I’m copying my post from another Substack. It is up to us:
This is devastating, but didn’t surprise me. When SCOTUS refused to hear the immunity case when Jack Smith asked to bypass the Appeals court it wreaked of delay. It’s obvious there are six members of SCOTUS that are working for Leonard Leo, Harlan Crowe, Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, etc, etc etc, and not we the people. The fascist oligarchs are getting closer to complete rule. Our democracy is not lost yet if we work to get the information out and enough people vote blue like our life depends on it. Because it does.
If SCOTUS has any doubt that a president who tries to overturn an election to stay in power is engaged in prosecutable criminal activity, we are in grave danger. None of this makes sense legally, it’s pure partisan politics.
Hope springs eternal Jeri, though it keeps getting bashed in the head. I equate cynicism with surrender, so hope is the thin reed I hang onto. Admittedly, it’s getting much harder.
Been an optimistic cynic most of my life. Yep, it's been a challenge when your eyes and ears tell you one thing and so many others keep saying it ain't so...
Glad you brought Old Bill into it because he already wrote about the magas in Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, the mindless mobs angrily swaying, braying, and achieving the highest level of clunky and cacophonous groupthink. While some of us are bemused by crowds of youth achieving near ecstasy at rock and rap concerts, at least they have music--and they have youth. The magas are not that; they are now just a congealed wall, if not a force, who will glom onto the next destructionist who leaps into the breach (dog forbid even a Stephen Miller) after Trump is necessarily defeated, and of course he must be. The magas have tasted blood and desire more, making them even more easily manipulated than ever.
It will not be enough to defeat Trump, but I'm working on it, including donating to upstanding Dem candidates like Col. Eugene Vindman in Virginia and Ruben Gallego in Arizona as well as those in my own state. The magas must be made to feel the sting the Germans and Italians felt when they had to spend the rest of their lives knowing they'd once supported tyrants. Let the churchies among them forgive them as they are so into the largesse of forgiveness, but the rest of us should never let them forget that it is they who brought us to the brink of the calamitous crash I hope we can pull hard and nose up from.
Torpor or hysterical fanaticism? That seems to be the choice in Texas. God, I hate that Steve Bannon’s “flood the zone with Schitt” is a winning strategy. In Texas, if people are not MAGAts, they are quiet. Should be the other way around. What will jolt the troops. If I mention anything, people “shush” me like they are afraid of being heard. Where is the outrage???
Eloquently said, and true enough, but the phrase that just popped into my head was "There are no atheists in foxholes." Now that we -- some of us, anyway -- finally realize that democracy is under serious threat, we're all gung-ho to "save democracy." I've been around long enough to wonder "So we 'save democracy' -- then what?"
What happens to those who survive their foxholes, real or metaphorical? I bet most of them/us go back to being atheists, or agnostics, or at least putting whatever faith got them through on the way back burner. But Trump didn't come out of nowhere. Defeating him in November is only the beginning. Are we up for what comes next?
The real fight never ends. I felt long ago that repubs had “learned a lesson, now I can relax.” How wrong can one be. They just took a breather. Now it’s time for our lethargy to become indefatigable energy in the defense of our freedom.
Ha! I read R4R many decades ago, at a time where elections barely blipped on my radar. This may explain why I don't remember that particular line -- which I 100% agree with now.
Yes, what does a resurrected democracy look like? Suppurative anal fissures and/or defeat at the ballot box might take care of Donald, but his cabal and the magas will still be there.
Exactly! And it's hard to imagine. I was alive, adult, and politically savvy before Reagan got elected, and I still have a hard time. I can't really imagine a scenario where people who are wealthy and/or white and/or well connected don't control the levers of power. That includes those Democrats who are only interested in us around election time. But I'm trying!
If you think life in America is just too dreadful without other people being punished for their beliefs---
look at your toilet. You've had one all your life. Many people haven't, and some still don't. Same for the water in your faucet, which is mostly clean and won't kill you, at least right off.
look at your phone, on which you are typing your complaints. Or your public library from which you can type your complaints if you can't afford a phone.
Look at your lights and the power to charge your phone--the Rural Electrification Act was FDR and the New Deal.
The repubs offer us a trip back to a past that lacked the progress that so many worked to achieve. Nostalgic maybe, but I don’t want to chop a chicken’s head off to have supper. The MAGAts and their rich supporters don’t want to either, but they would love for the rest of us to live under their thumbs and take a trip back in time…
most of all don't want to freshen my lipstick and dress before Hubby comes home, and bring him his slippers and a drink as soon as he gets in, being sure the kids are stashed away somewhere. Actual advice from a book I was given by a local government agency when I was married in 1966.
My laugh for the day, thanks. My mother birthed eight children and worked at a hosiery mill most of her life. We younguns had to pitch in and nobody catered to a spoiled hubby. I don't ever remember my daddy missing a day of work, so no drinks and slippers from adoring women.
The Supreme Court and Florida District are totally complicit in this Conspiracy to hand our Republic over to Putin. When the Oligarchs finally understand what they’ve created, when Putin starts having them poisoned or toss out of windows, it will be too late for them, one by one, as they too will be forced to toe the party line. All Hail Emperor Vlad
the weirdest (and scariest) phrase in the Stoopid Fucks of the defenses' brief is "outer perimeter." what the fuck does that mean? obviously, they realize that they have no case, but the lawyers who keep weighing in seem to think that the decision will come down to what the "outer perimeter" of "official duties" is.
then I try to calm myself down by reminding myself that THEY HAVE NO CASE. but the "calm" lasts about two minutes, tops. this is, after all, the Trump Court.
I’m copying my post from another Substack. It is up to us:
This is devastating, but didn’t surprise me. When SCOTUS refused to hear the immunity case when Jack Smith asked to bypass the Appeals court it wreaked of delay. It’s obvious there are six members of SCOTUS that are working for Leonard Leo, Harlan Crowe, Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, etc, etc etc, and not we the people. The fascist oligarchs are getting closer to complete rule. Our democracy is not lost yet if we work to get the information out and enough people vote blue like our life depends on it. Because it does.
Bravo!
That was inspiring Tom, something I needed this evening before sleep, thank you for that. 🙏 Old Bill indeed ;-)
This is a war. We have to remember what they’ll do to us if we don’t do it to them. This Election Day it is us and them, thank you TC.
If SCOTUS has any doubt that a president who tries to overturn an election to stay in power is engaged in prosecutable criminal activity, we are in grave danger. None of this makes sense legally, it’s pure partisan politics.
But no surprise, is it
Hope springs eternal Jeri, though it keeps getting bashed in the head. I equate cynicism with surrender, so hope is the thin reed I hang onto. Admittedly, it’s getting much harder.
Been an optimistic cynic most of my life. Yep, it's been a challenge when your eyes and ears tell you one thing and so many others keep saying it ain't so...
We are IT,and the mud is getting deep.
Add that SH to the front of if
Huzzah to all those who shed their blood upon Election Day!! Preach it Brother!! Amen!
Brilliant Tom. Thanks.
Keep it coming TC. This is war and we must face the challenge.
Glad you brought Old Bill into it because he already wrote about the magas in Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, the mindless mobs angrily swaying, braying, and achieving the highest level of clunky and cacophonous groupthink. While some of us are bemused by crowds of youth achieving near ecstasy at rock and rap concerts, at least they have music--and they have youth. The magas are not that; they are now just a congealed wall, if not a force, who will glom onto the next destructionist who leaps into the breach (dog forbid even a Stephen Miller) after Trump is necessarily defeated, and of course he must be. The magas have tasted blood and desire more, making them even more easily manipulated than ever.
It will not be enough to defeat Trump, but I'm working on it, including donating to upstanding Dem candidates like Col. Eugene Vindman in Virginia and Ruben Gallego in Arizona as well as those in my own state. The magas must be made to feel the sting the Germans and Italians felt when they had to spend the rest of their lives knowing they'd once supported tyrants. Let the churchies among them forgive them as they are so into the largesse of forgiveness, but the rest of us should never let them forget that it is they who brought us to the brink of the calamitous crash I hope we can pull hard and nose up from.
Torpor or hysterical fanaticism? That seems to be the choice in Texas. God, I hate that Steve Bannon’s “flood the zone with Schitt” is a winning strategy. In Texas, if people are not MAGAts, they are quiet. Should be the other way around. What will jolt the troops. If I mention anything, people “shush” me like they are afraid of being heard. Where is the outrage???
Eloquently said, and true enough, but the phrase that just popped into my head was "There are no atheists in foxholes." Now that we -- some of us, anyway -- finally realize that democracy is under serious threat, we're all gung-ho to "save democracy." I've been around long enough to wonder "So we 'save democracy' -- then what?"
What happens to those who survive their foxholes, real or metaphorical? I bet most of them/us go back to being atheists, or agnostics, or at least putting whatever faith got them through on the way back burner. But Trump didn't come out of nowhere. Defeating him in November is only the beginning. Are we up for what comes next?
As Saul Alinsky put it in "Rules for Radicals" for community organizing: "The REAL fight starts AFTER the election!"
The real fight never ends. I felt long ago that repubs had “learned a lesson, now I can relax.” How wrong can one be. They just took a breather. Now it’s time for our lethargy to become indefatigable energy in the defense of our freedom.
Ha! I read R4R many decades ago, at a time where elections barely blipped on my radar. This may explain why I don't remember that particular line -- which I 100% agree with now.
Yes, what does a resurrected democracy look like? Suppurative anal fissures and/or defeat at the ballot box might take care of Donald, but his cabal and the magas will still be there.
Exactly! And it's hard to imagine. I was alive, adult, and politically savvy before Reagan got elected, and I still have a hard time. I can't really imagine a scenario where people who are wealthy and/or white and/or well connected don't control the levers of power. That includes those Democrats who are only interested in us around election time. But I'm trying!
If you think life in America is just too dreadful without other people being punished for their beliefs---
look at your toilet. You've had one all your life. Many people haven't, and some still don't. Same for the water in your faucet, which is mostly clean and won't kill you, at least right off.
look at your phone, on which you are typing your complaints. Or your public library from which you can type your complaints if you can't afford a phone.
Look at your lights and the power to charge your phone--the Rural Electrification Act was FDR and the New Deal.
And so on.
The repubs offer us a trip back to a past that lacked the progress that so many worked to achieve. Nostalgic maybe, but I don’t want to chop a chicken’s head off to have supper. The MAGAts and their rich supporters don’t want to either, but they would love for the rest of us to live under their thumbs and take a trip back in time…
most of all don't want to freshen my lipstick and dress before Hubby comes home, and bring him his slippers and a drink as soon as he gets in, being sure the kids are stashed away somewhere. Actual advice from a book I was given by a local government agency when I was married in 1966.
Remember that terrible song "Wives and Lovers Too" ("A Wife Should Always Be A Lover Too") ("Run to his arms as soon as he comes home to you")??
If I ever knew it I have blotted it from my memory banks.
My laugh for the day, thanks. My mother birthed eight children and worked at a hosiery mill most of her life. We younguns had to pitch in and nobody catered to a spoiled hubby. I don't ever remember my daddy missing a day of work, so no drinks and slippers from adoring women.
Bravo Tom!
It always comes down to us,
THE PEOPLE. Not one step!
Let's take it to them!
The Supreme Court and Florida District are totally complicit in this Conspiracy to hand our Republic over to Putin. When the Oligarchs finally understand what they’ve created, when Putin starts having them poisoned or toss out of windows, it will be too late for them, one by one, as they too will be forced to toe the party line. All Hail Emperor Vlad
Who knew?
We all should have
the weirdest (and scariest) phrase in the Stoopid Fucks of the defenses' brief is "outer perimeter." what the fuck does that mean? obviously, they realize that they have no case, but the lawyers who keep weighing in seem to think that the decision will come down to what the "outer perimeter" of "official duties" is.
then I try to calm myself down by reminding myself that THEY HAVE NO CASE. but the "calm" lasts about two minutes, tops. this is, after all, the Trump Court.
A rally cry with my second of coffee. Thanks! Sharing far and wide.
Well said!