election

We’ve Fallen Off the Sled


POST 1122

There is no end of pundits punditing wildly in an effort to explain how Democrats managed to embarrass themselves and allow the country to be imperiled by power mad, greedy haters and traitors. We used to wonder why so many people would vote against their own best interests, but how did we get to the point where half the country has voted against our nation’s best interests?

It takes very little effort to imagine what those of The Greatest Generation would say to those millions who want to tear down what those heroes risked their lives for and what several hundred thousand lost their lives protecting and defending. It wasn’t a flag or the lakes and the land. It wasn’t amber waves of grain or purple mountain majesties or pompous chest thumping by tyrants. It was sweet freedom and the ever young promise of democracy. So many blithely voted all that away, as though doing so would whisk away their personal malaise, but it won’t.

Surrendering rights and freedom always – always – creates misery and hopelessness. We like to speak of American exceptionalism, but if we have that, it’s from a bedrock foundation of hope, of endless possibilities, of the freedom to be free and the dream – The Dream! – of something better for ourselves and for our children. We can and will be exceptional, but only if we grant ourselves the ingredients for it.

But we’ve cut that short. We were having a fine, if imperfect time, but now we’ve fallen off the American Dream sled. We’re tumbling and cold. Hard snow is plugging our nostrils and blinding our eyes. We grunt with each body blow and hope for air. We’re dizzy and disoriented and we don’t know where the sled is. The snow fog has obscured everything and we can’t tell up from down. We’ve got to find that sled and get back on it. Then we’ll fix what needs fixing. Everything of value, everything we hold dear depends on our doing that.

But the sled is nowhere to be seen. It’s turning dark and hope is dimming. The dawn will come, of course, but we will need to dig the snow from our faces if we’re to see the light and figure out what to do.

Find the sled before someone steals it from us and it’s gone forever.

Find the sled.

________________________________________________

See the post this Wednesday for How We Fell Off the Sled.

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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.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

Click me

JA


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

We’re Doing This To Ourselves


POST 1119

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”
  • – Abraham Lincoln, 1864
  • So, too, ourselves, today, right now

In watching this train wreck election proceed in slow motion I had to admit the foul truth, that half of my fellow citizens voted against democracy. They voted for lawlessness and assault. They voted to let pregnant women bleed out and die. They voted for a huge tax increase on themselves and they voted to condone violence against fellow citizens. They voted for little lies and for massive, gobsmacking lies, for denial of science and the embrace of idiotic conspiracy theories to replace truth. And they voted to end the rule of law and to let a convicted criminal and sexual assaulter get away with his lawlessness. His sentencing for 34 counts of fraud in a couple of weeks should be quite the spectacle.

They voted in favor of gerrymandering and voter suppression, shooting protesters in the legs and for martial law. They voted for minority control of our cities, our states and our nation. They voted for willful ignorance and cruelty and for despotism. They voted for letting Putin do anything he wants to do. They voted for MAGA friend Putin to have his cyber-thugs rain down bomb threats on polling stations in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. “Hey, Russia, if you’re listening.  .  .” Big help for the cheater. Remember that Trump cheats at golf, too. And real estate and foundations and university. Everything, really.

“Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.”
  • – commonly attributed to Winston Churchill, but he never said that.
  • Sometimes Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban gets credit for some
  • variation of this statement. Had either of them
  • said this, he would have been right.
  • We are here today, having promoted the strongarming of our democracy out the door and the welcoming of fascism controlled by rich, cruel usurpers and angry citizens who feel their special place in our society is slipping away. They are allowing fascism, in part because it is now cloaked in the flag and carrying a Trump Bible. It seems we forgot to remember.
  • We tried slavery and we continue to practice various forms of discrimination and repression. Some will always cling to self-justified anger, grievance and the notion that there are those who are naturally superior to others. It is self-evident that those holding such a view see themselves as the superior ones. When will we once again choose to do the right thing?
  • Our main challenges now are to figure out how to live to fight another day and something else equally daunting. It is figuring out how to repair the gaping rifts that caused our national and individual sails to luff instead of to propel us forward, resulting in driving this threat into existence. The repair is made exponentially more difficult by so many loud, hateful voices shrieking fear and hatred into our ears every day. It’s a lot like 1930s Germany and nobody speaks of the elephant in the room.
  • No Democrat is threatening violence. No Democrat is in a militia practicing to assault the Capitol Building on January 6, 2025 or is preparing to send Christmas cards with pictures of themselves brandishing an AR-15 and speaking menacingly of the blood of patriots. No Democrat is making death threats to poll workers. No Democrat went to an election rally and cheered hateful and racist slurs or chanted about death to anyone. And no Democratic leader incites anger and hatred.

Doesn’t matter any more. This MAGA leader does.

A dictator just on day one, you say? Millions believe that lie. We have elected ourselves into an open prison controlled by a dictator. Changes will come incrementally and we’ll barely notice what we have done to ourselves until we’re afraid all the time and injustice rules the land. We will no longer be the land of the free and the home of the brave, so we can replace the Star Spangled Banner with something befitting a military parade goose stepping down Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Stand back and stand by.”

And recognize that we are doing this to ourselves. All the dysfunction, the violence, the hatred and the destruction of all we have claimed to hold dear for nearly 250 years are self-inflicted wounds. Be glad that most of the brave ones who fought and many who died to protect this democracy cannot see what we are doing to the country over which they stood guard at enormous personal sacrifice.

  • We have a system that is brilliantly designed to self-correct via the ballot box. I don’t see how that self-correction can happen in a dictatorship.
  • I still believe in America. Not much has changed substantively – yet. On the other hand, I don’t have much respect for our willfully blind, the ones who refuse to see what is before them, or the willfully hateful, the ones who want to tear it all down.
  • The clock has run out. There is no more time. More donations won’t help, nor will post cards to swing states nor canvasing or another post in this space. We are left in awkward impotence.
  • The sun will still come up each day – read Simon Rosenberg’s piece – but now we will need some heretofore undiscovered wisdom and strength to find our way through the coming loss of rights and freedom in order to get back to decency and democracy. This is going to take a long time and it’s going to hurt.


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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.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

Click me

JA


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

Five


POST 1116

Did you already vote? Great! And you’re not done protecting our rights, our freedoms and our democracy.

You know quite well that MAGA and the acquiescent, cowardly Republicans stand for hatred, cruelty, violence and un-American values and norms. They cannot make themselves bigger so they use every hateful method to make everyone else smaller and poorer in every way. Here’s the most recent evidence of their crimes against America and Americans.

The Trump Nazi Bund rally at Madison Square Garden last Sunday was a goose stepping jamboree, a festival of hatred and cruelty. From Heather Cox Richardson:

The hateful performances of the early participants set the tone for the rally. Early on, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a steamingly racist set. He said, for example: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” He went on: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” Hinchcliffe also talked about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins.*

You may recall that Trump made himself the anti-hero for the people of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria by throwing rolls of paper towels to people devastated by that storm. You may also recall that Puerto Rico is one of the Trump-named “shithole countries.” Actually, Puerto Ricans are Americans, but people like Trump, Vance and that swamp creature comedian don’t like to acknowledge that.

That kind of thing is why you voted against the MAGA creeps.

As my friend, futurist David Houle recalled, in the 60s the establishment types hated protesters, anti-war types – anything that wasn’t locked down establishment. They wore their certainty of their being the true Americans on their sleeves and also wore it on their pick up trucks and cars with signs reading, “America: Love it or Leave it.”

Writes Houle,

The “conservative candidate,”  Donald Trump, has been trashing America.  He most recently called America a “garbage can of a country.”  I don’t think that any presidential candidate in U.S. history has ever spoken so negatively about this wonderful democracy.

What?!  If you, Mr. Trump, do not love America or want America to once again become a “shining city on a hill;”

If [you] Donald Trump [don’t] like America, [you] can leave it! Love it or leave it, Donald.

Remember that Trump has been painting America in dystopian terms since 2017.

It’s time we recognized that Trump does not love America and he doesn’t care a bit about the disaster he will leave behind him. He wants to change nearly everything about America and all for the worse for our rights, our freedom and our democracy. So, per my friend David’s observation, it’s time for Trump to leave.

AND NONE OF THAT IS THE POINT!!

.

As I explained in this post, the point is that Trump is just the marionette, the puppet designed to distract us from what the Heritage Foundation fascists are doing. What they really want is to put Vance in the White House so he can be their tool boy to destroy our democracy. Their plan is to get Trump into the White House and then invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him and put Vance at the Resolute Desk to enact all of the democracy destroying carnage of Project 2025!

Trump is doing everything he can to keep his loyal followers juiced up, mindlessly angry, full of certainty and hatred. He’s doing nothing to attract additional supporters. That’s a perfect recipe for losing the election so he can attack his popular and Electoral College losses by inciting violence.

I don’t have a magic formula, a witch’s cauldron of potion to cure the extremists. What I’m sure of is that Trump must not be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and that starts with his overwhelming loss at the polls. The good guy legal eagles will have to figure out how to stop his valueless lawsuits. Our law enforcement people will have to figure out how to deal with the violence and the phony electors. All of that is above my pay grade. But crushing MAGA in this election is right on our level.

So, you voted. Did you think Trump and MAGA extremists would go away because you voted in this free and fair election? Nope.

This win for our rights, our freedom and our democracy needs to be an overwhelming victory for Harris-Walz and a crushing defeat for Heritage Foundation fascism. That’s why you aren’t done taking action.

Look at the countdown clock below. Five days is all we have to create the tidal wave victory for the America we believe in.

Just five days to stiff arm fascism.

Five days to protect the future for our children and grandchildren.

Just five days to block politicians from OB/GYN exam rooms.

Just five days to ensure we have leaders who will take steps to stem the hemorrhaging from our gun violence.

Just five days to restore decency to our government and our nation.

We have just five days to banish the haters from our politics.

We have just five days to encourage people to vote, using our door knocking, postcards, phone calls and more.
.

“Hard work is good work.” There are lots of options for you,

Many of which are listed here

There are Post Cards to Swing States – Holland & Muskegon MI

You can knock on Doors in Wisconsin

Rockin’ Zoom Phone Bank – Indivisible Illinois

Or this

Or this

And of course there is this potpourri of opportunities to make a difference.

This stuff is easy to find and easy to do, so find something. The key: TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Tell people to vote like their life depends on it.

Because it does.

___________________________________________

* In case you are a Trump apologist or Trump explainer/whisperer, consider this.

Eleven years ago a US Navy submarine surfaced right into a Japanese fishing boat. The fishing boat sank and nine people were killed. The submarine captain with an otherwise fine record, was officially disciplined and had to resign from the Navy. Here’s why.

The leader is responsible for everything – that’s everything – that happens on his/her boat, whether it’s during the captain’s watch or not. It’s the captain’s job to make certain that all involved are properly trained, that they know their jobs and that they execute them properly. No excuses.

And so it is in the Trump campaign. Trump is responsible for the hiring, training and execution of his election team. Someone on his election campaign invited that crude “comedian” to speak, so Trump is responsible for his crude, cruel words. Trump can dance all he wants, but Trump is responsible for that hurtful meanness. He can try to distance himself from that, he can apologize – no matter. He’s accountable.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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 ALL 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


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

Endorsements


POST 1110

From a rally for Tammy Baldwin

Jax Pix

Here are some of my pics.

President

Kamala Harris (queue the forehead slaps), because we want our President to be a person who has neither dementia nor a mania to be der fuhrer. We want her to be focused on We The People.

Senate

Arizona – Reuben Gallego – Good, solid, proven congressman. Plus, he isn’t election denier, pants-on-fire Kari Lake.

California – Adam Schiff – Super smart January 6 Committee member and impeachment prosecutor. His Republican opponent, Steve Garvey, was a terrific baseball player. He should have stuck to that, because if elected he would be another Trump mini-me suck up, MAGA extremist. Plus, he sounded like a doofus in their debate.

Florida – Debbie Mucarsel-Powell – She’s good and she has going for her that she isn’t spineless, elitist, arrogant, dangerous Rick Scott, co-sponsor of a national abortion ban bill and too chicken to face Mucarsel-Powell in a debate.

Maryland – Angela Alsobrooks – Her opponent, Larry Hogan, isn’t awful like most Republicans. But he’s unacceptable because he’s a Republican, which means he would be an obstruction to anything Harris will want to do for We The People.

Michigan – Elissa Slotkin – She’s a seriously smart, solid woman, proven in Congress. She’s a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst (think: Jack Ryan) and Department of Defense official. Unlike Trump, she has a security clearance.

Missouri – Lucas Kunze – Vote for Kunze because he isn’t Josh Hawley. That alone should be enough to vote for him. He isn’t reprehensible –  Hawley is – and he never fist pumped insurrectionists.

Montana – Jon Tester – One of the best. Super solid and sensible guy. We need him and many others to be voices for We The People and to restore sanity in Congress.

Ohio – Sherrod Brown – Super guy. Hard working, sensible and loyal as the sunrise.

Nevada – Jacky Rosen – She’s been tested and has the cred to attract bipartisan support for important legislation. Plus, her opponent, carpetbagger Sam Brown from Texas, is just another MAGA doomer and blamer without a single constructive idea or the spine to stand up to the extremists.

Pennsylvania – Bob Casey – Sensible, non-histrionic patriot. Calm voice of reason. You remember reason, right?

Texas – Colin Allred – First, you should vote even for a potted plant over Ted Cruz, who is the worst, most hated senator not named Josh Hawley. Second, Allred is first rate – smart and loyal. Plus he’ll have the brightest smile and the best teeth in the Senate.

Wisconsin – Tammy Baldwin – She’s really smart, capable and tested. She won’t be stopped when it’s hard to do what needs to be done. Wisconsinites deserve her.

West Virginia – Glenn Elliott – Because the Republican candidate will sell out those poor people – yet again.

Issues Resources

Check with March For Our Lives for recommendations of candidates who will promote gun safety.

Check with any women’s rights organization for who to vote for if you care about girls, women, your sister, your mom, your daughter, the people on your street or the people on any street, and the rights of all of us.

Check for party affiliation, because Republicans will suck up to Trump and the insane radicals, keeping your children at mortal risk just for just going to school. They will curtail the rights of everyone. Vote for Democrats. Not because only Democrats have good ideas, but because they are a legitimate party with actual, thoughtful policies and a clear view to making the lives of We The People (that’s you and me) better. They’re beholden only to us and to the Constitution, not to a cult subservient to a demonic dictator wannabe. Plus, they believe in democracy and the rule of law, unlike the Republicans who want to “terminate the Constitution.”

We’ll deal with House races and some state races in another post.

Same Old Mendacity

You already know that if Trump’s mouth is moving that he’s either eating a Big Mac or lying. No news there. And you already know that idiot boy genius Elon Musk is just as lie-ful. But did you know that in his country of origin, South Africa, that his name in Afrikaans means “idiot boy genius”?

To be clear, I am not Musk’s interpreter so I cannot make sense for you of any of the idiot things he says. I don’t know if he actually believes the idiocy that Democrats are recruiting undocumented people to vote or if he believes that Democrats can control the weather. Okay, that was loony MTG who said that. See my post this coming Wednesday.

Musk promotes the Trumpy lie that we have a massive voter fraud problem. How might he have adopted that idiot notion?

In the 2016 election there were only 30 cases of claimed voter fraud nationally that were referred for prosecution, or just 0.00001 percent of all votes cast. They didn’t all result in guilty verdicts, so the actual incidence of voter fraud was actually lower. O’ those pesky facts. They point menacingly at Republican lies about elections.

Musk is prone to saying lots of idiotic things. I really don’t care about that. I do care that he has a huge platform to spread them and that he “re-posted [a deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris] that racked up a staggering 1.2 billion views.”

So, he isn’t just an idiot boy genius. He is a very dangerous idiot boy genius whom I would be ignoring were he not in a position to influence so many uninformed or low propensity voters with his lies.

Respect yourself: Don’t buy a Tesla.

From The “Ya Gotta Read This” Department

My pal Ed Gurowitz offers his insights periodically and you must read this post. He reports on attending a Tim Walz rally in Reno NV and manages to deliver both the content and the feel of what he experienced. His description vividly captures the stark differences in the versions of our future that we’re being offered by the two very different presidential candidates.

This is a Don’t Miss piece. Indeed, it’s something valuable to pass along to those you know who are otherwise likely to skip this election. And tell them to read the t-shirt to the right.

Vote to keep this delusional out of the Oval Office.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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 ALL 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


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

2024 Isn’t Just Another Year


POST 1084

Breaking News

At a rally last night in rural Pennsylvania former President Trump was shot, with the bullet grazing the top of his right ear. One attendee was killed and two others were injured by the gunman.

As he was being moved to a vehicle by Secret Service agents, Trump was seen pumping his fist in the air, apparently repeating the word, “Fight!” Two rally attendees were seen facing a TV camera and pumping their middle fingers sideways, yelling, “F*** you!” It was unclear who their target f**kee was, but their rage appeared to be aimed at the press.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will have an epiphany, if he will see the light, then use this moment to denounce violence, calling on his followers to put away their guns and end all threats of violence. The nation waits with low expectations.

Introduction

Today is Bastille Day, 14 juillet, la Fête nationale française. It is the anniversary of the day in 1789 when the French people declared they would tolerate no more of the brutality of despot King Louis XVI. They stormed the Bastille, a prison and place of torture, and freed prisoners. 94 men were killed in 4 hours.

It is almost King Louis’ kind of oppressive despotism that Trump seeks to establish. Some of that is exposed in this post. If we allow that to happen, the day will come when We The People rise up and say, “No more!” because people refuse to be abused or be slaves. On that day people will die.

We can prevent that sad and cruel story from happening. Read on.

The Draconian, Cruel World

From The New Republic:

[Project 2025] is a remarkably detailed guide to turning the United States into a fascist’s paradise.

Did reading that sentence send shivers up your spine? It should. These Project 2025 fascists use words like “patriotism” and “conservative” but there is nothing – nothing – patriotic about their unconstitutional declarations and cruelty and nothing that you care about that they would conserve. They would eliminate our Bill of Rights and its protections and freedoms. They would make this a Christian nationalist country, exactly what the Founders rejected. That means every non-Christian American will be a second class citizen at best, and likely worse.

They would eliminate women’s healthcare rights and would prosecute women seeking such medical help. They would imprison doctors who perform these procedures and all who help women in such need. They would fire all the people who work to keep us safe (food, drugs, transportation, etc.) and replace them with know nothing Trump loyalists. They would restrict voting rights to only those who will vote for fascists and they will deploy our military against us in violation of the Constitution. They will order live ammunition attacks by our National Guard against peaceful protesters.

And Donald Trump has promised all this and more.

If we fail to protect and defend our Constitution and our democracy we will be presented the American Carnage that Trump has talked about since January 20, 2017.

Click the pic for a more readable version. Thanks go to FL for the pointer to this.

Here is a chart (click it for a larger, more readable version) listing just some of the rights and freedom killers and personal safety assaults guaranteed by the Project 2025 authoritarian takeover traitors, the ones who formalized Trump’s promises. The conspirators who wrote this manifesto call it the Presidential Transition Project. They don’t name what they intend the presidency to be transitioned to, but it’s clear what they mean. The answer is (choose whatever sounds worst to you): Dictator; Commissar; Fuhrer; Big Brother; Dear Leader; Despot, Supreme Leader. Il Duce.

THIS NIGHTMARE STUFF IS EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP HAS PROMISED AND WHAT HE WILL DELIVER UNLESS WE STOP HIM.

Click me for The Union’s take on this. You can also find a disclosure of the ghastly provisions of this manifesto here.

The point is that while Trump is fumble mouthing around the cruelties in this manifesto in order to avoid losing votes, he stands for and has pledged this democracy ending agenda. Please read the list, or as much of it as you can stomach. These are enormously unpopular actions among We The People, but the authoritarian takeover traitors are promising these and more because they want to be dictators.

OVER YOU!

That’s right: This is personal.

Watch this short video from Rachel Maddow for clarity about the danger we face. And read Steve Schmidt’s A Gathering of Fascists about the upcoming Republican Bund conference.

More Horror

At every rally Trump promises revenge and retribution (“I am your retribution.”) and promises to imprison and/or assassinate his political opponents. The threat of violence is at the core of Trump and MAGA.

From Thom Hartmann, July 11, 2024, Trump’s “Secretary of Retribution” Has Been Appointed: Who is On His List?

Trump’s self-described “Secretary of Retribution,” Ivan Raiklin, already reportedly has a hit list of 350 “deep state” individuals he says they intend to try to assassinate by tricking police into attacking their homes with SWAT teams. [emphasis original]

“Look at my entire Deep State target list,” Raiklin said. “That is the beginning. This is the scratching of the surface of who is going to be criminalized for their treason, okay?”

Setting aside Raiklin’s obvious daddy issues and his poor social skills, he’s right: This is just the beginning.

Trump is promising that if he is re-elected he will round up and incarcerate undocumented people in our country, as well as American citizens. He will dump 11 million people into detention camps. Then he’s going to deport them, somewhere, anywhere, all without due process of law.

He’ll have a discrimination engine then, greased up and running at high speed. Who do you think will be rounded up next when he runs out of  Hispanics and Africans from “s***hole” countries?

Our MAGA domestic terrorists, the criminals Trump will pardon and make his Brownshirts (just as Hitler took criminals out of prison for that same terrorist purpose), won’t just be bashing down someone else’s front door.

THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU!

Click me

The folks at The Lincoln Project have spelled out Trump’s fascism for you. Just click the pic to the right and watch the video. I promise it will interrupt your sleep because you’ll know that it’s true and accurate. And it’s terrifying.

2024 is the moment when we must permanently reject fascism, like the French rejected a cruel despot in 1789. We’ll do that at the ballot box, because if we don’t, 2024 will be America’s last free and fair election.

The Democratic Candidate

Before considering this, I repeat the national imperative:

Protect and defend our Constitution and our democracy.
.

President Biden has been clear about staying in the race and perhaps he will. The only – and I mean the only – question is whether Biden can inspire voters to ignore his manifestations of age and elect both him and a Democratic Congress to stop the fascists. At the moment it’s looking very much instead like Biden is doing a Ruth Bader Ginsburg, staying too long.

Keeping our democracy demands November wins and I have no confidence Biden can deliver them. I called for him to remove himself from the race following the debate and sadly, have not found sufficient reason to change my opinion.

From Sheila Markin:

“When you are fighting for the survival of our democracy against Darth Vader and the storm troopers, it isn’t going to work to send granddad out with a rake to do the job.”

The point – the only point – is to

Protect and defend the Constitution and our democracy.
.

We must defeat the convicted criminal and his anti-Americans seeking to destroy our country, the ones who promise the “termination” of our Constitution. Stopping that requires an energized, inspiring, capable candidate, not grandad with his rake. It’s time for the torch to be passed to a new generation.

Because 2024 isn’t just another year.

This is where we make our stand.
.
Here’s Where This Gets Weird

President Biden held a rally in Detroit Friday evening. He was great! Alert, alive, inspiring, interactive, sharp. Can’t help but wonder  .  .  .  with event after event like this one, can that terrible debate bell can be un-rung? If he won’t quit the race, that is what we must hope for.

What we all must do is to stop imagining this election is between Biden and Trump. In reality, it is an election, a national choice, between democracy and cruel despotism.

We must vote at every level for whoever opposes the fascists, whether it’s a really strong Democrat candidate or a bucket of nails. Vote for democracy!

Last

Protecting what we hold dear and sacred will take all of us, so please pass this post along to others. They need to know.

Democracy is a participation sport, so get in the game! As Thom Hartmann says,

“Tag, you’re IT!“

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016

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!


  • 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 ALL 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.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


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

Elections, Amendments & Tunnels


Post 1,037

A little longer today because there is so much going on .  .  .

Winning Elections

A piece in The Economist in December accidentally provided yet another reminder of what wins elections. We used to believe that honesty and moral character were our guides, but we’ve been disabused of that fanciful notion for many years by poundings upside our heads from brutal reality.

We want to say that sound policy and good solutions leading to sensible goals are what get our votes. Surely the right policies for both our nation and for We The People individually are important to us. So, too, is a leader’s strong backbone to lead our national defense. That’s all nice and good, but that’s not what drives most voters’ choices.

In that Economist piece they report from a recent Harvard Youth Poll:

“Most of those who favoured Mr. Biden – 69% – said they did so more out of opposition to Mr. Trump; by contrast, 65% of those favouring Mr. Trump said they felt loyal to him.”

That’s touchy-feely stuff, not policy driven choice.

The Economist also reports from Joe Mitchell, who operates Run GenZ to recruit young conservative candidates, saying:

“Mr. Biden, he says, has passed more progressive legislation than Mr. Obama but is less admired by progressives because he lacks Mr. Obama’s cachet. By contrast, the indictments of Mr. Trump have restored his celebrity gleam.”

There’s that touchy-feely thing again. Sensible judgment need not apply.

If you listen to the comments from Trump supporters being interviewed, what you will hear consistently is visceral declarations of support charged with passion and certainty. If they are pressed for reasons for their enthusiasm they say that Trump kept his promises, that the economy was so much better when Trump was president, that he has the strength to stand up to other strongman leaders, that immigration was under control and our borders were safe when Trump was president. They say these things with great certainty and as though that’s what’s behind their support for Trump.

But they are wrong. Factually, provably wrong. He didn’t keep his wall promise or infrastructure week promise or pretty much anything else. The economy was worse, he was sucking up to dictators, our immigration system was as bad as it is now and Trump was locking up babies. We were far sicker and hundreds of thousands died. Yet even when presented with these and other incontrovertible facts, Trump enthusiasts remain certain in their beliefs. His moral failings like grabbing women you-know-where and raping them somehow don’t repulse his female followers. His nonstop vomiting of racist filth somehow doesn’t inflame his Black supporters.

They don’t follow and support Trump for his policies or for his moral foundation. Their enthusiasm is more about his showmanship and his tough guy talk. His followers think that the victimhood he whines about makes him like them, that when the bad guys from our justice system come after him, he speaks of that as coming after “us.” It’s a “We are a band of brothers under siege” appeal – and they eat that stuff up. They believe it.

It’s that touchy-feely thing again and millions are led to the ballot box by no more than that and an invitation to give their adulation.

Biden can’t come close to that. He just doesn’t have the stuff to strut. He’s further hobbled by the far left in his own party, people who are never satisfied and always complaining and demanding what he cannot possibly deliver.

Thanks go to JN for passing this along

I’ll make the assumption that nobody who reads these posts is a Trump supporter, so I can reasonably expect that even if you aren’t a Biden supporter, you want to see Trump defeated. Maybe you don’t trust any Republicans, so you don’t want Nikki Haley to win when she’s their nominee once Trump is wearing orange. Fine. What should Biden do to win?

Remember: Winning elections isn’t about policy. Winning may not even be about reality or about any version of truth. Winning elections most definitely is about emotion, passion, beliefs, style, entertainment, heart-thumping pie-in-the-sky promises, excitement and pretty much anything touchy-feely.

And that is a huge challenge that not-so-exciting Joe Biden must meet if he is to win a second term, so:

  1. What should Biden do in order to win?
  2. What must you do to ensure that happens, so that you get what you want and, so very importantly, so that you don’t get what you deeply don’t want?

Here’s a little help for you:

Link to this Sheila Markin post and scroll down to the “USE YOUR WORRY TO ACTIVATE YOURSELF” section. Admit it: you’re worried. You’ll find a list of places to go where you can pitch in, take action, alleviate some of your anxiety and make a difference.

Click to join The Union. Their Action Center will give you all the direction you need for where to go and what to do to make a difference.

Link to Mobilize and register so they can aim you geographically and find ways for you to mobilize and make a difference.

Subscribe to The Grassroots Connector and see how you can make a difference.

Are you seeing the pattern? It’s time for us to make a difference.

Supreme Court

It looks quite likely that the Court will strike down the State of Colorado’s decision to remove Trump from its 2024 ballot. The questions of the justices during oral arguments often focused on distinctions without a difference, like whether a president holding office is an officer of the government. And it gets worse.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is a plain language statement that those who have taken an oath to the Constitution – like a president does – and who then participates in an insurrection against our government or who gives aid and comfort to those who rebel in such a way, may not hold office. The framers of this Amendment were exquisitely clear that people like Jefferson Davis must never hold power again. They felt the pain of our Civil War acutely, so they knew how important it was to prevent those who broke faith from holding office.

If the Court decides as it appears it will, the justices will have by-passed the requirement of Article V of the Constitution requiring a 2/3 vote of both Houses of Congress and the affirmation of 3/4 of the states. That is because this Court will have voided Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, something that should require a new amendment.

Think of that: This Court may unilaterally amend our Constitution. That puts every one of us in peril, as it can unilaterally steal our rights and our freedom.

Tunnels

Click me for the story about humanitarian aid that Hamas is keeping from the hostages

The strife in Gaza continues and, like nearly everything in the Middle East, things are complicated and rarely what they seem to be. Bret Stephens posted a most clarifying piece, The Meaning of Gaza’s Tunnels. He wrote,

“Hamas’s tunnels measure between 350 and 450 miles in a territory that’s just 25 miles long. (By comparison, the London Underground is only 249 miles long.”

Here’s another comparison: The entire New York City subway tunnels are only 145 miles in length.

Q. What do you suppose that enormous Gaza excavation is for?

A. To provide command centers, shelter for Hamas fighters and to build and warehouse huge factories to construct rockets and other munitions for the sole purpose of attacking and killing Israelis.

Palestinians have been impoverished for decades by the diversion of resources intended for the benefit of the Gaza people. The resources have been used instead solely to build this subterranean military fortress. Again, its only purpose is to enable Hamas to kill Jews and eliminate Israel.

Read Stephens’ piece, as well as another of his posts linked from the bottom of his current one. I promise you’ll learn important things you don’t yet know. They just might change how you see this awful, ongoing Gaza war.

Late Addition

Take this pledge for democracy and then link through.

Click me

  • 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 ALL 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.

For the Dreamers


    • “The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”
    • – Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Democratic National Convention, August 12, 1980

The Republicans have taken  control of the House – barely – and the overall election outcome should trigger waves of consternation and gnashing of teeth over how so many screwed up for so long and in such creatively self-destructive ways in so many types of races.

Republicans fielded hateful, brain-free candidates and We The People didn’t like them. The geniuses at the RNC had to have been expert sleuths in order to find so many unqualified candidates. Herschel Walker? Seriously?

There were some impressive Democrat performances, too, for which there aren’t yet words to describe, like how Democrats managed to lose four House races in upstate New York.

How come the DNC couldn’t send the desperately needed funding to Tim Ryan in Ohio and Beto O’Rourke in Texas? Those guys are the ones who have the character and ability to be the fighters we’ll need over the next decades, the people with the moxie to defeat the authoritarians, but the DNC largely abandoned them.

There will be lots of time for licking wounds and I fervently hope there’s a lot of introspection and forehead slapping. And please, DNC, have the courage to admit what everyone knows: your communication and messaging sucks. Maybe there exists a self-help organization called Sucky-Talkers Anonymous.

Bob: “Hi. I’m Bob and I suck at messaging.”

Group: “Hi, Bob. Yes, you do.”

Of course, there were wins, some found even in losses, like Adam Frisch’s challenge to “bubble-headed woman who should never be allowed near any dangerous implement, like a microphone,” Lauren Boebert. They’re reporting that 99% of the votes are counted, with the candidates separated by just 554 votes. Kudos to Frisch in this deeply red district.

It’s odd human being stuff that people fall for a pretty face, like Boebert, Kari Lake, Sarah Palin and Scott Brown without investigating whether there’s any sign of intelligent life behind the face.

There are two obvious and significant things to expect over the next two years. In the Senate, President Biden will continue to be able to staff the 80-plus federal judiciary benches awaiting newbies. Invoking the words of Joe Biden when speaking to President Obama on the passage of the ACA – “Obamacare” – and while too close to an open microphone, “This is a big f***ing deal.”

Even better, if a vacancy or two should come about on the Supreme Court, Biden will provide nominees to the Senate and the Republicans will not be able to stymie the process with fabricated new rules of obstruction. It sure would be lovely if Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were to suddenly contract cases of Incipient Mortality Awareness Despair Over Probable Ending (“IMADOPE”) and they decided to spend more time with their families. One could hope.

Thanks go to Jim Nathan for this piece

The other thing to expect will occur in the House, where the Republican circus will have all three rings set up, with nothing but sense-defying acts taking place.

For example, we can expect Jim “The Flame Throwing Ignoramus” Jordan (R-OH) to chair the judiciary committee and hold a protracted, pointless hearing into Hunter Biden. After that there will be more pointless hearings focused on Biden and his laptop. Following that will be hearings into Biden’s involvement in the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and in the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and Kennedy.

In the end, we will have spent many millions of dollars investigating anything Hunter Biden has thought, done or could spell for the entire duration of his life. The hearings will be continuous until the 2024 election in order for the Republicans to make Democrats look dirty. The official report will be 800 pages long and will say nothing – just like the report from the Benghazi hearings Committee on Stupid, Darryl Issa (R-CA), Chairman.

And that kind of stupidity and cruelty by Republicans is what we can expect from this new Republican controlled House. Indeed, they’re already gathering firewood for the witch burning pits.

Republicans have declared that they intend to impeach President Biden, Vice President Harris, Anthony Fauci and Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of Homeland Security. They have no charges against any of them. There isn’t even a whiff of wrongdoing to investigate. Most Republicans in Congress don’t even know who Mayorkas is. No matter. These hearings leading to impeachment votes are solely to get back at Democrats for the two impeachments of the orange president. Yes, they’re as infantile as that.

And while those hearings and impeachments are going on there will be no people’s business conducted. There will be little to no problems solved, no solutions found. The only accomplishment will be the performance of a Republican temper tantrum.

You can also expect push-back from the Republican House against our support for Ukraine. The fascist extreme wouldn’t want to do anything to upset their role model, Vladimir Putin. And Ukraine as a sovereign nation, it’s people wanting democracy and freedom? “Who cares?” say the Republicans.

Because that’s what Republicans do. They are all about demonizing, hating and legalized cruelty. To see this clearly, all you need to examine are all the racist and antisemitic spewings by Republicans. Unlike Democrats, they never police their own.

Together, Republicans comprise a national version of White Citizens Councils. That “Make America Great Again” mantra refers to when America’s domestic power was bed sheet white and sub-humans of color were controlled by their White betters.

But such unconscionable domination is already beginning to come to a close, as our White majority is becoming the White minority. Indeed, that’s the driver of so much of the repression. People don’t give up power willingly.

MAGA rallies cannot push back the tide, which triggers fear in those who want to return to the early 1950s. You know: before Brown v Board of Education; the 1964 Civil Rights Act; the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the rest of what allows non-Whites to be full citizens.

What White supremacists are left with is fear, hatred, violence and pitiful attempts at appearing to be something they are not. Recall Trump saying at a 2016 rally, “There’s my African-American.” Singular. Pick that apart any way you like, including empathy for that guy for his being so dreadfully duped.

To be clear, there are victories from our multi-week election day, most notably for what did not happen: a red wave. Plus, there were both new and re-elected blue governors, secretaries of state and more. These are people who trust in the Constitution and the will of We The People, so they don’t threaten to reverse our elections in order to suit themselves and their extremist overlords.

Insane factoid: Isn’t it crazy that times are so upside down that we celebrate that no election workers or voters were harmed by vigilante idiots? Here’s to the judges who prohibited the vigilantes from vigilante-ing!

So, this election was a mixed bag. Read Thomas Friedman’s post, America Dodged An Arrow for more on that.

Hope still lives and the dream is still alive – and it will be so as long as we keep it alive. That opens the door to what we’ll do to make 2024 what we need it to be. The starter’s pistol for that race has already fired.

PS

Merrick, there is a difference between: 1. Doing things right while doing the right things, as well as sweating the details; and, 2. Refusing to make a decision.

We’re 22 months down the road. It’s time to make a decision based on the painfully obvious evidence. Tell Jack Smith I said so.

————————————

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, so don’t bug me about it.
  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.

JA


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

Break Glass


I can’t listen to another pundit drivel on about whatever certainties s/he has about the election outcomes or the most important voter issues or which candidates were the most ineffective or whatever they think the unreliable polls tell us. I’ll shoot my TV if I see another ad for a politician conflating unrelated information shards to insinuate evil awfulness upon his/her opponent – and I don’t own a gun.

I’m really glad I can stop transferring my entire snailmailbox contents to the recycle bin without even glancing at what’s there. And if I get yet more solicitations from candidates I’ve never heard of clogging my email Inbox or my text message app, blaming, shaming or just begging for cash, I’ll shoot my iPhone. Did I mention that I don’t have a gun?

Regarding the election, the fat lady ain’t sung yet and it ain’t over ’til it’s over.

On the other hand, Trump and his minions of soul-less election candidates will be wailing poisonous red tears to stop the vote counting because they were ahead on Tuesday night. But here’s the thing.

The votes of millions of early voters are prohibited from being counted before election day in most states and some states don’t start counting those ballots until after election day. That means that it will take days beyond Tuesday – maybe weeks – to register all those millions of votes and determine the free, fair, real election winners, not just who was ahead in the counting on Tuesday night. These are the votes and the voters – We the People – Trump and his cheaters want to ignore. Poor babies, it’s so inconvenient for autocrats and fascists to have all the votes tallied fully and accurately.

Meanwhile, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that this election cycle is at last over. Or it would be if the anti-American, Constitution-denying, self-serving Piglets of Populism would stop lying and accept the will of We the People. Instead, they work to undermine us – We the People – this for their own benefit. Steady yourself for an onslaught, a never-ending tsunami of stupid stuff designed to submarine the Constitution, our democracy and us in order for these crepes to gain more power and money. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the 2024 campaign formally began last night.

The election denying, evidence-free lies and hollow-brain temper tantrums over yesterday’s election will go on, adamantly rejecting the facts, denying reality and attacking values the liars claim to have. Today’s election denying will be super-glued to the same evil, evidence-free claims still being made about the 2020 election. Once again, we must be conscious of the established fact that there is no bottom below which they won’t slime themselves.

This election was about a lot. Much Republican wailing and gnashing of teeth happened over inflation and the economy and it was a good issue, because voters are being smacked in the wallet every day. And everyone is afraid of crime – it’s in the news and in our neighborhoods. The Rs did a fine job of attacking, insinuating, blaming and making people afraid. They’re good at that. But, once again, here’s the thing:

They never – not even once – said what they would do to make things better.

They offered no solutions, no policies, no nothing for We the People.

They never had anything for us other than telling us to be afraid and who is to blame.*

What Republicans promise. Thanks go to Jim Nathan for this pic.

That was the direction Mitch McConnell gave the Republicans. Even if one of them had had a policy idea at any time over the past 40 years, Mitch the Merciless told them to stuff it. “Never betray that we Republicans haven’t a constructive brain cell among us,” he seemed to say.

That’s been the Republican platform at least since the 2020 race, when the platform was outlined on a single sheet of paper that essentially explained that they have no platform, other than to cut yet more taxes for rich guys and corporations and to eliminate every program that helps We the People. See the graphic to the right.

So, more good news and bad news.

The good news is that the cruel, hollow-brained, nothing-for-the-nation Republican strategy is what you can expect to hear for the next two years. At least you know what’s coming. It will be wrapped in red, white and blue, but it will be anti-American. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the future of our nation is at stake and about 90 million eligible voters didn’t bother to vote yesterday to preserve and protect it. Question: Why do we celebrate record turnout of 50%?

Break glass. Yell “FIRE!“

——————————–

* The movie An American President was written by Aaron Sorkin. Here are some of his words via his fictional President Andrew Shepherd from that film. Substitute for the name Bob Rumson any Republican liar, MAGA extremist, election results denier, voter fraud claiming candidate for any office.

“Why would a senator, his party’s most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?”

“I’ve known Bob Rumson for years and I’ve been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn’t get it.”

“We have serious problems to solve and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He’s interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”

Woe is us if President Shepherd was right.

————————————

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, so don’t bug me about it.
  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.

JA


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

20%


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

When I came across those words of anthropologist Margaret Mead years ago I found them to be so hopeful, a promise that good things that had been so elusive might actually come to be within grasp. Thom Hartmann amplified that hope by estimating that it wouldn’t take a majority of us to set things right. All it would take is about 20% of the population – a “small group of thoughtful committed citizens.” We can do that, I told myself. We can get 20% of us to insist upon what’s right.

Turns out that both Mead and Hartmann were right and I was wrong.

About 20% of Americans want to turn the United States into a reality denying, authoritarian thugocracy, not that “insisting upon what’s right” part I’d hoped for. Republican politicians are working at that, cheating and lying every day to make that happen. Most of the 20% is electrified, thinking they’re the true patriots and demanding what they believe to be right. And they just might get their way. That is where I was wrong, because what that 20% wants surely is not right.

The grabbing for ever more power, the denial of truth and reality and the retribution and violence threatened and sometimes exacted against opponents and scapegoats is how Moussolini, Hitler, Orban, Erdoğan, Duterte and, really, all autocrats gain power. And autocracy always leads to despotism and the people always suffer, especially through loss of freedoms and even extra-judicial killings.

It’s so easy to wheedle people to sell out their integrity just by offering the right bribe, like power, position and wealth or by threatening them with loss of all that or even with physical harm. That creates an army to promote the despot. You know all of this because you’ve seen it for decades.

Worse, the pace of deterioration of our government and, really, of our way of life has accelerated dramatically. Now some candidates and voters openly pledge to honor election results only if the authoritarian wins. Now some legislators are manipulating election laws to prevent people from voting, to steal yet more rights and to incrementally take our freedoms. Now the thugs are making death threats and committing mass murders.

Sadly, We the People have allowed that to happen. We’ve done it by failing to speak out against what’s wrong. We’ve done it by 40% of eligible voters (about 100 million in 2018) consistently failing to do the simple primary act of citizenship: vote. It’s the self-deluded who mindlessly declare that they would never vote for a Democrat, perhaps solely because their parents always voted for Republicans; or because they believe the lies they’re fed, so they refuse to see the truth that’s in plain sight. Besides, it’s easier to be lazy and not think for themselves. Or maybe they get a charge from the ignorant obstruction of progress, the middle finger claim to power. Maybe we’ve just become complacent and our blinders have become too comfortable.

The human capacity for selfishness, laziness and self-deception is too great to be overcome simply by making good, common sense. It will take something far more direct and far more muscular.

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was right in 1775 with his “Common Sense” and he’s still right: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” And these times are frighteningly like Paine’s, as we wonder who will fight for democracy.

In these fraught times we have only two choices. One is to sit back and watch as everything we care about, everything we hold dear is lost, as though we’re spectators at a Sunday football game, watching our vastly overpowered team losing to cheaters and hobbled by crooked referees. The other choice is to get onto the field of play to help score touchdowns and eventually to win the game.

This will be hard. This will require us to stay the course for the entire conflict, especially when things seem dire. Make no mistake in understanding this metaphor: we’re backed up to our own goal line right now.

Your vote is how you “Never give in” – see below. Many thanks to JN for this graphic.

But this is no metaphorical football game. This is life and death. People will die and democracy will be lost, with not even a mention in the replacement history books of authoritarian propaganda, unless those of us in the 80% take a stand and get this right. And we better do that quickly, because the Election Countdown Clock is fast approaching the zero hour.

———————————–

Here’s What Minority Influence and Rule Look Like.

Example 1.

For an instructive look at how an enraged, vocal minority can derail the best of how we might be, read The Right Wing Attack on Public Education Began In One Elite Illinois High School, by Isabela Dias in Mother Jones. What began as an educational seminar on diversity for the nearly all White school population turned into a parental hate-fest, the likes of which, sad to say, you’ve seen elsewhere. It was so-called conservative parents (how did “conservative” come to mean “White supremacist”?) objecting to whatever they nightmared* the seminar would be. As you read the piece, take note of the projections, false assumptions and ignorant accusations spewed by these angry opponents of the seminar. And imagine how puffed up on power these people must feel. One now has a podcast. The “look at ME” value of that must be enormous. Yet the teenage students, trying to make sense of a confusing world, are caught in the crossfire.

That’s what happens when “a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens” decides that tyrannical minority control is the American way.

Example 2.

“The new British prime minister, Liz Truss, has laid out a terrific supply-side economic growth plan which looks a lot like the basic thrust of Kevin McCarthy’s Commitment to America plan.” – Larry “Usually Wrong” Kudlow on Fox News.

Let’s see, supply-side economics has never worked for anyone but the rich and has just been dumped by the Brits for its immediate and obvious failure. But that’s what Kevin McCarthy will bring to us if he and the Rs representing a minority of Americans gain control of Congress.

All of that is why you must follow the admonition of Winston Churchill:

  • “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never —
  • in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in,
  • except to convictions of honour and good sense.
  • Never yield to force. Never yield
  • to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Winston Churchill, speaking at The Harrow School, October 29, 1941

* Made-up word for this occasion.

————————————

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, so don’t bug me about it.
  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.

JA


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

Choices


We have choices every election day, of course, which is the whole point. But the next two exercises really will be different in ways we have never faced before, even in 2020 and after, with the ongoing efforts of traitors who are explicitly trying to defeat the will of We The People. The reason the next two elections will be different is because 2020 was a training wheels exercise. These treacherous people are now largely geared up to either win elections or to commit larceny and steal them in plain sight.

For example, Colorado Republican candidate for governor Greg Lopez is promising to eliminate one person, one vote by giving more weight to the votes of rural voters and undervaluing the votes of urban voters. It’s better for Republicans that way, you see. It’s also a strategic nuclear strike on our democracy.

Republican candidates for secretary of state in many Republican controlled states are promising to ignore the popular vote and certify their preferred candidates (read: Republicans) as the winners, even when they have decisively lost their elections.

What about this is not enraging you and scaring you?
.

These people are promising the end of the America envisioned and designed by the Founders, the people who set this up for us, all at great peril to their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Today’s cheaters dishonor the millions of our ancestors who fought and some who died for the land of the free and the home of the brave. These anti-Americans want to make our country into a banana republic run by cruel, self-serving despots. They want us to emulate and even suck up to authoritarian so-called “strongmen,” as though being a thug is a good thing. But it isn’t.

Nearly half a million Americans died to stop the Nazi murderers, thugs and psychopaths. Now we have Americans waving swastika flags right here in America. And we have candidates for office promising a fascist autocracy.

There is only one thing that can stop this race to oblivion:

You and I must beat the bastards.

.

MUST READ of the Week

Thomas Friedman’s post, My Lunch With President Biden isn’t about lunch.

Friedman will explain to you what is at stake far better than I can. Hint: The next elections aren’t between Republicans and Democrats. The choice is between having our democracy where your voice is heard and your vote is counted or an end to everything you value.

You need to read Friedman’s post and pass it along to at least three others. This is a patriotic imperative.

Quotes of the Week

From comedian Hal Sparks:

  1. The universal Republican campaign slogan is, “Government can’t do anything right. Elect me and I’ll prove it.”
  2. There is no Hunter Biden laptop. There is only a 10th generation hard drive from a laptop that might have belonged to Biden, but nobody is sure about that because there is no chain of custody record or even verifiable receipts.

I’ll add that Republicans don’t care about the complete lack of legitimacy of their wanting to smear Joe Biden by smearing his son. They used Benghazi hearings to smear Hillary Clinton, this in the complete lack of evidence of wrongdoing or incompetence.

I’ll say it again: There is no low that is too low for today’s Republicans. That is why this Eisenhower Republican says to do what you have to do, even to the point of holding your nose and then voting for Democrats up and down your ballot to stop these un-American liars and thugs from trashing our country.

Broken News

Nineteen second, third and fourth grade children and two teachers were killed  – gunned down – at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas yesterday. Three more kids are in critical condition as of this writing. The shooter was a messed up 18 year old high school kid who also murdered his grandmother. He was killed in a shoot out with police, but right now I don’t much care about him.

You already know about how our mostly Republican legislators at both the state and federal levels have been bought by corporate money and by threats, especially from the NRA. That’s what prevents anything from happening to stem the flow of blood from gun violence in America. I have a message for them and for the gun crazies in America. This time, though, I’ll address them by addressing Texans, since their home is where this most recent massacre of little kids took place, but the message goes to all of them.

So, what do you say, Tex? Do you still think your own freedom to swagger is what’s most important? Do you still think everyone should have access to firearms, even the angry guy who thinks that he’s the fastest gun in the west, the meanest and toughest camo-boy, the dude who got his man card punched? Because if you do, then we know that neither of those teachers was a relative of yours and none of those little kids who just got shot to death was your kid. And we know that you don’t give a damn about anyone else’s kid, either, you selfish son of a bitch.

Watch and listen to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) as he asks the question,

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

.

Answer him after hearing what basketball great Steve Kerr has to say. And what President Biden has to say. Then tell me what we’re doing.

It’s always a choice and we’re not choosing well.

—————————————-

PS Our governance and electoral corruption and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem.

————————————

The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

Did someone forward this 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!)

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, so don’t bug me about it.
  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 vibrant.

JA


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

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