Can we rescue our nation from the treasonous Republicans, who are trying to shut down our government to help Putin while they continue to bow and scrape to The Rapist Who Would Be King?
A great article this morning by Thom as well as yesterday’s article about the H. Biden political hits s*t show brought to you by the Party of Putin fascist garbage people. All of Thom’s points in these two articles should be out there on the MSM networks but unfortunately together with the cult stupidity of many Americans and the complicit whitewashing from corporate news entities factual information is lost and click bait BS is magnified into the public discourse. tRump and company have made political dirty tricks into a fine art never seen before in our country. Everything and anything goes with these Republiscumbags that go along with the tRump criminal cabal’s dirty political tactics, even using foreign malevolent factions that would see our democracy fail. We have forces against us in this country that I have never seen before in my life and they are from within- willfully hateful, willfully encouraging destruction of our government, not willing to work with the majority but working to undermine all progress of generations that have sacrificed for for the rest of us. I never thought I could hate someone as much as I do tRump and his minions but there it is. I can’t wait for him to be broke and facing incarceration.
That was a truly great comment Kathy! I was just thinking how tragic and pathetic corporate news in the US has become and then I read your comment. Well done.
"Attorney general Merrick Garland appears to have ignored these crimes for the first two years of the Biden administration. He could’ve picked up the work Robert Mueller started, but chose not to. Nobody knows why."
He's a coward, more concerned about his political life than the country, and it is clear he never wanted to indict Trump until public pressure forced his hand. That's why. Frankly, while I am dismayed at the crooked SCOTUS installed mainly by Trump, I'm glad Garland ISN'T on the court.
There is hope that the 14th Amendment cases can do it. Every member of the Republican House hierarchy should be challenged. Some of them asked Trump for a pardon. Trump has an Oct. 30 hearing date in Colorado.....
McCarthy, Gym Jordan et al remain in contempt for failing to obey subpoeans of the Jan 6 Commission.
I agree, but I concerned neither party is proceeding with any haste. Fox and other right-wing media sites have the Republican base convinced nothing much happened on the J6, despite the videos to the contrary. I applaud Jack Smith, though. He's doing the best he can with DOJ foot dragging.
They may be on opposite sides of the aisle, but they will circle the wagons to protect one another. It's happened time and again. This is part of the overall corruption.
I don't think the feds plan on prosecuting Trump or any of the GOP ring leaders. One or more of the states will and Trump will probably turn the military on them?
Once again Thom has it right and I agree with Helen. The population never sees it coming until it is too late. As I see it we Dems only have a small window to save the country by vote unless MAGA is able to do their job by destruction before election. I have been following politics for 70 years now. Yes, I am that old. I am not a betting man but I give Democracy 60/40 against right now. Hope I am not right. Perhaps it would be best for the US to hit rock bottom? What will it take? I remain hopeful until the dumpster is elected once again and even then I will not go peacefully. Peace.
Oh no, F. Reynolds. It would not be even remotely good if the USA hit rock bottom. If the fascists were to gain control it would ensure the end of the world as we've known it. We have a climate crisis combined with an accelerating mass extinction event that is already eroding the foundation of civilization. Some terrifyingly credible modeling points to the collapse of civilization as early as 2040.
Nobody can predict how slowly or rapidly a collapse of civilization may be, but we can all be certain that it would be horrific beyond the capacity of our prodigious imaginations.
I had a brief discussion with Thom about that and was quite disappointed with his answer, so I'll call him out on it now. He said that he thought speaking or writing about the potential collapse of civilization would be unproductive because liberals are motivated by hope...
Really Thom? Is that why you joined with the DiCaprios to make those films? Or why you have Michael Mann as a regular guest or write op-eds like todays? None of that stuff inspires me with hopefulness. Damn, I got mad just thinking about that.
Personally I am of the opinion that too many people don't understand well enough just how tenuous civilization and the biosphere really are or how soon and how quickly things could crumble.
Don't get me wrong. Thom is the person I admire more than any other person alive today, but nobody is perfect. Ken Wilber said, "nobody is smart enough to be right 100% of the time and nobody is dumb enough to be wrong 100% of the time".
I disagree, from what I know of liberals, and I am ex Reagan conservative (more accurately an anti communist, I paid no attention to racial issues (I am white), gays were in the closet, and that anti life movement (calling it self pro life) was nascent, and blacks for the most part were still (and still are) living under Jim Crowe. and conservatives actually considered liberals to be weak sisters, afraid of their own shadow, yes they have externalized their inner self. Besides always holding out hope, and playing Pollyanna and nice, projecting themselves, reason, equality, fairness and always assuming good faith.
They finally have become forced to face reality, that others are not like themselves.
Biden's great speech in Tempe,. AZ is evidence that liberals have finally woken up. That the economy is not an issue that people are voting on these days, but the culture war and the authoritarian impulses of 40% of the population. And it only takes 17% of a population to shift a paradigm and culture.
"'...nobody is dumb enough to be wrong 100% of the time'."
I disagree. I offer Trumpet and ALL of his MAGAT minions as absolute proof of some people being being, "...dumb enough to be wrong 100% of the time," since all they say are proven lies and false innuendo, hence wrong.
"end of the world"? Probably not. Something would save us. I just don't have a crystal ball. Humanity just can't disappear in the face of the dumpster. I'm fairly sure of that. As I said, maybe we haven't reached a point where there is not enough concern. In my opinion 60/40 against and that is as positive as I can get right now.
Global warming will disappear humanity. Religion, money and politics will consign it to perpetual servitude, especially the conservative idiots motivated by greed, fear, anger, and angst
Why are you including Garland in this list? Is he not acting fast enough for you? Going after a past president, who’s running for office again, hasn’t happened before in our history. Garland is being very methodical in his approach to Trumpet’s crimes. The last thing he needs is to suffer a misstep in the legalities of Trumpet’s prosecutions.
Of course I have, I am old enough to remember the televised McArthy hearings, I was raised on the ultra conservative Readers Digest. I probably know more about the October revolution of 1917 than you. PUtin deserves to be included, and my list includes the living, and not the past, or were you not paying attention. Are you a patron of Putin's,
“…anti-communist propaganda goes a long way back in the US.”
Are you saying the US’s stance against communism isn’t right by calling it “propaganda?” It reads like you favor communism. How do you feel about Russia’s, China’s, North Korea’s, Iran’s and other countries’ anti-American propaganda? Are you in favor of it?
I'm glad you included Fox & Murdoch in your Report - they are so culpable. To the MSM's credit, MSNBC's Joy Reid, Stephanie Ruhle, Rachel Maddow and others have been calling out the broken political system lately. It would have been better if Biden had started with the honest assessment of American politics sooner, rather than waiting for an imminent shutdown, but as you say, better late than never. That's a problem with a lot of the old politicians - not facing the music. McConnell is still stuck in fossil mode.
Joy is about the only host that I follow these days, especially her guests, The rest of them are tepid, and with ear buds connected to hall monitors in a booth, they are careful not to tread so far that they upset the advertisers, who are funded by the fascist inclined corporations, especially the chemical-carbon-cabal, PhRMA and the financial institutions
Follow fifteen incidents of how fascists incited violence to steal power. Includes Putin, Orban, Assad, Trump and others. Straight from the fascist playbook.
In response to your direct question, yes I believe we can and will rescue our nations from the putin controlled gop. moscow mitch mctraitor and his minions will be forever remembered for their failings.
But we must work diligently together to stop this treasonous effort. It requires our strong, collective and continuing effort.
Your comment today was incredibly informing and helpful. Especially insightful is your reference to the orange agent as the rapist who would be king. That’s great.
Talk about complicated---our relationship with Russia since the last "turning" has been all over the map, literally. Eighty years of them trying to figure out WHO they are. Currently they are PUTIN, a psychopath who has robbed them financially, stolen the future of millions, and murdered his opposition.
And, here we are trying to sort out just how much Trump has helped him with those murders among other things. Once again your through-line is masterful, Thom. The history lessons inform us we were never alone in the battle, but we do have to invent and use new tools to fight it.
I have seen detente come and go twice in my lifetime. I watched as Russia finally let their people travel and emigrate to the rest of the world. We worked together in space. Such hope concerning Russia dashed by the vanity of one man. We fell into that trap for four years too. Rescue is about exposure, fighting back, and prosecution. It's happening---let's keep our foot on the gas!
This is an opening to a solemn movement to oust these puppets of Putin. It of course it includes the Chief fascist , Donald Trump.
He must be exposed and suppressed as the fascist he is .
Putins lapdog.
So many of the current Congress also in Putins pocket.
Rand Pauls’ trip to the Soviet Union for Trump to give information that Putin wanted should be thoroughly investigated . As all other alleged Republicans, Malicious Maga fascists are currently attempting to destroy Democracy which allowed all of their wealthiest supporters to achieve their wealth in the first place .
But now they are a band of Oligarchs who believe in money and power hoarding for the use of themselves and their bigoted ends.
These fascists must put people down and ruin the lives of these minorities. Black Americans , LGBTQ Americans , Native Americans ,Women are likely to be on the list as well ,fascist followers, chiefly ( men) , who have worked to eliminate rights to legal abortion , settled law for fifty years and yes there were Supreme Court judges in fascist mode who agreed to wipe out the rights to abortion , because of the wealthy fascists who wined, dined and transported these men on luxury trips all for assurance their corruption would be protected by these far right judges. The word’ justice’ cannot possibly apply to these judges who then hear the cases put forward by these wealthy benefactors. Will not recuse themselves from obvious ‘conflicts of interest’ in their courtrooms .
These are fascist judges , no mistake and for all their false denials , implicate themselves further .
Trump purchased a large ad in the New York times, Washington Post and Boston globe. The right uses the media to get their message across and the left doesn't have access to the media without a lot of money. We need to change that. It is time the Trump humpers hear the truth. I can think of at least 30 ads and possibly over a hundred that they deny constantly.
There's a strong argument to be made (which I agree with) that we were better served with Harry Truman in office from 1947, when the reality of Stalinism finally broke through the rosy wartime view held by Wallace and too many others, but it's a definite fact that with this article and other acts, Wallace had taken on the Southern Conservative wing of the Democratic Party and FDR's acquiescence in taking him off the ticket for the 1944 campaign did represent the victory of the Dixiecrats over the New Deal (which had become increasingly progressive from events in World War II like the active involvement in combat of Black Americans in the war, unlike what had happened in World War I under the "narrow minded southern bigot" Woodrow Wilson). Domestically, Wallace was great; internationally he needed a new set of glasses.
Wallace and liberals of the era were naive. Propaganda,funded by capitalists, equated the USSR, hence communism with socialism, and FDR and Churchill chose to ignore the threat of Stalin, because they needed his help in defeating the NAZIs. FDR even called him Uncle Joe, so I heard, . Communism and capitalism are economic theories both work in a free democracy or in an authoritarian state, like Russia and China.
Democracy and authoritarian are political theories, they too easily accommodate capitalism.
Again witness China and Russia. While Russia is no longer ruled by seven trusts, it is ruled by oligarchs, who were well connected to the KGB and Kremlin. Very simply Russia was privatized
Exactly. Co-ops can be considered communist, When laborers buy out the business that employs them, there you find communism. Labor unions are communist. Where communism goes wrong is when it is used by the ruling class to subjugate the people and there was and is a ruling class in Russia and China.
Yugoslavia like Russia had a ruling class, every bit as illiberal as the Ruling class under Tsars Archdukes and Kings.
There will always be a ruling class, but the only thing that has ever kept them in check, was democracy., and now that is disappearing. With apologies to the British reader, the British isles seem to reveal in their underclass and worship of their "betters".
As an example I have never been able to discern a penny's worth of difference between their Conservative and Labour parties, example the iron lady, Margaret Thatcher (Tory) and Tony Blair (Labour party).
Thom's story about Mussolini reading the book upside down reminded me of this.
When Trump walked from the White House to that church and had to walk through demonstrators. He ordered the general in charge to remove the demonstrators forcibly and amazingly the general refused. I'm surprised why Trump walked and didn't use a golf cart.
At the church Trump held the Bible upside down! Also wondering why he wasn't struck dead by lightning.
Praise ye the lawd. President Biden has finally come down to reaility and is actually fighting back, namng names. I wonder if his awakening, includes governance, he could solve the Tuberville problem by using Title 50 USC, Chapt 34, declare a national emergency (caused by Tuberville in the senate and MAGAts in the house, by issuing an Executive order, promoting the Generals and Admirals that Tuberville is holding up, same with the budget, a nation without a budget is a nation at risk, and that is a national emergency.
But, he cowardly, has refused to use the Constitutional authority and laws handed him by congress, insisting on his compromising, bipartisan, Dixiecrat birthed fantasy.
“History is watching. The world is watching. Most important, our children and grandchildren are watching.”
It is certainly true that our children and grandchildren will observe on some level what the collective “we” who vote and have some say in what happens in this great country actually do in the 2024 election and in the coming years. But I’m not all that confident that many of them will have a clear understanding of the connections and implications of specific actions and social, economic, or political trends.
The truth is that probably no one has accidentally tuned into Fox “News” or some other source of misinformation and disinformation and simply been completely brainwashed or duped overnight without having some predilection or predisposition toward their pathological programming and biases. Somewhere along the way, or most likely at numerous points during their lives, the people falling for the right-wing lies, deception, uber-rationalization or bad theorizing, and propaganda have been exposed to ideas and beliefs which set them up for the fundamental errors and mythologies being broadcast in right-wing circles.
The literal future of democracy is on the line. This is for real. Thom has repeatedly reminded that it is up to “us” the voters. He has tried to project hope and optimism, while realistically detailing the myriad landmines in every direction. I am an inveterate optimist and do not want to fall into despair. Yet, what exactly is changing, how much is truly different, and how big is the audience for these brilliant and sobering revelations here or elsewhere?
Thom has expressed great faith in our public schools, giving them an “AAA+” rating on one or two occasions. He has written books on ADHD or ADD and has a world-class education himself. He is a consummate historian and political genius (no exaggeration or hyperbole and not simply ingratiating praise).
However, I am obligated to ask just how much targeted or objective and intensely authentic scientific research has he (Thom) done on the day-to-day conditions in our public schools, the true and accurate history of traditional schooling, or tying the innumerable indices of schooling to the lifelong consequences of the typical 12 years of incarceration there? How many diagnoses of ADD or ADHD are a reflection of the completely normal and healthy expressions of a child’s need for physical activity and social interaction? How many kids still today who have these conditions are being harassed, hounded, abused, neglected, and discriminated against in our superior schools?
My bias is known here. I do not apologize or acknowledge any lack of due diligence. I have studied these issues for sixty years and have enough empirical evidence to sink a battleship. I have issued a challenge before for anyone to show credible proof that the specious and self-serving claims made by educators and others is verifiable, and that all this perennial harsh criticism of the schools is overblown and invalid, somehow. Spare me the sentimental and anecdotal stories of 100 poor people or immigrants in the last fifty years who achieved phenomenal success, thanks to the schools. What teachers accomplish in spite of school conditions and restrictions can only be attributed to extraordinary teachers and the students themselves or their guardians, not to the schools or compulsory attendance.
Voters may save the day in 2024, primarily because Trump and the Republicans have been so ham-handed, criminally culpable, and incompetent. However, without a paradigm shift in schooling, we are merely postponing the inevitable. The worst threat is not the privatization of schooling or its overtaking by the fascists. The worst threat is denying how incredibly harmful and counterproductive our schools have been for generations and refusing to face the fact of arbitrary and anonymous authority as the precursor to authoritarianism. The rot is inherent and internal.
I recently posted a compilation on Substack of my evidence under the heading, “Incontrovertible Evidence of the Abysmal Failure of Compulsory Attendance Law”. It is not for the faint of heart or for casual reading. It does not read like an article or paper. It is a compilation of the overwhelming statements from many research studies and professionals in various fields with citations. Read it and weep, as they say. Will anyone ever produce a scintilla of evidence to disprove my allegation? EVER?
It is my opinion that nobody can teach what they don't know. In other words, liars can't teach honesty or lunatics can't teach sanity or closed minds can't teach open-mindedness. That is why the human race has not evolved in my opinion for thousands of years. The family unit lets the ignorance is bliss and the blind leading the blind crowd raise the children and create war and poverty and human suffering. Intellectuals like Thom and Robert Reich and William farrar are needed to raise the children not retire. When I speak of old people having to contribute I am thinking that we need their wisdom in teaching the babies to think rationally and a couple rational people in a commune could probably turn the whole thing around even the parents could learn from them. We either got this way from genetics or the environment and we can't change the genes so we have to try to change the environment but I'm afraid it's too late with plastics and global warming and overpopulation and debt and pollution. I wish I was born several hundred years earlier in the same circumstances. Poverty either makes you stronger or you become devoured by it. The middle class i and the rich, are horrible leaders. They always seem to be the ones in charge also.
I think if you look at the results of education in other country's you will see that the US is nowhere near the top.
Education for the most part in Sri Lanka is probably higher.
But yes I agree..rational/excited teachers who make things fun for little kids. Civics/philosophy and world history. I expect a commune could find these people. Always loved the idea of communes and have met very well adjusted people who lived in them as kids. Sadly they seem to have gone.
The schools can't end racism or crime or poverty or religious hatred or anything else like that. Hatred is mostly taught in the homes and learned by being exposed to Trump humpers.? If the teachers could just teach reading writing and arithmetic and rational thinking I'd be very impressed in America.
This is the most informative article I have read, to date, in the actions of our former president.
I want to know why he’s not in jail, or prison for Treason? He has committed treasonous acts while being our president! He cannot get away with this!
Merrick Garland is going to have to get off his lazy backside and get him locked up. There’s no sense in this. People are pussyfooting with this man, and his movement, allowing him to get stronger, and his army of followers to grow.
We must demand that Merrick Garland, and Congress, get on this immediately!
Perhaps a better approach than open hostility towards tens of millions of Americans would be the Bernie Sanders approach. Talk to the people who are angry, tell them you understand why, and work to make them understand what the problem is. Bernie did very well speaking to voters in West Virginia and Kentucky (and on Fox News) because he is authentic and the policies he espouses would genuinely help the poor and working class. And at the very least when he is in a room people know he is sincere and wants to help them. It is easy to mock and call out those who you see as a threat, much more challenging to bridge the divide because that requires truths to be told. Biden has no clue how to bridge the divide because his policies if they are not harmful are half-baked, and he is unable to tell the truth about much of anything. And unfortunately you Thom are in an intellectual bubble that has isolated you into adopting counterproductive strategies, promoting nationalism and dehumanization of the other side. And if none of that sticks, why do you think Biden has so many Trump appointees and monsters like Vicki Newland in his cabinet? Why do you think Biden (and Obama) chose Merrick Garland? Why do you think in this "democracy" that those who are violent and belligerent remain in high political office?
A great article this morning by Thom as well as yesterday’s article about the H. Biden political hits s*t show brought to you by the Party of Putin fascist garbage people. All of Thom’s points in these two articles should be out there on the MSM networks but unfortunately together with the cult stupidity of many Americans and the complicit whitewashing from corporate news entities factual information is lost and click bait BS is magnified into the public discourse. tRump and company have made political dirty tricks into a fine art never seen before in our country. Everything and anything goes with these Republiscumbags that go along with the tRump criminal cabal’s dirty political tactics, even using foreign malevolent factions that would see our democracy fail. We have forces against us in this country that I have never seen before in my life and they are from within- willfully hateful, willfully encouraging destruction of our government, not willing to work with the majority but working to undermine all progress of generations that have sacrificed for for the rest of us. I never thought I could hate someone as much as I do tRump and his minions but there it is. I can’t wait for him to be broke and facing incarceration.
That was a truly great comment Kathy! I was just thinking how tragic and pathetic corporate news in the US has become and then I read your comment. Well done.
100 % agreed!!!!
Thank you for another thoughtful article, Thom.
"Attorney general Merrick Garland appears to have ignored these crimes for the first two years of the Biden administration. He could’ve picked up the work Robert Mueller started, but chose not to. Nobody knows why."
He's a coward, more concerned about his political life than the country, and it is clear he never wanted to indict Trump until public pressure forced his hand. That's why. Frankly, while I am dismayed at the crooked SCOTUS installed mainly by Trump, I'm glad Garland ISN'T on the court.
There is hope that the 14th Amendment cases can do it. Every member of the Republican House hierarchy should be challenged. Some of them asked Trump for a pardon. Trump has an Oct. 30 hearing date in Colorado.....
McCarthy, Gym Jordan et al remain in contempt for failing to obey subpoeans of the Jan 6 Commission.
I agree, but I concerned neither party is proceeding with any haste. Fox and other right-wing media sites have the Republican base convinced nothing much happened on the J6, despite the videos to the contrary. I applaud Jack Smith, though. He's doing the best he can with DOJ foot dragging.
So why did Biden not chuck him out?
They may be on opposite sides of the aisle, but they will circle the wagons to protect one another. It's happened time and again. This is part of the overall corruption.
I don't think the feds plan on prosecuting Trump or any of the GOP ring leaders. One or more of the states will and Trump will probably turn the military on them?
Once again Thom has it right and I agree with Helen. The population never sees it coming until it is too late. As I see it we Dems only have a small window to save the country by vote unless MAGA is able to do their job by destruction before election. I have been following politics for 70 years now. Yes, I am that old. I am not a betting man but I give Democracy 60/40 against right now. Hope I am not right. Perhaps it would be best for the US to hit rock bottom? What will it take? I remain hopeful until the dumpster is elected once again and even then I will not go peacefully. Peace.
Oh no, F. Reynolds. It would not be even remotely good if the USA hit rock bottom. If the fascists were to gain control it would ensure the end of the world as we've known it. We have a climate crisis combined with an accelerating mass extinction event that is already eroding the foundation of civilization. Some terrifyingly credible modeling points to the collapse of civilization as early as 2040.
Nobody can predict how slowly or rapidly a collapse of civilization may be, but we can all be certain that it would be horrific beyond the capacity of our prodigious imaginations.
I had a brief discussion with Thom about that and was quite disappointed with his answer, so I'll call him out on it now. He said that he thought speaking or writing about the potential collapse of civilization would be unproductive because liberals are motivated by hope...
Really Thom? Is that why you joined with the DiCaprios to make those films? Or why you have Michael Mann as a regular guest or write op-eds like todays? None of that stuff inspires me with hopefulness. Damn, I got mad just thinking about that.
Personally I am of the opinion that too many people don't understand well enough just how tenuous civilization and the biosphere really are or how soon and how quickly things could crumble.
Don't get me wrong. Thom is the person I admire more than any other person alive today, but nobody is perfect. Ken Wilber said, "nobody is smart enough to be right 100% of the time and nobody is dumb enough to be wrong 100% of the time".
I disagree, from what I know of liberals, and I am ex Reagan conservative (more accurately an anti communist, I paid no attention to racial issues (I am white), gays were in the closet, and that anti life movement (calling it self pro life) was nascent, and blacks for the most part were still (and still are) living under Jim Crowe. and conservatives actually considered liberals to be weak sisters, afraid of their own shadow, yes they have externalized their inner self. Besides always holding out hope, and playing Pollyanna and nice, projecting themselves, reason, equality, fairness and always assuming good faith.
They finally have become forced to face reality, that others are not like themselves.
Biden's great speech in Tempe,. AZ is evidence that liberals have finally woken up. That the economy is not an issue that people are voting on these days, but the culture war and the authoritarian impulses of 40% of the population. And it only takes 17% of a population to shift a paradigm and culture.
"'...nobody is dumb enough to be wrong 100% of the time'."
I disagree. I offer Trumpet and ALL of his MAGAT minions as absolute proof of some people being being, "...dumb enough to be wrong 100% of the time," since all they say are proven lies and false innuendo, hence wrong.
I've often wondered how they could be wrong so often when they have a 50/50 chance of being right?
"end of the world"? Probably not. Something would save us. I just don't have a crystal ball. Humanity just can't disappear in the face of the dumpster. I'm fairly sure of that. As I said, maybe we haven't reached a point where there is not enough concern. In my opinion 60/40 against and that is as positive as I can get right now.
Global warming will disappear humanity. Religion, money and politics will consign it to perpetual servitude, especially the conservative idiots motivated by greed, fear, anger, and angst
Using only deduction, one can connect Murdoch, Trump, Garland and Putin. For they a a,ll in the same pot, antithetical to democracy.
Why are you including Garland in this list? Is he not acting fast enough for you? Going after a past president, who’s running for office again, hasn’t happened before in our history. Garland is being very methodical in his approach to Trumpet’s crimes. The last thing he needs is to suffer a misstep in the legalities of Trumpet’s prosecutions.
OF course you HAD to put Putin in there...........has it ever occurred to you that 'anti-communist' propaganda goes back a long way in the US?
Of course I have, I am old enough to remember the televised McArthy hearings, I was raised on the ultra conservative Readers Digest. I probably know more about the October revolution of 1917 than you. PUtin deserves to be included, and my list includes the living, and not the past, or were you not paying attention. Are you a patron of Putin's,
“…anti-communist propaganda goes a long way back in the US.”
Are you saying the US’s stance against communism isn’t right by calling it “propaganda?” It reads like you favor communism. How do you feel about Russia’s, China’s, North Korea’s, Iran’s and other countries’ anti-American propaganda? Are you in favor of it?
Too late.
Never were the "Beacon on the Hill" always the USA was about money not the interests of it's people OR other people around the world.
All Americans right now SHOULD be voting 3rd party's Just to get money out of politics BUT they won't.
Stick to the same old game.
I am not a Trump supporter.
Bully's are always brought down!
A lot of country's hate America...........
I'm glad you included Fox & Murdoch in your Report - they are so culpable. To the MSM's credit, MSNBC's Joy Reid, Stephanie Ruhle, Rachel Maddow and others have been calling out the broken political system lately. It would have been better if Biden had started with the honest assessment of American politics sooner, rather than waiting for an imminent shutdown, but as you say, better late than never. That's a problem with a lot of the old politicians - not facing the music. McConnell is still stuck in fossil mode.
Joy is about the only host that I follow these days, especially her guests, The rest of them are tepid, and with ear buds connected to hall monitors in a booth, they are careful not to tread so far that they upset the advertisers, who are funded by the fascist inclined corporations, especially the chemical-carbon-cabal, PhRMA and the financial institutions
Follow fifteen incidents of how fascists incited violence to steal power. Includes Putin, Orban, Assad, Trump and others. Straight from the fascist playbook.
https://thedemlabs.org/2023/09/28/mapping-how-fascists-stoke-violence-to-steal-power/
Well, the dominos need to line up just right, but I have never seen, in my lifetime, a better landscape.
In response to your direct question, yes I believe we can and will rescue our nations from the putin controlled gop. moscow mitch mctraitor and his minions will be forever remembered for their failings.
But we must work diligently together to stop this treasonous effort. It requires our strong, collective and continuing effort.
Your comment today was incredibly informing and helpful. Especially insightful is your reference to the orange agent as the rapist who would be king. That’s great.
I believe that NOTHING in the USA is happening because of Putin.
Ill educated people with lousy education is happening.
Filled the world with wars while the dumb watched and raised the US flag.
Talk about complicated---our relationship with Russia since the last "turning" has been all over the map, literally. Eighty years of them trying to figure out WHO they are. Currently they are PUTIN, a psychopath who has robbed them financially, stolen the future of millions, and murdered his opposition.
And, here we are trying to sort out just how much Trump has helped him with those murders among other things. Once again your through-line is masterful, Thom. The history lessons inform us we were never alone in the battle, but we do have to invent and use new tools to fight it.
I have seen detente come and go twice in my lifetime. I watched as Russia finally let their people travel and emigrate to the rest of the world. We worked together in space. Such hope concerning Russia dashed by the vanity of one man. We fell into that trap for four years too. Rescue is about exposure, fighting back, and prosecution. It's happening---let's keep our foot on the gas!
This is an opening to a solemn movement to oust these puppets of Putin. It of course it includes the Chief fascist , Donald Trump.
He must be exposed and suppressed as the fascist he is .
Putins lapdog.
So many of the current Congress also in Putins pocket.
Rand Pauls’ trip to the Soviet Union for Trump to give information that Putin wanted should be thoroughly investigated . As all other alleged Republicans, Malicious Maga fascists are currently attempting to destroy Democracy which allowed all of their wealthiest supporters to achieve their wealth in the first place .
But now they are a band of Oligarchs who believe in money and power hoarding for the use of themselves and their bigoted ends.
These fascists must put people down and ruin the lives of these minorities. Black Americans , LGBTQ Americans , Native Americans ,Women are likely to be on the list as well ,fascist followers, chiefly ( men) , who have worked to eliminate rights to legal abortion , settled law for fifty years and yes there were Supreme Court judges in fascist mode who agreed to wipe out the rights to abortion , because of the wealthy fascists who wined, dined and transported these men on luxury trips all for assurance their corruption would be protected by these far right judges. The word’ justice’ cannot possibly apply to these judges who then hear the cases put forward by these wealthy benefactors. Will not recuse themselves from obvious ‘conflicts of interest’ in their courtrooms .
These are fascist judges , no mistake and for all their false denials , implicate themselves further .
US can blame anyone BUT it's YOU yourselves who have screwed up.
Uneducated.
Shopping mad and not voting. Living the American Dream forever! Ha.
Trump purchased a large ad in the New York times, Washington Post and Boston globe. The right uses the media to get their message across and the left doesn't have access to the media without a lot of money. We need to change that. It is time the Trump humpers hear the truth. I can think of at least 30 ads and possibly over a hundred that they deny constantly.
I believe the large newspapers also have editorial discretion in advertisements.
Thank you, Thom. Great writing! Profound and factual.
There's a strong argument to be made (which I agree with) that we were better served with Harry Truman in office from 1947, when the reality of Stalinism finally broke through the rosy wartime view held by Wallace and too many others, but it's a definite fact that with this article and other acts, Wallace had taken on the Southern Conservative wing of the Democratic Party and FDR's acquiescence in taking him off the ticket for the 1944 campaign did represent the victory of the Dixiecrats over the New Deal (which had become increasingly progressive from events in World War II like the active involvement in combat of Black Americans in the war, unlike what had happened in World War I under the "narrow minded southern bigot" Woodrow Wilson). Domestically, Wallace was great; internationally he needed a new set of glasses.
Wallace and liberals of the era were naive. Propaganda,funded by capitalists, equated the USSR, hence communism with socialism, and FDR and Churchill chose to ignore the threat of Stalin, because they needed his help in defeating the NAZIs. FDR even called him Uncle Joe, so I heard, . Communism and capitalism are economic theories both work in a free democracy or in an authoritarian state, like Russia and China.
Democracy and authoritarian are political theories, they too easily accommodate capitalism.
Again witness China and Russia. While Russia is no longer ruled by seven trusts, it is ruled by oligarchs, who were well connected to the KGB and Kremlin. Very simply Russia was privatized
Exactly right. "Communism" has nothing to do with what arrived in Russia in 1917.
Exactly. Co-ops can be considered communist, When laborers buy out the business that employs them, there you find communism. Labor unions are communist. Where communism goes wrong is when it is used by the ruling class to subjugate the people and there was and is a ruling class in Russia and China.
An ineresting book, about communism in Yugoslavia, before the break up, was Milovan Dilas The New Class https://www.amazon.com/New-Class-Analysis-Communist-Harvest/dp/015665489X
Yugoslavia like Russia had a ruling class, every bit as illiberal as the Ruling class under Tsars Archdukes and Kings.
There will always be a ruling class, but the only thing that has ever kept them in check, was democracy., and now that is disappearing. With apologies to the British reader, the British isles seem to reveal in their underclass and worship of their "betters".
As an example I have never been able to discern a penny's worth of difference between their Conservative and Labour parties, example the iron lady, Margaret Thatcher (Tory) and Tony Blair (Labour party).
I purposeful use the British spelling of labour.
Maybe like Clinton Dems & Reagan Repubs?
Yep
An interesting analyis. There certainly was a time when Tory and Labour were very different.
I just wrote about this above.
You really cannot use Tony Blair as Labour.
He sold out to the centre right which is happening again with Keir Starmer.
The old Labour leaders before Blair were true socialists.
Thom's story about Mussolini reading the book upside down reminded me of this.
When Trump walked from the White House to that church and had to walk through demonstrators. He ordered the general in charge to remove the demonstrators forcibly and amazingly the general refused. I'm surprised why Trump walked and didn't use a golf cart.
At the church Trump held the Bible upside down! Also wondering why he wasn't struck dead by lightning.
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Praise ye the lawd. President Biden has finally come down to reaility and is actually fighting back, namng names. I wonder if his awakening, includes governance, he could solve the Tuberville problem by using Title 50 USC, Chapt 34, declare a national emergency (caused by Tuberville in the senate and MAGAts in the house, by issuing an Executive order, promoting the Generals and Admirals that Tuberville is holding up, same with the budget, a nation without a budget is a nation at risk, and that is a national emergency.
But, he cowardly, has refused to use the Constitutional authority and laws handed him by congress, insisting on his compromising, bipartisan, Dixiecrat birthed fantasy.
“History is watching. The world is watching. Most important, our children and grandchildren are watching.”
It is certainly true that our children and grandchildren will observe on some level what the collective “we” who vote and have some say in what happens in this great country actually do in the 2024 election and in the coming years. But I’m not all that confident that many of them will have a clear understanding of the connections and implications of specific actions and social, economic, or political trends.
The truth is that probably no one has accidentally tuned into Fox “News” or some other source of misinformation and disinformation and simply been completely brainwashed or duped overnight without having some predilection or predisposition toward their pathological programming and biases. Somewhere along the way, or most likely at numerous points during their lives, the people falling for the right-wing lies, deception, uber-rationalization or bad theorizing, and propaganda have been exposed to ideas and beliefs which set them up for the fundamental errors and mythologies being broadcast in right-wing circles.
The literal future of democracy is on the line. This is for real. Thom has repeatedly reminded that it is up to “us” the voters. He has tried to project hope and optimism, while realistically detailing the myriad landmines in every direction. I am an inveterate optimist and do not want to fall into despair. Yet, what exactly is changing, how much is truly different, and how big is the audience for these brilliant and sobering revelations here or elsewhere?
Thom has expressed great faith in our public schools, giving them an “AAA+” rating on one or two occasions. He has written books on ADHD or ADD and has a world-class education himself. He is a consummate historian and political genius (no exaggeration or hyperbole and not simply ingratiating praise).
However, I am obligated to ask just how much targeted or objective and intensely authentic scientific research has he (Thom) done on the day-to-day conditions in our public schools, the true and accurate history of traditional schooling, or tying the innumerable indices of schooling to the lifelong consequences of the typical 12 years of incarceration there? How many diagnoses of ADD or ADHD are a reflection of the completely normal and healthy expressions of a child’s need for physical activity and social interaction? How many kids still today who have these conditions are being harassed, hounded, abused, neglected, and discriminated against in our superior schools?
My bias is known here. I do not apologize or acknowledge any lack of due diligence. I have studied these issues for sixty years and have enough empirical evidence to sink a battleship. I have issued a challenge before for anyone to show credible proof that the specious and self-serving claims made by educators and others is verifiable, and that all this perennial harsh criticism of the schools is overblown and invalid, somehow. Spare me the sentimental and anecdotal stories of 100 poor people or immigrants in the last fifty years who achieved phenomenal success, thanks to the schools. What teachers accomplish in spite of school conditions and restrictions can only be attributed to extraordinary teachers and the students themselves or their guardians, not to the schools or compulsory attendance.
Voters may save the day in 2024, primarily because Trump and the Republicans have been so ham-handed, criminally culpable, and incompetent. However, without a paradigm shift in schooling, we are merely postponing the inevitable. The worst threat is not the privatization of schooling or its overtaking by the fascists. The worst threat is denying how incredibly harmful and counterproductive our schools have been for generations and refusing to face the fact of arbitrary and anonymous authority as the precursor to authoritarianism. The rot is inherent and internal.
I recently posted a compilation on Substack of my evidence under the heading, “Incontrovertible Evidence of the Abysmal Failure of Compulsory Attendance Law”. It is not for the faint of heart or for casual reading. It does not read like an article or paper. It is a compilation of the overwhelming statements from many research studies and professionals in various fields with citations. Read it and weep, as they say. Will anyone ever produce a scintilla of evidence to disprove my allegation? EVER?
I have been calling out Education in the US for years.
My daughter was in school there. Very good Elementary education but forget Junior High etc. She learned ZILCH.
Mostly Americans are dumb which to my mind has brought about this mass psychosis in the US.
It is my opinion that nobody can teach what they don't know. In other words, liars can't teach honesty or lunatics can't teach sanity or closed minds can't teach open-mindedness. That is why the human race has not evolved in my opinion for thousands of years. The family unit lets the ignorance is bliss and the blind leading the blind crowd raise the children and create war and poverty and human suffering. Intellectuals like Thom and Robert Reich and William farrar are needed to raise the children not retire. When I speak of old people having to contribute I am thinking that we need their wisdom in teaching the babies to think rationally and a couple rational people in a commune could probably turn the whole thing around even the parents could learn from them. We either got this way from genetics or the environment and we can't change the genes so we have to try to change the environment but I'm afraid it's too late with plastics and global warming and overpopulation and debt and pollution. I wish I was born several hundred years earlier in the same circumstances. Poverty either makes you stronger or you become devoured by it. The middle class i and the rich, are horrible leaders. They always seem to be the ones in charge also.
I guess you are just talking about the US?
I think if you look at the results of education in other country's you will see that the US is nowhere near the top.
Education for the most part in Sri Lanka is probably higher.
But yes I agree..rational/excited teachers who make things fun for little kids. Civics/philosophy and world history. I expect a commune could find these people. Always loved the idea of communes and have met very well adjusted people who lived in them as kids. Sadly they seem to have gone.
The schools can't end racism or crime or poverty or religious hatred or anything else like that. Hatred is mostly taught in the homes and learned by being exposed to Trump humpers.? If the teachers could just teach reading writing and arithmetic and rational thinking I'd be very impressed in America.
This is the most informative article I have read, to date, in the actions of our former president.
I want to know why he’s not in jail, or prison for Treason? He has committed treasonous acts while being our president! He cannot get away with this!
Merrick Garland is going to have to get off his lazy backside and get him locked up. There’s no sense in this. People are pussyfooting with this man, and his movement, allowing him to get stronger, and his army of followers to grow.
We must demand that Merrick Garland, and Congress, get on this immediately!
Perhaps a better approach than open hostility towards tens of millions of Americans would be the Bernie Sanders approach. Talk to the people who are angry, tell them you understand why, and work to make them understand what the problem is. Bernie did very well speaking to voters in West Virginia and Kentucky (and on Fox News) because he is authentic and the policies he espouses would genuinely help the poor and working class. And at the very least when he is in a room people know he is sincere and wants to help them. It is easy to mock and call out those who you see as a threat, much more challenging to bridge the divide because that requires truths to be told. Biden has no clue how to bridge the divide because his policies if they are not harmful are half-baked, and he is unable to tell the truth about much of anything. And unfortunately you Thom are in an intellectual bubble that has isolated you into adopting counterproductive strategies, promoting nationalism and dehumanization of the other side. And if none of that sticks, why do you think Biden has so many Trump appointees and monsters like Vicki Newland in his cabinet? Why do you think Biden (and Obama) chose Merrick Garland? Why do you think in this "democracy" that those who are violent and belligerent remain in high political office?
Well said. Biden is just another puppet of big money.
America has not been a Democracy for years.
Are you referring to Victoria Nuland? I tried to Google it your way, and got a strong Ukraine supporter spelled other way.
The same Victoria.