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
Because it's hard to ring bells when there's an 850 billion military spending budget that has to be put in place according to parameters set down by Liz Cheney.
They have no media strategy - spend record amounts of money on tv and expensive media, to lose badly in ky.
And and important point to note that's not frequently mentioned:
The national big dem donor base cares little about state politics, so they let the ny disaster take place where mondaire jones (maybe the best prospect the dems have?) was ultimately replaced by the state's Republican campaign chair, and the once a decade opportunity to redistrict failed miserably.
Let's deal with this please! - in one of the bluest blue states, the Democratic Party has failed miserably, and this actually resulted directly in the lost midterms elections for the Democrats.
NY is blue, because of NYC. Leave the city and you have entered Alabama
Here is the problem with military spending. We have two existential threats.. Russia and China. Russia is the darling of American oligarchs and it's right wing cult, and China is a threat to our economy and ability to sustain our standard of living.
China is the beneficary of GAAT, especially the revised GAAT that Clinton is responsible for and NAFTA, NAFTA gave incentives to American manufacturing to move to Mexico and from there to Asia and China.
China is expansionist, it wants to control Asia, and thus squeeze American middlemen, producers , and consumers.
The tragedy is that the whole mess traces back to a Democrat, Bill Clinton, the man who single handedly created the Republican leaning swing states. Boeing can't build an airplane without importing wings from China. Think about that next time you take to the air, part of your plane is built in China and Asia.
You can't shop Amazon or the internet without purchasing something from China or Asia.
All China has to do is tighten it's sphincter muscle and America goes ape, shortages lead to price increases, illness and death.
New York's senate trended blue - it went majority blue over the years since bush. The trend has been blue although in certain rural areas not. But ny has lots of suburbs, college towns and small cities. It's unfortunate you seem to require this education by saying something as incorrect as ny is Alabama outside of nyc. (But coming from the same person who says Marx is a fascist....)
First sentence, incorrect about the very person I am referring to - Mondaire Jones a black, gay, progressive green new deal Democrat, who was taken out of New York 17, my district which is not in New York City. And the whole point you're missing is that even though many parts of upstate New York are red there are many cities and parts that are blue and the whole point is they had an opportunity to redistrict and the whole point is that they lost five seats to the Republicans in Congress.
Yes and IIRC correctly it was the fault of Adam Shiff and Sean Patrick Maloney. for one thing the two were junketeering in Geneva Switzerland in the midst of the 2022 elections.
SOC who easily won her own race with more than 70% of the vote, noted that the Republican Party poured millions of dollars into defeating a state ballot initiative which would have protected a district map that was favorable to Democrats.
"The New York State Democratic Party didn't drop $1 in making sure that we got this thing passed," Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept on Wednesday.
Maloney sparked outrage on the left this year when he announced he would run in New York's 17th District instead of the 18th, which he has represented since 2013, ousting progressive Rep. Mondaire Jones
Sorry about the misinfo on NY. Still in all, it is NYC that keeps NYS on the liberal side, as (except for some cities) the state like Pennsltucky, resembles Alabama. I have the same thing in my state, On the west side of the Cascade mountains, it is relatively open minded, divorce and prosperous, on the west side of the Cascades it is humorless, dry, ultra conservative, racist and religious like Alabama.
It might be helpful to consider how we got into such a state of voter suppression in the first place. And where is the Biden administration in taking tangible action, or at least using the bully pulpit to make it a top issue? Why hasn't Biden signed any executive orders as there are things he can do. although obviously temporary, in regards to the upcoming election. The only difference between a MAGA and non-MAGA Republican is the lens through which they are viewed by Biden liberals listening to Rachel Maddow and Thom Hartmann. Otherwise, there is precious little distinction.
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.
Elie Mystal is one of my hero's, but you need a correction Susan Collins is the REPUBLICAN senator from Maine.
Nancy Pelosi is almost a Republican. She would have like to oust the progressive congress and when it came to primaries, she supported homophobic democrats against gay democrats and and DINO's against progressives, like when he supported Joseph Kennedy Jr, a conservative, against Sen Markey of Mass... a solid progressive.
Then again you might classify her as an oligarch in waiting because she was (probably still is) the richest congress critter.
Here is how I assess the problem, pre Nixon, the Democrats were a blue collar party, a working persons party, and the party of the south. The base of the Democratic party was racist, for a multitude of reasons, and one of them was that the blue collar base saw Blacks as competitors for jobs, because they (at the time) would take more and complain less, and accept lower wages.
LBJ's Civil Rights act, Medicaid and Great Society program, caused a shift in political allegiances, it took a year or two but the white racists fled to the Republican party, with Nixon's Southern Strategy.
However not all of the Democratic party leadership became progressive or even liberal.
Liberal was and is an obfuscatory term, I believe it is Republican created, maybe Frank Luntz, and then hurled by Republicans as an epithet and these Republican identified liberals (Democrats) ran and run for cover and go into denial. Democrats just don't understand the value and tactics of doubling down.
Right wingers have an orgasm "owning the libs",l Do you hear Democrats or even progressives even trying to "own the cons" ? Republicans, aka neo fascist theocrats, are always on the attack and Democrats are always on the back foot trying to prove that they aren't liberal and uttering constant disclaimers. One thing about Americans is that they like a winner, not losers they love the horse race, the competition, and to the bold goes the prize. Americans like winners not whiners, except when they use whining (claims of martydom) as a political and propaganda tactic, to keep the sheep in the fold, to attract more sheep, and deflect from their own antihuman policies, like we see in our Supreme court ruled America.
Finally I am very concerned about those people who are the targets of Republican vehemence and laws, that vote for and join the ranks of the oppressor. Black, Hispanic, Jew, Muslim
Take the latest convert Mesha Mainor of Georgia, a state legislator from Georgia. Her rationale boils down to her claiming to be representative of the people she serves, however her district is 90% white.
Mainor made appearances on conservative television to hammer Democrats for what she described as refusing to support families seeking a better education. Democrats contend that school vouchers take taxpayer money from public schools and send them to private institutions with no taxpayer accountability. And that is true, white people take the vouchers and send their kids to "anti woke" religious and private schools.
Other complaints are funding law enforcement , and prosecutorial oversight.
Assuming that she wants scrutiny of police funding, and oversight of prosecutors who , because it is pro forma that LEO and Prosecutors target blacks, to re enslave them per the 13th Amendment.
If that is the case, assuming good faith, then she is exceedingly dense and stupid, maybe trying to tell Democrats to get on board with protecting and expanding diversity, civil rights, voting rights, education.. all valid goals, which any decent person enjoins, but Republicans aren't decent persons, they are bigoted, fearful, self righteous, hate filled people. (Exceptions, I know of none). It is like the myth of the good cop, or the good Wehrmacht.
If there were indeed good cops, there wouldn't be any bad cops, like wise the good Wehrmacht soldaten was executed.
A black, gay, Jewish, Hispanic Republican makes as much sense as a Jewish NAZI, Oops seems that there quite few, like Steven Miller and Trump humpers
There is a solution, and that is for the states to fund education from Kindergarten to at least community college.
Please stop your ranting and take your meds, can't you tell when you're being ignored? . I don't respond to your nonsense, which is rude, usually involves ad hominem arguments and often misinterprets key statements made in plain English. On size and frequency of comments alone, you are disrespectful and destructive in this forum.
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.
Some coverage from the Nation about Bernie, whose photo you use:
The Senate Budget Committee chairman and former presidential candidate has long been a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interference in the political affairs of other nations and assaults on Russian dissidents, such as Alexei Navalny. And he remains so.
Speaking on the floor of the US Senate on Thursday, Sanders expressed deep concern about the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. He warned that the United States “must unequivocally support the sovereignty of Ukraine and make clear that the international community will impose severe consequences on Putin and his fellow oligarchs if he does not change course.”
The reason being that the most preeminent writers on fascism and democracy, who don't buy into a lot of democratic ideology, do assess the situation in Ukraine as a stark choice between creeping fascism and democracy.
Matt Taiibi is lost and confused, there was tons of collusion with Russia. No hoax.
Prof tim Snyder: Russia is a hydrocarbon oligarchy, and this country has never looked as much like Russia as it does today.
Ah there you go again, apologizing and rationalizing for Putin, You are correct of course about
Americas unfettered and ongoing support for Israel and Saudi Arabia, but fail to mention the billions that the Saudi's dump into both political parties, and now especially into
Trumps and the Republicans coffers.
Scape goating of Putin (Putin is Russia, he mirrors the heart and soul of that medieval country, whose leader is a war criminal involved in cultural genocide, a thief who has stolen his countries wealth build Dacha's for his mistresses, who murders the opposition at home and abroad, a ruthless dictator, who uses his people as cannon fodder.
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.
I will add one more item. Environmentalism, although I give credence to the anthropecene, and epoch that followed the the holocene, and we can see the effects of global warming, even as the redneck in bib overalls watches his house float down a river that overflowed it's banks, after his grandmother died from the heat dome, and his neighbor died from hypothermia because he didn't have he money to pay the electric bill during the blizzards that never pestered his region in the history of man.
I was attending a community college in 1971, a self proclaimed communist teacher had us read The Greening of America, and about the same time, the local on campus "student" communist was telling the attendees that they have a new tool to kill capitalism, the environment.
Problem is that the Greening of America, only accelerated the power of the "capitalists" (Capitalism is not a political ideology, but an economic one, and one that thrives under authoritarianism, more so than a real democracy. A democracy protects and advances the health, safety well being of the people, an authoritarian state protects the wealth,well being and safety of the plutocrats. Communist China is a capitalist economy, just like Russia.
The tension between the two, capitalism and communism,is artificial, the result of "intellectuals", corporate media, and think tanks funded by authoritarian plutocrats, theocratic and secular, gay and straight.(e.g. Log Cabin Republicans and Peter Thiel founder of PayPal.
The Democratic party if it stood by the principles which it professes. IIRC in 2020 they didn't even have a party platform. They ran on "we are not Trump"
It is not enough to talk progressive, the Democratic party is long past the time that it should actually produce results. In my opinion it all went south when Bill Clinton and Rahm Emanuel, beneficiaries of the plutocrats created the Democratic Leadership Council, aka New Democrats aka Third Way, and now you have right wing Republicans and democrats parading around as No Labels.Who is the CEO of No Labels?
Nancy Jacobson (born November 9, 1962) is an American political activist. A former fundraiser for the Democratic Party, she later became co-founder, president, and CEO of the self-described centrist organization No Labels, largely funded by Republican donors.
A group of House Democrats with ties to No Labels is turning on the centrist group after it attacked one of their founding members.
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.
The state capital of Vermont is underwater and people are paddling around in Canoes right now I'm in Laconia, New Hampshire, where the canals in the town look like they're threatening to take out the pillars of the bridges. We had 8 inches of rain at West Point New York last week we have enormous, enormous problems going on and we're getting g used to normalizing them.
Do people even know what's going on out there? Or do they just rant about politics?
Ate we all losing sight of the fact that even 10-15 years ago the kind of devastation from the climate disruption that we seen today would be on the front page of every single newspaper let alone the devastation that's going on in Japan.
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???
I am sorry, young man, but your are confusing an approach to a market for the fact that markets exist. There is a market for everything, including people's votes. How one addresses this or any market is the key.
It is silly to pretend that people choose if and where to "spend" their vote any differently than how they choose where to spend their money.
In all cases, it is a matter of understanding what they are buying.... NOT what you are selling.
And you might consider how your smart-a@@ comment demonstrates just how limited your understanding is.
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.
Ad hominem arguments are fallacy in reasoning, and you are kind of stuck there. Much of what you're saying is directly opposed to the core beliefs and core activities of the person you feature in your photo.
If someone makes a statement about taibbi well, the statement is either right or wrong, which comes down to whether Matt tiaibi is right or wrong.
See where we're going here? This is called reasoning.
Otherwise, we're stuck with crap like yours, saying that if anyone thinks it's hot outside today then they must be some kind of eskimo.
Not exactly the best logic. A basic course in inductive reasoning is highly recommended.
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
Because it's hard to ring bells when there's an 850 billion military spending budget that has to be put in place according to parameters set down by Liz Cheney.
They have no media strategy - spend record amounts of money on tv and expensive media, to lose badly in ky.
And and important point to note that's not frequently mentioned:
The national big dem donor base cares little about state politics, so they let the ny disaster take place where mondaire jones (maybe the best prospect the dems have?) was ultimately replaced by the state's Republican campaign chair, and the once a decade opportunity to redistrict failed miserably.
Let's deal with this please! - in one of the bluest blue states, the Democratic Party has failed miserably, and this actually resulted directly in the lost midterms elections for the Democrats.
NY is blue, because of NYC. Leave the city and you have entered Alabama
Here is the problem with military spending. We have two existential threats.. Russia and China. Russia is the darling of American oligarchs and it's right wing cult, and China is a threat to our economy and ability to sustain our standard of living.
China is the beneficary of GAAT, especially the revised GAAT that Clinton is responsible for and NAFTA, NAFTA gave incentives to American manufacturing to move to Mexico and from there to Asia and China.
China is expansionist, it wants to control Asia, and thus squeeze American middlemen, producers , and consumers.
The tragedy is that the whole mess traces back to a Democrat, Bill Clinton, the man who single handedly created the Republican leaning swing states. Boeing can't build an airplane without importing wings from China. Think about that next time you take to the air, part of your plane is built in China and Asia.
You can't shop Amazon or the internet without purchasing something from China or Asia.
All China has to do is tighten it's sphincter muscle and America goes ape, shortages lead to price increases, illness and death.
New York's senate trended blue - it went majority blue over the years since bush. The trend has been blue although in certain rural areas not. But ny has lots of suburbs, college towns and small cities. It's unfortunate you seem to require this education by saying something as incorrect as ny is Alabama outside of nyc. (But coming from the same person who says Marx is a fascist....)
First sentence, incorrect about the very person I am referring to - Mondaire Jones a black, gay, progressive green new deal Democrat, who was taken out of New York 17, my district which is not in New York City. And the whole point you're missing is that even though many parts of upstate New York are red there are many cities and parts that are blue and the whole point is they had an opportunity to redistrict and the whole point is that they lost five seats to the Republicans in Congress.
Yes and IIRC correctly it was the fault of Adam Shiff and Sean Patrick Maloney. for one thing the two were junketeering in Geneva Switzerland in the midst of the 2022 elections.
SOC who easily won her own race with more than 70% of the vote, noted that the Republican Party poured millions of dollars into defeating a state ballot initiative which would have protected a district map that was favorable to Democrats.
"The New York State Democratic Party didn't drop $1 in making sure that we got this thing passed," Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept on Wednesday.
Maloney sparked outrage on the left this year when he announced he would run in New York's 17th District instead of the 18th, which he has represented since 2013, ousting progressive Rep. Mondaire Jones
https://www.rawstory.com/take-some-ownership-aoc-hits-back-after-defeated-dccc-chair-lashes-out/
Sorry about the misinfo on NY. Still in all, it is NYC that keeps NYS on the liberal side, as (except for some cities) the state like Pennsltucky, resembles Alabama. I have the same thing in my state, On the west side of the Cascade mountains, it is relatively open minded, divorce and prosperous, on the west side of the Cascades it is humorless, dry, ultra conservative, racist and religious like Alabama.
The idea that appealing to Republicans will somehow save us is a natural consequence of the Hartmann brand of selective outrage radio.
You really are a troll. Accusing Hartmann of selective outrage. Give us an example or two or three and explain why it is selective.
On top of that you are a petty little shit, harboring a grudge because Thom exposed you as a Putin shill.
I think that with growing voter suppression only non-maga Republicans can save us
It might be helpful to consider how we got into such a state of voter suppression in the first place. And where is the Biden administration in taking tangible action, or at least using the bully pulpit to make it a top issue? Why hasn't Biden signed any executive orders as there are things he can do. although obviously temporary, in regards to the upcoming election. The only difference between a MAGA and non-MAGA Republican is the lens through which they are viewed by Biden liberals listening to Rachel Maddow and Thom Hartmann. Otherwise, there is precious little distinction.
Biden doesn't use the bully pulpit, unless he's lying about supporting unions and the environment!
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.
Elie Mystal is one of my hero's, but you need a correction Susan Collins is the REPUBLICAN senator from Maine.
Nancy Pelosi is almost a Republican. She would have like to oust the progressive congress and when it came to primaries, she supported homophobic democrats against gay democrats and and DINO's against progressives, like when he supported Joseph Kennedy Jr, a conservative, against Sen Markey of Mass... a solid progressive.
Then again you might classify her as an oligarch in waiting because she was (probably still is) the richest congress critter.
Here is how I assess the problem, pre Nixon, the Democrats were a blue collar party, a working persons party, and the party of the south. The base of the Democratic party was racist, for a multitude of reasons, and one of them was that the blue collar base saw Blacks as competitors for jobs, because they (at the time) would take more and complain less, and accept lower wages.
LBJ's Civil Rights act, Medicaid and Great Society program, caused a shift in political allegiances, it took a year or two but the white racists fled to the Republican party, with Nixon's Southern Strategy.
However not all of the Democratic party leadership became progressive or even liberal.
Liberal was and is an obfuscatory term, I believe it is Republican created, maybe Frank Luntz, and then hurled by Republicans as an epithet and these Republican identified liberals (Democrats) ran and run for cover and go into denial. Democrats just don't understand the value and tactics of doubling down.
Right wingers have an orgasm "owning the libs",l Do you hear Democrats or even progressives even trying to "own the cons" ? Republicans, aka neo fascist theocrats, are always on the attack and Democrats are always on the back foot trying to prove that they aren't liberal and uttering constant disclaimers. One thing about Americans is that they like a winner, not losers they love the horse race, the competition, and to the bold goes the prize. Americans like winners not whiners, except when they use whining (claims of martydom) as a political and propaganda tactic, to keep the sheep in the fold, to attract more sheep, and deflect from their own antihuman policies, like we see in our Supreme court ruled America.
Finally I am very concerned about those people who are the targets of Republican vehemence and laws, that vote for and join the ranks of the oppressor. Black, Hispanic, Jew, Muslim
Take the latest convert Mesha Mainor of Georgia, a state legislator from Georgia. Her rationale boils down to her claiming to be representative of the people she serves, however her district is 90% white.
Mainor made appearances on conservative television to hammer Democrats for what she described as refusing to support families seeking a better education. Democrats contend that school vouchers take taxpayer money from public schools and send them to private institutions with no taxpayer accountability. And that is true, white people take the vouchers and send their kids to "anti woke" religious and private schools.
Other complaints are funding law enforcement , and prosecutorial oversight.
Assuming that she wants scrutiny of police funding, and oversight of prosecutors who , because it is pro forma that LEO and Prosecutors target blacks, to re enslave them per the 13th Amendment.
If that is the case, assuming good faith, then she is exceedingly dense and stupid, maybe trying to tell Democrats to get on board with protecting and expanding diversity, civil rights, voting rights, education.. all valid goals, which any decent person enjoins, but Republicans aren't decent persons, they are bigoted, fearful, self righteous, hate filled people. (Exceptions, I know of none). It is like the myth of the good cop, or the good Wehrmacht.
If there were indeed good cops, there wouldn't be any bad cops, like wise the good Wehrmacht soldaten was executed.
A black, gay, Jewish, Hispanic Republican makes as much sense as a Jewish NAZI, Oops seems that there quite few, like Steven Miller and Trump humpers
There is a solution, and that is for the states to fund education from Kindergarten to at least community college.
Please stop your ranting and take your meds, can't you tell when you're being ignored? . I don't respond to your nonsense, which is rude, usually involves ad hominem arguments and often misinterprets key statements made in plain English. On size and frequency of comments alone, you are disrespectful and destructive in this forum.
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.
Some coverage from the Nation about Bernie, whose photo you use:
The Senate Budget Committee chairman and former presidential candidate has long been a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interference in the political affairs of other nations and assaults on Russian dissidents, such as Alexei Navalny. And he remains so.
Speaking on the floor of the US Senate on Thursday, Sanders expressed deep concern about the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. He warned that the United States “must unequivocally support the sovereignty of Ukraine and make clear that the international community will impose severe consequences on Putin and his fellow oligarchs if he does not change course.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/bernie-sanders-ukraine/
The reason being that the most preeminent writers on fascism and democracy, who don't buy into a lot of democratic ideology, do assess the situation in Ukraine as a stark choice between creeping fascism and democracy.
Matt Taiibi is lost and confused, there was tons of collusion with Russia. No hoax.
Prof tim Snyder: Russia is a hydrocarbon oligarchy, and this country has never looked as much like Russia as it does today.
Check out Jason Stanley's work on this topic.
Ah there you go again, apologizing and rationalizing for Putin, You are correct of course about
Americas unfettered and ongoing support for Israel and Saudi Arabia, but fail to mention the billions that the Saudi's dump into both political parties, and now especially into
Trumps and the Republicans coffers.
Scape goating of Putin (Putin is Russia, he mirrors the heart and soul of that medieval country, whose leader is a war criminal involved in cultural genocide, a thief who has stolen his countries wealth build Dacha's for his mistresses, who murders the opposition at home and abroad, a ruthless dictator, who uses his people as cannon fodder.
So what is this about you Putin creep
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.
I will add one more item. Environmentalism, although I give credence to the anthropecene, and epoch that followed the the holocene, and we can see the effects of global warming, even as the redneck in bib overalls watches his house float down a river that overflowed it's banks, after his grandmother died from the heat dome, and his neighbor died from hypothermia because he didn't have he money to pay the electric bill during the blizzards that never pestered his region in the history of man.
I was attending a community college in 1971, a self proclaimed communist teacher had us read The Greening of America, and about the same time, the local on campus "student" communist was telling the attendees that they have a new tool to kill capitalism, the environment.
Problem is that the Greening of America, only accelerated the power of the "capitalists" (Capitalism is not a political ideology, but an economic one, and one that thrives under authoritarianism, more so than a real democracy. A democracy protects and advances the health, safety well being of the people, an authoritarian state protects the wealth,well being and safety of the plutocrats. Communist China is a capitalist economy, just like Russia.
The tension between the two, capitalism and communism,is artificial, the result of "intellectuals", corporate media, and think tanks funded by authoritarian plutocrats, theocratic and secular, gay and straight.(e.g. Log Cabin Republicans and Peter Thiel founder of PayPal.
Who do you think is able to straighten this mess out ?
Is their anyone or any group of people that is capable ?
The Democratic party if it stood by the principles which it professes. IIRC in 2020 they didn't even have a party platform. They ran on "we are not Trump"
It is not enough to talk progressive, the Democratic party is long past the time that it should actually produce results. In my opinion it all went south when Bill Clinton and Rahm Emanuel, beneficiaries of the plutocrats created the Democratic Leadership Council, aka New Democrats aka Third Way, and now you have right wing Republicans and democrats parading around as No Labels.Who is the CEO of No Labels?
Nancy Jacobson (born November 9, 1962) is an American political activist. A former fundraiser for the Democratic Party, she later became co-founder, president, and CEO of the self-described centrist organization No Labels, largely funded by Republican donors.
A group of House Democrats with ties to No Labels is turning on the centrist group after it attacked one of their founding members.
On Tuesday, No Labels texted people who live in the district of Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), criticizing the congressman for scoffing at their idea for a unity presidential ticket and claiming it could result in Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/26/members-of-a-no-labels-allied-caucus-erupt-at-no-labels-00098913
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.
The state capital of Vermont is underwater and people are paddling around in Canoes right now I'm in Laconia, New Hampshire, where the canals in the town look like they're threatening to take out the pillars of the bridges. We had 8 inches of rain at West Point New York last week we have enormous, enormous problems going on and we're getting g used to normalizing them.
Do people even know what's going on out there? Or do they just rant about politics?
Ate we all losing sight of the fact that even 10-15 years ago the kind of devastation from the climate disruption that we seen today would be on the front page of every single newspaper let alone the devastation that's going on in Japan.
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
"Market-based" = neoliberalism, a failed and failing paradigm.
If you didn't wanna wait around for the evidence you could've just read Polanyi and he would have saved you 60 years of confusion.
Next, please.
I am sorry, young man, but your are confusing an approach to a market for the fact that markets exist. There is a market for everything, including people's votes. How one addresses this or any market is the key.
It is silly to pretend that people choose if and where to "spend" their vote any differently than how they choose where to spend their money.
In all cases, it is a matter of understanding what they are buying.... NOT what you are selling.
And you might consider how your smart-a@@ comment demonstrates just how limited your understanding is.
D.
You can say smart ass here, that's no problem.
Anyone who reads books - you could go ahead and call them that. Great job!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Transformation_(book)
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.
Ad hominem arguments are fallacy in reasoning, and you are kind of stuck there. Much of what you're saying is directly opposed to the core beliefs and core activities of the person you feature in your photo.
If someone makes a statement about taibbi well, the statement is either right or wrong, which comes down to whether Matt tiaibi is right or wrong.
See where we're going here? This is called reasoning.
Otherwise, we're stuck with crap like yours, saying that if anyone thinks it's hot outside today then they must be some kind of eskimo.
Not exactly the best logic. A basic course in inductive reasoning is highly recommended.