Friends, if I gave water to voters in Georgia, waiting in long lines, I could be arrested. Georgia’s SB 202, passed in 2021, bans giving food or drinks to voters within 150 feet of polling places or 25 feet of those in line, citing concerns about undue influence. Recently, Elon Musk launched a campaign offering $1 million daily to registered swing-state voters who sign his PAC petition. Legal experts argue this may violate laws against incentivizing voter participation, and it is currently under review by authorities. Common sense tells me that if I can’t give out water, he shouldn’t be able to give out $1,000,000.
Democracy in Peril: A Well-Orchestrated Decline?
Now with the influence of billionaire entrepreneurs, exemplified by Elon Musk is growing increasingly vast and poses a significant threat to the stability of our democratic republic. By John R Brakey
Let us not paint Musk as a purist champion of free speech. He is the only champion of free speech from the right wing.
When countries with governments that lean towards the right and authoritarianism have asked X to limit undesirable accounts/posts, Musk has happily done so. In the US, right wing accounts have rarely fallen afoul of X's almost non-existent moderation, even in the face of obvious violations of X's rules. But leftwing accounts have not gotten the same free pass.
Many people attribute the root of our current political crisis to polarization and tribalism, driven in part by social media algorithms.
Republicans view Democrats as an existential threat, and vice versa. However, polarization may be a symptom rather than the cause. The real cause could be a well-funded, strategic takeover of key institutions—the GOP, the Supreme Court, state legislatures, redistricting processes, and Congress—with the ultimate goal of establishing rule by the wealthy.
This theory, supported by Occam’s Razor, suggests that the decline of democracy is not accidental, but intentionally engineered by powerful elites. Occam’s Razor is a principle that favors the simplest explanation, with the fewest assumptions, when presented with competing hypotheses. In this case, instead of attributing the erosion of democratic systems to a complex web of unrelated factors like polarization, tribalism, or chance, the simplest explanation is that it is a coordinated effort by those with wealth and influence to concentrate power. Whether through dark money or carefully crafted political strategies, these forces are systematically dismantling democratic structures to serve their interests.
Without democracy, progress on critical issues like climate change, public health, racial justice, and economic inequality will be nearly impossible—especially in an autocracy.
The rise of election denialism, aligned with climate and racism denialism, reflects this troubling trend. These denialist movements form a triad of attacks eroding the foundation of democracy
With over two decades of experience in election transparency and integrity, I, John Brakey, have witnessed firsthand that while the scale of each presidential election has grown since 2000, the quality has not. This gradual decline threatens the core of our democratic process.
In a world that feels increasingly unstable, the work for transparency, justice, and democracy can be a lonely one. But it is a fight we must continue if we are to preserve our Democratic Republic. After all, if you don’t like this system, I can guarantee you’re not going to like the one being proposed with Project 2025.
John Brakey said above in the comments, "The real cause could be a well-funded, strategic takeover of key institutions—the GOP, the Supreme Court, state legislatures, redistricting processes, and Congress—with the ultimate goal of establishing rule by the wealthy." This quote encapsulates a widely held belief among many political theorists and historians about the current state of the U.S. political system.
Brakey's view resonates with me. In my opinion, the decline of democracy is not a mere coincidence but a deliberate outcome of a system that was originally designed to protect the wealth and property of the few. It's a testament to the resilience of the hard-working people of the US that they continue to fight against the odds, striving to keep what they earn from the clutches of the much more powerful wealthy elite.
My readings of Hartmann's books have led me to a more cynical view than Thom's. I see the Founders not as creators of a fair democratic system but as self-protectors. They preempted the people's rebellion and positioned themselves as the leaders and protectors of their 'faction of the wealthy elite.
I was already thinking about that when I found a book called, "We the Elines: Why the U.S. Constitution Serves the Few" by Robert Ovetz, 2022 Pluto Press. The back cover says, "We the Elites" examines the Constitution for what it is--a rule book empowering elites to protect capitalism from democracy." And, far from the system being broken, "it works as it was designed to." In light of our history, which includes slavery, that idea makes much more sense to me than that an altruistic group of selfless, altruistic men designed a system that sought to be fair to everyone.
Bezos isn't afraid of Trump. Trump is his tool and the tool of the other oligarchs to perpetuate this unfair system, and more people are catching on.
Gloria, Bezo's certainly fears Trump. His wealth relies on government contracts and the permission of the government. Trump as chief executive, will withhold that permission, he has said so, and the contracts as well. His company Blue Origin is in competition with Musks' space X for government contracts, to your point though, Trump is simultaneously a tool of the billionaires, and like the wealthy financiers and industrialists that finance Hitler, when Trump and his cabal centralize power, they won't have any need for billionaires who don't provide a function for them, and then we will truly become Mussolini's corporate state.
William. So, Bezos and Musk compete? In Rome, the oligarchs competed with each other, and the people had little to say about what happened. They were manipulated and controlled by bread and circus. Of course, they needed the lower class to fight for them. Cesaer was supposed to be the man of the people. Do times ever change? Nothing will change until human nature evolves past selfishness, greed, and the thirst for power if we last that long.
Part of the problem is that we were never meant to live in large groups. We are similar to chimpanzees and gorillas who live in tribes of no more than 150 individuals. In the beginning we were hunters and gatherers taking what the earth provided. But then we came up with the idea of growing plants in a controlled environment instead of gathering them and doing the same with animals for meat. And so agriculture was born. It allowed us to grow and we formed hierarchies to coordinate the growth. Unfortunately the ones at the top enjoyed the power that they were given (or taken) and we now had kings with unlimited power over the rest of us.
So for most of us agriculture was a trap that had us working to provide for those at the top. I fear that things have not changed.
We need to redistribute the wealth and make our country equitable for all.
Gloria J. Maloney, Thank you! Reading your thoughts really makes me feel less alone in this. We definitely need to connect! You clearly understand what’s at stake, and you've expressed it beautifully. I’m saving your words because they resonate deeply with what so many of us feel.
I’ve been deeply involved in the election world for 20 years. At 70 years young, I’m not MAGA—I’m a Progressive Democrat. Yet, what I do isn’t about Left or Right; it’s about what’s right and wrong. I’m the type who believes nothing is truly fixed until we understand why it broke. It took me a decade to identify the core issues, and another ten years to develop ABE with a team of dedicated activists, attorneys, and regular folks like me.
We need to help people see that, while the challenges in our election systems are complex, the solution is straightforward: transparency, especially in this digital voting age. Please consider reading and sharing my article, HOPE ON THE HORIZON - Election Transparency Made Simple and Easy, with others: https://johnrbrakey.substack.com/p/election-transparency-made-simple.
Best economy for whom? People are rightly pissed off about the high prices of everything. Harris needs to point out that the cause of this is the consolidation of power of a few elite individuals and corporations. Look up the list of brands and companies that are owned by Pepsi and Coke. It's enormous.
It seems to be a reoccuring theme- once a company reaches a certain threshold and garners enough power, it begins crushing the competition not by the quality of their goods but by their ability to dominate.
When I hear this crap, I hear Putin. We, unlike most comparable countries have a safety net.
As I said, TRUMP is responsible for the inflation. As president encouraged OPEC to limit production, raising high prices. Like a snowball at the top of the mountain. Prices of stuff like bacon are due to Chinese ownership of stuff like Smithfield, and the commodity markets. Give Biden authority and he'd get them. Republicans refused to give him authority.
Republicans would "sunset" all benefits. Trump says we are a "garbage" country and that the economy is in the pits. To the contrary we have the best economy in the world. Don't get better than that if we lose.
A bigger threat: Copy and paste from todays Heather Cox Richardson newsletter, reporting on the NAZI gathering at Madison Square Garden yesterday The plan, in motion, to steal the election via the 12th Amendment, a Contingent Election created by chaos.
"But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.
It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote."
Hi Gerald, I’ve been active on other platforms, but I’m in the process of switching to Substack. I really like the format—it’s straightforward and allows us to share solid, factual information without fear of censorship.
If you’re familiar with Microsoft Office and Excel, I’d love for you to try my beta program called ABE. It provides everything you need to audit elections, with a download of around 3/4 of a GB. You’ll be able to fully audit Somerset County in Maryland, using both their ballot images and Cast Vote Record Database that in my download. Seeing is believing!
The more people who run it and see how it works are the best advocates to push this as a standard for auditing elections. We're out to Crowdsource the truth.
Excerpt from article above: “There is a misconception among some election officials and Democrats — understandably wigged out by the trauma of Donald Trump’s post-2020 Stop the Steal campaign — that releasing public records after an election will lead to crisis and chaos. In fact, just the opposite is true.
When records are given to just one entity, such as happened in 2020 with ballots and ballot images being given only to the Cyber Ninjas, then the public has no way to independently confirm or rebut anything that entity says about those records. If only election officials have the records, then the officials will say, “Trust us, the records we have show that the election was accurate.”
But if records are released to the public, particularly the CVR and the ballot images, then the public can verify the results themselves.
After all, the county possesses the original ballots, which are linked to the original ballot images that have been hash-check protected. This process safeguards against any attempts to manipulate the results during the process from start to finish, thus making the “black box” truly transparent, trackable, and publicly verified with a redundant, auditable, clean chain of ballot custody.
Just a Question of Time
In our country we have crossed the Rubicon — there is no going back to a system telling us to trust unverified elections. We cannot continue to lurch from election to election without public confidence in the results. Winners will always believe they have won, but it is vitally important for losers to believe they have lost. Confidence in election results is good for all political parties, for voters, candidates, election officials, and our country.
If citizens see that the vote counting process is concealed, taking place behind a cyber curtain in a black box, is it any great surprise that they begin to question the legitimacy of the election results and lose faith in the government, leading to profoundly negative consequences, such as political instability, civil unrest, and even violence? Really, wasn’t it just a question of time?”
In Barbara F. Walter’s 2022 book How Civil Wars Start, she states:
While elections can be an important tool for reducing conflict, they must be carefully managed and conducted in a way that is fair, transparent, and inclusive of all groups in society.
So helpful Thom. To steal back a once noble phrase, thank you for your service. Indeed. I am canvassing for Kamala and Ruben in AZ later this week and have added this post to my fingertips folder. p.s. I cancelled the WP on Friday too, after 50 years or so.
No problem, I haven't gone to Amazon for years, but if you got 10X the support you're going to get Amazon still wouldn't notice. Many people struggle financially and it's hard to blame them for taking the better deals they can get. Boycotts really just aren't very effective, and your megaphone is not particularly large. I haven't been to Walmart for even more years but they're doing fine, and I just can't preach at my marginally employed friends.
The monopoly problem is probably one of the top three domestic issues the country needs to deal with, with threads connecting it to so many other issues — not the least, curbing carbon emissions … If Oligarchs can do as they please, and they think they’re going to be the survivors when the planet overheats and kills off millions of people {that may not be hyperbole, there}, we cannot make functional national policy to shepherd our country into the future unless we break their stranglehold.
"At some point, America is going to have to confront its oligarch problem. And the sooner the better, if we don’t want darkness to entirely subsume our democracy."
8 (eight) days. Make it a blue tsunami and everything is possible. Uncle Sam needs us! https://www.mobilize.us/
If you read Heather Cox Richardsons Oct 28th article, we now have the help of practically 100% of people of Puerto Rican heritage. A "comedian" on stage at MSG said,"there is a garbage dump in the Atlantic ocean, called Puerto Rico".
Every Puerto Rican celebrity from Ricky Martin to Arianda Grande's social media page lit up, and they have all totalled over 100 Million followers.
William Farrar, I pray you’re right. Didn’t ‘rump throw paper towels @ struggling survivors in Puerto Rico following hurricane 🌀 Maria in Sept 2017? Just that ought to have been enough….but apparently it’s never ever been quite enough to get his face forever erased.
Trump's secret weapon. His cult of faithful are a minority, but they are a rabid, persistent and organized minority, they will even go into debt or impoverish themselves to satisfy him. The rest of us are either complacent, too busy, or too eat up with our own agenda to be effective.
Just look at this HAMAS thing has divided us. Fucking morons don't care what happens to us and democracy because they are told to be fixated on Gaza and genocide.
What ever the failings of the cult of fascists we know as MAGAt, one thing is for certain they are not divided, and their unity is attractive to weak minds that are prone to jump on bandwagons., fads and follow he leader of the moment.
To her credit, Ruth Marcus wrote an editorial takedown of her employer of 40 years for not issuing a presidential endorsement in this of all elections, when the existence of democracy itself, which "dies in darkness", is on the ballot.
Another Well read article this morning ☕ Thom,as you've have said several times in the past, America is in it's second Gilded Ave, and Your Right. It's staggering the amount of money being poured into the manipulation of Politics by Billionaires money, like,Bazos and Musk. If their case's go to the this Supreme Court, you can bet thoughts hand picked judges will side with the afore mentioned. Brilliant piece Thom and will reStack ASAP 💯👍🇺🇸💙🌊
California price fixing case against Amazon for illegally forcing merchants to accept policies that cause consumers to pay artificially high prices is pending. Amazon just won a partial victory against the FTC lawsuit alleging illegal monopoly practices. The FTC accused Amazon of stifling competition by coercing sellers to use its service. The ruling is part of broader government scrutiny of Big Tech under the Biden administration. FTC and 17 states that joined the lawsuit asked the court to issue a permanent injunction to prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and loosen its “monopolistic control to restore competition.” This doesn't mean that Bezos will prevail on the merits.
I cancelled WaPo. Difficult decision given that there are some great journalists doing good work there. How many will have the courage to cancel Amazon Prime?
What to do about an oligarchy/dictatorship in waiting. Well, actually the oligarchy is already in place. The oligarchs are now just waiting to put their puppet, trump, in place. Remember we have been told over & over that trump tends to listen to the last person in the room when he makes "his" decisions. So, who will be the last one in the room as Project 2025 unfolds? Maybe JD, the bought & paid for commentator for the Heritage Foundation with their plans to turn the US into a dictatorship within 180 days after they assume power. It took Hitler about 3 months to cement his hold on the government. The Heritage Foundation is giving itself 6 months to close the deal which means 1 year from now we will no longer have this forum or any of the others that point out the shortfalls of trump 2.0. Remember we ARE the enemy within.
If deportations go as planned my guess is that we will be the new workers in camps who will become the slave labor to work for the new owners of the US.
That may be an exaggeration, or I should say that I hope it's an exxageration but the every day Germans thought the stories about their camps were exaggerated stories too. And let's recall it took a total destruction of Germany to start to rid itself of Nazisim. At the end of WWII the US with truly thoughtful leadership helped to rebuild our one time enemies turning them into trusted allies. I have to wonder who will step up to repair the US if it is destroyed?
Following yet another bit of sane-washing, I cancelled my WaPo subscription about six weeks ago. Now I wish I’d waited until this past Friday. In any case, money saved will continue to be directed to this and other independent media. Jeff Bezos is a coward and a cancer; Amazon needs to be broken up.
Unregulated capitalism is flawed! Only with a maximum income can it be corrected. A few people owning the whole planet is not going to work out very well for the poor. Anything short of a maximum income of about half a million a year and 20 million in total net worth, will not work.
As I have pointed out before what is and is not income is really hard to define. wages and salary are not income, the wealthy don't live off of wages and salary, they get their wealth from dividends and the stock market.,and that is impossible to regulate, at least difficult, because there will be a lot of pressure exerted when brokers and corporations have to issue 1090's, every sale.
And they should!!!!!!!! william is close to correct. The social system needs to be shored up: Education thru post graduate FREE. Healthcare... Free. Guaranteed Living Wage for all living and working here. and almost free nationwide rapid public transportation build-out everywhere feasible. Cost of living drops, in food,commodities ,memberships, energy, electricity and housing . All of this is immediately paid for by the millionaire and billionaires class which there are many. and eventually a normalized taxation system will kickin to pickup after the wealthy have come back to the table of regular folks and give up their 2 or 4 homes, 3-5 cars, 5-10 apartment or homes for rent
Some will say this is pie in the sky. But it may be Pie and it may be in the sky, However until we build a community based financially equitable economic system serving the good of all , THEN only the few will continue to reap the good and the many will remail the financial slaves of the super wealthy
If corporations are people, then they are fascists who want their picture and their influence over everything. It shouldn't surprise people that our government has been walked towards the same by their influence. These people are more corporate brands than human beings, displaying power over their media sources to shock and outrage an impotent public that is incapable of curbing their superhuman excesses.
It's too easy for them to scapegoat the government which cannot govern those who rule over it.
Friends, if I gave water to voters in Georgia, waiting in long lines, I could be arrested. Georgia’s SB 202, passed in 2021, bans giving food or drinks to voters within 150 feet of polling places or 25 feet of those in line, citing concerns about undue influence. Recently, Elon Musk launched a campaign offering $1 million daily to registered swing-state voters who sign his PAC petition. Legal experts argue this may violate laws against incentivizing voter participation, and it is currently under review by authorities. Common sense tells me that if I can’t give out water, he shouldn’t be able to give out $1,000,000.
Democracy in Peril: A Well-Orchestrated Decline?
Now with the influence of billionaire entrepreneurs, exemplified by Elon Musk is growing increasingly vast and poses a significant threat to the stability of our democratic republic. By John R Brakey
Let us not paint Musk as a purist champion of free speech. He is the only champion of free speech from the right wing.
When countries with governments that lean towards the right and authoritarianism have asked X to limit undesirable accounts/posts, Musk has happily done so. In the US, right wing accounts have rarely fallen afoul of X's almost non-existent moderation, even in the face of obvious violations of X's rules. But leftwing accounts have not gotten the same free pass.
Many people attribute the root of our current political crisis to polarization and tribalism, driven in part by social media algorithms.
Republicans view Democrats as an existential threat, and vice versa. However, polarization may be a symptom rather than the cause. The real cause could be a well-funded, strategic takeover of key institutions—the GOP, the Supreme Court, state legislatures, redistricting processes, and Congress—with the ultimate goal of establishing rule by the wealthy.
This theory, supported by Occam’s Razor, suggests that the decline of democracy is not accidental, but intentionally engineered by powerful elites. Occam’s Razor is a principle that favors the simplest explanation, with the fewest assumptions, when presented with competing hypotheses. In this case, instead of attributing the erosion of democratic systems to a complex web of unrelated factors like polarization, tribalism, or chance, the simplest explanation is that it is a coordinated effort by those with wealth and influence to concentrate power. Whether through dark money or carefully crafted political strategies, these forces are systematically dismantling democratic structures to serve their interests.
Without democracy, progress on critical issues like climate change, public health, racial justice, and economic inequality will be nearly impossible—especially in an autocracy.
The rise of election denialism, aligned with climate and racism denialism, reflects this troubling trend. These denialist movements form a triad of attacks eroding the foundation of democracy
With over two decades of experience in election transparency and integrity, I, John Brakey, have witnessed firsthand that while the scale of each presidential election has grown since 2000, the quality has not. This gradual decline threatens the core of our democratic process.
In a world that feels increasingly unstable, the work for transparency, justice, and democracy can be a lonely one. But it is a fight we must continue if we are to preserve our Democratic Republic. After all, if you don’t like this system, I can guarantee you’re not going to like the one being proposed with Project 2025.
Please check out my Op-ed on Substack, HOPE ON THE HORIZON - Election Transparency Made Simple: ABE Makes Election Verification Easy: https://johnrbrakey.substack.com/p/election-transparency-made-simple
John R. Brakey
Director, AUDIT (Elections) USA
johnbrakey@gmail.com
Link to this Document: https://bit.ly/40g0tnH
John Brakey said above in the comments, "The real cause could be a well-funded, strategic takeover of key institutions—the GOP, the Supreme Court, state legislatures, redistricting processes, and Congress—with the ultimate goal of establishing rule by the wealthy." This quote encapsulates a widely held belief among many political theorists and historians about the current state of the U.S. political system.
Brakey's view resonates with me. In my opinion, the decline of democracy is not a mere coincidence but a deliberate outcome of a system that was originally designed to protect the wealth and property of the few. It's a testament to the resilience of the hard-working people of the US that they continue to fight against the odds, striving to keep what they earn from the clutches of the much more powerful wealthy elite.
My readings of Hartmann's books have led me to a more cynical view than Thom's. I see the Founders not as creators of a fair democratic system but as self-protectors. They preempted the people's rebellion and positioned themselves as the leaders and protectors of their 'faction of the wealthy elite.
I was already thinking about that when I found a book called, "We the Elines: Why the U.S. Constitution Serves the Few" by Robert Ovetz, 2022 Pluto Press. The back cover says, "We the Elites" examines the Constitution for what it is--a rule book empowering elites to protect capitalism from democracy." And, far from the system being broken, "it works as it was designed to." In light of our history, which includes slavery, that idea makes much more sense to me than that an altruistic group of selfless, altruistic men designed a system that sought to be fair to everyone.
Bezos isn't afraid of Trump. Trump is his tool and the tool of the other oligarchs to perpetuate this unfair system, and more people are catching on.
Gloria, Bezo's certainly fears Trump. His wealth relies on government contracts and the permission of the government. Trump as chief executive, will withhold that permission, he has said so, and the contracts as well. His company Blue Origin is in competition with Musks' space X for government contracts, to your point though, Trump is simultaneously a tool of the billionaires, and like the wealthy financiers and industrialists that finance Hitler, when Trump and his cabal centralize power, they won't have any need for billionaires who don't provide a function for them, and then we will truly become Mussolini's corporate state.
William. So, Bezos and Musk compete? In Rome, the oligarchs competed with each other, and the people had little to say about what happened. They were manipulated and controlled by bread and circus. Of course, they needed the lower class to fight for them. Cesaer was supposed to be the man of the people. Do times ever change? Nothing will change until human nature evolves past selfishness, greed, and the thirst for power if we last that long.
Part of the problem is that we were never meant to live in large groups. We are similar to chimpanzees and gorillas who live in tribes of no more than 150 individuals. In the beginning we were hunters and gatherers taking what the earth provided. But then we came up with the idea of growing plants in a controlled environment instead of gathering them and doing the same with animals for meat. And so agriculture was born. It allowed us to grow and we formed hierarchies to coordinate the growth. Unfortunately the ones at the top enjoyed the power that they were given (or taken) and we now had kings with unlimited power over the rest of us.
So for most of us agriculture was a trap that had us working to provide for those at the top. I fear that things have not changed.
We need to redistribute the wealth and make our country equitable for all.
Rome was a Republic ruled by the property owning elite, who were selected by the powerless plebes by dropping a white or black stone into a container.
Here is your choice of rulers, choose between them.
Gloria J. Maloney, Thank you! Reading your thoughts really makes me feel less alone in this. We definitely need to connect! You clearly understand what’s at stake, and you've expressed it beautifully. I’m saving your words because they resonate deeply with what so many of us feel.
I’ve been deeply involved in the election world for 20 years. At 70 years young, I’m not MAGA—I’m a Progressive Democrat. Yet, what I do isn’t about Left or Right; it’s about what’s right and wrong. I’m the type who believes nothing is truly fixed until we understand why it broke. It took me a decade to identify the core issues, and another ten years to develop ABE with a team of dedicated activists, attorneys, and regular folks like me.
We need to help people see that, while the challenges in our election systems are complex, the solution is straightforward: transparency, especially in this digital voting age. Please consider reading and sharing my article, HOPE ON THE HORIZON - Election Transparency Made Simple and Easy, with others: https://johnrbrakey.substack.com/p/election-transparency-made-simple.
Hope, Peace, Love, and Democracy to all,
John R. Brakey
520 339 2696
JohnBrakey@gmail.com
A lot to chew on there, but your view of US history rings true but for the civil war lost by the slave owners. Also amendments to the constitution.
Despite those bastards, at the end of the day, we're number 1. Best economy, least inflation.
In their guts, even the oligarchs know Trump is nuts.
Best economy for whom? People are rightly pissed off about the high prices of everything. Harris needs to point out that the cause of this is the consolidation of power of a few elite individuals and corporations. Look up the list of brands and companies that are owned by Pepsi and Coke. It's enormous.
It seems to be a reoccuring theme- once a company reaches a certain threshold and garners enough power, it begins crushing the competition not by the quality of their goods but by their ability to dominate.
Well said, Chris.
No it's not. Best GNP. Best stock and bond markets. Virtually no unemployment. Would you rather be in Russia, Hungary? https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/biden-us-economic-growth-becomes-envy-world-rcna157003
When I hear this crap, I hear Putin. We, unlike most comparable countries have a safety net.
As I said, TRUMP is responsible for the inflation. As president encouraged OPEC to limit production, raising high prices. Like a snowball at the top of the mountain. Prices of stuff like bacon are due to Chinese ownership of stuff like Smithfield, and the commodity markets. Give Biden authority and he'd get them. Republicans refused to give him authority.
Unlike other countries our safety net is terrible.
One in every 10 Americans has outstanding medical debt. (Health System Tracker)
Every year, 530,000 American families file for bankruptcy due to medical bills. (Nasdaq)
This is unacceptable and it is why we need tax reform so that the wealthy are paying their fair share.
Republicans would "sunset" all benefits. Trump says we are a "garbage" country and that the economy is in the pits. To the contrary we have the best economy in the world. Don't get better than that if we lose.
A bigger threat: Copy and paste from todays Heather Cox Richardson newsletter, reporting on the NAZI gathering at Madison Square Garden yesterday The plan, in motion, to steal the election via the 12th Amendment, a Contingent Election created by chaos.
"But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.
It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote."
Excellent Mr. Brakey.....where have you been hiding? We need to here more from you.
Hi Gerald, I’ve been active on other platforms, but I’m in the process of switching to Substack. I really like the format—it’s straightforward and allows us to share solid, factual information without fear of censorship.
Here’s an article I wrote for WhoWhatWhy in New York City last year: ELECTIONS - Digital Ballot Images: Key to Trustworthy Elections & Bridging Our Great Divide (May 19, 2023). You can check it out here: https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/digital-ballot-images-key-to-trustworthy-elections-bridging-our-great-divide/.
If you’re familiar with Microsoft Office and Excel, I’d love for you to try my beta program called ABE. It provides everything you need to audit elections, with a download of around 3/4 of a GB. You’ll be able to fully audit Somerset County in Maryland, using both their ballot images and Cast Vote Record Database that in my download. Seeing is believing!
The more people who run it and see how it works are the best advocates to push this as a standard for auditing elections. We're out to Crowdsource the truth.
Excerpt from article above: “There is a misconception among some election officials and Democrats — understandably wigged out by the trauma of Donald Trump’s post-2020 Stop the Steal campaign — that releasing public records after an election will lead to crisis and chaos. In fact, just the opposite is true.
When records are given to just one entity, such as happened in 2020 with ballots and ballot images being given only to the Cyber Ninjas, then the public has no way to independently confirm or rebut anything that entity says about those records. If only election officials have the records, then the officials will say, “Trust us, the records we have show that the election was accurate.”
But if records are released to the public, particularly the CVR and the ballot images, then the public can verify the results themselves.
After all, the county possesses the original ballots, which are linked to the original ballot images that have been hash-check protected. This process safeguards against any attempts to manipulate the results during the process from start to finish, thus making the “black box” truly transparent, trackable, and publicly verified with a redundant, auditable, clean chain of ballot custody.
Just a Question of Time
In our country we have crossed the Rubicon — there is no going back to a system telling us to trust unverified elections. We cannot continue to lurch from election to election without public confidence in the results. Winners will always believe they have won, but it is vitally important for losers to believe they have lost. Confidence in election results is good for all political parties, for voters, candidates, election officials, and our country.
If citizens see that the vote counting process is concealed, taking place behind a cyber curtain in a black box, is it any great surprise that they begin to question the legitimacy of the election results and lose faith in the government, leading to profoundly negative consequences, such as political instability, civil unrest, and even violence? Really, wasn’t it just a question of time?”
In Barbara F. Walter’s 2022 book How Civil Wars Start, she states:
While elections can be an important tool for reducing conflict, they must be carefully managed and conducted in a way that is fair, transparent, and inclusive of all groups in society.
She further elaborates in this NPR interview, highlighting the complex relationship between civil war, political exclusion, and elections. https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/digital-ballot-images-key-to-trustworthy-elections-bridging-our-great-divide/
Your new friend,
John R. Brakey
Well put, and you are not alone. Everyone should read about an early JD Vance influencer, Curtis Yarvin.
So helpful Thom. To steal back a once noble phrase, thank you for your service. Indeed. I am canvassing for Kamala and Ruben in AZ later this week and have added this post to my fingertips folder. p.s. I cancelled the WP on Friday too, after 50 years or so.
Stop The Hate. Pause the buying!Suggest a daily moratorium one hour planet wide - noon - of no buying Amazon.
Noon!
No problem, I haven't gone to Amazon for years, but if you got 10X the support you're going to get Amazon still wouldn't notice. Many people struggle financially and it's hard to blame them for taking the better deals they can get. Boycotts really just aren't very effective, and your megaphone is not particularly large. I haven't been to Walmart for even more years but they're doing fine, and I just can't preach at my marginally employed friends.
The monopoly problem is probably one of the top three domestic issues the country needs to deal with, with threads connecting it to so many other issues — not the least, curbing carbon emissions … If Oligarchs can do as they please, and they think they’re going to be the survivors when the planet overheats and kills off millions of people {that may not be hyperbole, there}, we cannot make functional national policy to shepherd our country into the future unless we break their stranglehold.
Monopolies and Oligarchy must be addressed!
"At some point, America is going to have to confront its oligarch problem. And the sooner the better, if we don’t want darkness to entirely subsume our democracy."
8 (eight) days. Make it a blue tsunami and everything is possible. Uncle Sam needs us! https://www.mobilize.us/
If you read Heather Cox Richardsons Oct 28th article, we now have the help of practically 100% of people of Puerto Rican heritage. A "comedian" on stage at MSG said,"there is a garbage dump in the Atlantic ocean, called Puerto Rico".
Every Puerto Rican celebrity from Ricky Martin to Arianda Grande's social media page lit up, and they have all totalled over 100 Million followers.
William Farrar, I pray you’re right. Didn’t ‘rump throw paper towels @ struggling survivors in Puerto Rico following hurricane 🌀 Maria in Sept 2017? Just that ought to have been enough….but apparently it’s never ever been quite enough to get his face forever erased.
Trump's secret weapon. His cult of faithful are a minority, but they are a rabid, persistent and organized minority, they will even go into debt or impoverish themselves to satisfy him. The rest of us are either complacent, too busy, or too eat up with our own agenda to be effective.
Just look at this HAMAS thing has divided us. Fucking morons don't care what happens to us and democracy because they are told to be fixated on Gaza and genocide.
What ever the failings of the cult of fascists we know as MAGAt, one thing is for certain they are not divided, and their unity is attractive to weak minds that are prone to jump on bandwagons., fads and follow he leader of the moment.
To her credit, Ruth Marcus wrote an editorial takedown of her employer of 40 years for not issuing a presidential endorsement in this of all elections, when the existence of democracy itself, which "dies in darkness", is on the ballot.
Another Well read article this morning ☕ Thom,as you've have said several times in the past, America is in it's second Gilded Ave, and Your Right. It's staggering the amount of money being poured into the manipulation of Politics by Billionaires money, like,Bazos and Musk. If their case's go to the this Supreme Court, you can bet thoughts hand picked judges will side with the afore mentioned. Brilliant piece Thom and will reStack ASAP 💯👍🇺🇸💙🌊
Thank you for the history lesson Thom! If only the country could understand this.
Looks as if Jeff Bezos has an entry in the dictionary, to wit:
kiss-ass
noun: kiss-ass; plural noun: kiss-asses
a person who shows an obsequious eagerness to please.
When Trump was president, Bezos sued his administration for about $10 billion. https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-judge-declines-dismiss-amazon-allegations-trump-interfered-jedi-contract-2021-04-28/
Bezos publicly said Trump personally profited. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50717564
California price fixing case against Amazon for illegally forcing merchants to accept policies that cause consumers to pay artificially high prices is pending. Amazon just won a partial victory against the FTC lawsuit alleging illegal monopoly practices. The FTC accused Amazon of stifling competition by coercing sellers to use its service. The ruling is part of broader government scrutiny of Big Tech under the Biden administration. FTC and 17 states that joined the lawsuit asked the court to issue a permanent injunction to prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and loosen its “monopolistic control to restore competition.” This doesn't mean that Bezos will prevail on the merits.
Great article Thom! A grand slam in the ninth! Today’s oligarchs additionally enjoy something Rockefeller didn’t have: Citizens United 2010.
I cancelled WaPo. Difficult decision given that there are some great journalists doing good work there. How many will have the courage to cancel Amazon Prime?
Bezos now owns only 10 % of Amazon, while Black Rock, State Street, and Vanguard own most of the rest.
Did not know that.
What to do about an oligarchy/dictatorship in waiting. Well, actually the oligarchy is already in place. The oligarchs are now just waiting to put their puppet, trump, in place. Remember we have been told over & over that trump tends to listen to the last person in the room when he makes "his" decisions. So, who will be the last one in the room as Project 2025 unfolds? Maybe JD, the bought & paid for commentator for the Heritage Foundation with their plans to turn the US into a dictatorship within 180 days after they assume power. It took Hitler about 3 months to cement his hold on the government. The Heritage Foundation is giving itself 6 months to close the deal which means 1 year from now we will no longer have this forum or any of the others that point out the shortfalls of trump 2.0. Remember we ARE the enemy within.
If deportations go as planned my guess is that we will be the new workers in camps who will become the slave labor to work for the new owners of the US.
That may be an exaggeration, or I should say that I hope it's an exxageration but the every day Germans thought the stories about their camps were exaggerated stories too. And let's recall it took a total destruction of Germany to start to rid itself of Nazisim. At the end of WWII the US with truly thoughtful leadership helped to rebuild our one time enemies turning them into trusted allies. I have to wonder who will step up to repair the US if it is destroyed?
Return: do you mean who will repair the US if the democratic system is destroyed or physically destroyed?
ONCE AGAIN, A GREAT & WELL RESEARCH ARTICLE ON US OLIGARCHS USING THEIR MONEY TO SHAPING POLITICS.
"Democracy Dies in Their Wallets: When Oligarchs Buy the News
From Bezos to Musk, America’s richest are using media control to shape politics and grow profits..."
Following yet another bit of sane-washing, I cancelled my WaPo subscription about six weeks ago. Now I wish I’d waited until this past Friday. In any case, money saved will continue to be directed to this and other independent media. Jeff Bezos is a coward and a cancer; Amazon needs to be broken up.
Unregulated capitalism is flawed! Only with a maximum income can it be corrected. A few people owning the whole planet is not going to work out very well for the poor. Anything short of a maximum income of about half a million a year and 20 million in total net worth, will not work.
As I have pointed out before what is and is not income is really hard to define. wages and salary are not income, the wealthy don't live off of wages and salary, they get their wealth from dividends and the stock market.,and that is impossible to regulate, at least difficult, because there will be a lot of pressure exerted when brokers and corporations have to issue 1090's, every sale.
And they should!!!!!!!! william is close to correct. The social system needs to be shored up: Education thru post graduate FREE. Healthcare... Free. Guaranteed Living Wage for all living and working here. and almost free nationwide rapid public transportation build-out everywhere feasible. Cost of living drops, in food,commodities ,memberships, energy, electricity and housing . All of this is immediately paid for by the millionaire and billionaires class which there are many. and eventually a normalized taxation system will kickin to pickup after the wealthy have come back to the table of regular folks and give up their 2 or 4 homes, 3-5 cars, 5-10 apartment or homes for rent
Some will say this is pie in the sky. But it may be Pie and it may be in the sky, However until we build a community based financially equitable economic system serving the good of all , THEN only the few will continue to reap the good and the many will remail the financial slaves of the super wealthy
If corporations are people, then they are fascists who want their picture and their influence over everything. It shouldn't surprise people that our government has been walked towards the same by their influence. These people are more corporate brands than human beings, displaying power over their media sources to shock and outrage an impotent public that is incapable of curbing their superhuman excesses.
It's too easy for them to scapegoat the government which cannot govern those who rule over it.