I’m not certain it’s possible to understand what happened in the 2024 election this close to it, beyond the undeniable outcome: Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.
I lost my beloved mom on October 27 and then lost my country on November 5 . The heartbreak is immeasurable. Financially I can weather the Trump storm but I fear as a Jewish woman married to a woman that I will have less rights. And I also fear for my safety and that of my family’s.
For the first time in my adult life, I am seeking professional help because having supportive friends and family do not seem enough
In response to a well written essay by Joyce Vance, my response is bifurcated. Yes, we must struggle. That is part of the condition of all life; struggle to survive. I also have a sense of wanting as much accumulation of wealth as possible because this is the only motivation of the new world order coming into power. No morals. No ethics. Only a scramble to rape and pillage America. Although I continue to have morals and a sense of right and wrong in a very non-partisan way, I will persevere.
As we go forward, it’s incumbent on us to reevaluate our partisan policies. As a centrist, I derided the MAGA movement in its entirety. I also criticized the Democratic Party for becoming elitist. Oh yes it has. If we don’t recognize our shortcomings and quickly, we will be right back at the losing end as we have since Reagan. Generation after generation. But in truth, no one will learn the valuable lessons of history and so we are all doomed to repeat over and over and over again.
To wit: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria precipitated WWI. At the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were punished which ultimately precipitated WWII. As the Jewish population was being disseminated, and later after WWII, Israel was created as a modern Jewish state on lands populated by Arabs. They became what a populist movement had done to them. Since America gave Isreal the green light to do whatever the frick it has wanted including bombing Arabs into oblivion, we as humans perpetuate the endless unlearned mistakes of history including the unnecessary Russian whole scale invasion of Ukraine.
It doesn’t end. Humans only have one unspoken goal written into its genome; We build to destroy. This is our destiny. This is our history. It is written across the ages.
Sorry to disappoint y’all with my less than optimistic outlook, once again.
If you want to believe that the Democratic Party is elitist have at it. But Democrats have most certainly not been on the losing end since Reagan. With the exception of this travesty of an election, the GOP has only won the popular vote in one presidential election since 1988. We have had two terms of a Clinton administration and two terms of an Obama administration and the one term of a Biden administration. During that time we also controlled the House and Senate for several years.
The Democratic Party has retrenched. It lost the white working class under Clinton I then Clinton II called them “deplorables” after losing the rust belt factory jobs. How’s dat sound? My gosh slap yo self awake please. And these very deplorables voted for the very person who has no care in the world for their well being. And I don’t care about winning the popular vote I care about winning the office.
But as I pointed out, we have won the office. Repeatedly. The deplorables quote is pretty old. And she wasn’t wrong. Deplorable is a mild way to describe MAGAs. Kamala Harris just ran an incredibly inclusive campaign- “we have so much more in common that what separates us” with economic policies that would have made the lives of middle and working class Americans better. But enough of them preferred a convicted felon and rapist who ran the most vile racist and misogynistic campaign we have seen in modern times. That is not on the Democrats.
I think Bill Katz continues to rage on at the Dems with some reason to be upset like each of us. However, I’d like to suggest it does no good to embrace the trope of the right or people who disagree with us - elite is just a word, one of many that allow everyone who uses such words to divide us. Now - today 11/20/2024 - is a time to come together and move forward.
Yes! I felt bad when previous candidates said or did something that felt awkward. Yet, as Hopehappens wrote we don’t need to deny our history of trying to help people who have been, are, and will continue to be marginalized. Those efforts have been made in good faith and twisted by those who seem to invoke echos of George Orwell’s 1984.
While we will continue to need to help those marginalized citizens our challenge is to recognize and help all people without putting them off or giving pundits, Republicans or good intending journalists the ability to frame our efforts as worse than the criminal acts of a former president and his cohort of MAGA followers.
I encourage all to read this column from The Guardian:
You mean the court McConnell manipulated to have paid for fascists sit on? Thomas should have never been confirmed, Kavanaugh an even worse pick willing to do anything for all that wealth you want to amass, and Coney Barrett just a handmaid willing to do exactly what she’s told. Who seated them? Republicans who want to end the constitution and bring on the Rapture. Only their idea of the rapture is to eliminate everyone without wealth. Who will be the worker bees then? All kings with no one to rule.
Sharon, yes we cannot forget the appointment of extreme justices. Yet, we do have to recognize a number of Democrats voted for their confirmation as well. And we can recall that even though President Biden has acknowledged he was wrong to, as Chair of the Senate judiciary committee, to let Clarence Thomas achieve his lifetime appointment. Democrats have needed to fight and push back for some time now while Mitch McConnell brought the SCOTUS to its current makeup and ushered in the era of big money, playing a major role in moving Citizens United forward on appeal.
We need a new voice and leadership that stands for and fights for civil rights and economic justice for ALL citizens. Mr Katz appears to be on a steady diet of outrage which takes us no where when we need a plan, strong leadership and voices, and citizens who vote. Let’s not even think of giving up but reframe the fight and fight like hell to protect our country and our countrymen and countrywomen.
Most of them are fascists. But which president gets to appoint them is mostly luck depending on who resigns or who dies during his term. Hillary said over and over in 2016 that the next President would probably get to appoint 2 or 3 justices, but between the Bernie people who were mad and those who won’t vote for a woman for president no matter what, Trump got his picks.
Please. Don’t start with blaming Bernie supporters for Hillary’s loss. IMO Bernie had a better chance of beating Trump than she did. But let’s not look at the past. Really? How else can we adjust for the future.
I do get a kick out of this ranting about ‘elites’, and how much of a problem they seem to be for many.
We might remember that this nation was created the elites of the colonies. They were hardly perfect men, many of them were slaveowners, and of course they wouldn’t for a moment have considered having a woman join them in what we’d come to know as Independence Hall during that long, hot summer. Most of them were quite well educated for that time. And, yes, they were all very very white.
But they had read their history, and they knew the perils as well as the promise of the nation whose design they worked so hard and so secretly to construct. They understood the perils of entrusting our future to the vast sea of individuals whose parochialism, varying passions under questionable control, selfishness, fears, varying levels of ignorance of much outside their own little worlds, and subjugation to the moment rather than to the sweep of history and the future might lead to all sorts of alarms and excursions inside the voting booth.
They also understood the promise of a nation ruling itself under laws applicable to all instead of by fiat from above. A nation all of whose citizens would have a say in who governed them and under guidelines they did so. A nation all of whose citizens had rights not granted or not granted by the vagaries of kings or gods, but guaranteed by equal laws equally applied.
Did they get it completely right? Of course not. How could they have? It was the first attempt in history to create a nation out of whole cloth. It was an experiment in human nature and governance, hithertoo untried and untested on any large scale. The only time anything like it had really been tried before was on purely local scale as part of a long-evolving process in a single city state in a rocky land continually torn by internecine warfare and threatened by the greatest empire yet built. And it failed. Miserably. Yet during its all too brief existence, it had left a record of achievement in art and architecture, literature, philosophy, law, medicine, and political theory unmatched during any similar period in history, before or since.
So could we do anything like it again without the miserable failure? Those guys in Philadelphia thought so, and so to their plan they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
We’ve since managed to correct some of the major flaws in their design. We ended slavery, at a horrible cost. We extended the franchise to every citizen. We created a system of public education for all which for a time was the envy of the world. We built an economy that produced much of the power with which we and our allies defeated the most horrendous evil ever conceived. Every four to eight years, even in the midst of a civil war, we transferred political power openly and with relative honesty from one national administration to another.
But always, underneath the achievements roiled a population within which were some very different visions of the nation we were thought to be, often because too many of us didn’t really understand the design itself and how it was meant to function.
Our problem now is that for the first time in our history a man who has already proven beyond any doubt that he doesn’t understand much if anything about that design, doesn’t care to, and has no desire to adhere to it even if he did is about to return to the Oval Office. And he’d like to bring with him a collection of ‘advisors’ most of whom have the morals of alley cats, the political stability of weather vanes, a passion for burning things down rather than building them up, a delight in the limelight instead of any desire to do the hard work of government, and who are totally under his thumb. Not a pretty picture.
It remains to be seen if the Congress, just over half of whom is now composed of men and women who signally failed to take him off the stage when they had the chance after January 6th will find the backbone to keep him and his carnival show inline.
But it is as important, perhaps even more so for the rest of us not to descend into cynicism or despair or just plain ‘I give up’, and to maintain our belief in the promise of that hot summer in Philadelphia, ’the last best hope of earth’. It is, as it has always been, all we have and all we need.
Nicely put, James. My perspective is that the "collective we" have not given up and are more than willing to actually fight for our Democracy rather than hand on a silver platter our future to the Traitor and his sycophants. We are acting as though this was a normal "free and fair" election, but it was anything but. And, the narrative is that Traitor has a mandate. Not accurate.
The majority of those voting for Traitor in this election were subjected to at least 9 years of constant Russian propaganda, enabled by so-called news programming, and the full-court press by the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, and his programming platform X. By any stretch of the imagination, how is that fair to voters? As for the free part, voter suppression efforts by the Republicans is real and ongoing. And the impact of the lies that Traitor spews and the constant replaying of those lies from those around him cannot be dismissed.
All the while Elon's businesses are incredibly intertwined with our government contracts. Does anyone in this administration now find it alarming that Elon, who speaks on a regular basis with Putin, is now joined at the hip to Traitor? He's sitting in on national security meetings and on the phone calls with T and Putin. But no one is calling out this bizarre behavior, nor trying to stop it. This is not normal, nor should it be normalized.
But here we are. I've lived a long life and have never seen anything quite like the United States of America caving to a home-grown despot. How do we explain to the younger generation, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that unlike the generation of Americans and the allies in WWII, we as a country, did not meet this moment?
What you say about the propaganda we’ve been subjected to is true enough, but if it alone had been as effective as you say in getting Trump elected, then I imagine the election would have been far more lopsided than it was.
To me there are other aspects which are at least as blameworthy as whatever the Russians have managed, what Republican legislatures have done in the name of “election integrity’ (which was anything but), or what Trump’s wealthy American supports have managed with their own propaganda.
I’ve been around a while myself. I was born exactly five months before the Enola Gay opened her bomb bay doors over Hiroshima and made me a plank owner of the first generation to grow up knowing we could destroy all life on earth, and the forces that have led to this moment aren’t restricted to what’s been going on since 2015.
One is our educational system which to my minds has signally failed to teach us enough about what our Republic was designed to be and how it is supposed to work. How many kids do you know who’ve had a full course about our Constitution? I taught American history for over 40 years, and I seldom saw anything like that.
Another is the fact that most Americans really don’t know what life under a real dictatorship is like. So despite all the cries of ‘fascism’ etc, floating around during the campaign, I doubt many of us understood either the word or the threat, even if they were paying attention.
Yet another is the Internet. It grew so fast (I didn’t see my first computer until I was already teaching) that we haven’t been anywhere near able to train our kids how to filter what they hear and see over it, let alone educate enough adults to do so. Like all such reality altering inventions, it has proven a Damoclean sword.
I don’t know if you ever saw the movie, 'The American President'. If so, you will recall Michael Douglas in the role of President Andrew Shepherd noting that “America is advanced citizenship”. Truer words were never spoken, but I’m not sure how many of us really understand what that means. Nor do I know how many Americans, full of demands for all kinds of ‘freedom’ understand the awesome responsibility real freedom entails.
In sum, I think the wound to our body politic is largely self-inflicted. We as a nation have not prepared ourselves sufficiently for the first American president to have proven himself utterly disdainful of our electoral process, our Constitution, or the rule of law. If we had, he would never have won in 2016. He probably would never even have run.
Much as I hate to say it, I think Trump 2.0 is a necessary shock to our system. The only remaining question is how much damage he and his myrmidons will manage to do before enough of his supporters realize they’ve been had by the most successful con ever pulled of by a major American political figure. I hope that will be before the mid-terms.
I, too, would like a definition of the term "elitist" that keeps getting thrown around. Somebody please explain how and why that term applies to a party whose values are largely for equal opportunity, civil and human rights, progress toward a "more perfect union," the common good, justice for all...I could go on. Where are those values on the spinning GOP wheel of fortune? There, my definition of "deplorable" - ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you and screw everybody else.
Education, makes them ‘seem’ elitist. They know the history, the complicated explanations for why something is better than another. College educated voted for non- college educated women voted against. I find that fascinating! What does a college education give you that not having one leads to Trump?
Yes, I have often wondered about the word "elitist" as well and why it keeps being thrown around when speaking of Dems. For what it's worth David Brooks has a new piece in the current Atlantic Magazine titled how the Ivy league broke America. I'm on the fence when it comes to David Brooks but he does refer to himself as being elitist and part of the problem. As for the word deplorables I rather liked it especially in hindsight.
Ok I should be so quick to use words that inadequately describe political groups. But democrats and republicans slowly or quickly changed their support bases through the decades. LBJ and his progress legislation pushed Nixon’s southern strategy of southern racists to the republican side. Bill Clinton must take responsibility for NAFTA even though there was a push on both sides but he signed it. That left the rust belt denuded of factories. I experienced it when I traveled through that part of the country. We pushed white working class right into the arms of the executioners. The educated class moved to Democratic Party. We pushed the blame game that white people are guilty of racism and we are not. Black folks had door opened and laws are enacted to protect. But that ugly backlash continues with voter suppression and gerrymandering continues. Let’s not forget that 72% of Black babies are born out of wedlock. Why isn’t that issue ever discussed? It’s the biggest impediment to success in urban communities. But I’m not dealing with it because I’ll be call, you guessed it, a white racist. We nurtured a new like the trans movement (invented by social media and parents giving their children those devices that poison young minds. Then we are scolded that we are homophobic if we didn’t accept everything trans and I’m sorry, I’m a traditional feminist supporter and will never stop being one and balls in school girl stalls do not belong. Stop it. Really I sometimes wonder why I’m not a MAGA supporter but I’m not. I despise everything MAGA but the elitist democrats don’t quite cut it in my book. Honestly, I have no political group that I feel comfortable with. I am definitely not you. Because of unlimited campaign financing, those with the money keep separating us and dividing us so we can be conquered and welcome, we have been conquered.
I’m pissed that we are so angry at each other and don’t have the foggiest idea why. And now I’m angry too. Weeeeee.😝😝😝
Have I answered your question? Now I need to get back to my day job.
Baffling that commentators are calling Democrats the “party of the elites” when billionaires are the ones who bought the GOP (which now stands for Grifting Oligarchical Plutocrats).
That’s why I asked him to describe what he considers to be an elite.
Education? Look at how many Republicans came from Ivy League universities.
Wealth? Again, Republicans are not poor.
Helping others, especially the working class? I think the Democrats win that one time after time and Republicans prove it by calling us Libs and Woke.
He didn’t answer me so my assumption is he doesn’t have one, he just likes the trigger word. It makes him feel justified blaming Democrats for everything.
I think there is a difference between republican donors/leaders who misrepresent and the 1000’s that voted who were non- college and in their own red media bubble. Each needs a different approach to get change
I am so very tired of these accusations of elitism, when it’s the republicans who “advocate for the existence of an elite as a dominating element in a system or society.”
Kamala was constantly talking about her roots, growing up with a single mother who couldn’t always afford to pay the bills, and she proposed policies that would help first-time home buyers and small businesses, provide bigger tax cuts for families while making the uber-wealthy pay their fair share, increasing and expanding the child tax credit, lower the costs of prescription drugs, and on and on.
She spoke of helping people “to not just get by, but to get ahead.” She said “We have so much more in common than what divides us.” She said if she won, she would work for all the people, not just those who voted for her (while trump promises to take revenge against his enemies).
Tell me, please, where is the elitism?
I don’t understand how trump continually gets a pass for his outrageous lies and insults while the Democrats are somehow “elitist.”
The Jewish population was not being disseminated ("spread abroad as though sowing seed" Merriam-Webster. It was being decimated. Was that a typo, or are you in an alternate reality??
Just a little disagreement with you- we don't build our families to destroy them. We don't build our schools or houses to destroy them and we don't build our government to destroy it. We just have a pendulum shift seeking equilibrium and we can see that Houston- we got a problem. Destruction is not who we are.
Bill, your mission, should you decide to take it, is to say something positive and optimistic *about the future*. You already have the necessary tools to do the job but will be aided in your mission as needs be. If you are captured by the enemy during your mission, all knowledge of your existence will be disavowed. This message will self-immolate when 47-elect takes power.
Not to sound simplistic, but I find it hard to be optimistic about the future with climate change in the driver’s seat. I’ll never forget Bernie’s response to the question in a 2016 Democratic debate “What is the biggest threat/danger to our country”. He said “climate change”.
I don’t disagree. It is hard work to find bright spots ahead of us when we seem to be losing light. If climate change is the driver, its passengers are equally destructive and capable of extinguishing life on earth. Climate change may allow some species to adapt and survive, not so what’s riding shotgun - nuclear war. The three other extinction events in the back seat, bio-warfare, AI, and famine are waiting their turn to take the wheel to finish us off. There, doesn’t that make you feel better? 😉
Each person’s meaning of life is to try and shape the world into what they desire it to be, for good or ill, based on your perspective. My optimism lies in knowing I can still defy and obstruct the changes I do not like. So long as can get myself into a vertical position each day, use what little wits I have remaining, and share my thoughts with others, I see possibilities. My pessimistic attitude is reserved for future generations who have to either fix what our generation has broken, or die trying. So long as democracy is an ideal that is on the market to the highest bidder, our obscene form of capitalism will only speed up our eventual demise. More’s the pity.
I have yet to meet a therapist who is not a liberal. I don't think that one can truly care about helping another person heal, without being a liberal. (Written by a very liberal retired psychiatrist, with dozens of therapist friends all of whom are liberal.)
Reminds me of the old cartoon of a MAGA therapist yelling at his worker who is painting his office door with a sign " Psychotherapist" but does so as 3 words on 3 separate lines...
WHEW!!! What a horror!! Does he/she practice as a "Christian therapist"? (pseudo Christian, of course) There were some of those here in Charleston, SC many years ago. I haven't heard of any recently.
I'm in NYC, Awhile back - and for a different reason - I found a wonderful therapist through Better Health -- I was initially very skeptical of finding a therapist online - but for me it was a great match. Same core set of beliefs, skilled, kind, sense of humor and affordable. I'm not trying to promote it, just to share that there are some very good therapists working on that platform.
And Kathi, it is fine to ask therapists about their political beliefs when you interview them. So many people do not realize that you as a potential client have a right to interview them before making a decision to proceed with them (speaking as a therapist who was once naive about the process of finding my own therapist). In this present day, the differences between parties is about basic values. Loss that is compounded with other losses, such as what you're experiencing, plus additional concerns about your vulnerabilities, has got to be extremely trying. Hope you find the therapist that will help you through this difficult time. Regarding the loss of your mother, I recommend the book, Saying Goodbye to Our Mothers for the Last Time. It can bring solace and understanding and ways others have found to proceed after such a major life transition.
Mourning is a very long painful journey. Your decision to seek professional help gives you a safe place to sort through all of your private issues. Nothing is enough . . there is no way to fix it. You will survive this journey. You come from centuries of ancestors who have survived, My beloved 26 year old son died in 1993. My beloved Dad in 2000. My beloved Mom and my beloved Husband in April, 2013. Remember to breathe in these early stages. I too fear what lies before us in the next four years, but I will continue to do the things l can and stay connected to safe groups and friends. Elie Wissel's writings helped me during the first months following my son's death - he had survived such barbaric inhuman treatment and unimagineable losses, and it gave me hope I could too. Be kind to yourself and hold on to the simple things which give you joy during this time of profound pain and grief.
Loss is hard enough. To have great fear is a whole different ballgame. I pray for your safety as you are forced to deal with being both a Jewish woman and a lesbian during these very dark times.
Kathi, I am sorry for your loss. I lost my beloved cousin who was like a sister to me in June and my country in November. I also wonder whether the election was stolen. Stephen Spoonamore's explanation of irregularities in Swing states gives me pause. https://substack.com/home/post/p-151721941
However, a friend pointed out that Mr. Spoonamore's ideas have been examined and disbunked.
I have friends who have been grieving since Trump was first elected, and then did not let go of the country even when he lost. I know that therapy has helped them. One of my friends has been through two older children being diagnosed as bipolar during mania, and her wife disengaging from their problems until they got help from a good therapist. I think everyone can benefit from support during difficult times.
The Prof. Snyder's Substack on the "Phantom Campaign", with thousands of bullet votes is important. Bullet votes are votes where the voter votes for the President, but then does not vote for any downballot offices. Curiously, this happened thousand of times in the election, but only in the battleground states, which is highly suspicious. I encourage readers to read the link you've provided.
Same here, Linda. I read that article and wondered why it wasn't leapt upon. If the Repubbies had spotted such anomalies in the tallies for 'their candidate', be assured they'd have been screaming their heads off for an investigation AT ONCE! Dems tend to give up way too easily.
Linda, I agree with you, but I have to believe they are investigating and we have to trust that it's happening. Kamala Harris is a prosecutor, after all. It wouldn't be prudent of them to talk about the investigations going on. It's complicated, I''m sure, but I am not giving up. And I always appreciate the things you choose to post, by the way. Often things I already have read, but also you have posted things that I haven't. And bringing your recommendations to this community (here and elsewhere) is a gift.
A friend checked into this and you are so correct. I am going to delete the link. This is what she says. "I looked into this guy a little bit today. This story is dangerous. He’s not a data scientist. He went to Wharton for a little while and dropped out to found a tech company. I listened to his interview with Thom Hartmann. Some of the ways they speak are alarmingly similar to “news sources” like One America Network. This is not my area of expertise, but his arguments are bad. He is confusing correlation and causation, he’s giving the listener a huge data dump of information that is not connected in any way, and he is making a false connection to a lot of things he is an “expert” in to make unsubstantiated claims. A lot of the things he is talking about are not possible, and they have already been debunked."
So sorry for your loss . . . and we all share your pain for our loss. But we need to remain strong and resist as best we can for the sake of our Democracy. So hang in there - this too shall pass.
Thank you all for the kind words and sharing your personal journeys. It means so much.
My mother was an amazing woman in so many ways. She and my dad helped turn Lake County, Illinois Democratic during the 1964 campaign. They held voter registration drives, and even as a small child I remember the phone banks set up in our basement. They were invited to LBJs inauguration which they attended. As my mom aged, she continued to give to democratic causes whether it was Planned Parenthood, the DNC, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden… Reviewing our joint checking account after she died, I noticed a check, written about 6 weeks before she died, for $1000 to Biden’s Victory Fund which, of course, went to Kamala’s campaign. No matter how hard the political campaigns wanted my mom to give online or over the phone, she always wrote a check.
My sister and I are now her legacy as my brother passed this past February of pancreatic cancer.
Kathi - I’m also in a marriage with another woman and share your fears. Know that probably hundreds of thousands of gay couples are sharing your anger and fears. The way I’m coping is to stay focused in the present and not anticipate all the outrageous things that could be coming our way. We’ll cope.
My condolences on the loss of your mother. I have a racially mixed daughter and grandkids. Their last name is Spanish. I worry how far these blind deportations will go. They are all American born. Maybe I'm worrying needlessly. I seem to be having lots of worries and anxiety about the future. I'm also in therapy. It is helpful.
BC, I think you are right to be worried. I live in Texas, right on the border with Mexico, and I've seen how ugly our state government has been to immigrants. Our population is about 85% Hispanic, and I fear for them. I can guarantee that these people are not criminals, because I deal with them all the time. Yes, there may be some illegals here, but at least in my mind that's not a big deal. It's the family culture that makes this city such a pleasant place to live.
Same, will my child need to carry "papers" to show that he was born here? Would he even be given a chance to show them? Based on what we saw in Portland, that didn't get nearly the attention deserved, people were taken off the street (or in the veterans case beaten for the crime of asking a question) without any opportunity to identify themselves as journalists. Hellscape.
I hope your child doesn't have to face that, but the atmosphere in a lot of Texas is really ugly, IMO. I am not sure I was aware of what happened in Portland, or it got lost amid all the other garbage going on.
I tried the link, but couldn't get more than the first few lines, since the NYT insist that I subscribe. What I read was absolutely awful. I do not understand why law enforcement tends to be so hateful. Not all of them, but too many.
I’m sorry you have to suffer two losses in a very short time. As far as losing your mother, there are two really good support groups on Facebook. One is Grieving the Loss of a Parent, the other Healing After the Loss of Your Mother. I happen to be in both. If you have facebook I encourage you to join one or both.
Trump won a very close election. More people voted for someone else, not Trump. The Senate and Congress are slim majorities.
All the more reason for us to hang together not try to find a scapegoat; strengthening our bonds. We are the majority and need to act like it. Protect our countries norms; refuse inordinate behavior; adhere to the rules. Stay calm and work together for the sake of our country and to protect our Constitution. Courage
After reading many opinions of who to blame and what to do next, I've come to the conclusion that the blame must fall on the behind-the-scenes workings of the Heritage Foundation. It isn't necessarily politicians; it's power brokers. I've read James Bond plots describing this and, guess what? It's now a reality. The question is how to fight the invisible enemy...
How do you say "it was the Russians, stupid" in Russian?
The appointment of Tulsi Gabbard, reasonably looks like a Trump payoff in thanks for a "big steal"
Threats made by for months Russian propaganda to frighten Dems, destruction of ballots, bomb scares at Dem precincts, etc. On election eve, the FBI issued a statement. "Since our statement on Friday, the Intelligence Community (IC) has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans."
If voters were wary of the "other" it was because Russia and a complying media and Republican proaganda targeted visceral voters. To me the "other" is Russia.
From Time Magazine:
The FBI said in a statement it was aware of the threats, many of which originated from Russian email domains, but the agency also downplayed their risk. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the statement said.
In Pennsylvania, a polling place in West Chester was evacuated because of a threat, according to Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Board of Elections. The Government Services Center was searched by dogs, and voters at the two polling stations in the center were redirected to neighboring polling places that extended their voting hours to accommodate them.
A Pennsylvania judge also granted a motion to extend voting in Clearfield County, northeast of Pittsburgh, after a bomb threat targeted an administrative building where votes were being counted, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
In Georgia, several voting locations extended their hours due to bomb threats, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as reported by CNN. “We identify the source that it was from Russia,” he said in an earlier press conference.
Officials in DeKalb County, where five polling places suspended voting due to bomb threats, said no bombs were found, and voters were able to re-enter the polling booths and vote.
Fulton County Police Chief W. Wade Yates said that out of 177 polling places in the county, 32 faced bomb threats, and five required evacuation and had their hours extended as a result. Yates said authorities intend to prosecute those who made the threats.
Officials in Wisconsin and Michigan also confirmed bomb threats in several polling locations in the state, according to ABC7 Chicago. And Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that four locations in Navajo County faced bomb threats that federal and state authorities dismissed as “not credible.” Fontes said the threats came from emails with Russian domains, and that the motive looks to be to “ensue chaos” and not to “impact any political outcome.”
I saw an opinion that claimed "bullet voting" was part of the problem, especially in swing states. In that scenario, only one candidate is chosen, and all the rest of the down-ballot positions are ignored. It was suggested that Harris needed to ask for a hand recount...
I believe lots of things are going on behind the scenes to investigate the multiple ways this election was manipulated to get Trump in power. Please trust that all is being done that can be done at this moment in time. We do not need to be informed of every step being taken, as that could be dangerous. We have to have patience along with determination. We each have to understand that we need one another right now to continue in community. We each have different strengths to offer, and now is a time to get ready for what lies ahead. We must agree not to consent to the agenda thrust upon us. We need one another now to be prepared to mobilize in whatever way we each can. There are many people working towards a higher good forward. As Joyce Vance says, "We are in this together."
Yes. Along with the obvious feelings I have about another disastrous trump term I'm really struggling with WHY so much is not being looked into! I keep pondering this until I come full circle back to the idea that the Ds have given up. So then we are supposed to continue to be motivated somehow to 'fight the good fight?' To continue to put in the hard work?
While I agree we know very little and should not expect to know everything, I feel there's alot of false hope. That lawmakers are working behind the scenes to 'save us'. I don't believe this personally. Call me cynical. I believe we're on our own.
Thank you for giving us the details on what happened on voting day.
Some time ago, I read a post that said more or less the following: “Nothing Trump does makes sense unless you assume that he works for Vladimir Putin. When you accept that assumption, everything he does makes sense.”
Nancy Pelosi was right when she said to Donald Trump, “With you, all roads lead to Putin.” (I’ll never forget the iconic photo of her standing up at a large table full of mostly male cabinet members. She is the only person standing, and she is pointing at Trump and looking directly at him, while most other people are looking down at the table.)
Yes, you're right, I was overlooking the Russian influence. Between whoever is behind Heritage and Putin we could be sunk without a strong surge at the polls in 2026 to "kick the bums out!"
You are most definitely on the right track, AnnieNY. But, in order to get that “strong surge at the polls”, we need in our present moment a strong, charismatic leader to step forward, one capable of defining a pithy argument in the highly motivational language that energizes masses of likeminded voters to stand proud as an opposition loyal to the Constitution, willing to do the hard, hard work we will need to succeed against conservative messaging forged for use against the foundations of our liberal democracy over the many decades before escalators were invented and the Trump era became our palpable nightmare.
Daniel, my husband speaks a little Russian - his language classes of choice in high school if he knew how to say your phrase. Unfortunately he didn't, but he used Google translate and found it: Eto russkiye, tupyye. In Cyrillic script it's Это русские, тупые. Love Google translate! It's clear that the Russians were interfering in our election.
I've been comparing all of this to James Bond plots for a couple of years now--bizarro upside down world now. Glad I wasn't alone in thinking this way.
I concur but how is that organized. Most of us want just what you have written but how does it become action rather than words..I am in Florida and the chance of me calling my senator is none....or the president elect or the disgusting A.G. would be nominee or the Secretary of State would be nominee..
I agree, Molly. I feel devastated, but the reality is Donald Trump will be the 47th President. As close as Harris came in campaigning (less than 2% difference - might be even less by now) less than 3 months, she had to be doing something right to go from Biden's approval rating of 40% to a vote of 48.8% of the vote. Maybe we should quit looking for something different and build on what she accomplished. Joyce is right. Now is the time to get ready for the 2026 elections. I know it seems like forever, but it isn't. I for one, am dismayed that my congressional district has allowed our MAGA representative to run unopposed for two election cycles. If I were younger, I'd run. In the meantime, we need to work within our communities - to make them strong - to point out the good and refuse the "crazy". And, we must also support through charities and volunteering those who are going to suffer the most right now. My disabled son is almost beside himself with worry for his SSDI and Medicare. I have two terrific Senators, but those who live in red states need to hold their representatives and Senators accountable. The ACA was saved this way. And, we must also hold corporation executives and those who wield their power through influence and dollars accountable. MAGA followers are not the only people who can attend school board meetings and town councils. Grieve these next few months if needed, but then continue to support the coalition Harris/Walz started and let's form "a more perfect UNION"! It's nearly Christmas, and as a Christian, I believe Christ came to shine a light on a dark world, bringing an all-enduring love. Peace be with you all.
A friend sent me a text mocking Trump's latest cabinet picks. So I looked at WaPo to see what she was talking about. And just reading the news sent me into a panic attack. We have been watching a train heading for a cliff. We have been yelling that the train is heading off a cliff. With people on it and people below the cliff. Yet the people who could have stopped it - and especially my fellow journalists - just went ahead with their lives as if the cliff didn't exist and the train was on the right track. I am terrified. And I want to seek out every single one of the white women in Nevada who voted for Trump and bring them to a detention center overcrowded with people with brown skin - many of whom might be citizens. I want them to SEE what they did. I want to yell at all the Lesbian moms on TikTok to PULL DOWN THEIR VIDEOS OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL FAMILIES BECAUSE SOMEONE IS GOING TO TAKE YOUR CHILDREN AWAY. My children turn 22 next month. I breathed a sigh of relief when they became adults. I thought the pandemic was the worst thing I would live through. Little did I know.
I agree about the train wreck. We are on the road to
hell. There are no forks in the road or detours. The way I see it, we’ve already given up. It’s 1930s Germany all over again. So many didn’t heed the warning then. We can pretend there will be an election in 2 years and we’re “fighting” for democracy, but as far as I’m concerned that’s extremely naive and totally unrealistic. It’s like little kids saying, “mommy & daddy made a mistake, but
they will come to their senses if we’re good children,” not understanding the depravity underlying their behavior when they locked us in the closet and forgot to feed us. These people feel
(Love your dog pic) I have a problem with thinking
there’s going to be an honest election in 2 years or
4 years or actually at any time in the future. Trump
incited an insurrection in order to stay in the presidency 4 years ago. I have no doubt he will do
whatever it takes to stay in power until he dies, OR
until the rich republicans behind the scenes want
him gone. But they’re just as ruthless and obsessed with power as he is, so they’ll keep having fake elections like Putin does and install puppets in the presidency.
Ultimately it is in the hands of our citizens which is at once my greatest hope and my biggest worry. The brainwashed voted him in and the misguided stayed home. There does not seem to be enough people like us to turn this around, at least not now. We are in for a horror show.
I HOPE - really HOPE - there will be another real election. The gerrymandering inside red states shows how deep and widespread the corruption of Money & Power Are!! Don’t think so…Look at the “ supreme court ” and what perverse “justice” is, and John Robert’s decades long complicity with Citizens United ruling. Like the Chinese & Russians—there’s been a decades long plan afoot to slowly get us here. Look to McConnell’s lifelong push, push, push to load the Courts -especially the Supreme Court! Americans dream of “instant fixes” is a fever dream And so, here we are.
It took a second world war to mostly rid the world of Nazi Madness and Cruel Corruption.
What’s it going to take here and now, in This World???? In America?
We were too busy being free to actually appreciate or even care what was going on..Ohvwechad lots of help from way back in the early days of a government body whobeven after a failed take over resulted in a war & thousands of deaths..We did not follow any discipline for any of them..infact we allowed them to return to their governmental seats of power. We ignored that they ran their states like they were their own private country without a Constitution-they did exactly what they wanted with sections of their populations & mistreated people like dogs!..it continued up todate. Stealing all their rights..They never liked the Constitution to begin with & we allowed them to spit on it every change they could..oh we have ethics committee but u have to do ur job to actually have it serve its purpose & again it was beyond rare..Mitch McConnell over all his years if service slow & steady placed Federalist into every level of r government & the other party did nothing absolutely nothing! Federalist do no believe in the Constitution as we do..that's why the Federderalist style government never succeeded & we ended up with a 3-party style government instead..They should have never been allowed to run..They lied to all when they would stand up in public & take the OATH of office they never planned on fulfilling..If we r going to have a successful government for the people then we need a government who believes in that Constitution & when one crosses the line..takes peopkes rights away etc etc..bring them to a hearing & removal of the power seat we gave them when proven guilty..instead we slap their hands or look the other way & vote them back in over & over..Since when is it alright to vote ur own raise in?etc etc..Whatever happened to the privilege of serving in the most powerful government in the world & when was it turned into a career advancement of power & greed!?
We gave away r power
because we were all too busy being free to be me!..Well welcome to ur lesson & it's a big serious one..
I agree with you Susan. It's late to be reacting. I fear what extreme measures it could take to make positive changes for us and our GRANDS! The next few years may be hard to live through, and everyone needs to prepare the best they can.
If we are going to work hard to save our country as we know it, it will take team work and unity. I was not able to find those in your post. I am left with a different message. Singling out any group such as white women and lesbians in any way disrupts the much needed unity and prevents accomplishments. It also can cause the loss of an election.
I think you misread. Let me explain. When my kids turned 18, I breathed a sigh of relief, because no one could take them away from me because we had suddenly become a nation that didn't think two moms could raise children. I am warning people whose kids are not 18 to stop publicizing that they are gay families. There is no unity. We are not going to rebuild out of anything but ashes. As Susan noted above, we are in Nazi Germany. And just like 1930s Germany, there are white women who long ago made the (unconscious) choice to turn against other women. They voted for Trump. There is no unity when we have a pyramid system of power with white men on top and white women just below them - and white women who like their place and will hurt themselves and other women to keep it.
Pointing this out is not sowing discord. If you don't see racism and sexism - perpetrated by women - then you can't do anything to stop it.
Yep, everyone should read Dorothy Thompson’s 1941 piece in Harpers: Who Goes Nazi? She interviewed Hitler, was kicked out of Germany and married Sinclair Lewis, the Nobelwinner, who wrote “It can’t happen here”.
I agree. Living in California we promptly told our 22 y/o grandson who lives with us that we are a safe haven for any of his LGBTQ friends who don’t feel safe where they are. My home has 2 extra bedrooms and we have plenty of love and understanding to help them have a peaceful life here. People shouldn’t have to live in fear because of racists and bigots.
I read racism against white people in both. You may disagree but it works both ways. Plus, if that is not understood and respected, I expect the same results. No one controls what another thinks nor feels about anything nor has the right to try. We are all powerless over all others unless a law is broken, and understanding and respecting that is imperative in order for the wedge that separates us to be removed. Interjecting racism no matter the direction is that wedge.
Kay, racism toward white people isn’t a thing. Racism is about power. In our society, white people have the power. “Reverse racism” is something the people with power made up when they saw their power was being threatened. Saying that we should respect people who are gleeful about rounding people up in concentration camps is like saying we should respect Hitler’s supporters.
Also, what I was referring to is that 52% of white women voted for Trump. They voted to keep their power rather than live in a more equitable society.
Your reaction was mine. While certainly mockable, they are terrifying in so many ways, not the least of which is this is that man’s litmus test to see who will be loyal to him in the confirmations. Not only should they be held, no dissolving congress, but they should be aired widely real time so we can see how unreasonable these choices are but listen to the questioning to see where it’s going, especially from republicans. I wonder if there will be a history to judge all this?
Leaving isn't the answer..it's accepting defeat..of course if u have the money to pack up r entire family & leave that means ur leaving the clean up to those that can't afford to do that & also those who know the worth of this country & all it was trying to achieve & will stand tall to get it back & keep it..Those that stay & fight r the ones who will be the most proud because they fought the fight & won!🇺🇲
I agree with Susan. Personal safety for yourself and your family must come first. After that, you can work as much as is possible from afar. I would suggest that any one family or persons who think they will be deported choose now the country they want to exit to. Don't wait until it's too late..
I’m 76. Fighting isn’t in my future nor is it in my husband’s. I hear you, but my MIL is the only survivor from her family. The rest died in the Holocaust.
We did 1.5 years ago. I can do what I am able to from afar. However, we aren’t surrounded by the horrible mess on a day to day basis. No place is perfect, but there’s less stress here.
No. Because with the Trump admin in bed with Putin and a defanged NATO, we could easily be looking at WW lll. European nations and others are vulnerable.
Agreed here. There is risk everywhere. But I also believe that if someone who has the means and chooses to leave to feel safe and for their mental health im for that as well.
Well, that’s kind of the future I see right now. Because bff Putin got the stupid puppets he wanted, Ukraine will fall, the US will pull out of NATO, and Putin will next march into Poland and then Germany…
Where are they? Why is there not a demand for an audit? I know- we don’t want to be sore losers - why the hell not? Less than 250,000 votes cost us the swing states - shouldn’t someone double check?
Where are leadership democrats calling for Biden to use his newly awarded immunity to take some steps to safe guard our democracy or at least our national security.
🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗 that’s what we’ve gotten from our leaders since the election. We are all hurting and lost and in need of their reassurances. The hallmark of leadership isn’t leading when you’re winning- it’s leading when you’re getting creamed.
They need to show the nation and the world that we are not going down without a fight and that every last one of us will fight against all the unconstitutional BS that’s coming our way.
Stephen Spoonamore wrote a Duty to Warn letter to VP Harris based on vote tallies as of Nov. 12. The number of ballots that left unvoted everything but President ( bullet or ghost ballots) was far out of the ordinary. One percent of these is ordinary. In North Carolina it was 11% of Trump’s vote. NC elected a Democrat for governor.
In all of the swing states the percentage of these Trump ballots with other offices and initiatives unvoted was more than the usual. In all of the non-swing states it was the usual 1% or less. In Idaho and Utah, where Trump was way ahead, it was normal. In Oregon, where Harris was way ahead, it was normal. Abnormal just in the swing states, all of them.
A hand recount is needed to investigate. I recommend Spoonamore’s letter. He explains how on-existent votes could be added to Trump’s total.
You just know that there’s something dirty going on here. If those numbers you quote are accurate, there has to be an explanation and we as a nation deserve to hear it. We are watching a slow motion shit show playing out, and maybe we have been scammed, if that’s the case we need to know about it. 🙏
I agree Ann, there’s no meaningful push-back. Signing petitions, writing letters and donating for democracy as we sink into a fascist regime is not only ineffective, it’s like trying to kill a dinosaur with a sling shot.
I agree with you, Ann. I fought hard for the Dems not only in WI, but other states. I still cannot believe Cruz won over Collin Allred? It just seems no matter how much time, $, energy and passion I invest, I sometimes was fighting against weak Dem leadership who many times still support the "old guard". Rep. Crockett wrote today that she had "offered her services" as Chair of DPCC but that Rep. Dingell who is 70 years old will "continue to serve in that role". I have no problem with Rep. Dingell's age, but rather that is definitely an area that could use new leadership. The DPCC is the chief messaging group for the party. It's like the members don't understand the 2024 messaging was not what voters wanted; hence we will have a GOP administration. Rep. Crockett is a "firecracker" and has breathed life and hope into the Dem party. What a disconnect not to understand we clearly need a new way forward with fresh voices and perspectives. It was almost as if she was being an "upstart" as a relatively new Rep to even "think" about running for a leadership chair. I have no words!
I hear you about Cruz winning over Colin Allred. It upset me, too. I would love to see Jasmine Crockett as the Chair of DPCC - she is what we all need because she understands what's happening and is a wonderful communicator. And she doesn't pull any punches. She seems to be afraid of absolutely nothing.
What concerns me with Rep. Crockett not getting the chance to chair the DPCC and people keeping the "old guard" in these roles or, for example, Schumer in Minority Leader role is that it will discourage these young, fresh leaders (Reps and Senators) to either not attempt to offer their name as a potential replacement, but perhaps even turn them off from staying in Congress or running for election in the first place. Joyce, it's maybe a thought for a future article. We NEED them. For me, I'm seriously considering changing my party designation to Independent. And... I'm a senior citizen.
Senior citizen here, too. I hear you. What I saw with voters during this election was that huge numbers of them were enthusiastic about younger, fresh leaders. IMO the way to tank the democratic party is to stay with the old guard. When you have young ones like Crocket, Maxwell Frost, and AOC, you have people who inspire hope, even in us old folks. I love seeing how focused and inspiring those you people are, and I think a lot of the country is ready for change.
Amen, Susan. While a lot of us are "ready for change", the "old guard" isn't letting go. Nancy Pelosi registered to run for reelection in 26? Are you freaking kidding me? Her involvement in the "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" in POTUS's decision to "step aside" damaged her legacy. IMO, she was never behind VP Harris and her backstabbing President Biden only showed me who she was. Dear God... Nancy, your time is up. Retire.
Very interesting, Ema. I didn't know that about Pelosi. Seems like she's worked to damage her own legacy. Unfortunately, some people never learn to let go, never become able to sense when it's time to let go. What you've said has damaged her legacy, IMO.
What happened in 2024, I think, has been evolving since 2016: People no longer care about facts, much less the truth. Kellyanne calked it, “alternative facts.” Even the courts got in the fun by ignoring precedence and findings of fact. Trump found that he could say anything, he did … still does … and people - America - just accept it.
I think the wheels have been in motion long before 2016. At least the year before, Bannon was saying he wanted to destroy the government here. Beyond that, this was. carefully steered by the GOP since Reagan.
It’s been in play for 50 years… Mitch McConnell packing the courts since he was elected & gained power, Reagan and his union busting & PLEASE look at double digit inflation in those “fantastic total fantasy” years, and Newt Gingrich.
It’s been a slow, relentless campaign from the enemies within! We just didn’t pay attention when it was there to see If We Looked.
I hope we can at least verify if there was any tampering at the tabulation, as was suggested in PA. Because cheaters cheat. Russia, Musk, Money, Disinformation, and an extremely large percentage of unwilling-to- be-educated voters. Faux news. Appalling numbers of reasonably intelligent people who have not studied world history. Such as the 30 something who, a few years ago, asked us who Hitler was. We have to check to see if the numbers were in any way hacked, AND we absolutely must educate people. Or maybe we're all about to get a big lesson. I'm not giving up, but I am p***ed off at the clowns determined to destroy everything, and I'm worried for our citizens, immigrants, our allies, our LGBTQ families, and our women and girls. I'm acutely aware that I must get adequate sleep, because there's a lot to cope with, and a lot to do. Courage.
And now our attention is on the horrible cabinet picks which has been like a firehouse of controversies. Should we just accept, or question what seems highly unusual? Asking for a recount was certainly done in 2020.
The cabinet picks seem to be chosen in order to destroy each of the departments they're put in charge of. It appears to be designed to destroy our government. Either that or it is a gross distraction so that we don't pay attention to the other things going on.
Yes, Oz in charge of Medicare & ACA. What a disaster. The fund will be mysteriously bankrupt in no time.
Nancy Mace is certainly vying for a position with her sudden turn AGAINST LGBTQ+. She claims to have friends that she cares about there but then she claims to have been raped while supporting a known rapist. She is a vile creature with zero redeeming qualities.
Remember when Madison Cawthorn told us about drugs and sex orgies? I don’t think he was lying.
A bunch of people decided the freedoms Harris and Walz talked about were either not important (vis-à-vis the price of bologna) or couldn't possibly be pursued and moreover, enabled or protected, by a woman of color as a president. Or both.
People in the United States fought autocracy in the southern states after the Civil War. This is a great article on how ordinary people hold more power than they think. Throughout society they give and take away power through all the ordinary functions in the society. We can kick out the pillars of power by our non-cooperation. from Waging Nonviolence: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/how-we-can-meet-challenges-of-authoritarianism/
Thanks, Joyce. There ARE guardrails: States, cities, courts, Congress, press, military, the Constitution, the laws, universities, churches, the companies, unions, non-profits, and so many groups which can all be powerful forces, if so minded. But the guardrails have to hold, not fold. Powell of the Federal Reserve simply said “no”. Maybe no one understands what “fascism” means, but they do understand that their rules, protections, and liberties can be lost. Senate confirmation hearings are easy compared to Trump's "recess appointments".
The law will be what DT says it is. The Constitution
will be either seriously altered or thrown out. Wealthy fascists are already on the Boards of many colleges & universities. The Kochs & others like them have already bought, I mean donated enough money
to alter curriculums and content from orgs like PBS & NPR. The internet is chock full of slick websites
peddling disinformation. Even substack has been invaded by reality-altering writers. We already know social media is a tool for people more interested in making money than they are in the truth. It won’t be long before no one knows what the truth is.
Trump's "lying strategy" linked with his 10 years of "The Apprentice" viewership, has once again "Bamboozeled Lazy Voters WHO failed to Pay Attention and Follow WHAT HE has been up to! Shame on them All! AND, to the media: STOP GIVING TRUMP SO MUCH FREE AIR TIME!
Check out this article: The Corporate Consultants Behind Harris for President. (11-18-24)
The last paragraph of this long article: "Rumblings among swing-state Democrats, a month out from Election Day, that Harris was coming up short of resonating with working-class voters were borne out. In the past few days, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, lamented a “disconnect” with people in the working class who were “very much economically insecure” despite the Biden administration’s touting of its economic measures. Even Democratic insider and MSNBC host Jen Psaki, after Election Day, joined in the criticism of embracing the Cheneys’ support."
Vincent, in my opinion it has nothing to do with Harris or Biden. It has to with democrats ignoring the daily onslaught of disinformation and brainwashing
techniques going on right under their noses. Dems
simply didn’t understand how dangerous it was and
let it continue when they could have done something
I agree. We are all victims of a decades long information war. After 9/11 I suggested that the internet would need to be shut down to a couple from a military background. They just shook their heads and replied that it would never happen. As this new growing mass medium was far too useful an Intelligence gathering and distributing weapon. By then Murdoch has already been gifted the keys to the global mass media kingdom by successive democratic governments in the UK and the US who shared the desire to create a global neo liberal economic hegemony. At the highest level this is now a conflict by socially powerful individuals which political system is most effective at delivering world capitalism and at the lowest a righteous rage by the disempowered against the social iniquities that capitalism structurally creates.
If I'm understanding this, I agree with you. The Economy was strong, yet the high nprice of groceries and gas weren't reflected in inflation. I wish the Dems had connected with the working class in terms of
of how the Cost of Living was more indicative of their insecurity than the state of the US economy.
According to AAA, the average cost of gas 1 year ago was $3.308, a month ago it was $3.17, a week ago it was $3.08. The current average is $3.06. Dems didn’t effectively deal with disinformation. The high
cost of groceries is mainly from price-gouging after transportation costs went down and the merging of grocery store chains that eliminated competition.
The Biden admin was suing to stop a merger of 2 grocery chains that will raise prices it it’s allowed,
but I doubt the Trump admin will follow thru with it.
Trump’s tariffs will make everything more expensive.
Wait until they see how economically insure they will be under Trump. How do they not remember the lost jobs before the pandemic? How about the bankrupt farmers?
I will never forget what Reaganomics did to us when we left the military. No jobs, I had to work 3 waitress jobs, we had to live with family. After finally being able to move into our own apartment, we got apples and potatoes from my MIL farm and ate potato pancakes 3 times a week. Butter and cheese came from the food bank.
My husband had to work with carpet installers and all his administration military training was useless. Then, 16.5% interesting rates to buy a home. It was 8 years before we could do more than survive. By then we both finished education to get better jobs. Bill Clinton was our hero.
I get it Sharon—I worked 2 jobs and went to nursing school full time. I lived in a bedroom of an old lady’s house & had no kitchen privileges or use of her house. I lived there for 3 years.
Women are strong people and not given nearly enough credit for what they do. My nursing school was in the military so I had that advantage. I finally worked in health insurance after completing my associates degree after discharged. I am THE PERSON who go insurance companies to pay for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. I was a cancer nurse I. The Air Force. Nurses rock!
Thank you Joyce for helping me to stay strong for my children, for my grandchildren, for women, for good men, and for our country. Together we can stay true to our beliefs and can hopefully protect the destruction of our constitution.
I want to believe, but right now I don't see a whole lot of fight from our Democratic leaders in DC. I hear a lot of silence laced with platitudes. Our media is caving and so are some of our Dem senators. I find myself thinking going along to get along way too often as I read and view news.
I think that it may be better to look for leaders in more grassroots zones, such as Joyce. I joined Bluesky and there are many amazing lawyers and watchdog groups and many many others motivating people to claim power and take action together. AOC has been posting reels on her IG account, she seems to be engaged in being a leader. It is true I am not seeing much of anything from any Dems in any real power and that is truly disappointing. That said, perhaps this is where “new” leaders will show themselves. And by new I dont necessarily mean young although not excluding them, but just new leaders. Take heart, going along to get along probably wont be a sustainable strategy. Find local people and encourage each other with small actions
Don’t think that because its not reported in the MSM that nothing is happening on the Democratic Party side. MSM is still laser focussed on Trump as they have been since 2015.
She did. She said she specifically said she mentored Hakeem Jeffries to take her place. Personally he lacks teeth. I dont see him as the powerhouse Nancy has been or a compelling leader. I dont see it.
I missed that she was supposed to be mentoring him and I agree he is not a compelling leader. But maybe he is and we’re not getting the attention. Dems certainly aren’t in disarray.
Yes, maybe we havent seen it yet. But if there were ever a time to see it, it would have been by now/now. AOC is much more compelling to me. Not that I think she would presently become Speaker, however she is up front and engaging people as a leader by staying in touch and presenting information and ideas and realistic reassurance
In this time of shock and grief, it was not helpful for President Biden to welcome Trump into the Oval Office with even a fraction of acceptance and, dare I say, warmth. I understand his wanting to abide by tradition, but DAMN, he could have shown some backbone and pushback, signaling to millions of us that we must steel ourselves and fight back. This is all just so damn sad and tragic.
Why do I feel this is the depiction of the wizard of oz? Who is behind the curtain? Trump is woefully dumb and loosing mentally which was so apparent during the campaign. What entity is controlling this congressional group of narcissistic sociopaths? Those with the most to loose? The Oligarchs… I mean the billionaires? Far right extreme supposed Christians? Outside forces? I have so many questions about Musk’s involvement at the very last months of the election. Now the blame game has begun in the news, with the supposed news experts faulting the Democratic Party. I have no answers just so many questions. Trump is their puppet as he had the most to loose. “They” own him.
I lost my beloved mom on October 27 and then lost my country on November 5 . The heartbreak is immeasurable. Financially I can weather the Trump storm but I fear as a Jewish woman married to a woman that I will have less rights. And I also fear for my safety and that of my family’s.
For the first time in my adult life, I am seeking professional help because having supportive friends and family do not seem enough
That’s an awful lot to go through in a short time. Therapy can really help, though. It’s a way to take care of yourself. My best to you as you grieve.
In response to a well written essay by Joyce Vance, my response is bifurcated. Yes, we must struggle. That is part of the condition of all life; struggle to survive. I also have a sense of wanting as much accumulation of wealth as possible because this is the only motivation of the new world order coming into power. No morals. No ethics. Only a scramble to rape and pillage America. Although I continue to have morals and a sense of right and wrong in a very non-partisan way, I will persevere.
As we go forward, it’s incumbent on us to reevaluate our partisan policies. As a centrist, I derided the MAGA movement in its entirety. I also criticized the Democratic Party for becoming elitist. Oh yes it has. If we don’t recognize our shortcomings and quickly, we will be right back at the losing end as we have since Reagan. Generation after generation. But in truth, no one will learn the valuable lessons of history and so we are all doomed to repeat over and over and over again.
To wit: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria precipitated WWI. At the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were punished which ultimately precipitated WWII. As the Jewish population was being disseminated, and later after WWII, Israel was created as a modern Jewish state on lands populated by Arabs. They became what a populist movement had done to them. Since America gave Isreal the green light to do whatever the frick it has wanted including bombing Arabs into oblivion, we as humans perpetuate the endless unlearned mistakes of history including the unnecessary Russian whole scale invasion of Ukraine.
It doesn’t end. Humans only have one unspoken goal written into its genome; We build to destroy. This is our destiny. This is our history. It is written across the ages.
Sorry to disappoint y’all with my less than optimistic outlook, once again.
If you want to believe that the Democratic Party is elitist have at it. But Democrats have most certainly not been on the losing end since Reagan. With the exception of this travesty of an election, the GOP has only won the popular vote in one presidential election since 1988. We have had two terms of a Clinton administration and two terms of an Obama administration and the one term of a Biden administration. During that time we also controlled the House and Senate for several years.
The Democratic Party has retrenched. It lost the white working class under Clinton I then Clinton II called them “deplorables” after losing the rust belt factory jobs. How’s dat sound? My gosh slap yo self awake please. And these very deplorables voted for the very person who has no care in the world for their well being. And I don’t care about winning the popular vote I care about winning the office.
But as I pointed out, we have won the office. Repeatedly. The deplorables quote is pretty old. And she wasn’t wrong. Deplorable is a mild way to describe MAGAs. Kamala Harris just ran an incredibly inclusive campaign- “we have so much more in common that what separates us” with economic policies that would have made the lives of middle and working class Americans better. But enough of them preferred a convicted felon and rapist who ran the most vile racist and misogynistic campaign we have seen in modern times. That is not on the Democrats.
I think Bill Katz continues to rage on at the Dems with some reason to be upset like each of us. However, I’d like to suggest it does no good to embrace the trope of the right or people who disagree with us - elite is just a word, one of many that allow everyone who uses such words to divide us. Now - today 11/20/2024 - is a time to come together and move forward.
Yes! I felt bad when previous candidates said or did something that felt awkward. Yet, as Hopehappens wrote we don’t need to deny our history of trying to help people who have been, are, and will continue to be marginalized. Those efforts have been made in good faith and twisted by those who seem to invoke echos of George Orwell’s 1984.
While we will continue to need to help those marginalized citizens our challenge is to recognize and help all people without putting them off or giving pundits, Republicans or good intending journalists the ability to frame our efforts as worse than the criminal acts of a former president and his cohort of MAGA followers.
I encourage all to read this column from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/20/democrats-donald-trump-falling-us-wages?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Another good read is Thomas Frank’s’ “Listen Liberal: What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?”
Bill, you should try getting a friend.
You must be Heb.
Is that the best you can do? Shameful, indeed.
And Hope: If you think we are doing so well, how do you like the Supremy Court these days? Right.
You mean the court McConnell manipulated to have paid for fascists sit on? Thomas should have never been confirmed, Kavanaugh an even worse pick willing to do anything for all that wealth you want to amass, and Coney Barrett just a handmaid willing to do exactly what she’s told. Who seated them? Republicans who want to end the constitution and bring on the Rapture. Only their idea of the rapture is to eliminate everyone without wealth. Who will be the worker bees then? All kings with no one to rule.
Joe Biden was significantly responsible for Clarence Thomas being confirmed. I believed Anita Hill.
Sharon, yes we cannot forget the appointment of extreme justices. Yet, we do have to recognize a number of Democrats voted for their confirmation as well. And we can recall that even though President Biden has acknowledged he was wrong to, as Chair of the Senate judiciary committee, to let Clarence Thomas achieve his lifetime appointment. Democrats have needed to fight and push back for some time now while Mitch McConnell brought the SCOTUS to its current makeup and ushered in the era of big money, playing a major role in moving Citizens United forward on appeal.
We need a new voice and leadership that stands for and fights for civil rights and economic justice for ALL citizens. Mr Katz appears to be on a steady diet of outrage which takes us no where when we need a plan, strong leadership and voices, and citizens who vote. Let’s not even think of giving up but reframe the fight and fight like hell to protect our country and our countrymen and countrywomen.
You can blame Biden for Thomas. I will never forgive him for his role in that charade.
Most of them are fascists. But which president gets to appoint them is mostly luck depending on who resigns or who dies during his term. Hillary said over and over in 2016 that the next President would probably get to appoint 2 or 3 justices, but between the Bernie people who were mad and those who won’t vote for a woman for president no matter what, Trump got his picks.
McConnell, not luck, is the reason we have Amy Comer Barrett and Kavanaugh. Facts matter.
Please. Don’t start with blaming Bernie supporters for Hillary’s loss. IMO Bernie had a better chance of beating Trump than she did. But let’s not look at the past. Really? How else can we adjust for the future.
Perhaps not elitist, but certainly not humble.
And the Republicans who claim to be the only true Americans are?
I do get a kick out of this ranting about ‘elites’, and how much of a problem they seem to be for many.
We might remember that this nation was created the elites of the colonies. They were hardly perfect men, many of them were slaveowners, and of course they wouldn’t for a moment have considered having a woman join them in what we’d come to know as Independence Hall during that long, hot summer. Most of them were quite well educated for that time. And, yes, they were all very very white.
But they had read their history, and they knew the perils as well as the promise of the nation whose design they worked so hard and so secretly to construct. They understood the perils of entrusting our future to the vast sea of individuals whose parochialism, varying passions under questionable control, selfishness, fears, varying levels of ignorance of much outside their own little worlds, and subjugation to the moment rather than to the sweep of history and the future might lead to all sorts of alarms and excursions inside the voting booth.
They also understood the promise of a nation ruling itself under laws applicable to all instead of by fiat from above. A nation all of whose citizens would have a say in who governed them and under guidelines they did so. A nation all of whose citizens had rights not granted or not granted by the vagaries of kings or gods, but guaranteed by equal laws equally applied.
Did they get it completely right? Of course not. How could they have? It was the first attempt in history to create a nation out of whole cloth. It was an experiment in human nature and governance, hithertoo untried and untested on any large scale. The only time anything like it had really been tried before was on purely local scale as part of a long-evolving process in a single city state in a rocky land continually torn by internecine warfare and threatened by the greatest empire yet built. And it failed. Miserably. Yet during its all too brief existence, it had left a record of achievement in art and architecture, literature, philosophy, law, medicine, and political theory unmatched during any similar period in history, before or since.
So could we do anything like it again without the miserable failure? Those guys in Philadelphia thought so, and so to their plan they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
We’ve since managed to correct some of the major flaws in their design. We ended slavery, at a horrible cost. We extended the franchise to every citizen. We created a system of public education for all which for a time was the envy of the world. We built an economy that produced much of the power with which we and our allies defeated the most horrendous evil ever conceived. Every four to eight years, even in the midst of a civil war, we transferred political power openly and with relative honesty from one national administration to another.
But always, underneath the achievements roiled a population within which were some very different visions of the nation we were thought to be, often because too many of us didn’t really understand the design itself and how it was meant to function.
Our problem now is that for the first time in our history a man who has already proven beyond any doubt that he doesn’t understand much if anything about that design, doesn’t care to, and has no desire to adhere to it even if he did is about to return to the Oval Office. And he’d like to bring with him a collection of ‘advisors’ most of whom have the morals of alley cats, the political stability of weather vanes, a passion for burning things down rather than building them up, a delight in the limelight instead of any desire to do the hard work of government, and who are totally under his thumb. Not a pretty picture.
It remains to be seen if the Congress, just over half of whom is now composed of men and women who signally failed to take him off the stage when they had the chance after January 6th will find the backbone to keep him and his carnival show inline.
But it is as important, perhaps even more so for the rest of us not to descend into cynicism or despair or just plain ‘I give up’, and to maintain our belief in the promise of that hot summer in Philadelphia, ’the last best hope of earth’. It is, as it has always been, all we have and all we need.
Nicely put, James. My perspective is that the "collective we" have not given up and are more than willing to actually fight for our Democracy rather than hand on a silver platter our future to the Traitor and his sycophants. We are acting as though this was a normal "free and fair" election, but it was anything but. And, the narrative is that Traitor has a mandate. Not accurate.
The majority of those voting for Traitor in this election were subjected to at least 9 years of constant Russian propaganda, enabled by so-called news programming, and the full-court press by the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, and his programming platform X. By any stretch of the imagination, how is that fair to voters? As for the free part, voter suppression efforts by the Republicans is real and ongoing. And the impact of the lies that Traitor spews and the constant replaying of those lies from those around him cannot be dismissed.
All the while Elon's businesses are incredibly intertwined with our government contracts. Does anyone in this administration now find it alarming that Elon, who speaks on a regular basis with Putin, is now joined at the hip to Traitor? He's sitting in on national security meetings and on the phone calls with T and Putin. But no one is calling out this bizarre behavior, nor trying to stop it. This is not normal, nor should it be normalized.
But here we are. I've lived a long life and have never seen anything quite like the United States of America caving to a home-grown despot. How do we explain to the younger generation, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that unlike the generation of Americans and the allies in WWII, we as a country, did not meet this moment?
What you say about the propaganda we’ve been subjected to is true enough, but if it alone had been as effective as you say in getting Trump elected, then I imagine the election would have been far more lopsided than it was.
To me there are other aspects which are at least as blameworthy as whatever the Russians have managed, what Republican legislatures have done in the name of “election integrity’ (which was anything but), or what Trump’s wealthy American supports have managed with their own propaganda.
I’ve been around a while myself. I was born exactly five months before the Enola Gay opened her bomb bay doors over Hiroshima and made me a plank owner of the first generation to grow up knowing we could destroy all life on earth, and the forces that have led to this moment aren’t restricted to what’s been going on since 2015.
One is our educational system which to my minds has signally failed to teach us enough about what our Republic was designed to be and how it is supposed to work. How many kids do you know who’ve had a full course about our Constitution? I taught American history for over 40 years, and I seldom saw anything like that.
Another is the fact that most Americans really don’t know what life under a real dictatorship is like. So despite all the cries of ‘fascism’ etc, floating around during the campaign, I doubt many of us understood either the word or the threat, even if they were paying attention.
Yet another is the Internet. It grew so fast (I didn’t see my first computer until I was already teaching) that we haven’t been anywhere near able to train our kids how to filter what they hear and see over it, let alone educate enough adults to do so. Like all such reality altering inventions, it has proven a Damoclean sword.
I don’t know if you ever saw the movie, 'The American President'. If so, you will recall Michael Douglas in the role of President Andrew Shepherd noting that “America is advanced citizenship”. Truer words were never spoken, but I’m not sure how many of us really understand what that means. Nor do I know how many Americans, full of demands for all kinds of ‘freedom’ understand the awesome responsibility real freedom entails.
In sum, I think the wound to our body politic is largely self-inflicted. We as a nation have not prepared ourselves sufficiently for the first American president to have proven himself utterly disdainful of our electoral process, our Constitution, or the rule of law. If we had, he would never have won in 2016. He probably would never even have run.
Much as I hate to say it, I think Trump 2.0 is a necessary shock to our system. The only remaining question is how much damage he and his myrmidons will manage to do before enough of his supporters realize they’ve been had by the most successful con ever pulled of by a major American political figure. I hope that will be before the mid-terms.
Bill, what makes the Democratic Party elitist? Give me sound examples, not the trigger word everyone throws around like it’s a disease.
I, too, would like a definition of the term "elitist" that keeps getting thrown around. Somebody please explain how and why that term applies to a party whose values are largely for equal opportunity, civil and human rights, progress toward a "more perfect union," the common good, justice for all...I could go on. Where are those values on the spinning GOP wheel of fortune? There, my definition of "deplorable" - ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you and screw everybody else.
Education, makes them ‘seem’ elitist. They know the history, the complicated explanations for why something is better than another. College educated voted for non- college educated women voted against. I find that fascinating! What does a college education give you that not having one leads to Trump?
Yes, I have often wondered about the word "elitist" as well and why it keeps being thrown around when speaking of Dems. For what it's worth David Brooks has a new piece in the current Atlantic Magazine titled how the Ivy league broke America. I'm on the fence when it comes to David Brooks but he does refer to himself as being elitist and part of the problem. As for the word deplorables I rather liked it especially in hindsight.
Ok I should be so quick to use words that inadequately describe political groups. But democrats and republicans slowly or quickly changed their support bases through the decades. LBJ and his progress legislation pushed Nixon’s southern strategy of southern racists to the republican side. Bill Clinton must take responsibility for NAFTA even though there was a push on both sides but he signed it. That left the rust belt denuded of factories. I experienced it when I traveled through that part of the country. We pushed white working class right into the arms of the executioners. The educated class moved to Democratic Party. We pushed the blame game that white people are guilty of racism and we are not. Black folks had door opened and laws are enacted to protect. But that ugly backlash continues with voter suppression and gerrymandering continues. Let’s not forget that 72% of Black babies are born out of wedlock. Why isn’t that issue ever discussed? It’s the biggest impediment to success in urban communities. But I’m not dealing with it because I’ll be call, you guessed it, a white racist. We nurtured a new like the trans movement (invented by social media and parents giving their children those devices that poison young minds. Then we are scolded that we are homophobic if we didn’t accept everything trans and I’m sorry, I’m a traditional feminist supporter and will never stop being one and balls in school girl stalls do not belong. Stop it. Really I sometimes wonder why I’m not a MAGA supporter but I’m not. I despise everything MAGA but the elitist democrats don’t quite cut it in my book. Honestly, I have no political group that I feel comfortable with. I am definitely not you. Because of unlimited campaign financing, those with the money keep separating us and dividing us so we can be conquered and welcome, we have been conquered.
I’m pissed that we are so angry at each other and don’t have the foggiest idea why. And now I’m angry too. Weeeeee.😝😝😝
Have I answered your question? Now I need to get back to my day job.
Baffling that commentators are calling Democrats the “party of the elites” when billionaires are the ones who bought the GOP (which now stands for Grifting Oligarchical Plutocrats).
That’s why I asked him to describe what he considers to be an elite.
Education? Look at how many Republicans came from Ivy League universities.
Wealth? Again, Republicans are not poor.
Helping others, especially the working class? I think the Democrats win that one time after time and Republicans prove it by calling us Libs and Woke.
He didn’t answer me so my assumption is he doesn’t have one, he just likes the trigger word. It makes him feel justified blaming Democrats for everything.
I think there is a difference between republican donors/leaders who misrepresent and the 1000’s that voted who were non- college and in their own red media bubble. Each needs a different approach to get change
Thank you.
Repubs basically use "elites" to refer to anyone with a college education (barring rich and/or educated Republicans, of course).
😂
I am so very tired of these accusations of elitism, when it’s the republicans who “advocate for the existence of an elite as a dominating element in a system or society.”
Kamala was constantly talking about her roots, growing up with a single mother who couldn’t always afford to pay the bills, and she proposed policies that would help first-time home buyers and small businesses, provide bigger tax cuts for families while making the uber-wealthy pay their fair share, increasing and expanding the child tax credit, lower the costs of prescription drugs, and on and on.
She spoke of helping people “to not just get by, but to get ahead.” She said “We have so much more in common than what divides us.” She said if she won, she would work for all the people, not just those who voted for her (while trump promises to take revenge against his enemies).
Tell me, please, where is the elitism?
I don’t understand how trump continually gets a pass for his outrageous lies and insults while the Democrats are somehow “elitist.”
Thank you for this. It is infuriating, and not based in reality. And some on our side need to stop acting like it is.
The Jewish population was not being disseminated ("spread abroad as though sowing seed" Merriam-Webster. It was being decimated. Was that a typo, or are you in an alternate reality??
That was a typo give me a break. I’m not being paid for these writing excursions.
Not surprising. Here on a tryout are you?
You are boring.
So you'll be putting us out of your misery soon, will you? Good choice.
Just a little disagreement with you- we don't build our families to destroy them. We don't build our schools or houses to destroy them and we don't build our government to destroy it. We just have a pendulum shift seeking equilibrium and we can see that Houston- we got a problem. Destruction is not who we are.
Democrats are elitist? Then what do you call the elites in Trump's universe? Choose your words and definitions carefully
Bill, your mission, should you decide to take it, is to say something positive and optimistic *about the future*. You already have the necessary tools to do the job but will be aided in your mission as needs be. If you are captured by the enemy during your mission, all knowledge of your existence will be disavowed. This message will self-immolate when 47-elect takes power.
Not to sound simplistic, but I find it hard to be optimistic about the future with climate change in the driver’s seat. I’ll never forget Bernie’s response to the question in a 2016 Democratic debate “What is the biggest threat/danger to our country”. He said “climate change”.
I don’t disagree. It is hard work to find bright spots ahead of us when we seem to be losing light. If climate change is the driver, its passengers are equally destructive and capable of extinguishing life on earth. Climate change may allow some species to adapt and survive, not so what’s riding shotgun - nuclear war. The three other extinction events in the back seat, bio-warfare, AI, and famine are waiting their turn to take the wheel to finish us off. There, doesn’t that make you feel better? 😉
Each person’s meaning of life is to try and shape the world into what they desire it to be, for good or ill, based on your perspective. My optimism lies in knowing I can still defy and obstruct the changes I do not like. So long as can get myself into a vertical position each day, use what little wits I have remaining, and share my thoughts with others, I see possibilities. My pessimistic attitude is reserved for future generations who have to either fix what our generation has broken, or die trying. So long as democracy is an ideal that is on the market to the highest bidder, our obscene form of capitalism will only speed up our eventual demise. More’s the pity.
I am so sorry! I see a therapist for another reason, but it helped after we lost the election and lucky for me, she is a liberal, too!
I have yet to meet a therapist who is not a liberal. I don't think that one can truly care about helping another person heal, without being a liberal. (Written by a very liberal retired psychiatrist, with dozens of therapist friends all of whom are liberal.)
Reminds me of the old cartoon of a MAGA therapist yelling at his worker who is painting his office door with a sign " Psychotherapist" but does so as 3 words on 3 separate lines...
"Psycho
the
rapist'
Caption reads "It's one word, George!"
Same here. I was glad I had a liberal shrink in my back pocket to turn to in times despair.
Great point.
A family member is a licensed therapist who is also a christofascist and a maga. I can’t imagine the therapy sessions there and the hateful glee.
Yikes, can't even imagine.
WHEW!!! What a horror!! Does he/she practice as a "Christian therapist"? (pseudo Christian, of course) There were some of those here in Charleston, SC many years ago. I haven't heard of any recently.
I will Only find someone with my core set of beliefs
I'm in NYC, Awhile back - and for a different reason - I found a wonderful therapist through Better Health -- I was initially very skeptical of finding a therapist online - but for me it was a great match. Same core set of beliefs, skilled, kind, sense of humor and affordable. I'm not trying to promote it, just to share that there are some very good therapists working on that platform.
And Kathi, it is fine to ask therapists about their political beliefs when you interview them. So many people do not realize that you as a potential client have a right to interview them before making a decision to proceed with them (speaking as a therapist who was once naive about the process of finding my own therapist). In this present day, the differences between parties is about basic values. Loss that is compounded with other losses, such as what you're experiencing, plus additional concerns about your vulnerabilities, has got to be extremely trying. Hope you find the therapist that will help you through this difficult time. Regarding the loss of your mother, I recommend the book, Saying Goodbye to Our Mothers for the Last Time. It can bring solace and understanding and ways others have found to proceed after such a major life transition.
"In this present day, the differences between parties is about basic values" and I'll add "morals" to that.
Same
I’m really sorry about your mom. Today is my dad’s death date - many years ago, but I still miss him.
Thanks for getting professional help. My wife is a psychologist; she got help after her dad died, and has continued during the campaign.
Mourning is a very long painful journey. Your decision to seek professional help gives you a safe place to sort through all of your private issues. Nothing is enough . . there is no way to fix it. You will survive this journey. You come from centuries of ancestors who have survived, My beloved 26 year old son died in 1993. My beloved Dad in 2000. My beloved Mom and my beloved Husband in April, 2013. Remember to breathe in these early stages. I too fear what lies before us in the next four years, but I will continue to do the things l can and stay connected to safe groups and friends. Elie Wissel's writings helped me during the first months following my son's death - he had survived such barbaric inhuman treatment and unimagineable losses, and it gave me hope I could too. Be kind to yourself and hold on to the simple things which give you joy during this time of profound pain and grief.
Loss is hard enough. To have great fear is a whole different ballgame. I pray for your safety as you are forced to deal with being both a Jewish woman and a lesbian during these very dark times.
Kathi, I am sorry for your loss. I lost my beloved cousin who was like a sister to me in June and my country in November. I also wonder whether the election was stolen. Stephen Spoonamore's explanation of irregularities in Swing states gives me pause. https://substack.com/home/post/p-151721941
However, a friend pointed out that Mr. Spoonamore's ideas have been examined and disbunked.
Prof. Snyder tells us Musk spreads disinformation, and that Musk plans to do this in other election elsewhere. https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-phantom-campaign?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I have friends who have been grieving since Trump was first elected, and then did not let go of the country even when he lost. I know that therapy has helped them. One of my friends has been through two older children being diagnosed as bipolar during mania, and her wife disengaging from their problems until they got help from a good therapist. I think everyone can benefit from support during difficult times.
The Prof. Snyder's Substack on the "Phantom Campaign", with thousands of bullet votes is important. Bullet votes are votes where the voter votes for the President, but then does not vote for any downballot offices. Curiously, this happened thousand of times in the election, but only in the battleground states, which is highly suspicious. I encourage readers to read the link you've provided.
WHOA! This is the FIRST I've heard of this! Do you have any information? Is anybody investigating this??
Same here, Linda. I read that article and wondered why it wasn't leapt upon. If the Repubbies had spotted such anomalies in the tallies for 'their candidate', be assured they'd have been screaming their heads off for an investigation AT ONCE! Dems tend to give up way too easily.
Linda, I agree with you, but I have to believe they are investigating and we have to trust that it's happening. Kamala Harris is a prosecutor, after all. It wouldn't be prudent of them to talk about the investigations going on. It's complicated, I''m sure, but I am not giving up. And I always appreciate the things you choose to post, by the way. Often things I already have read, but also you have posted things that I haven't. And bringing your recommendations to this community (here and elsewhere) is a gift.
A friend checked into this and you are so correct. I am going to delete the link. This is what she says. "I looked into this guy a little bit today. This story is dangerous. He’s not a data scientist. He went to Wharton for a little while and dropped out to found a tech company. I listened to his interview with Thom Hartmann. Some of the ways they speak are alarmingly similar to “news sources” like One America Network. This is not my area of expertise, but his arguments are bad. He is confusing correlation and causation, he’s giving the listener a huge data dump of information that is not connected in any way, and he is making a false connection to a lot of things he is an “expert” in to make unsubstantiated claims. A lot of the things he is talking about are not possible, and they have already been debunked."
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-election-starlink-musk-steal-trump-38757341656d4f44243076d6356cb68b
https://electionlawblog.org/?p=147216
So sorry for your loss . . . and we all share your pain for our loss. But we need to remain strong and resist as best we can for the sake of our Democracy. So hang in there - this too shall pass.
So sorry for your pain. Eventually "it gets better" - we hope.
I am very sorry you have had to face this. It is good you are seeking professional help.
Thank you all for the kind words and sharing your personal journeys. It means so much.
My mother was an amazing woman in so many ways. She and my dad helped turn Lake County, Illinois Democratic during the 1964 campaign. They held voter registration drives, and even as a small child I remember the phone banks set up in our basement. They were invited to LBJs inauguration which they attended. As my mom aged, she continued to give to democratic causes whether it was Planned Parenthood, the DNC, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden… Reviewing our joint checking account after she died, I noticed a check, written about 6 weeks before she died, for $1000 to Biden’s Victory Fund which, of course, went to Kamala’s campaign. No matter how hard the political campaigns wanted my mom to give online or over the phone, she always wrote a check.
My sister and I are now her legacy as my brother passed this past February of pancreatic cancer.
You are a strong person to have gone through so much grief. Take good care of yourself and your family and stay strong.
Kathi - I’m also in a marriage with another woman and share your fears. Know that probably hundreds of thousands of gay couples are sharing your anger and fears. The way I’m coping is to stay focused in the present and not anticipate all the outrageous things that could be coming our way. We’ll cope.
My condolences on the loss of your mother. I have a racially mixed daughter and grandkids. Their last name is Spanish. I worry how far these blind deportations will go. They are all American born. Maybe I'm worrying needlessly. I seem to be having lots of worries and anxiety about the future. I'm also in therapy. It is helpful.
BC, I think you are right to be worried. I live in Texas, right on the border with Mexico, and I've seen how ugly our state government has been to immigrants. Our population is about 85% Hispanic, and I fear for them. I can guarantee that these people are not criminals, because I deal with them all the time. Yes, there may be some illegals here, but at least in my mind that's not a big deal. It's the family culture that makes this city such a pleasant place to live.
Same, will my child need to carry "papers" to show that he was born here? Would he even be given a chance to show them? Based on what we saw in Portland, that didn't get nearly the attention deserved, people were taken off the street (or in the veterans case beaten for the crime of asking a question) without any opportunity to identify themselves as journalists. Hellscape.
I hope your child doesn't have to face that, but the atmosphere in a lot of Texas is really ugly, IMO. I am not sure I was aware of what happened in Portland, or it got lost amid all the other garbage going on.
Thank you, it was summer ‘20, sharing link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/us/portland-protests-navy-christopher-david.html
I tried the link, but couldn't get more than the first few lines, since the NYT insist that I subscribe. What I read was absolutely awful. I do not understand why law enforcement tends to be so hateful. Not all of them, but too many.
I’m sorry you have to suffer two losses in a very short time. As far as losing your mother, there are two really good support groups on Facebook. One is Grieving the Loss of a Parent, the other Healing After the Loss of Your Mother. I happen to be in both. If you have facebook I encourage you to join one or both.
So sorry Kathi.
May your beloved Mother’s memory be a blessing 💗
Trump won a very close election. More people voted for someone else, not Trump. The Senate and Congress are slim majorities.
All the more reason for us to hang together not try to find a scapegoat; strengthening our bonds. We are the majority and need to act like it. Protect our countries norms; refuse inordinate behavior; adhere to the rules. Stay calm and work together for the sake of our country and to protect our Constitution. Courage
After reading many opinions of who to blame and what to do next, I've come to the conclusion that the blame must fall on the behind-the-scenes workings of the Heritage Foundation. It isn't necessarily politicians; it's power brokers. I've read James Bond plots describing this and, guess what? It's now a reality. The question is how to fight the invisible enemy...
I have always felt that Trump was just the Heritage Foundation's useful puppet.
How do you say "it was the Russians, stupid" in Russian?
The appointment of Tulsi Gabbard, reasonably looks like a Trump payoff in thanks for a "big steal"
Threats made by for months Russian propaganda to frighten Dems, destruction of ballots, bomb scares at Dem precincts, etc. On election eve, the FBI issued a statement. "Since our statement on Friday, the Intelligence Community (IC) has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans."
If voters were wary of the "other" it was because Russia and a complying media and Republican proaganda targeted visceral voters. To me the "other" is Russia.
From Time Magazine:
The FBI said in a statement it was aware of the threats, many of which originated from Russian email domains, but the agency also downplayed their risk. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the statement said.
In Pennsylvania, a polling place in West Chester was evacuated because of a threat, according to Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Board of Elections. The Government Services Center was searched by dogs, and voters at the two polling stations in the center were redirected to neighboring polling places that extended their voting hours to accommodate them.
A Pennsylvania judge also granted a motion to extend voting in Clearfield County, northeast of Pittsburgh, after a bomb threat targeted an administrative building where votes were being counted, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
In Georgia, several voting locations extended their hours due to bomb threats, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as reported by CNN. “We identify the source that it was from Russia,” he said in an earlier press conference.
Officials in DeKalb County, where five polling places suspended voting due to bomb threats, said no bombs were found, and voters were able to re-enter the polling booths and vote.
Fulton County Police Chief W. Wade Yates said that out of 177 polling places in the county, 32 faced bomb threats, and five required evacuation and had their hours extended as a result. Yates said authorities intend to prosecute those who made the threats.
Officials in Wisconsin and Michigan also confirmed bomb threats in several polling locations in the state, according to ABC7 Chicago. And Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that four locations in Navajo County faced bomb threats that federal and state authorities dismissed as “not credible.” Fontes said the threats came from emails with Russian domains, and that the motive looks to be to “ensue chaos” and not to “impact any political outcome.”
I don’t get why all this isn’t being investigated. Put together, that’s a lot of election interference in swing states
I saw an opinion that claimed "bullet voting" was part of the problem, especially in swing states. In that scenario, only one candidate is chosen, and all the rest of the down-ballot positions are ignored. It was suggested that Harris needed to ask for a hand recount...
I believe lots of things are going on behind the scenes to investigate the multiple ways this election was manipulated to get Trump in power. Please trust that all is being done that can be done at this moment in time. We do not need to be informed of every step being taken, as that could be dangerous. We have to have patience along with determination. We each have to understand that we need one another right now to continue in community. We each have different strengths to offer, and now is a time to get ready for what lies ahead. We must agree not to consent to the agenda thrust upon us. We need one another now to be prepared to mobilize in whatever way we each can. There are many people working towards a higher good forward. As Joyce Vance says, "We are in this together."
Yes. Along with the obvious feelings I have about another disastrous trump term I'm really struggling with WHY so much is not being looked into! I keep pondering this until I come full circle back to the idea that the Ds have given up. So then we are supposed to continue to be motivated somehow to 'fight the good fight?' To continue to put in the hard work?
Remember that the DOJ works in secret & only makes announcement thru court filings, etc. So who knows what's being investigated.
Is anyone watching for new Grand Juries being seated?
While I agree we know very little and should not expect to know everything, I feel there's alot of false hope. That lawmakers are working behind the scenes to 'save us'. I don't believe this personally. Call me cynical. I believe we're on our own.
Thank you for giving us the details on what happened on voting day.
Some time ago, I read a post that said more or less the following: “Nothing Trump does makes sense unless you assume that he works for Vladimir Putin. When you accept that assumption, everything he does makes sense.”
Nancy Pelosi was right when she said to Donald Trump, “With you, all roads lead to Putin.” (I’ll never forget the iconic photo of her standing up at a large table full of mostly male cabinet members. She is the only person standing, and she is pointing at Trump and looking directly at him, while most other people are looking down at the table.)
Yes, you're right, I was overlooking the Russian influence. Between whoever is behind Heritage and Putin we could be sunk without a strong surge at the polls in 2026 to "kick the bums out!"
You are most definitely on the right track, AnnieNY. But, in order to get that “strong surge at the polls”, we need in our present moment a strong, charismatic leader to step forward, one capable of defining a pithy argument in the highly motivational language that energizes masses of likeminded voters to stand proud as an opposition loyal to the Constitution, willing to do the hard, hard work we will need to succeed against conservative messaging forged for use against the foundations of our liberal democracy over the many decades before escalators were invented and the Trump era became our palpable nightmare.
Daniel, my husband speaks a little Russian - his language classes of choice in high school if he knew how to say your phrase. Unfortunately he didn't, but he used Google translate and found it: Eto russkiye, tupyye. In Cyrillic script it's Это русские, тупые. Love Google translate! It's clear that the Russians were interfering in our election.
THANK YOU. The Russians are now laughing their asses off at all the Democrats who are scratching their heads and asking, “What happened?”
I've been comparing all of this to James Bond plots for a couple of years now--bizarro upside down world now. Glad I wasn't alone in thinking this way.
And Russia. We know for a fact that they have been waging a mass disinformation campaign for many years.
I concur but how is that organized. Most of us want just what you have written but how does it become action rather than words..I am in Florida and the chance of me calling my senator is none....or the president elect or the disgusting A.G. would be nominee or the Secretary of State would be nominee..
I would focus on shoring up voting rights. The other side has been chipping away at them for years and we must be sure our votes count!
Ditto, from Texas.
I agree, Molly. I feel devastated, but the reality is Donald Trump will be the 47th President. As close as Harris came in campaigning (less than 2% difference - might be even less by now) less than 3 months, she had to be doing something right to go from Biden's approval rating of 40% to a vote of 48.8% of the vote. Maybe we should quit looking for something different and build on what she accomplished. Joyce is right. Now is the time to get ready for the 2026 elections. I know it seems like forever, but it isn't. I for one, am dismayed that my congressional district has allowed our MAGA representative to run unopposed for two election cycles. If I were younger, I'd run. In the meantime, we need to work within our communities - to make them strong - to point out the good and refuse the "crazy". And, we must also support through charities and volunteering those who are going to suffer the most right now. My disabled son is almost beside himself with worry for his SSDI and Medicare. I have two terrific Senators, but those who live in red states need to hold their representatives and Senators accountable. The ACA was saved this way. And, we must also hold corporation executives and those who wield their power through influence and dollars accountable. MAGA followers are not the only people who can attend school board meetings and town councils. Grieve these next few months if needed, but then continue to support the coalition Harris/Walz started and let's form "a more perfect UNION"! It's nearly Christmas, and as a Christian, I believe Christ came to shine a light on a dark world, bringing an all-enduring love. Peace be with you all.
A friend sent me a text mocking Trump's latest cabinet picks. So I looked at WaPo to see what she was talking about. And just reading the news sent me into a panic attack. We have been watching a train heading for a cliff. We have been yelling that the train is heading off a cliff. With people on it and people below the cliff. Yet the people who could have stopped it - and especially my fellow journalists - just went ahead with their lives as if the cliff didn't exist and the train was on the right track. I am terrified. And I want to seek out every single one of the white women in Nevada who voted for Trump and bring them to a detention center overcrowded with people with brown skin - many of whom might be citizens. I want them to SEE what they did. I want to yell at all the Lesbian moms on TikTok to PULL DOWN THEIR VIDEOS OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL FAMILIES BECAUSE SOMEONE IS GOING TO TAKE YOUR CHILDREN AWAY. My children turn 22 next month. I breathed a sigh of relief when they became adults. I thought the pandemic was the worst thing I would live through. Little did I know.
I agree about the train wreck. We are on the road to
hell. There are no forks in the road or detours. The way I see it, we’ve already given up. It’s 1930s Germany all over again. So many didn’t heed the warning then. We can pretend there will be an election in 2 years and we’re “fighting” for democracy, but as far as I’m concerned that’s extremely naive and totally unrealistic. It’s like little kids saying, “mommy & daddy made a mistake, but
they will come to their senses if we’re good children,” not understanding the depravity underlying their behavior when they locked us in the closet and forgot to feed us. These people feel
pleasure when they cause suffering.
There will be a backlash in 2 years, you can count on it because we can't imagine the damage that will have taken place by then.
(Love your dog pic) I have a problem with thinking
there’s going to be an honest election in 2 years or
4 years or actually at any time in the future. Trump
incited an insurrection in order to stay in the presidency 4 years ago. I have no doubt he will do
whatever it takes to stay in power until he dies, OR
until the rich republicans behind the scenes want
him gone. But they’re just as ruthless and obsessed with power as he is, so they’ll keep having fake elections like Putin does and install puppets in the presidency.
Ultimately it is in the hands of our citizens which is at once my greatest hope and my biggest worry. The brainwashed voted him in and the misguided stayed home. There does not seem to be enough people like us to turn this around, at least not now. We are in for a horror show.
I HOPE - really HOPE - there will be another real election. The gerrymandering inside red states shows how deep and widespread the corruption of Money & Power Are!! Don’t think so…Look at the “ supreme court ” and what perverse “justice” is, and John Robert’s decades long complicity with Citizens United ruling. Like the Chinese & Russians—there’s been a decades long plan afoot to slowly get us here. Look to McConnell’s lifelong push, push, push to load the Courts -especially the Supreme Court! Americans dream of “instant fixes” is a fever dream And so, here we are.
It took a second world war to mostly rid the world of Nazi Madness and Cruel Corruption.
What’s it going to take here and now, in This World???? In America?
Yes, there will be a backlash. But really, how likely do you think it is that they will risk losing this power by permitting a free and fair election.
We were too busy being free to actually appreciate or even care what was going on..Ohvwechad lots of help from way back in the early days of a government body whobeven after a failed take over resulted in a war & thousands of deaths..We did not follow any discipline for any of them..infact we allowed them to return to their governmental seats of power. We ignored that they ran their states like they were their own private country without a Constitution-they did exactly what they wanted with sections of their populations & mistreated people like dogs!..it continued up todate. Stealing all their rights..They never liked the Constitution to begin with & we allowed them to spit on it every change they could..oh we have ethics committee but u have to do ur job to actually have it serve its purpose & again it was beyond rare..Mitch McConnell over all his years if service slow & steady placed Federalist into every level of r government & the other party did nothing absolutely nothing! Federalist do no believe in the Constitution as we do..that's why the Federderalist style government never succeeded & we ended up with a 3-party style government instead..They should have never been allowed to run..They lied to all when they would stand up in public & take the OATH of office they never planned on fulfilling..If we r going to have a successful government for the people then we need a government who believes in that Constitution & when one crosses the line..takes peopkes rights away etc etc..bring them to a hearing & removal of the power seat we gave them when proven guilty..instead we slap their hands or look the other way & vote them back in over & over..Since when is it alright to vote ur own raise in?etc etc..Whatever happened to the privilege of serving in the most powerful government in the world & when was it turned into a career advancement of power & greed!?
We gave away r power
because we were all too busy being free to be me!..Well welcome to ur lesson & it's a big serious one..
I agree with you Susan. It's late to be reacting. I fear what extreme measures it could take to make positive changes for us and our GRANDS! The next few years may be hard to live through, and everyone needs to prepare the best they can.
Any woman who voted for Trump is self loathing . Any man who did is disgusting.
If we are going to work hard to save our country as we know it, it will take team work and unity. I was not able to find those in your post. I am left with a different message. Singling out any group such as white women and lesbians in any way disrupts the much needed unity and prevents accomplishments. It also can cause the loss of an election.
I think you misread. Let me explain. When my kids turned 18, I breathed a sigh of relief, because no one could take them away from me because we had suddenly become a nation that didn't think two moms could raise children. I am warning people whose kids are not 18 to stop publicizing that they are gay families. There is no unity. We are not going to rebuild out of anything but ashes. As Susan noted above, we are in Nazi Germany. And just like 1930s Germany, there are white women who long ago made the (unconscious) choice to turn against other women. They voted for Trump. There is no unity when we have a pyramid system of power with white men on top and white women just below them - and white women who like their place and will hurt themselves and other women to keep it.
Pointing this out is not sowing discord. If you don't see racism and sexism - perpetrated by women - then you can't do anything to stop it.
Yep, everyone should read Dorothy Thompson’s 1941 piece in Harpers: Who Goes Nazi? She interviewed Hitler, was kicked out of Germany and married Sinclair Lewis, the Nobelwinner, who wrote “It can’t happen here”.
Dorothy's piece is brilliant
I agree. Living in California we promptly told our 22 y/o grandson who lives with us that we are a safe haven for any of his LGBTQ friends who don’t feel safe where they are. My home has 2 extra bedrooms and we have plenty of love and understanding to help them have a peaceful life here. People shouldn’t have to live in fear because of racists and bigots.
I read racism against white people in both. You may disagree but it works both ways. Plus, if that is not understood and respected, I expect the same results. No one controls what another thinks nor feels about anything nor has the right to try. We are all powerless over all others unless a law is broken, and understanding and respecting that is imperative in order for the wedge that separates us to be removed. Interjecting racism no matter the direction is that wedge.
Kay, racism toward white people isn’t a thing. Racism is about power. In our society, white people have the power. “Reverse racism” is something the people with power made up when they saw their power was being threatened. Saying that we should respect people who are gleeful about rounding people up in concentration camps is like saying we should respect Hitler’s supporters.
Also, what I was referring to is that 52% of white women voted for Trump. They voted to keep their power rather than live in a more equitable society.
Your reaction was mine. While certainly mockable, they are terrifying in so many ways, not the least of which is this is that man’s litmus test to see who will be loyal to him in the confirmations. Not only should they be held, no dissolving congress, but they should be aired widely real time so we can see how unreasonable these choices are but listen to the questioning to see where it’s going, especially from republicans. I wonder if there will be a history to judge all this?
I’m still reeling from the results, and can see 3 options here ..
Let it defeat us
Go along but keep our heads down
Hope (against hope) for the best
Get back up and work to keep our country
Let’s go !
There’s one other option—leave.
Leaving isn't the answer..it's accepting defeat..of course if u have the money to pack up r entire family & leave that means ur leaving the clean up to those that can't afford to do that & also those who know the worth of this country & all it was trying to achieve & will stand tall to get it back & keep it..Those that stay & fight r the ones who will be the most proud because they fought the fight & won!🇺🇲
I’m sorry, stay here and let my Jewish husband get
picked up by Nazis, no thanks.
I agree with Susan. Personal safety for yourself and your family must come first. After that, you can work as much as is possible from afar. I would suggest that any one family or persons who think they will be deported choose now the country they want to exit to. Don't wait until it's too late..
We spent a month abroad during the election and plan on digging deep
in order to travel to Italy twice yearly. We spend our summers in Canada.
I agree we must fight, but I am exhausted and horrified. Fighting is important, yes, but for 35 years the American-public has been lobotomized
with faux news aimed at the Democratic Party. Now add in Russian propaganda,
the richest man on earth who controls so much social media and other nefarious actors and what chance does
our nation have?
I’m 76. Fighting isn’t in my future nor is it in my husband’s. I hear you, but my MIL is the only survivor from her family. The rest died in the Holocaust.
We did 1.5 years ago. I can do what I am able to from afar. However, we aren’t surrounded by the horrible mess on a day to day basis. No place is perfect, but there’s less stress here.
No. Because with the Trump admin in bed with Putin and a defanged NATO, we could easily be looking at WW lll. European nations and others are vulnerable.
Agreed here. There is risk everywhere. But I also believe that if someone who has the means and chooses to leave to feel safe and for their mental health im for that as well.
Well, that’s kind of the future I see right now. Because bff Putin got the stupid puppets he wanted, Ukraine will fall, the US will pull out of NATO, and Putin will next march into Poland and then Germany…
“Giving up is unforgivable” yet I feel
that’s exactly what our leadership has done.
Where are they? Why is there not a demand for an audit? I know- we don’t want to be sore losers - why the hell not? Less than 250,000 votes cost us the swing states - shouldn’t someone double check?
Where are leadership democrats calling for Biden to use his newly awarded immunity to take some steps to safe guard our democracy or at least our national security.
🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗 that’s what we’ve gotten from our leaders since the election. We are all hurting and lost and in need of their reassurances. The hallmark of leadership isn’t leading when you’re winning- it’s leading when you’re getting creamed.
They need to show the nation and the world that we are not going down without a fight and that every last one of us will fight against all the unconstitutional BS that’s coming our way.
Vive La Resistance!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Stephen Spoonamore wrote a Duty to Warn letter to VP Harris based on vote tallies as of Nov. 12. The number of ballots that left unvoted everything but President ( bullet or ghost ballots) was far out of the ordinary. One percent of these is ordinary. In North Carolina it was 11% of Trump’s vote. NC elected a Democrat for governor.
In all of the swing states the percentage of these Trump ballots with other offices and initiatives unvoted was more than the usual. In all of the non-swing states it was the usual 1% or less. In Idaho and Utah, where Trump was way ahead, it was normal. In Oregon, where Harris was way ahead, it was normal. Abnormal just in the swing states, all of them.
A hand recount is needed to investigate. I recommend Spoonamore’s letter. He explains how on-existent votes could be added to Trump’s total.
You just know that there’s something dirty going on here. If those numbers you quote are accurate, there has to be an explanation and we as a nation deserve to hear it. We are watching a slow motion shit show playing out, and maybe we have been scammed, if that’s the case we need to know about it. 🙏
https://substack.com/inbox/post/151721941?utm_campaign=post&triedRedirect=true
I agree Ann, there’s no meaningful push-back. Signing petitions, writing letters and donating for democracy as we sink into a fascist regime is not only ineffective, it’s like trying to kill a dinosaur with a sling shot.
I agree with you, Ann. I fought hard for the Dems not only in WI, but other states. I still cannot believe Cruz won over Collin Allred? It just seems no matter how much time, $, energy and passion I invest, I sometimes was fighting against weak Dem leadership who many times still support the "old guard". Rep. Crockett wrote today that she had "offered her services" as Chair of DPCC but that Rep. Dingell who is 70 years old will "continue to serve in that role". I have no problem with Rep. Dingell's age, but rather that is definitely an area that could use new leadership. The DPCC is the chief messaging group for the party. It's like the members don't understand the 2024 messaging was not what voters wanted; hence we will have a GOP administration. Rep. Crockett is a "firecracker" and has breathed life and hope into the Dem party. What a disconnect not to understand we clearly need a new way forward with fresh voices and perspectives. It was almost as if she was being an "upstart" as a relatively new Rep to even "think" about running for a leadership chair. I have no words!
I hear you about Cruz winning over Colin Allred. It upset me, too. I would love to see Jasmine Crockett as the Chair of DPCC - she is what we all need because she understands what's happening and is a wonderful communicator. And she doesn't pull any punches. She seems to be afraid of absolutely nothing.
What concerns me with Rep. Crockett not getting the chance to chair the DPCC and people keeping the "old guard" in these roles or, for example, Schumer in Minority Leader role is that it will discourage these young, fresh leaders (Reps and Senators) to either not attempt to offer their name as a potential replacement, but perhaps even turn them off from staying in Congress or running for election in the first place. Joyce, it's maybe a thought for a future article. We NEED them. For me, I'm seriously considering changing my party designation to Independent. And... I'm a senior citizen.
Senior citizen here, too. I hear you. What I saw with voters during this election was that huge numbers of them were enthusiastic about younger, fresh leaders. IMO the way to tank the democratic party is to stay with the old guard. When you have young ones like Crocket, Maxwell Frost, and AOC, you have people who inspire hope, even in us old folks. I love seeing how focused and inspiring those you people are, and I think a lot of the country is ready for change.
Amen, Susan. While a lot of us are "ready for change", the "old guard" isn't letting go. Nancy Pelosi registered to run for reelection in 26? Are you freaking kidding me? Her involvement in the "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" in POTUS's decision to "step aside" damaged her legacy. IMO, she was never behind VP Harris and her backstabbing President Biden only showed me who she was. Dear God... Nancy, your time is up. Retire.
Very interesting, Ema. I didn't know that about Pelosi. Seems like she's worked to damage her own legacy. Unfortunately, some people never learn to let go, never become able to sense when it's time to let go. What you've said has damaged her legacy, IMO.
There needs to be ballot curing and check what areas had been detained from voting or what votes were disqualified
Well-said Ann!
Joe is not home.
What happened in 2024, I think, has been evolving since 2016: People no longer care about facts, much less the truth. Kellyanne calked it, “alternative facts.” Even the courts got in the fun by ignoring precedence and findings of fact. Trump found that he could say anything, he did … still does … and people - America - just accept it.
David, you must have noticed that many many people are outraged and do not accept his lies. Truth matters. 🤮🎃🤡💩🤮
I think the wheels have been in motion long before 2016. At least the year before, Bannon was saying he wanted to destroy the government here. Beyond that, this was. carefully steered by the GOP since Reagan.
It’s been in play for 50 years… Mitch McConnell packing the courts since he was elected & gained power, Reagan and his union busting & PLEASE look at double digit inflation in those “fantastic total fantasy” years, and Newt Gingrich.
It’s been a slow, relentless campaign from the enemies within! We just didn’t pay attention when it was there to see If We Looked.
I hope we can at least verify if there was any tampering at the tabulation, as was suggested in PA. Because cheaters cheat. Russia, Musk, Money, Disinformation, and an extremely large percentage of unwilling-to- be-educated voters. Faux news. Appalling numbers of reasonably intelligent people who have not studied world history. Such as the 30 something who, a few years ago, asked us who Hitler was. We have to check to see if the numbers were in any way hacked, AND we absolutely must educate people. Or maybe we're all about to get a big lesson. I'm not giving up, but I am p***ed off at the clowns determined to destroy everything, and I'm worried for our citizens, immigrants, our allies, our LGBTQ families, and our women and girls. I'm acutely aware that I must get adequate sleep, because there's a lot to cope with, and a lot to do. Courage.
Especially since there was "just enough" votes in so many states.
And now our attention is on the horrible cabinet picks which has been like a firehouse of controversies. Should we just accept, or question what seems highly unusual? Asking for a recount was certainly done in 2020.
The cabinet picks seem to be chosen in order to destroy each of the departments they're put in charge of. It appears to be designed to destroy our government. Either that or it is a gross distraction so that we don't pay attention to the other things going on.
Yes, Oz in charge of Medicare & ACA. What a disaster. The fund will be mysteriously bankrupt in no time.
Nancy Mace is certainly vying for a position with her sudden turn AGAINST LGBTQ+. She claims to have friends that she cares about there but then she claims to have been raped while supporting a known rapist. She is a vile creature with zero redeeming qualities.
Remember when Madison Cawthorn told us about drugs and sex orgies? I don’t think he was lying.
Don’t you know that only democrats cheat? S
A bunch of people decided the freedoms Harris and Walz talked about were either not important (vis-à-vis the price of bologna) or couldn't possibly be pursued and moreover, enabled or protected, by a woman of color as a president. Or both.
It wasn't really a decision as much as an instinctive, negative trigger. Black? Asian? Female? Nope!
People in the United States fought autocracy in the southern states after the Civil War. This is a great article on how ordinary people hold more power than they think. Throughout society they give and take away power through all the ordinary functions in the society. We can kick out the pillars of power by our non-cooperation. from Waging Nonviolence: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/how-we-can-meet-challenges-of-authoritarianism/
Thank you!
I guess you still think there’s going to be an election.
If there is an election, we already know who the “winners” will be.
Just like in China && Russia && Venezuela &&. Yes we’re in a world of crap.
Thanks, Joyce. There ARE guardrails: States, cities, courts, Congress, press, military, the Constitution, the laws, universities, churches, the companies, unions, non-profits, and so many groups which can all be powerful forces, if so minded. But the guardrails have to hold, not fold. Powell of the Federal Reserve simply said “no”. Maybe no one understands what “fascism” means, but they do understand that their rules, protections, and liberties can be lost. Senate confirmation hearings are easy compared to Trump's "recess appointments".
The law will be what DT says it is. The Constitution
will be either seriously altered or thrown out. Wealthy fascists are already on the Boards of many colleges & universities. The Kochs & others like them have already bought, I mean donated enough money
to alter curriculums and content from orgs like PBS & NPR. The internet is chock full of slick websites
peddling disinformation. Even substack has been invaded by reality-altering writers. We already know social media is a tool for people more interested in making money than they are in the truth. It won’t be long before no one knows what the truth is.
Trump's "lying strategy" linked with his 10 years of "The Apprentice" viewership, has once again "Bamboozeled Lazy Voters WHO failed to Pay Attention and Follow WHAT HE has been up to! Shame on them All! AND, to the media: STOP GIVING TRUMP SO MUCH FREE AIR TIME!
Check out this article: The Corporate Consultants Behind Harris for President. (11-18-24)
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Freadsludge.com%2F2024%2F11%2F18%2Fthe-corporate-consultants-behind-harris-for-president%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2lquDwnBo5Wo-euxfBz1i7tCvdN7MflqIxzfraiVPuNcGHSeUicWfzbv4_aem_8dmeRN6GV3-Ian-6wxRbSw&h=AT3I0oQQ9MLvtQE_XnWKmGm5hXrpZdnoW3fxQurtPmxvXAtBvrPkgvxutdHqp0mdFMNuA2kDUa0avLWfnHc9EZvHxH-4v76k8t00N792jnDrgb5ApKmcOvfDX2R_TatUXHuTc-uj9Laxw1_fDBxT&__tn__=%2CmH-R&c[0]=AT0uB1mMOgOyvNsjl-Ib3BH8MbRbeardkSllWOIW8vh3fwHfLoMt0ViimZSJSY31uxRsgWXZ0ugZZtpvwy7yGFjOO7r-b42leQbD_LQhk9l_8-JwnScorhbEaxWvMvzsh-3ma_FfuFOBIruAlhc_gqUBsgW5Bfapz5bZzeSvxtCiqynTgi0
The last paragraph of this long article: "Rumblings among swing-state Democrats, a month out from Election Day, that Harris was coming up short of resonating with working-class voters were borne out. In the past few days, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, lamented a “disconnect” with people in the working class who were “very much economically insecure” despite the Biden administration’s touting of its economic measures. Even Democratic insider and MSNBC host Jen Psaki, after Election Day, joined in the criticism of embracing the Cheneys’ support."
Vincent, in my opinion it has nothing to do with Harris or Biden. It has to with democrats ignoring the daily onslaught of disinformation and brainwashing
techniques going on right under their noses. Dems
simply didn’t understand how dangerous it was and
let it continue when they could have done something
about it.
I agree. We are all victims of a decades long information war. After 9/11 I suggested that the internet would need to be shut down to a couple from a military background. They just shook their heads and replied that it would never happen. As this new growing mass medium was far too useful an Intelligence gathering and distributing weapon. By then Murdoch has already been gifted the keys to the global mass media kingdom by successive democratic governments in the UK and the US who shared the desire to create a global neo liberal economic hegemony. At the highest level this is now a conflict by socially powerful individuals which political system is most effective at delivering world capitalism and at the lowest a righteous rage by the disempowered against the social iniquities that capitalism structurally creates.
If I'm understanding this, I agree with you. The Economy was strong, yet the high nprice of groceries and gas weren't reflected in inflation. I wish the Dems had connected with the working class in terms of
of how the Cost of Living was more indicative of their insecurity than the state of the US economy.
According to AAA, the average cost of gas 1 year ago was $3.308, a month ago it was $3.17, a week ago it was $3.08. The current average is $3.06. Dems didn’t effectively deal with disinformation. The high
cost of groceries is mainly from price-gouging after transportation costs went down and the merging of grocery store chains that eliminated competition.
The Biden admin was suing to stop a merger of 2 grocery chains that will raise prices it it’s allowed,
but I doubt the Trump admin will follow thru with it.
Trump’s tariffs will make everything more expensive.
Wait until they see how economically insure they will be under Trump. How do they not remember the lost jobs before the pandemic? How about the bankrupt farmers?
I will never forget what Reaganomics did to us when we left the military. No jobs, I had to work 3 waitress jobs, we had to live with family. After finally being able to move into our own apartment, we got apples and potatoes from my MIL farm and ate potato pancakes 3 times a week. Butter and cheese came from the food bank.
My husband had to work with carpet installers and all his administration military training was useless. Then, 16.5% interesting rates to buy a home. It was 8 years before we could do more than survive. By then we both finished education to get better jobs. Bill Clinton was our hero.
I get it Sharon—I worked 2 jobs and went to nursing school full time. I lived in a bedroom of an old lady’s house & had no kitchen privileges or use of her house. I lived there for 3 years.
Women are strong people and not given nearly enough credit for what they do. My nursing school was in the military so I had that advantage. I finally worked in health insurance after completing my associates degree after discharged. I am THE PERSON who go insurance companies to pay for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. I was a cancer nurse I. The Air Force. Nurses rock!
Thank you Joyce for helping me to stay strong for my children, for my grandchildren, for women, for good men, and for our country. Together we can stay true to our beliefs and can hopefully protect the destruction of our constitution.
I want to believe, but right now I don't see a whole lot of fight from our Democratic leaders in DC. I hear a lot of silence laced with platitudes. Our media is caving and so are some of our Dem senators. I find myself thinking going along to get along way too often as I read and view news.
I think that it may be better to look for leaders in more grassroots zones, such as Joyce. I joined Bluesky and there are many amazing lawyers and watchdog groups and many many others motivating people to claim power and take action together. AOC has been posting reels on her IG account, she seems to be engaged in being a leader. It is true I am not seeing much of anything from any Dems in any real power and that is truly disappointing. That said, perhaps this is where “new” leaders will show themselves. And by new I dont necessarily mean young although not excluding them, but just new leaders. Take heart, going along to get along probably wont be a sustainable strategy. Find local people and encourage each other with small actions
Local is good, but there are lots of angry legislators who will not back down. Subscribe to Senator Elizabeth Warren. (D-Mass). She gets it.
Don’t think that because its not reported in the MSM that nothing is happening on the Democratic Party side. MSM is still laser focussed on Trump as they have been since 2015.
Who are the Dems in real power?
I often felt Pelosi should have taken someone under her wing and really mentored them. There were no signs she did that.
She did. She said she specifically said she mentored Hakeem Jeffries to take her place. Personally he lacks teeth. I dont see him as the powerhouse Nancy has been or a compelling leader. I dont see it.
I missed that she was supposed to be mentoring him and I agree he is not a compelling leader. But maybe he is and we’re not getting the attention. Dems certainly aren’t in disarray.
Yes, maybe we havent seen it yet. But if there were ever a time to see it, it would have been by now/now. AOC is much more compelling to me. Not that I think she would presently become Speaker, however she is up front and engaging people as a leader by staying in touch and presenting information and ideas and realistic reassurance
In this time of shock and grief, it was not helpful for President Biden to welcome Trump into the Oval Office with even a fraction of acceptance and, dare I say, warmth. I understand his wanting to abide by tradition, but DAMN, he could have shown some backbone and pushback, signaling to millions of us that we must steel ourselves and fight back. This is all just so damn sad and tragic.
That struck me too in not a good way. There has to be something in between being really nasty & very nice.
Why do I feel this is the depiction of the wizard of oz? Who is behind the curtain? Trump is woefully dumb and loosing mentally which was so apparent during the campaign. What entity is controlling this congressional group of narcissistic sociopaths? Those with the most to loose? The Oligarchs… I mean the billionaires? Far right extreme supposed Christians? Outside forces? I have so many questions about Musk’s involvement at the very last months of the election. Now the blame game has begun in the news, with the supposed news experts faulting the Democratic Party. I have no answers just so many questions. Trump is their puppet as he had the most to loose. “They” own him.