Not to worry, just file enough law suits, and parade with enough signs and we will save our souls.
Thanks to you. I learned about the Orwellian language of Frank Luntz, and how one needs a decoder ring to understand what Republicans are really saying.
The media still hasn't caught on, making me wonder if it is on purpose or just cowardice, states rights is not about states rights it never was. In 1861 it was a rallying cry for the southern aristocracy, to motivate farmers, share croppers and plow boys to give up their lives and treasure , that the ruling class could maintain its wealth, social status and life style.
The lie is revealed in the cessation document of South Carolina. The reason South Carolina seceded is because of the failure of Congress to make slavery legal throughout all states. So much for states rights.
Same thing with the so called pro life movement, they claimed, as a tactic,that states should determine abortion laws, until they got a Supreme Court of their choosing,then fuck states rights, same with gun laws, same with environmental laws
Pro life has nothing to do with being pro life. They could care less about that baby, soon as it leaves the womb.
Family values has nothing to do with family or values, as far as they are concerned, poor families can starve and die of exposure and the kids grow up illiterate.
Oh, yeah! Not to mention that the majority of our MSM is owned by the ones who along with bribed politicians and judges both put and maintain this demented crazy in office.
We need more than a day. Wasn't there a boycott Amazon day last week, or was it the day before. Never heard a thing about it, and Amazon didn't suffer.
Oh yeh, because I don't think that a one day boycott will change the mind and policiies of corporations and the opressor I am negative. Because I want a pro longed boycott, something that will get their attention I am Mr Negative.
Good try Daniel. You say I sit on my ass. How about you, the keyboard warrior. And you don't even post your own thoughts, just use google AI then copy and paste. Some warrior.
Or perhaps your warrior status is attacking people who think that you are, assuming good faith, self deluded.
I am with you on not personal attacks. But for the record I am responding in kind, as I have been the constant recipient of personal attacks, even accusing me of being a Trump agent. So why aren't you making this comment to Daniel. As I said, I held my mouth, until I had enough of personal attacks, so now I respond in kind..
I also donate, but to people and organizations that aren't just a waste of time.
The candidates of which you speak are most certainly local.
The problem Daniel is that your efforts and the organizations that you sponsor are ineffectual.
Ineffectual because they have not yielded any positive results or victories.
You are just spinning your wheels, as are the organizations you sponsor.
I have criticized the Democratic party because it too is ineffectual, in good faith I say incompetent, but in reality it has been at war with it's own populism, and thus populism has become associated with fascist tyranny.
Instead of courage and action, it writes "strongly worded letters'
Rather than endure a hardship, and take a risk, they are satisfied for a peaceful demonstration (which Trump and his regime) ignore, just like they ignore court rulings.
A one day walk out, is the cost of doing business, and will not force any change, but a general strike, withholding labor, withholding purchases,that hits theminthe pocket book.
MLK's march on Washington and his speeches, did not cause any change, but the eruption in the cities after his assassination,sure did.
Thank you, first of all, for calling out Reaganism as the beginning of the present trajectory. (I suspect that Reagan himself was a decent enough human [especially compared with You-Know-Who] but a lot of his policies, such as the dismantling of the labor movement, were destructive.) Kurt Andersen in his book "Evil Geniuses" also cited the Reagan era as the start of the American downfall. And thank you also for laying out the calls to action for the Democratic Party and the rest of us.
Most of the time, Reagan was "farblonget" winding up with Alzheimer's. He began his campaign in 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with an ourteach to the KKK and White Citizens' Councils. Inside his coterie, Pat Buchannan espoused the same mentality as the Christonazis do today.
Actually, the beginning of the end was the Powell memo of 1971. The foundation was then poured and the structure built during the 70s. But Reagan put it all in play, transforming the economy, building massive debt, shifting the power structure to the uber-riche, and creating the conditions for a media meltdown. But also, with Iran-Contra he substantially diminished the rule of law, more or less creating a seperate class of citizens that could rule over the rest and commit crimes with impunity.
Subsequent assholes like Gingrich destroyed the political process, and SCOTUS cemented it all in place.
tRump is nasty, ugly, and makes us throw up, but Reagan did far more lasting consequential damage to the very fabric of our nation. GWB is second most destructive IMHO, with tRump third, but closing in fast.
Instead of one Michael Cohen “fixer,” Trump now has THOUSANDS of fixers. (BTW, what did Michael Cohen know about Johnson, the “Jane Doe” that said she was raped multiple times by Trump and Epstein? Then she was repeatedly threatened, and so terrified, just before the hearing she dropped the case and went into hiding…or is she even alive?)
We have not been "One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." since 1954 when Eisenhower injected "God" into the definition of America. Before that, you pledged allegiance to democratic ideals and mutual respect. Then, Ike and his GOP pals decided to inject not religious tolerance, but Christian dominance, into how America sees itself.
I never thought Reagan was a very bright politician (also a dementia victim), but he was a competent actor/pretender, and became a useful idiot to the "wannahave2much" class. Most MAGAs I have interacted with still believe in "trickle-down" economics. They do not smell that what is trickling down on them is actually billionaire urine.
The one thing that separated America today from Nazi Germany of olde is our size. It is much harder to align 330 million people with fascism - even with TV and social media. We Americans so take for granted our democracy that we cannot even see the bonfire in front of us - much less feel the heat. It took 3 years for the author of "The Anatomy of Fascism," Columbia U emeritus prof. Bob Paxton, to realize that my assertion that Trump was a fascist was accurate, even when I used his criteria. Then in 2021, he published a Time magazine OpEd asserting that Trump was indeed a fascist. If a scholar cannot see his own history repeating, how can average Americans be expected to?
We are a diverse society. We were born in slavery. We've always had a resentful undercalss. According to the South, they had a concurrent majority. We had to have a civil war to try to straighten them out.
We didn't need, ala the 60s, need a weatherman to see which way the wind was blowin'.
Agree. Also, Germany’s prewar economy was tanked thanks to post World War I Versailes treaty. Everyone was looking for someone to blame, other than themselves and their Emperor’s craziness.
The idea that Republicans can't stand up to Trump because they are fearing for their lives is bogus. I don't believe it for a minute. What I do believe is that they are a group of morally vacant individuals who don't have to do a thing except sit on their hands and wait for the criminals in charge of their party to take action. The current elected Republicans have bought into Trump's plans because it is easier for them to accept than to resist. They simply don't care about their constituents or their country and, like slime, are simply oozing in whatever direction that Trump tilts.
Excellent informative piece today. Passing it on to our Democratic Women’s leader for our meeting next week. Happy to see that I’m doing some of those things suggested … watch the YouTube video “Paperclip the Nation” to see what my hometown is doing.
Everyone should read this article. Thanks for the link. I learned a new term, "electoral authoritarianism." I was aware of how elections operate in dictatorships but hadn't heard it called that. I'm still in shock that we recognize it in the US although I have suspected we lost our Democratic Republic decades ago.
The author wrote "The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin", a book I will always be grateful I read. Gessen is Russian and American.
This article is a "been there done that" assessment of where we are. Thanks, deepspace.
"A group of eagles is most commonly called a convocation, but other terms include a soar, aerie, congress, or even an army, with "convocation" being a popular choice for large gatherings, often near food sources like rivers. "
As Thom said, now is not the time for purists. Let's get that 70% of this country on the same sheet of basics outlined in the Constitution.
Don't fall prey to the cynics---they are working for Putin and TRump whether they know it or not.
FREE AMERICA is the name of today's rallies. Let's all do something. Thank you Thom for the histories, facts, and a path forward. Join some other eagles. See you in the streets.
What Democrats desperately need are a coherent message and a genuine people-centered program that is clearly and simply laid out for Americans. "Trump bad, give us money" is what they use, and that doesn't work. So either by omission or commission--by not acting enough or by doing the wrong things well--both parties are failing the country.
But really, all this was laid out in "Frankenstein". You cannot control the monster that you build. And when there is a vacuum such a person will fill. As Napoleon said, “I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.”
Personally I think we've only seen the beginning. If birthright citizenship is overturned then the next step will be to "remove" everyone born here to undocumented parents, and the next (concurrent, really) step is to deport "undesirables" who were legally granted citizenship. And finally they will go after those who are not wanted, even if they were legally born here. That's when people will really be fleeing, though I don't know where.
"Extremism in the defense of liberty" has been on the agenda of the far right for decades; but it became mainstream when the psychopath billionaires started putting their cash toward cultivating fear in the middle class. Now there's a goodly number of the voting public addicted to getting a daily hit of fear in their ears and eyes. Even normal people have taken to imitating and cosplaying insanity, led by those who are actually insane.
At Davos. NYT Dealbook...some C.E.O.s openly questioned the president, using words like “wild” and “bizarre.” Yet many of them are planning to attend a reception in his honor, with some even joking about the best way to praise him in person. “Tread lightly,” one C.E.O. said. Contrast that with a number of international politicians wringing their hands over the growing tensions about Greenland.
Also on attendees’ minds: The Supreme Court could finally rule on the legality of some of Trump’s biggest tariffs as soon as today.
Fear is the glue holding the GOP today. A sad epitaph for an organization that at one time was supposedly fighting for human rights. Republicans today: cowards, corrupt, cruel.
You didn't mention Hillsdale College. Started as abolitionist college, now fascist apologist.
Fear for sure but also predatory lust. Trump has convinced the Right that it can kill the scaly beast at last, one that they have been at war with for generations. The Left and left-Center have become easy targets - until now they did not realise, or couldn’t accept that the goal is our extinction. Fight or die. We are all gone to find our own path forward; this a time for alliances, not purity tests. If we fight
Seattle. We all tire of the non stop inflammation of our political body and health. The infection spreads to our peace of mind. It is intended to overwhelm us all so that we can not respond effectively. The GOP is a disease that has to be lancet. It would be better if the Dems were into lancing a few of our own infections of greed mainly corporate. I keep asking independent news organizations to put a pic of Good on the wall across from the camera with her name on the top and on the bottom Murdered by ICE brought to you by Putin's puppet president Krasnov. Problem is so many worthy names could be put there. But Renee Good is white which is bothersome to the other side as they see too much of her in them. That is why she is more effective for us than so many other worthies. But I have not seen any do this so the opportunity it presents is lost. The opposition does see this and it troubles them but without us putting it into their face all the time, they will forget in due time. Movements need stories that make the opposite side squirm for their truth. Not sure any other story will do better at this time. Meanwhile the right attacks Don Lemon because he is affective in his filming. No doubt they will try to get a judge to bury him or at least take up his time to defend himself. I hope he gets the protection he needs to continue the fight. Remember the light has already won and it is only a matter of time and not if the darkness falls from their corruption. As a good one says Defiance til Death.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures". Maybe too simplistic, but why don't the 17 plus senators needed to vote for impeachment under the 25th Amendment get themselves and their families out of the country to protect themselves instead of waiting for the rest of us to get shot in the head and in the knees for protesting. They took an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution' for Christ's sake!
Not to worry, just file enough law suits, and parade with enough signs and we will save our souls.
Thanks to you. I learned about the Orwellian language of Frank Luntz, and how one needs a decoder ring to understand what Republicans are really saying.
The media still hasn't caught on, making me wonder if it is on purpose or just cowardice, states rights is not about states rights it never was. In 1861 it was a rallying cry for the southern aristocracy, to motivate farmers, share croppers and plow boys to give up their lives and treasure , that the ruling class could maintain its wealth, social status and life style.
The lie is revealed in the cessation document of South Carolina. The reason South Carolina seceded is because of the failure of Congress to make slavery legal throughout all states. So much for states rights.
Same thing with the so called pro life movement, they claimed, as a tactic,that states should determine abortion laws, until they got a Supreme Court of their choosing,then fuck states rights, same with gun laws, same with environmental laws
Pro life has nothing to do with being pro life. They could care less about that baby, soon as it leaves the womb.
Family values has nothing to do with family or values, as far as they are concerned, poor families can starve and die of exposure and the kids grow up illiterate.
Oh, yeah! Not to mention that the majority of our MSM is owned by the ones who along with bribed politicians and judges both put and maintain this demented crazy in office.
Today is a day of action. January 20, 2026 FREE AMERICA WALKOUT
2:00 PM- 3:00 PM
https://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/free-america-weekend
We need more than a day. Wasn't there a boycott Amazon day last week, or was it the day before. Never heard a thing about it, and Amazon didn't suffer.
Mr. Negative. It's up to people like Thom to spread the word.
All the stuff you ridicule has a chance for success. You just sit on your ass and ridicule.
How about we not turn these comment pages into Breitbart or MSN? I direct this to both of youse guys. Express personal opinions, not personal attacks.
Oh yeh, because I don't think that a one day boycott will change the mind and policiies of corporations and the opressor I am negative. Because I want a pro longed boycott, something that will get their attention I am Mr Negative.
Good try Daniel. You say I sit on my ass. How about you, the keyboard warrior. And you don't even post your own thoughts, just use google AI then copy and paste. Some warrior.
Or perhaps your warrior status is attacking people who think that you are, assuming good faith, self deluded.
How about we not turn these comment pages into Breitbart or MSN? I direct this to both of youse guys. Express personal opinions, not personal attacks.
I am with you on not personal attacks. But for the record I am responding in kind, as I have been the constant recipient of personal attacks, even accusing me of being a Trump agent. So why aren't you making this comment to Daniel. As I said, I held my mouth, until I had enough of personal attacks, so now I respond in kind..
We've been working on this since last november...
Actually, I am a donor. I was a member of the executive board aqui mismo. Candidates ask for MY opinon.
Past president, chair of several organizatioons.
I also donate, but to people and organizations that aren't just a waste of time.
The candidates of which you speak are most certainly local.
The problem Daniel is that your efforts and the organizations that you sponsor are ineffectual.
Ineffectual because they have not yielded any positive results or victories.
You are just spinning your wheels, as are the organizations you sponsor.
I have criticized the Democratic party because it too is ineffectual, in good faith I say incompetent, but in reality it has been at war with it's own populism, and thus populism has become associated with fascist tyranny.
Instead of courage and action, it writes "strongly worded letters'
Rather than endure a hardship, and take a risk, they are satisfied for a peaceful demonstration (which Trump and his regime) ignore, just like they ignore court rulings.
A one day walk out, is the cost of doing business, and will not force any change, but a general strike, withholding labor, withholding purchases,that hits theminthe pocket book.
MLK's march on Washington and his speeches, did not cause any change, but the eruption in the cities after his assassination,sure did.
Thank you, first of all, for calling out Reaganism as the beginning of the present trajectory. (I suspect that Reagan himself was a decent enough human [especially compared with You-Know-Who] but a lot of his policies, such as the dismantling of the labor movement, were destructive.) Kurt Andersen in his book "Evil Geniuses" also cited the Reagan era as the start of the American downfall. And thank you also for laying out the calls to action for the Democratic Party and the rest of us.
Most of the time, Reagan was "farblonget" winding up with Alzheimer's. He began his campaign in 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with an ourteach to the KKK and White Citizens' Councils. Inside his coterie, Pat Buchannan espoused the same mentality as the Christonazis do today.
I remember Nixon. Southern strategy.
John Birch Society.
Yeah, I remember those things too. I was attempting to be diplomatic. Thanks for the word "farblonget." I'll be sure to use that in the future. ;-)
Actually, the beginning of the end was the Powell memo of 1971. The foundation was then poured and the structure built during the 70s. But Reagan put it all in play, transforming the economy, building massive debt, shifting the power structure to the uber-riche, and creating the conditions for a media meltdown. But also, with Iran-Contra he substantially diminished the rule of law, more or less creating a seperate class of citizens that could rule over the rest and commit crimes with impunity.
Subsequent assholes like Gingrich destroyed the political process, and SCOTUS cemented it all in place.
tRump is nasty, ugly, and makes us throw up, but Reagan did far more lasting consequential damage to the very fabric of our nation. GWB is second most destructive IMHO, with tRump third, but closing in fast.
Put 'em all in the same "basket of deplorables."
Instead of one Michael Cohen “fixer,” Trump now has THOUSANDS of fixers. (BTW, what did Michael Cohen know about Johnson, the “Jane Doe” that said she was raped multiple times by Trump and Epstein? Then she was repeatedly threatened, and so terrified, just before the hearing she dropped the case and went into hiding…or is she even alive?)
We have not been "One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." since 1954 when Eisenhower injected "God" into the definition of America. Before that, you pledged allegiance to democratic ideals and mutual respect. Then, Ike and his GOP pals decided to inject not religious tolerance, but Christian dominance, into how America sees itself.
I never thought Reagan was a very bright politician (also a dementia victim), but he was a competent actor/pretender, and became a useful idiot to the "wannahave2much" class. Most MAGAs I have interacted with still believe in "trickle-down" economics. They do not smell that what is trickling down on them is actually billionaire urine.
The one thing that separated America today from Nazi Germany of olde is our size. It is much harder to align 330 million people with fascism - even with TV and social media. We Americans so take for granted our democracy that we cannot even see the bonfire in front of us - much less feel the heat. It took 3 years for the author of "The Anatomy of Fascism," Columbia U emeritus prof. Bob Paxton, to realize that my assertion that Trump was a fascist was accurate, even when I used his criteria. Then in 2021, he published a Time magazine OpEd asserting that Trump was indeed a fascist. If a scholar cannot see his own history repeating, how can average Americans be expected to?
In Deutchland, eine Nation, ein Volk, ein Reich.
We are a diverse society. We were born in slavery. We've always had a resentful undercalss. According to the South, they had a concurrent majority. We had to have a civil war to try to straighten them out.
We didn't need, ala the 60s, need a weatherman to see which way the wind was blowin'.
Agree. Also, Germany’s prewar economy was tanked thanks to post World War I Versailes treaty. Everyone was looking for someone to blame, other than themselves and their Emperor’s craziness.
The media knows, but except for independent media, they are cowards.
And prostitutes.
Thom, I hope your work occasionally finds its way to Democratic “leadership”.
The idea that Republicans can't stand up to Trump because they are fearing for their lives is bogus. I don't believe it for a minute. What I do believe is that they are a group of morally vacant individuals who don't have to do a thing except sit on their hands and wait for the criminals in charge of their party to take action. The current elected Republicans have bought into Trump's plans because it is easier for them to accept than to resist. They simply don't care about their constituents or their country and, like slime, are simply oozing in whatever direction that Trump tilts.
Excellent informative piece today. Passing it on to our Democratic Women’s leader for our meeting next week. Happy to see that I’m doing some of those things suggested … watch the YouTube video “Paperclip the Nation” to see what my hometown is doing.
Sometimes, the opinion columnists of legacy media get it right: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/opinion/trump-one-year-later.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1A.Eez1.ItGBQcxOpXIh&smid=url-share
Everyone should read this article. Thanks for the link. I learned a new term, "electoral authoritarianism." I was aware of how elections operate in dictatorships but hadn't heard it called that. I'm still in shock that we recognize it in the US although I have suspected we lost our Democratic Republic decades ago.
See NYT today.
"All told, Mr. Trump has profited from
his return to the presidency by an
amount of money equal to 16,822 times
the median U.S. household income."
...and now we need to find it again!
The author wrote "The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin", a book I will always be grateful I read. Gessen is Russian and American.
This article is a "been there done that" assessment of where we are. Thanks, deepspace.
Clumsy, nay, make that "Gross" analogy:
If the GOP were a pair of tighty-whities then . . .
T-Bone's tenure in office is an hourly sh*t stain within them.
No longer white, they are oozing and seeping Russian Red.
From AI Overview:
"A group of eagles is most commonly called a convocation, but other terms include a soar, aerie, congress, or even an army, with "convocation" being a popular choice for large gatherings, often near food sources like rivers. "
As Thom said, now is not the time for purists. Let's get that 70% of this country on the same sheet of basics outlined in the Constitution.
Don't fall prey to the cynics---they are working for Putin and TRump whether they know it or not.
FREE AMERICA is the name of today's rallies. Let's all do something. Thank you Thom for the histories, facts, and a path forward. Join some other eagles. See you in the streets.
What Democrats desperately need are a coherent message and a genuine people-centered program that is clearly and simply laid out for Americans. "Trump bad, give us money" is what they use, and that doesn't work. So either by omission or commission--by not acting enough or by doing the wrong things well--both parties are failing the country.
But really, all this was laid out in "Frankenstein". You cannot control the monster that you build. And when there is a vacuum such a person will fill. As Napoleon said, “I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.”
Personally I think we've only seen the beginning. If birthright citizenship is overturned then the next step will be to "remove" everyone born here to undocumented parents, and the next (concurrent, really) step is to deport "undesirables" who were legally granted citizenship. And finally they will go after those who are not wanted, even if they were legally born here. That's when people will really be fleeing, though I don't know where.
"Extremism in the defense of liberty" has been on the agenda of the far right for decades; but it became mainstream when the psychopath billionaires started putting their cash toward cultivating fear in the middle class. Now there's a goodly number of the voting public addicted to getting a daily hit of fear in their ears and eyes. Even normal people have taken to imitating and cosplaying insanity, led by those who are actually insane.
At Davos. NYT Dealbook...some C.E.O.s openly questioned the president, using words like “wild” and “bizarre.” Yet many of them are planning to attend a reception in his honor, with some even joking about the best way to praise him in person. “Tread lightly,” one C.E.O. said. Contrast that with a number of international politicians wringing their hands over the growing tensions about Greenland.
Also on attendees’ minds: The Supreme Court could finally rule on the legality of some of Trump’s biggest tariffs as soon as today.
Fear is the glue holding the GOP today. A sad epitaph for an organization that at one time was supposedly fighting for human rights. Republicans today: cowards, corrupt, cruel.
You didn't mention Hillsdale College. Started as abolitionist college, now fascist apologist.
Fear for sure but also predatory lust. Trump has convinced the Right that it can kill the scaly beast at last, one that they have been at war with for generations. The Left and left-Center have become easy targets - until now they did not realise, or couldn’t accept that the goal is our extinction. Fight or die. We are all gone to find our own path forward; this a time for alliances, not purity tests. If we fight
Among ourselves we all die together
Seattle. We all tire of the non stop inflammation of our political body and health. The infection spreads to our peace of mind. It is intended to overwhelm us all so that we can not respond effectively. The GOP is a disease that has to be lancet. It would be better if the Dems were into lancing a few of our own infections of greed mainly corporate. I keep asking independent news organizations to put a pic of Good on the wall across from the camera with her name on the top and on the bottom Murdered by ICE brought to you by Putin's puppet president Krasnov. Problem is so many worthy names could be put there. But Renee Good is white which is bothersome to the other side as they see too much of her in them. That is why she is more effective for us than so many other worthies. But I have not seen any do this so the opportunity it presents is lost. The opposition does see this and it troubles them but without us putting it into their face all the time, they will forget in due time. Movements need stories that make the opposite side squirm for their truth. Not sure any other story will do better at this time. Meanwhile the right attacks Don Lemon because he is affective in his filming. No doubt they will try to get a judge to bury him or at least take up his time to defend himself. I hope he gets the protection he needs to continue the fight. Remember the light has already won and it is only a matter of time and not if the darkness falls from their corruption. As a good one says Defiance til Death.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures". Maybe too simplistic, but why don't the 17 plus senators needed to vote for impeachment under the 25th Amendment get themselves and their families out of the country to protect themselves instead of waiting for the rest of us to get shot in the head and in the knees for protesting. They took an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution' for Christ's sake!