Americans love freedom: it’s in our political DNA. Can democrats reclaim the political high ground while forcing Republicans to defend their increasingly fascistic and death-promoting policies?
Impressive article Thom. The fascists are blaming freedom for there being so much lawlessness, when in reality, their policies that deprive a decent standard of living are causing stress and anxiety and mental illness. To name a few, the trickle down theory, free trade, anti-family planning, offshore banking, capitalist healthcare, unfunded wars, bank bailouts, bloated military budgets, importing cheap immigrant labor, making it impossible for a family of one adult working to support which causes lots of divorces. The right is essentially destroying the family unit and raising thugs while blaming freedom loving left wingers. Until all of society's babies have their needs met for life, there will be crime and greedy fascists. Society will continue as long as the rich exterminate the poor fast enough. That way the self-proclaimed leaders, won't have to create new jobs. But eventually when the natural resources run out, the capitalistic Earth will look like a garbage dump. For the rich and the poor.
Bob: The truest sentence you ever wrote" ".Until all of society's babies have their needs met for life, there will be crime and greedy fascists. Society will continue as long as the rich exterminate the poor fast enough. That way the self-proclaimed leaders, won't have to create new jobs. But eventually when the natural resources run out, the capitalistic Earth will look like a garbage dump."
Not to worry, if all of the indicators are correct we are at the end of the The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.
The anthropocene the shortest of all of Earth's epochs, it started in 1950, not as one would be WWI and WWII, but with what seems to be total exploitation of Earth's resources (which includes humans, we are only a resource. ask HR. Resources are expendables and consumed in the act of production. That is all that we are, to the Plutocrats. Nothing has changed, only it has become worse, since the days of Upton Sinclair, Teddy Roosevelt , the trusts and robber barons.
Thom, I'm glad you used the term "Potemkin village". It is a term everyone of us should know, and understand well - for we all live and die in it. This GOP mockup of a society still manages to fool far too many even as our civilization decays just the other side of a well-painted stage set.
Me and Bobby McGee, One of my all time favorites, thanks. Can't make up my mind whether I like Willy Nelson's or Janis Joplin's version better.
Talking of freedom. FDR said that a Necsessitas man is not a free man. And tis true, even mountain men aren't free, They depend on the outside (others) for provisions, that they keep away wild animals, keep warm, don't starve and to get those provisions they have to interact with society, and to do tht they must have something to exchange in return for whatever provisions they need.
And society isn't interested in beaver pelts, bear skins, otter pelts, or deer skins any more.
Those "tough pioneers" living alone in Alaska, would die in a week, were it not for a supporting society, so they aren't free either.
And what about the TV show, I don't watch it just see the ads, Naked and alone or Naked and Afraid. They really aren't alone, as they have a TV camera man and medics standing by.
Plato redefines freedom from a conception of unconstrained choice towards a notion of reasoned choice in line with virtue. Thus, Platonic freedom is a normative concept. Voltaire says it ends at the end of your nose.
I had two copies of Voltaire's Philosophies. One is alphabetized, the other not. I gave one copy to the male receptionists at my medical center, he saw me in the waiting room reading the alphabetized version, and asked me I ever read Candice. I said no.
He is pretty good,but science has passed him by in some areas. And his essay on character, I'm still struggling with. Not sure that he has adequately defined character, but if it means a leopard can change his spots, or that a believer can't become an non believer. Not sure I agree.
A shy child will be shy all of their life, but they simply have learned to adjust and live in a society where shyness is considered a weakness, anti social and shy people are taken advantage of.
It is now the opinion of geneticists that we are born with certain personality traits and even character. Ted Bundy, and the Hill side stranglers or BTK were born that way, in most cases their mothers were raped or they were sired by sociopaths and psychopaths, like Fred Trump, although I do not believe that the whole of a peoples is determined by genetics, I leave that to the bigots and the MAGAts., the real antisemites and the white nationalists.
It is my opinion that Donald, Jr, Eric and Ivanka are the genetic legacy of Fred, and that Mary escaped the curse, because we do not inherit all of a parents autosomal DNA, only 50% of it, and not the same 50% as siblings, if we did, there would be no need for autosomal DNA, and we would all be clones, born of parthenogenesis.
Nature, nurture and pressure, Maryanne Trump Barry passed away. I would hope that she gave a depo and her testimony is preserved. She would have nailed him. She resigned rather than undergo an investigation by the Judicial Conference.
My novel Pitching Cuba has a character that is pre Holden Caufield/Candide.
Voltaire, like too many philosophers was flawed by antisemitism. Could have been that to Catherine the Great, he was Pangloss.
I honestly don't know what I am. My son called me an existentialist (years ago, he just studied Jung. he is a PhD in Scientific sociology, he has earned money on the side for studies and papers on stuff like vehicle and pedestrian traffic. He teaches psychology in college, was promoted to the chair, didn't care much for adminisration, he likes the trenches.
I am many things Gerald. My tastes and learning are eclectic, every thing for ancestry and archaeology to sociology, and Zoo ology. My favorites are history (that is unveiling the hidden history, not the official state sustaining pablum), finance (at one time, the 1980's) bores me now. my son, years ago, wanted to know my advice for the stock market. I asked him, "are you a gambler". he said no. I said my advice then is to stay away from the stock market unless you have inside knowledge, like politicians.
So I sound like a lot of things, depends on the time, place, subject and correspondent.
Sometimes I am an angry old man, sometimes I am rude, some times my opponent thinks I am narcissistic. Many things to many people it all depends on who I please and who I wound , and always situational.
For those who actually know me, well if you did, you would be befuddled. I can't be pigeon holed.
I have an eclectic mind, eclectic knowledge and eclectic interests. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Enough of me. I bore myself. I have one bone to pick with the needs of people and that is the need to pigeonhole. Such crap as all blacks are, all Jews are, all Muslims are, all Christians are, however I do agree with one thing all MAGAts are, racist, bigoted, misgoynistic, fascists with an inferiority complex for which the compensate with aggression and violence.
Mr. Solomon. When you hear today's youth say our generation lacked a spark; give them a copy of "Pearl." Joplin was unique. We shall never see her like again. Blondie at her best comes closer than anyone else. But only close.
Totally, totally, totally, final wish is that our politicians (and I don't mean the fascists on the right) would follow through with their promises. There is absolutely no reason, that anyone in America should die of exposure, hunger, grow up illiterate and bigoted. No reason why anyone should be denied the human right to live and pursue happiness, just because of who they are, not what they are.
Then you are watching MSNBC and listening to Thom Hartmann. 26 Democrats voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress. Biden expanded Trump's Title 42 twice. He has deported more Venezuelans and Haitians than Trump did his entire term. Mayor Eric Adams of New York has enacted more stop and frisk than Rudy Guliani. Biden is enabling Netanyahu to massacre thousands of innocent women and children, hugging him and sending more weapons to the 12th most powerful military in the world. Biden incarcerated more black males than any president in history with his crime bill in 1994. He also backed the heinous Hyde Amendment denying federal funding to poor and marginalized women for abortion for decades up until the 2020 election of course. No, Biden is a monster and he is likely to get us into a nuclear confrontation with his excuses and warmongering behavior.
Daniel, that response was directed to Boris, but it appears under my comment, thus misleading the reader. something is wrong,seriously,with the substack format. I see responses, but to find out to whom they are addressed I have to try and follow a thin line on the left to the person to whom the response is meant. A lot of trouble, instead I try to remember to address the comment to the party, as I did with this comment
Thom, that's one of your best articles yet! ( And I love all of them.) It calls for exactly what we in the @BrandingDems group have been crying for -- branding ads that focus on the values of the PARTY, not the person. All candidates are flawed in some way, but 90%+ of Dems all share similar values. We need to spend less on marketing for candidates and more on branding the party as a whole.
Does anyone have an in with the DCCC or another Democratic campaign organization which might think that a major ad campaign should be run in the next 12 months billed simply as “Thanks Joe”, listing President Biden’s accomplishments on billboards and in other ads and literature in terms of their practical contribution to real freedom for real people? Something along those lines is needed for Democrats even if not specifically to assure Biden’s re-election. Freedom is about rights, equal access, and free time without oppressive pressures or people breathing down one’s neck.
And how about some loud and clear messages declaring good riddance to the Orange Menace. He is NOT going to be re-elected in 2024 or ever. That is a certainty. Why is anyone still talking about that as a possibility? There are simply not enough sadistic and nihilistic Americans to vote for a self-loathing loser preaching hate, self-pity, and hopelessness. He will be convicted, Republicans will not be able to avoid the writing on the wall much longer, Putin’s false propaganda efforts will no longer sell or will be overshadowed and ignored, and the attempts to keep the fascist seditionist off the ballot in several states will dampen enthusiasm, even if not legally validated. He is simply not worth the time of day or worth wasting any more of our breath on. We have other more pressing issues and threats to focus on. Mousey Mikey Johnson is a much more dangerous threat now. It’s time to move on now, isn’t it?
People vote with their lizard brain, not the part that is rational.
The amygdala is the lizard brain, and it is motivated by fear and it's response is fight or flight.
The Republicans have successfully used the lizard brain since Goldwater. Having learned from that 1964 election, where the Democrats used the image of a girl plucking petals off a daisy, andin the background a count down and finally the bust of an atomic bomb.
Since then they have been using threats to the Lizard Brain with increasing and incredible success,and the Democrats have done the exact opposite.
Democrats might have, and I hope they have,learned a lesson and now they are using the fear of women losing sovereignty over their own bodies, as a tool to beat the fascists.
However the real problem is that Democrats aren't using that weapon at all. Women have a long memory and know that Dobbs has once again consigned them to the corral of breed cows. The Dems stupidly, since they seen incapable of learning lessons, are still tryingto fight the Lizard brain with the pre frontal cortex, adds telling us how well off we are because of Bidennomics, when the people aren't listening.
Those who have benefited from Bidenomics don't care (short memories and the usual voter thanklessness, and those that haven 't benefited, only hear the threats generated by the Trump chorus(including the corporate media).
Tooting your own horn is not the way to win elections, motivating the electorate by constantly reminding them of the existential threats of the MAGAts, is a way. It has worked for the Republicans, and still working, of you believe the polls, and I don't, Trump is ahead of Biden, despite his perversions, crimes, theft and bilking of his base, not to mention his treachery and treason and betrayal of his base.
I remember the video of a Trump humping female, with a white t shirt, with an arrow pointing to her nether parts, and the words Trump can grab me by this, any time.
We all know the MAGA base is not the brightest group. They have deep character flaws to revere a con man like they do. MAGA also likes angertainment.
I heard step one for this deprogramming is getting them to stop watching far right shows. Placing a child lock on the TV at home is a good place to start.
Republicans are funded by mega corporations from the petroleum cabal to the oligarchs of finance, whose wealth was acquired by the use of propaganda and messaging.
I've told how I learned to write for the public by using short sentences, and paragraphs that contain a single thought. I learned that technique from Jerry Falwells (I)Moral majority solicitation mailings that wound up in my mail box, every one was about the culture war, and that we were a Christian Nation.
It is over 40 years and Democrats have learned nothing or are stubborn and have played three monkeys.
Thanks to the Republican association with "Madison Ave", they are experts at re branding and Orwellian Newspeak. Just watch, if you can tolerate it, the constant ads for Medicare (dis)Advantage that have been polluting the air ways since Medicare open season started (it will end Nov 15, but the ads have been paid for and will continue for a week after that, and most disgustingly these Ads along with PhRMA are the major revenue source for MSNBC, the so called "liberal media".
Democrats have yet to learn to put issues on a bumper sticker, because they (unfortunately) have an allergy to negative advertising, and thus ceding the ground to the fascists, who have no such scruples, and thus we wound up with Trump, Trumpism and MAGA fascism.
"Using short sentences, and paragraphs that contain a single thought."
Popular in the 18th Century, taken from the French, stile coupe.
M Dodsworth · 1980 — using a stile coupe, irony and much physical imagery, having the key word 'misery'; the Expostulations being colloquial, using medical and legal images https://www.jstor.org/stable/3506975
This is the kind of BS encountered when I taught "Bonehead English."
Medicare advantage is not Medicare and the advantage goes to the insurance industry. They have ad copy down to a science.
Despite right wing accusations to the contrary, the media is entirely pro ad revenue and Trump rings the cash register.
Daniel, that JSTOR link doesn't work for me. I signed in via google but can't download the paper, I have to search an educational institution and the link leads to : "Reviewed Work: The Tangled Chain: The Structure of Disorder in the 'Anatomy of Melancholy' Ruth A. Fox
Review by: Martin Dodsworth"Then I have to log in via my University
I don't speak French either so searching translate I get stile coupe = cut style.
What ever it is, it has proven very effective at soliciting money and disseminating propaganda, mis and dis info, as it is the stile (style) used by right wingers, and the money just flows to Trump, from the stupid bastards that can't afford medicine.
Actually the "curt" style. The Brits adopted the French like Thomas Carlyle who was a Francophile.....
Curt Style (stile coupe)
Expected connectives and reflexive pronouns are missing, resulting in seemingly unbalanced sentences, without the coordinating conjunctions and or but. Uses colons and semi-colons. Typically associated with stoic thought.
Daniel, sorry to bring this up. Not trying to dispute, But when I mentioned the relative of Trump what was his distractor I was referring to his aunt Mary L. Trump, very much alive, however his older Sister Maryanne Trump Barry did die, she was was first appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. In 1999, she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Bill Clinton. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryanne_Trump_Barry
Crossed wires. I was referring to his aunt not his older sister. I didn't realize there were two Mary Trump's. I have never been interested in him or his family, to follow anything. I had to google Fred Trump to find out that he owned a brotherl and was a grifter and criminal just like his son. That apple did not fall far from the tree.
What people desire today is ORDER. Putin and Trump have given us disorder. Biden was elected on this premise. Trump and Putin will provide us order at the expense of Freedom. It is much more difficult to sustain order in a democracy. It's work, constant work.
While Democrats speak in favor of many wonderful things, their rhetoric is merely electoral in its manifestation. The game Democrats play of saying one thing and doing another, enabled by those who amplify their constant stream of excuses and downplay their militarism and racism, allows Trump and Republicans to gain traction. Leaders who pretend they have no control over the slaughter of black and brown people around the world while they aid and abet it have no direct relationship to freedom for anyone but the wealthiest and whitest among us.
Clearly you are talking about the GQP. I haven’t heard of any Dems supporting Muslim bans or putting up razor wire to slice up children at the southern border.
Well said KL. This clown who parades under a Jewish name, has proven himself to be a Putin acolyte of agitprop. He knows the key words, and although he will mention Trump, out of the side of his mouth, his obvious agenda is to attack and demoralize America and the West for the benefit of Putin.
There are several Putinesque troll farms, and their only job is to work social media and the internet. China also has it's share. They ally themselves, or try to, with minorities, to divide and neuter Putin's opposition
There you go again Boris. Putins main man on Thom's reports.
Democrats militaristic? How about for a change, blast Putin's Imperialistic colonialism. and racism.
Now that is a good one. Russian disinfo agents, know very well, that hurling the charge of racism is enough to send liberals scurrying in denial. And once they do that, they have lost the propaganda game.
It is not just the USA that doesn't like "commies" (socialists) it is our oligarchic plutocrats, the 10% that exploit the people, sow divisions. Americans would get along fine if there wasn't someone stirring the pot.
Attack the source, the disease, not the symptom.
Naturopathic medicine focuses on the source of illness. Allopathic medicine uses cut, burn and poison, to remove the source of illness.
Your appoach is allopathic.
I totally agree about the resources of America, namely finance, the CIA, military and FBI, being used to squash "leftist" countries and keep right wing governments in charge, because they are doing the bidding of the money powers, PTB, plutocrats, oligarchs, cabals whatever you call them they are all the same.
But the same is true for every country in the world, be it France, Britain or Russia. Putin is the Oligarch in chief, a communist (left wing) KGB major, and the rest of the oligarchs are, in fact, Russian commies,either KGB or KGB connected.
Who really governs any country? Not the people, or their representativees, but those with tremendous resources and thus power. Money to get the power, power to keep the money.
Total SA, French oil company that ranks as one of the world's major petroleum corporations. It engages in the exploration, refining, transport, and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products, extracted from Africa.
Why has France been in Africa? Because of it's resources, from cobalt, to uranium and rare earth minerals.
Wipe off your shoes, before you step through someone else's door.
You are as much a pawn in someone else's game as your friend Boris.
Actually I (me, my ABA self and US DOL) was a consultant to the newer Chilean socialist government when they initiated an administrative law court.
You might have been right about Guatemala in 1954 and Chile in the 70s, but we have a Democratic government and the Democratic Party was on the right side on those issues. Opposed Iran/Contra. It's like me accusing you of being Vichy --- you aren't Vichy are you?
ABA is American Bar Association, DOL is US Department of Labor.
Daniel is an experienced lawyer, and has been an advisor and is, gasp, a progressive if not a socialist.
If you detest colonialism, then you absolutely are disgusted with Russia and China, both are practicing colonialism in Africa and Asia, only instead of Red Coats, they use private mercenaries, actually not so private as their charter is to do what the Red Coats did, ensure that the titular leaders of their quasi colonies toe the line.
As for the west, Colonies and Imperialism are ancient history, what appears as colonialism and imperialism is simply the logical outcomes of monopolies, oligopolies owned by multi national companies.
Take Exxon Mobil for instance, It has so much politial and economic power that it has been able to use the adminisrative and military power of the United States, to harass and try to destablize Venezuela for daring to have the nerve, the affrontery of a "shit hole" country to actually believe that the oil of Venezuela belonged to Venezuela, what nerve.
England has the same problem with BP, France with Total SA, The only reason Putin doesn't have a problem is because he has the oligarchs who bought the trust, for pennies, when USSR deconstructed, by the balls.
As Nixon said, grab them by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow.
Putin allows the oligarchs and generals to engage in their corruption, so long as they support his imperialist design to rebuild the old Soviet Union.
So start expressing your outrage against Putin's Imperialism, and colonialism, or do you have blinders like your boyfriend Boris.
wheeewwww!....that about sums it up...that's the message we must get out to all...
that's it?... then I see a two sided handout on card stock... under EVERY windshield wiper... screen door, mailbox, small shop counter, and everyone's bag and out everywhere everywhere everywhere everywhere...
Not to bring up the question of billboards... road to knowledge ?
"Americans love freedom" -- really? Freedom for our own selves maybe, but for other Americans? often not so much. Sure the GOP is the party of billionaires and mega-big business, but they can't get elected or stay in office without the votes of tens of millions of people who are neither but who believe that people of color, women of any color, lesbians and gay men, and any number of others have too much freedom already.
The only way "freedom" works as a rallying cry is if it's followed by an asterisk and a long footnote explaining what you mean by it.
Thanks Mark Your first link is a good description of the fake who poses as a Jew named Barry, the Second link was refused by my browser as "The site cannot provide a secure connection" however I can watch other youtube video's on Opera, all I have to do is close or hit the X on he Youtube pop up I can't even do that on Chrome, as Google owns Youtube.
Impressive article Thom. The fascists are blaming freedom for there being so much lawlessness, when in reality, their policies that deprive a decent standard of living are causing stress and anxiety and mental illness. To name a few, the trickle down theory, free trade, anti-family planning, offshore banking, capitalist healthcare, unfunded wars, bank bailouts, bloated military budgets, importing cheap immigrant labor, making it impossible for a family of one adult working to support which causes lots of divorces. The right is essentially destroying the family unit and raising thugs while blaming freedom loving left wingers. Until all of society's babies have their needs met for life, there will be crime and greedy fascists. Society will continue as long as the rich exterminate the poor fast enough. That way the self-proclaimed leaders, won't have to create new jobs. But eventually when the natural resources run out, the capitalistic Earth will look like a garbage dump. For the rich and the poor.
Bob: The truest sentence you ever wrote" ".Until all of society's babies have their needs met for life, there will be crime and greedy fascists. Society will continue as long as the rich exterminate the poor fast enough. That way the self-proclaimed leaders, won't have to create new jobs. But eventually when the natural resources run out, the capitalistic Earth will look like a garbage dump."
A burnt out garbage dump.
Not to worry, if all of the indicators are correct we are at the end of the The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.
The anthropocene the shortest of all of Earth's epochs, it started in 1950, not as one would be WWI and WWII, but with what seems to be total exploitation of Earth's resources (which includes humans, we are only a resource. ask HR. Resources are expendables and consumed in the act of production. That is all that we are, to the Plutocrats. Nothing has changed, only it has become worse, since the days of Upton Sinclair, Teddy Roosevelt , the trusts and robber barons.
Thom, I'm glad you used the term "Potemkin village". It is a term everyone of us should know, and understand well - for we all live and die in it. This GOP mockup of a society still manages to fool far too many even as our civilization decays just the other side of a well-painted stage set.
Hi John, let me help for the reader not familiar with the term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village
One's definition of Freedom seems highly tied to whatever they consider "restrictions."
Yes, freedom for me but not for thee.
Just another word for nothin' left to lose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cg-j0X09Ag
Me and Bobby McGee, One of my all time favorites, thanks. Can't make up my mind whether I like Willy Nelson's or Janis Joplin's version better.
Talking of freedom. FDR said that a Necsessitas man is not a free man. And tis true, even mountain men aren't free, They depend on the outside (others) for provisions, that they keep away wild animals, keep warm, don't starve and to get those provisions they have to interact with society, and to do tht they must have something to exchange in return for whatever provisions they need.
And society isn't interested in beaver pelts, bear skins, otter pelts, or deer skins any more.
Those "tough pioneers" living alone in Alaska, would die in a week, were it not for a supporting society, so they aren't free either.
And what about the TV show, I don't watch it just see the ads, Naked and alone or Naked and Afraid. They really aren't alone, as they have a TV camera man and medics standing by.
Plato redefines freedom from a conception of unconstrained choice towards a notion of reasoned choice in line with virtue. Thus, Platonic freedom is a normative concept. Voltaire says it ends at the end of your nose.
Kris Kristofferson who was a phi beta kappa, was probably thinking about Plato and Voltaire when he wrote the lyrics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kristofferson
I had two copies of Voltaire's Philosophies. One is alphabetized, the other not. I gave one copy to the male receptionists at my medical center, he saw me in the waiting room reading the alphabetized version, and asked me I ever read Candice. I said no.
He is pretty good,but science has passed him by in some areas. And his essay on character, I'm still struggling with. Not sure that he has adequately defined character, but if it means a leopard can change his spots, or that a believer can't become an non believer. Not sure I agree.
A shy child will be shy all of their life, but they simply have learned to adjust and live in a society where shyness is considered a weakness, anti social and shy people are taken advantage of.
It is now the opinion of geneticists that we are born with certain personality traits and even character. Ted Bundy, and the Hill side stranglers or BTK were born that way, in most cases their mothers were raped or they were sired by sociopaths and psychopaths, like Fred Trump, although I do not believe that the whole of a peoples is determined by genetics, I leave that to the bigots and the MAGAts., the real antisemites and the white nationalists.
It is my opinion that Donald, Jr, Eric and Ivanka are the genetic legacy of Fred, and that Mary escaped the curse, because we do not inherit all of a parents autosomal DNA, only 50% of it, and not the same 50% as siblings, if we did, there would be no need for autosomal DNA, and we would all be clones, born of parthenogenesis.
Nature, nurture and pressure, Maryanne Trump Barry passed away. I would hope that she gave a depo and her testimony is preserved. She would have nailed him. She resigned rather than undergo an investigation by the Judicial Conference.
My novel Pitching Cuba has a character that is pre Holden Caufield/Candide.
Voltaire, like too many philosophers was flawed by antisemitism. Could have been that to Catherine the Great, he was Pangloss.
Mr. Farrar. You sound like a Sociologist. Once again, I say you are running in good company.
I honestly don't know what I am. My son called me an existentialist (years ago, he just studied Jung. he is a PhD in Scientific sociology, he has earned money on the side for studies and papers on stuff like vehicle and pedestrian traffic. He teaches psychology in college, was promoted to the chair, didn't care much for adminisration, he likes the trenches.
I am many things Gerald. My tastes and learning are eclectic, every thing for ancestry and archaeology to sociology, and Zoo ology. My favorites are history (that is unveiling the hidden history, not the official state sustaining pablum), finance (at one time, the 1980's) bores me now. my son, years ago, wanted to know my advice for the stock market. I asked him, "are you a gambler". he said no. I said my advice then is to stay away from the stock market unless you have inside knowledge, like politicians.
So I sound like a lot of things, depends on the time, place, subject and correspondent.
Sometimes I am an angry old man, sometimes I am rude, some times my opponent thinks I am narcissistic. Many things to many people it all depends on who I please and who I wound , and always situational.
For those who actually know me, well if you did, you would be befuddled. I can't be pigeon holed.
I have an eclectic mind, eclectic knowledge and eclectic interests. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Enough of me. I bore myself. I have one bone to pick with the needs of people and that is the need to pigeonhole. Such crap as all blacks are, all Jews are, all Muslims are, all Christians are, however I do agree with one thing all MAGAts are, racist, bigoted, misgoynistic, fascists with an inferiority complex for which the compensate with aggression and violence.
Mr. Solomon. When you hear today's youth say our generation lacked a spark; give them a copy of "Pearl." Joplin was unique. We shall never see her like again. Blondie at her best comes closer than anyone else. But only close.
2020: "Democrats will fight to repair the soul of this nation. To unite and to heal our country. To turn
this crisis into a crucible, from which we will forge a stronger, brighter, and more equitable
future.
"We must right the wrongs in our democracy, redress the systemic injustices that have long
plagued our society, throw open the doors of opportunity for all Americans, and reinvent our
institutions at home and our leadership abroad. We do not simply aspire to return our country to
where we were four years ago. We know we must be bolder and more ambitious."
https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/
Totally, totally, totally, final wish is that our politicians (and I don't mean the fascists on the right) would follow through with their promises. There is absolutely no reason, that anyone in America should die of exposure, hunger, grow up illiterate and bigoted. No reason why anyone should be denied the human right to live and pursue happiness, just because of who they are, not what they are.
Then you are watching MSNBC and listening to Thom Hartmann. 26 Democrats voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress. Biden expanded Trump's Title 42 twice. He has deported more Venezuelans and Haitians than Trump did his entire term. Mayor Eric Adams of New York has enacted more stop and frisk than Rudy Guliani. Biden is enabling Netanyahu to massacre thousands of innocent women and children, hugging him and sending more weapons to the 12th most powerful military in the world. Biden incarcerated more black males than any president in history with his crime bill in 1994. He also backed the heinous Hyde Amendment denying federal funding to poor and marginalized women for abortion for decades up until the 2020 election of course. No, Biden is a monster and he is likely to get us into a nuclear confrontation with his excuses and warmongering behavior.
Yep as I expected Boris, . Your sole purpose here is to sow division among "liberals",
The Omnibus Crime Bill was not Biden's, It was signed by that neo liberal, faux Democrat Clinton.
And now all of sudden you are concerned about Racism, yet have nothing to say a about the racism of the Republicans and Trump.
Nor for that fact Putin. Putin uses Asiatics from Siberia, and Turko-Mongols from the Stans as
cannon fodder in Ukraine, and if that isn't racism I don't know what is.
So you support annihilation of all Jews?
Daniel, that response was directed to Boris, but it appears under my comment, thus misleading the reader. something is wrong,seriously,with the substack format. I see responses, but to find out to whom they are addressed I have to try and follow a thin line on the left to the person to whom the response is meant. A lot of trouble, instead I try to remember to address the comment to the party, as I did with this comment
Thom, that's one of your best articles yet! ( And I love all of them.) It calls for exactly what we in the @BrandingDems group have been crying for -- branding ads that focus on the values of the PARTY, not the person. All candidates are flawed in some way, but 90%+ of Dems all share similar values. We need to spend less on marketing for candidates and more on branding the party as a whole.
Does anyone have an in with the DCCC or another Democratic campaign organization which might think that a major ad campaign should be run in the next 12 months billed simply as “Thanks Joe”, listing President Biden’s accomplishments on billboards and in other ads and literature in terms of their practical contribution to real freedom for real people? Something along those lines is needed for Democrats even if not specifically to assure Biden’s re-election. Freedom is about rights, equal access, and free time without oppressive pressures or people breathing down one’s neck.
And how about some loud and clear messages declaring good riddance to the Orange Menace. He is NOT going to be re-elected in 2024 or ever. That is a certainty. Why is anyone still talking about that as a possibility? There are simply not enough sadistic and nihilistic Americans to vote for a self-loathing loser preaching hate, self-pity, and hopelessness. He will be convicted, Republicans will not be able to avoid the writing on the wall much longer, Putin’s false propaganda efforts will no longer sell or will be overshadowed and ignored, and the attempts to keep the fascist seditionist off the ballot in several states will dampen enthusiasm, even if not legally validated. He is simply not worth the time of day or worth wasting any more of our breath on. We have other more pressing issues and threats to focus on. Mousey Mikey Johnson is a much more dangerous threat now. It’s time to move on now, isn’t it?
I don't think that thanks Joe will cut the ice.
People vote with their lizard brain, not the part that is rational.
The amygdala is the lizard brain, and it is motivated by fear and it's response is fight or flight.
The Republicans have successfully used the lizard brain since Goldwater. Having learned from that 1964 election, where the Democrats used the image of a girl plucking petals off a daisy, andin the background a count down and finally the bust of an atomic bomb.
Since then they have been using threats to the Lizard Brain with increasing and incredible success,and the Democrats have done the exact opposite.
Democrats might have, and I hope they have,learned a lesson and now they are using the fear of women losing sovereignty over their own bodies, as a tool to beat the fascists.
However the real problem is that Democrats aren't using that weapon at all. Women have a long memory and know that Dobbs has once again consigned them to the corral of breed cows. The Dems stupidly, since they seen incapable of learning lessons, are still tryingto fight the Lizard brain with the pre frontal cortex, adds telling us how well off we are because of Bidennomics, when the people aren't listening.
Those who have benefited from Bidenomics don't care (short memories and the usual voter thanklessness, and those that haven 't benefited, only hear the threats generated by the Trump chorus(including the corporate media).
Tooting your own horn is not the way to win elections, motivating the electorate by constantly reminding them of the existential threats of the MAGAts, is a way. It has worked for the Republicans, and still working, of you believe the polls, and I don't, Trump is ahead of Biden, despite his perversions, crimes, theft and bilking of his base, not to mention his treachery and treason and betrayal of his base.
I remember the video of a Trump humping female, with a white t shirt, with an arrow pointing to her nether parts, and the words Trump can grab me by this, any time.
We all know the MAGA base is not the brightest group. They have deep character flaws to revere a con man like they do. MAGA also likes angertainment.
I heard step one for this deprogramming is getting them to stop watching far right shows. Placing a child lock on the TV at home is a good place to start.
Republicans are funded by mega corporations from the petroleum cabal to the oligarchs of finance, whose wealth was acquired by the use of propaganda and messaging.
I've told how I learned to write for the public by using short sentences, and paragraphs that contain a single thought. I learned that technique from Jerry Falwells (I)Moral majority solicitation mailings that wound up in my mail box, every one was about the culture war, and that we were a Christian Nation.
It is over 40 years and Democrats have learned nothing or are stubborn and have played three monkeys.
Thanks to the Republican association with "Madison Ave", they are experts at re branding and Orwellian Newspeak. Just watch, if you can tolerate it, the constant ads for Medicare (dis)Advantage that have been polluting the air ways since Medicare open season started (it will end Nov 15, but the ads have been paid for and will continue for a week after that, and most disgustingly these Ads along with PhRMA are the major revenue source for MSNBC, the so called "liberal media".
Democrats have yet to learn to put issues on a bumper sticker, because they (unfortunately) have an allergy to negative advertising, and thus ceding the ground to the fascists, who have no such scruples, and thus we wound up with Trump, Trumpism and MAGA fascism.
"Using short sentences, and paragraphs that contain a single thought."
Popular in the 18th Century, taken from the French, stile coupe.
M Dodsworth · 1980 — using a stile coupe, irony and much physical imagery, having the key word 'misery'; the Expostulations being colloquial, using medical and legal images https://www.jstor.org/stable/3506975
This is the kind of BS encountered when I taught "Bonehead English."
Medicare advantage is not Medicare and the advantage goes to the insurance industry. They have ad copy down to a science.
Despite right wing accusations to the contrary, the media is entirely pro ad revenue and Trump rings the cash register.
Daniel, that JSTOR link doesn't work for me. I signed in via google but can't download the paper, I have to search an educational institution and the link leads to : "Reviewed Work: The Tangled Chain: The Structure of Disorder in the 'Anatomy of Melancholy' Ruth A. Fox
Review by: Martin Dodsworth"Then I have to log in via my University
I never heard of a stile coupe, but when I googled it, this was the result: https://www.google.com/search?q=stile+coupe&sca_esv=581999558&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&ei=bXlSZeDBIMWlptQPo5ifqAw&ved=0ahUKEwigrN6q28GCAxXFkokEHSPMB8UQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=stile+coupe&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiC3N0aWxlIGNvdXBlMggQABgWGB4YCkihMFCgElioKHABeAGQAQCYAZQCoAHyCqoBAzItNrgBA8gBAPgBAcICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAgoQABiKBRiwAxhDwgIOEAAY5AIY1gQYsAPYAQHCAhYQLhiKBRjHARjRAxjIAxiwAxhD2AECwgIQEC4YigUYyAMYsAMYQ9gBAsICCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BwgIFEAAYgATCAggQABiABBixA8ICBxAAGIoFGEPCAgUQLhiABMICGhAuGIAEGMcBGK8BGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AEDwgIQEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEYsQMYCsICBxAAGIAEGAriAwQYACBBiAYBkAYSugYGCAEQARgJugYGCAIQARgIugYGCAMQARgU&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
I don't speak French either so searching translate I get stile coupe = cut style.
What ever it is, it has proven very effective at soliciting money and disseminating propaganda, mis and dis info, as it is the stile (style) used by right wingers, and the money just flows to Trump, from the stupid bastards that can't afford medicine.
Actually the "curt" style. The Brits adopted the French like Thomas Carlyle who was a Francophile.....
Curt Style (stile coupe)
Expected connectives and reflexive pronouns are missing, resulting in seemingly unbalanced sentences, without the coordinating conjunctions and or but. Uses colons and semi-colons. Typically associated with stoic thought.
According to Lisa Spangenberg, I was off by a century. https://www.lisaspangenberg.com/writing/seventeenth-century-prose-style/#:~:text=Curt%20Style%20(stile%20coupe)&text=Expected%20connectives%20and%20reflexive%20pronouns,Typically%20associated%20with%20stoic%20thought.
Google translate said Cut, that didn't make sense, but Curt does, Like the 4th son of Quilllaume le betard, Henry Curthose (or Henry Short Robe)
So Curt style means short style an effective means of conveying information and propaganda.
Daniel, sorry to bring this up. Not trying to dispute, But when I mentioned the relative of Trump what was his distractor I was referring to his aunt Mary L. Trump, very much alive, however his older Sister Maryanne Trump Barry did die, she was was first appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. In 1999, she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Bill Clinton. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryanne_Trump_Barry
Crossed wires. I was referring to his aunt not his older sister. I didn't realize there were two Mary Trump's. I have never been interested in him or his family, to follow anything. I had to google Fred Trump to find out that he owned a brotherl and was a grifter and criminal just like his son. That apple did not fall far from the tree.
What people desire today is ORDER. Putin and Trump have given us disorder. Biden was elected on this premise. Trump and Putin will provide us order at the expense of Freedom. It is much more difficult to sustain order in a democracy. It's work, constant work.
While Democrats speak in favor of many wonderful things, their rhetoric is merely electoral in its manifestation. The game Democrats play of saying one thing and doing another, enabled by those who amplify their constant stream of excuses and downplay their militarism and racism, allows Trump and Republicans to gain traction. Leaders who pretend they have no control over the slaughter of black and brown people around the world while they aid and abet it have no direct relationship to freedom for anyone but the wealthiest and whitest among us.
Clearly you are talking about the GQP. I haven’t heard of any Dems supporting Muslim bans or putting up razor wire to slice up children at the southern border.
Well said KL. This clown who parades under a Jewish name, has proven himself to be a Putin acolyte of agitprop. He knows the key words, and although he will mention Trump, out of the side of his mouth, his obvious agenda is to attack and demoralize America and the West for the benefit of Putin.
There are several Putinesque troll farms, and their only job is to work social media and the internet. China also has it's share. They ally themselves, or try to, with minorities, to divide and neuter Putin's opposition
There you go again Boris. Putins main man on Thom's reports.
Democrats militaristic? How about for a change, blast Putin's Imperialistic colonialism. and racism.
Now that is a good one. Russian disinfo agents, know very well, that hurling the charge of racism is enough to send liberals scurrying in denial. And once they do that, they have lost the propaganda game.
Good try, but it don't fly.
Well said.
Freedom for Americans but no freedom for other country's?
So what countries are not free because of America? And how.
You aren't getting away with that kind of sloppy statement. Back it up. Jenny
Chile. El Salvador....any Country that has a left wing govt. USA does not like Commies" and Socialists. All brainwashed for years.
It is not just the USA that doesn't like "commies" (socialists) it is our oligarchic plutocrats, the 10% that exploit the people, sow divisions. Americans would get along fine if there wasn't someone stirring the pot.
Attack the source, the disease, not the symptom.
Naturopathic medicine focuses on the source of illness. Allopathic medicine uses cut, burn and poison, to remove the source of illness.
Your appoach is allopathic.
I totally agree about the resources of America, namely finance, the CIA, military and FBI, being used to squash "leftist" countries and keep right wing governments in charge, because they are doing the bidding of the money powers, PTB, plutocrats, oligarchs, cabals whatever you call them they are all the same.
But the same is true for every country in the world, be it France, Britain or Russia. Putin is the Oligarch in chief, a communist (left wing) KGB major, and the rest of the oligarchs are, in fact, Russian commies,either KGB or KGB connected.
Who really governs any country? Not the people, or their representativees, but those with tremendous resources and thus power. Money to get the power, power to keep the money.
Total SA, French oil company that ranks as one of the world's major petroleum corporations. It engages in the exploration, refining, transport, and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products, extracted from Africa.
Why has France been in Africa? Because of it's resources, from cobalt, to uranium and rare earth minerals.
Wipe off your shoes, before you step through someone else's door.
You are as much a pawn in someone else's game as your friend Boris.
Actually I (me, my ABA self and US DOL) was a consultant to the newer Chilean socialist government when they initiated an administrative law court.
You might have been right about Guatemala in 1954 and Chile in the 70s, but we have a Democratic government and the Democratic Party was on the right side on those issues. Opposed Iran/Contra. It's like me accusing you of being Vichy --- you aren't Vichy are you?
How old do you think I am to ask such a question.
You are absolutely right about France especially Britain. I was born in Sri Lanka 1yr after Independence. One reason I loathe and detest colonialism.
I have NO country or religion and have always been a liberal socialist.
ABA self and US DOL????????????
ABA is American Bar Association, DOL is US Department of Labor.
Daniel is an experienced lawyer, and has been an advisor and is, gasp, a progressive if not a socialist.
If you detest colonialism, then you absolutely are disgusted with Russia and China, both are practicing colonialism in Africa and Asia, only instead of Red Coats, they use private mercenaries, actually not so private as their charter is to do what the Red Coats did, ensure that the titular leaders of their quasi colonies toe the line.
As for the west, Colonies and Imperialism are ancient history, what appears as colonialism and imperialism is simply the logical outcomes of monopolies, oligopolies owned by multi national companies.
Take Exxon Mobil for instance, It has so much politial and economic power that it has been able to use the adminisrative and military power of the United States, to harass and try to destablize Venezuela for daring to have the nerve, the affrontery of a "shit hole" country to actually believe that the oil of Venezuela belonged to Venezuela, what nerve.
England has the same problem with BP, France with Total SA, The only reason Putin doesn't have a problem is because he has the oligarchs who bought the trust, for pennies, when USSR deconstructed, by the balls.
As Nixon said, grab them by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow.
Putin allows the oligarchs and generals to engage in their corruption, so long as they support his imperialist design to rebuild the old Soviet Union.
So start expressing your outrage against Putin's Imperialism, and colonialism, or do you have blinders like your boyfriend Boris.
And freedom for SOME Americans to boot.
I am pretty sure that you don't care about Americans, except to foster division among opponents of Putin.
Irony?
You would not know irony if you bit into it.
Have you found Castelnuevo yet?
Biden’s campaign and administration needs to shout out his accomplishments loud and clear.
wheeewwww!....that about sums it up...that's the message we must get out to all...
that's it?... then I see a two sided handout on card stock... under EVERY windshield wiper... screen door, mailbox, small shop counter, and everyone's bag and out everywhere everywhere everywhere everywhere...
Not to bring up the question of billboards... road to knowledge ?
"Americans love freedom" -- really? Freedom for our own selves maybe, but for other Americans? often not so much. Sure the GOP is the party of billionaires and mega-big business, but they can't get elected or stay in office without the votes of tens of millions of people who are neither but who believe that people of color, women of any color, lesbians and gay men, and any number of others have too much freedom already.
The only way "freedom" works as a rallying cry is if it's followed by an asterisk and a long footnote explaining what you mean by it.
... I mean... multiple handouts
Yep In Naples, but no one lives in a castle anymore but I assumed you meant Naples, Shame on me for allowing myself to be misled by a liar.
Apparently you don't live in France or Italy, but I do go for Petersburg though, it makes sense.
A couple of pictures tell the story:
https://twitter.com/MoDesai3/status/1447171889617584133
https://br.ifunny.co/picture/t3kbTXWY9
Thanks Mark Your first link is a good description of the fake who poses as a Jew named Barry, the Second link was refused by my browser as "The site cannot provide a secure connection" however I can watch other youtube video's on Opera, all I have to do is close or hit the X on he Youtube pop up I can't even do that on Chrome, as Google owns Youtube.