“In autocracies, ruling parties become personal tools of the leader, and loyalty to the head of state, rather than expertise, is the most prized political quality,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote last year in the Los Angeles Times. Trump’s speech speech Saturday night at CPAC changed everything.
Yes, take all of this very seriously. tRump may seem like a bafoon but he is dangerous, propelled by the 70 million who believe in him and his dangerous dumbfuckery. With Florida turning into a fascist state and trump the supposed likely rebup presidential candidate we have much work to do. While de satan and tRump rant on with their fascist dehumanizing diatribes about everyone that isn’t a white Christo nationalist, we have to pull our resources together and outsmart them, which shouldn’t be hard. But they are well versed on creeping fascism. So stay alert
I retain some small measure of solace in the fact that their number is reduced by actual people who think and have abandoned the party and the higher COVID deaths from their science denial... but agree, they still pose a threat BECAUSE of the corporate $$$ support... which is also the bailiwick of the Democratic Party. So ... who’s going to address Citizens United? Nobody.
Karen, capitalizing the R in his name is not going to do anything to hurt him. (In fact, I think messing with names deflates any argument a critic makes.) And the human derriere does not deserve to be conflated with one of the worst H. sapiens on the planet. It evolved so that we could run, along with the nuchal ligament that keeps our heads steady when we run, the Achilles tendon, and relative hairlessness of the body. H. sapiens are the only primates that run, and the only primates that have buttocks. Somewhere in the course of evolution, the derriere became a secondary sex characteristic--and to some of us, a very attractive one.
I will have to check his information out. I used to be a runner and absolutely loved running. I ran many half marathons and ran the Dublin Marathon in 1998. Unfortunately my knees get very angry if I run now. I miss being able to run so much I often have dreams that I’m running.
I'm so sorry to hear you had to give it up. I was always a bicyclist, but took up running at age 40. I did have trouble with my knees in my 20s, and would sometimes dream that I was cycling up mountains, which felt in the dreams, and to a lesser extent in real life, like flying. I got rid of those knee problems by bicycling gently for moderately long distances.
I did not run, though, because I was afraid I'd give myself knee problems again. However, in my late 30s, I was at a conference where, one evening, the booze was flowing. I had so much, I realized I was likely to toss my cookies, so late that evening, I figured I'd try to walk it off. At some point, I took off running--not far, but it was enough. The next morning, I had quite the hangover, but my right knee, which had ached for much of my 30s, felt fine. And 30 years later, running most days (now with my dog) it still feels fine. I've never run more than 5 miles, I think. Had I run at a younger age, I probably would have done marathons, and maybe even ultra marathons. But taking it up when I did, I didn't want to risk losing it.
In any case, if you're interested in an article I wrote about dealing with my knees, email me at supernova1@aol.com, and I'll email it to you. (I doubt it's online--it was published around 40 years ago.)
I did a lot of cycling both while I was running and after I stopped. Both mountain and road biking. Much easier on the knees, but unfortunately the damage was already done. My left knee is bone on bone and a knee replacement has been recommended more than once. Ugh! I have resisted so far. I would love to read your article so I will email you. Maybe I can still save my right knee.
I think he was saying that the Rump is more complex, and deserves more respect than I was giving it by referring to the orange madman as tRump. Along with additional information about it’s role in our evolution.
Rattlesnakes deserve respect. Unfortunately, they didn't get any for nearly 350 years post the Mayflower, and so they're gone from Vermont and most of the rest of New England.
I suggest the book Landscape With Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World, by Thomas Palmer. Very briefly, the book is a series of New Yorker quality essays about rattlesnakes.
The purpose of the rattle is to warn. Rattlesnakes don't want to bite--producing venom is expensive. Interestingly, there's an African American folktale, How The Snake Got His Rattle, which conveys an understanding of why the rattle evolved. The rattlesnake is the only snake that evolved a rattle.
In the folktale, the snake goes to God to get a solution for the problem of being stepped on all the time. God gives the snake the poison. Pretty soon, the snake is killing a lot of the other animals, and finally, one of the survivors prevails on someone to take the snake up to God and fix the problem. God, who loves his cigars, which annoy Mrs. God, comes up with the idea of the rattle, and that solves the problem. It's quite a fun folktale.
'We just announced our plan to retake the House on Maddow: We’re focusing on The Unrepresentatives – the 18 Republicans from Biden 2020 districts – to expose their promotion of the MAGA agenda, hold them accountable and defeat them in 2024. Join us.'
'Right now, we are facing the interlocking catastrophes of a rigged democracy, global pandemic, unimaginable and growing wealth inequality, racial injustice, and the escalating impacts of the climate crisis. We’re fighting back. People like you are leading local Indivisible groups in every single state. Be part of history—join the Indivisible movement.'
Yowch. This was a hard post to hit the "like" button on. It's the honest, horrifying truth and the majority of us who are opposed to fascism, are going to have to work for at least a generation "until the fever burns out" (provided it does). Sadly should these misled, angry people who are longing for an authoritarian to lead them to the 'promised land', actually achieve their dream (gods forbid!) they will be deeply disappointed to find that nothing will really change for them. They will still be powerless, poor, sick and voiceless. There might be staged bread and circuses; violence and cruelty to those that they hate, but they will not be better off.
They will be far worse off than they can possibly imagine - without any impeding authority to stop them, the idiots in the current Republican party will destroy the federal government's ability to govern. But then who will send out the checks so many of them depend on, who will be able to live when Social Security and Medicare disappear or are cut to the point that they help no one. And eventually they will even come for the oligarchs and business leaders who support and fund them now, because that is what the fascists always do in the end, to secure their power..... We are currently the most powerful and financially successful nation in human history. We may have earned it back then, but we can also lose it now, all of it, if we become what the Republicans and their angry and regrettably ignorant followers want us to become.....sic transit gloria mundi.....
"...work for at least a generation "until the fever burns out" (provided it does)." That's the question/concern - does the fever ever burn out? Seems like it just raises its ugly head once a generation, but getting worse each turn.
A very significant portion of the MAGA crowd are older white non-college educated men. They are dying out - in 20 years, most of them will likely be gone. Yes, there are more younger bigots and very conservative people out there, but far fewer in number than are in the older groups. One reason is that many of the older far-right people were raised in segregated circumstances, and often saw members of minority groups infrequently. Advertising was "monochromatic" (only white actors), many people had no contact with "other" people. I myself, growing up on Long Island, did not see a black person in person until I was bused to a different high school (my school district did not have a high school then). But now, what do the younger people see in advertising - gay couples, interracial couples so common it's no longer a "thing", older people, people with disabilities - business has seen the writing on the wall and they do not want to be found "wanting"..... If we can get through the next difficult 10-15 years, we will make it just fine.
I think That Whiney Orange Loser Kid is probably a slow and poor reader who struggles at comprehension but persists with stubborn determination when he sets himself a task or target. It seems likely that some time ago he swapped out his nightstand book of Adolf Hitler's speeches for one of Benito Mussolini's. Not one for forming original ideas, preferring to mimic the methods developed by others in almost every endeavor, despite those predecessors' usually inglorious endings? Scammer, gangster, fraudster, fascist, would-be dictator. He has ridden his luck a very long time now, but is beginning to look a little gaunt and sounding tired. Not sleeping well?
I've experienced this over the recent years. Purely age, or stress? For myself the causes were my cancer diagnosis and the two years of treatment followed by my sister's seizure, hospitalisation, and her loss of decades of memory. This was while parts of my small country was going in and out of Covid lockdowns and the antivax disinformation contagion spread via social media. My brain would just not shut up and let the subconscious do its job. Instead dragging my thoughts around and around in repeating circles of gloom.
My solution was start a project and physically exhaust my body each day that I could. I built in my back yard a retaining wall 5 feet high by 50 feet long, with 9 yards of drainage metal behind it that I moved there using a bucket and a shovel. Took me months to complete, as I wouldn't put in a full day of effort and had plenty of recovery days. However, I usually fell into bed exhausted and slept like a baby. I had something challenging to distract my thoughts (my design of the wall and drainage system, its compliance, and completing it to specifications). There was also the pleasure of seeing something come to be that one has crafted and created from your own work. It feels absolutely wonderful to stand back at the end and think "I made that." Then "Never again."
I now have a 20' by 26' shed on the flat space created, and in it are the materials which were delivered this week for the 115' long timber fence I'll be erecting over the coming weeks. I need some better sleep again.
Oh, we can hope...but I will still do all that I can to aid the cause of democracy in this country. Postcards, phone-banking sending as much or more dinero than I can afford...writing letters. Whatever it takes.
In her first book on her uncle, Mary Trump talks about his " as yet undiagnosed learning disability". It seems to me he has a problem processing and integrating factual information which is why everything has to go through the lens of his immediate feeling about someone or something. People and entire countries are " friends or foes"; he is both " victim and warrior saviour". He depends on his "victim framework" to steer his so-called "action plan". More impulse than ideology. He depends on the brains of the likes of Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon for the words. Unlike De Santis who actually works out of an integrated ideological base but whose ambition is quickly overriding everything, leading to more and more bizarre political stunts and posturing.
Both are incredibly dangerous, and destructively charismatic and both have big money followers. Living with either of them would be like living with a hyperactive dry drunk. I picture both of them like the character Pigpen in the Charlie Brown comic......"human soilbanks who raise a cloud of dust" wherever they walk. Their blinding clouds of chaos and retribution must be what their many followers prefer, not realizing that the punishment to come will be on their own backs.
Billy Wilder saw through the clouds to the other side in time to save himself. I hope enough of us can "see to the other side" long enough to keep the pigpens from taking over.
According to someone who worked on "Celebrity Apprentice", Trump is severely dyslexic and has trouble reading, which is why he does mostly talking and listening. The seems to be the main reason he doesn't read much.....
I heard Bernie Sanders being interviewed on NPR yesterday. He nailed it when he said that large swathes of the US populace are experiencing true hardship and those who lean republican and watch FOX (and other rightwing media sources) keep hearing that it is Democracy that is causing their misery. So they are led to believe that a more authoritarian government is the answer to their woes.
“This is the final battle,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday. “They know it, I know it, you know it, everybody knows it.”
'IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE - AND THEN A LOT WORSE,' wrote TC.
'Planning is already underway for 2025 should Mr. Trump win the White House again. Advisers have discussed reimposing a Trump-era executive order, known as Schedule F, that would give the president vast power to replace what have traditionally been civil service workers embedded across the federal bureaucracy.’
“I will totally obliterate the deep state,” he said, “I will fire …” he went on, before being interrupted by applause and “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” chants. “I will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system like it has never been weaponized before.”
' IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE - AND THEN A LOT WORSE. '
“This is the final battle,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday. “They know it, I know it, you know it, everybody knows it.”
"That's the last four years. We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn't really an upside to Trump." — Tucker Carlson on January 4, 2021
Trump probably wishes he'd come up with the book banning that DeSantis is engaging in because it's easy red meat for the hungry ignorant. Banning and burning are not subtle, but the ease with which it's being accepted is the most alarming action yet. Move "Farenheit 451" to the top of all the streaming queues.
The Nobel winning author Thomas Mann was forced out of Germany, came to the US and warned the Germans about the rise of Hitler and his dictatorship. He made radio broadcasts ("Wake Up, Germany") that went overseas to Germany. I read the collected broadcasts when Trump was running in 2016 and found the parallels chilling even then just based on Trump's rhetoric. This would be a good time for the media to blitz the public with works related to the rise and control of dictators, with special emphasis on how they betray their supporters, as they inevitably do. (I'm glad I am old, but I weep for my children and grandchildren.)
Good for them because there must be vigorous pushback. If not, all those little lending library boxes that have popped up around our town will just be standing invitations for the winger stormtroopers in their jackboots to break down people's doors, and more insidiously to invite enemies to plant banned books in them for the stormtroopers to find.
Does the Democratic Party leadership have a strategic plan on how to reach enough of these 71 million voters for the presidential electoral college? If anyone’s seen this, would you please share it here?
I’m reminded of the Edmund Burke quote, “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
I’ve written voter postcards & legislator letters,made political contributions, & been a poll worker. This morning those all feel like feeble efforts against a storm that’s about power for only a few in our society.
I’m reflecting on how & where I can become more involved. In May, my husband & I are moving to Bayonne, NJ. I’ll be 30 minutes from Manhattan.I’m looking for an organization there that I can become an active part of on a regular basis.
'We just announced our plan to retake the House on Maddow: We’re focusing on The Unrepresentatives – the 18 Republicans from Biden 2020 districts – to expose their promotion of the MAGA agenda, hold them accountable and defeat them in 2024. Join us.'
'Right now, we are facing the interlocking catastrophes of a rigged democracy, global pandemic, unimaginable and growing wealth inequality, racial injustice, and the escalating impacts of the climate crisis. We’re fighting back. People like you are leading local Indivisible groups in every single state. Be part of history—join the Indivisible movement.'
The 18 could have opted to be productive and bipartisan - they have chosen not to on the really important things. Next year they will pay the price. The trick now is to get the Republicans in Congress (not difficult) to brag about what they plan to do - get the video clips, the audio samples, and use them to scare the bejeebus out of any voters who have not yet drunk the MAGA Kool-Aid.....
There is a great scene in "The Big Short" where Mark Baum has been talking to dishonest mortgage brokers who are selling $700,000 homes to people with no savings and no income, and then selling the DOA mortgages as prime investment instruments (as CDOs) to other investors. He wonders why the brokers are openly confessing their illegal and unethical deeds, and one of his colleagues says, "They aren't confessing - they're bragging....." Get them that way - it will be so easy.
Could they have opted to be productive and bipartisan...I don't think so, Bruce. How many of the 18 have swallowed the poison of lying? Trump showed them how seductive it is to own 'the people.'. How can they give that up? They believe their lies as Trump does and too many of the American people do, too.
Fern, I mentioned that because these 18 were elected from districts Joe Biden won in 2020, so they are swing districts, certainly competitive. One would think they would be aware that if they went off the rails, there would be a political price to pay since those districts are not MAGA country. They chose the Norfolk Southern route - off the rails indeed.....
I am currently reading The Hiding Place, by Corrie TenBoom (published in 1971). For those of you who never heard of this book, it is the author's story of her experience in the Netherlands during Hitler's rise to power and then throughout WW2. I see so many similarities between what is happening in America now and what happened then and it is scaring the bejeezus out of me.
I’ll admit. I thought the maga morons would dissipate and the Republican Party would see that people are not buying what they’re selling and ease back to Reaganism, which I am vehemently against, but the Republic would not be in danger...0r so I thought.
It's already happening in Florida, under DEESantis. The Legislature is made up of crazies in the majority, and the bills working their way through are going to be disastrous for our state. If you want to see what a DEESantis presidency will look like with Republican majorities in Congress, look at what's going on in Florida right now. It is getting grim here, very fast.
From whence he can still run for office. Eugene Debs got 1,000,000 votes in 1920 while in solitary in the Atlanta Federal Prison for his antiwar activities.
So anyone know who wrote the speech Trump wheezed out Saturday night? Stephen Miller? You are totally correct in everything you wrote about Trumpism/MAGA. It's absolutely terrifying shit.
TC, you are absolutely correct in everything in this. It is time to stop chuckling about the "Clown Car" (I've done my share). They are deadly serious about doing deadly things (MTG has real guns and will use them---it's not just "talk"). Thanks for pulling out the stops and shouting from the rooftop---time to listen and go on high alert! (PS Thanks TC for that wonderful post about the trip to see your friends the model builders and the visit to the hobby shop---we have one in a near by town----stacks of car kits, plane kits of all types, trains, and much more all on shelves on the wall. How much longer, however, who knows. **** BY THE WAY---don't just patronize the local stores for that "special" model or book; if you don't buy the ordinary everyday things, they'll go out of business An Ace Hardware store opened here, but closed after about a year. The old-fashioned downtown Hardware Store still exists, with creaking wooden floors, A wall full of slide out bins with all manner of screws, washers, etc. to take individually and put in a little paper bag, Jandorff trays with all sorts of special fasteners, etc etc ---and an owner who knows the solutions. I never bought a thing in that Ace store. Sorry they lost their investment, but..... Unfortunately Walmart is here, Aldi just opened, and downtown stores are fewer. So it goes as small towns in America get hollowed out and all the money leaves town and goes to Jeff Bezos, et al, so that they can do whatever they do........)
Powerful piece. A must keep, so two observations as reminders to myself. First, everything you pointed out about the anger and hatred and warned about the clowns driving the car (party) off the cliff makes this CPAC another reveling of a truth about the party, what they are and will do. It pivoted after 9/11 to bec9me defender against the evil they knew to be and came to fear being pushed toward the cliff and sought someone who spoke their fears, prejudices, crudities, and would say what they couldn't in public. They sought a bully and got a good one, rude and unstoppable. Now, they want a like bully (authoritarian) who dresses better and talks code for their grievances, while remaining true to them. In a word, they can move on from Trump, the man, but only pivot to the words and weapons owned by their next leader. It will be a decade before the leadership will sound refined and mask intents in generous sounding policies. Second, I recall Mr Biden stressing that the nation is at an infliction point (in campaigns, SOUA, etc) and is reminding us that there is much left to be done that builds upon the first two years. I believe Mr Biden knows well that his presidency is the starting point and that regaining the momentum for our democracy and societal recovery cannot be achieved in the first real or pilot for a long running hit. As an octogenarian, one thing you learn is don't stand up, turn quickly, and not expect to be disappointed in the resulting fantasy of the quick start being the same thins as winning the race.
Yes, take all of this very seriously. tRump may seem like a bafoon but he is dangerous, propelled by the 70 million who believe in him and his dangerous dumbfuckery. With Florida turning into a fascist state and trump the supposed likely rebup presidential candidate we have much work to do. While de satan and tRump rant on with their fascist dehumanizing diatribes about everyone that isn’t a white Christo nationalist, we have to pull our resources together and outsmart them, which shouldn’t be hard. But they are well versed on creeping fascism. So stay alert
I retain some small measure of solace in the fact that their number is reduced by actual people who think and have abandoned the party and the higher COVID deaths from their science denial... but agree, they still pose a threat BECAUSE of the corporate $$$ support... which is also the bailiwick of the Democratic Party. So ... who’s going to address Citizens United? Nobody.
Karen, capitalizing the R in his name is not going to do anything to hurt him. (In fact, I think messing with names deflates any argument a critic makes.) And the human derriere does not deserve to be conflated with one of the worst H. sapiens on the planet. It evolved so that we could run, along with the nuchal ligament that keeps our heads steady when we run, the Achilles tendon, and relative hairlessness of the body. H. sapiens are the only primates that run, and the only primates that have buttocks. Somewhere in the course of evolution, the derriere became a secondary sex characteristic--and to some of us, a very attractive one.
I suppose you’re right David. Great perspective.
Daniel Lieberman at Harvard is responsible for the understanding of the evolution of running in humans.
I will have to check his information out. I used to be a runner and absolutely loved running. I ran many half marathons and ran the Dublin Marathon in 1998. Unfortunately my knees get very angry if I run now. I miss being able to run so much I often have dreams that I’m running.
I'm so sorry to hear you had to give it up. I was always a bicyclist, but took up running at age 40. I did have trouble with my knees in my 20s, and would sometimes dream that I was cycling up mountains, which felt in the dreams, and to a lesser extent in real life, like flying. I got rid of those knee problems by bicycling gently for moderately long distances.
I did not run, though, because I was afraid I'd give myself knee problems again. However, in my late 30s, I was at a conference where, one evening, the booze was flowing. I had so much, I realized I was likely to toss my cookies, so late that evening, I figured I'd try to walk it off. At some point, I took off running--not far, but it was enough. The next morning, I had quite the hangover, but my right knee, which had ached for much of my 30s, felt fine. And 30 years later, running most days (now with my dog) it still feels fine. I've never run more than 5 miles, I think. Had I run at a younger age, I probably would have done marathons, and maybe even ultra marathons. But taking it up when I did, I didn't want to risk losing it.
In any case, if you're interested in an article I wrote about dealing with my knees, email me at supernova1@aol.com, and I'll email it to you. (I doubt it's online--it was published around 40 years ago.)
I did a lot of cycling both while I was running and after I stopped. Both mountain and road biking. Much easier on the knees, but unfortunately the damage was already done. My left knee is bone on bone and a knee replacement has been recommended more than once. Ugh! I have resisted so far. I would love to read your article so I will email you. Maybe I can still save my right knee.
If you understood the purpose of what David said you are smarter than I am💥
I think he was saying that the Rump is more complex, and deserves more respect than I was giving it by referring to the orange madman as tRump. Along with additional information about it’s role in our evolution.
He deserves respect like a rattlesnake on a trail does. But I would not want the rattlesnake to die but……
Rattlesnakes deserve respect. Unfortunately, they didn't get any for nearly 350 years post the Mayflower, and so they're gone from Vermont and most of the rest of New England.
I suggest the book Landscape With Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World, by Thomas Palmer. Very briefly, the book is a series of New Yorker quality essays about rattlesnakes.
The purpose of the rattle is to warn. Rattlesnakes don't want to bite--producing venom is expensive. Interestingly, there's an African American folktale, How The Snake Got His Rattle, which conveys an understanding of why the rattle evolved. The rattlesnake is the only snake that evolved a rattle.
In the folktale, the snake goes to God to get a solution for the problem of being stepped on all the time. God gives the snake the poison. Pretty soon, the snake is killing a lot of the other animals, and finally, one of the survivors prevails on someone to take the snake up to God and fix the problem. God, who loves his cigars, which annoy Mrs. God, comes up with the idea of the rattle, and that solves the problem. It's quite a fun folktale.
Thank you Karen.
INDIVISIBLE!
'We have a plan to flip the House.'
'We just announced our plan to retake the House on Maddow: We’re focusing on The Unrepresentatives – the 18 Republicans from Biden 2020 districts – to expose their promotion of the MAGA agenda, hold them accountable and defeat them in 2024. Join us.'
https://www.indivisible.org/
'DEFEAT MAGA. SAVE DEMOCRACY.'
'Right now, we are facing the interlocking catastrophes of a rigged democracy, global pandemic, unimaginable and growing wealth inequality, racial injustice, and the escalating impacts of the climate crisis. We’re fighting back. People like you are leading local Indivisible groups in every single state. Be part of history—join the Indivisible movement.'
https://www.indivisible.org/
Thanks Fern. And don't forget check my ads https://www.npr.org/2022/06/09/1103690822/group-aiming-to-defund-disinformation-tries-to-drain-fox-news-of-online-advertis
I just sent my first letter for Check My Ads!
Yowch. This was a hard post to hit the "like" button on. It's the honest, horrifying truth and the majority of us who are opposed to fascism, are going to have to work for at least a generation "until the fever burns out" (provided it does). Sadly should these misled, angry people who are longing for an authoritarian to lead them to the 'promised land', actually achieve their dream (gods forbid!) they will be deeply disappointed to find that nothing will really change for them. They will still be powerless, poor, sick and voiceless. There might be staged bread and circuses; violence and cruelty to those that they hate, but they will not be better off.
They will be far worse off than they can possibly imagine - without any impeding authority to stop them, the idiots in the current Republican party will destroy the federal government's ability to govern. But then who will send out the checks so many of them depend on, who will be able to live when Social Security and Medicare disappear or are cut to the point that they help no one. And eventually they will even come for the oligarchs and business leaders who support and fund them now, because that is what the fascists always do in the end, to secure their power..... We are currently the most powerful and financially successful nation in human history. We may have earned it back then, but we can also lose it now, all of it, if we become what the Republicans and their angry and regrettably ignorant followers want us to become.....sic transit gloria mundi.....
That is such a good point, T L. Indeed, for their fervent loyalty they will get...nothing. Only betrayal.
Guess we can be their retribution
They will be screwed !
"...work for at least a generation "until the fever burns out" (provided it does)." That's the question/concern - does the fever ever burn out? Seems like it just raises its ugly head once a generation, but getting worse each turn.
A very significant portion of the MAGA crowd are older white non-college educated men. They are dying out - in 20 years, most of them will likely be gone. Yes, there are more younger bigots and very conservative people out there, but far fewer in number than are in the older groups. One reason is that many of the older far-right people were raised in segregated circumstances, and often saw members of minority groups infrequently. Advertising was "monochromatic" (only white actors), many people had no contact with "other" people. I myself, growing up on Long Island, did not see a black person in person until I was bused to a different high school (my school district did not have a high school then). But now, what do the younger people see in advertising - gay couples, interracial couples so common it's no longer a "thing", older people, people with disabilities - business has seen the writing on the wall and they do not want to be found "wanting"..... If we can get through the next difficult 10-15 years, we will make it just fine.
all very good points. the world we grew up in, a completely WHITE one, is not going to return. and that's a good thing all around.
WW2 lasted 6 years
But they will convince themselves they are. Facts are optional with these people. It’s what you believe that counts.
I think That Whiney Orange Loser Kid is probably a slow and poor reader who struggles at comprehension but persists with stubborn determination when he sets himself a task or target. It seems likely that some time ago he swapped out his nightstand book of Adolf Hitler's speeches for one of Benito Mussolini's. Not one for forming original ideas, preferring to mimic the methods developed by others in almost every endeavor, despite those predecessors' usually inglorious endings? Scammer, gangster, fraudster, fascist, would-be dictator. He has ridden his luck a very long time now, but is beginning to look a little gaunt and sounding tired. Not sleeping well?
You get to a certain age, "not sleeping well" becomes an Occupational Hazard, regardless of your mental and moral state. Ask me how I know. :-)
I've experienced this over the recent years. Purely age, or stress? For myself the causes were my cancer diagnosis and the two years of treatment followed by my sister's seizure, hospitalisation, and her loss of decades of memory. This was while parts of my small country was going in and out of Covid lockdowns and the antivax disinformation contagion spread via social media. My brain would just not shut up and let the subconscious do its job. Instead dragging my thoughts around and around in repeating circles of gloom.
My solution was start a project and physically exhaust my body each day that I could. I built in my back yard a retaining wall 5 feet high by 50 feet long, with 9 yards of drainage metal behind it that I moved there using a bucket and a shovel. Took me months to complete, as I wouldn't put in a full day of effort and had plenty of recovery days. However, I usually fell into bed exhausted and slept like a baby. I had something challenging to distract my thoughts (my design of the wall and drainage system, its compliance, and completing it to specifications). There was also the pleasure of seeing something come to be that one has crafted and created from your own work. It feels absolutely wonderful to stand back at the end and think "I made that." Then "Never again."
Before https://photos.app.goo.gl/YNkcsXBXY1Awqf669
After https://photos.app.goo.gl/Epek8La6nrkUPZWj9
I now have a 20' by 26' shed on the flat space created, and in it are the materials which were delivered this week for the 115' long timber fence I'll be erecting over the coming weeks. I need some better sleep again.
That's quite a project!
Substacks are good at helping my brain switch tracks
That's impressive.
Hahaha, ask me at 3am
Oh, we can hope...but I will still do all that I can to aid the cause of democracy in this country. Postcards, phone-banking sending as much or more dinero than I can afford...writing letters. Whatever it takes.
In her first book on her uncle, Mary Trump talks about his " as yet undiagnosed learning disability". It seems to me he has a problem processing and integrating factual information which is why everything has to go through the lens of his immediate feeling about someone or something. People and entire countries are " friends or foes"; he is both " victim and warrior saviour". He depends on his "victim framework" to steer his so-called "action plan". More impulse than ideology. He depends on the brains of the likes of Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon for the words. Unlike De Santis who actually works out of an integrated ideological base but whose ambition is quickly overriding everything, leading to more and more bizarre political stunts and posturing.
Both are incredibly dangerous, and destructively charismatic and both have big money followers. Living with either of them would be like living with a hyperactive dry drunk. I picture both of them like the character Pigpen in the Charlie Brown comic......"human soilbanks who raise a cloud of dust" wherever they walk. Their blinding clouds of chaos and retribution must be what their many followers prefer, not realizing that the punishment to come will be on their own backs.
Billy Wilder saw through the clouds to the other side in time to save himself. I hope enough of us can "see to the other side" long enough to keep the pigpens from taking over.
I think I saw through the clouds
According to someone who worked on "Celebrity Apprentice", Trump is severely dyslexic and has trouble reading, which is why he does mostly talking and listening. The seems to be the main reason he doesn't read much.....
I know a man who has this problem, but he is not a narcissistic bastard. Chump has dual, triple, or quadruple diagnoses, in my opinion
Must be an audio book because I am sure he can not read!
I heard Bernie Sanders being interviewed on NPR yesterday. He nailed it when he said that large swathes of the US populace are experiencing true hardship and those who lean republican and watch FOX (and other rightwing media sources) keep hearing that it is Democracy that is causing their misery. So they are led to believe that a more authoritarian government is the answer to their woes.
Sad, isn’t it? When, in fact, it’s unregulated capitalism that is destroying them and their opportunities.
And, by a strange quirk of fate, the very institutions that are telling them this are devoted to: unregulated capitalism. Funny how that works. 🤯
Not funny ... but yes, by design... same as Fox lies ...
“This is the final battle,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday. “They know it, I know it, you know it, everybody knows it.”
'IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE - AND THEN A LOT WORSE,' wrote TC.
'Planning is already underway for 2025 should Mr. Trump win the White House again. Advisers have discussed reimposing a Trump-era executive order, known as Schedule F, that would give the president vast power to replace what have traditionally been civil service workers embedded across the federal bureaucracy.’
“I will totally obliterate the deep state,” he said, “I will fire …” he went on, before being interrupted by applause and “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” chants. “I will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system like it has never been weaponized before.”
' IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE - AND THEN A LOT WORSE. '
“This is the final battle,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday. “They know it, I know it, you know it, everybody knows it.”
I'm terrified but I will do everything I can....
That’s who the son of a bitch is alright
"That's the last four years. We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn't really an upside to Trump." — Tucker Carlson on January 4, 2021
Don’t like but must consider
Trump probably wishes he'd come up with the book banning that DeSantis is engaging in because it's easy red meat for the hungry ignorant. Banning and burning are not subtle, but the ease with which it's being accepted is the most alarming action yet. Move "Farenheit 451" to the top of all the streaming queues.
The Nobel winning author Thomas Mann was forced out of Germany, came to the US and warned the Germans about the rise of Hitler and his dictatorship. He made radio broadcasts ("Wake Up, Germany") that went overseas to Germany. I read the collected broadcasts when Trump was running in 2016 and found the parallels chilling even then just based on Trump's rhetoric. This would be a good time for the media to blitz the public with works related to the rise and control of dictators, with special emphasis on how they betray their supporters, as they inevitably do. (I'm glad I am old, but I weep for my children and grandchildren.)
Speaking of “ Fahrenheit 451”, one local teacher is “ royally pissing people off”.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2022/09/06/banned-book-drive-becomes-nonprofit-florida/8002113001/
Good for them because there must be vigorous pushback. If not, all those little lending library boxes that have popped up around our town will just be standing invitations for the winger stormtroopers in their jackboots to break down people's doors, and more insidiously to invite enemies to plant banned books in them for the stormtroopers to find.
Sigh... me too 😞
THIS is the article that got me to finally pay up. I couldn't agree more and it scares the bejezzus out of me.
Thank you very much, Pat. Welcome aboard and I look for more posts.
Welcome, Pat Malone. Hope you will enjoy the comments---and post some.
Does the Democratic Party leadership have a strategic plan on how to reach enough of these 71 million voters for the presidential electoral college? If anyone’s seen this, would you please share it here?
I’m reminded of the Edmund Burke quote, “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
I’ve written voter postcards & legislator letters,made political contributions, & been a poll worker. This morning those all feel like feeble efforts against a storm that’s about power for only a few in our society.
I’m reflecting on how & where I can become more involved. In May, my husband & I are moving to Bayonne, NJ. I’ll be 30 minutes from Manhattan.I’m looking for an organization there that I can become an active part of on a regular basis.
Check in with Indivisible.
INDIVISIBLE!
'We have a plan to flip the House.'
'We just announced our plan to retake the House on Maddow: We’re focusing on The Unrepresentatives – the 18 Republicans from Biden 2020 districts – to expose their promotion of the MAGA agenda, hold them accountable and defeat them in 2024. Join us.'
https://www.indivisible.org/
'DEFEAT MAGA. SAVE DEMOCRACY.'
'Right now, we are facing the interlocking catastrophes of a rigged democracy, global pandemic, unimaginable and growing wealth inequality, racial injustice, and the escalating impacts of the climate crisis. We’re fighting back. People like you are leading local Indivisible groups in every single state. Be part of history—join the Indivisible movement.'
https://www.indivisible.org/
This is a really good plan they have come up with.
The 18 could have opted to be productive and bipartisan - they have chosen not to on the really important things. Next year they will pay the price. The trick now is to get the Republicans in Congress (not difficult) to brag about what they plan to do - get the video clips, the audio samples, and use them to scare the bejeebus out of any voters who have not yet drunk the MAGA Kool-Aid.....
There is a great scene in "The Big Short" where Mark Baum has been talking to dishonest mortgage brokers who are selling $700,000 homes to people with no savings and no income, and then selling the DOA mortgages as prime investment instruments (as CDOs) to other investors. He wonders why the brokers are openly confessing their illegal and unethical deeds, and one of his colleagues says, "They aren't confessing - they're bragging....." Get them that way - it will be so easy.
Could they have opted to be productive and bipartisan...I don't think so, Bruce. How many of the 18 have swallowed the poison of lying? Trump showed them how seductive it is to own 'the people.'. How can they give that up? They believe their lies as Trump does and too many of the American people do, too.
Fern, I mentioned that because these 18 were elected from districts Joe Biden won in 2020, so they are swing districts, certainly competitive. One would think they would be aware that if they went off the rails, there would be a political price to pay since those districts are not MAGA country. They chose the Norfolk Southern route - off the rails indeed.....
THANK YOU for the reminder!
I am currently reading The Hiding Place, by Corrie TenBoom (published in 1971). For those of you who never heard of this book, it is the author's story of her experience in the Netherlands during Hitler's rise to power and then throughout WW2. I see so many similarities between what is happening in America now and what happened then and it is scaring the bejeezus out of me.
Trump is not Nemesis - he is Thanatos, god of death, or.....
And behold a pale horse, and the one who was on him was Death and Hell followed behind.....
I’ll admit. I thought the maga morons would dissipate and the Republican Party would see that people are not buying what they’re selling and ease back to Reaganism, which I am vehemently against, but the Republic would not be in danger...0r so I thought.
Boy, was I wrong.
You, President Biden, the rest of us. I didn't think it would be that easy, but I sure wanted to be proven wrong.
It's already happening in Florida, under DEESantis. The Legislature is made up of crazies in the majority, and the bills working their way through are going to be disastrous for our state. If you want to see what a DEESantis presidency will look like with Republican majorities in Congress, look at what's going on in Florida right now. It is getting grim here, very fast.
I'm really terrified of this virus of a man... holding my breath for an indictment...
I'm with you. Time to send him to prison.
And yet when I even see deNazi I really get sick...
Yes, It was terrifying when he said “ You ain’t seen nothing yet” in his State of the Fascist State address. Standing strong with you in Fl..
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From whence he can still run for office. Eugene Debs got 1,000,000 votes in 1920 while in solitary in the Atlanta Federal Prison for his antiwar activities.
Lordy
😡😡😡
So anyone know who wrote the speech Trump wheezed out Saturday night? Stephen Miller? You are totally correct in everything you wrote about Trumpism/MAGA. It's absolutely terrifying shit.
TC, you are absolutely correct in everything in this. It is time to stop chuckling about the "Clown Car" (I've done my share). They are deadly serious about doing deadly things (MTG has real guns and will use them---it's not just "talk"). Thanks for pulling out the stops and shouting from the rooftop---time to listen and go on high alert! (PS Thanks TC for that wonderful post about the trip to see your friends the model builders and the visit to the hobby shop---we have one in a near by town----stacks of car kits, plane kits of all types, trains, and much more all on shelves on the wall. How much longer, however, who knows. **** BY THE WAY---don't just patronize the local stores for that "special" model or book; if you don't buy the ordinary everyday things, they'll go out of business An Ace Hardware store opened here, but closed after about a year. The old-fashioned downtown Hardware Store still exists, with creaking wooden floors, A wall full of slide out bins with all manner of screws, washers, etc. to take individually and put in a little paper bag, Jandorff trays with all sorts of special fasteners, etc etc ---and an owner who knows the solutions. I never bought a thing in that Ace store. Sorry they lost their investment, but..... Unfortunately Walmart is here, Aldi just opened, and downtown stores are fewer. So it goes as small towns in America get hollowed out and all the money leaves town and goes to Jeff Bezos, et al, so that they can do whatever they do........)
Powerful piece. A must keep, so two observations as reminders to myself. First, everything you pointed out about the anger and hatred and warned about the clowns driving the car (party) off the cliff makes this CPAC another reveling of a truth about the party, what they are and will do. It pivoted after 9/11 to bec9me defender against the evil they knew to be and came to fear being pushed toward the cliff and sought someone who spoke their fears, prejudices, crudities, and would say what they couldn't in public. They sought a bully and got a good one, rude and unstoppable. Now, they want a like bully (authoritarian) who dresses better and talks code for their grievances, while remaining true to them. In a word, they can move on from Trump, the man, but only pivot to the words and weapons owned by their next leader. It will be a decade before the leadership will sound refined and mask intents in generous sounding policies. Second, I recall Mr Biden stressing that the nation is at an infliction point (in campaigns, SOUA, etc) and is reminding us that there is much left to be done that builds upon the first two years. I believe Mr Biden knows well that his presidency is the starting point and that regaining the momentum for our democracy and societal recovery cannot be achieved in the first real or pilot for a long running hit. As an octogenarian, one thing you learn is don't stand up, turn quickly, and not expect to be disappointed in the resulting fantasy of the quick start being the same thins as winning the race.
Standing up and turning quickly was the start of Jurate's slide. Note to all readers here (or most): Stand up. Check where your feet are. Turn.
Exactly. New rule here is to be sure the brakes are on before you grab the walker.