What a Read this morning ☕ Thom, I've got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes ?! You've written the absolute truth here and I agree, If we don't pull the Emergency Break, this is going to be the worst Train Wreck in history, and there will be no stopping it. Excellent piece, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Maybe we can cut it off at the pass. Thom cited to Stephen Spoonamore, who was CEO or CTO at seven high technology firms including two that specialized in hacking and counter-hacking operations. He wrote a memo alleging that to "a near certainty" the results have been changed at a scale which reversed the election. He recommends a hand recount to most likely require reversal. He cites to a letter from 7 experts in computer science who go into detail. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/letter-to-vp-harris-111324.pdf
Still waiting to hear about validity of the Greg Palast claim that 2.7 million votes were ditched. According to the Philly papers, we lost Pa in Biden's home area, former Biden supporters. Not Gen Z. Not Blacks. Lost 2 Pa Dem house seats.
A hand count there is problematical that could verify the claims is being litigated. There are a myriad of other inconsitencies.
Perhaps more important are the threats made by Russian propaganda to frighten Dems, destruction of ballots, bomb scares at Dem precincts, etc. On election eve, the FBI issued a statement. "Since our statement on Friday, the Intelligence Community (IC) has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans."
If voters were wary of the "other" it was because Russia and a complying media and Republican proaganda targeted visceral voters. To me the "other" is Russia.
The FBI said in a statement it was aware of the threats, many of which originated from Russian email domains, but the agency also downplayed their risk. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the statement said.
In Pennsylvania, a polling place in West Chester was evacuated because of a threat, according to Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Board of Elections. The Government Services Center was searched by dogs, and voters at the two polling stations in the center were redirected to neighboring polling places that extended their voting hours to accommodate them.
A Pennsylvania judge also granted a motion to extend voting in Clearfield County, northeast of Pittsburgh, after a bomb threat targeted an administrative building where votes were being counted, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
In Georgia, several voting locations extended their hours due to bomb threats, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as reported by CNN. “We identify the source that it was from Russia,” he said in an earlier press conference.
Officials in DeKalb County, where five polling places suspended voting due to bomb threats, said no bombs were found, and voters were able to re-enter the polling booths and vote.
Fulton County Police Chief W. Wade Yates said that out of 177 polling places in the county, 32 faced bomb threats, and five required evacuation and had their hours extended as a result. Yates said authorities intend to prosecute those who made the threats.
Officials in Wisconsin and Michigan also confirmed bomb threats in several polling locations in the state, according to ABC7 Chicago. And Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that four locations in Navajo County faced bomb threats that federal and state authorities dismissed as “not credible.” Fontes said the threats came from emails with Russian domains, and that the motive looks to be to “ensue chaos” and not to “impact any political outcome.”
From Time Magazine.
The appointment of Tulsi Gabbard, reasonably looks like Trump reciprocation in thanks for a "big steal".
Agreed - read that letter when I first saw it posted. Trump’s tour of vengeance should not be allowed against our military or other Americans that he and his goon squad consider “enemies”.
President Biden and his family will be targets as well as anyone else who doesn’t bend a knee.
I’m old and live among crazy people who have lots of guns. Some are Trump loyalists. But cut their benefits and they will get angry too.
Even if it is found out that Harris won by a narrow margin, how would the election be overturned at this point? Harris isn't asking for it. What kind of deals have already been made? The SCOTUS goes in the direction of big money. How did Harris get so many big donors anyway? What was promised? We passed the point of working people having a say many years ago.
I have written often and cited Mayer just as you did. I have seen this coming since 2008 when after serving in Iraq I left the GOP. What we are witnessing is frightening and frankly terrifying. So many people and institutions are obeying in advance, and he hasn’t even taken office.
Like Thom, for years, I've seen this coming. I would talk of dumbing down the electorate so that they would be unable to think, period, just think, let alone think critically. Fortunately or unfortunately I have engaged at looking at Germany prior to & during the Nazi years. I've watched the documentaries, at first most of the documentaries emphansized the battlefields around the world. Then as things started to become more problematic for our democracy the documentaries have focused on what the Nazi Party did to the average German. They were completely immersed in Germany for the Germans & the need for "lebensraum", living space for Germans, thus began the conquest of Europe, with emphasis on Eastern Europe which was home to people of Slavic ancestry. Those folks were designated as useful to the Reich as workers/slaves because they were just about human. And we all know how Hitler felt about Jews, the Romani, the disabled & where that led!
So now we are headed down that same road. How long before the camps fill up with the enemy du jour? And as the camps get filled & the people can not be deported because no one will take them. (At this point I need to remind us that every country where that boat filled with 900 Jews fleeing persecution, stopped was turned away & that boat returned to Germany where most of the people were murdered.) So after several years of filling camps, what palatial estate will house the meeting for the 'Final Solution' of "our" problem? I recall that one the first ideas that Hitler came up with was to dump all the Jews in Madagascar. We see that that particular idea didn't work then & won't work now. So what will it be? Undoubtedly the people like Miller saw that mass killing by shooting people was just too hard on the soldiers so will there be some more humane was (for the murders only) to eliminate the problem. I guess we'll see won't we?
Hysteria on my part? Maybe, but if past is prologue, & history does indeed repeat itself or rhymes there will be years of unpleasantness ahead. And that is putting it mildly.
What doesn't get out of my mind is the fact that Trump in 2017 talked about deporting all Muslims and moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an is Bibi's BFF
Despite that
'Trump won because of us,' said one of the founders of Muslims for Trump, 'and we're not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others'
The Muslim vote, alone in WI, MI, PA would have guaranteed a Harris win, She needed 270 votes, he has 226, those threee states have 44, 226 plus 44 makes 270.
You can only be a useful idiots if you let your emotions cloud your judgement. In their case they are emotionally committed to the ummah. That is the problem with dual citizenship and identity politics. people don't develop crticial thinking skills, and thus can't use them.
For instance I have been called a Zionist by some yahoos, who lack CR and an antisemite by others.
The epithet that seems to be most popular is racist. It all depends on whose ox I am goring at the time.
Wasn't it H L Mencken who said I live humanity, but I hate people?. Ditto here.
There are several on Netflix. I can't think of the names off hand but they should be easy to find. Watch them & see what awaits! If you look for anything about Hitler you should come across them. There's a 10 part series & then there are others about the attempts in his life. I think Amazon Prime has some too. Sorry I can't be more specific.
Bob Woodward made an interesting observation. Trump nominates incompetent people to head the DOJ and DOD not really for their loyalty but for the incompetence. Trump wants to run them. He strives for an Imperial Presidency. He wants to rule over the U.S. like Putin over Russia, Xi over China, Kim Jong Un over North Korea.
The Gabbard nomination is sincere, pay off to Putin. The Gaetz nomination is game playing, he and Gaetz cooked this up on the plane ride.
They knew it would be rjected even by Republicans. The House ethics committee was about to release it's report, that report would have doomed Gaetz.
Gaetz actually won his re election and will be seated now as a freshman with the 119th Congress as he has resigned, Mike Johnson was going to squash the Ethics committee finding, but I have a suspiscion that he has figured out the game.
Here is the game. Gaetz will succumb to pressure withdraw from the AG nomination, be sworn in to the 119th Congress, which Trump will totally control, and be the speaker of the house.
Trump wants his AG to be his personal lawyers, and in that capacity Gaetz is a dunce. Trump has his eye on someone who has experience inside the Beltway and has connections., a Bill Barr, maybe even Jeffrey Clark, but not a non compus mentis like Gaetz.
The American people need to be awakend and many are urging just that now. The barn and the horse. Always late. Another quote by the great Welsh poet Dylan captures just how aware Americans have been for the last eight years, from Milk Wood: "All of the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now."
Demand recounts you say Kay? That would be up to Kamala. Never happen, Kamala couldn't wait to conceded, she phoned Trump to congratulate him less than 5 hours after the polls closed. She isn't walking that back.
It even looks like she couldn't wait to concede. We have no idea of what was or is going on in the background, all we do is take things at face value,and we never, ever should do that.
Provided your case is in that jurisdiction. I assume you are referring to Pennyslvania, the recount in Pennsylvania applies to Pennsylvania and I am guessing to Bob Casey.
Voting machines aren't connected to the internet, so local election officials with access to the machines and software would be the ones who would have to "breach" them.
The voting machines aren't, but the tabluators are, that is how the likes of Steven Karnacki, can keep his ever changing board up to date, even district by district.
It is not the vote that counts, but who counts the votes Deepspace.
That, and the millions who were unfairly struck from registration rolls or otherwise disenfranchised, such as not counting provisional ballots, long, discouraging lines, not enough machines in poor neighborhoods, and faulty, poorly maintained machines, etc., etc. And by far the greatest vote suppression institution of all: the Electoral College, which discourages many more millions from voting in presidential races in the solid red and blue states, because votes going against the grain don't really matter.
Absolutely correct, the election was rigged, Trump as usual was right. Like when he said the media is the enemy of the people, or the FBI is the enemy of the people, but not in the way he intended and his cult believed.
The media gave him billions of free advertising and it was they that elected him in 2016 and again this year. The FBI instead of investigating the Proud Boys, the Militias,the Right wing were infiltrating and investigating BLM and antifascism and J6 was the result, and while the media was kvetching over stolen elections, Trump and his billionaires were stealing the election for him.
And the feckless still don't have a clue. I am waiting for the parade of pundits and hosts, and of course MSNBC to make the pilgrimage, literally or virtually, to Mar a Lago, the new White House. I foresee government contracts being let,to build a west wing and a storage facility.
And so it begins: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of the Morning Joe freak show, have already made the pilgrimage — literally — to Mar a "Lardo."
Joe and Mika got married at Mar a Lago, and were talking heads on MSNBC that helped Trump get elected, then when he proved to be a liar and an embarrassment he jumped on the anti Trump bandwagon
They are reading tea leaves and want to survive a Trump dictatorship
Ari Melber, who is a lawyer by training, read those tea leaves a long time ago, he has been very careful not to express an opinon, but merely quotes the opininons of others.
Even Ali Velshi is toning it down, but the rest seem to be of the mind that "i'm already fucked so why not keep swimming. Trump is after MSNBC, and there is not so much talk about Trump on that channel as about his appointees, currently Gabbard, Gaetz and RFK Jr, they seem to be keeping Trump out of their mouths.
The software was breached. A woman is serving time in prison for it in AZ. The American people have a right - so we were told in 2020 - to have the election results verified. Turnabout is fair play - audit the vote.
Barking up a tree Kay. The vote will not be audited, because Kamala would have to demand it, and she couldn't wait to conceded, telephoning Trump less than 5 hrs after the last poll closed, and conceding while votes were counted.
If Trump would have done that, his base would have risen up in a cry of betrayal,
But Dems are sheep to the slaughter, and would never ever suggest such a thing.
So many important issues will be set back decades if not longer. I weep for our children, and they will have no idea. Neoliberalism has already done plenty of damage in my lifetime and now it will get worse. I hope for a large and organized resistance, but I am skeptical.
Presumably the immunity and power SCOTUS intended for Trump is available to Biden for a few more days. Can he be persuaded to use it to stop the handing over of democracy to fascism?
Biden has to declare martial law and refuse to inaugurate Trump until: 1) a full recount; 2) investigation of all suspected Russian assets inside government and outside; 3) create media that is government & public funded. Control tech entirely so that it's "social" NOT political. You want politics? Read a book. Go to public media. Reassign outlets like Fox to entertainment. Delcare war on Russia to do this. Potus is King. He can do what he wants. What about the rules, you ask? THEY have no rules! We have the rules and we aren't even in the same game. Martial law for four years; 2 year midterms. Then elections again.
I feel compelled to offer a suggestion in response to my own comment of a few hours ago... Please bear with me...
I propose a somewhat different way of picturing the descent into Trump 2 -- different from the European fascist Mussolini, Hitler, Franco pattern. Although I will grant that the result for the great majority of Americans will be essentially the same.
Rather, I see this drama being more like the transition of Rome from Republic to Empire.
The collapse of the Roman republic was driven by enormous wealth made available in a short period of time, by conquest: Specifically, resources from North Africa, Iberia and Gaul that poured into Italy and destroyed, in a few decades, the market for goods and especially grains produced by the common Roman citizens.
Within a few decades the citizens of Rome, the farmers and craftsmen that built the Republic, became unnecessary and dependent upon the dole. They served only as spectators to their nation's expansion or as a mob ginned up to support one of a VERY small number of men from select families who were participating in the expansion, while developed cults of personality around themselves.
Like D. Trump, these men rose and fell depending upon their sway over the mob. He, like they, had no ideology and survived by the ability to work the audience.
We already see competing personalities swarming around DT, waiting to seize opportunity and perhaps control if the Donald slips. It is more like Chicago in the 1920s than Germany in the 1930s.
Both Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini were in their 40s when they each took control. DT is 78 and a mental and physical wreck. Since he depends upon no firm ideology, and resists any structured organization that would also offer a process of control or succession, his decline will trigger a free-for-all among the creatures around him, as they jockey for the attention of the mob.
I suggest our hope of ending this nightmare before it can develop a true, ideological and administrative structure is to focus upon making fully visible the coming struggle for control as Musk, RFK Jr., DT Jr., Murdock, Jr., Vance, and all the other vermin that have crawled out from under a rock scramble to gain ascendancy.
Further, we should devise and pursue any method that further puts them at each other's throats in a prolonged and visible show.
As for the second step: How we develop an alternative after the clown car crashes. I fear the Democratic Party is not the answer...
In this chapter in the saga of American democracy going through the final stages of decline, all the countervailing powers of our democratic institutions — the people's vote, opposition political parties, Congress, the media, law enforcement, and, especially, the courts — have utterly failed to stop the Republican Party and their super wealthy, anti-democratic benefactors from methodically and systematically, spanning nearly a century or longer, from realizing their diabolical dream of an authoritarian plutocracy. The second Trump presidency is their coup de grâce.
So, how do you convince enough good citizens to rally around the right cause in a hopelessly polarized, scatter-shot media environment diluted by lies, lies, and more lies? And if that were even possible somehow, how do you then create an infrastructure from scratch, big enough to fight a national fascistic movement and reverse the slide?
Both questions are historic, with no suitable answers. Any effective resistance undoubtably would be a long, hard slog with no guarantees, given the fickle mood of an electorate pumped full of lies. The only meager semblance of resistance this late in the game is the Democratic Party, which would have to be infiltrated and revamped from top to bottom.
Nazi Germany and every other fascist takeover of society throughout history has always depended on the complacency and compliance of citizens, if not outright cooperation, allowing it to happen.
I disagree with your analysis based upon two things.
One, the Republican Party did not succeed in their program. Rather, one grifter appeared and took the base that the GOP had been cultivating for their purposes and ran with it. Trump could have and would have just as easily worked through the Democratic Party, if it made better sense for his purposes.
However, the opportunity was where he found it, and he took it.
Whether the GOP can maintain a grip, after DT's disintegration/death, on his media driven circus is an open question.
The second reason I disagree is that your position assumes the world situation is static and that this new power structure can continue happily into the future.
Any one paying attention knows that we are about to enter an era of severe environmental crisis.
Trump lost in 2020 because of how badly he mis-managed response to COVID.
His talent is BS.
You cannot BS a virus.
And no amount of diminishing Trump blather, FOX spin, or rantings from the RFK Jr, Musk, D. Trump, Orban, Putin, Netanyahu, et.al. clown car is going to stop what is coming. Especially since these guys are the most likely group to keep burning oil, starting wars, and poisoning the sea.
Of course, their house crumbling around them is of little consolation to us.
I do hope to be around, though, to see the coming traffic jam of MAGA faithful, coming up I-95, hoping to find clean water and a place above sea level to live. Coming up... up to where the libs are.
The Republican Party has been the party of the filthy rich for generations. It is their "program" to profit from busting unions, paying starvation wages, and gutting affordable healthcare for the unwashed masses. They steal public lands and deregulate sprawling industries that pollute the environment we must live in, poisoning the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.
And by shifting the burden of healthcare and environmental cleanup onto middle-class taxpayers struggling to make ends meet, fat-cat, excessively wealthy industrialists who control the Republican Party avoid contributing their fair share, laughing as their fortunes grow and ours shrink.
Trump is the butt boy who will do the bidding of the wealthy elite bastards. And since the Republican Party is also the party of religious bigots, racists, xenophobes, misogynists, and an assortment of other ignorant assholes, Trump quickly rose to the top of the heap of miscreants. He is their idol, someone who is exactly like them.
So, no, Trump would NOT "have just as easily worked through the Democratic Party ..." Being a Republican does not necessarily mean someone is a religious bigot, racist, xenophobe, misogynist, and ignorant asshole, but if they are, chances are, they're a Republican and think Trump is their God-given savior on Earth — false religion on steroids!
And, no, my "position" does NOT "assume the world situation is static and that this new power structure can continue happily into the future." I never said that nor assumed that; those are your strawman thoughts and words attributed to me to make your points. Logical-fallacy arguments are ineffective.
Again, no: We are NOT "about to enter ..." Where have you been!? "Anyone paying attention knows that we [have ALREADY entered] an era of severe environmental crisis" that negatively affects every living soul on Earth, regardless of their status or political stripe. Every person everywhere needs to act urgently to address humankind's greatest crisis. Little time remains to mitigate the worst effects of this planet-destroying downward spiral.
At least Democrats have recognized that the global climate crisis is real, implemented domestic legislation, and collaborated internationally on treaties, albeit way too slowly, because of Republican resistance driven by greedy corporate interests. Meanwhile, the Republican Party and Trump are still struggling to acknowledge there even is a crisis, let alone solve it.
The fundamental problem is power — who has it and who doesn't. The people have almost none. So, we need to change the dynamics of our politics. The question is how.
Substacks seem to be a way to spread information except everybody wants to charge for what they offer. Is it asking too much to stop charging if you are able to pay your bills? How does restacking work? If an article that I paid for is restacked to my free substack, can people who didn't pay for the original article read it?
I am with you Gloria, but substack seems to be the new business model, for stay at homes.
If I subscribed to evey substack that interested me,and every streaming service, I would have no money for food or gas.
And I do no do subscriptions, they are almost impossible to cancel. There is no one click way of unsubscribing from anything,not even supplements.
So I don't subscribe,most substacks are just peoples opinions, and I have and cherish my own, The only thing substack is useful for is the occasional bit of info I get from the article or a comment.
Honestly If I subscribed to every substack of interest I would be payingmore than I do for Car insurance,and even more if I subscribed to every streaming service. It is bad enough I have to pay over $200 for Sateliite TV service (no over the air or cable where I live).
Donald I totally agree with your analogy, especially comparing it to Rome.
As you now after the assassination of Julius,his nephew Octavian rose to power, well not rose, there was a brutal civil war culminating in the battle of Phillipa, which he only won by a fluke.
Never the less Rome was peaceful during his long reign, under the law of Pater Familia, but as corrupt as ever. He had an effective police state. But he died and it all went to hell, it manage to drag on another four years, and it turned from offensive to defensive, and finally the seat of power was relocated to Constantinople
While it was a Republic Rome fed its people with their own and imported grain, but after it became an Empire it relied so heavily on Egypt that it lost it's own capacity for self sustenance.
In the same way America has. Oh we can feed the people with agribusiness, but we can't provide them the means to buy the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
It took 1,000 years for the earth's population to doube, half that fot it to double again,half that double again and now it doubles in 40 years.
The same for Empires, the Roman lasted 1,000 years, the imperium almost 500, the Spanish Empire lasted 158 years the British Empire 90 years,
There are those who want to claim there is an American Empire, but not realy Imperial America property started with the Spanish American war in 1898, and terminated in 1934 with the end of the banana wars.. 36 years
And no we aren't an empire, our 800 installations overseas are there at the request and agreement of the host nations, we spend our tax dollars to save them theirs. All our installations exist under a Status of Forces Ageement (SOFA) and they can, and have kicked us out at any time, It recently happened in Niger andChad, Iraq wants to, but can't afford to because of the threat from Sunni ISIS. Iraq is Shia Led and that is important.
My point is that as time accelerates so does cycles, technology, primarily information technology results in time contractions.
Here is the piece I pounded out yesterday to a dear friend who is a Trump Supporter……
Voters Used Trump to Rebel!
Trump thinks most Americans voted for him. He is wrong. They were using him to rebel against the establishment.
The lower middle class and working class had to keep working during the Covid pandemic while the rest of us stayed in our homes as requested. Those who had to work went to far more funerals than the rest of us. That was grossly unfair. This vote was a rebellion against the establishment, on that we agree. What is immoral and needs to be corrected is, basically, two things: 1) everyone who works deserves to receive a livable income, and 2) everyone who works should get money put into their Roth retirement account or equivalent so they will have enough to live on when retired that goes beyond social security, and they will not have to pay taxes on it when they take it out. Those two are minimums for a rich society to be a moral society.
Will Trump give those two things priority? In his first term, his only significant legislation was large tax breaks for the wealth and corporations. He clearly is not making the above for working people a priority. He doesn't even talk about it and did many things against the interest of workers during his first administration. He does not have a moral compass. He only has a me compass. He has more establishment values than anyone else!
It was a revolt against the establishment as it was in 2016. In 2020, they gave Biden a try and he didn’t get it either. There was not a third choice! Their only choice to rebel again was to vote for Trump. I support their rebellion!!! Fully. But we now need to launch a private sector movement to accomplish the above because Trump does not have the possibility in his thinking to do it. That is where my focus will now go.
If you and Bobby Kennedy can get Trump to agree the above is what he needs to give priority, you will have made a gigantic step to bring a moral foundation to this immature capitalism we are suffering. We do not want to give up supporting individual free choice and free markets. That means we need to mature into common good capitalism. That is what the above are the first steps toward accomplishing. The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour….in 2024! What is more immoral than this in the wealthiest nation on Earth?
All empires implode from within. If you and Bobby do not get to Donald, him thinking this was a vote in support of him tearing everything down will be the implosion of our empire from within. With all my heart and soul I hope you two guys get to him.
Terry Mollner was a co-founder of the first socially responsible mutual fund company, Calvert Funds, and the author of The 11 Questions: They reveal it is self-evident the most fundamental fact in physics is the universe operates as an undividable whole, as one thing, or none of us would be breathing.
Are you joking? Are you really saying that if Bobby Kennedy and some trump voter can convince TCF to do the right thing, that everything will be fine?!
"We can’t pretend we don’t know what’s happening and where it will lead if it’s not stopped. And now that we do know, we can’t escape the moral obligation to resist with everything we have."
Amen - personally I believe we owe it to those military leaders and the intelligence community who have put their lives on the line to protect this country.
Most “trumpers” didn’t believe the talk of military tribunals or selling out the intelligence community. Many have veterans flags carefully preserved in their homes.
Now non elected “advisers” are telling Americans that the lowered prices they expected aren’t coming. But cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (used for long term care for elderly people) will be made to pay for tax cuts for the ultra wealthy.
See how that goes over with rural voters and working class.
What a Read this morning ☕ Thom, I've got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes ?! You've written the absolute truth here and I agree, If we don't pull the Emergency Break, this is going to be the worst Train Wreck in history, and there will be no stopping it. Excellent piece, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
At this point, anyone who reads Thom's essays already knows how this will unfold.
What's the plan? Who is organizing a response while there may still be time? How do we fight back?
These are the things I want to know.
Yes. How does the average person fight back and resist?
Well, it will first require a team of like-minded people who agree on BOTH the goals and the methods. It will require long-term focus and commitment.
None of which I see coming from the corporate Democratic Party.
I offer a first step plan in a follow up comment I just posted.
D.
Maybe we can cut it off at the pass. Thom cited to Stephen Spoonamore, who was CEO or CTO at seven high technology firms including two that specialized in hacking and counter-hacking operations. He wrote a memo alleging that to "a near certainty" the results have been changed at a scale which reversed the election. He recommends a hand recount to most likely require reversal. He cites to a letter from 7 experts in computer science who go into detail. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/letter-to-vp-harris-111324.pdf
Still waiting to hear about validity of the Greg Palast claim that 2.7 million votes were ditched. According to the Philly papers, we lost Pa in Biden's home area, former Biden supporters. Not Gen Z. Not Blacks. Lost 2 Pa Dem house seats.
A hand count there is problematical that could verify the claims is being litigated. There are a myriad of other inconsitencies.
Perhaps more important are the threats made by Russian propaganda to frighten Dems, destruction of ballots, bomb scares at Dem precincts, etc. On election eve, the FBI issued a statement. "Since our statement on Friday, the Intelligence Community (IC) has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans."
If voters were wary of the "other" it was because Russia and a complying media and Republican proaganda targeted visceral voters. To me the "other" is Russia.
The FBI said in a statement it was aware of the threats, many of which originated from Russian email domains, but the agency also downplayed their risk. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the statement said.
In Pennsylvania, a polling place in West Chester was evacuated because of a threat, according to Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Board of Elections. The Government Services Center was searched by dogs, and voters at the two polling stations in the center were redirected to neighboring polling places that extended their voting hours to accommodate them.
A Pennsylvania judge also granted a motion to extend voting in Clearfield County, northeast of Pittsburgh, after a bomb threat targeted an administrative building where votes were being counted, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
In Georgia, several voting locations extended their hours due to bomb threats, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as reported by CNN. “We identify the source that it was from Russia,” he said in an earlier press conference.
Officials in DeKalb County, where five polling places suspended voting due to bomb threats, said no bombs were found, and voters were able to re-enter the polling booths and vote.
Fulton County Police Chief W. Wade Yates said that out of 177 polling places in the county, 32 faced bomb threats, and five required evacuation and had their hours extended as a result. Yates said authorities intend to prosecute those who made the threats.
Officials in Wisconsin and Michigan also confirmed bomb threats in several polling locations in the state, according to ABC7 Chicago. And Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that four locations in Navajo County faced bomb threats that federal and state authorities dismissed as “not credible.” Fontes said the threats came from emails with Russian domains, and that the motive looks to be to “ensue chaos” and not to “impact any political outcome.”
From Time Magazine.
The appointment of Tulsi Gabbard, reasonably looks like Trump reciprocation in thanks for a "big steal".
Agreed - read that letter when I first saw it posted. Trump’s tour of vengeance should not be allowed against our military or other Americans that he and his goon squad consider “enemies”.
President Biden and his family will be targets as well as anyone else who doesn’t bend a knee.
I’m old and live among crazy people who have lots of guns. Some are Trump loyalists. But cut their benefits and they will get angry too.
Even if it is found out that Harris won by a narrow margin, how would the election be overturned at this point? Harris isn't asking for it. What kind of deals have already been made? The SCOTUS goes in the direction of big money. How did Harris get so many big donors anyway? What was promised? We passed the point of working people having a say many years ago.
Voting is a state by state matter. If there is probable cause, hand recounts. Most of the swing states are blue/purple.
People like me donated. Lots of people like me.
Certainly not "Bipartisan" Joe Biden.
Thom,
I have written often and cited Mayer just as you did. I have seen this coming since 2008 when after serving in Iraq I left the GOP. What we are witnessing is frightening and frankly terrifying. So many people and institutions are obeying in advance, and he hasn’t even taken office.
All the best, keep up the fight, as I will too.
Steve Dundas
They thought they were free should be required reading. I found it on BookBub for $2
Like Thom, for years, I've seen this coming. I would talk of dumbing down the electorate so that they would be unable to think, period, just think, let alone think critically. Fortunately or unfortunately I have engaged at looking at Germany prior to & during the Nazi years. I've watched the documentaries, at first most of the documentaries emphansized the battlefields around the world. Then as things started to become more problematic for our democracy the documentaries have focused on what the Nazi Party did to the average German. They were completely immersed in Germany for the Germans & the need for "lebensraum", living space for Germans, thus began the conquest of Europe, with emphasis on Eastern Europe which was home to people of Slavic ancestry. Those folks were designated as useful to the Reich as workers/slaves because they were just about human. And we all know how Hitler felt about Jews, the Romani, the disabled & where that led!
So now we are headed down that same road. How long before the camps fill up with the enemy du jour? And as the camps get filled & the people can not be deported because no one will take them. (At this point I need to remind us that every country where that boat filled with 900 Jews fleeing persecution, stopped was turned away & that boat returned to Germany where most of the people were murdered.) So after several years of filling camps, what palatial estate will house the meeting for the 'Final Solution' of "our" problem? I recall that one the first ideas that Hitler came up with was to dump all the Jews in Madagascar. We see that that particular idea didn't work then & won't work now. So what will it be? Undoubtedly the people like Miller saw that mass killing by shooting people was just too hard on the soldiers so will there be some more humane was (for the murders only) to eliminate the problem. I guess we'll see won't we?
Hysteria on my part? Maybe, but if past is prologue, & history does indeed repeat itself or rhymes there will be years of unpleasantness ahead. And that is putting it mildly.
I think you have nailed it perfectly. Unbelievable that this is where America is.
What doesn't get out of my mind is the fact that Trump in 2017 talked about deporting all Muslims and moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an is Bibi's BFF
Despite that
'Trump won because of us,' said one of the founders of Muslims for Trump, 'and we're not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others'
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-11-17/ty-article/trumps-pro-israel-cabinet-picks-upset-muslims-who-voted-for-him/00000193-39b4-dcd3-a3b7-bdbfa2250000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=Content&utm_campaign=daily-brief&utm_content=ef36d27152
The Muslim vote, alone in WI, MI, PA would have guaranteed a Harris win, She needed 270 votes, he has 226, those threee states have 44, 226 plus 44 makes 270.
Alhamdulillah /s
Those people were just useful idiots to the TCF and the GQP to be ignored until they’re used as scapegoats before being deported.
They’re adults whose willful ignorance has hastened their demise.
You can only be a useful idiots if you let your emotions cloud your judgement. In their case they are emotionally committed to the ummah. That is the problem with dual citizenship and identity politics. people don't develop crticial thinking skills, and thus can't use them.
For instance I have been called a Zionist by some yahoos, who lack CR and an antisemite by others.
The epithet that seems to be most popular is racist. It all depends on whose ox I am goring at the time.
Wasn't it H L Mencken who said I live humanity, but I hate people?. Ditto here.
Do you have any documentaries about the German people before and during the Nazi take over that you would recommend?
There are several on Netflix. I can't think of the names off hand but they should be easy to find. Watch them & see what awaits! If you look for anything about Hitler you should come across them. There's a 10 part series & then there are others about the attempts in his life. I think Amazon Prime has some too. Sorry I can't be more specific.
I researched this some more.
On Prime:
1. How the Nazis Lost the War
2. Hitler's Secret Missions
3. The Complete Story of Hitler & the Nazis
4. Hitler, Germany's Fatal Attraction
5. Hitler & Stalin: A Secret Relationship
6. The SS, a Barbaric State
7. The Plot to Assassinate Hitler
(I can't recall if I watched all of these or not.)
Netflix
1. Hitler's Circle of Evil ( this is 10 part series)
2. Eldorado, Everything the Nazis Hate
3. Hitler & the Nazis, Evil on Trial
4. Ordinary Men, The Forgotten Holocaust ( This one is about the 'ordinary men' that carried out killings outside of the death camps.)
5. Hitler, a Career
That's all I could find. I think some of the ones I watched may have dropped off but this list should fill you in.
I especially recommend that 10 part series
Thanks!
Bob Woodward made an interesting observation. Trump nominates incompetent people to head the DOJ and DOD not really for their loyalty but for the incompetence. Trump wants to run them. He strives for an Imperial Presidency. He wants to rule over the U.S. like Putin over Russia, Xi over China, Kim Jong Un over North Korea.
The Gabbard nomination is sincere, pay off to Putin. The Gaetz nomination is game playing, he and Gaetz cooked this up on the plane ride.
They knew it would be rjected even by Republicans. The House ethics committee was about to release it's report, that report would have doomed Gaetz.
Gaetz actually won his re election and will be seated now as a freshman with the 119th Congress as he has resigned, Mike Johnson was going to squash the Ethics committee finding, but I have a suspiscion that he has figured out the game.
Here is the game. Gaetz will succumb to pressure withdraw from the AG nomination, be sworn in to the 119th Congress, which Trump will totally control, and be the speaker of the house.
Trump wants his AG to be his personal lawyers, and in that capacity Gaetz is a dunce. Trump has his eye on someone who has experience inside the Beltway and has connections., a Bill Barr, maybe even Jeffrey Clark, but not a non compus mentis like Gaetz.
Demand recounts - especially in the swing states - but voters have the right to demand them in every state!
Trump didn’t win by very many votes.
Some numbers are less than 250,000 in the swing states with down ballot democratic candidates winning their elections.
Our voting machines and software were breached. Mr Starlink is now the Shadow President.
We the people have nothing to lose by demanding recounts of the ballots before our country is turned over to trump and co.
Contact your Secretary of State, local representative, State Democratic Party and any other elected representative. Call or email demanding an audit.
The Democrats aren’t doing them except in a few places - WHY!!!!
We have nothing to lose but our freedom!
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (From Poems by Dylan Thomas)
The American people need to be awakend and many are urging just that now. The barn and the horse. Always late. Another quote by the great Welsh poet Dylan captures just how aware Americans have been for the last eight years, from Milk Wood: "All of the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now."
Amen. See my comments, supra.
Demand recounts you say Kay? That would be up to Kamala. Never happen, Kamala couldn't wait to conceded, she phoned Trump to congratulate him less than 5 hours after the polls closed. She isn't walking that back.
It even looks like she couldn't wait to concede. We have no idea of what was or is going on in the background, all we do is take things at face value,and we never, ever should do that.
Concurrent jurisdiction.
Provided your case is in that jurisdiction. I assume you are referring to Pennyslvania, the recount in Pennsylvania applies to Pennsylvania and I am guessing to Bob Casey.
Voting machines aren't connected to the internet, so local election officials with access to the machines and software would be the ones who would have to "breach" them.
The voting machines aren't, but the tabluators are, that is how the likes of Steven Karnacki, can keep his ever changing board up to date, even district by district.
It is not the vote that counts, but who counts the votes Deepspace.
That, and the millions who were unfairly struck from registration rolls or otherwise disenfranchised, such as not counting provisional ballots, long, discouraging lines, not enough machines in poor neighborhoods, and faulty, poorly maintained machines, etc., etc. And by far the greatest vote suppression institution of all: the Electoral College, which discourages many more millions from voting in presidential races in the solid red and blue states, because votes going against the grain don't really matter.
Absolutely correct, the election was rigged, Trump as usual was right. Like when he said the media is the enemy of the people, or the FBI is the enemy of the people, but not in the way he intended and his cult believed.
The media gave him billions of free advertising and it was they that elected him in 2016 and again this year. The FBI instead of investigating the Proud Boys, the Militias,the Right wing were infiltrating and investigating BLM and antifascism and J6 was the result, and while the media was kvetching over stolen elections, Trump and his billionaires were stealing the election for him.
And the feckless still don't have a clue. I am waiting for the parade of pundits and hosts, and of course MSNBC to make the pilgrimage, literally or virtually, to Mar a Lago, the new White House. I foresee government contracts being let,to build a west wing and a storage facility.
And so it begins: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of the Morning Joe freak show, have already made the pilgrimage — literally — to Mar a "Lardo."
Joe and Mika got married at Mar a Lago, and were talking heads on MSNBC that helped Trump get elected, then when he proved to be a liar and an embarrassment he jumped on the anti Trump bandwagon
They are reading tea leaves and want to survive a Trump dictatorship
Ari Melber, who is a lawyer by training, read those tea leaves a long time ago, he has been very careful not to express an opinon, but merely quotes the opininons of others.
Even Ali Velshi is toning it down, but the rest seem to be of the mind that "i'm already fucked so why not keep swimming. Trump is after MSNBC, and there is not so much talk about Trump on that channel as about his appointees, currently Gabbard, Gaetz and RFK Jr, they seem to be keeping Trump out of their mouths.
Ar
The software was breached. A woman is serving time in prison for it in AZ. The American people have a right - so we were told in 2020 - to have the election results verified. Turnabout is fair play - audit the vote.
Barking up a tree Kay. The vote will not be audited, because Kamala would have to demand it, and she couldn't wait to conceded, telephoning Trump less than 5 hrs after the last poll closed, and conceding while votes were counted.
If Trump would have done that, his base would have risen up in a cry of betrayal,
But Dems are sheep to the slaughter, and would never ever suggest such a thing.
Nope. Concurrent jurisdiction. In Pa, the senate vote triggers it.
Proof of crime might trigger it, depending on the statute. Feds: https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/election-crimes-and-security
Pa. https://govt.westlaw.com/pac/Document/NE9692E70343011DA8A989F4EECDB8638?originationContext=document&transitionType=StatuteNavigator&needToInjectTerms=False&viewType=FullText&ppcid=4373140374c44d6283d5fa30147210e8&contextData=%28sc.Default%29
https://whyy.org/articles/lancaster-county-voter-registration-fraud-investigation-elections-2024/
I hopium that you are correct? (I avoid using right as much as I can anymore)
So many important issues will be set back decades if not longer. I weep for our children, and they will have no idea. Neoliberalism has already done plenty of damage in my lifetime and now it will get worse. I hope for a large and organized resistance, but I am skeptical.
Terrifying and already progressing.
Presumably the immunity and power SCOTUS intended for Trump is available to Biden for a few more days. Can he be persuaded to use it to stop the handing over of democracy to fascism?
Biden has to declare martial law and refuse to inaugurate Trump until: 1) a full recount; 2) investigation of all suspected Russian assets inside government and outside; 3) create media that is government & public funded. Control tech entirely so that it's "social" NOT political. You want politics? Read a book. Go to public media. Reassign outlets like Fox to entertainment. Delcare war on Russia to do this. Potus is King. He can do what he wants. What about the rules, you ask? THEY have no rules! We have the rules and we aren't even in the same game. Martial law for four years; 2 year midterms. Then elections again.
The GOP willing to end democracy will go down in the annals of history as a betrayal beyond the pale. The delusion of delusions is their only reward.
SO WHAT DO WE DO?????
I feel compelled to offer a suggestion in response to my own comment of a few hours ago... Please bear with me...
I propose a somewhat different way of picturing the descent into Trump 2 -- different from the European fascist Mussolini, Hitler, Franco pattern. Although I will grant that the result for the great majority of Americans will be essentially the same.
Rather, I see this drama being more like the transition of Rome from Republic to Empire.
The collapse of the Roman republic was driven by enormous wealth made available in a short period of time, by conquest: Specifically, resources from North Africa, Iberia and Gaul that poured into Italy and destroyed, in a few decades, the market for goods and especially grains produced by the common Roman citizens.
Within a few decades the citizens of Rome, the farmers and craftsmen that built the Republic, became unnecessary and dependent upon the dole. They served only as spectators to their nation's expansion or as a mob ginned up to support one of a VERY small number of men from select families who were participating in the expansion, while developed cults of personality around themselves.
Like D. Trump, these men rose and fell depending upon their sway over the mob. He, like they, had no ideology and survived by the ability to work the audience.
We already see competing personalities swarming around DT, waiting to seize opportunity and perhaps control if the Donald slips. It is more like Chicago in the 1920s than Germany in the 1930s.
Both Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini were in their 40s when they each took control. DT is 78 and a mental and physical wreck. Since he depends upon no firm ideology, and resists any structured organization that would also offer a process of control or succession, his decline will trigger a free-for-all among the creatures around him, as they jockey for the attention of the mob.
I suggest our hope of ending this nightmare before it can develop a true, ideological and administrative structure is to focus upon making fully visible the coming struggle for control as Musk, RFK Jr., DT Jr., Murdock, Jr., Vance, and all the other vermin that have crawled out from under a rock scramble to gain ascendancy.
Further, we should devise and pursue any method that further puts them at each other's throats in a prolonged and visible show.
As for the second step: How we develop an alternative after the clown car crashes. I fear the Democratic Party is not the answer...
Any ideas??
D.
In this chapter in the saga of American democracy going through the final stages of decline, all the countervailing powers of our democratic institutions — the people's vote, opposition political parties, Congress, the media, law enforcement, and, especially, the courts — have utterly failed to stop the Republican Party and their super wealthy, anti-democratic benefactors from methodically and systematically, spanning nearly a century or longer, from realizing their diabolical dream of an authoritarian plutocracy. The second Trump presidency is their coup de grâce.
So, how do you convince enough good citizens to rally around the right cause in a hopelessly polarized, scatter-shot media environment diluted by lies, lies, and more lies? And if that were even possible somehow, how do you then create an infrastructure from scratch, big enough to fight a national fascistic movement and reverse the slide?
Both questions are historic, with no suitable answers. Any effective resistance undoubtably would be a long, hard slog with no guarantees, given the fickle mood of an electorate pumped full of lies. The only meager semblance of resistance this late in the game is the Democratic Party, which would have to be infiltrated and revamped from top to bottom.
Nazi Germany and every other fascist takeover of society throughout history has always depended on the complacency and compliance of citizens, if not outright cooperation, allowing it to happen.
I disagree with your analysis based upon two things.
One, the Republican Party did not succeed in their program. Rather, one grifter appeared and took the base that the GOP had been cultivating for their purposes and ran with it. Trump could have and would have just as easily worked through the Democratic Party, if it made better sense for his purposes.
However, the opportunity was where he found it, and he took it.
Whether the GOP can maintain a grip, after DT's disintegration/death, on his media driven circus is an open question.
The second reason I disagree is that your position assumes the world situation is static and that this new power structure can continue happily into the future.
Any one paying attention knows that we are about to enter an era of severe environmental crisis.
Trump lost in 2020 because of how badly he mis-managed response to COVID.
His talent is BS.
You cannot BS a virus.
And no amount of diminishing Trump blather, FOX spin, or rantings from the RFK Jr, Musk, D. Trump, Orban, Putin, Netanyahu, et.al. clown car is going to stop what is coming. Especially since these guys are the most likely group to keep burning oil, starting wars, and poisoning the sea.
Of course, their house crumbling around them is of little consolation to us.
I do hope to be around, though, to see the coming traffic jam of MAGA faithful, coming up I-95, hoping to find clean water and a place above sea level to live. Coming up... up to where the libs are.
The Republican Party has been the party of the filthy rich for generations. It is their "program" to profit from busting unions, paying starvation wages, and gutting affordable healthcare for the unwashed masses. They steal public lands and deregulate sprawling industries that pollute the environment we must live in, poisoning the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.
And by shifting the burden of healthcare and environmental cleanup onto middle-class taxpayers struggling to make ends meet, fat-cat, excessively wealthy industrialists who control the Republican Party avoid contributing their fair share, laughing as their fortunes grow and ours shrink.
Trump is the butt boy who will do the bidding of the wealthy elite bastards. And since the Republican Party is also the party of religious bigots, racists, xenophobes, misogynists, and an assortment of other ignorant assholes, Trump quickly rose to the top of the heap of miscreants. He is their idol, someone who is exactly like them.
So, no, Trump would NOT "have just as easily worked through the Democratic Party ..." Being a Republican does not necessarily mean someone is a religious bigot, racist, xenophobe, misogynist, and ignorant asshole, but if they are, chances are, they're a Republican and think Trump is their God-given savior on Earth — false religion on steroids!
And, no, my "position" does NOT "assume the world situation is static and that this new power structure can continue happily into the future." I never said that nor assumed that; those are your strawman thoughts and words attributed to me to make your points. Logical-fallacy arguments are ineffective.
Again, no: We are NOT "about to enter ..." Where have you been!? "Anyone paying attention knows that we [have ALREADY entered] an era of severe environmental crisis" that negatively affects every living soul on Earth, regardless of their status or political stripe. Every person everywhere needs to act urgently to address humankind's greatest crisis. Little time remains to mitigate the worst effects of this planet-destroying downward spiral.
At least Democrats have recognized that the global climate crisis is real, implemented domestic legislation, and collaborated internationally on treaties, albeit way too slowly, because of Republican resistance driven by greedy corporate interests. Meanwhile, the Republican Party and Trump are still struggling to acknowledge there even is a crisis, let alone solve it.
The fundamental problem is power — who has it and who doesn't. The people have almost none. So, we need to change the dynamics of our politics. The question is how.
Substacks seem to be a way to spread information except everybody wants to charge for what they offer. Is it asking too much to stop charging if you are able to pay your bills? How does restacking work? If an article that I paid for is restacked to my free substack, can people who didn't pay for the original article read it?
I am with you Gloria, but substack seems to be the new business model, for stay at homes.
If I subscribed to evey substack that interested me,and every streaming service, I would have no money for food or gas.
And I do no do subscriptions, they are almost impossible to cancel. There is no one click way of unsubscribing from anything,not even supplements.
So I don't subscribe,most substacks are just peoples opinions, and I have and cherish my own, The only thing substack is useful for is the occasional bit of info I get from the article or a comment.
Honestly If I subscribed to every substack of interest I would be payingmore than I do for Car insurance,and even more if I subscribed to every streaming service. It is bad enough I have to pay over $200 for Sateliite TV service (no over the air or cable where I live).
Donald I totally agree with your analogy, especially comparing it to Rome.
As you now after the assassination of Julius,his nephew Octavian rose to power, well not rose, there was a brutal civil war culminating in the battle of Phillipa, which he only won by a fluke.
Never the less Rome was peaceful during his long reign, under the law of Pater Familia, but as corrupt as ever. He had an effective police state. But he died and it all went to hell, it manage to drag on another four years, and it turned from offensive to defensive, and finally the seat of power was relocated to Constantinople
While it was a Republic Rome fed its people with their own and imported grain, but after it became an Empire it relied so heavily on Egypt that it lost it's own capacity for self sustenance.
In the same way America has. Oh we can feed the people with agribusiness, but we can't provide them the means to buy the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
It took 1,000 years for the earth's population to doube, half that fot it to double again,half that double again and now it doubles in 40 years.
The same for Empires, the Roman lasted 1,000 years, the imperium almost 500, the Spanish Empire lasted 158 years the British Empire 90 years,
There are those who want to claim there is an American Empire, but not realy Imperial America property started with the Spanish American war in 1898, and terminated in 1934 with the end of the banana wars.. 36 years
And no we aren't an empire, our 800 installations overseas are there at the request and agreement of the host nations, we spend our tax dollars to save them theirs. All our installations exist under a Status of Forces Ageement (SOFA) and they can, and have kicked us out at any time, It recently happened in Niger andChad, Iraq wants to, but can't afford to because of the threat from Sunni ISIS. Iraq is Shia Led and that is important.
My point is that as time accelerates so does cycles, technology, primarily information technology results in time contractions.
Here is the piece I pounded out yesterday to a dear friend who is a Trump Supporter……
Voters Used Trump to Rebel!
Trump thinks most Americans voted for him. He is wrong. They were using him to rebel against the establishment.
The lower middle class and working class had to keep working during the Covid pandemic while the rest of us stayed in our homes as requested. Those who had to work went to far more funerals than the rest of us. That was grossly unfair. This vote was a rebellion against the establishment, on that we agree. What is immoral and needs to be corrected is, basically, two things: 1) everyone who works deserves to receive a livable income, and 2) everyone who works should get money put into their Roth retirement account or equivalent so they will have enough to live on when retired that goes beyond social security, and they will not have to pay taxes on it when they take it out. Those two are minimums for a rich society to be a moral society.
Will Trump give those two things priority? In his first term, his only significant legislation was large tax breaks for the wealth and corporations. He clearly is not making the above for working people a priority. He doesn't even talk about it and did many things against the interest of workers during his first administration. He does not have a moral compass. He only has a me compass. He has more establishment values than anyone else!
It was a revolt against the establishment as it was in 2016. In 2020, they gave Biden a try and he didn’t get it either. There was not a third choice! Their only choice to rebel again was to vote for Trump. I support their rebellion!!! Fully. But we now need to launch a private sector movement to accomplish the above because Trump does not have the possibility in his thinking to do it. That is where my focus will now go.
If you and Bobby Kennedy can get Trump to agree the above is what he needs to give priority, you will have made a gigantic step to bring a moral foundation to this immature capitalism we are suffering. We do not want to give up supporting individual free choice and free markets. That means we need to mature into common good capitalism. That is what the above are the first steps toward accomplishing. The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour….in 2024! What is more immoral than this in the wealthiest nation on Earth?
All empires implode from within. If you and Bobby do not get to Donald, him thinking this was a vote in support of him tearing everything down will be the implosion of our empire from within. With all my heart and soul I hope you two guys get to him.
Terry Mollner was a co-founder of the first socially responsible mutual fund company, Calvert Funds, and the author of The 11 Questions: They reveal it is self-evident the most fundamental fact in physics is the universe operates as an undividable whole, as one thing, or none of us would be breathing.
Are you joking? Are you really saying that if Bobby Kennedy and some trump voter can convince TCF to do the right thing, that everything will be fine?!
"We can’t pretend we don’t know what’s happening and where it will lead if it’s not stopped. And now that we do know, we can’t escape the moral obligation to resist with everything we have."
I couldn't agree more.
Amen - personally I believe we owe it to those military leaders and the intelligence community who have put their lives on the line to protect this country.
Most “trumpers” didn’t believe the talk of military tribunals or selling out the intelligence community. Many have veterans flags carefully preserved in their homes.
Now non elected “advisers” are telling Americans that the lowered prices they expected aren’t coming. But cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (used for long term care for elderly people) will be made to pay for tax cuts for the ultra wealthy.
See how that goes over with rural voters and working class.
Not!!!!
Very good, we're pretty much on the same page (I could do without the reference to Cuba and, to a degree, even Stalin). But you're 98% on target. Here's my take. https://portside.org/2024-11-18/leader-never-apologizes-even-god