Elon Musk's PAC will probably be hearing from the IRS to ensure that the 24% mandatory Federal tax withholding was collected and remitted to the IRS for each $1M lottery payment. There may also be state and local tax withholding required for lottery payments, and a Form W-2G filed with the IRS and sent to each winner by the end of next January. I wonder if he made it clear to the winners that these payments are taxable. I'd also recommend Marc Elias' newsletter which contains information about all the lawsuits being filed concerning voter suppression and violations of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the results of those lawsuits. The good news is that most of these lawsuits are being decided in favor of voters. You can also check out his Democracy Docket website for more information and he did a panel discussion a few days ago with the Secretaries of State for Washington state, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona discussing what's being done to insure that the election is safe and secure, and they address issues relating to certification of the vote.
@Patricia . I am a lapsed Pennsyltucky lawyer, but concurrent jurisdiction with Pa.
25 Pa. Stat. § 3539
Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-79
Section 3539 - Bribery at elections
Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, give or promise or offer to give any gift or reward in money, goods or other valuable thing to any person, with intent to induce him to vote or refrain from voting for any particular candidate or candidates or for or against any constitutional amendment or other question at any primary or election; or who shall, directly or indirectly, procure for or offer or promise to procure for such person any such gift or reward with the intent aforesaid; or, who with the intent to influence or intimidate such person to give his vote or to refrain from giving his vote for any particular candidate or candidates or for or against any constitutional amendment or other question at any primary or election, shall give to or obtain for or assist in obtaining for or offer or promise to give to or obtain for or assist in obtaining for such person any office, place, appointment or employment, public or private, or threaten such person with dismissal or discharge from any office, place, appointment or employment, public or private, then held by him, shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding fifteen thousand ($15,000) dollars, or to undergo an imprisonment of not more than seven (7) years, or both, in the discretion of the court.
2. Please repeatedly post "not suckers or losers" comments in social media. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans and active duty members on Facebook, as well as 12.5 million family members and 242 million friends with veterans or active duty members. Military sites, veterans; organizations, historical sites.
I would love to see that happen..Is the only person we ever deported was Booth who shoot Lincoln?..musk at least has Canada or So. Africa..but I prefer he be sent clear back to So. Africa!..lol
Don't forget what trump said about the female in military service who was killed - actually slaughtered into pieces when trump was President & his caring sole that so many people think he has - said..He offered to pay for the funeral then when the $60,000.00 bill arrived the real trump spoke up & said he's not paying for any f***king Mexican - also how they're always trying to rip me off - that kind of goes with the suckers & looser statements
Any American who thinks that's ok coming from the Commander & Chief of the finest military in the world - just isn't worthy of the citizenship that the American Military as fought so hard to gift to u..
Interesting that he thinks Mexicans are always trying to rip him off, given that the ones he hired to build his buildings never got paid. Exactly who is ripping who off?…
Vicki, I am not sure taking away people's citizenship, even the horror Trump's is a good response. I think prison, and not in a country club prison is a better approach to dealing with Trump.
Thank you for the positive information, Patricia. I love reading Joyce's posts because she's so informed and brilliant, but also because I learn from and so appreciate posts like yours.
The IRS where auditors make a pittance compared to people like Musk? He clearly doesn’t care about financial fines. If he did, he would stop <waves hands> all of his BS. The only thing he *might* respond to is prison.
Are we living in some kind of alternative reality? For those of us old enough, is this an episode of the Twilight Zone and we're trapped in a zombie episode time loop from the 1960s?
Who are our fellow Americans planning to vote for Trump/Vance? With all we know about his purile, corrupt and criminal behavior, how can any American vote for Trump? What's in it for them?
Many Republicans may really dislike or even hate the post WWII, Roosevelt, liberal federal government, but how do they reconcile that with voting for Trump? Does he really represent the opposite of the liberal order? Are his outlandish plans, like deporting 12 million immigrants or funding a diminished government with high tariffs or pulling out of foreign agreements, really solutions for the benefit of America or just an entertaining form of chaos proposed by a junior high school delinquent?
Apparently, 70-75 million Americans may vote for him in two weeks.
I think the liberal order will win when 83-85 million Americans vote for Harris.
But I despair. 70-75 million Americans are a lot of our fellow Americans.
When and how do we break out of the zombie time loop? Who will bring MAGA back to earth?
For the most part you have the Christian Nationalists cultists, who do not care about the constitution. They see Trumps as a means to an end, which is their End-of-Days glory. You have the White Supremacist cultists, they do not care about the constitution. They see Trump as a means to an end, the eradication of non-white Christian, heterosexual people, and their global dominance in a White Power Global Nation. There is overlap between them and the first group. You have the Super wealthy who belong to the cult of money, and they see Trump as a means to the ends of lower or no taxes, and little to no interference in their corporate malfeasance and exploitation of the American people at large. There is some overlap between them and the other two groups as well. So, we need to realize this and work to protect our nation from them.
Yes, Linda. Yes. I’d like to add something here: since the SCOTUS ruling on Citizens United (2010), we have been living in a slow-moving coup with all you named joining forces to bring Lady Liberty to her knees to end our democracy. Money is the enemy within as SCOTUS continues to rule in favor of the uber-rich white nationalists who grease some of their palms (Chevron deference and more). We can be certain that some of the money comes from outside of the U.S.
Whether we, the people, can hold off the completion of the coup in this election cycle remains to be seen. The sadness I hold deep in my heart, and that keeps me up at night is the feeling I have that this will not be over ever. If they don’t win, they’re still going to try to steal it from us. If they don’t win this one and they can’t steal it from us, they’re going to keep trying. When Drumpf is gone, we will have Vance and a number of others waiting to emulate his madness.
Special thanks to our professor Joyce Vance for all she does to shine a light and educate us. Joyce is a true American SHERO!
Dana, I agree with what you are saying, but I have to say, Trump has made more of us completely aware of these evil forces, if I may call them that. We cannot be complacent, we must fight, each in our own ways.
I just started Subscribing to Jessica Valenti's Substack Abortion. I am so glad I did because she reminded me of how powerful an issue it is, and it is the battle that has gotten women rising to the occasion. Whereas most of my Substacks are caught up in analyzing the press and the polls, and the doings of the candidates, this focuses us on the lives of the most vulnerable in this, and that includes the doctors who have to provide care or not provide care.
Religion is the largest fraud ever created by men. I do not include Wiccan or any of the goddess-based "religions". But the organized, cultish worship of an individual male figure, enforced by violence.
Any belief system that asks us to treat each other as we would want to be treated and asks us to leave the Earth a little better than we found it, has my admiration.
Beyond that, it's mumbo jumbo ritualized empowerment of men who often make victims of their followers. Superstition in the guise of some book written by those same guys.
I think there are about 4000 "religions" across the globe. So it's not fair to totally generalize. But most are OK until those guys start twisting the original intent for power and wealth. And then there is the abuse. Oy.
I did find one that could work for me. Pastafarianism has some friendly and cool features. The food and drink is good. The only dogma is that there can be NO dogma and we are supposed to be nice to each other.
Nobody ever died in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Best of all, after he/she/it created this mess on Earth, he woke up one morning and realized what a mistake he had made. He hasn't been seen or heard from since. Which, IMO, is the way gods should act. Just do their thing and then leave us alone.
U have spoke correctly on the enemies within - but please don't forget Mitch McConnell & his Federalist infiltration to all levels of r government especially r justice system & Supreme Court & he's a proud papa on his movement over the course of his entire career of almost 40yrs!..My guestion is..why was he allowed to place - appoint Federalist into r 2-party system that strongly believes in the Constitution & that actually replaced
Federalism - please correct me if I'm wrong Federalist DO NOT hold the Constitution as any importance like we do..So why was a style of government that goes against what the founding fathers put in place - goes against it all allowed to infiltrate r government
Side note: It was the Anti-Federalists who pushed for the inclusion of the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) in the Constitution when it was being written and submitted for ratification. Think they were on to something.
"Are we living in some kind of alternative reality? For those of us old enough, is this an episode of the Twilight Zone and we're trapped in a zombie episode time loop from the 1960s?"
Who are these people? Linda Weide lists some of the groups below, but there is also a largish group, mostly men, who have been told by the likes of Rush and Fox that the “liberal elites” have been looking down their noses at them and they have built up a huge chip on their shoulders and this is a way of giving back with the middle finger. Never mind that they are cutting off their nose to spite their face.
I was at Lowe's a couple of days ago buying lawn waste bags and contractor bags to continue our cleanup after Milton. At the checkout there was a guy in front of me. Like me, he was about 60 or so, white, looked middle-class. He had two of those plastic-coated rods you get for staking tomatoes or whatever. He glanced back and saw my trash bags and nodded knowingly saying, "I just got through with all of that myself." I told him I was still in the middle of it and had lost some amenities but nothing serious. I said we probably have a year or so until the next time, kind of tongue-in-cheek. He rolled his eyes and snorted in agreement and then looked at his stakes and explained that he was getting them to prop up some plants that the storm had blown over and hoped they survived. He then, while still looking at the stakes in his hand and shaking his head said, "Fucking Chinese." I was kind of surprised and, smiling, said, "What did you say? Chinese?" and cocked my head to the side with a questioning smile. Nothing confrontational, just sort of friendly, bemused. He glanced up at me frowning, expecting an argument but when he saw me smiling and looking like I look he relaxed and said, "They control the weather. We do too. Look it up." Then we wished each other good luck and went on our way. I was so surprised by the whole thing that I forgot to ask if he had voted yet. It's hard to believe until you see it in the wild. What I saw in that guy was somebody who needs to feel like the world is not out of his control or understanding. He can't stop the hurricanes and they're getting worse but he feels a little better when he imagines that he knows the cause. He's also looking for simple answers. Trump plays to this when he says that BS about deportations. Those deportations cannot actually happen. They'll wreck civil society and they'll wreck a large part of the economy of every single person in the country, just by being attempted. Just wait until people see that their grocery store is starting to look bare and what's there is getting more and more expensive. Trump gives them easy answers and they're not inclined to look too deeply. It's pretty mundane, actually. That guy at the store would probably snort at the idea that our democracy is in danger. A lot of folk don't think we have democracy now. A lot of people, you might be included, think government is not for the People, but for the RICH people. They aren't really wrong. Biden's crew is the first in many decades to actually take action to shut down the neoliberal order that reveres greed as good. We've got to keep that ethic alive in Harris and the administration after hers too if that's ever going to change.
We haven’t lived in a democracy - even a quasi-democracy like ours was - since the Roberts Court sold America to the highest bidder with Citizens United. We live in an oligarchy.
It’s better than a fascist led theocracy but the sooner CU is gotten rid of (changed by law) the better.
True dat. The Immunity Ruling sealed the deal. We still have a chance to make it right. Like Anne Applebaum says - we have to believe in democracy. Heart like a Ukrainian.
A lot of them are in the CN and WS cults. That is Christian Nationalist and White Supremacist cults. And if you live for End-of-Days, or for the Global race war.
Here is Prof. Kathleen Belew talking about the WSs
Here is Andra Watkins talking about CNs, and NAR, with the differences in their End of Days beliefs, but how this effects their not caring about the Constitution, the Environment, Education, Health care, and other things that we would see as being in their self interests.
Andra Watkins work helps me as my Democrats Abroad book club reads through Project 2025 to think about the fact that all of the people writing it are CNs.
I'm right there with u - 76 been voting for many yrs!..I remember when r 2-party system worked & I truly believe the majority of politicians that won their elections to serve way back knew & understood the words - serve honor & protect & when they took their Oath meant every word they said..U could - way back when - u actually trust who u voted for - trumps a rapist-adulterous thief who stole American Files & Docs to share with anyone & to make sure he benefitted by his every move..And this country has given him more freedom then the soldiers that fought & sacrifice for him to have such freedom & we ALL know how grateful he is for it.."Suckers & Loosers"
Obama was right. We are in the midst of an epistemological crisis when 75 million people believe Trump is good for the country. This is how nations crumble, from a decay from within. Putin is smiling.
I think it will be very difficult to break out of the "zombie time loop" because republicans have shown us that they will pursue a goal for as long as it takes and then keep going. I think the problem the republicans have with a liberal federal government is that they care about people and try to make people's live better. Republicans seem to believe that the only ones who deserve to have their lives made better are the very rich, white men. They don't care about the rest of us, and are upset when anything they see as positive (money) is diverted away from them.
My own sister is one of those "zombies" who plans to vote for Trump. She has been deceived by the gaslighting. She thinks Trump will be a better president than Harris because he will "defend the constitution," (!) while Kamala wants to take money away from billionaires by increasing their taxes, which she thinks is against the constitution. SMH
The hate-filled, scare tactics work on far too many people! The bully of those following a bully and believing, in his case HIM, are nothing new. It's just sad to see if among friends and relatives; but it's real!
It is both sad and disgusting to realize there are so many American citizens who can rationalize to themselves that the felon is worthy of the office of POTUS.
Our exponentially increasing concentrations of financial and commercial informatics power is fundamentally incompatible with democracy.
One can’t have a billionaire class AND democractic governance.
We go through the motions of voting, but the outcome is increasingly determined by the disinfotainment industry that just wants to sell our attention (Murdoch etc), and the non-US state actors working with tfg and the increasingly ignorant and malinformed, to divide America against itself using said means.
I appreciate this. It seems DOJ is on top of things. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive them for waiting so terribly long to prosecute don-old.
Steve I agree with you, she is timing oriented like the courts are timing is important thus we have the ‘Rocket Docket’ cheaters stall you know who does it all his life.
Re: “state officials’ decision to remove people who are registered to vote from the voter rolls because of fears these registered voters might not be citizens.”
Shouldn’t State Officials who believe that a registered voter is not a citizen have to follow up with that person and have them prove or disprove that assumption?
Not in Alabama; innuendo is sufficient. That’s why I must check my voter registration every week here. There is no assurance that the offending Sec. of
State is keeping that site updated so that I could seek to address some imaginary accusation.
I've been impressed with Marc Elias's law group Democracy Docket's reporting of their efforts on voters' behalf to counter MOST, if not all, Republican efforts to throw the election to trump by any illegal means up their sleeves. And, I tip my hat to those Judges regardless of party affiliation have for the most part ruled against Republican efforts to toss voters off the rolls so trump could win a state here or there. Seems like it is ALWAYS the Republicans who are willing to cheat in elections to get their crooked politicians in offices they don't deserve. Now, if we could just stop the carpetbaggers that are more in evidence this year than previously, wouldn't that be nice. I yield back my time.
It's the republicans who do it because they cannot win with their ideas.
It's why their thugs are out stealing years signs, intimidating voters. And blowing coal from their pickemup trucks that have never seen a load of wood or manure, just have balls dangling from the hitch.
Joyce, I so respect the fact that you brought up the education aspect of the DOJ. The public does need to know the processes that are applied and how they could ultimately affect us. It would be a great civic duty if DOJ was to inform us and not leave us in the dark, as has been the case of Garland pursuing Trump when he had the chance. I certainly hope the next AG will be a bit more forthcoming and engage us, at least a little, about the inner workings of cases they are pursuing.
Elon pushed his limits before the DOJ finally got involved but I can’t seem but wonder if he really is paying people. Since MAGA has used actors before, I just wonder if those names of people he picks are real ones or not.
Very possible. I would trust Musk and his $1,000,000 give away as far as I can throw him. A stunt sounds much more plausible. Maybe, just maybe the msm could follow up on these “winners” and check to see if they really do live in a single wide in Daisytown. (Not that I’m aware of any winners in Daisytown). Or did they just evaporate into MAGAworld?
Thank you very much, Joyce for enlightening us about what the DOJ is doing and why. I am aware that th3e most important rule in justice is INTEGRITY - do not assume guilt, assume innocence, then when you have sufficient evidence prove guilt. As you said in your essay, we, the citizens, don't need to know the sp3ecifics of any given case, we just need assurance that the DOJ does want fair and free elections and is working to assure this.
The same applies to the Executive office. We don't need to know what plans they have drawn up to secure a fair and free election and aftermath. Just that they have a plan.
A Daily Docket email this Wednesday 10/23 afternoon invited me to register for a "virtual event" hosted by Actress & Producer, EVA LONGORIA, scheduled for Monday 10/28 & 7:00 PM Eastern. The event includes discussions with multistate Election activists:
Stacey Abrams
Marc Elias
Maria Teresa Kumar - Voto Latino Presidente
"We are in this Together" for the life of our democracy. My CA Ballot has been received & counted.
That would be a “Travesty of Justice”. Besides the optics of quid pro quo, she has already shown that she doesn’t understand jurisprudence. “Blue” gonna have to have a strong legal bench to take all of this on.
I upgrade to paid today in order to comment. I very much appreciate your work and that TDPR (Heather Cox Richardson) quotes you often.
How come a convicted felon can threaten a former Speaker of the House and sitting US Representative and a former US Representative and current candidate for US Senate with physical and specific deadly violence when it would be a crime for anyone else? What's going on here? Is threatening targeted violence at a specific time against people now considered political speech?
Agree! I've been genuinely puzzled about this. I realize this is a simplistic comparison too. But if I threaten to 'whip my neighbors azzz' over calling my daughter a terrible name and harassing her all day while I'm at work, I can be charged with terroristic threatening. Idk about other states laws, but it is done here. When they do that though, directed toward elected officials no less, somehow it is ok? Absolutely no repercussions? I guess one more case of rules for me, but not for thee. It's no wonder we are so disillusioned.
Thank you for the heads up Joyce. It does become frustrating in such a charged atmosphere to not see any authority step in and say "Chill out dudes. or we're gonna whack you."
I cancelled my subscription to The New York Times due to its obvious bias regarding the coverage of Donald Trump. Time and again newspapers across our country have failed the American people by not reporting news in a fashion that accurately reports the news of the day i.e. interpreting crazy things Trump says until we can add "sanewashing" to our vocabulary. We have 'journalists or editors' explaining what Trump means instead of reporting accurately what Trump is saying. Now I have to also add to my cancellation of newspapers to include The Washington Post. I have been a faithful subscriber and reader of the Post for years. I actually thought I could trust this paper to report the news. Today the Post has failed just as the New York Times has as well as papers across our nation. Why isn't it front page headline news that Donald Trump's affinity for Hitler and several 4 star Generals verifying this information is buried somewhere on other pages of the paper if at all. I don't have time to dig through each page to see if the Post is accurately reporting the news as that should be a given since it is called a NEWSpaper. I am cancelling my subscription and will seek out publications that truly are honest and trustworthy.
I cancelled my LA Times sub after learning that the owner is nixing the editorial board's endorsement of a presidential candidate for the first time in ages if not ever. The owner is friends with tfg and musk and, apparently/allegedly, would have a role in the maga administration. Painful it all is, especially in light of good work by individual reports.
I agree -- there are so many Trump things that should be in 2" type in red at the top of the papers. They have really, and very seriously, let us down.
While I agree as to the NYT bias a week or so ago, they appear to be making up for it now and they were responsible for the magnificent work with General Kelly as well as other new front page stories! The Kelly story may be a true game changer all by itself as the Hitler expose is enormously powerful! So subscribe again?
I upgraded to paid today in order to comment. I appreciate your work very much and that you are very much quoted by TDPR (Heather Cox Richardson).
Why does a convicted felon get to threaten the former Speaker of the House and US Representative Nancy Pelosi and a former Representative and current Senate candidate, Adam Schiff with physical and deadly harm but for anyone else it is a punishable crime? Or am I wrong? Is threatening deadly violence against specific people now considered political speech? What exactly is going on here?
Elon Musk's PAC will probably be hearing from the IRS to ensure that the 24% mandatory Federal tax withholding was collected and remitted to the IRS for each $1M lottery payment. There may also be state and local tax withholding required for lottery payments, and a Form W-2G filed with the IRS and sent to each winner by the end of next January. I wonder if he made it clear to the winners that these payments are taxable. I'd also recommend Marc Elias' newsletter which contains information about all the lawsuits being filed concerning voter suppression and violations of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the results of those lawsuits. The good news is that most of these lawsuits are being decided in favor of voters. You can also check out his Democracy Docket website for more information and he did a panel discussion a few days ago with the Secretaries of State for Washington state, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona discussing what's being done to insure that the election is safe and secure, and they address issues relating to certification of the vote.
@Patricia . I am a lapsed Pennsyltucky lawyer, but concurrent jurisdiction with Pa.
25 Pa. Stat. § 3539
Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-79
Section 3539 - Bribery at elections
Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, give or promise or offer to give any gift or reward in money, goods or other valuable thing to any person, with intent to induce him to vote or refrain from voting for any particular candidate or candidates or for or against any constitutional amendment or other question at any primary or election; or who shall, directly or indirectly, procure for or offer or promise to procure for such person any such gift or reward with the intent aforesaid; or, who with the intent to influence or intimidate such person to give his vote or to refrain from giving his vote for any particular candidate or candidates or for or against any constitutional amendment or other question at any primary or election, shall give to or obtain for or assist in obtaining for or offer or promise to give to or obtain for or assist in obtaining for such person any office, place, appointment or employment, public or private, or threaten such person with dismissal or discharge from any office, place, appointment or employment, public or private, then held by him, shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding fifteen thousand ($15,000) dollars, or to undergo an imprisonment of not more than seven (7) years, or both, in the discretion of the court.
READER ENGAGEMENT
1. Uncle Sam needs you! https://www.mobilize.us/ (And me.)
2. Please repeatedly post "not suckers or losers" comments in social media. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans and active duty members on Facebook, as well as 12.5 million family members and 242 million friends with veterans or active duty members. Military sites, veterans; organizations, historical sites.
The fine would hardly be a deterrence for Musk.
But I'd gladly see him imprisoned.
or convicted and deported back to South Africa.
An actual example of a dangerous immigrant, to be sure. You can throw Murdock in there as well.
🤣👍🏻
I would love to see that happen..Is the only person we ever deported was Booth who shoot Lincoln?..musk at least has Canada or So. Africa..but I prefer he be sent clear back to So. Africa!..lol
And lose his businesses in the process… Prison would be good. I wonder if he would "dance" in prison like he did for trump?
And send the billionaire owner of the LA Times (Patrick Soon-Siong) back to South Africa with Elno. Birds of a feather and all.
Not your chickens, Joyce. Those a good birds.
And Thiel and his cronies.
Don't forget what trump said about the female in military service who was killed - actually slaughtered into pieces when trump was President & his caring sole that so many people think he has - said..He offered to pay for the funeral then when the $60,000.00 bill arrived the real trump spoke up & said he's not paying for any f***king Mexican - also how they're always trying to rip me off - that kind of goes with the suckers & looser statements
Any American who thinks that's ok coming from the Commander & Chief of the finest military in the world - just isn't worthy of the citizenship that the American Military as fought so hard to gift to u..
Interesting that he thinks Mexicans are always trying to rip him off, given that the ones he hired to build his buildings never got paid. Exactly who is ripping who off?…
I sincerely wish “they” (we?) could take Trump’s U.S. citizenship away. He has no business living in this country.
Vicki, I am not sure taking away people's citizenship, even the horror Trump's is a good response. I think prison, and not in a country club prison is a better approach to dealing with Trump.
It isn't enough.
Please do it now.
I subscribe to Democracy Docket and get him on You Tube. Good stuff there.
Thank you for the positive information, Patricia. I love reading Joyce's posts because she's so informed and brilliant, but also because I learn from and so appreciate posts like yours.
The IRS where auditors make a pittance compared to people like Musk? He clearly doesn’t care about financial fines. If he did, he would stop <waves hands> all of his BS. The only thing he *might* respond to is prison.
Are we living in some kind of alternative reality? For those of us old enough, is this an episode of the Twilight Zone and we're trapped in a zombie episode time loop from the 1960s?
Who are our fellow Americans planning to vote for Trump/Vance? With all we know about his purile, corrupt and criminal behavior, how can any American vote for Trump? What's in it for them?
Many Republicans may really dislike or even hate the post WWII, Roosevelt, liberal federal government, but how do they reconcile that with voting for Trump? Does he really represent the opposite of the liberal order? Are his outlandish plans, like deporting 12 million immigrants or funding a diminished government with high tariffs or pulling out of foreign agreements, really solutions for the benefit of America or just an entertaining form of chaos proposed by a junior high school delinquent?
Apparently, 70-75 million Americans may vote for him in two weeks.
I think the liberal order will win when 83-85 million Americans vote for Harris.
But I despair. 70-75 million Americans are a lot of our fellow Americans.
When and how do we break out of the zombie time loop? Who will bring MAGA back to earth?
For the most part you have the Christian Nationalists cultists, who do not care about the constitution. They see Trumps as a means to an end, which is their End-of-Days glory. You have the White Supremacist cultists, they do not care about the constitution. They see Trump as a means to an end, the eradication of non-white Christian, heterosexual people, and their global dominance in a White Power Global Nation. There is overlap between them and the first group. You have the Super wealthy who belong to the cult of money, and they see Trump as a means to the ends of lower or no taxes, and little to no interference in their corporate malfeasance and exploitation of the American people at large. There is some overlap between them and the other two groups as well. So, we need to realize this and work to protect our nation from them.
Yes, Linda. Yes. I’d like to add something here: since the SCOTUS ruling on Citizens United (2010), we have been living in a slow-moving coup with all you named joining forces to bring Lady Liberty to her knees to end our democracy. Money is the enemy within as SCOTUS continues to rule in favor of the uber-rich white nationalists who grease some of their palms (Chevron deference and more). We can be certain that some of the money comes from outside of the U.S.
Whether we, the people, can hold off the completion of the coup in this election cycle remains to be seen. The sadness I hold deep in my heart, and that keeps me up at night is the feeling I have that this will not be over ever. If they don’t win, they’re still going to try to steal it from us. If they don’t win this one and they can’t steal it from us, they’re going to keep trying. When Drumpf is gone, we will have Vance and a number of others waiting to emulate his madness.
Special thanks to our professor Joyce Vance for all she does to shine a light and educate us. Joyce is a true American SHERO!
Dana, I agree with what you are saying, but I have to say, Trump has made more of us completely aware of these evil forces, if I may call them that. We cannot be complacent, we must fight, each in our own ways.
I just started Subscribing to Jessica Valenti's Substack Abortion. I am so glad I did because she reminded me of how powerful an issue it is, and it is the battle that has gotten women rising to the occasion. Whereas most of my Substacks are caught up in analyzing the press and the polls, and the doings of the candidates, this focuses us on the lives of the most vulnerable in this, and that includes the doctors who have to provide care or not provide care.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jessica/p/the-anti-abortion-movements-newest?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Jessica reminds me of all of the women who are feeling alone right now, who we are helping to bring relief with our votes.
-->> "Trump has made more of us completely aware of these evil forces" <<--
So very well written!..Thank u🙋♀️
Nothing has done more harm to society than what is done in the name of religion.
Religion is the largest fraud ever created by men. I do not include Wiccan or any of the goddess-based "religions". But the organized, cultish worship of an individual male figure, enforced by violence.
Blessed Samhain to all.
Any belief system that asks us to treat each other as we would want to be treated and asks us to leave the Earth a little better than we found it, has my admiration.
Beyond that, it's mumbo jumbo ritualized empowerment of men who often make victims of their followers. Superstition in the guise of some book written by those same guys.
I think there are about 4000 "religions" across the globe. So it's not fair to totally generalize. But most are OK until those guys start twisting the original intent for power and wealth. And then there is the abuse. Oy.
I did find one that could work for me. Pastafarianism has some friendly and cool features. The food and drink is good. The only dogma is that there can be NO dogma and we are supposed to be nice to each other.
Nobody ever died in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Best of all, after he/she/it created this mess on Earth, he woke up one morning and realized what a mistake he had made. He hasn't been seen or heard from since. Which, IMO, is the way gods should act. Just do their thing and then leave us alone.
Carbo Diem!
I have been touched by His Noodly Appendage.
Ramen.
Let us not forget that he boiled for our sins.
An individual male figure- created in Man's image.
The fact is that humans created "GOD" in his own image, not the reverse.
U have spoke correctly on the enemies within - but please don't forget Mitch McConnell & his Federalist infiltration to all levels of r government especially r justice system & Supreme Court & he's a proud papa on his movement over the course of his entire career of almost 40yrs!..My guestion is..why was he allowed to place - appoint Federalist into r 2-party system that strongly believes in the Constitution & that actually replaced
Federalism - please correct me if I'm wrong Federalist DO NOT hold the Constitution as any importance like we do..So why was a style of government that goes against what the founding fathers put in place - goes against it all allowed to infiltrate r government
Side note: It was the Anti-Federalists who pushed for the inclusion of the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) in the Constitution when it was being written and submitted for ratification. Think they were on to something.
Absolutely!
"Are we living in some kind of alternative reality? For those of us old enough, is this an episode of the Twilight Zone and we're trapped in a zombie episode time loop from the 1960s?"
Answer - YES !
You should check out Jon Stewart's Daily Show piece this week. It's about a dream we're having, or not having.
Much like the one in which the sun is so close, everyone is baking. But the reality was the opposite. "The Midnight Sun."
Agreed 💯 so many twilight zone episodes resonate so clearly today especially right now
Who are these people? Linda Weide lists some of the groups below, but there is also a largish group, mostly men, who have been told by the likes of Rush and Fox that the “liberal elites” have been looking down their noses at them and they have built up a huge chip on their shoulders and this is a way of giving back with the middle finger. Never mind that they are cutting off their nose to spite their face.
I was at Lowe's a couple of days ago buying lawn waste bags and contractor bags to continue our cleanup after Milton. At the checkout there was a guy in front of me. Like me, he was about 60 or so, white, looked middle-class. He had two of those plastic-coated rods you get for staking tomatoes or whatever. He glanced back and saw my trash bags and nodded knowingly saying, "I just got through with all of that myself." I told him I was still in the middle of it and had lost some amenities but nothing serious. I said we probably have a year or so until the next time, kind of tongue-in-cheek. He rolled his eyes and snorted in agreement and then looked at his stakes and explained that he was getting them to prop up some plants that the storm had blown over and hoped they survived. He then, while still looking at the stakes in his hand and shaking his head said, "Fucking Chinese." I was kind of surprised and, smiling, said, "What did you say? Chinese?" and cocked my head to the side with a questioning smile. Nothing confrontational, just sort of friendly, bemused. He glanced up at me frowning, expecting an argument but when he saw me smiling and looking like I look he relaxed and said, "They control the weather. We do too. Look it up." Then we wished each other good luck and went on our way. I was so surprised by the whole thing that I forgot to ask if he had voted yet. It's hard to believe until you see it in the wild. What I saw in that guy was somebody who needs to feel like the world is not out of his control or understanding. He can't stop the hurricanes and they're getting worse but he feels a little better when he imagines that he knows the cause. He's also looking for simple answers. Trump plays to this when he says that BS about deportations. Those deportations cannot actually happen. They'll wreck civil society and they'll wreck a large part of the economy of every single person in the country, just by being attempted. Just wait until people see that their grocery store is starting to look bare and what's there is getting more and more expensive. Trump gives them easy answers and they're not inclined to look too deeply. It's pretty mundane, actually. That guy at the store would probably snort at the idea that our democracy is in danger. A lot of folk don't think we have democracy now. A lot of people, you might be included, think government is not for the People, but for the RICH people. They aren't really wrong. Biden's crew is the first in many decades to actually take action to shut down the neoliberal order that reveres greed as good. We've got to keep that ethic alive in Harris and the administration after hers too if that's ever going to change.
We haven’t lived in a democracy - even a quasi-democracy like ours was - since the Roberts Court sold America to the highest bidder with Citizens United. We live in an oligarchy.
It’s better than a fascist led theocracy but the sooner CU is gotten rid of (changed by law) the better.
True dat. The Immunity Ruling sealed the deal. We still have a chance to make it right. Like Anne Applebaum says - we have to believe in democracy. Heart like a Ukrainian.
Pretty sure if the Chinese controlled the weather, they wouldn’t be having their own floods and droughts. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
😉
A lot of them are in the CN and WS cults. That is Christian Nationalist and White Supremacist cults. And if you live for End-of-Days, or for the Global race war.
Here is Prof. Kathleen Belew talking about the WSs
https://youtu.be/RzicRdX0tYg?si=5ZIUvpdmjrmSIDf9
Here is Andra Watkins talking about CNs, and NAR, with the differences in their End of Days beliefs, but how this effects their not caring about the Constitution, the Environment, Education, Health care, and other things that we would see as being in their self interests.
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-a-christian-nationalist
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation
Andra Watkins work helps me as my Democrats Abroad book club reads through Project 2025 to think about the fact that all of the people writing it are CNs.
* now that I see where my comment lines up, Linda lists the above, not below.
I'm right there with u - 76 been voting for many yrs!..I remember when r 2-party system worked & I truly believe the majority of politicians that won their elections to serve way back knew & understood the words - serve honor & protect & when they took their Oath meant every word they said..U could - way back when - u actually trust who u voted for - trumps a rapist-adulterous thief who stole American Files & Docs to share with anyone & to make sure he benefitted by his every move..And this country has given him more freedom then the soldiers that fought & sacrifice for him to have such freedom & we ALL know how grateful he is for it.."Suckers & Loosers"
Obama was right. We are in the midst of an epistemological crisis when 75 million people believe Trump is good for the country. This is how nations crumble, from a decay from within. Putin is smiling.
I think it will be very difficult to break out of the "zombie time loop" because republicans have shown us that they will pursue a goal for as long as it takes and then keep going. I think the problem the republicans have with a liberal federal government is that they care about people and try to make people's live better. Republicans seem to believe that the only ones who deserve to have their lives made better are the very rich, white men. They don't care about the rest of us, and are upset when anything they see as positive (money) is diverted away from them.
Just so.
My own sister is one of those "zombies" who plans to vote for Trump. She has been deceived by the gaslighting. She thinks Trump will be a better president than Harris because he will "defend the constitution," (!) while Kamala wants to take money away from billionaires by increasing their taxes, which she thinks is against the constitution. SMH
The hate-filled, scare tactics work on far too many people! The bully of those following a bully and believing, in his case HIM, are nothing new. It's just sad to see if among friends and relatives; but it's real!
I agree. And FOX propaganda news is the epicenter of Trump's scare tactics.
It is astounding the twists and turns some people will take to justify their behavior!
It is both sad and disgusting to realize there are so many American citizens who can rationalize to themselves that the felon is worthy of the office of POTUS.
Our exponentially increasing concentrations of financial and commercial informatics power is fundamentally incompatible with democracy.
One can’t have a billionaire class AND democractic governance.
We go through the motions of voting, but the outcome is increasingly determined by the disinfotainment industry that just wants to sell our attention (Murdoch etc), and the non-US state actors working with tfg and the increasingly ignorant and malinformed, to divide America against itself using said means.
Im terrified
I appreciate this. It seems DOJ is on top of things. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive them for waiting so terribly long to prosecute don-old.
One of the reasons I'm glad Joyce talked about this now is how long it took to prosecute the threats cases.
Steve I agree with you, she is timing oriented like the courts are timing is important thus we have the ‘Rocket Docket’ cheaters stall you know who does it all his life.
Re: “state officials’ decision to remove people who are registered to vote from the voter rolls because of fears these registered voters might not be citizens.”
Shouldn’t State Officials who believe that a registered voter is not a citizen have to follow up with that person and have them prove or disprove that assumption?
Not in Alabama; innuendo is sufficient. That’s why I must check my voter registration every week here. There is no assurance that the offending Sec. of
State is keeping that site updated so that I could seek to address some imaginary accusation.
In Colorado, if there's a question, election workers check. Duh.
I've been impressed with Marc Elias's law group Democracy Docket's reporting of their efforts on voters' behalf to counter MOST, if not all, Republican efforts to throw the election to trump by any illegal means up their sleeves. And, I tip my hat to those Judges regardless of party affiliation have for the most part ruled against Republican efforts to toss voters off the rolls so trump could win a state here or there. Seems like it is ALWAYS the Republicans who are willing to cheat in elections to get their crooked politicians in offices they don't deserve. Now, if we could just stop the carpetbaggers that are more in evidence this year than previously, wouldn't that be nice. I yield back my time.
It's the republicans who do it because they cannot win with their ideas.
It's why their thugs are out stealing years signs, intimidating voters. And blowing coal from their pickemup trucks that have never seen a load of wood or manure, just have balls dangling from the hitch.
Sad.
"...their pickemup trucks that have never seen a load of wood or manure..." Except in the driver's seat 😈
Joyce, I so respect the fact that you brought up the education aspect of the DOJ. The public does need to know the processes that are applied and how they could ultimately affect us. It would be a great civic duty if DOJ was to inform us and not leave us in the dark, as has been the case of Garland pursuing Trump when he had the chance. I certainly hope the next AG will be a bit more forthcoming and engage us, at least a little, about the inner workings of cases they are pursuing.
Elon pushed his limits before the DOJ finally got involved but I can’t seem but wonder if he really is paying people. Since MAGA has used actors before, I just wonder if those names of people he picks are real ones or not.
Very possible. I would trust Musk and his $1,000,000 give away as far as I can throw him. A stunt sounds much more plausible. Maybe, just maybe the msm could follow up on these “winners” and check to see if they really do live in a single wide in Daisytown. (Not that I’m aware of any winners in Daisytown). Or did they just evaporate into MAGAworld?
Still illegal since he is offering money to influence voters.
Thank you very much, Joyce for enlightening us about what the DOJ is doing and why. I am aware that th3e most important rule in justice is INTEGRITY - do not assume guilt, assume innocence, then when you have sufficient evidence prove guilt. As you said in your essay, we, the citizens, don't need to know the sp3ecifics of any given case, we just need assurance that the DOJ does want fair and free elections and is working to assure this.
The same applies to the Executive office. We don't need to know what plans they have drawn up to secure a fair and free election and aftermath. Just that they have a plan.
A Daily Docket email this Wednesday 10/23 afternoon invited me to register for a "virtual event" hosted by Actress & Producer, EVA LONGORIA, scheduled for Monday 10/28 & 7:00 PM Eastern. The event includes discussions with multistate Election activists:
Stacey Abrams
Marc Elias
Maria Teresa Kumar - Voto Latino Presidente
"We are in this Together" for the life of our democracy. My CA Ballot has been received & counted.
Vote Blue to protect the DOJ. A Red vote will mean a DOIJ (Department of INJUSTICE) 😠
I heard today that trump plans as naming Judge Cannon as Attorney General!!!!
That would be a “Travesty of Justice”. Besides the optics of quid pro quo, she has already shown that she doesn’t understand jurisprudence. “Blue” gonna have to have a strong legal bench to take all of this on.
I’m glad to hear that Musk has been put on notice. Would love to see his you know what in a court room.
I upgrade to paid today in order to comment. I very much appreciate your work and that TDPR (Heather Cox Richardson) quotes you often.
How come a convicted felon can threaten a former Speaker of the House and sitting US Representative and a former US Representative and current candidate for US Senate with physical and specific deadly violence when it would be a crime for anyone else? What's going on here? Is threatening targeted violence at a specific time against people now considered political speech?
Agree! I've been genuinely puzzled about this. I realize this is a simplistic comparison too. But if I threaten to 'whip my neighbors azzz' over calling my daughter a terrible name and harassing her all day while I'm at work, I can be charged with terroristic threatening. Idk about other states laws, but it is done here. When they do that though, directed toward elected officials no less, somehow it is ok? Absolutely no repercussions? I guess one more case of rules for me, but not for thee. It's no wonder we are so disillusioned.
Thank you for the heads up Joyce. It does become frustrating in such a charged atmosphere to not see any authority step in and say "Chill out dudes. or we're gonna whack you."
Nice that this go-round the DOJ in in Democratic hands. Go vote and keep it that way!
I cancelled my subscription to The New York Times due to its obvious bias regarding the coverage of Donald Trump. Time and again newspapers across our country have failed the American people by not reporting news in a fashion that accurately reports the news of the day i.e. interpreting crazy things Trump says until we can add "sanewashing" to our vocabulary. We have 'journalists or editors' explaining what Trump means instead of reporting accurately what Trump is saying. Now I have to also add to my cancellation of newspapers to include The Washington Post. I have been a faithful subscriber and reader of the Post for years. I actually thought I could trust this paper to report the news. Today the Post has failed just as the New York Times has as well as papers across our nation. Why isn't it front page headline news that Donald Trump's affinity for Hitler and several 4 star Generals verifying this information is buried somewhere on other pages of the paper if at all. I don't have time to dig through each page to see if the Post is accurately reporting the news as that should be a given since it is called a NEWSpaper. I am cancelling my subscription and will seek out publications that truly are honest and trustworthy.
I cancelled my LA Times sub after learning that the owner is nixing the editorial board's endorsement of a presidential candidate for the first time in ages if not ever. The owner is friends with tfg and musk and, apparently/allegedly, would have a role in the maga administration. Painful it all is, especially in light of good work by individual reports.
I agree -- there are so many Trump things that should be in 2" type in red at the top of the papers. They have really, and very seriously, let us down.
While I agree as to the NYT bias a week or so ago, they appear to be making up for it now and they were responsible for the magnificent work with General Kelly as well as other new front page stories! The Kelly story may be a true game changer all by itself as the Hitler expose is enormously powerful! So subscribe again?
Thank you Joyce. Your writing helps me a lot to better understand our society!
I upgraded to paid today in order to comment. I appreciate your work very much and that you are very much quoted by TDPR (Heather Cox Richardson).
Why does a convicted felon get to threaten the former Speaker of the House and US Representative Nancy Pelosi and a former Representative and current Senate candidate, Adam Schiff with physical and deadly harm but for anyone else it is a punishable crime? Or am I wrong? Is threatening deadly violence against specific people now considered political speech? What exactly is going on here?