Yesterday the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $1.3 billion program to give debt relief to struggling farmers with qualifying USDA farm loans. Already, more than 13,000 farm borrowers have received about $800 million in assistance with the goal of creating long-term stability to keep them in the profession while also transforming USDA loan servicing. The program, which has access to $3.1 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, will ultimately help about 36,000 borrowers. The average amount of relief for direct loan borrowers was $52,000, while for those with guaranteed loans the average was about $172,000.
Heather describes in exquisite detail what President Biden and his team are accomplishing to support a large majority of Americans and to invest in America’s physical and social infrastructure.
The Trumpublicans are lockstep opposed to these accomplishments (while some Republican members of Congress locally shamelessly claim credit for legislative benefits that they had opposed.)
Internationally President Biden has restored American leadership in Europe especially through NATO and the ‘Western’ coalition that has forthrightly supported Ukrainian sovereignty against Putin’s sustained brutality against Ukraine and its courageous citizens. In the Pacific, the Biden administration has effectively worked with Asian countries to counter the aggressive inroads of an expansionist China.
The Trumpublicans have not disavowed Trump’s bromance with Putin and even now some of Trump’s Mafiosos are questioning a sustained American commitment to combatting Putin’s megalomania in invading Ukraine and seeking to extend Russian hegemony in much of Eastern Europe.
In Asia Trumpublicans are still wallowing in the Trump trough of loving Kim and playing ineffective and costly beggar-my-neighbor tariff wars with China.
The Biden administration, the Department of Justice, and many federal [excluding the Supreme] and state courts are pursuing justice and legal accountability in accordance with the Constitution.
Trumpublicans are making a mockery of justice, law, and order and are pursuing a steadfast program to make the right to vote a Trumpublicans privilege and the 2024 presidential election one in which state legislatures and state secretaries of state can ‘massage’ the votes cast.
At 89 I have experienced some downs and far more ups in the stutter steps towards a more inclusive America that endeavors to enhance both a great majority of its citizens as well as the American soul.
I am aghast that the party of Lincoln has abandoned his maxim that government is ‘of the people, for the people, and by the people.’
You are one of our better angels, Keith Wheelock. Your summary of our country's strengths and weakness is a call for all of us to right the way forward. Thank you.
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities." - Lincoln
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan
Ah yes, St. Ray gun. The cause of so many of the problems we see today. And of course, now they are difficult to fix without the political will and loads of money. R ads feature all those tents and blame Ds for them, including in the ads against McLeod-Skinner somehow aiding and abetting where they are...like next to schools, etc. An update....support is waning for Machine Gun Betsy Johnson and it will be interesting where those voters go....hopefully to Kotek.
Yes!! Reagan was absolutely poisonous. But unlike Trump, I kinda feel like Reagan believed what he preached. That's bad enough. Trump - I feel like most of what he did to us was out of more evil motives.
Reagan was a delusional narcissist, but I think he was a slick-talking salesman for plutocrats. I was never sure how much of "Reaganomics" was his own idea. One of his mentors was Milton Friedman. His sales pitch, that government of the people, by the people, for the people had proved a disaster, and that neo-feudalistic lords were society's principal benefactors, set the course for Trump, the transparent conscienceless, self-aggrandizing sociopath, and the one time "Party of Lincoln" on course as the Party of the Big Lie.
This. I'd love the Nobel committee to rescind the Economics prize it awarded Milton Friedman. He ruined generations of Americans with his lords-driven tax cut nonsense--i.e., "voodoo economics."
Friedman is famed for saying "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits" and writing a whole doctrine about it. SCOTUS says that corporations have the rights or citizens, yet seems to agree with Friedman that the have minimal responsibilities. That seems to be a formula for quite a bad citizen, if not a sociopath. Can corporations become sociopathic? The British East India Company was one example, and it certainly doesn't stop there. "I owe my soul to the company store" was a US reality. Is there a discernable line between some corporate practices and organized crime? That's what the "R" word; regulation, is for.
As far as I could tell Reagan, seemed to be the mouth piece for the wealthy, and since he was a trained actor it was impossible to tell what he actually believed, as he shucked and jived for the audience. Frankly, it was probably Nancy who directed his play.
The press fell in love with him, and repeatedly celebrated him as "The Great Communicator". "Great" if your only standard of communication is commercial TV huckstering. Certainly he was no Abe Lincoln.
Yes. He played it like he was one of "the common man", instead of the rich out of touch, actor he was. I would venture that he didn't even write his own lines.
As I learn more history (mostly here, along with a few other sources) I am coming to believe that since Eisenhower left office, the RepubliQan party has been run by a cabal of wealthy men (Koch brothers and Leo are the ones I can recall at the moment). Nixon was of their ilk, but went forward with policies that he had established as his personal priorities (two of which are opening relations with China and the Uniform Controlled Substances Act which would eviscerate the leadership of both the hippies” and Blacks). Reagan, Bush 1 & 2 we’re toadies, but allowed the cabal to gain control. I do not know if they would have preferred one of the minions over Pmurt, but they got their absolute desire with him.
Eisenhower was OK and the tax rate was such that we could afford nice things. However, the R nonsense goes back further. I am thinking now about the opposition to FDR's policies which the Rs have been trying to destroy ever since. If you are up for it, I recommend Jill Lepore's These Truths, which is an excellent recent history of the US. Btw, she calls Bill Clinton a rascal.
Part of Eisenhower's high tax rates went to planning for and/or retiring the war debt. The Republicans were very upset with him, which could not be expressed publicly because Eisenhower was so revered, that he didn't terminate Social Security.
Reagan was in way over his head. His economic program was nonsense. He got credit for the collapse of the USSR because he hated commies but had nothing to do with it and didn’t see it coming. He was a hypocrite, claiming to be race-blind when he really just indulged in a self serving denial of racism that enabled him to trade on it politically.
Reagan was responsible for the demise of unions, one of the few ways that working people can earn living wages and good benefits. I am still stymied by the fact that there are so many people in the Republican party who can't or won't see how uneven the playing field is and who seem to lack compassion. I've decided that many of those who have billions and play the system to protect them from paying their fair share of taxes have a disorder called "Money hoarding syndrome" MHS. Hoarding is an anxiety disorder characterized by accumulation of "stuff" and an inability to get rid of any of it because of the anxiety. So many of those people not only have more money than they could ever spend, but keep seeking more and seem to feel entitled to not having to pay taxes. The whole world is dealing with the fallout from the mental illness, MHS, of the super wealthy.
Heather CR has posted a lot of newsletters on how the Republicans of old are not the current Republicans. My best advice is to vote for Democrats instead.
Ever time this comes up I think of my father who was a strong Republican. When I was in high school he was a chief election judge in our local precinct. Things changed for him with Ronald Reagan and he couldn't vote for him. I think he still voted for some Republicans down ballot but we never talked about that.
Early voting begins today in NC and I will be thinking of him when I vote this afternoon. I will vote only for Democrats, I am so concerned about my country that I will not vote on positions that have only a Republican on the ballot. It will not make a difference in the outcome in my very red district here in far western NC but it will make a difference to me.
I’m in N.W. NC often. I travel there 3-4 times a year from PA for 20 years or so. I am always appalled at their general lack of concern for public education in the K-12 schools. Anyone with children and an extra nickel send the kids to church run private schools or home schools their children. There are areas where this is not entirely the case, but not nearly enough to meet educational demands. Services are bare and hard to quality for. Not that PA is setting any educational templates to aspire to, but c’mon NC up your game!
Education in a strong country is a federal investment. Its budget shouldn’t need to be beefed up by the local real estate. That way you provide for a nation of well educated people who will push the country forward. The same way we provide for the military, federally.
Listen to Al Franken’s most recent podcast where he interviews Will Bunch, who wrote “after The Ivory Tower Falls.” They talk about the decline in funding for higher ed and it’s reasons. It is VERY interesting. We are as a country in a bad place due to deliberate withdrawal of support for higher ed, starting with—guess who—Ronnie the Idealized.
“Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.” - Mark Twain
I struggle philosophically about how to rule a nation in a democratic manner. On the one hand, I feel strongly in the democratic principle if majority rule and the will of the people. On the other hand I don't like to see people in the voting booth whose world views cross swords with reality, or who are racists, or lack empathy for those in need. And I realize that such a view is merely another version of wanting voter restrictions. The answer, I suppose, is to do everything possible to educate the public, with an education that is to the max extent possible devoid of partisan influence (mission impossible?). And have strict laws that ensure free and fair elections (we have alot of work to do to better that). And then let the chips fall where they may.
We are at the bottom of the state in Clay County. Quality of the school varies widely by county. Ours are pretty good while the county just west of us doesn't measure up. Across NC we don't pay our teachers enough and the state for sure needs to up its game.
This is so sad to read. I first learned from the New Yorker about Art Pope and the Koch brothers in NC. Then saw “Starving the Beast” which shows the president of UNC-CH being ousted by their “business” candidate. I wrote to Nancy McClean to ask whether Duke couldn’t rescind Stephen Miller’s degree when his part in the Trump anti-immigrant movement was public (she said it couldn’t be done, even though I wrote that as a UNC graduate I was making my first overture ever, in any capacity, to Duke🤣). May you get a new state government and get your public schools back. Although it isn’t yet a public concern, the attack of the Right on schools is as important as that on SCOTUS.
Remember when republicans took over the entire govt in Raleigh in 2010, they slashed teacher pay and got rid of tenure. They did an awful lot of damage in the eight years it took for voters to finally come to their senses and elect a democratic governor and enough Dems in the legislature to blunt some republican foolishness that tries to slip by.
I remember it well, while I am retired, I have a number of friends who are teachers in the local high school. This terrible impact is the minimum of what would happen across the US if the GOP gains control of congress and the white house.
Carol and I voted yesterday, first day of voting in NC. We were number 151 and 152 in our small country of 10,800.
I live in Western NC and am a psychotherapist. I have clients who are teachers and their jobs are over time becoming more demoralizing and overwhelming. Good teachers often end up quitting the profession to save their sanity, which of course further degrades the quality of the education available for the kids who don't have parents with the resources to pay for charter/private schools. Budgets keep getting cut for public schools and more money is funneled to the private/charter schools, many of which are based on Christian ideology.
Growing up in the Midwest in the '50s and 60's, California schools were often pointed to as trendsetters, until Republicans successfully demonized taxation.
I often think of my dad too....who was a strong R and hated Rosie (FDR) and unions. I do wonder what he would have thought about death star, but then, he did listen to Rush. And like you, I will not vote for any R, no matter what.
As a graduate of UNC-CH in the days when NC was as purple as purple, may I wish you a change of state to blue. Cheri Beasley will be a senator of the change NC has needed since Art Pope and the Kochs bought the state.
And, if everyone who feels that personal difference gets out and votes we may very well surprise not just the pundit and political class but ourselves as well.
Dave - maybe not in your particular district, but NC is a battleground state. Just like in war, the strategy is to strike where the enemy is more vulnerable and leave the strongholds for later. NC and OH and AZ and some other states - the Democratic Party and its adherents must wage war. I live in TN, and that is a Republican stronghold. I am soooo disheartened by it. If I lived in NC, I'd be much more active. Now the responses in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... :)
We received ballots in the mail yesterday (in Utah ballots are mailed to everyone and we mail back or drop off, sad the rest of the country can't vote in a similar, easy, fair way). Utah is a deeply red state and it breaks my heart that there is only one option, Republican, for MANY races.
Evan McMullin is as close to an electable Democrat as you're likely to find and would be a vast improvement over Mike Lee who seems to have lost whatever mind and principles he might once have had.
Sir, I applaud your comments, and your age. My father, a lifelong Republican, changed his vote to Democratic when Trump came along, and was also "aghast" at the damage Trump was wreaking. Though he passed this year one day before his 99th birthday, I know he would agree with every word you wrote. Thank you for expressing his fears as well.
I would like to think my late father would have changed his vote also. He died early in the Trump years, and I never asked him how he voted. I only know that he greatly softened his militaristic conservative views as death approached.... I cannot imagine him, at that time, voting for such a cruel corrupt character as DJT. His brother (now also deceased but more recently) and equally militaristic but somehow more "intellectual", was one of those who denigrated Trump early during the 2016 campaign for all the right reasons and supported someone else (like Jeb Bush perhaps, or Cruz), and then shamelessly jumped on the Trump bandwagon once it was apparent he was going to be nominated. And stuck by it continually (up until he died). Same for his wife. Same with my sisters, same with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and so many of my acquaintances. So, I have concluded that for every case of an old GOP voter switching or staying home in defiance of the Trumpublican party, there are 10 who held their noses and jumped on the band wagon. It is a testament to just how badly they hate us and what we stand for. And that is why I personally have zero true friends who are Republican, and why I have so few friends period (I live in TN). That is by choice, for to be a true friend there must be mutual trust and admiration and common ground. All of which I have none of.
And add to that list the statements of Rep. McCarthy about not being a 'blank check' for Ukraine and we have a complete and utter abandonment of American principles. Even Pence was disappointed with the direction the GQP might take us if they regain control of the House.
Point out to everyone you can reach that Republicans have announced that they will stab Ukrainians in the back by cutting off aid to them. That is the kind of argument that can change minds, even at this late stage.
I think pointing out that they want to cut social security and medicaid would hit people harder.
In fact, I'm going to let my drumpf loving niece (on my exes side) know that her job better pay well because if they cut both programs her mom will have to move in with her.
... and hey, what the hay-hay, while I'm at it ... this one too ... not to toot my own horn, but this matters ... more high level radioactive waste leaking into groundwaters polluting the Columbia River ... and no action being taken to clean it up (at the designated toxic waste storage location for the whole country - what a convenient way to get rid of those upstart, rebellious elements out west ... just poison the grounds) ...:
The thing that really causes me pain is that this has been going on for decades, and Hanford is still dissembling. I'm going to clarify some of what you mention, because it's not quite accurate. I happen to be intimately familiar with the situation you mention.
A co-worker of mine is the one who found the original site analysis demonstrating that leakage was no only inevitable, but already happening. The original site analysis began when Hanford was first set up post WW2 and was part of the first EIS. The 2nd EIS, when they wanted to extend storage, did not include either that or subsequent work showing active leaking and potential (and, as it turned out) actual flows beyond the Hanford site. This was in the 80s. My coworker, who had worked for the state for decades by that time remembered the first document, but could not find it, peculiarly. He finally found an original copy by manually going through state archives, box by box. It was in a box of materials someone had carefully preserved. The very public revelation blew up Hanford's plans, and the state clamped down very publicly.
There is an aggressive cleanup program, but the only thing they can try to do is try to slow and reverse the flows, which is not working well enough. Too much let go and hidden for too long. And every time something emerges, Hanford twists and bends.
My co-worker lived in fear for some time, and his name was withheld, because there were strange and scary things going on in Tri-Cities. I heard some details of that story from a church minister who ended up helping some members of the community caught up in the amazing political morass. (His next post was in an obscure, out of the way very rural location. Safer but frustrating for him.
The toxic materials repository at Arlington, OR is another concern, for two reasons. Out of sight does not mean it is out of mind. And climate change is posing flooding problems thoughtout the Northwest.
We are our own worst enemies, and the earth's as well.
As for the river, well, right now a larger problem are the dams and the pollution that comes from ag runoff, untreated urban stormwater (filthy stuff) and from the toxic materials we put down our toilets and sinks.
Thank you Annie!! I completely agree ... and yes, the deeply painful and troubling truth is that we are mere ants at a picnic for those who call the shots in this equation - whoever controls influence of policy at the DOE ... I worked with Heart of America NW back in the 70's - while there have been some victories, nothing seems to stop the problem or reverse the tides - the hole we are digging just seems to get deeper, and deeper ... it is hard to imagine positive outcomes ... looking up, I give thanks for a multi-dimensional universe!!
And yes, we are "our own worst enemies, and the earth's as well." Maybe that is the purpose of this poisoning ... maybe controlling elements of the ultimate planetary authority will solve the problem by killing us off ... still, life goes on ... many die, but some adapt - I shudder to think what that could mean ... just look at the jellyfish are doing ... can't imagine radiation from Fukushima has any influence - not to mention toxicity from sunken war ships and who knows what other garbage we spread with such abandon ... oh, to the glory of man!!
Thank you Lynell - I wonder if it might be offensive to some - a bit caustic, maybe ... that is my whip-cracking side showing ... I hope it does not detract from the message that follows ... purpose being to communicate - reach hearts and minds - turn it around, as it were ...
California has many red districts that have zero chance of flipping. McCarthy's is one. There are so many in northernmost part of the State they want to join Idaho.
Next to McCarhy's district is Fresno, Devin Nunes old stomping grounds, it may make it to "almost purple" this year due to the influx of Bay Area residents during the pandemic (affordable houses to purchase). We moved to Merced for that reason, and the UC here, and it is purple. The ads are so ugly.
McCarthy represents a very conservative district. Wikipedia describes California's 23rd district as having: "...a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+12, it is the most Republican district in California and the second-most Republican district in a West Coast state, behind only Washington's 4th district."
"The current district includes parts of the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains and southern Sierra Nevada, and the northwestern Mojave Desert."
In such a scenario, I would hope he does have the cajones. MJT is the craziest rep since Michelle Bachmann IMHO, and needs to have a muzzle and leash put on her. What a shame that a fine candidate like Marcus Flowers will likely not win that election.
I am aghast too at what is happening. I am ten years younger than you are, but feel the same about what has happened. I had thought we were making some progress, but alas, thanks to the party of death, we are going backwards. We were at our neighbors yesterday and heard a story about them being at the Elks (to dance) and someone sat down at their table and said Obama was running the country and he knew because he had seen it on Youtube. Our neighbor told him to get away from them among other things. But this is the sort of thing that people spout because they have seen it on social media. We also discussed some of the R plans including possibly letting the country go into default to get what they want. Our neighbor is a former banker and he understands very well what that means. Our ballots are in the mail and we should get them today. Here in Oregon we get email or texts to tell us they are on their way and also inform us when they have been received at the clerk's office. Voting could be so simple.
Members of my own family thrive on misinformation and disinformation. They get their "news" from others in their tribe. It seems that reinforcing the negative graifies and nurtures them. They are Trumpians. A few months ago, one family member commented about how Stalin, Mao and Putin were dangerous liberals. My eyes popped. You can't fix stupid. Sadly.
These people have no idea what certain words mean, so they just throw them around because they have heard on wing nut sites that liberals are the bad guys. Also because of social media, they are all "experts" and so they "know". I have had one person tell me that she would rather not be as well educated as I am because then she might believe as I do. I wanted to tell her how glad I was that I was not as religious as she is.
" But this is the sort of thing that people spout because they have seen it on social media."
And because they are hurting under Reaganomics, and powerful charlatans give them scapegoats, and tell them that they are the Master whatevers. In their induced, supercharged state of narcissism, they feel entitled to tell anyone who not in their club what to do.
I wish my oh so Republican parents would see the damage the GOP is doing. I honestly don't understand how they could do so much charity that they do (for strangers) and not see how completely at odds the Republicans are with those values. They say it's because they fear socialism, even as they dig from their own pockets for charitable giving while also denying themselves simple pleasures of life that they can easily afford.
Barbara, Thank you for sharing your caring and perplexed feelings about your parents. They are an example of good, sane people who have absorbed anti-socialism propaganda to the point of it being paramount in their voting decisions. 'Socialism' has been part of the Republican rhetorical agenda for many, many years -- first, socialism, has been tied to evil and then applied to opponents. It's social manipulation on a 'grand' scale, wedded to the autocratic or fascistic program for control of the populace.
And completely ignoring the many socialist aspects in our country's own organizations, such as libraries, police and fire departments, public works (and here in northern New England that also means snow removal and sanding on state/town roads), the National guard and the country's huge military. The above is merely a partial list.
Perhaps if you point out that Republican leaders (Kevin McCarthy, for one) have announced that they will stab Ukraine in the back, that will have an effect on them.
Wow! 89. God Bless. You've got me by 10. Now I feel like a youngster. LOL. Your comments echo and mirror my thoughts and sentiments. Thank you! I never would have believed that one of our two political Parties would become our single, largest domestic enemy. My fear is that too few grasp the gravitas of this moment.
So well written Keith. I would add my favorite issue - climate change. Trumpublicans continue to do and/or resist doing everything possible to upend any efforts to combat climate change. At the peril of us all. Whatever history survives a dystopian world that we seem destined for will record the reasons for such a catastrophe. And the GOP will be exhibit "A" along with the American people writ large who merrily went along. You and I will not see the worst of it, but our offspring and theirs will. God bless them.
And like you, I am struck dumb by the polarized nature of the country I call my own. It sinks to new lows all the time along with my sadness and disappointment. I began to notice something was amiss back in the late -70's and early -80's when I started to pay more attention (1) and discovered abject science denialism among the Republican party and its adherents (evolution denial, climate denial, tobacco denial, etc) (2). Previous to that I was fat dumb and happy as well as politically immature. Since then, I have discovered more and more just what that evil party stands for, none of it good. All of it bad. Not just science denial - it is but an example of denying or fighting anything ANYTHING that is an "inconvenient truth" to their agenda. Now, it has transmogrified into an anti-Democracy authoritarian movement that seeks to deny the majority they feel is unqualified to have a say in favor of a minority they feel needs to be in charge regardless of what most of the people want - a plutocracy or oligarchy, or "illiberal democracy". Another Putin-ruled Russia or Orban-ruled Hungary. What mystifies me is that the general voting population doesn't see this, or not enough to do anything about it, or worse perhaps having serious character flaws like racism and willing ignorance and senseless hatred (jealousy?) of the well read, the informed. Watch the MJT/Flowers race as a bellwether. There are others.
Heather reminds us daily that these hellish roller coaster twists and turns have always been a part of our history. Hard to think clearly when we are in the spin cycle of this election but our ancestors have managed to hold democracy together. Surely we can, too.
In 1912 the Progressive Party was formed by Theodore Roosevelt as an offshoot of the Republican Party. Roosevelt had said that he felt "strong as a bull moose" after he lost the Republican nomination for President in 1912. The Progressive Party was then nicknamed the Bull Moose Party. By contrast, today's Republican Party should be nicknamed the Bullsh*t Party. They should also call Trump's posts on "Truth Social" quacks. I wish the Dems would use these in their PR. They would be catchy and annoying to the Repubs. Of course they would have to be backed up by context, which wouldn't be too hard to do.
I marvel at how many great Dem candidates are running for important offices this election. I think victory for every one of them every day. Such a fierce force for democracy.
One of my hubby's Sioux descent relatives lives in Rapid City and she is on it for electing Ds and getting rid of the Gnome and Thune. She also gives a daily count of those who have died in South Dakota from COVID and never misses a chance to post about all the BS being put out by the Gnome and Rs.
They'd be an even greater force if they'd get out and actually meet with people. As far as I'm concerned, every candidate should be out in a public Ask Me Anything forum at least 5 times a week for at least a couple of hours and they should be publicized on the internet and in local papers. The idea that an effective campaign consists of Facebook posts, Tweets and fundraising emails is one reason why more of these folks aren't getting a stronger response.
Keith Wheelock, you are not alone! Nineteen more days and I will find out if I have and can make a difference. There will be little rest for me in those nineteen days. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help! I hope I am able to make you all proud come November 9th!
A lot to unpack. I hope 45’s knowledge of his crime manipulating the outcome of the 2020 election will get him indicted asap. Vladimir Putin is out of control, obviously. It is heartrending to see to what lengths he will go to win an unjust assault on Ukraine.
There must surely be one or two people in the Kremlin corridors of power who've also noticed that in effect that places the whole of Russia under (variegated?) martial law...
Indeed, a lot to unpack. However, a lot more was revealed today that DPR did not bring up. I'm certain that she cut us all a break by not rolling out more, as well as staying on theme being enough for one day. Cheers Lisa !
Oh man. It is as though the wonderment of the Biden administration is drowned out by the insanity slurped up by the deplorables. Someone wrote this - I think it was on Twitter. If here I apologize.
¨The best thing trump and MAGA did for this country was expose just how many racists, antisemites, misogynists, bigots and fascists live among us masquerading as "christians." If there are more of them than us....
Also this article in Yesterday's Guardian regarding the bizarre yet terrifying vision of Bannon.
I believe that I can safely say that all of us here grew up thinking that we had the best democracy in the world which would forever be guaranteed and that our government had our backs (except for a few hiccups involving unnecessary wars). What happened? Without a doubt the Biden administration is actively helping different groups of people struggling in various financial straits such as those indebted with student loans and farmers having to combat the effects of climate on their crops. Now we're all going to feel the effects of it when we will be buying tomatoes and tomato products, such as spaghetti sauce...if they will even be available. I remember watching a clip just before the last presidential election on farmers, one after the other, saying how they were going to vote for rump because he was good for business. I wonder what they're saying now around their kitchen tables? Poverty is increasing and wealth is being distilled in fewer hands. So I have to ask, how can farmers be accepting life jackets from this administration and continue to vote Republican? How can poor, ignorant MAGAs continue to support their decrepit leader and his ridiculous political ass/ring kissers when they are being promised, if they regain power, they will void student loan relief and dispense with their SS and medicare benefits? I'm a mental health therapist, but I am at a loss here....
Like animals robbing each others food dishes, they think it's ok as long as they don't get caught. They think God is a hoax, or is not watching. They think life is a game and winning is the only purpose in life. I worked in banks, Insurance, architect, stock brokers, and real estate development offices. Not everyone was a money grubber, just most of them. My favourite jobs were in libraries, so different!
Sophia, This is such an important message. If you are on any social media, speak it personally. This is the kind of message that people listen to. That is how Politics Girl happened. This is so awesome and cannot be lost. If you need help, let me know. If you can just have someone with a phone with a camera hold it and you speak it and send it to me, I will get it out there. We need more voices from ¨real people¨.
Gailee, thank you for the encouragement. The pen had always been my weapon and most of my letters to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer were published and I was told that I should cool it with my political output since I publishing a book. While working on the second book I stopped my letter writing. Your post has made me rethink--I'm not looking to be a media star but will write a letter to the editor today. Thank you! demas@usa.com
You seriously have a voice many need to hear. Create a Blog. Create a Twitter Account and just speak your letters. You would grow such a following. I promise.
Unfortunately he has many followers. I discovered him before the 2016 election when he became Trump's PR person. His belief at that time was to burn it all down. The U.S. had supported Europe and the rest of the world long enough. He wanted to destroy all relationships and for the U.S. to become an isolationist country. He's now worse.
He’s just another power addict with zip morals or integrity. What’s not to like with chump and Repub vampires…. They sucked the last drop of blood from the repubs like Ike.
Burn down the federal government and all the country's institutions, rejig the Constitution and transform the USA into an updated and suitably adapted version of Portugal under dictator Salazar. Another Estado Novo, hermetically sealed off from all contact with the 21st century. And the 20th...
And...
*
Joseph Nemeth's analysis appears to be correct.
*
The effects of such a grand metaphysical exercise in stopping the clock then setting it back a century or more... permanently stopped... could only be
Disturbing doesn't even come close! Bannon isn't merely dangerous he is an obsessed psychotic. I can only pray that his dark money funded organization is a cover for grift. Bannon's continued existence makes me wonder why the treacherous and evil don't die young (instead of the 'good').
100% right. They are always behind the scenes, destroying every vestige of democracy. Koch’s and ALEC predate chump and have never taken a break, not for a nanosecond
Exactly! And these billionaires now own the news media which is why so little about Biden's accomplishments are in the news. Lisa, this is another example of simply speaking these words on a phone camera and posting on social media so that ¨real people¨ are seen and heard. If you can create it but can't post it, send it to me and I will post it on Twitter.
...awakened to your incoming morning LFAA. Thank you Dear One, Dr. Richardson for careful assembly and reflection on current events. I am a grateful reader. You are remarkable.
Lying about virtually everything has been his modus operandi for years and years, most especially when he was in the WH. His frantic attempts to keep the presidency by means of lies with legal consequences may--may--be his downfall, finally.
THAT IS SUPER IMPORTANT! The judge in that court can issue a 'Rule to Show Cause' why Trump and the lawyers who filed the falsehood should NOT be held in 'Criminal Contempt'. This is all done by this one judge alone. No DOJ and Garland. The judge does not need the approval of other judges. That judge alone can initiate a criminal proceeding for lying to the court! If convicted after trial, the judge can sentence to jail time! I'd love to know which judge got the lying bogus Trump under oath claim.
CPR for antitrust is long overdue and the DOJ has a long row to hoe. How many major companies that were sales leaders 50 years ago have been hoovered up into super-massive conglomerates? How many ostensibly "competing" brands are owned by the same corporation? How many products, especially foods, have been shrunk and reformulated with cheaper ingredients while prices rise? Completion of value for the dollar is supposed to regulate prices, but not when when approaching monopolistic control of markets. That's what "regulation" that Republicans portrayed as sabotaging the economy, not protecting the public, was about. But compare three eras, the "Gilded Age", the mid 20th Century, and now, in terms of the stranglehold of corporations and concentrated wealth on the customer, the worker, economic stability, and corruption of government, you might wonder if a little regulation was not such a bad idea after all.
I heartliy agree, and also note the rise and fall of the unions. They were up-and-coming in the days after WWII, but have since fallen, under pressure from those monopolistic corporations. I fear it will take a major recession (depression?) to restore the stability of the middle class and alleviate the widening wealth gap (e.g., 750 billionaires in the US control more wealth - $5 Trillion - than the lower half of the population, 65 million households).
Ya think that "monopolistic control of markets" has anything to do with rising inflation?!? No, they blame Biden. People just don't understand economics.
"The parties in Moore v. Harper — the case out of North Carolina attempting to advance the fringe independent state legislature theory — have filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of oral argument on Dec. 7. Here’s a breakdown of what each side is arguing:"
"Yesterday, nine Republican U.S. House members sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding information and transparency about President Joe Biden’s pro-voting executive order issued in March:"
Tim Moore, the Moore in Moore v Harper is a wicked, power hungry weasel. This case is an attempt to maintain the egregiously gerrymandered districts in NC by this ludicrous lawsuit. NC Republicans are all about power for themselves, and they damage anything they touch, public education being one of those things. I am an NC voter. Early voting begins today.
Thank you for the links. The executive order Issued in March 2021, “directs federal government agencies to increase access to and information about voter registration and elections.” But of course Republicans oppose it! Good grief. I receive Democracy Docket newsletters, I will have to go back and read the details.
We need to talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene. How is a person who hasn't been sworn into her first term as a member of Congress organizing efforts to interrupt the J6 vote? The Dec 20 meeting at the White House was bad enough but the Dec 3 effort makes her involvement all the more baffling. There's something very nefarious going on with that woman.
Even more disturbing is her assertion that Kevin McCarthy will have to give her some plum committee assignment should the mid-terms give the House to the Republicans. She is certifiably bat-shit crazy. To watch clips of her speaking at rallies or in the recent debate is stomach-churning.
I watched a clip of her responding to Jamie Raskin and it was enough to #1--make me mute the volume--her voice could cut glass...and, #2--punch a hole right through the (completely innocent) tv. Goodness, how that potatoheaded woman disgusts me.
My $30 dollar donation to Marcus will cut her off at the pass, or so he says. I wish. She is a few slices short of a loaf; incompetent, greedy, power-hungry, and faux by any measure, especially as a Christian human. And chump’s best bet for a VP. Sorry, my nightmare….
I struggled to find a word to describe her. There's more there than meets the eye. Like Trump, I sense that we underestimate her at our own peril. An image I can't shake is her at Bedminster chumming it up with Trump and Tucker Carlson. Not a photo op but a guest.
She is an enigma--a nasty one--isn't she? TBH, I don't think MTG is so fine an actress that she could fake such stupidity. Indeed, her stupidity appears quite genuine. The stunts that she pulls seem calculated for attention and it's clear that she, at least, thinks she's hot stuff.
Marge doesn't seem to have any particular policy that she's is pushing or any actual reason as to why she's become such a radicalized MAGA, other than she seems to idolize TFG. Indeed, Marge seems to really like him--it figures. She's fairly blatant about what she wants (to run as his Vice President, as if she is remotely qualified) so your guess is as good as mine. She is a malevolent character and does seem to love cruelty simply for the sake of cruelty, so there is that.
While the news of Chump's continual corruption of the past dominates events now being uncovered, the ones literally happening right now are worth a read and look, particularly this close to a major election. Understanding it was too late for inclusion in HCR's always-inclusive post, CNN's blatant ongoing attempts to use TFG's desperation for clickbait is worth a read as seen though the eyes of Bill Palmer's still-under covered website. CNN needs to be called out again-and-again for their abuse of web space masquerading as "journalism".
The best revenge you can have on CNN—which I was incredulous and sad fully caved to Republican donor control and GOP pressure—is to ignore them: stop watching the network and remove their app from your phone and stop reading it. I quit CNN about six weeks ago and haven’t looked back. I don’t miss them. They have lost me. I won’t support them. They have become yet another accomplice to the misinformation stream that is quickly dooming this country.
Yes. CNN is a disappointment. I have never been a fan of broadcast news especially cable news media. I did like a few personalities I watched from time to time, but due to their caving, I stopped even the brief moments I gave them of my time. Reading HCR and other journalists is keeping me informed as I hope people realize we need to remove the filth of Trumplican policies from our country. Hold those responsible for the damage done to our citizens, our constitution and our leaders.
Immediately after Biden took office, I noticed ( and was alarmed at) CNN’s attacks against the President, encouraging negative opinions via “outrage” stories
Good news was buried, and headlines followed GOP accusations and talking points
I’ve always been turned off by cable news networks, so as one who rarely tunes into any broadcast news, I too noticed an immediate turn by CNN to downplay or outright ignore this administration’s accomplishments, portraying Biden as ineffective and repeating unjust criticism by Trumplicans. I have been calling it out daily. I know it’s garbage but it has been so blatant, they’ve lost all credibility. Now I wouldn’t believe them if they told me today is Thursday, I’d have to check my calendar 📅 📆 🗓.
My reference was Bill Palmer. Did you read my post reporting on his background and fake news blog? That was the reason I replied to TC and to you, Dave. Given Palmer's 'reports', it makes sense to check the veracity of his claims.
My comment was a riff on the topic of current CNN in general
Their “target” audience changed rather quickly, noticeably seeking “engagement” using division as a motivator, ie “corporate sees viewer anger as a profit indicator; rile them up for more clicks, your bonus is tied to how high you can drive that number”
Ron, Thank you. If you have not checked my post about Palmer taken from Wikipedia, more checking and examination of Palmer's work and background were provided than mediabiasfactcheck's. Palmer's blog is considered 'fake'.
While I am in sympathy with the content of this "report", I would be cautious with the info from the Palmer Report in general. He may be philosophically on the right track, but I think he is more of an opinion artist than a journalist. JMO.
As for CNN, I last watched it to track a hurricane or something like that. Now that our cable cord is completely severed I am spared the endless stream of yelling about "breaking news". And that's what CNN is beginning to do: break news. Just another money machine like Faux.
Bill, your suspicion did not go far enough. My doubt led me to dig a bit. If you would like to know more, read my reply to BK. Didn't suspect us of being close in mind, but it's a pleasant surprise.
Such crass incompetence, CNN managing to be even stupider than the crap it is spreading.
But STOP.
Gross professional incompetence in terms of journalistic standards.
OR
A piece of political messaging, skilfully designed to help the poison go down. CNN, or someone in it, offering in advance to carry MAGA politicians' briefcases for them.
That's how ambitious journalists sell their souls and get plum jobs as spokesmen... Reverse metamorphosis from butterfly to poisonous creepie-crawlie.
My reaction was to the mud stirred, in other words, to the quotation from CNN. Assuming it to be genuine.
I should have gone back to the original, which is normal practice, but let us say that, even taken out of context, there's mud here for mudlarks, professional or otherwise.
Really troubling is the way in which the teetotal D-elirium T-remens has, via the media, succeeded in implanting his neo-Hitlerian "new normal" in the body politic and in the very soul of the nation.
The media imply that inflation is the only thing people care about. People hear about inflation constantly and assume it is the most important thing because it’s practically the only economic issue they hear about. I highly recommend an article by economist Dean Baker at cepr.net titled “Inflation, Inflation, Inflation and Social Security.” Democrats running for office cannot minimize inflation without seeming “out of touch,” but its effect on people’s budgets is not so simple as the media implies.
BK, Research is almost on automatic for me. Something triggered my interest in who this Bill Palmer is and whether his story is true. Bill Palmer first and later today or tomorrow I'll check the veracity of what Palmer has reported. There reason for doubt.
Palmer Report
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Current status Active
The Palmer Report is an American liberal[2] fake news website,[3] founded in 2016 by Bill Palmer.[4] It is known for making unsubstantiated or false claims,[5] producing hyperpartisan content,[6] and publishing conspiracy theories,[7][8] especially on matters relating to Donald Trump and Russia.[14] Fact-checkers have debunked numerous Palmer Report stories, and organizations including the Columbia Journalism Review and the German Marshall Fund have listed the site among biased websites or false content producers.[15][16]
History
Bill Palmer worked as an elementary school teacher before beginning a series of online publications. His earlier endeavors primarily discussed music and technology. In 2013, he launched a publication titled The Stabley Times under a pseudonym. Like his previous websites, the site covered music and technology, but it also added coverage of political and sports-related topics.[17] Palmer subsequently founded a politics-focused site called Daily News Bin. A hyperpartisan left-wing website,[18][19] Daily News Bin was described by Snopes editor Brooke Binkowski as "a pro-Hillary Clinton 'news site' designed to 'counter misinformation'".[20][4] Daily News Bin promoted fake and sensationalized pro-Clinton narratives, according to The New York Observer.[21]
A 2017 study by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University found that the amount of misinformation stemming from Daily News Bin was comparable to that of InfoWars or The Gateway Pundit during the 2016 United States presidential election.[22][23] The study also identified Daily News Bin as part of a set of "newer highly partisan sites farther left on the spectrum."[24] Daily News Bin routinely published unsourced claims about the election,[25] including falsehoods on Bernie Sanders[26] and voting machines in Wisconsin.[27] Additionally, Daily News Bin falsely claimed that the Podesta emails were fabricated[28][29] and falsely claimed that a video of a public event funded by Goldman Sachs was one of Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman Sachs.[30] Daily News Bin was included in Le Monde's database of unreliable news sites.[31][32]
Content
The Palmer Report is a hyperpartisan[6] liberal[2] fake news political blog.[3] It is known for making unsubstantiated or false claims[5] and publishing conspiracy theories,[7][8] especially on matters relating to Donald Trump and Russia.[9][11][12][13] The Palmer Report typically uses anonymous sources and its articles give the impression that Trump is about to go to prison or be deposed.[33] It is regarded as a political propaganda outlet[34][35] or left-wing disinformation.[36][37] Articles from the Palmer Report were shared almost exclusively by Hillary Clinton supporters during the 2016 presidential election.[38] The Palmer Report received five million unique visits per month over the course of 2017.[39]
Some of the Palmer Report's most widely shared stories include the conspiracy theory that then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell funneled "Russian money" to Trump[11][22] and that Robert Mueller planned on arresting Donald Trump Jr. for "treason."[13]
And yes, I agree that an intellectual he is not and that is the reason I am here to connect with people such as yourself who source well-researched info accurately and often. It's what I love about this blog and I thank you for that as your posts are trusted.
I also agree with Bill Alstrom that he is an "opinion artist". But, what media outlet isn't that these days? From the full-on Faux "News" channel to our closest mainstream source MSNBC it's ALL opinion. The result is that collectively they have managed to pervert almost everything sacred including religion and the Constitution to say what they want it to say. Some of the worst cover their tracks by even saying they are "entertainers". It's all such a far cry from my youth of watching Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley , Dan Rather & co who when even one made a misstep were thrown off the bus. So, we are all left to our own for sourcing of "facts" and even then aren't always sure. This is exactly what the right wanted in bringing the country to the brink with chaos, which again, is why I respect you and those in this group for doing their best to source good material.
I apologize in advance if this sounds defensive but, sometimes I just like reading Palmer because he is one of a very few who aren't afraid to put in words the outright "rage" I feel for where we are. I lived on many military bases growing up moving with our father's military career. He ended up giving his life for this country and never asked a soul what political party, race, religion or other affiliation they were. He was proud to defend the entire country with honor and when a so-called POTUS called him and ALL military vets "sucker & losers" I better understood what those like TCinLA posted earlier this AM.
We also know how those on the right both within our own borders and abroad are prepared to do whatever it takes to crush outlets that speak out against them.
So, please understand that when I sometimes source Bill Palmer it is more often than not coming from a moment and place when that "rage" has surfaced and something he has expressed helps that feeling resolve. I don't post that often and when I do I hope it is more of the better-sourced kind. This assembled group feels like the most educated and thoughtful assemblage of any I've encountered online so maybe Palmer isn't the best fit. But, I submit for some of those moments when one feels as I did at 3:00 AM this morning here on the East Coast his writing sometimes helps me not fall into the pit of despair as we have to fight to not succumb.
Would you be able to do a "fact" check on this website? They cover Israel-Palestine news. No hurry, but I am interested in knowing more about this conflict.
Media Bias Fact Check is a good place to check many media outlets for bias and factual accuracy. The site also accepts suggestions for new media to analyze. With the proliferation of media, not all sites have been analyzed. Ifamericansknew.org has not yet been analyzed, possibly because it may not be an American site. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com
It looks like in this day and age, with almost everybody subscribing to one or more social media platforms, everybody can write and publish to their hearts content. Yes, freedom of speech has two sides. And a large number of 'influencers' and bloggers are publishing for one reason only: MONEY. Whether it's true, false, invented, overheard, conspired .... Why not? It's probably peanuts compared to the $$$$ that those '... seven directors of corporate boards recently resigned when the DOJ expressed concern that they were violating the prohibition on directors and officers serving simultaneously on the boards of competitors' made, the latter just ducking away and removing themselves quietly to avoid legal prosecution for helping to create monopolies and cartels, pushing prices up for the other 90% of the population... Maybe the Antitrust Division of the DOJ has some job openings to catch these criminals ...
"...seven directors of corporate boards recently resigned when the DOJ expressed concern that they were violating the prohibition on directors and officers serving simultaneously on the boards of competitors. Congress outlawed this practice under Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914" . I didn't know about this. What working stiff knows about this kinda thing going on everyday? Even I can understand how this can manipulate competition which works to the benefit of the common man.
I hope the repubs respond to the debt relief for our nations farmers. They're probably in the backrooms spinning now. The bottom line is that it is good for the farmers and thereby good for our country.
You know, I support the farmers and all, but...and correct me if I’m wrong, weren’t they big supporters of TFG? Not that I begrudge them a single penny, I just wonder if it occurs to them that they’re part of the reason they are where they are? Needing relief? That includes big business agriculture. The past is the past, but will President Biden be appreciated or insulted by them?
Pardon my skepticism, but are any of those "struggling farmers" getting debt relief listed on a stock exchange spmewhere and named Con Agra, Del Monte, Dole, or Cargill? I realize the amounts noted by HCR, $52k to $172k, is chump-change to Big Agra, but too often have I seen the rugged, individual "American farmer" recieving one kind or another of government benefit turn out to be a large corporation.
Full disclosure; the tenth generation of my family farms a 275+ yr old, 260 acre farmstead in Connecticut. To my knowledge, they are not in need of the debt-relief program.
Thirty-three members of Congress and their immediate family members have collected over $16 million in farm subsidies over the years (1995 to 2020), including $1.3 million from TFG's trade war bailout known as MFP. Ol' Chuckie Grassley is and has been prominent among those standing in line for subsidy money. (Chuck, his son and his grandson farm 750 acres in corn and soybeans in NE Iowa).
Is anyone here thinking about how the prerevolutionary serf/owner system in Russia compared to the farmer/bank sys.tem in the US today, and how interlocking directorates place so much arable land in the hands of so few owners? Or does that require too much leap of imagination?
These handfuls of owners don't own "souls" any more, they own vast areas counted in square miles rather than acres or hectares and employ machines rather than men. Their real interest, extracting as much income from the land as it will yield... until it is exhausted.
Though Lawyer Eastman has been fighting hard against the revelation of the facts and the truth, it appears his snake-oil gambit is finally being stripped for parts. I hope he, his co-conspirators and even Mr. Trump are finally brought to justice.
re: 'google Leonard Leo=Corrupt Courts' chalk message project.
A member of the Bar Harbor Town Council suggested that although she respects First Amendment rights, if lines are crossed then there are the remedies of lawsuits. This in response to my asking: why the Town Manager conducted a campaign of threats, misinformation in the press, and actual erasure, how he diverted town resources, and how much it cost. Questions which Councilors have denounced but not answered. They can't refute the evidence myself and others have presented. It seems constitutionalist and crusader for limiting the reach of government has spawned Cottage (Street)* Industry of government officials who want to suppress First Amendment rights. With some evidence suggesting, at the initial instigation of Leonard Leo.
The leadership of the BH Police Department has openly defended my project as protected by the First Amendment and compliant with Maine law; they defended me from Leonard Leo and the BH Town Manager agitating for my arrest. Now Town Councilors (none identifying as right wing) seem to be looking at civil rather than criminal charges. Not getting in the way of GOTV!
ThankYou. Fortunately MDI community activists and some independent media have my back. And community response has been very positive. I was afraid the 'notoriety' generated by the Town Manager would make me useless as a canvasser - but even wearing my surgical mask, people are like 'hey, you're the chalk graffiti person' and thank me. The sad thing is progressives on the Town Council while in private have told people they support me - they've been silent in public or even denounced me.
We are just returning from a trip visiting dear friends in Australia. They are very aware of US politics, but I was surprised when a few of them mentioned how President Biden is old and doddery. I blame this view on the media and tried to explain all he has done for our country, and how much he has done to restore security worldwide. I was also saddened when they told me that they used to look up to the United States, but that is no longer the case. It made me sad, but I told them I understand completely. I only hope that we can hang on to our democracy in the upcoming midterms, and maybe one day again be a country that others look up to.
Amazing to me, that there are those that consider him "old and doddery" when the Queen lived to her late 90s and people marveled at her stamina. Which she did, indeed, have. But I think that the "job" she was doing at the time pales to the job of a US president.
I feel that I am living in a ‘bipolar’ America.
Heather describes in exquisite detail what President Biden and his team are accomplishing to support a large majority of Americans and to invest in America’s physical and social infrastructure.
The Trumpublicans are lockstep opposed to these accomplishments (while some Republican members of Congress locally shamelessly claim credit for legislative benefits that they had opposed.)
Internationally President Biden has restored American leadership in Europe especially through NATO and the ‘Western’ coalition that has forthrightly supported Ukrainian sovereignty against Putin’s sustained brutality against Ukraine and its courageous citizens. In the Pacific, the Biden administration has effectively worked with Asian countries to counter the aggressive inroads of an expansionist China.
The Trumpublicans have not disavowed Trump’s bromance with Putin and even now some of Trump’s Mafiosos are questioning a sustained American commitment to combatting Putin’s megalomania in invading Ukraine and seeking to extend Russian hegemony in much of Eastern Europe.
In Asia Trumpublicans are still wallowing in the Trump trough of loving Kim and playing ineffective and costly beggar-my-neighbor tariff wars with China.
The Biden administration, the Department of Justice, and many federal [excluding the Supreme] and state courts are pursuing justice and legal accountability in accordance with the Constitution.
Trumpublicans are making a mockery of justice, law, and order and are pursuing a steadfast program to make the right to vote a Trumpublicans privilege and the 2024 presidential election one in which state legislatures and state secretaries of state can ‘massage’ the votes cast.
At 89 I have experienced some downs and far more ups in the stutter steps towards a more inclusive America that endeavors to enhance both a great majority of its citizens as well as the American soul.
I am aghast that the party of Lincoln has abandoned his maxim that government is ‘of the people, for the people, and by the people.’
I fear that ‘my America’ is in peril.
You are one of our better angels, Keith Wheelock. Your summary of our country's strengths and weakness is a call for all of us to right the way forward. Thank you.
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities." - Lincoln
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan
Only in Ronnie’s world. He knew how to “help.” Go Abe
Ah yes, St. Ray gun. The cause of so many of the problems we see today. And of course, now they are difficult to fix without the political will and loads of money. R ads feature all those tents and blame Ds for them, including in the ads against McLeod-Skinner somehow aiding and abetting where they are...like next to schools, etc. An update....support is waning for Machine Gun Betsy Johnson and it will be interesting where those voters go....hopefully to Kotek.
Yes!! Reagan was absolutely poisonous. But unlike Trump, I kinda feel like Reagan believed what he preached. That's bad enough. Trump - I feel like most of what he did to us was out of more evil motives.
Reagan was a delusional narcissist, but I think he was a slick-talking salesman for plutocrats. I was never sure how much of "Reaganomics" was his own idea. One of his mentors was Milton Friedman. His sales pitch, that government of the people, by the people, for the people had proved a disaster, and that neo-feudalistic lords were society's principal benefactors, set the course for Trump, the transparent conscienceless, self-aggrandizing sociopath, and the one time "Party of Lincoln" on course as the Party of the Big Lie.
This. I'd love the Nobel committee to rescind the Economics prize it awarded Milton Friedman. He ruined generations of Americans with his lords-driven tax cut nonsense--i.e., "voodoo economics."
Friedman is famed for saying "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits" and writing a whole doctrine about it. SCOTUS says that corporations have the rights or citizens, yet seems to agree with Friedman that the have minimal responsibilities. That seems to be a formula for quite a bad citizen, if not a sociopath. Can corporations become sociopathic? The British East India Company was one example, and it certainly doesn't stop there. "I owe my soul to the company store" was a US reality. Is there a discernable line between some corporate practices and organized crime? That's what the "R" word; regulation, is for.
Golden shower economics! :)
Reagan was the one who ended the Fairness Doctrine, paving the way for Fox.
Death star has no comparison among our presidents. A truly evil festering cancer who cares only for himself.
If you're referring to trump, you're absolutely correct.
As far as I could tell Reagan, seemed to be the mouth piece for the wealthy, and since he was a trained actor it was impossible to tell what he actually believed, as he shucked and jived for the audience. Frankly, it was probably Nancy who directed his play.
The press fell in love with him, and repeatedly celebrated him as "The Great Communicator". "Great" if your only standard of communication is commercial TV huckstering. Certainly he was no Abe Lincoln.
Yes. He played it like he was one of "the common man", instead of the rich out of touch, actor he was. I would venture that he didn't even write his own lines.
As I learn more history (mostly here, along with a few other sources) I am coming to believe that since Eisenhower left office, the RepubliQan party has been run by a cabal of wealthy men (Koch brothers and Leo are the ones I can recall at the moment). Nixon was of their ilk, but went forward with policies that he had established as his personal priorities (two of which are opening relations with China and the Uniform Controlled Substances Act which would eviscerate the leadership of both the hippies” and Blacks). Reagan, Bush 1 & 2 we’re toadies, but allowed the cabal to gain control. I do not know if they would have preferred one of the minions over Pmurt, but they got their absolute desire with him.
A bipolar nation indeed.
Eisenhower was OK and the tax rate was such that we could afford nice things. However, the R nonsense goes back further. I am thinking now about the opposition to FDR's policies which the Rs have been trying to destroy ever since. If you are up for it, I recommend Jill Lepore's These Truths, which is an excellent recent history of the US. Btw, she calls Bill Clinton a rascal.
Part of Eisenhower's high tax rates went to planning for and/or retiring the war debt. The Republicans were very upset with him, which could not be expressed publicly because Eisenhower was so revered, that he didn't terminate Social Security.
Not only the wealthy but those tied to a racist white Christian belief.
Reagan was in way over his head. His economic program was nonsense. He got credit for the collapse of the USSR because he hated commies but had nothing to do with it and didn’t see it coming. He was a hypocrite, claiming to be race-blind when he really just indulged in a self serving denial of racism that enabled him to trade on it politically.
He certainly was over his head and out of his head. Didn't vote for him, couldn't stand him.
Reagan was responsible for the demise of unions, one of the few ways that working people can earn living wages and good benefits. I am still stymied by the fact that there are so many people in the Republican party who can't or won't see how uneven the playing field is and who seem to lack compassion. I've decided that many of those who have billions and play the system to protect them from paying their fair share of taxes have a disorder called "Money hoarding syndrome" MHS. Hoarding is an anxiety disorder characterized by accumulation of "stuff" and an inability to get rid of any of it because of the anxiety. So many of those people not only have more money than they could ever spend, but keep seeking more and seem to feel entitled to not having to pay taxes. The whole world is dealing with the fallout from the mental illness, MHS, of the super wealthy.
Heather CR has posted a lot of newsletters on how the Republicans of old are not the current Republicans. My best advice is to vote for Democrats instead.
Ever time this comes up I think of my father who was a strong Republican. When I was in high school he was a chief election judge in our local precinct. Things changed for him with Ronald Reagan and he couldn't vote for him. I think he still voted for some Republicans down ballot but we never talked about that.
Early voting begins today in NC and I will be thinking of him when I vote this afternoon. I will vote only for Democrats, I am so concerned about my country that I will not vote on positions that have only a Republican on the ballot. It will not make a difference in the outcome in my very red district here in far western NC but it will make a difference to me.
I’m in N.W. NC often. I travel there 3-4 times a year from PA for 20 years or so. I am always appalled at their general lack of concern for public education in the K-12 schools. Anyone with children and an extra nickel send the kids to church run private schools or home schools their children. There are areas where this is not entirely the case, but not nearly enough to meet educational demands. Services are bare and hard to quality for. Not that PA is setting any educational templates to aspire to, but c’mon NC up your game!
Education in a strong country is a federal investment. Its budget shouldn’t need to be beefed up by the local real estate. That way you provide for a nation of well educated people who will push the country forward. The same way we provide for the military, federally.
Listen to Al Franken’s most recent podcast where he interviews Will Bunch, who wrote “after The Ivory Tower Falls.” They talk about the decline in funding for higher ed and it’s reasons. It is VERY interesting. We are as a country in a bad place due to deliberate withdrawal of support for higher ed, starting with—guess who—Ronnie the Idealized.
Ronnie and Donnie, two useful idiots.
“Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.” - Mark Twain
I struggle philosophically about how to rule a nation in a democratic manner. On the one hand, I feel strongly in the democratic principle if majority rule and the will of the people. On the other hand I don't like to see people in the voting booth whose world views cross swords with reality, or who are racists, or lack empathy for those in need. And I realize that such a view is merely another version of wanting voter restrictions. The answer, I suppose, is to do everything possible to educate the public, with an education that is to the max extent possible devoid of partisan influence (mission impossible?). And have strict laws that ensure free and fair elections (we have alot of work to do to better that). And then let the chips fall where they may.
We are at the bottom of the state in Clay County. Quality of the school varies widely by county. Ours are pretty good while the county just west of us doesn't measure up. Across NC we don't pay our teachers enough and the state for sure needs to up its game.
This is so sad to read. I first learned from the New Yorker about Art Pope and the Koch brothers in NC. Then saw “Starving the Beast” which shows the president of UNC-CH being ousted by their “business” candidate. I wrote to Nancy McClean to ask whether Duke couldn’t rescind Stephen Miller’s degree when his part in the Trump anti-immigrant movement was public (she said it couldn’t be done, even though I wrote that as a UNC graduate I was making my first overture ever, in any capacity, to Duke🤣). May you get a new state government and get your public schools back. Although it isn’t yet a public concern, the attack of the Right on schools is as important as that on SCOTUS.
I’m in East TN, adjacent to you. We have the same problems and the same legislator mindset.
Remember when republicans took over the entire govt in Raleigh in 2010, they slashed teacher pay and got rid of tenure. They did an awful lot of damage in the eight years it took for voters to finally come to their senses and elect a democratic governor and enough Dems in the legislature to blunt some republican foolishness that tries to slip by.
I remember it well, while I am retired, I have a number of friends who are teachers in the local high school. This terrible impact is the minimum of what would happen across the US if the GOP gains control of congress and the white house.
Carol and I voted yesterday, first day of voting in NC. We were number 151 and 152 in our small country of 10,800.
I’m usually around the Forsyth/Davy county border. Teacher’s salaries are pathetic.
I live in Western NC and am a psychotherapist. I have clients who are teachers and their jobs are over time becoming more demoralizing and overwhelming. Good teachers often end up quitting the profession to save their sanity, which of course further degrades the quality of the education available for the kids who don't have parents with the resources to pay for charter/private schools. Budgets keep getting cut for public schools and more money is funneled to the private/charter schools, many of which are based on Christian ideology.
Growing up in the Midwest in the '50s and 60's, California schools were often pointed to as trendsetters, until Republicans successfully demonized taxation.
I often think of my dad too....who was a strong R and hated Rosie (FDR) and unions. I do wonder what he would have thought about death star, but then, he did listen to Rush. And like you, I will not vote for any R, no matter what.
As a graduate of UNC-CH in the days when NC was as purple as purple, may I wish you a change of state to blue. Cheri Beasley will be a senator of the change NC has needed since Art Pope and the Kochs bought the state.
And, if everyone who feels that personal difference gets out and votes we may very well surprise not just the pundit and political class but ourselves as well.
We all do what we can and who knows, others in your area may do the same.
Dave - maybe not in your particular district, but NC is a battleground state. Just like in war, the strategy is to strike where the enemy is more vulnerable and leave the strongholds for later. NC and OH and AZ and some other states - the Democratic Party and its adherents must wage war. I live in TN, and that is a Republican stronghold. I am soooo disheartened by it. If I lived in NC, I'd be much more active. Now the responses in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... :)
Be more active wherever you are. Make a dent, however small, in the Trumpublican tent.
We received ballots in the mail yesterday (in Utah ballots are mailed to everyone and we mail back or drop off, sad the rest of the country can't vote in a similar, easy, fair way). Utah is a deeply red state and it breaks my heart that there is only one option, Republican, for MANY races.
Evan McMullin is as close to an electable Democrat as you're likely to find and would be a vast improvement over Mike Lee who seems to have lost whatever mind and principles he might once have had.
attempted like
Thanks.
Should go without saying, different world. Watched the switch in awe and disgust…
Done 👍
Sir, I applaud your comments, and your age. My father, a lifelong Republican, changed his vote to Democratic when Trump came along, and was also "aghast" at the damage Trump was wreaking. Though he passed this year one day before his 99th birthday, I know he would agree with every word you wrote. Thank you for expressing his fears as well.
I would like to think my late father would have changed his vote also. He died early in the Trump years, and I never asked him how he voted. I only know that he greatly softened his militaristic conservative views as death approached.... I cannot imagine him, at that time, voting for such a cruel corrupt character as DJT. His brother (now also deceased but more recently) and equally militaristic but somehow more "intellectual", was one of those who denigrated Trump early during the 2016 campaign for all the right reasons and supported someone else (like Jeb Bush perhaps, or Cruz), and then shamelessly jumped on the Trump bandwagon once it was apparent he was going to be nominated. And stuck by it continually (up until he died). Same for his wife. Same with my sisters, same with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and so many of my acquaintances. So, I have concluded that for every case of an old GOP voter switching or staying home in defiance of the Trumpublican party, there are 10 who held their noses and jumped on the band wagon. It is a testament to just how badly they hate us and what we stand for. And that is why I personally have zero true friends who are Republican, and why I have so few friends period (I live in TN). That is by choice, for to be a true friend there must be mutual trust and admiration and common ground. All of which I have none of.
And add to that list the statements of Rep. McCarthy about not being a 'blank check' for Ukraine and we have a complete and utter abandonment of American principles. Even Pence was disappointed with the direction the GQP might take us if they regain control of the House.
Point out to everyone you can reach that Republicans have announced that they will stab Ukrainians in the back by cutting off aid to them. That is the kind of argument that can change minds, even at this late stage.
I think pointing out that they want to cut social security and medicaid would hit people harder.
In fact, I'm going to let my drumpf loving niece (on my exes side) know that her job better pay well because if they cut both programs her mom will have to move in with her.
... see Steve Schmidt's "The Warning" today:
https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/kevin-mccarthys-betrayal-of-the-united
... oooh, and this too:
https://on.substack.com/p/the-active-voice-announcement
... and hey, what the hay-hay, while I'm at it ... this one too ... not to toot my own horn, but this matters ... more high level radioactive waste leaking into groundwaters polluting the Columbia River ... and no action being taken to clean it up (at the designated toxic waste storage location for the whole country - what a convenient way to get rid of those upstart, rebellious elements out west ... just poison the grounds) ...:
https://kathleenallen.substack.com/p/clean-up-nuclear-waste-at-hanford/
The thing that really causes me pain is that this has been going on for decades, and Hanford is still dissembling. I'm going to clarify some of what you mention, because it's not quite accurate. I happen to be intimately familiar with the situation you mention.
A co-worker of mine is the one who found the original site analysis demonstrating that leakage was no only inevitable, but already happening. The original site analysis began when Hanford was first set up post WW2 and was part of the first EIS. The 2nd EIS, when they wanted to extend storage, did not include either that or subsequent work showing active leaking and potential (and, as it turned out) actual flows beyond the Hanford site. This was in the 80s. My coworker, who had worked for the state for decades by that time remembered the first document, but could not find it, peculiarly. He finally found an original copy by manually going through state archives, box by box. It was in a box of materials someone had carefully preserved. The very public revelation blew up Hanford's plans, and the state clamped down very publicly.
There is an aggressive cleanup program, but the only thing they can try to do is try to slow and reverse the flows, which is not working well enough. Too much let go and hidden for too long. And every time something emerges, Hanford twists and bends.
My co-worker lived in fear for some time, and his name was withheld, because there were strange and scary things going on in Tri-Cities. I heard some details of that story from a church minister who ended up helping some members of the community caught up in the amazing political morass. (His next post was in an obscure, out of the way very rural location. Safer but frustrating for him.
The toxic materials repository at Arlington, OR is another concern, for two reasons. Out of sight does not mean it is out of mind. And climate change is posing flooding problems thoughtout the Northwest.
We are our own worst enemies, and the earth's as well.
As for the river, well, right now a larger problem are the dams and the pollution that comes from ag runoff, untreated urban stormwater (filthy stuff) and from the toxic materials we put down our toilets and sinks.
Thank you Annie!! I completely agree ... and yes, the deeply painful and troubling truth is that we are mere ants at a picnic for those who call the shots in this equation - whoever controls influence of policy at the DOE ... I worked with Heart of America NW back in the 70's - while there have been some victories, nothing seems to stop the problem or reverse the tides - the hole we are digging just seems to get deeper, and deeper ... it is hard to imagine positive outcomes ... looking up, I give thanks for a multi-dimensional universe!!
And yes, we are "our own worst enemies, and the earth's as well." Maybe that is the purpose of this poisoning ... maybe controlling elements of the ultimate planetary authority will solve the problem by killing us off ... still, life goes on ... many die, but some adapt - I shudder to think what that could mean ... just look at the jellyfish are doing ... can't imagine radiation from Fukushima has any influence - not to mention toxicity from sunken war ships and who knows what other garbage we spread with such abandon ... oh, to the glory of man!!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/04/magnificent-jellyfish-found-off-coast-of-papua-new-guinea-sparks-interest-among-researchers
"Do you have a home you love, or is this planet just another pit stop on the race track of your life?"
This is an excellent question, Kathleen, absolutely excellent!
Thank you Lynell - I wonder if it might be offensive to some - a bit caustic, maybe ... that is my whip-cracking side showing ... I hope it does not detract from the message that follows ... purpose being to communicate - reach hearts and minds - turn it around, as it were ...
California - one would think he could get voted out. How is it that he is not at least in a tight race?
California has many red districts that have zero chance of flipping. McCarthy's is one. There are so many in northernmost part of the State they want to join Idaho.
Next to McCarhy's district is Fresno, Devin Nunes old stomping grounds, it may make it to "almost purple" this year due to the influx of Bay Area residents during the pandemic (affordable houses to purchase). We moved to Merced for that reason, and the UC here, and it is purple. The ads are so ugly.
McCarthy represents a very conservative district. Wikipedia describes California's 23rd district as having: "...a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+12, it is the most Republican district in California and the second-most Republican district in a West Coast state, behind only Washington's 4th district."
"The current district includes parts of the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains and southern Sierra Nevada, and the northwestern Mojave Desert."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_23rd_congressional_district
They will destroy the United States of America.
Because they want to. They want authoritarianism--with Republicans firmly in control.
That's why they're holding conferences in Hungary.
McCarthy, the traitor, enough already
McCarthy will have little power as Speaker over his caucus. Margarie Taylor Greene has already made that clear to him.
Pelosi could "manage" AOC with her skill and large cojones. Anyone who thinks McCarthy has either of those has imbibed hallucinogenic substances.
In such a scenario, I would hope he does have the cajones. MJT is the craziest rep since Michelle Bachmann IMHO, and needs to have a muzzle and leash put on her. What a shame that a fine candidate like Marcus Flowers will likely not win that election.
You're not alone.
I am aghast too at what is happening. I am ten years younger than you are, but feel the same about what has happened. I had thought we were making some progress, but alas, thanks to the party of death, we are going backwards. We were at our neighbors yesterday and heard a story about them being at the Elks (to dance) and someone sat down at their table and said Obama was running the country and he knew because he had seen it on Youtube. Our neighbor told him to get away from them among other things. But this is the sort of thing that people spout because they have seen it on social media. We also discussed some of the R plans including possibly letting the country go into default to get what they want. Our neighbor is a former banker and he understands very well what that means. Our ballots are in the mail and we should get them today. Here in Oregon we get email or texts to tell us they are on their way and also inform us when they have been received at the clerk's office. Voting could be so simple.
Members of my own family thrive on misinformation and disinformation. They get their "news" from others in their tribe. It seems that reinforcing the negative graifies and nurtures them. They are Trumpians. A few months ago, one family member commented about how Stalin, Mao and Putin were dangerous liberals. My eyes popped. You can't fix stupid. Sadly.
These people have no idea what certain words mean, so they just throw them around because they have heard on wing nut sites that liberals are the bad guys. Also because of social media, they are all "experts" and so they "know". I have had one person tell me that she would rather not be as well educated as I am because then she might believe as I do. I wanted to tell her how glad I was that I was not as religious as she is.
" But this is the sort of thing that people spout because they have seen it on social media."
And because they are hurting under Reaganomics, and powerful charlatans give them scapegoats, and tell them that they are the Master whatevers. In their induced, supercharged state of narcissism, they feel entitled to tell anyone who not in their club what to do.
I wish my oh so Republican parents would see the damage the GOP is doing. I honestly don't understand how they could do so much charity that they do (for strangers) and not see how completely at odds the Republicans are with those values. They say it's because they fear socialism, even as they dig from their own pockets for charitable giving while also denying themselves simple pleasures of life that they can easily afford.
Barbara, Thank you for sharing your caring and perplexed feelings about your parents. They are an example of good, sane people who have absorbed anti-socialism propaganda to the point of it being paramount in their voting decisions. 'Socialism' has been part of the Republican rhetorical agenda for many, many years -- first, socialism, has been tied to evil and then applied to opponents. It's social manipulation on a 'grand' scale, wedded to the autocratic or fascistic program for control of the populace.
And completely ignoring the many socialist aspects in our country's own organizations, such as libraries, police and fire departments, public works (and here in northern New England that also means snow removal and sanding on state/town roads), the National guard and the country's huge military. The above is merely a partial list.
Yes, and SS, Medicare, ACA...
Are they on Social Security and/or Medicare? Tell 'em to give it back...
Perhaps if you point out that Republican leaders (Kevin McCarthy, for one) have announced that they will stab Ukraine in the back, that will have an effect on them.
Wow! 89. God Bless. You've got me by 10. Now I feel like a youngster. LOL. Your comments echo and mirror my thoughts and sentiments. Thank you! I never would have believed that one of our two political Parties would become our single, largest domestic enemy. My fear is that too few grasp the gravitas of this moment.
So well written Keith. I would add my favorite issue - climate change. Trumpublicans continue to do and/or resist doing everything possible to upend any efforts to combat climate change. At the peril of us all. Whatever history survives a dystopian world that we seem destined for will record the reasons for such a catastrophe. And the GOP will be exhibit "A" along with the American people writ large who merrily went along. You and I will not see the worst of it, but our offspring and theirs will. God bless them.
And like you, I am struck dumb by the polarized nature of the country I call my own. It sinks to new lows all the time along with my sadness and disappointment. I began to notice something was amiss back in the late -70's and early -80's when I started to pay more attention (1) and discovered abject science denialism among the Republican party and its adherents (evolution denial, climate denial, tobacco denial, etc) (2). Previous to that I was fat dumb and happy as well as politically immature. Since then, I have discovered more and more just what that evil party stands for, none of it good. All of it bad. Not just science denial - it is but an example of denying or fighting anything ANYTHING that is an "inconvenient truth" to their agenda. Now, it has transmogrified into an anti-Democracy authoritarian movement that seeks to deny the majority they feel is unqualified to have a say in favor of a minority they feel needs to be in charge regardless of what most of the people want - a plutocracy or oligarchy, or "illiberal democracy". Another Putin-ruled Russia or Orban-ruled Hungary. What mystifies me is that the general voting population doesn't see this, or not enough to do anything about it, or worse perhaps having serious character flaws like racism and willing ignorance and senseless hatred (jealousy?) of the well read, the informed. Watch the MJT/Flowers race as a bellwether. There are others.
Heather reminds us daily that these hellish roller coaster twists and turns have always been a part of our history. Hard to think clearly when we are in the spin cycle of this election but our ancestors have managed to hold democracy together. Surely we can, too.
The barbarians are nipping at our heels.
And I am kicking the mongrels back in the dust all the while moving forward.
Salud, Jeri. 🗽
I fear that ‘my America’ is in peril.
I once felt this way too. A bit anyway.
But. Now? From HCR and the 1619 Book and other reading, I understand that:
I was always in peril in their America.
In 1912 the Progressive Party was formed by Theodore Roosevelt as an offshoot of the Republican Party. Roosevelt had said that he felt "strong as a bull moose" after he lost the Republican nomination for President in 1912. The Progressive Party was then nicknamed the Bull Moose Party. By contrast, today's Republican Party should be nicknamed the Bullsh*t Party. They should also call Trump's posts on "Truth Social" quacks. I wish the Dems would use these in their PR. They would be catchy and annoying to the Repubs. Of course they would have to be backed up by context, which wouldn't be too hard to do.
J Might the ‘Bullsh+t Party’ be considered derogatory to pure bred bulls?
Possibly, but we have to prioritize.
I will opt for "Quack Social"!! I wish the DEMS were aggressive.
So do I.
"Truth Social" is a title born to be parodied - I'm just surprised nothing's surfaced so far. Which reminds me - I must check out Politics Girl.
It's becoming clear that the Democrats need some strategists who are interested in winning elections and not just playing internet media games.
I write my congressman (James McGovern) something to that effect every once in a while. Never get an answer.
The staff is too busy being busy to respond to mere voters.
Interesting candidate convo on Politics Girl Leigh McGowan’s podcast.
Dem running against Thune in S Dakota.
Give a listen.
https://youtu.be/7lvqabhkj_Q
I marvel at how many great Dem candidates are running for important offices this election. I think victory for every one of them every day. Such a fierce force for democracy.
🗽
One of my hubby's Sioux descent relatives lives in Rapid City and she is on it for electing Ds and getting rid of the Gnome and Thune. She also gives a daily count of those who have died in South Dakota from COVID and never misses a chance to post about all the BS being put out by the Gnome and Rs.
They'd be an even greater force if they'd get out and actually meet with people. As far as I'm concerned, every candidate should be out in a public Ask Me Anything forum at least 5 times a week for at least a couple of hours and they should be publicized on the internet and in local papers. The idea that an effective campaign consists of Facebook posts, Tweets and fundraising emails is one reason why more of these folks aren't getting a stronger response.
Re my post above, the D candidate for governor is out and about all over South Dakota while the Gnome is off in another state for fundraisers.
And I'd bet a reasonable amount that this will pay off in votes.
I hope.
Keith Wheelock, you are not alone! Nineteen more days and I will find out if I have and can make a difference. There will be little rest for me in those nineteen days. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help! I hope I am able to make you all proud come November 9th!
Sharon I am extremely proud of you! You are fully engaged in an uphill fight.
All you can do is your best, which you are doing @120%.
Thank you!
A lot to unpack. I hope 45’s knowledge of his crime manipulating the outcome of the 2020 election will get him indicted asap. Vladimir Putin is out of control, obviously. It is heartrending to see to what lengths he will go to win an unjust assault on Ukraine.
There must surely be one or two people in the Kremlin corridors of power who've also noticed that in effect that places the whole of Russia under (variegated?) martial law...
Indeed, a lot to unpack. However, a lot more was revealed today that DPR did not bring up. I'm certain that she cut us all a break by not rolling out more, as well as staying on theme being enough for one day. Cheers Lisa !
There are no stops on his madness masquerading as power
I often dream of bashing Trump's brains out. But then I wake up and remember doing so would be a physical impossibility.
Humor of this nature is not trivial, and it's funny.
Join the club. So to speak.
That made me laugh out loud---thank you.
BECAUSE HE HAS NONE! But think of the damage to that orange badger on top of his head.
lol....
LOL
Oh man. It is as though the wonderment of the Biden administration is drowned out by the insanity slurped up by the deplorables. Someone wrote this - I think it was on Twitter. If here I apologize.
¨The best thing trump and MAGA did for this country was expose just how many racists, antisemites, misogynists, bigots and fascists live among us masquerading as "christians." If there are more of them than us....
Also this article in Yesterday's Guardian regarding the bizarre yet terrifying vision of Bannon.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/19/steve-bannon-us-constitution-tea-party-republican-state-legislatures
I believe that I can safely say that all of us here grew up thinking that we had the best democracy in the world which would forever be guaranteed and that our government had our backs (except for a few hiccups involving unnecessary wars). What happened? Without a doubt the Biden administration is actively helping different groups of people struggling in various financial straits such as those indebted with student loans and farmers having to combat the effects of climate on their crops. Now we're all going to feel the effects of it when we will be buying tomatoes and tomato products, such as spaghetti sauce...if they will even be available. I remember watching a clip just before the last presidential election on farmers, one after the other, saying how they were going to vote for rump because he was good for business. I wonder what they're saying now around their kitchen tables? Poverty is increasing and wealth is being distilled in fewer hands. So I have to ask, how can farmers be accepting life jackets from this administration and continue to vote Republican? How can poor, ignorant MAGAs continue to support their decrepit leader and his ridiculous political ass/ring kissers when they are being promised, if they regain power, they will void student loan relief and dispense with their SS and medicare benefits? I'm a mental health therapist, but I am at a loss here....
Like animals robbing each others food dishes, they think it's ok as long as they don't get caught. They think God is a hoax, or is not watching. They think life is a game and winning is the only purpose in life. I worked in banks, Insurance, architect, stock brokers, and real estate development offices. Not everyone was a money grubber, just most of them. My favourite jobs were in libraries, so different!
Sophia, This is such an important message. If you are on any social media, speak it personally. This is the kind of message that people listen to. That is how Politics Girl happened. This is so awesome and cannot be lost. If you need help, let me know. If you can just have someone with a phone with a camera hold it and you speak it and send it to me, I will get it out there. We need more voices from ¨real people¨.
Gailee, thank you for the encouragement. The pen had always been my weapon and most of my letters to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer were published and I was told that I should cool it with my political output since I publishing a book. While working on the second book I stopped my letter writing. Your post has made me rethink--I'm not looking to be a media star but will write a letter to the editor today. Thank you! demas@usa.com
You seriously have a voice many need to hear. Create a Blog. Create a Twitter Account and just speak your letters. You would grow such a following. I promise.
How did this American become such an alien? If we can discover what produced him, maybe we can find an antidote.
Unfortunately he has many followers. I discovered him before the 2016 election when he became Trump's PR person. His belief at that time was to burn it all down. The U.S. had supported Europe and the rest of the world long enough. He wanted to destroy all relationships and for the U.S. to become an isolationist country. He's now worse.
He’s just another power addict with zip morals or integrity. What’s not to like with chump and Repub vampires…. They sucked the last drop of blood from the repubs like Ike.
Maye the liver damage is finally affecting his mind. (this is sarcasm...unfortunately)
Burn down the federal government and all the country's institutions, rejig the Constitution and transform the USA into an updated and suitably adapted version of Portugal under dictator Salazar. Another Estado Novo, hermetically sealed off from all contact with the 21st century. And the 20th...
And...
*
Joseph Nemeth's analysis appears to be correct.
*
The effects of such a grand metaphysical exercise in stopping the clock then setting it back a century or more... permanently stopped... could only be
IMPLOSION
And Putin stands on an aircraft carrier under the banner: Mission Accomplished”
Disturbing doesn't even come close! Bannon isn't merely dangerous he is an obsessed psychotic. I can only pray that his dark money funded organization is a cover for grift. Bannon's continued existence makes me wonder why the treacherous and evil don't die young (instead of the 'good').
Thank you for this link, but yikes!
Thank You Gailee Walker-Wells !!!!! I was just going to post this link also to the group here because I thought it was so important.
Because they own every front page?
100% right. They are always behind the scenes, destroying every vestige of democracy. Koch’s and ALEC predate chump and have never taken a break, not for a nanosecond
Because they own the media.
Read - Dark Money ~ Jane Mayer
I agree, 100%. Bannon is a real threat.
Horrifying and they’ve been doing this for decades!
Exactly! And these billionaires now own the news media which is why so little about Biden's accomplishments are in the news. Lisa, this is another example of simply speaking these words on a phone camera and posting on social media so that ¨real people¨ are seen and heard. If you can create it but can't post it, send it to me and I will post it on Twitter.
...awakened to your incoming morning LFAA. Thank you Dear One, Dr. Richardson for careful assembly and reflection on current events. I am a grateful reader. You are remarkable.
Also, I especially loved this one sentence today: “That is, Trump appears knowingly to have lied, in writing, under oath, to a court.”
It’s quite the coup!
Lying about virtually everything has been his modus operandi for years and years, most especially when he was in the WH. His frantic attempts to keep the presidency by means of lies with legal consequences may--may--be his downfall, finally.
And why not include staging the Supreme Court to the task?
THAT IS SUPER IMPORTANT! The judge in that court can issue a 'Rule to Show Cause' why Trump and the lawyers who filed the falsehood should NOT be held in 'Criminal Contempt'. This is all done by this one judge alone. No DOJ and Garland. The judge does not need the approval of other judges. That judge alone can initiate a criminal proceeding for lying to the court! If convicted after trial, the judge can sentence to jail time! I'd love to know which judge got the lying bogus Trump under oath claim.
Barnburner of a statement.
🗽
CPR for antitrust is long overdue and the DOJ has a long row to hoe. How many major companies that were sales leaders 50 years ago have been hoovered up into super-massive conglomerates? How many ostensibly "competing" brands are owned by the same corporation? How many products, especially foods, have been shrunk and reformulated with cheaper ingredients while prices rise? Completion of value for the dollar is supposed to regulate prices, but not when when approaching monopolistic control of markets. That's what "regulation" that Republicans portrayed as sabotaging the economy, not protecting the public, was about. But compare three eras, the "Gilded Age", the mid 20th Century, and now, in terms of the stranglehold of corporations and concentrated wealth on the customer, the worker, economic stability, and corruption of government, you might wonder if a little regulation was not such a bad idea after all.
I heartliy agree, and also note the rise and fall of the unions. They were up-and-coming in the days after WWII, but have since fallen, under pressure from those monopolistic corporations. I fear it will take a major recession (depression?) to restore the stability of the middle class and alleviate the widening wealth gap (e.g., 750 billionaires in the US control more wealth - $5 Trillion - than the lower half of the population, 65 million households).
There's something unhealthy, as well as morally reprehensible, about wanting -- or having -- it all your own way.
A parasitic attitude, rather than the calculated risk-taking of the true entrepreneur.
Ya think that "monopolistic control of markets" has anything to do with rising inflation?!? No, they blame Biden. People just don't understand economics.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!!
Democracy Docket Updates:
"The parties in Moore v. Harper — the case out of North Carolina attempting to advance the fringe independent state legislature theory — have filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of oral argument on Dec. 7. Here’s a breakdown of what each side is arguing:"
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/moore-v-harper-parties-submit-briefs-to-the-u-s-supreme-court/?emci=c9281254-0750-ed11-819c-002248258e08&emdi=11d8a944-0850-ed11-819c-002248258e08&ceid=17269876
Polling locations were restored in Bexar County, Texas.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-orders-bexar-county-texas-to-operate-129-additional-polling-places/?emci=c9281254-0750-ed11-819c-002248258e08&emdi=11d8a944-0850-ed11-819c-002248258e08&ceid=17269876
"Pennsylvania Judge Denies GOP Request to Limit Drop Boxes in Lehigh County"
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/pennsylvania-judge-denies-gop-request-to-limit-drop-boxes-in-lehigh-county/?emci=c9281254-0750-ed11-819c-002248258e08&emdi=11d8a944-0850-ed11-819c-002248258e08&ceid=17269876
"Yesterday, nine Republican U.S. House members sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding information and transparency about President Joe Biden’s pro-voting executive order issued in March:"
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/house-republicans-request-dojs-plan-to-implement-bidens-pro-voting-executive-order/?emci=c9281254-0750-ed11-819c-002248258e08&emdi=11d8a944-0850-ed11-819c-002248258e08&ceid=17269876
Tim Moore, the Moore in Moore v Harper is a wicked, power hungry weasel. This case is an attempt to maintain the egregiously gerrymandered districts in NC by this ludicrous lawsuit. NC Republicans are all about power for themselves, and they damage anything they touch, public education being one of those things. I am an NC voter. Early voting begins today.
For those not in the know, Jenn, it's good to get your perspective. Thank you!
Thank you for the links. The executive order Issued in March 2021, “directs federal government agencies to increase access to and information about voter registration and elections.” But of course Republicans oppose it! Good grief. I receive Democracy Docket newsletters, I will have to go back and read the details.
We need to talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene. How is a person who hasn't been sworn into her first term as a member of Congress organizing efforts to interrupt the J6 vote? The Dec 20 meeting at the White House was bad enough but the Dec 3 effort makes her involvement all the more baffling. There's something very nefarious going on with that woman.
Even more disturbing is her assertion that Kevin McCarthy will have to give her some plum committee assignment should the mid-terms give the House to the Republicans. She is certifiably bat-shit crazy. To watch clips of her speaking at rallies or in the recent debate is stomach-churning.
I watched a clip of her responding to Jamie Raskin and it was enough to #1--make me mute the volume--her voice could cut glass...and, #2--punch a hole right through the (completely innocent) tv. Goodness, how that potatoheaded woman disgusts me.
Careful now, I like potatoes... especially Maine russets. I hope the tv didn't cost much... I did that once and it cost me $1000.
My $30 dollar donation to Marcus will cut her off at the pass, or so he says. I wish. She is a few slices short of a loaf; incompetent, greedy, power-hungry, and faux by any measure, especially as a Christian human. And chump’s best bet for a VP. Sorry, my nightmare….
Thank you for reminding me about Marcus Flowers...just sent a donation his way.
My thoughts, exactly.
I'm not sure that she is smart enough to be called nefarious.
I struggled to find a word to describe her. There's more there than meets the eye. Like Trump, I sense that we underestimate her at our own peril. An image I can't shake is her at Bedminster chumming it up with Trump and Tucker Carlson. Not a photo op but a guest.
She is an enigma--a nasty one--isn't she? TBH, I don't think MTG is so fine an actress that she could fake such stupidity. Indeed, her stupidity appears quite genuine. The stunts that she pulls seem calculated for attention and it's clear that she, at least, thinks she's hot stuff.
Marge doesn't seem to have any particular policy that she's is pushing or any actual reason as to why she's become such a radicalized MAGA, other than she seems to idolize TFG. Indeed, Marge seems to really like him--it figures. She's fairly blatant about what she wants (to run as his Vice President, as if she is remotely qualified) so your guess is as good as mine. She is a malevolent character and does seem to love cruelty simply for the sake of cruelty, so there is that.
While the news of Chump's continual corruption of the past dominates events now being uncovered, the ones literally happening right now are worth a read and look, particularly this close to a major election. Understanding it was too late for inclusion in HCR's always-inclusive post, CNN's blatant ongoing attempts to use TFG's desperation for clickbait is worth a read as seen though the eyes of Bill Palmer's still-under covered website. CNN needs to be called out again-and-again for their abuse of web space masquerading as "journalism".
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/donald-trump-just-reached-the-height-desperation-to-try-to-keep-himself-from-being-indicted/47545/
The best revenge you can have on CNN—which I was incredulous and sad fully caved to Republican donor control and GOP pressure—is to ignore them: stop watching the network and remove their app from your phone and stop reading it. I quit CNN about six weeks ago and haven’t looked back. I don’t miss them. They have lost me. I won’t support them. They have become yet another accomplice to the misinformation stream that is quickly dooming this country.
Yes. CNN is a disappointment. I have never been a fan of broadcast news especially cable news media. I did like a few personalities I watched from time to time, but due to their caving, I stopped even the brief moments I gave them of my time. Reading HCR and other journalists is keeping me informed as I hope people realize we need to remove the filth of Trumplican policies from our country. Hold those responsible for the damage done to our citizens, our constitution and our leaders.
Same here!
Testify!!!!
I quit them long ago, when Jeffy said that giving Trump's rallies free airtime "gives us great ratings." Damn fool.
There's a reason why it's known as the Cretin News Network.
Look Bill Palmer up before loading up on the anti-CNN brigade.
Immediately after Biden took office, I noticed ( and was alarmed at) CNN’s attacks against the President, encouraging negative opinions via “outrage” stories
Good news was buried, and headlines followed GOP accusations and talking points
I’ve always been turned off by cable news networks, so as one who rarely tunes into any broadcast news, I too noticed an immediate turn by CNN to downplay or outright ignore this administration’s accomplishments, portraying Biden as ineffective and repeating unjust criticism by Trumplicans. I have been calling it out daily. I know it’s garbage but it has been so blatant, they’ve lost all credibility. Now I wouldn’t believe them if they told me today is Thursday, I’d have to check my calendar 📅 📆 🗓.
Its Thursday somewhere, I need a drink. Its also 5 o’clock somewhere
My reference was Bill Palmer. Did you read my post reporting on his background and fake news blog? That was the reason I replied to TC and to you, Dave. Given Palmer's 'reports', it makes sense to check the veracity of his claims.
Duly noted, Fern
My comment was a riff on the topic of current CNN in general
Their “target” audience changed rather quickly, noticeably seeking “engagement” using division as a motivator, ie “corporate sees viewer anger as a profit indicator; rile them up for more clicks, your bonus is tied to how high you can drive that number”
I rarely view CNN, but recent reporting by Cooper and Tapper were unchanged. I am not in a position to have a opinion about the company.
FERN MCBRIDE (NYC) - "Given Palmer's 'reports', it makes sense to check the veracity of his claims."
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/palmer-report/
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA (44/180 Press Freedom)
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY
Ron, Thank you. If you have not checked my post about Palmer taken from Wikipedia, more checking and examination of Palmer's work and background were provided than mediabiasfactcheck's. Palmer's blog is considered 'fake'.
Like the MSM, CNN is as biased at times, as Fox, wasn’t always so.
While I am in sympathy with the content of this "report", I would be cautious with the info from the Palmer Report in general. He may be philosophically on the right track, but I think he is more of an opinion artist than a journalist. JMO.
As for CNN, I last watched it to track a hurricane or something like that. Now that our cable cord is completely severed I am spared the endless stream of yelling about "breaking news". And that's what CNN is beginning to do: break news. Just another money machine like Faux.
Sad, but money rules
Bill, your suspicion did not go far enough. My doubt led me to dig a bit. If you would like to know more, read my reply to BK. Didn't suspect us of being close in mind, but it's a pleasant surprise.
Such crass incompetence, CNN managing to be even stupider than the crap it is spreading.
But STOP.
Gross professional incompetence in terms of journalistic standards.
OR
A piece of political messaging, skilfully designed to help the poison go down. CNN, or someone in it, offering in advance to carry MAGA politicians' briefcases for them.
That's how ambitious journalists sell their souls and get plum jobs as spokesmen... Reverse metamorphosis from butterfly to poisonous creepie-crawlie.
Bill Palmer is a FAKE. Read my reply to BK.
So does CNN love him? Who needs a Fox in reverse. More chaos and mud-slinging. What are the poor “masses of asses” to do???
Mud stirrer?
My reaction was to the mud stirred, in other words, to the quotation from CNN. Assuming it to be genuine.
I should have gone back to the original, which is normal practice, but let us say that, even taken out of context, there's mud here for mudlarks, professional or otherwise.
Really troubling is the way in which the teetotal D-elirium T-remens has, via the media, succeeded in implanting his neo-Hitlerian "new normal" in the body politic and in the very soul of the nation.
The point about fake bloggers is not to 'assume' accuracy or the truth. They're 'fake' because for the most part they are selling lies.
The media imply that inflation is the only thing people care about. People hear about inflation constantly and assume it is the most important thing because it’s practically the only economic issue they hear about. I highly recommend an article by economist Dean Baker at cepr.net titled “Inflation, Inflation, Inflation and Social Security.” Democrats running for office cannot minimize inflation without seeming “out of touch,” but its effect on people’s budgets is not so simple as the media implies.
Ahhhh... So, what is being inflated?
I'm reminded of when I was ten or eleven years old and a band of my age group ran around the playground chanting:
"We all say so, therefore it must be true!"
I don't remember if there really WAS something they all said. I somehow doubt it...
But have we not all seen by now how schoolyard games and crazes persist from 8 to 80?
BK, Research is almost on automatic for me. Something triggered my interest in who this Bill Palmer is and whether his story is true. Bill Palmer first and later today or tomorrow I'll check the veracity of what Palmer has reported. There reason for doubt.
Palmer Report
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Current status Active
The Palmer Report is an American liberal[2] fake news website,[3] founded in 2016 by Bill Palmer.[4] It is known for making unsubstantiated or false claims,[5] producing hyperpartisan content,[6] and publishing conspiracy theories,[7][8] especially on matters relating to Donald Trump and Russia.[14] Fact-checkers have debunked numerous Palmer Report stories, and organizations including the Columbia Journalism Review and the German Marshall Fund have listed the site among biased websites or false content producers.[15][16]
History
Bill Palmer worked as an elementary school teacher before beginning a series of online publications. His earlier endeavors primarily discussed music and technology. In 2013, he launched a publication titled The Stabley Times under a pseudonym. Like his previous websites, the site covered music and technology, but it also added coverage of political and sports-related topics.[17] Palmer subsequently founded a politics-focused site called Daily News Bin. A hyperpartisan left-wing website,[18][19] Daily News Bin was described by Snopes editor Brooke Binkowski as "a pro-Hillary Clinton 'news site' designed to 'counter misinformation'".[20][4] Daily News Bin promoted fake and sensationalized pro-Clinton narratives, according to The New York Observer.[21]
A 2017 study by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University found that the amount of misinformation stemming from Daily News Bin was comparable to that of InfoWars or The Gateway Pundit during the 2016 United States presidential election.[22][23] The study also identified Daily News Bin as part of a set of "newer highly partisan sites farther left on the spectrum."[24] Daily News Bin routinely published unsourced claims about the election,[25] including falsehoods on Bernie Sanders[26] and voting machines in Wisconsin.[27] Additionally, Daily News Bin falsely claimed that the Podesta emails were fabricated[28][29] and falsely claimed that a video of a public event funded by Goldman Sachs was one of Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman Sachs.[30] Daily News Bin was included in Le Monde's database of unreliable news sites.[31][32]
Content
The Palmer Report is a hyperpartisan[6] liberal[2] fake news political blog.[3] It is known for making unsubstantiated or false claims[5] and publishing conspiracy theories,[7][8] especially on matters relating to Donald Trump and Russia.[9][11][12][13] The Palmer Report typically uses anonymous sources and its articles give the impression that Trump is about to go to prison or be deposed.[33] It is regarded as a political propaganda outlet[34][35] or left-wing disinformation.[36][37] Articles from the Palmer Report were shared almost exclusively by Hillary Clinton supporters during the 2016 presidential election.[38] The Palmer Report received five million unique visits per month over the course of 2017.[39]
Some of the Palmer Report's most widely shared stories include the conspiracy theory that then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell funneled "Russian money" to Trump[11][22] and that Robert Mueller planned on arresting Donald Trump Jr. for "treason."[13]
Am happy to learn more about Bill Palmer, Fern. However, using Wiki as a source has its own limitations, IMO and as Wiki even admits about itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_reliable_source
And yes, I agree that an intellectual he is not and that is the reason I am here to connect with people such as yourself who source well-researched info accurately and often. It's what I love about this blog and I thank you for that as your posts are trusted.
I also agree with Bill Alstrom that he is an "opinion artist". But, what media outlet isn't that these days? From the full-on Faux "News" channel to our closest mainstream source MSNBC it's ALL opinion. The result is that collectively they have managed to pervert almost everything sacred including religion and the Constitution to say what they want it to say. Some of the worst cover their tracks by even saying they are "entertainers". It's all such a far cry from my youth of watching Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley , Dan Rather & co who when even one made a misstep were thrown off the bus. So, we are all left to our own for sourcing of "facts" and even then aren't always sure. This is exactly what the right wanted in bringing the country to the brink with chaos, which again, is why I respect you and those in this group for doing their best to source good material.
I apologize in advance if this sounds defensive but, sometimes I just like reading Palmer because he is one of a very few who aren't afraid to put in words the outright "rage" I feel for where we are. I lived on many military bases growing up moving with our father's military career. He ended up giving his life for this country and never asked a soul what political party, race, religion or other affiliation they were. He was proud to defend the entire country with honor and when a so-called POTUS called him and ALL military vets "sucker & losers" I better understood what those like TCinLA posted earlier this AM.
We also know how those on the right both within our own borders and abroad are prepared to do whatever it takes to crush outlets that speak out against them.
http://wikipediocracy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12029
So, please understand that when I sometimes source Bill Palmer it is more often than not coming from a moment and place when that "rage" has surfaced and something he has expressed helps that feeling resolve. I don't post that often and when I do I hope it is more of the better-sourced kind. This assembled group feels like the most educated and thoughtful assemblage of any I've encountered online so maybe Palmer isn't the best fit. But, I submit for some of those moments when one feels as I did at 3:00 AM this morning here on the East Coast his writing sometimes helps me not fall into the pit of despair as we have to fight to not succumb.
Hi, BK. I deleted my response to you about Palmer as it was just meant for you. See you soon. Cheers!
We already are, Fern.
Looking forward to more.
Thank you, Fern!
Would you be able to do a "fact" check on this website? They cover Israel-Palestine news. No hurry, but I am interested in knowing more about this conflict.
https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/whoweare.html
Media Bias Fact Check is a good place to check many media outlets for bias and factual accuracy. The site also accepts suggestions for new media to analyze. With the proliferation of media, not all sites have been analyzed. Ifamericansknew.org has not yet been analyzed, possibly because it may not be an American site. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com
Thanks, Barbara. Will check it out.
I still have to go through the info gifts you linked, Lynell. THANK YOU!
There’s also CAMERA.
It looks like in this day and age, with almost everybody subscribing to one or more social media platforms, everybody can write and publish to their hearts content. Yes, freedom of speech has two sides. And a large number of 'influencers' and bloggers are publishing for one reason only: MONEY. Whether it's true, false, invented, overheard, conspired .... Why not? It's probably peanuts compared to the $$$$ that those '... seven directors of corporate boards recently resigned when the DOJ expressed concern that they were violating the prohibition on directors and officers serving simultaneously on the boards of competitors' made, the latter just ducking away and removing themselves quietly to avoid legal prosecution for helping to create monopolies and cartels, pushing prices up for the other 90% of the population... Maybe the Antitrust Division of the DOJ has some job openings to catch these criminals ...
CNN has a new owner, one who loves to be “entertained” with profits
"...seven directors of corporate boards recently resigned when the DOJ expressed concern that they were violating the prohibition on directors and officers serving simultaneously on the boards of competitors. Congress outlawed this practice under Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914" . I didn't know about this. What working stiff knows about this kinda thing going on everyday? Even I can understand how this can manipulate competition which works to the benefit of the common man.
I hope the repubs respond to the debt relief for our nations farmers. They're probably in the backrooms spinning now. The bottom line is that it is good for the farmers and thereby good for our country.
I kinda think of mob "families", too powerful to overcome each other, meeting to divide up the territories.
I sense you are not too far off.
Exactly spot on.
You know, I support the farmers and all, but...and correct me if I’m wrong, weren’t they big supporters of TFG? Not that I begrudge them a single penny, I just wonder if it occurs to them that they’re part of the reason they are where they are? Needing relief? That includes big business agriculture. The past is the past, but will President Biden be appreciated or insulted by them?
Please xcuse my ignorance. what is TGF ?
TFG is shorthand for "the former guy", i.e. the orange purveyor of lies.
Pardon my skepticism, but are any of those "struggling farmers" getting debt relief listed on a stock exchange spmewhere and named Con Agra, Del Monte, Dole, or Cargill? I realize the amounts noted by HCR, $52k to $172k, is chump-change to Big Agra, but too often have I seen the rugged, individual "American farmer" recieving one kind or another of government benefit turn out to be a large corporation.
Full disclosure; the tenth generation of my family farms a 275+ yr old, 260 acre farmstead in Connecticut. To my knowledge, they are not in need of the debt-relief program.
Thirty-three members of Congress and their immediate family members have collected over $16 million in farm subsidies over the years (1995 to 2020), including $1.3 million from TFG's trade war bailout known as MFP. Ol' Chuckie Grassley is and has been prominent among those standing in line for subsidy money. (Chuck, his son and his grandson farm 750 acres in corn and soybeans in NE Iowa).
The 100 Year Corporate Plan
Is anyone here thinking about how the prerevolutionary serf/owner system in Russia compared to the farmer/bank sys.tem in the US today, and how interlocking directorates place so much arable land in the hands of so few owners? Or does that require too much leap of imagination?
These handfuls of owners don't own "souls" any more, they own vast areas counted in square miles rather than acres or hectares and employ machines rather than men. Their real interest, extracting as much income from the land as it will yield... until it is exhausted.
There is no sound so sweet first thing in the morn as the sound of the falling dominoes of fate and justice, Thanks for this!
Justice, real justice, that restores and protects balance, and universal rights, is always sweet.
Waiting…
Though Lawyer Eastman has been fighting hard against the revelation of the facts and the truth, it appears his snake-oil gambit is finally being stripped for parts. I hope he, his co-conspirators and even Mr. Trump are finally brought to justice.
But will Rupert continue his news by omission
News is giving his propaganda too fine a polish
Off Topic
re: 'google Leonard Leo=Corrupt Courts' chalk message project.
A member of the Bar Harbor Town Council suggested that although she respects First Amendment rights, if lines are crossed then there are the remedies of lawsuits. This in response to my asking: why the Town Manager conducted a campaign of threats, misinformation in the press, and actual erasure, how he diverted town resources, and how much it cost. Questions which Councilors have denounced but not answered. They can't refute the evidence myself and others have presented. It seems constitutionalist and crusader for limiting the reach of government has spawned Cottage (Street)* Industry of government officials who want to suppress First Amendment rights. With some evidence suggesting, at the initial instigation of Leonard Leo.
The leadership of the BH Police Department has openly defended my project as protected by the First Amendment and compliant with Maine law; they defended me from Leonard Leo and the BH Town Manager agitating for my arrest. Now Town Councilors (none identifying as right wing) seem to be looking at civil rather than criminal charges. Not getting in the way of GOTV!
*Town Hall is on Cottage Street
Keep us posted, and let me know anything I can do to help. BH holds a special place in my heart.
ThankYou. Fortunately MDI community activists and some independent media have my back. And community response has been very positive. I was afraid the 'notoriety' generated by the Town Manager would make me useless as a canvasser - but even wearing my surgical mask, people are like 'hey, you're the chalk graffiti person' and thank me. The sad thing is progressives on the Town Council while in private have told people they support me - they've been silent in public or even denounced me.
Me too. I know Cottage Street well.
Wait until you see the 45 room Bed and Breakfast cronyism is building
Oh no! My favorite innkeeper, who we've known for 20+ years, sold her property last summer. I'm afraid to see what happens to it.
We are just returning from a trip visiting dear friends in Australia. They are very aware of US politics, but I was surprised when a few of them mentioned how President Biden is old and doddery. I blame this view on the media and tried to explain all he has done for our country, and how much he has done to restore security worldwide. I was also saddened when they told me that they used to look up to the United States, but that is no longer the case. It made me sad, but I told them I understand completely. I only hope that we can hang on to our democracy in the upcoming midterms, and maybe one day again be a country that others look up to.
Amazing to me, that there are those that consider him "old and doddery" when the Queen lived to her late 90s and people marveled at her stamina. Which she did, indeed, have. But I think that the "job" she was doing at the time pales to the job of a US president.
I truly think it has a lot to do with how the media portrays them.
Chump put us in the toilet, getting ready to flush…