The RNC has become an Organized Crime Syndicate, managed by the corporate fascist/Libertarians organized by Charles KKKoch and Leonard Leo. They’ve been at this since the early 60’s. Libertarianism has its roots in the Confederate South, reaching back to John C. Calhoun. They are de facto racists and fascists. Today, the RNC Puppet Masters have installed Puppets at every level of government—there are NO HONEST REPUBLICANS. They are all corrupt and beholden to DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN oligarchs. The RNC is aligned with Putin. And to the murderous king of Saudi Arabia. In fact, this article mentions Manafort—he was one of Arthur Friedberg’s “kids”—Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone—all working FOR THE RNC to assist PUTIN to set up dictatorships in Hungary (Orban), Ukraine (Yanukovych) and elsewhere.
THERE ARE NO HONEST REPUBLICANS. NONE.
THE RNC “LIBERTARIAN” SCAM IS THINLY DISGUISED FASCISM.
Look at Pinochet’s Chile—that is a prime example of James M. Buchanan destroying a democracy and stealing a nation’s wealth.
Today, Charles KKKoch & Gang (they call themselves a “cadre”) lead the right-wing conspiracy to destroy western democracies thru bogus, spin words like “trickle down economics. More like Piss-On-You economics.
That's too funny- trickle down economics. I always get this picture in my head of trump and his billionaire cronies and his Supreme Court standing on the top of Trump Towers peeing over the edge. The New Yorkers down below think it's trickle down economics and raise their hands in glory. Trickle down economics. That's when the rich pee on you.
Off Topic, but I have to say this. Trump wanted his criminal trial in NY delayed, and Bragg said no, until Merrick Garland came to his rescue and dropped tens of thousands of documents that they had from their investigation.
Here is the kicker. Alvin Bragg's office had asked for the documents one year ago, no answer from DOJ, until Bragg wouldn't delay the trial, then comes the document dump, and now defense has the right to review the docs, they asked for a 90 day delay, Bragg gave them 30, Trump's lawyers are appealing to the Supremes for more time and we know how that goes.
Once again into the breach for Trump, flies Merrick Garland.
Thanks Joe, you brought the fox into the hen house. What were you thinking?
I'll still vote you, but only because I have to, the alternative is unthinkable.
William Farrar and Bob Johnson, your comments along with today's Hartmann Report was enough to depress me on a beautiful sunny day in the Bay Area. That said, I agree with you both
100%.
I don't know why Biden keeps Garland in office any more than I know why Biden hasn't appointed the necessary Dem (he recently appointed one person) to the USPS Board of Governors so they can fire Postmaster General DeJoy. One is on target to destroy the DOJ and threatens democracy. The other continues unabated in his goal to privatize the oldest institution in our country, the USPS, for his financial gain.
Hi Reb: I lived in Santa Cruz for seven years and it was a life changing experience. I moved, in 1996, before it went through the roof, though a friend and her girlfriend bought a crap of a home, almost falling down and had to restore l and it cost a fortune.
I was working in APTOS, 5 miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta Quake, Oct 89. I was lucky an acquaintance, Robin, was working in the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting company and died.
I totally agree but accuse Biden of , well I will save the accusation. Here is what I know, in December 2021, two seats on the UPSPS came open, he filled them with a Democrat and a Republican thus assuring that DeJoy would continue as PM General. Two more seats came open in Dec 2022 and he has left them instead of filling the seats with Democrats, he has left them empty. It makes me wonder what is really going on.
I know he is not omniscient, and he has advisors, but he chose his advisors and cabinet. Or someone like Larry Summers, the gris eminence behind Obama's administration "guides" him.
But that I blame on Biden, because he listens to them. It can't be that folk like you and I, know more than Biden.
He was mentored in the Senate by racist Dixicrats, and 34 years of comity, cocktail parties,bipartisan ship taught him the wrong lessons.
Senates make terrible presidents, because they have learned the wrong lessons and not how to govern. Governors like Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom have experience governing and make hard decisions and not equivocating or compromising.
Don't get me wrong I will vote for Biden, just like I did he last time, because the alternative is unthinkable, the problem, as far as I am concerned, is in the DNC, the DLC, the establishment assholes who run the party.
William, its a small world. I lived in Aptos, as well, but moved in 1987. Still go there quite often as my best friend still lives in Santa Cruz County.
I've been a member of the Save The Post Office coalition for several years. The coalitiion identified two excellent candidates to fill the vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors and worked hard to get Biden to nominate them to no avail. The fellow he nominated is a labor guy which is good. But that still leaves one vacancy. Another Governor's term expires at the end of this year. It's hard to understand why Biden has failed to nominate people who will remove DeJoy.
You remember the shortest 4th of Jul parade then., one or two blocks long.
You surely have been to Santa Cruz, if you ever see the Clint Eastwood Movie, Sudden Impact, you will see Santa Cruz before the quake, and the house that was featured was built near a cliff overlooking Monterey Bay, which is were it resides now.
That Biden made Garland AG was his greatest error, as Garland has turned on him
But not filling the Board of Governors of USPS with Democrats makes me suspicious..
And if I were capable, depressed, but nothing depresses me. It is not in my DNA.
I'm one of those fossils, and agree 100%. Governing the country is best done by someone who has a vested interest in the future. I barely have a grasp on the present. This is a Windows 7 Computer, with a mouse. I don't have a cell phone, nor a tablet, I don't do social media and have no need or interest. The acronym's I use on the interwebs are relics of the past, like ROTFLMAO.
My first computer was a 286AT, the hard drive weighed 10 lbs, the operating system was DOS, and my internet connection was via a 2400 Baud dial up, the forum I used was the WELL, Whole Earth Lectronic Link out of Sausalita, on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We communicated via FTP, upload and download conversations. Then came Windows 3, then Win 3.1, and some genius invented an Email program he named after his mother, Eudora.
Then Windows 95, and gasp Netscape Navigator, then even had a book Netscape for Dummies, hog heaven. then forums, like Liberty Forum and Anomalies and Enigmas.
When Gates made Win95 obsolete with Win98, I quit trying to keep up. I stayed with Win98, until I could no longer use by browser, becaue they went from 64 bytes to 124 bytes, I bought a new computer with Windows 7, and there I stand.
I understand the Windows 10, is now obsolete and the latest is Window 11, and now you have to subscribe annually.. Highway robbery, Microsoft Office, so I hear is an annual subscription.
Better to have a sharp mind than an updated operating system :) Not a techie, but switching to a MAC, got an offer I could not refuse. Their OS is free (for now).
I bought my Mom an old Apple computer (she died in 2000), and the mouse didn't have a right click, so that was a loser for me. Plus I don't want to learn new architecture, like where files are stored, finally I have too many peripherals, scanners, printers, that probably are not compatible with MAC.
Also, I find that the older I get, the less patience I have. Which is the reverse of what intuition suggests.
Thom is absolutely correct about all the instances of the right wingers destroying trust in America, our government's competence and virtues, but the thing that has eviscerated my trust the most is the department of Justice under Merrick Garland. The Democrats should have won the Congress and could have fixed the supreme Court or could fix it real soon by adding more members. If Biden does not fire Garland he needs to step down and let Kamala Harris run the show and hopefully she would.
I have always had trust that the greedy capitalist would put money and power before the well-being of this country and God.
That is true and a variation on the maxim that a crook thinks everyone is a crook,an honest person thinks every one is honest.. Well said.
There is no doubt in my mind that Biden is an honest man, can't say the same for his son though. despite beliefs to the contrary a child does not necessarily mimic the parents, makes an interesting add for car insurance, but not in reality.
Neither I or my sisters, mimicked our mother, in fact we grew up, just the opposite (single Mom, in a way I mimicked my Dad, (genetics) but not because he raised us, parents split the sheets when I was six.
My sisters resent my mother, I forgave her,though I took the brunt of her frustrations and anger.
Can this be as obvious as it appears? that Merrick Garland is working against Biden and the Democrats, and working to support Trump's possibe future presidency? He always appeared (to me) to behave like a timorous old lady, but is he enamored of the rough and crude tactics (machismo that he lacks) that ended his even getting a hearing to become a justice of the SCOTUS?
Yes Valerie, that is the only conclusion that makes sense. He dragged his feet on prosecuting Trump,or appointing a special counsel. He has not investigated the conspirators in Congress, he hasn't used the investigation of Matt Gaetz to prosecute him, he jumped at the chance of appointing a special counsel for Hunter, but nary a mention of Ivanka and Don Jr.
He had the documents case moved to Florida on the pretext that was where the crime occurred, but it actually occurred in DC when Waltine Nauta moved the boxes from the White House to the truck and to his plane. then he appointed Aileen Cannon using a specious excuse.
He withheld the Documents, tens of thousands of them, from Alvin Bragg for a year, and just before the trial was to begin to start he dropped them on Bragg, giving Trump an excuse to delay the trial. until after the election, same with the trial in Florida). Trump will never be tried in Federal Court, maybe if he loses the election,l but the RNC is hard at work in the states, to ensure that he won't lose the electoral votes, and Muslims and young black males are helping Trump by flipping Dems and Biden the bird, even Hispanics now.
There is more in my brief against Garland, but that is off the top of my head.
Democracy is relatively new. I had Latin and I studied ancient history and I've seen HBO Rome at least 3 times, and I had to read the original Cicero and memorized Shakespeare's speeches like Mark Anthony's who came not to praise Caesar.
IMHO we became a true democracy in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act, but SCOTUS rolled it back. We could reinstate it if we sweep.
What we're talking about is our existence. Whether we are sovereign. Whether we are to be a democracy. I want to say I come not to praise Trump or for that matter the henchmen and supplicants who would do in the United States.
I'm big on tests. I had to adjudicate credibility and beside that I had help -- not only would the parties educate me regarding both sides on an issue I could call experts in many types of cases.
My ol pappy was a lifetime prosecutor who would always ask whether witnesses would take a lie detector test, not because they were valid, but because he'd be able to size them up. Police would testify according to the case law on a subject rather than what actually happened.
As a judge, I couldn't do what a jury could do -- rely on demeanor "sit and squirm evidence" because by law I had to "articulate a legitimate reason" for every finding.
So those tests make it easy to substantiate the rendition of facts. The experts would testify as to tests like the MMPI which has "liar scales" and other psychological tests. If an employer can ask candidates for public safety jobs to take tests, even lie detector tests, so should prosecutors. I know this sounds extreme but if our national identity and national security is at stake, maybe that's a valid exception.
2. They raised roughly $100,000 yesterday that translates into 100,000 new registered Democrats. They estimate that they need $3MM to swing the election. Last night was dedicated to North Carolina.
4. Field Team 6 concentrates on young women -- who trend virtually all Democratic. Speakers also included Jessica Craven. Robert Hubbell.
5. I'm calling into Pa and Oh. I did this 4 years ago. I haven't lived there for almost 50 years, but keep in touch -- even with my 1961 HS graduating class.
Thank you for your links...hope to read them later.
My concerns include how to clean up with disinformation that is causing many black and hispanic people to flip to support of Trump. Maybe education about what is specifically included in the voting rights act, and what is being lost without it would be a good place to start.
All of this serves the robber barons and criminals of this country and the world. The Communists had Marx, the Nazis had Hitler, the morbidly rich have Steve Bannon and his calls for chaos and anarchy. They have succeeded. While I am deeply saddened that anyone supports TFG, the truth is that I also cannot trust them. Our only hope is to beat them and make them as irrelevant as possible, voting blue across the board in November.
Increasingly, I do not think that will happen. Which accounts for my two greatest regrets. First, that our grandson, the center of our lives, whom I love fiercely, was ever born. Because he will have a hideous life, regardless of what we can give him in any material or psychological support before we pass. Second,that I ever lived to see the rise of TFG, and what that showed me about too many people in this country.
I am 76, disabled, living in pain and hanging on for my wife and grandson. Would that it were not necessary. Because I believe the forces of evil will prevail in November. Too much cohesion in the plutocracy’s useful idiots. Too much division and apathy in those of us who oppose them. I so want to be proven wrong, but I have the same sick feeling I did when I predicted, almost a year before it happened, that TFG would be elected. My family and friends laughed at me for being naive and absurd. They aren’t laughing anymore.
Also an "elder" and wise in my way about human nature, I sense that Biden will win (by many millions), but that Trump in his loss will inspire chaotic violence. I learned in my study of mental illness, from the wise director of a small (and enlightened) mental health center, how easy it is to do damage, and how fragile the protection of new growth can be [think of the metaphor of seeds sprouting and new shoots emerging].
I also think that the complicity of the "right wing" media can't be overstated. Without half the country constantly hearing these lies and distortions, I don't believe Trump would have ever had the traction and the support he now has. And without the support from the base, the spineless Republican officials would never be backing Trump and his lies. If Trump is "public enemy number one," then Murdock has to be "public enemy number two," but I'm not so convinced that the order shouldn't be reversed.
Thanks, Thom, but I always look for the psychological underpinnings of behavior and Our Mad King (wannabe) Donald has hit the ball outta da park with his "fear mongering", learned from his two main teachers: Hitler and Vince McMahon, although Putin surely plays a role in the dictators handbook. When the "emotional", "survival", "reptilian" midbrain is activated by threats, it reacts fast and turns off the "slow" higher thinking brain. This is why DJT and FAUX NEWS (?) addicted "true believers" avoid any talk of "politics" that might actually require thinking, which is their worst enemy and might spoil their rage "high" fueled by dopamine and endorphins/adrenalin. They'd rather be "fired-up" than engage in thoughtful discourse. So, your thoughtful, granular analyses are much appreciated by us thoughtful types, they are lost on the MAGAT rageaholics.
The human adaptation is human culture. The hierarchy of cultural demand is something like this: (1) Trust (at the bottom), (2) Cooperation, (3) Socialization, (4) Culture, and then at the top, (5) The Individual. When we torch trust, we're the very basis of our adaptation, or "the way we as a species make it here." We're individual members of a collective species -- members in relationship. Minus trust, the relationships are not good to our adaptation, or us as individuals. Trust is the human key.
I want to be able to trust the government, but we should also not trust blindly, government does need oversight by the people. I wish I had time to read your whole article before work.
It's a good suggestion, I should probably look into it, but the email shows up minutes before I start work, I imagine the podcast posts about the same time. Also I think I absorb more from reading than from "listen while driving".🤔
The Dems need to wake up and understand what they are up against. Biden needs to say daily what reality is. The right wing nuts repeat lies daily and the public believes them that the nation is in decline, crime is up, and the economy is bad. Biden has the truth on his side but the leadership does not know how to use it. Trump lies and it is believed against the facts. Time to daily use the fact and promote the truth that crime is down, the economy is up, and the nation is coming into its own. That takes repeating the truth daily. That means the Dems need their own Fox News and left wing radio to echo those truths. It also means they need 3 or 4 economic issues to run on and repeat them daily in a focused way. Does not matter what your promises are if nobody knows them.
Yes, but "however"...the price gouging truly raises prices unnecessarily. Biden has created miracles despite this corporate greed and Jerome Powell's rate increases. [By the way, Powell admitted that he favored a return to a Republican rule in the 3 branches of government.]
I think that Biden is aware of what he's up against! It's amazing to realize all of the challenges that Biden faces in every area (of life)!
It is true Biden has been helped from above. But Biden should never have renewed the Chairman of the Fed. He should have replaced him with a liberal and replaced all of Trump's prosecutors as they commonly did before Obama. He should have put a firebrand like Jake in DOJ and cleared out the nest of right wing nuts in it especially the FBI and Treasury. That is going to happen.
I totally agree. He could have spent the first many months cleaning house from Trump residue. [was it covid? was he overwhelmed by the incessant need for actions like this?]
No. He was being the standard nice Dem. It is the same disease that allowed them to not impeach Reagan when they had him. It would not have been good for the country but look how much it has cost us in the long run to not make them pay when they intentionally do wrong.
I think there’s only one powerful story that can restore a persons vision, and inspire action to do the right thing. And that is the example of the hero. We need more stories that show us there are still good people in the world, people who risk their lives for others, for children, for the Climate, who will sacrifice for the common good. Stories that show us what we are made of, or could be. Our lives are saturated daily with negativity and too many moneymaking stories about evil doing. We need a balance, or better yet, we need our media to constantly make space for greatness and Hope. In these examples come trust in ourselves, and in others.
I suspect that the rich have more money than they can use so they want power and will align themselves with China and China will become the new world reserve currency.
The Chinese people are very intelligent and very United and work cheap.
Thank you for your clarity. While I am looking up at a beautiful blue sky, my entire being is shaken by all that has happened here and in the world since Trump descended upon us in 2015.
Our only hope is that Democracy is an overall winner in November. Perhaps then there will be people in power who will do the work to repair the damage done by all the years of Republican treachery.
Putin and XI must have a really good time laughing about it all. You just described the elements of their plan to take down America. Plus they know we will stay in the arms race with both of them. If the distrust doesn't do the trick, they will simply run us out of business. That's exactly what we did to the Soviet Union. The CCP knows what they have become to our unequal business relationship, and they know we want OUT.
We can do better, and every Democrat I know wants us to. The prospects of that do not amuse Putin or Xi. They can't live forever, neither can Trump, his cult, and Murdoch. The Grim Reaper will end this. I hope I get to see that happen, but putting trustworthy people in office with our votes is one thing we can do for now.
Has any research been done on the US/Russian scientific collaboration in the Psyops experimentation at Esalen during the 1970s specifically regarding techniques to destroy social and group trust ? Didn’t one of the former group therapy leaders concerned later boast about how they destroyed an entire Convent of devout Catholic nuns by ‘psychoanalysing’ their personal belief structures ? It might be useful to analyse these techniques now regarding the orchestrated loss of social trust you have written of here. It’s what you don’t know that hurts you…
What are these criminally corrupted Masters of the Universe going to do with all their socio-political powers if they succeed in full corporate capture of the UK and US nation states ? This unfolding story is a variant on John Huston’s 1948 movie Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
It looks to me like the oligarchs would like to get rid of all the useless eaters, and have the planet all to themselves and their slaves and servants and soldiers. I think they will draw the line at, social spending. If you can support yourself without any government assistance you will be considered a contributor, but if you get sick and can't afford healthcare, you can go from being marginal to another useless eater overnight or if you have an accident. They need healthy cheap labor only? I think they plan on going through more humans than a lumber mill goes through trees. Hence no birth control or abortions. So much for pro-life!
I'm sorry to say this but there is no such thing as pro-life when it comes to the American fascist party or vangelicals. That is all a ruse. What they are simply is anti women's rights. And women, all women need to keep that in mind.
If women want to live basically as slaves to men than they should certainly support tRump and the American fascist party. If they want to live as all Americans should be able to live with the right to life, liberty, and to be able to pursue happiness on their own terms the only choice right now is to vote for a Democrat. American fascist party and their ilk wants to make slaves of you. Only insane person or possibly somebody suffering from the Stockholm syndrome would vote for anybody in the American fashion party.
Well that won’t work for long. Even the most impoverished of societies have some form of welfare structures whether it be through family, religion or state. Without them things quickly fall apart and no amount of money being thrown around makes up for the necessity of base level social cohesion for anyone to survive, let alone thrive. They really are a very stupid group of spoiled children.
I think they will continue food stamps for women with children or women and men with children if they are married. That is about all of the benefits I see them giving out. They want those children to grow up and be exploited.
I absolutely agree. And the danger to our republic can't be overstated. I do have one small point to make, however. It's a little disingenuous to assert that Leslie Moonves bragged about Trump destroying America. I believe he said something like it was bad for America but good for CBS. All the rest of it is so strong and so important that it doesn't need any exaggeration.
The RNC has become an Organized Crime Syndicate, managed by the corporate fascist/Libertarians organized by Charles KKKoch and Leonard Leo. They’ve been at this since the early 60’s. Libertarianism has its roots in the Confederate South, reaching back to John C. Calhoun. They are de facto racists and fascists. Today, the RNC Puppet Masters have installed Puppets at every level of government—there are NO HONEST REPUBLICANS. They are all corrupt and beholden to DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN oligarchs. The RNC is aligned with Putin. And to the murderous king of Saudi Arabia. In fact, this article mentions Manafort—he was one of Arthur Friedberg’s “kids”—Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone—all working FOR THE RNC to assist PUTIN to set up dictatorships in Hungary (Orban), Ukraine (Yanukovych) and elsewhere.
THERE ARE NO HONEST REPUBLICANS. NONE.
THE RNC “LIBERTARIAN” SCAM IS THINLY DISGUISED FASCISM.
Look at Pinochet’s Chile—that is a prime example of James M. Buchanan destroying a democracy and stealing a nation’s wealth.
Today, Charles KKKoch & Gang (they call themselves a “cadre”) lead the right-wing conspiracy to destroy western democracies thru bogus, spin words like “trickle down economics. More like Piss-On-You economics.
That's too funny- trickle down economics. I always get this picture in my head of trump and his billionaire cronies and his Supreme Court standing on the top of Trump Towers peeing over the edge. The New Yorkers down below think it's trickle down economics and raise their hands in glory. Trickle down economics. That's when the rich pee on you.
LOL!
Off Topic, but I have to say this. Trump wanted his criminal trial in NY delayed, and Bragg said no, until Merrick Garland came to his rescue and dropped tens of thousands of documents that they had from their investigation.
Here is the kicker. Alvin Bragg's office had asked for the documents one year ago, no answer from DOJ, until Bragg wouldn't delay the trial, then comes the document dump, and now defense has the right to review the docs, they asked for a 90 day delay, Bragg gave them 30, Trump's lawyers are appealing to the Supremes for more time and we know how that goes.
Once again into the breach for Trump, flies Merrick Garland.
Thanks Joe, you brought the fox into the hen house. What were you thinking?
I'll still vote you, but only because I have to, the alternative is unthinkable.
William Farrar and Bob Johnson, your comments along with today's Hartmann Report was enough to depress me on a beautiful sunny day in the Bay Area. That said, I agree with you both
100%.
I don't know why Biden keeps Garland in office any more than I know why Biden hasn't appointed the necessary Dem (he recently appointed one person) to the USPS Board of Governors so they can fire Postmaster General DeJoy. One is on target to destroy the DOJ and threatens democracy. The other continues unabated in his goal to privatize the oldest institution in our country, the USPS, for his financial gain.
Hi Reb: I lived in Santa Cruz for seven years and it was a life changing experience. I moved, in 1996, before it went through the roof, though a friend and her girlfriend bought a crap of a home, almost falling down and had to restore l and it cost a fortune.
I was working in APTOS, 5 miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta Quake, Oct 89. I was lucky an acquaintance, Robin, was working in the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting company and died.
I totally agree but accuse Biden of , well I will save the accusation. Here is what I know, in December 2021, two seats on the UPSPS came open, he filled them with a Democrat and a Republican thus assuring that DeJoy would continue as PM General. Two more seats came open in Dec 2022 and he has left them instead of filling the seats with Democrats, he has left them empty. It makes me wonder what is really going on.
I know he is not omniscient, and he has advisors, but he chose his advisors and cabinet. Or someone like Larry Summers, the gris eminence behind Obama's administration "guides" him.
But that I blame on Biden, because he listens to them. It can't be that folk like you and I, know more than Biden.
He was mentored in the Senate by racist Dixicrats, and 34 years of comity, cocktail parties,bipartisan ship taught him the wrong lessons.
Senates make terrible presidents, because they have learned the wrong lessons and not how to govern. Governors like Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom have experience governing and make hard decisions and not equivocating or compromising.
Don't get me wrong I will vote for Biden, just like I did he last time, because the alternative is unthinkable, the problem, as far as I am concerned, is in the DNC, the DLC, the establishment assholes who run the party.
William, its a small world. I lived in Aptos, as well, but moved in 1987. Still go there quite often as my best friend still lives in Santa Cruz County.
I've been a member of the Save The Post Office coalition for several years. The coalitiion identified two excellent candidates to fill the vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors and worked hard to get Biden to nominate them to no avail. The fellow he nominated is a labor guy which is good. But that still leaves one vacancy. Another Governor's term expires at the end of this year. It's hard to understand why Biden has failed to nominate people who will remove DeJoy.
You remember the shortest 4th of Jul parade then., one or two blocks long.
You surely have been to Santa Cruz, if you ever see the Clint Eastwood Movie, Sudden Impact, you will see Santa Cruz before the quake, and the house that was featured was built near a cliff overlooking Monterey Bay, which is were it resides now.
That Biden made Garland AG was his greatest error, as Garland has turned on him
But not filling the Board of Governors of USPS with Democrats makes me suspicious..
And if I were capable, depressed, but nothing depresses me. It is not in my DNA.
Exactly. If Biden doesn’t last another 4 years at least we get Harris, someone younger than these fossils that are continuously becoming President.
I'm one of those fossils, and agree 100%. Governing the country is best done by someone who has a vested interest in the future. I barely have a grasp on the present. This is a Windows 7 Computer, with a mouse. I don't have a cell phone, nor a tablet, I don't do social media and have no need or interest. The acronym's I use on the interwebs are relics of the past, like ROTFLMAO.
My first computer was a 286AT, the hard drive weighed 10 lbs, the operating system was DOS, and my internet connection was via a 2400 Baud dial up, the forum I used was the WELL, Whole Earth Lectronic Link out of Sausalita, on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We communicated via FTP, upload and download conversations. Then came Windows 3, then Win 3.1, and some genius invented an Email program he named after his mother, Eudora.
Then Windows 95, and gasp Netscape Navigator, then even had a book Netscape for Dummies, hog heaven. then forums, like Liberty Forum and Anomalies and Enigmas.
When Gates made Win95 obsolete with Win98, I quit trying to keep up. I stayed with Win98, until I could no longer use by browser, becaue they went from 64 bytes to 124 bytes, I bought a new computer with Windows 7, and there I stand.
I understand the Windows 10, is now obsolete and the latest is Window 11, and now you have to subscribe annually.. Highway robbery, Microsoft Office, so I hear is an annual subscription.
I still use Office 2007, works just fine for me.
Better to have a sharp mind than an updated operating system :) Not a techie, but switching to a MAC, got an offer I could not refuse. Their OS is free (for now).
I bought my Mom an old Apple computer (she died in 2000), and the mouse didn't have a right click, so that was a loser for me. Plus I don't want to learn new architecture, like where files are stored, finally I have too many peripherals, scanners, printers, that probably are not compatible with MAC.
Also, I find that the older I get, the less patience I have. Which is the reverse of what intuition suggests.
I don't understand it either, Biden sure is campaigning on the seriousness of the issue yet he doesn't do anything, he likes maintaining status quo.
Thom is absolutely correct about all the instances of the right wingers destroying trust in America, our government's competence and virtues, but the thing that has eviscerated my trust the most is the department of Justice under Merrick Garland. The Democrats should have won the Congress and could have fixed the supreme Court or could fix it real soon by adding more members. If Biden does not fire Garland he needs to step down and let Kamala Harris run the show and hopefully she would.
I have always had trust that the greedy capitalist would put money and power before the well-being of this country and God.
Just as Trump thinks 'everyone cheats', as he does - Biden thinks 'everyone has integrity' as he does.
That is true and a variation on the maxim that a crook thinks everyone is a crook,an honest person thinks every one is honest.. Well said.
There is no doubt in my mind that Biden is an honest man, can't say the same for his son though. despite beliefs to the contrary a child does not necessarily mimic the parents, makes an interesting add for car insurance, but not in reality.
Neither I or my sisters, mimicked our mother, in fact we grew up, just the opposite (single Mom, in a way I mimicked my Dad, (genetics) but not because he raised us, parents split the sheets when I was six.
My sisters resent my mother, I forgave her,though I took the brunt of her frustrations and anger.
Can this be as obvious as it appears? that Merrick Garland is working against Biden and the Democrats, and working to support Trump's possibe future presidency? He always appeared (to me) to behave like a timorous old lady, but is he enamored of the rough and crude tactics (machismo that he lacks) that ended his even getting a hearing to become a justice of the SCOTUS?
Yes Valerie, that is the only conclusion that makes sense. He dragged his feet on prosecuting Trump,or appointing a special counsel. He has not investigated the conspirators in Congress, he hasn't used the investigation of Matt Gaetz to prosecute him, he jumped at the chance of appointing a special counsel for Hunter, but nary a mention of Ivanka and Don Jr.
He had the documents case moved to Florida on the pretext that was where the crime occurred, but it actually occurred in DC when Waltine Nauta moved the boxes from the White House to the truck and to his plane. then he appointed Aileen Cannon using a specious excuse.
He withheld the Documents, tens of thousands of them, from Alvin Bragg for a year, and just before the trial was to begin to start he dropped them on Bragg, giving Trump an excuse to delay the trial. until after the election, same with the trial in Florida). Trump will never be tried in Federal Court, maybe if he loses the election,l but the RNC is hard at work in the states, to ensure that he won't lose the electoral votes, and Muslims and young black males are helping Trump by flipping Dems and Biden the bird, even Hispanics now.
There is more in my brief against Garland, but that is off the top of my head.
Democracy is relatively new. I had Latin and I studied ancient history and I've seen HBO Rome at least 3 times, and I had to read the original Cicero and memorized Shakespeare's speeches like Mark Anthony's who came not to praise Caesar.
IMHO we became a true democracy in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act, but SCOTUS rolled it back. We could reinstate it if we sweep.
What we're talking about is our existence. Whether we are sovereign. Whether we are to be a democracy. I want to say I come not to praise Trump or for that matter the henchmen and supplicants who would do in the United States.
I'm big on tests. I had to adjudicate credibility and beside that I had help -- not only would the parties educate me regarding both sides on an issue I could call experts in many types of cases.
My ol pappy was a lifetime prosecutor who would always ask whether witnesses would take a lie detector test, not because they were valid, but because he'd be able to size them up. Police would testify according to the case law on a subject rather than what actually happened.
As a judge, I couldn't do what a jury could do -- rely on demeanor "sit and squirm evidence" because by law I had to "articulate a legitimate reason" for every finding.
So those tests make it easy to substantiate the rendition of facts. The experts would testify as to tests like the MMPI which has "liar scales" and other psychological tests. If an employer can ask candidates for public safety jobs to take tests, even lie detector tests, so should prosecutors. I know this sounds extreme but if our national identity and national security is at stake, maybe that's a valid exception.
As to Tag, we’re it!
1. The Field Team 6 Summit yesterday was great. https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
Register Democrats. Save the World. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
2. They raised roughly $100,000 yesterday that translates into 100,000 new registered Democrats. They estimate that they need $3MM to swing the election. Last night was dedicated to North Carolina.
3. I also zoomed into Simon Rosenerg's Hopium. Re North Carolina. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/my-march-2024-election-overview-with
4. Field Team 6 concentrates on young women -- who trend virtually all Democratic. Speakers also included Jessica Craven. Robert Hubbell.
5. I'm calling into Pa and Oh. I did this 4 years ago. I haven't lived there for almost 50 years, but keep in touch -- even with my 1961 HS graduating class.
6. We need to win. Philosophy is great, but we need unity. Doers. https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/
According to Field Team 6, with $3MM we can sweep.
Thank you for your links...hope to read them later.
My concerns include how to clean up with disinformation that is causing many black and hispanic people to flip to support of Trump. Maybe education about what is specifically included in the voting rights act, and what is being lost without it would be a good place to start.
All of this serves the robber barons and criminals of this country and the world. The Communists had Marx, the Nazis had Hitler, the morbidly rich have Steve Bannon and his calls for chaos and anarchy. They have succeeded. While I am deeply saddened that anyone supports TFG, the truth is that I also cannot trust them. Our only hope is to beat them and make them as irrelevant as possible, voting blue across the board in November.
Increasingly, I do not think that will happen. Which accounts for my two greatest regrets. First, that our grandson, the center of our lives, whom I love fiercely, was ever born. Because he will have a hideous life, regardless of what we can give him in any material or psychological support before we pass. Second,that I ever lived to see the rise of TFG, and what that showed me about too many people in this country.
I am 76, disabled, living in pain and hanging on for my wife and grandson. Would that it were not necessary. Because I believe the forces of evil will prevail in November. Too much cohesion in the plutocracy’s useful idiots. Too much division and apathy in those of us who oppose them. I so want to be proven wrong, but I have the same sick feeling I did when I predicted, almost a year before it happened, that TFG would be elected. My family and friends laughed at me for being naive and absurd. They aren’t laughing anymore.
Also an "elder" and wise in my way about human nature, I sense that Biden will win (by many millions), but that Trump in his loss will inspire chaotic violence. I learned in my study of mental illness, from the wise director of a small (and enlightened) mental health center, how easy it is to do damage, and how fragile the protection of new growth can be [think of the metaphor of seeds sprouting and new shoots emerging].
I also think that the complicity of the "right wing" media can't be overstated. Without half the country constantly hearing these lies and distortions, I don't believe Trump would have ever had the traction and the support he now has. And without the support from the base, the spineless Republican officials would never be backing Trump and his lies. If Trump is "public enemy number one," then Murdock has to be "public enemy number two," but I'm not so convinced that the order shouldn't be reversed.
Thanks, Thom, but I always look for the psychological underpinnings of behavior and Our Mad King (wannabe) Donald has hit the ball outta da park with his "fear mongering", learned from his two main teachers: Hitler and Vince McMahon, although Putin surely plays a role in the dictators handbook. When the "emotional", "survival", "reptilian" midbrain is activated by threats, it reacts fast and turns off the "slow" higher thinking brain. This is why DJT and FAUX NEWS (?) addicted "true believers" avoid any talk of "politics" that might actually require thinking, which is their worst enemy and might spoil their rage "high" fueled by dopamine and endorphins/adrenalin. They'd rather be "fired-up" than engage in thoughtful discourse. So, your thoughtful, granular analyses are much appreciated by us thoughtful types, they are lost on the MAGAT rageaholics.
Visceral gestalt works.
Trump hates dogs.
Trump stole from kids with cancer.
The human adaptation is human culture. The hierarchy of cultural demand is something like this: (1) Trust (at the bottom), (2) Cooperation, (3) Socialization, (4) Culture, and then at the top, (5) The Individual. When we torch trust, we're the very basis of our adaptation, or "the way we as a species make it here." We're individual members of a collective species -- members in relationship. Minus trust, the relationships are not good to our adaptation, or us as individuals. Trust is the human key.
Sociology? Maslow? These people vote against their own health and physical well being.
"Objectivists" refute that. 1-4 the individual. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism#:~:text=Objectivism%20is%20a%20philosophical%20system,reason%20as%20his%20only%20absolute%22.
I want to be able to trust the government, but we should also not trust blindly, government does need oversight by the people. I wish I had time to read your whole article before work.
It's a good suggestion, I should probably look into it, but the email shows up minutes before I start work, I imagine the podcast posts about the same time. Also I think I absorb more from reading than from "listen while driving".🤔
The Dems need to wake up and understand what they are up against. Biden needs to say daily what reality is. The right wing nuts repeat lies daily and the public believes them that the nation is in decline, crime is up, and the economy is bad. Biden has the truth on his side but the leadership does not know how to use it. Trump lies and it is believed against the facts. Time to daily use the fact and promote the truth that crime is down, the economy is up, and the nation is coming into its own. That takes repeating the truth daily. That means the Dems need their own Fox News and left wing radio to echo those truths. It also means they need 3 or 4 economic issues to run on and repeat them daily in a focused way. Does not matter what your promises are if nobody knows them.
Yes, but "however"...the price gouging truly raises prices unnecessarily. Biden has created miracles despite this corporate greed and Jerome Powell's rate increases. [By the way, Powell admitted that he favored a return to a Republican rule in the 3 branches of government.]
I think that Biden is aware of what he's up against! It's amazing to realize all of the challenges that Biden faces in every area (of life)!
It is true Biden has been helped from above. But Biden should never have renewed the Chairman of the Fed. He should have replaced him with a liberal and replaced all of Trump's prosecutors as they commonly did before Obama. He should have put a firebrand like Jake in DOJ and cleared out the nest of right wing nuts in it especially the FBI and Treasury. That is going to happen.
I totally agree. He could have spent the first many months cleaning house from Trump residue. [was it covid? was he overwhelmed by the incessant need for actions like this?]
No. He was being the standard nice Dem. It is the same disease that allowed them to not impeach Reagan when they had him. It would not have been good for the country but look how much it has cost us in the long run to not make them pay when they intentionally do wrong.
I think there’s only one powerful story that can restore a persons vision, and inspire action to do the right thing. And that is the example of the hero. We need more stories that show us there are still good people in the world, people who risk their lives for others, for children, for the Climate, who will sacrifice for the common good. Stories that show us what we are made of, or could be. Our lives are saturated daily with negativity and too many moneymaking stories about evil doing. We need a balance, or better yet, we need our media to constantly make space for greatness and Hope. In these examples come trust in ourselves, and in others.
"Trust is so critical it largely defines the stability of a nation’s money, both at home and around the world."
You'd think morbidly wealthy Americans would be working to build back trust in the institutions if such a move would stabilize the US Dollar.
I suspect that the rich have more money than they can use so they want power and will align themselves with China and China will become the new world reserve currency.
The Chinese people are very intelligent and very United and work cheap.
Thank you for your clarity. While I am looking up at a beautiful blue sky, my entire being is shaken by all that has happened here and in the world since Trump descended upon us in 2015.
Our only hope is that Democracy is an overall winner in November. Perhaps then there will be people in power who will do the work to repair the damage done by all the years of Republican treachery.
Putin and XI must have a really good time laughing about it all. You just described the elements of their plan to take down America. Plus they know we will stay in the arms race with both of them. If the distrust doesn't do the trick, they will simply run us out of business. That's exactly what we did to the Soviet Union. The CCP knows what they have become to our unequal business relationship, and they know we want OUT.
We can do better, and every Democrat I know wants us to. The prospects of that do not amuse Putin or Xi. They can't live forever, neither can Trump, his cult, and Murdoch. The Grim Reaper will end this. I hope I get to see that happen, but putting trustworthy people in office with our votes is one thing we can do for now.
Believe. Educate. Vote.
Has any research been done on the US/Russian scientific collaboration in the Psyops experimentation at Esalen during the 1970s specifically regarding techniques to destroy social and group trust ? Didn’t one of the former group therapy leaders concerned later boast about how they destroyed an entire Convent of devout Catholic nuns by ‘psychoanalysing’ their personal belief structures ? It might be useful to analyse these techniques now regarding the orchestrated loss of social trust you have written of here. It’s what you don’t know that hurts you…
What are these criminally corrupted Masters of the Universe going to do with all their socio-political powers if they succeed in full corporate capture of the UK and US nation states ? This unfolding story is a variant on John Huston’s 1948 movie Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
It looks to me like the oligarchs would like to get rid of all the useless eaters, and have the planet all to themselves and their slaves and servants and soldiers. I think they will draw the line at, social spending. If you can support yourself without any government assistance you will be considered a contributor, but if you get sick and can't afford healthcare, you can go from being marginal to another useless eater overnight or if you have an accident. They need healthy cheap labor only? I think they plan on going through more humans than a lumber mill goes through trees. Hence no birth control or abortions. So much for pro-life!
I'm sorry to say this but there is no such thing as pro-life when it comes to the American fascist party or vangelicals. That is all a ruse. What they are simply is anti women's rights. And women, all women need to keep that in mind.
If women want to live basically as slaves to men than they should certainly support tRump and the American fascist party. If they want to live as all Americans should be able to live with the right to life, liberty, and to be able to pursue happiness on their own terms the only choice right now is to vote for a Democrat. American fascist party and their ilk wants to make slaves of you. Only insane person or possibly somebody suffering from the Stockholm syndrome would vote for anybody in the American fashion party.
Well that won’t work for long. Even the most impoverished of societies have some form of welfare structures whether it be through family, religion or state. Without them things quickly fall apart and no amount of money being thrown around makes up for the necessity of base level social cohesion for anyone to survive, let alone thrive. They really are a very stupid group of spoiled children.
I think they will continue food stamps for women with children or women and men with children if they are married. That is about all of the benefits I see them giving out. They want those children to grow up and be exploited.
Grim 🔥
I absolutely agree. And the danger to our republic can't be overstated. I do have one small point to make, however. It's a little disingenuous to assert that Leslie Moonves bragged about Trump destroying America. I believe he said something like it was bad for America but good for CBS. All the rest of it is so strong and so important that it doesn't need any exaggeration.