained and worst informed" nation in the First World. Totally cringeworthy, but undeniable.
We have (had) the guardrails, and they've been torn down. We need to restore them, which means electing officials who will, cleaning up the Supreme Court, and not backing off when the going gets tough. If we can do that, I'll feel ok (I'm older than Dr. Reich too).
So sorry for your loss, Karla. (((HUGS)))
Beautifully written. Condolences on the loss of your 😺.
Karla, sorry about the loss of your cat. I believe what you hope for could happen, but we haven't hit "rock bottom" yet. I believe we're on that trajectory with this election, and unfortunately I believe the oligarchs are rigging this upcoming election to cheat drumpf into office. I like your observation about comfort, and not caring about those without our comforts. It's a sad commentary, but true. We are all interdependent, and dependent on our mother earth. Greed will take us all down.
I think you hit the problem on the head. The misery is not yet widespread enough to get Americans off their lazy asses. It will take a massive event, such as a wide swath of the U.S. becoming uninhabitable due to heat, with the subsequent flood of climate refugees to the mountains and the PNW, and the strain it will put on those communities, before people get the point. It must be the type of all-encompassing revolution that established this country, took down the French aristocracy, and overthrew the Tsars. That will take something so widespread, and so debilitating, that even the strongest MAGA will see that the oligarchs they worship are NOT on their side. It's awful that it has to get that far before people see how serious this is, but I think that's what it will take. My two cents.
Nancy:
I just saw the name Jack and the thought of you being here afterwards being totally brave. Thinking it was a friend or a husband or one and the same. Losing an animal or having to put one down is one of the saddest moments to endure. They are a friend regardless and the last look, they know or at least my Elkhound did.
When I had pneumonia and no insurance and on the couch, still clothed, covered and still cold. Twice he crawled up on top of me. He was warm.
They do give much happiness. And then they are gone.
Condolences on Jack dying. How truly sad. As for your comments, they are clear. I would love to think things will change but certain technology is in the entertainment business and so many people want to be entertained. The only way to get their attention will be to take away the toys.
Karla, I'm so sorry about the loss of your beloved Jack. I know this is the hardest part of life that we must cope with..... I've recently lost 2 beloved cats and still haven't gotten over the intense grief.....there are no words to make the process of grieving any easier.
I grieve with you, may Jack's beautiful memory be a blessing to you 🙏💜🐾💜🙏
So very sorry for your loss. Heart to you.
I am sorry for your loss. The hurt will get easier in time.
I agree with your comments.
You make sense and I agree. Sorry for your loss.
Justice is a process that moves much too glacially to engender any changes beneficial to the common good. People in positions of great power and influence can easily buy or deny their way out of the punishment they deserve for their egregious or traitorous actions. While no one wants to live under a dictatorship or an autocracy, we might learn from such terrible leaders how to efficiently handle people in power who disregard morality and human decency in favor of their own financial benefit. Adhering to the Byzantine legal process is an excuse for allowing these miscreants more space to do more damage. A seat on the Supreme Court should not automatically confer diplomatic or moral immunity nor should they be permitted to make laws or judge others through their own distorted lens.
Exquisitely stated, thank you 🙏
Why? Because it's a Pay to Play game.
"...we get hypocritical, spoiled, compromised, talking-point-delivering puppets who bow to power and corporations and answer to absolutely no one."
Sorry, Ian, but we vote for the "hypocritical... puppets." We aren't stuck with them, we MAKE them. If we want to stand for something, we have to do better.
I disagree with you. If the Democrats can hold the Senate and take over the House, The People are screaming for positive change every which way. We may get rid of Citizens United, we may be able to remove rogue justices, starting with the most unethical of all of them, fat, sloppy, UGLY, SCARY, LYING CLARENCE THOMAS, the token Black guy on the SC. We may be able to make a ton of positive changes because people are fired up! Stay tuned!
Let's hope the president nominating the justice will be a Democrat. Their picks generally turn out a lot better than the ones Republicans choose.
Absolutely correct 👍
What is the problem? MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! The root of all evil.
I could not have said it better than this! Thank You Ian.
Seems to be the case on a local basis, also. Local members of gov bodies discuss all the correct stuff. Exactly what they should be considering. But when it comes time to vote, well, all that discussion gurgles down the drain.
I have said this repeatedly about Anita Hill. She was right back then and she is still right today. I was very angry when they confirmed thomas. It was very wrong. It was also wrong when they confirmed kavanaugh. When the supreme court justices can not see sexual assault and intimidation and harassment, they have no place on the bench of the highest court in our land.
As women we knew she was absolutely right-how many of us have experienced some sort of verbal sexist abuse by our bosses and expected to take it to keep our jobs!
Or judges who decide your case.
or to be safe in our homes.
🥲
I went to a women's meeting, and several women were wearing, "I believe her" buttons. A man out in the hall wondered who, "she" was.
It's so weird, how completely dialed out men are from women's reality.
I so agree! I gave away most of my political pins but I still have the bright pink one that says:
I Believe Anita HIll.
Penni, I was trying to think about back then. I was very much an activist and I recall a T Shirt with I Believe Anita Hill written on it. I also remember the T Shirts that read The Bitch is Lying! I was so damn angry about those shirts. Every time I saw one, I wanted to rip it off whoever was wearing it! Back then, I was a bit more vocal and would get into yelling matches with the idiots that supported clarence thomas. Now, he sits on the supreme court and is trying his best to undo everything we worked so hard to get passed for the betterment of not only women, but everybody! He is corrupt and he is a misogynist!
So good. I marched in Washington in 1979 when I was 17 and with 20$ left in my pocket to get home, I spent $4 on a the t shirt that my granddaughter still wears. It says : A Woman’s place is in the House and the Senate. Can you imagine that we were not even bold enough to think: A Woman’s place is in the House- the Whitehouse.
The only magnet on my fridge reads: "Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult". (Charlotte Whitton) It's waaay past time to put a woman in the White House!
Didn't Simone De Beauvoir also say something like that?
Don't know. I found it 20 years ago in a basket of fridge mags in a general store in Lost River, WV [a haven for LGBTQ] when visiting my son.
Penni, remember back then we were just getting started good! I remember that T Shirt! We have come so far over the years and I want our daughters and granddaughters to know we still have a way to go. What I am most proud of is the fact that women today stand up to misogynistic males and put them in their place with just a few very humiliating words. We absolutely MUST get Kamala elected in November! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
I think they don't understand it, because they've never suffered it personally, AND as a result , they have zero empathy. The moral compass, including knowledge, sympathy and empathetic thoughts are not in place, at all.
Men, for the most part, do not understand "What's Missing?". IF they have been bullied at some point, they can gain some understanding, but that can also create a monster that dishes out what was done to them. I'm not a psychologist but as a woman, with a narcissist mother, and two scary, scared marriages.... Empathy I've got.
They don't understand sexist abuse; but "they" also don't think it's important. How many times have I been told with impatience, "Oh, just get over it." And if I don't, I'm not invited to play--go to meetings, get good projects, keep my job. I'm old enough to remember women's liberation and consciousness-raising sessions and Marilyn French's The Women's Room. It breaks my heart that we've lost all that ground. A 40-year-old woman I work with, when I raised the notion of subtle but rampant sexism in our workplace, looked at me with pity and said, Oh, people aren't sexist anymore! She was so brainwashed she didn't even see it. Because "it's not important."
It's people like your coworker who make real changes 💯 hard
I read the woman’s room !and it was eye opening to teach us not to tolerate. I define feminism as the radical notion that women are people.
Of course they understand sexual abuse; they're the ones inventing it every time they do it.
They know exactly what rape is - better than we do. Because they're the rapists.
They know exactly what they're doing. It's not an accident. Neither is their collective refusal (it's not failure, since you can't fail if you never tried) to put a stop to it.
Men will **always** fall into lockstep with other men in defense of men's right to rape women.
Women oppress men by infringing on men's right to always get their way.
Men choose all of this because the violent subjugation of women by men creates products and privileges men want.
That's part of it. Another part is guilty participation. Guilty participation tends to result in frothing at the mouth, when confronted with an example of it happening at all.
Even more than their incapability of empathy, it's their sense of collective guilt in response to our collective rage that triggers their responses: hit dogs holler.
We have to learn to shift our empathy to compassion so we do not fall victims to narcissistic abuse. Narcissists prey on empaths and know how to bypass our alarms bc of our serious caring. So try that subtle but useful shift. And as my favorite friend use to say when she was alive: don’t get into their dream. In the case of the Trump disease of malignant messianic narcissism (and megalomania), we have to step out of the nightmare they create.
I love that! I think that's what Harris showed Trump in the debate in her facial expressions: compassion. You make a great distinction between empathy and compassion. Empathy is dangerously unstructured. And compassion is close to pity but less condescending. Compassion is a beautiful idea to bring to the political arena. Thank you.
Really wonderful analysis here Penni. I am an empath who has repeatedly fallen victim to narcissistic abuse. Not surprisingly, I blamed myself. I strongly supported Anita Hill and Blasey Ford. I’d been there. Tears streamed down my face as they testified.
I, too, had tears as I listened. I also believe them. The majority of women who illuminate these unspeakable acts of violence and abuse by others are victims who've suffered in silence for far too long. It's a cancer on our society that must be addressed and excised to its depths. Contemporary society must no longer tolerate any of that foul behavior. Everyone deserves respect and compassion.
It's a very sad state of affairs when the highest court in the land is helmed by several misogynistic abusers of women. 😢
I’m an empath and I was married to a constantly lying narcissist. It didn’t go well. It took years to see his patterns. It’s a miracle that our two sons turned out to be gentle and caring men!
My husband and I always believed her.
They can’t see it because their religion tells t what we call misogyny is what they call a women’s role.
And all women everywhere who have suffered sexual abuse in silence! Reminds me of an old song We 6 kings of SCOTUS are! 😬😡😡😡
I trained in firearm disarming techniques in Los Angeles, way back while this was all the talk, on the news. I was the only woman in the 25-something class. One of participants raised it as a subject, disparaging professor Hill. I pointed out that the media was giving tons of air time to the pervert during prime viewing hours, but relegating coverage of Hill, to a few minutes, during business hours, when most people are at work, and not free to pay attention. His response was vitriolic. I learned later, he was a domestic violence offender - - - undergoing training to - - - arrest criminals - - - such as those who attack women.
Having lied at their hearing should justify impeachment. Thomas is a disgusting partisan. Those conservatives are NOT conservatives they are partisan hacks.
Harvey, I sure would like to see the actual conservatives of the GOP back at the helm of their party! We need two parties so representation of ALL Americans happens when they hammer out legislation that will help everyone - Democrats and Republicans! Real conservatives and true republicans need to take back their party! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
I completely agree; however, what can we DO about it? That's my concern, the "do" part; what can we DO. We've tried so many legal and ethical ways to get our voices heard yet "they" confirm whom they choose along political lines. Can anyone give me an answer other than assassinating those we don't trust to act in an ethical manner?
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! Tell your friends, your neighbors and anyone who will listen to you. Write letters, postcards, sign petitions, get as many people to vote as possible and do not let up until the election in November! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Thanks for the response. However, I'm already doing all those things. It hasn't made a dent in the situation. Hatred and violence are advocated by too many politicians who have turned people's heads. Just take one look at the b.s. about Springfield, Ohio being spouted by the two ridiculous individuals with the loudest microphones. Innocent people are being targeted by bullies in neo-Nazi uniforms, afraid to send their children to school, and I don't have to remind anyone of the "experiments" Nazis carried out against women in the late 1930s-early1940s...
Yes, HGB, the situation in Springfield, Ohio is very dire. I have to put my faith in the police to take care of the situation. If it becomes really bad, I am hoping President Biden will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the citizens in that town. The orange man and his running mate are getting desperate right now and they are trying everything they can possibly think of to scare enough voters to vote for them. Our job is to keep a level head and continue the work to get Kamala and Tim elected in November. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Peggy, I have noticed in the last several years that people say the man's last name and the woman's first name. Remember in 2016? Trump and HILLARY were what everyone said. I'm tired of this specific sexism (as well as sexism in general). It's time we ALL say HARRIS instead of Kamala. I hope you agree...
At root of violence against women is male insecurity. Fragile ego's who can't stand being rebuffed and rejected (a prime reason for the anti abortion movement). Women who rebuff a males advances, women who say no, women who don't submit tot their "lord and master" are harshly dealt with, this in store for America if Trump and Vance crawl into the White House again.
J D Vance is not a man's man, he is an insecure, little man, who blusters and threatens to seem dominate. Just another twerp of the gun toting, big truck crowd.
Isn't it axiomatic that when you see a row of vehicles parked out of an event,that the biggest truck with the biggest wheels belongs to some twerp.?
I so agree. There are too many men whose fear of women is expressed in so much violence against us. All because they feel like inadequate men. Our culture supports this toxic masculinity and apparently the Republican Party (aka The American Nazi Party) has taken this as the appropriate stance for men in their party. Are there really that many men who feel so inadequate that they are driven to repeatedly try to prove the opposite? How do we produce so many of them? As an aside, most women know not to venture out alone in many areas of the world, lest they be attacked by a man or men. We feel unsafe in a lot of places. So it's by default a curfew for women. Why don't we institute a curfew for men instead? Of course that doesn't address the epidemic of intimate partner violence, but at least the streets would be safer if a women has to flee at night.
JNol, you just said something that proves that the female Christian and MAGAt enablers are as full of shit as Xmas turkey. Afraid to go out at night alone, Even the bitches like Boeber, Greene, Laura Loomer and those that wear T Shirts that Trump can grab them by their pussies, and who cling desperately to their "man", Like Ginnie Thomas are afraid to go out at night unaccompanied.
Actually, is it ever wise to go out alone at night for a long distance without someone else or a pet or some sort of pepper spray or key be one male or female? I understand your comment and to a certain point, agree, but. . . there's another aspect too for any of us in unknown areas. . . or even in known areas without some sort of circumspection.
Ah, but have you seen Lauren Boebert wearing a tight T-shirt and a sidearm? Sexy! OMG, I'm turning MAGA! Help!
DISCUSTING
Lauren Boebert is a low-self-esteem, low-confidence EXHIBITIONIST who ought to be forced to cover her boobs, to dress decently, or be censured and removed from Congress, period. She should have been kicked out after that video tape appeared of her and her date fondling each other at the "Beatlejuice" performance. THAT was disgusting! His hands all down inside her top . . . She attends meetings with constituents in Colorado dressed in very skimpy tops -- NO SELF-RESPECT AND NO REGARD FOR OTHERS EITHER!! WHAT A SLUT!!!!!!
Absolutely agree. She's a bimbo airhead. Where can I find that video tape?
I've spent some time in Texas where a big truck is de rigueur. My neighbor had a Japanese mini-pickup, but he was a bright guy and secure in his place in the world with a wife and two kids. A Ford 150 is what many of the good old boys drive, but a 250 or even 350 is what some of them need, whether for work or for parking down at the bar, I don't know. Did you ever see those chrome bull's testicles they hang from the rear bumper. That's Texas.
Yeh I'fve seen those bull testicles, I live in a blue county, in a blue state, and there are a few of those insecure males around. On shows up every 4th of July driving his big truck with a baled of hay with a huge flag sticking out of it.
By the way I spent yesterday resurecting a 2010 Ford F-150, that had been in the barn for years, gathering dust, bird and bat shit. The battery, an expensive one, had died, and I am going to have to go to town this afternoon and replace it.
The truck was my wife's idea, she just had to have it. so we bought it, that and a trailer to move our furniture, and there it sits doing nothing but collecting bird and bat shit. I took it out because we are going to have to make a dump run, we got a lot of stuff to dump. I was able to haul two bags of recyclables and one bag of trash to the dump about once a month in the back of my PT Cruiser, but that has replaced the truck in the barn. (Chrysler products are a pieces of shit)
Hope we can turn manufacturing around in this country and make American cars good again! Remember when they were the best? I wouldn't own one for love or money today. Because they're no good. They took planned obsolescence to the nth degree. Profits! Corporate greed! I think Harris is the person to turn manufacturing around, as well as small business, and even maybe bring quality back.
William, it's a good idea to have a backup vehicle in running order in case of an emergency. Can your battery be charged?
I have two back ups, the PT Cruiser and a Honda CRV. The battery is Dead period. I have a very good charger/Jumper hooked up to it, but it doesn't hold a charge. so a new battery it is. The last time I bought a battery it was over about $100, now this one is $200.
Florida also... especially up in the northern horse country part. The larger the truck, the higher the boot heel (see Desantis ) the larger the bravado of the mouth.
An ex-girlfriend used to say that men in big trucks had small penises. As her previous boyfriend had been a rich guy in a big 4x4 I assumed the spoke from experience!
Make me smile every time I see some guy climb down from a truck, even today.
And as for what it says about all those American guys in their favourite means of ego-transport, well... ladies, you have my sympathy! 😂
Going forward, I'll always look at those big vehicles and snicker now 😂
Thanks for sharing that delightful trope 👍
If you can spread it about so the idea takes off, and women start laughing at men in big trucks, (maybe while giving the 'droopy little finger' sign 😬), it might do more to cut American CO2 emissions than all the other Green policies put together!
I love the concept 😄
That said, we've still got to be careful about whom we laugh at or make gestures to, etc. You know how crazy so many people are these days, some people just aren't wired right. I wouldn't want to provoke a
nutjob to attack someone..... just think about how people get into it at Walmart, over a pack of chewing gum ffs. 😆
I see LOTS of big trucks in the Walmart parking lot too (replete with the double large sized flags on each side of the rear bed, just in case you missed the first flag across the front grill ) lmao.
I live in a rural area and saw a monster Hummer roaring down the street, it looked like a military weaponized vehicle. The thing was so huge, it must take up two parking spots.
Vroom vroom 🙄
Hey, it's just clicked! Big trucks..... Incel....... THAT'S why they can't get the girls!
🤣🤣🤣
Yeah, but imagine how tiny his must be!
😅😂🤣😂
Oh no! I live in Texas and haven’t seen those.
William Farrar, and if we dig even deeper in these violent men, we'll find trauma of abuse, neglect and little to no experience with unconditional love in their formative years. And the trauma has never been attended to.
I agree. Child abuse runs rampant in most cultures. And this often produces insecure and violent adults, although women who've been abused in childhood are more likely to turn the violence against themselves, either by finding a violent partner who will continue to mistreat them, or injuring themselves. While men who were abused as kids are more likely to grow into adults who lash out against others, often women, since they have a greater chance of being the victor with them than with men. It is usually an intergenerational tragedy, We still haven't successfully done something to change this trend, so until we do, women will more likely continue to be assaulted.
J. Nol, and violence against women will exponentially increase, if tfg and his gang are elected.
Well said
I can't say that parental neglect and childhood trauma are the cause.
I have never been violent towards women, always respected them, and never ever imitated any sexual contact. And I was raised by a single mother, who was pre occupied with her own woes, and too busy working for $1.00 an hour to raise me and my two sisters. Mom had a tendency to act out when angry, scared and frustrated. My sisters hated her, I didn't I understood her and why she was the way she was. When she would turn on me and beat me, I would stand there and disarm her by sying, Go ahead and beat me mom, if it will make you feel good, and she stopped and I was only 10 years old.
But I've never been one of those men, despite a 26 year career in special ops and as a team leader. I even had an emergency cal from one of my men, Ronnie, his wife was beating him, throwing shit at him, and he never laid a hand on her, he was in trouble..
Amazing! You gave your mom unconditional love, and she stopped beating you, because understood that she was scapegoating you and your sister. Good for you, William!
kids are not as stupid as adults may thing.
William Farrar, sorry. I'm glad you are okay. Did you have other adults in your orbit who modelled unconditional love or gave it to you personally? It seems at 10, you had some understanding of her motives and so maybe didn't take her actions personally as an affront to your existence.
No M Tree. I lived in a project and every family was in dire straits and preoccupied with their own needs. My mothers had sisters, but no unconditional love there, in fact Mom had resentment towards her sisters.
No the understanding of my mother came after I left home. I remembered the story of her life. How her beloved father, (she was Daddy's little girl) was bed ridden for two years and she walked in to find his corpse when she was 15. that was during he depression,her mother baked pies and took in laundry to support the family, and put the girls to work at age 15, but not her son, Uncle Harry, finished school because he was a male, and went to college, in fact when i was 15 he drove in from SoCal where he worked with Northrop on the B-49 Flying wing
I don't know what you are looking for to validate your beliefs, but I doubt that you will find it here.
My two sisters (may they RIP) and I share the same values and mentality, so it wasn't nurture that made us by nature.
"There is a book in you, William," paraphrasing Robert the Bruce. Your descendants would like to read it.
"Go back to England, and tell them there, that Scotland 's daughters and her sons are yours no more!", William Wallace
The only thing my children are interested in is their own needs. I am by avocation a genetic genealogist, and in fact am the Project Admin for a DNA project.
My children (all of them grandparents, are not at all interested in their ancestry.
I've tested with three DNA companies, and on occasion get notifications of cousin matches. I have tried to contact them, to find out where we match,and to help them as my research is extensive. I've had responses from only four out of hundreds.
People don't test DNA to rsesearch their family tree, most test for the inexplicable reason to find out what their ethnic heritage is, a result of TV advertising you know the kilts or lederhosen thing.
The kicker is that the ethnic "predictions" are bullshit. I've received three different predictions from three different companies, and there alogrithms are based on the size of their sample and, wait for it, self reporting.
People self report all kinds of crap. a Person named Bulloni might think they are italian, but that is only because of their last name, there mother could have been Latvian, and the father;s mother Irish, and the grandfathers mother half Ashkenazi, and so on.
Apparently that is all they are interested in: Ethnicity. Perhaps because of America's preoccupation with race.
It is not surprising though, that most people who test, do so because they want to see if they have any American Indian. Strange,considering the embedded racism in our culture.
Did you know there is a surname, Mozingo, some of which are proud KKK members,and even a retired Alabama Judge, Anthony Mozingo, whose ancestor was an African warrior, and indentured servant named Edward who served out his indentury, married an Irish woman, also freed from her indenture, and settled on Pantico Run, VA.
There is a Mozingo DNA project, but it's results are private, even to members, because there are so many white descendants who might lose standing in the KKK and MAGAt community. There also black Mozingo's as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Fiddler-Pantico-Run-African-Descendants/dp/1451627602/ref=asc_df_1451627602/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693585343647&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17422616810732860586&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1014391&hvtargid=pla-568915162533&psc=1&mcid=90f408c8364c3d51a2ab4eddbe1d7032
Another surname which has a lot of African DNA is Bass, and a lot of white Bass's are perplexed to find out that their ancestor was an Africa, not necessarily a slave, as slavery was not legalized in Virginia until 1661, by the House of Burgess, along with Miscegenation, previous all were indentured servants
The first case of legal slavery was adjudicated in Johnson v Casor in 1655
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/court-ruling-on-anthony-johnson-and-his-servant-1655/
William Farrar, glad you had understanding of your mother.
Oxytocin perhaps.
No not oxytocin, I am an expert on that hormone, it takes over and takes 4 years to be expunged the system, It is called the love hormone, and has nothing to do with a mother and son relationship.
I'm sorry for what you went through as a child. It damages the soul and makes it very hard to break free from the deep, personal injury. Thank you for doing your best to rise above it all. It's so hard coping with family violence, and Ronnie didn't deserve that kind of violence just like little kids and women don't. It's heartbreaking to know that so many are suffering, some with no way out.
Thank you for your service 🙏
Curious. Why do you think my soul was damaged as a child, was yours?
Actually I had a great childhood, and did not want to grow up. You see living in a project, with a mother that acted out, yet managed to teach me to stand up for myself, to be responsible, to care about others, Was a blessing.
My childhood enabled me to apply lessons learned to life, though I lived in what most would consider poverty, as a child, I now, at 85, live a comfortable and secure life, and overcame many obstacles, without harming anyone to get here.
Believe me my soul wasn't damaged, but I did learn the most valuable lessons one can. I was gifted.
Of course not all who were abused as kids grow into violent and/or self-harming adults. But it is definitely a major contributing factor for so many men being assaultive toward women.
Maybe J Nol. I would need to see stats on that. In the meanwhile I lay the blame on the culture. a patriarchal culture that stretches back thousands of years, a culture which demeans women, considers them little more than breed animals, domestic servants and nannies and sexual relief objects.
Now if you need to find some psychological and nurturing reason that is another issue, but none of this mistreatment of women and children is new or can be blamed on upbringing and trauma.
Culture is transmitted first by family to the next generations. Then gets reinforced by the larger society. So growing up in a family that demeans women, and over values men is often the first lesson children learn and again is reinforced by the messages conveyed by the larger society. It isn't until recently that we've even understood that children need something different from adults, so that gender based cruelty toward children has been part of the human landscape since forever. This is gets transmitted through the generations. Patriarchal culture exists because there's a two way interaction between what happens in the family and the messages conveyed by the larger society. You can't have one without the other. Many people still believe that they "own" their children and have the right to do close to whatever they want with them. Children being quite impressionable are often easy to convince that the adults around them are correct in their views of the world. It takes someone pretty exceptional to first see how they've been abused and misled, and then to break away from that.
Not to make light of any of this, but you have written about the Reptilian brain, yes? So, live-bearing fish and many reptiles eat their young. Caring for the newborn offspring evolved with Mammalia. There may be some flaws in the system yet.
God bless you, William Farrar. You are a hero. Thank you. Buddhists say it's karma that made you strong and enduringly loving at the same time. ('course, karma works both ways: do good, get good. Do bad, get bad! What did we "do" to get Trump? Maybe it will change and we'll get Harris.)
I am not one to believe in Karma or anything, but there might be something to it. I am 85 and have had 1st least six, that I know of, brushes with death. I survive and four of my team have there names inscribed on the wall in the Sep 67 area. Diagnosed with lung and brain cancer in Oct 2017, and still trucking. I still do the physical chores that my wife, 14 years my Junior, can't do without injuring herself or causing pain (fibromyalgia)
If Karma did work both ways, Trump would be in prison or six feet under.
Hitler survived long enough to take out over 26 million people, Pol Pot met Karma only after slaughtering half of the country. If there is Karma, why does it come after millions of people are slaughtered.
Jenghis Khan, perhaps the greatest mass murder of all time, died peacefully in bed.
Proponents of the law of karma, who claim that for every action in the moral sphere, there’s an equal and opposite reaction, also tend to believe in the theory of reincarnation, which conveniently postpones the equal and opposite reaction to the (wait for it) next lifetime. This is scheme dreamed up by PT Barnum.
Be healthy, William!
My
Mother a J1 had a grandmother that was French American who was married to a German American. They were born about 1880. However neither was a Bass. My mother’s father was Ashley Stevenson Bass.
You only have mitochindrial DNA, your DNA comes down via the maternal line.
They discovered the skeleton of Richard III, under a parking lot, which had been built over the Grey Friars Chapel, in which Richard III was buried. The Chapel was pulled down by Henry VIII
They extracted both YDNA and mtDNA from his bones, They were able to trace his mtDNA via his grandmother to a man in Ohio, but his YDNA was a surprise, the only living males with Plantagenet, but the problem is that the YDNA of the living Plantagenets is different from Richards, Either they are descended from Bastards or Richard III was,
William, btw I’ve been driving Honda CRVs since 1999. The first one was a stick shift that I drove 20 years! Then I got another one.
Always!
Great breakdown and sad review of the supreme court justices and where we stand today.
Thank you for this. The U.S. Still has to sign on to CEDAW. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, is an international
legal instrument that requires countries to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas and promoteswomen’s equal rights. CEDAW is often described as the international bill of rights for women. The United Na-tions adopted CEDAW on 18 December 1979. As of 2016, 189 countries have ratified CEDAW and the U.S. has never ratified it. It’s arguably the only industrialized democracy in the world that has yet to ratify CEDAW . The U.S. Joins Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga and Nauru who have not ratified CEDAW.
This is really shameful. We need to do better as a country
Alot better!
Mary Rose Kacorowski, nor has the Equal Rights Amendment which passed in 1972. It has still not been officially added to the Constitution.
M Tree, not enough states ratified the ERA within the original time frame. That was waived by an act of Congress, and more states passed the ERA; the last one was VA in 2020. But it's never been formally adopted because of how long it took to get it done.
As with so many things, it's up to Congress. And we all know how helpful that is. 🙄
Jan C, yes, it's been a way, way too long process. A meandering road that goes on forever. Maybe a D trifecta (Pres, H & S.) can actually get it done.
Yep, M Tree, a trifecta is the only way imo. And I'm not sure that's not asking for too much at the moment.
Damn. Stuff like this is so embarrassing.
What about the fact that multiple times the US has refused to pass the Equal Rights Act?
Excellent piece as I recall that Senate hearing well as I listened to it live. Anita Hill convinced me through her testimony she told the truth.
This post is an excellent recap of the history of members the Supreme Court and our 45 president. Very timely as well. Thank for sharing.
Thanks for a great article, Robert. You are a treasure of history and knowledge.
Unfortunately, American women are still subjected to misogyny every day. But at least Anita Hill has been vindicated. Joe Biden, being the good Catholic that he is, has sought redemption by nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, selecting Kamala Harris as his Vice President and supporting her run for President. I was outraged when Ginni Thomas left a message on Anita Hill's voicemail on the 30th anniversary of Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court nomination, demanding that Ms Hill APOLOGIZE for telling the truth about Clarence Thomas. The FBI verified the call but of course, Thomas suffered no consequences. As she has suffered no consequence for threatening Supreme Court law clerks, speaking out publicly in favor of the 1/6/21 attack ofnthe US Capitol and most recently, opposing Supreme Court reform. In a country where republicans want to strip women of their autonomy, it's unacceptable that conservative Supreme Court wives (re: Samuel Alito's wife Martha Bumgardner's upside down American flag) can demonstrate political bias yet their husbands won't recuse from the applicable court cases. If any of the non-conservative judges did the same, the MSM and the GOP would be demanding their heads.
SOOOO TRUE!💩💩💩💙💙💙💙 Question? What would happen to a woman needing a credit card if she has no living male relatives to sign for her like in my mother's day?
Add 4 more to the court.
Biden didn’t have the balls to even consider it. Just look at the power he was given by the recent Supreme Court decision he will never use it.
You haven't heard his most recent major speech, have you? BTW - the President cannot do it unilaterally. Congress has to pass a law changing the number of SCOTUS justices. Then POTUS can sign it.
“Long Dong Silver” That’s the name I think of whenever Clarence Thomas is mentioned, his alter-ego in the porn movie he wanted to watch with Anita Hill. He was a cad then and ever since. Obviously bought and paid for and as greedy as any of the $$Goons who plunk his strings. SCOTUS members can be impeached when they can’t be humiliated out of office. Voting Blue, up and down the ballot would be the first necessary step in such an impeachment and, all by itself, is justification for a Blue tsunami and I wish everybody would get on board.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, (D-NY), has filed impeachment papers in Congress against Clarence and Alito. Please consider writing her to encourage her to ramp it up.
He is an embarrassment to the bench! VOTE BLUE 🗳
Are Thomas and Alito hen-pecked?
I remember that! 😵💫 That title/phrase hung around a long time.
Thank you Robert for remembering this historic legislation......younger women need to be reminded of where Women's Rights have come from and what still has not improved. It may seem on the surface that women are more "free" but its is an advertising illusion.......Society still has their boot on our necks especially concerning Women's Rights to their own bodies.....the abortion issue not only is affecting those women of child bearing years, but all women as we are losing Ob/Gyns . Older women as well as young women need healthcare offered by these individuals. March of Dimes has published a map that shows Women Health Care Deserts where there are limited access! I wish Kamala would bring this up because this is a covert attack on All Women's Health Rights.....
Prof. Reich, I really enjoyed reading this. At the age of 64, I just completed a Masters in Law at UCLA. Surviving the Socratic Method at my age, especially as a long-time and quite confident healthcare professional, it was more than intimidating. The final exams were crazy! (Scientists are not used to wordsmithed hypotheticals.) I can imagine that at Yale, it was REALLY intimidating. So interesting about Justice Thomas never being the one to raise his hand. Not surprising. Equally not surprising that Hillary was prepared and spoke eloquently. I hope that these facts will help wake up some of the younger women who need to be aware of the progress women made that has been slowly (and now more rapidly) eroded.
I salute you! I've considered going back to school for my masters in Library and information sciences. I'm 66 and been out of college for 45 years. I'm not sure I'm up to it.
You can do this! Keep in mind the experience and knowledge that you have to offer.
Be brave, Linda, do it. I remember an interview of a woman bowling champion in her eighties. The interviewer asked, How long have you been doing this? She said, "Oh, about 20 years."
We only have one life, Linda! Make your dream a reality !
Look in the mirror and be proud of the woman looking back at you...you CAN make your dream come true !🤗
You're up to it!! You are limitless in what you can achieve for yourself. If you have the desire, go for it! If it's not for you, after trying, that's fine too, at least you tried it out and you'll still have learned something new to enrich your life and those around you. ☺️💕
I'd recently read about an 80 year old woman who just graduated from medical school!! It had been a dream of hers, so she just did it. 😉
Congratulations!🥳
Congratulations on your law degree--and at age 64, wow!
Congratulations 🎉👏. Well done! I always detested the Socratic method. 🤬. Lol
Not to be discounted is the swelling rage that underpins the collective feminine psyche as these injustices reverberate barely beneath the surface crust of the civil society upon which we walk with assumed impunity.
Right! We have to consciously keep the fury under control.
Kim S, Why?
Women have felt the brunt of men's anger since the beginning of time. Weaker men find the necessity to dominant whoever they can and in the end, women are the ones that suffer, due to their lack of physical prowess. Abusing women is a sickness and the men who regress to that level are little more than animals. We are better than that and so are they.
Donald, there were many, many cultures in pre-history where women were in charge. The male dominance didn't come into world culture much until the concept of Yahweh, a jealous god who insisted that pagans (female-centered and powered cultures) be destroyed, was introduced. This was around 1800 BC. Sophisticated cultures governed by women existed before them. There's a scholarly book on this history called When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone.
The early Christians--all of them Jews-- treated women as equal to males. Then priests took over. They are still in power.
Give me a little credit, won't you? I am good at my work!
Animals, actually, have far more integrity than many humans I've encountered in my life. 😉
The thing is Donald is that actually we are all animals, men and women, and part of the natural world. With luck we may become more civilised over time and over the generations. But as has been pointed out each of us only have a limited lifespan. This is why history and education is so important for our children and young adults to impress on them that civil society is work in progress and that we must not go backwards ❓
One of your best articles, Robert. Thank you.
Every one of Robert’s articles are GREAT! He is a wonder and treasure!
Hope Robert keeps it going . . .