• Promised to cut the deficit but added $8 trillion to it.
• Promised to build a wall; completed only 458 miles out of 2,000, mostly repairs.
• Promised Mexico would pay for the wall; they didn’t.
• Promised a new healthcare plan; it never existed.
• Promised a middle-class tax cut; primarily cut taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class to bear the burden.
• Promised not to play golf; made 250 visits to his own golf clubs, costing taxpayers $150 million.
• Promised to increase economic growth by 4%; didn’t achieve it, President Biden did.
• Promised an infrastructure plan; had none, President Biden signed a massive one.
• Promised to hire “the best people”; fired 3/4 of them, then labeled them the worst.
• Promised to reduce prescription drug prices; didn’t happen, President Biden did.
• Promised to win the trade war with China; it cost about a quarter million jobs.
• Promised corporate tax cuts would benefit workers; corporations used the money to buy back stocks instead.
• Promised to revive the coal industry; more coal jobs were lost during his presidency
• Promise Michigan one single auto plant will not close, 5 production plants closed in 2018.
• Promise he would help create jobs in the auto industry, 3500 jobs lost in 2018.
*Promised to take us out of Afghanistan, but instead Trump pulled out 17,000 troops and left a shell of 3,000 troops to protect everybody he left behind.
He didn’t care about how many Americans could die.
He also made a deal with the Taliban and released 5,000 Isis terrorist out of prison.
He did it on purpose to leave Biden a mess in Afghanistan to clean up.
There is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Sean Sheeter, and because tfg refused the desperate requests of women to have a seat at the table in his discussions and deal-making with the Taliban, women and girls have been thrown back into the dark ages. Not allowed to leave home unless accompanied by a man, not allowed to work outside the home, or go to school, not allowed to speak, yes I said speak, in public, and of course they are now suffering rampant rape, abuse, and other cruelties behind the doors of their prisons (houses). Many have committed suicide. This is what happens when patriarchy and misogyny flourishes in a tyrant's mind, who cares nothing for anyone but himself, and this is what the "christian" tyrants want for America's girls and women.
M Tree, yes and Republicans never have that problem because they inherit a working government that they immediately begin to wreck and the cycle goes on.
Remember that tfg invited the Taliban to Camp David. Gee, I wonder what was discussed? We will never know. Tfg did not allow notes, witnesses or any documentation as he spoke with Russian agents/friends of Putin, or Putin himself , or any other oligarch or dictator
Laurie, I would think there is a law somewhere that forbids that, but alas, it seems these days, say for about the last near half-century, whatever Republicans do is OK and they do get away with a lot, even trying to elect a convicted criminal and insurrectionist to the presidency again.
David - I have maintained that Biden should have abrogated the illegal agreement with the taliban. by policy, we do not negotiate with terrorists. that ''deal" like most of his, was an abject failure and capitulation to terrorists. Biden should have forcefully and loudly repudiated it very publicly.
Biden had little leverage because tfg had required Pakistan to release 5000 taliban prisoners, who were already organizing in case of that repudiation.
Tfg took no chances on screwing the afghan people, particularly the women, knowing an orderly us troop exit would not be easy to execute.
M Tree, you are right about what happened in Afghanistan, but alas, our media hardly even noticed Trump's role beyond saying he made a deal with the Taliban or the Afghan Government, or someone. Everyone is cleaning up messes Republicans leave and usually do it so well that the American people with our pathetic memories forget that there even was a mess, just like when Biden took over from Trump or in 2009 when Obama took over after Bush, Jr. Carter, with little support tried to clean up the Nixon mess and Ford cover-up for Nixon and the American people were told over and over how much better it was before Carter took office. Reagan and Bush Sr. made a huge mess that will probably never totally be cleaned up. Clinton was to pragmatic to really fix that mess and Republicans took over Congress so soon after Clinton, any progress was reversed. What is wrong that the American people keep being drawn to bullies/criminals like Trump, Gingrich, Johnson, McConnell? There are another host of thugs running for down-ballot races? Who wants to be bullied or is it that so many Americans think that under those guys they will get to be the bullies? I don't get it!
Ruth Sheets, it is mind boggling isn't it? I think the short answer as to why people can vote for bullies/criminals is they have been conditioned to do so by their life experiences and because they mainly reside in a media echo chamber that validates and activates only their beliefs and emotions. The same could be said for me and, I assume for you, but I suspect the main difference lies in the strength and content of the conditioning that they and we were immersed in.
I seem to recall from my Bible studies that God (whom I believe to be of dual gender) created a helpmate for Adam because in all THEIR wisdom, they knew that man on his own would drive himself insane, and start doing obscene things with animals or worse. Over the thousands of years of human history, too many men, having achieved great wealth and power. have become increasingly malignantly misogynistic. If their ultimate fantasy is to rid our planet of the female gender or enslave them entirely, there will be no one left to bear their children or save them from themselves, thereby proving the truth of our Creators’ original fears. Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale is not just fiction, it’s prediction. But only if we create a BLUE tsunami that will wash away the toxic miasma, both political and environmental that isengulfing our planet.
M Tree - I also recently read that the women can’t even read or recite the Quran (sp? Sorry) out loud or call to prayers. I don’t understand how a woman is supposed to follow the strict guidelines of their own religion if they can’t even follow their own book. What is happening to them is downright wrong.
Why do women in this country, who apparently want their freedom, still back trump when he said out loud that he will do whatever he wants regardless of whether women want him to or not? The sexual predator should be in jail by now along with his other convicted friends.
Anon, that sure is absurd no speaking the Quran (sp?) aloud. I think I heard something about that. Was it they can't read it aloud to another woman? WTH? Do the Taliban fear the women will rise up against them by whispering coded messages to organize a revolt? (We can only hope.) They, as any terrorist group, are insane and nonsensical.
I agree, American women voting for tfg is inexplicable. May the good in us and our democracy prevail and live on to build a stronger, more robust democracy, where everyone has dignity..
Thank you for writing this. Spot on. I don't know if you're a woman, but I feel an absolute disgust about Pompeo and Trump throwing these women and their daughters into the dark ages and hoping to do the same to us.
Susan Iwanisziw, thank you for your kind words of appreciation. I've learned a lot in this almost-decade of crazy. One of my most important lessons, is that I have to stand up and speak out about every and as many injustices as I can, so awareness and unity can rise and suffering can fall.
Janet, thanks for the reference. drumpf opened the door to the suppression of women's rights by the Taliban, at the same time that he gutted women's constitutional rights in the US. At its core this has nothing to do with Biden or any Democrat, it's all on him. He's trying to send us all back 300 years, and to the misogynist emperor drumpf.
I do substack on an iPad, and the ❤️ sometimes takes several seconds to respond. Try waiting before touching it again (if I touch twice, it cancels the like)
Caveat, I don’t use the app, since its display is set to phone shape, which looks weird on an iPad. Doesn’t fill the screen.
Janet - I, too, lost the ability to “like” posts when my iPad was so old that it would not allow any more updates. Took some time but I finally got a new one (it’s a racket IMO since my old one was still in great shape and working fine but apparently they had to make money somehow) and now I can like again. G G has some good advice for trying to change browsers if you are using your computer. Some people use a phone vs. a tablet or vice versa if one is out of date and the other is not but I can’t see well enough to use the phone. Regardless, it is frustrating but hang in there.
You missed his entire array of incompetence in handling Covid pandemic and the resultant deaths. And now he is talking about putting RFK, Jr., an antivaxer and conspiracy theorist, in a position over all health agencies.
People used to be more insightful. A popular depression song, "Ain't We Got Fun?" included the lyrics, "There's nothing surer, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."
Trump's economic policies will put us into a "deep recession or depression." With Trump's tariffs, basic necessities will cost the average citizen $4000 more a year. The wealthiest love recessions because they can buy up assets at firesale prices. Inequality increases with every recession. Under Trump, workers will become more financially insecure while the morbidly rich widen the gap between themselves and the rest of us.
Jesus. It just hit me tween the eyes: that'll be new pressure on households to refinance (on lousier terms) their single most important asset, their housing, or lose it entirely, to be owned by a financialist oligarchy. At least they'll still have health insurance, so a broken leg or festering ulcer won't hobble their income entirely and further put them under water. Oh... wait....
So right, Gloria. Dad used to sing in the shower back in the 1950's, "all around the water tank, waiting for a train..." at one of the many 'Hoovervilles' around this great land. Love Robert's cartoon of brayzos and schmuckz with their rockets stuck up their asses.
The way that normal people solve difficult financial problems is 'with a little help from my friends'. Band together to share occasional childcare, household items, kids stuff, and emotional support.
Sorry, I should have explained better. I didn't mean we shouldn't ask our government to address our needs . We have that right and it has that duty. Rather, I meant to shine a light on subvervise opportunities for collective efforts. It was a staple of anti-war activism in the late 1960's to form local co-ops for food, childcare, music, drug recovery, etc., local newspapers and women's healthcare. By forming community, we formed groups that could put pressure on elective officials. An ancillary benefit was forming friendships that made us stronger. A lot of really important 1970's changes in law came from this kind of community level collective organizing.
I'm surprised Kamala hasn't mentioned that RFK would lead CDC & a potential health disaster in a future pandemic due to RFKs disdain for vaccines.....tens millions could die next time
With well over 900 pages, I imagine it would be very difficult to mention all the bad things in project 2025. She is upbeat, and smart. "Accentuate the positive"., and she has
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
I dunno. It may be more of an oppositional defiance disorder (ODD): ODD includes a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance toward authority figures. ODD also includes being spiteful and seeking revenge, a behavior called vindictiveness. (Mayo Clinic. org) ODD does sound a lot like the “terrible twos,” some people never grew out of.
Mr. Sheeter’s analysis rings true. To put it nicely,
republicans can’t get out of their own way. They are so self-obsessed and shallow, they can’t ever see “the big picture,” and they usually require instant gratification—much like toddlers. They are like their supporters in that their fears and their defiance over being told what to do override everything else—even common sense.
To them, being told what to do = being controlled.
Narcissists, for example, will do almost anything to control others and at the same time, they highly resent attempts to control them. Maybe ODD is a juvenile form of Narcissism. At any rate, I don’t think either ODD or narcissism are behaviors that develop over time. I think both are conditions people are born with, like schizophrenia. (Some people will read that statement to mean that narcissism is a form of schizophrenia—but that’s NOT what I mean. They are two distinct disorders.) I also believe a narcissist can’t stop being a narcissist. Narcissistic behaviors can be modified, but they will always be a big part of who a narcissist is.
So, what can we do about people who have a pathological drive to be in control, to not consider others, to always be “right,” and to have more money than anyone else on the planet? I think the public needs to be educated to spot the signs that someone is a narcissist, because narcissists tend to be predatory. They also tend to be bullies. In other words, they aren’t someone your child should be dating and they aren’t someone you should do business with. They also shouldn’t be voted into public office, ever—for what should be obvious reasons. Narcissists like Trump are first class manipulators. He’s so good at manipulating people
they don’t have a clue they’re being manipulated
until it’s too late, similar to members of a cult.
I view Trump’s presidency as a fluke, a flirtation
with malevolence, because he’s the most extreme narcissist I’ve observed in my 70 years of existence.
If he wins this election it will be because he cheated.
If he loses, but winds up in the White House anyway,
it will be because the corrupt majority on the Supreme Court made a deal with the devil.
I never believed Trump on anything as I have known for over 30 years he was a BS artist, but it wasn’t until he ran for president that I truly started to detest him.
Kathy Hughes: Totally! When Trump was a builder and golfer, to the extent I even thought about him, Trump seemed to me to be a spoilt rich guy, who was mildly amusing with his self-promoting superlatives (the best, the most spectacular . . .), and would smile over the mudthrowing between Trump and Rosie O'Donnell.
It was only during Trump's entry into politics -- the birther movement, the slurs on immigrants (they send us their murderers and rapists) -- that I perceived how sick and deranged he was.
If he had remained a popular real-estate man and entertainer, I would not have taken the effort to learn more about him, and he would have been an odd, mildly amusing figure.
"I have known for over 30 years he was a BS artist." Exactly.
Here's the Reason the orange turd is a Liar and a BS artist - A Supreme Narcissistic Moron Has To Make Up His Own "Facts":
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
He really got warmed up with his involvement in the wrongful persecution of the Central Park Five. That's where he went from being grotesque but laughable, to just grotesque.
Been saving you for last Dan as I wanted to go to Rogan's site first. Am listening to his two and a half hour interview with Trump. Rogan's a big fan of him as a fellow entertainer and of JFK Jr., whose going to be run the CDC God forbid, brain worm and all. Now it's on to tariffs and Musk. More Free Publicity and Democracy Be Damned. Anyway, below are the two merged files, the Republican message on everything of importance and a yet posted Exposing sans the punchline Antichrist.
It seems many of you at Fox News suffer from short term memory loss. Here is a reminder...4 years ago we had a global pandemic event - global recession , global oil reduction, global supply chains shattered. In the US millions were surviving on unemployment , stimulus and businesses closing or taking government loans... 43 states with mandatory lockdowns or social distancing , US oil reduced production to a low 9.7 million barrels a day. $3.1 trillion deficit . Biden stepped into office in the middle of that mess. By June 2022 , inflation and gas prices peaked at their highest. Unemployment below 4% for over 24 months- hit a lower mi they average than trumps lowest. Reduced the deficit , got a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed, chips act, Medicare drugs reduced. We know 2024 is far batter than 2020. Concerts, sporting events, airlines, cruise ships , vacation rentals , selling out , car sales up. Stock market doing great , US energy are producing more oil than ever , worlds top producers of oil and natural gas while increasing renewables. We are more energy independent since 2022 than we were in 2019. Biden is leaving office better than he inherited it!! Trump left it far worse and he came into office in the 8th year of the longest us economic growth streak (128 months 2009-2019). He increased spending every year (almost doubling the deficit 2017-2019.from $585 billion to $985 billion!! )
His 2016 campaign he said he had a great healthcare and infrastructure plan - he had neither!! Said he would eliminate the national debt - he did the opposite. Said Mexico would pay for his wall, they did not. The number at the HS border rise from 331,000 in 2015 to over 850,000 in 2019. The stock market lost money for 2 quarters in 2018. Highest number of farm bankruptcies in 2018/2019 ( since 2005)
Trump final disgrace was abandoning his oath of office and ignoring the constitution, the law, even the Supreme Court - to stage an attempt to keep office for himself, even if it meant putting his own VP life in jeopardy with his lies. People died, injured, jailed for his lies and he has no remorse. Disgraceful!! And for republicans to nominate him again - that’s the disgrace of what used to the be Republican Party!!
Trump: Promises vs. Reality
• Promised to cut the deficit but added $8 trillion to it.
• Promised to build a wall; completed only 458 miles out of 2,000, mostly repairs.
• Promised Mexico would pay for the wall; they didn’t.
• Promised a new healthcare plan; it never existed.
• Promised a middle-class tax cut; primarily cut taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class to bear the burden.
• Promised not to play golf; made 250 visits to his own golf clubs, costing taxpayers $150 million.
• Promised to increase economic growth by 4%; didn’t achieve it, President Biden did.
• Promised an infrastructure plan; had none, President Biden signed a massive one.
• Promised to hire “the best people”; fired 3/4 of them, then labeled them the worst.
• Promised to reduce prescription drug prices; didn’t happen, President Biden did.
• Promised to win the trade war with China; it cost about a quarter million jobs.
• Promised corporate tax cuts would benefit workers; corporations used the money to buy back stocks instead.
• Promised to revive the coal industry; more coal jobs were lost during his presidency
• Promise Michigan one single auto plant will not close, 5 production plants closed in 2018.
• Promise he would help create jobs in the auto industry, 3500 jobs lost in 2018.
*Promised to take us out of Afghanistan, but instead Trump pulled out 17,000 troops and left a shell of 3,000 troops to protect everybody he left behind.
He didn’t care about how many Americans could die.
He also made a deal with the Taliban and released 5,000 Isis terrorist out of prison.
He did it on purpose to leave Biden a mess in Afghanistan to clean up.
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Will this nation not once but twice reject for President highly qualified women (Hillary and Kamala) for an obviously unqualified unfit man for the job?
Once might be written off as a fluke. Twice at some level would say this is who we are.
Since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Copy and Share. I got that from the Republican Voters Against Trump Facebook site a couple of days ago and posted it last night while watching Seth Meyer's right after Robert posted his daily message I haven't even read yet! I also posted this last night to share on other sites:
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
You hit the nail right on the head. Trump has no interest in serving the people and has done essentially nothing for the middle and lower class and everything to further support the top 1% of Americans who already have more money than they could spend before they die. That's tRump's only accomplishment while in office.
As you say tRump was a total danger and disaster for this country while in office. If he's re-elected he plans to seal the deal.
Only one thing you left out and that some people seem to have forgotten. That tRump singularly committed genocide by Covid of nearly half a million people. He had no interest in doing anything about Covid though he says he had learned that Covid was, indeed quite deadly. But, then, proceeded to tell Bob Woodward that he'd not done much to fight the plague because he "didn't want to worry the American people" as if the fact that people were dying in such large numbers that hospitals were overwhelmed had to cut services to others in order to care for Covid patients. The results being deaths to patients aside from Covid who were awaiting lifesaving treatments and surgeries and who died while their surgeries and treatments were postponed because hospitals had limited supplies, staff, beds and equipment and Covid patients were "needier." Hospitals were so overwhelmed by dead bodies that they had to rent refrigerated trucks just to store all thosr dead bodies. And the pandemic also took the lives of many hospital workers due to inadequate supplies and the reuse of masks for long periods of time that were meant to be disposable. Many of those hospital workers are now so disillusioned that many have dropped out of their normal jobs and have sought other careers. Not a good thing as even before the pandemic there were labor shortages for medical staff. Trump very nearly caused the collapse of our whole medical system. And always, always continued to spread diss and misinformation.
But Trump didn't want to "alarm Americans" unnecessarily. And that was the sum total of his concern about the American people. Not once, not ever did I ever hear an apology from Trump to the families that lost their loved ones during the early part of the pandemic as a result of his many lies and innuendo that it was "driven" by the Democrats because they are so "evil" when he tried to cover his tracks. Trump left this country with the saddest legacy of his term. We were second only to Brazil in loss of life. We quite literally became the laughing stock of the rest of the world where among developed nations their totals were often less than several thousand, ours topped nearly half a million (plus another half million by the end of the second year). But did tRump ever admit his faults or his responsibility in any way shape or form? Never, not once. Because tRump never admits to anything and just attempts to blame someone or something else. Because he considers himself "perfect" in every way and is incapable of making errors in judgement so it's all someone else's fault. And it's NEVER EVER his fault because he's a 'genius" who can do no wrong. He's a malignant, narcissistic sociopath who, if r+elected, will finish the job he started and turn this country into a dictator driven one by a leader who is morally bankrupt and will continue to screw this nation over to acquire yet even more wealth and tax breaks for the wealthy. And basically nothing for the rest of the American people.
Copy and Share. I got that from the Republican Voters Against Trump Facebook site a couple of days ago and posted it last night while watching Seth Meyer's right after Robert posted his daily message I haven't even read yet! I also posted this last night to share on other sites:
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
Whatever happened to the emoluments clause that he kicked the crap out of when he was in the White House? Any chance that if the United States keeps it democracy after next Tuesday and on through Jan. 21, he'll be tried for ALL of the crimes he's committed? This one never gets a column inch of attention any more.
Steve, OMG! I thought that line was from "Mary Poppins" I distinctly hear Julie Andrews telling her charges that it was "a pie crust promise, easily made and easily broken." Who knew Lenin got it from a movie! Ha!
Labelling KH as "only" a daughter of two university professors (which means "nothing", if "the kid" does not have it in herself) is degrading - I am convinced you did not mean it as such, but it requires correction, listing her professional accomplishments most likely starting with her law degree....
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Elon Musk is also backing DJT because Elon knows that DJT can be bought... Elon's Tesla Autonomous Driving Software is Hazardous, is under Review by the NTSB... The Tesla Battery Packs can be Hazardous... Space-X's Starlink could have a Problematical Future as the thousands of Low-Orbit Satellites start falling out of the Sky... Elon is a Child of Internet v.1.0 where it was Gospel to Move Fast, and Break Things... Internet v.1.0 is the Gospel of NOW, and the Future is later... The Future is now arriving... If DJT wins, then these Problems Go Away.... Elon Has Said So...
Very good summation of Trump's disastrous term in office, Sean. Readers need to copy this and have it with them when MAGA red hats spout their ridiculous, "Promises made, promises kept", or "Trump delivered", or "We were better off under Trump".
Copy and Share. I got that from the Republican Voters Against Trump Facebook site a couple of days ago and posted it last night while watching Seth Meyer's right after Robert posted his daily message I haven't even read yet! I also posted this last night to share on other sites:
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
From Robert Reich’s lips to Kamala Harris’ and her AG’s ears! Thanks Robert for a very well written, easy to understand explanation of the our current “gilded age” and what needs to be done to end it!
I keep hearing that Musk is the richest man and Bezo's the second , in the world.
But I think that overlooks the Arab potentates. They buy gold plated Mercedes.
And the really richest man in the world, is he who commands the people and economy of a nation. Putin is reputed to have many dacha's and Navalny published a photo of a billion dollar dacha.
What need have you for money, when you command the resources of a nation.
Many years ago I read that Mao only received a $300 a month allowance, yet he commanded the resources of China.
One does not need to "own" plains or luxurious dwellings, when everything is at your fingertip.
Trump if he wins will be the wealthiest man in the world, as he will have at his beck and call, the resources of the United States.
Our problem is that we are programmed to think of wealth in the form of dollars.
William. The Saud Family has a net worth of over $1.4T, but King Salman (the richest member) “only” has a personal net worth of $18M. There are about 2000 people in the family (!).
Thanks Jan,I am aware,I am also aware the King Salman, has his fingers wrapped tightly around the purse of the 2,000 descendants of Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud, they are not independently wealthy, an analogy would be Donald Trump as a teen., a kid on an allowance.
If they want their wealth and the goodies that it buys, then they have to be good little boys.
For sure, William. I didn’t know the family was so large. I was also surprised that Salman’s personal fortune is so small (haha). His control over the whole is what counts.
In Islam, a man can have four wives, and unlimited concubines, the family thus expands at a geomatric rate.
Tis the same with descendants of Muhammad, Wearing a black turban especially among the Shia, but also in Afghanistan and Pakistan means that you are a descendant of Muhammad. The black turban is ubiquitous.
Thanks for this succinct article on how Trump's cronies are already suppressing freedom of the Press, Bezos @ the Post and Elon @ Twitter, and Musk is also lobbying in a still-avoidable future to head the FCC which controls the internet. He has already given our country's security secrets to Russia, so we must be vigilant.
We have two billionaires fighting over the right to ruin our country and the world. Appalling. I think about all the money these two clowns are getting from our government that could be used right here on the planet, to make things better NOW. Considering all the problems Earth is facing, investing in a future that could be a long time in the future seems like a waste to me. Humanity will be extinct long before they colonize any other planet, in our solar system or out of it. But I guess their egos must be stroked, and we are paying the ultimate price for that.
Musk and Bezos won't colonize any planet. Take Mars for an example. It is undoubtedly possible to build a space station there, but why do you want to? Mars is like Arizona, but with a surface temperature below that of Antarctica. Boring and cold, very cold. Why not just go to Arizona?
But, Musk says that he wants to "green" the planet. OK, but the atmosphere is close to 100% CO2. So, he says, I will bring in plants to eat the CO2 and turn it into oxygen, and these plants will multiply in the greenhouses I will build, and generate ever-increasing amounts of oxygen and eventually, Mars will have a breathable atmosphere fit for humans.
Not so. If every molecule of CO2 on Mars was turned into a molecule of O2, the oxygen pressure of the Martian atmosphere would be less than 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure.
So, Mars will always be way too cold and will never have sufficient oxygen. Sorry, Elon, you haven't thought this through, this is a totally ridiculous idea.
Come to think of it, you and Bezos are the poster children for Adam Smith's prescient observation that those who benefit most from his economic system must pay the most in taxes.
Makes perfect sense. You'd think NASA and the government would realize this and stop funding their crazy ideas. It seems we're dealing in a lot of short-sightedness these days. As for wanting to go to the moon again: why? Been there, done that, got the damn rocks.
There is too much money, and too many jobs and careers dependent on the notion that will colonize the stars, and people like Musk and millions of others need the fantasy that they can shit in their own home, befoul it and when full, just pack up and move to another home.- Theo.
Bezos and Musk have confiscated the resources of our country and now hoard them. The decisions they have taken unto themselves they have no right to. Our resources need to be reclaimed (taxes!) and put to better use to serve the lives of our people.
The intensity of radiation on Mars is such that any humanoid life forms would need to live in shielded structures. The planning for a Mars outpost is placing its inhabitants in lava tubes that have very thick layers of rock to shield from radiation. It is not Arizona.
I beg to differ - Arizona is anything but boring, it is a beautiful place, amazingly rich in resources, scenery, biodiversity, and especially its people. Many of whom are immigrants, and we love our country and our state, and hopefully will help elect the first woman president.
I truly do not believe that Musk is an intellectual as they make him seem to be. I will agree he's a good businesman but then again he destroyed Twitter so even that is questionable. Most of his other projects are run by scientists and incredible engineers he's employed and contracts he's made with the government. He relies on them to fulfil his egocentric desires. His ambitions for Mars are rather far fetched. Mars can be obliterated like earth with one sizable asteriod, then there is dark energy, then heat death and freeze death, and the scientific lists goes on and all the other unexpected occurences in outer space regardless how diligently we track our universe. Since we went last to the moon, it has not be possible till now to revisit it although our technology and expertise have grown by leaps and bounds, so why...do we think we can colonise Mars. We're not even in a position to bring back two astronauts stuck in the International Space Centre. Let's be realistic, big dreams and egoistic desires to brag has always been the call card of the billionaires. Is it because it's more of a monetary advantage to float these unachievable plans or is it an excuse not to correct the ailments planet earth is undergoing at present with their colossal wealth. Whatever the reson maybe I do not think we should give them any credit instead we should be aware what colossal wealth held by two narcissistic egoist can do to our nation and planet.
Katy, I agree with you about Musk. You listen to him talk, and he's like a five-year-old boy trying to bullshit you, e.g., the Second Amendment is there to protect the First Amendment. [Ahem, no, the Second Amendment is there to protect the free speech of the guy holding the gun]. Also, what Musk says about physics may impress the average Joe, but is basically bullshit. So, you don't get the impression of a particularly sharp intellect.
You dig a little deeper, and you find that he inherited a lot of money, invested in PayPal, got lucky there and then bought Tesla, which was doing just fine without him. Almost went bust but was bailed out by the government. About the same time, he founded Space X with the idea of going to Mars, and used a lot of rocket engineers from the US and Russia, with rockets from Russia. Almost went completely bust in 2008 when 3 of the 4 rockets exploded. Gambled everything on the 4th rocket, and again got lucky when it didn't explode (he would probably have disappeared if the rocket had exploded).
While the stunt of returning a booster rocket to a precise location on Earth is really spectacular, a little thought indicates that it simply demonstrates the prescience of Newton's Laws of Motion. It is actually quite a simple problem. It requires movable nozzles, very fast computers, and a highly accurate GPS. Mix in Newton, and you've got a very tractable problem. They couldn't do this in 1969, now they can.
But it begs the question, what exactly is the point? In order to have enough fuel to brake the booster's descent, you have to have an enormous increase in the fuel of the take-off rocket, just to loft all the fuel that is required for this descent. So you need gigantic rockets just for this stunt to work. And that, I'm willing to suggest, may make the entire program enormously more expensive than the conventional NASA solution, where the booster comes down on parachutes.
So the way I see Musk is not so much as a brilliant visionary, but as someone who is prepared to take enormous gambles.
Also, some wiser folks than me have assessed that the lower martian gravity will cause a deterioration in bone and cell structure, such that earth mammals will, in time, decompose to gelatinous mounds of goop. Which is how I've been visualizing our heroic martian colonizers for some time. /s
I am with you on this. the gravity of Mars is.34ge we are told, based on a 17th century theory, that requires circularity of reasoning, that of mass gravity.
The atmospheric pressure of Mars is less than experienced in the stratosphere, where water and blood boil. Thus space suits would be required in door or out,unless they could pressurize geometric domes, but then the tiniest leak would be a catastrophe.
Atmospheric pressure is the result of gravity pulling particles of gases like oxygen,nitrogen and carbon dioxide to the source of gravity, the center of the earth.
On the surface, a step by a human will result in a bound of 7 ft into the air any vehicle that hits a rock will be bound into the air. Any human who stays on Mars long enough, will require, should they return to earth, an exoskeleton just so they can perambulate.
Has anyone seen astronauts climb out of their "space ships", what they call those cone shaped capsules, when they return to the earth. The one that made it to the press, showed the returning astronaut being carried, that is because in reduced gravity you lose bone mass, because bone mass is produced by stress on the bones. And in reduced gravity or zero gravity, there is no or reduced stresss on the bones.
A child born on Mars is forever consigned to life on Mars, thanks to it's reduced gravity and atmospheric pressure, it's extremities will be spindly, underdeveloped, its head will be large in proportion to it's size, it will be smaller compared to it's parents, because there is less stress on the bones, and it's eyes will have adjusted to the Martian light, thus bigger, it would be blinded by light on Earth and have to wear glasses at all times when outside, maybe even to see
There is no way to terraform Mars, because the gravity is insufficient to holdkught gases to the ground., such as oxygen and nitrogen.
Such gases will be spun off into space by the centrifugal force of the planets rotation, and therein lies the answer as to what happened to the water and atmosphere of Mars.
Back in the 90's I got into a quarrel with dudes from Skunworks . I told them that there was water on Mars, at the poles because there is no centrifugal force at the poles. (People and things weigh more at the poles, than they do at the equator, because of centrifugal force)). was called a crank a kook, then spectometry revealed that there was indeed water on the poles, and I strongly believe there is subterranean water as well, just as on earth.
But the water on Mars boiled off aeons ago, when the gravity diminished to the point that it could no longer keep the gases in suspension, and water boiled off, flung into space and then was drawn by the gravitational pull of it's nearest neighbor as an cloud , taking millions of years to make the trip, blocking out the sun, freezing the planet, until finally it reached it's destination and periodically warmed by a huge solar flare, parts if it fell on the planet creating a deluge, until about 12,000 years ago, a huge event melted the last of it the end of the Younger Dryas.
And now they have discovered water on the moon, again at the poles
As you decrease stress on the bones, you decrease size (Ask your dentist or anyone who has had teeth pulled.
The corollary is true, increase stress and you increase size.
An increase in the gravitational pull of the earth, would even more condense the molecules of air, making it more viscous and requiring greater effort to perambulate, the increase in size of muscles and tendons would of necessity increase the size of the bones and the creatures, And an increase in atmospheric density would enable creatures that weighed 100 lbs or more to be able to fly, whereas in the present atmosphere the largest flying creature weighs 40l bs.
Reduce the gravity and you reduce atmospheric pressure, and you reduce the size of creatures, until the largest animal that can live today is an Elephant, any larger and they suffocate under their own weight like a whale.
Whales are large because the atmosphere they live in is thick enough for them to be buoyant, but it is buoyant that they don't need legs because they don't perambulate.
Musk’s Starlink satellites were provided to Ukraine for internet service after Putin invaded. They were essential in helping Ukraine resist Russia’s war crimes. Now it has been revealed that Musk has been regularly in contact with Putin, taking the
satellites from Ukraine and giving them to Russian troops. Musk has a top secret security clearance and it is clear that he has violated the basic terms of knowing our country’s secrets. You don’t abandon our ally and become BFFs with our enemy!!!
Yes, it was confirmed in the WSJ last week. The question is, what caused Musk to change his dialogue- originally he said he was supporting Ukraine, then he started to suggest that they should cede land. Either they had something on him and is compromised, or he just made it look like he initially supported Ukraine and had all along deal with the Trump administration since 2016. https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-putin-secret-conversations-37e1c187?st=yhcHZ7
Imperceptible the frequencies which are used for long distancecommunications are line of sight, because the Earth is spherical, the very best line of sight is a range of 7 miles with a high antenna.
When I was in the military we used a man pack portable radio that had a transmission radius with an extended antenna of , at best 2 miles over land, to another transceiver, yet I could communicate with aircraft at 35 miles, until the signal weakened as it expands outwards like the waves created when you drop a pebble into a lake, as it expands it weakens.
This scientific fact is what created cable TV. The very first cable TV was built on the top of a small mountain,it captured the signal of broadcast stations, then transmitted them via cable to the town below in a valley.. Before that the only way to hear radio or watch TV was to receive a signal transmitted by a relay transmitter.
The first use of satellite communications I know of was the military in Operation Eagle Claw, where they used special radios and antennas to communicate with the Pentagon.
The Iran hostage rescue attempt that cost President Carter his job, and ushered in Ronald Reagan, the treason president who brokered a deal with Khomeini, but that is another story
Thanks for sharing! I hadn't heard of Eagle Claw. I do a bit of research on cataloguing wireless tech. One is called LoRa. There's also LoReA. A world record for small bytes of data is 300+ km:
I also read that the military has some really long tunnels underground for thousands of miles, which similar boring for smaller pipes could be developed just for fiber optic cables.
I read about those too- Very low frequency, or ULF- something like that. They require ginormous antennas, so for consumers they are probably impractical. Cool though! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_frequency
‘Our government’…is us. The people of this nation. The money Musk and Bezo are receiving in government contracts worth billions IS TAXPAYER MONEY. Is that where you want your HARD EARNED MONEY TO GO? To these two multi billionaires who have less than zero allegiance to anyone or anything but insatiable greed and the craving for MORE AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE.
Theo - I feel the same way about the amount of money that goes to campaigning. The amount that people donate too. It should not have to be this way when that money could be spent better elsewhere.
The worse part of Elon Mosca is that he is not even a U.S. citizen and when 45 spews his venoum toward immigrants stating that they are "poisoning American's blood" there you have Mosca trying to ruin this country!
He is a Canadian citizen by citizenhip and because his mother is Canadian, but from what I have read, he is not a USA citizen. Of course, I could be wrong and he already is a legal citizen of this country. And you are correct in stating that he could have a little of empathy for other immigrants who are just looking for a better life and provide their families with the bare necessities for a decent life. Dignity, decency, a minimal of humanity and moral values cannot be bought with the millions they have! Sad and pittiful!
Why is govt outsourcing space exploration? NASA was perfectly capable of doing this with the Mercury, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. Bring this back into government control and cut out the middle man's profit.
Regarding Musk, he needs to lose all security clearances and govt contacts due to his cozy relationship with Putin. Where is Garland and the DOJ?
For all the good Biden did....he erased it with a poor pick for AG.....when are these moderate Dems gonna learn that right wingers should NOT be at FBI/DOJ.
Garland's appointment was the consequence of a mind addled by 34 years in a Senate in which the greatest value was comity, compromise and bipartisanship.
I cast no aspersions on his moral character or motivation, but only on his learned political instincts.
I, personally, don't think that presidents are omnipotent and all wise,so they don't rule, but make decisions based on information provided them by a cabinet and advisors who they haven't actually chosen.
Trump didn't know anyone that he appointed as cabinet and advisor, neither did Obama, both were neophytes as regards beltway politics.
There is indeed and invisible hand that moves the helm of the ship of state.
Twas, IMO, Larry summers for Obama.
Does anyone think that Trump actually knew the names,much less the persons of Steven Miller, Mark Meadows, or any of his staff and cabinet, before he took office?
tpsea, I've given this a lot of thought, People who sit behind the Resolution Desks, are not omnipotent and omniscient, they, sit on the commode like you and I and are probably of average intelligence (less if Trump). They are not connected to and with every expert in the U.S.A.. Thus their appointments are people whose names were provided to them by a grise eminence. I know the name of Obama's, LarrySummers, but there is a coterie of grise eminence's, that gather round them, with their own names, just as Trump relied on someone who used Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society for names of federal judges.
In many ways the President is akin to a sock puppet and some one has their hand up their ass.
Biden missed his chance when he didn't challenge Hillary for the nomination. As Obama's veep, he was the natural next candidate. I'm afraid Biden's legacy with be tied with Netanyahu's. And maybe torpedoing Harris by staying in the race too long.
If Hillary was President on Jan 6th, we would still have done the same.
The only one with a personal relationship with Bibi is Trump.If Trump is elected Bibi gets all he wants, including a war with Iran.
Israel is a land locked air craft carrier that is within striking distance of the hands that control the oil spigots.
Oil spigots which can be turned clockwise and cut off the flow of oil, which will bring Europe to it's knees and raise the price of oil, astronomically, and usher in a depression worse than 1929.
Saudi Arabia has an aim to control the world, to Islamicize it. That is what that "orb" that Trump laid his hands on is all about. It was more than orb, engraved on it were the seven continents, symbolic world domination by Wahhabiyyah Islam.
Unlike westerners who are always in a hurry and want an immediate fix, Islam is patient and strive slowly to their goal, just like HAMAS.
Ishmael Haniyeh said, "we are a nation of martyrs, and we will come back again and again" (until the goal of ridding sacred Arab land of Jewish lice is achieved).
Islam doesn't mourn the death of martyr's, they celebrate it, maybe a mother will beat her chest and wail, but the community celebrates. You see martyrs get a get out of jail pass and an immediate ticket to paradise.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we actually had a DOJ in the US instead of enablers who are obviously committed to running out the clock instead of off applying the law as it's intended.
Launch cost-wise, she may have been right to push for more private involvement. Politically, though, it’s clear she didn’t take into account the risks of having, say, a Putin-friendly billionaire become the sole launch provider for American ISS crew. I blame her.
‘Public-Private-Partnership’…. remember when that was first peddled and sold as a ‘wonderful’ solution to the American people to all things publicly funded? I do! So the ‘private’ part = Corporatization= Profitization using taxpayer money to increase corporate profits…It started with Reagan and has morphed into a FRANKENSTEIN of major proportions. See: Project 2025.
It’s gotten pretty ugly, though it started under Nixon and Carter. That’s how both of them pitched the Space Shuttle, incidentally.
A huge part of the reason why America can’t keep building, say, public transit, is because there’s not enough in-house staff at agencies and too many consultants absorbing all the specialist knowledge needed.
Two more examples: Medicare Advantage is just less cost-efficient than traditional Medicare. And as much as I like the Inflation Reduction Act, much of its premise rests on tax credits to asset managers for energy projects that are best left in public hands. (Same thing with New York’s flagship renewables program and McKinsey, or the clientelism that surrounded California High-Speed Rail at its start.)
The Space program is big business, profits for investors, jobs for workers, and most of all jobs for workers in NASA from clerks and communications to astrophysicists, academics and mathematicians
The only benefit derived from space so far is telecommunications, GPS and eye in the sky.
Professor Reich: corruption, corruption everywhere, but no concern for those millions of people who are being robbed blind.
Musk and Trump also plan to completely crash the american economy and rob the 90% of us into penury so they can "grow their wealth" whilst the rest of us go homeless and hungry and die from common illnesses. (they also plan to defund scientific research and destroy academia completely.) america will be transformed into a third world country overnight, with a couple white slave owners at the top of the heap, one of whom is an obscenely wealthy illegal immigrant who is the shadow president awaiting the death of the supreme leader. if i'd written a book like this, it would have either never been published or it would have been published under the label "dystopian science fiction".
If Harris wins and deep down I believe she will we’ve got work to do. We must make qualifications to run for president more complete. Convicted felons need not apply. A government security check should be involved. For those who say that’s unconstitutional well they didn’t have nuclear weapons then either. If we don’t raise the bar, what’s going to stop another Trump or Bezos or someone like them from taking over.
Americans are dazzled by money. I just read that Nicky Jam a rapper from Puerto Rico took back his endorsement for Trump after the Madison Gardens debacle. He said he backed Trump because he thought that as a business man he’d be good for the economy.
Not everyone is politically involved. Many hear or read a snippet about a candidate and that’s it. Oh Trump he’s rich he would be good for the economy.
That happened when Ross Perot ran. I kept hearing people say yeah he’s a rich guy, he’ll be good for the economy. I don’t remember why he dropped out I just remember how relieved I was when he did.
I’m reading a very good book called “Moral Capitalism” which explains how we got here and what needs to happen. We are living in an oligarchy there’s no doubt about it. And sadly, the people who are disenfranchised the very most are the ones who think Trump will save them.
Susan, you can count me in to help. I absolutely want much stricter qualifications for the person that will lead our country! I also want to work on term limits for politicians and judges, abolishing the electoral college, complete overhaul of the education system, climate change and getting rid of Citizens United. Please keep me in mind! Onward and blue!
It is not just America. The German economy is on the ropes now because of years of chasing shiny objects of cheap energy and fossil fuel dependent industry, i.e. motor vehicles. When a former Chancellor could be purchased by the Russians, one realizes the depth of the problem.
You are exactly right. Change needs to happen but Trump change is in the exact opposite direction. Ending Reagan’s gusher-up economics is what needs to happen and Biden has done more along those lines than any president since Reagan. How can we help people see that? More needs to happen to create an economy that allows the middle class to catch up and Harris knows how to do that. I hope enough Americans understand this and give her a chance.
Don’t think Ross Perrot (who actually was a smart and very successful businessman -not just an actor) ever dropped out of the race. Votes for his “reform party” most likely enabled Clinton’s election in 92!
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading
Wow, Sean! That was great! While I was reading your post, I thought about when my kids were little tots. When I would tell them it was time to pick up their toys, it was amazing to watch their little lips come out in a pout, arms crossed and the word "NO" coming out of their mouths. Naturally, as a mom, you learn how to handle the situation. For me, I would tell them they could pick up their toys or I would pick them up and give them to children that would take care of them and put them away when they were done. You could see them thinking about it and deciding they didn't want me to give away their toys and they would pick them up. I feel like republicans are like my kids when you tell them what to do. Pouty lips, arms crossed and a resounding 'NO'! For our Democracy to survive and thrive, these little kids need to know the adults have the nation's best interests at heart and will work to ensure that Democracy continues. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Fantastic analogy Peggy. Big Babies Refusing To Do What They're Told By Grown Ups To Save Life Even! What was the percentage of Red State Toll of COVID Deaths over Blue States? And here we go again in the Electoral Vote!
What surprises me, Sean, is how many republicans are willing to allow these babies to dictate how their party is run. When parents let the child dictate, they grow up to be the entitled nut jobs like musk and the orange man. There comes a time when America says, "NO!" and means it! We truly must do every single thing we possibly can to get voters to the polls. We have to ensure a win for Kamala! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Posting this one on the fridge. Outstanding summation. Oh, and the 'women's bodies' busy-bodiness of that bunch? The clever ones in their 'accounting department' calculated that without a higher-than-average birth replacement rate, their magic economy will NOT give them growing rentier-level returns on their money. Party's over.
The Washington Post printed The Pentagon Papers and the paper of “All The President’s Men”; this was a noble paper of truth, protector of our democracy. This is a stab in the back of the Free Press. Jeff Bezos is Trump’s toady, a sycophant.
Louis Brandeis was 100% correct and we are seeing why now. For people like musk, bezos and the orange man, it is all about the money. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. To think any of those three care about our country or our Democracy is ridiculous. These ultra rich little boys and the orange man treat our country as their own little playground and it is hurting all of the rest of us. They seem to forget that without all the rest of us, they wouldn't have all the money they have. We are the customers and employees that worked for their profit. They don't care. The fact that bezos schmoozed with the orange man hoping for favors if the orange man got elected tells me all I need to know about his morals and his character. Muskrat on the other hand is completely and totally unhinged and living in the alternate reality of the orange man and his cult. It is up to us, Americans, to step up and prevent their complete take-over of our country. Sometimes I worry it might be too late, but after hearing Kamala's speech at the Ellipse, I actually felt a sense of hope. We must never stop fighting and defending our Democracy. It is way too important and necessary for our future generations. Only six more days. That old saying "Keep Calm and Carry on" needs to stay at the forefront of our minds. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot! Onward and blue!
Peggy, and thanks to the loss of the fourth estate, 40%+ of US citizens are incapable of rationale judgement, and need Daddy/ God/ Strongman to tell them what to do....and to admire. Maine high schoolers just voted for Trumpty in a mock election.. when will we step up for the revolution? It better be immediately if Trumpty the mobster is elected.
In hindsight, perhaps Congress insisting on putting its own imprimatur (a semblance of democracy, if you will) on the Space Launch System (NASA’s own in-house Moon rocket) wasn’t such a bad idea.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m critical of its contractors (Boeing and Northrop Grumman) and the whole cost-plus contracting omnishambles for putting SLS behind schedule and over budget, but at least it’s a stable option for NASA (again, it’s an in-house design it owns). Musk and Bezos, being the fickle billionaires that they are, are not in spaceflight for the public interest. (I’ll say the same for Boeing and NG, but that’s not my point.)
One final point: The technological marvels of Blue Origin and SpaceX should be credited to the workers there. It’s silly and at the same time gravely worrying that Blue’s sister company Amazon has joined SpaceX in complaining that the NLRB is unconstitutional, which if the courts find true, would give Bezos and Musk carte blanche to start suppressing unionization in those companies.
The U.S. Congress needs investigated, for violating their 'oaths-of-office'. Musk needs to register as a 'foreign agent'. H ehas ties to Putin & Saudi Arabia, and at the same time has U.S. Federal government space contracts worth $billions. How to file charges against a Congress that is violating their duties. These red and blue power hungry crooks, must be in cahoots with the 'cahooters'. Wake up Congress, - 'we-the-people' are watching you. Remember our votes count. Again, the U.S. Congress needs investigated. - jw
He is indeed a Foreign Agent. And his tentacles extend everywhere. Read his bio in the Wiki and you'll read that he was born in South Africa in 1971 [known for living under APARTHEID until 1990.] At 18, he emigrated to Canada and became CANADIAN, thanks to his mother, who was Canadian.
He moved to California in 1995 but did not become American until 2002, so he must have been on a student visa for 7 years?
So far, he has led a truly visionary life. His financial success is impressive as he seems to move from project to project and bring them all to fruition.
The fact that he's had secret conversations with Putin is, in my humble opinion, extremely dangerous.
as he is poised to negotiate with a hostile nation with or without the consent of our present President. He certainly has the money [and the inclination] to totally F*ck up anything our legal Government wants to do.
The second concern is really his personality: he is a "wanderer": from country to country, project to project, alliance to alliance, the man can't stand still. He is a genius and a visionary who is not attached to any country, like you or I are, and he seems to have acquired a sense of superiority bordering on megalomania.
He has no sense of patriotism, or keeping a good system going. He is most comfortable in chaos.
Nation-states are a relatively recent creation in the history of civilization. I hope that someday, the people of the world will cooperate in saving the planet and making it a better place for everyone without the arbitrary lines on the globe that have been drawn.
We are far from that place in history, if we even survive long enough. In the meantime, the citizens of the U.S. need to protect our interests from evil, megalomaniacal, morbidly rich types like Musk and Murdoch.
Musk isn't a genius or visionary....he, like Trump, has just placed his name on existing companies he's bought. Visionary my butt...he can't even keep ones solar panels from failing.
I thought about the words: "genius" and "visionary". I regret that these words have a positive connotation unless they are associated with "evil" genius or "mad" visionary.
What he has, like Trump is a "knack", perhaps for making things work to his advantage, [like most very selfish people].
It is, as I see it, a form of intelligence.
As far as only having placed his name on companies he bought, I think *this* criticism is unfair:
No, he is not only associated with companies he bought: he actively founded and played a key role in developing many of the companies he is known for, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X (formerly Twitter), even though he may have acquired some ownership stakes in certain companies later on in their development.
It was his Tesla solar panels that failed on a number of rooves [7 at Walmart and Amazon, I think]. He's had a number of challenges in production goals and cost overruns, that's true, but with a new product, some of that is to be expected.
Much more concerning to me is his entry into politics, his secret meetings with Putin and the role that Trump is thinking of giving him in a new Administration, and indeed, I share your concerns about switching sides and working for Putin after getting subsidies from the American Government. THAT, should be a huge concern for all of us/US. In particular, I see that Starlink would be of great benefit to Putin in his war against Ukraine. I worry very much about the 'deals' that could be struck in a smoky room.
Also, I don't know how many people are aware that Elon Musk and Peter Thiel worked together and got along quite well. Here is a clip on Instagram;
Yes indeedy. Note NY Mayor Eric Adams’ phone was seized immediately. Why weren’t all the phones used in the insurrection immediately seized as well? They should have been — from Trump on down …
The Space biz has a Huge carbon footprint & the last time I looked, Earth's atmosphere is a narrow veil encircling our planet & protecting some precious cargo such as oxygen; I'm not happy having it poked thru with rockets.
You are absolutely correct Professor Reich. These oligarchs are out of control and they have to be stopped immediately! Next Tuesday on November 5th, those who haven’t voted yet will vote for either to save our democracy or turn our country into an authoritarian ruled nation. These oligarchs have tasted the power and they like it. We can’t be submissive anymore. It’s time to put them in their place!
I am one of the 250K subscribers who cancelled with WaPo over Bozos' inability to publicly stand up for what's right. What should have happened is that Bozos should have sold his shares in the paper and allowed the post to do the right thing. Instead we have an oligarch running with his tail between his legs who is just another courtier to the tyrant threatening him. Screw Bozos - it's a sad day for WaPo.
Trump: Promises vs. Reality
• Promised to cut the deficit but added $8 trillion to it.
• Promised to build a wall; completed only 458 miles out of 2,000, mostly repairs.
• Promised Mexico would pay for the wall; they didn’t.
• Promised a new healthcare plan; it never existed.
• Promised a middle-class tax cut; primarily cut taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class to bear the burden.
• Promised not to play golf; made 250 visits to his own golf clubs, costing taxpayers $150 million.
• Promised to increase economic growth by 4%; didn’t achieve it, President Biden did.
• Promised an infrastructure plan; had none, President Biden signed a massive one.
• Promised to hire “the best people”; fired 3/4 of them, then labeled them the worst.
• Promised to reduce prescription drug prices; didn’t happen, President Biden did.
• Promised to win the trade war with China; it cost about a quarter million jobs.
• Promised corporate tax cuts would benefit workers; corporations used the money to buy back stocks instead.
• Promised to revive the coal industry; more coal jobs were lost during his presidency
• Promise Michigan one single auto plant will not close, 5 production plants closed in 2018.
• Promise he would help create jobs in the auto industry, 3500 jobs lost in 2018.
*Promised to take us out of Afghanistan, but instead Trump pulled out 17,000 troops and left a shell of 3,000 troops to protect everybody he left behind.
He didn’t care about how many Americans could die.
He also made a deal with the Taliban and released 5,000 Isis terrorist out of prison.
He did it on purpose to leave Biden a mess in Afghanistan to clean up.
There is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Sean Sheeter, and because tfg refused the desperate requests of women to have a seat at the table in his discussions and deal-making with the Taliban, women and girls have been thrown back into the dark ages. Not allowed to leave home unless accompanied by a man, not allowed to work outside the home, or go to school, not allowed to speak, yes I said speak, in public, and of course they are now suffering rampant rape, abuse, and other cruelties behind the doors of their prisons (houses). Many have committed suicide. This is what happens when patriarchy and misogyny flourishes in a tyrant's mind, who cares nothing for anyone but himself, and this is what the "christian" tyrants want for America's girls and women.
And who got the blame? President Biden.
David Sea, exactly tfg sabotaged the next Dem President's withdrawal and then blamed what went wrong in the withdrawal on the next Dem President..
With complicity from MSM
same sabotage process used for the bi-partisan border bill. He doesn't care about Americans if he can leverage our demise to his benefit, clearly.
M Tree, yes and Republicans never have that problem because they inherit a working government that they immediately begin to wreck and the cycle goes on.
Ruth Sheets, you're right. R's destroy. D's rebuild.
As usual.
Remember that tfg invited the Taliban to Camp David. Gee, I wonder what was discussed? We will never know. Tfg did not allow notes, witnesses or any documentation as he spoke with Russian agents/friends of Putin, or Putin himself , or any other oligarch or dictator
I always wondered why he was not charged with treason on the spot when he blocked our media but let the Russians into the WH.
Laurie, I would think there is a law somewhere that forbids that, but alas, it seems these days, say for about the last near half-century, whatever Republicans do is OK and they do get away with a lot, even trying to elect a convicted criminal and insurrectionist to the presidency again.
Well, Mr Long, it IS Halloween. Spooky!
The Taliban was invited to Camp David but the meeting was cancelled (thank goodness) after a Taliban bombing.
Vicki Michael ; I still can't help but wonder what was said even as tRUMP was inviting them.
David - I have maintained that Biden should have abrogated the illegal agreement with the taliban. by policy, we do not negotiate with terrorists. that ''deal" like most of his, was an abject failure and capitulation to terrorists. Biden should have forcefully and loudly repudiated it very publicly.
Biden had little leverage because tfg had required Pakistan to release 5000 taliban prisoners, who were already organizing in case of that repudiation.
Tfg took no chances on screwing the afghan people, particularly the women, knowing an orderly us troop exit would not be easy to execute.
Kim, and too many Americans want that Trump jerk back in the White House. That is truly insane!
M Tree, you are right about what happened in Afghanistan, but alas, our media hardly even noticed Trump's role beyond saying he made a deal with the Taliban or the Afghan Government, or someone. Everyone is cleaning up messes Republicans leave and usually do it so well that the American people with our pathetic memories forget that there even was a mess, just like when Biden took over from Trump or in 2009 when Obama took over after Bush, Jr. Carter, with little support tried to clean up the Nixon mess and Ford cover-up for Nixon and the American people were told over and over how much better it was before Carter took office. Reagan and Bush Sr. made a huge mess that will probably never totally be cleaned up. Clinton was to pragmatic to really fix that mess and Republicans took over Congress so soon after Clinton, any progress was reversed. What is wrong that the American people keep being drawn to bullies/criminals like Trump, Gingrich, Johnson, McConnell? There are another host of thugs running for down-ballot races? Who wants to be bullied or is it that so many Americans think that under those guys they will get to be the bullies? I don't get it!
Ruth Sheets, it is mind boggling isn't it? I think the short answer as to why people can vote for bullies/criminals is they have been conditioned to do so by their life experiences and because they mainly reside in a media echo chamber that validates and activates only their beliefs and emotions. The same could be said for me and, I assume for you, but I suspect the main difference lies in the strength and content of the conditioning that they and we were immersed in.
I seem to recall from my Bible studies that God (whom I believe to be of dual gender) created a helpmate for Adam because in all THEIR wisdom, they knew that man on his own would drive himself insane, and start doing obscene things with animals or worse. Over the thousands of years of human history, too many men, having achieved great wealth and power. have become increasingly malignantly misogynistic. If their ultimate fantasy is to rid our planet of the female gender or enslave them entirely, there will be no one left to bear their children or save them from themselves, thereby proving the truth of our Creators’ original fears. Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale is not just fiction, it’s prediction. But only if we create a BLUE tsunami that will wash away the toxic miasma, both political and environmental that isengulfing our planet.
M Tree - I also recently read that the women can’t even read or recite the Quran (sp? Sorry) out loud or call to prayers. I don’t understand how a woman is supposed to follow the strict guidelines of their own religion if they can’t even follow their own book. What is happening to them is downright wrong.
Why do women in this country, who apparently want their freedom, still back trump when he said out loud that he will do whatever he wants regardless of whether women want him to or not? The sexual predator should be in jail by now along with his other convicted friends.
Anon, that sure is absurd no speaking the Quran (sp?) aloud. I think I heard something about that. Was it they can't read it aloud to another woman? WTH? Do the Taliban fear the women will rise up against them by whispering coded messages to organize a revolt? (We can only hope.) They, as any terrorist group, are insane and nonsensical.
I agree, American women voting for tfg is inexplicable. May the good in us and our democracy prevail and live on to build a stronger, more robust democracy, where everyone has dignity..
Thank you for writing this. Spot on. I don't know if you're a woman, but I feel an absolute disgust about Pompeo and Trump throwing these women and their daughters into the dark ages and hoping to do the same to us.
Susan Iwanisziw, thank you for your kind words of appreciation. I've learned a lot in this almost-decade of crazy. One of my most important lessons, is that I have to stand up and speak out about every and as many injustices as I can, so awareness and unity can rise and suffering can fall.
Me too.
Janet, thanks for the reference. drumpf opened the door to the suppression of women's rights by the Taliban, at the same time that he gutted women's constitutional rights in the US. At its core this has nothing to do with Biden or any Democrat, it's all on him. He's trying to send us all back 300 years, and to the misogynist emperor drumpf.
It's a great book. I borrowed it from the library, and after I read it, I decided I wanted to own it. I found an inexpensive, used copy to refer to.
I have the same problem, Janet, but only on my iPhone. I ❤️ comments on my computer later.
I do substack on an iPad, and the ❤️ sometimes takes several seconds to respond. Try waiting before touching it again (if I touch twice, it cancels the like)
Caveat, I don’t use the app, since its display is set to phone shape, which looks weird on an iPad. Doesn’t fill the screen.
Janet - I, too, lost the ability to “like” posts when my iPad was so old that it would not allow any more updates. Took some time but I finally got a new one (it’s a racket IMO since my old one was still in great shape and working fine but apparently they had to make money somehow) and now I can like again. G G has some good advice for trying to change browsers if you are using your computer. Some people use a phone vs. a tablet or vice versa if one is out of date and the other is not but I can’t see well enough to use the phone. Regardless, it is frustrating but hang in there.
I just finished that book! Worth reading. Explains a lot.
You missed his entire array of incompetence in handling Covid pandemic and the resultant deaths. And now he is talking about putting RFK, Jr., an antivaxer and conspiracy theorist, in a position over all health agencies.
MAGA -- Make America Garbage Again
Appropriately, Trump showed up wearing a garbage man's outfit, riding in a garbage truck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7GkdebsvCc
Reminds me of Redd Foxx.
"Redd, the garbage man is here."
"Tell him to LEAVE three cans."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUasY84me_I
People used to be more insightful. A popular depression song, "Ain't We Got Fun?" included the lyrics, "There's nothing surer, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."
Trump's economic policies will put us into a "deep recession or depression." With Trump's tariffs, basic necessities will cost the average citizen $4000 more a year. The wealthiest love recessions because they can buy up assets at firesale prices. Inequality increases with every recession. Under Trump, workers will become more financially insecure while the morbidly rich widen the gap between themselves and the rest of us.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Z9RmVoHVg>
Jesus. It just hit me tween the eyes: that'll be new pressure on households to refinance (on lousier terms) their single most important asset, their housing, or lose it entirely, to be owned by a financialist oligarchy. At least they'll still have health insurance, so a broken leg or festering ulcer won't hobble their income entirely and further put them under water. Oh... wait....
So right, Gloria. Dad used to sing in the shower back in the 1950's, "all around the water tank, waiting for a train..." at one of the many 'Hoovervilles' around this great land. Love Robert's cartoon of brayzos and schmuckz with their rockets stuck up their asses.
We need to take out the garbage
The way that normal people solve difficult financial problems is 'with a little help from my friends'. Band together to share occasional childcare, household items, kids stuff, and emotional support.
Sorry, I should have explained better. I didn't mean we shouldn't ask our government to address our needs . We have that right and it has that duty. Rather, I meant to shine a light on subvervise opportunities for collective efforts. It was a staple of anti-war activism in the late 1960's to form local co-ops for food, childcare, music, drug recovery, etc., local newspapers and women's healthcare. By forming community, we formed groups that could put pressure on elective officials. An ancillary benefit was forming friendships that made us stronger. A lot of really important 1970's changes in law came from this kind of community level collective organizing.
Men that are Good Fathers Set Good Examples, Stay Engaged, Work Really Hard, and Get Little Sleep...
Janet ❤️ 👏
I'm surprised Kamala hasn't mentioned that RFK would lead CDC & a potential health disaster in a future pandemic due to RFKs disdain for vaccines.....tens millions could die next time
With well over 900 pages, I imagine it would be very difficult to mention all the bad things in project 2025. She is upbeat, and smart. "Accentuate the positive"., and she has
Tfg is a loser.
He also has worms in his head, like a rotten apple.
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
So basically, the entire Republican platform is a “terrible two’s tantrum”
I dunno. It may be more of an oppositional defiance disorder (ODD): ODD includes a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance toward authority figures. ODD also includes being spiteful and seeking revenge, a behavior called vindictiveness. (Mayo Clinic. org) ODD does sound a lot like the “terrible twos,” some people never grew out of.
Mr. Sheeter’s analysis rings true. To put it nicely,
republicans can’t get out of their own way. They are so self-obsessed and shallow, they can’t ever see “the big picture,” and they usually require instant gratification—much like toddlers. They are like their supporters in that their fears and their defiance over being told what to do override everything else—even common sense.
To them, being told what to do = being controlled.
Narcissists, for example, will do almost anything to control others and at the same time, they highly resent attempts to control them. Maybe ODD is a juvenile form of Narcissism. At any rate, I don’t think either ODD or narcissism are behaviors that develop over time. I think both are conditions people are born with, like schizophrenia. (Some people will read that statement to mean that narcissism is a form of schizophrenia—but that’s NOT what I mean. They are two distinct disorders.) I also believe a narcissist can’t stop being a narcissist. Narcissistic behaviors can be modified, but they will always be a big part of who a narcissist is.
So, what can we do about people who have a pathological drive to be in control, to not consider others, to always be “right,” and to have more money than anyone else on the planet? I think the public needs to be educated to spot the signs that someone is a narcissist, because narcissists tend to be predatory. They also tend to be bullies. In other words, they aren’t someone your child should be dating and they aren’t someone you should do business with. They also shouldn’t be voted into public office, ever—for what should be obvious reasons. Narcissists like Trump are first class manipulators. He’s so good at manipulating people
they don’t have a clue they’re being manipulated
until it’s too late, similar to members of a cult.
I view Trump’s presidency as a fluke, a flirtation
with malevolence, because he’s the most extreme narcissist I’ve observed in my 70 years of existence.
If he wins this election it will be because he cheated.
If he loses, but winds up in the White House anyway,
it will be because the corrupt majority on the Supreme Court made a deal with the devil.
Putting RFK Jr. in charge of anything medical would be a disaster of biblical proportions.
I never believed Trump on anything as I have known for over 30 years he was a BS artist, but it wasn’t until he ran for president that I truly started to detest him.
Kathy Hughes: Totally! When Trump was a builder and golfer, to the extent I even thought about him, Trump seemed to me to be a spoilt rich guy, who was mildly amusing with his self-promoting superlatives (the best, the most spectacular . . .), and would smile over the mudthrowing between Trump and Rosie O'Donnell.
It was only during Trump's entry into politics -- the birther movement, the slurs on immigrants (they send us their murderers and rapists) -- that I perceived how sick and deranged he was.
If he had remained a popular real-estate man and entertainer, I would not have taken the effort to learn more about him, and he would have been an odd, mildly amusing figure.
"I have known for over 30 years he was a BS artist." Exactly.
You stated succinctly my own reaction, too.
Here's the Reason the orange turd is a Liar and a BS artist - A Supreme Narcissistic Moron Has To Make Up His Own "Facts":
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
He really got warmed up with his involvement in the wrongful persecution of the Central Park Five. That's where he went from being grotesque but laughable, to just grotesque.
Post to Joe Rogan website and Youtube,
Done that. To VDH youtube video for example.
Been saving you for last Dan as I wanted to go to Rogan's site first. Am listening to his two and a half hour interview with Trump. Rogan's a big fan of him as a fellow entertainer and of JFK Jr., whose going to be run the CDC God forbid, brain worm and all. Now it's on to tariffs and Musk. More Free Publicity and Democracy Be Damned. Anyway, below are the two merged files, the Republican message on everything of importance and a yet posted Exposing sans the punchline Antichrist.
It seems many of you at Fox News suffer from short term memory loss. Here is a reminder...4 years ago we had a global pandemic event - global recession , global oil reduction, global supply chains shattered. In the US millions were surviving on unemployment , stimulus and businesses closing or taking government loans... 43 states with mandatory lockdowns or social distancing , US oil reduced production to a low 9.7 million barrels a day. $3.1 trillion deficit . Biden stepped into office in the middle of that mess. By June 2022 , inflation and gas prices peaked at their highest. Unemployment below 4% for over 24 months- hit a lower mi they average than trumps lowest. Reduced the deficit , got a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed, chips act, Medicare drugs reduced. We know 2024 is far batter than 2020. Concerts, sporting events, airlines, cruise ships , vacation rentals , selling out , car sales up. Stock market doing great , US energy are producing more oil than ever , worlds top producers of oil and natural gas while increasing renewables. We are more energy independent since 2022 than we were in 2019. Biden is leaving office better than he inherited it!! Trump left it far worse and he came into office in the 8th year of the longest us economic growth streak (128 months 2009-2019). He increased spending every year (almost doubling the deficit 2017-2019.from $585 billion to $985 billion!! )
His 2016 campaign he said he had a great healthcare and infrastructure plan - he had neither!! Said he would eliminate the national debt - he did the opposite. Said Mexico would pay for his wall, they did not. The number at the HS border rise from 331,000 in 2015 to over 850,000 in 2019. The stock market lost money for 2 quarters in 2018. Highest number of farm bankruptcies in 2018/2019 ( since 2005)
Trump final disgrace was abandoning his oath of office and ignoring the constitution, the law, even the Supreme Court - to stage an attempt to keep office for himself, even if it meant putting his own VP life in jeopardy with his lies. People died, injured, jailed for his lies and he has no remorse. Disgraceful!! And for republicans to nominate him again - that’s the disgrace of what used to the be Republican Party!!
Trump: Promises vs. Reality
• Promised to cut the deficit but added $8 trillion to it.
• Promised to build a wall; completed only 458 miles out of 2,000, mostly repairs.
• Promised Mexico would pay for the wall; they didn’t.
• Promised a new healthcare plan; it never existed.
• Promised a middle-class tax cut; primarily cut taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class to bear the burden.
• Promised not to play golf; made 250 visits to his own golf clubs, costing taxpayers $150 million.
• Promised to increase economic growth by 4%; didn’t achieve it, President Biden did.
• Promised an infrastructure plan; had none, President Biden signed a massive one.
• Promised to hire “the best people”; fired 3/4 of them, then labeled them the worst.
• Promised to reduce prescription drug prices; didn’t happen, President Biden did.
• Promised to win the trade war with China; it cost about a quarter million jobs.
• Promised corporate tax cuts would benefit workers; corporations used the money to buy back stocks instead.
• Promised to revive the coal industry; more coal jobs were lost during his presidency
• Promise Michigan one single auto plant will not close, 5 production plants closed in 2018.
• Promise he would help create jobs in the auto industry, 3500 jobs lost in 2018.
*Promised to take us out of Afghanistan, but instead Trump pulled out 17,000 troops and left a shell of 3,000 troops to protect everybody he left behind.
He didn’t care about how many Americans could die.
He also made a deal with the Taliban and released 5,000 Isis terrorist out of prison.
He did it on purpose to leave Biden a mess in Afghanistan to clean up.
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Will this nation not once but twice reject for President highly qualified women (Hillary and Kamala) for an obviously unqualified unfit man for the job?
Once might be written off as a fluke. Twice at some level would say this is who we are.
Steve. Yep. And if Trump wins, the rest of the world will know that not only the “Emperor” but the whole USA isn’t wearing any clothes.
I expect Russia and China will happily lead the way.
Since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Trump: Flaws & Crimes
-insurrectionist
-international security risk
-cruel bully
-lying liar
-cheats at everything
-children in cages
-alleged pedophile
-alleged ties to thugs
-blatant ties to Putin
-apparent drug abuse
-global embarrassment
-allegedly illiterate
-allegedly a moron
-shockingly uneducated
do not forget - SEXUAL ASSAULTER!
You can add TRAITOR to that list.
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Well said.
Thank you for the FYI. Why can’t the democrats advertise this?! in clear comparison .
Copy and Share. I got that from the Republican Voters Against Trump Facebook site a couple of days ago and posted it last night while watching Seth Meyer's right after Robert posted his daily message I haven't even read yet! I also posted this last night to share on other sites:
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
You hit the nail right on the head. Trump has no interest in serving the people and has done essentially nothing for the middle and lower class and everything to further support the top 1% of Americans who already have more money than they could spend before they die. That's tRump's only accomplishment while in office.
As you say tRump was a total danger and disaster for this country while in office. If he's re-elected he plans to seal the deal.
Only one thing you left out and that some people seem to have forgotten. That tRump singularly committed genocide by Covid of nearly half a million people. He had no interest in doing anything about Covid though he says he had learned that Covid was, indeed quite deadly. But, then, proceeded to tell Bob Woodward that he'd not done much to fight the plague because he "didn't want to worry the American people" as if the fact that people were dying in such large numbers that hospitals were overwhelmed had to cut services to others in order to care for Covid patients. The results being deaths to patients aside from Covid who were awaiting lifesaving treatments and surgeries and who died while their surgeries and treatments were postponed because hospitals had limited supplies, staff, beds and equipment and Covid patients were "needier." Hospitals were so overwhelmed by dead bodies that they had to rent refrigerated trucks just to store all thosr dead bodies. And the pandemic also took the lives of many hospital workers due to inadequate supplies and the reuse of masks for long periods of time that were meant to be disposable. Many of those hospital workers are now so disillusioned that many have dropped out of their normal jobs and have sought other careers. Not a good thing as even before the pandemic there were labor shortages for medical staff. Trump very nearly caused the collapse of our whole medical system. And always, always continued to spread diss and misinformation.
But Trump didn't want to "alarm Americans" unnecessarily. And that was the sum total of his concern about the American people. Not once, not ever did I ever hear an apology from Trump to the families that lost their loved ones during the early part of the pandemic as a result of his many lies and innuendo that it was "driven" by the Democrats because they are so "evil" when he tried to cover his tracks. Trump left this country with the saddest legacy of his term. We were second only to Brazil in loss of life. We quite literally became the laughing stock of the rest of the world where among developed nations their totals were often less than several thousand, ours topped nearly half a million (plus another half million by the end of the second year). But did tRump ever admit his faults or his responsibility in any way shape or form? Never, not once. Because tRump never admits to anything and just attempts to blame someone or something else. Because he considers himself "perfect" in every way and is incapable of making errors in judgement so it's all someone else's fault. And it's NEVER EVER his fault because he's a 'genius" who can do no wrong. He's a malignant, narcissistic sociopath who, if r+elected, will finish the job he started and turn this country into a dictator driven one by a leader who is morally bankrupt and will continue to screw this nation over to acquire yet even more wealth and tax breaks for the wealthy. And basically nothing for the rest of the American people.
You mind if I post this on my FB page? I have people who need to see it.
Copy and Share. I got that from the Republican Voters Against Trump Facebook site a couple of days ago and posted it last night while watching Seth Meyer's right after Robert posted his daily message I haven't even read yet! I also posted this last night to share on other sites:
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
Whatever happened to the emoluments clause that he kicked the crap out of when he was in the White House? Any chance that if the United States keeps it democracy after next Tuesday and on through Jan. 21, he'll be tried for ALL of the crimes he's committed? This one never gets a column inch of attention any more.
Lenin: "Promises are like pie crusts; made to be broken".
Steve, OMG! I thought that line was from "Mary Poppins" I distinctly hear Julie Andrews telling her charges that it was "a pie crust promise, easily made and easily broken." Who knew Lenin got it from a movie! Ha!
I agree. Now imagine something worse attended by the neo Nazis of Project 2025. It's a night mare.
Labelling KH as "only" a daughter of two university professors (which means "nothing", if "the kid" does not have it in herself) is degrading - I am convinced you did not mean it as such, but it requires correction, listing her professional accomplishments most likely starting with her law degree....
Exposing The Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissist As A Moron
A Comparison of President Biden's Mental Competency with Donald Trump's
Recently the media focus has been on the 'age issue' and the question of the mental competency of an octogenarian during President Biden's second term. So let's compare his mental competency with Donald Trump's starting with his most recent gaffow followed by a list of what he said and his cabinet members said about him during his first term. (A short list of my faves:)
Did Biden call Nancy Pelosi Nicky Haley when recently talking about the 1-6-21 assault on the capital?
Did he claim the ability to properly identify a giraffe in a multiple choice of three animals, proved he was a "real stable genius"?
Did his former college professor call him the "dumbest f--king student I ever had"?
Did Biden suggest we could build a wall with transparent concrete?
Did he ever say to the camera he wished his wife were present with him while she was literally standing next to him looking confused?
Did his own sibling say in a recorded interview that he paid someone to take the SAT for him because he was too stupid to get into college on his own?
Did Biden think people needed photo IDs to buy groceries?
Did Biden say Paris was a city in Germany?
Did he misspell basic words in dozens of different tweets only to "correct" them by misspelling them a different way?
Did he suggest injecting disinfectants into our bloodstream to kill COVID?
Did he say he didn't know what a blind trust is, despite having a "degree" in Finance?
Did he bankrupt every business he tried starting on his own, including a Casino?
Was Biden the first President in history to utter the sentence, "Belgium is a beautiful city"?
Did Biden ever say our captured prisoners of war are only heroes because they were captured?
Did he have more than a dozen of his hand picked cabinet members resign because they couldn't work with his incompetence?
Did his own Chief of Staff call him an "idiot"?
Did a Senator from his own party say, "The White House has become an adult day care center”?
Did his own Secretary of State say he was a "fucking moron"?
Did his own economic advisor say he was "dumb as shit...an idiot surrounded by clowns"?
Did his National Security Advisor say he was "a dope...an idiot [with the intelligence of] a kindergartner”?
I saved the above collection of quotes that was originally posted on a Facebook page dedicated to insuring Joe Biden's second term last year. That was before that Republican special prosecutor in his VP document's case harped on the age issue and Joe's forgetfulness of details when the guy interviewed him. I was going to submit the above to the Daily Kos before reading the two following articles updating Trump's mental problems amidst the failure of a media focus on the orange moron at the president's expense while he's trying to run this country as the GOP is fixed on trying to tear it apart.
On 2-26-24 I read their lead article titled The media will not report that Trump appears to have middle-stage dementia, cataloging his further mental decline. A couple of days later Facebook suggested I look at a new site dedicated to the politics and humor of Jon Stewart which just 'happened' to have posted the original interview in Salon titled "Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia". This whole interview was fixated on the dementia issue without mentioning that at least his father Fred also had Alzheimer's/dementia, which I Learned when I posted A Comparison to every response. Then on 7-8, after the idiot went into a long rant about choosing between being electrocuted by a battery on a sinking boat or eaten by a shark Robert Reich posted Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohn Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, atheists, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Turns out I also hadn't read the whole issue with A.J. Pennyfarthing's 10 stunning moments from Trump's late-night speech to religious broadcasters. You ain't going to be changing any preacher's or MAGA's minds about how unhinged DT is with any raft of articles cause that is the Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron's Lowest Common Denominator Appeal To The Wrap Yourself In MAGA Flag And $60 Bible Masses!
So since the huge event of President Biden bowing out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States on Sunday the 21st of July, there is only one question before us: Would you rather have a Fascist Dementia Addled Supreme Narcissistic Moron whose Father Also Had Dementia running this country or the Daughter of Two University Professors?
Elon Musk is also backing DJT because Elon knows that DJT can be bought... Elon's Tesla Autonomous Driving Software is Hazardous, is under Review by the NTSB... The Tesla Battery Packs can be Hazardous... Space-X's Starlink could have a Problematical Future as the thousands of Low-Orbit Satellites start falling out of the Sky... Elon is a Child of Internet v.1.0 where it was Gospel to Move Fast, and Break Things... Internet v.1.0 is the Gospel of NOW, and the Future is later... The Future is now arriving... If DJT wins, then these Problems Go Away.... Elon Has Said So...
Very good summation of Trump's disastrous term in office, Sean. Readers need to copy this and have it with them when MAGA red hats spout their ridiculous, "Promises made, promises kept", or "Trump delivered", or "We were better off under Trump".
Copy and Share. I got that from the Republican Voters Against Trump Facebook site a couple of days ago and posted it last night while watching Seth Meyer's right after Robert posted his daily message I haven't even read yet! I also posted this last night to share on other sites:
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading.
From Robert Reich’s lips to Kamala Harris’ and her AG’s ears! Thanks Robert for a very well written, easy to understand explanation of the our current “gilded age” and what needs to be done to end it!
Except there is actually no way that Bezos supports Trump. Apparently he has the same kind of megalomania that Musk has --only room for one (1).
I keep hearing that Musk is the richest man and Bezo's the second , in the world.
But I think that overlooks the Arab potentates. They buy gold plated Mercedes.
And the really richest man in the world, is he who commands the people and economy of a nation. Putin is reputed to have many dacha's and Navalny published a photo of a billion dollar dacha.
What need have you for money, when you command the resources of a nation.
Many years ago I read that Mao only received a $300 a month allowance, yet he commanded the resources of China.
One does not need to "own" plains or luxurious dwellings, when everything is at your fingertip.
Trump if he wins will be the wealthiest man in the world, as he will have at his beck and call, the resources of the United States.
Our problem is that we are programmed to think of wealth in the form of dollars.
William. The Saud Family has a net worth of over $1.4T, but King Salman (the richest member) “only” has a personal net worth of $18M. There are about 2000 people in the family (!).
Thanks Jan,I am aware,I am also aware the King Salman, has his fingers wrapped tightly around the purse of the 2,000 descendants of Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud, they are not independently wealthy, an analogy would be Donald Trump as a teen., a kid on an allowance.
If they want their wealth and the goodies that it buys, then they have to be good little boys.
For sure, William. I didn’t know the family was so large. I was also surprised that Salman’s personal fortune is so small (haha). His control over the whole is what counts.
In Islam, a man can have four wives, and unlimited concubines, the family thus expands at a geomatric rate.
Tis the same with descendants of Muhammad, Wearing a black turban especially among the Shia, but also in Afghanistan and Pakistan means that you are a descendant of Muhammad. The black turban is ubiquitous.
Bezos, along with LAT owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, is violating the first rule Tim Snyder gives in his book “On Fascism,” “Do not obey in advance.”
Thanks for this succinct article on how Trump's cronies are already suppressing freedom of the Press, Bezos @ the Post and Elon @ Twitter, and Musk is also lobbying in a still-avoidable future to head the FCC which controls the internet. He has already given our country's security secrets to Russia, so we must be vigilant.
We have two billionaires fighting over the right to ruin our country and the world. Appalling. I think about all the money these two clowns are getting from our government that could be used right here on the planet, to make things better NOW. Considering all the problems Earth is facing, investing in a future that could be a long time in the future seems like a waste to me. Humanity will be extinct long before they colonize any other planet, in our solar system or out of it. But I guess their egos must be stroked, and we are paying the ultimate price for that.
Musk and Bezos won't colonize any planet. Take Mars for an example. It is undoubtedly possible to build a space station there, but why do you want to? Mars is like Arizona, but with a surface temperature below that of Antarctica. Boring and cold, very cold. Why not just go to Arizona?
But, Musk says that he wants to "green" the planet. OK, but the atmosphere is close to 100% CO2. So, he says, I will bring in plants to eat the CO2 and turn it into oxygen, and these plants will multiply in the greenhouses I will build, and generate ever-increasing amounts of oxygen and eventually, Mars will have a breathable atmosphere fit for humans.
Not so. If every molecule of CO2 on Mars was turned into a molecule of O2, the oxygen pressure of the Martian atmosphere would be less than 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure.
So, Mars will always be way too cold and will never have sufficient oxygen. Sorry, Elon, you haven't thought this through, this is a totally ridiculous idea.
Come to think of it, you and Bezos are the poster children for Adam Smith's prescient observation that those who benefit most from his economic system must pay the most in taxes.
Makes perfect sense. You'd think NASA and the government would realize this and stop funding their crazy ideas. It seems we're dealing in a lot of short-sightedness these days. As for wanting to go to the moon again: why? Been there, done that, got the damn rocks.
There is too much money, and too many jobs and careers dependent on the notion that will colonize the stars, and people like Musk and millions of others need the fantasy that they can shit in their own home, befoul it and when full, just pack up and move to another home.- Theo.
Arizona is no twin of Mars. And we don't want them here, but we have Gila monsters for that.
Bezos and Musk have confiscated the resources of our country and now hoard them. The decisions they have taken unto themselves they have no right to. Our resources need to be reclaimed (taxes!) and put to better use to serve the lives of our people.
Not confiscation. For the most part they got them fairly under the rules of the game. We need to change the rules. Contrary views welcomed.
The intensity of radiation on Mars is such that any humanoid life forms would need to live in shielded structures. The planning for a Mars outpost is placing its inhabitants in lava tubes that have very thick layers of rock to shield from radiation. It is not Arizona.
I beg to differ - Arizona is anything but boring, it is a beautiful place, amazingly rich in resources, scenery, biodiversity, and especially its people. Many of whom are immigrants, and we love our country and our state, and hopefully will help elect the first woman president.
Klara, my apologies, I think I just did a Joe Biden. Didn't mean to criticize Arizona but was writing quickly. I like Arizona, have been there twice.
No problem, Michael. I was not offended, just wanted to defend my state and dispel any notions others might get. But what is "did a Joe Biden"?
Come visit Arizona anytime. Tucson is especially wonderful.
Gaff machine.
I truly do not believe that Musk is an intellectual as they make him seem to be. I will agree he's a good businesman but then again he destroyed Twitter so even that is questionable. Most of his other projects are run by scientists and incredible engineers he's employed and contracts he's made with the government. He relies on them to fulfil his egocentric desires. His ambitions for Mars are rather far fetched. Mars can be obliterated like earth with one sizable asteriod, then there is dark energy, then heat death and freeze death, and the scientific lists goes on and all the other unexpected occurences in outer space regardless how diligently we track our universe. Since we went last to the moon, it has not be possible till now to revisit it although our technology and expertise have grown by leaps and bounds, so why...do we think we can colonise Mars. We're not even in a position to bring back two astronauts stuck in the International Space Centre. Let's be realistic, big dreams and egoistic desires to brag has always been the call card of the billionaires. Is it because it's more of a monetary advantage to float these unachievable plans or is it an excuse not to correct the ailments planet earth is undergoing at present with their colossal wealth. Whatever the reson maybe I do not think we should give them any credit instead we should be aware what colossal wealth held by two narcissistic egoist can do to our nation and planet.
Katy, I agree with you about Musk. You listen to him talk, and he's like a five-year-old boy trying to bullshit you, e.g., the Second Amendment is there to protect the First Amendment. [Ahem, no, the Second Amendment is there to protect the free speech of the guy holding the gun]. Also, what Musk says about physics may impress the average Joe, but is basically bullshit. So, you don't get the impression of a particularly sharp intellect.
You dig a little deeper, and you find that he inherited a lot of money, invested in PayPal, got lucky there and then bought Tesla, which was doing just fine without him. Almost went bust but was bailed out by the government. About the same time, he founded Space X with the idea of going to Mars, and used a lot of rocket engineers from the US and Russia, with rockets from Russia. Almost went completely bust in 2008 when 3 of the 4 rockets exploded. Gambled everything on the 4th rocket, and again got lucky when it didn't explode (he would probably have disappeared if the rocket had exploded).
While the stunt of returning a booster rocket to a precise location on Earth is really spectacular, a little thought indicates that it simply demonstrates the prescience of Newton's Laws of Motion. It is actually quite a simple problem. It requires movable nozzles, very fast computers, and a highly accurate GPS. Mix in Newton, and you've got a very tractable problem. They couldn't do this in 1969, now they can.
But it begs the question, what exactly is the point? In order to have enough fuel to brake the booster's descent, you have to have an enormous increase in the fuel of the take-off rocket, just to loft all the fuel that is required for this descent. So you need gigantic rockets just for this stunt to work. And that, I'm willing to suggest, may make the entire program enormously more expensive than the conventional NASA solution, where the booster comes down on parachutes.
So the way I see Musk is not so much as a brilliant visionary, but as someone who is prepared to take enormous gambles.
Also, some wiser folks than me have assessed that the lower martian gravity will cause a deterioration in bone and cell structure, such that earth mammals will, in time, decompose to gelatinous mounds of goop. Which is how I've been visualizing our heroic martian colonizers for some time. /s
I am with you on this. the gravity of Mars is.34ge we are told, based on a 17th century theory, that requires circularity of reasoning, that of mass gravity.
The atmospheric pressure of Mars is less than experienced in the stratosphere, where water and blood boil. Thus space suits would be required in door or out,unless they could pressurize geometric domes, but then the tiniest leak would be a catastrophe.
Atmospheric pressure is the result of gravity pulling particles of gases like oxygen,nitrogen and carbon dioxide to the source of gravity, the center of the earth.
On the surface, a step by a human will result in a bound of 7 ft into the air any vehicle that hits a rock will be bound into the air. Any human who stays on Mars long enough, will require, should they return to earth, an exoskeleton just so they can perambulate.
Has anyone seen astronauts climb out of their "space ships", what they call those cone shaped capsules, when they return to the earth. The one that made it to the press, showed the returning astronaut being carried, that is because in reduced gravity you lose bone mass, because bone mass is produced by stress on the bones. And in reduced gravity or zero gravity, there is no or reduced stresss on the bones.
A child born on Mars is forever consigned to life on Mars, thanks to it's reduced gravity and atmospheric pressure, it's extremities will be spindly, underdeveloped, its head will be large in proportion to it's size, it will be smaller compared to it's parents, because there is less stress on the bones, and it's eyes will have adjusted to the Martian light, thus bigger, it would be blinded by light on Earth and have to wear glasses at all times when outside, maybe even to see
There is no way to terraform Mars, because the gravity is insufficient to holdkught gases to the ground., such as oxygen and nitrogen.
Such gases will be spun off into space by the centrifugal force of the planets rotation, and therein lies the answer as to what happened to the water and atmosphere of Mars.
Back in the 90's I got into a quarrel with dudes from Skunworks . I told them that there was water on Mars, at the poles because there is no centrifugal force at the poles. (People and things weigh more at the poles, than they do at the equator, because of centrifugal force)). was called a crank a kook, then spectometry revealed that there was indeed water on the poles, and I strongly believe there is subterranean water as well, just as on earth.
But the water on Mars boiled off aeons ago, when the gravity diminished to the point that it could no longer keep the gases in suspension, and water boiled off, flung into space and then was drawn by the gravitational pull of it's nearest neighbor as an cloud , taking millions of years to make the trip, blocking out the sun, freezing the planet, until finally it reached it's destination and periodically warmed by a huge solar flare, parts if it fell on the planet creating a deluge, until about 12,000 years ago, a huge event melted the last of it the end of the Younger Dryas.
And now they have discovered water on the moon, again at the poles
As you decrease stress on the bones, you decrease size (Ask your dentist or anyone who has had teeth pulled.
The corollary is true, increase stress and you increase size.
An increase in the gravitational pull of the earth, would even more condense the molecules of air, making it more viscous and requiring greater effort to perambulate, the increase in size of muscles and tendons would of necessity increase the size of the bones and the creatures, And an increase in atmospheric density would enable creatures that weighed 100 lbs or more to be able to fly, whereas in the present atmosphere the largest flying creature weighs 40l bs.
Reduce the gravity and you reduce atmospheric pressure, and you reduce the size of creatures, until the largest animal that can live today is an Elephant, any larger and they suffocate under their own weight like a whale.
Whales are large because the atmosphere they live in is thick enough for them to be buoyant, but it is buoyant that they don't need legs because they don't perambulate.
why does NASA even grant any of the two contracts for things like satellites? There could be terrestrial internet, land-based internet, that doesn’t require satellites https://physicsworld.com/a/ground-based-alternative-to-gps-achieves-10-cm-accuracy/
Musk’s Starlink satellites were provided to Ukraine for internet service after Putin invaded. They were essential in helping Ukraine resist Russia’s war crimes. Now it has been revealed that Musk has been regularly in contact with Putin, taking the
satellites from Ukraine and giving them to Russian troops. Musk has a top secret security clearance and it is clear that he has violated the basic terms of knowing our country’s secrets. You don’t abandon our ally and become BFFs with our enemy!!!
Excellent point!
Yes, it was confirmed in the WSJ last week. The question is, what caused Musk to change his dialogue- originally he said he was supporting Ukraine, then he started to suggest that they should cede land. Either they had something on him and is compromised, or he just made it look like he initially supported Ukraine and had all along deal with the Trump administration since 2016. https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-putin-secret-conversations-37e1c187?st=yhcHZ7
Relics, if we kept our tax money and actually gave it to NASA to spend, we could make and launch our own satellites!
Imperceptible the frequencies which are used for long distancecommunications are line of sight, because the Earth is spherical, the very best line of sight is a range of 7 miles with a high antenna.
When I was in the military we used a man pack portable radio that had a transmission radius with an extended antenna of , at best 2 miles over land, to another transceiver, yet I could communicate with aircraft at 35 miles, until the signal weakened as it expands outwards like the waves created when you drop a pebble into a lake, as it expands it weakens.
This scientific fact is what created cable TV. The very first cable TV was built on the top of a small mountain,it captured the signal of broadcast stations, then transmitted them via cable to the town below in a valley.. Before that the only way to hear radio or watch TV was to receive a signal transmitted by a relay transmitter.
The first use of satellite communications I know of was the military in Operation Eagle Claw, where they used special radios and antennas to communicate with the Pentagon.
The Iran hostage rescue attempt that cost President Carter his job, and ushered in Ronald Reagan, the treason president who brokered a deal with Khomeini, but that is another story
Thanks for sharing! I hadn't heard of Eagle Claw. I do a bit of research on cataloguing wireless tech. One is called LoRa. There's also LoReA. A world record for small bytes of data is 300+ km:
https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/range-tests/#current-ground-record-254km
There's also shortwave radio internet: https://github.com/rhizomatica
Also I sketched a possible Ethernet alternative:
https://github.com/EI2030/Low-power-E-Paper-OS/commit/e7c672486866504bf963b01d4498c7513b048291
I also read that the military has some really long tunnels underground for thousands of miles, which similar boring for smaller pipes could be developed just for fiber optic cables.
The Navy also has ultra low frequency, which can penetrate the earth and communicate with submarines
There is a receiving station located in Alice Springs, Australia,there are monthly flights, at least, from Area 51 to Alice Springs.
I read about those too- Very low frequency, or ULF- something like that. They require ginormous antennas, so for consumers they are probably impractical. Cool though! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_frequency
There is no way, you,I could build such an array, Musk, Bezos maybe but there is no fun, no profit in that.
Just unbelievable! They won’t even be alive! Jokes on them. 🤪
Yes, absolutely true!
‘Our government’…is us. The people of this nation. The money Musk and Bezo are receiving in government contracts worth billions IS TAXPAYER MONEY. Is that where you want your HARD EARNED MONEY TO GO? To these two multi billionaires who have less than zero allegiance to anyone or anything but insatiable greed and the craving for MORE AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE.
Theo - I feel the same way about the amount of money that goes to campaigning. The amount that people donate too. It should not have to be this way when that money could be spent better elsewhere.
The worse part of Elon Mosca is that he is not even a U.S. citizen and when 45 spews his venoum toward immigrants stating that they are "poisoning American's blood" there you have Mosca trying to ruin this country!
He acquired citizenship in 2002. But having been an immigrant, you'd think he'd have more empathy for others trying to come here.
He is a Canadian citizen by citizenhip and because his mother is Canadian, but from what I have read, he is not a USA citizen. Of course, I could be wrong and he already is a legal citizen of this country. And you are correct in stating that he could have a little of empathy for other immigrants who are just looking for a better life and provide their families with the bare necessities for a decent life. Dignity, decency, a minimal of humanity and moral values cannot be bought with the millions they have! Sad and pittiful!
Musk is a racist South African, his sympathies are limited to Nordics
❤️👏👏 William.
Why is govt outsourcing space exploration? NASA was perfectly capable of doing this with the Mercury, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. Bring this back into government control and cut out the middle man's profit.
Regarding Musk, he needs to lose all security clearances and govt contacts due to his cozy relationship with Putin. Where is Garland and the DOJ?
Indeed, and where are Garland and the DOJ on Musk’s flagrant violations of Federal election law in Pennsylvania?
Garland was an unfortunate appointment when there were better options like Sally Yates. Biden picked another old white guy.
For all the good Biden did....he erased it with a poor pick for AG.....when are these moderate Dems gonna learn that right wingers should NOT be at FBI/DOJ.
Garland's appointment was the consequence of a mind addled by 34 years in a Senate in which the greatest value was comity, compromise and bipartisanship.
I cast no aspersions on his moral character or motivation, but only on his learned political instincts.
I, personally, don't think that presidents are omnipotent and all wise,so they don't rule, but make decisions based on information provided them by a cabinet and advisors who they haven't actually chosen.
Trump didn't know anyone that he appointed as cabinet and advisor, neither did Obama, both were neophytes as regards beltway politics.
There is indeed and invisible hand that moves the helm of the ship of state.
Twas, IMO, Larry summers for Obama.
Does anyone think that Trump actually knew the names,much less the persons of Steven Miller, Mark Meadows, or any of his staff and cabinet, before he took office?
tpsea, I've given this a lot of thought, People who sit behind the Resolution Desks, are not omnipotent and omniscient, they, sit on the commode like you and I and are probably of average intelligence (less if Trump). They are not connected to and with every expert in the U.S.A.. Thus their appointments are people whose names were provided to them by a grise eminence. I know the name of Obama's, LarrySummers, but there is a coterie of grise eminence's, that gather round them, with their own names, just as Trump relied on someone who used Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society for names of federal judges.
In many ways the President is akin to a sock puppet and some one has their hand up their ass.
Like himself! SO-O-O-O GLAD BIDEN IS GOING! HE CAN'T GO SOON ENOUGH TO SUIT ME!
Biden missed his chance when he didn't challenge Hillary for the nomination. As Obama's veep, he was the natural next candidate. I'm afraid Biden's legacy with be tied with Netanyahu's. And maybe torpedoing Harris by staying in the race too long.
If Hillary was President on Jan 6th, we would still have done the same.
The only one with a personal relationship with Bibi is Trump.If Trump is elected Bibi gets all he wants, including a war with Iran.
Israel is a land locked air craft carrier that is within striking distance of the hands that control the oil spigots.
Oil spigots which can be turned clockwise and cut off the flow of oil, which will bring Europe to it's knees and raise the price of oil, astronomically, and usher in a depression worse than 1929.
Saudi Arabia has an aim to control the world, to Islamicize it. That is what that "orb" that Trump laid his hands on is all about. It was more than orb, engraved on it were the seven continents, symbolic world domination by Wahhabiyyah Islam.
Unlike westerners who are always in a hurry and want an immediate fix, Islam is patient and strive slowly to their goal, just like HAMAS.
Ishmael Haniyeh said, "we are a nation of martyrs, and we will come back again and again" (until the goal of ridding sacred Arab land of Jewish lice is achieved).
Islam doesn't mourn the death of martyr's, they celebrate it, maybe a mother will beat her chest and wail, but the community celebrates. You see martyrs get a get out of jail pass and an immediate ticket to paradise.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we actually had a DOJ in the US instead of enablers who are obviously committed to running out the clock instead of off applying the law as it's intended.
In short, because Obama’s Deputy NASA admin Lori Garver said so. (see https://www.wired.com/story/how-lori-garver-launched-nasas-commercial-space-partnerships) She was the kind of public servant who wanted more efficiency for the tax dollar so NASA could focus on emerging tech.
Launch cost-wise, she may have been right to push for more private involvement. Politically, though, it’s clear she didn’t take into account the risks of having, say, a Putin-friendly billionaire become the sole launch provider for American ISS crew. I blame her.
Time to nationalize a few things- rocket men have had some pretty huge gov contracts…so payback time!
This is in the interest of national security-just like the chip shortage- and needs to be addressed by public investment.
‘Public-Private-Partnership’…. remember when that was first peddled and sold as a ‘wonderful’ solution to the American people to all things publicly funded? I do! So the ‘private’ part = Corporatization= Profitization using taxpayer money to increase corporate profits…It started with Reagan and has morphed into a FRANKENSTEIN of major proportions. See: Project 2025.
It’s gotten pretty ugly, though it started under Nixon and Carter. That’s how both of them pitched the Space Shuttle, incidentally.
A huge part of the reason why America can’t keep building, say, public transit, is because there’s not enough in-house staff at agencies and too many consultants absorbing all the specialist knowledge needed.
Two more examples: Medicare Advantage is just less cost-efficient than traditional Medicare. And as much as I like the Inflation Reduction Act, much of its premise rests on tax credits to asset managers for energy projects that are best left in public hands. (Same thing with New York’s flagship renewables program and McKinsey, or the clientelism that surrounded California High-Speed Rail at its start.)
AMEN
The Space program is big business, profits for investors, jobs for workers, and most of all jobs for workers in NASA from clerks and communications to astrophysicists, academics and mathematicians
The only benefit derived from space so far is telecommunications, GPS and eye in the sky.
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Professor Reich: corruption, corruption everywhere, but no concern for those millions of people who are being robbed blind.
Musk and Trump also plan to completely crash the american economy and rob the 90% of us into penury so they can "grow their wealth" whilst the rest of us go homeless and hungry and die from common illnesses. (they also plan to defund scientific research and destroy academia completely.) america will be transformed into a third world country overnight, with a couple white slave owners at the top of the heap, one of whom is an obscenely wealthy illegal immigrant who is the shadow president awaiting the death of the supreme leader. if i'd written a book like this, it would have either never been published or it would have been published under the label "dystopian science fiction".
I wouldn’t be surprised if Musk has the GOP force a constitutional amendment allowing him to become president when he is not a native born American.
there's already whispers that trump is going to revoke the 22nd amendment (the one that prevents a presidents from holding more than 2 terms).
Well I suppose so he always ignores any law that is in the way of his desires or urges or brain diarrhea
Grrl, he can’t do that. The only way to revoke an Amendment is with another Amendment. Think 18 and 21.
There will always be whispers.
Elon Musk worked illegally in the US on a student VISA and he should be deported and his ill gotten gains seized by our government.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/26/elon-musk-immigration-status/
I just think he should go bye bye along with trump and a few others. Don’t tell me they can’t make it happen without anyone knowing.
If Harris wins and deep down I believe she will we’ve got work to do. We must make qualifications to run for president more complete. Convicted felons need not apply. A government security check should be involved. For those who say that’s unconstitutional well they didn’t have nuclear weapons then either. If we don’t raise the bar, what’s going to stop another Trump or Bezos or someone like them from taking over.
Americans are dazzled by money. I just read that Nicky Jam a rapper from Puerto Rico took back his endorsement for Trump after the Madison Gardens debacle. He said he backed Trump because he thought that as a business man he’d be good for the economy.
Not everyone is politically involved. Many hear or read a snippet about a candidate and that’s it. Oh Trump he’s rich he would be good for the economy.
That happened when Ross Perot ran. I kept hearing people say yeah he’s a rich guy, he’ll be good for the economy. I don’t remember why he dropped out I just remember how relieved I was when he did.
I’m reading a very good book called “Moral Capitalism” which explains how we got here and what needs to happen. We are living in an oligarchy there’s no doubt about it. And sadly, the people who are disenfranchised the very most are the ones who think Trump will save them.
Susan, you can count me in to help. I absolutely want much stricter qualifications for the person that will lead our country! I also want to work on term limits for politicians and judges, abolishing the electoral college, complete overhaul of the education system, climate change and getting rid of Citizens United. Please keep me in mind! Onward and blue!
Absolutely Peggy!
It is not just America. The German economy is on the ropes now because of years of chasing shiny objects of cheap energy and fossil fuel dependent industry, i.e. motor vehicles. When a former Chancellor could be purchased by the Russians, one realizes the depth of the problem.
I think they should take the citizenship test.
You are exactly right. Change needs to happen but Trump change is in the exact opposite direction. Ending Reagan’s gusher-up economics is what needs to happen and Biden has done more along those lines than any president since Reagan. How can we help people see that? More needs to happen to create an economy that allows the middle class to catch up and Harris knows how to do that. I hope enough Americans understand this and give her a chance.
Don’t think Ross Perrot (who actually was a smart and very successful businessman -not just an actor) ever dropped out of the race. Votes for his “reform party” most likely enabled Clinton’s election in 92!
Here is the Republican message on everything of importance:
1. They can tell people what to do.
2. You cannot tell them what to do.
This often gets mistaken for hypocrisy, there’s an additional layer of complexity to this (later in the thread), but this is the basic formula.
You've watched the Republican Party champion the idea of "freedom" while you have also watched the same party openly assault various freedoms, like the freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to marry who you want and so on.
If this has been a source of confusion, then your assessments of what Republicans mean by “freedom” were likely too generous. Here’s what they mean:
1. The freedom to tell people what to do.
2. Freedom from being told what to do.
When Republicans talk about valuing “freedom”, they’re speaking of it in the sense that only people like them should ultimately possess it.
So with this in mind, let’s examine some of our political issues with an emphasis on who is telling who what to do. And hopefully there will be no ambiguity about what the Republican Party message is ever again.
Let’s start with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told by experts in infectious diseases that to control the spread of the pandemic, we had to socially distance, mask, and get vaccinated. So, in a general sense, we were being told what to do. Guess who had a big problem with that.
All Republicans saw were certain people trying to tell them what to do, which was enough of a reason to make it their chief priority to insist that they will not be told what to do. Even though what they were told to do could save lives, including their own.
As you can see, this is a very stunning commitment to refusing to be told what to do. So much so that it is not in fact “pro-life.” But Republicans will nevertheless claim to be the “pro-life” party. That is because they recognize “pro-life” can be used to tell people what to do.
The reason they say they are “pro-life” when they are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies is not out of genuine concern for human life, but because they recognize that in this position, they can tell women what to do with their bodies.
That’s why when you use that same appeal—“pro-life”—when you ask Republicans to do something about gun violence in schools, it doesn’t work. Because you are now in the position of telling Republicans what to do. That’s precisely why they don’t want to do anything about it.
Anyway, gun violence in schools is not a problem, but their children having to wear masks in schools is. Because somebody is telling their children what to do. Dead children don’t bother them, but telling their children what to do? Only *they* should do that.
They claim to be for “small government”, but that really means a government that tells them what to do should be as small as possible. But when the Republican Party recognizes it has an opportunity to tell people what to do, the government required for that tends to be large.
The reason Republicans are so focused on the border isn’t because they care about border security, it’s because they recognize it as the most glaring example of when they can tell other people what to do. That's why it’s their favorite issue. You want in? Too bad. Get out.
If Republicans could do this in every social space—tell the people who aren’t like them too bad, get the fuck out—I’m here to assure that would be something resembling their ideal society.
Now, there are economic policies that we’ve proposed that we can demonstrate would be of obvious benefit to even Republican voters. So how do Republicans leaders kill potential support for these policies? Make the issue about who is telling who what to do.
They focus on the fact that Democrats may raise taxes. Even when it’s painfully obvious that Democrats aren’t going to raise taxes on everyone (or on very few people), what’s important here is that Democrats are the people telling certain people what to do.
If you want to know why Republicans can easily be talked out of proposals from the Democratic Party that are shown to be of benefit to them, it is precisely because they have to entertain the idea of Democrats telling certain people what to do.
What you didn’t understand from the very beginning is that Democrats should not ultimately be in the position to tell anyone what to do. Only Republicans should be in the position to tell people what to do.
On the issue of climate change, a lot of them don’t regard it as a serious issue to the extent that they think it is a hoax. This is because when you tell Republicans to do something for the sake of the planet, you are still ultimately telling them to what to do.
Furthermore, you are conceiving the planet as a thing that all human beings should have to share. I am here to assure you that the GOP’s main concern with the planet is to ensure that they don’t have to share it.
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you explain to Republicans you want them to do something and explain it’s on the basis of benefitting other people. Now you have really crossed a line. Not only did you tell them what to do, you told them to consider others.
The whole point of an arrangement where you can tell people what to do, but you can’t be told what to do, is precisely to avoid having to consider others. This is why this is their ideal arrangement: so they don’t have to do that.
As you can see, this is a very toxic relationship with the idea of who can tell who what to do. So much so that it seems like the entire point is to conceive of a “right” kind of people who can tell other people what to do without being told what to do. Yep, that’s the point.
So let’s add one more component to the system for who tells who what to do:
1. There are “right” human beings and there are "wrong" ones.
2. The “right” ones get to tell the “wrong” ones what to do.
3. The “wrong” ones do not tell the “right” ones what to do.
As you can see, I've just been talking about white male supremacy and the accompanying caste system structure it enforces all along. And I'm talking about this because the message of the Republican Party is that they quite like it.
But I realize that we are operating in an environment where white male supremacy is so entrenched that the press can’t even conceive of the Republican Party’s agenda of sorting the “right” human beings from the “wrong” ones as maybe presenting a “messaging problem.”
This is because the press has chosen to accommodate the Republican Party in a very specific way:
1. It normalizes the Republican agenda.
2. It normalizes framing the responsibility for stopping that agenda as ultimately being on Democrats.
Think about it: white supremacy is not allowed to be viewed as a “messaging problem.” Even when it’s a threat to democracy. Because if it’s a “messaging problem”, to Republicans, that sounds you're telling them that's a problem they have to solve.
Anyway, I made this thread mostly because I realize that the press has a "messaging problem." Namely, in the sense that they seem extremely averse to explicitly identifying the message of the Republican Party. It's called white male supremacy. Thanks for reading
Freedom for me and not for thee, and also the freedom for me to trample all over you. This isn’t my idea of freedom at all.
Real freedom involves RESPONSIBILITY. And your freedom ends before my nose. Funny, how this is displaced.
Amazing fucking Arrogance and Stupidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVhGkgb1dwc&ab_channel=LSE
Wow, Sean! That was great! While I was reading your post, I thought about when my kids were little tots. When I would tell them it was time to pick up their toys, it was amazing to watch their little lips come out in a pout, arms crossed and the word "NO" coming out of their mouths. Naturally, as a mom, you learn how to handle the situation. For me, I would tell them they could pick up their toys or I would pick them up and give them to children that would take care of them and put them away when they were done. You could see them thinking about it and deciding they didn't want me to give away their toys and they would pick them up. I feel like republicans are like my kids when you tell them what to do. Pouty lips, arms crossed and a resounding 'NO'! For our Democracy to survive and thrive, these little kids need to know the adults have the nation's best interests at heart and will work to ensure that Democracy continues. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Fantastic analogy Peggy. Big Babies Refusing To Do What They're Told By Grown Ups To Save Life Even! What was the percentage of Red State Toll of COVID Deaths over Blue States? And here we go again in the Electoral Vote!
What surprises me, Sean, is how many republicans are willing to allow these babies to dictate how their party is run. When parents let the child dictate, they grow up to be the entitled nut jobs like musk and the orange man. There comes a time when America says, "NO!" and means it! We truly must do every single thing we possibly can to get voters to the polls. We have to ensure a win for Kamala! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
Very well explained. And I think, while we may not explain it quite the same way, they are after WHITE, MALE, POWER, UNCHECKED, AND ABSOLUTE.
Terrific!
Posting this one on the fridge. Outstanding summation. Oh, and the 'women's bodies' busy-bodiness of that bunch? The clever ones in their 'accounting department' calculated that without a higher-than-average birth replacement rate, their magic economy will NOT give them growing rentier-level returns on their money. Party's over.
The Washington Post printed The Pentagon Papers and the paper of “All The President’s Men”; this was a noble paper of truth, protector of our democracy. This is a stab in the back of the Free Press. Jeff Bezos is Trump’s toady, a sycophant.
Katharine Graham is no doubt spinning in her grave.
She could not believe the cowardice.
The entire American public needs to read this important report. Thank you Mr Reich.
Louis Brandeis was 100% correct and we are seeing why now. For people like musk, bezos and the orange man, it is all about the money. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. To think any of those three care about our country or our Democracy is ridiculous. These ultra rich little boys and the orange man treat our country as their own little playground and it is hurting all of the rest of us. They seem to forget that without all the rest of us, they wouldn't have all the money they have. We are the customers and employees that worked for their profit. They don't care. The fact that bezos schmoozed with the orange man hoping for favors if the orange man got elected tells me all I need to know about his morals and his character. Muskrat on the other hand is completely and totally unhinged and living in the alternate reality of the orange man and his cult. It is up to us, Americans, to step up and prevent their complete take-over of our country. Sometimes I worry it might be too late, but after hearing Kamala's speech at the Ellipse, I actually felt a sense of hope. We must never stop fighting and defending our Democracy. It is way too important and necessary for our future generations. Only six more days. That old saying "Keep Calm and Carry on" needs to stay at the forefront of our minds. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot! Onward and blue!
Peggy, and thanks to the loss of the fourth estate, 40%+ of US citizens are incapable of rationale judgement, and need Daddy/ God/ Strongman to tell them what to do....and to admire. Maine high schoolers just voted for Trumpty in a mock election.. when will we step up for the revolution? It better be immediately if Trumpty the mobster is elected.
Musk, Bezo and the former Apprentice TV-show-host two-bit-shyster CON-ARTIST are merely three players in the multinational crime network.
In hindsight, perhaps Congress insisting on putting its own imprimatur (a semblance of democracy, if you will) on the Space Launch System (NASA’s own in-house Moon rocket) wasn’t such a bad idea.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m critical of its contractors (Boeing and Northrop Grumman) and the whole cost-plus contracting omnishambles for putting SLS behind schedule and over budget, but at least it’s a stable option for NASA (again, it’s an in-house design it owns). Musk and Bezos, being the fickle billionaires that they are, are not in spaceflight for the public interest. (I’ll say the same for Boeing and NG, but that’s not my point.)
For Bezos’ part, Blue Origin is putting paywalls on vital test data for NASA on its Moon lander: https://spacenews.com/data-rights-limitations-affecting-nasa-technology-development/ For Musk’s part, he’s undercutting upstart companies such as Relativity and Rocket Lab with exclusive purchase clauses, strategic discounts and radio spectrum concessions, in addition to having Putin’s ear and flouting environmental rules: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/us/politics/elon-musk-space-launch-competition.html https://www.wsj.com/business/telecom/spacex-wields-dominance-in-rocket-launches-to-boost-starlink-fde71f17 https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-putin-secret-conversations-37e1c187 https://spacenews.com/faa-fines-spacex-for-launch-license-violations/
One final point: The technological marvels of Blue Origin and SpaceX should be credited to the workers there. It’s silly and at the same time gravely worrying that Blue’s sister company Amazon has joined SpaceX in complaining that the NLRB is unconstitutional, which if the courts find true, would give Bezos and Musk carte blanche to start suppressing unionization in those companies.
By the way, nice of the DoD’s procurement people to start backing away from over-relying on Musk. This (good insurance policy) was just announced today: https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Portals/3/USSF%20SSC%20Releases%20National%20Security%20Space%20Launch%20Phase%203%20Lane%201%20On-Ramp%20Request%20for%20Proposals.pdf
I don't conclude that from this.
This was Space News’ interpretation https://spacenews.com/space-force-opens-national-security-launch-contracts-to-new-players/
The U.S. Congress needs investigated, for violating their 'oaths-of-office'. Musk needs to register as a 'foreign agent'. H ehas ties to Putin & Saudi Arabia, and at the same time has U.S. Federal government space contracts worth $billions. How to file charges against a Congress that is violating their duties. These red and blue power hungry crooks, must be in cahoots with the 'cahooters'. Wake up Congress, - 'we-the-people' are watching you. Remember our votes count. Again, the U.S. Congress needs investigated. - jw
Joe Ward ; The real problem with enforcement of justice is that the Supreme Court is null and void and needs to be purged of the Sycophant 6.
Whose to say Musk wouldn't give all the benefits of SpaceX to Putin....work for Russia exclusively??
He is indeed a Foreign Agent. And his tentacles extend everywhere. Read his bio in the Wiki and you'll read that he was born in South Africa in 1971 [known for living under APARTHEID until 1990.] At 18, he emigrated to Canada and became CANADIAN, thanks to his mother, who was Canadian.
He moved to California in 1995 but did not become American until 2002, so he must have been on a student visa for 7 years?
So far, he has led a truly visionary life. His financial success is impressive as he seems to move from project to project and bring them all to fruition.
The fact that he's had secret conversations with Putin is, in my humble opinion, extremely dangerous.
For one, that is an open breach of the Logan Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Act
as he is poised to negotiate with a hostile nation with or without the consent of our present President. He certainly has the money [and the inclination] to totally F*ck up anything our legal Government wants to do.
The second concern is really his personality: he is a "wanderer": from country to country, project to project, alliance to alliance, the man can't stand still. He is a genius and a visionary who is not attached to any country, like you or I are, and he seems to have acquired a sense of superiority bordering on megalomania.
He has no sense of patriotism, or keeping a good system going. He is most comfortable in chaos.
Nation-states are a relatively recent creation in the history of civilization. I hope that someday, the people of the world will cooperate in saving the planet and making it a better place for everyone without the arbitrary lines on the globe that have been drawn.
We are far from that place in history, if we even survive long enough. In the meantime, the citizens of the U.S. need to protect our interests from evil, megalomaniacal, morbidly rich types like Musk and Murdoch.
Musk isn't a genius or visionary....he, like Trump, has just placed his name on existing companies he's bought. Visionary my butt...he can't even keep ones solar panels from failing.
I thought about the words: "genius" and "visionary". I regret that these words have a positive connotation unless they are associated with "evil" genius or "mad" visionary.
What he has, like Trump is a "knack", perhaps for making things work to his advantage, [like most very selfish people].
It is, as I see it, a form of intelligence.
As far as only having placed his name on companies he bought, I think *this* criticism is unfair:
No, he is not only associated with companies he bought: he actively founded and played a key role in developing many of the companies he is known for, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X (formerly Twitter), even though he may have acquired some ownership stakes in certain companies later on in their development.
It was his Tesla solar panels that failed on a number of rooves [7 at Walmart and Amazon, I think]. He's had a number of challenges in production goals and cost overruns, that's true, but with a new product, some of that is to be expected.
Much more concerning to me is his entry into politics, his secret meetings with Putin and the role that Trump is thinking of giving him in a new Administration, and indeed, I share your concerns about switching sides and working for Putin after getting subsidies from the American Government. THAT, should be a huge concern for all of us/US. In particular, I see that Starlink would be of great benefit to Putin in his war against Ukraine. I worry very much about the 'deals' that could be struck in a smoky room.
Also, I don't know how many people are aware that Elon Musk and Peter Thiel worked together and got along quite well. Here is a clip on Instagram;
https://www.instagram.com/economicarchive/reel/DBVD5PItH2H/
Peter Thiel, as you probably are aware, 'discovered' JD Vance for Trump, so I have no doubt as to where his loyalties lay.
And here, you see Elon Musk reposting and praising JD Vance talking about a Venezuela gang allegedly taking over a couple of apartments.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1851764476565246372.
And here is a long article as a fact checker from the Denverite:
https://denverite.com/2024/09/04/venezuelan-gang-aurora-colorado-factcheck/
Yes indeedy. Note NY Mayor Eric Adams’ phone was seized immediately. Why weren’t all the phones used in the insurrection immediately seized as well? They should have been — from Trump on down …
The Space biz has a Huge carbon footprint & the last time I looked, Earth's atmosphere is a narrow veil encircling our planet & protecting some precious cargo such as oxygen; I'm not happy having it poked thru with rockets.
You are absolutely correct Professor Reich. These oligarchs are out of control and they have to be stopped immediately! Next Tuesday on November 5th, those who haven’t voted yet will vote for either to save our democracy or turn our country into an authoritarian ruled nation. These oligarchs have tasted the power and they like it. We can’t be submissive anymore. It’s time to put them in their place!
FREEZE THEIR ASSETS
I am one of the 250K subscribers who cancelled with WaPo over Bozos' inability to publicly stand up for what's right. What should have happened is that Bozos should have sold his shares in the paper and allowed the post to do the right thing. Instead we have an oligarch running with his tail between his legs who is just another courtier to the tyrant threatening him. Screw Bozos - it's a sad day for WaPo.
Bezos’s editorial was a profile in cowardice.
Don. ❤️👏