At the bloody hands of this MAGA insanity we risk going down the path followed by most oligarchies in history: becoming a dictatorial single-party-rule state with a complete loss of civil liberties...
Why don't Democrats sound this alarm all over the country? And Biden should ask saner Republicans to vote for him if only to save democracy. This might be their last chance
Before the recent Court disaster, much of this would be less truly threatening because the federal courts could be counted on to simply throw out many of these terrible laws and practices based on established aspects of law.
The biggest concern about maga, which isn't a big difference from other republicans, is the corruption of the courts and destruction of the rule of law.
So, if we turn - as we ultimately must do - to consider what is being done about this:
1. Biden's Supreme Court reform commission did worthless work, yields nothing, which seems to be the entire point of it; and
2. When markey/jones introduced their reform bill, pelosi shot it down and refused to even consider advancing it.
Sorry, but these 2 developments have had the most negative impact on the whole situation - democrats left no opening even to keep the issue of Court reform on the table. All while senator whitehouse talks to deaf ears about how the court was captured and us utterly corrupted.
The one single thing that is most critical for democrats to do, they avoid completely. Heck, do the dems even have a media strategy given how all maga initiatives - and even much of what they do in congress - is just make propaganda and media domination? I mean really, where is the highlight film of stupid, feeble, lying Susan collins going along with the scam and voting for these 3 seats on the court?
High (very high) praise to The Nation's justice correspondent Elie Mystal for recently offering a practical, sensible approach to reforming the court. His proposal differs from any we have seen before, yet it's based on many aspects of how lower federal courts work.
Without getting into all details he shows that there are various well-worn features (for decades if not centuries) built into how the lower courts work that are specifically designed to prevent people from "gaming" the courts - mechanisms preventing trial judge shopping and preventing even the litigants from knowing exactly which appeals judges will be on the panel that hears an appeal.
He is brilliant and right on point so please take a look at his recent proposal.
Some crazy stuff going on out there. MTG is a nut case, though and spending time on her antics is a waste. "Paddle faster, I hear banjos" - that's her district. She's from Alpharetta, GA, not the north GA mountains, she had millions handed to her when she got Daddy's business, she's also all hopped up on steroids and 'God only knows' what else. Just look at her; Neanderthal unibrow, Cross-Fit addict, all bulked up from 'roids. Anyhow, can we change our focus? Please start reporting on young, earnest, intelligent politicians at the local level who are climbing the ranks and are making the Climate CRISIS their #1 concern. We need to know who they are and support them. Enough of this fear-mongering; you are just feeding the beast.
Bringing this to our attention is such a great service, Thom! I’m so glad you are out there sending the alarm. I forward these to as many people as I believe are receptive!
Forewarned is forearmed. However, that only applies if people heed the warnings. So, how many people are taking these daily doses of reality seriously, or how many are even seeing them in relation to the whole population?
The authoritarians are dead serious. They are not sitting on their hands while the enemy (you and I and the liberals/progressives among us) advocate for truth, peace, love, tolerance, compromise, and democracy. They are on the offensive and strategizing any and all ways to defeat and destroy us. They are true believers. They see evil and danger in the freedom we have to make decisions for ourselves and in our practices and lifestyles which violate their rigid rules or circumscribed conceptions of propriety and piety. For them politics is a “mortal exercise” and a moral exercise, and they are “playing for keeps”, as described in George F. Kennan’s book recalling the Bolsheviks in Russia at the time of the first world war.
Americans are too comfortable, naïve, and apathetic. The new Bolsheviks have infiltrated society and we cannot be bothered to call them out effectively or take to the streets. The time for talking and analyzing and debating was decades ago. Call me a cynic, but I'm beginning to believe that we may never catch up. Ho hum.
This type of propaganda and the Democratic Party ideology in regards to Russia is authoritarian in itself. The linking of Trump and Russia is indeed a form of propaganda that obviates the critical thinking and investigative journalism necessary to discern the authentic issues that are at the root of our country's spiritual and moral decay. Trump is merely a symptom of the unchecked militarism and violence we champion around the world and here at home. How can liberals be so obsessed with Putin's invasion of Ukraine when we have invaded more sovereign nations and killed more innocent poor black and brown civilians around the world in the past 50 years than all other countries combined? Where is the outrage from white liberals about Obama and Biden's complicity with Israel and its fascism against the Palestinian people? Or their aiding and abetting the worst of authoritarians such as MBS and his genocide in Yemen? Or Biden's droning of a family of 10 in Afhganistan, followed by lies and obstruction from his administration and our military? This selective outrage substituting war for foreign policy and diplomacy in order to make a judgment addled and historically racist Democratic leader look heroic, and the scapegoating of Russia which has precious little bearing upon health care, wealth inequality, police militarism and poverty in our country, serve as distractions from the reality that Democrats have failed us miserably in favor of political expediency.
The people who vote for Trump actually deserve a dictatorship. Why should we save them from the fascists? FDR did and the ungrateful GOP hate him. This started when the liberals quit having so many babies because of the environment, but that did not stop the conservatives. They've been reproducing like rabbits. Now they control the democracy by dishonorable means. The New world order globalists have bought both parties, and the once anti New World Order sociopaths, now support it. They must be figuring on stealing all the Democrats stuff and going to war with the proceeds, like the Germans did to the Jews in World war II. The common self-proclaimed Christian church going Republicans will just steal your boat and anything not nailed down, and expect to be forgiven by Jesus, Jesus is used as a credit card to sin with by the right. Biden must arrest them now while we have a military! Failure to do so will let the oligarchs flourish, and the poor die. The right wing Christians, support retroactive abortion, so much for being pro-life! This could have all been prevented if Biden had installed a real attorney general instead of a republican attorney general. The dems could have won the Congress and added to the supreme Court! So let's just figure, Biden is also a fascist until proven otherwise. Let's quit enabling the sweet old innocent man, who has spent most of his life supporting unlimited greed, free trade, overpopulation. Biden is a Reagan Democrat, in other words a Republican along with most of the democratic party now. It is time to start storing your food and weapons! Unless Biden actually starts acting like a Democrat.
Putin showed who he was in his days in Dresden. I read an article that showed what was with his identity card that seems to have shown that he was also moving freely as a member of the East Germany State Security Police or Stasi as they are called for short.
In this article, if you read the German discussion, it sounds like Putin was playing the Stasi against the KGB in order to get what he wanted out of it. One thing we know is that being a spy makes one paranoid. And, we see where it gets the world when you let a former spy be in Charge. Wasn't Former President George Bush a former head of the CIA.
Trump is not alone in getting us to the horrid place we are in as a democracy. Ronald Reagan set the wheels in motion, or did Richard Nixon with his covert war on Cambodia. In any case, we are in a fine mess if we let these Republican Cretins get back in power, or gain more power. The direction to go with people who embrace fascism, is to get them out of power. I also think that we should be challenging Putin to invite CPAC (Conservative Political Action Congress) to hold it in Russia instead of Hungary. Then, one needs to encourage CPAC members that going would show their support of Putin. While they are there, I would like to see a law passed that going there might lead to loss of USA citizenship. Then, they all get to choose whether they want to have a big mouth in a country and leader that they claim to despise (the USA) or keep their mouths shut and enjoy life in a country and leader they profess to admire (Russia). Once they are there it should be recommended that if they truly want to live in a place like Russia perhaps Putin would extend them citizenship as long as they renounce their USA citizenship. I would love to see the Russian propaganda spin on that.
Such high-hopes for the Russian people once they opened their borders and we reached detente. All of that work and hope has been shattered by ONE individual, a greedy, sick psychopath Putin. It's so obvious, that it is an affront to any person of intelligence to hear him praised. What he has done and where he is going with the surveillance and oppression is worse than the Chinese model.
The GOP has their own greedy, sick psychopath in Trump. That is the truth. Trump, his cult, and many Republicans would and have given us over to Putin. There's much more to discover about the Trump/Putin relationship, but we already have enough to see where it will take us.
People that support the Trump/Putin sick, twisted prejudice and criminal actions will pay for it just like everyone else. I think you have proven that with this Report, Thom. We can see where we are going if Trump gets back in office.
Calling me a troll is typical of the unfortunate lack of critical thinking in our country which is leading to the unfettered imperialism and militarism that is killing us and the rest of the world. I would never call even a MAGA the things you called me, and that again serves as proof of the conditioning you have fallen victim to. How often do you hear Trump talk about our policies and actions as they pertain to Israel or Saudi Arabia? Did you hear Thom excuse Biden's fistbump with MBS, after promising to make him a pariah during campaign season, as a political necessity? Or perhaps you missed the caller saying that we are more invested in the fate of the people of Ukraine because they are middle class and educated unlike the people of the Middle East with Thom agreeing with her but then saying "racism exists?" Has Thom been standing up for the children of Yemen as Obama aided MBS in port blockades and genocide? No, you haven't. Thom now exists merely to prop up Democratic Party leadership to the extent that he forbade any discussion of Biden's poor judgment, racist policies, hypocrisy and constant alignment with corporate interests. The Democratic Party has become authoritarian in its McCarthyism as they continue to try to blame Russia for Trump's victory in 2016 and distract from the negative impacts of their political expediency. I suppose telling the truth about American imperialism and utilizing the history as confirmed by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists like Chris Hedges gets one exposed as a Putin shill these days.
I have been hearing the doom alert since the mid-60s. And all that comes of it is endless rallies with every possible group getting their 15 minutes at the microphone and then some organization asking for a donation for the cause.
The corporate Democratic organization employs clueless consultants and money sucking study groups that come up with lame messaging that never hits the real frames that should be exploited.
They have basically chosen a "Republican Lite" brand.
I have tried for 60 years to interest someone -- anyone -- to take me up on the idea of using market based sales and messaging methods, but that does not seem to fit their "profile" for success.
So, who is leading the charge toward playing hard ball? Where do I sign up???
So say the brainwashed. It looks like Russia because Democrats and Republicans alike ascribe to the oligarchy of donor control over our governing bodies, period. Then you argue about Russia, Trump and Republicans while they argue about Democratic run cities and Biden and liberals and the oligarchs continue to exercise their warmongering imperialist power with your help. And what you say about Matt Taiibi is a refection of your cooperation with Biden, Obama and Thom Hartmann in their rejection of investigative journalism in favor of propping up faded judgment addled politicians who they protect in the interest of saving us from the Republicans.
Why don't Democrats sound this alarm all over the country? And Biden should ask saner Republicans to vote for him if only to save democracy. This might be their last chance
I had hoped this might be a venue for reasoned discussion. I was mistaken ... it is just another trolling ground.
My apologies to all...
(Upon further thought: It may offer some interest as a place to guess which of the contributors are Russian trolls)
Before the recent Court disaster, much of this would be less truly threatening because the federal courts could be counted on to simply throw out many of these terrible laws and practices based on established aspects of law.
The biggest concern about maga, which isn't a big difference from other republicans, is the corruption of the courts and destruction of the rule of law.
So, if we turn - as we ultimately must do - to consider what is being done about this:
1. Biden's Supreme Court reform commission did worthless work, yields nothing, which seems to be the entire point of it; and
2. When markey/jones introduced their reform bill, pelosi shot it down and refused to even consider advancing it.
Sorry, but these 2 developments have had the most negative impact on the whole situation - democrats left no opening even to keep the issue of Court reform on the table. All while senator whitehouse talks to deaf ears about how the court was captured and us utterly corrupted.
The one single thing that is most critical for democrats to do, they avoid completely. Heck, do the dems even have a media strategy given how all maga initiatives - and even much of what they do in congress - is just make propaganda and media domination? I mean really, where is the highlight film of stupid, feeble, lying Susan collins going along with the scam and voting for these 3 seats on the court?
High (very high) praise to The Nation's justice correspondent Elie Mystal for recently offering a practical, sensible approach to reforming the court. His proposal differs from any we have seen before, yet it's based on many aspects of how lower federal courts work.
Without getting into all details he shows that there are various well-worn features (for decades if not centuries) built into how the lower courts work that are specifically designed to prevent people from "gaming" the courts - mechanisms preventing trial judge shopping and preventing even the litigants from knowing exactly which appeals judges will be on the panel that hears an appeal.
He is brilliant and right on point so please take a look at his recent proposal.
Some crazy stuff going on out there. MTG is a nut case, though and spending time on her antics is a waste. "Paddle faster, I hear banjos" - that's her district. She's from Alpharetta, GA, not the north GA mountains, she had millions handed to her when she got Daddy's business, she's also all hopped up on steroids and 'God only knows' what else. Just look at her; Neanderthal unibrow, Cross-Fit addict, all bulked up from 'roids. Anyhow, can we change our focus? Please start reporting on young, earnest, intelligent politicians at the local level who are climbing the ranks and are making the Climate CRISIS their #1 concern. We need to know who they are and support them. Enough of this fear-mongering; you are just feeding the beast.
Bringing this to our attention is such a great service, Thom! I’m so glad you are out there sending the alarm. I forward these to as many people as I believe are receptive!
Forewarned is forearmed. However, that only applies if people heed the warnings. So, how many people are taking these daily doses of reality seriously, or how many are even seeing them in relation to the whole population?
The authoritarians are dead serious. They are not sitting on their hands while the enemy (you and I and the liberals/progressives among us) advocate for truth, peace, love, tolerance, compromise, and democracy. They are on the offensive and strategizing any and all ways to defeat and destroy us. They are true believers. They see evil and danger in the freedom we have to make decisions for ourselves and in our practices and lifestyles which violate their rigid rules or circumscribed conceptions of propriety and piety. For them politics is a “mortal exercise” and a moral exercise, and they are “playing for keeps”, as described in George F. Kennan’s book recalling the Bolsheviks in Russia at the time of the first world war.
Americans are too comfortable, naïve, and apathetic. The new Bolsheviks have infiltrated society and we cannot be bothered to call them out effectively or take to the streets. The time for talking and analyzing and debating was decades ago. Call me a cynic, but I'm beginning to believe that we may never catch up. Ho hum.
Donald the 1st is monarchal, albeit an incompetent moron.
BUT he has a treasure trove of constituents, each equally incompetent, posing as American citizens.
The real issue is that the GOP are vote-junkies who are high on Donald I's supply.
They are no longer a political party, they are just fascistic vote-whores.
Whores waiting for their next pimp, name of J.D. Vance, erstwhile darling of the Left.
Now, Vote-Pimp In Waiting.
This type of propaganda and the Democratic Party ideology in regards to Russia is authoritarian in itself. The linking of Trump and Russia is indeed a form of propaganda that obviates the critical thinking and investigative journalism necessary to discern the authentic issues that are at the root of our country's spiritual and moral decay. Trump is merely a symptom of the unchecked militarism and violence we champion around the world and here at home. How can liberals be so obsessed with Putin's invasion of Ukraine when we have invaded more sovereign nations and killed more innocent poor black and brown civilians around the world in the past 50 years than all other countries combined? Where is the outrage from white liberals about Obama and Biden's complicity with Israel and its fascism against the Palestinian people? Or their aiding and abetting the worst of authoritarians such as MBS and his genocide in Yemen? Or Biden's droning of a family of 10 in Afhganistan, followed by lies and obstruction from his administration and our military? This selective outrage substituting war for foreign policy and diplomacy in order to make a judgment addled and historically racist Democratic leader look heroic, and the scapegoating of Russia which has precious little bearing upon health care, wealth inequality, police militarism and poverty in our country, serve as distractions from the reality that Democrats have failed us miserably in favor of political expediency.
The people who vote for Trump actually deserve a dictatorship. Why should we save them from the fascists? FDR did and the ungrateful GOP hate him. This started when the liberals quit having so many babies because of the environment, but that did not stop the conservatives. They've been reproducing like rabbits. Now they control the democracy by dishonorable means. The New world order globalists have bought both parties, and the once anti New World Order sociopaths, now support it. They must be figuring on stealing all the Democrats stuff and going to war with the proceeds, like the Germans did to the Jews in World war II. The common self-proclaimed Christian church going Republicans will just steal your boat and anything not nailed down, and expect to be forgiven by Jesus, Jesus is used as a credit card to sin with by the right. Biden must arrest them now while we have a military! Failure to do so will let the oligarchs flourish, and the poor die. The right wing Christians, support retroactive abortion, so much for being pro-life! This could have all been prevented if Biden had installed a real attorney general instead of a republican attorney general. The dems could have won the Congress and added to the supreme Court! So let's just figure, Biden is also a fascist until proven otherwise. Let's quit enabling the sweet old innocent man, who has spent most of his life supporting unlimited greed, free trade, overpopulation. Biden is a Reagan Democrat, in other words a Republican along with most of the democratic party now. It is time to start storing your food and weapons! Unless Biden actually starts acting like a Democrat.
Who do you think is able to straighten this mess out ?
Is their anyone or any group of people that is capable ?
Putin showed who he was in his days in Dresden. I read an article that showed what was with his identity card that seems to have shown that he was also moving freely as a member of the East Germany State Security Police or Stasi as they are called for short.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/11/valdimir-putin-east-german-identity-card-found-in-stasi-archives-report
In this article, if you read the German discussion, it sounds like Putin was playing the Stasi against the KGB in order to get what he wanted out of it. One thing we know is that being a spy makes one paranoid. And, we see where it gets the world when you let a former spy be in Charge. Wasn't Former President George Bush a former head of the CIA.
https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/george-h-w-bush-the-11th-director-of-central-intelligence/
Trump is not alone in getting us to the horrid place we are in as a democracy. Ronald Reagan set the wheels in motion, or did Richard Nixon with his covert war on Cambodia. In any case, we are in a fine mess if we let these Republican Cretins get back in power, or gain more power. The direction to go with people who embrace fascism, is to get them out of power. I also think that we should be challenging Putin to invite CPAC (Conservative Political Action Congress) to hold it in Russia instead of Hungary. Then, one needs to encourage CPAC members that going would show their support of Putin. While they are there, I would like to see a law passed that going there might lead to loss of USA citizenship. Then, they all get to choose whether they want to have a big mouth in a country and leader that they claim to despise (the USA) or keep their mouths shut and enjoy life in a country and leader they profess to admire (Russia). Once they are there it should be recommended that if they truly want to live in a place like Russia perhaps Putin would extend them citizenship as long as they renounce their USA citizenship. I would love to see the Russian propaganda spin on that.
Such high-hopes for the Russian people once they opened their borders and we reached detente. All of that work and hope has been shattered by ONE individual, a greedy, sick psychopath Putin. It's so obvious, that it is an affront to any person of intelligence to hear him praised. What he has done and where he is going with the surveillance and oppression is worse than the Chinese model.
The GOP has their own greedy, sick psychopath in Trump. That is the truth. Trump, his cult, and many Republicans would and have given us over to Putin. There's much more to discover about the Trump/Putin relationship, but we already have enough to see where it will take us.
People that support the Trump/Putin sick, twisted prejudice and criminal actions will pay for it just like everyone else. I think you have proven that with this Report, Thom. We can see where we are going if Trump gets back in office.
Calling me a troll is typical of the unfortunate lack of critical thinking in our country which is leading to the unfettered imperialism and militarism that is killing us and the rest of the world. I would never call even a MAGA the things you called me, and that again serves as proof of the conditioning you have fallen victim to. How often do you hear Trump talk about our policies and actions as they pertain to Israel or Saudi Arabia? Did you hear Thom excuse Biden's fistbump with MBS, after promising to make him a pariah during campaign season, as a political necessity? Or perhaps you missed the caller saying that we are more invested in the fate of the people of Ukraine because they are middle class and educated unlike the people of the Middle East with Thom agreeing with her but then saying "racism exists?" Has Thom been standing up for the children of Yemen as Obama aided MBS in port blockades and genocide? No, you haven't. Thom now exists merely to prop up Democratic Party leadership to the extent that he forbade any discussion of Biden's poor judgment, racist policies, hypocrisy and constant alignment with corporate interests. The Democratic Party has become authoritarian in its McCarthyism as they continue to try to blame Russia for Trump's victory in 2016 and distract from the negative impacts of their political expediency. I suppose telling the truth about American imperialism and utilizing the history as confirmed by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists like Chris Hedges gets one exposed as a Putin shill these days.
So, what is the plan?
I have been hearing the doom alert since the mid-60s. And all that comes of it is endless rallies with every possible group getting their 15 minutes at the microphone and then some organization asking for a donation for the cause.
The corporate Democratic organization employs clueless consultants and money sucking study groups that come up with lame messaging that never hits the real frames that should be exploited.
They have basically chosen a "Republican Lite" brand.
I have tried for 60 years to interest someone -- anyone -- to take me up on the idea of using market based sales and messaging methods, but that does not seem to fit their "profile" for success.
So, who is leading the charge toward playing hard ball? Where do I sign up???
Donald
So say the brainwashed. It looks like Russia because Democrats and Republicans alike ascribe to the oligarchy of donor control over our governing bodies, period. Then you argue about Russia, Trump and Republicans while they argue about Democratic run cities and Biden and liberals and the oligarchs continue to exercise their warmongering imperialist power with your help. And what you say about Matt Taiibi is a refection of your cooperation with Biden, Obama and Thom Hartmann in their rejection of investigative journalism in favor of propping up faded judgment addled politicians who they protect in the interest of saving us from the Republicans.