Thank you so very much for the history. Sadly, I didn’t know half of it and I’ve been a teacher for many years. The history most students are taught this country is pathetic. I see now how much of it is propaganda to indoctrinate a passive, powerless citizenry.
Did you ever when teaching your subject - which appears to be history- question the content and research to establish the veracity or implications? This question is not to demean you I am just wondering. Inquiring minds need to know!
Can't help but wonder about the people that fall in line and help the autocrat achieve each stage. They just seem to know Dear Leader's expectations and then compete to see who can exceed them.
Representative Maxwell Frost was on Colbert, and he brought a tear to my eye. He described families of the disappeared calling the hospitals. I think we have all been that frantic when someone in our lives suddenly can't be reached. He spoke about legislation forcing the agencies to publish who they have in custody and where they are.
It has become about the Civil War throwbacks and Nazis among us. Perhaps some were created, but the vast majority were simply given permission. We need to believe them when they tell us who they are. We must follow OUR nature to seek justice and equality under the law.
Thanks Thom, good lesson today. See you in the streets.
Maxwell Frost's family experienced this when they lived in Cuba. I wonder whether he has any influence with the 3 MAGAT Cuban American House members here in Baghdad By the Sea?
Reprise. Miami healthcare CEO Michael “Mike” B. Fernandez wrote the following open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of the Republican Cuban-American Miami-Dade congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maria Elvira Salazar.
"For decades, I have stood with you in defense of the freedoms we cherish, those we were denied in the country of our birth and found in the grace of this one. I know what it means to flee tyranny.
"Like you, I carry that history in my bones and that pain in my heart. But like a growing number in our community, I have watched with dismay as the very values we once found sanctuary in are now being attacked by a previously unthinkable threat — the sitting president of the United States."
Terrific article as usual. It is disheartening to see parallels between today and the Civil War era. The MAGA militia, the DHS/Gestapo, the toady Cabinet and reckless elimination of top military leaders based upon the assertion that Blacks, females, and sexual minorities are eugenically inferior relative to white males is clearly a coordinated insurrection/coup. However, today, the conspiracy to overthrow our democracy is far deeper and broader than it was in the Civil War era.
I have been reading a long manuscript entitled: "The MAGA Ideology and the Trump Regime" by John Bellamy Foster in "The Monthly Review" which connects a lot of dots in my awareness space that forms a nasty and unnerving spider-web of capitalist oligarch fascism. https://monthlyreview.org/2025/05/01/the-maga-ideology-and-the-trump-regime/
Foster connects organizations like Heritage and Claremont to Supreme Court Justices, and other members of the "real' deep state that Trump castigates, which are enabling his efforts to be the oligarch's "useful idiot" in the Lenin sense, to lead the overthrow of our government. It sure seems to me that the 2026 federal mid-term elections will be the hinge point of our nation's future. I wonder if the DNC is currently preparing for actions to reverse the Oligarch chainsaw massacre we have already endured.
I haven't read it but on another site I've been arguing the religious basis.
From wiki The progenerator of Heritage 2025, Russell Vought, OMB, Trump policy maven graduated from the evangelical Christian Wheaton College and describes himself as a Christian nationalist. He seeks to infuse the government and society with elements of Christianity, saying he has "a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society", according to The Washington Post.[61] In a secretly recorded meeting in 2024, Vought said that conservatives should discuss whether to prioritize Christian immigrants over those of other religions.[50] Vought supports a total ban on abortion. He has called the Democratic Party "increasingly evil" for supporting secularism.
Since 2022, Vought has advocated for what he calls "radical constitutionalism" to reverse what he calls a current "post-Constitutional time"; he asserts this has been the result of a century of corruption of laws and institutions by the political left. He characterizes the federal bureaucracy as "woke and weaponized" and advocates replacing it with "radical constitutionalists". Vought proposes to "gut the FBI" and end the tradition of political independence of the U.S. Justice Department.
AI: Project 2025, a policy roadmap for a potential second Donald Trump administration, was authored by The Heritage Foundation, along with over 100 conservative organizations. Key contributors include Russ Vought, who leads the Office of Management and Budget, and Paul Dans, who previously directed the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. Other notable contributors include Ken Cuccinelli, Rick Dearborn, and Christopher Miller, among others.
As I read through these 14 steps to autocracy, I could name-check each stage, starting with Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich at step 1 in the 1990's. They taught the Republicans how to communicate in warlike terms. The terms became intentions, which became actions, which are now accomplishments. We now are about two-thirds of the way to autocracy.
Meanwhile, the senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, could rule multiple provisions do not qualify as a budgetary provisions and therefore are not permitted in the bill. That decision is still pending as of today, and the senate is not in session. The Byrd Rule restricts the inclusion of extraneous matter in reconciliation bills.
The presiding officer or the full senate may overrule the advice of the Parliamentarian. In practice, this is rare; the most recent example of a Vice President (as President of the Senate) overruling the parliamentarian was Nelson Rockefeller in 1975.
Everything I see, hear and read, informs me that we are already so deep into a dictatorship, that we can't climb out. The many departments or cabinets, as inefficient and corrupted as they are, took 250 years to build and staff. Now they are gone, along with their institutional memory and replaced by departments/cabinets run and staffed by thugs, whose mandate is to serve the technobros and billionaires. by squashing opposition and dissent.
Picture democracy as existing on the rim of a porcelain cup, knock,it off the cup and it slides down into full fledged dictatorship. Ours has been knocked off the rim and is sliding down the insides. Our only hope is that the cup breaks or we have a rope and grappling hook that we can toss over the lip of the cup.
If the regime were overthrown today, if something miraculous happened, and it all came to a grinding stop. We are still screwed, because government is a machine with interconnecting gears, and Trump and those who pull his strings, have stripped the machine of it's gears that took 250 years to construct.
Gone is the institutional memory, and in many cases even the instruction manuals have been shredded and burned.
Let's say that USAID is restored, who is there that knows how the organization worked, who the contractors are, what they even do, much less how to pay them, where to send the money, who is in charge of the activity. Grain is rotting and being eaten by mice and fungus in warehouses, and there is no one that knows how to distribute them.
That leaves the warehouses open to raids by guerilla groups, crime gangs, and Jihadists.
Linda McMahon has destroyed the Department of Education. Even if she is evicted and the funding and charter restored, is their any institutional knowledge, that can put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Pete Hegseth has completely destroyed the DOD, It will never be the same. His attacks on the General Staff and DEI, can not be undone.
I for one, would like to see an honest, unprejudiced assessment of the morale, and attitudes of the officer corps, and especially those that are loyal to Trump above all else.
Two weeks---he'll let the media know in two weeks. Or maybe TRump will decide one second before he sends our plane into harm's way. He sure as hell won't be asking anyone with any brains about what to do concerning Iran. In the meantime, he will be carefree and chasing around a golf ball.
There is some serious back-stabbing and in-fighting going on among the Republican thugs. That could be good.
According to several sources, there is an ongoing coup. According to Tousi, most of the Iranian general staff has been killed and their successors are pledging support to the crown prince in exile and he is asking Trump for help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjJdkOqhTg
Wilkerson sounds like sour grapes fermened into vinegar. His boss lied to Congress to get us into Iraq. When Tulsi Gabbard speaks, Putin's voice is expressed.
Our major vulnerabilities are bases in Iraq and Syria. 60% of the Iraqui population are Shiite as are most of the Iraqui militias. We can't trust them.
If you follow the money, Saudis and other Gulf countries say they support Iran, but they are Suni and are competititors and fear them.
Putin says he would mediate but he is an ally of the mullahs and he loves high oil prices.
Iraq is complicated. Though Iraq is majority Shia, as is Iran. There is a 1400 year tension or animosity between Arabs and Persians. A hostility that Saddam used, in support of his war with Iran (1980-89), A war, btw, that cost Iran it's complement of young males, a deficiency they are still recovering from.. Khomeini used young boys as walking mine detectors, would send them over minefields in waves, the followed believing they would become shaheds (martyrs)
Besides being Shia and being at "war" with the Sunni, over who is the rightful heir of Muhammad, Iranians detest Arabs, they look at them as lizard eaters.
There is a cultural incompatibility between Persians and Arabs.
The literary-political movement known as the shuʿūbiyyah, which celebrated the excellence of non-Arab Muslim peoples, particularly the Persians, and set the stage for the resurgence of Iranian literature and culture in the decades to come. Regard for poetry—the Arabs’ vehicle of folk memory—increased, and minds and imaginations were quickened.
I will repost the Persian poet Ferdowsi, virtually any educated Iranian can quote him
"Retreat to the Hijaz and resume eating lizards, and herd your cattle
While I seat myself on the throne of kings supported
And this:
From feeding on lizards and camel's milk
So have the afairs of he Arabs prospered.
that they long for the empire of Khosrau,
Shame on thee, O circling Heaven, shame.
Amost any educted Iranian can passionately quote Ferdowsi's lament by a Persian General facing the Arab army.
Damn on this World, Damn on this Time, Damn on Fate,
That uncivilized Arabs have come to force me to be Muslim.
Oh yeh, and if the hard liners in Iran aren't surgical, that would be the pretext for war. A war so costly that it will destroy America, and maybe the west.
Iran is not Iraq, and the Iranians, though they hate the corrupt Mullahs, are nationalistic, like Americans. Their Army is more modern, better equipped, and Iran is much larger and more mountainous than Iraq.
And Iran is producing martyr (shahed) drones for Russia. Hardly a backward country without options and resources, and an alliance with China and North Korea
According to several sources, there is an ongoing coup. According to Tousi, most of the Iranian general staff has been killed and their successors are pledging support to the crown prince in exile and he is asking Trump for help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjJdkOqhTg
Thom, my fear is that Miller will eventually order the round up and imprisonment of anyone who is brown with an accent or Spanish sounding name. It is about making America white again and returning Blacks to slavery. Who or what will stop him? Until people are willing to die for the cause of freedom, it cannot be stopped. And I am not sure even that will stop it
Here is what motivates Stephen Miller. Let's take a look at who he is, he is the grandson of people who fled pogroms. During Trumps first administration, he was the force behind the Muslim band.
That and the fact that he is Jewish, and possibly a Zionist, left his motives exposed, so now he hides his motives behind an anti (brown person)immigrant program.. Mexican and central Americans are only the frosting on the cake, IMO his real goal is to work his way to Muslims.
There is blatant hypocricy in the Trump regime. First he is claiming to censor universities, deny visa's and round up and deport anti semites (people who expressed opposition to Biden's support of Israel.
Yet the administration is supported, nay controlled by anti semites in the form of neo NAZi's, including Musk, Thiel, and I dare say Vance. Who can forget the chant of the tiki torch wielding neo NAZIs of The Jews will not replace us.
It was the Muslim vote in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennyslvania (they didn't vote for Kamala) that put Trump in the White House. Trump and his handlers don't acknowledge the debt that they owe to the Muslims, they can't, it would expose too much. And Miller knows better than to show his hand.
The trump card (pun) Miller is holding is to either expel Muslims, force them back into the woodwork, I think that he is a radical Zionist and that rounding up Latino's is a subterfuge.
As I see it Zionism comes in many forms. For instance I firmly believe that Israel has a right to exist, that there is only one Jewish ethnostate in the world, but 57 Muslim ethnostates, and many more Christian or Quasi Christian ethno states (including the U.S. of A - if you aren't Christian you can never be elected President).
By that definition I am a Zionist.
But I also consider the orthodox settlers who shoot and drive Palestinians off their land, are criminals and should be arrested and tried,by that some consider me an anti semite.
Before the right wing took control of Israel and it's politics, it was a liberal democracy, it even had Arabs in the Knesset, and officially all citizens had equal rights (officially I said), the same is true of America (reality is different)
Since the Israeli right formed a coalition with the Likkud and Netanyahu,it has drifted further right into a nascent form of fascism, in that regard the government of Bibi is not much different from the regime of Donald.
The Israel of today has become a pariah among nations,and that is a shame. I studied the banking system of Israel, and admired it, thought that it should replace our Federal Reserve.
But the Israel of 2025 is not the Israel of 1985
Israel got corrupted by the right, then the right elected Netanyahu,and Israel has been on a slide into fascism ever since. The tolerant liberal democracy of 1985 is gone, all that is left is a memory. I have also just described the United State of America as is at this moment.
I am inclined to blame religion, particularly the Abrhamaic religion for the worlds troubles, but that overlooks ego, chauvinism and the lust for power.
Putin is not religious, in fact per the Algemeiner he might be Jewish) but he knows how to use religion as an instrument of power (over the people) as does Trump and as does Netanyahu.
Today the lawsuit in NY over the vote count remains viable. Rockland County, New York, is still viable as of today, June 20, 2025.
*The lawsuit was filed by SMART Legislation, a nonpartisan election watchdog group, over alleged voting discrepancies, including statistical anomalies and claims of miscounted votes, specifically in Rockland County.
*A judge has allowed the lawsuit to proceed to discovery, ruling in May that the allegations were serious enough to warrant further investigation, which could include internal voting logs, machine records, and witness testimony.
*A hand recount of the votes in Rockland County is possible as a result of the discovery process.
*The lawsuit is unlikely to change the overall outcome of the 2024 election as Congress has already certified the results declaring President Donald Trump the winner.
*The next court hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2025, which may provide more information about the case's progress.
*The lawsuit raises questions about election integrity and voting machine transparency across the U.S., particularly concerning vote count errors and the potential impact of machine errors.
..
As to Miller, he isn't nearly as important as depicted. It's Trump policy. Makes a good boogyman, like Torquemada, the grand inquisitor, who was a converso.
Plus Miller, per his own family, is nutsy koo koo.
.
As to Israel, within Israel are millions of Arab voters, and an Arab party, Arab members of the Knesset, etc. Most of them have more in common with "secular" Israelis than with any Arab country. Some represent variations on the theme of Christian and other sects.
MSM apparently can't tell the players without a scorecard.
Those allegations about the west bank are just allegations but are taken as fact. The PA is supposed o prosecute such allegations. The Isreali courts have prosecuted a few.
As you noted after the fact recounts, have no effect on the election. I can't see anyone being deposed of their office due to election interference. Will the efforts stop a repeat in 2026, we'll see.
I believe that I mentioned that prior to the installation of the current regime, Israel was a liberal democracy with Arabs in the Knesset. Not so anymore, it was also LGBT tolerant and recognize their rights, but not anymore. Yes I know that the Arab citizens of Israel have more in common with Israelis than any Arab country, but that doesn't stop Muslim Arabs whose loyalty to the Ummah overrides other concerns or factors.
What allegations about the West Bank are you talking about. I mentioned none.
As regards the PA prosecuting actors who have taken action against Israel, especially the settlers,hardly. The officers of the PA have to live among their people, piss them off, and some very earnest Muslim will take them out.
It is a mistake to dismiss Stephen Miller as simply nutsy koo koo, the same mistake People made dismissing Trump and Putin. He is apparently an embarrassment to many who identify as Jews yet are culturally liberal.
But Judaism has the same problems that Christianity and even Islam has. There are those whose personal ideology is live and let live, who might be religious in their personal life (or not. there being atheistic Jews, but no such thing as an atheist Muslim or Christian), but there are also purists, religious fanatics.
On the subject of purists. Part of the liberal problem is that we have too many damn purists, apparently a legacy of the Brownists (Piligrims) who were ostracized and run out of England by the more moderate purists. Purists, extremists, my way or the highway.
Although the left takes glee and is exalting in the present discord between the Carlson's and the Cruz's
. I have my doubt that this discord will amount to anything significant and that bridges will be built or mended.
I am familiar with your list of three congress critters who could tip the scale, key word could. They haven't yet, so the question is if they haven't, cause they voted for the BBB, then will they.
Your correct state law penalties can't be pardoned, but who has taken any Trump action or appointee to the law. I am awaiting, we placed a lot of faith in Georigia, but after a year that was a big bust, wasn't it. Worse part the prosecutor was corrupt and nepotistic and appointed her lover as deputy,
That happens all of the time, we are sold out by our hero's our knights in shiny armor. Joe Biden has a son who couldn't help himself and traded on his fathers name, thus opening the door to a huge distraction.
Walking into any congress critters office and you will find a staff of family and friends. Any news room, any corporation, anywhere. To get ahead, even in the military,especially for officers, it is not what you know, but who you know.
A colonel who wants to be a general, had best have a sponsor
Left and right are just useful terms Like in and out, up and down, but there is what might be called a left in America and the west, as there is a thing called the right.
The left is a broad spectrum and includes myself, but unlike the right which like the concretization of a pebble (or a speck of sand in an oysters shell), the left is not cohesive, it is fractuous, has factions, and each one demanding priority, resources, attention and money. They can't come together to fight a common foe,without trying to advance their own agenda.
A good example, look closely at the signs and flags held up in LA and across the nation. Take LA, riding around waving Mexican flags do not pass the message that Trump and his thugs are arresting and deporting our good, innocent hardworking neighbors,
I will do so far as to say that the Mexican flag wavers were our side and paid right wing agitators. They should have been stopped by the real protesters, the same for the ones who instigate violence that result in the police shooting sponges and rubber bullets or tear gas canisters
I saw a sign green, red and black, Blacks have rights and as an after thought, they added immigrants.
There were also eco signs as well, everyone with a cause,some unity of purpose,and believe me the right wing takes full notice.
Even No Kings was a,misnomer, Trump has designs on being a dictator, not a king.. A king has a nobility, dukes, barons, earls, marquis below him that he has to depend upon for support, whom he has to please.
A dictator does not. Those below a dictator are fearful that they will lose the favor of the dictator.
The Magna Carta was drawn up and signed to protect the barons from the vagaries of the King. A dictator has no such constraint.
Trump has no interest in being a King, and the theme of the protest missed the mark,and frankly leaves Trump smirking.
Netanyahu is much like Trump in that their right were able to use him because he wanted to stay in power. Albeit he has several levels of smarts that Trump does not, which enable N. to negotiate the situations he faced.
This concept of another civil war or revolution isn't to far fetched anymore. People are seething and the pot is starting to boil over some. The latest defiance from the L.A. Dodgers is just another sign that Americans are getting fed up with all of Trump's B.S. and they want to do something, anything to make it all stop. The trouble with that, is when things get that bad, there is little focus and when the violence does break out, it goes in all directions and a lot of people get hurt.
The federal and state military units are just as divided as the civilians over all of this so you can't depend on them to enter the fight or abstain out of patriotism. When the real violence starts, it will be bloody in some places. This time, there won't be military units standing in lines of infantry firing rifles at one another. This time, if real violence breaks out, it will be urban and suburban combat, and armed people riding around the rural areas in pickups and jeeps with AR-15 style semi or full automatic weapons terrorizing citizens in their unfocused anger.
The military will be deployed, with M-4's and M-249 Saw's (Squad Automatic Weapons) to quell the protestors like we're seeing in L.A. now. With some of the soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines being sympathetic to one side or another, this is what a modern civil war would look like in the U.S. today.
This is what we the people need to try and stop before it starts. Because once it starts, it will be hard to stop before a lot of people get hurt and die. The other side of this, is that something like this would forever change the dynamics of how the people will allow themselves to be governed. The first civil war changed everything, and not all in a good way, and a new modern civil war would likely also create radical changes in the government. And not necessarily in a good way.
I've been deployed to other countries after the government was toppled in one way or another and it was always the average citizens who caught the brunt of it all. Afghanistan is a perfect example in recent memory.
Do we want the United States to go the way of Afghanistan or Libya?
I totally agree. Your 14 steps leading to autocratic breakthrough are similar to Larry Diamond's "the autocrats' twelve-step program," p64-65 in his book "Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency". In general, you make the same case that Diamond does. If citizens in a democracy undergoing autocratic erosion are too complacent, they are doomed.
"As you can see, the last time a portion of the United States — the 11 states of the Confederacy — transitioned through the entire process of autocratic breakthrough it took the bloodiest war in American history to reverse the process. Which is why it’s so critical today that we educate people about the process and this history today so we can stop the process now, while it’s still possible."
However, how can we best "educate people" about the situation, so they can take quick mass action before it's too late? From what I can see in the media, this is done by articles like yours (and those of other pro-democracy writers) that seek to tell people the details about what's really happening. Once people can see the truth, they will resolutely rise up at take action.
My analysis shows that while this strategy makes complete sense, historically it doesn't work in cases where citizens' political truth literacy is low. They are too easily fooled into supporting populist authoritarians like Trump, who tell one clever lie after another to win supporters and frustrate, confuse, and demoralize their opponents. Remember now, we are living in age of post-truth politics, which lies and the truth carry equal weight.
The analysis is summarized in this Substack article: "Summary of Analysis of the Democratic Backsliding Problem: The main root cause is low political truth literacy. Why this is so and how it can be raised are examined."
This is a 2010 paper dealing with systemic change resistance to solving the environmental sustainability problem. It concludes that the main root cause of change resistance is high deception effectiveness due to low political truth literacy.
The paper also evaluates your strategy of "Once people can see the truth, they will resolutely rise up at take action." This is a more-of-the-truth strategy and is step 3 of Classic Activism, whose four steps are:
1- Identify the problem to solve.
2 - Find the proper practices necessary to solve the problem.
3 - Tell people the truth about the problem and the proper practices.
4 - If step 3 fails, exhort, inspire, and bargain with people to get them to support the proper practices.
Step 3 fails when "the people" are told two different stories (true and false) and their political truth literacy is low. For example: One side (you and pro-democracy writers) says: "This is the truth. The 14 steps leading to autocratic breakthrough are well underway. Wake up before it's too late." Meanwhile, the other side (Trump the populist authoritarian and far-right Republicans) uses clever deception to whip citizens into a fearful state of identity politics and MAGA cult like behavior, and uses threats to keep Republican politicians and judges in line.
If political truth literacy is low, as it is now as shown by the above controlled experiment, then guess which side wins? That, I believe, suggests where pro-democracy activists need to direct their attention so as to resolve the root cause of the problem.
Thank you for providing a history of which I was almost entirely ignorant.
The Democratic Party keeps asking me to confirm my membership and send money. But since its “leadership” prefers clucking about the problems to actively providing opposition, that seems pointless. My money goes to “Indvisible”, Democracy Docket, the ACLU, and politicians who see their roles as activists rather than as concerned spectators.
But should we get to the point of a civil war again this time it would be much messier than a conflict between sections (and even then it was not so clear cut in the border areas). Urban vs. rural? Educated vs. low information populations? Various military units taking sides? The chaos in Russia after the monarchy was overthrown may be an example of how far this country could tear itself apart. But this time the central government will still have far more technical and armament power. The opportunity for a true Caesar to take over will be all the greater.
Where I live, groups like the Proud Boys are already well organized. For years, counterinsurgency groups have been training in the Everglades waiting for an opening. When I was working, "Paintball" was an eupemism for war games. The comanadante of one group was a US Attorney.
AI Today, the primary institution for U.S. Army counterinsurgency training is the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It's a key center for professional development for soldiers in Special Forces.
Reminds me...Cause you can't starve us out and you can't make us run
Doc you raised an issue that I have contemplated many times.
Rome was a republic until Caesar. Albet it corrupt with basically two classes, a ruling class and a proletariat (the model for Marx). Senators were chosen from among the ruling elite, the wealthy, and were elected by a vote buying scheme.
The executive power came from two consuls (two because one had too much power) and they held office for a limited period of time, two years IIRC.
Julius Caesar changed all of that, by use and threat of force, he set the state for becoming an absolute dictator, but was killed by concerned and fearful senators. However this death set in motion a civil war, the result of which was a dictatorship more effective, and forceful than even that for which Julius was killed, and in case anyone is paying attention, That dictatorship lasted almost 500 years, until over run by the Vandals in 455 CE. Well western Roman empire that is, the Eastern empire survived until May 29, 1453 with Constantinople fell to the Turks.
The parallels are noticeable, William. Those who wrote the Constitution tried to avoid the start of such a situation, but clearly things have gotten far out of whack. (Personally I am familiar with this history, and have visited most of the lands that Rome controlled.)
As I’m sure you are aware, before Caesar arose Rome had been in a cycle of violence and dictatorial rule by oligarchs—a situation that Thom has correctly said is unstable. And after his nephew became Augustus, this first emperor maintained the trappings of the republic. The Senate and Assembly still met and passed laws, but power rested with the man who controlled the army and the treasury. And if he got too dangerous, he could be removed by the sword. This system lasted for 200 years, people got used to it, liked the stability and there were some very good emperors who kept things going. When the economy deteriorated, the military began to fail and the emperors became full on tyrants it was too late to change things. America could well go from a failing republic to a falling empire without even the respite of good times between these periods.
Excellent Doc, Most excellent. Signs are that we are certainly headed in the direction you point out. A few differences, the advancement of technology, transportation and the transportation of information has compressed time lines from centuries to months or days, even hours. It took a thousand years for the earth's population to double, now it doubles in 43 years.
The Roman empire puttered along, but the Empire moved its seat from Rome to Ravenna,
Rome had become unbearable, the smell of the Tiber,which received garbage and the corpses of dead humans and animals, the oppressive heat, the stench, the mosquitos, the diseases like malaria, and the Emperors moved north to cooler regions near or in the foothills of the alps.
But also the life of an Emperor became tenuous, so long as he well bribes his secret service (praetorian guard), he could safely rule, but if the guard was out bribed or pissed off, then watch out.
The Praetorian Guard was responsible for the deaths of at least thirteen Roman emperors. This elite military unit often played a significant role in imperial politics, sometimes assassinating emperors they no longer favored and even selecting their successors.
There were numerous instances of military coups and attempted coups throughout Roman history, particularly during the Empire period. While pinpointing an exact number is difficult due to the nature of historical records and the blurring lines between coups, civil wars, and political instability, it's safe to say that military force and the threat of it were significant factors in Roman politics.
There was this nasty habit that insecure emperors had of executing victorious and famous generals, because they feared that their fame would eclipse theirs, and thus displace them.
The last and final one was Valentian III. Flavius Aetius, who had ben praetor of Gaul, pulled together a force of Franks, Belgi, Germans, Alans and assorted peoples and stopped the advance of Attila at the battle of the Catalaunian fields.
He became a hero of the Empire, but scared Valentian. Valentian called him to Ravenna supposedly to honor him but (it is said) murdered him by his own hand.
That ws in 451 CEk 4 years later Gesoric, a Vandal (also a Christian) attacked Ravena, plundered and levled it, then worked his way down the Italian Peninsula, sacked what was left of Rome, then onto Sicily finally settling in Carthegenia, Libya, to finally be absorbed by the local population.
For those who don't know, the Muslims gave Spain a name based on the Vandals, Andulsia., as it had been conquered (overwhelmed) by the Visgoths.
The Ostrogoths, Visgoths and Vandals were all Germanic peoples, and as such indistinguishable to the Muslims. The Arabic Muslims were familiar with the Vandals, so when they came across Germanic Goths with blue eyes, then they called them Vandals, but not V in Arabic so Andalusia had to do.
And that is why bin Laden talked about reestablishing the Caliphate including “Al-Andalus” in it, never mind that the last Muslim kingdom in Spain ended in 1492. We know this history but so many Americans do not, which is one reason why we get into terrible trouble intervening abroad. (Bush had to be told not to use the word “Crusade” for his wars as that is a very touchy term in the Middle East.) But sometimes I think most citizens here get their knowledge of ancient times from Hollywood movies mixed in with bits of the New Testament.
And as a professional geographer I am saddened by polls that routinely show the average person has low to no knowledge of where countries are or what they are like. But then Ted Cruz, who seems ready to bomb Iran, was recently asked how big that country was and said he didn’t know. (It’s 91 million.) As the GOP well knows, an uninformed populace is easy to lead. Incidentally, the capital had been moved from Rome to Milan (Mediolanum) as a forward site to meet the invasions coming into the empire, but Ravenna was considered more defensible. And by this time Constantinople was capital of the eastern half anyway.
It is a dream of Islamist, and I don't mean the ordinary citizens, that get up each day, pray in the direction of Makkah, then go about their business and try to get by like everyone else in the world, but I mean the doctrinaire ideologists, that all lands over which the flag of Muhammad has flown is forever Muslim and that any retreat, like in Spain,is only temporary.
There are some, with whom I have arguments on the netz, that believe that America is a Muslim country, because Muslims landed here before the Anglo's , even if they were slaves.
For Arabs, the past was yesterday. Westerners know jack shit about the crusades, except what they have seen in Movies (btw I descend from that asshat, Raynald of Chatillon, which Ridley Scott accurately portrayed in The Kingdom of Heaven. The arrogant prick was, more than anyother, responsible for the slaughter at the battle of Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem..
For Westerners all of this is ancient history, most don't know a thing other than what they might have seen in the movies or on TV.
For Arabs it was yesterday. They can tell you all about the battle of Hattin and Salah al Din, which means Prayer of the faithful or religions (din means faithful), westerners call him Saladin.
Arabs know all about the contribution of Islam to science and medicine, westerners know jack shit.. we are so arrogant, chauvinistic and arrogant.
Algebra was invented, or rediscovered and popularized, by a Moor name of al Jabr.
When the lizard eating Arabs came flying out of Arabia to attack an effete and weakened Greco Roman Empire, and subsequently and equally effete Persian empire, they found themselves like kids in a candy shop, surrounded by wonders, architectual, scientic,, artistic, philosophic and hungry for knowledge and aware of one thing, the fat lazy Greco Roman emperors weren't that knowledge is power. They set about scooping up everything, used their dhimmi slaves to translate and teach them, then went on to take that knowledge preserve it and expand it. This is the golden age of Islam, and it lasted only about 300 years, and it too became lazy, soft, effete because it had no competition, and thus fell in on itself and became totally focused on internal order, meaning Sharia law.
Meanwhile the kaffirs of Castile and Leon were busy at work,living in what were not really habital lands, meaning ideal for agriculture and impossible to occupy effectively and thus control, they built up their forces, produced armies that could not only stop the Muslims, which had become soft, and throw them out of Spain..
Incidentally the Eviction edict of Ferdinand and Isabella, took effect the same day that Columbus set sail for the new world. Aug 3, 1492. That might be a coincidence as certainly many of his crew were Moors and Jews, and there is an indication that Columbus was also Jewish.
Finally, if one MUST have a monarch [and we mustn't,] why, oh why have one with/ spirocetes drilling through his gray matter AT ALL ANGLES, leaving it not unlike Swiss cheese.
It's the evangelical christians, stupid! To become truly delusional, and not just grossly unintelligent or incompetent, an illusion must exist so alluring and yet unfathomable that it cannot be questioned, only 'worshipped' for its positive reinforcement of subjective 'truths.'
At least 75 percent of 'murkans are not this wacky. But they are the huddled masses, whether they know it or not. The unfathomable divide between wealth and poverty/near-poverty grows by the hour. The capitalist parasite is engorged, but still eating away. The myth persists - gods love those who are selfish and arrogant. Add to this the insurmountable propaganda engulfing the public by the 30-second spot, using Doublethink to rewrite past and current history, and you have cocaine driving stupification by wetiko, the toxic mind virus.
In our minds we all ask - 'what can be done?' The final stage Thom describes is not one any sentient being would get within a million miles of. But here it comes, unless 235 million citizens simply refuse to comply with anything that energizes this phantasmagoric monster. It's the economy, stupid.
The 14 steps to Tyranny are a vivid reminder of how political power in the wrong hands is a weapon and not a service. The founders stressed the idea of office holders possessing wisdom, enlightenment and VURTUE which is sadly missing in every branch of government and especially in Donald Trump.
Sir, you are remarkable. Brilliant, poetic, profound. We are in a real mess right now, but what you did was give this dark specter a shape and logic. You make total sense. Disturbing but accurate.
Thank you so very much for the history. Sadly, I didn’t know half of it and I’ve been a teacher for many years. The history most students are taught this country is pathetic. I see now how much of it is propaganda to indoctrinate a passive, powerless citizenry.
Brutal. Honest. Great comment, Myra.
Myra,
Did you ever when teaching your subject - which appears to be history- question the content and research to establish the veracity or implications? This question is not to demean you I am just wondering. Inquiring minds need to know!
Nature or Nurture
Can't help but wonder about the people that fall in line and help the autocrat achieve each stage. They just seem to know Dear Leader's expectations and then compete to see who can exceed them.
Representative Maxwell Frost was on Colbert, and he brought a tear to my eye. He described families of the disappeared calling the hospitals. I think we have all been that frantic when someone in our lives suddenly can't be reached. He spoke about legislation forcing the agencies to publish who they have in custody and where they are.
It has become about the Civil War throwbacks and Nazis among us. Perhaps some were created, but the vast majority were simply given permission. We need to believe them when they tell us who they are. We must follow OUR nature to seek justice and equality under the law.
Thanks Thom, good lesson today. See you in the streets.
Jung: Collective racial subconscious.
Maxwell Frost's family experienced this when they lived in Cuba. I wonder whether he has any influence with the 3 MAGAT Cuban American House members here in Baghdad By the Sea?
Reprise. Miami healthcare CEO Michael “Mike” B. Fernandez wrote the following open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of the Republican Cuban-American Miami-Dade congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maria Elvira Salazar.
"For decades, I have stood with you in defense of the freedoms we cherish, those we were denied in the country of our birth and found in the grace of this one. I know what it means to flee tyranny.
"Like you, I carry that history in my bones and that pain in my heart. But like a growing number in our community, I have watched with dismay as the very values we once found sanctuary in are now being attacked by a previously unthinkable threat — the sitting president of the United States."
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article304271841.html#storylink=cpy
Terrific article as usual. It is disheartening to see parallels between today and the Civil War era. The MAGA militia, the DHS/Gestapo, the toady Cabinet and reckless elimination of top military leaders based upon the assertion that Blacks, females, and sexual minorities are eugenically inferior relative to white males is clearly a coordinated insurrection/coup. However, today, the conspiracy to overthrow our democracy is far deeper and broader than it was in the Civil War era.
I have been reading a long manuscript entitled: "The MAGA Ideology and the Trump Regime" by John Bellamy Foster in "The Monthly Review" which connects a lot of dots in my awareness space that forms a nasty and unnerving spider-web of capitalist oligarch fascism. https://monthlyreview.org/2025/05/01/the-maga-ideology-and-the-trump-regime/
Foster connects organizations like Heritage and Claremont to Supreme Court Justices, and other members of the "real' deep state that Trump castigates, which are enabling his efforts to be the oligarch's "useful idiot" in the Lenin sense, to lead the overthrow of our government. It sure seems to me that the 2026 federal mid-term elections will be the hinge point of our nation's future. I wonder if the DNC is currently preparing for actions to reverse the Oligarch chainsaw massacre we have already endured.
I haven't read it but on another site I've been arguing the religious basis.
From wiki The progenerator of Heritage 2025, Russell Vought, OMB, Trump policy maven graduated from the evangelical Christian Wheaton College and describes himself as a Christian nationalist. He seeks to infuse the government and society with elements of Christianity, saying he has "a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society", according to The Washington Post.[61] In a secretly recorded meeting in 2024, Vought said that conservatives should discuss whether to prioritize Christian immigrants over those of other religions.[50] Vought supports a total ban on abortion. He has called the Democratic Party "increasingly evil" for supporting secularism.
Since 2022, Vought has advocated for what he calls "radical constitutionalism" to reverse what he calls a current "post-Constitutional time"; he asserts this has been the result of a century of corruption of laws and institutions by the political left. He characterizes the federal bureaucracy as "woke and weaponized" and advocates replacing it with "radical constitutionalists". Vought proposes to "gut the FBI" and end the tradition of political independence of the U.S. Justice Department.
AI: Project 2025, a policy roadmap for a potential second Donald Trump administration, was authored by The Heritage Foundation, along with over 100 conservative organizations. Key contributors include Russ Vought, who leads the Office of Management and Budget, and Paul Dans, who previously directed the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. Other notable contributors include Ken Cuccinelli, Rick Dearborn, and Christopher Miller, among others.
As I read through these 14 steps to autocracy, I could name-check each stage, starting with Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich at step 1 in the 1990's. They taught the Republicans how to communicate in warlike terms. The terms became intentions, which became actions, which are now accomplishments. We now are about two-thirds of the way to autocracy.
You're right Thom, but today, the underbelly of Trump power is in the senate. Senate majority leader Thune is under tremendous pressure. https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-gop-leader-faces-pushback-100000271.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9oYXJ0bWFubnJlcG9ydC5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMjAQmI0hSM_8wB1FewLF33x6inlZ8gnuFMeerV5PRUTIx5rluyLUWIoeuvqkOMCWwNSLuhFAbHU_T5cBZgNK5rYFCKNaj9GYpTac6RXX_f-z5n9Pvj-gAdsJxE0QIunY7nOAFXfiABNirnFCuRMiTj2pxWThFVlYWwrPDUspitL
Meanwhile, the senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, could rule multiple provisions do not qualify as a budgetary provisions and therefore are not permitted in the bill. That decision is still pending as of today, and the senate is not in session. The Byrd Rule restricts the inclusion of extraneous matter in reconciliation bills.
The presiding officer or the full senate may overrule the advice of the Parliamentarian. In practice, this is rare; the most recent example of a Vice President (as President of the Senate) overruling the parliamentarian was Nelson Rockefeller in 1975.
On top of that is the Iran issue. MSM is not on top of it. Trump always does the wrong thing. This has to exacerbate the problem he has within his own party re Ukraine. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/politics/breaking-with-trump-bacon-says-he-wont-follow-his-party-off-the-cliff.html
If we intensify the pressure, maybe we can disrupt their rise before revolution or civil war become the only solutions.
Everything I see, hear and read, informs me that we are already so deep into a dictatorship, that we can't climb out. The many departments or cabinets, as inefficient and corrupted as they are, took 250 years to build and staff. Now they are gone, along with their institutional memory and replaced by departments/cabinets run and staffed by thugs, whose mandate is to serve the technobros and billionaires. by squashing opposition and dissent.
Picture democracy as existing on the rim of a porcelain cup, knock,it off the cup and it slides down into full fledged dictatorship. Ours has been knocked off the rim and is sliding down the insides. Our only hope is that the cup breaks or we have a rope and grappling hook that we can toss over the lip of the cup.
If the regime were overthrown today, if something miraculous happened, and it all came to a grinding stop. We are still screwed, because government is a machine with interconnecting gears, and Trump and those who pull his strings, have stripped the machine of it's gears that took 250 years to construct.
Gone is the institutional memory, and in many cases even the instruction manuals have been shredded and burned.
Let's say that USAID is restored, who is there that knows how the organization worked, who the contractors are, what they even do, much less how to pay them, where to send the money, who is in charge of the activity. Grain is rotting and being eaten by mice and fungus in warehouses, and there is no one that knows how to distribute them.
That leaves the warehouses open to raids by guerilla groups, crime gangs, and Jihadists.
Linda McMahon has destroyed the Department of Education. Even if she is evicted and the funding and charter restored, is their any institutional knowledge, that can put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Pete Hegseth has completely destroyed the DOD, It will never be the same. His attacks on the General Staff and DEI, can not be undone.
I for one, would like to see an honest, unprejudiced assessment of the morale, and attitudes of the officer corps, and especially those that are loyal to Trump above all else.
Two weeks---he'll let the media know in two weeks. Or maybe TRump will decide one second before he sends our plane into harm's way. He sure as hell won't be asking anyone with any brains about what to do concerning Iran. In the meantime, he will be carefree and chasing around a golf ball.
There is some serious back-stabbing and in-fighting going on among the Republican thugs. That could be good.
I translate that to mean Israel can do whatever for 2 weeks....
I also watch Tousi TV. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjJec0wv1EUomjrBNt1xCTA
According to several sources, there is an ongoing coup. According to Tousi, most of the Iranian general staff has been killed and their successors are pledging support to the crown prince in exile and he is asking Trump for help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjJdkOqhTg
Wilkerson sounds like sour grapes fermened into vinegar. His boss lied to Congress to get us into Iraq. When Tulsi Gabbard speaks, Putin's voice is expressed.
Our major vulnerabilities are bases in Iraq and Syria. 60% of the Iraqui population are Shiite as are most of the Iraqui militias. We can't trust them.
If you follow the money, Saudis and other Gulf countries say they support Iran, but they are Suni and are competititors and fear them.
Putin says he would mediate but he is an ally of the mullahs and he loves high oil prices.
Iraq is complicated. Though Iraq is majority Shia, as is Iran. There is a 1400 year tension or animosity between Arabs and Persians. A hostility that Saddam used, in support of his war with Iran (1980-89), A war, btw, that cost Iran it's complement of young males, a deficiency they are still recovering from.. Khomeini used young boys as walking mine detectors, would send them over minefields in waves, the followed believing they would become shaheds (martyrs)
Besides being Shia and being at "war" with the Sunni, over who is the rightful heir of Muhammad, Iranians detest Arabs, they look at them as lizard eaters.
There is a cultural incompatibility between Persians and Arabs.
The literary-political movement known as the shuʿūbiyyah, which celebrated the excellence of non-Arab Muslim peoples, particularly the Persians, and set the stage for the resurgence of Iranian literature and culture in the decades to come. Regard for poetry—the Arabs’ vehicle of folk memory—increased, and minds and imaginations were quickened.
I will repost the Persian poet Ferdowsi, virtually any educated Iranian can quote him
"Retreat to the Hijaz and resume eating lizards, and herd your cattle
While I seat myself on the throne of kings supported
And this:
From feeding on lizards and camel's milk
So have the afairs of he Arabs prospered.
that they long for the empire of Khosrau,
Shame on thee, O circling Heaven, shame.
Amost any educted Iranian can passionately quote Ferdowsi's lament by a Persian General facing the Arab army.
Damn on this World, Damn on this Time, Damn on Fate,
That uncivilized Arabs have come to force me to be Muslim.
by the sharpness of my blade and point of my pen.
American troops near the Iranian border are vulnerable -- from both sides.
Oh yeh, and if the hard liners in Iran aren't surgical, that would be the pretext for war. A war so costly that it will destroy America, and maybe the west.
Iran is not Iraq, and the Iranians, though they hate the corrupt Mullahs, are nationalistic, like Americans. Their Army is more modern, better equipped, and Iran is much larger and more mountainous than Iraq.
And Iran is producing martyr (shahed) drones for Russia. Hardly a backward country without options and resources, and an alliance with China and North Korea
According to several sources, there is an ongoing coup. According to Tousi, most of the Iranian general staff has been killed and their successors are pledging support to the crown prince in exile and he is asking Trump for help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjJdkOqhTg
Today, there's an incident in London. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y2r27jn24o
Trump will consult his allies -- Putin -- Saudis.
Thom, my fear is that Miller will eventually order the round up and imprisonment of anyone who is brown with an accent or Spanish sounding name. It is about making America white again and returning Blacks to slavery. Who or what will stop him? Until people are willing to die for the cause of freedom, it cannot be stopped. And I am not sure even that will stop it
Here is what motivates Stephen Miller. Let's take a look at who he is, he is the grandson of people who fled pogroms. During Trumps first administration, he was the force behind the Muslim band.
That and the fact that he is Jewish, and possibly a Zionist, left his motives exposed, so now he hides his motives behind an anti (brown person)immigrant program.. Mexican and central Americans are only the frosting on the cake, IMO his real goal is to work his way to Muslims.
There is blatant hypocricy in the Trump regime. First he is claiming to censor universities, deny visa's and round up and deport anti semites (people who expressed opposition to Biden's support of Israel.
Yet the administration is supported, nay controlled by anti semites in the form of neo NAZi's, including Musk, Thiel, and I dare say Vance. Who can forget the chant of the tiki torch wielding neo NAZIs of The Jews will not replace us.
It was the Muslim vote in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennyslvania (they didn't vote for Kamala) that put Trump in the White House. Trump and his handlers don't acknowledge the debt that they owe to the Muslims, they can't, it would expose too much. And Miller knows better than to show his hand.
The trump card (pun) Miller is holding is to either expel Muslims, force them back into the woodwork, I think that he is a radical Zionist and that rounding up Latino's is a subterfuge.
As I see it Zionism comes in many forms. For instance I firmly believe that Israel has a right to exist, that there is only one Jewish ethnostate in the world, but 57 Muslim ethnostates, and many more Christian or Quasi Christian ethno states (including the U.S. of A - if you aren't Christian you can never be elected President).
By that definition I am a Zionist.
But I also consider the orthodox settlers who shoot and drive Palestinians off their land, are criminals and should be arrested and tried,by that some consider me an anti semite.
Before the right wing took control of Israel and it's politics, it was a liberal democracy, it even had Arabs in the Knesset, and officially all citizens had equal rights (officially I said), the same is true of America (reality is different)
Since the Israeli right formed a coalition with the Likkud and Netanyahu,it has drifted further right into a nascent form of fascism, in that regard the government of Bibi is not much different from the regime of Donald.
The Israel of today has become a pariah among nations,and that is a shame. I studied the banking system of Israel, and admired it, thought that it should replace our Federal Reserve.
But the Israel of 2025 is not the Israel of 1985
Israel got corrupted by the right, then the right elected Netanyahu,and Israel has been on a slide into fascism ever since. The tolerant liberal democracy of 1985 is gone, all that is left is a memory. I have also just described the United State of America as is at this moment.
I am inclined to blame religion, particularly the Abrhamaic religion for the worlds troubles, but that overlooks ego, chauvinism and the lust for power.
Putin is not religious, in fact per the Algemeiner he might be Jewish) but he knows how to use religion as an instrument of power (over the people) as does Trump and as does Netanyahu.
Russian psy ops more likely.
Today the lawsuit in NY over the vote count remains viable. Rockland County, New York, is still viable as of today, June 20, 2025.
*The lawsuit was filed by SMART Legislation, a nonpartisan election watchdog group, over alleged voting discrepancies, including statistical anomalies and claims of miscounted votes, specifically in Rockland County.
*A judge has allowed the lawsuit to proceed to discovery, ruling in May that the allegations were serious enough to warrant further investigation, which could include internal voting logs, machine records, and witness testimony.
*A hand recount of the votes in Rockland County is possible as a result of the discovery process.
*The lawsuit is unlikely to change the overall outcome of the 2024 election as Congress has already certified the results declaring President Donald Trump the winner.
*The next court hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2025, which may provide more information about the case's progress.
*The lawsuit raises questions about election integrity and voting machine transparency across the U.S., particularly concerning vote count errors and the potential impact of machine errors.
..
As to Miller, he isn't nearly as important as depicted. It's Trump policy. Makes a good boogyman, like Torquemada, the grand inquisitor, who was a converso.
Plus Miller, per his own family, is nutsy koo koo.
.
As to Israel, within Israel are millions of Arab voters, and an Arab party, Arab members of the Knesset, etc. Most of them have more in common with "secular" Israelis than with any Arab country. Some represent variations on the theme of Christian and other sects.
MSM apparently can't tell the players without a scorecard.
Those allegations about the west bank are just allegations but are taken as fact. The PA is supposed o prosecute such allegations. The Isreali courts have prosecuted a few.
.
I just watched a program where an Arab expert says that they support the Iran attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hytW41iXV4E&t=802s
.
BBC has picked up -- to a certsain extent -- the internal Iranian opposition to the mullahs. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyn2nv21q9o
As you noted after the fact recounts, have no effect on the election. I can't see anyone being deposed of their office due to election interference. Will the efforts stop a repeat in 2026, we'll see.
I believe that I mentioned that prior to the installation of the current regime, Israel was a liberal democracy with Arabs in the Knesset. Not so anymore, it was also LGBT tolerant and recognize their rights, but not anymore. Yes I know that the Arab citizens of Israel have more in common with Israelis than any Arab country, but that doesn't stop Muslim Arabs whose loyalty to the Ummah overrides other concerns or factors.
What allegations about the West Bank are you talking about. I mentioned none.
As regards the PA prosecuting actors who have taken action against Israel, especially the settlers,hardly. The officers of the PA have to live among their people, piss them off, and some very earnest Muslim will take them out.
It is a mistake to dismiss Stephen Miller as simply nutsy koo koo, the same mistake People made dismissing Trump and Putin. He is apparently an embarrassment to many who identify as Jews yet are culturally liberal.
But Judaism has the same problems that Christianity and even Islam has. There are those whose personal ideology is live and let live, who might be religious in their personal life (or not. there being atheistic Jews, but no such thing as an atheist Muslim or Christian), but there are also purists, religious fanatics.
On the subject of purists. Part of the liberal problem is that we have too many damn purists, apparently a legacy of the Brownists (Piligrims) who were ostracized and run out of England by the more moderate purists. Purists, extremists, my way or the highway.
Although the left takes glee and is exalting in the present discord between the Carlson's and the Cruz's
. I have my doubt that this discord will amount to anything significant and that bridges will be built or mended.
What if we pick up enough Congressional support, so an impeachment could be initiated?
State law penalties can't be pardoned.
"The left." There is no left in this country.
I am familiar with your list of three congress critters who could tip the scale, key word could. They haven't yet, so the question is if they haven't, cause they voted for the BBB, then will they.
Your correct state law penalties can't be pardoned, but who has taken any Trump action or appointee to the law. I am awaiting, we placed a lot of faith in Georigia, but after a year that was a big bust, wasn't it. Worse part the prosecutor was corrupt and nepotistic and appointed her lover as deputy,
That happens all of the time, we are sold out by our hero's our knights in shiny armor. Joe Biden has a son who couldn't help himself and traded on his fathers name, thus opening the door to a huge distraction.
Walking into any congress critters office and you will find a staff of family and friends. Any news room, any corporation, anywhere. To get ahead, even in the military,especially for officers, it is not what you know, but who you know.
A colonel who wants to be a general, had best have a sponsor
Left and right are just useful terms Like in and out, up and down, but there is what might be called a left in America and the west, as there is a thing called the right.
The left is a broad spectrum and includes myself, but unlike the right which like the concretization of a pebble (or a speck of sand in an oysters shell), the left is not cohesive, it is fractuous, has factions, and each one demanding priority, resources, attention and money. They can't come together to fight a common foe,without trying to advance their own agenda.
A good example, look closely at the signs and flags held up in LA and across the nation. Take LA, riding around waving Mexican flags do not pass the message that Trump and his thugs are arresting and deporting our good, innocent hardworking neighbors,
I will do so far as to say that the Mexican flag wavers were our side and paid right wing agitators. They should have been stopped by the real protesters, the same for the ones who instigate violence that result in the police shooting sponges and rubber bullets or tear gas canisters
I saw a sign green, red and black, Blacks have rights and as an after thought, they added immigrants.
There were also eco signs as well, everyone with a cause,some unity of purpose,and believe me the right wing takes full notice.
Even No Kings was a,misnomer, Trump has designs on being a dictator, not a king.. A king has a nobility, dukes, barons, earls, marquis below him that he has to depend upon for support, whom he has to please.
A dictator does not. Those below a dictator are fearful that they will lose the favor of the dictator.
The Magna Carta was drawn up and signed to protect the barons from the vagaries of the King. A dictator has no such constraint.
Trump has no interest in being a King, and the theme of the protest missed the mark,and frankly leaves Trump smirking.
Netanyahu is much like Trump in that their right were able to use him because he wanted to stay in power. Albeit he has several levels of smarts that Trump does not, which enable N. to negotiate the situations he faced.
This concept of another civil war or revolution isn't to far fetched anymore. People are seething and the pot is starting to boil over some. The latest defiance from the L.A. Dodgers is just another sign that Americans are getting fed up with all of Trump's B.S. and they want to do something, anything to make it all stop. The trouble with that, is when things get that bad, there is little focus and when the violence does break out, it goes in all directions and a lot of people get hurt.
The federal and state military units are just as divided as the civilians over all of this so you can't depend on them to enter the fight or abstain out of patriotism. When the real violence starts, it will be bloody in some places. This time, there won't be military units standing in lines of infantry firing rifles at one another. This time, if real violence breaks out, it will be urban and suburban combat, and armed people riding around the rural areas in pickups and jeeps with AR-15 style semi or full automatic weapons terrorizing citizens in their unfocused anger.
The military will be deployed, with M-4's and M-249 Saw's (Squad Automatic Weapons) to quell the protestors like we're seeing in L.A. now. With some of the soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines being sympathetic to one side or another, this is what a modern civil war would look like in the U.S. today.
This is what we the people need to try and stop before it starts. Because once it starts, it will be hard to stop before a lot of people get hurt and die. The other side of this, is that something like this would forever change the dynamics of how the people will allow themselves to be governed. The first civil war changed everything, and not all in a good way, and a new modern civil war would likely also create radical changes in the government. And not necessarily in a good way.
I've been deployed to other countries after the government was toppled in one way or another and it was always the average citizens who caught the brunt of it all. Afghanistan is a perfect example in recent memory.
Do we want the United States to go the way of Afghanistan or Libya?
I totally agree. Your 14 steps leading to autocratic breakthrough are similar to Larry Diamond's "the autocrats' twelve-step program," p64-65 in his book "Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency". In general, you make the same case that Diamond does. If citizens in a democracy undergoing autocratic erosion are too complacent, they are doomed.
"As you can see, the last time a portion of the United States — the 11 states of the Confederacy — transitioned through the entire process of autocratic breakthrough it took the bloodiest war in American history to reverse the process. Which is why it’s so critical today that we educate people about the process and this history today so we can stop the process now, while it’s still possible."
However, how can we best "educate people" about the situation, so they can take quick mass action before it's too late? From what I can see in the media, this is done by articles like yours (and those of other pro-democracy writers) that seek to tell people the details about what's really happening. Once people can see the truth, they will resolutely rise up at take action.
My analysis shows that while this strategy makes complete sense, historically it doesn't work in cases where citizens' political truth literacy is low. They are too easily fooled into supporting populist authoritarians like Trump, who tell one clever lie after another to win supporters and frustrate, confuse, and demoralize their opponents. Remember now, we are living in age of post-truth politics, which lies and the truth carry equal weight.
The analysis is summarized in this Substack article: "Summary of Analysis of the Democratic Backsliding Problem: The main root cause is low political truth literacy. Why this is so and how it can be raised are examined."
https://analyticalactivist.substack.com/p/summary-of-analysis-of-the-democratic
Also see: https://www.thwink.org/sustain/articles/009/Harich_2010_ChangeResistanceAsTheCrux.pdf
This is a 2010 paper dealing with systemic change resistance to solving the environmental sustainability problem. It concludes that the main root cause of change resistance is high deception effectiveness due to low political truth literacy.
The paper also evaluates your strategy of "Once people can see the truth, they will resolutely rise up at take action." This is a more-of-the-truth strategy and is step 3 of Classic Activism, whose four steps are:
1- Identify the problem to solve.
2 - Find the proper practices necessary to solve the problem.
3 - Tell people the truth about the problem and the proper practices.
4 - If step 3 fails, exhort, inspire, and bargain with people to get them to support the proper practices.
Step 3 fails when "the people" are told two different stories (true and false) and their political truth literacy is low. For example: One side (you and pro-democracy writers) says: "This is the truth. The 14 steps leading to autocratic breakthrough are well underway. Wake up before it's too late." Meanwhile, the other side (Trump the populist authoritarian and far-right Republicans) uses clever deception to whip citizens into a fearful state of identity politics and MAGA cult like behavior, and uses threats to keep Republican politicians and judges in line.
See this experiment: https://analyticalactivist.substack.com/i/160020072/the-truth-literacy-training-study
If political truth literacy is low, as it is now as shown by the above controlled experiment, then guess which side wins? That, I believe, suggests where pro-democracy activists need to direct their attention so as to resolve the root cause of the problem.
Thank you for providing a history of which I was almost entirely ignorant.
The Democratic Party keeps asking me to confirm my membership and send money. But since its “leadership” prefers clucking about the problems to actively providing opposition, that seems pointless. My money goes to “Indvisible”, Democracy Docket, the ACLU, and politicians who see their roles as activists rather than as concerned spectators.
But should we get to the point of a civil war again this time it would be much messier than a conflict between sections (and even then it was not so clear cut in the border areas). Urban vs. rural? Educated vs. low information populations? Various military units taking sides? The chaos in Russia after the monarchy was overthrown may be an example of how far this country could tear itself apart. But this time the central government will still have far more technical and armament power. The opportunity for a true Caesar to take over will be all the greater.
Where I live, groups like the Proud Boys are already well organized. For years, counterinsurgency groups have been training in the Everglades waiting for an opening. When I was working, "Paintball" was an eupemism for war games. The comanadante of one group was a US Attorney.
I attended counterinsurgency school in 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterinsurgency#:~:text=The%20government%20must%20function%20in,secure%20its%20base%20areas%20first.
AI Today, the primary institution for U.S. Army counterinsurgency training is the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It's a key center for professional development for soldiers in Special Forces.
Reminds me...Cause you can't starve us out and you can't make us run
'Cause we're them old boys raised on shotguns
We say grace, and we say ma'am
If you ain't into that, we don't give a damn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7h_bncWDBo
Doc you raised an issue that I have contemplated many times.
Rome was a republic until Caesar. Albet it corrupt with basically two classes, a ruling class and a proletariat (the model for Marx). Senators were chosen from among the ruling elite, the wealthy, and were elected by a vote buying scheme.
The executive power came from two consuls (two because one had too much power) and they held office for a limited period of time, two years IIRC.
Julius Caesar changed all of that, by use and threat of force, he set the state for becoming an absolute dictator, but was killed by concerned and fearful senators. However this death set in motion a civil war, the result of which was a dictatorship more effective, and forceful than even that for which Julius was killed, and in case anyone is paying attention, That dictatorship lasted almost 500 years, until over run by the Vandals in 455 CE. Well western Roman empire that is, the Eastern empire survived until May 29, 1453 with Constantinople fell to the Turks.
The parallels are noticeable, William. Those who wrote the Constitution tried to avoid the start of such a situation, but clearly things have gotten far out of whack. (Personally I am familiar with this history, and have visited most of the lands that Rome controlled.)
As I’m sure you are aware, before Caesar arose Rome had been in a cycle of violence and dictatorial rule by oligarchs—a situation that Thom has correctly said is unstable. And after his nephew became Augustus, this first emperor maintained the trappings of the republic. The Senate and Assembly still met and passed laws, but power rested with the man who controlled the army and the treasury. And if he got too dangerous, he could be removed by the sword. This system lasted for 200 years, people got used to it, liked the stability and there were some very good emperors who kept things going. When the economy deteriorated, the military began to fail and the emperors became full on tyrants it was too late to change things. America could well go from a failing republic to a falling empire without even the respite of good times between these periods.
Excellent Doc, Most excellent. Signs are that we are certainly headed in the direction you point out. A few differences, the advancement of technology, transportation and the transportation of information has compressed time lines from centuries to months or days, even hours. It took a thousand years for the earth's population to double, now it doubles in 43 years.
The Roman empire puttered along, but the Empire moved its seat from Rome to Ravenna,
Rome had become unbearable, the smell of the Tiber,which received garbage and the corpses of dead humans and animals, the oppressive heat, the stench, the mosquitos, the diseases like malaria, and the Emperors moved north to cooler regions near or in the foothills of the alps.
But also the life of an Emperor became tenuous, so long as he well bribes his secret service (praetorian guard), he could safely rule, but if the guard was out bribed or pissed off, then watch out.
The Praetorian Guard was responsible for the deaths of at least thirteen Roman emperors. This elite military unit often played a significant role in imperial politics, sometimes assassinating emperors they no longer favored and even selecting their successors.
There were numerous instances of military coups and attempted coups throughout Roman history, particularly during the Empire period. While pinpointing an exact number is difficult due to the nature of historical records and the blurring lines between coups, civil wars, and political instability, it's safe to say that military force and the threat of it were significant factors in Roman politics.
There was this nasty habit that insecure emperors had of executing victorious and famous generals, because they feared that their fame would eclipse theirs, and thus displace them.
The last and final one was Valentian III. Flavius Aetius, who had ben praetor of Gaul, pulled together a force of Franks, Belgi, Germans, Alans and assorted peoples and stopped the advance of Attila at the battle of the Catalaunian fields.
He became a hero of the Empire, but scared Valentian. Valentian called him to Ravenna supposedly to honor him but (it is said) murdered him by his own hand.
That ws in 451 CEk 4 years later Gesoric, a Vandal (also a Christian) attacked Ravena, plundered and levled it, then worked his way down the Italian Peninsula, sacked what was left of Rome, then onto Sicily finally settling in Carthegenia, Libya, to finally be absorbed by the local population.
For those who don't know, the Muslims gave Spain a name based on the Vandals, Andulsia., as it had been conquered (overwhelmed) by the Visgoths.
The Ostrogoths, Visgoths and Vandals were all Germanic peoples, and as such indistinguishable to the Muslims. The Arabic Muslims were familiar with the Vandals, so when they came across Germanic Goths with blue eyes, then they called them Vandals, but not V in Arabic so Andalusia had to do.
And that is why bin Laden talked about reestablishing the Caliphate including “Al-Andalus” in it, never mind that the last Muslim kingdom in Spain ended in 1492. We know this history but so many Americans do not, which is one reason why we get into terrible trouble intervening abroad. (Bush had to be told not to use the word “Crusade” for his wars as that is a very touchy term in the Middle East.) But sometimes I think most citizens here get their knowledge of ancient times from Hollywood movies mixed in with bits of the New Testament.
And as a professional geographer I am saddened by polls that routinely show the average person has low to no knowledge of where countries are or what they are like. But then Ted Cruz, who seems ready to bomb Iran, was recently asked how big that country was and said he didn’t know. (It’s 91 million.) As the GOP well knows, an uninformed populace is easy to lead. Incidentally, the capital had been moved from Rome to Milan (Mediolanum) as a forward site to meet the invasions coming into the empire, but Ravenna was considered more defensible. And by this time Constantinople was capital of the eastern half anyway.
It is a dream of Islamist, and I don't mean the ordinary citizens, that get up each day, pray in the direction of Makkah, then go about their business and try to get by like everyone else in the world, but I mean the doctrinaire ideologists, that all lands over which the flag of Muhammad has flown is forever Muslim and that any retreat, like in Spain,is only temporary.
There are some, with whom I have arguments on the netz, that believe that America is a Muslim country, because Muslims landed here before the Anglo's , even if they were slaves.
For Arabs, the past was yesterday. Westerners know jack shit about the crusades, except what they have seen in Movies (btw I descend from that asshat, Raynald of Chatillon, which Ridley Scott accurately portrayed in The Kingdom of Heaven. The arrogant prick was, more than anyother, responsible for the slaughter at the battle of Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem..
For Westerners all of this is ancient history, most don't know a thing other than what they might have seen in the movies or on TV.
For Arabs it was yesterday. They can tell you all about the battle of Hattin and Salah al Din, which means Prayer of the faithful or religions (din means faithful), westerners call him Saladin.
Arabs know all about the contribution of Islam to science and medicine, westerners know jack shit.. we are so arrogant, chauvinistic and arrogant.
Algebra was invented, or rediscovered and popularized, by a Moor name of al Jabr.
When the lizard eating Arabs came flying out of Arabia to attack an effete and weakened Greco Roman Empire, and subsequently and equally effete Persian empire, they found themselves like kids in a candy shop, surrounded by wonders, architectual, scientic,, artistic, philosophic and hungry for knowledge and aware of one thing, the fat lazy Greco Roman emperors weren't that knowledge is power. They set about scooping up everything, used their dhimmi slaves to translate and teach them, then went on to take that knowledge preserve it and expand it. This is the golden age of Islam, and it lasted only about 300 years, and it too became lazy, soft, effete because it had no competition, and thus fell in on itself and became totally focused on internal order, meaning Sharia law.
Meanwhile the kaffirs of Castile and Leon were busy at work,living in what were not really habital lands, meaning ideal for agriculture and impossible to occupy effectively and thus control, they built up their forces, produced armies that could not only stop the Muslims, which had become soft, and throw them out of Spain..
Incidentally the Eviction edict of Ferdinand and Isabella, took effect the same day that Columbus set sail for the new world. Aug 3, 1492. That might be a coincidence as certainly many of his crew were Moors and Jews, and there is an indication that Columbus was also Jewish.
Thank you, Mr. Hartmann. I'll re-read this daily.
Cast:
- ID Monster . . .The Republicans
- The crew . . . . . Citizens of America
With few exceptions, the Hill Democrats have NO discernible strategy for actually fighting the Republican ID-monster from "Forbidden Planet." . . .
They'd best get one, i.e., a battle plan. Like yesterday.
Here's a movie clip from FB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0n1nsTAzJ4&t=24s
Finally, if one MUST have a monarch [and we mustn't,] why, oh why have one with/ spirocetes drilling through his gray matter AT ALL ANGLES, leaving it not unlike Swiss cheese.
It's the evangelical christians, stupid! To become truly delusional, and not just grossly unintelligent or incompetent, an illusion must exist so alluring and yet unfathomable that it cannot be questioned, only 'worshipped' for its positive reinforcement of subjective 'truths.'
At least 75 percent of 'murkans are not this wacky. But they are the huddled masses, whether they know it or not. The unfathomable divide between wealth and poverty/near-poverty grows by the hour. The capitalist parasite is engorged, but still eating away. The myth persists - gods love those who are selfish and arrogant. Add to this the insurmountable propaganda engulfing the public by the 30-second spot, using Doublethink to rewrite past and current history, and you have cocaine driving stupification by wetiko, the toxic mind virus.
In our minds we all ask - 'what can be done?' The final stage Thom describes is not one any sentient being would get within a million miles of. But here it comes, unless 235 million citizens simply refuse to comply with anything that energizes this phantasmagoric monster. It's the economy, stupid.
What happened to how we can stop it? Please, much, much more on what can be done, now.
The 14 steps to Tyranny are a vivid reminder of how political power in the wrong hands is a weapon and not a service. The founders stressed the idea of office holders possessing wisdom, enlightenment and VURTUE which is sadly missing in every branch of government and especially in Donald Trump.
We are now at war. MSNBC is now saying that US has bombed Iran NOW.
Sir, you are remarkable. Brilliant, poetic, profound. We are in a real mess right now, but what you did was give this dark specter a shape and logic. You make total sense. Disturbing but accurate.