I'm terrified for America. Michael, I hope you are right. Unfortunately Americans are getting dummer, with most not understanding and not knowing how our government works. That is due to a failed educational system. bring back civics!
Every once in a while I see a "Man on the Street" segment where young people are asked simple history and civics questions. Most of the answers demonstrate a shocking ignorance. How can you have a democracy when folks don't even know about the three branches of our government, or believe that Lincoln was President during WWII?
People on the street, hell! donald stupid trump was unable to answer the same question when it was posed to him during the campaign for 2016. He was running for President and didn't have a clue about the structure of government, the Constitution or anything else. If it weren't for the semi-literates who voted for him in the red states he'd never have won.
Don't belittle people on the street., I am one of them, trying, as best I can to improve my understanding of our government, the Constitution and everything else. I've more than a Master's Degree, but, early education did not prepare me. We can and should do better; certainly, we adults need as much understanding of our governmental system as we teach, and expect incoming citizens to comprehend. Jon Meacham's biography about Abraham Lincoln, AND THERE WAS LIGHT, is highly recommend reading. We need understanding optimism, perspective, and a good dose of brotherly love, more than we need, Chicken Little and The Sky Is Falling. Look around, including this Robert Reich Newsletter, Jamie Raskin, Nancy Pelosi, House Leadership during two investigations, etc. We've much to be proud of in our leadership, and in ourselves when as we practice, and live up to our ideals. Think, the plaque that reads, "Be the change that you want to see in this world." Speak up, as so many of you do. We're all in this together. Thank you for being there. P.B. Spodick
Sorry, The remark wasn't to belittle people on the Street. I was responding to another remark on a TV program who apparently asked random people at a mall what were the three branches of government. The writer was appalled that few if any could could answer correctly. My response was intended to imply, why should you expect people at a shopping mall to know what a winning candidate for the Presidency of the United States couldn't answer. In my opinion any one running for elective office at any level should know, whereas the average citizen, even if the were taught in school has no reason to remember. I know, because I have read the Constitution so often I have literally worn out my copy and it's held together by scotch tape. The branches of course, are Congress whose duty is to write the legislation that governs this country, the Executive whose duty is to enact that legislation and see that it is carried out, and the Judiciary who, until the current Justices had a duty to ensure any legislation was allowable under the Constitution . Only the House of Representatives is allowed to enact revenue bills, the Executive can only suggest legislation and approve or veto it, the Judiciary, until now could only rule that legislation was allowable under the Constitution. But this Court has decided to rewrite the law to align with their personal religious beliefs.
Pearl, keep learning! It is the responsibility of all us citizens to help others who need help to understand how this complicated government works, and what we all can do to improve it.
INDEED !!! It's great to hear the voice of the "youger" people voicing the call for better and truthful early and on going eduction, especially in reguard to our government processes and history. Focus early on Critical Thinking skills. Thanks for being here today!!
And he didn’t win the vote of the American people by almost 3million!! Imagine if this happened over and over to the RescumliCons? Yet it has happened over and over to the Dems. We clearly win the popular vote, yet don’t get to take office. The republicans use voter suppression, attempt to take voting machines, allow the injustice of the Supreme court picking the President (Gore). On and on. They cannot win in a fair democratic way!
You are right this is neither fair. democratic, nor even republic. It is pure and simple authoritarianism, but that's what they want and they have said as much publicly. But apparently we're the only ones listening, or at least comprehending what they are saying loud and clear. As to trump's losses, he lost the 2020 election by over 7 million popular votes and he lost the electoral college by 74 points, 306 Biden 232 trump. But that has not stopped trump and his supporters from claiming the vote was stolen. He also lost 60 of 61 lawsuits, some before judges he had appointed, and he didn't win that 61st lawsuit, it was thrown out of court as not being worthy of trial. If he is the candidate in 2024 (and I hope he is) He will lose by an even bigger margin. I say I hope he is their candidate because that will end the current version of the Republican party. The Fiscal Conservatives will then have about 18 months to form a new legitimate party. Personally I'd prefer 3 viable parties Fiscal Conservatives, Liberal Progressives, and Moderates. I think this would return us to a true Representative Republic as we started with civil discussion and compromise bills that serve the entire country, favoring all citizens without reference to class (wealth) race, gender, country of origin, sexual orientation or language. With any luck we could keep that for 50 or so years before greed raised its ugly head again.
I agree those should be the main 3 parties, but apparently there has to also be a party for zealots, religious or otherwise, unless they're outlawed, which they probably should be.
I still don't think he won. I wish Hillary would have fought. Trump brought Russia into the election and that was wrong. I believe she would have won and so does Jimmy Carter. If trump runs and wins the election we are doomed. Lord help us.
Back in the day, there were two types of handheld guns, a single-action, and a double-action revolvers. The type of gun Mr. Baldwin was using on the set of Rust was the earlier version, a single-action weapon. This means in order to fire the gun correctly you first had to pull back the hammer to a locked position and then the trigger had to be pulled. I have had this happen to me, if during the cocking phase the hammer slips off of the thumb before the locked position is reached the hammer will make contact with the primer located on the bottom of the round. This will erupt a small charge in the brass casing and in turn, ignites the powder that drives the projectile from the weapon. It is perfectly possible to fire that type of weapon without actually pulling the trigger. The discharge is accidental but beyond that, it can happen. The FBI needs to rethink its position, Mr. Baldwin may have been guilty of negligence with regard to the use of a firearm but not involuntary manslaughter. The explanation given by the FBI is true if the gun was used correctly, but having the hammer slip from under the thumb resulting in an unintended discharge is completely possible. Again, I've had this happen to me. Question, what was the temperature on the set at the time of the shooting? My experience took place while I was wearing gloves because of the cold. Still, an accidental discharge is possible even if the trigger isn't pulled.
Hence to need to Support Public Education in order to create a strong citizenry inerred with will to unerstand and support a proper government "Of by and For the people" .
Absolutely, well said. And may I give kudos to Robert Reich and Rachel Maddow and all the bright attorneys and newspaper reporters who make it easy to understand because I trust/respect their words
Prejudice against elderly people is as ugly as prejudice against infants, teens, people of color, LGBTQ, other nationalities, et cetera.
The generation you are insulting is the generation who passed the Civil Rights Law, Voting Rights Law, Environmental Protection Act, pressed for Desegregation, and much much more.
We are also the generation who had to pass Civics to graduate high school, and it was a five day, hour long, full year curricula.
You are so right. SS is not an entitlement, we paid into our FICA every single paycheck. Growing up, we were taught to respect our elders. I would clean my grandmother's apt every month or when she needed it cleaned. And if she tried to give us money, we refused. We knew all her tricks, putting money in our coat pockets etc. Our elected representatives do not take care of "the people". They just want to get rich in insider trading and lobbyists. Shameful
The previous commenter blamed young people for their ignorance, & I just wanted to point out that older people are not exempt, either. If you disagree with my point, then I would contend it is you who is ageist.
They were never taught. The mandatory Civics course was ended in 1968 where I lived (Chapel Hill, NC) -- and who would take such a "boring" class unless they had to? I, too, despite an advanced degree, know far, far too little about the laws and the structure of our government.
Dalia, it is true our students need civics. The reasons it was cut vary, but often relate to lack of time in the day. Standardized testing that is high-stakes means that only certain subjects are deemed important while the rest are just extras. American History in several states is now taught over two years in high school and many students don't have time in their schedule for Civics classes while trying to take as many Advanced Placement classes as possible to get college credits ahead. Civics is relegated in many places to a backwater for students who need a filler. Then there are the states that aren't too thrilled about teaching Civics at all. I am not sure how we correct this except to actually require every school to teach it and every student to take it. Who is going to head that up? That could become a Democratic/Progressive issue.
In Minnesota, one of the state reps got civics into HS as a requirement. He is also a former teacher (very popular with his students, not so much the whiney right wing parents).
Here is a video of Dean Urdahl who is, I suspect, the legislator you are speaking about. This may be helpful. It is about 15 minutes long, but his spirit and motivation comes early in the video.
Every thing you say is true, Ruth, which is why we need to change the way we educate in all 50 States. The majority of people determining the way we educate still cling to the 'old world' methodology (which is really funny because many Europeans have already changed) This philosophy is: we are here to train children to enter college. FACT 2/3 of children entering kindergarten will never graduate from college. So we put all our money and effort into teaching 1/3 of the children while abandoning 2/3 to their own resources. Is it any wonder that we end up with a Nation willing to accept a semi-literate con man to RULE, not legislate the Country. This is how, before World War 2 Europe (including many aristocrats) embraced Fascism.
Fay, I am also concerned about the way we educate our children. We spend way too much time on things they will never need, like Algebra and spelling, for example and miss helping them understand the forces that will impact their lives, like the way money works and does not work and the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of the United States, even comparing that to other societies. Students need to learn about the many cultures that make up this country, particularly, African-Americans, Latinx in their wonderful variety, indigenous cultures - the same, and how groups become integrated into our society. If we do these things a bite at a time from PreK through the highest levels of education a person chooses, people won't be electing fake reality TV stars and pathological liars whose name his constituents don't even know. People are being trained from an early age to want more and more and to resent those who have more. Empathy is not a cherished value nor are so many other things like kindness, caring, understanding, and the like because supposedly they make people seem weak and men in particular can't be seen as weak. Girls learn to sit back and watch boys get all the attention because of their poor behavior and supposed genius that girls just can't match. It is great that so many women chose not to go along with the nonsense even though it kept us from being in the "in crowd." Girls are stalked by images of a body size, shape, or color that is not right. Their hair is criticized for being too long, too short, too braided, to something else and clothes even school uniforms make them look . . . Then there's sex education that Republicans have taught parents to be scared of while the parents weep because their daughter has gotten pregnant or son has gotten a young girl pregnant. Our schools could help with critical thinking, not just when reading a rare female-centered novel, which turns out to be criticizing thinking in reality, but in every subject. It's scary for teachers, but also exciting. Now, we are facing a difficult situation in colleges where whiny white mostly men cry that not enough conservative viewpoints are present on campus. They have shown little to no (mostly no) evidence of it, but caring about truth is not a conservative/Republican thing these days, even in higher education. And so, with our education systems under attack on a regular basis now by pseudo-Christian conservatives, it is going to be essential that We the People step up to defend real public education, not the charter schools that have not proven their value. We also need to get rid of the "voucher" programs no matter what they are called because they end up mostly paying for Catholic and conservative religious and less than excellent private schools. OK, that's my rant for the evening, as a retired teacher who cares deeply for my students. Oh yes, the most important thing we can do if we really care about our children, end poverty and help parents to learn the skills with money and fighting for their rights they didn't learn in school.
Spelling is something we all need to know & use practically daily, & it is something severely lacking in many people, as is evident on many discussion forums (not so much this one). It seems that the majority of people misspell the opposite of "win" (lose, not loose), & past tense of "to lead" (led not lead), for example.
Jaime, I am not trying to say spelling is not useful, but what you are describing is not actually spelling, but usage. English has a lot of words spelled nearly the same but with entirely different meanings. Learning the differences comes from reading a lot and exposure to many different kinds of literature and non-fiction. Perhaps some of the non-fiction even very young children should be exposed to would cover the very basics of how our government works and what citizens do to keep our nation healthy: vote, learn about the people who live here, develop empathy so they can understand different points of view, and more. There still will be spelling bees so students who like spelling can learn, then compete. Maybe we need some more video games where accurate spelling gets points and advantages. Those games may already exist. ,
OK. So I"m sorry for my bad typing and spelling . . . . Hm where was I going with this ? Oh yes, sorry for my lapses of dimentia, . . . Damned backlighting of my keyboad just went away again . . . Wher did I put those glasses anyway. Nevermind.
People on this forum are very well-educated. Probably most spelling errors here are due to Autocorrupt. A few are due to vision problems or a too small keyboard leading to typos. But elsewhere spelling & grammar can be atrocious.
As one retired teacher to another, I agree Ruth. I wrote a blog about individualized education which may interest you. It is called 'Thoughts from a retired educator' My substack is Fay's Newsletter. It is free to read and comment on. To get there, go to Substack.com In the search field type Fay's Newsletter.
More projection from the right. Indoctrination is what they want to do to our children, like they have done with many adults through Fox & right-wing radio among many other propaganda outlets.
But Rishi ; Is there time? The sad thing is that the results of their wielding of power will take time for voters to feel. So many voters do not understand what is going on. Even the educated can't be sure what will happen, I bet.
The public seemed to "cotton on" to the insurrection pretty quickly (or, at least, to its lack of merit due to its destructiveness); word can get around pretty fast these days... so maybe folks will notice when George Santos - or the next George Santos hiding in that flock - makes headlines (they do seem to do so without prompting!)...
“Even the educated can't be sure what will happen, I bet.”
Bullshit. That’s a cop out.
What will happen in obvious. Professor Reich just spelled it very clearly in the article you just commented on. As have many, many others.
But gosh, gee willikers, who knows what’s going to happen. So I guess we have no responsibility to actually get off our asses and work to oppose if, right?
There are limits to what we can do without our hands on the levers (surely one doesn't mean to suggest Rep. Barbara Lee & other progressives didn't oppose folly *every step of the way*?)...
What I meant, clearly, was that people who are wringing their hands and whining “but what can we do?“ sentiments are just making excuses for themselves. And I’m calling them on that BS. 
A climate of misinformation & disinformation doesn't help: people are hurting these days (as plenty of them were given a very flawed world - and never chose Reagan, let alone the terror of what came thereafter); you catch more flies with honey, just sayin'...
I disgree, Dalia. Trends show Americans are getting SMARTER, more PROGRESSive, and less mentally-warped! Oh, but maybe you mean Southern America? THEY'RE not getting any smarter because they instead cling to "Dear Leader" whether it be Bunkerboy or DeathSantis.
Yeah, Daniel, what is it about people in the South. I lived in Nashville for 8 years while in college and graduate school and a bit more and really loved the city. I do realize I mostly interacted with college and university people, but student taught with local teachers and found them to be smart, caring, aware, and interested. The school where I student taught was upper middle class on one side and projects on the other and all the kids mixed in the middle. I suspect it was a unique situation. Somehow since I left 30 years ago, Tennessee reverted to a pre-Civil War mentality where white men rule and it is OK if everyone is ignorant except the folks in charge. It's disgusting, but Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas are worse. Why do we let the Confederate states determine anything? Most of those states get far more from our government than they pay in because of the enforced poverty that exists there and the wealthy folks who don't want to pay taxes. Then there's DeSantis, a well-educated ignoramus. It goes to show attending a "top" school (if he actually did) does not make one smart, caring, aware, or interested. DeSantis is just a scared white child-man who fears and hates everyone who is not just like him, so is working hard to create more like him among the white and white wannabee white people of Florida. He's got a lot to work with since white Cubans there are desperate to be seen as fully white. The senators and representatives from the Confederacy will follow anyone who can spout the pre-1860 BS that kept even ignorant white men in power. That Confederate worldview has infected places all over the country. We need a vaccine for it as well as treatments for those who become infected.
Ruth, As always you speak to the issues. . . But I beleive this issue is adressing the woeful Public Education system we see developing right now as a result of recent attacks on how our early educationsi conducted. Education not Indocumentation, Awkened not Woke.
We suffer many of the same issues here in Aridzona, but we have fought hard and long to become a "Purple People" State. It ain't easy but we keep on keeping on.
I also am terrified of the shit show these seditionists are planning & how badly Americans are going to be embarrassed for our country! I just see & hear the Russians, Chinese, & Saudis making bets about how things will turn out besides laughing their assess off watching the Biden Admin try to fight back & hold Democracy to a higher standard. These next 2 years are going to be worse than TFG’s 4 years of criminal behavior! We won’t want to hear or watch MSNBC or CNN relate all the crimes & other crap they will try to get away with. I really don’t understand why the 14th Amendment isn’t being applied to all the congressional seditionists that the J6 Committee exposed? Is that also DOJ’s job? What do U think about those creeps?
Civics classes would be great, but definitely not enough. What Republicans are exploiting among their followers is not just their ignorance of the technicalities of how government does or should work, but their desires and wants for something more out of life for themselves and whatever perceived injustices they have supposedly experienced.
I’ve read articles about some of the insurrectionists. What surprised me most was how good some of them have it. There was one in particular about an insurrectionist who was/is wanted by the FBI. He sold his $1.2 million house in California and left the country. He ended up as an illegal immigrant in Belarus, a country with the kind of dictatorship that he thought he wanted. I would be interested in a follow-up story to see if he finally realized how good he had it in the US. What exactly was he so pissed about? Was he angry that he hadn’t been given his birthright of being a billionaire king? Some of these Republican extremists don’t seem so much disadvantaged, but spoiled.
It's true that there is a lack of general love, respect, dignity, and community that many Americans experience. Republican policies and “leadership” won’t fix that, but they speak to certain people’s feelings of alienation and grievance, as if being a part of their group will somehow fulfill their desires for status and respectability. But it’s a group that eats its own.
I have been sounding that alarm for a long time. Our educational system had not been truly upgraded since the industrial revolution when the $$$ people just needed bodies to work the machines. Sick.
And like the machines they operate they are now consider as "assets", "Human Capital" just like the machines they operate. Coperate America appears to see the people who labor to create the products that generated their profits as objects rether than fellow human beings. Think *Borg Drones"
Janet, you are right about Garland's inaction. I keep hearing, indictments are coming, but there is absolutely no evidence of it. I think Garland et al are trying to run out the clock so a new president will take office in 2 years tomorrow and he will be off the hook for indicting the people who actually planned, organized, and supported the insurrection, which includes a bunch of folks sitting in Congress right now. It is disgraceful that even after the Capitol was attacked and the lives of everyone there was at risk, nearly 150 Republicans still insisted Trump won the 2020 election when they knew that was wrong, and of course, had no proof, no evidence of any kind, just their big mouths and an ear to the mouth of Trump, who is a pathological liar and always has been. I will be pleased to be shocked if I am wrong, but I just don't see it. If an AG or any other legal type sits on things long enough, time runs out and they can say, "Oh, we just didn't have enough time to get all the evidence." That is in this case nonsense and a complete lie. Because of the inaction, our entire economy and possibly the world's economy is at risk because those election deniers are trying to keep the debt ceiling from being raised as revenge for something they think Democrats have done to them. They are toddlers who don't think clearly and don't care about anyone but themselves and their own comfort and need to make others pay. Why do people continue to vote for toddlers to important offices? I just don't get it.
It is all distressing, Ruth, and often it is hard to be hopeful.
I posit, however, that it isn't only conservatives who behave like toddlers, let alone kicking toddlers.
This country is in deep trouble, and the loss of faith in our institutions is only one symptom. There are so many issues, but closer to this business would be things like the way our elected officials and government are awash in dark money and the fact that nothing is ever done to curb that. All that money directly influences the way Democrats so often introduce bills only when they know they'll fail, making it easier to blame Republicans for legislative failure. The leadership does it, too, e.g., did Barack Obama, when he had a bulletproof supermajority in the Senate and control of the House, do what really needed doing to address the 2007-2008 meltdown or healthcare? Decidedly not.
We've been let down by all parties involved, although I agree that the fringe conservatives tend to be more openly and shamelessly egregious. Maybe they should be praised for not attempting to hide it? Their cravenness, authoritarian rage, desire to control and hostility toward things and people that don't meet their purity standards isn't exactly whispered. And they won't even condemn the outrageous sham that is George Santos, although there was a time when someone like him would never have made it into a race at all.
One must bear in mind just how far the Overton Window has moved, when people like Liz Cheney--a neoconservative--are garnering praise. Some want to say former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan was a moderate, and that Susan Collins and Lisa Mukowski are moderates, although in my view, of those three, only Hogan fits the mold of what a moderate Republican once was, i.e., think Mark Hatfield.
Conservative lawmakers in 2023 cannot, IMO, be relied on to even try to "do the right thing" where governance is concerned, as the government is seen by them as the enemy, and rules and regulations are chains with which the country and free enterprise are fettered.
Conservatives also like to trot out how much they trust the good sense of the American people which --and this will offend some-- I have yet to see in recent years. Some have written about the "man on the street" interviews they have seen, how appalled they are at the ignorance on display. If those who are ignorant are trying to learn, I applaud that, but I never expect it.
My dad once told me to never expect that The People are going to do the right thing, at least not initially, and perhaps never. He told me I would be disappointed if I expected most people to act in any way but their own self-interest (or their perception of it) first. Witness the pandemic and the raging, frothing war about vaccines and masking and The Gubbmint. I was profoundly disappointed we did not, could not come together as a country. It's hard to imagine what the relative cohesion of our society looked like during World War II, at least as far as being united in a common purpose--or a pervasive sense of that.
It's a shame we will see so much time and money spent on tit-for-tat nonsense in the House, while more important things are held hostage or cut closer to the bone. People like Marjorie Taylor Greene continually display their lack of understanding about how the government works, and seem proud of their ignorance and contempt. The debt payment is a get-it-paid issue, not a spending issue, for heaven's sake. the bills have already been run up. Most recently by the Trump administration.
We're stuck with AG Garland and his glacial approach in this case, although he was quick to appoint a special prosecutor for Biden -- as he should; Joe needs to let us know why he didn't tell us about those documents sooner, although it seems likely that whatever information they contain may be dated and possibly irrelevant in this moment. We'll see.
Wealth and income inequality again seem to be at the root of so much of this. From lack of perspective to lack of education, lack of people power vis-a-vis their elected representatives to lack of action by AG Garland, the climate, and much else, there is a lack of will --and far too much money. In all the wrong places.
This is a very good summary of the hopelessness I feel about our nation. Your lack of faith in the American people is warranted, but it has so much to do with leadership or lack thereof.
FDR & JFK could inspire & went directly to the people to get our cooperation when they needed us, which is how the mobilization of the American people to fight in WWII was so effective. At the same time they prioritized our concerns, working on improving equality, civil rights & trying to wipe out poverty & unemployment. It was very much a 2-way street.
I thought Obama would be the same kind of President because he had excellent, inspiring oratory skills, but he almost never used them while President, rarely addressing the nation about considerable problems we had & gaining our backing for policies & programs he wanted to initiate, & that was disappointing. He lost a great opportunity while he had a large majority in Congress. I think it was partly due to his lack of political experience & his desire to be a man for all people & work with the opposition & get a consensus long after it became clear they weren't going to work with him & were trying to make him a failed President (1 of their early signs of treachery & putting parry before country).
We have desperately needed for some time that kind of inspiring leader like FDR & JFK, but we've failed in choosing one. Bernie was pretty close but was shunned & opposed by the Democratic Party leadership. I was so hoping that Warren would win last time, but the corporatist establishment likewise viciously turned on her, too.
There are many Democrats that have part of what we need for such a leader, but I don't see it all in 1 person to the degree we need, & by now we are so divided, I'm not sure that even an FDR or MLK could unite us & repair our nation.
It is infuriating, Janet, particularly when over 900 January 6 "foot soldiers" have been arrested and convicted at a rate of 99.8 percent. More than 180 have received jail time.
That is the other part I wanted to mention. A huge part of our failure of leadership is the lack of accountability for wrongdoing committed by politicians in government, starting with Ford's pardon of Nixon, but continuing with the treachery of Reagan/Bush in sabotaging Carter's attempt to free the hostages in Iran in order to win the election, Bush's pardon of many of those involved in Iran Contra (& his own complicity), Obama's failure to hold Bush/Cheney accountable for their war crimes, & now the reluctance of the Justice Department under both Trump & Biden' to prosecute members of the Trump administration & congressional Republicans for their various corrupt & traitorous acts from the Trump campaign through the corrupt, malignant Trump administration, the Capitol Insurrection & attempts to illegally overturn the election, confiscation & destruction of classified government documents, & ongoing subversion of the Constitution.
I absolutely agree with you 💯%. I’ve been defending him thinking that bc he had never lost a case that he was just being cautious, wanting to have a solid case. He had a good year ahead of the 1/6 Committee to collect evidence, more employees than they had to check leads and get subpoenas and nada, zip, zilch. Then the Committee turns over all their documents and their recommendation and still nothing.
Kicking the can down the road until someone else has the burden. Garland hesitated until the time given as a courtesy at Midterm Elections to not indict. Then Trump became a Candidate for ‘24 and a conflict of interest was an excuse. Smith has selected his own team, so Garland isn’t inhibited in any way to avoid indicting those members of Congress who were involved in 1/6. It’s all political and it shouldn’t be this way. He was going to show no partiality or favor. Ha!
Jan 19, 2023·edited Jan 19, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
I think the best we can hope to do is minimize the damage that House Republicans do before 2024. Until the special counsel releases his report both on January 6th and the classified documents, nothing will stop Trump’s agenda to destroy America.
Jan 19, 2023·edited Jan 19, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
The 2024 election will stop Trump's agenda. He will likely not be the GOP nominee, and will split the Republican vote. If he is the nominee, he will lose.
That's what I thought last time. I would love to see the Democrats wage a 2-year public education program regarding things Trump has said and done... Saturation on all media to ensure most voters are exposed to who he is, not who he says he is.
This time is different: Trump has failed. Yes, the lunatic 30% fringe will vote for him, but he has lost those very important swing voters. If he runs as an independent, the lunatics will siphon votes from Desantis, and the GOP is toast. If he is the GOP nominee, he will lose more bigly than he did in 2020.
Luckily: either possibility is a "YUGE" win for the American people! I don't want to start celebrating yet, but I don't even think HILLARY could lose in 2024 in Americans were stupid and blind enough to put her loser-behind up!
Did you see how close Georgia was, anyone thinks Trump cant win is smoking too much gonja. Desantis is the better candidate for the right though. He is most likely winning 2024 presidency. Already has Florida, a swing state sewn up.
Tim, I wish we knew how to do that. The media is somehow enthralled with Trump and Trumpian behavior. The bread and butter issues Democrats talk about are definitely not as exciting, therefore not worthy of covering to the extent that Trump's shenanigans are covered. Trumpers and Trumpettes have far more media coverage than their numbers would expect and Trumpian lies and conspiracy theories capture the thoughts of people who are overworked, depressed and despairing. I think that is a big part of the reason white poor and working-class people vote for Republicans. They never stop to even think that those folks have never done one thing to help them. They blame Democrats for all kinds of ghoulish things that tantilize and distract so they don't notice their reps and senators care nothing for them, not seeing their only value to those Republicans is to be manipulated to vote for ignorance while putting the uncaring in power. And, everyone loses because Republicans have no idea how to govern well.
Strangely enough, Bernie Sanders was almost MORE popular to now __umplicans than Bunkerboy was in 2016! . . . then they became a cult to a serial failure.
But ownership of the far reaching media is under ultra right control. You can go online to find the ultimate owners of big stations like NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN…..All under ultra right ownership. This is one of the biggest issues we have outside of global climate disaster.
Meidas Touch has 3 million viewers daily. Check it out. Resolute Square. Courrier Newsroom are all worthy. There are other resources listed at Resolute Square.
But their viewers are not the group who needs the factual information. Their viewers are informed. It's Fox, etc. who need to show factual content and Murdoch won't have it
If you get the attention of the independents who were once Republicans, that leaves the 30 percent that are MAGA who are too entrenched to recover. Young voters and independents can bring on a blue wave.
Jeanne, you are right about the kind of media. TV and radio should not be ignored, but hitting the platforms younger people use would be most effective. Also, finding hooks to catch their attention will help too. Maybe a few movies about young people getting involved and one part of that being voting. Maybe Taylor Swift and favorite Hip-Hop artists can perform music about getting involved, stopping bad behavior in government, and voting. That could be fascinating.
Victor Shi is a major Gen Z figure with lots of ideas on how to reach young voters. I've seen him on Mr Reich's vidéos and on Meidas Touch and Resolute Square. I just found Shi on LinkedIn and am following him there. Smart place to get out information.
I wish I could agree but I think it's likely he will be the nominee. I just saw a straw poll in which he demolished DeSantis who would be just as bad. His supporters are all getting key positions on committees and they are going to lead endless investigations to try to diminish Biden.
William, I am concerned you are right about the committee assignments. However, I do think We the People can stop a lot of this. We can contact the various media and demand they stop making House shenanigans their top priority. Maybe reminding them that they will suffer if the Republicans in the House and Senate don't raise the debt ceiling, for example, their livelihoods may be at risk too, could stir them to do the right thing for a change. We'll see.
A good objection well taken. Either way, it'll be a massive clown show for the next couple of years. Besides, there's the little matter of an 800-pound SCOTUS, standing in the corner, wearing a lampshade, "being inconspicuous!"
From a previous discussion, you probably remember I thought something was "fishy" about the announcement of the Biden documents. Just today, ol' Beau provided a satisfying explanation that I'm willing to go along with, for the time being: https://youtu.be/9VzwiyeaX2k
However, you hit the nub of what I was implying - FOX news style - about exactly what I think those documents may >really< be. CONTINUING in the spirit of FOX: Where are the documents that were in those empty classified document folders found at Mar-a-Lago? How did the Biden documents find their way to where they were found? Did ol' Tweety know exactly where they'd be found when he called on the DOJ to mount a "raid" on Biden's >unsecured< Delaware home? If he knew, >how< did he know? How hard would it be to "visit" an unsecured premises that is usually vacant? Could hostile professionals "visit" such a place and leave a little "gift" unwitnessed? Would some sort of "defense contractor" be willing to undertake such a mission for a packet of money? Would it be hard to identify and obtain classified documents that were written during the Obama administration? Does ol' Tweety have any hospitality, sports, or gaming holdings in the Delaware local area?
Ol' Beau satisfied me on my initial reaction. I wonder if anyone else is asking the further questions I have in mind - and there will be more, to be sure.
I am fully aware of Roger Stone, his Watergate history, his “political ratf*cking” (his own words), and his association with those who organized and executed the insurrection.
Do I think Stone personally planted the documents? No. Do I think he and fired National Security Advisor Michael Flynn are capable of organizing it, yes. Flynn especially would have knowledge of which documents would do Biden harm.He also would know exactly which file number of the national security documents that Trump wanted and how to procure them. As far as I can tell, any member of 45’s Administration that had one iota of morals, values, ethics, principles, decency, honesty and honor was fired by the end of the first eighteen months.
That part's simple. Even Bill Maher was raising the storm warning well before said arses got kicked. If you're talking about either money or foreign interference, that's just the icing. Hillary was >definitely< not as popular in the critical demographic as they (the Democratic Party) believed she was, and that goes all the way back to when she was involved in the Nixon investigation and looming impeachment, when "Tricky Dickie" resigned - 'cause he knew damn well he was guilty and knew damn well they proved him guilty. I had a front-row seat to all that when it was playing out, and kind'a knew it would lead to the political climate we have today. (I was stationed in DC under Headquarters Command, a command that only exists in times of war.) Hillary was among the last of the Nixon impeachment committee, who weren't dead or invulnerable - and had about as much common goddam sense in running as her tweet-shit opponent. Many downright hate Hillary - as well as FDR - and are conducting their own jihad against her and some mythical, or perhaps hallucinatory, but clearly non-existent political left in this country.
By my reckoning, there's >no< effective, organized political left in this country - only a largely disorganized group of people who know this is shit and don't quite know what to do about it. To me, it's all just a squabble among the moderate right, the radical right, and the lunatic fringe - who are so far to the goddam right that right looks like left to them.
Wasn't based on the Steele dossier. That's a Trump red herring. Mueller found that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump.
IMHO a jury - not Mueller - not Barr -- could find Trump guilty on facts at hand at that time. Now lots of new evidence -- and Trump sued and lost to HRC in a civil suit here in Florida. He could be in store for the biggest malicious prosecution suit of all time.
I know. But he seems to be wondering why ol' Tweety beat Hillary, and I provided a background for him and explained >exactly< why Hillary lost. The other bullshit pulled in that election was mostly an unnecessary, ultimately self-defeating waste of political capital. I also agree with you, lest you get the mistaken impression I'm suggesting something I'm not.
Well Said Rant ,DZ. THis mornings "RANTS" have been wonderful and entertaining Theater of the Absurd for whitch I am emenently pleased and proud. To to all who contributed to raising both Ire and Satirical Humor thank you all. It's uplifting to find this happening in these difficult times.
Attacking democracy from the inside, sponsored by big money, big business and external money. Don't doubt that they will do what hey say they will do....... hold them accountable in 2024.
It's going to be a wasted 2 years. Democrats can use that against them, like Truman did with the Do Nothing Congress, which helped him win the election.
What they truly care about is power! And they will do whatever is necessary to gain this power. Most of them claim to be Christian. The definition of Christian is:
1. Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. Relating to or derived from Jesus or Jesus's teachings.
3. Manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus, especially in showing concern for others.
4. Relating to or characteristic of Christianity or its adherents.
What they say and do does not sound Jesus like to me!
They are christofascists. They have taken over the Christian religion, at least in America, just like their allies the republofascists & russofascists have taken over the Republican Party & Russia, respectively. They are all very dangerous, working together to eliminate democracy & destroy this country & the world.
... but - to tell the truth - that's un-American (and not terribly likely to succeed, i.e. given that the economy is not a household budget); smart Christians wouldn't effect a Roman orgy of corruption & incompetence by way of their artless guile and self-serving ('cause, you know... that whole cruxifixction thing)...
Careful Keith, I’ve already covered this..Jesus was not always peaceful! There is no hiding from christian bible stories written in the dark ages by pre-science men…multiple men.
Hmm 🤔 So, is it okay for Politicians such as Biden [Mr. Big Guy], Katie Hobbs, Adam Schiff, Nadler, Pelosi, and Jim Baker [now a former FBI agent]who was emailed by Hillary Clinton’s attorney Michael Sussmann, “Hey Jim, I have some information about Donald Trump & Russian Collusion that I would like to share with you ...” and numerous FBI Agents, DHS Agents, CISA Agents, Pentagon Intelligence Agents, who were conspiring to and did censor political opponents [The Republican Party members] and Conservative’ Americans on any mention of Hunter Biden’s Laptop [from Hell because of his and his father’s business dealings with The China Communist Party # Xi Jinping (The General Secretary of The China Communist Party) Oil Deals, Gasoline Deals, Hidden Business Deals; Hunter’s Perverted Pictures: torturing and raping little Chinese children [Blackmail?) “Who took the videos of Hunter Biden smoking crack and slapping and raping little girls while they screamed hysterically?” Think 🤔 CCP ... The videos were leaked on the internet but all of a sudden they were all removed from The Internet, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube ... Elon Musk discovered many emails from Katie Hobbs and FBI, DHS, CISA, Jame Baker and Twitter Big-Executives who were collaborating amongst themselves to get Trump’s account permanently suspended from Twitter; banning all Comments regarding Stolen Election, Hunter Biden’s Laptop, and any mention of Covid-19 Deaths as a result of their So-called Vaccines 💉 Elon Musk has released Twitter Files of The Collaboration to silence Americans, anyone who is a Conservative. Meanwhile the FakeNews Mockingbird Media labels Conservatives as “Conspiracy Theorists” 😂 Everything that we have argued about has been proven to have merit. Everything that we have researched is now being exposed! The MSM cannot claim that Russian Collusion was real anymore because Mueller himself couldn’t find one single source of evidence. WakeUp 🐑
“What-about-ism” is not a logical argument. QANon BS is just that—not a referenced, researched, reliable source of information. Your brand of misinformation is not appropriate for an adult audience. Troll elsewhere.
Chuck Campbell 😂😂🤣 You paid trolls need to follow the facts. Trump is a Putin puppet, incited a traitorous deadly coup attempt with your types, was impeached twice, lost 61 lawsuits he frivolously lost, has told countless (fact-checked) lies. He lost the election to Hillary by 3 almost 3 million votes and lost to Biden by 7 million. Learn some facts before trolling. You’re laughable!
HMM 🤔 FYI I don’t put much trust in MEGATrolls who drop their Anti-Trump [Radical Leftists “Trump Delusional Syndrome” rants on Social Media Platforms “Q-Anons are NOT Q-Intelligence. They are FarLeft Trolls who are spreading propaganda anonymously to FOOL WE THE PEOPLE. Anyone who is an American Patriot knows that Radicalized Anti-Trump Anti-American, ANTIFA, Soros, WEF Rhetoric are a coup attempt to destroy America with their lies and propaganda. There is ONE Q [Military Intelligence] & every Q-Drop is TIME-STAMPED & verified by DJT’s TIME-STAMPS, ALSO Misspelled words have Specific Meanings. You are the Troll 🧌
LOL 😂 Try digging deeper into the actual DATA, PROOF @ TWITTER FILES; The WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: GATES PATENTED “DIGITAL MONETARY SYSTEM” “LUCIFERESE ILUMINESCENT DIGITAL INK FOR SCANNING HUMANS WHO ARE VAXED” THE WORLD PATENT OFFICE... I have a feeling you have swallowed it all, ‘Hook Line & Sinker’ probably have taken the DeathJabs®️
Wow, you are completely full of russorepublochristofascist lies meant to undermine American society & national unity & cohesion. You have aligned yourself with the worst traitors & sullied the meaning of "patriot" by incorporating it in your user name.
... which suits their agenda just fine, i.e. if all they intend to do is distract from the challenges which Congress should address (and in light of their inability to account for a lack of improvement over time). Note the irony: they've got folks talking about Jesus (must be divine inspiration, no?)...
They give Christianity a bad name because the talk about Jesus has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. The talk is certainly not divine nor is it inspiring.
In the last Congress, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol referred House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Gym Jordan and Rep. Scott Perry for prosecution,
DOJ has not announced whether it is investigating them.
What will the House Oversight Committee do?
McCarthy appointed Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, who introduced a resolution to create the subcommittee to investigative topics examining “how executive branch agencies collect, compile, analyze, use, or disseminate information about citizens of the United States, including any unconstitutional, illegal, or unethical activities committed against citizens of the United States,” the resolution states.
It will also examine “how executive branch agencies work with, obtain information from, and provide information to the private sector, non-profit entities, or other government agencies to facilitate action against American citizens, including the extent, if any, to which illegal or improper, unconstitutional, or unethical activities were engaged in by the Executive Branch or private sector against citizens of the United States.”
Unclean hands: IMHO the Republican members of the committee should be voir dired, questioned under oath, in the Federal Register for criminal conduct as part of the 1/6/21 insurrection. Democrats on the committee should call McCarthy Biggs Jordan and Perry as committee witnesses.
No problem with this. A Trump US Attorney investigated and came up with tax penalties and perjury for lying on a gun license. The son was never a federal employee.
Whataboutism. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. People in glass houses... Gym Jordan has more to lose (mainly his liberty) from an investigation of his personal life than some lawyer from Twitter. He, McCarthy, Perry and Biggs are potential jailbait. My father never gave me much good advice except "Don't [excrete] where you eat."
Idiot. New Yorkers have always known tRump was mobbed, corrupt and never paid his bills—all arrogance and self importance. Now this troll throw up the NY Post as if it’s referenced and reliable—ALL NEW YORKERS also know the post is a rag. Try reading a book, moron.
This is making me fear for our country. I hope this "oversight" committee is stymied in every way Why do we acknowledge these traitors? Kevin McCarthy will go down in history as a pathetic, weak leader who sold America out just so he can call himself "Speaker McCarthy". Do republicans have even a shred of dignity left in them? Self-respect? I think not. They want to destroy us and rebuild in their image. So many people will suffer should they be successful. Scary.
I agree. I was just thinking how many of these public servants would even run for office if there was no money to grift. The wealthy should have no more say than the poor. No one should be able to 'buy' a politician to do anything. Ah, in a perfect world, these people would actually work for the people who elected them, compromise for the good of the people, and stop trying to destroy our freedoms.
I think everyone here is with you on that. The US has done many great things in the past and many entrepreneurial minds have created great things. But we’ve always been forced to fight for rights when we should not have to,
Why do we tolerate seditionists like McCarthy & those he is putting in positions of power to remain in Congress, when the Constitution says specifically that government officials that have broken their oaths of office must not remain in office.
The DOJ is NOT applying the law, that’s for sure. This puts us in a crisis mode with the totally deluded nut case traitors that are allowed to dictate to us.
Hmm 🤔 I ask you to do your own Diligent Research and not believe in the Global Elites’ BigCorpMedia Propaganda and Lies.
Fact: The Mainstream [Mockingbird-FakeNews] is controlled by The WEF’ BigMedia BigCorp members. There are six Companies that control 96% of The Mainstream Media. These companies are promoting LGBTQ; Counter Culture; Woke Anti-America; Pro-Homosexual/Lesbian/Transgender Narratives on every Social Media Platform. These Global Elites are demoralizing the American Society, using their media power to control via Newspapers, Radio & Television Networks. They own The Entertainment Industry. They own Hollywood [Pedowood]
Does this mean you support violent insurrection against our government? Willing to give up voting rights? Don't mind extinction of the human race by global warming? Give up government benefits like Social Security and Medicare?
I also wonder why Trump's FBI & many other agencies & departments & agencies under his thumb failed to provide enough protection for the Capitol, but I have a pretty good idea, & it has a lot to do with all those personnel changes he made just prior to the insurrection & instructions he gave them.
WTF do you come off calling yourself a “patriot” while trolling for fascists and the Crime Syndicate aka the RNC? A NY Post article is hardly a “reliable, referenced” source. Read some actual books and take your misinformation campaign elsewhere…QANON awaits .
What a hilarious parody of right-wing comments—all but unintelligible and complete with the obligatory Murdoch media link. Whoever you really are, "Patriot Karen Cottey," congrats on your sense of humor.
You are the one falling for & peddling nonsensical disinformation by the right-wing propaganda machine controlled by radical corporatist & russofascist & republofascist billionaires like Putin, Murdoch, Koch, Mercer, Thiel & now Musk, who are all anti-democrats trying to turn us into a fascist authoritarian state in which they have all the wealth & power.
Shivers along my spine: is there still a difference between the oligarch cabal in the Kremlin and this authoritarian downfall of American democracy? Is there still a friend for Europe to choose for freedom and democracy? Or are dark times ahead of us?
The Democrats on that committee are going to have to be aggressive in facing this travesty; they will need to go on offense against these seditionists every time they spew lies and antidemocratic BS. Gloves off people!!
Maserati Manchin flaunts his yacht and vehicle since selling out his constituency—he is a tool for the coal industry—dirty energy, dirty politics who replaced workers, blowing up mountains to rake up coal .
Yikes! Why is there no protection against people like these getting into positions of power in our government? They have been involved in Jan 6, and are now attempting to overthrow our government. The majority would not vote for them in a free and fair referendum, if such a thing were possible to have. Someone like Santos is a no brainer ; he should not even have been on the ballot. Neither should the others with their documented involvement and support of Jan 6 and other undemocratic movements and actions. There is a weakness here when it comes to domestic terrorists. We seem to have no answer. Justice is too slow or even nonexistent.
Interesting about interpreting the word "criminal law."
1. Law that defines criminality.
2. Law that is criminal in nature,
3. Law written by criminals,
4. Law written >for< criminals, and
5. Law that is enforced by criminals.
I just don't like the term. I think a new term is in order. Not everyone heeds Webster's, you know, and I know you're a person concerned about such things. Just sayin'.
I don't love that term much, either. That occurred to me waaaay back when I was first working on a Criminal Justice degree. (I ended up getting distracted by 9 other undergraduate programs and didn't finish it!)
JerryMander ; My name is not 'DEAR, and I find your comments irrelevant, if not antagonistic. You seem to be hostile, and troll like. I can take a joke, but you are not friendly , but a joker.
That's my point exactly. Apparently the people haven't wanted Bernie for president anyway. Yes, I voted for him in 2020, but I really don't think he has been healthy for the country even though he has brought forth a lot of good ideas. I'm afraid his appearance on the scene helped give us trump, and I think he's played a part in dividing the country. That's not a popular opinion with progressives, as you'll see if any of them happen to read this by mistake. It's just that the majority isn't ready for so many new ideas, especially all at once. These changes take time to seep into the mainstream. It was especially true in 2016 when Bernie first arrived. I'm not speaking about myself because I've been begging for these changes since I turned 18, but the majority tends to hold on to what they've been used to and what they're comfortable with even if they understand that everything isn't that great. Sure, things need to be shaken up, but always done with care.
Let’s put it bluntly: the goal of today’s Republican Party is to cripple or destroy government — which really amounts to the destruction of the United States of America and what it stands for.
The intent is apparently to replace it with a series of fiefdoms, run by super-wealthy “kings”, answerable to no one. The shell of the former government is now just a militarized police force to protect the interests of the super-wealthy while keeping the masses under control.
Conservatives, please search your soul (if you still have one). Is this really the kind of country you want?
I've always wondered about the thinking behind voting for a candidate who claims government doesn't work to govern! They're only justification is to make damn sure it doesn't.
One problem is that they ARE NOT CONSERVATIVE—“they” are fascist, corporate oligarchs who have weaponized information, targeting voters who are incapable of logical thinking (who are triggered by well-aimed, emotionally-loaded misinformation. Part of the double-speak is to call this “conservative ideals or beliefs.” None of the GOP agenda is rooted in moral thinking. Read the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Kleine—it’s all about greed.
Where is the 'break glass in case of emergency' box? This is plainly a potential train wreck in slow motion, that is speeding up as we collectively wring our hands. Laws on the books have been tweaked and written to favor the big money, and now we are swamped. Is there a remedy?
Getting their votes might have influenced their appointment (sarcasm alert). Greene is just not too sharp... Our democracy may be tattered and smoking like Old Glory but had those people been armed they might have done serious damage but in the end they would have been crushed. Law enforcement and the military would have intervened in the courts, including the Supreme Court... If it even got that far... Would not have supported them. This is not the discount the threat, but they underestimate the will of the people.
Nice cut and paste propaganda. NY Post is owned by the same guy who owns Fox News. The GOP media has one agenda only: help the GOP consolidate absolute power through fear mongering and turning public opinion against institutions that uphold our representative democracy.
The problem I see is that the people that need this information, just won't read this, they are "married" to FOX which is full of corrupt, misinformation.
I'm terrified for America. Michael, I hope you are right. Unfortunately Americans are getting dummer, with most not understanding and not knowing how our government works. That is due to a failed educational system. bring back civics!
.
Every once in a while I see a "Man on the Street" segment where young people are asked simple history and civics questions. Most of the answers demonstrate a shocking ignorance. How can you have a democracy when folks don't even know about the three branches of our government, or believe that Lincoln was President during WWII?
People on the street, hell! donald stupid trump was unable to answer the same question when it was posed to him during the campaign for 2016. He was running for President and didn't have a clue about the structure of government, the Constitution or anything else. If it weren't for the semi-literates who voted for him in the red states he'd never have won.
Don't belittle people on the street., I am one of them, trying, as best I can to improve my understanding of our government, the Constitution and everything else. I've more than a Master's Degree, but, early education did not prepare me. We can and should do better; certainly, we adults need as much understanding of our governmental system as we teach, and expect incoming citizens to comprehend. Jon Meacham's biography about Abraham Lincoln, AND THERE WAS LIGHT, is highly recommend reading. We need understanding optimism, perspective, and a good dose of brotherly love, more than we need, Chicken Little and The Sky Is Falling. Look around, including this Robert Reich Newsletter, Jamie Raskin, Nancy Pelosi, House Leadership during two investigations, etc. We've much to be proud of in our leadership, and in ourselves when as we practice, and live up to our ideals. Think, the plaque that reads, "Be the change that you want to see in this world." Speak up, as so many of you do. We're all in this together. Thank you for being there. P.B. Spodick
Sorry, The remark wasn't to belittle people on the Street. I was responding to another remark on a TV program who apparently asked random people at a mall what were the three branches of government. The writer was appalled that few if any could could answer correctly. My response was intended to imply, why should you expect people at a shopping mall to know what a winning candidate for the Presidency of the United States couldn't answer. In my opinion any one running for elective office at any level should know, whereas the average citizen, even if the were taught in school has no reason to remember. I know, because I have read the Constitution so often I have literally worn out my copy and it's held together by scotch tape. The branches of course, are Congress whose duty is to write the legislation that governs this country, the Executive whose duty is to enact that legislation and see that it is carried out, and the Judiciary who, until the current Justices had a duty to ensure any legislation was allowable under the Constitution . Only the House of Representatives is allowed to enact revenue bills, the Executive can only suggest legislation and approve or veto it, the Judiciary, until now could only rule that legislation was allowable under the Constitution. But this Court has decided to rewrite the law to align with their personal religious beliefs.
Pearl, keep learning! It is the responsibility of all us citizens to help others who need help to understand how this complicated government works, and what we all can do to improve it.
Here's sending you a huge dose of sisterly love!
INDEED !!! It's great to hear the voice of the "youger" people voicing the call for better and truthful early and on going eduction, especially in reguard to our government processes and history. Focus early on Critical Thinking skills. Thanks for being here today!!
And he didn’t win the vote of the American people by almost 3million!! Imagine if this happened over and over to the RescumliCons? Yet it has happened over and over to the Dems. We clearly win the popular vote, yet don’t get to take office. The republicans use voter suppression, attempt to take voting machines, allow the injustice of the Supreme court picking the President (Gore). On and on. They cannot win in a fair democratic way!
You are right this is neither fair. democratic, nor even republic. It is pure and simple authoritarianism, but that's what they want and they have said as much publicly. But apparently we're the only ones listening, or at least comprehending what they are saying loud and clear. As to trump's losses, he lost the 2020 election by over 7 million popular votes and he lost the electoral college by 74 points, 306 Biden 232 trump. But that has not stopped trump and his supporters from claiming the vote was stolen. He also lost 60 of 61 lawsuits, some before judges he had appointed, and he didn't win that 61st lawsuit, it was thrown out of court as not being worthy of trial. If he is the candidate in 2024 (and I hope he is) He will lose by an even bigger margin. I say I hope he is their candidate because that will end the current version of the Republican party. The Fiscal Conservatives will then have about 18 months to form a new legitimate party. Personally I'd prefer 3 viable parties Fiscal Conservatives, Liberal Progressives, and Moderates. I think this would return us to a true Representative Republic as we started with civil discussion and compromise bills that serve the entire country, favoring all citizens without reference to class (wealth) race, gender, country of origin, sexual orientation or language. With any luck we could keep that for 50 or so years before greed raised its ugly head again.
I agree those should be the main 3 parties, but apparently there has to also be a party for zealots, religious or otherwise, unless they're outlawed, which they probably should be.
Thanks Jaime, I agree, I just don't know how to name a party for nutcases on both extremes without sounding terribly insulting (:-)
I still don't think he won. I wish Hillary would have fought. Trump brought Russia into the election and that was wrong. I believe she would have won and so does Jimmy Carter. If trump runs and wins the election we are doomed. Lord help us.
He didn’t win. Putin won.
He lost the popular vote, but won the electoral college. Thank goodness Biden won both
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A single action revolver.
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
3:41 AM (0 minutes ago)
to
Back in the day, there were two types of handheld guns, a single-action, and a double-action revolvers. The type of gun Mr. Baldwin was using on the set of Rust was the earlier version, a single-action weapon. This means in order to fire the gun correctly you first had to pull back the hammer to a locked position and then the trigger had to be pulled. I have had this happen to me, if during the cocking phase the hammer slips off of the thumb before the locked position is reached the hammer will make contact with the primer located on the bottom of the round. This will erupt a small charge in the brass casing and in turn, ignites the powder that drives the projectile from the weapon. It is perfectly possible to fire that type of weapon without actually pulling the trigger. The discharge is accidental but beyond that, it can happen. The FBI needs to rethink its position, Mr. Baldwin may have been guilty of negligence with regard to the use of a firearm but not involuntary manslaughter. The explanation given by the FBI is true if the gun was used correctly, but having the hammer slip from under the thumb resulting in an unintended discharge is completely possible. Again, I've had this happen to me. Question, what was the temperature on the set at the time of the shooting? My experience took place while I was wearing gloves because of the cold. Still, an accidental discharge is possible even if the trigger isn't pulled.
They include a lot of older people who have no idea about history, geography or government, & cannot think logically.
I'm 70 and I know what the h*** is going on and I know the 3 branches of government Plus...
And you're not a Trumpster/MAGAt, are you?
My point is that those inclined to believe right-wing propaganda, young or old, are inclined to be very ignorant as well as gullible.
Absolutely not a maga, I have a brain and I use it.
Hence to need to Support Public Education in order to create a strong citizenry inerred with will to unerstand and support a proper government "Of by and For the people" .
Absolutely, well said. And may I give kudos to Robert Reich and Rachel Maddow and all the bright attorneys and newspaper reporters who make it easy to understand because I trust/respect their words
Prejudice against elderly people is as ugly as prejudice against infants, teens, people of color, LGBTQ, other nationalities, et cetera.
The generation you are insulting is the generation who passed the Civil Rights Law, Voting Rights Law, Environmental Protection Act, pressed for Desegregation, and much much more.
We are also the generation who had to pass Civics to graduate high school, and it was a five day, hour long, full year curricula.
You are so right. SS is not an entitlement, we paid into our FICA every single paycheck. Growing up, we were taught to respect our elders. I would clean my grandmother's apt every month or when she needed it cleaned. And if she tried to give us money, we refused. We knew all her tricks, putting money in our coat pockets etc. Our elected representatives do not take care of "the people". They just want to get rich in insider trading and lobbyists. Shameful
The previous commenter blamed young people for their ignorance, & I just wanted to point out that older people are not exempt, either. If you disagree with my point, then I would contend it is you who is ageist.
Education, mandatory civics class. It was taught in my classes 69-72 and earlier
The MAGA bearded imbeciles are not old. And there are plenty of them!
You'd better look more closely. Plenty of them are old. They range widely in age.
And you’d better take a better look at the Nazi groups across the US. They are NOT old. Overwhelmingly young.
They were never taught. The mandatory Civics course was ended in 1968 where I lived (Chapel Hill, NC) -- and who would take such a "boring" class unless they had to? I, too, despite an advanced degree, know far, far too little about the laws and the structure of our government.
*dumber *Civics
Who’s Michael?
We can agree with the writer’s conclusion without grading his spelling and grammar.
I mean Michael who had posted a comment just before me.
d
Dalia, it is true our students need civics. The reasons it was cut vary, but often relate to lack of time in the day. Standardized testing that is high-stakes means that only certain subjects are deemed important while the rest are just extras. American History in several states is now taught over two years in high school and many students don't have time in their schedule for Civics classes while trying to take as many Advanced Placement classes as possible to get college credits ahead. Civics is relegated in many places to a backwater for students who need a filler. Then there are the states that aren't too thrilled about teaching Civics at all. I am not sure how we correct this except to actually require every school to teach it and every student to take it. Who is going to head that up? That could become a Democratic/Progressive issue.
In Minnesota, one of the state reps got civics into HS as a requirement. He is also a former teacher (very popular with his students, not so much the whiney right wing parents).
Hey Seeking Reason, maybe that representative could share the strategies used to get that done with folks in other states. It is really important.
Here is a video of Dean Urdahl who is, I suspect, the legislator you are speaking about. This may be helpful. It is about 15 minutes long, but his spirit and motivation comes early in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKaUoLZdYw&t=7s
Every thing you say is true, Ruth, which is why we need to change the way we educate in all 50 States. The majority of people determining the way we educate still cling to the 'old world' methodology (which is really funny because many Europeans have already changed) This philosophy is: we are here to train children to enter college. FACT 2/3 of children entering kindergarten will never graduate from college. So we put all our money and effort into teaching 1/3 of the children while abandoning 2/3 to their own resources. Is it any wonder that we end up with a Nation willing to accept a semi-literate con man to RULE, not legislate the Country. This is how, before World War 2 Europe (including many aristocrats) embraced Fascism.
Fay, I am also concerned about the way we educate our children. We spend way too much time on things they will never need, like Algebra and spelling, for example and miss helping them understand the forces that will impact their lives, like the way money works and does not work and the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of the United States, even comparing that to other societies. Students need to learn about the many cultures that make up this country, particularly, African-Americans, Latinx in their wonderful variety, indigenous cultures - the same, and how groups become integrated into our society. If we do these things a bite at a time from PreK through the highest levels of education a person chooses, people won't be electing fake reality TV stars and pathological liars whose name his constituents don't even know. People are being trained from an early age to want more and more and to resent those who have more. Empathy is not a cherished value nor are so many other things like kindness, caring, understanding, and the like because supposedly they make people seem weak and men in particular can't be seen as weak. Girls learn to sit back and watch boys get all the attention because of their poor behavior and supposed genius that girls just can't match. It is great that so many women chose not to go along with the nonsense even though it kept us from being in the "in crowd." Girls are stalked by images of a body size, shape, or color that is not right. Their hair is criticized for being too long, too short, too braided, to something else and clothes even school uniforms make them look . . . Then there's sex education that Republicans have taught parents to be scared of while the parents weep because their daughter has gotten pregnant or son has gotten a young girl pregnant. Our schools could help with critical thinking, not just when reading a rare female-centered novel, which turns out to be criticizing thinking in reality, but in every subject. It's scary for teachers, but also exciting. Now, we are facing a difficult situation in colleges where whiny white mostly men cry that not enough conservative viewpoints are present on campus. They have shown little to no (mostly no) evidence of it, but caring about truth is not a conservative/Republican thing these days, even in higher education. And so, with our education systems under attack on a regular basis now by pseudo-Christian conservatives, it is going to be essential that We the People step up to defend real public education, not the charter schools that have not proven their value. We also need to get rid of the "voucher" programs no matter what they are called because they end up mostly paying for Catholic and conservative religious and less than excellent private schools. OK, that's my rant for the evening, as a retired teacher who cares deeply for my students. Oh yes, the most important thing we can do if we really care about our children, end poverty and help parents to learn the skills with money and fighting for their rights they didn't learn in school.
Spelling is something we all need to know & use practically daily, & it is something severely lacking in many people, as is evident on many discussion forums (not so much this one). It seems that the majority of people misspell the opposite of "win" (lose, not loose), & past tense of "to lead" (led not lead), for example.
Jaime, I am not trying to say spelling is not useful, but what you are describing is not actually spelling, but usage. English has a lot of words spelled nearly the same but with entirely different meanings. Learning the differences comes from reading a lot and exposure to many different kinds of literature and non-fiction. Perhaps some of the non-fiction even very young children should be exposed to would cover the very basics of how our government works and what citizens do to keep our nation healthy: vote, learn about the people who live here, develop empathy so they can understand different points of view, and more. There still will be spelling bees so students who like spelling can learn, then compete. Maybe we need some more video games where accurate spelling gets points and advantages. Those games may already exist. ,
OK. So I"m sorry for my bad typing and spelling . . . . Hm where was I going with this ? Oh yes, sorry for my lapses of dimentia, . . . Damned backlighting of my keyboad just went away again . . . Wher did I put those glasses anyway. Nevermind.
People on this forum are very well-educated. Probably most spelling errors here are due to Autocorrupt. A few are due to vision problems or a too small keyboard leading to typos. But elsewhere spelling & grammar can be atrocious.
As one retired teacher to another, I agree Ruth. I wrote a blog about individualized education which may interest you. It is called 'Thoughts from a retired educator' My substack is Fay's Newsletter. It is free to read and comment on. To get there, go to Substack.com In the search field type Fay's Newsletter.
Totally agree, Ruth. The trick would be to keep the Regressives from reframing it as "indoctrination."
More projection from the right. Indoctrination is what they want to do to our children, like they have done with many adults through Fox & right-wing radio among many other propaganda outlets.
Here here! (Education is the only sustainment!)
But Rishi ; Is there time? The sad thing is that the results of their wielding of power will take time for voters to feel. So many voters do not understand what is going on. Even the educated can't be sure what will happen, I bet.
The public seemed to "cotton on" to the insurrection pretty quickly (or, at least, to its lack of merit due to its destructiveness); word can get around pretty fast these days... so maybe folks will notice when George Santos - or the next George Santos hiding in that flock - makes headlines (they do seem to do so without prompting!)...
= /
Rishi ; True enough , bad news travels fast. See what I mean? Hope. ; )
“Even the educated can't be sure what will happen, I bet.”
Bullshit. That’s a cop out.
What will happen in obvious. Professor Reich just spelled it very clearly in the article you just commented on. As have many, many others.
But gosh, gee willikers, who knows what’s going to happen. So I guess we have no responsibility to actually get off our asses and work to oppose if, right?
There are limits to what we can do without our hands on the levers (surely one doesn't mean to suggest Rep. Barbara Lee & other progressives didn't oppose folly *every step of the way*?)...
What I meant, clearly, was that people who are wringing their hands and whining “but what can we do?“ sentiments are just making excuses for themselves. And I’m calling them on that BS. 
A climate of misinformation & disinformation doesn't help: people are hurting these days (as plenty of them were given a very flawed world - and never chose Reagan, let alone the terror of what came thereafter); you catch more flies with honey, just sayin'...
In Aridzona we say "No Sniveling". Do Something and thats what these substacks are for and about. Speaking out. And Rants are allowed.
I disgree, Dalia. Trends show Americans are getting SMARTER, more PROGRESSive, and less mentally-warped! Oh, but maybe you mean Southern America? THEY'RE not getting any smarter because they instead cling to "Dear Leader" whether it be Bunkerboy or DeathSantis.
Yeah, Daniel, what is it about people in the South. I lived in Nashville for 8 years while in college and graduate school and a bit more and really loved the city. I do realize I mostly interacted with college and university people, but student taught with local teachers and found them to be smart, caring, aware, and interested. The school where I student taught was upper middle class on one side and projects on the other and all the kids mixed in the middle. I suspect it was a unique situation. Somehow since I left 30 years ago, Tennessee reverted to a pre-Civil War mentality where white men rule and it is OK if everyone is ignorant except the folks in charge. It's disgusting, but Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas are worse. Why do we let the Confederate states determine anything? Most of those states get far more from our government than they pay in because of the enforced poverty that exists there and the wealthy folks who don't want to pay taxes. Then there's DeSantis, a well-educated ignoramus. It goes to show attending a "top" school (if he actually did) does not make one smart, caring, aware, or interested. DeSantis is just a scared white child-man who fears and hates everyone who is not just like him, so is working hard to create more like him among the white and white wannabee white people of Florida. He's got a lot to work with since white Cubans there are desperate to be seen as fully white. The senators and representatives from the Confederacy will follow anyone who can spout the pre-1860 BS that kept even ignorant white men in power. That Confederate worldview has infected places all over the country. We need a vaccine for it as well as treatments for those who become infected.
Ruth, As always you speak to the issues. . . But I beleive this issue is adressing the woeful Public Education system we see developing right now as a result of recent attacks on how our early educationsi conducted. Education not Indocumentation, Awkened not Woke.
We suffer many of the same issues here in Aridzona, but we have fought hard and long to become a "Purple People" State. It ain't easy but we keep on keeping on.
At least you got a reply. The last time I wrote to my representatives, I got canned responses.
The Republicans are stooges for the Great Revolution, a horror.
I also am terrified of the shit show these seditionists are planning & how badly Americans are going to be embarrassed for our country! I just see & hear the Russians, Chinese, & Saudis making bets about how things will turn out besides laughing their assess off watching the Biden Admin try to fight back & hold Democracy to a higher standard. These next 2 years are going to be worse than TFG’s 4 years of criminal behavior! We won’t want to hear or watch MSNBC or CNN relate all the crimes & other crap they will try to get away with. I really don’t understand why the 14th Amendment isn’t being applied to all the congressional seditionists that the J6 Committee exposed? Is that also DOJ’s job? What do U think about those creeps?
Civics classes would be great, but definitely not enough. What Republicans are exploiting among their followers is not just their ignorance of the technicalities of how government does or should work, but their desires and wants for something more out of life for themselves and whatever perceived injustices they have supposedly experienced.
I’ve read articles about some of the insurrectionists. What surprised me most was how good some of them have it. There was one in particular about an insurrectionist who was/is wanted by the FBI. He sold his $1.2 million house in California and left the country. He ended up as an illegal immigrant in Belarus, a country with the kind of dictatorship that he thought he wanted. I would be interested in a follow-up story to see if he finally realized how good he had it in the US. What exactly was he so pissed about? Was he angry that he hadn’t been given his birthright of being a billionaire king? Some of these Republican extremists don’t seem so much disadvantaged, but spoiled.
It's true that there is a lack of general love, respect, dignity, and community that many Americans experience. Republican policies and “leadership” won’t fix that, but they speak to certain people’s feelings of alienation and grievance, as if being a part of their group will somehow fulfill their desires for status and respectability. But it’s a group that eats its own.
Indeed !!! I like this posting, it speaks to my soul.
Dalia,
I have been sounding that alarm for a long time. Our educational system had not been truly upgraded since the industrial revolution when the $$$ people just needed bodies to work the machines. Sick.
And like the machines they operate they are now consider as "assets", "Human Capital" just like the machines they operate. Coperate America appears to see the people who labor to create the products that generated their profits as objects rether than fellow human beings. Think *Borg Drones"
It's dumber.
Janet, you are right about Garland's inaction. I keep hearing, indictments are coming, but there is absolutely no evidence of it. I think Garland et al are trying to run out the clock so a new president will take office in 2 years tomorrow and he will be off the hook for indicting the people who actually planned, organized, and supported the insurrection, which includes a bunch of folks sitting in Congress right now. It is disgraceful that even after the Capitol was attacked and the lives of everyone there was at risk, nearly 150 Republicans still insisted Trump won the 2020 election when they knew that was wrong, and of course, had no proof, no evidence of any kind, just their big mouths and an ear to the mouth of Trump, who is a pathological liar and always has been. I will be pleased to be shocked if I am wrong, but I just don't see it. If an AG or any other legal type sits on things long enough, time runs out and they can say, "Oh, we just didn't have enough time to get all the evidence." That is in this case nonsense and a complete lie. Because of the inaction, our entire economy and possibly the world's economy is at risk because those election deniers are trying to keep the debt ceiling from being raised as revenge for something they think Democrats have done to them. They are toddlers who don't think clearly and don't care about anyone but themselves and their own comfort and need to make others pay. Why do people continue to vote for toddlers to important offices? I just don't get it.
It is all distressing, Ruth, and often it is hard to be hopeful.
I posit, however, that it isn't only conservatives who behave like toddlers, let alone kicking toddlers.
This country is in deep trouble, and the loss of faith in our institutions is only one symptom. There are so many issues, but closer to this business would be things like the way our elected officials and government are awash in dark money and the fact that nothing is ever done to curb that. All that money directly influences the way Democrats so often introduce bills only when they know they'll fail, making it easier to blame Republicans for legislative failure. The leadership does it, too, e.g., did Barack Obama, when he had a bulletproof supermajority in the Senate and control of the House, do what really needed doing to address the 2007-2008 meltdown or healthcare? Decidedly not.
We've been let down by all parties involved, although I agree that the fringe conservatives tend to be more openly and shamelessly egregious. Maybe they should be praised for not attempting to hide it? Their cravenness, authoritarian rage, desire to control and hostility toward things and people that don't meet their purity standards isn't exactly whispered. And they won't even condemn the outrageous sham that is George Santos, although there was a time when someone like him would never have made it into a race at all.
One must bear in mind just how far the Overton Window has moved, when people like Liz Cheney--a neoconservative--are garnering praise. Some want to say former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan was a moderate, and that Susan Collins and Lisa Mukowski are moderates, although in my view, of those three, only Hogan fits the mold of what a moderate Republican once was, i.e., think Mark Hatfield.
Conservative lawmakers in 2023 cannot, IMO, be relied on to even try to "do the right thing" where governance is concerned, as the government is seen by them as the enemy, and rules and regulations are chains with which the country and free enterprise are fettered.
Conservatives also like to trot out how much they trust the good sense of the American people which --and this will offend some-- I have yet to see in recent years. Some have written about the "man on the street" interviews they have seen, how appalled they are at the ignorance on display. If those who are ignorant are trying to learn, I applaud that, but I never expect it.
My dad once told me to never expect that The People are going to do the right thing, at least not initially, and perhaps never. He told me I would be disappointed if I expected most people to act in any way but their own self-interest (or their perception of it) first. Witness the pandemic and the raging, frothing war about vaccines and masking and The Gubbmint. I was profoundly disappointed we did not, could not come together as a country. It's hard to imagine what the relative cohesion of our society looked like during World War II, at least as far as being united in a common purpose--or a pervasive sense of that.
It's a shame we will see so much time and money spent on tit-for-tat nonsense in the House, while more important things are held hostage or cut closer to the bone. People like Marjorie Taylor Greene continually display their lack of understanding about how the government works, and seem proud of their ignorance and contempt. The debt payment is a get-it-paid issue, not a spending issue, for heaven's sake. the bills have already been run up. Most recently by the Trump administration.
We're stuck with AG Garland and his glacial approach in this case, although he was quick to appoint a special prosecutor for Biden -- as he should; Joe needs to let us know why he didn't tell us about those documents sooner, although it seems likely that whatever information they contain may be dated and possibly irrelevant in this moment. We'll see.
Wealth and income inequality again seem to be at the root of so much of this. From lack of perspective to lack of education, lack of people power vis-a-vis their elected representatives to lack of action by AG Garland, the climate, and much else, there is a lack of will --and far too much money. In all the wrong places.
This is a very good summary of the hopelessness I feel about our nation. Your lack of faith in the American people is warranted, but it has so much to do with leadership or lack thereof.
FDR & JFK could inspire & went directly to the people to get our cooperation when they needed us, which is how the mobilization of the American people to fight in WWII was so effective. At the same time they prioritized our concerns, working on improving equality, civil rights & trying to wipe out poverty & unemployment. It was very much a 2-way street.
I thought Obama would be the same kind of President because he had excellent, inspiring oratory skills, but he almost never used them while President, rarely addressing the nation about considerable problems we had & gaining our backing for policies & programs he wanted to initiate, & that was disappointing. He lost a great opportunity while he had a large majority in Congress. I think it was partly due to his lack of political experience & his desire to be a man for all people & work with the opposition & get a consensus long after it became clear they weren't going to work with him & were trying to make him a failed President (1 of their early signs of treachery & putting parry before country).
We have desperately needed for some time that kind of inspiring leader like FDR & JFK, but we've failed in choosing one. Bernie was pretty close but was shunned & opposed by the Democratic Party leadership. I was so hoping that Warren would win last time, but the corporatist establishment likewise viciously turned on her, too.
There are many Democrats that have part of what we need for such a leader, but I don't see it all in 1 person to the degree we need, & by now we are so divided, I'm not sure that even an FDR or MLK could unite us & repair our nation.
Thanks, Janet!
It is infuriating, Janet, particularly when over 900 January 6 "foot soldiers" have been arrested and convicted at a rate of 99.8 percent. More than 180 have received jail time.
That is the other part I wanted to mention. A huge part of our failure of leadership is the lack of accountability for wrongdoing committed by politicians in government, starting with Ford's pardon of Nixon, but continuing with the treachery of Reagan/Bush in sabotaging Carter's attempt to free the hostages in Iran in order to win the election, Bush's pardon of many of those involved in Iran Contra (& his own complicity), Obama's failure to hold Bush/Cheney accountable for their war crimes, & now the reluctance of the Justice Department under both Trump & Biden' to prosecute members of the Trump administration & congressional Republicans for their various corrupt & traitorous acts from the Trump campaign through the corrupt, malignant Trump administration, the Capitol Insurrection & attempts to illegally overturn the election, confiscation & destruction of classified government documents, & ongoing subversion of the Constitution.
I absolutely agree with you 💯%. I’ve been defending him thinking that bc he had never lost a case that he was just being cautious, wanting to have a solid case. He had a good year ahead of the 1/6 Committee to collect evidence, more employees than they had to check leads and get subpoenas and nada, zip, zilch. Then the Committee turns over all their documents and their recommendation and still nothing.
"Glaciers are collapsing into the Arctic Ocean faster than the DOJ has moved...". That is a fantastic line & so true! Do you mind if I borrow it?
Frightfully so!
There really was no need for a Special Prosecutor until tRump threw his hat in again. Garland had time and he had the resources.
Kicking the can down the road until someone else has the burden. Garland hesitated until the time given as a courtesy at Midterm Elections to not indict. Then Trump became a Candidate for ‘24 and a conflict of interest was an excuse. Smith has selected his own team, so Garland isn’t inhibited in any way to avoid indicting those members of Congress who were involved in 1/6. It’s all political and it shouldn’t be this way. He was going to show no partiality or favor. Ha!
I think the best we can hope to do is minimize the damage that House Republicans do before 2024. Until the special counsel releases his report both on January 6th and the classified documents, nothing will stop Trump’s agenda to destroy America.
The 2024 election will stop Trump's agenda. He will likely not be the GOP nominee, and will split the Republican vote. If he is the nominee, he will lose.
That's what I thought last time. I would love to see the Democrats wage a 2-year public education program regarding things Trump has said and done... Saturation on all media to ensure most voters are exposed to who he is, not who he says he is.
Wasn't everyone certain he wouldn't get the nomination - let alone win - in 2016...?
This time is different: Trump has failed. Yes, the lunatic 30% fringe will vote for him, but he has lost those very important swing voters. If he runs as an independent, the lunatics will siphon votes from Desantis, and the GOP is toast. If he is the GOP nominee, he will lose more bigly than he did in 2020.
Luckily: either possibility is a "YUGE" win for the American people! I don't want to start celebrating yet, but I don't even think HILLARY could lose in 2024 in Americans were stupid and blind enough to put her loser-behind up!
Did you see how close Georgia was, anyone thinks Trump cant win is smoking too much gonja. Desantis is the better candidate for the right though. He is most likely winning 2024 presidency. Already has Florida, a swing state sewn up.
Tim, I wish we knew how to do that. The media is somehow enthralled with Trump and Trumpian behavior. The bread and butter issues Democrats talk about are definitely not as exciting, therefore not worthy of covering to the extent that Trump's shenanigans are covered. Trumpers and Trumpettes have far more media coverage than their numbers would expect and Trumpian lies and conspiracy theories capture the thoughts of people who are overworked, depressed and despairing. I think that is a big part of the reason white poor and working-class people vote for Republicans. They never stop to even think that those folks have never done one thing to help them. They blame Democrats for all kinds of ghoulish things that tantilize and distract so they don't notice their reps and senators care nothing for them, not seeing their only value to those Republicans is to be manipulated to vote for ignorance while putting the uncaring in power. And, everyone loses because Republicans have no idea how to govern well.
Ruth Sheets ; At least not this crop of Republicans.
Tim Ash ; Would this education program air on Fox 'news'? Or any of the 'conservative' platforms?
Does anyone here have the resources required to purchase the entire media system from the clutches of the men behind the curtain??
Buttigieg & occasionally Bernie have made efforts to educate Fox viewers, but apparently not many others.
Strangely enough, Bernie Sanders was almost MORE popular to now __umplicans than Bunkerboy was in 2016! . . . then they became a cult to a serial failure.
But ownership of the far reaching media is under ultra right control. You can go online to find the ultimate owners of big stations like NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN…..All under ultra right ownership. This is one of the biggest issues we have outside of global climate disaster.
But, Tim, you can't accomplish that when Fox etc promote the lies and ignore the truths those people need to hear. How would you counter that?
Agreed, but I'd go farther: Things he's said and NOT done, and the consequences. The mess he left behind, who's fixing it and how and who.
Meidas Touch has 3 million viewers daily. Check it out. Resolute Square. Courrier Newsroom are all worthy. There are other resources listed at Resolute Square.
But their viewers are not the group who needs the factual information. Their viewers are informed. It's Fox, etc. who need to show factual content and Murdoch won't have it
If you get the attention of the independents who were once Republicans, that leaves the 30 percent that are MAGA who are too entrenched to recover. Young voters and independents can bring on a blue wave.
Welp there's always hope right?!
Jeanne Blum Lesinski ; My husband turned me on to Meidas Touch... cool!
Good luck getting all media to take it up
You don't need all media, but you do need the media that younger people are using, which is not TV. It's YouTube, and other social media.
Jeanne, you are right about the kind of media. TV and radio should not be ignored, but hitting the platforms younger people use would be most effective. Also, finding hooks to catch their attention will help too. Maybe a few movies about young people getting involved and one part of that being voting. Maybe Taylor Swift and favorite Hip-Hop artists can perform music about getting involved, stopping bad behavior in government, and voting. That could be fascinating.
Victor Shi is a major Gen Z figure with lots of ideas on how to reach young voters. I've seen him on Mr Reich's vidéos and on Meidas Touch and Resolute Square. I just found Shi on LinkedIn and am following him there. Smart place to get out information.
Well, let them keep their copy of the 'Atlas Shrugged' DVD then (the airwaves belong to the public; always has, always will)...
I wish I could agree but I think it's likely he will be the nominee. I just saw a straw poll in which he demolished DeSantis who would be just as bad. His supporters are all getting key positions on committees and they are going to lead endless investigations to try to diminish Biden.
William, I am concerned you are right about the committee assignments. However, I do think We the People can stop a lot of this. We can contact the various media and demand they stop making House shenanigans their top priority. Maybe reminding them that they will suffer if the Republicans in the House and Senate don't raise the debt ceiling, for example, their livelihoods may be at risk too, could stir them to do the right thing for a change. We'll see.
A little comment I saw yesterday worth the 2 minute read: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-white-house-feeling-unbridled-glee-at-seeing-maga-diehards-getting-key-committee-spots-report/ar-AA16v5J1?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e4cef8efa4b04948943ca4c3675854fa
Also see:
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/18/biden-world-celebrates-gop-oversight-picks-00078447
Concerning one Oversight Committee appointment:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joy-reid-burns-marjorie-taylor-greene-with-1-infamous-confederate-comparison/ar-AA16uI2G?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8a20fbd749394c3e8def13a43e32f816
and finally, remember those empty classified document folders from Mar-a-Lago?:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/another-incrimination-experts-call-bs-on-trump-after-he-claims-officials-allowed-him-to-take-empty-classified-folders/ar-AA16ulB2?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8a20fbd749394c3e8def13a43e32f816
I wonder where those documents ended up and who found them! Just wonderin'!
didn't putin get a bulk discount? what about all the agents who ''disappeared" shortly after trump gave away their identities?
Perfect thread for todays delimas.
A good objection well taken. Either way, it'll be a massive clown show for the next couple of years. Besides, there's the little matter of an 800-pound SCOTUS, standing in the corner, wearing a lampshade, "being inconspicuous!"
From a previous discussion, you probably remember I thought something was "fishy" about the announcement of the Biden documents. Just today, ol' Beau provided a satisfying explanation that I'm willing to go along with, for the time being: https://youtu.be/9VzwiyeaX2k
However, you hit the nub of what I was implying - FOX news style - about exactly what I think those documents may >really< be. CONTINUING in the spirit of FOX: Where are the documents that were in those empty classified document folders found at Mar-a-Lago? How did the Biden documents find their way to where they were found? Did ol' Tweety know exactly where they'd be found when he called on the DOJ to mount a "raid" on Biden's >unsecured< Delaware home? If he knew, >how< did he know? How hard would it be to "visit" an unsecured premises that is usually vacant? Could hostile professionals "visit" such a place and leave a little "gift" unwitnessed? Would some sort of "defense contractor" be willing to undertake such a mission for a packet of money? Would it be hard to identify and obtain classified documents that were written during the Obama administration? Does ol' Tweety have any hospitality, sports, or gaming holdings in the Delaware local area?
Ol' Beau satisfied me on my initial reaction. I wonder if anyone else is asking the further questions I have in mind - and there will be more, to be sure.
You bet I still "smell a fish!"
I guess that just means you're not alone in your suspicion!
Hooboy! Someone else >knows< the whole affair is fishy and has her own Q-drop explanation! : https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lara-trump-show-floats-theory-obama-planted-classified-documents-in-biden-s-garage/ar-AA16wsCp?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=fe0af7bf898b48d0a4979ae54c37af03
A little more follow-up: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-has-a-brand-new-excuse-for-keeping-top-secret-documents/ar-AA16vOSB?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=1595b9833b9043d6ba81a2740309d409
As a further input on my question concerning "professionals" willing to do "odd jobs:" https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/couple-arrested-by-secret-service-at-restaurant-a-block-from-the-white-house-something-out-of-a-movie/ar-AA16uCX9?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=1595b9833b9043d6ba81a2740309d409
I am fully aware of Roger Stone, his Watergate history, his “political ratf*cking” (his own words), and his association with those who organized and executed the insurrection.
Do I think Stone personally planted the documents? No. Do I think he and fired National Security Advisor Michael Flynn are capable of organizing it, yes. Flynn especially would have knowledge of which documents would do Biden harm.He also would know exactly which file number of the national security documents that Trump wanted and how to procure them. As far as I can tell, any member of 45’s Administration that had one iota of morals, values, ethics, principles, decency, honesty and honor was fired by the end of the first eighteen months.
Derek Wesssner: "His report."
Prosecutes. Potentially, these people are jailbait.
Derek Wessner ; Except maybe the DOJ's actions?
That part's simple. Even Bill Maher was raising the storm warning well before said arses got kicked. If you're talking about either money or foreign interference, that's just the icing. Hillary was >definitely< not as popular in the critical demographic as they (the Democratic Party) believed she was, and that goes all the way back to when she was involved in the Nixon investigation and looming impeachment, when "Tricky Dickie" resigned - 'cause he knew damn well he was guilty and knew damn well they proved him guilty. I had a front-row seat to all that when it was playing out, and kind'a knew it would lead to the political climate we have today. (I was stationed in DC under Headquarters Command, a command that only exists in times of war.) Hillary was among the last of the Nixon impeachment committee, who weren't dead or invulnerable - and had about as much common goddam sense in running as her tweet-shit opponent. Many downright hate Hillary - as well as FDR - and are conducting their own jihad against her and some mythical, or perhaps hallucinatory, but clearly non-existent political left in this country.
By my reckoning, there's >no< effective, organized political left in this country - only a largely disorganized group of people who know this is shit and don't quite know what to do about it. To me, it's all just a squabble among the moderate right, the radical right, and the lunatic fringe - who are so far to the goddam right that right looks like left to them.
Wasn't based on the Steele dossier. That's a Trump red herring. Mueller found that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump.
IMHO a jury - not Mueller - not Barr -- could find Trump guilty on facts at hand at that time. Now lots of new evidence -- and Trump sued and lost to HRC in a civil suit here in Florida. He could be in store for the biggest malicious prosecution suit of all time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/us/politics/trump-clinton-lawsuit-fine.html
I know. But he seems to be wondering why ol' Tweety beat Hillary, and I provided a background for him and explained >exactly< why Hillary lost. The other bullshit pulled in that election was mostly an unnecessary, ultimately self-defeating waste of political capital. I also agree with you, lest you get the mistaken impression I'm suggesting something I'm not.
Well Said Rant ,DZ. THis mornings "RANTS" have been wonderful and entertaining Theater of the Absurd for whitch I am emenently pleased and proud. To to all who contributed to raising both Ire and Satirical Humor thank you all. It's uplifting to find this happening in these difficult times.
Upon reflection, I can argue that ol' Tweety - and the RNC - made >exactly the same< mistake in '20 that Hillary and the Democrats made in '16.
May this committee drown in its own absurdness.
Hear Hear!! We might consider giving then the anchor they deserve....
Rebekha ; They have the anchor ; the heavy ball and chain : tfg.
😄👍🏼
Attacking democracy from the inside, sponsored by big money, big business and external money. Don't doubt that they will do what hey say they will do....... hold them accountable in 2024.
Will it be in time? Will the voters use their brains?
Great Question. They have ears with whitch to hear but will they listen?
It's going to be a wasted 2 years. Democrats can use that against them, like Truman did with the Do Nothing Congress, which helped him win the election.
Art, see my link elsewhere concerning glee at the WH.
Lol 😂
The GOP
[ Gang Of Pretenders ]
They pretend to care about all Americans.
What they truly care about is power! And they will do whatever is necessary to gain this power. Most of them claim to be Christian. The definition of Christian is:
1. Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. Relating to or derived from Jesus or Jesus's teachings.
3. Manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus, especially in showing concern for others.
4. Relating to or characteristic of Christianity or its adherents.
What they say and do does not sound Jesus like to me!
They are christofascists. They have taken over the Christian religion, at least in America, just like their allies the republofascists & russofascists have taken over the Republican Party & Russia, respectively. They are all very dangerous, working together to eliminate democracy & destroy this country & the world.
... but - to tell the truth - that's un-American (and not terribly likely to succeed, i.e. given that the economy is not a household budget); smart Christians wouldn't effect a Roman orgy of corruption & incompetence by way of their artless guile and self-serving ('cause, you know... that whole cruxifixction thing)...
Careful Keith, I’ve already covered this..Jesus was not always peaceful! There is no hiding from christian bible stories written in the dark ages by pre-science men…multiple men.
But I love GOP as Gang Of Pretenders! 😄
It's like the old song from way back when : "Ball of confusion" !
Hmm 🤔 So, is it okay for Politicians such as Biden [Mr. Big Guy], Katie Hobbs, Adam Schiff, Nadler, Pelosi, and Jim Baker [now a former FBI agent]who was emailed by Hillary Clinton’s attorney Michael Sussmann, “Hey Jim, I have some information about Donald Trump & Russian Collusion that I would like to share with you ...” and numerous FBI Agents, DHS Agents, CISA Agents, Pentagon Intelligence Agents, who were conspiring to and did censor political opponents [The Republican Party members] and Conservative’ Americans on any mention of Hunter Biden’s Laptop [from Hell because of his and his father’s business dealings with The China Communist Party # Xi Jinping (The General Secretary of The China Communist Party) Oil Deals, Gasoline Deals, Hidden Business Deals; Hunter’s Perverted Pictures: torturing and raping little Chinese children [Blackmail?) “Who took the videos of Hunter Biden smoking crack and slapping and raping little girls while they screamed hysterically?” Think 🤔 CCP ... The videos were leaked on the internet but all of a sudden they were all removed from The Internet, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube ... Elon Musk discovered many emails from Katie Hobbs and FBI, DHS, CISA, Jame Baker and Twitter Big-Executives who were collaborating amongst themselves to get Trump’s account permanently suspended from Twitter; banning all Comments regarding Stolen Election, Hunter Biden’s Laptop, and any mention of Covid-19 Deaths as a result of their So-called Vaccines 💉 Elon Musk has released Twitter Files of The Collaboration to silence Americans, anyone who is a Conservative. Meanwhile the FakeNews Mockingbird Media labels Conservatives as “Conspiracy Theorists” 😂 Everything that we have argued about has been proven to have merit. Everything that we have researched is now being exposed! The MSM cannot claim that Russian Collusion was real anymore because Mueller himself couldn’t find one single source of evidence. WakeUp 🐑
“What-about-ism” is not a logical argument. QANon BS is just that—not a referenced, researched, reliable source of information. Your brand of misinformation is not appropriate for an adult audience. Troll elsewhere.
Ignore the paid troll. Like trump they only crave attention by saying the absurd. .
Chuck Campbell 😂😂🤣 You paid trolls need to follow the facts. Trump is a Putin puppet, incited a traitorous deadly coup attempt with your types, was impeached twice, lost 61 lawsuits he frivolously lost, has told countless (fact-checked) lies. He lost the election to Hillary by 3 almost 3 million votes and lost to Biden by 7 million. Learn some facts before trolling. You’re laughable!
Paid trolls seeking truthful discourse? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Let us resolve not to allow ourselves to be drawn into the distraction of the "Pissing Contest . Trolling is a fishing contest.
Lovely reply!!
HMM 🤔 FYI I don’t put much trust in MEGATrolls who drop their Anti-Trump [Radical Leftists “Trump Delusional Syndrome” rants on Social Media Platforms “Q-Anons are NOT Q-Intelligence. They are FarLeft Trolls who are spreading propaganda anonymously to FOOL WE THE PEOPLE. Anyone who is an American Patriot knows that Radicalized Anti-Trump Anti-American, ANTIFA, Soros, WEF Rhetoric are a coup attempt to destroy America with their lies and propaganda. There is ONE Q [Military Intelligence] & every Q-Drop is TIME-STAMPED & verified by DJT’s TIME-STAMPS, ALSO Misspelled words have Specific Meanings. You are the Troll 🧌
I rest my case. welcome to devolution my child.
Patriot Karen cotter; Go someplace where you can allow the koolaid to wear off.
LOL 😂 Try digging deeper into the actual DATA, PROOF @ TWITTER FILES; The WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: GATES PATENTED “DIGITAL MONETARY SYSTEM” “LUCIFERESE ILUMINESCENT DIGITAL INK FOR SCANNING HUMANS WHO ARE VAXED” THE WORLD PATENT OFFICE... I have a feeling you have swallowed it all, ‘Hook Line & Sinker’ probably have taken the DeathJabs®️
Is it a gland problem...?
Wow, you are completely full of russorepublochristofascist lies meant to undermine American society & national unity & cohesion. You have aligned yourself with the worst traitors & sullied the meaning of "patriot" by incorporating it in your user name.
Keith Olson : the chain gang; tied to the ball weight of tfg!
... which suits their agenda just fine, i.e. if all they intend to do is distract from the challenges which Congress should address (and in light of their inability to account for a lack of improvement over time). Note the irony: they've got folks talking about Jesus (must be divine inspiration, no?)...
They give Christianity a bad name because the talk about Jesus has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. The talk is certainly not divine nor is it inspiring.
😂
In the last Congress, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol referred House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Gym Jordan and Rep. Scott Perry for prosecution,
DOJ has not announced whether it is investigating them.
What will the House Oversight Committee do?
McCarthy appointed Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, who introduced a resolution to create the subcommittee to investigative topics examining “how executive branch agencies collect, compile, analyze, use, or disseminate information about citizens of the United States, including any unconstitutional, illegal, or unethical activities committed against citizens of the United States,” the resolution states.
It will also examine “how executive branch agencies work with, obtain information from, and provide information to the private sector, non-profit entities, or other government agencies to facilitate action against American citizens, including the extent, if any, to which illegal or improper, unconstitutional, or unethical activities were engaged in by the Executive Branch or private sector against citizens of the United States.”
Many pundits say the real power on the committee is held by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the trash talking antisemitic insurrectionist biker mama. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/us/politics/republicans-trump-house-oversight-committee.html
Unclean hands: IMHO the Republican members of the committee should be voir dired, questioned under oath, in the Federal Register for criminal conduct as part of the 1/6/21 insurrection. Democrats on the committee should call McCarthy Biggs Jordan and Perry as committee witnesses.
Case against Gym Jordan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4luB1SwkO4
https://nypost.com/2022/12/08/gop-hints-at-legal-action-against-ex-twitter-lawyer-baker/
No problem with this. A Trump US Attorney investigated and came up with tax penalties and perjury for lying on a gun license. The son was never a federal employee.
Whataboutism. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. People in glass houses... Gym Jordan has more to lose (mainly his liberty) from an investigation of his personal life than some lawyer from Twitter. He, McCarthy, Perry and Biggs are potential jailbait. My father never gave me much good advice except "Don't [excrete] where you eat."
Daniel! 😄 That was good advice from your dad.
Idiot. New Yorkers have always known tRump was mobbed, corrupt and never paid his bills—all arrogance and self importance. Now this troll throw up the NY Post as if it’s referenced and reliable—ALL NEW YORKERS also know the post is a rag. Try reading a book, moron.
This is making me fear for our country. I hope this "oversight" committee is stymied in every way Why do we acknowledge these traitors? Kevin McCarthy will go down in history as a pathetic, weak leader who sold America out just so he can call himself "Speaker McCarthy". Do republicans have even a shred of dignity left in them? Self-respect? I think not. They want to destroy us and rebuild in their image. So many people will suffer should they be successful. Scary.
BC; I wonder how much money he is being paid to do what he has done? There are good reasons to ban money in politics ; especially dark money.
I agree. I was just thinking how many of these public servants would even run for office if there was no money to grift. The wealthy should have no more say than the poor. No one should be able to 'buy' a politician to do anything. Ah, in a perfect world, these people would actually work for the people who elected them, compromise for the good of the people, and stop trying to destroy our freedoms.
BC ; Certainly, in a real Democracy, seats would not be bought by anyone. Candidates would work for their constituents.
No longer applicable to this nation and hasn’t been for most of our duration.
Too bad. I realize I'm being idealistic. I just hate these greedy, power-hungry fools.
I think everyone here is with you on that. The US has done many great things in the past and many entrepreneurial minds have created great things. But we’ve always been forced to fight for rights when we should not have to,
BC RetrumpliCons are too stupid and too brainwashed to know that they’ve been severely duped. It’s easy to mislead the willing.
Kind'a makes you begin to appreciate the virtue of having a "dirty" mind! LOL!
Why do we tolerate seditionists like McCarthy & those he is putting in positions of power to remain in Congress, when the Constitution says specifically that government officials that have broken their oaths of office must not remain in office.
The DOJ is NOT applying the law, that’s for sure. This puts us in a crisis mode with the totally deluded nut case traitors that are allowed to dictate to us.
Weak or complicit. I haven't figured out which yet.
BC we should all be in a state, and stay in that state until these treasonous bastards are removed.
Conspiracy theorists running our government and on committees. God help us
Hmm 🤔 I ask you to do your own Diligent Research and not believe in the Global Elites’ BigCorpMedia Propaganda and Lies.
Fact: The Mainstream [Mockingbird-FakeNews] is controlled by The WEF’ BigMedia BigCorp members. There are six Companies that control 96% of The Mainstream Media. These companies are promoting LGBTQ; Counter Culture; Woke Anti-America; Pro-Homosexual/Lesbian/Transgender Narratives on every Social Media Platform. These Global Elites are demoralizing the American Society, using their media power to control via Newspapers, Radio & Television Networks. They own The Entertainment Industry. They own Hollywood [Pedowood]
https://nypost.com/2022/12/08/gop-hints-at-legal-action-against-ex-twitter-lawyer-baker/
Does this mean you support violent insurrection against our government? Willing to give up voting rights? Don't mind extinction of the human race by global warming? Give up government benefits like Social Security and Medicare?
From your other comments, YOU support the violent overthrow of our government.
BS. Disinformation..
Time to return to your Q-Anon rabbit hole of speculation (Distraction). Rest your well washed brain for a bit.
I also wonder why Trump's FBI & many other agencies & departments & agencies under his thumb failed to provide enough protection for the Capitol, but I have a pretty good idea, & it has a lot to do with all those personnel changes he made just prior to the insurrection & instructions he gave them.
WTF do you come off calling yourself a “patriot” while trolling for fascists and the Crime Syndicate aka the RNC? A NY Post article is hardly a “reliable, referenced” source. Read some actual books and take your misinformation campaign elsewhere…QANON awaits .
A "Putin patriot." Nobody who really is needs to be loud about proclaiming it.
😄🎯 DZK…Putin Patriot is right!
Dawna 😄👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
What a hilarious parody of right-wing comments—all but unintelligible and complete with the obligatory Murdoch media link. Whoever you really are, "Patriot Karen Cottey," congrats on your sense of humor.
Great response!
Thanks, Jaime. I'm amazed at people actually trying to reason with bots.
So stop wasting your good time on them.
You are the one falling for & peddling nonsensical disinformation by the right-wing propaganda machine controlled by radical corporatist & russofascist & republofascist billionaires like Putin, Murdoch, Koch, Mercer, Thiel & now Musk, who are all anti-democrats trying to turn us into a fascist authoritarian state in which they have all the wealth & power.
Oh, I'd love to hear what you would say to it!
Go back to your basement room child and wait for mommy to bring you your food and your lithium dose for the day. Shilling ain't it ???
Shivers along my spine: is there still a difference between the oligarch cabal in the Kremlin and this authoritarian downfall of American democracy? Is there still a friend for Europe to choose for freedom and democracy? Or are dark times ahead of us?
With all due respect, I believe this countries oligarch cabal is enabling this authoritarian attempt to take over our democracy
With plenty of assistance from russofascist oligarchs.
Hee Hee Hee !! Nice reminder of who really cerated that disaster!!!
The Democrats on that committee are going to have to be aggressive in facing this travesty; they will need to go on offense against these seditionists every time they spew lies and antidemocratic BS. Gloves off people!!
See my comments above. DOJ to the rescue?
Hopefully, but I'd love to see some substantial, concrete moves by them, such as arrests of seditious members of Congress and/or Trump.
Maserati Manchin flaunts his yacht and vehicle since selling out his constituency—he is a tool for the coal industry—dirty energy, dirty politics who replaced workers, blowing up mountains to rake up coal .
BS
Yikes! Why is there no protection against people like these getting into positions of power in our government? They have been involved in Jan 6, and are now attempting to overthrow our government. The majority would not vote for them in a free and fair referendum, if such a thing were possible to have. Someone like Santos is a no brainer ; he should not even have been on the ballot. Neither should the others with their documented involvement and support of Jan 6 and other undemocratic movements and actions. There is a weakness here when it comes to domestic terrorists. We seem to have no answer. Justice is too slow or even nonexistent.
Laurie Blair. Criminal law is supposed to protect society.
Interesting about interpreting the word "criminal law."
1. Law that defines criminality.
2. Law that is criminal in nature,
3. Law written by criminals,
4. Law written >for< criminals, and
5. Law that is enforced by criminals.
I just don't like the term. I think a new term is in order. Not everyone heeds Webster's, you know, and I know you're a person concerned about such things. Just sayin'.
You have certainly accurately described criminal law under the likes of Trump & McCarthy.
"Criminal Justice" is just as bad:
1. Justice enacted against criminals, and
2. Justice enacted >by< criminals.
I don't love that term much, either. That occurred to me waaaay back when I was first working on a Criminal Justice degree. (I ended up getting distracted by 9 other undergraduate programs and didn't finish it!)
Daniel Solomon ; I guess the law is giving 'em enough rope to hang themselves, huh? It could work, unless they can do too much damage to fix.
Daniel Solomon; I wonder why people who are clearly on the wrong side of the rule of law and Democracy have been allowed to hold seats in government.
See my link(s) elsewhere on glee at the WH.
Your distraction is of no help here. Attacking our own cinstiuency is not good manners my boy.
How do you get that interpretation from what Laurie said? She suggests nothing of the kind.
JerryMander ; That seems to be your idea, since you are bringing it up.
JerryMander ; My name is not 'DEAR, and I find your comments irrelevant, if not antagonistic. You seem to be hostile, and troll like. I can take a joke, but you are not friendly , but a joker.
I am a fan of theirs, too.
Don't you think Bernie's getting a little old?
His mind is still very sharp, more so than either Biden or Trump, but I wouldn't suggest he run for President again.
That's my point exactly. Apparently the people haven't wanted Bernie for president anyway. Yes, I voted for him in 2020, but I really don't think he has been healthy for the country even though he has brought forth a lot of good ideas. I'm afraid his appearance on the scene helped give us trump, and I think he's played a part in dividing the country. That's not a popular opinion with progressives, as you'll see if any of them happen to read this by mistake. It's just that the majority isn't ready for so many new ideas, especially all at once. These changes take time to seep into the mainstream. It was especially true in 2016 when Bernie first arrived. I'm not speaking about myself because I've been begging for these changes since I turned 18, but the majority tends to hold on to what they've been used to and what they're comfortable with even if they understand that everything isn't that great. Sure, things need to be shaken up, but always done with care.
Well, he is 81. I suggest you look for a new hero.
Let’s put it bluntly: the goal of today’s Republican Party is to cripple or destroy government — which really amounts to the destruction of the United States of America and what it stands for.
The intent is apparently to replace it with a series of fiefdoms, run by super-wealthy “kings”, answerable to no one. The shell of the former government is now just a militarized police force to protect the interests of the super-wealthy while keeping the masses under control.
Conservatives, please search your soul (if you still have one). Is this really the kind of country you want?
I've always wondered about the thinking behind voting for a candidate who claims government doesn't work to govern! They're only justification is to make damn sure it doesn't.
One problem is that they ARE NOT CONSERVATIVE—“they” are fascist, corporate oligarchs who have weaponized information, targeting voters who are incapable of logical thinking (who are triggered by well-aimed, emotionally-loaded misinformation. Part of the double-speak is to call this “conservative ideals or beliefs.” None of the GOP agenda is rooted in moral thinking. Read the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Kleine—it’s all about greed.
Where is the 'break glass in case of emergency' box? This is plainly a potential train wreck in slow motion, that is speeding up as we collectively wring our hands. Laws on the books have been tweaked and written to favor the big money, and now we are swamped. Is there a remedy?
Getting their votes might have influenced their appointment (sarcasm alert). Greene is just not too sharp... Our democracy may be tattered and smoking like Old Glory but had those people been armed they might have done serious damage but in the end they would have been crushed. Law enforcement and the military would have intervened in the courts, including the Supreme Court... If it even got that far... Would not have supported them. This is not the discount the threat, but they underestimate the will of the people.
I pray you are right.
https://nypost.com/2022/12/08/gop-hints-at-legal-action-against-ex-twitter-lawyer-baker/
Nice cut and paste propaganda. NY Post is owned by the same guy who owns Fox News. The GOP media has one agenda only: help the GOP consolidate absolute power through fear mongering and turning public opinion against institutions that uphold our representative democracy.
The problem I see is that the people that need this information, just won't read this, they are "married" to FOX which is full of corrupt, misinformation.
Don't worry. Some of "Putin's Patriots" are out here tryin' to work their magic! LOL!