How would you react if one day you were sitting at home and the phone rang and when you picked it up you heard a man shout: “Kill yourself now so we can save ammo!”
Thom... very powerful writing! Why can’t we get Dems off the stupid subjects like Biden’s age... totally irrelevant... and get them all fired up about how dangerous and close we are at succumbing to a maniacal sociopathic fascist and just all join forces behind Biden??? What’s the “secret sauce” to getting people to feel the fear ? What should Biden’s message be???
Gail, it is not the Dems, it is the corporate media, including the so called "liberal" MSNBC
The primary focus of the corporate media is return on investment, profits, that means eyes and clicks, that means controversy and the horse race. If it bleeds it leads. That, and corporate media owners, are investors who benefit from strife and conflict, and whose financial interests are in deregulation and no regulation at all, and who is opposed to regulation and wants to cancel regulatory agencies and cabinets?
The Republicans, and even the best of the hosts, "reporters" (there are few such anymore", editors and journalists care more about their income and the present, than the future and well being of the country..
William... Yes! That is a big part of this mess we are in. Thom write a gray book on Oligarghs in America... of which is part of the corporate media... think of the “poster child”, Rupert Murdoch / Fox News... he made it okay to have a national TV station that is totally about right wing/ fascist propaganda! You’d think we could close Fox News down and not permit it to broadcast the shite it puts out there.
I don't watch MSNBC or any television news for that matter, unless there is a blizzard and I want to see what the coverage is. That is usually poor too. I just don't think most Americans can grasp fascism. Most of my friends cannot digest the news because it makes them too depressed, even though they were raised in homes where parents were well informed on issues of the day. I find that many people are overwhelmed with the negativity. Therapists say limit yourself, and for a good friend, she limits herself because the reality is that they are not ready to make other plans than to provide everything for their children, and pursue their successful careers. I suspect they are the norm not the exception. If it were not for forums like this, I would have no one around me who really wants to engage in political discussion except the youth, and they are naively optimistic. Actually, one nephew is planning on voting for Biden but considers him to be using tax money for genocide in Gaza. That is the biggest issue for him, in an age where people jump from issue to issue. I honestly have to say, I am still very invested in the Ukrainian's successful outcome and very angered at the Republicans who are holding up funds. My nephew told me he is able to vote only for the lessor of evils, and not for a candidate that truly represents his point of view. I told him that is how I vote, and that is very mature of him. I still consider him to be politically naive and not to have the depth I would like him to have. He was offended that I said that I did not think he was that knowledgeable. I told him I was offended that he thinks he knows as much as me when I have read more and lived more. So, that is where we left it, but not in a bad place. At least we are discussing ideas and my nephew plans to vote for Biden, not sit home sulking because he does not fit his ideals.
What bothers me is that this Israeli Gaza crap has pushed Ukraine to the back burner. And I try to eschew conspiracy theories, though the world is amock with conspiracies. Is it a coincidence that Oct 7 was the birthday of Putin as well as the gruesome attack by HAMAS, And there is the Putin-Iran-HAMAS nexus.
One other thing that really bothers me is the infiltration and domination of certain media and universities by Muslims. I see Arab oil, and Saudi Arabia's play for world domination. Islam is triumphalist , not evangelical, it isn't interested in converting by proselytizing. just demoralizing, dividing and conquering. I know this because I have studied Islam.
Israel is not committing genocide, although Bibi and the orthodox right would like to cleanse Palestine of Muslims, which is a parallel of what Muslims want to do to the Jews, cleanse Palestine of the Jews. They have tried over and over again, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 2006, Oct 7
And promised to continue again and again, Now that is Genocide.
But I guess genocide of the Jews is OK.
MeanwhileUkraine is on the verge of falling to a real monster, and once he mops up there, the next is Lithuania, the Balkans, Poland and Eastern Europe, and the west will tremble in fear as Putin, Xi, Un wave their nuclear penis.
Yes. I too did wonder about Putin's role in the Hamas timing of things, given that Hamas is friends with Iran, and Iran is friends with Putin. Not that I believe Putin cares about Iranians or Palestinians, since he seems pretty anti-Muslim. Aren't they the first to go in his war on Ukraine!
It is not a matter of caring or an alliance. It is a tactical ploy Putin will use any tool in his tool box, in this case distract and weaken the western alliance with Ukraine.
Strange bedfellows, imperialism makes. Ivanka Trump own(ed) the newspaper The Observer
In 2016 it reported that a group of "Power Jews" named Algemeiner, released it's Jewish 100 list, among them was Ivanka, Rupert Murdoch and Putin.
No one knows more about international affairs than Joe Biden...we are fortunate to have him as our president , with his wealth of experience and past contacts, at this moment of conflicts & Iranian subterfuge,Russian aggression... and China chomping at the bit ...around the world... look how NATO has expanded during this moment!
Obama was a good president but younger and not as seasoned in world politics....and he just let Russia walk all over the West and take Crimea from Ukraine.
Biden has been more successful in dealing with national and international matters than many previous presidents and doing it all while TFG attacks us daily with his lies and fascist desires for the USA... and the Republicans to a one doing absolutely nothing but stirring the shit!
Congresswoman Mary Peltola, the first Native from Alaska , had these words of wisdom when asked about Biden’s age : where I come from we respect our elders for their wisdom and their knowledge not diminish them just because they are older.
Why the Republicans in the Senate didn’t realize the power of numbers is a mystery to me. If they had all (or most all) voted to impeach, he would have been out for good.
the power a bully has is only stopped when people know othets have their back and will stand with them. when bully walks up to a group and starts attacking one person, if the mostly all stand with him they are safe but as soon as a coward walks away, most others will also
Will freedom fall because it is not easy to oppose evil? Fearing evil is the surest way to allow evils of all kinds to inflict society with. Evil of all kinds have to be opposed and the quickest way to end it is to find its leaders and punch them in the nose. Followers of bullies have no ability to do anything when their leader is taken out. The crowd is of no importance when the leader of the bullies are taken out.
You nailed it Clayton. If Hitler had been taken out, The World would be much different, and an unintended consequence, most of us would not have been born. (it depends on the timing though. Before 1939 I would not, after 1939 you would not have.
If one needs examples of Trump Derangement Sydrome, look no further than his cult. Scary part is that they are 40 to 50% of the population, our neighbors, our families, people who service our vehicles, cashiers in stores, plumbers, people we brush by in stores.
The scary part is that they are heavily armed, where as by and large peace loving liberals, opposed to gun violence are unarmed.
I am re watching WWII in color, Episode 1, The Gathering Storm. It is eerie and scary I could change names, dates and uniforms and see 2023, the Brownshirts numbered 3 million, and so terrified Hindenburg that the (President) appointed Hitler Chancellor, then Hindenburg died, and Hitler took total power, outlawed other parties, and enacted the Nuremburg Laws. It only took 3 million men to take over Germany which had a population of between 64 and 65 million or roughly 4% of the population, in America we have our own Brown shirts, the MAGAts, but not 4% but a staggering 40% or more.
Thom has said that there seems to be a 80 year cycle, the time it takes for a new generation to forget or not learn what the grandfather generation learned. 2023 - 80 is 1943, 2023-90 is 1933.
The re election of Barack Obama in 2013, is when the right really became incensed. They passed 2009 off as a fluke.
I'm sorry to report I've had the equivalent. I even had a stalker. I was was threatened because I was a federal employee, an administrative law judge, and I am Jewish. BTW, I am also a Vietnam combat veteran.
My dad was a DA, lifetime prosecutor. He carried a pistola. He got calls like that.
I don't own guns anymore. I haven't had threats since I retired. I had other threats. E.G. A misguided whistleblower in one of my cases, filed documents trying to lien up my property.
I've been writing about this elsewhere. On Jan 6, 2021 Trump had the support of most cops. Today, the FBI, which IMHO was filled with MAGATS, is now on the job. They've infiltrated groups like the Oathkeepers, which had a database of about 10,000 members. They can identify virtually all of the threats. 38 states and the District of Columbia were represented among the insurrectionists, demonstrating the national reach of disinformation and propaganda that fueled the January 6 attack. The country’s five most populous states (TX, CA, NY, FL and PA) accounted for 41% of the total, with the most from California and Texas. These perps, for the most part, cooperate and have identified many more, probably to a geometric progression. Most of the ardent MAGATs have, from my observation information and belief, as we say in court, now know better, know they have been identified, and now know to a reasonable degree of certainty they will be prosecuted if they make those kinds of threats.
I've been carping about Garland myself. I have a cousin who was married to the acting DC US Attorney who was at the Capitol on January 6, appeared on 60 Minutes, and should have visited a grand jury the moment Garland was sworn. I also have been giving the FBI a few tips myself.
I know there a "lone wolves" who may be dangerous, but all of the perps who have been convicted are object lessons for criminals.
I think that although we should be on full alert, odds of another insurrection are remote.
Sacred feces Daniel. I can't imagine what it was like for you, being stalked and threatened. The high price of public service.
That massacre at the tree of life, upsets me every time I hear of it. I can only imagine the horror. I am not a believer, but I cannot imagine what it was like for people to attend a meeting expecting peace and fellowship and then being murdered, Same with Dylan Roof ,pretending fellowship at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, before pulling a gun and slaughtering those people.
What a sick world. And then comes HAMAS full of religious hate, a hate that has been simmering since Muhammad nay since Ramses III
Maybe it is for the best if mankind continues on it's path and commits suicide by greed.
Any idea of what it is with Garland? Is it ideological? Pure self interest? Fear? All three seem to dominate the political sphere.
The paradox of the FBI, basically a creation of a cross dressing queer. J Edgar Hoover, and it is and has been the most right wing of Federal Agencies. IMHO or not so humble opinion, all police agencies from the town clown to US Marshalls,, CBP, DHS, DEA, FBI are all right wingers, and if any liberals, they keep their mouths shut and assume a low profile.
I fear for the military, a lot of naive waifs, look to them to be the bulwark against Trump's tyranny, but they are completely unaware that the majority of the Army and Marine enlisted are white southerners, that racism in the ranks runs deep. I had to contend with it back in 1980 when I was the officer in charge of a mobility unit. The battlefield was the men's room.
As soon as the final brick was laid in the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the mega churches moved in, and they recruited "Chapel Guides" enlisted basic training has had the same for ages. In the Academy chapel guides coordinate and arrange transportation for cadets to attend the megachurches, and therein get indoctrinated with Dominionism (Christian Reconstruction) founded by R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz father Raphael.
Dominionism makes the Taliban look liberal - seriously, they want a country governed by Mosaic laws, and punishment for breaking the laws is stoning, (stones are free, very libertarian)
The stoning of gays, less than obedient Christians, and even back talking and rebellious teens.
These cadets graduate and become Air Force Officers, a prime example is retired Colonel Martha McSalley, you remember her, from Arizona. Fortunately the current crop of Generals in the Pentagon, at least as regards the Air Force and our Secretary of Defense 4 star General Lloyd Austin as commissioned via ROTC, as was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q Brown were commissioned via ROTC and were given Regular Commissions. I suspect that the Dominion infection has spread to West Point and Annapolis, am sure of it, Lt Stanley McChrystal who told his troops in Afghanistan that it was a Christian Crusade against the Taliban.
The Chief of Staff of the Army is Gen Randy George, a West Point Grad.
Chief of Staff of the Navy is Admiral Lisa Franchetti, she was commissioned via the Naval Reserve Officer Corps.
Chief of Staff of the Air Force is David W Allvin an AF Academy graduate
The hero Gen Mark Milley is a ROTC graduate, Not west point.
I fear that if it had been a West Point graduate as Chairman of the JCS, things would have been much different under Trump 45.
Not that being commissioned via ROTC is a guarantee of patriotism, The traitor Mike Flynn and his brother Gen Charles Flynn, whom Biden promoted to 4 stars and assigned as Commander Army Pacific Forces, despite the fact that he sat behind the desk at the Pentagon and didn't answer the phone that rang off the hoof on Jan 6, were both ROTC grads.
Not all liberals are unarmed,not all Democrats are Liberals ! Independents are the largest voting demographic and quite a few are well armed ! I do not advocate violence but Christ you can’t be cowered by what if They ! Screw the traitorous SOB’s I’m not ready to live in a Dictatorship! My grand kids deserve what my ancestors fought for and gave me and I will not !Be throwing that inheritance away to the scum of the planet!
I know that Robert, sure there are armed liberals, and conservative Democrats (like Rahm Emanuel and the Clintons), but they armed right wing outnumbers us.
I do not condone violence either, but it is suicide to not defend yourself and that was the gist of my comment. I didn't believe that I had to spell it out.
How are you going to stop having your inheritance thrown away? By the vote?
You do realize that Republican legislatures and corporations, who finance the political parties, have their thumbs on the scale.
I am afraid, very afraid, because I am vulnerable, more vulnerable than you, and all I have is the vote, and I am too old with deficits, and not able to even defend myself. All I have is the vote, and Republicans have stolen that before the election with their voter nullification laws, voter restriction laws and acts. Reducing drop boxes and voting booths, and legalizing armed vote watchers. And then their is the Catholic fascist Supreme Court.
we are now beyond all the people who missed the opportunity to hold them back. the media and even dem administration have two standards. we have to uphold all the traditions rules norms. Team trump moves and acts like underworld mob boss , seizing power bit by bit. Tom has laid it all out more clearly than anyone. we are in trouble. Biden sort of understands how bad gop is but,but keeps acting like it’s twenty years ago. That’s over, from now on, while there is a still a functioning democracy the gov needs to take some strong action,sending a message to the real patriots who speak out that its ok , and a message to the insurrection that they will be rounded up. The pro insurrectionist fbi and dc police need to deal with those working against the democratic government of america
Thank you... for your bravery in sounding the alarm and telling the truth!!!
I find it so crazy that democrats cannot outsmart these people! We have access to the same strategies they use and to the best marketing people on the planet yet we don’t use them to save democracy? What’s wrong with this picture?????
Btw... (and I don’t care if they’re reading) even Biden’s merch sucks! What the hell???? Get me excited to save the USA people! I have personally shared Have You Heard the People Sing over and over with a better response! Let’s do this!
Objective truth is quite often uncomfortable to look in the eye. It can challenge our beliefs, our sense of identity, and easily remind us on a daily basis that we are not, in fact, safely tucked away in a snuggy blanket. Personally, I'll take the most horrible of truths over the most beautiful of lies - not because I want to, but it's what's required to assess and move through the moment.
For many years I have struggled internally to reconcile what I generally know to be true with the truth that no one is coming to fix it. I'll never forget the day I realized that "someone" is not a thing, but rather each and every one of us.
Fear does efficient work in the field of persuasion. However, it has a weakness: It exists exclusively within our mind (which admittedly can be a terrifying place all its own). Nonetheless, We do have control over our fear. It is up to us, not those who wish to instill fear, whether we grant it a debilitating level of residence.
Apropos of Thom's piece today, FDR was and always will be correct in declaring:
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Thom's writing was on the mark for me, in so many ways. I'm grateful he illustrated the harsh realities of those who have been truthful and forthcoming in the face of potential violence. It is not and never will be an act lacking in deep conviction. Yet I know we all harbor this strength, should we chose to nurture it.
As for my preferential takeaway, Thom Hartmann nailed it to the door with this:
"There is no movement advocating political violence on either the American left or in the center. It is entirely confined to the American right, and the media needs to admit that and the FBI needs to recalibrate their efforts."
This is a statement of truth that is pertinent as of too many yesterdays.
The inactivity of Biden, the FBI and Biden's Attorney General knaws at my patience and credulity. Their silence, punctuated by rare occasional smirks of dismissal that engender no salvation from the metastasizing fear that is gripping the non-fascist citizenry, are insouciant and inappropriate, given the dynamic (. . . semi-fascist). Biden should be addressing daily fireside FDR-style chats, stressing that the maga thing is fascist, is real, relaying as Thom does the grave inherent dangers there-in. He should buttboot all the fossil, multimillionaire Mathusillahs (elected senators and congresspeople who are Democrats) into supporting him with very strong, coordinated, unmistakably loud voice. He should immediately replace the AG and replace him with someone more coherent, less cowardly. He should eliminate all identified maga from all US military and put in a new FBI to cleanse all maga from nationwide police. He won't, but he could. He should fight back, but strangely he isn't. Why?
Well, we know what we have to do. Fight for democracy and not let all this ugly take over our country. Lock up your guns and anything to protect you and your family, maybe not. This is crazy dangerous stuff here. We the People must stay aware and know the time is now! Too late will be just that too late. Thom, I am so glad we have you at the forefront of all this truth we are looking at and we need to get ready. No sitting on your hands more like a hands on deck! We need Thom so much more in 2024. What a keeper he is.
This posting feeds into how our world in America is slipping into the pattern Thom writes about... imaging a FOX TV news caster purposely putting up the names of the Colorado judges so the MAGATS could easily threaten them an their families.
Sure, and to continue your thought another obvious part of this system is to create a mythical past in which the nation (or at least those who support its would-be leader) was a “great” place to live. In those days it was strong and took no nonsense from internal subversives or outside aliens. But it was corrupted by these groups who poisoned the pure blood of the people and twisted the minds of their young. So violent action is needed to restore the Homeland!
The Confederacy had its Cavalier Myth about the South being founded by heroic men fleeing a tyrannical English king. Mussolini tried to get Italians to hark back to ancient Rome, and using crackpot 19th century anthropologists Hitler’s people created a sort of Wagnerian Teutonic myth. Right now Putin is doing this by channeling Peter the Great and reviving the Orthodox Church. And as you mentioned, Orban is using the Romany as scapegoats. There are many other examples where a demagogue whips up people with “racial pride”. After all, they have little else to fall back on, want somebody to blame for their problems and are glad to join a group of “winners”. So to return to your point, it is obvious why fear and violence will come out of such a mindset, especially with the number of guns in America. After all, an attack on The Leader is an attack on The Nation and its True People.
Season 13 for American Horror Story doesn't need to be written---they can just take it right from the headlines. Add some good looking actors and it will be "killer"!
The question that comes to mind is what else Trump wants to signal his cult. He has already given them permission to do so much; in fact he leads by example as he did with his "MAY THEY ROT IN HELL" Christmas(?) message. They, and in this case we know perfectly well there is a "they", are out there getting ready for the "storm". Just listen to FBI Director Wray; every year he has testified to Congress, and each year he says it's worse than ever.
It seems Thom's situation proves that. All we can do is make sure we lend our support to people being threatened and watch out for each other as best we can.
Let's turn Trump into the biggest loser of all time---he already started the process for us in 2020. I'd love an encore with much bigger numbers. Let's see who ends-up in a nice cold cell. Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes already have theirs.
All this fascistic violence because a Black man was president for 8 years and majorities got so scared that they glommed on to an escapee from the Manhattan Lunatic Asylum on 5th Avenue next to Tiffany's aka Trump Tower.
How many of our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and relatives have a secret desire to see violence or for liberals to be "owned" and harassed, as long as they are not attacked or face repercussions? How many will listen to us? Immense pressure must be brought to bear on mainstream media to stop "both-sidesing" everything, repeating Republican and conservative talking points, and normalizing violent and extreme rhetoric. Everyone whose family has been split into opposing factions by the non-stop Fox Noise lies should be filing suit against Fox for alienation of affection or whatever else is possible as a cause of action for how they have maliciously brainwashed their victims. Big money on the left and from the middle should be directed to fighting right-wing propaganda, especially on social media and in commercial media. Millions of letters to editors need to be published articulating the danger from violence and the inevitability that few will escape injury or death under this kind of fascism.
We’ve succumbed, as a nation, to the Limbaugh/ Kardashian syndrome, our reptile brains titillated by the confluence of hatred of the “other” and vapid celebrity worship.
"As a nation" is a pretty broad generalization. There are the 6 million people, you and I included, who follow Thom, so thankfully all is not lost, yet. The things you refer to relate to and reflect the influence of the media. I always go back to Postman's book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death". But, as I harp on incessantly, the media we have could not exist without naive, ignorant, and badly miseducated citizens willing to subject themselves to propaganda, mythology, lies, and "vapid celebrity worship". It's the traditional public schools, 'stupid'. Postman wrote another book titled, "The End of Education". I haven't read that one but I suspect I know what he said. Authoritarian bureaucracies cannot possibly turn out well-rounded, critical thinking, autonomous, skilled and knowledgeable, educated people. If we took the gun away from the heads of children, they might have the ability to focus, and their inborn desire to learn and create new knowledge might blossom, overnight. But guns are still our thing, and even the liberal/progressives are brainwashed into believing that coercion and intimidation are somehow okay when dealing with kids. End of lecture. Who has the guts to face reality and swim against the tide? You, maybe?
I try to swim against the tide, Robert. As a life-long pacifist and devout atheist, I have nonetheless considered that should the worst occur, and Trump regains the WH, I will do my best to water the tree of Liberty with my figurative (and perhaps literal) blood as a true patriot against abject tyranny. I will fight for my nieces and nephews - I have no children - and for the students in my care. It is their future I fight for. As I close in on retirement, the prospect of this great country being handed over to the authoritarians and oligarchs is repugnant. I will fight the dying of the light. Who stands with me?
Again, I must reference Tom Morello's Rage Against the Machine Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Speech. He said when they started, someone said that their music made the person "want to fight". I take that as physical fighting. In his speech, he also talks about ordinary people changing the world.
Before the next election, I want to fight (not physically) to save what we have. After the next election, I might have to be ready to fight (physically) to get back to what we once had.
Thom... very powerful writing! Why can’t we get Dems off the stupid subjects like Biden’s age... totally irrelevant... and get them all fired up about how dangerous and close we are at succumbing to a maniacal sociopathic fascist and just all join forces behind Biden??? What’s the “secret sauce” to getting people to feel the fear ? What should Biden’s message be???
Gail, it is not the Dems, it is the corporate media, including the so called "liberal" MSNBC
The primary focus of the corporate media is return on investment, profits, that means eyes and clicks, that means controversy and the horse race. If it bleeds it leads. That, and corporate media owners, are investors who benefit from strife and conflict, and whose financial interests are in deregulation and no regulation at all, and who is opposed to regulation and wants to cancel regulatory agencies and cabinets?
The Republicans, and even the best of the hosts, "reporters" (there are few such anymore", editors and journalists care more about their income and the present, than the future and well being of the country..
William... Yes! That is a big part of this mess we are in. Thom write a gray book on Oligarghs in America... of which is part of the corporate media... think of the “poster child”, Rupert Murdoch / Fox News... he made it okay to have a national TV station that is totally about right wing/ fascist propaganda! You’d think we could close Fox News down and not permit it to broadcast the shite it puts out there.
I don't watch MSNBC or any television news for that matter, unless there is a blizzard and I want to see what the coverage is. That is usually poor too. I just don't think most Americans can grasp fascism. Most of my friends cannot digest the news because it makes them too depressed, even though they were raised in homes where parents were well informed on issues of the day. I find that many people are overwhelmed with the negativity. Therapists say limit yourself, and for a good friend, she limits herself because the reality is that they are not ready to make other plans than to provide everything for their children, and pursue their successful careers. I suspect they are the norm not the exception. If it were not for forums like this, I would have no one around me who really wants to engage in political discussion except the youth, and they are naively optimistic. Actually, one nephew is planning on voting for Biden but considers him to be using tax money for genocide in Gaza. That is the biggest issue for him, in an age where people jump from issue to issue. I honestly have to say, I am still very invested in the Ukrainian's successful outcome and very angered at the Republicans who are holding up funds. My nephew told me he is able to vote only for the lessor of evils, and not for a candidate that truly represents his point of view. I told him that is how I vote, and that is very mature of him. I still consider him to be politically naive and not to have the depth I would like him to have. He was offended that I said that I did not think he was that knowledgeable. I told him I was offended that he thinks he knows as much as me when I have read more and lived more. So, that is where we left it, but not in a bad place. At least we are discussing ideas and my nephew plans to vote for Biden, not sit home sulking because he does not fit his ideals.
What bothers me is that this Israeli Gaza crap has pushed Ukraine to the back burner. And I try to eschew conspiracy theories, though the world is amock with conspiracies. Is it a coincidence that Oct 7 was the birthday of Putin as well as the gruesome attack by HAMAS, And there is the Putin-Iran-HAMAS nexus.
One other thing that really bothers me is the infiltration and domination of certain media and universities by Muslims. I see Arab oil, and Saudi Arabia's play for world domination. Islam is triumphalist , not evangelical, it isn't interested in converting by proselytizing. just demoralizing, dividing and conquering. I know this because I have studied Islam.
Israel is not committing genocide, although Bibi and the orthodox right would like to cleanse Palestine of Muslims, which is a parallel of what Muslims want to do to the Jews, cleanse Palestine of the Jews. They have tried over and over again, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 2006, Oct 7
And promised to continue again and again, Now that is Genocide.
But I guess genocide of the Jews is OK.
MeanwhileUkraine is on the verge of falling to a real monster, and once he mops up there, the next is Lithuania, the Balkans, Poland and Eastern Europe, and the west will tremble in fear as Putin, Xi, Un wave their nuclear penis.
Yes. I too did wonder about Putin's role in the Hamas timing of things, given that Hamas is friends with Iran, and Iran is friends with Putin. Not that I believe Putin cares about Iranians or Palestinians, since he seems pretty anti-Muslim. Aren't they the first to go in his war on Ukraine!
It is not a matter of caring or an alliance. It is a tactical ploy Putin will use any tool in his tool box, in this case distract and weaken the western alliance with Ukraine.
Strange bedfellows, imperialism makes. Ivanka Trump own(ed) the newspaper The Observer
In 2016 it reported that a group of "Power Jews" named Algemeiner, released it's Jewish 100 list, among them was Ivanka, Rupert Murdoch and Putin.
https://observer.com/2016/03/algemeiner-celebrates-power-jews-at-packed-manhattan-gala/
I wonder how Algemeiner feels about Putin now.
The same way that AIPAC feels about Putin, anything the Republicans want.
I am sorry but his age IS relevant.
You have 2 wars going on and looks like a 3rd coming up...........!
No one knows more about international affairs than Joe Biden...we are fortunate to have him as our president , with his wealth of experience and past contacts, at this moment of conflicts & Iranian subterfuge,Russian aggression... and China chomping at the bit ...around the world... look how NATO has expanded during this moment!
Obama was a good president but younger and not as seasoned in world politics....and he just let Russia walk all over the West and take Crimea from Ukraine.
Biden has been more successful in dealing with national and international matters than many previous presidents and doing it all while TFG attacks us daily with his lies and fascist desires for the USA... and the Republicans to a one doing absolutely nothing but stirring the shit!
Congresswoman Mary Peltola, the first Native from Alaska , had these words of wisdom when asked about Biden’s age : where I come from we respect our elders for their wisdom and their knowledge not diminish them just because they are older.
I’ll take Biden in a heartbeat !
Why the Republicans in the Senate didn’t realize the power of numbers is a mystery to me. If they had all (or most all) voted to impeach, he would have been out for good.
the power a bully has is only stopped when people know othets have their back and will stand with them. when bully walks up to a group and starts attacking one person, if the mostly all stand with him they are safe but as soon as a coward walks away, most others will also
Will freedom fall because it is not easy to oppose evil? Fearing evil is the surest way to allow evils of all kinds to inflict society with. Evil of all kinds have to be opposed and the quickest way to end it is to find its leaders and punch them in the nose. Followers of bullies have no ability to do anything when their leader is taken out. The crowd is of no importance when the leader of the bullies are taken out.
You nailed it Clayton. If Hitler had been taken out, The World would be much different, and an unintended consequence, most of us would not have been born. (it depends on the timing though. Before 1939 I would not, after 1939 you would not have.
I agree with you Clayton but you seem to forget that a huge number of people have guns in the US
And a whole bunch of them are Democrats,you can’t be frightened into capitulation!that gets you Them! You can’t be complacent about Liberty!
If one needs examples of Trump Derangement Sydrome, look no further than his cult. Scary part is that they are 40 to 50% of the population, our neighbors, our families, people who service our vehicles, cashiers in stores, plumbers, people we brush by in stores.
The scary part is that they are heavily armed, where as by and large peace loving liberals, opposed to gun violence are unarmed.
I am re watching WWII in color, Episode 1, The Gathering Storm. It is eerie and scary I could change names, dates and uniforms and see 2023, the Brownshirts numbered 3 million, and so terrified Hindenburg that the (President) appointed Hitler Chancellor, then Hindenburg died, and Hitler took total power, outlawed other parties, and enacted the Nuremburg Laws. It only took 3 million men to take over Germany which had a population of between 64 and 65 million or roughly 4% of the population, in America we have our own Brown shirts, the MAGAts, but not 4% but a staggering 40% or more.
Thom has said that there seems to be a 80 year cycle, the time it takes for a new generation to forget or not learn what the grandfather generation learned. 2023 - 80 is 1943, 2023-90 is 1933.
The re election of Barack Obama in 2013, is when the right really became incensed. They passed 2009 off as a fluke.
Thom, you will deny it, but you are a prophet.
I'm sorry to report I've had the equivalent. I even had a stalker. I was was threatened because I was a federal employee, an administrative law judge, and I am Jewish. BTW, I am also a Vietnam combat veteran.
My brother lives and attends the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 people were murdered. They never got that call. He wrote a book of poetry: https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Other-Poems-Jonathan-Solomon/dp/1662872534
My dad was a DA, lifetime prosecutor. He carried a pistola. He got calls like that.
I don't own guns anymore. I haven't had threats since I retired. I had other threats. E.G. A misguided whistleblower in one of my cases, filed documents trying to lien up my property.
I've been writing about this elsewhere. On Jan 6, 2021 Trump had the support of most cops. Today, the FBI, which IMHO was filled with MAGATS, is now on the job. They've infiltrated groups like the Oathkeepers, which had a database of about 10,000 members. They can identify virtually all of the threats. 38 states and the District of Columbia were represented among the insurrectionists, demonstrating the national reach of disinformation and propaganda that fueled the January 6 attack. The country’s five most populous states (TX, CA, NY, FL and PA) accounted for 41% of the total, with the most from California and Texas. These perps, for the most part, cooperate and have identified many more, probably to a geometric progression. Most of the ardent MAGATs have, from my observation information and belief, as we say in court, now know better, know they have been identified, and now know to a reasonable degree of certainty they will be prosecuted if they make those kinds of threats.
I've been carping about Garland myself. I have a cousin who was married to the acting DC US Attorney who was at the Capitol on January 6, appeared on 60 Minutes, and should have visited a grand jury the moment Garland was sworn. I also have been giving the FBI a few tips myself.
I know there a "lone wolves" who may be dangerous, but all of the perps who have been convicted are object lessons for criminals.
I think that although we should be on full alert, odds of another insurrection are remote.
Like their leader, MAGATS are full of shit.
Sacred feces Daniel. I can't imagine what it was like for you, being stalked and threatened. The high price of public service.
That massacre at the tree of life, upsets me every time I hear of it. I can only imagine the horror. I am not a believer, but I cannot imagine what it was like for people to attend a meeting expecting peace and fellowship and then being murdered, Same with Dylan Roof ,pretending fellowship at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, before pulling a gun and slaughtering those people.
What a sick world. And then comes HAMAS full of religious hate, a hate that has been simmering since Muhammad nay since Ramses III
Maybe it is for the best if mankind continues on it's path and commits suicide by greed.
Any idea of what it is with Garland? Is it ideological? Pure self interest? Fear? All three seem to dominate the political sphere.
The paradox of the FBI, basically a creation of a cross dressing queer. J Edgar Hoover, and it is and has been the most right wing of Federal Agencies. IMHO or not so humble opinion, all police agencies from the town clown to US Marshalls,, CBP, DHS, DEA, FBI are all right wingers, and if any liberals, they keep their mouths shut and assume a low profile.
I fear for the military, a lot of naive waifs, look to them to be the bulwark against Trump's tyranny, but they are completely unaware that the majority of the Army and Marine enlisted are white southerners, that racism in the ranks runs deep. I had to contend with it back in 1980 when I was the officer in charge of a mobility unit. The battlefield was the men's room.
As soon as the final brick was laid in the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the mega churches moved in, and they recruited "Chapel Guides" enlisted basic training has had the same for ages. In the Academy chapel guides coordinate and arrange transportation for cadets to attend the megachurches, and therein get indoctrinated with Dominionism (Christian Reconstruction) founded by R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz father Raphael.
Dominionism makes the Taliban look liberal - seriously, they want a country governed by Mosaic laws, and punishment for breaking the laws is stoning, (stones are free, very libertarian)
The stoning of gays, less than obedient Christians, and even back talking and rebellious teens.
These cadets graduate and become Air Force Officers, a prime example is retired Colonel Martha McSalley, you remember her, from Arizona. Fortunately the current crop of Generals in the Pentagon, at least as regards the Air Force and our Secretary of Defense 4 star General Lloyd Austin as commissioned via ROTC, as was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q Brown were commissioned via ROTC and were given Regular Commissions. I suspect that the Dominion infection has spread to West Point and Annapolis, am sure of it, Lt Stanley McChrystal who told his troops in Afghanistan that it was a Christian Crusade against the Taliban.
The Chief of Staff of the Army is Gen Randy George, a West Point Grad.
Chief of Staff of the Navy is Admiral Lisa Franchetti, she was commissioned via the Naval Reserve Officer Corps.
Chief of Staff of the Air Force is David W Allvin an AF Academy graduate
The hero Gen Mark Milley is a ROTC graduate, Not west point.
I fear that if it had been a West Point graduate as Chairman of the JCS, things would have been much different under Trump 45.
Not that being commissioned via ROTC is a guarantee of patriotism, The traitor Mike Flynn and his brother Gen Charles Flynn, whom Biden promoted to 4 stars and assigned as Commander Army Pacific Forces, despite the fact that he sat behind the desk at the Pentagon and didn't answer the phone that rang off the hoof on Jan 6, were both ROTC grads.
Before going on operation in Vietnam we had "chaplain's calls." Invariably a chaplain has to be an asshole. Onward Christian soldiers.
The Hamas BS is deja vu all over again. Open season on venom.
Not all liberals are unarmed,not all Democrats are Liberals ! Independents are the largest voting demographic and quite a few are well armed ! I do not advocate violence but Christ you can’t be cowered by what if They ! Screw the traitorous SOB’s I’m not ready to live in a Dictatorship! My grand kids deserve what my ancestors fought for and gave me and I will not !Be throwing that inheritance away to the scum of the planet!
I know that Robert, sure there are armed liberals, and conservative Democrats (like Rahm Emanuel and the Clintons), but they armed right wing outnumbers us.
I do not condone violence either, but it is suicide to not defend yourself and that was the gist of my comment. I didn't believe that I had to spell it out.
How are you going to stop having your inheritance thrown away? By the vote?
You do realize that Republican legislatures and corporations, who finance the political parties, have their thumbs on the scale.
I am afraid, very afraid, because I am vulnerable, more vulnerable than you, and all I have is the vote, and I am too old with deficits, and not able to even defend myself. All I have is the vote, and Republicans have stolen that before the election with their voter nullification laws, voter restriction laws and acts. Reducing drop boxes and voting booths, and legalizing armed vote watchers. And then their is the Catholic fascist Supreme Court.
When it becomes necessary for a people to
we are now beyond all the people who missed the opportunity to hold them back. the media and even dem administration have two standards. we have to uphold all the traditions rules norms. Team trump moves and acts like underworld mob boss , seizing power bit by bit. Tom has laid it all out more clearly than anyone. we are in trouble. Biden sort of understands how bad gop is but,but keeps acting like it’s twenty years ago. That’s over, from now on, while there is a still a functioning democracy the gov needs to take some strong action,sending a message to the real patriots who speak out that its ok , and a message to the insurrection that they will be rounded up. The pro insurrectionist fbi and dc police need to deal with those working against the democratic government of america
Thank you... for your bravery in sounding the alarm and telling the truth!!!
I find it so crazy that democrats cannot outsmart these people! We have access to the same strategies they use and to the best marketing people on the planet yet we don’t use them to save democracy? What’s wrong with this picture?????
Btw... (and I don’t care if they’re reading) even Biden’s merch sucks! What the hell???? Get me excited to save the USA people! I have personally shared Have You Heard the People Sing over and over with a better response! Let’s do this!
Objective truth is quite often uncomfortable to look in the eye. It can challenge our beliefs, our sense of identity, and easily remind us on a daily basis that we are not, in fact, safely tucked away in a snuggy blanket. Personally, I'll take the most horrible of truths over the most beautiful of lies - not because I want to, but it's what's required to assess and move through the moment.
For many years I have struggled internally to reconcile what I generally know to be true with the truth that no one is coming to fix it. I'll never forget the day I realized that "someone" is not a thing, but rather each and every one of us.
Fear does efficient work in the field of persuasion. However, it has a weakness: It exists exclusively within our mind (which admittedly can be a terrifying place all its own). Nonetheless, We do have control over our fear. It is up to us, not those who wish to instill fear, whether we grant it a debilitating level of residence.
Apropos of Thom's piece today, FDR was and always will be correct in declaring:
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Thom's writing was on the mark for me, in so many ways. I'm grateful he illustrated the harsh realities of those who have been truthful and forthcoming in the face of potential violence. It is not and never will be an act lacking in deep conviction. Yet I know we all harbor this strength, should we chose to nurture it.
As for my preferential takeaway, Thom Hartmann nailed it to the door with this:
"There is no movement advocating political violence on either the American left or in the center. It is entirely confined to the American right, and the media needs to admit that and the FBI needs to recalibrate their efforts."
This is a statement of truth that is pertinent as of too many yesterdays.
When politicians are swayed by fear of reprisal
that is the textbook definition of terrorism.
The inactivity of Biden, the FBI and Biden's Attorney General knaws at my patience and credulity. Their silence, punctuated by rare occasional smirks of dismissal that engender no salvation from the metastasizing fear that is gripping the non-fascist citizenry, are insouciant and inappropriate, given the dynamic (. . . semi-fascist). Biden should be addressing daily fireside FDR-style chats, stressing that the maga thing is fascist, is real, relaying as Thom does the grave inherent dangers there-in. He should buttboot all the fossil, multimillionaire Mathusillahs (elected senators and congresspeople who are Democrats) into supporting him with very strong, coordinated, unmistakably loud voice. He should immediately replace the AG and replace him with someone more coherent, less cowardly. He should eliminate all identified maga from all US military and put in a new FBI to cleanse all maga from nationwide police. He won't, but he could. He should fight back, but strangely he isn't. Why?
Because he is a dead man walking.
Well, we know what we have to do. Fight for democracy and not let all this ugly take over our country. Lock up your guns and anything to protect you and your family, maybe not. This is crazy dangerous stuff here. We the People must stay aware and know the time is now! Too late will be just that too late. Thom, I am so glad we have you at the forefront of all this truth we are looking at and we need to get ready. No sitting on your hands more like a hands on deck! We need Thom so much more in 2024. What a keeper he is.
Trump-fueled threats against Colorado justices are a chilling preview of what’s to come. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/colorado-supreme-court-faces-threats-kicking-trump-2024-ballot-rcna130858
This posting feeds into how our world in America is slipping into the pattern Thom writes about... imaging a FOX TV news caster purposely putting up the names of the Colorado judges so the MAGATS could easily threaten them an their families.
Sure, and to continue your thought another obvious part of this system is to create a mythical past in which the nation (or at least those who support its would-be leader) was a “great” place to live. In those days it was strong and took no nonsense from internal subversives or outside aliens. But it was corrupted by these groups who poisoned the pure blood of the people and twisted the minds of their young. So violent action is needed to restore the Homeland!
The Confederacy had its Cavalier Myth about the South being founded by heroic men fleeing a tyrannical English king. Mussolini tried to get Italians to hark back to ancient Rome, and using crackpot 19th century anthropologists Hitler’s people created a sort of Wagnerian Teutonic myth. Right now Putin is doing this by channeling Peter the Great and reviving the Orthodox Church. And as you mentioned, Orban is using the Romany as scapegoats. There are many other examples where a demagogue whips up people with “racial pride”. After all, they have little else to fall back on, want somebody to blame for their problems and are glad to join a group of “winners”. So to return to your point, it is obvious why fear and violence will come out of such a mindset, especially with the number of guns in America. After all, an attack on The Leader is an attack on The Nation and its True People.
Season 13 for American Horror Story doesn't need to be written---they can just take it right from the headlines. Add some good looking actors and it will be "killer"!
The question that comes to mind is what else Trump wants to signal his cult. He has already given them permission to do so much; in fact he leads by example as he did with his "MAY THEY ROT IN HELL" Christmas(?) message. They, and in this case we know perfectly well there is a "they", are out there getting ready for the "storm". Just listen to FBI Director Wray; every year he has testified to Congress, and each year he says it's worse than ever.
It seems Thom's situation proves that. All we can do is make sure we lend our support to people being threatened and watch out for each other as best we can.
Let's turn Trump into the biggest loser of all time---he already started the process for us in 2020. I'd love an encore with much bigger numbers. Let's see who ends-up in a nice cold cell. Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes already have theirs.
All this fascistic violence because a Black man was president for 8 years and majorities got so scared that they glommed on to an escapee from the Manhattan Lunatic Asylum on 5th Avenue next to Tiffany's aka Trump Tower.
How many of our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and relatives have a secret desire to see violence or for liberals to be "owned" and harassed, as long as they are not attacked or face repercussions? How many will listen to us? Immense pressure must be brought to bear on mainstream media to stop "both-sidesing" everything, repeating Republican and conservative talking points, and normalizing violent and extreme rhetoric. Everyone whose family has been split into opposing factions by the non-stop Fox Noise lies should be filing suit against Fox for alienation of affection or whatever else is possible as a cause of action for how they have maliciously brainwashed their victims. Big money on the left and from the middle should be directed to fighting right-wing propaganda, especially on social media and in commercial media. Millions of letters to editors need to be published articulating the danger from violence and the inevitability that few will escape injury or death under this kind of fascism.
We’ve succumbed, as a nation, to the Limbaugh/ Kardashian syndrome, our reptile brains titillated by the confluence of hatred of the “other” and vapid celebrity worship.
"As a nation" is a pretty broad generalization. There are the 6 million people, you and I included, who follow Thom, so thankfully all is not lost, yet. The things you refer to relate to and reflect the influence of the media. I always go back to Postman's book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death". But, as I harp on incessantly, the media we have could not exist without naive, ignorant, and badly miseducated citizens willing to subject themselves to propaganda, mythology, lies, and "vapid celebrity worship". It's the traditional public schools, 'stupid'. Postman wrote another book titled, "The End of Education". I haven't read that one but I suspect I know what he said. Authoritarian bureaucracies cannot possibly turn out well-rounded, critical thinking, autonomous, skilled and knowledgeable, educated people. If we took the gun away from the heads of children, they might have the ability to focus, and their inborn desire to learn and create new knowledge might blossom, overnight. But guns are still our thing, and even the liberal/progressives are brainwashed into believing that coercion and intimidation are somehow okay when dealing with kids. End of lecture. Who has the guts to face reality and swim against the tide? You, maybe?
I try to swim against the tide, Robert. As a life-long pacifist and devout atheist, I have nonetheless considered that should the worst occur, and Trump regains the WH, I will do my best to water the tree of Liberty with my figurative (and perhaps literal) blood as a true patriot against abject tyranny. I will fight for my nieces and nephews - I have no children - and for the students in my care. It is their future I fight for. As I close in on retirement, the prospect of this great country being handed over to the authoritarians and oligarchs is repugnant. I will fight the dying of the light. Who stands with me?
Again, I must reference Tom Morello's Rage Against the Machine Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Speech. He said when they started, someone said that their music made the person "want to fight". I take that as physical fighting. In his speech, he also talks about ordinary people changing the world.
Before the next election, I want to fight (not physically) to save what we have. After the next election, I might have to be ready to fight (physically) to get back to what we once had.