The racist Trumpsters who want a second civil war call this an “acceleration,” & hope they can create enough chaos that they can finally fulfill their fantasies about fighting in a noble civil war…
The right-wing in my opinion is empowered by grievance. They don’t like a multiracial, multi-theological, merit based, sexual equality based society. They were incensed when a well educated black man became president. They didn’t like it when a woman appeared to be heir to the next presidency. They don’t like it that women have used educational opportunity to become qualified for many roles formerly held by mostly men. They don’t like that women can control their reproduction timing to enable both a successful career and a family. They don’t like to see citizens of what were minority races, through hard work and education achieve economic success. They disparage immigrants, but don’t acknowledge that these immigrants are essential for the economy of this country.
A civil war is not going to change these conditions. They are deluded if they think war improves anything. If their plight is going to change it will only come through their own hard work, their learning how to adapt to changing economic conditions, and treating their fellowmen and women as brothers and sisters.
I think the answer is very simple for those people who want to see neo-nazis, autocrats, fascists were the Americans Taliban and white supremacists running the country they should certainly vote for Donald the rump
Everyone else should vote for a Democrat weather for dog catcher or the president of the United States and everything in between no politician, no judge, no administrator of any kind, that is part of the Republi-CONS should ever see a penny from the coffers of tax paying citizens.
Let's face facts they can have dollars from people like Leonard Leo, Mr Coke, or other insane Filthy Rich Millionaires and billionaires but not tax dollars or votes from the real voters and the real residents of the United States.
TRump it is obvious, is totally nuts and will soon be in jail along with hopefully at least 50% of his fascist followers.
Could not finish the article, just too frightening and thinking we are already in a civil war here in America. The Dems need to step up, Biden needs to use every tool in his toolbox. Marshall Law?
I was not offended and like Thom I do not mind being corrected. Good to know, hope I remember the next time it pops into my head. I really not sure Martial law would be a great idea but it sure is warranted.
I think people should know how to spell common words. Condenscension is like beauty it is in the eyes of the beholder.
The alternative is to let the people keep making the same silly mistake, and look foolish and semi literate.
which is better? To correct them or let them continue to embarrass themselves, over something so silly as spelling?
Sure it is embarrassing to be corrected when making mistakes. Napoleon said, "Don't interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake". I don't consider people I correct my enemy.
Well, sez me (leave that spelling and grammar alone!) you are a bit harsh. Sadly, "Martial" is a word many have heard post-Trump, but it does sound just like "Marshall," and so technically not phonetically illiterate. I am basically on your side, that important meaning is lost.
Harsh? Correction is harsh. Anything less than an A grade on a paper is harsh for some.
It is indicative of our time that people don't know how to spell. I have a glitch in which I often type there, when I mean their or vice versa. I catch the error, but pretty hard to proof read on substack until after you post
I also have glitches in typing the "T" sometimes, for instance after reading a post I made I notice sometimes I drop the t" so the winds up as he, in fact I just did it in this sentence I typed someimes without the T, luckily I have spell check, not auto correct, auto correct is bad news,
I also stutter, verbally and in typing, an artifact from the surgery and radiation,from the craniotomy that removed a brain tumor. Which means I have to proof read before posting, and hard to do with substack.
I guess I am harsh, also an angry old man, who yells at kids to get off my lawn, and just about any other insult or slur one can pull out of their limited repetoire.
I am who I am Mmerose, you know that, and yes I know what people spell martial as marshall, and that is because we are functional semi literate today, people don't read anymore,and they get participation trophies, because we are all special. God forbid they get their fee fees hurt.. )Edit: I did again I typed the and dropped the y this time, for they.)
That's the excuse that Rhonda Santis and Moms for Liberty are using to ban books from schools, because poor little white kids get their feelings hurt.
Yes, William you were both harsh and correct. I often use voice to dictate online. And I often use autocorrect. I try to review what I'm sending up before I hit the button and then when it's online there is no way to correct it. Yeah, it's embarrassing but will probably be unavoidable for those of us who don't spend all day on substack. Until sub stack ( 89 voice error) allows you to correct what you have put online. Mistakes will happen. When they do happen naturally we are embarrassed. But william, our own embarrassment when it happens far out ways your comments about misspelled words. I'm not going to go on. William I don't know what you do for a living or what you did for a living. For all I know you may have been a fifth grade nun in Catholic School for all I know. That would explain your extreme desire to correct somebody's errors and to embarrass people while you're at it. Oh well.
I must have "auto correct." Drives me nuts, because often it's total "Mad Libs." Anyhow, my pet peeve is the disappearance of the word "fewer" from the language. Even the brightest "talking heads" never let it slip their lips.
Sometimes the right word has meaning where the wrong word is pointless. "Marshall law" is an example of the wrong word being misleading. There was a "Marshall Plan" after WWII, but it has nothing to do with "Martial," from the Latin name of the god of war, etc. If everybody got all thin-skinned about such errors being pointed out, the whole world would be populated by- wait for it - Donald Trumps!
my thoughts exactly Patricia... we need to pull together and here's an a**h**** just being so egotistically "superior"... we need to be as ONE on this political stuff these days!
Oh, come on. Correcting a misspelling, malapropism, or typo does not make William — or any one of us — fascists, Putinists, or trumpian. The party of grievance thinks we’re elitists because we know the difference between “Marshall” and “martial”; I think we liberals might want to embrace correction in facts and in written/spoken statements of fact. Remember: the woman who was corrected was thankful. Sorta feels like the issue ought to be left at that.
I'm with you Julie!... we have to hope that the U.S. voter is smart enough and alert enough to vote ALL these... and the only word I can think of without being too vulgar... IDIOTS... out of office in November.... we have to pray for a total and complete Democrat LANDSLIDE!!!!!!!
Definitely agree Julie, the morbidly violent and vicious right wing ideology is disgusting and anti-American. They want to force a Middle Ages rule of law on the rest of us (man in charge, POC slaves, women slavishly beholden to the man, etc. ). The right fears equality and progress, therefore burn it all down. I’ve read neuroscience articles before that discuss right -leaning brains (right wingers have brains?that’s an oxymoron ) are prone to conspiracy theories and confabulation and less critical thinking which explains the slide into cultism. Scary that a portion of Americans would throw away democracy just to impose some wet dream version of authoritarianism. What a hellscape America would be then. But right wingers in their stupidity would not figure out in time that what they would impose on others would affect them as well both politically and economically. We know for example those proponents of 2A rights under authoritarian rule would really be screaming “ they’re coming for our guns”, because no authoritarian would allow a heavily armed populace. As the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for”.
All true... But for all of us who understand the danger -- What's the plan?!??
I see no concerted, well-constructed response.
There is nothing much, other than jail, collective shunning and belittling, we can do about the true MAGA faithful. That is a relatively small number, however.
It is the large number of those leaning that way, or perhaps sitting on the fence, that must be addressed -- embarrassed, perhaps, or given a swift kick in the can.
Another round of X, Y, or Z LIVES MATTER only serves to create further wedges in the community wide response that is needed. Every time Progressives identify a new, suffering, group that needs attention, the money boys salivate at the opportunity to drive another stake into the commonwealth's heart.
We have to stop bringing guitars and love beads to a knife fight.
I underscore your comment and double-underscore your question, Donald. So much doom scrolling, head shaking, face palming, hand wringing, whining, raging, moaning and groaning from us Lefties/Progressives; no strategic/tactical planning or action steps. We, in Pollyanna fashion, just cross our fingers and hope for the best, but we don't plan for the worst. We have correctly diagnosed the illness, which, as the medical doctors say, is half the battle, but we don't prescribe any therapy to cure the illness.
Thank you for your note. part of the problem, I think, is that most progressive, community-minded people are basically reasonable and keep thinking that if only we re-phrase our plea for understanding in slightly different tones or with more facts, it must get through.
That is: we continue to focus upon what we are selling. Not upon what this wide range of Americans ARE BUYING.
Having spent forty years in corporate America, I learned the key to successful selling is always remember what your customer is buying. I learned this from an AVON executive. he asked me: What am I selling? I am selling little pots of colored powder. Now, what are my women customers buying? They are buying HOPE!
Twenty years ago I tried to get progressive organizations to frame their messages with this in mind. I had some success with ACORN before they were taken down by a right-wing infiltrator. Others could not or would not agree to the idea of framing the message.
Lots of people -- particularly white, working people -- feel no one on the "left" understands what they want to have... to buy. Of course, this is a golden opportunity for grifters and big-money manipulators to pitch their product as exactly what these folks want to buy.
Thom Hartmann shows clearly what the bad guys motives are, and, sometimes, shines a light upon how they are selling rotten goods. However, I have been searching in vain for people who are framing and then delivering a message that can sell.
The immigrants have been brought in for cheaper labor. The left who has always wanted sustainable, non polluting, zero population growth, gets blamed for what the right wing globalist billionaires like Trump want.
We know Trump would rather pay four illegals the same amount of money as one born in America citizen, and that they would be lucky to get paid at all.
Currently the GOP does not want to fix the border problem temporarily even. The right causes a problem and then blames the left. Like when the capital was invaded by themselves, they want to blame antifa and black lives matters till this day.
The capitalist who the right wing extremists defend, are the ones causing the overpopulation and poverty in America.
Ultimately the thug anarchists goal is to steal everything from the rich and the middle class. Just common criminals, that have already been destroyed by unlimited greed, poor parenting and phony religious beliefs.
The right who has never been hungry a day in their lives, thanks to liberal FDR, will find out what the poor around the world experience daily.
Even more so Bob, the Right invents a problem and then blames everybody else who isn't with them. Critical Race Theory, Woke (!), vast non-existent conspiracies, and arguably the whole abortion issue, they all came out of somebody looking for a cause to stir people up and then take their money. It's an old, old trick to find enemies, and sadly it still works when scared or angry people want somebody to blame.
Your correct Bob, the right creates the problem then blames the left, they have been doing it since Reagan at least, but I blame the Democratic party for letting it happen, too timid to fight back they sit there and turn the over cheek, giving the initiative to the Republicans.
And by fighting back I don't mean defending oneself. Defense is the way to lose. Games aren't won by defense without offense. Democrat 's, the left,liberals, need to go on the offense, turn the tables, fight fire with fire, be aggressive, accuse the Republicans of being treasonous, murderous bigots that threaten our freedoms, our liberties and the very soul of the nation.
You are confusing ideology and preference with party, a Jenny Typical problem. Authoritarianism is Democracy, victim is aggressor, defense is imperialism.
Is no one going to mention the murderous herd of elephants in the room with us all ? They are called unchecked hyper capitalists; crazed with greed stampeding us into conflicting silos whilst gobbling up all of the diminishing natural resources on our ecologically destroyed planet.
That a low level civil war is already happening is evident. November could bring a far wider one. The MAGAt fools seem to welcome this without any thought that they might be on the losing end. Maybe, and I say this with unbelievable sadness, we deserve this for failing to remove the cancer of the Confederacy root and branch after the Civil War. It may take another bloodbath in expiation for that sin. Too many good people will die in it. One can only hope that the MAGAt grotesques will reap what they are sowing tenfold, and may come to regret what they will be bringing on themselves, their families, and our country. Incredibly, I doubt that. They are too far gone.
My late-found religious faith sustains me. Without it, I would have no reason to continue in this horrifying world. A recent novel I read referenced an apocryphal comment by a rabbi who said "I have to believe in God, as the alternative is to believe in man, in which one will inevitably be disappointed." I am there. If I could wave a magic wand and get rid of the willfully ignorant, bigoted, hateful and cruel in this world, whether MAGAts, Russians, religious fundamentalists, totalitarians of all stripes, I would. Because they would deny my right to exist, to believe as I do, and as all people I respect do.
I dearly hope poor Ukraine survives until November. And when that month arrives, vote blue, for every office everywhere. It is an existential election. It will determine our country's fate and probably that o much of the world.
You can bet that fascists, totalitarians and narcissistic wealthy entrepreneurs are working feverishly to get there first with an AI super intelligence. The bad actors want to get there first because it is the ultimate tool to control. Its development can no longer be stopped, so the democracies of the world need to form oversight panels to make certain it has peaceful & moral goals. Otherwise, in the words of R. Oppenheimer we may truly have a situation reflecting his "I have become death" statement.
At the same time such a device will rapidly develop the powers of a God, we have to have people dedicated to insuring that it does not incorporate the values of the morbidly wealthy, the narcissistic or the brutality of dictators minds. It must have the core values of the least superstitious, most moral, among us, and it must be programmed protect all of human kind from the excesses of the bad actors that you name.
Good luck with that. I see Terminators in our future. I just finished an excellent novel centering on Germanrefugees trying to warn Britain about Hitler in the early 30’s to no avail. At one point, one of the main characters commented that a rabbi told him “ I have to believe in God, because otherwise I would have to believe in man, and would inevitably be disappointed.” That rings far too true to me.
Meanwhile with Putin funding and interference, via Trump, the U.S. eviscerates itself, with the resurgence of patriarchal, white, Christian, nationalism.
Very interesting, Putin making "common cause" with Muslims. (I haven't looked at the link yet.) From Orthodox acquaintances here, I got an earful about how Putin was the defender of the True Faith, while Zelinsky was looting the Ukrainian churches; you get the gist. (Never mind the snapshot of Biden and Zelinsky in the perfectly intact cathedral flanked by two beaming Orthodox priests in full regalia...) My dinner-partner's Russian-speaking wife was sucking directly on Russian propaganda, which was definitely selling the war against Ukraine as a religious war.
It is tragic how many truly awful people we have in the USA. I protest Trump's characterization of there being good people on both sides. Those are the words of an amoral person. A sociopath if you will. He leads people into Hell, since he is the devil here on earth. Prof. Kathleen Belew talks about the White Power militia and their plan to have a race war and take over the world in her book Bring The War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. I think of it as a must read to understand what is going on not just in the USA, but in Europe and other White Supremacist nations like South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Clearly these White Supremacists are so ignorant of the state of the planet. India and China have a far bigger population than the USA and Canada together, and Africa is the continent with the fastest growing population, predicted to have the largest population in 2050. Just the other day, I was reading that among Gen Zers in the USA, 52 percent are "white" a term that should be outdated for categorizing people, but still isn't, at least not in the USA. I really think Americans need to leave the continent more often and travel around the world and get to see what is out there. Being insular is not helpful. I really hope Trump does not win, and we neutralize those who would engage in a race war. These people are all treasonous as far as I am concerned.
this past weekend a group of mask-clad Nazis marched through downtown Nashville complete with swastikas and racist chants. The media treated it like “just another day.”... Guess what?... I never heard this on ANY news broadcast!... WHat the hell is going on???... is it because the ultra rich conservatives own ALL of the news outlets?... I am in fear of this all to real danger!!!!
They all wore masks so their identity couldn’t be determined. They should be forced to show the faces. Hopefully one or more of the Nazis were undercover FBI agents and their identities are known. . Many of the Charolettesville fascists lost their jobs soon after their protest march. They will likely become pariahs for life and will suffer economic deprivation as well. They may have the right to demonstrate, but there are still mechanisms to curb their influence.
All of this is a huge problem . Donald Trump and his supporters( think Steve Bannon, Steven Miller et al. ) Speak garbage constantly . Every thing they say suggests violence on anyone they disagree with in their little white minds.
Furthermore , they’re making sure they are keeping’s guns &Automatic weapons plentiful and available .
This is incredibly dangerous and disturbing . Reminder that people that follow Trump are not very clear thinkers and have a knee jerk reaction to anyone who does not agree with them and their broken minds.
Although the nation has, from its beginnings, had its racial tensions (or far worse), the recent years of this, Trump associated flair-up, is the direct result of Vladimir Putin's undeclared war on democracies. Putin's weapon of choice,(on the cheap) is subversion through deceitful IT psyops. (Who would have ever thought the former spy/KGB agent cold war warrior would ever try to mount a sneak attack??)
Just as unions lift non-union boats & many non-union CEOs therefore hate them; autocrats & fascists despise democracies because, in order to compete in citizen popularity with democracies domestically, they have to loosen their oppressive grip and hide more of the brutality that they prefer to wield. [The old, Rule with an Iron Hand syndrome.] (The largest reason for Putin's hatred of Ukraine was that a thriving democracy next door, further connecting with Europe, was about to make his autocracy look like hell in the eyes of the world & his subjects. It would have left his Czarist proclivities in the dustbin for Russians, where they belong.)
Unfortunately, many of the very wealthy in the US, particularly industrialists, suffer from a similar (longing for unchecked fascist intimidation) syndrome, largely based on their sense of superiority and desire to keep worker needs irrelevant, in pursuit of their greatest passion, more profit. This provides the common thread for their fascist/kleptocratic political alignment with Putin.
If we want to stop our implosion into civil war we must find a way to neutralize V. Putin's constant injection of political poison into America's life blood, and find ways to influence Russian culture into a renewal of glasnost; for the sake of democracy, the US, Ukraine, Russia itself and the planet.
At the same time we must repair our own culture where wealthy donors and GOP/MAGA infiltrators are amplifying the toxins that Putin first identified, and then weaponized, digitally, in an update of his cold war covert tactics. Putin recognized Trump's mental pathologies and saw him as an opportunity to inject a massive dose of Putin venom into his most hated enemy, American power & its desire, by many, to improve on democracy. (Sadly, too few Americans picked up on the facts that both Putin & Trump thrive mainly on their abilities to defraud others.)
The chief enemy of good governance is corruption. Both Putin's Russia and America's GOP have been staggered by corruption and kleptocratic ambition. In order to control corruption, in the US, we need a no nonsense, kick ass AG/DOJ. We need a hundred Jack Smiths, in key DOJ positions, surrounded with suitable terrorism protections. We need stiff anti-domestic terrorism laws; NOT Russian/GOP style anti-protest, voter suppression laws. We need a DOJ willing to charge destructive political disinformation for what it is, criminal fraud. Anti- democracy Americans such as Donald Trump & all his co-conspirators, have mislead millions of Americans with repetitious lies, we need to counter with, at the very least, equivalent numbers of repetitions of facts. We all need to vote(& get our friends to), like the future of life on the planet depends on it, because it really does. We need a few dozens of Thom Hartmanns, countering all the undemocratic chatter spread by conservative media, Russian trolls and kleptocratic campaign donors.
Even though most voters prefer the policies of Democrats; Republicans that have anti-democratic policies & beliefs, win far too many elections because they know how to game the system and there are far too many poorly informed & radicalized voters willing to support a racist, kleptocratic agenda. Hate sells in our system that has been skewed to allow far far too much predatory market behavior, in the name of speech. And, in an attempt to interpret the Constitution through the invention of right wing ideological lens that never really existed.
Russia needed Navalny, a replacement(s) will be difficult for Russians to find.
The news is failing the country once more, This time the price is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The opposition does not hold that those that do not agree with them deserve freedom and life.
While climbing your family tree in battleground states you come across newspaper articles that survived the bands of roaming confederates for that period of time and discover books written by survivors. Sane people don’t want to have a second civil war.
The right-wing in my opinion is empowered by grievance. They don’t like a multiracial, multi-theological, merit based, sexual equality based society. They were incensed when a well educated black man became president. They didn’t like it when a woman appeared to be heir to the next presidency. They don’t like it that women have used educational opportunity to become qualified for many roles formerly held by mostly men. They don’t like that women can control their reproduction timing to enable both a successful career and a family. They don’t like to see citizens of what were minority races, through hard work and education achieve economic success. They disparage immigrants, but don’t acknowledge that these immigrants are essential for the economy of this country.
A civil war is not going to change these conditions. They are deluded if they think war improves anything. If their plight is going to change it will only come through their own hard work, their learning how to adapt to changing economic conditions, and treating their fellowmen and women as brothers and sisters.
I think the answer is very simple for those people who want to see neo-nazis, autocrats, fascists were the Americans Taliban and white supremacists running the country they should certainly vote for Donald the rump
Everyone else should vote for a Democrat weather for dog catcher or the president of the United States and everything in between no politician, no judge, no administrator of any kind, that is part of the Republi-CONS should ever see a penny from the coffers of tax paying citizens.
Let's face facts they can have dollars from people like Leonard Leo, Mr Coke, or other insane Filthy Rich Millionaires and billionaires but not tax dollars or votes from the real voters and the real residents of the United States.
TRump it is obvious, is totally nuts and will soon be in jail along with hopefully at least 50% of his fascist followers.
It changed a lot of things in Ireland....read some History?
Could not finish the article, just too frightening and thinking we are already in a civil war here in America. The Dems need to step up, Biden needs to use every tool in his toolbox. Marshall Law?
It is Martial Law Julie, not Marshall Law.. Sticking the head in the sand doesn't help either.
I was not offended and like Thom I do not mind being corrected. Good to know, hope I remember the next time it pops into my head. I really not sure Martial law would be a great idea but it sure is warranted.
Why do you always contact individuals to correct their mistakes? Do you really think that’s helpful. It’s not , in fact it’s condescending as hell.
I think people should know how to spell common words. Condenscension is like beauty it is in the eyes of the beholder.
The alternative is to let the people keep making the same silly mistake, and look foolish and semi literate.
which is better? To correct them or let them continue to embarrass themselves, over something so silly as spelling?
Sure it is embarrassing to be corrected when making mistakes. Napoleon said, "Don't interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake". I don't consider people I correct my enemy.
You tell me.
enemy!?!?!?... whose the enemy here?... The conservative side of the scale... methinks
How about reading my comment again. Gees, talk about being thick headed.
Golly. He said correcting a word didn't have anything to do with enmity.
Hey William would you be so kind as to please go f yourself. No condescension intended. I just wanted to let you know who you really are.
Laughs, As if your opinion had any value. You think too highly of yourself.
Well, sez me (leave that spelling and grammar alone!) you are a bit harsh. Sadly, "Martial" is a word many have heard post-Trump, but it does sound just like "Marshall," and so technically not phonetically illiterate. I am basically on your side, that important meaning is lost.
Harsh? Correction is harsh. Anything less than an A grade on a paper is harsh for some.
It is indicative of our time that people don't know how to spell. I have a glitch in which I often type there, when I mean their or vice versa. I catch the error, but pretty hard to proof read on substack until after you post
I also have glitches in typing the "T" sometimes, for instance after reading a post I made I notice sometimes I drop the t" so the winds up as he, in fact I just did it in this sentence I typed someimes without the T, luckily I have spell check, not auto correct, auto correct is bad news,
I also stutter, verbally and in typing, an artifact from the surgery and radiation,from the craniotomy that removed a brain tumor. Which means I have to proof read before posting, and hard to do with substack.
I guess I am harsh, also an angry old man, who yells at kids to get off my lawn, and just about any other insult or slur one can pull out of their limited repetoire.
I am who I am Mmerose, you know that, and yes I know what people spell martial as marshall, and that is because we are functional semi literate today, people don't read anymore,and they get participation trophies, because we are all special. God forbid they get their fee fees hurt.. )Edit: I did again I typed the and dropped the y this time, for they.)
That's the excuse that Rhonda Santis and Moms for Liberty are using to ban books from schools, because poor little white kids get their feelings hurt.
See there I go again being harsh.
Yes, William you were both harsh and correct. I often use voice to dictate online. And I often use autocorrect. I try to review what I'm sending up before I hit the button and then when it's online there is no way to correct it. Yeah, it's embarrassing but will probably be unavoidable for those of us who don't spend all day on substack. Until sub stack ( 89 voice error) allows you to correct what you have put online. Mistakes will happen. When they do happen naturally we are embarrassed. But william, our own embarrassment when it happens far out ways your comments about misspelled words. I'm not going to go on. William I don't know what you do for a living or what you did for a living. For all I know you may have been a fifth grade nun in Catholic School for all I know. That would explain your extreme desire to correct somebody's errors and to embarrass people while you're at it. Oh well.
I must have "auto correct." Drives me nuts, because often it's total "Mad Libs." Anyhow, my pet peeve is the disappearance of the word "fewer" from the language. Even the brightest "talking heads" never let it slip their lips.
Sometimes the right word has meaning where the wrong word is pointless. "Marshall law" is an example of the wrong word being misleading. There was a "Marshall Plan" after WWII, but it has nothing to do with "Martial," from the Latin name of the god of war, etc. If everybody got all thin-skinned about such errors being pointed out, the whole world would be populated by- wait for it - Donald Trumps!
my thoughts exactly Patricia... we need to pull together and here's an a**h**** just being so egotistically "superior"... we need to be as ONE on this political stuff these days!
Hey William, when it's been a little time in your home country with your buddy Putin and the Rump.
Oh, come on. Correcting a misspelling, malapropism, or typo does not make William — or any one of us — fascists, Putinists, or trumpian. The party of grievance thinks we’re elitists because we know the difference between “Marshall” and “martial”; I think we liberals might want to embrace correction in facts and in written/spoken statements of fact. Remember: the woman who was corrected was thankful. Sorta feels like the issue ought to be left at that.
so says the master proof-reader!?!?!?!?!?!?
Jealous are you. Any particular reason you wish to make mean enemy?
I'm with you Julie!... we have to hope that the U.S. voter is smart enough and alert enough to vote ALL these... and the only word I can think of without being too vulgar... IDIOTS... out of office in November.... we have to pray for a total and complete Democrat LANDSLIDE!!!!!!!
Dems. They are complicit. Where do the Dems get their money from to add to the circus of US Politics. Wake up!
Definitely agree Julie, the morbidly violent and vicious right wing ideology is disgusting and anti-American. They want to force a Middle Ages rule of law on the rest of us (man in charge, POC slaves, women slavishly beholden to the man, etc. ). The right fears equality and progress, therefore burn it all down. I’ve read neuroscience articles before that discuss right -leaning brains (right wingers have brains?that’s an oxymoron ) are prone to conspiracy theories and confabulation and less critical thinking which explains the slide into cultism. Scary that a portion of Americans would throw away democracy just to impose some wet dream version of authoritarianism. What a hellscape America would be then. But right wingers in their stupidity would not figure out in time that what they would impose on others would affect them as well both politically and economically. We know for example those proponents of 2A rights under authoritarian rule would really be screaming “ they’re coming for our guns”, because no authoritarian would allow a heavily armed populace. As the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for”.
All true... But for all of us who understand the danger -- What's the plan?!??
I see no concerted, well-constructed response.
There is nothing much, other than jail, collective shunning and belittling, we can do about the true MAGA faithful. That is a relatively small number, however.
It is the large number of those leaning that way, or perhaps sitting on the fence, that must be addressed -- embarrassed, perhaps, or given a swift kick in the can.
Another round of X, Y, or Z LIVES MATTER only serves to create further wedges in the community wide response that is needed. Every time Progressives identify a new, suffering, group that needs attention, the money boys salivate at the opportunity to drive another stake into the commonwealth's heart.
We have to stop bringing guitars and love beads to a knife fight.
Again, what's the plan?
D.
I underscore your comment and double-underscore your question, Donald. So much doom scrolling, head shaking, face palming, hand wringing, whining, raging, moaning and groaning from us Lefties/Progressives; no strategic/tactical planning or action steps. We, in Pollyanna fashion, just cross our fingers and hope for the best, but we don't plan for the worst. We have correctly diagnosed the illness, which, as the medical doctors say, is half the battle, but we don't prescribe any therapy to cure the illness.
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for your note. part of the problem, I think, is that most progressive, community-minded people are basically reasonable and keep thinking that if only we re-phrase our plea for understanding in slightly different tones or with more facts, it must get through.
That is: we continue to focus upon what we are selling. Not upon what this wide range of Americans ARE BUYING.
Having spent forty years in corporate America, I learned the key to successful selling is always remember what your customer is buying. I learned this from an AVON executive. he asked me: What am I selling? I am selling little pots of colored powder. Now, what are my women customers buying? They are buying HOPE!
Twenty years ago I tried to get progressive organizations to frame their messages with this in mind. I had some success with ACORN before they were taken down by a right-wing infiltrator. Others could not or would not agree to the idea of framing the message.
Lots of people -- particularly white, working people -- feel no one on the "left" understands what they want to have... to buy. Of course, this is a golden opportunity for grifters and big-money manipulators to pitch their product as exactly what these folks want to buy.
Thom Hartmann shows clearly what the bad guys motives are, and, sometimes, shines a light upon how they are selling rotten goods. However, I have been searching in vain for people who are framing and then delivering a message that can sell.
Donald
The immigrants have been brought in for cheaper labor. The left who has always wanted sustainable, non polluting, zero population growth, gets blamed for what the right wing globalist billionaires like Trump want.
We know Trump would rather pay four illegals the same amount of money as one born in America citizen, and that they would be lucky to get paid at all.
Currently the GOP does not want to fix the border problem temporarily even. The right causes a problem and then blames the left. Like when the capital was invaded by themselves, they want to blame antifa and black lives matters till this day.
The capitalist who the right wing extremists defend, are the ones causing the overpopulation and poverty in America.
Ultimately the thug anarchists goal is to steal everything from the rich and the middle class. Just common criminals, that have already been destroyed by unlimited greed, poor parenting and phony religious beliefs.
The right who has never been hungry a day in their lives, thanks to liberal FDR, will find out what the poor around the world experience daily.
Even more so Bob, the Right invents a problem and then blames everybody else who isn't with them. Critical Race Theory, Woke (!), vast non-existent conspiracies, and arguably the whole abortion issue, they all came out of somebody looking for a cause to stir people up and then take their money. It's an old, old trick to find enemies, and sadly it still works when scared or angry people want somebody to blame.
Your correct Bob, the right creates the problem then blames the left, they have been doing it since Reagan at least, but I blame the Democratic party for letting it happen, too timid to fight back they sit there and turn the over cheek, giving the initiative to the Republicans.
And by fighting back I don't mean defending oneself. Defense is the way to lose. Games aren't won by defense without offense. Democrat 's, the left,liberals, need to go on the offense, turn the tables, fight fire with fire, be aggressive, accuse the Republicans of being treasonous, murderous bigots that threaten our freedoms, our liberties and the very soul of the nation.
I don't see a 'left' in the US. Both party's are owned by money.
You are confusing ideology and preference with party, a Jenny Typical problem. Authoritarianism is Democracy, victim is aggressor, defense is imperialism.
Right!
Is no one going to mention the murderous herd of elephants in the room with us all ? They are called unchecked hyper capitalists; crazed with greed stampeding us into conflicting silos whilst gobbling up all of the diminishing natural resources on our ecologically destroyed planet.
That a low level civil war is already happening is evident. November could bring a far wider one. The MAGAt fools seem to welcome this without any thought that they might be on the losing end. Maybe, and I say this with unbelievable sadness, we deserve this for failing to remove the cancer of the Confederacy root and branch after the Civil War. It may take another bloodbath in expiation for that sin. Too many good people will die in it. One can only hope that the MAGAt grotesques will reap what they are sowing tenfold, and may come to regret what they will be bringing on themselves, their families, and our country. Incredibly, I doubt that. They are too far gone.
My late-found religious faith sustains me. Without it, I would have no reason to continue in this horrifying world. A recent novel I read referenced an apocryphal comment by a rabbi who said "I have to believe in God, as the alternative is to believe in man, in which one will inevitably be disappointed." I am there. If I could wave a magic wand and get rid of the willfully ignorant, bigoted, hateful and cruel in this world, whether MAGAts, Russians, religious fundamentalists, totalitarians of all stripes, I would. Because they would deny my right to exist, to believe as I do, and as all people I respect do.
I dearly hope poor Ukraine survives until November. And when that month arrives, vote blue, for every office everywhere. It is an existential election. It will determine our country's fate and probably that o much of the world.
You can bet that fascists, totalitarians and narcissistic wealthy entrepreneurs are working feverishly to get there first with an AI super intelligence. The bad actors want to get there first because it is the ultimate tool to control. Its development can no longer be stopped, so the democracies of the world need to form oversight panels to make certain it has peaceful & moral goals. Otherwise, in the words of R. Oppenheimer we may truly have a situation reflecting his "I have become death" statement.
At the same time such a device will rapidly develop the powers of a God, we have to have people dedicated to insuring that it does not incorporate the values of the morbidly wealthy, the narcissistic or the brutality of dictators minds. It must have the core values of the least superstitious, most moral, among us, and it must be programmed protect all of human kind from the excesses of the bad actors that you name.
Good luck with that. I see Terminators in our future. I just finished an excellent novel centering on Germanrefugees trying to warn Britain about Hitler in the early 30’s to no avail. At one point, one of the main characters commented that a rabbi told him “ I have to believe in God, because otherwise I would have to believe in man, and would inevitably be disappointed.” That rings far too true to me.
I have found that believing in truth, is the way for me.
Trump was "president" for a mere four years, but we'll be dealing with MAGA for at least a generation.
Know a child under five? When she graduates from college, she'll be dealing with MAGA.
Trump is the catalyst of everything that is wrong in the US.
All of this is both disturbing and disgusting.
In my opinion Kathy which might be nasty........you have earned it.
Don't worry, Thom. When they become aggressive I'll just aim my space laser on them.
Wham! Bam! Shazzam! , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWF8iRCan7I
Daniel. our mutual "{friend'" is now attempting to subvert Robert Reich's substack in case you didn't notice.
I made the comment that I don't think it was a coincidence that Oct 7 was also Putins birthday
Now this, exposes our "friends" and Putin's objective. Basically forcing the west to fight a war on two fronts Ukraine and Israel
"Russia has invited Hamas and all other Palestinian factions to Moscow, Palestinian Authority PM says" https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-18-24/h_d7fe8b0d1648652842b5f5daa65928c1
Meanwhile with Putin funding and interference, via Trump, the U.S. eviscerates itself, with the resurgence of patriarchal, white, Christian, nationalism.
Very interesting, Putin making "common cause" with Muslims. (I haven't looked at the link yet.) From Orthodox acquaintances here, I got an earful about how Putin was the defender of the True Faith, while Zelinsky was looting the Ukrainian churches; you get the gist. (Never mind the snapshot of Biden and Zelinsky in the perfectly intact cathedral flanked by two beaming Orthodox priests in full regalia...) My dinner-partner's Russian-speaking wife was sucking directly on Russian propaganda, which was definitely selling the war against Ukraine as a religious war.
It is tragic how many truly awful people we have in the USA. I protest Trump's characterization of there being good people on both sides. Those are the words of an amoral person. A sociopath if you will. He leads people into Hell, since he is the devil here on earth. Prof. Kathleen Belew talks about the White Power militia and their plan to have a race war and take over the world in her book Bring The War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. I think of it as a must read to understand what is going on not just in the USA, but in Europe and other White Supremacist nations like South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Clearly these White Supremacists are so ignorant of the state of the planet. India and China have a far bigger population than the USA and Canada together, and Africa is the continent with the fastest growing population, predicted to have the largest population in 2050. Just the other day, I was reading that among Gen Zers in the USA, 52 percent are "white" a term that should be outdated for categorizing people, but still isn't, at least not in the USA. I really think Americans need to leave the continent more often and travel around the world and get to see what is out there. Being insular is not helpful. I really hope Trump does not win, and we neutralize those who would engage in a race war. These people are all treasonous as far as I am concerned.
this past weekend a group of mask-clad Nazis marched through downtown Nashville complete with swastikas and racist chants. The media treated it like “just another day.”... Guess what?... I never heard this on ANY news broadcast!... WHat the hell is going on???... is it because the ultra rich conservatives own ALL of the news outlets?... I am in fear of this all to real danger!!!!
They all wore masks so their identity couldn’t be determined. They should be forced to show the faces. Hopefully one or more of the Nazis were undercover FBI agents and their identities are known. . Many of the Charolettesville fascists lost their jobs soon after their protest march. They will likely become pariahs for life and will suffer economic deprivation as well. They may have the right to demonstrate, but there are still mechanisms to curb their influence.
All of this is a huge problem . Donald Trump and his supporters( think Steve Bannon, Steven Miller et al. ) Speak garbage constantly . Every thing they say suggests violence on anyone they disagree with in their little white minds.
Furthermore , they’re making sure they are keeping’s guns &Automatic weapons plentiful and available .
This is incredibly dangerous and disturbing . Reminder that people that follow Trump are not very clear thinkers and have a knee jerk reaction to anyone who does not agree with them and their broken minds.
Although the nation has, from its beginnings, had its racial tensions (or far worse), the recent years of this, Trump associated flair-up, is the direct result of Vladimir Putin's undeclared war on democracies. Putin's weapon of choice,(on the cheap) is subversion through deceitful IT psyops. (Who would have ever thought the former spy/KGB agent cold war warrior would ever try to mount a sneak attack??)
Just as unions lift non-union boats & many non-union CEOs therefore hate them; autocrats & fascists despise democracies because, in order to compete in citizen popularity with democracies domestically, they have to loosen their oppressive grip and hide more of the brutality that they prefer to wield. [The old, Rule with an Iron Hand syndrome.] (The largest reason for Putin's hatred of Ukraine was that a thriving democracy next door, further connecting with Europe, was about to make his autocracy look like hell in the eyes of the world & his subjects. It would have left his Czarist proclivities in the dustbin for Russians, where they belong.)
Unfortunately, many of the very wealthy in the US, particularly industrialists, suffer from a similar (longing for unchecked fascist intimidation) syndrome, largely based on their sense of superiority and desire to keep worker needs irrelevant, in pursuit of their greatest passion, more profit. This provides the common thread for their fascist/kleptocratic political alignment with Putin.
If we want to stop our implosion into civil war we must find a way to neutralize V. Putin's constant injection of political poison into America's life blood, and find ways to influence Russian culture into a renewal of glasnost; for the sake of democracy, the US, Ukraine, Russia itself and the planet.
At the same time we must repair our own culture where wealthy donors and GOP/MAGA infiltrators are amplifying the toxins that Putin first identified, and then weaponized, digitally, in an update of his cold war covert tactics. Putin recognized Trump's mental pathologies and saw him as an opportunity to inject a massive dose of Putin venom into his most hated enemy, American power & its desire, by many, to improve on democracy. (Sadly, too few Americans picked up on the facts that both Putin & Trump thrive mainly on their abilities to defraud others.)
The chief enemy of good governance is corruption. Both Putin's Russia and America's GOP have been staggered by corruption and kleptocratic ambition. In order to control corruption, in the US, we need a no nonsense, kick ass AG/DOJ. We need a hundred Jack Smiths, in key DOJ positions, surrounded with suitable terrorism protections. We need stiff anti-domestic terrorism laws; NOT Russian/GOP style anti-protest, voter suppression laws. We need a DOJ willing to charge destructive political disinformation for what it is, criminal fraud. Anti- democracy Americans such as Donald Trump & all his co-conspirators, have mislead millions of Americans with repetitious lies, we need to counter with, at the very least, equivalent numbers of repetitions of facts. We all need to vote(& get our friends to), like the future of life on the planet depends on it, because it really does. We need a few dozens of Thom Hartmanns, countering all the undemocratic chatter spread by conservative media, Russian trolls and kleptocratic campaign donors.
Even though most voters prefer the policies of Democrats; Republicans that have anti-democratic policies & beliefs, win far too many elections because they know how to game the system and there are far too many poorly informed & radicalized voters willing to support a racist, kleptocratic agenda. Hate sells in our system that has been skewed to allow far far too much predatory market behavior, in the name of speech. And, in an attempt to interpret the Constitution through the invention of right wing ideological lens that never really existed.
Russia needed Navalny, a replacement(s) will be difficult for Russians to find.
The news is failing the country once more, This time the price is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The opposition does not hold that those that do not agree with them deserve freedom and life.
While climbing your family tree in battleground states you come across newspaper articles that survived the bands of roaming confederates for that period of time and discover books written by survivors. Sane people don’t want to have a second civil war.