Professor, in these perilous times you give us hope, that Justice just might prevail. Looking back in history, but not that long ago, we had a sitting president who famously declared “I am not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” “Not a crook,” just a liar. And he left the presidency relatively peacefully. No riot. Just corruption. TFG is both crook and liar and he has not even tried to hide his corruption. Hiring his unqualified family members for critical positions, ignoring emoluments requirements, inciting a riot, an insurrection. Turning the Peaceful Transfer of Power into a temporary myth. All In plain sight. Trying to Steal the Presidency. Not enough space to list his crimes. And until today, with one of his most minor crimes, he is at least on the carpet. Will he proudly wear handcuffs or an orange suit? I’m not betting money, but our Democracy is the better for holding him accountable for the first of many crimes he had committed.
And it's not just happening in the US... in Australia, following the NSW State election two weeks ago, the progressive Labor Party (roughly equivalent to the US Democrats) is now in power nationally as well as in all the 6 mainland States and two Territories. Only the state of Tasmania (population roughly 500,000) has a Conservative Government, barely holding on with just a one seat majority.
“For a while, it seemed as if all the guardrails were gone — that anyone rich and powerful enough and with sufficient disdain for the common good could get away with doing just about anything.”
All well and good, but the billionaires who bankroll these malefactors and miscreants — the Kochs, Uhleins, Yasses, Wynns, Thieles, Mercers, Fancellis (the list goes on and on) — have not been called to account. Politicians, however mendacious and destructive, come and go, but their financial enablers endure, year after year, generation to generation, hunkered safely under the shield of their great wealth. And, of course, the reason they bankroll the politicians they do has nothing to do with philosophy, principle or social issues, and everything to do with protecting and growing that wealth, whatever the consequences may be for democracy and the welfare of the 99% of the economic pyramid atop which they sit.
UNTIL something is done about them, which obviously means taking the money out of politics, either through laws mandating public funding for all elections or a constitutional amendment exempting elections from First Amendment protections so that election campaigns can last no longer than, say, three months and that outside money may not purchase media buys to push issues, nothing will change. American politics and the nation’s institutions will always be for sale to those with the deepest pockets.
Aloha Robert. If the female judge from Milwaukee prevails in Tuesday's Wisconsin vote for state Supreme Court Justice, then I will join you in optimism about some long overdue comeuppance.
GOP evidently will do everything to stop the "comeuppance" -what are they afraid of? what do they have to hide?- and still is one of the main powers in American politics so the battle for justice and Democracy still is continuing. Democracy and justice will be on the ballot in 2024 even more as it was in 2022 and 2020.
If the Republicans allow the United States to enter into catastophic default, do they think people will vote for them? People will lose all the money in their 401K's, Seniors won't get paid SS, people will lose jobs enmasse. How will people put food on the table or a roof over their heads? I remember stories my parents told me about the Great Depression. Its very scary. I will lose my home. I'm too old to live in a tent. This cannot happen!
Slowly the inertia is beginning to shift in the cesspool. One can hope we will see the muck swirling down the drain in our life time. ( just hope it is being purified in the leaching fields of sunlight).
Walgreens is getting a lot of blowback, too, for deciding not to ship LEGAL abortion drugs to some red states, even those where abortion is still legal. It used to be my go-to drugstore. Not any more. A lot of my friends and I are taking our business elsewherel
The zeitgeist shifts, and the wheels of justice turn, only when people commit themselves to the shifting and the turning.
Dr. King's arc of the moral universe bends towards justice only so long as courageous individuals take hold and continue to bend it.
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Professor, in these perilous times you give us hope, that Justice just might prevail. Looking back in history, but not that long ago, we had a sitting president who famously declared “I am not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” “Not a crook,” just a liar. And he left the presidency relatively peacefully. No riot. Just corruption. TFG is both crook and liar and he has not even tried to hide his corruption. Hiring his unqualified family members for critical positions, ignoring emoluments requirements, inciting a riot, an insurrection. Turning the Peaceful Transfer of Power into a temporary myth. All In plain sight. Trying to Steal the Presidency. Not enough space to list his crimes. And until today, with one of his most minor crimes, he is at least on the carpet. Will he proudly wear handcuffs or an orange suit? I’m not betting money, but our Democracy is the better for holding him accountable for the first of many crimes he had committed.
Long overdue comeuppance! Let's hope the wheels of justice prevail.
And it's not just happening in the US... in Australia, following the NSW State election two weeks ago, the progressive Labor Party (roughly equivalent to the US Democrats) is now in power nationally as well as in all the 6 mainland States and two Territories. Only the state of Tasmania (population roughly 500,000) has a Conservative Government, barely holding on with just a one seat majority.
There is hope...
DEFEAT CON AND TRAITOR REPUBLICONS EVERYWHERE
“For a while, it seemed as if all the guardrails were gone — that anyone rich and powerful enough and with sufficient disdain for the common good could get away with doing just about anything.”
All well and good, but the billionaires who bankroll these malefactors and miscreants — the Kochs, Uhleins, Yasses, Wynns, Thieles, Mercers, Fancellis (the list goes on and on) — have not been called to account. Politicians, however mendacious and destructive, come and go, but their financial enablers endure, year after year, generation to generation, hunkered safely under the shield of their great wealth. And, of course, the reason they bankroll the politicians they do has nothing to do with philosophy, principle or social issues, and everything to do with protecting and growing that wealth, whatever the consequences may be for democracy and the welfare of the 99% of the economic pyramid atop which they sit.
UNTIL something is done about them, which obviously means taking the money out of politics, either through laws mandating public funding for all elections or a constitutional amendment exempting elections from First Amendment protections so that election campaigns can last no longer than, say, three months and that outside money may not purchase media buys to push issues, nothing will change. American politics and the nation’s institutions will always be for sale to those with the deepest pockets.
If Scotland still wants to press charges against him, let them store hm in an abandoned castle and then ask, "Donald who?"
I'm rootin' for Putin to get his comeuppance as just desserts and not the coeur ala creme he thinks he deserves
Aloha Robert. If the female judge from Milwaukee prevails in Tuesday's Wisconsin vote for state Supreme Court Justice, then I will join you in optimism about some long overdue comeuppance.
GOP evidently will do everything to stop the "comeuppance" -what are they afraid of? what do they have to hide?- and still is one of the main powers in American politics so the battle for justice and Democracy still is continuing. Democracy and justice will be on the ballot in 2024 even more as it was in 2022 and 2020.
Thanks for the positive reminders Bob. You still rock pretty damn good.
For the overt and flagrant publicity seekers perhaps. For the rest comeuppance does not happen until they change the tax code.
If the Republicans allow the United States to enter into catastophic default, do they think people will vote for them? People will lose all the money in their 401K's, Seniors won't get paid SS, people will lose jobs enmasse. How will people put food on the table or a roof over their heads? I remember stories my parents told me about the Great Depression. Its very scary. I will lose my home. I'm too old to live in a tent. This cannot happen!
Can Putin be arrested at the UN Security Counsel?
Slowly the inertia is beginning to shift in the cesspool. One can hope we will see the muck swirling down the drain in our life time. ( just hope it is being purified in the leaching fields of sunlight).
Walgreens is getting a lot of blowback, too, for deciding not to ship LEGAL abortion drugs to some red states, even those where abortion is still legal. It used to be my go-to drugstore. Not any more. A lot of my friends and I are taking our business elsewherel