I've concluded that the first step back from political hell is to insist on the truth, and not let a single lie go unchallenged. We have to blast the truth out constantly to overcome their lie machines.
We do Jeffrey, we on substack on Thom's Reports on Reich, on Heather Cox Richardson, on Jim Stewartson, on so many others, but to no avail, because we don't own Shiitter, Telegram,CNN,, ABC, CBS, NBC, N YT, WAPO.one bright light The victims of Sandy Hook and the Onion have bought Alex jones platform, but a judge is in the process of killing that deal.
It’s impossible to reach the MAGAs, they are for the most part zombies. We need to improve the educational system but it will take decades to repair the damage that has been done. The best that we can hope for is that trump’s presidency implodes like all of his other ventures.
Chris, brilliant: ‘Implodes’ like all his other ventures.’ Oh I do hope that his narcissistic persona acts like a boomerang 🪃 I’m also watching as a tussle for power may cause sand box troubles w mush.
The term “neoliberalism” hides more than it illuminates. It’s just your standard free market economics ala’ the textbooks … markets, left to themselves, always & everywhere settle at an equilibrium where sellers can sell all they want at the equilibrium price & buyers can buy all they want at the equilibrium price.
It’s 19th century Social Darwinism dressed up in math.
Before it was neoliberalism we in the States called it Chicago Economics. This in turn is just the same old same old textbook micro economics.
The assumptions needed for this model to “work” are utterly absurd. Perfect competition in all industries (no oligopolies no monopolies), everyone has “perfect knowledge,” (that’s a howler), no buyer or seller is large enough to affect the market outcome (tell that to Muskrat), and there is no product differentiation (a shoe is a shoe is a shoe … Manola Whatever’s don’t exist … neither do converse sketchers or Steve Madden).
So basically if you assume away the real world you can construct a model that “proves” markets are the best best bestest way to organize the economy. Horse poop.
Despite its gross inadequacies this is what economics has on offer. Applied oligarchy?
Anyway … the economists failed us way before the legacy media did.
Susan we are beyond neo liberalism and as I told another on Robert Reich we are beyond neo Conservatism.
This is pure libertarian anti government. Steve Bannon's wet dream of dismantling the administrative state, and replacing it with a a 4th Reich of the rich.
BTW have you noticed, I have, that the Putinesque trolls have in the main dropped the Genocide Joe act, and now are concentrating their comments on Ukraine and how we are Warpigs and responsible for that war.
I called them out long ago, but not that it is no longer a liberal President, but a Right wing (supposedly) Government, that will be immune to entreaties and demonstrations from the left, the focus is now on "Warpigs" and Ukraine.
When Ukraine is forced into submission, all of this talk of War Pigs willl disappear.
Just like the RFK jr and Jill Stein trolls disappeared, as I predicted, on November 6th, only to reappear in different screen names as "peaceniks"
Our neoliberalism and free markets a lie for they’ve been laced with corrupt pay-to-play actors and systems affirming same, a deeply dysfunctional Congress not legislating for decades, a runaway right wingnut SCOTUS bench-legislating us into authoritarianism, epic drip-drip wealth shifts unnoticed by the people and wildly out of control industrial strength media lie machines unchecked unregulated and enabled by a hang-your-spine-at-the-door & visionless congress.
Neo liberalism and free markets are not a lie Nicole, they are functioning perfectly, what is a lie is how they defined them to us, the gullible, the ignorant.
The Christian Jesus said, "come unto me as a child", meaning vapid, stupid, a blank slate. Ignatius Loyala, founder of the Order of Jesus, Jesuits, said give me a lad by the age of 8, and I will own him the rest of his life.
Education works the same way. We enter the hallowed halls, and are empty vessels, only to have them filled with approved ideas and concepts, what is not taught however is critical thinking. Those who go onto study science, believe that they are taught critical thing, but they are kept within confined parameters, like peer review, falsification and inductive reasoning is elvevate to a sacred sacrament.
If you want to pass, especially with Honors or Highest Honors, and want a job post grad, then you had best kneel on the hassock.
And kneeling on the hassock, initiates cognitive dissonance, that uncomfortable physical state when the mind and the mouth are discordant. To overcome this uncomfortable state one then convinces them-self that they are true disciples, and the most adamant of disciples.
In the Sectarian world, you can see cognitive dissonance at work in the fanatic behavior of converts. Their fanaticism is the ego convince the id, that they are genuine.
Hmm, I suppose I can agree with some of your thoughts though failures in the current clusterfuck called America attributable to the bible and religiosity well beyond my assessment.
I feel it is simply a failure of American systems of government to manage natural evil inclinations of men - most, not all.
Founding fathers’ document possessed reasonable checks and balances to manage corrupt actors in new freely elected democratic republic. The extremely dishonorable, they knew, could destroy. Remember, “…a democracy if you can keep it…?”
Laws protecting from a few powerful pigs feeding in the trough at the expense of society have failed.
Our founding fathers document is a lawyers dream, enough holes to drive a truck through and they have done it, except where it suits their purpose.
Take the 2nd Amendment , “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.
That was then, when the founders feared an army, because in Europe the army was used to oust the regime.
1789 and the French Revolution is a prime example.
The need of the 2nd Amendment is obsolete. We not only have a regulate militia called the National Guard, but we have one hell of an Army, Navy and Air Force to protect us, but the Supreme Court bows to gun manufacturers and the paranoid fascistic right.
We may be a nation of laws, but the laws are made by men.
Nothing is attributable to the bible, the bible is nothing but a book of myths, made up shit,, mixed in with a little jumbled history, and again it is a product of men. Men with their own motives and agenda.
I heard this morning that the rounding up of aliens will begin soon, we need to do our part to protect them, they are vital to the agriculture industry and to many places where they simply don’t have the numbers to fill job openings, plus they are willing to do the most awe full jobs like dead animal places where they recover what is most useable for other industries. A very stinky and horrific job. They work on dairy farms and are willing to get dirty and smelly and do great jobs for almost every farm they are hired. I say if they indeed do this the whole agricultural economy will fail badly
From my perspective, after heaing visa cases for 20 years, serving at one time on the BALCA board, the whole thing is a grift. Trump is a visa expert. Uses H 2B to being in temporary workers to his properties, to avoid paying locals. We have a temporary agricultural worker visa progran -- virtually all involved are MAGATs. https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2a-temporary-agricultural-workers
By rights, employers of illegals are supposed to be sanctioned. Trump was the poster boy -- had to pay a $2M fine plus make rrestitution when he was caught. Employer Sanctions Act, also known as the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, prohibits employers from hiring unauthorized workers in the United States.
This is kind of off topic, but I hypothesized yesterday, that Gaetz nomination as AG was a ploy cooked up by Trump and Gaetz on the plane. Gaetz knows that he doesn't have the ability to act as Trumps lawyer and deconsruct the U.S., Trump is going to have to pick someone more qualified for the job, like a William Barr, a real anti government, but knowledgeable lawyer or jurist.
The real plan is to have Gaetz withdraw his name from nomination, and then get sworn into the 119th Congress on Jan 3rd, and then with Trump's sponsorship be elected Speaker of the House.
Something just happened that validates that hypothesis. Mike Johnson was at first not going to release the ethics report on Gaetz, but has changed his mind.
Maybe he reads Thom's reports, and knows that the real plan is for Gaetz to take his job.
Yes Daniel, but GWB's appointments were incompetent,Trumps are competent to destroy and deconstruct the administrative state.
To quote from the Bulwark
"He is constructing a kind of anti-government . . . Every appointee is selected as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of. . . . These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified—the antithesis of what the offices call for.
Tracinski emphasizes that it’s not just that Trump doesn’t care about good government as traditionally understood. He is trying to actively undermine good government, to negate that very standard"
GWB was the SAME. He appointed my former classmate to kill the NLRB. Same was true agency by agency. I worked in the anti-labor department for a couple of administrations.
The first act of the new Trump administration in 2017 was to kill "merit selection" of my colleagues, to reinstate the spoils system. No tests. No VA points. No judicial experience requirement. No background checks. He learned this from GWB henchmen.
Dictatorship is not an oligarchy. Putin, in essence, crowned Trump twice. Like Putin, Trump will eventually grift the 150 billionaire families. Putin is Trump's model. May be the richest man in the world, richer than even Musk -- via theft. Trump is already invoking a third term -- dictator for life. Trump is planning Stalin type show trials.
Biden needs to grant tens of thousands of pardons, to try to keep us from being sent to the gulags.
Dictator ship is not an oligarchy, correct, But Oligarch's thrive under dictatorships, and in fact oligarchs are essential to dictatorships.
The 4th Reich of the Rich. Putin's power depends on the support of oligarchs, and oligarchs are under Putins thumb.
It is the same relationship between Attila and the witch doctor, between church and state, they are interdependent, and one exists because the other legitimizes and supports them, but they are also mutually hostile and suspicious.
There is a myth that the USSR was atheist, that may be true at the level of Stalin of leadership, bugt there was only one recognized religion, a state religion, the Russian orthodox, and it's Metropoliitan and Priests were, if not KGB, then employees of the KGB, and the stupid parishioner who went to confession did not know that his confessions made it into a KGB file.
They did and stil do. Putin is Attila and Patriarch Kirill (Cyril) of Moscow is the witch doctor.
Hitler had his as well ,Pius XII and theWilhelm Fahrenhorst,
Putin applied nuclear milkshakes and falls from high rises as object lessons to obtain conformity. He gets a cut from every one of them doing business in Russia.
Absolutely Daniel. He needs them and they need him, it is inter dependency at it's finest.
One way of looking at it is that oligarchs are department heads, like the Department of Labor (KGB), only Russian Department heads financially benefit from the activities of their department.
I wager that the KGB gets paid by the other oligarchs when it sells labor, and like America the prison complex is an oligarchs domain, a for profit enterprise.
As in America the judicial system is a money making enterprise,
OMG, this is so concisely right on point! I’m sharing with all the gaslit I know, as well as those in my circle who need talking points in their own effort to fight lies with truth.
I keep telling the idiots all around me to step back from their “me here now” selfish angst and examine:
1. How humanity has arrived at this place of a tyrant at the helm - again.
2. What might the root causes be.
3. Zoom back for 30,000 feet viewpoint and understanding of who have well-played the long game and which moneyed power brokers and wealthy elites have today landed at the fulcrum of power and wealth.
4. Study WW1 and WW2 for understanding of the bad place we have returned to.
No wonder GOP hates books and education, for a well-informed voter with nuanced understanding is their greatest vulnerability.
Since the election I've been furious. I decided to keep with that emotion rather than depression & channel that ire to something good for myself. I love to walk so I put the shoe to the pavement & walked 20 miles last week. Felt/feels good. But this morning I woke up with really dark anger. I took my morning walk. I got in the miles I wanted to do but it didn't really help lift me back to positive anger.
~~~Then I watched some of Morning Joe. While I agree with the premise he set forth in trying to find common ground with the new administration & to work with them where possible, I came completely unglued when he & his guests talked about how they as journalists would hold trump's feet to the fire by reporting the bad as well as the good things going on; that they would take a stand against the "bad stuff".
~~~ Pardon my divisive language, but are you "F"ing kidding me? Do they really believe they'll have jobs at 'NEWS'papers, or 'NEWS'programs on TV? No, trump told us that the press is the enemy of the people, that Democrats are evil, that people who don't support him are the enemy from within, that immigrants are taking our jobs, that climate change is a Chinese hoax. What in that horrendous list don't they understand? The-Liar-Chief has no plans to do anything that anyone tries to encourage him to do. Remember he is a "stable genius" & knows exactly what to do & if it doesn't work he'll just blame it on his list of evil-doers mentioned above.
~~~And all this goes for his oligarch buddies as well. When Hitler was coming to power the industrialists thought that they could control him. Well, we can see how that worked out though there are some companies that are still in existence after the demise of Nazisim. Overall it was pretty bad for his buddies when the end came.
~~~What will be very interesting is to watch the trump/musk show & how this plays out. Who will win that "beauty contest", the so-called Richest Man in the World, or the Liar-in-Chief?
~~~So journalists, let's keep our eyes on the ball & plan on how you will report when trump puts the hammer down on any type of reporting.
~~~Apologies, this wasn't directly on topic, I did talk about his oligarch buddies a bit so maybe that will count towards staying on topic.
~~~Hey, as luck would have it posting these thoughts put me back to "positive anger"!!! Thanks for that!
Maybe I'm having a bad day because I'm recovering from another round of Covid 19, but I recently remembered a Bruce Willis movie, "Sixth Sense" where the character finally realized that he had been dead all along. Maybe we have the facade of democracy as a way of controlling the masses. Maybe the common working person has no say. At the least as far as the Democratic Party is concerned, the old Janet Jackson song, "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" comes to mind.
Somebody tell me I'm wrong. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.
You are not wrong Gloria. I am afraid that we are the Walking Dead and the hammer of Thor will come crashing down on us on Jan 21st, unless witless Joe gets off his ass and uses the power that he has, the power conferred on him by SCOTUS.
Only time will tell if you’re right. I think democracy and education go hand in hand. Since they subverted real education we really haven’t had democracy. The question is: was the subversion all political? I think it was only partially political and partially crooks taking advantage of what the political people wanted.
We will only know if someone in charge listens to the whistleblowers reporting what happened to education at WhiteChalkCrime.com. So far no president has - neither party. Does that mean that Democrats don’t want democracy either or have they been fooled by the unions, which are going along to get along, they blindly trust. Either is possible.
Only time will tell. But I want to give democracy a chance so I’m all for it taking over our school boards. But I totally get how you feel. It crosses any thinking mind given our history!
It is legal in Washington State. I live in a state of zen, I can assess the situation, but I don't let it get to me, That is how I survived and prospered in a 26 year military career.
My wife however, gets excited and is depressed, she is addicted to the news, all of which is bad, and she leans on the crutch to get through the day. With my blessing
I see the shit, I know what is going on, but can't let it get to me. I've been under mortar fire, and human wave. If you come apart, you are meat.
I just heard David Feldman (Podcast) who was for Harris, say she wasted a lot of money on the campaign. He has stated that going forward, if a candidate isn't for 1. Medicare for All 2. Climate change (leave the oil underground 3. No billionaires (tax the wealthy, that he will not vote for or support with money.
Same here, foolish me. I suffered from Trump fatigue and saw Harris as a straw on the water I could grab that I didn't drown.
I forgot that the two parties were opposite sides of the same coin.
Only Gloria it is too late. I will quote again the words of Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, this is the second American revolution and it will be bloodless if the left allows it.
That means that subsequent elections will be charades, as they are in Hungary, Turkey and Russia.
The only way to come back is a counter revolution, and Americans have no stomach for that, they are too well fed, comfortable, fat and lazy.
Remember "Freedom is just another way of saying, you have nothing else to lose"
Garland is our Chamberlin. I think they hoped that instead of having to prosecute an ex-president, he would fail miserably at being re-elected and just go away. What they didn't understand is that there has been a wide-spread theocracy, fashioned and used by the oligarchs, who have been working tirelessly to take control over the God-less masses in this country for decades. What Garland didn't understand and what the theocracy of today's crusaders don't get is that the primary function of freedom is the unimpeded development of one's soul. Within this matrix of freedom, humans make choices and decisions that directly impact their spiritual wellbeing or dysfunction. Freedom isn't provided by anyone or anything. It is earned and it has a purpose. The theocrats think that they have to impose their doctrines, morality, beliefs, and disciplines onto the masses to serve their god and enforce his dictates. They are actually performing exactly the opposite of what this planet is designed to do to provide for our soul's knowing of itself. They are pursuing goals that are in direct contrast to the will of HIs essence. Consequently, Garland should have gone after him with both guns blazing to protect the freedom of the people to choose. Instead he has embolden a tyrant and destroyed freedom. Gunna be a rough road regaining all that is about to be lost.
The first step is a free press. Second step is insuring the vote and rank choice voting. Third step is court stripping of laws that do not allow bribery of officials that the Supreme Court legalized.
Thank you for this article. Have been warning us for decades. I began my warnings in 2008 regarding the radical Christians moving us towards tyranny and never stopped. My book, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond” deals with the roots of this going back to colonial Virginia and the Carolinas, and up to Trump and the Christian Nationalists in 2022 when I made the last edits before it was published by Potomac Books of the University of Nebraska Press. I wrote about them on my Substack last night. They are all supporters of this Oligarchy.
Thom writes, “there’s a limit to how long you can gaslight people; eventually working-class Americans figure out what’s going on and who’s behind their falling behind previous generations.”
The election less than two weeks ago does not give us any indication that “working-class Americans” have figured anything out. Quite the opposite. They were the ones voting for the fascist oligarch who has nothing but contempt for them and this country. The gas-lighting continues unabated and they will continue to bask in that light as the dictator dictates. War has been declared on them and they have capitulated with hardly a whimper. Unless the working people are motivated somehow to take part in a real resistance and in some kind of fight, the steamrolling will continue and our fight will become a dull memory.
If enough people were to stock up on everything before Jan. 20th and not spend any more discretionary money for a month or so in February, I wonder if that would put a crimp in Trump’s early economy. Democrats and liberal progressives should boycott the big behemoths and openly oppose the billionaires at every opportunity. No one should attend the inauguration, of course, and all obnoxious appointments should be vigorously rejected. But until the pain get real, I would not expect consciousness to be raised among the working class while big money controls information outlets and perceptions. Our best hope seems to be the courts at this point.
Have a listen to Yuval Harari's take on the situation https://youtu.be/FQYGid5uCPk?si=ahBQ-PPLmTkxJ4kQ&t=827. Interesting perspective. Somehow trust has to be restored in institutions. That may actually require founding a new country. Not to be taken lightly as noted by Niccolò Machiavelli :
“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.”
One of our "sad truths" is that the people most in need of truthful news and commentary are the least likely ever to encounter it. I talk routinely with my grocery checkout people, the manager of the produce section, the people who work UPS stations, the receptionists and other clerical people at my health clinic, and the numerous others I encounter in my daily routines. Sadly, and tellingly, not one has ever been familiar with Thom Hartman or any of the other excellent contributors on Substack. They have never heard of Substack. I listen, and when there is an opening, I suggest a website or two. I also suggest that one needs a broader range of information than can be found on TV which, even at its best, often falls into the "performance art" category. If I suggest or offer reading material, the response is pretty much the same from everyone: Lack of time, work, home and family commitments, all leave little time for searching out different news/information sources. Various workmen/women tell me they listen to radio because it is available as they go about their daily routines. The few billionaires of progressive persuasion have never been interested in broadcast ownership. So, given the dominance of airwaves by hard-right propaganda machines, I don't have a ready suggestion as to the best way to reach these mostly decent and earnest people who really do have little time for gathering meaningful information. Any suggestions?
P.S. (The Nation and Mother Jones have done some exceptional reporting over the last year.)
Trump could also, shut down Congress and establish a fascist dictatorship, firing all DOD leaders, closing down entire departments and agencies, and jailing anyone who objects as terrorist. The Congress we have now is spineless, shameless, and clueless. Alas, so are the majority of MAGA voters.
I've concluded that the first step back from political hell is to insist on the truth, and not let a single lie go unchallenged. We have to blast the truth out constantly to overcome their lie machines.
We do Jeffrey, we on substack on Thom's Reports on Reich, on Heather Cox Richardson, on Jim Stewartson, on so many others, but to no avail, because we don't own Shiitter, Telegram,CNN,, ABC, CBS, NBC, N YT, WAPO.one bright light The victims of Sandy Hook and the Onion have bought Alex jones platform, but a judge is in the process of killing that deal.
It’s impossible to reach the MAGAs, they are for the most part zombies. We need to improve the educational system but it will take decades to repair the damage that has been done. The best that we can hope for is that trump’s presidency implodes like all of his other ventures.
Chris, brilliant: ‘Implodes’ like all his other ventures.’ Oh I do hope that his narcissistic persona acts like a boomerang 🪃 I’m also watching as a tussle for power may cause sand box troubles w mush.
The term “neoliberalism” hides more than it illuminates. It’s just your standard free market economics ala’ the textbooks … markets, left to themselves, always & everywhere settle at an equilibrium where sellers can sell all they want at the equilibrium price & buyers can buy all they want at the equilibrium price.
It’s 19th century Social Darwinism dressed up in math.
Before it was neoliberalism we in the States called it Chicago Economics. This in turn is just the same old same old textbook micro economics.
The assumptions needed for this model to “work” are utterly absurd. Perfect competition in all industries (no oligopolies no monopolies), everyone has “perfect knowledge,” (that’s a howler), no buyer or seller is large enough to affect the market outcome (tell that to Muskrat), and there is no product differentiation (a shoe is a shoe is a shoe … Manola Whatever’s don’t exist … neither do converse sketchers or Steve Madden).
So basically if you assume away the real world you can construct a model that “proves” markets are the best best bestest way to organize the economy. Horse poop.
Despite its gross inadequacies this is what economics has on offer. Applied oligarchy?
Anyway … the economists failed us way before the legacy media did.
Susan we are beyond neo liberalism and as I told another on Robert Reich we are beyond neo Conservatism.
This is pure libertarian anti government. Steve Bannon's wet dream of dismantling the administrative state, and replacing it with a a 4th Reich of the rich.
Ask her who she supported.......
Ask who Daniel?
Susan.... sounds like she helped elect Trump......
Yeh, I got that Daniel.
BTW have you noticed, I have, that the Putinesque trolls have in the main dropped the Genocide Joe act, and now are concentrating their comments on Ukraine and how we are Warpigs and responsible for that war.
I called them out long ago, but not that it is no longer a liberal President, but a Right wing (supposedly) Government, that will be immune to entreaties and demonstrations from the left, the focus is now on "Warpigs" and Ukraine.
When Ukraine is forced into submission, all of this talk of War Pigs willl disappear.
Just like the RFK jr and Jill Stein trolls disappeared, as I predicted, on November 6th, only to reappear in different screen names as "peaceniks"
A new screen name is Rick Sender.
Our neoliberalism and free markets a lie for they’ve been laced with corrupt pay-to-play actors and systems affirming same, a deeply dysfunctional Congress not legislating for decades, a runaway right wingnut SCOTUS bench-legislating us into authoritarianism, epic drip-drip wealth shifts unnoticed by the people and wildly out of control industrial strength media lie machines unchecked unregulated and enabled by a hang-your-spine-at-the-door & visionless congress.
Neo liberalism and free markets are not a lie Nicole, they are functioning perfectly, what is a lie is how they defined them to us, the gullible, the ignorant.
The Christian Jesus said, "come unto me as a child", meaning vapid, stupid, a blank slate. Ignatius Loyala, founder of the Order of Jesus, Jesuits, said give me a lad by the age of 8, and I will own him the rest of his life.
Education works the same way. We enter the hallowed halls, and are empty vessels, only to have them filled with approved ideas and concepts, what is not taught however is critical thinking. Those who go onto study science, believe that they are taught critical thing, but they are kept within confined parameters, like peer review, falsification and inductive reasoning is elvevate to a sacred sacrament.
If you want to pass, especially with Honors or Highest Honors, and want a job post grad, then you had best kneel on the hassock.
And kneeling on the hassock, initiates cognitive dissonance, that uncomfortable physical state when the mind and the mouth are discordant. To overcome this uncomfortable state one then convinces them-self that they are true disciples, and the most adamant of disciples.
In the Sectarian world, you can see cognitive dissonance at work in the fanatic behavior of converts. Their fanaticism is the ego convince the id, that they are genuine.
Hmm, I suppose I can agree with some of your thoughts though failures in the current clusterfuck called America attributable to the bible and religiosity well beyond my assessment.
I feel it is simply a failure of American systems of government to manage natural evil inclinations of men - most, not all.
Founding fathers’ document possessed reasonable checks and balances to manage corrupt actors in new freely elected democratic republic. The extremely dishonorable, they knew, could destroy. Remember, “…a democracy if you can keep it…?”
Laws protecting from a few powerful pigs feeding in the trough at the expense of society have failed.
Slipping over the edge…
Our founding fathers document is a lawyers dream, enough holes to drive a truck through and they have done it, except where it suits their purpose.
Take the 2nd Amendment , “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.
That was then, when the founders feared an army, because in Europe the army was used to oust the regime.
1789 and the French Revolution is a prime example.
The need of the 2nd Amendment is obsolete. We not only have a regulate militia called the National Guard, but we have one hell of an Army, Navy and Air Force to protect us, but the Supreme Court bows to gun manufacturers and the paranoid fascistic right.
We may be a nation of laws, but the laws are made by men.
Nothing is attributable to the bible, the bible is nothing but a book of myths, made up shit,, mixed in with a little jumbled history, and again it is a product of men. Men with their own motives and agenda.
I heard this morning that the rounding up of aliens will begin soon, we need to do our part to protect them, they are vital to the agriculture industry and to many places where they simply don’t have the numbers to fill job openings, plus they are willing to do the most awe full jobs like dead animal places where they recover what is most useable for other industries. A very stinky and horrific job. They work on dairy farms and are willing to get dirty and smelly and do great jobs for almost every farm they are hired. I say if they indeed do this the whole agricultural economy will fail badly
From my perspective, after heaing visa cases for 20 years, serving at one time on the BALCA board, the whole thing is a grift. Trump is a visa expert. Uses H 2B to being in temporary workers to his properties, to avoid paying locals. We have a temporary agricultural worker visa progran -- virtually all involved are MAGATs. https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2a-temporary-agricultural-workers
By rights, employers of illegals are supposed to be sanctioned. Trump was the poster boy -- had to pay a $2M fine plus make rrestitution when he was caught. Employer Sanctions Act, also known as the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, prohibits employers from hiring unauthorized workers in the United States.
Also, before deporting, will place them in concentration camps run by the private prison industry. He may/ may not get a cut.
Fight back. tRump and his supporters take advantage of even the hint of weakness.
This is kind of off topic, but I hypothesized yesterday, that Gaetz nomination as AG was a ploy cooked up by Trump and Gaetz on the plane. Gaetz knows that he doesn't have the ability to act as Trumps lawyer and deconsruct the U.S., Trump is going to have to pick someone more qualified for the job, like a William Barr, a real anti government, but knowledgeable lawyer or jurist.
The real plan is to have Gaetz withdraw his name from nomination, and then get sworn into the 119th Congress on Jan 3rd, and then with Trump's sponsorship be elected Speaker of the House.
Something just happened that validates that hypothesis. Mike Johnson was at first not going to release the ethics report on Gaetz, but has changed his mind.
Maybe he reads Thom's reports, and knows that the real plan is for Gaetz to take his job.
Agreed, that was some plane ride.
In any case, the fox is in the henhouse.
As I have said elsewere, this is deja vu. GWB appointed approximately 21 incompetent people through interim appointments PER YEAR for 8 years.
Yes Daniel, but GWB's appointments were incompetent,Trumps are competent to destroy and deconstruct the administrative state.
To quote from the Bulwark
"He is constructing a kind of anti-government . . . Every appointee is selected as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of. . . . These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified—the antithesis of what the offices call for.
Tracinski emphasizes that it’s not just that Trump doesn’t care about good government as traditionally understood. He is trying to actively undermine good government, to negate that very standard"
GWB was the SAME. He appointed my former classmate to kill the NLRB. Same was true agency by agency. I worked in the anti-labor department for a couple of administrations.
The first act of the new Trump administration in 2017 was to kill "merit selection" of my colleagues, to reinstate the spoils system. No tests. No VA points. No judicial experience requirement. No background checks. He learned this from GWB henchmen.
Well then GWB was the first attempt, just like Jan 6th was a trial run.
I've been involved in, helped plan military exercises. The purpose of which are to identify weaknesses and problems.
Dictatorship is not an oligarchy. Putin, in essence, crowned Trump twice. Like Putin, Trump will eventually grift the 150 billionaire families. Putin is Trump's model. May be the richest man in the world, richer than even Musk -- via theft. Trump is already invoking a third term -- dictator for life. Trump is planning Stalin type show trials.
Biden needs to grant tens of thousands of pardons, to try to keep us from being sent to the gulags.
This morning, Keith Olbermann suggested Biden start granting pardons before the show trials of the military begins.
Dictator ship is not an oligarchy, correct, But Oligarch's thrive under dictatorships, and in fact oligarchs are essential to dictatorships.
The 4th Reich of the Rich. Putin's power depends on the support of oligarchs, and oligarchs are under Putins thumb.
It is the same relationship between Attila and the witch doctor, between church and state, they are interdependent, and one exists because the other legitimizes and supports them, but they are also mutually hostile and suspicious.
There is a myth that the USSR was atheist, that may be true at the level of Stalin of leadership, bugt there was only one recognized religion, a state religion, the Russian orthodox, and it's Metropoliitan and Priests were, if not KGB, then employees of the KGB, and the stupid parishioner who went to confession did not know that his confessions made it into a KGB file.
They did and stil do. Putin is Attila and Patriarch Kirill (Cyril) of Moscow is the witch doctor.
Hitler had his as well ,Pius XII and theWilhelm Fahrenhorst,
Putin applied nuclear milkshakes and falls from high rises as object lessons to obtain conformity. He gets a cut from every one of them doing business in Russia.
Absolutely Daniel. He needs them and they need him, it is inter dependency at it's finest.
One way of looking at it is that oligarchs are department heads, like the Department of Labor (KGB), only Russian Department heads financially benefit from the activities of their department.
I wager that the KGB gets paid by the other oligarchs when it sells labor, and like America the prison complex is an oligarchs domain, a for profit enterprise.
As in America the judicial system is a money making enterprise,
OMG, this is so concisely right on point! I’m sharing with all the gaslit I know, as well as those in my circle who need talking points in their own effort to fight lies with truth.
I keep telling the idiots all around me to step back from their “me here now” selfish angst and examine:
1. How humanity has arrived at this place of a tyrant at the helm - again.
2. What might the root causes be.
3. Zoom back for 30,000 feet viewpoint and understanding of who have well-played the long game and which moneyed power brokers and wealthy elites have today landed at the fulcrum of power and wealth.
4. Study WW1 and WW2 for understanding of the bad place we have returned to.
No wonder GOP hates books and education, for a well-informed voter with nuanced understanding is their greatest vulnerability.
THE FOX IS IN THE HENHOUSE!
Since the election I've been furious. I decided to keep with that emotion rather than depression & channel that ire to something good for myself. I love to walk so I put the shoe to the pavement & walked 20 miles last week. Felt/feels good. But this morning I woke up with really dark anger. I took my morning walk. I got in the miles I wanted to do but it didn't really help lift me back to positive anger.
~~~Then I watched some of Morning Joe. While I agree with the premise he set forth in trying to find common ground with the new administration & to work with them where possible, I came completely unglued when he & his guests talked about how they as journalists would hold trump's feet to the fire by reporting the bad as well as the good things going on; that they would take a stand against the "bad stuff".
~~~ Pardon my divisive language, but are you "F"ing kidding me? Do they really believe they'll have jobs at 'NEWS'papers, or 'NEWS'programs on TV? No, trump told us that the press is the enemy of the people, that Democrats are evil, that people who don't support him are the enemy from within, that immigrants are taking our jobs, that climate change is a Chinese hoax. What in that horrendous list don't they understand? The-Liar-Chief has no plans to do anything that anyone tries to encourage him to do. Remember he is a "stable genius" & knows exactly what to do & if it doesn't work he'll just blame it on his list of evil-doers mentioned above.
~~~And all this goes for his oligarch buddies as well. When Hitler was coming to power the industrialists thought that they could control him. Well, we can see how that worked out though there are some companies that are still in existence after the demise of Nazisim. Overall it was pretty bad for his buddies when the end came.
~~~What will be very interesting is to watch the trump/musk show & how this plays out. Who will win that "beauty contest", the so-called Richest Man in the World, or the Liar-in-Chief?
~~~So journalists, let's keep our eyes on the ball & plan on how you will report when trump puts the hammer down on any type of reporting.
~~~Apologies, this wasn't directly on topic, I did talk about his oligarch buddies a bit so maybe that will count towards staying on topic.
~~~Hey, as luck would have it posting these thoughts put me back to "positive anger"!!! Thanks for that!
Maybe I'm having a bad day because I'm recovering from another round of Covid 19, but I recently remembered a Bruce Willis movie, "Sixth Sense" where the character finally realized that he had been dead all along. Maybe we have the facade of democracy as a way of controlling the masses. Maybe the common working person has no say. At the least as far as the Democratic Party is concerned, the old Janet Jackson song, "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" comes to mind.
Somebody tell me I'm wrong. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.
You are not wrong Gloria. I am afraid that we are the Walking Dead and the hammer of Thor will come crashing down on us on Jan 21st, unless witless Joe gets off his ass and uses the power that he has, the power conferred on him by SCOTUS.
Only time will tell if you’re right. I think democracy and education go hand in hand. Since they subverted real education we really haven’t had democracy. The question is: was the subversion all political? I think it was only partially political and partially crooks taking advantage of what the political people wanted.
We will only know if someone in charge listens to the whistleblowers reporting what happened to education at WhiteChalkCrime.com. So far no president has - neither party. Does that mean that Democrats don’t want democracy either or have they been fooled by the unions, which are going along to get along, they blindly trust. Either is possible.
Only time will tell. But I want to give democracy a chance so I’m all for it taking over our school boards. But I totally get how you feel. It crosses any thinking mind given our history!
Is marijuana legal in Illinois?
It is legal in Washington State. I live in a state of zen, I can assess the situation, but I don't let it get to me, That is how I survived and prospered in a 26 year military career.
My wife however, gets excited and is depressed, she is addicted to the news, all of which is bad, and she leans on the crutch to get through the day. With my blessing
I see the shit, I know what is going on, but can't let it get to me. I've been under mortar fire, and human wave. If you come apart, you are meat.
I just heard David Feldman (Podcast) who was for Harris, say she wasted a lot of money on the campaign. He has stated that going forward, if a candidate isn't for 1. Medicare for All 2. Climate change (leave the oil underground 3. No billionaires (tax the wealthy, that he will not vote for or support with money.
Sounds good to me. I won't budge again.
Same here, foolish me. I suffered from Trump fatigue and saw Harris as a straw on the water I could grab that I didn't drown.
I forgot that the two parties were opposite sides of the same coin.
Only Gloria it is too late. I will quote again the words of Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, this is the second American revolution and it will be bloodless if the left allows it.
That means that subsequent elections will be charades, as they are in Hungary, Turkey and Russia.
The only way to come back is a counter revolution, and Americans have no stomach for that, they are too well fed, comfortable, fat and lazy.
Remember "Freedom is just another way of saying, you have nothing else to lose"
That was a Kris Kristopherson song and sadly, he just died.
I know Gloria, I feel the same way, but I like Janis Joplin's version
Garland is our Chamberlin. I think they hoped that instead of having to prosecute an ex-president, he would fail miserably at being re-elected and just go away. What they didn't understand is that there has been a wide-spread theocracy, fashioned and used by the oligarchs, who have been working tirelessly to take control over the God-less masses in this country for decades. What Garland didn't understand and what the theocracy of today's crusaders don't get is that the primary function of freedom is the unimpeded development of one's soul. Within this matrix of freedom, humans make choices and decisions that directly impact their spiritual wellbeing or dysfunction. Freedom isn't provided by anyone or anything. It is earned and it has a purpose. The theocrats think that they have to impose their doctrines, morality, beliefs, and disciplines onto the masses to serve their god and enforce his dictates. They are actually performing exactly the opposite of what this planet is designed to do to provide for our soul's knowing of itself. They are pursuing goals that are in direct contrast to the will of HIs essence. Consequently, Garland should have gone after him with both guns blazing to protect the freedom of the people to choose. Instead he has embolden a tyrant and destroyed freedom. Gunna be a rough road regaining all that is about to be lost.
The first step is a free press. Second step is insuring the vote and rank choice voting. Third step is court stripping of laws that do not allow bribery of officials that the Supreme Court legalized.
Thom,
Thank you for this article. Have been warning us for decades. I began my warnings in 2008 regarding the radical Christians moving us towards tyranny and never stopped. My book, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond” deals with the roots of this going back to colonial Virginia and the Carolinas, and up to Trump and the Christian Nationalists in 2022 when I made the last edits before it was published by Potomac Books of the University of Nebraska Press. I wrote about them on my Substack last night. They are all supporters of this Oligarchy.
Thank you so much and keep up the fight.
Steve Dundas
Thom writes, “there’s a limit to how long you can gaslight people; eventually working-class Americans figure out what’s going on and who’s behind their falling behind previous generations.”
The election less than two weeks ago does not give us any indication that “working-class Americans” have figured anything out. Quite the opposite. They were the ones voting for the fascist oligarch who has nothing but contempt for them and this country. The gas-lighting continues unabated and they will continue to bask in that light as the dictator dictates. War has been declared on them and they have capitulated with hardly a whimper. Unless the working people are motivated somehow to take part in a real resistance and in some kind of fight, the steamrolling will continue and our fight will become a dull memory.
If enough people were to stock up on everything before Jan. 20th and not spend any more discretionary money for a month or so in February, I wonder if that would put a crimp in Trump’s early economy. Democrats and liberal progressives should boycott the big behemoths and openly oppose the billionaires at every opportunity. No one should attend the inauguration, of course, and all obnoxious appointments should be vigorously rejected. But until the pain get real, I would not expect consciousness to be raised among the working class while big money controls information outlets and perceptions. Our best hope seems to be the courts at this point.
Have a listen to Yuval Harari's take on the situation https://youtu.be/FQYGid5uCPk?si=ahBQ-PPLmTkxJ4kQ&t=827. Interesting perspective. Somehow trust has to be restored in institutions. That may actually require founding a new country. Not to be taken lightly as noted by Niccolò Machiavelli :
“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.”
One of our "sad truths" is that the people most in need of truthful news and commentary are the least likely ever to encounter it. I talk routinely with my grocery checkout people, the manager of the produce section, the people who work UPS stations, the receptionists and other clerical people at my health clinic, and the numerous others I encounter in my daily routines. Sadly, and tellingly, not one has ever been familiar with Thom Hartman or any of the other excellent contributors on Substack. They have never heard of Substack. I listen, and when there is an opening, I suggest a website or two. I also suggest that one needs a broader range of information than can be found on TV which, even at its best, often falls into the "performance art" category. If I suggest or offer reading material, the response is pretty much the same from everyone: Lack of time, work, home and family commitments, all leave little time for searching out different news/information sources. Various workmen/women tell me they listen to radio because it is available as they go about their daily routines. The few billionaires of progressive persuasion have never been interested in broadcast ownership. So, given the dominance of airwaves by hard-right propaganda machines, I don't have a ready suggestion as to the best way to reach these mostly decent and earnest people who really do have little time for gathering meaningful information. Any suggestions?
P.S. (The Nation and Mother Jones have done some exceptional reporting over the last year.)
Trump could also, shut down Congress and establish a fascist dictatorship, firing all DOD leaders, closing down entire departments and agencies, and jailing anyone who objects as terrorist. The Congress we have now is spineless, shameless, and clueless. Alas, so are the majority of MAGA voters.