I had the benefit 50 years ago of a high-quality public education. And we had civics classes. It’s astounding what the American public doesn’t know now about how government works or should I say should work. I’ve been saying that for years, that Civic classes need to come back. But now we can’t talk about anything in school that’s not going to lead to a huge overpowering wave of disinformation by MAGA people. And it’s not the MAGA people, it’s the billionaires who are now aiming to get us.
I know that the quality of this post was not up to my high standards having had a good public education, but I dictated it and I was so fired up about the subject that I did not take my time to proofread. I apologize to offer that.
Happens to me all the time. I am fired up about most subjects these days. Many tell me I am "too intense" ( Not meant as a compliment.) Take it or leave it, cannot help it!
Veronica, I know how your feel re: being thought of as “intense.” For me, it is a matter of “caring too much.” Yet, my colleagues- good friends who just can’t seem to get beyond the horror of Trump’s win and their exhaustion. I hope they move on to action soon rather than continue to turn away.
It’s gone from ‘wow, you have a lot of energy’ to ‘intense’ for me as well. Isn’t energy and intense an engine that can take action such as picking up a phone? Writing post cards? Going to a March? Many of my most beloved family and friends are feeling overwhelmed. I am as well. However, Joyce as one of my favorite ‘Generals’ is suggesting what to DO. Yes mam, salute 🫡
I essentially agree with Joyce on this except and I’ll say it once more, Joe Biden was asleep for 3 years when he did nothing about the border. Y’all can negate this but he did nothing and this issue was successfully litigated in the minds of many voters enough to put his opposition over the top.
You are certainly ignorant of the Biden Administration's policy on immigration. Perhaps if you stopped bloviating long enough to educate yourself on the matter, you would not post disinformation.
You are certainly entitled to your sweet opinion as I am. But you don’t need to be so rude. I can be the King of Rudeness but I have retired from being rude for now.
I think Congress failed to do their job and decided to point the finger at Biden. Honestly, Congress has failed for years on immigration and they are directly responsible for this mess. Republicans use it as a voting tool by fear mongering. Even the EO’s Trump signed on it were found to be illegal. We shouldn’t depend on EO’s to govern. When we do that more and more it negates the reason for Congress.
Yes, I do agree with you about Congress failing to do its job. That's been true for decades on immigration. No excuse there.
But it also seems to me that Biden fell into the Republicans' trap by making it easy to use immigration against Democrats politically. That was one of the important factors in Harris's loss, IMO.
Agreed, Mary. Biden's executive order put in place some of the most draconian barriers to asylum seekers in recent history, by limiting the number allowed to cross the border, and eliminating the requirement that people be asked whether they fear persecution. Bill, talk to someone who actually works in immigration about the "credible fear interview." They can explain to you that denying people this opportunity is not "nothing."
For the first almost 3 years he did nothing. Once Myorica his homeland chief was asked in an interview on The New Hour, why Biden never invoked an executive order and Myorica angrily replied “Because it wouldn’t hold up in court.” I saw it I heard it and my immediate response was, “How arrogant a response.” Invoking such an order would have shown the nation that he was using any and all options the last being the Insurrection Act. Crazy but had Biden ended this… and by the way, cities around the nation that received bus after bus loads from Texas are now overloaded and inundated with migrants. Are you guys blind or something? This is one reason a big reason why we lost the fricken election. Stop being blind and stop listening to others think for you. Cbeeses. I said to myself I wouldn’t go here but, I opened it.
Do you really think your remarks here are not displaying an absolute disgusting display of rudeness towards the other posters? Take a step back and read what you’re writing. You’re certainly not expressing original thoughts and could be blamed for not thinking for yourself.
Sadly, I agree. I am in Texas and can attest that we weren’t being invaded, BUT small towns all along the border were just clobbered with all,the chaos, stress in infrastructure, etc., and the appearance and probably reality was one of extreme incompetence at best. That really hurt.
Any time I have discussed with a voter who went with Trump and I ask why, they respond “border.” Now even if it’s inaccurate, in the minds of many, o thing was done. Biden has been a smart politician all his life. He understands optics. But he carelessly dismissed this one. Why did I see it and others didn’t? I didn’t see it on Fox. I don’t have cable. I watched it on the News Hour and major network news programs. Here is one reason why Biden failed at this important problem; He didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Trump. This is a misstep leaders make all the time. They associate an issue and disassociate from it. We are now plagued with the monster of the ages that has almost single-handedly destroyed the Republican Party. Of course we had the tea party movement forerunner to MAGA. Before that, the Gingrich “Contract with America.” And this split was predictable when the Courts allowed massive money into elections by special interests. The monied class won out again. This is our sordid history. Nothing new but now more vastly more predictable toward authoritarian rule. All for the love of money.
That’s a great observation beyond politics…this notion of doing the opposite of the previous “boss” just for the sake of disassociation. I’ve seen this in organizations in which I worked…jumping to this must be bad since the last administration implemented it.
Being the shameless self-promoter, I'll include a story from my book on this subject, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums." Of course I'm critized for expressing my book, but I'm a writer. That is what we do to try and get the message out. My take that goes back to the ancients:
What Some Ancient Rulers Have in Common with Trump
During ancient Egyptian dynasties, monarchs often defaced or destroyed statues representing the previous ruler to erase the reputation and deeds of the former ruler. Sometimes damage was limited to facial disfigurement as with Pharaoh Senwosrett III (1878-1840 BC) whose nose was broken off because ancients believed that the life force emanates through the nose.
Trump shares this goal when renegotiating and tearing up Clinton and Obama-era treaties.
NAFTA is one such remake that removes Clinton’s name from the global trade agreement. As Politico writer Adam Behsudi quotes Lori Wallace, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch said, “For those who trusted Trump’s pledge to make NAFTA ‘much better’ for working people, it’s a punch in the face because the proposal describes TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) or any other same-old, same-old trade deal.” There are no improvements -- only the removal of the Obama legacy and any other former president’s name.
This symbolic effigy-smashing of Obama extends to the Iran Nuclear Deal, to recertify to Congress every 90 days that the Iranians are complying with the rules; the Paris Climate Agreement; The Affordable Healthcare Act and all other agreements that Obama successfully negotiated regarding the environment and human rights.
In the land that I call home, tens of millions of Americans who couldn’t tell the difference between shit and Shinola, resulting in the election of a malevolent quasi-life form that makes George W. seem like Jesus, Moses, and George Washington rolled into one. Maybe our next president, if we are still electing presidents that is, will take cues from Trump and the ancients as well. A good start would be to remove any future White House portrait of him that might eventually be installed.
Texas infrastructure is a state problem (like the incompetently state owned TX energy grid system crashing, and then the TX Governor asking and receiving a federal gov't handout to fix it). Local and state governments can help or hinder what goes on within the state. Sometimes y'all are looking in the wrong direction. In my view, it's kind of stupid for TX to pass a law making illegal immigration illegal (FYI: it's already illegal so the bill was an inane passage to score a few talking points.)
I raise my hand in being asleep in the cloud of living in a Blue state. Even after enduring Regan as a 2 term governor & 2 term president, I was complacent that our imperfect Democracy was safe. Then I moved to a REd state & encountered a whole different reality of what a population of people seemingly isolated from differences thought but was still shocked when tRump was elected. Thankyou to all of you who work hard to keep our democratic republican alive.
It’s the job of Congress to legislate the border and thousands of other things. The media failed miserably at reporting everything Biden was doing. You can’t blame Biden for their failures. He wasn’t rude, violent or vocal enough to make reporting seem like a hateful reality TV show so he was ignored. Now everyone wants to point fingers and blame Biden.
We can’t legislate by EO. Biden met with leaders repeatedly and we all know McCarthy and Johnson nodded in agreement and then did what they wanted. That’s why there are no immigration laws, remember Trump told them no, why a budget can’t be passed and why the general population thinks immigration is a big scary monster. Ask any of them how those immigrants have changed their lives and you won’t get an answer.
No, Bill, he was not. He IS old school. He was working outside of public view, and inside Congress, to get a bipartisan bill structured that would pass. He did that. He had nothing to do with the corrupt scuttling of said bill, his 'replacement' did.
Daniel, I’m referring to the first few years in office. He did nothing and only when he saw his numbers going down or some polls telling him to act which he then acted. I’m referring to early in the administration. I don’t know why I need to stress this I’ve and over and over again. I understand the bipartisan legislation that he crafted. He didn’t begin crafting that until his 3rd year in office. Why does everyone dismiss the first few years? Why? Why? You guys act like I’m a MAGA. Far from it. I wrote the most castigating book ever written about Trump. I know what I’m talking about.
Believe me, Bill, we all KNOW you're not a MAGAt!! And we love you and your reasoned comments. But on this... I know we live in a microwave world, but affairs like this cannot be addressed overnight. And for the first couple years, President Biden was somewhat occupied with addressing a global pandemic that was woefully mismanaged prior to his arrival, he was occupied with trying to - pardon me here - unfuck the supply chains around the world, in order to prevent us falling into a global depression, he was occupied attempting to reassure a terrified world that the United States could still be counted on as a leader and true Democracy, and he accomplished all that in time to then turn his attention to immigration. Was President Biden perfect? Of course not! Was he human? Damned sure was, and IS!! And in a couple weeks, it will become obvious to the world just how human, by comparison. We're in this with you, Bill. But c'mon man, go back to using your stove, and just use the microwave for reheating!
Bill, you have made this clear over and over and over! I GOT it - and I imagine most of the "regulars" here did too. As in every administration - dems or repubs there are mistakes/errors/issues done or not done. But its pretty much over at this point. We all have to move on - I hope, eventually, to something better.
Donald Trump gave me afib in 2017 so now I'm medicated and, also, trying not to have a stroke. Toward that end I spent the election (after I voted by mail) in Quebec and will spend inauguration elsewhere in Quebec. Hoping to find a new home outside what used to be my country-or at least somewhere I can spent most of my time while this democracy falls.
Not me. I'm staying right here to defend this Democracy and our Constitutional Republic. Come back when things are better. In the meantime, take care of your health.
Never apologize for posting. Were we all grammarians, lapses in creating a sentence would never happen. The point of what one writes IS the point. That is what needs clarity and your post fits the bill.
I didn't see the problem, honestly, Pam. (Left the "s" off "Civics?" Too many sentence fragments that sound like natural speech?) Your post was easy to read, logical, and right on point as far as I'm concerned.
It'll be verboten to discuss the causes of the Civil War, or the Great Depression, or the March on Selma. I wonder if recent history will be scrubbed of being able to find out how many times Trump affiliated companies filed for Bankruptcy or how many women have come forward with credible accusations of sexual assault?
Heather Cox Richardson's Platform, LFAA now has over 1.8 million Subscribers & more Readers of her real-time history presented in full historical context.
Professor Vance has hundreds of thousands. Go Professors!
And lets hope that some of those readers are working in Washington, perhaps as Congressmen or top aides who can actually help keep the country from slipping into the gutters.
I can not conceive of the rationale for suspending civics classes. 😵
We need patience: it took us two generations to get here to a culture of self-indulgence and it will take two generations to get back to a culture of republican citizenship. 😳
My forlorn hope remains that the next two years will be bad enough to break the M.A.G.A. illusion but no bad as to catalyze a dissolution. 🤞
The Democrats in Congress remain demographically sclerotic. It is time for oldsters (people of my age on up) to step aside and let a new generation of leaders rise. 🤝
"We need patience: it took us two generations to get here to a culture of self-indulgence and it will take two generations to get back to a culture of republican citizenship."
No. We are OUT of time. It takes a bulldozer a day to completely raze a city that might have taken a thousand years to build.
Nope. I am talking about changing a culture. That takes time. There is a reason why the ancient Jews, led by Moses, spent forty years in the desert: to wean themselves away from a cultures of lentils and involuntary servitude and toward a culture of independence and autonomy.
Entropy is the way of the universe; it is naturally much easier to break or destroy something than to build or create. But what a bulldozer can do doesn't apply to the current culture having replaced the old, because time is an intrinsic part of the process. Changing culture means changing thought and behavior, and that probably needs time.
Nicely stated, there, Jeff. Entropy is an interesting concept because what I state above may not be attainable as dispersion or randomness tends to increase with time.
Yup, Ned, education is VERY important! (Guess who is a retired elementary school teacher….). BUT, to me, winning elections and the power to influence is MACHO. And this MACHO attitude affects men and women.
That T-shirt - Cowboy and Hillbilly - screams MACHO. Unfortunately, Joe - even a younger Joe - doesn’t scream MACHO.
So, the real questions for the Democrats revolve around finding men AND women with MACHO who also believe in Education and Good Will to All and Common Sense and Decency….
Yup, except that’s what gives MAGA the votes! There are millions of our fellow Americans who WANT MACHO leadership. Now, Obama had plenty of MACHO, but he also loves Education, Decency, Goodwill, etc. A person can be STRONG but also CARING.
Steve and Amy, if you are interested in my thoughts of MACHO versus manliness -- the latter being no longer gender-specific -- see my response to Paul above, s.v.p.
The mythical outlaw - to some, Luigi Mangione. To others, Trump. Both are criminals, not mythical outlaws. This is not a civics lesson as much as a morality lesson, on both counts.
First of all, Paul, I salute, humbly, your career in teaching. Teachers are unsung heroes. Good teachers -- like you, I am sure -- are unappreciated heroes.
We both know that MACHO is a bluff; Dr Cox Richardson has pointed out the cowboy myth. The sad irony of MACHO is that Democratic politicians have as much national service as do Republicans, perhaps more.
Today, I watched the first few minutes of Senator Carper's farewell speech and found out in C-span's prelude that he was a Navy pilot for three tours of duty in Viêt Nam from 1968-73.
¡W.T.Efferooney! I had shrugged him off as a product pf a political machine; my bad. But, until today, I had never heard of the Senator's proven bravery. When I hear about Republicans like Senators Vance or Cotton or Governor DeSantis, it is little more than a nano-second before I hear about how brave they are because they were in the military. At least Senator Cotton showed the real thing in Iraq, at least for six months.
And that may come down to the whole MACHO question you raise. Senator Vance was a formidable, confident candidate; I mistrusted his ambition and his apparent placing of opportunity ahead of principles. He and the rogue Trumpanzee often made hay over Vice President Harris not answering questions fluently, etc.
In fact, like many but not enough, I respected Vice President Harris for her deliberation and time taken in answering questions. lt was not MACHO, but she was manly in placing principles before momentary applause and choosing prudence over impulse.
It is that element of reticence and self-reflection that many voters mistake for a lack of strength in convictions and a tentativeness. Those qualities, needed in a leader, may have hurt the Vice President. And that really is a shame.
¿Why? Because we are giving way to MACHO-mouthed demagogues whose loyalty to republican governance is, at best, clouded by ambition and attention-seeking or, at worst, supplanted by an impulsive authoritarianism to which the republican experiment is irrelevant.
Precisely, Ned. We know that to the MAGA folks MACHO is the Cowboy/Hillbilly, loud talk, rough demeanor, “out-of-my-way,” WrestleMania, “say whatever you want” and is ultimately Smoke & Mirrors. And, unfortunately, the media, including Hollywood, paint that kind of incomplete picture.
A better version of TRUE BRAVERY in manhood and womanhood can be developed, and, hopefully, portrayed to the American public - MAGA included. It’s going take some work and will need to be done wisely and subtly. Demeaning the MAGA faithful (no matter how tempting and satisfying that can be) is not the answer.
Redefining MACHO or, better yet, REFINING the meaning is possible, I believe. I remember a “talk” I gave to a 5th grade class after I retired about an ancestor of mine who was at the last major battle of the Revolutionary War - Yorktown 1781 at 21 years of age and having joined the Militia in July of 1776 at 16. He was waiting in the trenches for the signal to advance on Redoubt No. 10 with just his bayonet attached to his gun (no bullets - which could ruin the surprise attack) and, as history shows, the guy on our $10 bill and that other guy on the $1 bill were making the rounds and encouraging those soldiers. (Did my great x 4 grandfather shake their hands or chat with Lt. Col. $10 and Gen. $1? I’ll never know!)
But as I told those 5th graders, “Yup, Mr. $10 and Mr. $1 are heroes, but so are all of those soldiers in the trenches, but, it is important to remember that ORDINARY Americans can be heroes too, even though we might never appear on money!!”
I look (for example) at Senator Tammy Duckworth of IL as a very unsung hero - brave in so many ways. MACHO? Not in the “old” definition, but in a REFINED REDEFINITION….??
Ned, I would quality that statement by saying that, while we should step aside and let younger leaders step up, we are still of value. We can encourage and mentor the next generation. Many of us are not feeble in the least. We have an abundance of knowledge and expertise. But it is time to pass it along in an active, dynamic way. I am doing this is my profession (psychology), and find it very rewarding. It reminds us that we can all make a difference, but the way in which we do this shifts from generation to generation.
Mentoring, yes. Control, no. It is no longer our future. As an erstwhile Republican, I have no dog in the fight. The story of Representative Pelosi undermining Representative Ocasio-Córtez galled me. Representative Connolly is a good man and I admire him. Yet he has cancer and is seventy-four years old. He is not irrelevant, but seniority is hurting both Parties.
I'm almost 74 and also had good Civics classes in public school also - it's a bedrock necessity for being a good citizen I think. I also had humanities and language classes which opened my midwestern suburban eyes to other cultures and to art. The history classes, however, were the usual stories of Washington not lying about cutting down a cherry tree and applauding the purchase of Manhattan for $24 in trinkets, which is appalling.
Pam, I too benefited 50 years ago from high quality education. I retired from a career in education. Two of my sisters are retired teachers, my sister who taught in OH just retired this year. She’s 71 years old.
I can’t even describe the disgust I feel toward NCLB. People who unwittingly support this legislation don’t or choose not to understand its purpose, believe this is a good idea, not realizing it was Republicans first foray into destroying public education. Teachers did, administrators do and it has done exactly that. Test scores are linked to funding. The better the test scores the more money districts receive. That’s FUBAR right there. Districts who perform poorly have their funding cut. I worked in some very needy districts that would graduate between 35-40 students a year. Where the district’s entire enrollment was 650-700 students. (My senior class graduated 702 students). In PA there are 501 districts. A boatload are in need of extra funding but refuse to merge. Easing the economic burden is viewed as unnecessary but funding a new football field for 150 students is a must! Each district has their own sports program complete with fields and athletic departments that must be maintained and financed. Districts 5 miles apart wasting money. But this what “education” means to the parents and students . I can bluster on for days about this idiocy.
All humanities no longer exist. When I retired 9 years ago, American History had been chiseled down to half of a nine weeks in ninth grade. That’s it. No current events, American Gov/Econ, maybe 4 weeks of World History, no discussion of World Wars I and II. Civil War? When? Who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation? The Gettysburg Address? Not important. We’re allowing our children to be kept as low or undereducated as possible. The MAGA base is probably wondering where Panama is and what’s a canal? Who’s Teddy Roosevelt and his brother Franklin? Not a clue as to the continuing importance and history of the superhuman accomplishments that have benefited our planet.
Now for the really scary part. My husband, a supporter of non-profits that provide services for seriously health compromised children and group homes that support adults with intellectual deficits. He’s has sat on many boards, been chairman, and volunteers his time to this day as he sees it as his civic duty, thinks I should run for school board of our district. It’s one of the largest districts in our county. The fact that I’m actually considering it is the scary part. We live in a very red county that supported Trump in the election but is now beginning to ask questions of Trump and his campaign run on eggs. What’s Panama? Greenland? Who said anything about Greenland? Why is Elon Musk POTUS? J.D. Vance? That’s the name under Trump on my MAGA yard decorations, but who is he really?
But, I’m encouraged by these questions! That means people are paying attention for change!
What happened to my cheaper eggs? Viewership has been dropping in corporate and mainstream media. Voters were not made aware of any Canadian agenda before the election.
I know the confirmation process of the POTUS cabinet nominees being approved by the senate was certainly not something they learned in school like I did, but the knitted eyebrows of what the hell? are becoming more common as voters question rapists as Secretaries of anything.
My conservative uncle (he’s very educated and not MAGA) find that we’re asking the same questions about healthcare, taxes, and Elon Musk. This is a long rant. Thanks for reading. I’ll consider running for school board.
I hope you do run for school board - sure sounds like you are NEEDED! And questions regarding civics classes? I have to be honest - I graduated from HS almost seventy years ago and dont remember taking civics. Now granted - its been a loong time since then, so its possible thats a little item that has disappeared - like a few others. Civics, History - actual history - classes are so important and so are the very good and capable teachers of those subjects. I agree we prioritize and finance football and other "major" sports programs but not the ones that truly are necessary in producing capable, educated human beings. Not a good picture of the US.
Beyond our educational "efforts" - kids focus on becoming sports stars, entertainment "heroes", and of course, "influencers" a whole category of its own.
My lord! Just reading how degraded the educational system is where you are has made me nauseous. “No Child Left Behind” did no one’s system any favors which probably led to the explosion of charter schools we’ve been witnessing for the last 10-15 years. The home schooling phenomenon has been a problem longer still and of course, all the “private”(read white flight)schools have been around since Brown v. Board. This steady drip, drip, drip has created a canyon full of know nothing voters. I really fear for this country, not only for the lack of general knowledge but also for the lack of the highly specific skills for the arts, the sciences, the humanities; and we won’t even mention the critical thinking skills that go with all those skills. All this has led to the stunted thinking we’re seeing today.
Wait . . . ? What? They don't teach Civics anymore? OK then, what then DO they teach? To be successful, a pluralistic democracy depends on an informed polity capable of critical thinking. That's, because individuals, not autocrats, are behind the wheel. Take informed, educated citizens away, and you might get an evil malignant narcissist for President . . . Oh, oh, . . . we just did that . . .
Pam, I also had civics classes 50+ years ago and agree with your final statement: it’s the billionaires who are now aiming to get us! We need to pay serious attention to what other countries are doing to eliminate or reduce the impact of dark money on elections. For example, Australia now limits election donations to $50,000 or less. We are hopelessly naive if we think that civics classes can neutralize the impact of billionaires and their misleading ads and other concerted efforts to influence contemporary US federal and state elections. I’m actually surprised that Prof. Vance focused on civics and said little about the role of money and ways to address its corrupting influence.
"I’ve been saying that for years, that Civic classes need to come back."
How woke of you! I agree....
This idea of dismantling education in this country is pathetic. Look at the Scandinavian countries--even corporations their like paying taxes because they want their employees to be smart and heathy...how novel. High college tuition isn't helping. The philosophy here is keep-people-stupid-so-that-they-continue-to-vote-for-stupid-people. Looks like McMahon needs to be educated.
Like Joyce, I am all for bugging our elected officials and putting all my eggs in the midterm elections basket. And here's another thing we can do--pray. Collective prayer works despite free will. I have been ferociously praying about the self-implosion of the GOP and I'm starting to see signs of cracking, even within trumps inner circle. Laura Loomer spent a whole day slamming Elon on X, obviously jealous of his closeness to trump and Elon banned her. Don't you just love it!!
I too had those civics classes. I’d venture to say that there are the billionaires and church folks who want to get their hands on some of that public money. MAGA maybe. After all, we can’t consider Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and a host of other MAGA folks as literate when it comes to governance. Moreover, they don’t care. Just given them a megaphone and they’ll govern in any way that gets them attention.
I am not a conspiracy person at all, having said that, I do think 2024 election was once again interference by Putin and the Chinese and it was not a free and fair election. He will be installed once again, by Russia and China and their assets here in the United States.
To my horror I see our current leaders, in particular the DOJ, not doing their jobs. Are they not hearing what we the people are hearing from these people who want to tear down our government. They all took the oath, pretty much the same one I took when I join the U. S. Navy. "to protect and defend Constitution from all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC..." Yet they are sitting on their butts doing nothing and as far as I can tell there is still time to stop them and defend this country and our people. This is what keeps me angry and disgusted.
Marilyn, I took that very same oath when I enlisted in the US Navy in 1974 and again when I went to work in federal court after that, and I am continually appalled at politicians and judges who blithely take the sacred oath and then break it regularly.
@Reader/Writer, Frankly, I’m more appalled by the officials who administer the oath of office (e.g., Chief Justice John Roberts) fully aware the person swearing his or her allegiance has no intent of honoring it. I further despair over the huge block of Americans who also are aware and either believe there’s nothing to be done or don’t care.
I would note my reason for expanding upon your observation is to amplify both the prevailing cynicism plus the erosion of decency and dignity that largely threaten the preservation of our constitutional republic.
Ultimately, I believe we face a choice. We can, by our inaction, perpetuate the status quo, or we can work, as best we can, to preserve some amount of democracy to achieve significant victories in the midterms—breaking MAGA’s hold on Congress and state legislatures prior to our entering the 2028 election cycle.
". . . to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter, so help me God."
It’s that plus more. Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
The Right has been slowly going after public education for quite sometime now and as a retired junior high teacher I am horrified. They have slipped into school boards and PTA’s making it harder and harder for teachers to really teach civic, critical thinking, poetry and literature!
tRump: "I love the poorly educated!" And Project 2025 aims to vastly increase the "poorly educated" pool for obvious reasons - they always vote against their primary interests.
Yes, I remember that at one of his rally's…….i was gobsmacked that he said it…..out loud. BUT to my astonishment, the crowd cheered!!!! Mission Accomplished!!!
Yes, permission to be as lazy and ignorant as they want. Then you read the outrage over using immigrants to do all the work in our tech sector and Musk agreeing that Americans are retarded. What an asshole. Coming from the big companies hiring all the Indian and Chinese to do their tech jobs, even lying about the need until Americans don’t want to compete with the impossibility my husband and I both watched Americans being ignored.
Oracle only hires the top 10 students from the top 10 schools. In today’s world our degrees from ASU and UCSD wouldn’t even be looked at. Suddenly MAGA wants only citizens and the people they support desperately need the voting block to be uneducated and illiterate in order to control us.
What a quandary. Now it’s actually the Chinese making our economy strong.
All it takes is states like Florida and Texas to dictate the selection of school textbooks. There are only a few publishers of those books. When a few big states make it clear what is and isn’t acceptable, the publishers write books to meet the demands. That impacts the quality of education nationwide.
In general you are correct. But let me explain what happens when schools or in general, education exposes critical race theory. I have been accused often of being privileged and I’m really sick and tired of this accusation. If I were anyone else, I might be pushed to being a MAGA but I’m not. These accusations are directly related to some of that literature. There is a big downside to exposing younger people when they are ill prepared to injest and understand the difference between history and the present. So I would beg to pause and consider restricting some literature. Often, we make issues a yes or no and this is not a wise approach.
The crooks running our schools inject politics like matadors use their red capes. They want everyone arguing about politics so they miss their bad acts. That’s why people need to read my book explaining the deceptive world of education - A Graver Danger.
Unopposed I would add, that must change the popular will must be present and vote for each level of governance. I know everybody (only 97%) are working their lives away already, but there is no choice.
I felt the Bern and ran for and won a school board position eight years ago. Readers, don't take that plunge lightly. The amount of corporate capture that I found, and the viciousness of the politics at the local level (and this was pre-COVID), blew my mind. Without solid local journalism to keep the public better informed than two steps behind what was really going on, and with a public too busy to attend meetings, the entrenched interests won most of the battles--which had exactly zero to do with the education of the next generation. Start by attending the meetings, regularly, for a year and more, and figuring out what's really going on--and make no quick assumptions about who the good guys and the bad guys are. Follow the money. And carefully read the laws regarding what school board members are and are not allowed to do--you may be very surprised. You may need a very unorthodox strategy to do any good at all.
Thanks for trying. What you experienced is exactly how corrupt administrators have stolen our schools from us. People need to run for school board on a save democracy platform in groups and take the power from the corrupt administrators who now control them. Boards are only our enemies because enough people don’t understand that they were to be the watchdogs and don’t realize how corrupt administrators rule by controlling them. Read my teaching memoir, A Graver Danger, where I explain the secreted world of education so we can take our schools back. Ebook is $2.99. Or contact me at WhiteChalkCrime.com and I’ll send you a free PDF of my book. School boards are our best hope to save democracy - but only if people who care about democracy take them back strategically.
Yes! We need to support public education, and civics and history being taught, of course. AND we need to take public education way beyond the classroom. I think we need to do more to make sure these subjects become public knowledge if more cuts and assaults are made to public education. (And even if public education is NOT axed.) Because much of US and World History has NOT been taught. A few years ago a "reasonably well-educated" 30-something asked us: who was Hitler? We were shocked to realize they didn't know. My mom was a public school teacher, and I support public education 100%. But we've got to do better, and more. We might consider putting additional history and civics course on YouTube and other channels, and have micro classes available both online and in non-school settings. Thinking outside as well as inside the box. Make the literature and films available. Open dialogues and discussion groups and meet ups. AND, it is vital that we create a media platform that will reach under-educated voters. We can't expect them to hear us when they don't listen to OUR favorite news outlets or social media platforms. We need to educate people outside the classroom, AND we need to ensure our schools remain public and funded. All of it. Everywhere. Make it attractive to be "smart" again.
Exactly what I was thinking. Engage the younger generation creators on YouTube to make civics interesting and fun and do it in chunks. Getting educators to do it is so long term, then textbooks and you will be 100 years from now,
non sequitur, but my Philly newspaper had a big photo of DEMOCRATIC SENATOR John Fetterman and a headline "Fetterman vows open mind on Trump picks". wtf??? subhead: ...recently joined Truth Social, has met with four of the prez-elect's potential nominees. I am so furious. I voted for that A-hole, and he has been nothing but trouble. This makes me sick. I wonder what he was promised.
Correct!! You need to go no-contact with cases of Narcissitic Personality Disorder.....the common thread between all dictatorial autoritarians. The high energy hatred instillied into the low level educated Trumptard Orange cult makes them leathal, a threat to humanity and to be shunned.
An open mind has more to do with the ability to “listen” and consider other points of view. Without that effort, it is difficult to find common ground between opposing views that may lead to good compromise solutions. The question I usually want to ask is “why do you think that?” You will either discover some validity or just pure stupid. Then you decide where to go from there. Just a thought…
Hey Rachel! You and me both! I plan on making it my priority to do everything in my power to see to it Fetterman and McCormick are one term senators. My plastic surgeon and friend warned me against voting for Fetterman in the primaries. She told me we have much more qualified and better suited candidates to serve in the Senate. I wish I’d listened to her.
There’s was no more dedicated to the serving the people senator than Bob Casey. His loss causes my heart to hurt.
Senator-elect McCormick screwed over Pittsburgh with his gross mishandling of Free Market which he ran into the ground then split for Connecticut leaving a mess behind. That’s the full extent of his “successful” business experience.
I do like that even before the inauguration, many MAGA are looking at Trump for their cheaper eggs.
By extension, McCormick will be scrutinized for the business failures and practices. MAGA is beginning to fracture because of President-elect Musk. No one said anything about the Panama Canal, Canada, Greenland, at any point during Trump’s campaign. Were we just used? I dare say my good fellow, I believe we’ve been hornswaggled.We have no idea what Trump is saying, we voted for cheaper stuff!
Trump likes his education-averse ladies, both in order to do away with the department of education - Betsy DeVos last time, Linda McMahon this time. Neither had/has any experience as teachers, but their money (donations to his campaign) talks, big time.
It's not like Trump is a first-time candidate. What he did and how he handled his first term in office was there for everyone to see and they chose to ignore it or, forget it. Too many take for granted the rights they had. They feel immune from the terrible atrocities that happen around the globe. "That could never happen here" they tell themselves. Well, the bill came due and now America pays the price. Can we actually "keep it?" Fingers crossed that the ignorant learned the lesson and have one last chance to get it right.
"There's just one thing you egoists lousy with money forget. And that is, the country's full of decent people who don't take bribes and look upon your values as utterly contemptible."
- C. Day Lewis (as Nicholas Blake) The Smiler With The Knife.
The Smiler With The Knife
This 1939 mystery-thriller (cloak and dagger) is about a scheme to overturn Britain's parliamentary government and replace it with a strong-man. By playing on the patriotism, grievance, and fears of a British public so confused by chaos that people do not know who is friend and who enemy. A citizenry fallen prey to schemers promoting a popular figure - who while denigrating government and talking of things citizens care about, is ruled only by his "profound indifference to all human life but his own." And backed by a plan which "with its cold, impersonal setting out of detail, its translation of flesh-and-blood hopes, greed, fears, idealism into a inhuman document ... read rather like a company-prospectus." (Or a purported transition plan.)
Jacob Heilbrunn's America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.
"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think." --- Albert Einstein
Even more than reinstating civics, we need to mandate the teaching of critical thinking, if it, in fact, can be taught effectively under the onslaught of social media.
Given what we now know about concussions in American football, I'm wordering if that "tombstone fall" wiped out McMahon's brain. Can Congress ask for a CAT scan in a confirmation hearing?
I thought of that,too, but if you watch the video closely, it's clear that, as his knees went down on the mat, her head, between his knees, was a couple of inches above the mat and did not make contact. KAYFABE! But...this means the brain damage was there even before, and a CAT scan might not be enough ...
Ira Lechner: We have to start organizing now! We don't get a year off in 2025! I am asking for your help with respect to political analysis of potential wins and losses in the House and in four Senate races. First on the list is Voter Registration. I have been focused on VR of high school seniors and Community College students BUT only limited to those Congressional Districts (CDs) which careful analysis identifies as 'truly competitive." The MOC and potential candidates already have begun asking for $$ and that will intensify to a critical level in your email and your mail box. But please--please--evaluate whether the alleged candidate has a realistic chance to win before you give them any serious money? In my analysis, I have concluded that no more than 20 Congressional Districts out of 435 are "truly competitive." And, if we can win ten or more of those elections for the House, we will have changed the political direction of the country temporarily and saved our democracy for the big battle in 2028. I hope you agree that this carefully measured approach makes sense, and I will save the specifics as to which CDs and states for next week as you hopefully enjoy the holiday and remain confident that legislative victory is more than just possible in 2026 if we remain focused and united! Thank you.
Kathleen, thank you for your “like”; May I suggest supporting http://www.turnup.us/ which former Harvard students run. They are focused exclusively on conducting very successful voter registration (VR) drives for multiple thousands of High School seniors and Community College students ONLY in twenty (20) Congressional Districts which are "truly competitive." TurnUp is a tax-deductible charitable organization because of its commitment to protecting abortion rights, strengthening effective gun control, and fighting climate change! More next week in this space about how many of us can start in 2025 to focus on these critically important methods of registering and turning out younger progressive voters who will protect our Democracy at the ballot box!
Lynn: I agree it is impossible in SC, but you can help organize financial support among your friends and family there and elsewhere in 2025 for our tax-deductible charitable foundation, which will stimulate critically important voter registration of Community College students located in just 20 "truly competitive" CDs and 4 such "competitive" Senate states. That's where the future of Congress will be decided in 2026. I'll explain in more detail next week. Thank you
Exactly, that is both the benefit and the bane of living in California. But at least our State Legislature is willing to resist and oppose all their criminal ideas.
Education is what separates men/women (humans) from the subhumans or MAGAs & a lot of Republican Representatives who blindly follow trump. Heaven help us going into the new year of trump's 2nd term at the helm. I know he is prone to threaten his way to get what he wants out of his minions, but SOME Republicans should follow those who have stood up to him before, like Adam Kinzinger & Liz Cheney. They should want their name in the history books to read that they SAVED America from trump, not that they blindly followed his orders. We need them to have the backbone like those brave South Korean Representatives who so boldly broke with the call for Martial Law. They stood tall and soundly defeated that ill-advised order & impeached the PM. Will there be enough staunch Republicans to defeat the worst choices to fill important roles in trump's administration? Will they etch their names into the history books as saviors or like Speaker Mike Johnson as a boot licker? I yield back my time on the 2nd day of Christmas.
True but in some ways a draft would be good for the country. Heps when all families are effected by war. I absolutey believe it helps to prevent and stop them. No way you get a 20 year war with a draft.
Unfortunately, the poor and uneducated who voted for Trump are going to suffer and as much as it pains me to say this, they will have to suffer a “tough love” situation and hopefully learn from it to produce a better outcome next time.
Maybe maybe not. The darkest hour is right before the dawn. To be fair to history, we have gone through dark moments before. They see insurmountable in the present. I’ve always given to that pendulum that shifts back at some point unless of course, we go too far. To note, North Korea, China, Russia : they are lost until and unless somehow, a grass roots revolt succeeds but not likely. The country of Myanmar is finally on the verge of a successful revolution to get rid of the military junta. It has devastated the nation but the freedom loving people are winning. Pray they do.
I had the benefit 50 years ago of a high-quality public education. And we had civics classes. It’s astounding what the American public doesn’t know now about how government works or should I say should work. I’ve been saying that for years, that Civic classes need to come back. But now we can’t talk about anything in school that’s not going to lead to a huge overpowering wave of disinformation by MAGA people. And it’s not the MAGA people, it’s the billionaires who are now aiming to get us.
I know that the quality of this post was not up to my high standards having had a good public education, but I dictated it and I was so fired up about the subject that I did not take my time to proofread. I apologize to offer that.
Happens to me all the time. I am fired up about most subjects these days. Many tell me I am "too intense" ( Not meant as a compliment.) Take it or leave it, cannot help it!
Veronica, I know how your feel re: being thought of as “intense.” For me, it is a matter of “caring too much.” Yet, my colleagues- good friends who just can’t seem to get beyond the horror of Trump’s win and their exhaustion. I hope they move on to action soon rather than continue to turn away.
Veronica and John,
It’s gone from ‘wow, you have a lot of energy’ to ‘intense’ for me as well. Isn’t energy and intense an engine that can take action such as picking up a phone? Writing post cards? Going to a March? Many of my most beloved family and friends are feeling overwhelmed. I am as well. However, Joyce as one of my favorite ‘Generals’ is suggesting what to DO. Yes mam, salute 🫡
No worries! I get fired up too.
We all get fired up. But, good advice from Pat Benatar:
🎶 Everybody's out there
Cryin' to be heard
Now I've got a new fire
Burnin' in my eyes
Lightin' up the Darkness
Movie' like a meteorite
Yes, I'm all Fired up, Fired Up Fired Up! 🎶
But,there's more the Substack Platform has those three (3) little Dots "..."
yeah, over there on the right " ...". One of those Dots is in an Edit Tool !
Next time check out "Hide that comment"; it's "useful" sometimes. : --- )
I have "like", "reply", and "share" - no 3 little dots!
If I catch a mistake - just add another reply. Or let it go.
The three little dots are up in the right-hand corner of the comment box, rather than down with like, reply and share.
My “three dots” options are “Share Link to comment, collapse thread, and Report comment”
I essentially agree with Joyce on this except and I’ll say it once more, Joe Biden was asleep for 3 years when he did nothing about the border. Y’all can negate this but he did nothing and this issue was successfully litigated in the minds of many voters enough to put his opposition over the top.
You are certainly ignorant of the Biden Administration's policy on immigration. Perhaps if you stopped bloviating long enough to educate yourself on the matter, you would not post disinformation.
You are certainly entitled to your sweet opinion as I am. But you don’t need to be so rude. I can be the King of Rudeness but I have retired from being rude for now.
Most Americans do think Biden fell short on immigration and I agree with them on this one.
I think Congress failed to do their job and decided to point the finger at Biden. Honestly, Congress has failed for years on immigration and they are directly responsible for this mess. Republicans use it as a voting tool by fear mongering. Even the EO’s Trump signed on it were found to be illegal. We shouldn’t depend on EO’s to govern. When we do that more and more it negates the reason for Congress.
Yes, I do agree with you about Congress failing to do its job. That's been true for decades on immigration. No excuse there.
But it also seems to me that Biden fell into the Republicans' trap by making it easy to use immigration against Democrats politically. That was one of the important factors in Harris's loss, IMO.
I don't agree:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/19/politics/biden-deportations-report/index.html
https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/
Agreed, Mary. Biden's executive order put in place some of the most draconian barriers to asylum seekers in recent history, by limiting the number allowed to cross the border, and eliminating the requirement that people be asked whether they fear persecution. Bill, talk to someone who actually works in immigration about the "credible fear interview." They can explain to you that denying people this opportunity is not "nothing."
For the first almost 3 years he did nothing. Once Myorica his homeland chief was asked in an interview on The New Hour, why Biden never invoked an executive order and Myorica angrily replied “Because it wouldn’t hold up in court.” I saw it I heard it and my immediate response was, “How arrogant a response.” Invoking such an order would have shown the nation that he was using any and all options the last being the Insurrection Act. Crazy but had Biden ended this… and by the way, cities around the nation that received bus after bus loads from Texas are now overloaded and inundated with migrants. Are you guys blind or something? This is one reason a big reason why we lost the fricken election. Stop being blind and stop listening to others think for you. Cbeeses. I said to myself I wouldn’t go here but, I opened it.
This is tedious, sorry I engaged. Btw, you should at least spell "Mayorkas" right if you want your high-handed scolding to be taken seriously.
Do you really think your remarks here are not displaying an absolute disgusting display of rudeness towards the other posters? Take a step back and read what you’re writing. You’re certainly not expressing original thoughts and could be blamed for not thinking for yourself.
Sadly, I agree. I am in Texas and can attest that we weren’t being invaded, BUT small towns all along the border were just clobbered with all,the chaos, stress in infrastructure, etc., and the appearance and probably reality was one of extreme incompetence at best. That really hurt.
Any time I have discussed with a voter who went with Trump and I ask why, they respond “border.” Now even if it’s inaccurate, in the minds of many, o thing was done. Biden has been a smart politician all his life. He understands optics. But he carelessly dismissed this one. Why did I see it and others didn’t? I didn’t see it on Fox. I don’t have cable. I watched it on the News Hour and major network news programs. Here is one reason why Biden failed at this important problem; He didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Trump. This is a misstep leaders make all the time. They associate an issue and disassociate from it. We are now plagued with the monster of the ages that has almost single-handedly destroyed the Republican Party. Of course we had the tea party movement forerunner to MAGA. Before that, the Gingrich “Contract with America.” And this split was predictable when the Courts allowed massive money into elections by special interests. The monied class won out again. This is our sordid history. Nothing new but now more vastly more predictable toward authoritarian rule. All for the love of money.
That’s a great observation beyond politics…this notion of doing the opposite of the previous “boss” just for the sake of disassociation. I’ve seen this in organizations in which I worked…jumping to this must be bad since the last administration implemented it.
Being the shameless self-promoter, I'll include a story from my book on this subject, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums." Of course I'm critized for expressing my book, but I'm a writer. That is what we do to try and get the message out. My take that goes back to the ancients:
What Some Ancient Rulers Have in Common with Trump
During ancient Egyptian dynasties, monarchs often defaced or destroyed statues representing the previous ruler to erase the reputation and deeds of the former ruler. Sometimes damage was limited to facial disfigurement as with Pharaoh Senwosrett III (1878-1840 BC) whose nose was broken off because ancients believed that the life force emanates through the nose.
Trump shares this goal when renegotiating and tearing up Clinton and Obama-era treaties.
NAFTA is one such remake that removes Clinton’s name from the global trade agreement. As Politico writer Adam Behsudi quotes Lori Wallace, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch said, “For those who trusted Trump’s pledge to make NAFTA ‘much better’ for working people, it’s a punch in the face because the proposal describes TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) or any other same-old, same-old trade deal.” There are no improvements -- only the removal of the Obama legacy and any other former president’s name.
This symbolic effigy-smashing of Obama extends to the Iran Nuclear Deal, to recertify to Congress every 90 days that the Iranians are complying with the rules; the Paris Climate Agreement; The Affordable Healthcare Act and all other agreements that Obama successfully negotiated regarding the environment and human rights.
In the land that I call home, tens of millions of Americans who couldn’t tell the difference between shit and Shinola, resulting in the election of a malevolent quasi-life form that makes George W. seem like Jesus, Moses, and George Washington rolled into one. Maybe our next president, if we are still electing presidents that is, will take cues from Trump and the ancients as well. A good start would be to remove any future White House portrait of him that might eventually be installed.
And now, Biden is included in this mistake that leaders have made forever. And it’s a beauty.
Texas infrastructure is a state problem (like the incompetently state owned TX energy grid system crashing, and then the TX Governor asking and receiving a federal gov't handout to fix it). Local and state governments can help or hinder what goes on within the state. Sometimes y'all are looking in the wrong direction. In my view, it's kind of stupid for TX to pass a law making illegal immigration illegal (FYI: it's already illegal so the bill was an inane passage to score a few talking points.)
I raise my hand in being asleep in the cloud of living in a Blue state. Even after enduring Regan as a 2 term governor & 2 term president, I was complacent that our imperfect Democracy was safe. Then I moved to a REd state & encountered a whole different reality of what a population of people seemingly isolated from differences thought but was still shocked when tRump was elected. Thankyou to all of you who work hard to keep our democratic republican alive.
It’s the job of Congress to legislate the border and thousands of other things. The media failed miserably at reporting everything Biden was doing. You can’t blame Biden for their failures. He wasn’t rude, violent or vocal enough to make reporting seem like a hateful reality TV show so he was ignored. Now everyone wants to point fingers and blame Biden.
We can’t legislate by EO. Biden met with leaders repeatedly and we all know McCarthy and Johnson nodded in agreement and then did what they wanted. That’s why there are no immigration laws, remember Trump told them no, why a budget can’t be passed and why the general population thinks immigration is a big scary monster. Ask any of them how those immigrants have changed their lives and you won’t get an answer.
No, Bill, he was not. He IS old school. He was working outside of public view, and inside Congress, to get a bipartisan bill structured that would pass. He did that. He had nothing to do with the corrupt scuttling of said bill, his 'replacement' did.
Daniel, I’m referring to the first few years in office. He did nothing and only when he saw his numbers going down or some polls telling him to act which he then acted. I’m referring to early in the administration. I don’t know why I need to stress this I’ve and over and over again. I understand the bipartisan legislation that he crafted. He didn’t begin crafting that until his 3rd year in office. Why does everyone dismiss the first few years? Why? Why? You guys act like I’m a MAGA. Far from it. I wrote the most castigating book ever written about Trump. I know what I’m talking about.
Believe me, Bill, we all KNOW you're not a MAGAt!! And we love you and your reasoned comments. But on this... I know we live in a microwave world, but affairs like this cannot be addressed overnight. And for the first couple years, President Biden was somewhat occupied with addressing a global pandemic that was woefully mismanaged prior to his arrival, he was occupied with trying to - pardon me here - unfuck the supply chains around the world, in order to prevent us falling into a global depression, he was occupied attempting to reassure a terrified world that the United States could still be counted on as a leader and true Democracy, and he accomplished all that in time to then turn his attention to immigration. Was President Biden perfect? Of course not! Was he human? Damned sure was, and IS!! And in a couple weeks, it will become obvious to the world just how human, by comparison. We're in this with you, Bill. But c'mon man, go back to using your stove, and just use the microwave for reheating!
Thank you.
Bill, you have made this clear over and over and over! I GOT it - and I imagine most of the "regulars" here did too. As in every administration - dems or repubs there are mistakes/errors/issues done or not done. But its pretty much over at this point. We all have to move on - I hope, eventually, to something better.
Bill’s just tiresome at this point. I scroll on by. Helps what’s left of my last nerve.
Usually thats what I do - but??
Yawn
Yes, I get to that but point too.
Negate? How about Biden's deportations exceeded Trump's. That's not "nothing".
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/19/politics/biden-deportations-report/index.html
No apology necessary. You made your point clearly.
No apology necessary. I'm so fired up, I have to be careful not to give myself a stroke!
Donald Trump gave me afib in 2017 so now I'm medicated and, also, trying not to have a stroke. Toward that end I spent the election (after I voted by mail) in Quebec and will spend inauguration elsewhere in Quebec. Hoping to find a new home outside what used to be my country-or at least somewhere I can spent most of my time while this democracy falls.
Not me. I'm staying right here to defend this Democracy and our Constitutional Republic. Come back when things are better. In the meantime, take care of your health.
One of the best ways to cure stress...eliminate anxiety and lower your heartrate is hit the streets and protest..........it is a proven medical fact.
https://www.peoplesmarch.com/?akid=21996.2931636.E_ev3W&rd=1&t=4
and meet new friends and hang out!!!
Never apologize for posting. Were we all grammarians, lapses in creating a sentence would never happen. The point of what one writes IS the point. That is what needs clarity and your post fits the bill.
I didn't see the problem, honestly, Pam. (Left the "s" off "Civics?" Too many sentence fragments that sound like natural speech?) Your post was easy to read, logical, and right on point as far as I'm concerned.
Proofreading isnt the point - the quality WAS! No apologies necessary.
It'll be verboten to discuss the causes of the Civil War, or the Great Depression, or the March on Selma. I wonder if recent history will be scrubbed of being able to find out how many times Trump affiliated companies filed for Bankruptcy or how many women have come forward with credible accusations of sexual assault?
Heather Cox Richardson's Platform, LFAA now has over 1.8 million Subscribers & more Readers of her real-time history presented in full historical context.
Professor Vance has hundreds of thousands. Go Professors!
And lets hope that some of those readers are working in Washington, perhaps as Congressmen or top aides who can actually help keep the country from slipping into the gutters.
They won't be there for very long if they're let their "woke" views be known. You know, like supporting public education at all levels of government.
Or vaccines. Or think Russia is still the evil empire
I can not conceive of the rationale for suspending civics classes. 😵
We need patience: it took us two generations to get here to a culture of self-indulgence and it will take two generations to get back to a culture of republican citizenship. 😳
My forlorn hope remains that the next two years will be bad enough to break the M.A.G.A. illusion but no bad as to catalyze a dissolution. 🤞
The Democrats in Congress remain demographically sclerotic. It is time for oldsters (people of my age on up) to step aside and let a new generation of leaders rise. 🤝
"We need patience: it took us two generations to get here to a culture of self-indulgence and it will take two generations to get back to a culture of republican citizenship."
No. We are OUT of time. It takes a bulldozer a day to completely raze a city that might have taken a thousand years to build.
Nope. I am talking about changing a culture. That takes time. There is a reason why the ancient Jews, led by Moses, spent forty years in the desert: to wean themselves away from a cultures of lentils and involuntary servitude and toward a culture of independence and autonomy.
Entropy is the way of the universe; it is naturally much easier to break or destroy something than to build or create. But what a bulldozer can do doesn't apply to the current culture having replaced the old, because time is an intrinsic part of the process. Changing culture means changing thought and behavior, and that probably needs time.
Nicely stated, there, Jeff. Entropy is an interesting concept because what I state above may not be attainable as dispersion or randomness tends to increase with time.
💯
Yup, Ned, education is VERY important! (Guess who is a retired elementary school teacher….). BUT, to me, winning elections and the power to influence is MACHO. And this MACHO attitude affects men and women.
That T-shirt - Cowboy and Hillbilly - screams MACHO. Unfortunately, Joe - even a younger Joe - doesn’t scream MACHO.
So, the real questions for the Democrats revolve around finding men AND women with MACHO who also believe in Education and Good Will to All and Common Sense and Decency….
Fuck macho.
Macho…Aka toxic masculinity
Yup, except that’s what gives MAGA the votes! There are millions of our fellow Americans who WANT MACHO leadership. Now, Obama had plenty of MACHO, but he also loves Education, Decency, Goodwill, etc. A person can be STRONG but also CARING.
Steve and Amy, if you are interested in my thoughts of MACHO versus manliness -- the latter being no longer gender-specific -- see my response to Paul above, s.v.p.
The mythical outlaw - to some, Luigi Mangione. To others, Trump. Both are criminals, not mythical outlaws. This is not a civics lesson as much as a morality lesson, on both counts.
Really sharp insight, there, Judy. Thank you.
First of all, Paul, I salute, humbly, your career in teaching. Teachers are unsung heroes. Good teachers -- like you, I am sure -- are unappreciated heroes.
We both know that MACHO is a bluff; Dr Cox Richardson has pointed out the cowboy myth. The sad irony of MACHO is that Democratic politicians have as much national service as do Republicans, perhaps more.
Today, I watched the first few minutes of Senator Carper's farewell speech and found out in C-span's prelude that he was a Navy pilot for three tours of duty in Viêt Nam from 1968-73.
¡W.T.Efferooney! I had shrugged him off as a product pf a political machine; my bad. But, until today, I had never heard of the Senator's proven bravery. When I hear about Republicans like Senators Vance or Cotton or Governor DeSantis, it is little more than a nano-second before I hear about how brave they are because they were in the military. At least Senator Cotton showed the real thing in Iraq, at least for six months.
And that may come down to the whole MACHO question you raise. Senator Vance was a formidable, confident candidate; I mistrusted his ambition and his apparent placing of opportunity ahead of principles. He and the rogue Trumpanzee often made hay over Vice President Harris not answering questions fluently, etc.
In fact, like many but not enough, I respected Vice President Harris for her deliberation and time taken in answering questions. lt was not MACHO, but she was manly in placing principles before momentary applause and choosing prudence over impulse.
It is that element of reticence and self-reflection that many voters mistake for a lack of strength in convictions and a tentativeness. Those qualities, needed in a leader, may have hurt the Vice President. And that really is a shame.
¿Why? Because we are giving way to MACHO-mouthed demagogues whose loyalty to republican governance is, at best, clouded by ambition and attention-seeking or, at worst, supplanted by an impulsive authoritarianism to which the republican experiment is irrelevant.
Precisely, Ned. We know that to the MAGA folks MACHO is the Cowboy/Hillbilly, loud talk, rough demeanor, “out-of-my-way,” WrestleMania, “say whatever you want” and is ultimately Smoke & Mirrors. And, unfortunately, the media, including Hollywood, paint that kind of incomplete picture.
A better version of TRUE BRAVERY in manhood and womanhood can be developed, and, hopefully, portrayed to the American public - MAGA included. It’s going take some work and will need to be done wisely and subtly. Demeaning the MAGA faithful (no matter how tempting and satisfying that can be) is not the answer.
Redefining MACHO or, better yet, REFINING the meaning is possible, I believe. I remember a “talk” I gave to a 5th grade class after I retired about an ancestor of mine who was at the last major battle of the Revolutionary War - Yorktown 1781 at 21 years of age and having joined the Militia in July of 1776 at 16. He was waiting in the trenches for the signal to advance on Redoubt No. 10 with just his bayonet attached to his gun (no bullets - which could ruin the surprise attack) and, as history shows, the guy on our $10 bill and that other guy on the $1 bill were making the rounds and encouraging those soldiers. (Did my great x 4 grandfather shake their hands or chat with Lt. Col. $10 and Gen. $1? I’ll never know!)
But as I told those 5th graders, “Yup, Mr. $10 and Mr. $1 are heroes, but so are all of those soldiers in the trenches, but, it is important to remember that ORDINARY Americans can be heroes too, even though we might never appear on money!!”
I look (for example) at Senator Tammy Duckworth of IL as a very unsung hero - brave in so many ways. MACHO? Not in the “old” definition, but in a REFINED REDEFINITION….??
Thank you, Paul, for your story of your ancestor. You honour him. The idea of a refined macho / manly temperament makes sense.
Ned, I would quality that statement by saying that, while we should step aside and let younger leaders step up, we are still of value. We can encourage and mentor the next generation. Many of us are not feeble in the least. We have an abundance of knowledge and expertise. But it is time to pass it along in an active, dynamic way. I am doing this is my profession (psychology), and find it very rewarding. It reminds us that we can all make a difference, but the way in which we do this shifts from generation to generation.
Mentoring, yes. Control, no. It is no longer our future. As an erstwhile Republican, I have no dog in the fight. The story of Representative Pelosi undermining Representative Ocasio-Córtez galled me. Representative Connolly is a good man and I admire him. Yet he has cancer and is seventy-four years old. He is not irrelevant, but seniority is hurting both Parties.
Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
I hope the young man Hough gets DNC co-chair
But have they been educated enough for the future?
The $34 trillion dollar question; I certainly hope so. Good insight, Cynthia.
I'm almost 74 and also had good Civics classes in public school also - it's a bedrock necessity for being a good citizen I think. I also had humanities and language classes which opened my midwestern suburban eyes to other cultures and to art. The history classes, however, were the usual stories of Washington not lying about cutting down a cherry tree and applauding the purchase of Manhattan for $24 in trinkets, which is appalling.
Pam, I too benefited 50 years ago from high quality education. I retired from a career in education. Two of my sisters are retired teachers, my sister who taught in OH just retired this year. She’s 71 years old.
I can’t even describe the disgust I feel toward NCLB. People who unwittingly support this legislation don’t or choose not to understand its purpose, believe this is a good idea, not realizing it was Republicans first foray into destroying public education. Teachers did, administrators do and it has done exactly that. Test scores are linked to funding. The better the test scores the more money districts receive. That’s FUBAR right there. Districts who perform poorly have their funding cut. I worked in some very needy districts that would graduate between 35-40 students a year. Where the district’s entire enrollment was 650-700 students. (My senior class graduated 702 students). In PA there are 501 districts. A boatload are in need of extra funding but refuse to merge. Easing the economic burden is viewed as unnecessary but funding a new football field for 150 students is a must! Each district has their own sports program complete with fields and athletic departments that must be maintained and financed. Districts 5 miles apart wasting money. But this what “education” means to the parents and students . I can bluster on for days about this idiocy.
All humanities no longer exist. When I retired 9 years ago, American History had been chiseled down to half of a nine weeks in ninth grade. That’s it. No current events, American Gov/Econ, maybe 4 weeks of World History, no discussion of World Wars I and II. Civil War? When? Who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation? The Gettysburg Address? Not important. We’re allowing our children to be kept as low or undereducated as possible. The MAGA base is probably wondering where Panama is and what’s a canal? Who’s Teddy Roosevelt and his brother Franklin? Not a clue as to the continuing importance and history of the superhuman accomplishments that have benefited our planet.
Now for the really scary part. My husband, a supporter of non-profits that provide services for seriously health compromised children and group homes that support adults with intellectual deficits. He’s has sat on many boards, been chairman, and volunteers his time to this day as he sees it as his civic duty, thinks I should run for school board of our district. It’s one of the largest districts in our county. The fact that I’m actually considering it is the scary part. We live in a very red county that supported Trump in the election but is now beginning to ask questions of Trump and his campaign run on eggs. What’s Panama? Greenland? Who said anything about Greenland? Why is Elon Musk POTUS? J.D. Vance? That’s the name under Trump on my MAGA yard decorations, but who is he really?
But, I’m encouraged by these questions! That means people are paying attention for change!
What happened to my cheaper eggs? Viewership has been dropping in corporate and mainstream media. Voters were not made aware of any Canadian agenda before the election.
I know the confirmation process of the POTUS cabinet nominees being approved by the senate was certainly not something they learned in school like I did, but the knitted eyebrows of what the hell? are becoming more common as voters question rapists as Secretaries of anything.
My conservative uncle (he’s very educated and not MAGA) find that we’re asking the same questions about healthcare, taxes, and Elon Musk. This is a long rant. Thanks for reading. I’ll consider running for school board.
I hope you do run for school board - sure sounds like you are NEEDED! And questions regarding civics classes? I have to be honest - I graduated from HS almost seventy years ago and dont remember taking civics. Now granted - its been a loong time since then, so its possible thats a little item that has disappeared - like a few others. Civics, History - actual history - classes are so important and so are the very good and capable teachers of those subjects. I agree we prioritize and finance football and other "major" sports programs but not the ones that truly are necessary in producing capable, educated human beings. Not a good picture of the US.
Beyond our educational "efforts" - kids focus on becoming sports stars, entertainment "heroes", and of course, "influencers" a whole category of its own.
Its disturbing.
Hear, here!
My lord! Just reading how degraded the educational system is where you are has made me nauseous. “No Child Left Behind” did no one’s system any favors which probably led to the explosion of charter schools we’ve been witnessing for the last 10-15 years. The home schooling phenomenon has been a problem longer still and of course, all the “private”(read white flight)schools have been around since Brown v. Board. This steady drip, drip, drip has created a canyon full of know nothing voters. I really fear for this country, not only for the lack of general knowledge but also for the lack of the highly specific skills for the arts, the sciences, the humanities; and we won’t even mention the critical thinking skills that go with all those skills. All this has led to the stunted thinking we’re seeing today.
Wait . . . ? What? They don't teach Civics anymore? OK then, what then DO they teach? To be successful, a pluralistic democracy depends on an informed polity capable of critical thinking. That's, because individuals, not autocrats, are behind the wheel. Take informed, educated citizens away, and you might get an evil malignant narcissist for President . . . Oh, oh, . . . we just did that . . .
Pam, I also had civics classes 50+ years ago and agree with your final statement: it’s the billionaires who are now aiming to get us! We need to pay serious attention to what other countries are doing to eliminate or reduce the impact of dark money on elections. For example, Australia now limits election donations to $50,000 or less. We are hopelessly naive if we think that civics classes can neutralize the impact of billionaires and their misleading ads and other concerted efforts to influence contemporary US federal and state elections. I’m actually surprised that Prof. Vance focused on civics and said little about the role of money and ways to address its corrupting influence.
I don’t believe Trump knows how our government works.
It's workin' pretty good for him !
"I’ve been saying that for years, that Civic classes need to come back."
How woke of you! I agree....
This idea of dismantling education in this country is pathetic. Look at the Scandinavian countries--even corporations their like paying taxes because they want their employees to be smart and heathy...how novel. High college tuition isn't helping. The philosophy here is keep-people-stupid-so-that-they-continue-to-vote-for-stupid-people. Looks like McMahon needs to be educated.
Like Joyce, I am all for bugging our elected officials and putting all my eggs in the midterm elections basket. And here's another thing we can do--pray. Collective prayer works despite free will. I have been ferociously praying about the self-implosion of the GOP and I'm starting to see signs of cracking, even within trumps inner circle. Laura Loomer spent a whole day slamming Elon on X, obviously jealous of his closeness to trump and Elon banned her. Don't you just love it!!
I too had those civics classes. I’d venture to say that there are the billionaires and church folks who want to get their hands on some of that public money. MAGA maybe. After all, we can’t consider Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and a host of other MAGA folks as literate when it comes to governance. Moreover, they don’t care. Just given them a megaphone and they’ll govern in any way that gets them attention.
Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
I am not a conspiracy person at all, having said that, I do think 2024 election was once again interference by Putin and the Chinese and it was not a free and fair election. He will be installed once again, by Russia and China and their assets here in the United States.
To my horror I see our current leaders, in particular the DOJ, not doing their jobs. Are they not hearing what we the people are hearing from these people who want to tear down our government. They all took the oath, pretty much the same one I took when I join the U. S. Navy. "to protect and defend Constitution from all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC..." Yet they are sitting on their butts doing nothing and as far as I can tell there is still time to stop them and defend this country and our people. This is what keeps me angry and disgusted.
Marilyn, I took that very same oath when I enlisted in the US Navy in 1974 and again when I went to work in federal court after that, and I am continually appalled at politicians and judges who blithely take the sacred oath and then break it regularly.
@Reader/Writer, Frankly, I’m more appalled by the officials who administer the oath of office (e.g., Chief Justice John Roberts) fully aware the person swearing his or her allegiance has no intent of honoring it. I further despair over the huge block of Americans who also are aware and either believe there’s nothing to be done or don’t care.
I would note my reason for expanding upon your observation is to amplify both the prevailing cynicism plus the erosion of decency and dignity that largely threaten the preservation of our constitutional republic.
Ultimately, I believe we face a choice. We can, by our inaction, perpetuate the status quo, or we can work, as best we can, to preserve some amount of democracy to achieve significant victories in the midterms—breaking MAGA’s hold on Congress and state legislatures prior to our entering the 2028 election cycle.
I expect trump to do up his own oath, wherein which constitution will be spelled corporation
I agree.
". . . to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter, so help me God."
Will those exact words be spoken? It’s the law!
Everyone knows, I presume, that Hitler changed the oath the army took from allegiance to the country to allegiance to him. Watch for it.
even if the DOJ does their job still have to get by scrotus (borrowed word but loved it)
I am not only talking about the DOJ, but include them with folks who have the power to stop Trump and his gand.
I was encouraged by only 34 repubes voting w/trump to raise the debt ceiling.......
I agree Marilyn.
It’s that plus more. Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
The Right has been slowly going after public education for quite sometime now and as a retired junior high teacher I am horrified. They have slipped into school boards and PTA’s making it harder and harder for teachers to really teach civic, critical thinking, poetry and literature!
tRump: "I love the poorly educated!" And Project 2025 aims to vastly increase the "poorly educated" pool for obvious reasons - they always vote against their primary interests.
Yes, I remember that at one of his rally's…….i was gobsmacked that he said it…..out loud. BUT to my astonishment, the crowd cheered!!!! Mission Accomplished!!!
Yes, permission to be as lazy and ignorant as they want. Then you read the outrage over using immigrants to do all the work in our tech sector and Musk agreeing that Americans are retarded. What an asshole. Coming from the big companies hiring all the Indian and Chinese to do their tech jobs, even lying about the need until Americans don’t want to compete with the impossibility my husband and I both watched Americans being ignored.
Oracle only hires the top 10 students from the top 10 schools. In today’s world our degrees from ASU and UCSD wouldn’t even be looked at. Suddenly MAGA wants only citizens and the people they support desperately need the voting block to be uneducated and illiterate in order to control us.
What a quandary. Now it’s actually the Chinese making our economy strong.
All it takes is states like Florida and Texas to dictate the selection of school textbooks. There are only a few publishers of those books. When a few big states make it clear what is and isn’t acceptable, the publishers write books to meet the demands. That impacts the quality of education nationwide.
In general you are correct. But let me explain what happens when schools or in general, education exposes critical race theory. I have been accused often of being privileged and I’m really sick and tired of this accusation. If I were anyone else, I might be pushed to being a MAGA but I’m not. These accusations are directly related to some of that literature. There is a big downside to exposing younger people when they are ill prepared to injest and understand the difference between history and the present. So I would beg to pause and consider restricting some literature. Often, we make issues a yes or no and this is not a wise approach.
The crooks running our schools inject politics like matadors use their red capes. They want everyone arguing about politics so they miss their bad acts. That’s why people need to read my book explaining the deceptive world of education - A Graver Danger.
What is critical race theory?
Apparently, something only taught in colleges, a fact that seems to be unknown to any of the maga crowd.
Omg you jest. Ask AI.
Al who? Gore?
They didn't slip in. They were elected. And that's the problem.
Unopposed I would add, that must change the popular will must be present and vote for each level of governance. I know everybody (only 97%) are working their lives away already, but there is no choice.
Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
I felt the Bern and ran for and won a school board position eight years ago. Readers, don't take that plunge lightly. The amount of corporate capture that I found, and the viciousness of the politics at the local level (and this was pre-COVID), blew my mind. Without solid local journalism to keep the public better informed than two steps behind what was really going on, and with a public too busy to attend meetings, the entrenched interests won most of the battles--which had exactly zero to do with the education of the next generation. Start by attending the meetings, regularly, for a year and more, and figuring out what's really going on--and make no quick assumptions about who the good guys and the bad guys are. Follow the money. And carefully read the laws regarding what school board members are and are not allowed to do--you may be very surprised. You may need a very unorthodox strategy to do any good at all.
Thank you!
Thanks for trying. What you experienced is exactly how corrupt administrators have stolen our schools from us. People need to run for school board on a save democracy platform in groups and take the power from the corrupt administrators who now control them. Boards are only our enemies because enough people don’t understand that they were to be the watchdogs and don’t realize how corrupt administrators rule by controlling them. Read my teaching memoir, A Graver Danger, where I explain the secreted world of education so we can take our schools back. Ebook is $2.99. Or contact me at WhiteChalkCrime.com and I’ll send you a free PDF of my book. School boards are our best hope to save democracy - but only if people who care about democracy take them back strategically.
Thanks for the first-hand account. You make an excellent point about the loss of local journalism.
Thanks, Joyce! Your perspective on how things are unfolding during this period of change is very valuable. I appreciate your insights a great deal!
Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
Could you stop spamming the feed please.
Yes! We need to support public education, and civics and history being taught, of course. AND we need to take public education way beyond the classroom. I think we need to do more to make sure these subjects become public knowledge if more cuts and assaults are made to public education. (And even if public education is NOT axed.) Because much of US and World History has NOT been taught. A few years ago a "reasonably well-educated" 30-something asked us: who was Hitler? We were shocked to realize they didn't know. My mom was a public school teacher, and I support public education 100%. But we've got to do better, and more. We might consider putting additional history and civics course on YouTube and other channels, and have micro classes available both online and in non-school settings. Thinking outside as well as inside the box. Make the literature and films available. Open dialogues and discussion groups and meet ups. AND, it is vital that we create a media platform that will reach under-educated voters. We can't expect them to hear us when they don't listen to OUR favorite news outlets or social media platforms. We need to educate people outside the classroom, AND we need to ensure our schools remain public and funded. All of it. Everywhere. Make it attractive to be "smart" again.
Exactly what I was thinking. Engage the younger generation creators on YouTube to make civics interesting and fun and do it in chunks. Getting educators to do it is so long term, then textbooks and you will be 100 years from now,
good idea to put history info on you tube
Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
non sequitur, but my Philly newspaper had a big photo of DEMOCRATIC SENATOR John Fetterman and a headline "Fetterman vows open mind on Trump picks". wtf??? subhead: ...recently joined Truth Social, has met with four of the prez-elect's potential nominees. I am so furious. I voted for that A-hole, and he has been nothing but trouble. This makes me sick. I wonder what he was promised.
You’re wrong, Bill Katz. There is no reason to be open minded about these horrible people.
Correct!! You need to go no-contact with cases of Narcissitic Personality Disorder.....the common thread between all dictatorial autoritarians. The high energy hatred instillied into the low level educated Trumptard Orange cult makes them leathal, a threat to humanity and to be shunned.
He only said open mind not that he would vote for them. Calm down.
An open mind has more to do with the ability to “listen” and consider other points of view. Without that effort, it is difficult to find common ground between opposing views that may lead to good compromise solutions. The question I usually want to ask is “why do you think that?” You will either discover some validity or just pure stupid. Then you decide where to go from there. Just a thought…
John's a bird of a different feather but has shown a strong backbone. I read that article, too and was alarmed until I read it all the way through.
Hey Rachel! You and me both! I plan on making it my priority to do everything in my power to see to it Fetterman and McCormick are one term senators. My plastic surgeon and friend warned me against voting for Fetterman in the primaries. She told me we have much more qualified and better suited candidates to serve in the Senate. I wish I’d listened to her.
There’s was no more dedicated to the serving the people senator than Bob Casey. His loss causes my heart to hurt.
Senator-elect McCormick screwed over Pittsburgh with his gross mishandling of Free Market which he ran into the ground then split for Connecticut leaving a mess behind. That’s the full extent of his “successful” business experience.
I do like that even before the inauguration, many MAGA are looking at Trump for their cheaper eggs.
By extension, McCormick will be scrutinized for the business failures and practices. MAGA is beginning to fracture because of President-elect Musk. No one said anything about the Panama Canal, Canada, Greenland, at any point during Trump’s campaign. Were we just used? I dare say my good fellow, I believe we’ve been hornswaggled.We have no idea what Trump is saying, we voted for cheaper stuff!
remember, with all due respect to a patient, Fetterman is not quite right
Trump likes his education-averse ladies, both in order to do away with the department of education - Betsy DeVos last time, Linda McMahon this time. Neither had/has any experience as teachers, but their money (donations to his campaign) talks, big time.
That really is the only thing besides blind loyalty that matters to the rotted pumpkin.
Of course. The only good women are stupid women--and Ivanka.
It's not like Trump is a first-time candidate. What he did and how he handled his first term in office was there for everyone to see and they chose to ignore it or, forget it. Too many take for granted the rights they had. They feel immune from the terrible atrocities that happen around the globe. "That could never happen here" they tell themselves. Well, the bill came due and now America pays the price. Can we actually "keep it?" Fingers crossed that the ignorant learned the lesson and have one last chance to get it right.
"There's just one thing you egoists lousy with money forget. And that is, the country's full of decent people who don't take bribes and look upon your values as utterly contemptible."
- C. Day Lewis (as Nicholas Blake) The Smiler With The Knife.
The Smiler With The Knife
This 1939 mystery-thriller (cloak and dagger) is about a scheme to overturn Britain's parliamentary government and replace it with a strong-man. By playing on the patriotism, grievance, and fears of a British public so confused by chaos that people do not know who is friend and who enemy. A citizenry fallen prey to schemers promoting a popular figure - who while denigrating government and talking of things citizens care about, is ruled only by his "profound indifference to all human life but his own." And backed by a plan which "with its cold, impersonal setting out of detail, its translation of flesh-and-blood hopes, greed, fears, idealism into a inhuman document ... read rather like a company-prospectus." (Or a purported transition plan.)
Jacob Heilbrunn's America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.
Heilbrunn at Politics and Prose
https://youtu.be/WBp3oZBf91U?si=I18dr5x2kGBgKh9y
Heilbrunn on CSpan
https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/jacob-heilbrunn-on-his-book-america-last/639218
Thank you lin
The C. Day Lewis book is stunning - right down to the role of a private golf course!
"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think." --- Albert Einstein
Even more than reinstating civics, we need to mandate the teaching of critical thinking, if it, in fact, can be taught effectively under the onslaught of social media.
Go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what’s really going on in education so you can become a powerful advocate. It’s so much worse than anyone thinks!
Given what we now know about concussions in American football, I'm wordering if that "tombstone fall" wiped out McMahon's brain. Can Congress ask for a CAT scan in a confirmation hearing?
I thought of that,too, but if you watch the video closely, it's clear that, as his knees went down on the mat, her head, between his knees, was a couple of inches above the mat and did not make contact. KAYFABE! But...this means the brain damage was there even before, and a CAT scan might not be enough ...
Maybe it woould be good enough to verify there actually IS a brain in there, Worth a try. :))
ha ha
Ira Lechner: We have to start organizing now! We don't get a year off in 2025! I am asking for your help with respect to political analysis of potential wins and losses in the House and in four Senate races. First on the list is Voter Registration. I have been focused on VR of high school seniors and Community College students BUT only limited to those Congressional Districts (CDs) which careful analysis identifies as 'truly competitive." The MOC and potential candidates already have begun asking for $$ and that will intensify to a critical level in your email and your mail box. But please--please--evaluate whether the alleged candidate has a realistic chance to win before you give them any serious money? In my analysis, I have concluded that no more than 20 Congressional Districts out of 435 are "truly competitive." And, if we can win ten or more of those elections for the House, we will have changed the political direction of the country temporarily and saved our democracy for the big battle in 2028. I hope you agree that this carefully measured approach makes sense, and I will save the specifics as to which CDs and states for next week as you hopefully enjoy the holiday and remain confident that legislative victory is more than just possible in 2026 if we remain focused and united! Thank you.
Kathleen, thank you for your “like”; May I suggest supporting http://www.turnup.us/ which former Harvard students run. They are focused exclusively on conducting very successful voter registration (VR) drives for multiple thousands of High School seniors and Community College students ONLY in twenty (20) Congressional Districts which are "truly competitive." TurnUp is a tax-deductible charitable organization because of its commitment to protecting abortion rights, strengthening effective gun control, and fighting climate change! More next week in this space about how many of us can start in 2025 to focus on these critically important methods of registering and turning out younger progressive voters who will protect our Democracy at the ballot box!
Interesting idea, but we will never get rid of some folks unless we start eating away at their support. I live in SC. Where to begin!
Lynn: I agree it is impossible in SC, but you can help organize financial support among your friends and family there and elsewhere in 2025 for our tax-deductible charitable foundation, which will stimulate critically important voter registration of Community College students located in just 20 "truly competitive" CDs and 4 such "competitive" Senate states. That's where the future of Congress will be decided in 2026. I'll explain in more detail next week. Thank you
Thanks Joyce, The idea of eliminating the Federal Education Department I find appalling I will write to both my Senators, Padilla and Schiff
Problem is, Schiff and Padilla are already full aware.
Exactly, that is both the benefit and the bane of living in California. But at least our State Legislature is willing to resist and oppose all their criminal ideas.
Education is what separates men/women (humans) from the subhumans or MAGAs & a lot of Republican Representatives who blindly follow trump. Heaven help us going into the new year of trump's 2nd term at the helm. I know he is prone to threaten his way to get what he wants out of his minions, but SOME Republicans should follow those who have stood up to him before, like Adam Kinzinger & Liz Cheney. They should want their name in the history books to read that they SAVED America from trump, not that they blindly followed his orders. We need them to have the backbone like those brave South Korean Representatives who so boldly broke with the call for Martial Law. They stood tall and soundly defeated that ill-advised order & impeached the PM. Will there be enough staunch Republicans to defeat the worst choices to fill important roles in trump's administration? Will they etch their names into the history books as saviors or like Speaker Mike Johnson as a boot licker? I yield back my time on the 2nd day of Christmas.
William, All true but I am quite encouraged by the recent vote in the house.
MAGA folks also fail to recognize who will get drafted first given Republican war hawk tendencies - the poorly educated.
True but in some ways a draft would be good for the country. Heps when all families are effected by war. I absolutey believe it helps to prevent and stop them. No way you get a 20 year war with a draft.
patricia, how long were we in Vietnam?
10 years ? I think though w/o a draft we would still be there fighting !
I can't save the poor, the uneducated, and the stupid from themselves. I have stopped trying. I'll be fine, but will feel badly for them.
Unfortunately, the poor and uneducated who voted for Trump are going to suffer and as much as it pains me to say this, they will have to suffer a “tough love” situation and hopefully learn from it to produce a better outcome next time.
Next time? You think there will be a next time?
Maybe maybe not. The darkest hour is right before the dawn. To be fair to history, we have gone through dark moments before. They see insurmountable in the present. I’ve always given to that pendulum that shifts back at some point unless of course, we go too far. To note, North Korea, China, Russia : they are lost until and unless somehow, a grass roots revolt succeeds but not likely. The country of Myanmar is finally on the verge of a successful revolution to get rid of the military junta. It has devastated the nation but the freedom loving people are winning. Pray they do.