Accountability

Facing the ‘mare-ca In America


We Billy-Bobs are Right and We Know It

Let’s drop the pretending for a minute and honestly say that while George Floyd’s murder was not okay, it really wasn’t a big deal because, hey, he was just a Black guy. Plus, we stand by our police, except the ones at the Capitol Building and you know why. And we heard that Floyd’s past was sketchy, although me and my posse don’t know what that was about.

And those kids snatched from their mothers at the southern border – I mean, boo-hoo. Gimme a break. Those kids would have grown up to be Brown adults and not so cute anymore and they’d probably be on welfare with me payin’ for them. Glad they’re gone. And their crying moms? Too bad. Nobody invited you. Besides, you’re Brown. Just go away.

Let’s get serious about all those homos demanding rights like they’re so important. Hey, you want a website for your homo wedding, go do it yourself. Don’t try to make a God-fearing, straight, White Christian woman do anything for you. And get that damned rainbow flag out of my face.

And Affirmative Action? Everybody knows that’s just a way to discriminate against White guys, to keep us down. You other races can do that bootstrap thing like we did. Otherwise, just shut up and stay in your place.

We don’t go for no Department of Education. That’s gub-mint telling us what our kids should learn and turning over their future to a bunch of elite coastal bozos and sketchy teachers. We got parents rights, you know. It’s right there in the Constitution. I forget where.

Anyway, don’t go shoveling no lib-ral, anti-‘mer-can crap at us or our kids. We’ll home school ’em and make sure they learn the right stuff, not the lies in your history books. You can’t chop our freedom.

You know this is true: the Founders of this country were all White men – every one of ’em – and they set up this country to be run and owned by White men. That’s a fact. Deal with it, socialist.

The Constitution allowed for slavery, which is why we want to keep those Confederate statues and have our military bases and schools in the South named after Confederate generals. They were great heroes, especially Robert E. Lee. It’s why we honor the Confederate battle flag and do everything we can to make sure only White people can vote and have their votes mean something. It’s the right thing to do because we’re patriotic ‘mare-cans.

You bleeding heart lib-rals make me sick. That lib-ral crap is an insult to the spirit and meaning of our country, so you can take your woke and stick it. If you don’t like that, go someplace else. Maybe back to where your people came from. They sure didn’t come from here like we White people did.

Until then, just remember that most of us are doing concealed carry. Best if you stay in your lane. It would be a shame if something were to happen to you, you know?

We’re right and we know it.

Take a Breath

The above is satire, of course. It’s a caricature of the closed-minded and the willfully ignorant, those intolerant of everything that isn’t just like themselves.

Even as things are exaggerated here to make a point, we as a country rarely care enough about Black, Brown or LGBTQ people. New laws and extremist Supreme Court decisions are ensuring that we care even less. Harm to these people makes the news only because it’s spectacular and brings eyeballs to advertisers. We don’t do much to right the wrongs, so the hits just keep on coming.*

I’m sure it’s comforting to some to deny that there is systemic racism in this country. It’s a relief to some that service can be denied to LGBTQ people on the basis of an impromptu claim of religious beliefs designed to be inflicted on others. All that takes are just a few key words, like God, Jesus, Christian, freedom, liberty and ‘mare-ca. But what you know is that it’s just performative, faux patriotism.

Land of the free, home of the brave? Where’s the bravery that makes sure that all of us are free?

All men are created equal? How equal are we now?

I’m just wondering what it is we really stand for. It’s a terrible shame that we as a nation have lost our ability to feel shame. Maybe we can bring it back. That would help.

About Your Rights and Our Democracy

For a must read satire about the state of our nation that should wake up your blood, read Diane Roberts’ commentary, We’re the Mommies for Liberty and the future belongs to us. It’s focused on the outrageous rights violations going on in Florida today. With that model in mind you’ll see what could be coming to all of America if we don’t set things right. It will give you the shakes, because Roberts’ satire feels frighteningly close to reality.

Another take on democracy and the pummeling of our rights comes from an essay by Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead, his best-selling 2003 memoir about being a Marine in the first Gulf War, later made into a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. His essay in Daily Beast is about book banning, which the vocal extremists in Ottawa County, Michigan did to his book. He ends his post this way:

Make no mistake, they are banning books, but really they are restricting access to ideas. And when one small group of people ban[s] a larger group of people access to ideas, we are in for a closing of the American mind. What begins with banning books ends with a firescape of constitutional rights ablaze. But the fire is already here on your block. [emphasis mine]
 

That stunning image is the threat that faces us, which is why you and I are going to do something about that, like get elected to office people who believe in democracy and who will stop the ones torching the Constitution.

Quotes of the Week

From David Corn of Mother Jones:

So when the pundits scratch their heads about DeSantis’ attempt to out-flank Trump on the right, they miss the point. He is trying to out-hate Trump. That tells you a lot about the guy and what he thinks of Republican voters.

You could say much the same for Republican politicians who tacitly condone extremism by refusing to speak up.

Thinking more about the not-extreme Republicans who have refused to speak out against the vile lies for these terrible years of political venom, read this, paraphrased from Harlen Coben’s 2023 novel I Will Find You:

Morality is subjective. They could have done the right thing, but they only do the right thing when it doesn’t cost them.

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger excepted, of course.

Just Sayin’

Monday, July 3 was Earth’s hottest day in the last 125,000 years. Tuesday was hotter.

It’s possible the climate science nerds have been right all along about looming climate catastrophe, even as know-nothing elected officials have denied both the science and what’s right in front of their own noses. Maybe it’s time we elect officials who can see past their noses.

______________________________

* Watch Jon Stewart’s explainer here.

Today is a good day to be the light.

______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Headlines


This Headline Gave Me Hope

.I wrote here about the terribly dangerous Moore v. Harper case from North Carolina. That law threatened to take the votes of We The People, throw them into a dumpster, set them on fire and allow a hyper-partisan legislature to hijack elections – a classic case of theft of our rights and the destruction of our democracy. The good news is that this law was rejected by a 6-3 decision of the Supreme Court.

That ugly North Carolina law was a threat to democracy everywhere. It was promulgated by the autocrat wannabes in the NC legislature, those little minds that covet their very own fiefdom. Had the despotic “independent state legislature theory” law been upheld by the Court, all the Republican controlled states would have followed suit and crafted their own version of this democracy crushing stinker. The legal contest worked out right this time, but another attempt at election theft, the end to your voting rights and our democracy, will surely come along.

The bad news is that the usual suspects, Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch, voted for the autocracy and despotism promised by that anti-Constitution North Carolina legislation. Do bear in mind that if Mitch McConnell had not stonewalled for 341 days President Obama’s nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench, Gorsuch wouldn’t be there and Merrick Garland would. McConnell has said that he is very proud of his anti-Constitution larceny.

If the Senate Judiciary Committee had believed Anita Hill’s claims about Clarence Thomas and not fallen for Thomas’ lame “high-tech lynching” victimhood rant, we would have been spared his massive ethics violations and his extremist votes. I say we set that right by removing him and putting Anita Hill on the Supreme Court.

Click the headline above for the Times story and read Prof. Heather Cox Richardson’s explainer. For more insight into this, read Diana Dobrovolny Hefter‘s comment below my post last Sunday. She gets it and is a fine explainer.  Betcha you’ll have something to say, too.

With this vote to smack down the democracy killing “independent state legislature” theory, it looks like it’s possible that the Republican-packed, stolen, extremist Court might not be entirely reprehensible about rights and democracy. Just mostly.

This Oughta Have a Headline

We’ve always had liars, thieves, cheats and scoundrels in our politics. We’ve always had injustice in our justice system. And we’ve always had poverty, disease and avoidable death. What’s most interesting is how red states seem to excel at all of that and how the people in those states don’t seem to see how they are being manipulated and abused. They’re even dying younger due to Republican policies, but they’re allowing that to happen, too. Your required reading is Thom Hartmann’s report of June 28, where he writes:

“It’s undeniably true (and documented with each hotlink below) that Republican-controlled “Red” states, almost across the board, have higher rates of:”

and he goes on to document a Pandora’s box of awful stuff. Why do otherwise common sense Americans not have the sense to refuse to tolerate that?

If you’re in a blue state, don’t imagine you get a free pass. Read this. You’re getting ripped off, too, by being forced to subsidize red states.

This Headline Made Me Laugh Out Loud

This is for real. Click the headline to read the article to meet your minimum daily requirement of eye rolling.

Here’s Another “Oughta Have a Headline”

Let’s be clear about our military veterans. These people volunteered to put their lives on the line for us, even when they knew that the reasons for doing so were stupid, dishonest or hypocritical. They still kept their word to follow orders and to protect and defend. They did that while we went about our regular lives with nobody shooting at us. And some of our vets have lost their way.

A large number of them are homeless. For them, life is far more than hard. A crazy number of them live in a PTSD despair that drives many to commit suicide. It’s the same for teens who are in a mental health crisis of pain and hopelessness.

So, here are a couple of phone numbers to keep handy:

Veterans Crisis Hotline:    800-273-8255
Suicide Hotline:                    988
.

It turns out that the biblical question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” doesn’t apply only to male siblings. It’s about “brother” in a much broader sense. It’s about a moral obligation to help our fellow human beings when we can.*

The answer to the question is a resounding “YES!” And sometimes your help, our help, is desperately needed. Opportunities to reach out to someone who needs a hand are all around. And as Neil Diamond told us decades ago, that’s what your hand is for. Click the audio below and listen to the words for a reminder.

.
Taking This “Hand Thing” One Step Further

On the night of the 4th we went to the concert in Highland Park, IL to see Highland Park native Gary Senise and the Lt. Dan Band. It was a stunning display of generosity, caring and real deal patriotism. Plus, that’s a most wonderful and entertaining band.

The key point is about what those folks do for our military people. The put their lives where their hearts are and give to our active duty and retired vets. They’ve done over 550 concerts and countless visits to our wounded and they’ve donated gobs of money to benefit and honor the people who keep us safe from bad guys.

They were in town for the Highland Park concert, so the day before that they went to the Great Lakes Naval Training Base in North Chicago and did a gig for our new recruits. Those men and women volunteered to go into harms way for us and many will soon be there. Senise and his band showed up to honor them.

There were police from 27 towns around Highland Park to secure the morning dedication and memorial walk, as well as the concert in the evening. There were Secret Service folks, too, and sniffer dogs. They all gave up their day off, their 4th of July with their families, to be of service to all in the community. All stood in the heat and humidity guarding us. All served and protected.

Think about 9/11 and all of our horrific shootings, like in Highland Park last year. These first responders show up in places where you wouldn’t go and they do the dangerous and grisly things that must be done. So, Gary Senise and the Lt Dan Band remember and honor our first responders, too.

Here’s an NBC report about what Senise and the band members do. Because you’d like to support the people who support our troops, here’s a link for that. It’s a good way to say “Thank You” to the people who say “Thank You” as their mission in life. Through Senise and the band, your hand will reach all the way to our brothers and sisters in need.

One Last Fourth of July Follow Up

From Heather Cox Richardson’s July 5 Letters From an American:

Josh Hawley fist saluting insurrectionists – seditionists – trying to destroy America. January 6, 2020

“Yesterday the official account of the Republican National Committee tweeted Independence Day greetings with a graphic of the Liberian flag, which has one star, rather than that of the United States, which has fifty.

“Even more troubling was the tweet from Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) attributing to founder Patrick Henry a false quotation saying that “this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Historian Seth Cotlar noted that the quotation actually came from the April 1956 issue of a virulently antisemitic white nationalist magazine, The Virginian.”

Ignoring the impressive Josh Hawley ignorance factor for the moment, his is not the United States of America envisioned by the Founders, who bristled at the notion of being controlled by any religion. Neither is the America that today’s White supremacists demand.

So, Josh the Sloppy Opportunist, you can take your phony patriotism and religiosity and .  .  .

________________________________

* From Rabbi Hillel:

If I am not for me, then who will be for me?

And if I am for myself alone, what am I?

And if not now, then when?


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Rights and The Fourth of July


Idiotic Theories and Your Rights

Collect the entire set of Rights Elimination Bobbleheads

Trump’s infamous attorney general, Bill Barr, is an enthusiastic proponent of the radical “unitary executive theory.” He promoted it in his 19-page suck-up application to be Trump’s suck-up AG.

Jeffrey Clark, the mental lightweight DOJ supporter of Trump’s attempt to make himself Permanent Emperor of the United States, is also a unitary executive theory bobblehead.

The New York Times wrote:

Like other conservatives, Mr. Clark adheres to the so-called unitary executive theory, which holds that the president of the United States has the power to directly control the entire federal bureaucracy and Congress cannot fracture that control by giving some officials independent decision-making authority.

That idiotic theory is related to the “independent state legislature doctrine,” which would effectively eliminate elections, allowing radical state legislatures to select office holders instead of We The People doing that. Both notions are efforts to crush democracy – i.e. your rights.

Imagine if extremist state legislatures or Trump were awarded dictatorial powers. That would be the end of this as a nation of laws. Instead, this would be a nation at the whim of tyrants with fever dreams of grandiosity. Good thing the Supreme Court just smacked down some of that extremist garbage. More on that next week (and see the Comment about this below).

You know that dictatorial power is what Trump wants. So does Ron DeSantis. That alone should motivate you to make sure that nobody who isn’t an enthusiastic promoter of rights and democracy ever gets his/her hands on any public power. Those extremist – not conservative – schemes are exactly how the far right crazies intend to take away your rights and end your democracy. They want to end majority rule in America.

You’ve played by majority rule since you were on the grade school playground. I’m betting you can’t think of a single reason to do things differently, but the bad guys in the minority can. Their reason is that they want everything – all the money and all the power – for themselves. And they most certainly don’t want any non-Christian, non-White “others” to have power or rights, Constitution and Bill of Rights be damned. Plus, they don’t care a bit about you.

Good thing you know what to do about those guys who want to steal your rights.

Clarity About Rights

For the moment, consider abortion as a placeholder for all rights. First, you must read Prof. Heather Cox Richardson’s explainer, which follows her opening section about the recent Russian drama.

While nobody likes abortion and most agree with a ban following 24 weeks of gestation (meaning fetal viability), a huge majority of Americans believe abortion is sometimes necessary and should be a right. And we Americans love our rights. You remember that “Land of the Free” business, don’t you? That means rights.

And that’s true, even as some believe that you should not have all the same rights as they have, like voting rights. Some Supreme Court justices think you shouldn’t have a right to birth control. Some autocrat wannabes want to impose their might and their religious beliefs on you to further limit your rights. Are you feeling good about that?

No, you’re not. You don’t want anyone putting their knee on the neck of your rights, George Floyd murder style.

So, wave the flag on the 4th of July for your rights, for everyone’s rights, for majority rule, all of which means democracy. Yeah, that’s a good thing to wave the flag for. Here’s how to do that.

Grit For Rights

Mallory McMorrow

I’ve been an enthusiastic fan of Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow since her take down in April 2022 of a hatred spewing Michigan state legislator. See why here.

And because you care about murderers killing children, watch her commentary following the Uvalde massacre. Her message is a good one, too, for the anniversary of the Highland Park massacre. And the Little Rock nightclub massacre. And the massacre of Dallas police officers. And the Aurora, CO movie theater massacre. And the Grand Rapids, MI massacre.

Right, you don’t quite remember all of those. That’s because there is a mass murder every day, so only the ones that are spectacular in some way stand out.

Like little kids shredded so badly by assault weapon bullets in Uvalde that DNA samples were needed to identify them. That massacre happened while cops had an unscheduled rest period in the school hallway for an hour while listening to the murderer’s gunfire.

But every one of those people who were shot, regardless of whether we remember the events, had a right to live. I know you remember that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness thing. That’s about rights. And the right to life was taken away from every one of those murdered people.

Then our leaders stood, with drooping heads, pathetically mumbling something about some damned thoughts and prayers and that this isn’t the time, or some such cowardly drivel. And they DID NOTHING to prevent the next mass killings, so those happened and they keep happening.

The reason for providing those McMorrow links is for you to see what standing strong for what you know is right looks like. Our country needs lots more of this power from you and from me and from all of us. It’s time for moderation in our messaging to end. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

    • Mr. Nice Guy – n. a verbal construction connoting powerlessness; devoid of strength; lacking backbone; avoiding necessary confrontation.
    • – Disambiguation Dictionary, 2023

So, risk having the tough, necessary conversations. Your model for that is in those McMorrow links.

Tell it strong. Tell it from your heart and from your gut. Tell it for your children and your grandchildren who are terrified that they’re next. Tell it for all the people who can no longer tell it for themselves.

And tell your Democratic candidates to reach down, grab their power and wake up their woke. Nice guy milquetoasts are of no use to us at all. This is our time to stand strong.

Wave the flag for that on Tuesday.

Late Friday Extra: Jim Crow Rights

Many rotten tomatoes go to the Supreme Court for its recent decisions on: 1. an entirely hypothetical scenario of a website developer refusing service for a gay couple’s wedding website (they had not asked for one); 2. striking down Affirmative Action in higher education admissions, and; 3. striking down student loan forgiveness. Jim Crow discrimination and segregation have officially been brought back and expanded. Here is a pair of snapshots of facilities with updated signage to accommodate the Court’s decisions.

Click me. I’m suitable for framing.

It’s a new day, but it sure looks a lot like the old days.

Today is a good day to be the light.

______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Potpourri v20.0


Read to the end for some fun.

Bang-Bang

Have a look at this Everytown graphic:

Is that something we should be proud of? Perhaps we should be chanting, “We’re number one!” Because with over 20,000 dead and 320 mass shootings already this year, it occurs to me that I may have missed the change in our national values. Maybe murders, brutality and bullying are what we value most now.

A friend recently emailed saying that he lives in a pretty safe, low crime community. I replied that is exactly what the people of Highland Park would have said on July 3rd of last year. The Parkland kids would have said the same thing on February 13, 2018 and the Sandy Hook parents would have used those very words on December 12, 2012. The shoppers at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo felt just like that on May 13, 2022, same as the shoppers and employees at the Allen Premium Outlets Mall in Texas on May 5 of this year. Those dates were the day before each massacre. Maybe your safe neighborhood doesn’t protect you quite like you think it does.

We’ve known for many years that lobbying congress won’t deliver the gun safety we want. That’s for two reasons. The first is that legislators in the pocket of the gun industry would have to act against their own immediate best interests to deliver what you want, and they just won’t do that.

The second reason you’re not getting what you want is because most of the legislation that affects you is state driven and most of us don’t pay attention to that locus of power until we’re being beaten up – or shot up – by it.

The net of that is that if you are to get the gun safety legislation you want (or legislation for anything else you want), we’ll have to first vote replacement legislators into office at both the state and federal levels, people who believe in what you believe in.

You and I have less than 500 days to make that happen.

In a fundraiser email last week .  .  .

.  .  .  Adam Schiff told of the MAGA Republican House censure of him for the dastardly deed of doing his job. He’s too stand-up a guy to use the word “dastardly,” but I’m not above such a thing. Neither was the House Democratic caucus, which chanted “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!” at the MAGA flame throwers and their spineless Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. Of course, the shame accusation aimed at those people fell on their deaf ears, because they are incapable of recognizing their shame, so Schiff wrote,

President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” I have been called a liar by the architects of the Big Lie, a fraud by fraudsters from Donald Trump to George Santos, and an enemy of the state by those who cheered on the insurrection on our Capitol.

I wear their enmity, their falsehoods, and their censure like a badge of honor. [emphasis Schiff’s]

Read Schiff’s paragraph again to fully appreciate this dreadful display of MAGA hypocrisy.

It’s a damned shame that so many Americans long ago sold out and lost their ability to feel their shame. We need a lot more stand-up people and we’re most unlikely to find them in that shame incapable MAGA crowd.

For a clear demonstration of what patriotism looks and sounds like, give a listen to what Schiff had to say just before the shameful, MAGA party-line censure vote, which included both extremists and the cowards afraid to stand up for what they know is right. Also note that 13 representatives failed to register a vote on this faithless resolution.

The Divine Right of Justices

Emperor Samuel Hirohito’s – I mean Alito’s – hand has been caught in the fancy, enormously expensive vacation cookie jar. It appears that he, like Clarence Thomas, believes that his lofty judicial position puts him above financial reporting requirements. Since Alito has already been attacking the Constitution by forcing his religious views on everyone, perhaps his next move will be to attack Pearl Harbor.

Havin’ a Little Fun

Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, founders of the Sisters of Perpetual Desperation for Attention, have announced that they have joined with the members of the Brotherhood of Low Self-Esteem Over-Compensation and its charter members Jim Jordan, Louis Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Tommy Tuberville, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. The new, combined organization is called The Flaming Order Of Nya-Nya.*

The need for the coupling of these MAGA-stacized orders became clear after they had individually demanded that President Biden resign and turn over the country to the disgraced, twice impeached and multiply indicted Donald Trump.

Biden’s press secretary issued this statement:

“The President gave these demands his partial attention for the entire duration of his snapping closed the case for his aviators and then said, ‘Nah. I don’t think so.'”

That was the trigger moment to merge the groups.

In their first public announcement they declared that the new order will exert great nya-nya pressure on Speaker McCarthy such that they will fully emasculate him not later than the end of this year. They promised to leave nothing but his gavel. “No skeletal structure is expected to remain,” they predicted, “especially back bones.”

In a press conference held on Juneteenth in hopes of distracting White people from the important meaning of that date, they announced that The Flaming Order of Nya-Nya will raise the necessary funds for their work by knitting sweaters for assault rifles and selling them at school board meetings in red states. They are also expecting dark money contributions from Billionaires Against Democracy (BAD), as well as from vacation buddies of Supreme Court Justices.

The stated mission of this new order requires absolute obedience to:

  1. The sacred vow to never allow reality to distract them
  2. The Nya-Nya imperative to always loudly shout something or other

To commemorate the founding of this new order, leaders met in a secret ceremony held behind a Port-a-Potty in a construction zone at the edge of the Ellipse. There, standing in a circle with hands joined in their secret handshake of middle fingers hooked together, they vowed eternal fidelity in their fight to eliminate higher brain functioning everywhere. Most movingly, they knelt, bowed their heads and pledged a holy paean to their hallowed motto:

Hoc Locus De Stultus Est**
.
Late Addition
Focus For Democracy: Zoom Briefing – 2022 Impact Event
Focus for Democracy is a pro-bono donor advisory that approaches political investment in an effective, dynamic, data-driven way.  Learn about the effectiveness of its 2022 Midterm programs and hear the network leaders’ thoughts on the road ahead.
.
This is NOT a fundraiser.
 
Thursday, June 29th
5:00pm PT/8:00pm ET
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/F4DJune29

_____________________________________

* These orders do not exist. They and the reported statements and actions of the individuals named in this section are solely a product of the author’s imagination.

But, hey, given the reality of MAGA, this sounds plausible.

** Literally, “This is the place of stupid.”

Today is a good day to be the light.

______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

A Correction and Winning Elections


Correction

In my June 7 post I made a claim about Antifa that promoted discussion. I wrote,

There is no “woke.”
.

That’s just a label used inflame the base, much like they use the label “Antifa.” The panderers like to call out Antifa as though it is an invading army, a threat to our country, rather than an informal collection of Americans who refuse authoritarianism and fascism. Those who identify as Antifa don’t riot, they don’t intimidate other Americans, they don’t make death threats and they do think democracy is a good thing. Imagine that!

Well informed, eagle eye reader Sheila Markin replied privately,

Another good blog post. I agree with you.  But I do have some information that runs counter to the idea that Antifa is not like the far right.

The information comes from a counseling client I worked with about a year ago. He was a blogger on the left and had become an influencer. But someone revealed that he was an attorney and that he worked in BigLaw. After that he was assaulted verbally and threatened by “antifa.” The emotional toll was very heavy. He stopped blogging and invested more in his legal career but he was emotionally damaged by this.

The mere fact that he worked for BigLaw caused the backlash against him. He made good money which was considered a sin. His ideas were no longer considered valid. In my opinion extremism on the right and the left is bad news. Closed minded people are bad news. The right is worse but both the right and left are guilty of extremism and it is extremism that is so corrosive.

I’m not an expert on left wing social media, so I checked it out with Jay Becker to get her take on this. She introduced me to Antifa years ago. Here’s what she wrote:

The basic story has a ring of plausibility, not so much as an attack by “antifa” but because the tactics described are themselves so widespread among activists generally who identify as “woke:” rejecting or accepting a person because of their identity, not their political analysis (“standpoint epistemology”), rejecting ideas based on their source, not their content, etc. In this case, the person was canceled because he was a lawyer and worked for BigLaw, regardless of what he was advocating in his political writings, assuming that those threatening him were not making connections between his professional life and his advocacy, according to your friend’s report.
.
Verbal assaults have become common on social media against those who challenge whatever the latest “woke” tenets are, and any deviation can get you canceled by a virtual mob. That’s scary and intimidating, which stymies any real discussion, let alone debate. I have experienced this firsthand in trying to build resistance to abortion bans with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights. Many people find these methods disturbing and grumble about them among themselves. The Revcoms (revolutionary communists) are taking this destructive phenomenon on directly. Here’s their 7 point indictment of “woke” as it has devolved, and here’s a playlist of their videos. I suggest starting with the speech Sunsara Taylor gave recently at UCLA, second on the playlist. (Watch at least the first 15 minutes, and you’ll see the “woke” bullies in action.)
.
So, I’m veering off from “antifa” but staying on topic because what your friend describes is so prevalent in how a generation of young people who do care about racism, fascism, misogyny, etc. is being trained to think and approach the world, which [is] doing a lot of harm. I hope it sheds some light, thanks for asking.
.
It seems that the unspoken invitation of social media to be a jerk is irresistible, regardless of which end of the political spectrum is its source.
.

Here’s a message to these left and right abusers. It comes from their moms:

Don’t be a jerk!

Thanks ever so much to Sheila and Jay for their insights and for permission to post their comments – big help.

I stand corrected.

What’s Your Message, Governor?

New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu delivered Republican clarity for all to see in his Washington Post opinion piece on June 5. He opened with, “Our [Republican] party is on a collision course toward electoral irrelevance without significant corrective action.” He declared, ” . . . candidates should not get into this race to further a vanity campaign, to sell books or to audition to serve as Donald Trump’s vice president.” So far, so good.

Sununu claims his vast worth as a leader and influencer and focuses direction for Republicans, saying, “We need to expand beyond the culture wars that alienate independents, young voters and suburban moms.” The problem with that is not about expanding beyond culture wars. That would be okay, it seems, although I don’t know what expanding means, since it doesn’t seem to mean stopping the lunacy,

The problem is that Sununu focuses on gaining votes. Not on what is right, moral, ethical, what We The People want or what’s best for the country. Just the pragmatics to gain votes and win elections.

Recall the so-called “Autopsy” that Republicans did after being pummeled in the 2012 election. That, too, was all about gaining more votes, not about changing Republicans’ evil ways. Indeed, they completely ignored that they were out of step with the vast majority of Americans. They ignored their own advice following that autopsy and have only become more entrenched in culture wars, demonizing and appealing to drooling, fang-toothed extremists.

There probably isn’t any reason to believe that Republican candidates will follow Sununu’s self-serving advice, nor will they get themselves aligned with the things the vast majority of Americans want. They will just continue to manipulate the system in order to retain their minority control, doing things like voter suppression and extreme gerrymandering.

Meanwhile, Sununu awaits the clamor for him to get into the race.

And Finally, FYI, The Key Provision of the Presidential Records Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22)

§ 2202. Ownership of Presidential records

The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records;

Specifically, the PRA:

•  Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.

And that is why Donald J. Trump is going to prison.

Plus for election interference in Georgia.

Plus for  multiple counts of fraud in New York.

Plus for incitement of insurrection in DC.

Several years ago I predicted that once out of office, Trump will spend the rest of his days as a defendant in court and in prison. Easy forecasting.

  • Today is a good day to be the light.

    ______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Complacency


Caution: Offensive and Crude Language

There is an old series of hateful tropes passed along as jokes designed to embolden and inflame the already hateful and to attract new, impressionable recruits. They attack people they see as unworthy and make them an object of scorn. The oldest hatred – thousands of years of it – continues to target Jews.

Here’s an example of hate humor that illustrates this. But prepare yourself, because this is truly awful stuff.

Q. What do you call 6 million dead Jews?

A. A good start.

Yes, hatred is as crude and cruel and savage as that. And for those feeling oppressed, marginalized and disrespected, that kind of hate humor is quite appealing. It gives the aggrieved someone to blame – a boogeyman – for their lot in life. It leads to brainlessly shouting “Seig Heil!” and moronically chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” with a bunch of other juiced up skinheads in Charlottesville.

Heather Heyer – pic from her Facebook account

That led to a malicious bigot ramming his car into a protest rally, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 28 others and it led to 11 dead at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. There are material consequences to hate jokes and hate tropes.

The would-be fascists use violence to get their way. They are increasingly bold and some of them get elected to positions of power. That happens for just two reasons:

  1. Angry people are motivated and they turn out to vote for hateful, angry candidates.
  2. Complacent people, those just going about their lives and not paying attention, don’t vote.

That gives the haters the reins of power. And that leads to authoritarians tearing down our democracy, our safety and our way of life. The loss of safety for those hated by the bullies is obvious, but history is full of examples that show that eventually there is loss of safety and freedom for everyone. And all of this leads to radicalized terrorists killing innocent people.

Here’s Heather Heyer’s final Facebook post:

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.

Are you outraged?

Hunter S. Thompson observed during the enormously illegal Nixon years that we were, “America acting on its worst impulses.” The same is true for all of the so-called populist tantrums, from the Civil War, to George Wallace standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama to stop Blacks from entering, to the traitorous January 6 insurrection, to today’s Republican reality deniers and voter suppressors.

Were Thompson still alive and chronicling our stumbles (some of them forward), he surely would have used his same words for America today. He would have blistering criticism of the reality denial that is rampant in America and the constant claims of victimhood – “America acting on its worst impulses.”

Joan Didion said, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” The haters have their stories that they believe justify their hatred. The fascist lovers have their stories that they believe justify killing democracy and establishing despotic rule. The victimhood lovers always have their fantasies.

And we who believe that America should live up to its promise have our story, too.
.

Our collective safety hinges on the establishment of that story as our true story. The elements required for that include a shared reality, the rule of law and what Thomas Jefferson called “an enlightened citizenry.” You already know what lack of an enlightened citizenry does to our country.

Most of us believe in science and learning, knowledge and wisdom, cause and effect. More to the point, too many reject all of that.

Millions more of us are needed for the science, learning, knowledge and wisdom story. Specifically needed are the 33% of eligible voters who didn’t vote in 2020 and the 47.8% who didn’t show up in 2022.

Without them we are doomed to be repeatedly attacked by the haters and our democracy will always balance precariously on the edge of a cliff – until that balance is lost. Our country, our story, needs all of us right now.

There’s good news and there’s bad news about this.

The good news is that even in the face of this decades-long assault on reality and our democracy by authoritarian wannabes, our country will continue to stand.

The bad news is that if we don’t do something to stop these assaults, this may not be a country you want to live in. The hate jokes and the hate tropes will metastasize and your freedom will be gone.

It seems quite clear – and history teaches us – that under the yoke of despotism We The People would be powerless and cruelly subjugated. Maybe we should ensure that such a thing never happens in America.

Again, Heather Heyer said,

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.

So again, are you outraged?

A Bit of Sunshine

Take a look at the updated Gallup tracking poll of how Americans see themselves on social issues. Could it be that Independents and Democrats combined have the muscle to stop the crazies and their war on Social Security, Medicare and trying to jam Christian nationalism and authoritarianism down the throats of all Americans? Do the math for 2023. Add the percents of moderates and liberals. There are more of us than there are haters and despotism lovers.

Click me

Required Reading For Every American

Every day we are assaulted by the Republican snake venom of outlandish, idiotic lies, distortions and pretend patriotism, like,

Biden crime family

Weaponized DOJ

Senate candidate Todd Akin’s claim, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Anything said by – you know: the usual suspects.

Actual, factual truth is the antidote to Republican snake venom. That’s why you’re going to read Prof. Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters From An American” of June 15.

Then you’re going to share it because you are paying attention and you are outraged and you aren’t complacent. To make that easy to do, just forward this post.

  • Today is a good day to be the light.

    ______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

I’m Sorry


I’m sorry that Republican legislators are so angry and that they hate the Constitution, our laws and America itself so terribly that they are calling for angry, radical people to make violence on our citizens and on our nation.

I’m sorry that angry people are threatening to kill Merrick Garland’s wife and children and Jack Smith and his wife.

I’m sorry that Republicans are stuck in a spin cycle of whataboutism, and can’t get out. They can no longer make a declarative statement about just one issue, like the indictment. They instead have to justify the unjustifiable with phantom comparisons to Democrats, as though some other wrongdoing justifies this one.

I’m sorry that no matter what happens, Republicans are poor victims of Democrats, elites, gays, educators, hordes of would-be immigrants who are stealing our jobs and all the rest of the mean-spirited idiocy. So many poor baby Republican victims.

I’m sorry that Hillary had all those emails on her private server and that when it was searched for classified information by the Trump Bogeyman Super Snoopers they couldn’t find any. They only found documents which were classified after they were removed. They determined that Hillary had broken no law, but Trump and his angry hordes still chanted to lock her up. They still do.

I’m sorry that Trump made his DOJ continue an investigation into the Clinton Foundation for the duration of most of his administration, even though his investigators neither believed there was any there there, nor did they ever find any. (This sounds like weaponization – let’s have Jim Jordan check it out.) Nevertheless, Trump trumpeted lies about the Foundation. He still does, as do his sycophants.

I’m sorry that Trump and every Republican who has blurted an opinion about the indictment of Trump blames Biden for “weaponizing” the DOJ against poor, suffering Trump, this is in spite of the fact – yes, fact – that only Trump used the DOJ in that way – ref: one paragraph up. Their false blurting is in spite of the fact that Biden has strictly kept hands off what the DOJ does. It is in spite of the fact that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is independent even of Merrick Garland’s purview, as well as of Biden’s. And it is in spite of the fact that Trump has not been indicted by Biden or the DOJ. He’s been indicted by a grand jury of south Florida citizens.

I’m sorry that Joseph Goebbels was right about how The Big Lie works, that all that is required to get people to believe lies and propaganda and to do horrible things is to bellow it out, over and over until the weak of mind believe. In the present case, that has led 88% of Republican primary voters (the hair-on-fire, pitchforks and torches crowd) to believe that the indictment of Trump was politically motivated. They believe the lies to be truth.

I’m sorry that whatever lawyers Trump can manage to hang onto will make pretrial motions with baseless, bogus accusations, like “prosecutorial misconduct,” solely for the purpose of bogging down the trial. Then it will get postponed by Trump suck up judge Aileen Cannon because it will then conflict with the 2024 election. You fill in the blanks illustrating what will happen next.

I’m sorry this guy stands with Trump.

Most of All, I’m Sorry

that so many Americans hate America and want to tear it down, and that there aren’t yet armies of Americans in the streets demonstrating for democracy, people who love America and want to protect and defend it and the Constitution.

But there could be. There’s still time.

Denée Benton

Oh, And I’m Glad .  .  .

.  .  .  that at the 2023 Tony Awards on. Sunday actor Denée Benton announced the Excellence in Theatre Education Award from Carnegie Mellon University, saying,

“While I am certain that the current grand wizard, I’m sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state [of Florida] will be changing the name of this following town immediately .  .  .  Plantation, Florida.” [emphasis mine]

Brilliant.

  • Today is a good day to be the light.

    ______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Indictment of the Century – Until the Next One


Don’t you preferJack Smith’s perpetual “Don’t mess with me” face than that of the Orangeman’s?

We are being cautioned that the indictment of a former president and presidential candidate is a dark and serious moment in American history. I agree with the serious part, but this is a moment of light, not dark. It is a time of  cleansing sunshine and I just can’t stop smiling. This is a joyous seriousness.

We learned on Friday, June 9 that Trump has been indicted on 37 counts of criminal behavior. You can view the indicting document here – there’s a print button on the top right of that page. This is an easy read and you need to read it.

There isn’t anyone who doubts Trump’s guilt, not even the far right mouth breathers who declared his innocence even before the indictments were unsealed. They’re just slaves to the cult master’s wails of victimhood.

From Adam Kinzinger’s Country First post of June 10 regarding Republican leaders:

If you listen closely, most of these leaders and personalities aren’t claiming he’s innocent; they’re saying the Democrats have done bad things, too. “And, you know, that should cancel everything out, right?” [emphasis original]

But if we follow the what-about-ist logic to its natural conclusion, we find ourselves in a hellscape where any unethical or immoral behavior can be excused by someone else’s bad behavior . . . and running for office cocoons you from criminal prosecution because accountability would be “election interference” or “weaponizing justice.”

Craziness.

There is one thing, though, about his guilt.

Trump has been bragging and clucking in his social media posts, in TV appearances, at his rallies and at the CNN so-called town hall that he had the right to have had those documents by virtue of the Presidential Records Act. He said that to declassify the classified documents all he had to do was to think “declassify” and click his heels 3 times. Okay, I made up the heels part. And we know that he’s been a total idiot for confessing his wrongdoing repeatedly, knowing that indictments were coming ever-nearer.

But maybe he’s not a total idiot. Maybe he’s been gaming the system all along with his claims of his honesty and his rights.

I’m wondering if he can beat the rap or minimize the penalties by claiming he thought that what he was doing was legal. “There was no illegal intent,” his attorneys will claim. “There is no mens rea*. He’s innocent of conspiring to thwart the law.”

We all know that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it, but sometimes ignorance can have a large impact on the outcome of a criminal case. Can he can get away with his malfeasance by claiming cluelessness? Can he create a hung jury by convincing just one juror that he’s made a simple, honest mistake? This is most worrisome.

Meanwhile, we’ve received news about Trump suck-up judge Aileen Cannon. She was appointed by Trump and proceeded to disgrace herself with idiotic rulings during the case focused on the seizing of documents from Trump’s Mar-A-Lago hidey hole. Two of her rulings were so egregiously terrible that she was reversed by the very conservative 11th District Appellate Court and she was admonished in scathing terms. Be sure to keep an eye out for Cannon’s thumb on the scale of justice as this stolen documents case proceeds – or stalls with bogus delays, dragging it into the 2024 election. This could get ugly.

It has already become ugly in MAGA-land. Immediately upon release of the indictment Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Clay Higgins (R-LA) tweeted incitements to extremists. They did that long before they could have read the indictment, so it’s safe to assume they were spring loaded to call for violence at the slightest provocation. Apparently, they see themselves as the vanguard for the itchy, twitchy, trigger finger crowd.

These congressmen, dishonorable colleagues of actually honorable representatives, are just the first to attempt to incite violence. I fear there will be more like them who will be far more direct in their calls to violence. We are in the crosshairs of violent, angry, self-righteous people who are looking for an excuse to harm innocents.

Public memory is short. We so quickly forget the suffering caused by terrible events, like what actually happens in war. The soldiers come home scarred and silent, wanting most to forget. We erect monuments and mumble brave words and wave flags as though all that happened was glorious.

But there really was an American Civil War and we killed over 600,000 of our citizens, wounding at least 8 times more. Those soldiers, too, wanted to forget the carnage and the suffering.

It seems that forgetting is exactly what We The People have done, because now our perpetually angry who have never been to war are calling for a new civil war. How quickly we forget.

The lyrics of Where Have All The Flowers Gone are ringing in my ears.

Quotes For This Time of Indictment

“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it;” – Isaiah 45:8

“You DOJ in Washington, let the felony charges rain down like rule-of-law infusions for our sickened land. Let the doors of our prisons open wide for the wicked to enter and shut with finality behind them. Let accountability spring up in righteousness and the Earth tremble as a warning to all who would act wrongly.” – Jack 1:1

‘Nuther Thing

Somebody please explain why Trump Tower in New York and Trump’s The Bedminster Club haven’t been searched for stolen government documents. I haven’t found anything to suggest that either place has been tossed by the FBI, even though there is evidence that boxes of stolen government documents were moved from Mar-A-Lago to Bedminster, which leads to speculation that some might have been moved to Trump Tower, too.

Finally

Trump’s bottomless, never-ending malfeasance will provide all the motivation necessary for ongoing indictments. So, watch this space for the next exciting episode of The Indictment of the Century – Until The Next One.

And just for fun:

Mar-a-Lago Raiders

______________________________

* mens rea – the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused. – OxfordLanguages See also Wikipedia.

  • Today is a good day to be the light.

    ______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Problem Isn’t Woke


“Florida is where woke goes to die.”

Governor Ron DeSantis, (R-Cruelty) loves to say that in his devoid-of-personality way. It’s obvious that it tickles him to declare stupid things that elicit favor from the base. He seems to revel in encouraging exclusion, intimidation and authoritarian, anti-American behavior. He knows what makes him happy.

I tuned in to a bit of the CNN town hall with Nikki Haley and was immediately smacked in the face by her own pandering to the base and constant focus on applause lines, rather than saying anything that actually means something of value to non-extremists. She’s pretty much like DeSantis.

For example, she criticized Biden’s climate initiative to get us off our fossil fuel diet. Electric vehicles are heavier, she told us, and our bridges can’t handle that, so we’ll have to rebuild a gazillion bridges, a cost that Biden omits from the projected cost of transportation conversion.

Heavier? And if they are, is that a barrier to taking action to save the planet and ourselves? Okay, that sounds stupid, but let’s check, shall we?

Here are three popular 4-door sedans, each with room for 5 passengers:

The 2023 Tesla Model 3 has a curb weight of 3880 lbs.

The 2023 Chevrolet Malibu has a curb weight of 3159 lbs.

The 2023 Toyota Camry has a curb weight of 3340 lbs.

Okay, Nikki, you nailed the key problem. it looks like we have as much as 721 pounds of excess, bridge-crushing woke in the electric car. The mindless audience applause still rings in that auditorium.

Jake Tapper, usually a reliable interviewer who doesn’t let interviewees get away with dodging questions or giving dodgy replies, let Haley get away with her practiced, intelligence-free statements. That went on the entire time I was able to tolerate watching the spectacle.

It was very disappointing, much like the misnamed Trump town hall. That’s where CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was powerless to stem the tide – the tsunami, really – of Trump’s fact-free, self-serving delusions in the form of applause lines. The entire event, complete with no audience members who were not faithful Trumpers, was nothing more than a Trump Rally. No news or informed, intelligent ideas were to be found anywhere in the vicinity.

All of Haley’s, Trump’s and DeSantis’ anti-woke pandering is nothing more than bumper sticker fictions that call extremists to hatred and domination of unacceptable “others.” These presidential candidates are world class inciters with the finest of reality-free applause lines.

There is no “woke.”
.

That’s just a label used inflame the base, much like they use the label “Antifa.” The panderers like to call out Antifa as though it is an invading army, a threat to our country, rather than an informal collection of Americans who refuse authoritarianism and fascism. Those who identify as Antifa don’t riot, they don’t intimidate other Americans, they don’t make death threats and they do think democracy is a good thing. Imagine that!

The problem we in America have is not woke. Our problem is the haters and manipulators who try to make people afraid of their boogeyman du jour. They pander for voters’ support by inciting hatred and violence using their cruel fictions about other Americans. They are the ones who least resemble what we used to call American values and who stand in the way of our recapturing them.

There is no woke that goes to Florida to die. There is just a cadre of liars creating an incentive to hatred and violence and, perhaps, causing others to die. That’s the real threat and they put it into law, like this:

Definition: “Stand Your Ground” law. A mechanism to boil testosterone and create dead bodies. It is much beloved by haters and other insecure, cowardly people and embodies the true essence of anti-woke.

Woke Clarity From Another Source

Retired attorney and thoughtful person Ralph Bernstein leads a weekly political discussion group via Zoom. In his agendum (yes, he uses that term correctly) for yesterday’s session, he offered this discussion teaser:

Repub [sic] legislators, judges who are said to be right-wing judges, and MAGA activists have set out to trample on free speech and individual rights in the name of battling “wokeism.” If they don’t like what teachers say about history, they gag them. If they don’t like certain books, they ban them. If they don’t like a corporation defending LGBTQ rights, they retaliate against it. Their crusade has become an expression of not only white Christian nationalism but of contempt for the Constitution and the First Amendment.

If you’d like to attend and participate in Ralph’s no-charge discussions, drop him a line at [email protected].

Woke Must-Read of the Week

From the John Pavlovitz essay, Woke Will Win, June 5, 2023 (click through and read this excellent post in full):

The leveraging of irrational fear is nothing new.

Throughout history it has been the go-to tactic of the worst of politics and religion.

When you lack substantive ideas, you need an encroaching enemy to move and motivate people.

When you have nothing redemptive to offer, you have to create a violent adversary for them to run from and push back against.

When vulnerable people are placed in your path, you need to somehow turn those people into a threat to be exterminated.

If you can’t or won’t engage in difficult conversations about complex issues, you turn words into monsters:

Illegals.
CRT.
Plandemic.
The jab.
Groomers.
Woke.

Anti-Woke Book Ban Selection of the Week

If sex, adultery, slavery, sex trafficking and murder are forbidden topics, this according to the anti-wokers, then we absolutely must ban the Bible. That is a nasty set of human debauchery tales if ever there was one. These books quite obviously don’t belong in libraries, schools, homes and other places where impressionable children might come upon them.

In fact, I don’t think you should be reading such salacious material either. As Justice Potter Stewart said of pornography, “I know it when I see it.” So do you.

If you are to be a flamer who burns those awful books, you better start gathering them and tossing them into a dumpster right now. Otherwise, Ron DeSantis and those 11 crazies responsible for so much book banning are going to have all the puritanical, witchy fun, as well as the ego rush that comes from bullying.

A Peculiarity

Yesterday was June 6. On that day in 1944 we and our allies made the Normandy invasion, the major push to defeat the Nazis and bring WW II to an end. What is peculiar now is the lack of recognition of the date in the news and elsewhere. D-Day used to be a major event in the public consciousness, but apparently no longer.

It’s just my speculation, but perhaps that is happening because of the rapid loss of those of our Greatest Generation who fought for our democracy, now dying at the rate of about 180 per day. That number used to be many times greater, but, of course, there are so few left.

  • Today is a good day to be the light.

    ______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Canary plus The Good Old Days


This Is a Get Smarter Opportunity

We are sometimes given a gift – a chance to see into the future, if only we will look at what is before us. That’s what we have right now.

You’ve heard of the many democracy, freedom and rights abuses Ron DeSantis and his rubber stamp Republican Florida legislature have inflicted on the citizens of Florida. He has sucked up to as many White supremacist grievances, fears and hatreds as he could in order to get extremists to support his bid to become an authoritarian president.

His assaults represent far worse than oppression of Floridians: DeSantis and his extremists are normalizing fascism.

DeSantis’ actions leave us with an obvious clarity about what he would do to our entire country were he to get his hands on the reins of power. That is why I believe that

Florida is the canary in the fascist infested coal mine.
.

If you’re skeptical about this, read Thom Hartmann’s take. You won’t be skeptical anymore.

You don’t have to be a Floridian to be worried about this, because we see similar things happening elsewhere. That’s why I’m encouraging you to get smart about this, wherever you are.

My friends Jim and Karen Nathan have co-founded Floridians For Democracy, a group dedicated to protecting democracy in Florida and, by extension, where you live. It is to that end that they are inviting you to two informative Zoom sessions:

    • “White Supremacist Activities in Florida: A brave sheriff and a state representative“
    • Jun 7, 2023, 7:00PM EDT. Co-Sponsored by SWFL Voices for Racial Justice
    • and Concerned Citizens of Lower Lee County
    • “Saving Democracy” with Author David Pepper
    •                                                          June 15, 2023, 5:30PM EDT. Co-Sponsored by Floridians for Democracy and SWFL Voices for Racial Justice

Here’s a link to full program descriptions and the Zoom link to each session. Note that these sessions come to you without cost and they are not fundraisers. They are education that is offered because you need to know.

Make no mistake: this is not just about DeSantis attacking minorities or even just about Florida. This is about all the anti-democracy bullies all over America stealing education from our children, cheating Americans of their voting rights, reducing women to second class citizens, refusing gun safety and all the rest.

This matters to you because one day DeSantis and the bullies will be coming for you and you’re going to hate it when they crash through your door.

The Good Old Days

As the default/budget bill was being readied for a vote in the House last Wednesday, Ron DeSantis was pontifi-whining about it, stupidly saying that we’re going to go bankrupt. Other idiot extremist Republicans were saying similarly stupid, apocalyptic things.

They all long so dearly for the good old days when fiscally responsible Republicans were in charge and they never added to our national debt. That made me wonder which days those were, so I dug around and the chart below is the product of that digging.

The numbers represent the total each president added to our national debt over the course of their administrations. Harding and Coolidge delivered surpluses. All the rest gave us more debt.

Most notably, each administration added billions of dollars of debt until Reagan came along and ratcheted that up to trillions. He put six times more debt on the U.S. than his Democratic predecessor did. In fact, he added just shy of twice the debt of all preceding presidents combined!

You can blame his supply side economics for much of that. He truly was Saint Ronny the Reverse Robin Hood, patron saint of giveaways to the rich. Republicans still genuflect at the sound of his fiscally larcenous name.

Simple fact: In large measure our national debt is a function of both low and lowered taxes matched with increased spending. Somehow such debt, while a big DUH! to the rest of us, is not easily understood by supply-siders, who believe Tooth-Fairy-like that we will have increased revenue by means of decreased revenue.
.

George W. Bush dramatically lowered taxes while starting two “off balance sheet” wars. I still don’t know what that term means. He doubled our national debt over all previous presidents combined, including Reagan! Oddly, that failed to impress voters.

The debt Dubya left for us is hardly a surprise, given his wars and his tax cuts. What is surprising is how Trump managed to increase our national debt in one term even more than Dubya did in two terms.

The Dubya and Trump tax cuts for the rich cost the U.S. nearly $10 trillion and included tax breaks for yachts and private jets.* We’re left with the glow of enhancing the lives of rich people and with the bill they left for us.

Someone please tell me which are the Republicans’ good old days when they were in charge, were fiscally responsible and didn’t add to our national debt.

Take a look at the chart and see if the “tax and spend” label that Republicans like to staple to the chests of Democrats makes sense to you. Or the Republican claims of fiscal responsibility. Or the moronic belief in supply-side economics. If any of that makes sense to you, you will immediately be sent to a 3rd grade remedial math class to see if you can keep up with 8-year-olds doing flash cards.

Source: The Balance

________________________________

* It’s heartwarming to know that the new budget just squeezed out of the Congress cuts $21 billion in funding from the IRS. That was a critical thing for Republicans. Two points about that:

  1. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that hobbling the ability to go after tax cheats will result in $40 billion in lost revenue, resulting in an increase to the debt of $19 billion.
  2. Gotta answer this question: Why was it so important for the Republicans to inhibit the IRS from chasing down rich tax crooks? Hint: Can you say “donors” boys and girls?
  • Today is a good day to be the light.

    ______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 61  Scroll to top