I Have One Question for the Republican members of Congress who have sworn an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
Since becoming a member of Congress have you taken the Q-anon oath?(WWG1WGA)
Because it sure seems like you have. It reminds me of Jonestown. An American cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. You remember that one don’t you? Over 900 people perished, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, under his leadership!
The Only difference is, this shepherd’s name is Donald John Trump! Seems you will do anything he tells you to do like bringing on an Impeachment Inquiry against President Biden without a sniff of evidence! Or when you protect people in your party who you know are anti democratic.
Doesn’t it bother you when you go on Faux News
or other legacy media outlets and completely humiliate yourself in front of the public with outrageous lies that are easily fact checked? Or how about the lies you tell about the leading nominee of your party for president who is nothing more than a charismatic bully ?
Hey, it’s your Legacy!
Remember this little narcissistic outburst, “I know more than the generals.“ Or when he said, “I could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hrs. “ Just a couple of the ridiculous things that he has boasted.
The same guy who said: “I ALONE CAN FIX IT”
What part of “ALONE” don’t you understand?
He believes that he doesn’t need your help or anyone else’s, and when you come right down to it, really doesn’t want your help. He’s playing all of you like a fiddle! He wants an Autocratic government, period!! As long as you are completely loyal and smother him with compliments you will survive for the short term. That is what is called, living on the edge!
Or is it that you have sold your soul to the billionaires club to a point where you will turn against your own country? Your party can’t even elect a Speaker of the House worthy of the position!
Obviously, I agree with what you say!! But I have to take exception at the description of 45 as a "charismatic bully". Let's call him what he (indeed most Autocratic Controlling Rulers) is: A spoiled rotten entitled four year old brat who screams for his second scoup of ice cream, throws his catsup bottle in anger, demands to play his favorite games only, and lies to cover every wrong thing he does and -- like the evil, controlling kid in the Twilight Zone episode -- wants to wish anyone who disagrees with his "brilliant commands" or shows the slightest intelligence, into the corn field -- inviting his "friends" in capital letters to punish them for daring to question him (even to encouraging assassination & murder. Sad when it is a four year old brat -- frightening and dangerous when it is a 77 year old brat. And when others follow and believe him!
I’ve often thought of that episode,it was actually frightening in a way no outer space monster could be. The kid had great power but was petulant,impulsive, and vindictive =authoritarian
Dan, I suspect showing what authoritarianism is really like was the point. It was written not too long after WWII and in the aftermath of the Red scare in this country. Joe McCarthy was certainly a toddler with far too much power and, of course the media supported him just as our media supports Trump and Kump under some self-lying that they are being "balanced." We all know they are not, but just keep letting them go at it as though that is acceptable under the "freedom of the press" component of the first amendment. It isn't. It is the media's personal, financial choice. I can't understand why our media wants to bow and scrape to a toddler like Trump. He has proven he is not as wealthy as he claimed all along and he is certainly not a lover of the media and will never be unless they kiss his ass regularly. I guess Trump's oligarchy of supporters provide the funds to keep the media in the playground with Baby Donnie. That is disgusting!
Ruth Sheets : The media like Tfg because they can make money off of his extreme behavior, and shocking worldview. They like the trillions in tax breaks that the rich enjoyed during his term. Media is owned by the very wealthy. They can control the message without the old guardrails. Media ownership is doubly profitable these days because of that reality. Private ownership helps them elude responsibility much more easily now
Laurie, you are right about our current media, but it does not have to remain that way. We need to think of ways to, if necessary, shame the media into doing the right thing. Maybe publicly on other media call out their blatant money-grubbing, maybe make a public contest to see who will claim they are more fair in presenting the news and stopping the Trump insanity. Call their ridiculous support for a toddler-man for the childish behavior it is. Maybe the various media won't want to be seen as pathetic children trying only to catch a buck. Maybe we could talk more about e honorable journalists of the past like Ida Wells Barnet and Edward R. Murrow, and there are many more. Maybe we could get President Biden to positively acknowledge journalists who have done really good work and who have not succumbed to Trump and Kump insanity. Maybe, give a Congressional Medal to news sources that do present the news fairly. There are some, particularly on a local level. The "New York Times" lately has been slanting their headlines even when their story may be mostly fair. That is disgusting, and not what one should expect of a prominent news source. Positive change could happen, but not without a lot of work on the part of We the People.
Ruth Sheets : To me it is simple. Media either inform us truthfully about what is happening now and refrain from both sides ism, and stop giving Trump a megaphone, or admit that they do not support Democracy and the rule of law.
Ruth : Yes, it's time for media to be held to account. Which side are you on? Democracy or fascism? Looking pretty clear now, the differences in the two. And we have three fascists who are making trouble in our worlds. We are in a 'cold ' war with one, (Putin) helping the victims of the second one (that would be Bibi). and dealing with our former 'president' . All are costing us plenty!
Valerie, yes there are a lot of $5 contributions by struggling white moms, but that is not where the bulk of the money is coming from. There are a lot of rich white men and corporations (also run by white men) who are using Trump for their personal and corporate benefit. The 2017 tax giveaway to the very rich was orchestrated by those very people and corporations while claiming the tax cut was for everyone; it wasn't. Then Republicans now cry there isn't enough money to pay for the programs that help struggling families, the ones who are making their pitiful donations to Trump. They will find a way to blame Democrats if those cuts do go through (which I hope they won't). That's how Republicans roll these days. They claim they are for the working people while they rob the working people blind and fill their stressed-out brains with lies, half-truths, and ignorance through Fox et al. How do we help those folks? I honestly don't know because I have heard some of those folks interviewed and they can't even hold a civil conversation about their choices and why they support the candidates they do beyond something like "they stand for what I stand for" and of course they can't name one thing they stand for, possibly because racism, homo/transphobia, and misogyny would make them sound like horrible people and they don't want to sound like horrible people. They just want to act like horrible people. Ugh!
Yes, it's like they think that because tRump has sharpened the point of their anger to a fine point and now they think they have a voice. Even worse, they think tRump will do something for them when the reality is that once democracy goes away, it's hard to get back. tRump did little in office other than watch FOX and passed a permanent generous tax break to the wealthy (himself, too, of course). Yes, the rest of us got a sl. tax break but it was over in 5 years. How much did I get? A little over a100 bucks. Paid for 2 small bags of groceries. One time. Then I had to go back to food banks. Why? I get too much in disability to get SNAP. Not that I'm complaining. I know others who are worse off. The key here? The Republicans don't care if you end up on the street if they don't pass a budget. They'll still go home and celebrate the holidays with their families and wealthy friends while others will celebrate sleeping on a sidewalk somewhere, maybe with an empty stomach and hoping not to freeze to death. And some will be children. But the Republicans don't care and haven't for a long time. And aren't planning to anytime soon.
I’m pretty sure the vast majority of Trump support DOES come from the oligarch class. The $5 small potatoes support is just a ploy to create the illusion for Mom and Pop that they’ve “invested” in something, and now must support it no matter what.
It’s the political version of the “sunk cost fallacy“ in economics.
and JUST LIKE mccarthey, when Bunkerboy goes to the part of hell where he's force-fed 130,000 berders every HOUR, I imagine he will quickly disappear from the public's mind. ('Muricans have a 60 second memory at BEST.)
Pat, thanks for that summary. I have been referring to Trump as a toddler-man for a few years now. I am glad you also noticed. When one has been around toddlers for a while as I have you can see the potential bully, the potential autocrat, but also the deep friend, the caring soul. Unless kids are guided, some can remain the totally self-centered bully toddlers all their lives and all of us suffer for it. Why adults would choose to follow or even vote for a toddler, I don't know, yet some do over and over, then have to double down on their decision claiming it is the right thing for everyone. They must know somewhere within themselves this makes no sense, like the fact that Trump did nothing in 4 years in office to help anyone but rich white men and corporations while blaming everyone but his incompetence for that lack of success. So, what did he actually do, give a huge tax break to the very rich while claiming it was for everyone. He put kids in cages for the audacity of escaping horrors with their parents. He screwed with our relations with allies, and despite Trump having no idea about honest alliances, everyone needs allies, not lackies. His followers no longer even listen to him. They hear his particular tone of voice and can tell when he is saying something they might like to hear, but I suspect when they do listen, they immediately shut him off because none of what he is saying makes sense. He does include just enough hatred and insults to satisfy most of them. He rambles and whines with little substance. Yet, he is the front-runner for the Republican Party in the Presidential race, going neck and neck with Biden who actually has done a lot to improve conditions in this country, to a great extent for those Trump supporters who no longer notice anything but their incapable leader. Their brainwashing, zombification is nearly complete.
You are spot on. When you read Trump's speeches, it appears that he has a disorder called, "loose association" which is a symptom of schizophrenia. He is emotionally a toddler.
Many of your comments echo what I wrote back in 2016, particularly the part about Jonestown (I was a young teen at the time). I still remember the cover of TIME magazine that showed the cult deaths. As for these MAGA Republicans’ oath to uphold the Constitution, they lied. Let’s not forget the recent admission from Mitt Romney, who warned last month that, “A very large portion of my party really doesn't believe in the Constitution.” We have been watching their efforts to unravel it for several years now. After all, an wannabe authoritarian leader would obviously see such a guiding document as a “roadblock.” I am scared! We have more than one narcissist among us. Donald Trump would burn this country to the ground as the sacrificial lamb if he doesn’t get his way. He has told and showed us who he is, saying all the bigoted, racist, misogynist “quiet parts” out loud.
Couldn't agree more. Sadly, I was watching an old episode of "All in the Family" last evening which was produced in 1973 (in the middle of Watergate). Archie's refusal to accept facts, the truth, and believe only what he wanted to believe reminded me of where we are today with the nation today. We have even regressed since 1973 in accepting lies as truth due to technology advances (internet).
The 'Archie' character always was wonderful in showing us all exactly how foolish the people who are represented by him are. And we all instantly relate to him as he is that neighbor, that classmate, that crazy uncle. I often wonder if they ever recognize Archie as themselves !!! The only thing to be said is we all sometimes label other people in clearly defined buckets that we love to hate, so it's a constant task to try to be fair in assessing them rather than do the very same labeling that they do all the time ! I personally do battle with my own disgust of Islam as a belief system for it's highly controlling, narrow minded ways, and of course that gets confirmed in my brain by the recent events, even tho my educated brain knows it is not fair to label millions of humans with the sins of a few ! Brain behave yourself - nevertheless if it comes down to signing a petition to keep those wailing loudspeakers out of my town - I will do that, I hate that noise & I do not wish to allow the expansion of said religion as a precaution against too much power slipping into the 'wrong' direction. OK yes I'm anti-Islam, but my feelings have a long history - I'm 83 now - when I was 16 (1956) my father returned from 2 years working in Kuwait; he sat me down & gave me a big lecture on staying away from ME males - only years later did I understand the reasons for his worries - London, where I grew up, was getting increasingly populated by ME immigrants, and he was scared for his daughter because he had learned, by working alongside their culture, of their males' attitudes to non-Muslim females - hence my lifelong 'danger' feelings about Islam !
And the authors were wise enough to recognize that there are people like Gym Jordan and Donald Trump, and therefore they put safeguards into the Constitution to make it more difficult for these people to achieve their evil ends. By the way, I really enjoy your biting comments in this forum!
It’s not taught in our schools, but the founding fathers wouldn’t have written in the constitution if it hadn’t been for the Iroquois nation.
The Iroquois were treated like dirt for their trouble, still, we owe them everything.
It’s not mentioned in our schools, but the founding fathers fought about whether or not to include women in the constitution. The issue of slavery was fought over. There were honorable men. There were men with Vision. And there were scoundrels. Just like today.
Richard, you are right that they are nearly all men. Maybe we need a drug that can help silence some of the male aggressiveness and toddler tendencies. That would be a blessing. Maybe it will have to be fed-up women who will have to do the research. We could slip it into their food or drink. Every time they try to insult someone or call for a war, their brain would block the words or something like that. Then, maybe we need another drug to help people stop listening to adult toddlers. It's worth looking into it because our planet is in trouble and we can no longer indulge the insane men who think they have a right to destroy whole countries as in Ukraine and Israel and overturn a Constitution as in this country.
Well of course we ladies often muse on those concepts - would we be better off if we organized automatic castration of the large majority of males, but just kept a few 'choice' specimens for reproduction & our pleasure ? Think of the advantages of millions of docile workers, without the constant threat because of their damned testosterone ! I enjoy the concept, but not much chance of such happening & no doubt too many females would fight each other over making the 'choice' males their personal one ! There actually are a few societies where the males are subservient to the females even to this day - a study of how that works might be very interesting - and also how did it get started in the first place - what might we learn from them ????
Maybe I am a foolish optimist, but Putin, Bibi, and Trump are old men and will soon be dead (and mostly forgotten). The world will continue as before, with most people being interested in making love, going to birthday parties, and having fun with family and friends. To me, the only thing to be truly afraid of is climate change damaging the Earth since the Earth is the only place we have to live. But we are making halting progress on solving this problem!
I wish I had that optimism. It may be made difficult for us regular people to have fun and live a great life under an autocratic regime. Some parts of the world will definitely carry on, but I feel that we are on a downward spiral here - plenty of T like followers to carry on.
There is a passive form of warfare that society finds quite agreeable. Sitting at a table across from your opponent mentally preparing yourself for a good game of Chess. This form of combat is far more desirable than its alternative. However, the thinking part of the encounter carries similar reference points to that of the real thing. What happened in Israel the other day was truly a tragedy history will never forget. Aside from the horrible loss of human life and the unspeakable level of depravity, the members of Hamas showed the world without hesitation how subhuman they really are. That is the obvious, but back to the chessboard. These fighters, being the harbingers of death that they were, had to understand that their actions would warrant a violent response from Israel. What prompted the attack? The event took a great deal of planning, this was no spur-of-the-moment attack on a neighboring country with which they have issues. Knowing what Israel would do to Gaza is a move they had to anticipate. Why did the attack take place? In chess, you have to plan your attack and at the same time figure out what your opponent is planning by annalizing his moves. What was the plan that precipitated the attack? They did what they did for a reason, other than the obvious, what was their intent past the inhuman carnage that left such a terrible taste in the free world's mouth? In chess, your opponent never makes one move without contemplating his next. The action taken by Hamas is drawing our military to the area, two carriers, and their support groups. This could have been anticipated but to what end? Never underestimate your opponent.
Split the enemies attention (the enemy in this case being NATO/US ans Isreal. Those Hamas missiles will need to be analyzed to see where they came from. Hamas certainly didnt buils them all themselves. Iran/Russia can get better use out of their missiles by sending some to Hamas (instead of attacking mkre civilians in Ukraine) and getting us to stand down F-16s to Ukraine because we "need" the armaments for the fighters on the aircraft carriers near isreal. Support for Ukraine is effectivey dead in the House of Representatives due to the wack job majority. It seems like we will be executive ordering our way into 2024 if we are to continue to fight this cold waresque battle. That may be all Putin needs to achieve a stalement in Ukraine.
Bill--Iran and Russia both benefit from what is transpiring in Gaza. Our own government can't agree on what to do with the military problems occurring in that part of the world. The attack on Israel only adds to the sense of confusion. They are fighting for their existence while we bicker over semantics.
Taking a bunch of folks who have suffered under inequality for years and turning them a force that wants to tear down government is what Putin does. We have seen it in the states and the palestinians are ripe for foreign government influence. The ghetto they live in, or should I say armed prison, lead to that. It feels like Putin is winning at times. What gives me comfort is that all these groups there and here are still fighting. Which means he hasnt won. Once these groups stop trying to take everything over is when I know that the government is fully under their control.
I can't help but think that maybe this was a way to get attention away from Ukraine and that war. I just don't understand the purpose. Was it maybe to cause NATO and the US to have to also send aid to Israel and in their thinking would deplete NATO and the US resources quicker? I don't know but your point about this taking planning makes me wonder if they already know their next move. It is very scary.
Peggy--Putin is well aware of the dissention in our government over the continued funding for the war in Ukraine. Short sighted people like Jordan, Greene and a host of others are opening the door for Putin to find other ways to fight that war. Russia and Iran had a heavy hand in orchestration of the Hamas attack on Israel. A so called second front would further weaken the American resolve which at present is wavering. I'm very concerned with the presents of the two carries groups being sent to the area. Warfare is an ever changing enterprise. With the advancements in the area of weaponology, even the slightest of adversaries gives cause for concern with what is out that they can hurt us with. Those boats carry only things that can go boom. I hope we park those carriers a long way out of the reach of any land based missile system that the bad guys might have access to. Remembering all the while how Russia boasted about their new high speed torpedoes. What a blow it would be to our military if we were to suffer the loss of those two carriers. Never underestimate your opponent.
That head been EXACTLY the same thinking I've been doing, as well, Peggy!!
I agree with you & Bill about them Knowing the next chess move. Any one who's ever played chess knows -- plan your move 3 times less than your opponent's next move.
At least that is the way my Father taught me - with an awesome chess set he made himself!! Black pieces were of Julius Caesar & his family/friends & army. White pieces were of Marcus Agrippa & his family/friends & army!!
(My mom was a Latin/English teacher for 31 years, lol.) I now have the chess set he made and it's a prized possession of mine.
My Dad died in 2002 and I miss him every day. I was there son he never had, lol. Tomboy just didn't cut it for me🤣 He taught me how to fix cars, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc!!
That knowledge has saved me & my family bunches of money over all these years!!
It has happened because Palestinians living in Palestine have been driven off their farms/groves/homes... forced to live in a walled enclave, subject to Permit to Travel controls, have had homes bulldozed, suffer 60% unemployment, have difficulty in obtaining a Passport to travel out of Israel , are effectively Stateless people and over the past 30 off years have seen a huge flourishing of Internationally Illegal “Settlements” on land they have lived on long before the country of Israel was artificially created after WWII. In the “ Occupied” West Bank, 220,000 Palestinians are subject to laws, restrictions etc designed to “ protect” about 700 Jewish “Settlers”. They live under what are basically conditions of Apartheid.
There are about equal numbers of innocent civilians along with soldiers/militants on both sides since the horrors of Saturday last.
75 odd years of not accomodating “all the people” who have deep roots living in that smallish strip of arid land at the East end of The Mediterranean Sea has created a boiling pot of destruction, death, hurt, inequality, intercultural lack of respect, suspicion and paranoia.
Arabs in Gaza now have no power, dwindling food & water supplies & are being killed by rocket strikes just as much as Israeli Jewish citizens are being similarly affected; only that Hamas has over last days given warnings apparently, permitting civilian Israelis to evacuate ahead of stated timelines for attacks.
The Palestinian Arabs have not so many places to evacuate to and are now effectively enduring the deprivation of “a siege”.
The land was originally Israel. Then it was the ottoman empire. Then it was the British empire. Then it was Israel again.
After World War II, Jewish people were given an incredibly small slice of the land by the British government and they were happy with that. Extremists in Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria were not. They wanted to finish what Hitler started.
Israel proposed a two state solution. The Palestinian people went for that, but the extremists said no.
The extremist wanted the eradication of all Jewish people, every Jewish person on the planet dead. They wanted that then, and they want that now.
A great many Palestinian people, were rounded up by the Jordanians and put into refugee camps in Jordan.
The Palestinian people have not been assisted in anyway by any of the surrounding Muslim countries, because they are considered infidels.
Should for some reason all Jewish people magically leave the land, it would not be returned to the Palestinian people. They would most likely be sent to live in Jordan, to the refugee camps.
It would probably, the land would, end up in the hands of Putin. That is why Europe and the United States are working so hard to make sure Israel does not fall.
The best minds in the world have been trying to figure out how to get the extremists to go for a two state solution since World War II, but the extremists want all Jewish people dead. You can’t negotiate peace with people who simply want you dead.
Every time, Hamas attacks, Israel people jump on line and overlook the fact that the best minds in the world have been working to solve this problem since World War II, and believe that they, with the help of a meme they have read, have figured it out.
The Palestinians were promised and denied a homeland on multiple occasions all the way back to the Ottoman Empire. Colonialists have meddled in their affairs and now hold them hostage , 2 million people living in a space no bigger than DC times 2 with access controlled by Egypt to two (only) exits without any opportunity for self determination, much less emigration. Half the population is less than 25 years old. They are FORCED to depend on others for every human need down to power, food, humanitarian assistance. There are at least three religions forced to exist in close company whether they wish or not; Christians, Muslims, Arabs. I suspect they feel like sardines stacked in cans, homes with little if any comfort. The terrorist group arose from these innocents but can you not see their grievances? They finally had all they could tolerate and the situation exploded; likely with again outside actors pushing for violence. Think Putin, Iran, Trump and his shared secrets, China, Egypt and of course autocratic in fact Bebe. Let’s don’t forget the involvement of our own bad actors arising in the USA. We have enough blame to go around many ways and for Millenia not just a year or two. This was coming for thousands of years.
I venture to say that in the beginning of the history of the area now called Israel there were always at least 2 groups of humans living there in small farms & villages - the area was sparsely populated because it was always semi-desert, hence not much in the way of fighting for space. At some point in the more recent past the Jewish diaspora of many millions - spread out over the world because of multi occasions of ethnic persecution & attempts to find some toe hold to live - decided that their original ancient homeland of Judah was where they wanted to build a new home. So many migrated slowly back to that place & started building a whole new existence. What happened was a real blooming in ideas, inventions, creativity etc which led to what we see today as the hugely successful place called Israel. Those Arabs who lived around this newly developing place began to see what could be done with a semi-desert place they had been scrabbling in for a living, and wanted to do that too - hence the big new claims of 'our' lands from that diaspora of humans and a fight to get back what they say was taken from them. Trying to be fair to all of the warring tribes means we need to go back & try to make 2 countries out of this area in order to keep both sides 'happy'. Of course the development of Israel to what it is now was helped by large amounts of wealth pouring in from other Jews & supportive countries - but since those who now claim some developed places as 'theirs' did not contribute much to said development, we have a quandary !!!
You have a very valid point. The history is complex, and trying to make sense of it is a fool’s errand. Call me the fool. I surely don’t have enough facts to make valid assumptions EXCEPT the quality of education I received about this region was non-existent; don’t understand why. Have always admired the Jewish people and their seemingly superior intelligence. Their suffering as a result of the Holocaust was well known but not their search for a homeland in my limited experience. If I misspoke, forgive please.
Palestinians are Arabs. They have a homeland. Actually, they have several. They could have had one more in 1947, but the local Arab leaders chose war. They had another legit opportunity in the 90s when Israel had more liberal leadership and they still refused.
Although Hamas was voted in to lead Gaza, the people voted for the Hamas that gave money to and built schools and hospitals. Not to mention giving Israel the middle finger. The only thing the Gazans received that they wanted was the middle finger, albeit more to themselves than to Israel. They got a totalitarian terroristic government that was more interested in their own wealth, power and guns then they were in supporting their people and helping them succeed.
Many in the Middle East are resigned to the fact that those with the biggest guns lead. Unfortunately, whether it is the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hamas in Gaza, this resignation plays a major role in why their living standards are so poor.
In conclusion, Israel and the West are not the major impediments to improving living standards. The Gazans, Lebanese and Afghans are doing most of this on their own. Israel will get rid of Hamas. It will be up to the Gazans to decide their future.
Islam the religion behind their behavior has bred the 2 types of humans we see today - the quiet, docile people who simply let their Islamic leaders tell them what to do & how to behave, and the militants, for whom that book explains all the means to getting non-Muslims to either conform & convert or be killed. Not too much to be said for either variation of this system ! Even their actual intellectuals & thinkers are always in jeopardy because any hint of rebellion against those 2 flavors is considered a danger to Islam & sometimes they face death. Nice society !
The Republicans are so good at jerrymandering maybe they could redraw the borders that separated these countries and find a fair division of the territory in dispute.
Once again, I think the timing of events is fishy, particularly with the House kabuki. I could easily suspect a Moscow/Tehran/Hamas - and perhaps Яepuблиkan - connection calculated to divert attention and material support from Ukraine more than a serious attempt at support for the Palestinians.
Putin and Iran would love to see us get embroiled in an effort to support Israel in a war in the Middle-East. They see that possibility as a plus with respect to their efforts in Ukraine.
Timothy Snyder pointed out how terrorists use the suffering of their own people which comes as blowback from terrorist acts to gain support for themselves. Israel retaliates against Hamas by destroying Gaza, more Palestinians will side with Hamas.
Carol--That is precisely their plan. In fact they would love to have the entire Muslim world join in and destroy Israel. If Israel over does the punishment of Hamas in Gaza that is a distinct possibility.
There is no reason the Democratic members cannot ask the questions on Keith's behalf.
When Gym Jordan and Herr Scalise were asked whether they accept that Biden was freely elected on Tuesday, they refused to answer. Every member of the media, everyone with a cell phone should dog them for the truth.
Yes, and our media should be reporting this. The 2 persons in line for the Speaker position refused to acknowledge Biden as our legitimate POTUS. This should be in print every single day.
Victoria Wilson ; This should be a bold face headline. Those who will not accept Biden's win and legitimacy are obviously part of the ongoing coup attempt. They are disqualified for the seats they now hold and should be dismissed! And jailed! At minimum, for treason!
I am serious. We have a dangerous problem with people misrepresenting themselves and then wanting to destroy our institutions. We have to do something. The people in Congress are working for US. WE are paying their nearly $200,000/year checks. They need to be held accountable.
Amendment 14, Section 3 of the Constitution says that any government official who has broken his oath of office shall be expelled unless 2/3 of the members of Congress vote against expulsion. So it's automatic. It doesn't specify who will be doing the removal, but doesn't Congress have something like a Sergeant at Arms?
I wouldn't be surprised. Can't have anyone to enforce congressional rules, can we? Certainly those who constantly break the law like Republicans do don't want that.
Keith, excellent. It would be great if your note could appear on the desk of every single Republican in Congress, particularly those in the House. I bet many wouldn't read it (maybe couldn't) but maybe one or two might be called back to doing the right thing. Nah! They are too comfortable believing Trump cares about them. Heck, he can't even remember them. He has a bunch of names left in his head, but can't really match them with anything except whether they might be loyal to himself rather than to our Constitution as Jordan, McCarthy, Greene, Boebart, and probably Scalise are. I just can't believe there isn't one single Republican House member who has the integrity to serve as Speaker, one a lot of Republicans and at least most Democrats would support. If there is no one, then truly, the Republican Party is bankrupt and needs to go away in favor of something new that is willing to serve this nation and its people, not just itself.
Ruth Sheets : This small group in Congress has already begun shutting our government down. Why they are getting away with it is that when they removed the symbolic Sergeant in arms, they showed what they think of the rule of law. And got away with it then. They should never have been allowed to vote against President Biden's certification on Jan 6th. And keep their seats. We are not far from being Israel if this ongoing coup is successful as it seems to be unfolding. The traitors must be purged from government : courts and all!
Keith, it seems when we are in a crisis like this, when a child-man from Alabama, who has no experience in government, and whose only claim to fame was being an OK coach can hold up military promotions, we need a different means of getting those promotions through. Perhaps, as Commander in Chief, President Biden needs to make those promotions in reality until the child-man Tupperville is properly instructed on how to behave in government by McConnell. Oh wait, McConnell is reveling in this malfunction and I am sure, behind closed doors is congratulating Tuppy for his stunt. If McConnell were a real leader, a decent leader, he would have shut Tupperville down on day one of his crazy stunt. Our nation does not have to keep bowing to Trump and Kump insanity, but we seem to do it all the time. When McCarthy took 15 votes, wasted days and had to sell his soul to get the Speakership, and no Republicans could bring themselves to just vote for Jeffries to get things started, I knew the Republican Party would do nothing to help anyone in this country but themselves and their rich white friends. I keep being proven right about this and am extremely sad and distressed by this. President Biden must make the promotions, even if he has to call them temporary. They will be real if everyone acts as though they are. Stop playing in the Trump toddler playground. Those in there with him are not good people.
Yes,he is doing a helluva job sabotaging our national security right now.There has got to be a way to get around him and circumvent what he is now doing.It doesn’t seem to matter to him that military persons are speaking out against this and are telling him that his actions are undermining our national security and making us less safe.
Victoria: My guess is that it does matter to him: increased leverage. The more he an put our country at risk, the more he feels his power. Sad, and reprehensible.
If someone wants to present this to those Congressional Republicans they have our permission. Thanks to Mr. Reich for giving me somewhere to share my thoughts.
Keith, I sure do wish I had access. I would be happy to decorate Republican House desks with it. I just can't believe there is not a decent person among Republicans in the House, one who actually cares about this nation and getting positive things done to help the people here and around the world. The sad thing is that maybe in reality, to be a Republican, one must leave one's soul elsewhere or sell it.
Don't forget the horrible things he says about his own followers! I really hate to see this worshipping at the feet of that man but obviously if you want to be a republican then that is what you must do!
Very well written Mr. Olson and absolutely concur with all you have written. I cannot fathom why these people are sending money to a supposed billionaire to help him with his legal fees. And he doesn't really even like them. They are all willingly drinking the Jim Jones Kool-aid. Wish someone could help it make sense as It's incomprehensive to me.
Trump is the leader of a movement to destroy America.
Gaetz is his main lieutenant in the House.
McCarthy's sin was not that he worked with the Democrats to keep the country running but simply that he facilitated keeping the country running -- contravening the obvious if not overtly stated goal of ending the American democratic process.
The Repubs in the House could readily elect a Speaker -- if that was the goal. It isn't. The goal is to shatter and shutter the government so the self-selected few can glom the spoils.
That the brat pack imagines that if they do succeed in coronating the malevolent toddler they will share the bounty rather enduring the same fate as Michael Cohen, Allen Weisselberg, the Pillow Guy, Rudy Guiliani -- the list is long, I needn't go on -- is among the pities here.
A thought: perhaps trump gave classified documents to Putin that held Israeli military secrets about its weaknesses.
Putin could’ve given that info to Iran, and Iran to Hamas. Putin’s goal: to create chaos in the Middle East, distract the USA from Ukraine, diminish US support for Ukraine, etc.
In addition, I have wondered if Hamas also was able to purchase access to US classified documents. How many of those documents illegally held by Trump were scanned before they were returned to secure locations? Who was working at each Trump location, and who had access? Probably anyone cleaning at night?
Is there not one decent Republican that can be Speaker of the House, or do they have to look at the Democratic party for someone ethical, honest, and intelligent?
ANYTIME you put the Middle East in historical context, you will INEVITABLY be labeled as anti-Semitic and a supporter of terrorism. NO ONE wants to face the atrocities BOTH SIDES have perpetuated forEVER!
My contention is that Israeli ground troops will be considered an INVASION and the dominos will start to fall - Hamas HAS to be bringing this ON PURPOSE!!! Force the World to pick sides and move the conflict to the NEXT LEVEL... TRULY SCARY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please correct me if I am wrong sir. I believe the Palestinians were isolated, or as you say " oppressed" in order to set limits on suicide bombing. That is not oppression is it?
Thank you Nancy. I am so confused about Israel vs Palestine. I thought Netanyahu was an autocrat and I do not like autocrats. The 'terrorists' in Palestine were oppressed? By who? Who was trying to limit suicide bombers? It is very hard to understand what has happened and why. I am doing my research but it is still confusing!
Thanks! I tend to get lost because I can't figure out who started what fight and after that fight another began. It gets very confusing! A friend told me to quit wasting my time because the middle east has been fighting since before Jesus and would always fight. That doesn't sound right to me so I will continue to read and research until I get to some sort of understanding!
I read a book called The Haj many years ago and came away from it thinking they will never understand each other. I should read it again and see how the decades have changed my view of their conflict. Maybe not at all.
When settlers pour cement down a well and the Israeli military supports the settlers no matter what, thats oppression. Israel took land/property at the start of the nation. That created terrorism.
“The point is this: Whether named Netanyahu, Trump, or Putin, when authoritarian leaders gain power by dividing the public, spreading baseless conspiracy theories, and accusing opponents of being “deep state” traitors, they weaken a society’s capacities to protect itself from all sorts of threats. “---Robert Reich
This is what authoritarian, fascist populists do. They turn democracies into authoritarian kakistocracies. Gone is the administrative state, replaced with incompetent and corrupt sycophants.
Israel is experiencing the consequences of such an authoritarian kleptocrat. America got a taste during COVID.
It’s China’s fault. It’s a Kong Fu Flu. It’s a democratic hoax. Masks are the devil. Drink bleach. Fire and hang all the scientists, etc....
Yet, 1.5 million Americans died. More than 500k died, who could have survived, but refused the vaccines.
Bottom line: thank god Trump isn’t president now, because authoritarian kleptocrats are unprepared to lead in crisis, and do more damage than good. If Trump were president today, we’d probably be at war.
Yet, half of Americans think Trump is stronger on National Defense than Biden, and is he going to become the next republican nominee for president.
My only question is, when will Americans learn their lesson and wake up? Because no one could be this stupid; or could they?
The MAGA TUMP fanatics that live all around me are that STUPID. I have never witnessed such stupidity in all of my 68 years. I was told they even have big pictures of TUMP hanging on the walls of their big white church on the hill just up the road from me. There is no doubt that they even pray to him instead of their God because TUMP really is their God and savior.
You are exactly right. I actually quoted this to my immediate family the other day about this. Most of my other relatives outside of my immediate family are beholden to their bloated orange God, Donald TUMP. Pathetic !!
...I've lost friendships because of it. In some cases it was not just closed mindedness, but a few even kept trying to (unsuccessfully) actually "convert" me. It has gone beyond being a fringe cult, and taking on the trappings of an established religion that has its own "disciples" and "priests" who will literally damn you to whatever fate they see fit if you don't "repent and accept the narcissistic grifter into your life".
I have some relatives that haven't said a word to me in over 3 years, all because of TUMP. They think the JAN 6 insurrectionists didn't do a thing wrong that horrible day. My brother's wife said President Biden should be shot. I never want that woman near me ever again. Even her oldest son hates her and never visits her.
Makes you wonder what memo they got. Or maybe something they came to the party with that only needed an anointed one to get them going. Some basic need.
Oh my! That is a horrible picture to say the least! I simply cannot believe that a church would allow that! Well, to be honest, in this day and time, I can believe it based on what a lot of so-called Christians have been saying and doing. It isn't in the name of Christ though. It is in the name of their idol, Trump.
If you lived in an area like us, you would believe any horrible thing could be perpetrated by the so-called christians. They are completely taken over by the kool- ade and cannot receive any truths or proofs. It's like they're blind. They have been completely gullible about him, but now cannot bear to think they were wrong, so they deflect that thought in favor of comforting their delicate egos and carrying on - with him as their god. They are unable to perceive all the outrageous things he has spoken and perpetrated. It feels as if their minds have been taken over and they aren't even in control anymore, but they don't realize this of course. It is a terribly frightening thing to witness. These people are scary, (they are in a huge majority here), and they just do not know what they are actually doing. I am so afraid.
Nancy, don't be afraid. I, too, live in a sea of red! My friends who are republicans understand that I will not discuss politics with them because it would be like beating a dead horse. No good will come of it. Also, I read and listen to others that tend to be living in the real world. I have found that when I begin to feel overwhelmed and frightened, I turn it all off! I walk with my dog to the park, go out with friends to lunch, spend time on my hobbies. When the fear has subsided, I go back and face it again. These are such troubling times we are living in! We cannot let it guide us into hiding in fear! That is what these chaos mongers want! Just like in Putin's Russia where the people have had the boots on their necks for soooooo long! Stay strong, spend time with your loved ones and do not let the fear win!!!
You are sweet, thank you. Yes, I do these things. I am elderly and isolated/surrounded in a world of completely rabid red fools. I can't go out to lunch with them, they're crazy and snarling all the time. Everywhere and anywhere I go, all I hear is the Rump parrots, (even to the grocery store,) they are loud and intimidating and so confident in their incomprehension, that they don't even question themselves if a person might not agree with them, they just take that for granted. I do the other things you've suggested, though. I have no hope that things will ever turn around to being rational here, though. This is Red MAGA Redneckville. Maybe a couple of generations down the line if truth wins, but I will never see it. The current kids are already indoctrinated. I'm not arguing with you, I'm just stating my experience which seems a bit different from yours, as you can still go out to lunch with friends, etc. I'm happy that you can still do that. But I cannot bear to hear their insane, malignant propaganda, it never stops; they can't talk of anything else, it's like they're zombies & not in control of their own minds anymore. Thanks for listening.
Adolf Hitler used the very same methods in the early and middle 1930s to suck people into his deluded agenda. Look what it got them, DEATH and destruction, losing their homes with no where to go.. But, there is no convincing these idiot MAGAs that bad things happen in Dictatorships. Propaganda to the extreme.
My daughter shared a video clip of one of these TUMP wingnuts actually praying to TUMP to keep him safe like in a bedtime prayer. This nut had a 5X7 framed portrait of TUMP beside his bed. These wackos are obsessed with that creep.
That gives me the creeps too. i can't stand to see him on the many documentaries i watch. Sometimes i will fast forward when they show him to avoid seeing him. Even when i hear someone use the expression, ''Trump Card'' i say to myself, '' i don't ever want to hear disgusting word ''Trump'' in my presence again. Believe it or not, i had a nightmare about TUMP in which someone invited him to my house, and i told that person to, ''get that SOB out of my house immediately. and don't you dare pull a stunt like this again'' I woke up wondering what the heck is wrong with my mind?? That is a disgrace to me...
Hi Jaime, did you get my response to your previous comment questioning whether I was the same Janet you know? Lol. That was an awkward way to put it, but I explained that I had to close my previous account and open a new one because I appeared to have been hacked.
Apparently the same just happened to Marlo, who's been commenting here a fair amount lately. And you might remember it happened even to Robert Reich a couple months ago.
These are the risks we take to be online. Glad we reconnected. Yes, I remember when Robert Reich had some lunatic posting a comment like, “give me a call and we can talk about this” and then adding a phone number. This also happened on Dan Rather’s Substack site earlier in the year. There are so many weirdos out there who get their kicks through this sort of nonsense.
The IQ Curve peaks at about 99?🤔 that leaves 50% of the American population possibly suffering from a poor education, poor critical thinking skills etc, etc & then a bunch of narcissists on the right hand side of the curve who see huge potential to manipulate many on the left hand side of the curve, to the benefit of themselves. DT being the most unconscionable of those. 😡
No, much as I have my reservations about "the blessed Margaret" (Norman St John-Stevas, I think), whatever one thinks about her, she was a democratic politician of genuine substance and I think integrity, certainly compared to more than one (actually, more than two) post 2010 British Prime Ministers. P.s. much as I have some (increasingly reducing) sympathy with the Palestinian cause, the barbarism by Hamas over this last week must I feel be condemned without any reservation whatsoever. What I find even more sickening is that there are official Palestinian spokesmen out there on the media justifying such atrocity on the basis of that Palestinian cause, including the taking of hostages, and even of using those hostages to further that cause. I can't believe that earlier Palestinian spokesmen of the substance of, for example, Hanan Ashrawi would be having anything to do with this monstrosity. Sorry, but I just felt I needed to say that. No, No, No I say, as would (and did, albeit in very different circumstances), MT.
Ugh! I knew there was some awful woman like that. She was never a leader per se, but she was an influencer, unfortunately, more post-mortem than while alive.
Yep, if Margaret Thatcher is the worst female leader you can come up with, & it is easy to come up with scores of men who are/were worse than her, you know it's time to let a lot more women lead.
Good idea in theory, PS. But I shudder at the thought of returning to my man cave of a house after two years and walking into a smelly pigsty with two years worth of laundry, alligators in the toilet and a mountain of dishes in sink!
Hahahahaha - a female government will subsidize mandatory education for them to learn home economics, child care methods , anger management , emotional labor. , safe driving etc
Fine, but who's gonna watch the kids while Mr. Mom is getting re-habbed? Maybe teachers, nannies and housekeepers should be subsidized to be paid what they are truly worth!
Sorry, but I disagree completely. This sort of statement is what is causing the young men in our country to doubt themselves, that in turn leads them to resort of guns in the false illusion that somehow proves their manhood. Give the good men, Joe Biden and Robert Reich, etc. a break and be specific rather than using the useless broad brush strokes.
As they should , for the sake of the lack of self awareness of said men which is an epidemic. The two years would allow them to self care, introspection, Address the root cause with therapy to not doubt themselves over stupid comments.
Don’t worry , the women will take care of all their decisions about what they can do with weapons, with their bodies, pay scale, promotions etc.
As a Jewish American, I am tired of people whose first response to anyone who disagrees with them about Israel, is to call them antisemitic. I believe Netanyahu is a corrupt, incompetent, undemocratic leader who is responsible for the oppression and killing of Palestinians. That doesn't make me anti-semitic. I don't like Trump either, but that doesn't make me anti-American. U.S. support and aid to any country should be conditional. I oppose Biden's ironclad, unconditional support of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other countries that violate human rights. I will listen to arguments from anyone who disagrees with me, but I won't be swayed by name-calling.
Too much whataboutism. Netayahu is a putz, but Gaza was not occupied territory and no Israeli government has ever indiscriminally tried to enact a final solution on "Palestinians."
Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to the elimination of Israel and dedicated to the death of everyone named Ginsberg.
And you comment Nancy to Betty seems you have no insight. 2 disgusting men.
Netanyahu is no different from Trump.
The only reason he hangs onto power (Netanyahu) is because he has court cases against him. I might remind you also that before all this happened the Israeli's were in the street protesting against Netanyahu.
Would it also be wrong to say that Netanyahu's insisting on new settlements after so many have been made in defiance of old agreements is also antisemitic? Is a two state solution antisemitic? Is questioning anything antisemitic? Nobody can say that what has happened is not absolutely horrible. But Gaza has been an open prison of the worst kind that has been festering for a very long time. What is the solution? This atrocity is the elephant in the room.
Im not suggesting that Israel not be supported. Biden is right to help Israel! We need also to look at our own 'House"! There are traitors within who are already hampering governance and our security!
Not completely responsible, but potentially partly responsible in the way Bush may have been partly responsible for 9/11. Was it ignorance, negligence, passive complicity or active complicity? In neither case have we enough solid evidence to know for sure.
Agree, Betty except that power mad autocrats don't give a fig about history or the future for that matter. Being and staying in power now is all that matters.
people forget that Israel has treated Oalestnians in Gaza very nearly like Hitler treated Jews not gassed them but not far off since its creation.Another mess the western powers created and have failed to hold Israel to account but instead even today are doubling down to support Israel. There is little difference between Western powers and Russia!
We say it is wrong for Putin to try and grab land and dominate the Ukrainians yet we are happy to support Israel for doing the the same to palestinians!!
You can oppress people so far that they have nothing left to lose!
It is not Jews who are responsible for what Israel's treatment of palestinians but the Zionists and the failure of the Western powers failure to hold Israel to account!
Israel should be sanctioned and treated like North Korea.
By no means do I condone what Hamas has done but can understand why.
That’s a pretty simplistic summary of the Israel/Palestinian Question!
First off, when Palestine was partitioned into two states, Israel was attacked by every Arab nation, which would continue up until the Yom Kippur War.
In 1967, Israel gained East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria and all of Sina from Egypt. That’s when the occupation started.
Since then, both sides have dug their heels in and became more extreme. The Oslo Accords offered hope of a two state solution, but was ultimately rejected by Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. We can debate the reasons, but a deal was on the table.
Additional skirmishes broke out with the Palestinian Intifada; Palestinians dragging and mutilating Israeli soldiers and innocents through the streets of the West Bank.
Since then, right-wing parties in Israel have gained more power and used it to suppress Palestinian rights. I agree, the policies are draconian and most Israeli’s and American Jews don’t support the settlements in the West Bank.
That said, Hamas was given self determination and rule over Gaza, yet, decided to attack every few years. They use extremely brutal measures, as we are hearing about with its recent attacks and massacres.
Brutal force will always be met with additional brutal force. Hamas is committed to Israel’s demise, and if they succeed, what would come next? Peace for the region with Israel gone?
No, you’ll see a power vacuum. Hamas would start a civil war with the PA. Egypt would support the PA, since Hamas is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, while Hezbollah would support Hamas. Jordan has 2 million Palestinian refugees living in their borders and could try to reclaim East Jerusalem. Syria, would want the Golan Heights back. And the power vacuum with Israel gone, would make Palestine ripe for a terrorist takeover with Al Qaeda and ISIS invading from Syria.
Then you have the money men. Iran sides with Hezbollah and Hamas, The Saudi’s and other gulf states stand with Jordan and Egypt, but finance Al Qaeda on the side to eradicate Hezbollah, Hamas and ISIS. Not to mention, the entire region goes nuclear.
Following so far, because life only gets worse for all the Palestinian people. And with Israel gone, how many western nations will want to get involved.
If you think the Palestinians are living in a dystopian future now, you haven’t seen anything yet. Just look at Syria and Iraq. Two battle hardened wastelands!
Loved your logic, accurate history and conceptualizations of what’s in store for the region. My one thought on all of this is that no country that cannot divorce itself from religious control van prevail. Theocracy will not work for any government long term. Just look at the divide between Shia and Sunnis and even the lowly Alawites! Theocracies with different sects, all believing that they are the true and only correct sect, are bound to fail!
And the likes of theocrats in Our government are just as dangerous as any religious zealot of ANY religion in the Middle East.
Boebert of Colorado actually said in June, “Church Should Direct Government”. She recently got thrown out of a Denver production of Beetlejuice for vaping, being loud & disruptive, and yes; behaving with her male date like they were in the backseat of a car not in an upscale public theater!
(There IS film and she’s behaving like she speaks and “governs” - BADLY.)
Separation Of Church and State is not “junk” as she espoused politics in a Colorado Springs church not too long ago. A woman with the morals of an alley cat in heat is Not someone who should be 1) in Congress and 2) someone allowed to speak in a church!
Separation of Church & State Is Foundational to keeping America from turning into an authoritarian, populist, corrupt state- like the very impressive Taliban, Shia, Sunni, Zionist, Muslim powder kegs exploding in various parts of the world.
Just WHO gets to decide which religion should be in charge?
The United Nations, who also gave land to the Palestinians. After the Jewish empire was destroyed by the Roman’s, and most Israelites were enslaved and sent to Rome to build their monuments, Palestinians fell under several rulers. The Romans, The Ottoman’s and finally the British.
So perhaps the better question is who gave the land to the Palestinians? They may have lived there, but they were only renters!
The United Nations and almost every existing nation on earth, except the Arab nations, voted for the Jewish State, including Iran. And they were also in favor of a separate Palestinian state which never existed prior to the UN mandate.
FYI: ask yourself who partitioned the entire Middle East into its existing map today? Not one of those Arab nations existed prior to the end of WW1, including modern day Egypt. One could argue Iran existed, but it was known as Persia, and ruled by the Ottomans since the 1,500’s.
Many, if not most, of the Jews in Israel come from Europe. Europe was where so many Jews were slaughtered. Europeans (especially Germans) slaughtered them. It should've been a location in Europe where Jews were given their own autonomous homeland. I say give them Kaliningrad, formerly part of East Prussia (German territory), now an exclave of Russia.
But we’re not taking it to the final degree. Just the post-WW1 realignment of the world and the Ottoman Empire.
If we go further, everyone could make a claim on lands appropriated. For example, the Native American’s in the new world. It depends how far back you want to go....:)
Fair enough, but how? The Gaza Strip doesn’t connect to the West Bank. Right now, they are helpless and have no exit opportunities m. And Hamas rules with an iron fist in Gaza.
Theoretically, I don’t disagree, but it’s impossible right now and the PA is also very corrupt. Mahmoud Abbas is 80 and holds little sway on the younger, restless population. So far, little leadership has emerged within their ranks.
No. Many of the "Palestinains" in my home town are Maronites and Malekites who faced discrimination by Moslems and voted with their feet. They self identify as Arabs, not Palestinian. The lawyer who brought most of them got foundation money, even brought cases in Israeli courts to get them compensation, if they had a deed or an equivalent for land in Israel.
When Hamas took control of Gaza they intimidated, even liqudated the Christians and the Palestinian Authority.
In my home town, Arab American judges, a former supertendant of schools, etc. I'm certain all oppose Hamas, even if they like me, resent Likud,
Hamas was given lots of aid but used it to fund suicide bombers, munitions rather than economic develoment.
I worry and fear we'll learn after the fact that some strategic plan or capability will be defeated because ESG (Extremely Stable Genius) sold it to someone for personal gain. That would be treason. What dis ESG say about traitors?
Well, this savage attack on Israel by Hamas was very likely because of Israeli intelligence given by Trump to Lavrov & Kislyak in their 2017 visit to the Oval Office.
Israeli intelligence -> US intelligence -> Trump -> Russia -> Iran -> Hamas
I assume that that was by no means the only valuable top secret information given or sold by Trump to Russia, Saudi Arabia & many other countries we don't want having such information.
We are getting to the entropy phase of human civilization. The worst attributes have festered in many key leaders, with greed, hatred, and callousness rising to the fore. Yet as the American population explodes, the generation coming soon to voting age will not be blind to these dangerous flaws. Between facing our climate challenges, valuing individuality, and pushing back against wealth inequality, those rising now have the energy, intellect, and interconnectedness to turn back #RepubloFascism here and despots elsewhere.
There will always be more of us than than the haters, cheats, and dullards. Bluster has had its run, and the grownups - as in the woke youth - are not going to stand for today’s GOP any longer. All the way up and down the ballot in 2024, Democrats will make gains that won’t be turned back for a generation.
We’ll get things done. Doubters will no longer have traction. The MAGA anomaly will soon be purged, mark my words.
...only if the means to rig and discourage participation in elections like voter suppression, intimidation, misinformation, gerrymandering, and the influence of big/dark money are eliminated from the process.
The minority party has even admitted that stand little chance in a fair and free election which is why they keep undermining the process. What they have been doing violates the basic constitutional right of all Americans and needs to be dealt with. However as long as they have any sort of power, the chances of full election and campaign financing reform will be like free climbing El Capitan while wearing oven mitts and high heels.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Who said that? True, for all Emperors and Chancellors, Prime Ministers and Presidents. Always has been, always will be, when we do nothing.
Absurd comment as democracy prevails everywhere in the Free world and most elected leaders accept the motion of a self denying ordinance namely a pact with the electorate not to overstep the powers granted to them by the people.There are indeed outliers such as Russia,Hungary and even Israel where the current PM used electoral chicanery to avoid imprisonment for corruption but truth can and does prevail even in China where the authorities occasionally bow to public opinion and mitigate the harshness of one party rule.If we all give up on the least worst form of rule which is Democracy then the Orwellian nightmare has arrived.
Your reply is of course welcome, but the post about power is germane to the original Stack. And the point is that we must be eternally vigilant to keep our democracy . As Benjamin Franklin said when asked whether America was a monarchy or a republic, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
...however the danger from the far right is prevalent as in Hungary and previously Brazil, as we saw the other week occur in Slovakia, and continued to make inroads in France, Italy, Spain, and even Sweden.
Democracy is under an ever increasing threat from authoritarians, not just here in the States. True this nation is a republic, but it operates on the principles of democracy. When those disappear we become an autocracy masquerading as a republic. Keep in mind the "Р" in "CCCР" stood for "Республика" (Republic) while we all know how autocratic their government really was.
Talking about misnamed countries, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is far from what we conceive as a republic, is as far from being Democratic as you can get, & is a place where ordinary people have absolutely no power. Likewise the official names of China & East Germany are far from accurate.
Here's a must-read from Thom Hartmann, titled, "Did Hamas Somehow Get Inside Information About Israel’s Defenses from a Trump Leak?"
From the article:
“Donald Trump’s sharing of alleged classified intelligence to Russian officials in the White House has come under scrutiny amid a large-scale attack by the Hamas Islamist military group against Israel."
"Trump ‘revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.’”
“I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day.” ~Donald J Trump
Truly frightening. It appears that just information providing clues on the types of signal intelligence led to the use of alternative communication means and the lack of warning to the Israelis. Old Soviets of course knew this and held conversations outdoors by noisy places like water features to avoid listening by the authorities. Connect the dots. . .
IDK.How can we know. We are on the outside looking in. Truly the intelligence failures need explaining. Doesn't mean this is the right explanation. There are an infinite number of explanations, some just as good.
I will dare to say something dangerous here. I fully agree that Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, Modi, Erdogan, and a number of others are all self-obsessed populist leaders with no real concern for their own people let alone those in other countries. (The real point always comes after the but - so I will try not to use it!) At the same time each rose in a historical context that included a lot of power concentration, double-dealing, othering (creating enemies out of ethnicities, gender differences, skin color, language, or religion) for no justifiable reason. Our own CIA, supposedly an information gathering agency, has participated in coups, "nation building" for multinational corporations, and general skullduggery to keep the US in a dominant global position since the end of WWII. We are not innocent in any of the wars happening right now. Hamas has no justification for its violence. Israel has none either when you take this long term perspective. Populists never take a long term perspective, therefore populists like the above only work to secure and enhance their own power. The oppressed in such a situation will bite back. That is what we are seeing now. No one wins in these conflicts. Good politics will work to end the violence without using violence lest the whole world end up "blind and toothless". In the end, I fear, throwing weapons to participants in these conflagrations only makes the situation worse. Our failure was allowing the conditions that lead to these conflicts to persist in the first place.
We now desperately need a vetting committee as part of each state’s election board, made up of six citizens savvy to human character who will grill each applicant before they can be allowed to run. See “Assessing the Character of Candidates for National Political Office” on Amazon.
We will need savvy thinking to defray the intense pressure to politicize the process at every turn. I don’t pretend this will be easy or quick. Right now we need to keep learning about the criteria for the qualification -- even more robust than new immigrants complete to become citizens.
Indeed so. Most voters know that the party leaders or presidents they back are venal but tgey extend tolerance for these faults in exchange for tangible promises. Are current leaders more venal or actually more stupid than in previous ages or is it simply that we know a lot more about their vices and weaknesses from the Internet? Would FDR have managed in this modern age to disguise his infirmity for so long or Churchill his raging alcoholism? We don't have a perfect method for stopping scum from rising to the surface of modern democracy, only the disinfectant of transparency when their bad faith dealings become manifest to all.The era of the professional politician arrived some time ago and demanding a 'respectable' route of public service first before gaining leadership in politics now seems unrealistic.
I like this idea. There was another post a while back where someone suggested that public office should be like jurors doing jury duty. All Americans would serve and there would be no pay so these ultra rich couldn't pay for what they wanted. It was quite impressive the way it was laid out and showed that to be more in line with "of the people, by the people, and for the people".
I think that as lovely as that idea is, that ordinary citizens could take turns running our governing bodies, it fails to take into account that the world is a complicated and dangerous place and we need professional politicians with education, experience, and good judgment making those decisions. Compare Nancy Pelosi’s leadership with the current crop of Republicans vying for the Speaker position. Since Trump became president (with help from Putin and Comey), people seem to have the idea that just anyone can run for any political office with very limited education and experience, but we’ve seen how that turned out.
I know you are right, Jody. I just wish there was some way to get all of this money that is flowing into politicians pockets done away with! This rich people that are buying politicians left and right are trashing our country!!! Yes, politicians should be well educated especially on the Constitution and the history of the United States. They should know the names of the countries of the world and where they are located! Speaker Pelosi is the best example of what politicians need to strive for. She is excellent. I suppose I am saying that there needs to be accountability in politics. When these people do and say things that are the opposite of our Democracy, they need to be removed without question. They either uphold the oath of office or they get out!!
Gee I don't know. Why don't we have people off the street run corporations for a day, or substitute for brain surgeons. Hey it could work. Let's try it.
The farther away you are from a problem the easier it is to fix.
Comparing the butchery of humans in Israel/Gaza to similar actions against American schoolchildren by US gunman, I'm left with little else other than sorrow. Yichh.
The sitch in Palestine is not dissimilar to that of Native Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries; what's happening is consequently no surprise.
Many of us wonder if the hostilities can ever be solved by the parties involved in Israel. Decades have passed. For now, for many of us, hope is all we have. Closer to home, many wonder why neither the Democrats or the Republicans are willing to somehow lock themselves away and resolve the issues at hand, again, many of us can only keep hope alive as seemingly little or none of what is posted in forums like this reach the ears, hearts, and minds of the legislative branch we’re dependent on to actually run a functioning government of some degree of efficiency and effectiveness. Legislators like Mr. Scalise should not be entertained with becoming the third in line to the commander in Chief if he cannot differentiate between what did and did not happen with the 2020 vote. Trying to win the backing of other election deniers is a non-starter to Democrats so in the meanwhile many of us must put up with this charade until when? Scalise, Jordan, and McCarthy, like other election denying losers (based on all the factual certified evidence provided by official committees), are just wasting the time of many of us wondering if our own future will ever be free of such nonsense. In agreement with today’s message, many of us wonder what our own country’s home-based extremist underbelly is up to while the legislative branch flounders. Thanks, RR for today’s warnings.
I Have One Question for the Republican members of Congress who have sworn an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
Since becoming a member of Congress have you taken the Q-anon oath?(WWG1WGA)
Because it sure seems like you have. It reminds me of Jonestown. An American cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. You remember that one don’t you? Over 900 people perished, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, under his leadership!
The Only difference is, this shepherd’s name is Donald John Trump! Seems you will do anything he tells you to do like bringing on an Impeachment Inquiry against President Biden without a sniff of evidence! Or when you protect people in your party who you know are anti democratic.
Doesn’t it bother you when you go on Faux News
or other legacy media outlets and completely humiliate yourself in front of the public with outrageous lies that are easily fact checked? Or how about the lies you tell about the leading nominee of your party for president who is nothing more than a charismatic bully ?
Hey, it’s your Legacy!
Remember this little narcissistic outburst, “I know more than the generals.“ Or when he said, “I could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hrs. “ Just a couple of the ridiculous things that he has boasted.
The same guy who said: “I ALONE CAN FIX IT”
What part of “ALONE” don’t you understand?
He believes that he doesn’t need your help or anyone else’s, and when you come right down to it, really doesn’t want your help. He’s playing all of you like a fiddle! He wants an Autocratic government, period!! As long as you are completely loyal and smother him with compliments you will survive for the short term. That is what is called, living on the edge!
Or is it that you have sold your soul to the billionaires club to a point where you will turn against your own country? Your party can’t even elect a Speaker of the House worthy of the position!
Obviously, I agree with what you say!! But I have to take exception at the description of 45 as a "charismatic bully". Let's call him what he (indeed most Autocratic Controlling Rulers) is: A spoiled rotten entitled four year old brat who screams for his second scoup of ice cream, throws his catsup bottle in anger, demands to play his favorite games only, and lies to cover every wrong thing he does and -- like the evil, controlling kid in the Twilight Zone episode -- wants to wish anyone who disagrees with his "brilliant commands" or shows the slightest intelligence, into the corn field -- inviting his "friends" in capital letters to punish them for daring to question him (even to encouraging assassination & murder. Sad when it is a four year old brat -- frightening and dangerous when it is a 77 year old brat. And when others follow and believe him!
I’ve often thought of that episode,it was actually frightening in a way no outer space monster could be. The kid had great power but was petulant,impulsive, and vindictive =authoritarian
Dan, I suspect showing what authoritarianism is really like was the point. It was written not too long after WWII and in the aftermath of the Red scare in this country. Joe McCarthy was certainly a toddler with far too much power and, of course the media supported him just as our media supports Trump and Kump under some self-lying that they are being "balanced." We all know they are not, but just keep letting them go at it as though that is acceptable under the "freedom of the press" component of the first amendment. It isn't. It is the media's personal, financial choice. I can't understand why our media wants to bow and scrape to a toddler like Trump. He has proven he is not as wealthy as he claimed all along and he is certainly not a lover of the media and will never be unless they kiss his ass regularly. I guess Trump's oligarchy of supporters provide the funds to keep the media in the playground with Baby Donnie. That is disgusting!
Ruth Sheets : The media like Tfg because they can make money off of his extreme behavior, and shocking worldview. They like the trillions in tax breaks that the rich enjoyed during his term. Media is owned by the very wealthy. They can control the message without the old guardrails. Media ownership is doubly profitable these days because of that reality. Private ownership helps them elude responsibility much more easily now
Laurie, you are right about our current media, but it does not have to remain that way. We need to think of ways to, if necessary, shame the media into doing the right thing. Maybe publicly on other media call out their blatant money-grubbing, maybe make a public contest to see who will claim they are more fair in presenting the news and stopping the Trump insanity. Call their ridiculous support for a toddler-man for the childish behavior it is. Maybe the various media won't want to be seen as pathetic children trying only to catch a buck. Maybe we could talk more about e honorable journalists of the past like Ida Wells Barnet and Edward R. Murrow, and there are many more. Maybe we could get President Biden to positively acknowledge journalists who have done really good work and who have not succumbed to Trump and Kump insanity. Maybe, give a Congressional Medal to news sources that do present the news fairly. There are some, particularly on a local level. The "New York Times" lately has been slanting their headlines even when their story may be mostly fair. That is disgusting, and not what one should expect of a prominent news source. Positive change could happen, but not without a lot of work on the part of We the People.
Ruth Sheets : To me it is simple. Media either inform us truthfully about what is happening now and refrain from both sides ism, and stop giving Trump a megaphone, or admit that they do not support Democracy and the rule of law.
Ruth : Yes, it's time for media to be held to account. Which side are you on? Democracy or fascism? Looking pretty clear now, the differences in the two. And we have three fascists who are making trouble in our worlds. We are in a 'cold ' war with one, (Putin) helping the victims of the second one (that would be Bibi). and dealing with our former 'president' . All are costing us plenty!
Sadly, it's not the oligarchy supporters but the mom and pop's that send in their $5 for support of 45. :(
Valerie, yes there are a lot of $5 contributions by struggling white moms, but that is not where the bulk of the money is coming from. There are a lot of rich white men and corporations (also run by white men) who are using Trump for their personal and corporate benefit. The 2017 tax giveaway to the very rich was orchestrated by those very people and corporations while claiming the tax cut was for everyone; it wasn't. Then Republicans now cry there isn't enough money to pay for the programs that help struggling families, the ones who are making their pitiful donations to Trump. They will find a way to blame Democrats if those cuts do go through (which I hope they won't). That's how Republicans roll these days. They claim they are for the working people while they rob the working people blind and fill their stressed-out brains with lies, half-truths, and ignorance through Fox et al. How do we help those folks? I honestly don't know because I have heard some of those folks interviewed and they can't even hold a civil conversation about their choices and why they support the candidates they do beyond something like "they stand for what I stand for" and of course they can't name one thing they stand for, possibly because racism, homo/transphobia, and misogyny would make them sound like horrible people and they don't want to sound like horrible people. They just want to act like horrible people. Ugh!
Yes, it's like they think that because tRump has sharpened the point of their anger to a fine point and now they think they have a voice. Even worse, they think tRump will do something for them when the reality is that once democracy goes away, it's hard to get back. tRump did little in office other than watch FOX and passed a permanent generous tax break to the wealthy (himself, too, of course). Yes, the rest of us got a sl. tax break but it was over in 5 years. How much did I get? A little over a100 bucks. Paid for 2 small bags of groceries. One time. Then I had to go back to food banks. Why? I get too much in disability to get SNAP. Not that I'm complaining. I know others who are worse off. The key here? The Republicans don't care if you end up on the street if they don't pass a budget. They'll still go home and celebrate the holidays with their families and wealthy friends while others will celebrate sleeping on a sidewalk somewhere, maybe with an empty stomach and hoping not to freeze to death. And some will be children. But the Republicans don't care and haven't for a long time. And aren't planning to anytime soon.
I’m pretty sure the vast majority of Trump support DOES come from the oligarch class. The $5 small potatoes support is just a ploy to create the illusion for Mom and Pop that they’ve “invested” in something, and now must support it no matter what.
It’s the political version of the “sunk cost fallacy“ in economics.
I realize the point,it had been well stated, he picked a perfect touchstone of our cultural heritage. That child personified in authoritarian’s.
and JUST LIKE mccarthey, when Bunkerboy goes to the part of hell where he's force-fed 130,000 berders every HOUR, I imagine he will quickly disappear from the public's mind. ('Muricans have a 60 second memory at BEST.)
I had totally forgotten that episode!!
Thanks for the (very very scary) reminder about that evil kid😱.
I agree with BOTH of you about that kid -- narcissistic, shameless, blameless(in his mind, anyway) and absolutely evil!!
Exactly like the horror 45 was.
...and still is.
wouldn't it be something if the thing to be most concerned about in the Manhattan Project was not the bomb technology, but computer technology.
Pat, thanks for that summary. I have been referring to Trump as a toddler-man for a few years now. I am glad you also noticed. When one has been around toddlers for a while as I have you can see the potential bully, the potential autocrat, but also the deep friend, the caring soul. Unless kids are guided, some can remain the totally self-centered bully toddlers all their lives and all of us suffer for it. Why adults would choose to follow or even vote for a toddler, I don't know, yet some do over and over, then have to double down on their decision claiming it is the right thing for everyone. They must know somewhere within themselves this makes no sense, like the fact that Trump did nothing in 4 years in office to help anyone but rich white men and corporations while blaming everyone but his incompetence for that lack of success. So, what did he actually do, give a huge tax break to the very rich while claiming it was for everyone. He put kids in cages for the audacity of escaping horrors with their parents. He screwed with our relations with allies, and despite Trump having no idea about honest alliances, everyone needs allies, not lackies. His followers no longer even listen to him. They hear his particular tone of voice and can tell when he is saying something they might like to hear, but I suspect when they do listen, they immediately shut him off because none of what he is saying makes sense. He does include just enough hatred and insults to satisfy most of them. He rambles and whines with little substance. Yet, he is the front-runner for the Republican Party in the Presidential race, going neck and neck with Biden who actually has done a lot to improve conditions in this country, to a great extent for those Trump supporters who no longer notice anything but their incapable leader. Their brainwashing, zombification is nearly complete.
You are spot on. When you read Trump's speeches, it appears that he has a disorder called, "loose association" which is a symptom of schizophrenia. He is emotionally a toddler.
45 is a case of arrested development, for sure.
He needs to be arrested NOW.
Diane- I like the humor of your comment 's linking to JennSH's comment.
If I don't laugh I will cry. But it's getting more and more difficult.
Someone needs to get that meme going. HE has nasty names for anyone who stands up to HIM!
And many of our representatives, remind me very much of "The Government of the ME people" in Rod Serling's "Carol for Another Christmas".
Excellently put! Only thing I would add is "demands to win his favorite games every time and has no problem cheating in order to do so."
Many of your comments echo what I wrote back in 2016, particularly the part about Jonestown (I was a young teen at the time). I still remember the cover of TIME magazine that showed the cult deaths. As for these MAGA Republicans’ oath to uphold the Constitution, they lied. Let’s not forget the recent admission from Mitt Romney, who warned last month that, “A very large portion of my party really doesn't believe in the Constitution.” We have been watching their efforts to unravel it for several years now. After all, an wannabe authoritarian leader would obviously see such a guiding document as a “roadblock.” I am scared! We have more than one narcissist among us. Donald Trump would burn this country to the ground as the sacrificial lamb if he doesn’t get his way. He has told and showed us who he is, saying all the bigoted, racist, misogynist “quiet parts” out loud.
Couldn't agree more. Sadly, I was watching an old episode of "All in the Family" last evening which was produced in 1973 (in the middle of Watergate). Archie's refusal to accept facts, the truth, and believe only what he wanted to believe reminded me of where we are today with the nation today. We have even regressed since 1973 in accepting lies as truth due to technology advances (internet).
The 'Archie' character always was wonderful in showing us all exactly how foolish the people who are represented by him are. And we all instantly relate to him as he is that neighbor, that classmate, that crazy uncle. I often wonder if they ever recognize Archie as themselves !!! The only thing to be said is we all sometimes label other people in clearly defined buckets that we love to hate, so it's a constant task to try to be fair in assessing them rather than do the very same labeling that they do all the time ! I personally do battle with my own disgust of Islam as a belief system for it's highly controlling, narrow minded ways, and of course that gets confirmed in my brain by the recent events, even tho my educated brain knows it is not fair to label millions of humans with the sins of a few ! Brain behave yourself - nevertheless if it comes down to signing a petition to keep those wailing loudspeakers out of my town - I will do that, I hate that noise & I do not wish to allow the expansion of said religion as a precaution against too much power slipping into the 'wrong' direction. OK yes I'm anti-Islam, but my feelings have a long history - I'm 83 now - when I was 16 (1956) my father returned from 2 years working in Kuwait; he sat me down & gave me a big lecture on staying away from ME males - only years later did I understand the reasons for his worries - London, where I grew up, was getting increasingly populated by ME immigrants, and he was scared for his daughter because he had learned, by working alongside their culture, of their males' attitudes to non-Muslim females - hence my lifelong 'danger' feelings about Islam !
The authors of our Constitution were not perfect but they were head and shoulders more patriotic than these members of Congress!
And the authors were wise enough to recognize that there are people like Gym Jordan and Donald Trump, and therefore they put safeguards into the Constitution to make it more difficult for these people to achieve their evil ends. By the way, I really enjoy your biting comments in this forum!
Except so many DO appear to be achieving or coming close to achieving those ends, in various levels of government.
It’s not taught in our schools, but the founding fathers wouldn’t have written in the constitution if it hadn’t been for the Iroquois nation.
The Iroquois were treated like dirt for their trouble, still, we owe them everything.
It’s not mentioned in our schools, but the founding fathers fought about whether or not to include women in the constitution. The issue of slavery was fought over. There were honorable men. There were men with Vision. And there were scoundrels. Just like today.
There was a far right even back then.
My fear is what the modern equivalent of the masacre will be.
I fear for the future of this world. Madmen driving Madmen to ever escalating horror.
Some say that Putin wants to end the world and all life on it. He appears to be making headway.
Richard, you are right that they are nearly all men. Maybe we need a drug that can help silence some of the male aggressiveness and toddler tendencies. That would be a blessing. Maybe it will have to be fed-up women who will have to do the research. We could slip it into their food or drink. Every time they try to insult someone or call for a war, their brain would block the words or something like that. Then, maybe we need another drug to help people stop listening to adult toddlers. It's worth looking into it because our planet is in trouble and we can no longer indulge the insane men who think they have a right to destroy whole countries as in Ukraine and Israel and overturn a Constitution as in this country.
I have advocated for subliminal deprogramming for our truth denying citizens. Put it on Fox.
Well of course we ladies often muse on those concepts - would we be better off if we organized automatic castration of the large majority of males, but just kept a few 'choice' specimens for reproduction & our pleasure ? Think of the advantages of millions of docile workers, without the constant threat because of their damned testosterone ! I enjoy the concept, but not much chance of such happening & no doubt too many females would fight each other over making the 'choice' males their personal one ! There actually are a few societies where the males are subservient to the females even to this day - a study of how that works might be very interesting - and also how did it get started in the first place - what might we learn from them ????
Maybe I am a foolish optimist, but Putin, Bibi, and Trump are old men and will soon be dead (and mostly forgotten). The world will continue as before, with most people being interested in making love, going to birthday parties, and having fun with family and friends. To me, the only thing to be truly afraid of is climate change damaging the Earth since the Earth is the only place we have to live. But we are making halting progress on solving this problem!
The world will continue without those old men, but it's what they've left of the world that we all will have to recover from .
Sadly the transformatin of the GOP into an extremist propaganda machine began before Trump.
I wish I had that optimism. It may be made difficult for us regular people to have fun and live a great life under an autocratic regime. Some parts of the world will definitely carry on, but I feel that we are on a downward spiral here - plenty of T like followers to carry on.
Concerned for a different reason--
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
2:26 AM (0 minutes ago)
There is a passive form of warfare that society finds quite agreeable. Sitting at a table across from your opponent mentally preparing yourself for a good game of Chess. This form of combat is far more desirable than its alternative. However, the thinking part of the encounter carries similar reference points to that of the real thing. What happened in Israel the other day was truly a tragedy history will never forget. Aside from the horrible loss of human life and the unspeakable level of depravity, the members of Hamas showed the world without hesitation how subhuman they really are. That is the obvious, but back to the chessboard. These fighters, being the harbingers of death that they were, had to understand that their actions would warrant a violent response from Israel. What prompted the attack? The event took a great deal of planning, this was no spur-of-the-moment attack on a neighboring country with which they have issues. Knowing what Israel would do to Gaza is a move they had to anticipate. Why did the attack take place? In chess, you have to plan your attack and at the same time figure out what your opponent is planning by annalizing his moves. What was the plan that precipitated the attack? They did what they did for a reason, other than the obvious, what was their intent past the inhuman carnage that left such a terrible taste in the free world's mouth? In chess, your opponent never makes one move without contemplating his next. The action taken by Hamas is drawing our military to the area, two carriers, and their support groups. This could have been anticipated but to what end? Never underestimate your opponent.
Split the enemies attention (the enemy in this case being NATO/US ans Isreal. Those Hamas missiles will need to be analyzed to see where they came from. Hamas certainly didnt buils them all themselves. Iran/Russia can get better use out of their missiles by sending some to Hamas (instead of attacking mkre civilians in Ukraine) and getting us to stand down F-16s to Ukraine because we "need" the armaments for the fighters on the aircraft carriers near isreal. Support for Ukraine is effectivey dead in the House of Representatives due to the wack job majority. It seems like we will be executive ordering our way into 2024 if we are to continue to fight this cold waresque battle. That may be all Putin needs to achieve a stalement in Ukraine.
Bill--Iran and Russia both benefit from what is transpiring in Gaza. Our own government can't agree on what to do with the military problems occurring in that part of the world. The attack on Israel only adds to the sense of confusion. They are fighting for their existence while we bicker over semantics.
Taking a bunch of folks who have suffered under inequality for years and turning them a force that wants to tear down government is what Putin does. We have seen it in the states and the palestinians are ripe for foreign government influence. The ghetto they live in, or should I say armed prison, lead to that. It feels like Putin is winning at times. What gives me comfort is that all these groups there and here are still fighting. Which means he hasnt won. Once these groups stop trying to take everything over is when I know that the government is fully under their control.
Professor, everything you say here resonates.
I can't help but think that maybe this was a way to get attention away from Ukraine and that war. I just don't understand the purpose. Was it maybe to cause NATO and the US to have to also send aid to Israel and in their thinking would deplete NATO and the US resources quicker? I don't know but your point about this taking planning makes me wonder if they already know their next move. It is very scary.
Peggy--Putin is well aware of the dissention in our government over the continued funding for the war in Ukraine. Short sighted people like Jordan, Greene and a host of others are opening the door for Putin to find other ways to fight that war. Russia and Iran had a heavy hand in orchestration of the Hamas attack on Israel. A so called second front would further weaken the American resolve which at present is wavering. I'm very concerned with the presents of the two carries groups being sent to the area. Warfare is an ever changing enterprise. With the advancements in the area of weaponology, even the slightest of adversaries gives cause for concern with what is out that they can hurt us with. Those boats carry only things that can go boom. I hope we park those carriers a long way out of the reach of any land based missile system that the bad guys might have access to. Remembering all the while how Russia boasted about their new high speed torpedoes. What a blow it would be to our military if we were to suffer the loss of those two carriers. Never underestimate your opponent.
That would definitely be the catalyst for WWIII.
Gloria--That it would.
That head been EXACTLY the same thinking I've been doing, as well, Peggy!!
I agree with you & Bill about them Knowing the next chess move. Any one who's ever played chess knows -- plan your move 3 times less than your opponent's next move.
At least that is the way my Father taught me - with an awesome chess set he made himself!! Black pieces were of Julius Caesar & his family/friends & army. White pieces were of Marcus Agrippa & his family/friends & army!!
(My mom was a Latin/English teacher for 31 years, lol.) I now have the chess set he made and it's a prized possession of mine.
I bet that is a beautiful chess set!
It really is and it's my most prized possession!!
My Dad died in 2002 and I miss him every day. I was there son he never had, lol. Tomboy just didn't cut it for me🤣 He taught me how to fix cars, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc!!
That knowledge has saved me & my family bunches of money over all these years!!
It is so heartening to hear your praise for your dad! My mom was my rock! She taught me so much and I try to live up to what she saw in me every day!
It has happened because Palestinians living in Palestine have been driven off their farms/groves/homes... forced to live in a walled enclave, subject to Permit to Travel controls, have had homes bulldozed, suffer 60% unemployment, have difficulty in obtaining a Passport to travel out of Israel , are effectively Stateless people and over the past 30 off years have seen a huge flourishing of Internationally Illegal “Settlements” on land they have lived on long before the country of Israel was artificially created after WWII. In the “ Occupied” West Bank, 220,000 Palestinians are subject to laws, restrictions etc designed to “ protect” about 700 Jewish “Settlers”. They live under what are basically conditions of Apartheid.
There are about equal numbers of innocent civilians along with soldiers/militants on both sides since the horrors of Saturday last.
75 odd years of not accomodating “all the people” who have deep roots living in that smallish strip of arid land at the East end of The Mediterranean Sea has created a boiling pot of destruction, death, hurt, inequality, intercultural lack of respect, suspicion and paranoia.
Arabs in Gaza now have no power, dwindling food & water supplies & are being killed by rocket strikes just as much as Israeli Jewish citizens are being similarly affected; only that Hamas has over last days given warnings apparently, permitting civilian Israelis to evacuate ahead of stated timelines for attacks.
The Palestinian Arabs have not so many places to evacuate to and are now effectively enduring the deprivation of “a siege”.
The land was originally Israel. Then it was the ottoman empire. Then it was the British empire. Then it was Israel again.
After World War II, Jewish people were given an incredibly small slice of the land by the British government and they were happy with that. Extremists in Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria were not. They wanted to finish what Hitler started.
Israel proposed a two state solution. The Palestinian people went for that, but the extremists said no.
The extremist wanted the eradication of all Jewish people, every Jewish person on the planet dead. They wanted that then, and they want that now.
A great many Palestinian people, were rounded up by the Jordanians and put into refugee camps in Jordan.
The Palestinian people have not been assisted in anyway by any of the surrounding Muslim countries, because they are considered infidels.
Should for some reason all Jewish people magically leave the land, it would not be returned to the Palestinian people. They would most likely be sent to live in Jordan, to the refugee camps.
It would probably, the land would, end up in the hands of Putin. That is why Europe and the United States are working so hard to make sure Israel does not fall.
The best minds in the world have been trying to figure out how to get the extremists to go for a two state solution since World War II, but the extremists want all Jewish people dead. You can’t negotiate peace with people who simply want you dead.
Every time, Hamas attacks, Israel people jump on line and overlook the fact that the best minds in the world have been working to solve this problem since World War II, and believe that they, with the help of a meme they have read, have figured it out.
Hamas frequently attacks Israel.
Putin has wanted to control Israel since the 1990s. Extremists in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan want to eradicate Jews from the planet.
Bombs, land on Israel, almost every day.
Hamas won’t be satisfied until every Jew is dead.
Putin is helping to fund this attack.
Haven't they been sending aid to Israel for decades?
The Palestinians were promised and denied a homeland on multiple occasions all the way back to the Ottoman Empire. Colonialists have meddled in their affairs and now hold them hostage , 2 million people living in a space no bigger than DC times 2 with access controlled by Egypt to two (only) exits without any opportunity for self determination, much less emigration. Half the population is less than 25 years old. They are FORCED to depend on others for every human need down to power, food, humanitarian assistance. There are at least three religions forced to exist in close company whether they wish or not; Christians, Muslims, Arabs. I suspect they feel like sardines stacked in cans, homes with little if any comfort. The terrorist group arose from these innocents but can you not see their grievances? They finally had all they could tolerate and the situation exploded; likely with again outside actors pushing for violence. Think Putin, Iran, Trump and his shared secrets, China, Egypt and of course autocratic in fact Bebe. Let’s don’t forget the involvement of our own bad actors arising in the USA. We have enough blame to go around many ways and for Millenia not just a year or two. This was coming for thousands of years.
I venture to say that in the beginning of the history of the area now called Israel there were always at least 2 groups of humans living there in small farms & villages - the area was sparsely populated because it was always semi-desert, hence not much in the way of fighting for space. At some point in the more recent past the Jewish diaspora of many millions - spread out over the world because of multi occasions of ethnic persecution & attempts to find some toe hold to live - decided that their original ancient homeland of Judah was where they wanted to build a new home. So many migrated slowly back to that place & started building a whole new existence. What happened was a real blooming in ideas, inventions, creativity etc which led to what we see today as the hugely successful place called Israel. Those Arabs who lived around this newly developing place began to see what could be done with a semi-desert place they had been scrabbling in for a living, and wanted to do that too - hence the big new claims of 'our' lands from that diaspora of humans and a fight to get back what they say was taken from them. Trying to be fair to all of the warring tribes means we need to go back & try to make 2 countries out of this area in order to keep both sides 'happy'. Of course the development of Israel to what it is now was helped by large amounts of wealth pouring in from other Jews & supportive countries - but since those who now claim some developed places as 'theirs' did not contribute much to said development, we have a quandary !!!
You have a very valid point. The history is complex, and trying to make sense of it is a fool’s errand. Call me the fool. I surely don’t have enough facts to make valid assumptions EXCEPT the quality of education I received about this region was non-existent; don’t understand why. Have always admired the Jewish people and their seemingly superior intelligence. Their suffering as a result of the Holocaust was well known but not their search for a homeland in my limited experience. If I misspoke, forgive please.
Palestinians are Arabs. They have a homeland. Actually, they have several. They could have had one more in 1947, but the local Arab leaders chose war. They had another legit opportunity in the 90s when Israel had more liberal leadership and they still refused.
Although Hamas was voted in to lead Gaza, the people voted for the Hamas that gave money to and built schools and hospitals. Not to mention giving Israel the middle finger. The only thing the Gazans received that they wanted was the middle finger, albeit more to themselves than to Israel. They got a totalitarian terroristic government that was more interested in their own wealth, power and guns then they were in supporting their people and helping them succeed.
Many in the Middle East are resigned to the fact that those with the biggest guns lead. Unfortunately, whether it is the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hamas in Gaza, this resignation plays a major role in why their living standards are so poor.
In conclusion, Israel and the West are not the major impediments to improving living standards. The Gazans, Lebanese and Afghans are doing most of this on their own. Israel will get rid of Hamas. It will be up to the Gazans to decide their future.
Islam the religion behind their behavior has bred the 2 types of humans we see today - the quiet, docile people who simply let their Islamic leaders tell them what to do & how to behave, and the militants, for whom that book explains all the means to getting non-Muslims to either conform & convert or be killed. Not too much to be said for either variation of this system ! Even their actual intellectuals & thinkers are always in jeopardy because any hint of rebellion against those 2 flavors is considered a danger to Islam & sometimes they face death. Nice society !
I believe I stand corrected! Thank you!
The Republicans are so good at jerrymandering maybe they could redraw the borders that separated these countries and find a fair division of the territory in dispute.
Ha Ha!
Once again, I think the timing of events is fishy, particularly with the House kabuki. I could easily suspect a Moscow/Tehran/Hamas - and perhaps Яepuблиkan - connection calculated to divert attention and material support from Ukraine more than a serious attempt at support for the Palestinians.
Here's the objective: https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/politics/us-weapons-stockpiles-ukraine-israel/index.html
Of course, it may be more newsworthy than effective: https://youtu.be/4DzVHxQ8Tdc?si=OCw9Rs_aXcyIfSrV
Putin and Iran would love to see us get embroiled in an effort to support Israel in a war in the Middle-East. They see that possibility as a plus with respect to their efforts in Ukraine.
Exactly! 👍
Timothy Snyder pointed out how terrorists use the suffering of their own people which comes as blowback from terrorist acts to gain support for themselves. Israel retaliates against Hamas by destroying Gaza, more Palestinians will side with Hamas.
Carol--That is precisely their plan. In fact they would love to have the entire Muslim world join in and destroy Israel. If Israel over does the punishment of Hamas in Gaza that is a distinct possibility.
In chess, you sacrifice a pawn to gain control. Hamas is a pawn in the game Iran is playing,
Alan-- Hamas carries way more significance than a random pawn. The term "En Passant" applies if the pawn is to be sacrificed. Beware of a free man.
That was one great comment, Keith. You just described exactly what is really going on now. Thank you.
There is no reason the Democratic members cannot ask the questions on Keith's behalf.
When Gym Jordan and Herr Scalise were asked whether they accept that Biden was freely elected on Tuesday, they refused to answer. Every member of the media, everyone with a cell phone should dog them for the truth.
Yes, and our media should be reporting this. The 2 persons in line for the Speaker position refused to acknowledge Biden as our legitimate POTUS. This should be in print every single day.
As should the fact that military & embassy appointments are being held up & GOP intentionally crippling our ability to act.
Victoria Wilson ; This should be a bold face headline. Those who will not accept Biden's win and legitimacy are obviously part of the ongoing coup attempt. They are disqualified for the seats they now hold and should be dismissed! And jailed! At minimum, for treason!
And both have been repudiated by their own caucus & withdrawn. Quite amusing!
Maybe we should have them all retake their oaths and require them to explain what their oath means on camera.
Because if they DON’T support our Democracy, our constitution or our elections, they shouldn’t be in Congress or in public office for that matter.
Where do I sign?
I am serious. We have a dangerous problem with people misrepresenting themselves and then wanting to destroy our institutions. We have to do something. The people in Congress are working for US. WE are paying their nearly $200,000/year checks. They need to be held accountable.
They would be happy to lie - again.
They've already violated their oaths, & would already have been expelled if only we followed the Constitution.
You mean prosecute? Who could oust them? Their own party refuses to oust the obvious - Santos - who is blaringly obvious . Or could the DOJ?
Amendment 14, Section 3 of the Constitution says that any government official who has broken his oath of office shall be expelled unless 2/3 of the members of Congress vote against expulsion. So it's automatic. It doesn't specify who will be doing the removal, but doesn't Congress have something like a Sergeant at Arms?
I thought someone said the Republicans removed the Sergeant of Arms.
I wouldn't be surprised. Can't have anyone to enforce congressional rules, can we? Certainly those who constantly break the law like Republicans do don't want that.
Keith, excellent. It would be great if your note could appear on the desk of every single Republican in Congress, particularly those in the House. I bet many wouldn't read it (maybe couldn't) but maybe one or two might be called back to doing the right thing. Nah! They are too comfortable believing Trump cares about them. Heck, he can't even remember them. He has a bunch of names left in his head, but can't really match them with anything except whether they might be loyal to himself rather than to our Constitution as Jordan, McCarthy, Greene, Boebart, and probably Scalise are. I just can't believe there isn't one single Republican House member who has the integrity to serve as Speaker, one a lot of Republicans and at least most Democrats would support. If there is no one, then truly, the Republican Party is bankrupt and needs to go away in favor of something new that is willing to serve this nation and its people, not just itself.
Ruth Sheets : This small group in Congress has already begun shutting our government down. Why they are getting away with it is that when they removed the symbolic Sergeant in arms, they showed what they think of the rule of law. And got away with it then. They should never have been allowed to vote against President Biden's certification on Jan 6th. And keep their seats. We are not far from being Israel if this ongoing coup is successful as it seems to be unfolding. The traitors must be purged from government : courts and all!
You are right Laurie. Thomas Hawley Tuberville Is trying to cripple our country by holding up military promotions!
...And Rand Paul has been doing much the same by blocking ambassadorial appointments. Much of the Middle East now doesn't have U. S. ambassadors, just as things are heating up in that part of the world. Please read: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/diplomatic-nominees-blocked-blinken.html and https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/09/theres-no-american-ambassador-in-israel/
Keith, it seems when we are in a crisis like this, when a child-man from Alabama, who has no experience in government, and whose only claim to fame was being an OK coach can hold up military promotions, we need a different means of getting those promotions through. Perhaps, as Commander in Chief, President Biden needs to make those promotions in reality until the child-man Tupperville is properly instructed on how to behave in government by McConnell. Oh wait, McConnell is reveling in this malfunction and I am sure, behind closed doors is congratulating Tuppy for his stunt. If McConnell were a real leader, a decent leader, he would have shut Tupperville down on day one of his crazy stunt. Our nation does not have to keep bowing to Trump and Kump insanity, but we seem to do it all the time. When McCarthy took 15 votes, wasted days and had to sell his soul to get the Speakership, and no Republicans could bring themselves to just vote for Jeffries to get things started, I knew the Republican Party would do nothing to help anyone in this country but themselves and their rich white friends. I keep being proven right about this and am extremely sad and distressed by this. President Biden must make the promotions, even if he has to call them temporary. They will be real if everyone acts as though they are. Stop playing in the Trump toddler playground. Those in there with him are not good people.
Yes,he is doing a helluva job sabotaging our national security right now.There has got to be a way to get around him and circumvent what he is now doing.It doesn’t seem to matter to him that military persons are speaking out against this and are telling him that his actions are undermining our national security and making us less safe.
Victoria: My guess is that it does matter to him: increased leverage. The more he an put our country at risk, the more he feels his power. Sad, and reprehensible.
If someone wants to present this to those Congressional Republicans they have our permission. Thanks to Mr. Reich for giving me somewhere to share my thoughts.
Keith, I sure do wish I had access. I would be happy to decorate Republican House desks with it. I just can't believe there is not a decent person among Republicans in the House, one who actually cares about this nation and getting positive things done to help the people here and around the world. The sad thing is that maybe in reality, to be a Republican, one must leave one's soul elsewhere or sell it.
We all need to pass it along to our state legislators who can and should call them out.
Don't forget the horrible things he says about his own followers! I really hate to see this worshipping at the feet of that man but obviously if you want to be a republican then that is what you must do!
Agree with you wholheartedly.
The WWG1WGA has a shorter name. The Lemming Oath.
Yes, they are poised “on the edge” ready to follow their leader right over …
This is SO terrible.
Very well written Mr. Olson and absolutely concur with all you have written. I cannot fathom why these people are sending money to a supposed billionaire to help him with his legal fees. And he doesn't really even like them. They are all willingly drinking the Jim Jones Kool-aid. Wish someone could help it make sense as It's incomprehensive to me.
Trump is the leader of a movement to destroy America.
Gaetz is his main lieutenant in the House.
McCarthy's sin was not that he worked with the Democrats to keep the country running but simply that he facilitated keeping the country running -- contravening the obvious if not overtly stated goal of ending the American democratic process.
The Repubs in the House could readily elect a Speaker -- if that was the goal. It isn't. The goal is to shatter and shutter the government so the self-selected few can glom the spoils.
That the brat pack imagines that if they do succeed in coronating the malevolent toddler they will share the bounty rather enduring the same fate as Michael Cohen, Allen Weisselberg, the Pillow Guy, Rudy Guiliani -- the list is long, I needn't go on -- is among the pities here.
And remember that Jim Jones didn't drink his own kool-aid. He took the coward's way out, with a bullet.
Thank you for sharing this. It’s par for the course for these losers who take advantage of weak minded people!
A thought: perhaps trump gave classified documents to Putin that held Israeli military secrets about its weaknesses.
Putin could’ve given that info to Iran, and Iran to Hamas. Putin’s goal: to create chaos in the Middle East, distract the USA from Ukraine, diminish US support for Ukraine, etc.
In addition, I have wondered if Hamas also was able to purchase access to US classified documents. How many of those documents illegally held by Trump were scanned before they were returned to secure locations? Who was working at each Trump location, and who had access? Probably anyone cleaning at night?
I certainly would not put it past him to give classified information to our adversaries!
Is there not one decent Republican that can be Speaker of the House, or do they have to look at the Democratic party for someone ethical, honest, and intelligent?
Besides of the Q-anon oath it's more important or equally important to be LOYAL TO KING WANNABE tRump cult and blindly follower!
Excellent post! I hope you’ve shared it to an even wider audience. You’ve said everything that needed to be said here.
Netanyahu has been putting the screws to the Palestinians. When you oppress a people you get terrorists.
The sad truth.
ANYTIME you put the Middle East in historical context, you will INEVITABLY be labeled as anti-Semitic and a supporter of terrorism. NO ONE wants to face the atrocities BOTH SIDES have perpetuated forEVER!
My contention is that Israeli ground troops will be considered an INVASION and the dominos will start to fall - Hamas HAS to be bringing this ON PURPOSE!!! Force the World to pick sides and move the conflict to the NEXT LEVEL... TRULY SCARY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please correct me if I am wrong sir. I believe the Palestinians were isolated, or as you say " oppressed" in order to set limits on suicide bombing. That is not oppression is it?
Thank you Nancy. I am so confused about Israel vs Palestine. I thought Netanyahu was an autocrat and I do not like autocrats. The 'terrorists' in Palestine were oppressed? By who? Who was trying to limit suicide bombers? It is very hard to understand what has happened and why. I am doing my research but it is still confusing!
Good Luck with that...
Thanks! I tend to get lost because I can't figure out who started what fight and after that fight another began. It gets very confusing! A friend told me to quit wasting my time because the middle east has been fighting since before Jesus and would always fight. That doesn't sound right to me so I will continue to read and research until I get to some sort of understanding!
I read a book called The Haj many years ago and came away from it thinking they will never understand each other. I should read it again and see how the decades have changed my view of their conflict. Maybe not at all.
Thank you, Jerry. That was very enlightening!
When settlers pour cement down a well and the Israeli military supports the settlers no matter what, thats oppression. Israel took land/property at the start of the nation. That created terrorism.
Ask yourself: “What circumstances would create suicide bombers”? 🤔
“Isolated” is one way to put it. Open air prison is another description of Gaza. How proportional are the “limits”?
Short and to the point!
“The point is this: Whether named Netanyahu, Trump, or Putin, when authoritarian leaders gain power by dividing the public, spreading baseless conspiracy theories, and accusing opponents of being “deep state” traitors, they weaken a society’s capacities to protect itself from all sorts of threats. “---Robert Reich
This is what authoritarian, fascist populists do. They turn democracies into authoritarian kakistocracies. Gone is the administrative state, replaced with incompetent and corrupt sycophants.
Israel is experiencing the consequences of such an authoritarian kleptocrat. America got a taste during COVID.
It’s China’s fault. It’s a Kong Fu Flu. It’s a democratic hoax. Masks are the devil. Drink bleach. Fire and hang all the scientists, etc....
Yet, 1.5 million Americans died. More than 500k died, who could have survived, but refused the vaccines.
Bottom line: thank god Trump isn’t president now, because authoritarian kleptocrats are unprepared to lead in crisis, and do more damage than good. If Trump were president today, we’d probably be at war.
Yet, half of Americans think Trump is stronger on National Defense than Biden, and is he going to become the next republican nominee for president.
My only question is, when will Americans learn their lesson and wake up? Because no one could be this stupid; or could they?
The MAGA TUMP fanatics that live all around me are that STUPID. I have never witnessed such stupidity in all of my 68 years. I was told they even have big pictures of TUMP hanging on the walls of their big white church on the hill just up the road from me. There is no doubt that they even pray to him instead of their God because TUMP really is their God and savior.
He is their anointed one. And god warned of idolizing false prophets. I guess these people didn’t get the memo....:)
You are exactly right. I actually quoted this to my immediate family the other day about this. Most of my other relatives outside of my immediate family are beholden to their bloated orange God, Donald TUMP. Pathetic !!
I have family as well that are enthralled by Diaper Don. We don’t talk much anymore...:)
...I've lost friendships because of it. In some cases it was not just closed mindedness, but a few even kept trying to (unsuccessfully) actually "convert" me. It has gone beyond being a fringe cult, and taking on the trappings of an established religion that has its own "disciples" and "priests" who will literally damn you to whatever fate they see fit if you don't "repent and accept the narcissistic grifter into your life".
Yeah it is getting that bad.
I have some relatives that haven't said a word to me in over 3 years, all because of TUMP. They think the JAN 6 insurrectionists didn't do a thing wrong that horrible day. My brother's wife said President Biden should be shot. I never want that woman near me ever again. Even her oldest son hates her and never visits her.
Makes you wonder what memo they got. Or maybe something they came to the party with that only needed an anointed one to get them going. Some basic need.
Your guess is as good as mine...:)
Oh my! That is a horrible picture to say the least! I simply cannot believe that a church would allow that! Well, to be honest, in this day and time, I can believe it based on what a lot of so-called Christians have been saying and doing. It isn't in the name of Christ though. It is in the name of their idol, Trump.
If you lived in an area like us, you would believe any horrible thing could be perpetrated by the so-called christians. They are completely taken over by the kool- ade and cannot receive any truths or proofs. It's like they're blind. They have been completely gullible about him, but now cannot bear to think they were wrong, so they deflect that thought in favor of comforting their delicate egos and carrying on - with him as their god. They are unable to perceive all the outrageous things he has spoken and perpetrated. It feels as if their minds have been taken over and they aren't even in control anymore, but they don't realize this of course. It is a terribly frightening thing to witness. These people are scary, (they are in a huge majority here), and they just do not know what they are actually doing. I am so afraid.
Nancy, don't be afraid. I, too, live in a sea of red! My friends who are republicans understand that I will not discuss politics with them because it would be like beating a dead horse. No good will come of it. Also, I read and listen to others that tend to be living in the real world. I have found that when I begin to feel overwhelmed and frightened, I turn it all off! I walk with my dog to the park, go out with friends to lunch, spend time on my hobbies. When the fear has subsided, I go back and face it again. These are such troubling times we are living in! We cannot let it guide us into hiding in fear! That is what these chaos mongers want! Just like in Putin's Russia where the people have had the boots on their necks for soooooo long! Stay strong, spend time with your loved ones and do not let the fear win!!!
You are sweet, thank you. Yes, I do these things. I am elderly and isolated/surrounded in a world of completely rabid red fools. I can't go out to lunch with them, they're crazy and snarling all the time. Everywhere and anywhere I go, all I hear is the Rump parrots, (even to the grocery store,) they are loud and intimidating and so confident in their incomprehension, that they don't even question themselves if a person might not agree with them, they just take that for granted. I do the other things you've suggested, though. I have no hope that things will ever turn around to being rational here, though. This is Red MAGA Redneckville. Maybe a couple of generations down the line if truth wins, but I will never see it. The current kids are already indoctrinated. I'm not arguing with you, I'm just stating my experience which seems a bit different from yours, as you can still go out to lunch with friends, etc. I'm happy that you can still do that. But I cannot bear to hear their insane, malignant propaganda, it never stops; they can't talk of anything else, it's like they're zombies & not in control of their own minds anymore. Thanks for listening.
I hope that things will get better for you! You always have those of us who read and discuss Professor Reich's essays and you can talk to us anytime!!
Nancy... which State do you live in? Sounds very stressful for you.
You are right not to “ engage” the “ too proud and blond cultists” around you. Take care of yourself.
Adolf Hitler used the very same methods in the early and middle 1930s to suck people into his deluded agenda. Look what it got them, DEATH and destruction, losing their homes with no where to go.. But, there is no convincing these idiot MAGAs that bad things happen in Dictatorships. Propaganda to the extreme.
...I've been using the term "Fool Aid" as that is what it does.
They are a HUGE majority of them in my area too. And some ask me why i want to go live in Canada?
My daughter shared a video clip of one of these TUMP wingnuts actually praying to TUMP to keep him safe like in a bedtime prayer. This nut had a 5X7 framed portrait of TUMP beside his bed. These wackos are obsessed with that creep.
Oh! That just gave me the creeps!! Imagine having that orange bloviated buffoon staring at you while you sleep!! That's the stuff of nightmares!!
That gives me the creeps too. i can't stand to see him on the many documentaries i watch. Sometimes i will fast forward when they show him to avoid seeing him. Even when i hear someone use the expression, ''Trump Card'' i say to myself, '' i don't ever want to hear disgusting word ''Trump'' in my presence again. Believe it or not, i had a nightmare about TUMP in which someone invited him to my house, and i told that person to, ''get that SOB out of my house immediately. and don't you dare pull a stunt like this again'' I woke up wondering what the heck is wrong with my mind?? That is a disgrace to me...
https://jstreet.org/about-us/mission-principles/
I'm a fan of J Street. They support fairness and SANITY.
Such is the power of the Antichrist!
Correct, he really is the Antichrist.
Hi Jaime, did you get my response to your previous comment questioning whether I was the same Janet you know? Lol. That was an awkward way to put it, but I explained that I had to close my previous account and open a new one because I appeared to have been hacked.
I thought that might be the case.
Apparently the same just happened to Marlo, who's been commenting here a fair amount lately. And you might remember it happened even to Robert Reich a couple months ago.
These are the risks we take to be online. Glad we reconnected. Yes, I remember when Robert Reich had some lunatic posting a comment like, “give me a call and we can talk about this” and then adding a phone number. This also happened on Dan Rather’s Substack site earlier in the year. There are so many weirdos out there who get their kicks through this sort of nonsense.
Not only are people stupider than we imagine, they are stupider than we can imagine.
Well said...:)
modified the well known quote attributed to Haldane and others-"not only is the universe queerer than we imagine...etc
The IQ Curve peaks at about 99?🤔 that leaves 50% of the American population possibly suffering from a poor education, poor critical thinking skills etc, etc & then a bunch of narcissists on the right hand side of the curve who see huge potential to manipulate many on the left hand side of the curve, to the benefit of themselves. DT being the most unconscionable of those. 😡
I think it’s time we give men a break and let them be house husbands for two years while the women take over and clean up men’s messes
Sometimes I feel that way until I remember Maggie Thatcher.
I would take a thousand Maggies before 1 Putin.
...or 1 tRump!
No, much as I have my reservations about "the blessed Margaret" (Norman St John-Stevas, I think), whatever one thinks about her, she was a democratic politician of genuine substance and I think integrity, certainly compared to more than one (actually, more than two) post 2010 British Prime Ministers. P.s. much as I have some (increasingly reducing) sympathy with the Palestinian cause, the barbarism by Hamas over this last week must I feel be condemned without any reservation whatsoever. What I find even more sickening is that there are official Palestinian spokesmen out there on the media justifying such atrocity on the basis of that Palestinian cause, including the taking of hostages, and even of using those hostages to further that cause. I can't believe that earlier Palestinian spokesmen of the substance of, for example, Hanan Ashrawi would be having anything to do with this monstrosity. Sorry, but I just felt I needed to say that. No, No, No I say, as would (and did, albeit in very different circumstances), MT.
....and Ayn Rand.
Ugh! I knew there was some awful woman like that. She was never a leader per se, but she was an influencer, unfortunately, more post-mortem than while alive.
Yep, if Margaret Thatcher is the worst female leader you can come up with, & it is easy to come up with scores of men who are/were worse than her, you know it's time to let a lot more women lead.
Good idea in theory, PS. But I shudder at the thought of returning to my man cave of a house after two years and walking into a smelly pigsty with two years worth of laundry, alligators in the toilet and a mountain of dishes in sink!
Hahahahaha - a female government will subsidize mandatory education for them to learn home economics, child care methods , anger management , emotional labor. , safe driving etc
Fine, but who's gonna watch the kids while Mr. Mom is getting re-habbed? Maybe teachers, nannies and housekeepers should be subsidized to be paid what they are truly worth!
Our patient rehab with On site child care :) by the time they are done , there is subsidized child care already implemented,
Sorry, but I disagree completely. This sort of statement is what is causing the young men in our country to doubt themselves, that in turn leads them to resort of guns in the false illusion that somehow proves their manhood. Give the good men, Joe Biden and Robert Reich, etc. a break and be specific rather than using the useless broad brush strokes.
As they should , for the sake of the lack of self awareness of said men which is an epidemic. The two years would allow them to self care, introspection, Address the root cause with therapy to not doubt themselves over stupid comments.
Don’t worry , the women will take care of all their decisions about what they can do with weapons, with their bodies, pay scale, promotions etc.
Netanyahu is Trump with more finesse. He is completely responsible for this horror and he knows it. His place in history will not be good.
Your comment shows little insight about why Bibi responded this way and suggests you are antisemitic
As a Jewish American, I am tired of people whose first response to anyone who disagrees with them about Israel, is to call them antisemitic. I believe Netanyahu is a corrupt, incompetent, undemocratic leader who is responsible for the oppression and killing of Palestinians. That doesn't make me anti-semitic. I don't like Trump either, but that doesn't make me anti-American. U.S. support and aid to any country should be conditional. I oppose Biden's ironclad, unconditional support of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other countries that violate human rights. I will listen to arguments from anyone who disagrees with me, but I won't be swayed by name-calling.
Thank you, Mel. I wish we could all exist without categories. Human is what we all are (unless some other species is using Substack).
Tell it to Hamas. Tell it to white supremacists like the Proud Boys.
You never know!
Too much whataboutism. Netayahu is a putz, but Gaza was not occupied territory and no Israeli government has ever indiscriminally tried to enact a final solution on "Palestinians."
Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to the elimination of Israel and dedicated to the death of everyone named Ginsberg.
Very well said!
We’d be living in a far better world right now, Mel, if everyone were as sane, fearless, and unprejudiced as you are.
You are courageous!!!
And you comment Nancy to Betty seems you have no insight. 2 disgusting men.
Netanyahu is no different from Trump.
The only reason he hangs onto power (Netanyahu) is because he has court cases against him. I might remind you also that before all this happened the Israeli's were in the street protesting against Netanyahu.
Would it also be wrong to say that Netanyahu's insisting on new settlements after so many have been made in defiance of old agreements is also antisemitic? Is a two state solution antisemitic? Is questioning anything antisemitic? Nobody can say that what has happened is not absolutely horrible. But Gaza has been an open prison of the worst kind that has been festering for a very long time. What is the solution? This atrocity is the elephant in the room.
If you don't support Israel in its hour of need, you're supporting antsemitism.
Im not suggesting that Israel not be supported. Biden is right to help Israel! We need also to look at our own 'House"! There are traitors within who are already hampering governance and our security!
Only to Antisemites.
You have no insight and are delusional about Netanyahu. I am far from antisemitic!
Not completely responsible, but potentially partly responsible in the way Bush may have been partly responsible for 9/11. Was it ignorance, negligence, passive complicity or active complicity? In neither case have we enough solid evidence to know for sure.
Agree, Betty except that power mad autocrats don't give a fig about history or the future for that matter. Being and staying in power now is all that matters.
people forget that Israel has treated Oalestnians in Gaza very nearly like Hitler treated Jews not gassed them but not far off since its creation.Another mess the western powers created and have failed to hold Israel to account but instead even today are doubling down to support Israel. There is little difference between Western powers and Russia!
We say it is wrong for Putin to try and grab land and dominate the Ukrainians yet we are happy to support Israel for doing the the same to palestinians!!
You can oppress people so far that they have nothing left to lose!
It is not Jews who are responsible for what Israel's treatment of palestinians but the Zionists and the failure of the Western powers failure to hold Israel to account!
Israel should be sanctioned and treated like North Korea.
By no means do I condone what Hamas has done but can understand why.
That’s a pretty simplistic summary of the Israel/Palestinian Question!
First off, when Palestine was partitioned into two states, Israel was attacked by every Arab nation, which would continue up until the Yom Kippur War.
In 1967, Israel gained East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria and all of Sina from Egypt. That’s when the occupation started.
Since then, both sides have dug their heels in and became more extreme. The Oslo Accords offered hope of a two state solution, but was ultimately rejected by Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. We can debate the reasons, but a deal was on the table.
Additional skirmishes broke out with the Palestinian Intifada; Palestinians dragging and mutilating Israeli soldiers and innocents through the streets of the West Bank.
Since then, right-wing parties in Israel have gained more power and used it to suppress Palestinian rights. I agree, the policies are draconian and most Israeli’s and American Jews don’t support the settlements in the West Bank.
That said, Hamas was given self determination and rule over Gaza, yet, decided to attack every few years. They use extremely brutal measures, as we are hearing about with its recent attacks and massacres.
Brutal force will always be met with additional brutal force. Hamas is committed to Israel’s demise, and if they succeed, what would come next? Peace for the region with Israel gone?
No, you’ll see a power vacuum. Hamas would start a civil war with the PA. Egypt would support the PA, since Hamas is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, while Hezbollah would support Hamas. Jordan has 2 million Palestinian refugees living in their borders and could try to reclaim East Jerusalem. Syria, would want the Golan Heights back. And the power vacuum with Israel gone, would make Palestine ripe for a terrorist takeover with Al Qaeda and ISIS invading from Syria.
Then you have the money men. Iran sides with Hezbollah and Hamas, The Saudi’s and other gulf states stand with Jordan and Egypt, but finance Al Qaeda on the side to eradicate Hezbollah, Hamas and ISIS. Not to mention, the entire region goes nuclear.
Following so far, because life only gets worse for all the Palestinian people. And with Israel gone, how many western nations will want to get involved.
If you think the Palestinians are living in a dystopian future now, you haven’t seen anything yet. Just look at Syria and Iraq. Two battle hardened wastelands!
Loved your logic, accurate history and conceptualizations of what’s in store for the region. My one thought on all of this is that no country that cannot divorce itself from religious control van prevail. Theocracy will not work for any government long term. Just look at the divide between Shia and Sunnis and even the lowly Alawites! Theocracies with different sects, all believing that they are the true and only correct sect, are bound to fail!
Agreed. Yet, look how the religious right has taken over one party in America and our highest court. We’re already experiencing the consequences...:)
At the exclusion of all those that don’t share their narrow belief system or allegiance to some supreme dear leader!
And the likes of theocrats in Our government are just as dangerous as any religious zealot of ANY religion in the Middle East.
Boebert of Colorado actually said in June, “Church Should Direct Government”. She recently got thrown out of a Denver production of Beetlejuice for vaping, being loud & disruptive, and yes; behaving with her male date like they were in the backseat of a car not in an upscale public theater!
(There IS film and she’s behaving like she speaks and “governs” - BADLY.)
Separation Of Church and State is not “junk” as she espoused politics in a Colorado Springs church not too long ago. A woman with the morals of an alley cat in heat is Not someone who should be 1) in Congress and 2) someone allowed to speak in a church!
Separation of Church & State Is Foundational to keeping America from turning into an authoritarian, populist, corrupt state- like the very impressive Taliban, Shia, Sunni, Zionist, Muslim powder kegs exploding in various parts of the world.
Just WHO gets to decide which religion should be in charge?
Low Bar Lauren?? Racist, fascist DJTrump??
Yeah-- NO. Hell NO.
you are absolutely spot on .GET RID OF RELIGION AND THE WORLD WOUKD BE A BETTER PLACE
Interesting analysis. Climate change makes this all much worse with the migrations it is setting off in the region, e.g Syria.
Agreed...:)
who gave the western powers to gift the land to Israel it was not theirs to give !
But the powerful always get their way and dominate.
The United Nations, who also gave land to the Palestinians. After the Jewish empire was destroyed by the Roman’s, and most Israelites were enslaved and sent to Rome to build their monuments, Palestinians fell under several rulers. The Romans, The Ottoman’s and finally the British.
So perhaps the better question is who gave the land to the Palestinians? They may have lived there, but they were only renters!
The United Nations and almost every existing nation on earth, except the Arab nations, voted for the Jewish State, including Iran. And they were also in favor of a separate Palestinian state which never existed prior to the UN mandate.
FYI: ask yourself who partitioned the entire Middle East into its existing map today? Not one of those Arab nations existed prior to the end of WW1, including modern day Egypt. One could argue Iran existed, but it was known as Persia, and ruled by the Ottomans since the 1,500’s.
As many Sephardic Jews were kicked out of Moslem countries as Arabs who fled and many were SENT to Israel BY the Arab League in 1948. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_the_Muslim_world#:~:text=In%20June%201948%2C%20soon%20after,left%20the%20country%20for%20Israel.
Not all, they kept a small Jewish community in each those countries to use as hostages...:)
Many, if not most, of the Jews in Israel come from Europe. Europe was where so many Jews were slaughtered. Europeans (especially Germans) slaughtered them. It should've been a location in Europe where Jews were given their own autonomous homeland. I say give them Kaliningrad, formerly part of East Prussia (German territory), now an exclave of Russia.
Taking your argument to the final degree , all the world belongs to Africans as human race started in Africa!
But we’re not taking it to the final degree. Just the post-WW1 realignment of the world and the Ottoman Empire.
If we go further, everyone could make a claim on lands appropriated. For example, the Native American’s in the new world. It depends how far back you want to go....:)
Sorry but Europeans ethnically cleaned the American continent & Australia!
So it suits you fine to make WW1 as a cut off.
Robert Jaffee. My unsolicited advice to the innocent Palestinians living in Gaza is to suurrender to the Palestinian Authority.
Fair enough, but how? The Gaza Strip doesn’t connect to the West Bank. Right now, they are helpless and have no exit opportunities m. And Hamas rules with an iron fist in Gaza.
Theoretically, I don’t disagree, but it’s impossible right now and the PA is also very corrupt. Mahmoud Abbas is 80 and holds little sway on the younger, restless population. So far, little leadership has emerged within their ranks.
They can act like a peace force -- just like Nowegians wearing UN armbands have done in Lebanon. Maybe some responsibility will empower them.
Predictable, but not justifiable.
Anil -- You are a liar. Gaza had been given self determination -- was not occupied. The Jewish settlents surrounding Gaza were ceded to them in 2006.
Hamas covenant. https://embassies.gov.il/holysee/AboutIsrael/the-middle-east/Pages/The%20Hamas-Covenant.aspx?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR0NHhy3g7svi2hfrULO6zfwmcKNgeK_2xjk0kWMpwt_PgiuJpJzF4uqTNA
No. Many of the "Palestinains" in my home town are Maronites and Malekites who faced discrimination by Moslems and voted with their feet. They self identify as Arabs, not Palestinian. The lawyer who brought most of them got foundation money, even brought cases in Israeli courts to get them compensation, if they had a deed or an equivalent for land in Israel.
When Hamas took control of Gaza they intimidated, even liqudated the Christians and the Palestinian Authority.
In my home town, Arab American judges, a former supertendant of schools, etc. I'm certain all oppose Hamas, even if they like me, resent Likud,
Hamas was given lots of aid but used it to fund suicide bombers, munitions rather than economic develoment.
I worry and fear we'll learn after the fact that some strategic plan or capability will be defeated because ESG (Extremely Stable Genius) sold it to someone for personal gain. That would be treason. What dis ESG say about traitors?
and those who 'take the fifth' hundreds of times.
Well, this savage attack on Israel by Hamas was very likely because of Israeli intelligence given by Trump to Lavrov & Kislyak in their 2017 visit to the Oval Office.
Israeli intelligence -> US intelligence -> Trump -> Russia -> Iran -> Hamas
I assume that that was by no means the only valuable top secret information given or sold by Trump to Russia, Saudi Arabia & many other countries we don't want having such information.
So your fears are very well-founded.
We are getting to the entropy phase of human civilization. The worst attributes have festered in many key leaders, with greed, hatred, and callousness rising to the fore. Yet as the American population explodes, the generation coming soon to voting age will not be blind to these dangerous flaws. Between facing our climate challenges, valuing individuality, and pushing back against wealth inequality, those rising now have the energy, intellect, and interconnectedness to turn back #RepubloFascism here and despots elsewhere.
There will always be more of us than than the haters, cheats, and dullards. Bluster has had its run, and the grownups - as in the woke youth - are not going to stand for today’s GOP any longer. All the way up and down the ballot in 2024, Democrats will make gains that won’t be turned back for a generation.
We’ll get things done. Doubters will no longer have traction. The MAGA anomaly will soon be purged, mark my words.
...only if the means to rig and discourage participation in elections like voter suppression, intimidation, misinformation, gerrymandering, and the influence of big/dark money are eliminated from the process.
The minority party has even admitted that stand little chance in a fair and free election which is why they keep undermining the process. What they have been doing violates the basic constitutional right of all Americans and needs to be dealt with. However as long as they have any sort of power, the chances of full election and campaign financing reform will be like free climbing El Capitan while wearing oven mitts and high heels.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Who said that? True, for all Emperors and Chancellors, Prime Ministers and Presidents. Always has been, always will be, when we do nothing.
Absurd comment as democracy prevails everywhere in the Free world and most elected leaders accept the motion of a self denying ordinance namely a pact with the electorate not to overstep the powers granted to them by the people.There are indeed outliers such as Russia,Hungary and even Israel where the current PM used electoral chicanery to avoid imprisonment for corruption but truth can and does prevail even in China where the authorities occasionally bow to public opinion and mitigate the harshness of one party rule.If we all give up on the least worst form of rule which is Democracy then the Orwellian nightmare has arrived.
Your reply is of course welcome, but the post about power is germane to the original Stack. And the point is that we must be eternally vigilant to keep our democracy . As Benjamin Franklin said when asked whether America was a monarchy or a republic, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
...however the danger from the far right is prevalent as in Hungary and previously Brazil, as we saw the other week occur in Slovakia, and continued to make inroads in France, Italy, Spain, and even Sweden.
Democracy is under an ever increasing threat from authoritarians, not just here in the States. True this nation is a republic, but it operates on the principles of democracy. When those disappear we become an autocracy masquerading as a republic. Keep in mind the "Р" in "CCCР" stood for "Республика" (Republic) while we all know how autocratic their government really was.
Talking about misnamed countries, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is far from what we conceive as a republic, is as far from being Democratic as you can get, & is a place where ordinary people have absolutely no power. Likewise the official names of China & East Germany are far from accurate.
I don't know who said it but it is absolutely true!
Here's a must-read from Thom Hartmann, titled, "Did Hamas Somehow Get Inside Information About Israel’s Defenses from a Trump Leak?"
From the article:
“Donald Trump’s sharing of alleged classified intelligence to Russian officials in the White House has come under scrutiny amid a large-scale attack by the Hamas Islamist military group against Israel."
"Trump ‘revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.’”
“I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day.” ~Donald J Trump
.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/did-hamas-somehow-get-inside-information-23e
Truly frightening. It appears that just information providing clues on the types of signal intelligence led to the use of alternative communication means and the lack of warning to the Israelis. Old Soviets of course knew this and held conversations outdoors by noisy places like water features to avoid listening by the authorities. Connect the dots. . .
I find myself repeatedly independently coming up with the same conclusions as Thom Hartmann on just about every issue.
As do I. That's why I encourage all readers to also follow Mr Hartmann's postings.
IDK.How can we know. We are on the outside looking in. Truly the intelligence failures need explaining. Doesn't mean this is the right explanation. There are an infinite number of explanations, some just as good.
We are in the age of "double speak". "Truth ,social" is anything but truthful and it is anti social
Remember anything trump says about others is projection
This time is sad horrible and very exhausting but hopefully will end
I refer to TUMP's, pathetic site as, '' Lie Anti-Social'' from the inception of it. It's a good source of outright lies and false propaganda.
...just like Russia's (and the former Soviet Union's) primary news source/propaganda organ "Правда" (Pravda), which translates to "Truth".
I will dare to say something dangerous here. I fully agree that Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, Modi, Erdogan, and a number of others are all self-obsessed populist leaders with no real concern for their own people let alone those in other countries. (The real point always comes after the but - so I will try not to use it!) At the same time each rose in a historical context that included a lot of power concentration, double-dealing, othering (creating enemies out of ethnicities, gender differences, skin color, language, or religion) for no justifiable reason. Our own CIA, supposedly an information gathering agency, has participated in coups, "nation building" for multinational corporations, and general skullduggery to keep the US in a dominant global position since the end of WWII. We are not innocent in any of the wars happening right now. Hamas has no justification for its violence. Israel has none either when you take this long term perspective. Populists never take a long term perspective, therefore populists like the above only work to secure and enhance their own power. The oppressed in such a situation will bite back. That is what we are seeing now. No one wins in these conflicts. Good politics will work to end the violence without using violence lest the whole world end up "blind and toothless". In the end, I fear, throwing weapons to participants in these conflagrations only makes the situation worse. Our failure was allowing the conditions that lead to these conflicts to persist in the first place.
We now desperately need a vetting committee as part of each state’s election board, made up of six citizens savvy to human character who will grill each applicant before they can be allowed to run. See “Assessing the Character of Candidates for National Political Office” on Amazon.
And who makes up the vetting committee?
We will need savvy thinking to defray the intense pressure to politicize the process at every turn. I don’t pretend this will be easy or quick. Right now we need to keep learning about the criteria for the qualification -- even more robust than new immigrants complete to become citizens.
Indeed so. Most voters know that the party leaders or presidents they back are venal but tgey extend tolerance for these faults in exchange for tangible promises. Are current leaders more venal or actually more stupid than in previous ages or is it simply that we know a lot more about their vices and weaknesses from the Internet? Would FDR have managed in this modern age to disguise his infirmity for so long or Churchill his raging alcoholism? We don't have a perfect method for stopping scum from rising to the surface of modern democracy, only the disinfectant of transparency when their bad faith dealings become manifest to all.The era of the professional politician arrived some time ago and demanding a 'respectable' route of public service first before gaining leadership in politics now seems unrealistic.
I like this idea. There was another post a while back where someone suggested that public office should be like jurors doing jury duty. All Americans would serve and there would be no pay so these ultra rich couldn't pay for what they wanted. It was quite impressive the way it was laid out and showed that to be more in line with "of the people, by the people, and for the people".
I think that as lovely as that idea is, that ordinary citizens could take turns running our governing bodies, it fails to take into account that the world is a complicated and dangerous place and we need professional politicians with education, experience, and good judgment making those decisions. Compare Nancy Pelosi’s leadership with the current crop of Republicans vying for the Speaker position. Since Trump became president (with help from Putin and Comey), people seem to have the idea that just anyone can run for any political office with very limited education and experience, but we’ve seen how that turned out.
I know you are right, Jody. I just wish there was some way to get all of this money that is flowing into politicians pockets done away with! This rich people that are buying politicians left and right are trashing our country!!! Yes, politicians should be well educated especially on the Constitution and the history of the United States. They should know the names of the countries of the world and where they are located! Speaker Pelosi is the best example of what politicians need to strive for. She is excellent. I suppose I am saying that there needs to be accountability in politics. When these people do and say things that are the opposite of our Democracy, they need to be removed without question. They either uphold the oath of office or they get out!!
Gee I don't know. Why don't we have people off the street run corporations for a day, or substitute for brain surgeons. Hey it could work. Let's try it.
The farther away you are from a problem the easier it is to fix.
Comparing the butchery of humans in Israel/Gaza to similar actions against American schoolchildren by US gunman, I'm left with little else other than sorrow. Yichh.
The sitch in Palestine is not dissimilar to that of Native Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries; what's happening is consequently no surprise.
Many of us wonder if the hostilities can ever be solved by the parties involved in Israel. Decades have passed. For now, for many of us, hope is all we have. Closer to home, many wonder why neither the Democrats or the Republicans are willing to somehow lock themselves away and resolve the issues at hand, again, many of us can only keep hope alive as seemingly little or none of what is posted in forums like this reach the ears, hearts, and minds of the legislative branch we’re dependent on to actually run a functioning government of some degree of efficiency and effectiveness. Legislators like Mr. Scalise should not be entertained with becoming the third in line to the commander in Chief if he cannot differentiate between what did and did not happen with the 2020 vote. Trying to win the backing of other election deniers is a non-starter to Democrats so in the meanwhile many of us must put up with this charade until when? Scalise, Jordan, and McCarthy, like other election denying losers (based on all the factual certified evidence provided by official committees), are just wasting the time of many of us wondering if our own future will ever be free of such nonsense. In agreement with today’s message, many of us wonder what our own country’s home-based extremist underbelly is up to while the legislative branch flounders. Thanks, RR for today’s warnings.
If the Arabs are represented by the Palestinian Authority, peace and a two state solution is possible,