This is honestly such a good point, Barbara. Can you imagine if Kamala let loose with a big fart while she was talking? CAN YOU IMAGINE??? Yet "oh it's just his way." He's such a disgusting piece of sewage.
The next thing you know that there will be an advertisement from Depends saying “You Too Can Be The Recipient of Our New Undergarment featuring Donald J Trump’s Likeness On Each Product”!
She didn’t snort, sniffle, snore breathe her way through her speech. She didn’t have ridiculous clown makeup on her face. She didn’t try to comb her hairpiece over a giant bald head. She didn’t have trouble standing up straight….there’s too many to list!!!
She didn’t notify us that mtg was blown to bits in a hydrogen car as she sat in the audience. She didn’t have a billionaire doing jumping jacks behind her as she spoke. Um….
You forgot that she didn’t sent her lackey out to say that “America is for Americans and Americans only” She didn’t hire a bunch of incompetent campaign workers who vetted a loser “comedian” and allowed him to say that Puerto Rico is a floating garbage dump and barely prevented him from calling the Vice President of the United States a c*nt.
I think Stephen meant to say "USA is for whites and whites only." America encompasses all of North and South Americas, and all those brown people he doesn't like.
Exactly. Being presidential has always been way out of his league and psychotic universe. He's so encapsulated with delusions, along with his world of crime and make believe that he doesn't have a clue on how to lead or gives a shit about the proposed disastrous results. Jeff's list completely spells out the comparisons and the choice for we the people couldn't be more obvious.
I'll never forget the pundits saying "this when he became presidential" or a related comment during his reign of terror. He is physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually unable to do so, and it has always been so obvious it was never going to happen.
Just one example of the political pundit class's completely inability to do their jobs and be objective when it comes to PAB, which continues to this day.
Great summary of all the Trump insanity. And yet, 46%+ of the country still apparently wants the orange, crazy, evil one. We are in a mass delusion and a severe psychotic break untethered from reality in this country, and I still fear for our future. We are in a very bad place, when truth and even objective reality is optional……where did we go from here?
Would the remnants of the GOP take this opportunity to rebuild their party and try to bury the MAGA movement...restore a little sanity, maybe? Or do we have deprogrammers step in? 🤷🏼♀️
Last night my Democrats Abroad Project 2025 book club was reflecting on whether we want to continue reading Project 2025, when we have read over 2/3 of the chapters, and find it somewhat sickening. A member made a suggestion was made that we start studying democracy and see what needs to happen to strengthen the Democracy of the US, so that the institutions are protected from an attack like this. One of our members had read an article by a Polish political scientist in the NYT, which she has shared with us. It is analyzing what makes countries vulnerable to these attacks on democracy, and what helps countries to stand up to these attacks. It is very interesting what he is saying, and I am posting it here. It is her link, and I believe it is a gifted link. It is called The Game Theory of Democracy. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/magazine/democracy-elections-game.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
It’s the obscene amount of money gloating around DC that has made criminals interested in our government! Thanks to the corrupt Supreme Court & Citizens United
Susan, I think you are going to like this video of a discussion of early elections. Someone shared it with one of my listserves today. It makes things look really good for Kamala. https://youtu.be/EZvQCIsu8Zs?si=BwN3XXbR0EjGpDGE
Here's a hack to get past the paywall. As soon as you open the link (you have to be fast and it may take 2 or 3 goes) put your cursor anywhere on it and hit Command A (Mac) Ctrl A (windows) This will highlight the article. Then hit Command C or Ctrl C which copies everything. Then you can paste using Command V or Ctrl V into any Word or Text doc. They may have tried to redeem themselves in the last few days but the NYT is still untrustworthy in my book and they're not getting another cent from me.
Susan, I canceled my subscription to NYT last year, but it was not paywalled for me. I copied it from what she posted to us in Signal, but it apparently does not work elsewhere. I apologize that it does not work.
The article is talking about the work of Adam Przeworksi called What Make Democracies Endure, written in 1996. You might need to search for it, or get it from your library. I found a copy to download but it was not in English. I also discovered The Journal of Democracy, which I am sharing here, because it seems like an interesting resource along the lines of better understanding it and how it works. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/
You get inured to some of it, not that the ideas do not terrify me if they are implemented, or as they are being implemented in Red States and to some extent in Blue states. But we see that knowing about them is not enough, and it gives us a deeper understanding of how our government works and is set up, and how these people operate. But, we all have a general pervasive feeling of nausea at this point which makes us not so inclined to keep on reading. Or, we shall see after the election.
Deprogramming could start with unplugging cable news, starting with Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Real America’s Voice … Geez. I just googled ‘conservative cable news; there’s a shit ton. No wonder so many people are so stupid.
Nope. We could re-up the Fairness Doctrine. Losing MSNBC wouldn’t be a great loss. When the Fairness Doctrine was challenged in 1987 by the Reagan admin, admin lawyers claimed that fairness was in violation of the 1st amendment. The decision and argument were and are both controversial. Until 2011, the Fairness Doctrine was still on the books though not enforced, but was summarily removed in 2011, and no one seemed to notice or care. BTW: ‘equal time’ is not the same as the Fairness Doctrine. As soon as the Fairness Doctrine was challenged, Rush Limbaugh and the Murdoch’s went nuts. They could now promote harmful reports without checks. The idea here of the Fairness Doctrine was much like peer reviews in science. While all analogies fail, the peer review in science keeps nutcases from publishing in established peer-review journals. While the FCC is government control of speech, it is the same control that government exerts in other cases. Peer reviews are conducted by interdisciplinary scholars. There is a need for industry to monitor, which was the hope (and claim) at the time. They’ve failed miserably.
The fairness doctrine made a lot more sense when the airwaves could only support a very few channels. I grew up with four broadcast channels in Washington DC with the eventual addition of a fifth channel, PBS.
How are you going to ensure fairness with dozens of cable news outlets? The government bureaucracy would be ginormous. Also, enforcement is likely to vary from administration to administration. Back when the First Amendment was written, there was no limit on the number of newspapers and there was no government censorship. 1st Amendment forever!
And talking about deprogramming people sounds completely fascist to me.
Now, let me respond to your sense that Susan’s comment is fascist. I am pretty sure, having followed Susan for sometime, that she was tossing off ‘deprogramming’ in a moment of pique and frustration. She would never in a lifetime argue for actually deprogramming folks. That’s what Mao did, and Susan knows that it’s cruel and authoritarian. I’m not a fascist either. I’m trying to use the institutions we have had in place to get a newly conceived Fairness Doctrine back. That’s it. Elon Musk, by the way, is running Xitter on strict construction of the 1st amendment, where strict construction assumes that (1) we can know/determine what the authors of the Bill of Rights intended, purely without context and (2) that the constitution, including the Bill of Rights, is not a living document. I’m not sure he thinks about it that way, though he is smart enough to. I think he’s cynical and doesn’t give a rip.
That’s a different issue than the 1st Amendment issue, interesting in and of itself.
I grew up (I’m 76), with only three channels. Here’s my take on limited access: we got some news delivered, for the most part, by trustworthy folks. But it wasn’t until scholars wrote the history of the period, that we became acquainted with our history-as-past. Think of the Johnson years. Now, we get the present unfiltered sometimes but certainly like a firehouse. It would be great if historians like Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder were giving everyone contex. But that isn’t happening and can’t happen, unless you subscribe or are still in academia.
We cannot trust pundits with our news, not necessarily because they are untrustworthy — though some are. The Fairness Doctrine would be a corrective, and if it were reinstituted by the FCC, the problem of the proliferation of channels would take care of itself through licensure.
In the end, I’d rather be through of as a citizen of the news than as a consumer of the news. I know that many honest reporters are tryin g to talk to us that way.
I think the Magat movement will survive even if Harris wins next week. The rethugs in Congress will spend the next four years trying to make certain Harris is a one term president and harm the American people as a result. The Magats are deeply entrenched in red America like a malignant cancer metastasizing throughout the body politic. There is no comparison of the articulate and empathetic Harris/Walz ticket to the felonious orange narcissist and deeply disturbed JD aka I forgot his other names. Thanks to Harris and Walz for giving us hope and joy in an insane political environment.
There will always be a movement of discontent, wont there? Throughout history, these people rise up to be heard… but I cling to hope there are less of them than sane citizens who want to see a democracy continue. It’s gonna take vigilance and time. 🤞🤞🤞🤞
I would like a poll that polls every single person in the US and Americans Abroad on what they think. No one I know responds to these polls, because they don't want to give some rando their thoughts and info. So, these surveys are based on a sampling of the population who do not care who asks them what. That is already a select segment of the population. I read at one point that all of the surveys over-survey Trump supporters because they like to be heard for their grievances. For example, they have a home, a car, maybe 2 cars, get paid vacation, go traveling, send their kids to college, and they go out, yet they are still griping about the economy having been better under Trump. Wondering what they are basing it on. Also, their quality of life was better, because everyone loves living in fear and terror as a virus traps them in their homes and their loved ones die from it. Those grievance people are just a lot more likely to answer a poll than say someone who is spending their time working night and day for a campaign.
You're absolutely right, and just to add one more piece of why the polls aren't actually representative of the American people: it also rely on people who answer calls from random unknown numbers, and A LOT of us don't do that.
Well said, my feeling about polls that I couldn't articulate as well, I'm not going to participate in government by fickle popularity. Electing leadership of our country is more important than a damn homecoming Queen.
I keep thinking how there is more of us, working, thinking, caring people & wondering how these screaming, petty jackals got so much traction. I think there is a lot to it, how our systems have been corrupted to reward loyalists over integrity, aligning with abusers rather than doingthe work. But, what I see plainly radiating from these people at every level is avarice. It is strong motivation. Our knowing that integrity is stronger-that is stronger. We've just needed to get clear on our own motivation to shut these asshole fuckers down. I'm glad for this writer & this community coming together to get crystal clear on that. The raging Kevins & Karens in my own location are about doing me in. I don't know what I'd do if intelligent, like-minded hadn't started showing up. I'm sure glad you have!
It makes me sad and confused to know that almost half our country are ignorant and incapable of critical reasoning. How did we become so stupid? Home schooling? I grasp at possible reasons without satisfying answers.
Home schooling is mostly embraced by the religious or the very lazy who don't want to get their kids ready for school. Either way, the kids get a substandard education.
Your post is on point, but to add a little hope for all of us losing our minds, it's only 46% of the electorate and most Americans don't even vote. It's probably around 30% of the country, which still WAY too many people. And I have no idea what we're going to do about this mass delusion and psychosis.
Well, if it helps, it's not 46% of the country, it's 46% of the electorate, which is (sadly) a much smaller number. All we have to do is vote & make sure everyone we know votes.
Oh, it's a horrible thought but I'm sure many of them would gladly deliver their daughters to Merde-A-Lardo for his use. Thank God Epstein isn't around.
Does it sound true? Or are they just too far gone to admit the whole thing is one giant grift? And they’re the collective mark. Too hard. Easier to just keep goin along …
"Taking a bullet for..." clearly implies putting oneself in harm's way. As soldiers do on the battlefield. As firefighters do when entering a burning home to save a child. Or as police do when confronting an armed perpetrator.
Taking a bullet means self-sacrifice for the larger good.
Ok. Read my relpy to Teri, then maybe try Snopes and look at before and after pics of his ear. He was, and my only comment to the dope who shot the gun was "DUDE. You had ONE JOB." 🫣
I strongly disagree!!! Turd's ear was *** "allegedly" **** hit by a bullet. Where's the bullet? Casing? Medical report? Eric turd said "dad didn't even need stitches". Next day, ear was photographed as turd sat in golf cart. No damage at all. No bandage. Turd DID put a pani-liner on his ear a few days later at RNC convention.
This is incorrect. The golf cart pic was not from the next day. There are pics of him wearing a smaller bandage after the RNC, and before and after pics clearly show there's a healed nick in the cartilage, which no, would not need stitches.
And before you switch to the "ok, he was hit by a shard of glass then" line you'll have to produce a shattered teleprompter. Good luck, since they were both intact after the incident.
And no, I'm not Drumpf troll. I AM however a stickler for facts and reality. So believe whatever you want, but that doesn't make it true.
I'm new to this place, using it on a desktop, and no idea how to attach pics to a response, if it even can be done. So I'm gonna make a note bringing the receipts and post a link to it.
*sigh* I'll see if I can find my old thread on Shitter. It had pics, which I've probably since deleted from my phone. (And if you have a Shitter account, you can find me under @IrascibleInk Just sayin'.)
What you heard is false. The teleprompters were intact. Actual experts say and actual bullet would have done more damage only if the actual bullet had actually passed by the side of his head and actual couple mm closer. And still not killed him. About an inch closer, and would've caused a severe injury and still not killed him. About two inches closer, and yeah - we'd be looking at blasted-out cheekbone and dangling eye injury, and MAYBE dead.
No Abby, his ear lobe started to bleed. The American people have ZERO idea what, if anything, nicked his ear, but Kamala shouldn’t be President because she gets hay fever.
Bullshit. His ear lobe did NOT start to bleed. Fact-based, educated people know a bullet nicked his ear. For photo receipts, feel free to visit my homepage, where I'm actually allowed to post pictures.
Hi Jeff, I think you covered all the bases especially your last paragraph, I mean you brought out the sledgehammer my man. Sorry fellow travelers no Golf with MAGAS this week. However my 1 experience last week we will call at the Car Wash with a magat. Sitting on a bench waiting for my car a guy approached me. “Do you live here?” I said yes, he says he just drove in from Minnesota to his AZ home, then he proceeds to tell me that police do not enter certain parts of cities, too many Black folks. Then he tells me that the governor is terrible, trying to run a socialist state… my MAGA detector is code red at this point. Then he complains about the MN sales tax, then he says he paid a state income tax of $23,000. So I turn to him and say, hey pal, you just told me you own 2 homes, I can see your huge SUV and the tax u paid. Quit the BS. If you’re that wealthy stop complaining… I walked away…. Do I have a fucking target on my back for MAGA? Best to all…
That dumbass is obviously the recipient of GQP/MAGA politics of resentment. Good for you for pointing out that he is well off and yet he's still a whiny little bitch
What a smug, selfish SOB. Let me guess, a 65-78 year old white man, retired (name your industry) "executive". I would have casually mentioned that with Chump's proposed tariffs that $15.99 deluxe car wash will cost $115.99. We'll have to pay for the increased cost of the parts that are in the car wash equipment. I can see why your MAGA BS detector was at code red.
You nailed it Mingo.. I could not believe this guy starts talking to me.. I’m 72, try not to engage but these MAGAs are like evangelicals, they keep it up even after u have exposed them.
It reduces to a very simple observation: Her supporters can take pride in her comments without apology or explanation. In point, “sane washing” is a newly invented term applied uniquely to Trump. She doesn’t have to assure us she isn’t a Nazi. And her 75K crowd was sort a political Woodstock—non violent and a love-in of sorts. The contrast couldn’t be greater. Rachel Maddow said it, “damn good speech.” IMHO, a classic right up there with Obama and, dare I say, Reagan (a great orator, so-so politician in my view).
Obama wasn’t bad, but definitely not FDR or MLK Jr. He blew one of his best lines when he said in a SOTU speech that we we were the united STATES of America, rather than the UNITED states of America: I will bet he regrets that.
Absolutely. Reagan and his fucking neocons pioneered GOP gaslighting. The neocons' idiotic handling of the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan led directly to the formation of Al Queda, 9/11, and all the subsequent problems in that region that lasted decades, cost many American and Middle Eastern lives, and $ trillions in taxpayer money.
Reagan was a giant asshole. He hid his racism and bigotry behind his actor's veneer. He was blatantly against anyone below the richest 2%, originated the culture wars in earnest to divide our society, courted and encouraged the evangelicals to intrude into people's lives, created the "welfare queen" stereotype which was racist as fuck, cut funding to social spending, started taxing Social Security benefits, poured $trillions into mythological aerospace technology that still does not exist 40 years later, tripled the national debt, openly vilified government, and twiddled his thumbs when AIDS emerged and started killing many because he didn't give a shit about the gay community. I hate that they named the airport and that aircraft carrier after him.
He happened to be president when the Soviet Union imploded. He is given too much credit for that. USSR was a clusterfuck that was doomed to fail anyway.
thanks for this! I have thought of and quoted this poem at least 100 times in the last few years!! Says it all. Hard not to be full of passionate intensity at this hour as the shadow of totalitarianism extends its reach toward our beloved home. Mourning the loss of my family in the rabbit hole-- but joy comes in the morning?
You're bringing it, Jeff! That list is a keeper to present to all of our MAGA cultist friends. I love how they deny it all and gaslight us, telling us 'oh he just exaggerates' or 'he's just being donOLD". And then in the same breath they tell us how he's going to follow through with all those good policies, like cleaning up our cities and making the economy the best that's ever been by tarriffing the shit out of everyone and that all the economists love his plan and how everyone wanted Roe to be handled by the states. Hell is the impossibility of reason, but thankfully we don't have to live in their hell.
I was there last night. It was electric. It was PEACEFUL, joyful, optimistic, and inspiring. To quote you, Jeff, "she didn’t encourage her supporters to beat the shit out of hecklers, nor did she promise to pay the legal bills of anyone who did." And there were hecklers there, lots of them, right in our midst on Constitution Avenue, trying to drown her out with drums, sirens, and shouting.
But guess what, she ignored them and so did we. We could have beaten the shit out of them and drag them to the Potomac River, but we didn't. They were exercising their First Amendment rights, and we respected that. We payed attention to Kamala:
"I will always listen to you, even if you don't vote for me, I will always tell you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear. I will work every day to build consensus and reach a compromise to get things done...
"We like a good debate. And the fact that someone disagrees with us does not make them the enemy within. They are family, neighbors, classmates, coworkers. They are fellow Americans, and as Americans, we rise and fall together."
It was such a different evening from a Trump hate rally.
this is everything I could think of off the top of my head. now you get to tell me what I forgot
How did you keep your head from exploding 🤯 when writing this?
by taking frequent breaks to pace about the house
Self-care is important, Jeff ;) Stay healthy for us! Eternally grateful for your work.
YES!!!
Thanks man!!!
That was fucking brilliant!!!
Getting your exercise in!
And perhaps a significant dose of "Dank Anacin"?
😂😂
So, so perfect
Yeah…. Already !
The amazing descriptive list was already created as a good writer has stuff in the barrel ready to load!
Narcoleptic flatulence ✌🏻💙
Excellent Barbara!
This is honestly such a good point, Barbara. Can you imagine if Kamala let loose with a big fart while she was talking? CAN YOU IMAGINE??? Yet "oh it's just his way." He's such a disgusting piece of sewage.
The next thing you know that there will be an advertisement from Depends saying “You Too Can Be The Recipient of Our New Undergarment featuring Donald J Trump’s Likeness On Each Product”!
I use the toilet paper with his face on it.
Nah, they’ll be selling them as part of his next exclusive, commemorative, collectible grift
She didn’t compare herself to Jesus or any other deity, though I wouldn’t have minded if she’d compared herself to the Statue of Liberty. :D
Agreed K-EI!
Like that.
I can’t believe you mentioned all that you did, Jeff! If I were a teacher, I’d give you an A+. Good going!
I AM a teacher and I give Jeff an A+ AND extra credit.
Hmmm…you might need to find a different line of work….
He’s also quite smelly
She didn’t snort, sniffle, snore breathe her way through her speech. She didn’t have ridiculous clown makeup on her face. She didn’t try to comb her hairpiece over a giant bald head. She didn’t have trouble standing up straight….there’s too many to list!!!
Richard’s right, the miasma of a badly soiled, dripping diapered derpish dotard, were mysteriously absent Jeff!
She didn't mock a working reporter with a disability.
She didn't say she saw thousands of cheering Muslims when the twin towers came down.
She didn't claim she was a witch and people were hunting her.
Nor did she claim that nobody has been treated worse than her in the history of the country.
Yah… poor baby
Oh, that she were a witch and could spell him out… but if she were a witch she wouldn’t practice that kind of magic.
True dat Kathleen, no mention of boiling caldrons or flying broomsticks!!
Classic! Nice!
Project-2025-denying, dictator-ass-kissing...
Srsly, I think you covered all the bases. Great job!
She didn’t notify us that mtg was blown to bits in a hydrogen car as she sat in the audience. She didn’t have a billionaire doing jumping jacks behind her as she spoke. Um….
She didn't whine about the Deep State relentlessly and unfairly persecuting her
Damn you are good!!!!!!!!!
Goes without saying Tess, a masterful artist who actually understands the absurdity and points out the fuckery!!
You forgot that she didn’t sent her lackey out to say that “America is for Americans and Americans only” She didn’t hire a bunch of incompetent campaign workers who vetted a loser “comedian” and allowed him to say that Puerto Rico is a floating garbage dump and barely prevented him from calling the Vice President of the United States a c*nt.
I think Stephen meant to say "USA is for whites and whites only." America encompasses all of North and South Americas, and all those brown people he doesn't like.
I thought it was clear that he meant white.
She didn’t try to hawk any gold-and-diamond-crusted overpriced USA bibles and sneakers and watches that turn out to be snuck in from China.
🦊 weighs in:
https://x.com/maddenifico/status/1851465737191182553
Sweet, thanks P123!
https://x.com/tiff4mahogany/status/1851769667192234398
That was epic!!
If Kamala isn’t saying ANY of this, just what is it that she is doing? Oh, yeah…being Presidential.
And she also didn't give a Fidel Castro-length speech. She made her points and finished up.
She does get right to me point, must be the prosecutor in her.
Exactly. Being presidential has always been way out of his league and psychotic universe. He's so encapsulated with delusions, along with his world of crime and make believe that he doesn't have a clue on how to lead or gives a shit about the proposed disastrous results. Jeff's list completely spells out the comparisons and the choice for we the people couldn't be more obvious.
I'll never forget the pundits saying "this when he became presidential" or a related comment during his reign of terror. He is physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually unable to do so, and it has always been so obvious it was never going to happen.
Just one example of the political pundit class's completely inability to do their jobs and be objective when it comes to PAB, which continues to this day.
Having. A. Plan. And the ability.
The ability to conceive how to govern in the way the United States is expected to operate by the rest of the sane, non-fascist world.
That's a start.
Having competent advisors. Listening to experts.💙
Wait! He has a…concept of a plan.
Great summary of all the Trump insanity. And yet, 46%+ of the country still apparently wants the orange, crazy, evil one. We are in a mass delusion and a severe psychotic break untethered from reality in this country, and I still fear for our future. We are in a very bad place, when truth and even objective reality is optional……where did we go from here?
Would the remnants of the GOP take this opportunity to rebuild their party and try to bury the MAGA movement...restore a little sanity, maybe? Or do we have deprogrammers step in? 🤷🏼♀️
Last night my Democrats Abroad Project 2025 book club was reflecting on whether we want to continue reading Project 2025, when we have read over 2/3 of the chapters, and find it somewhat sickening. A member made a suggestion was made that we start studying democracy and see what needs to happen to strengthen the Democracy of the US, so that the institutions are protected from an attack like this. One of our members had read an article by a Polish political scientist in the NYT, which she has shared with us. It is analyzing what makes countries vulnerable to these attacks on democracy, and what helps countries to stand up to these attacks. It is very interesting what he is saying, and I am posting it here. It is her link, and I believe it is a gifted link. It is called The Game Theory of Democracy. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/magazine/democracy-elections-game.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
It’s the obscene amount of money gloating around DC that has made criminals interested in our government! Thanks to the corrupt Supreme Court & Citizens United
Yes, that is major
Linda… thanks for this! We absolutely need to think ahead to figure out how to curtail these dangerous efforts.
Susan, I think you are going to like this video of a discussion of early elections. Someone shared it with one of my listserves today. It makes things look really good for Kamala. https://youtu.be/EZvQCIsu8Zs?si=BwN3XXbR0EjGpDGE
Just watched it…thanks for sharing. I have fingers and toes crossed…😃
Thanks, Linda. I still subscribe, so I’ll go look it up.
I cancelled the Times a long time ago...and the link is paywalled... but I'm sure its valuable info!!
Here's a hack to get past the paywall. As soon as you open the link (you have to be fast and it may take 2 or 3 goes) put your cursor anywhere on it and hit Command A (Mac) Ctrl A (windows) This will highlight the article. Then hit Command C or Ctrl C which copies everything. Then you can paste using Command V or Ctrl V into any Word or Text doc. They may have tried to redeem themselves in the last few days but the NYT is still untrustworthy in my book and they're not getting another cent from me.
Thanks Jill.
Susan, I canceled my subscription to NYT last year, but it was not paywalled for me. I copied it from what she posted to us in Signal, but it apparently does not work elsewhere. I apologize that it does not work.
The article is talking about the work of Adam Przeworksi called What Make Democracies Endure, written in 1996. You might need to search for it, or get it from your library. I found a copy to download but it was not in English. I also discovered The Journal of Democracy, which I am sharing here, because it seems like an interesting resource along the lines of better understanding it and how it works. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/
Many thanks! Greatly appreciated. Just now, I did try the hack and its worked. Greatly appreciated. 👍
The difficulty is allowing free speech, which is sanctified in the Constitution or any resemblence even if it’s lies and can cause violence.
You're 2/3 in and you only find it "somewhat" sickening? I read the Cliff notes version and it made me feel like puking my guts out.🤢🤮
You get inured to some of it, not that the ideas do not terrify me if they are implemented, or as they are being implemented in Red States and to some extent in Blue states. But we see that knowing about them is not enough, and it gives us a deeper understanding of how our government works and is set up, and how these people operate. But, we all have a general pervasive feeling of nausea at this point which makes us not so inclined to keep on reading. Or, we shall see after the election.
I wish I could read it. Blocked by paywall
Deprogramming could start with unplugging cable news, starting with Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Real America’s Voice … Geez. I just googled ‘conservative cable news; there’s a shit ton. No wonder so many people are so stupid.
1st Amendment? Anyone who can take away their media can also take away our media.
Nope. We could re-up the Fairness Doctrine. Losing MSNBC wouldn’t be a great loss. When the Fairness Doctrine was challenged in 1987 by the Reagan admin, admin lawyers claimed that fairness was in violation of the 1st amendment. The decision and argument were and are both controversial. Until 2011, the Fairness Doctrine was still on the books though not enforced, but was summarily removed in 2011, and no one seemed to notice or care. BTW: ‘equal time’ is not the same as the Fairness Doctrine. As soon as the Fairness Doctrine was challenged, Rush Limbaugh and the Murdoch’s went nuts. They could now promote harmful reports without checks. The idea here of the Fairness Doctrine was much like peer reviews in science. While all analogies fail, the peer review in science keeps nutcases from publishing in established peer-review journals. While the FCC is government control of speech, it is the same control that government exerts in other cases. Peer reviews are conducted by interdisciplinary scholars. There is a need for industry to monitor, which was the hope (and claim) at the time. They’ve failed miserably.
The fairness doctrine made a lot more sense when the airwaves could only support a very few channels. I grew up with four broadcast channels in Washington DC with the eventual addition of a fifth channel, PBS.
How are you going to ensure fairness with dozens of cable news outlets? The government bureaucracy would be ginormous. Also, enforcement is likely to vary from administration to administration. Back when the First Amendment was written, there was no limit on the number of newspapers and there was no government censorship. 1st Amendment forever!
And talking about deprogramming people sounds completely fascist to me.
Now, let me respond to your sense that Susan’s comment is fascist. I am pretty sure, having followed Susan for sometime, that she was tossing off ‘deprogramming’ in a moment of pique and frustration. She would never in a lifetime argue for actually deprogramming folks. That’s what Mao did, and Susan knows that it’s cruel and authoritarian. I’m not a fascist either. I’m trying to use the institutions we have had in place to get a newly conceived Fairness Doctrine back. That’s it. Elon Musk, by the way, is running Xitter on strict construction of the 1st amendment, where strict construction assumes that (1) we can know/determine what the authors of the Bill of Rights intended, purely without context and (2) that the constitution, including the Bill of Rights, is not a living document. I’m not sure he thinks about it that way, though he is smart enough to. I think he’s cynical and doesn’t give a rip.
That’s a different issue than the 1st Amendment issue, interesting in and of itself.
I grew up (I’m 76), with only three channels. Here’s my take on limited access: we got some news delivered, for the most part, by trustworthy folks. But it wasn’t until scholars wrote the history of the period, that we became acquainted with our history-as-past. Think of the Johnson years. Now, we get the present unfiltered sometimes but certainly like a firehouse. It would be great if historians like Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder were giving everyone contex. But that isn’t happening and can’t happen, unless you subscribe or are still in academia.
We cannot trust pundits with our news, not necessarily because they are untrustworthy — though some are. The Fairness Doctrine would be a corrective, and if it were reinstituted by the FCC, the problem of the proliferation of channels would take care of itself through licensure.
In the end, I’d rather be through of as a citizen of the news than as a consumer of the news. I know that many honest reporters are tryin g to talk to us that way.
Almost like there needs to be a whole ‘Department of Fair & Safe Broadcasting’ (or something like that)… like the size of the DOJ
There aren’t enough real Republicans to form a winning party.
You're probably right...at least for now.
No, she’s right forever. Maybe Leonard Leo will create the Corrupt, SCOTUS-owning Party and propose himself as its Pope…er, candidate.
Sadly Susan, being a republican provides license to being an ignorant sociopath, that will never change!
I think the Magat movement will survive even if Harris wins next week. The rethugs in Congress will spend the next four years trying to make certain Harris is a one term president and harm the American people as a result. The Magats are deeply entrenched in red America like a malignant cancer metastasizing throughout the body politic. There is no comparison of the articulate and empathetic Harris/Walz ticket to the felonious orange narcissist and deeply disturbed JD aka I forgot his other names. Thanks to Harris and Walz for giving us hope and joy in an insane political environment.
There will always be a movement of discontent, wont there? Throughout history, these people rise up to be heard… but I cling to hope there are less of them than sane citizens who want to see a democracy continue. It’s gonna take vigilance and time. 🤞🤞🤞🤞
It will require deprogrammers
I think that Scanners would be helpful.💥😂
In a word, no.
I would like a poll that polls every single person in the US and Americans Abroad on what they think. No one I know responds to these polls, because they don't want to give some rando their thoughts and info. So, these surveys are based on a sampling of the population who do not care who asks them what. That is already a select segment of the population. I read at one point that all of the surveys over-survey Trump supporters because they like to be heard for their grievances. For example, they have a home, a car, maybe 2 cars, get paid vacation, go traveling, send their kids to college, and they go out, yet they are still griping about the economy having been better under Trump. Wondering what they are basing it on. Also, their quality of life was better, because everyone loves living in fear and terror as a virus traps them in their homes and their loved ones die from it. Those grievance people are just a lot more likely to answer a poll than say someone who is spending their time working night and day for a campaign.
You're absolutely right, and just to add one more piece of why the polls aren't actually representative of the American people: it also rely on people who answer calls from random unknown numbers, and A LOT of us don't do that.
EXACTLY!
If that’s the case I’ll never be polled insert!
Well said, my feeling about polls that I couldn't articulate as well, I'm not going to participate in government by fickle popularity. Electing leadership of our country is more important than a damn homecoming Queen.
I keep thinking how there is more of us, working, thinking, caring people & wondering how these screaming, petty jackals got so much traction. I think there is a lot to it, how our systems have been corrupted to reward loyalists over integrity, aligning with abusers rather than doingthe work. But, what I see plainly radiating from these people at every level is avarice. It is strong motivation. Our knowing that integrity is stronger-that is stronger. We've just needed to get clear on our own motivation to shut these asshole fuckers down. I'm glad for this writer & this community coming together to get crystal clear on that. The raging Kevins & Karens in my own location are about doing me in. I don't know what I'd do if intelligent, like-minded hadn't started showing up. I'm sure glad you have!
No consequences for crimes committed during tRump’s 1st term has brought all the grifters out, looking to make a buck
Try your survey here Linda, you’ll enjoy the answers and results much more pleasing!
Oh, a Communist, eh?
What Rick said
How is this possible? My head is ready to explode!
It makes me sad and confused to know that almost half our country are ignorant and incapable of critical reasoning. How did we become so stupid? Home schooling? I grasp at possible reasons without satisfying answers.
I absolutely think homeschooling has to have strict regulating. It's insane to have so many uneducated people with no clue how society & govt work.
Home schooling is mostly embraced by the religious or the very lazy who don't want to get their kids ready for school. Either way, the kids get a substandard education.
I rewatched Idiocracy & it’s here now, not 500 years in the future
Cut the cord on russian, Iranian but primarily kremlin interference
Your post is on point, but to add a little hope for all of us losing our minds, it's only 46% of the electorate and most Americans don't even vote. It's probably around 30% of the country, which still WAY too many people. And I have no idea what we're going to do about this mass delusion and psychosis.
MAGAs vote. That’s why getting out Gen Z is critical for Dems
Well, if it helps, it's not 46% of the country, it's 46% of the electorate, which is (sadly) a much smaller number. All we have to do is vote & make sure everyone we know votes.
This analysis of the early voting data is really hopeful. So far it shows that the country is not crazy, Trump is. https://youtu.be/EZvQCIsu8Zs?si=BwN3XXbR0EjGpDGE
They were calling him “Daddy”. How creepy is that?
Oh, it's a horrible thought but I'm sure many of them would gladly deliver their daughters to Merde-A-Lardo for his use. Thank God Epstein isn't around.
over 75,000 gather in DC to hear Kamala Harris’s closing argument . . . And not one 💩 pooped in Statuary Hall.
🤣
Ahhh … but she didn’t say she’s NOT controlling the weather, which is as good as a confession. Nice try Jeff.
😂
Great joke to us, sounds true to them. I bet some rw nutcase will seize on that.
Does it sound true? Or are they just too far gone to admit the whole thing is one giant grift? And they’re the collective mark. Too hard. Easier to just keep goin along …
I think to a lot of them, they convince themselves that the bs is true. But also what you said.
Vice-President Harris is the real deal and just what we need! Item #2 that we need, is to NEVER hear from or about Trump again, EVER!!
Yet - check out this wording:
@sharonjqyang
DANA BASH on VP Harris' speech:
"This is exactly what the Harris campaign hoped that they were going to deliver, that she was going to deliver."
Why not just say “She nailed it!” - or “Outta the park, KH!” or “She delivered!…” my g-d. Unbelievable
I really dislike DB and her frozen face.
And her lackey Jake Tapper.
🙏🙏🙏
This, would be the most satisfyingly possible outcome of this election Pamela!!
She also didn't claim she took a bullet for democracy.
Or parade around with a maxi pad on her ear that miraculously healed up in three days.
Trumps maxi pad taped to his ear was hardly convincing that he did, so a pass was necessary Abby!
Except he did get grazed with a bullet. Which does not at all mean he "took one for democracy".
"Taking a bullet for..." clearly implies putting oneself in harm's way. As soldiers do on the battlefield. As firefighters do when entering a burning home to save a child. Or as police do when confronting an armed perpetrator.
Taking a bullet means self-sacrifice for the larger good.
Trump? No effin' way.
Right? But "I'm a lucky POS...man, that coulda been my face" just doesn't have the same swaggering ring to it.
He's such a puke.
It will take a lot to convince me that he was grazed but I get your point.
Ok. Read my relpy to Teri, then maybe try Snopes and look at before and after pics of his ear. He was, and my only comment to the dope who shot the gun was "DUDE. You had ONE JOB." 🫣
Amen
I strongly disagree!!! Turd's ear was *** "allegedly" **** hit by a bullet. Where's the bullet? Casing? Medical report? Eric turd said "dad didn't even need stitches". Next day, ear was photographed as turd sat in golf cart. No damage at all. No bandage. Turd DID put a pani-liner on his ear a few days later at RNC convention.
This is incorrect. The golf cart pic was not from the next day. There are pics of him wearing a smaller bandage after the RNC, and before and after pics clearly show there's a healed nick in the cartilage, which no, would not need stitches.
And before you switch to the "ok, he was hit by a shard of glass then" line you'll have to produce a shattered teleprompter. Good luck, since they were both intact after the incident.
And no, I'm not Drumpf troll. I AM however a stickler for facts and reality. So believe whatever you want, but that doesn't make it true.
You got a link to the "nick" in his ear? I stand by my post.
https://substack.com/profile/50942315-abby-geiger/note/c-74965547
I'm new to this place, using it on a desktop, and no idea how to attach pics to a response, if it even can be done. So I'm gonna make a note bringing the receipts and post a link to it.
*sigh* I'll see if I can find my old thread on Shitter. It had pics, which I've probably since deleted from my phone. (And if you have a Shitter account, you can find me under @IrascibleInk Just sayin'.)
I heard that it was a chip off the teleprompter screen (plastic). Experts said that an actual bullet would have done a lot more damage.
What you heard is false. The teleprompters were intact. Actual experts say and actual bullet would have done more damage only if the actual bullet had actually passed by the side of his head and actual couple mm closer. And still not killed him. About an inch closer, and would've caused a severe injury and still not killed him. About two inches closer, and yeah - we'd be looking at blasted-out cheekbone and dangling eye injury, and MAYBE dead.
Isn't physics fun?
No Abby, his ear lobe started to bleed. The American people have ZERO idea what, if anything, nicked his ear, but Kamala shouldn’t be President because she gets hay fever.
Here you go:
https://substack.com/profile/50942315-abby-geiger/note/c-74965547
Don't be a dipshit. There's enough of them on this beleaguered planet.
Bullshit. His ear lobe did NOT start to bleed. Fact-based, educated people know a bullet nicked his ear. For photo receipts, feel free to visit my homepage, where I'm actually allowed to post pictures.
She didn’t complain about her 34 felony convictions! Oh, wait... the only convictions she has are the ones she won against criminals as a prosecutor.
Give that guy a cigar!
It’s wonderful to see so many secure, confident, intelligent, and passionate men like you, Jeff, who are supporting the smart woman.
We have a great community here, including men, white guys & men of color!
I love this community. It is keeping me sane. For the moment.
Wait! She’s smart? Then I’m only voting for her once!
Hi Jeff, I think you covered all the bases especially your last paragraph, I mean you brought out the sledgehammer my man. Sorry fellow travelers no Golf with MAGAS this week. However my 1 experience last week we will call at the Car Wash with a magat. Sitting on a bench waiting for my car a guy approached me. “Do you live here?” I said yes, he says he just drove in from Minnesota to his AZ home, then he proceeds to tell me that police do not enter certain parts of cities, too many Black folks. Then he tells me that the governor is terrible, trying to run a socialist state… my MAGA detector is code red at this point. Then he complains about the MN sales tax, then he says he paid a state income tax of $23,000. So I turn to him and say, hey pal, you just told me you own 2 homes, I can see your huge SUV and the tax u paid. Quit the BS. If you’re that wealthy stop complaining… I walked away…. Do I have a fucking target on my back for MAGA? Best to all…
That dumbass is obviously the recipient of GQP/MAGA politics of resentment. Good for you for pointing out that he is well off and yet he's still a whiny little bitch
He asked if you live there just to cry about how insufferable his priveledged life was, and throw in a racist line too!
Yup… spot on.
What a smug, selfish SOB. Let me guess, a 65-78 year old white man, retired (name your industry) "executive". I would have casually mentioned that with Chump's proposed tariffs that $15.99 deluxe car wash will cost $115.99. We'll have to pay for the increased cost of the parts that are in the car wash equipment. I can see why your MAGA BS detector was at code red.
You nailed it Mingo.. I could not believe this guy starts talking to me.. I’m 72, try not to engage but these MAGAs are like evangelicals, they keep it up even after u have exposed them.
Haha, 'cuz we know he doesn't wash his own car
Yeah, she didn’t say any of this, I need to know more about her, what is she hiding. 😝
It reduces to a very simple observation: Her supporters can take pride in her comments without apology or explanation. In point, “sane washing” is a newly invented term applied uniquely to Trump. She doesn’t have to assure us she isn’t a Nazi. And her 75K crowd was sort a political Woodstock—non violent and a love-in of sorts. The contrast couldn’t be greater. Rachel Maddow said it, “damn good speech.” IMHO, a classic right up there with Obama and, dare I say, Reagan (a great orator, so-so politician in my view).
Reagan was a treasonous criminal like Trump though , just ask Bill Barr. David!
She doesn’t have to assure us she isn’t a Nazi. ... but she does have to reassure us that she isn't a Commie.
People who think she’s a commie don’t know what communism is
Obama wasn’t bad, but definitely not FDR or MLK Jr. He blew one of his best lines when he said in a SOTU speech that we we were the united STATES of America, rather than the UNITED states of America: I will bet he regrets that.
I think Peggy Noonan wrote them, Reagan delivered them. As for a great president. Nope. That’s a GOP created myth.
Absolutely. Reagan and his fucking neocons pioneered GOP gaslighting. The neocons' idiotic handling of the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan led directly to the formation of Al Queda, 9/11, and all the subsequent problems in that region that lasted decades, cost many American and Middle Eastern lives, and $ trillions in taxpayer money.
Yup. He left a monstrous legacy.
But Nancy and her astrologer were the bomb in the second term!
Reagan is no hero, or honest POTUS.
Reagan was a giant asshole. He hid his racism and bigotry behind his actor's veneer. He was blatantly against anyone below the richest 2%, originated the culture wars in earnest to divide our society, courted and encouraged the evangelicals to intrude into people's lives, created the "welfare queen" stereotype which was racist as fuck, cut funding to social spending, started taxing Social Security benefits, poured $trillions into mythological aerospace technology that still does not exist 40 years later, tripled the national debt, openly vilified government, and twiddled his thumbs when AIDS emerged and started killing many because he didn't give a shit about the gay community. I hate that they named the airport and that aircraft carrier after him.
He happened to be president when the Soviet Union imploded. He is given too much credit for that. USSR was a clusterfuck that was doomed to fail anyway.
👏👏👏👏👏
Dancing Fox, I didn't think he was good at speaking. He was just delivering lines.
All this and the election is supposed to be “so close”.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
Wm. B. Yeats
I thought about a line from this poem just yesterday...but, at least for now, the center does seem to hold. Blue Wave is coming.
thanks for this! I have thought of and quoted this poem at least 100 times in the last few years!! Says it all. Hard not to be full of passionate intensity at this hour as the shadow of totalitarianism extends its reach toward our beloved home. Mourning the loss of my family in the rabbit hole-- but joy comes in the morning?
The Second Coming is an excellent choice for today...
County Sligo, Ireland’s best. Thank you.
You're bringing it, Jeff! That list is a keeper to present to all of our MAGA cultist friends. I love how they deny it all and gaslight us, telling us 'oh he just exaggerates' or 'he's just being donOLD". And then in the same breath they tell us how he's going to follow through with all those good policies, like cleaning up our cities and making the economy the best that's ever been by tarriffing the shit out of everyone and that all the economists love his plan and how everyone wanted Roe to be handled by the states. Hell is the impossibility of reason, but thankfully we don't have to live in their hell.
and that's just this morning!
😅😅😅
I was there last night. It was electric. It was PEACEFUL, joyful, optimistic, and inspiring. To quote you, Jeff, "she didn’t encourage her supporters to beat the shit out of hecklers, nor did she promise to pay the legal bills of anyone who did." And there were hecklers there, lots of them, right in our midst on Constitution Avenue, trying to drown her out with drums, sirens, and shouting.
But guess what, she ignored them and so did we. We could have beaten the shit out of them and drag them to the Potomac River, but we didn't. They were exercising their First Amendment rights, and we respected that. We payed attention to Kamala:
"I will always listen to you, even if you don't vote for me, I will always tell you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear. I will work every day to build consensus and reach a compromise to get things done...
"We like a good debate. And the fact that someone disagrees with us does not make them the enemy within. They are family, neighbors, classmates, coworkers. They are fellow Americans, and as Americans, we rise and fall together."
It was such a different evening from a Trump hate rally.
CLASS vs. LOWLIFE SCUMBAG
Heard sirens as she spoke. Went on too long to be anything other than maga fuckery.
We heard that, too, so walked east on Constitution Avenue until we could hear Kamala better, but no jumbotron. 😕