tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41624166771487644922024-03-15T19:12:58.500-06:00Jim Smith's personal blogThis is Jim Smith's personal (political) blog. His real estate writings are posted at www.GoldenREblog.com. Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.comBlogger1055125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-81976907230481048962023-08-27T10:44:00.001-06:002023-08-27T10:44:11.744-06:00Talking Turkey has been moved to Substack<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYx0rt4G7vXgSKb-oWkF9POm34FidO6vYxeiUHg2EuzBPmWc1KwEity6HwbLMBiwu8W8jcFtSIJqjINlyFjiE2j-tKp35cFPgO590wHb9cd4Nh2jJyxMfd5SIloGC1UvA3hlDT9pgfJ9MMBf86Yb2WqtUyqkNwNgs4Zpgjhb-zXGrQIy7tXaapqIJ7xtw/s825/Talking%20Turkey%20podcast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="825" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYx0rt4G7vXgSKb-oWkF9POm34FidO6vYxeiUHg2EuzBPmWc1KwEity6HwbLMBiwu8W8jcFtSIJqjINlyFjiE2j-tKp35cFPgO590wHb9cd4Nh2jJyxMfd5SIloGC1UvA3hlDT9pgfJ9MMBf86Yb2WqtUyqkNwNgs4Zpgjhb-zXGrQIy7tXaapqIJ7xtw/w672-h132/Talking%20Turkey%20podcast.jpg" width="672" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Thank you all for reading this blog, which I have now moved to the Substack platform, where I am making weekly posts -- two so far.</p><p>You can subscribe free at <a href="https://jimsmith145.substack.com/">https://jimsmith145.substack.com/</a></p><p>See you there!</p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-29941850340344506572023-07-18T14:04:00.003-06:002023-07-18T14:04:33.468-06:00Trump's Plan to Become a Dictator - Here's Heather Cox Richardson's "Letter From an American" last night - Says it all!<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 412.5pt;" width="550"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%;"><tbody>
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<h1 style="-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility; -moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; appearance: optimizelegibility; line-height: 27.0pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=20533&post_id=135183008&utm_source=post-email-title&isFreemail=false&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMTEzMzEzMSwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTM1MTgzMDA4LCJpYXQiOjE2ODk2NjQyNjAsImV4cCI6MTY5MjI1NjI2MCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTIwNTMzIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.wWd_ACPm2RoQp9kFfXUr2AOwE_rDGGcr9TBdIBqlAsE"><span style="color: #404040; text-decoration-line: none;">July 17, 2023 </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">A story
in the <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">New York Times</span></em>
today by Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage, and Maggie Haberman outlined how
former president Donald Trump and his allies are planning to create a
dictatorship if voters return him to power in 2024. The article talks about
how Trump and his loyalists plan to “centralize more power in the Oval
Office” by “increasing the president’s authority over every part of the
federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any
measure of independence from political interference by the White House.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">They
plan to take control over independent government agencies and get rid of the
nonpartisan civil service, purging all but Trump loyalists from the U.S.
intelligence agencies, the State Department, and the Defense Department. They
plan to start “impounding funds,” that is, ignoring programs Congress has
funded if those programs aren’t in line with Trump’s policies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What
we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them,”
said Russell T. Vought, who ran Trump’s Office of Management and Budget and
who now advises the right-wing House Freedom Caucus. They envision a
“president” who cannot be checked by the Congress or the courts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Trump’s
desire to grab the mechanics of our government and become a dictator is not
new; both scholars and journalists have called it out since the early years
of his administration. What is new here is the willingness of so-called
establishment Republicans to support this authoritarian power grab. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Behind
this initiative is “Project 2025,” a coalition of more than 65 right-wing
organizations putting in place personnel and policies to recommend not just
to Trump, but to any Republican who may win in 2024. Project 2025 is led by
the Heritage Foundation, once considered a conservative think tank, that
helped to lead the Reagan revolution. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">A piece
by Alexander Bolton in <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">The
Hill</span></em> today said that Republican senators are “worried” by the
MAGAs, but they have been notably silent in public at a time when every
elected leader should be speaking out against this plot. Their silence
suggests they are on board with it, as Trump apparently hoped to
establish. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
party appears to have fully embraced the antidemocratic ideology advanced by
authoritarian leaders like Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s
prime minister Viktor Orbán, who argue that the post–World War II era, in
which democracy seemed to triumph, is over. They claim that the tenets of
democracy—equality before the law, free speech, academic freedom, a
market-based economy, immigration, and so on—weaken a nation by destroying a
“traditional” society based in patriarchy and Christianity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Instead
of democracy, they have called for “illiberal” or “Christian” democracy,
which uses the government to enforce their beliefs in a Christian,
patriarchal order. What that looks like has a clear blueprint in the actions
of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has gathered extraordinary power into
his own hands in the state and used that power to mirror Orbán’s destruction
of democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">DeSantis
has pushed through laws that ban abortion after six weeks, before most people
know they’re pregnant; banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation and
gender identity (the “Don’t Say Gay” law); prevented recognition of
transgender individuals; made it easier to sentence someone to death; allowed
people to carry guns without training or permits; banned colleges and
businesses from conversations about race; exerted control over state
universities; made it harder for his opponents to vote, and tried to punish
Disney World for speaking out against the Don’t Say Gay law. After rounding
up migrants and sending them to other states, DeSantis recently has called
for using “deadly force” on migrants crossing unlawfully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Because
all the institutions of our democracy are designed to support the tenets of
democracy, right-wingers claim those institutions are weaponized against
them. House Republicans are running hearings designed to prove that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice are both
“weaponized” against Republicans. It doesn’t matter that they don’t seem to
have any evidence of bias: the very fact that those institutions support
democracy mean they support a system that right-wing Republicans see as
hostile. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Our
current executive branch,” Trump loyalist John McEntee, who is in charge of
planning to pack the government with Trump loyalists, told the <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">New York Times</span></em>
reporters, “was conceived of by liberals for the purpose of promulgating
liberal policies. There is no way to make the existing structure function in
a conservative manner. It’s not enough to get the personnel right. What’s
necessary is a complete system overhaul.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">It has
taken decades for the modern-day Republican Party to get to a place where it
rejects democracy. The roots of that rejection lie all the way back in the
1930s, when Democrats under Franklin Delano Roosevelt embraced a government
that regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, and promoted
infrastructure. That system ushered in a period from 1933 to 1981 that
economists call the “Great Compression,” when disparities of income and
wealth were significantly reduced, especially after the government also began
to protect civil rights. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Members
of both parties embraced this modern government in this period, and Americans
still like what it accomplished. But businessmen who hated regulation joined
with racists who hated federal protection of civil rights and traditionalists
who opposed women’s rights and set out to destroy that government. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">In West
Palm Beach, Florida, last weekend, at the Turning Points Action Conference,
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) compared President Biden’s Build
Back Better plan to President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society programs,
which invested in “education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty,
transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and welfare, the Office of
Economic Opportunity, and big labor and labor unions.” She noted that under
Biden, the U.S. has made “the largest public investment in social
infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what
FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to
complete.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Well,
yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Greene
incorrectly called this program “socialism,” which in fact means government
ownership of production, as opposed to the government’s provision of benefits
people cannot provide individually, a concept first put into practice in the
United States by Abraham Lincoln and later expanded by leadership in both
parties. The administration has stood firmly behind the idea—shared by LBJ
and FDR, and also by Republicans Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight
Eisenhower, among others—that investing in programs that enable working
people to prosper is the best way to strengthen the economy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Certainly,
Greene’s speech didn’t seem to be the “gotcha” that she apparently hoped. A
March 2023 poll by independent health policy pollster KFF, for example, found
that 80% of Americans like Social Security, 81% like Medicare, and 76% like
Medicaid, a large majority of members of all political parties. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
White House Twitter account retweeted a clip of Greene’s speech, writing:
“Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking
families.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Notes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/62a9c302-2780-4b1d-8987-30b81931cd85?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/5f2ed5cd-d378-469c-849c-9229ee5097c4?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/07/house-republicans-mccarthy-russell-vought-trump/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/b5f1b572-b2cf-4bff-bdf2-5d00c54a39be?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/here-is-a-look-at-the-laws-desantis-has-passed-as-florida-governor-from-abortion-to-guns</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/e3a4ef52-2b6b-4a64-ae37-e0ba682db6a7?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/us/politics/ron-desantis-border-drug-traffickers.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/eddde2e5-f506-48f4-a36c-65ae2bbee516?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/4/28/23037788/ron-desantis-florida-viktor-orban-hungary-right-authoritarian</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/49b3a799-a563-4942-9ed8-2de345bdc80d?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1680582110636064768</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/cd8980dc-d509-452c-a269-855476bed2af?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://www.kff.org/medicaid/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-march-2023-public-doesnt-want-politicians-to-upend-popular-programs/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/c8d6bc0c-67e3-45f5-a38c-cf3e4cb1e30e?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #404040;">https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1680940415812354049</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="pencraft" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-decoration: unset;"><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">© 2023 Heather Cox Richardson<br />
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104<br /></span></p>
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</tbody></table>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-45849048038537485842023-07-01T09:59:00.000-06:002023-07-01T09:59:23.537-06:00Thom Hartmann Points Out That Plaintiffs in the Student Loan Decision Had No Standing to Sue<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Here's the excerpt from Thom's email newsletter today:</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #404040;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">None
of the states suing would have suffered any harm from the loan forgiveness,
because they were federal loans. There literally was “no injury” to any of the
parties bringing the lawsuit, meaning they had no legal standing to be in
court. The company (MOHELA) John Roberts cited in his bizarre, deceitful, and
nakedly lying opinion also suffered no loss and explicitly asked not to even be
listed as a party to the case, although the Republicans on the Court insisted
on keeping them in to provide a fig leaf.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">
<b><i>For a case to be presented and litigated before a court —
particularly the Supreme Court — there must be an injured party. Without that
injured party there is no “standing” to sue and the case is typically thrown
out.</i></b> [Emphasis added] Even though MOHELA suffered NO injury here — it was a state-based lender that
did not participate in federal student loans and thus did not lose a penny —
Roberts weaseled them into the case just so he and his five Republican buddies
could screw America’s student borrowers to satisfy the billionaires who put
them on the Court and help maintain their lavish vacations and lifestyles.</span></blockquote><p></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-85109896657007402222023-03-01T21:34:00.005-07:002023-03-01T21:34:48.705-07:00Environmental Film Festival Expanded My 'Woke' Credentials, But That's a Good Thing - Better Than 'Unconscious'<p> I’m writing this column in the immediate aftermath of attending the <strong><a href="https://ceff.net/">Colorado Environmental Film Festival</a>.</strong> I was only able to watch 20 or so of the 90-plus films featured during the sixteen 2-hour sessions, but I plan to watch others this week. (You can access all the films at <strong><a href="https://ceff.net/">www.CEFF.net</a> </strong>for $75, which gives you seven days to view any collection you log into by Sunday, March 5.)</p><!-- wp:paragraph -->
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<p>My favorite films were: <strong><a href="https://ceff2023.eventive.org/films/the-sacrifice-zone-639b9f59f7b1b0003ebe414b">The Sacrifice Zone</a>; <a href="https://ceff2023.eventive.org/films/wings-over-water-colorado-639b9f59f7b1b0003ebe4154">Wings over Water</a>; Heart of Maui; <a href="https://ceff2023.eventive.org/films/somehow-hopeful-the-story-of-a-woodsman-639b9f59f7b1b0003ebe413b">Somehow Hopeful</a>; <a href="https://ceff2023.eventive.org/films/earth-girl-639b9f58f7b1b0003ebe4110">Earth Girl</a>; <a href="https://ceff2023.eventive.org/films/the-witness-is-a-whale-639b9f59f7b1b0003ebe414f">The Witness Is a Whale</a>; </strong>and <strong><a href="https://ceff2023.eventive.org/films/a-rally-for-rangers-639b9f58f7b1b0003ebe40fb">A Rally for Rangers</a>.</strong></p>
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<p>Many of these films raised my consciousness regarding different issues facing humanity and America, which got me thinking about the term “<strong>Woke</strong>,” which is applied negatively against those of us with similar awareness of certain issues. In the parlance of the MAGA folks, I’m part of the “Woke mob.”</p>
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<p>Obviously, the term is adapted from “awake” or “awakened.” One thing for which we can thank the previous administration is that the division it spawned awakened people like me to portions of our history (and our present) of which we may have been less aware. I’m thinking of books like <strong><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/1619-Project-New-Origin-Story/dp/0593230574">The 1619 Project</a> </em></strong>and <strong><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Caste-Origins-Discontents-Isabel-Wilkerson/dp/0593230256">Caste</a></em></strong>, which taught me things I did not know about our nation’s sad legacy of enslavement and racism, which are at the heart of America’s “great experiment.” For example, I didn’t realize that the 13th amendment abolished slavery, <strong><em>“except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” </em></strong>an exception that was exploited throughout the former confederate states by convicting Blacks of petty or false crimes and imprisoning them so that the prisons could lease them to plantation owners to continue their enslavement.</p>
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<p>Yes, I’m awake to many aspects of our history to which the MAGA mob is (and would like to remain) unconscious. I’m awake to the environmental injustice suffered by the minority communities close to the Suncor plant in north Denver, which was the topic of a CEFF film. I’m awake to the broken promise of “40 Acres and a Mule” which underlies the calls for reparations to descendants of the enslaved.</p>
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<p><strong><em>I prefer “woke” to “unconscious.” </em></strong></p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-34167773894629916062023-02-02T10:44:00.004-07:002023-02-02T10:44:50.983-07:00Thom Hartmann's Excellent Take-Down of Ron DeSantis Today<p style="text-align: justify;"> <img height="1" src="file:///C:/Users/jim/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_15" width="1" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333; display: none; font-size: 1.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">With Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American
politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see
people die to advance his political career <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</tbody></table><a href="https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=302288&post_id=100340798&utm_source=post-email-title&isFreemail=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMTEzMzEzMSwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTAwMzQwNzk4LCJpYXQiOjE2NzUzNDgyNTksImV4cCI6MTY3Nzk0MDI1OSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTMwMjI4OCIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.V8ZFX2i-Oa9WBQqr9Ar0_fxtq5Zu9PPjO5gY8YHMYcg" style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #404040;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Is Cruelty Ron DeSantis' Trademark?</b></span></span></a><h3 style="-moz-osx-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 9.0pt;"><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With
Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has
Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance
his political career<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</tbody></table><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/04d104dd-7be2-4d88-be20-206b32be5886?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Rosaline</span></a> is a 60-year-old Floridian who hopes
she doesn’t get seriously ill because she’d be wiped out by the increase in her
already burdensome medical debt. She has no insurance, and won’t qualify for
Medicare for another 5 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">During the
pandemic, Congress appropriated billions to help states expand their Medicaid
programs. That money is coming to an end this year, meaning Florida — which
refused to expand Medicaid with the federal subsides offered by the Affordable
Care Act — is set to throw another 2 million or so residents off their only
possible source of health insurance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Still, Ron
DeSantis refuses to expand Medicaid, even though 93 percent of the cost is <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/d16a8bde-9004-4fa8-8ab1-26848391957d?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">covered</span></a> with money from Washington, DC. It’s
the principle of the thing, apparently: he’s one of 11 red state governors who
believes that working poor people simply shouldn’t get health coverage. After
all, they didn’t have the good sense to be born into a wealthy family!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/bc40cc73-c135-46e1-98f4-8fc8d8519fa4?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Michael</span></a>, 30, lives in Orlando and has asthma,
but running his little business buying and selling used furniture hasn’t earned
him enough to cover his medical bills and to pay rent. He recently got an
eviction notice, telling the <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">Florida
Health Justice Project</span></em>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I was
given a list of homeless shelters to choose from but I hope it doesn’t come to
that.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Violence,
hate, bigotry, and cruelty are the four cardinal points of fascism. Compassion
and concern for the greater good, for the poor and weak, for the victims of
fate and accident have no place in the fascist world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Historians
and political observers have been predicting that America would get our very
own Mussolini ever since the days of Barry Goldwater. And there’s been no
shortage of candidates: bribe-taking Nixon; Central American fascist-loving
Reagan; Gitmo torturing and war-lying Bush; and, of course, Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American
politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see
people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated
enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mussolini
was a famously short man who strutted with his muscular chest pushed out and
his chin jutted forward, just like DeSantis, who <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/f8ec2e81-dba1-42c4-a051-cbfc4ffbb4c8?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Trump says</span></a> is musclebound, likes to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Both men
were socially <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/35a1f78c-a60e-45bd-9555-3b4e8a78d23e?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">awkward</span></a>, craved <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/b772c5fc-35e6-4485-b332-29e48ee4fa72?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">power</span></a>, <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/eb5b6315-83cc-4e18-a46d-0e9b369059f3?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">lacked empathy</span></a>, displayed <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/0ac46003-f552-4482-bbec-4d3c982f6671?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">casual cruelty</span></a>, sucked up to the <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/3ecdd66e-4a11-44b7-bbaa-ac4aabed68a2?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">wealthiest men</span></a> in the nation, and
demonized opposition politicians — literally calling or implying their fellow
citizens are “the enemy” (a favorite trick of Hitler and Orbán, as well) — to
encourage their followers to support them or entertain the rhetoric of violence
and threats of violence to achieve political ends.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/6e4780f7-c7ae-402f-a6cb-c0a12f6c4f8b?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Miriam</span></a>, a single parent of two young children,
discovered a lump in her breast but postponed visiting the doctor for months
because she had no health insurance with her job as a housekeeper.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally,
she realized the potential gravity of her situation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I
needed to live to be there for my children,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">She got
treatment through the charity ward of a hospital, but even that treatment came
with a cost of $2,183. She slipped behind in the $200 monthly payments when her
job vanished with the pandemic and now she’s struggling to pay the $1783 she
still owes in co-payments from her treatments. She’s been sent to collection
and is living in fear of what’s next when the court finally comes after her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">George
Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned us of the possible rise of
politicians like DeSantis who would suggest other Americans are enemies of the
nation’s values, who would exaggerate policy differences in war-like terms, and
who would ascribe the most evil of motives and intentions to simple political
opponents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The
alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of
revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has
perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">But it
wasn’t just that calling other politicians enemies or attributing evil
motivations to them produced dissension and could tear a society apart,
although those concerns were at the top of Washington’s mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He also knew that such rhetoric was the platform from which a
literal strongman could arise in America, destroying the democracy he’d fought
the Revolutionary War to create:</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“But
this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism,” he told the
nation. “The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of
men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and
sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more
fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his
own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Such a
warlike approach to politics, Washington said, could only lead in one
direction:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It
agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles
the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and
insurrection.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Such
rhetoric, Washington argued, produces:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“A fire
not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into
a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s been
225 years since George Washington uttered those words. And now we’re here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/4829a6e8-0e9e-4ca8-ae25-59c3aa760bab?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Hipolito</span></a>, the father of four, is worried about
his life’s partner, the mother of their children.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“My
wife has been in pain for weeks now but we can’t afford to find out why,”
Hipolito told the <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">Florida
Health Justice Project</span></em>. “I swear, I’m very afraid. She is pale and
suffering every day.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">He notes
that his wife hasn’t visited the doctor because their family can’t afford the
expense when they must also house, feed, and clothe their kids on his job as a
cook.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Arresting
black men for voting, terrifying them and ruining their lives while making sure
they all get paraded in chains before the cameras. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Threatening
public school teachers with prison for simply teaching history. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lying
about medical science regarding vaccines to suck up to the Trump base,
resulting in fewer Floridians being protected from a disease that is killing
literally hundreds of Americans every day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Using
rhetoric that feeds bigotry and hate against gay, lesbian, and trans people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Intimidating
the college board so they strip the Black Lives Matter movement out of their
advanced placement African-American Studies curriculum.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lying to
asylum-seekers to get them on a plane to Martha’s Vineyard as a stunt to
elevate his own political fortunes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ron DeSantis is just fine with all of this. Cruelty is his
trademark.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ignoring
the health and safety of his state’s citizens, DeSantis led Florida into a
veritable Covid Armageddon, letting (as of January 16<sup>th</sup>) <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/146b1c73-9a8b-4ad3-9a81-51b83ec6ae63?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">84,176</span></a> of his citizens die from the disease.
As former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c393dc5d-ded1-49d6-829a-4d0c5c80d5a7?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">told</span></a> CBS’ <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">Face
The Nation</span></em>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“They
let the virus spread largely unchecked in terms of personal mitigation. People
weren't wearing masks. They weren't encouraged to wear masks. Vaccination was
encouraged for the elderly population, but not widely… So they made policy
choices, and the consequence was an infection that largely engulfed most parts
of the state.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">After this
orgy of death and disease, at the end of 2021 about 12 percent of Florida’s
population — almost 2.6 million — still lacked any form of medical insurance
because of DeSantis’ refusal to expand Medicaid for low-income people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">And now as
many as 2 million more Floridians will join the ranks of the uninsured in the
coming months.<o:p></o:p></span></p><b>
Ron
DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.<span style="color: grey; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.15px; text-align: left;"> </span></b></td><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td></tr></tbody></table>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-90489139530846945602023-01-12T10:18:00.000-07:002023-01-12T10:18:10.346-07:00I Learned Some Things From Thom Hartmann Today -- And Maybe You Will, Too!<p> This is today's Hartmann Report, published by Substack:</p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 12.0pt 0in 19.2pt 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%px;">
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<h1 class="post-title unpublished" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: var(--font_family_headings, var(--font_family_headings_preset, "SF Compact Display", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol")); font-weight: var(--font_weight_headings_preset, bold); line-height: var(--line-height-36); margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hairdryer Climate Mathematics Revealed</span></h1><h3 class="subtitle" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: var(--print_secondary, var(--print_secondary_on_web_bg_color, var(--print_secondary, var(--color-secondary)))); font-family: var(--font_family_headings, var(--font_family_headings_preset, "SF Compact Display", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol")); font-size: var(--font-size-18); font-weight: 400; line-height: var(--line-height-24); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: var(--size-12);">Our hairdryer math gets really bizarre when we apply it to global warming</h3>
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</tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><b>By THOM HARTMANN<br /></b><p align="center" class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=302288&post_id=96126241&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMTEzMzEzMSwicG9zdF9pZCI6OTYxMjYyNDEsImlhdCI6MTY3MzUzNTM0MiwiZXhwIjoxNjc2MTI3MzQyLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMzAyMjg4Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.-0-r1RKVsTncmzrDmOG6_HdoScCVvbNl_ebfzY4hoXQ","text":"Share","action":null,"class":null}" style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Most
people know that a hairdryer draws about as much power as your average modern
outlet will give it — typically around 1000 watts or, at 110 volts, just shy of
10 amps. (Plug in and turn on two hairdryers from the same outlet and you’ll
usually blow a circuit breaker: most homes max out at 15 or 20 amp circuits.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If those numbers are gibberish to you, hang on: it’ll all have
meaning in a moment, particularly when I get to the really shocking part about
climate change and hairdryers.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was
recently listening to a rightwing radio talk show host trashing electric cars
and the need for them (he was also denying climate change) and he went into
this rant about how if everybody in America bought an electric car, charging
them would “take down the entire country’s power grid.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">This assertion
is, to be charitable, BS. But since we all know what a hairdryer is and have,
at least, a sense for how much power one typically uses — the equivalent of ten
100-watt light bulbs — let’s convert an electric car’s power usage into
hairdryers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">A typical
electric car using a 110 volt home charger pulls about the same amount of
electricity when it’s charging as does a hairdryer: between 800 and 1200 watts,
or 8 to 12 amps, with an average of 10 amps or around 1000 watts per hour (one
kilowatt-hour). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So, charging your car is about the same as running a hairdryer,
our new unit of measurement.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
average electric car <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/2e30d813-f097-46f8-b9d2-a8bb3c3f7f99?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">travels</span></a> 100 miles on around 30 kilowatts
(30,000 watts or 30 “hairdryer-hours”) of electricity (Tesla Model 3 only uses
25, the Chevy Bolt 29), while the average driver in America <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/53d9ed2e-7243-4b8a-bb1a-6115f50f576a?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">travels</span></a> around 1000 miles a month or 33 miles
a day: roughly 10 kilowatts or 10 hairdryer hours a day to cover those 33
miles. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">So the
average driver charging their car overnight for ten hours (to replenish that 10
kilowatts of electricity to travel 33 miles) will use the same amount of
electricity as running a single hairdryer for 10 hours. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">First off, you can see how silly it is to argue it would “take
down the grid” if every family in America were to turn on a single hairdryer in
their home for 10 hours every night, the equivalent of everybody recharging 33
miles worth of driving every day. </span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Particularly because most of that charging is done overnight,
when electric demand is lower than normal.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">(The
average cost of electricity in the US, by the way, is <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/88a6ccac-2064-490e-90de-ffc084e9fb54?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">$.10 per kilowatt hour</span></a>, or ten cents per
“hairdryer hour.” So, simple math suggests it costs about $3 to drive 100 miles
— 30 “hairdryer hours” worth of electricity x 10 cents per hour — in the
average electric car. For comparison, in the <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/da64d6fe-012b-4060-9f19-9351a3506595?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">average</span></a> 25 mpg gas-powered car that same 100
miles would consume 4 gallons of gasoline, costing around $16 at four dollars a
gallon.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But our hairdryer math gets really bizarre when we apply it to
global warming.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our planet
isn’t warming because we’re all running hairdryers or even cars or home
furnaces; it’s warming because the greenhouse gasses we’re pouring into the
atmosphere <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">from</span></em>
generating electricity, heating our homes, and driving our gas-powered cars are
acting like a giant blanket, trapping heat from the sun in the atmosphere. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In other words, we are not warming the Earth (at least not
significantly) with the heat we’re adding: it’s the greenhouse gasses
(principally carbon dioxide) that are warming the Earth by <i>trapping</i> heat
from the sun that would otherwise radiate out into space.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">A new
study published this week in the journal <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/9257719a-f3fe-4648-bf0e-e1e9df27a05f?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</span></a></span></em>
found that our oceans — which absorb about 90 percent of the increased heat in
the atmosphere from global warming — took in and held an absolutely massive
amount of solar energy last year. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As Damian Carrington, the Environment Editor at <i>The Guardian</i>,
<a href="https://substack.com/redirect/f6647fcd-7ddf-4d1f-b159-8ae581845f8c?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">put it in a recent article</span></a> summarizing that
new study:</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The
oceans absorbed about 10 zettajoules more heat in 2022 than in 2021, equivalent
to every person on Earth running 40 hairdryers all day, every day.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Clearly, <i>all 8 billion of us</i> aren’t anywhere close to
using the power equivalent of 40 hairdryers all day, every day. But that’s the
amount of <i>extra </i>energy our planet is trapping <i>every year</i> at our
current rate of energy consumption <i>because greenhouse gasses are so very
efficient at trapping solar heat</i>.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">As a
result, our oceans are warming. And that’s driving “atmospheric rivers,”
derechos, “bomb cyclones,” and a whole variety of other atmospheric phenomenons
we’d never seen or even heard of before the past decade or two.<o:p></o:p></span></p><figure style="margin: 0 auto; width: 100%;">
</figure><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 12.0pt 0in 19.2pt 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%px;">
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<td style="padding: 12.0pt 0in 19.2pt 0in; width: 766.5pt;" width="1022">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/79858e6e-80ff-43e3-8c1c-a6b2cabcfebf?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk" style="align-items: center; flex-direction: column;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" class="wide-image" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/62f73434-90c4-4d62-949b-7c94abbe5d03_1022x534.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":534,"width":1022,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"internalRedirect":null}" height="287" id="_x0000_i1026" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_2044,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f73434-90c4-4d62-949b-7c94abbe5d03_1022x534.png" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0in; max-width: 100% !important; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" width="550" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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</tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><figcaption class="image-caption" style="color: grey; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.15px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 8px; padding-left: 15%; padding-right: 15%; text-align: center; width: 70%;">Graph
of global ocean heat content change in the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean,
showing the monthly average by year as compared to the annual average, for
1955–2019. <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/b1cbeffd-25fc-498d-8e63-5d47d3ed91ea?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk">Courtesy
of NOAA NCEI and IAP.</a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
</figcaption><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, it’s not our energy use that’s driving this. It’s the
carbon waste <i>byproduct</i> — mostly CO2 — of the fossil fuels we’re burning
to create that energy that’s doing most of it.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">If we were
simply capturing all our energy from the sun and wind, that blanket of
greenhouse gasses wouldn’t keep growing, the heat wouldn’t continue
accumulating, and our atmosphere might stabilize (assuming — and it’s not a
safe assumption — that we haven’t already passed tipping points that can’t be
reversed). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">By the
1970s it was common knowledge across the scientific community that these
greenhouse gasses — particularly CO2 and methane — were warming our planet. As
you can see from the graphic above, it became irrefutable by the 1990s. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1979 President Jimmy Carter pointed to this knowledge and
these trends and took action to try to stop the crisis the world is now
experiencing.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The
energy crisis is real,” Carter <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/453e9a09-eb77-495c-847a-3393fa7a2dea?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">told</span></a> the nation. “It is worldwide. It is a
clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What I
have to say to you now about energy is simple and vitally important.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Point
one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United
States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than
we did in 1977 -- never.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He declared a national crisis that year and proposed legislation
to create:</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 15.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">“[T]his
nation’s first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20
percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tragically
for America and the world, it all came crashing down 43 years ago this month
when the fossil fuel industry’s candidate, Ronald Reagan, replaced Carter,
killed the solar bank and the solar bond program, and even took Carter’s solar
panels off the roof of the White House.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reagan embraced the fossil fuel industry with gusto (and they
embraced him back), promoting climate deniers like James Watt to head the
Department of the Interior (which oversees oil, gas, and coal drilling and
mining), and Neil Gorsuch’s mother, Anne Gorsuch, to head the EPA.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Simultaneously, the fossil fuel industry began throwing millions
of dollars a year into sellout scientists and climate deniers while pouring
billions around the world into politicians and political campaigns.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">As a
result, we actually <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">increased</span></em>
our consumption of fossil fuels — and the fossil fuel industry made hundreds of
billions in profits. Our World in Data <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/14ea1877-c4d6-4f36-9c93-1e7d0eaf4f6a?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">summarizes</span></a> it well: <o:p></o:p></span></p><figure style="margin: 0 auto; width: 100%;">
</figure><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 12.0pt 0in 19.2pt 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%px;">
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/0bde64fb-d394-4999-99a5-29e44ba81b94?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk" style="align-items: center; flex-direction: column;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" class="wide-image" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4717e2ae-2725-44c2-b0d7-8f6565c8bfe1_3400x2400.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":1028,"width":1456,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":559837,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"internalRedirect":null}" height="388" id="_x0000_i1027" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_2912,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4717e2ae-2725-44c2-b0d7-8f6565c8bfe1_3400x2400.png" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0in; max-width: 100% !important; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" width="549" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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</tbody></table><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Electric
cars are a huge step forward because they don’t consume fossil fuels
(transportation is our second-largest producer of greenhouse gasses), but most
of our world’s electricity is still produced using coal, oil, or natural gas. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">President Carter tried to save America — and lead the world away
— from the climate disasters that are killing millions of people around the
world every year. The fossil fuel industry and the Republican Party killed his
efforts here, as have “conservative” political parties and the fossil fuel
industry all around the world.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s
gotten too late to consider this anything other than a potential Armageddon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">We’ve
reached the crisis point where we can no longer afford anything even close to
business as usual. This is a climate emergency. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yet here
in America the Republican Party continues to deny climate change and Republican
politicians do everything they can to block green and renewable fuels, all in
service to a grotesque industry that makes billions in profits every year from
killing our planet. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">But we are
not without solutions. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><strong><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Heating our houses and places of business, for example,
represents our biggest use of fossil fuels. Yet in <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/3ac58bd5-c922-444a-acd9-15b158d42132?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Urbana</span></a> Illinois, <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/1ae14724-a66b-4be6-9a6b-f869fae288bf?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Vancouver </span></a>Canada, and across <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/1bda2625-adfd-4aad-8ad0-29bf958a3c9b?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">Germany</span></a> they’re building homes that are so
efficient they can be… wait for it… <i><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/3ac58bd5-c922-444a-acd9-15b158d42132?j=eyJ1IjoiNm1tZG4ifQ.z2FtTj0BV-2hlnJDQjteBWo_xjEVnqVrR0D23mRgUDk"><span style="color: #7671ec;">heated with</span></a> a single hairdryer</i>.</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 12.0pt;">A new and
better world <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">is</span></em> possible,
if we can only overcome the money of the fossil fuel industry, the corruption
of a political party, and stop squandering the little remaining time we have
before, if we don’t act, climate disasters overwhelm civilization. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-33858593506272292322023-01-10T16:22:00.005-07:002023-01-10T16:22:36.824-07:0010 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint (Washington Post)<p><span style="font-size: large;">Here's the intro to the article - link to full article is below:</span></p><div class="teaser-content grid-center" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Franklin, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; grid-column: 2 / 3;"><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: 2 / 3; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 640px; width: 593px;"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150);">Here’s the thing: Small changes alone won’t save our planet. To keep the Earth from warming above the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/climate-environment/climate-change-world/?itid=lk_inline_manual_1&itid=lk_inline_manual_1&itid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">critical 2 degrees Celsius</a> (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) limit, climate action needs to happen at an institutional level. The Washington Post has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/climate-environment/biden-climate-environment-actions/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">built a tracker</a> to keep you up to date on all of President’s Biden’s environmental actions.</p><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150);"><br /></p></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Franklin, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Franklin, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; grid-column: 2 / 3; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 640px; width: 593px;"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150);">But that doesn’t mean you should feel helpless, or that your actions aren’t worthwhile. Taking steps to lower your own carbon footprint may help ease your <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/climate-change-anxiety-dread-cope/2021/07/14/471eb264-e4d4-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_3" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">climate anxiety</a> by giving you back some power — and even the smallest of actions will contribute to keeping our planet habitable.</p><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150);"><br /></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Franklin, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; grid-column: 2 / 3; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 640px; width: 593px;"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150);">With that in mind, here are 10 places to start.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; grid-column: 2 / 3; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 640px; width: 593px;"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150); text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: georgia; font-size: 1.25rem;"><br /></span></p><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150); text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: georgia; font-size: 1.25rem;"><br /></span></p><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150); text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: georgia; font-size: 1.25rem;">Subscription-free link to the full article</span><span style="color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem;">: <a href="https://wapo.st/3CDpVXo">https://wapo.st/3CDpVXo</a></span></p><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy" data-el="text" data-qa="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); font-family: var(--wpds-fonts-body); font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150); text-align: left;"><br /></p></div>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-68959490238844311172023-01-04T16:20:00.005-07:002023-01-04T16:20:56.563-07:00Dems in House Are Missing the Opportunity to Nominate a "Good" Republican -- Like Liz Cheney<p>Every vote for Speaker of the House in which the Dems vote for their Democratic leader is a wasted vote.</p><p>Recognizing that they're not going to get a Democratic Speaker, they should nominate a Republican that as few as six Republicans would vote for. I suggest Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, but there are others too!</p><p>There are enough Republicans, I'd guess, who are pissed off at those 19 far right members who are blocking Kevin McCarthy, that electing Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger might give them an opportunity to get revenge!</p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-75444906462669491672023-01-02T12:22:00.002-07:002023-01-02T12:22:09.266-07:00Thom Hartmann Really Nailed Republican "Values" in His Jan. 2nd Email Newsletter<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Here's an excerpt. You can subscribe to his daily email on Substack.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">In most developed countries homelessness is not a crisis; nobody goes bankrupt because somebody in their family got sick; and jobs pay well enough and have union pensions so people can retire after 30 or 40 years in the workforce and live comfortably for the rest of their lives.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">But not in America. Republican politicians have fought tooth-and-nail for generations to prevent any of those things from happening here.</strong></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">Which raises the question: “Why?”</strong></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Why do Republican politicians promote hateful messages and cruel policies? Why are Republican-run states the real “shithole” parts of the US with the highest rates of poverty, violence, early death, disease, and illiteracy?</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">What motivates these Republican politicians to say they’re for the “little guy” when the only policies they pursue are to cut taxes on the rich, gut unions, destroy public schools, and ship jobs overseas?</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about ideology.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Republicans don’t hate Social Security and Medicare, for example, because they’re afraid that those programs are going to somehow turn America into a “socialist” country. They hate those programs because they’re paid for with tax dollars, and greedy Republicans hate to pay their fair share of taxes.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about racism, although it often appears that way.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">The reason Republicans work so hard to keep Black and Brown people down is because they subscribe to a weird economic theory that “requires” an underclass who do most of the hard work for very little money. Thus, morbidly rich Republican “donors” — being part of the overclass — can reap the benefits of increased corporate profits while keeping their taxes low so they can stuff the extra cash into their money bins. </p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">If their use of racist language and Confederate iconography brings in a few more low-IQ white voters, that’s just icing on the cake. They can use the racist yahoos to get themselves reelected so giant corporations will continue to stuff their SuperPACs with lobbyist cash they can use for their own retirement.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about charity: they say that the housing and healthcare needs of poor people should be taken care of through “private philanthropy” instead of government.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">What they’re really saying is that they don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes to maintain a healthy society. By cutting government support for poor and working-class people, as Anand Giridharadas </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winners-Take-All-Charade-Changing/dp/110197267X/" rel="" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; text-decoration-line: none;">documents</a><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> so well, those very average Americans will become more dependent on the noble philanthropists among the billionaire class and less bonded to their own nation’s government.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about Christianity, although they’re constantly invoking Jesus for everything from pushing the death penalty on women who want to get an abortion to giving bigots the legal right to discriminate against gay, lesbian, and trans people.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">Jesus never once mentioned abortion and decried bigotry, but they regularly ignore and even flout His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and His warnings in </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025%3A31-46&version=NIV" rel="" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; text-decoration-line: none;">Matthew 25</a><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">. They protect multimillionaire evangelists’ tax-free status, and the preachers repay them by preaching politics from the pulpit.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about saving Americans from the pandemic or concern for public health.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Trump used the Defense Production Act, for example, to force mostly Brown and Black meatpackers back to work, not to keep Americans safe. As long as the factories are humming and the stock market is rising, a few hundred thousand dead Americans are just collateral damage.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about conservatism.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">They’re not interested in slowly or “cautiously” improving society, or “conserving” anything other than the balances in their own checking accounts. They like to use the word “conservative,” but they’ve rendered it meaningless at best and code for “racist” at worst.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about making the world a better place.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Republican politicians deny climate change, deregulate industries that poison our air and water, and do everything they can to screw working people out of unions, good wages, and decent benefits. They’re totally down with pesticides that are killing our pollinators while they poison our atmosphere with their carbon emissions, all just to make a buck.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about having a better-educated electorate or populace.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">They’ve spent decades trying to destroy our public education system that was, in the 1960s, the envy of the world. When they did away with free and low-cost college education during the Reagan years they kicked off almost $2 trillion worth of student debt which is preventing people from starting families, opening small businesses, or even buying their first house. But it sure is profitable for Republican-donor bankers!</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It isn’t about “culture.”</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">They do a good-old-boy NASCAR/Duck Dynasty routine to bring in the rubes, but there’s no way Donald Trump would ever invite the average Republican voter with a giant flag and a pickup truck to any of his golf clubs, nor would Ted Cruz want to vacation with one of them or their families in Cancun.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about “gun violence.”</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">As long as their investments in weapons manufacturers are profitable and the problem of gun violence is limited to poor- and working-class Americans, Republican politicians don’t give a rat’s ass about “gun safety.” Although they’re happy to use guns as a wedge issue to bring in male voters who are insecure about their own masculinity.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about “protecting our children.”</strong></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">The main through-story of the GOP attacks on queer people is that “they’re coming for your kids.” If Republican politicians actually cared about our kids, they’d do something about America being the </span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">only country</em><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> </span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">in the world</em><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> where gun violence is the leading cause of childhood death.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Republican politicians know that most pedophiles are straight men, but attacking defenseless minorities has been the cheap trick of craven demagogues from the eras of crusades, pogroms, and witch burnings to this day.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about immigrants taking jobs from working-class Americans.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">After “reforming” our immigration laws in 1986, Ronald Reagan stopped enforcing the laws against wealthy white employers hiring people who are here without documentation (even though those employers were — and are — committing a crime by hiring undocumented workers).</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">As a result, entire industries like construction and meatpacking that once provided good union jobs have been de-unionized, their former American-citizen union employees replaced by low-wage workers without documentation.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">And when the spotlight gets shined on those industries, Republicans are more than happy to put poor, hard-working Brown people in jail, but there’s no way they’re ever going to go after wealthy white employers. The Trump administration, for example, kicked off the midterm election year of 2018 by raiding over ninety 7-Eleven stores, hauling off undocumented Brown people for the cameras they invited to the arrests. Not a single employer went to jail, although they were the ones who initiated the “crime.”</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Republican politicians don’t give a damn about your job, particularly when they can find somebody else to do it cheaper.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It’s not about putting America or Americans “first.”</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">Reagan and Bush the Elder negotiated NAFTA and revived the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) so businesses could offshore entire factories. Since the </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-History-Neoliberalism-Reaganism-Greatness/dp/1523002328/" rel="" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; text-decoration-line: none;">Reagan administration instituted neoliberalism</a><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> in 1981, over 60,000 </span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">factories</em><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> have left America, taking along with them at least 15 million jobs.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">Donald Trump‘s rewrite of NAFTA even gave American companies a huge </span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">new</em><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> tax break if they’d move their factories from America </span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">to</em><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> Mexico.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">At the end of the day, all Republican politicians care about is money. Greed is their principle animating force, and what binds them to their morbidly rich donors.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> </span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">The greed embraced by Republican politicians — and the billionaires and CEOs who fund them — is why average Americans can’t have nice things. It’s why we and our children must walk the tightrope of life without the same safety net other countries — from Canada to Costa Rica, France to Taiwan — offer their citizens.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><strong style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">It doesn’t matter to Republican politicians how many Americans die unnecessarily, how many of our fellow citizens struggle in misery and poverty, how many children’s growth is stunted or bodies and brains are poisoned by industrial and mining waste being poured into our air and rivers.</strong><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> </span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">As long as the money keeps rolling in and the GOP’s billionaire patrons keep paying less than 3 percent in income taxes, </span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">greed</em><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"> is all Republican politicians care about or are willing to fight for.</span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-3965121207969084432022-12-06T10:36:00.004-07:002022-12-06T10:36:30.680-07:00Guardian Article Details How Trump and His Allies Are on Russia's Side in Ukraine War<p> Here's a link to this must-read article:</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/us-conservatives-pushing-russian-spin-ukraine-war">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/us-conservatives-pushing-russian-spin-ukraine-war</a></p><p>I suppose they also adopt Putin's terminology that it's a Special Military Operation and not a War. Would they punish American's who call it a war?</p><p>Do they not consider bombing residential sections a war crime?</p><p>This support of Russia over Ukraine alone should rightly cost them any seat at the table -- and in electoral office!</p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-77014706669836688532022-10-25T13:09:00.002-06:002022-10-25T13:09:12.469-06:00Is the U.S. Supreme Court the Biggest Threat to Our Democracy?<p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">By JIM SMITH</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Conventional wisdom and conventional teaching of history tells us that the U.S. Supreme Court is the supreme law of the land, that the only branch of government which isn’t elected can tell the other two branches of government what is and is not constitutional.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">But Thom Hartmann took his readers to school on this topic in <b><a href="https://hartmannreport.com/p/are-scotus-republicans-in-on-a-plot" target="_blank">his Oct. 20th column</a></b>, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Hartmann Report</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">According to Hartmann, “</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">There is literally </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">nothing</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">in the Constitution that gives the Supreme Court the exclusive right to decide what the Constitution says or means and impose it on the other two branches of government, or on the rest of America. That is a power the Supreme Court took onto itself in that 1803 decision of its own, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Marbury v Madison</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">.</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Hartmann continues:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Instead of putting the Supreme Court in charge of American laws, the Framers of the Constitution did the opposite: they put Congress in charge of the Supreme Court. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“As they wrote in Article 3, Section 2 of the Constitution:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 9pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 9pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“[T]he Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Republicans know this well…. Most recently, in the wake of the </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">Obergefell </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">gay marriage decision, Republicans in Congress offered a law stripping from the Court its power to rule that gay people could get married. The </span><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/e58affd4-bfd7-48c4-b623-5137c97b5132?r=6mmdn"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none;"><b>Marriage Protection Act</b></span></a><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">, which passed the House of Representatives on July 22, 2004 but failed in the Senate, explicitly says:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 9pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 9pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No court created by Act of Congress shall have any jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of, or the validity under the Constitution of, section 1738C or this section.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">[End of Hartmann excerpts]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">We have heard that Congress has the power to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court, but it turns out, according to the Constitution, that it has complete power over the Supreme Court and how it functions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Now the Court has been overtaken by rightwing extremists poised, among other things, to make gay marriage illegal, to validate the power of the 30 Republican-controlled state legislatures to ignore presidential balloting and send electors of their choice to the Electoral College, to abolish all forms of local gun control, to end affirmative action by private colleges, and to further gut the 1967 Voting Rights Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">If that sounds extreme, just consider what the Court has already done:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It overturned </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Roe v. Wade</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">In </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Citizens United, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">it allowed unlimited political donations by corporations and their billionaire owners.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It gutted the power of the EPA to regulate carbon and water pollution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It gutted the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It approved extreme gerrymandering in Wisconsin, Louisiana and Alabama that demonstrably disenfranchised voters of color.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It eliminated the right of citizens to sue police officers who don’t read them their Miranda rights.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It eliminated protection against unreasonable search and seizure by the Border Patrol or other federal officers within 100 miles of any border, including the ocean. No warrant necessary!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">All those decisions and the ones to come in the Supreme Court’s current term are based on that 1803 decision in </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Marbury v. Madison </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">in which the court </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">empowered itself </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">to overrule both Congress and the Presidency. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The backlash against </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Marbury </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">was so great that the Court didn’t rule on the constitutionality of laws again for over 70 years. But today, it’s routine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Congress has the power to rein in the Supreme Court, revoke its right to overrule its laws and even change the number of justices. Hartmann maintains in his Oct. 20th column that the time is now, because </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“if we fail, 2024 may be this nation’s last [popular] election for president.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">You can read the full Hartmann column at </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #080197; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;">https://hartmannreport.com/p/are-scotus-republicans-in-on-a-plot</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-66060364492761146842022-10-12T19:52:00.006-06:002022-10-12T20:07:07.032-06:00A Timely Reminder of Thomas Paine<p> <span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt;">Last Sunday, Thom Hartmann reprised his 2006 review of </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt;">Thomas Paine and the Promise of America </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt;">by Harvey J. Kaye. I was not familiar with that book, but it’s on my reading list now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQUL5hHBFHwbPxp0A5z6NfRSuxiPpem6gLoqHZoa-Fe8G_vt4C7wINGqDv6amP-HD_pcmFCRsY3dBplzCne5-71JkEMNLREKNLp787BerbAw1ZL-gfgj11q91k5_B6UecKky2R7q5wvSkNb25A98dgWtLw0z5fJi19BCC1IBiUMzHzxplnL6hFqpc/s1916/Thomas%20Paine%20and%20the%20Promise%20of%20America.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1916" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQUL5hHBFHwbPxp0A5z6NfRSuxiPpem6gLoqHZoa-Fe8G_vt4C7wINGqDv6amP-HD_pcmFCRsY3dBplzCne5-71JkEMNLREKNLp787BerbAw1ZL-gfgj11q91k5_B6UecKky2R7q5wvSkNb25A98dgWtLw0z5fJi19BCC1IBiUMzHzxplnL6hFqpc/s320/Thomas%20Paine%20and%20the%20Promise%20of%20America.jpg" width="214" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Thomas Paine was best known for his books </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">Common Sense </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">and </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">The Rights of Man,</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"> which were “best sellers” during the time of our country’s founding. His undoing, according to Kaye, was a third book, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">The Age of Reason, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">which Hartmann describes as “a finely tuned attack on organized religion.” It’s never been a good idea!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 3pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Here’s an excerpt from <b><a href="https://hartmannreport.com/p/thomas-paine-and-the-promise-of-america" target="_blank">Hartmann’s review</a></b>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 8.8888pt; mso-level-font-family: Symbol; mso-level-indent: 8.8888pt; mso-level-number-format: bullet; mso-level-size: 10.0pt; mso-level-text: ¨; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: -8.8888pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">¨</span><span style="width: 1.4pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">It wasn't FDR who first seriously promoted the progressive income tax in the USA: it was Thomas Paine.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 8.8888pt; mso-level-font-family: Symbol; mso-level-indent: 8.8888pt; mso-level-number-format: bullet; mso-level-size: 10.0pt; mso-level-text: ¨; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: -8.8888pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">¨</span><span style="width: 1.4pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">It wasn't LBJ who invented anti-poverty programs by introducing Medicare, housing assistance, and food-stamp programs: Thomas Paine proposed versions of all of these.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 8.8888pt; mso-level-font-family: Symbol; mso-level-indent: 8.8888pt; mso-level-number-format: bullet; mso-level-size: 10.0pt; mso-level-text: ¨; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: -8.8888pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">¨</span><span style="width: 1.4pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">It wasn't Jack Kennedy who first talked seriously about international disarmament: it was Thomas Paine.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 8.8888pt; mso-level-font-family: Symbol; mso-level-indent: 8.8888pt; mso-level-number-format: bullet; mso-level-size: 10.0pt; mso-level-text: ¨; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: -8.8888pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">¨</span><span style="width: 1.4pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">And Teddy Roosevelt wasn't the first American to talk about the “living wage,” or ways that corporate “maximum wage” wink-and-nod agreements could be broken up: it was Thomas Paine.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 8.8888pt; mso-level-font-family: Symbol; mso-level-indent: 8.8888pt; mso-level-number-format: bullet; mso-level-size: 10.0pt; mso-level-text: ¨; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: -8.8888pt; text-justify: newspaper;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">¨</span><span style="width: 1.4pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Even Woodrow Wilson’s inheritance tax, designed to prevent family empires from taking over our nation, was the idea of Thomas Paine, as was the suggestion for old-age pensions as part of a social safety net known today as Social Security.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 1pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: newspaper;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"> Paine thought that the best way to build a strong democracy was to tax the wealthy to give the poor bootstraps by which they could pull themselves up. </span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 3pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: newspaper;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"> And unlike most of our “founding fathers,” Paine never owned a slave and in fact railed against the practice. That’s another reason he lost favor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-87006991488871999322022-10-12T19:50:00.004-06:002022-10-12T20:03:06.346-06:00GOP Control of Either House in 2024 Will Be a Sh*t Show<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9JsJW3dshZ6SXcPzXWme_1rlU9tjnmfijoxpnCJywrU6V6LuJ0P-2lfiH1WGnBpnCX1b6ZKQytoJ_b1CCU5AEFIPzRdzxA6haMTHTACbFOMcUgpmNWsXk42xMj5iQ7WwSAe1KGcPpr5Y77xKZyBO0fWYkw-aubr7FpU5wc2XSwUUTv1dnw5T7x3j4/s331/Byline%20with%20no%20mask.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="195" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9JsJW3dshZ6SXcPzXWme_1rlU9tjnmfijoxpnCJywrU6V6LuJ0P-2lfiH1WGnBpnCX1b6ZKQytoJ_b1CCU5AEFIPzRdzxA6haMTHTACbFOMcUgpmNWsXk42xMj5iQ7WwSAe1KGcPpr5Y77xKZyBO0fWYkw-aubr7FpU5wc2XSwUUTv1dnw5T7x3j4/s320/Byline%20with%20no%20mask.png" width="189" /></a></div><br />It’s a good thing that the likelihood of Republicans gaining majority control of the House of Representatives or Senate is fading. It was looking pretty inevitable until, for starters, the U.S. Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade. You’ve heard the quote, <b>“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,”</b> and the conservative members of the Supreme Court — one-third of them appointed by President Trump — has triggered that fury in one simple decision.<o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">I’m not saying that maintaining Democratic control of both houses of Congress is a slam dunk, but let’s hope that it’s now a possibility.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Passing right-wing legislation, such as a national ban on abortion, is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the result of Republican control. Moreover, the right-wing legislation they pass would have to overcome a presidential veto for at least the next two years. The bigger part of that iceberg is what the various committees might do under Republican chairs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Can you imagine the investigations that they would conduct if, for example, Rep. Jim Jordan becomes chairman of the House Judiciary Committee? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Last week, <b><a href="https://jimsmithcolumns.com/TalkingTurkey/GOP_Hit_List.pdf" target="_blank">Jonathan Nicholson of HuffPost compiled a list of investigations we might expect if Republicans take control of either house.</a></b> Democrats haven’t gone overboard in the way that we can expect their GOP counterparts to go.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Picture, for example, investigations of all their favorite enemies, from Anthony Fauci to Hillary Clinton to the Vice President and President themselves — and their families. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">You’ve probably heard Republicans refer to the “Biden Crime Family.” Given Republican control, QAnon and Tucker Carlson might as well be in charge of setting the congressional agenda. That will delight their followers, but what about the rest of us and the future of our country?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">How much attention do you think Donald Trump paid to his job between election day and Biden’s inauguration? Was he reading the Presidential Daily Brief each morning? (Not that he read it regularly before becoming preoccupied with staging a coup.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">It has been refreshing to have a president who takes his job seriously, who devotes his waking hours to the country’s business, not his own. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Ditto for the Democrats in Congress. They have been focused on serving our country, not on the country serving them. Isn’t that a pleasant change? I’d hate to lose that focus after next month’s mid-term elections.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-14436160667310167732022-09-28T21:38:00.000-06:002022-09-28T21:38:24.611-06:00Majority Rule Is a Bit of a Constitutional Myth in America <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">By JIM SMITH<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Among the many things we have come to know about American history, thanks to Donald Trump and his allies, is that the United States of America was not created as a democracy or even as a democratic republic. The </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">anti-democratic provisions </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">of the U.S. Constitution have been exploited by the right to assure that </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">minority rule </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">remains our country’s ongoing reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">The origins of minority rule can be found in the compromises agreed to at the founding constitutional convention, which was called to replace the original “Articles of Confederation,” which were tilted even more toward minority rule. Those articles gave each of the 13 original states one vote and required unanimous agreement to amend them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">The U.S. Senate, which gives equal power — two votes — to every state regardless of population, preserved that undemocratic principle. Thus we have a situation where Wyoming has the same number of votes in the Senate as California, even though the latter has 65 times the population of the former. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">With the less populated states having vastly different values and politics than the most populated states, the result is what we have today, where Senators representing 40 percent of the population outnumber Senators representing 60 percent of the population. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">This will never change, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">because the process of amending the Constitution also has at its endpoint a situation in which all states carry the same weight in ratifying any amendment. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">The most offensive violation of voting equality is found in the District of Columbia, where 705,000 Americans — more than live in Wyoming or Vermont — have </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">no voting representation </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">in either the House or Senate. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">Then, of course, we have the Electoral College created in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, which is anti-democratic in the number of electors assigned to each state. And it gives discretion to each state as to how it appoints its electors. All but two states have adopted a winner-take-all rule for appointing electors, which is about as anti-democratic as it can get.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">But wait, there’s more! The Constitution allows any state, through its legislature, to ignore the presidential vote of its population and send whoever it wants to the Electoral College. Thanks to gerrymandering, most legislatures could go completely against the will of its citizens if it so chooses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">As if the Constitution doesn’t do enough damage to the principle of one person/one vote, the Senate’s filibuster rule makes it impossible to pass critical legislation approved by up to 59 of its 100 members. And that’s a rule which the Senate imposes upon itself. Since no law goes to the President for his signature without a vote of both houses of Congress, the U.S. Senate routinely kills legislation approved by the majority of Representatives in the House and even by the majority of its members.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">So here we are. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%;">America has a form of government that is less democratic than most countries in the “free world.” </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">And now, as we are learning from the Select Committee on the January 6 Assault on the Capitol, the Republican Party is taking maximum advantage of the Constitution’s anti-democratic provisions to cement minority rule in the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">What I haven’t mentioned above is the origin and reasons for the anti-democratic provisions of the Constitution. It was all about white supremacy. The creation of a Senate which gave the southern slave states the same number of votes as the more populous northern states, was all about preserving slavery as a southern institution. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">In my July 28, 2022, column (which you can find at <b><u><a href="http://www.">www.</a></u></b></span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #080197; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 95%; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://jimsmithcolumns.com/TalkingTurkey/July28TalkingTurkey.pdf">TalkingTurkey.online</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">) I describe how the Constitution was written to protect and preserve slavery. There was in fact slavery in all 13 colonies, and the majority of “founder fathers” were slaveholders. The Declaration of Independence expressed some nice sentiments and railed against King George for “making slaves” of colonists, but when it came to forming a government, the colonists chose to protect their own institution of slavery.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">We are aware by now that racism is the “original sin” of the United States, and that systemic racism has been and continues to be a factor in our political life. And since any change to our Constitution must follow the rules of that document, we are in fact shackled by it into a future of minority rule.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;">While right-wing extremists like to brandish their AR-15s (as they did in the Michigan statehouse) and talk of civil war, they could probably relax, because our Constitution and our courts are on their side. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 95%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-28606220820417450162022-09-21T13:51:00.000-06:002022-09-21T13:51:02.466-06:00Let’s Look at the Christian Evangelical Aspect of Trumpism <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">By JIM SMITH</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">At a recent open house, I had an
interesting exchange with a professed Christian woman and Trump supporter. I
asked her if she was concerned about the anti-democratic and fascist actions
and statements coming from the Trump wing of the Republican Party.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;"></span>She replied that she was not
concerned because <b><i>“God
is in control. It will all turn out fine.”</i></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">Really? Is Jesus’ hand on the wheel, and he’ll keep
us from crashing and dying? (Oops, I
forgot — our afterlife with Jesus will be better, so why worry about dying?)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">But let’s say we </span><b><i>don’t </i></b>want us, our country, or democracy
to die. Can we really count on being saved by divine intervention? I don’t
think so, and my answer is, like hers, rooted in my Christian and spiritual
training. It has to do with “free will.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">I was taught that </span><b><i>God may forgive us for our sins,
but he gave us free will to commit them. </i></b>Jesus certainly didn’t have his hand on the wheel when
Hitler implemented the “final solution” of exterminating all Jews. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">I believe, for example, that God
charged us with stewardship of the our planet, but we are free to destroy
it. And therefore I believe that those
fighting to address pollution and climate change are the ones doing “God’s
work,” </span><b><i>as
he commanded us to do. <o:p></o:p></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">When asked by the wife of
Philadelphia’s mayor at the time of the constitutional convention whether we
have a republic or a monarchy, Benjamin Franklin famously replied, </span><b><i>“A republic, if you can keep it.”</i></b> The mayor’s wife, Elizabeth Powel,
shot back, “And why not keep it?” to which Franklin replied, <b><i>“Because the people, on tasting the
dish, are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good</i></b>.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">Social media have supercharged that
“over-eating” because it allows and encourages our God-given free will to
spread lies that destroy trust in government, blur or purposely distort facts,
and, when combined with the current misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment,
embolden the kind of armed insurrection we saw on January 6th and likely will
see again.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">Karl Marx famously called religion </span><b><i>“the opium of the people,” </i></b>and there is no better
manifestation of that dictum than the Christian right and “Christian
nationalism.” <b><i>As
with opium, they can’t be talked out of their addiction. </i></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">To
quote the headline of my May 28, 2020, “Talking Turkey” column, </span><b><i>“Forgiveness is an important trait,
and Trump supporters get to practice it a lot.” </i></b>They have forgiven Trump, I wrote,
for failing to criticize the Charlottesville demonstrators who chanted “Jews
will not replace us.” They forgave him for the Access Hollywood tape and having
his fixer pay off a porn star with whom he committed adultery. And that was
just the beginning of his trespasses for which he never attended church to
confess his sins — <b><i>only
losers would do that! </i></b>—
and seek God’s forgiveness. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">But it does no good to criticize
the man. We need to focus on those who propagate his insanity, like Steve
Bannon, or who, as elected officials, refuse to disavow Trump’s Big Lie because
they fear retribution if they acknowledge the facts as they know them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">We have countless Republican
candidates running for election and re-election who are committed to the Big
Lie, and committed to lying about the next election if they lose. I recall that
shortly after the 2020 election, when Donald Trump began asserting the election
was stolen, one astute TV commentator said that what he feared most was that
Trump would run again in four years, lose again, and say again that the
election was stolen. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">We have always trusted our
electoral system — until one president with a cult-like following said it could
not be trusted. Enough people believed his lie that a statistically significant
percentage of the population no longer trusts our electoral system. And those
people are armed to the teeth with assault weapons! We “trusters” haven’t seen
the need for assault weapons, so we are at their mercy if they assert the next
election was stolen and choose to stage a coup. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 96%; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .15in; text-kashida-space: 50%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 96%; mso-ligatures: none;">God may save the King, but only we
can save ourselves. When the “other side” controls the courts (they already
control the Supreme Court) and get elected to the positions responsible for
certifying elections, we are all screwed. They’ll call it God’s will. Yes,
because it will be man exercising the free will with which God endowed them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 118%;"><i><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.JimSmithColumns.com/TalkingTurkey/Sept22Comments.pdf" target="_blank">Click here</a> </span></b>to read comments on this column from my own minister and from a retired Lutheran pastor who read this column prior to publication. Your comments are welcome too!<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>(<a href="https://www.jimsmithcolumns.com/TalkingTurkey/Sept22Comments.pdf">https://www.jimsmithcolumns.com/TalkingTurkey/Sept22Comments.pdf</a>)</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 97%; margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt; text-justify: newspaper; text-justify: newspaper; text-kashida-space: 50%; text-kashida-space: 50%;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 118%;"> </span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-91677851806181413482022-08-27T11:47:00.000-06:002022-08-27T11:47:10.147-06:00We Can Thank Trump for Waking Us, Not Just the Alt-Right <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">For the past several years I have felt like I was back in college. As a history major, I didn’t learn anywhere near as much about American history, racism, fascism and politics as I have learned over the last six years. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">It became clear right away that having a sympathetic figure in the White House emboldened the alt-Right, as demonstrated by the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, but that event in turn woke the rest of us up to the existence of those previously closeted forces in our country. You can draw a straight line from that rally to the events of January 6, 2021. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">I remember how Barack Obama’s election in 2008 represented to many the arrival of a “post-racial America,” but now we realize that it simply awakened the sleeping giant of racism, which entered its fullness with the election of Donald Trump just 8 years later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">Those forces are in the minority, but they are highly energized and, thanks to the courts, they have enough military grade weapons to intimidate the rest of us into submission. But will they? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">This “course” we’re all taking has a reading list. Books that I’ve read and recommend include: </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Fascism-Works-Politics-Them/dp/0525511830" target="_blank">How Fascism Works</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Jason Stanley; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fascism-Warning-Madeleine-Albright/dp/0062802186" target="_blank">Fascism: A Warning</a>, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">by Madeleine Albright; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Too-Much-Never-Enough-Dangerous/dp/1982141468" target="_blank">Too Much and Never Enough</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Mary Trump; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/White-Rage-Unspoken-Racial-Divide/dp/1536667471" target="_blank">White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Carol Anderson; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Rage/Bob-Woodward/9781982131746" target="_blank">Rage</a> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">and </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fear/Bob-Woodward/9781501175527" target="_blank">Fear</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, both by Bob Woodward; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disloyal-Memoir-Personal-Attorney-President/dp/1510764690" target="_blank">Disloyal</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Michael Cohen; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Warning/dp/1538718464" target="_blank">A Warning</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Anonymous; and </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/1619-Project-New-Origin-Story/dp/0593230574" target="_blank">The 1619 Project</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Nikole Hannah-Jones. I could also cite countless articles in </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">The Atlantic, The New Yorker</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; line-height: 98%;">, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">and </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">The Guardian</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">. (When you click on the links for those books, you'll see recommendations of books similar to them, many of which I have also read.) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">So, what have I learned from this course of study? For starters, I gained a far more complete understanding of slavery and racism in America and how both were embedded in the U.S. Constitution. As I learned from </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">The 1619 Project</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, one motivation for our revolutionary war was to preserve slavery. (See last week's blog post for details.) I learned how the 13th Amendment, which abolished </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">chattel slavery, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">provided for </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">inmate slavery</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, which was utilized by former slaveholders to continue slavery by leasing convicts who were imprisoned for petty or fabricated crimes in Southern jurisdictions. (The 13th Amendment reads, “</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">except as a punishment for crime </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">I have learned how Trump and his minions have followed the fascist playbook. For most of my life I was puzzled by how middle and lower-income Americans would vote against their own interests, but now I realize that emotional interests can trump financial interests, and that </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">fear </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">of immigrants and persons of color and </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">fear </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">of socialism (undefined, and equated with communism) are proven tools utilized by fascists. The manipulation of working class Americans by Trump (<b><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/02/24/donald-trump-nevada-poorly-educated/80860078/" target="_blank">who boasted that he loves “poorly educated” voters</a></b>) is a textbook case in point.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipr1gvoRUbtQY7FO1ZVXURkAJMexKumc6DPwalATNB5cwp1KesICC7ea_F36BvTrgkrfDE9AJfFvxmfY-gJDkT55qVSF0PZ7wtMuL_KOqpKihvDoDj9yGZOclhahaQG3GnGuMx1toaAeE5D5ORNk2_WBtgZih4mahmZfKKXCJcgD25pvDPf4Tjmw3J/s453/Hitler's%20American%20Model.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="301" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipr1gvoRUbtQY7FO1ZVXURkAJMexKumc6DPwalATNB5cwp1KesICC7ea_F36BvTrgkrfDE9AJfFvxmfY-gJDkT55qVSF0PZ7wtMuL_KOqpKihvDoDj9yGZOclhahaQG3GnGuMx1toaAeE5D5ORNk2_WBtgZih4mahmZfKKXCJcgD25pvDPf4Tjmw3J/w137-h206/Hitler's%20American%20Model.png" width="137" /></a></div><br />I also learned from Hannah-Jones’ book that fascist inspiration was a 2-way street. <span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172422/hitlers-american-model" target="_blank">Hitler’s American Model</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by James Q. Whitman, describes how Hitler got inspiration from the Jim Crow racism in 20th Century America. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">A 2021 book, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-People-Want-Punishment-Authoritarian/dp/1108794866" target="_blank">When People Want Punishment: Retributive Justice and the Puzzle of Authoritarian Popularity</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">, by Lily L Tsai, addresses this very dynamic. Although China is her case study, the final chapter brings the topic home to our domestic situation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">It’s looking as if we may have passed the “tipping point” when it comes to reversing the effects of climate change. Have we also passed the tipping point when it comes to saving democracy? As you and I have learned in this “course,” the U.S. Constitution allows for state legislatures, so many of which are ruled by Republican election deniers thanks to gerrymandering, to overrule the will of the people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">The U.S. Constitution does not dictate how states choose the slate of presidential electors. This has changed over time, but most states — except Nebraska and Maine — send a slate of electors, all of whom are committed to the candidate who got the most votes, no matter how close the vote count was. The U.S. Constitution does not care how a state’s constitution or statutes determine how its slate is constituted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;">There’s a real possibility that those Republican-controlled state legislatures may ignore their state’s popular vote and send the electors of their choice to the Electoral College in 2024. That’s a development we all should fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 98%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-37103420902992095152022-07-27T22:59:00.001-06:002022-07-27T22:59:11.532-06:00‘Critical Race Theory’ May Not Be Taught in K-12, But Perhaps It Should Be<p> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold;">By JIM SMITH</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I have received quite an education from reading </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> about the history of slavery and racism in America. As a “history major” in college, I’m embarrassed at how little I knew about this aspect of American history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Republicans, at least the Trumpers, would like to burn this book, and have succeeded in getting it banned from schools and libraries, because, for them, ignorance is bliss. They don’t want Americans to know their history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think this is an essential book that every student (and grown-up) should read and study.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Did you know that the capture and return of escaped slaves was primary to the creation of many police departments, especially in the South? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Did you know that 10 of our first 12 presidents were slave owners? That of the 84 clauses in the U.S. Constitution, six deal directly with the enslaved and their enslavement, and five more hold implications for slavery? That the Constitution prohibited the federal government from intervening to end the importation of slaves from Africa for a term of 20 years and allowed Congress to mobilize the militia to put down slave revolts and forced states that outlawed slavery to turn over escaped slaves to their enslavers in other states? That slavery existed in all 13 colonies, not just the South? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I was fascinated by the story of Virginia’s royal governor, the Earl of Dunmore, a slave owner himself, who warned colonists taking up arms that he would “declare Freedom to the Slaves,” prompting hundreds of slaves to join the British. Indeed more slaves joined the British than joined the colonists during the Revolutionary War.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">It’s generally understood that the U.S. Constitution went against the noble statements in the Declaration of Independence regarding “all men being created equal,” but check out this excerpt from Chapter One: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Thomas Jefferson spoke for other white Americans when he stated in the largest and angriest complaint in the Declaration of Independence, that Dunmore’s emancipation proclamation was a major cause of the American Revolution,” [Woody] Holton writes. Or, as historian Michael Groth put it, “In one sense, slaveholding Patriots went to war in 1775 and declared independence in 1776 to defend their rights to own slaves.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Holton was referring to the last grievance in the Declaration of Independence that “He [the King] has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,” a specific reference to insurrections by slaves against their enslavers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Another quote I highlighted: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">As Frederick Douglass would explain in 1849, the Constitution bound the nation “to do the bidding of the slave holder, to bring out the whole naval and military power of the country, to crush the refractory slaves into obedience to their cruel masters.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Northerners (like myself) were led to believe that racism, racial segregation and discrimination of all sorts was a Southern phenomenon, one which children born after the 1970s or 1980s might totally accept. But this book reminds readers that white politicians in the North implemented policies that segregated Blacks into slum neighborhoods and all-Black schools, and “Whites Only” signs were common in Northern businesses. California was among the non-Southern states which barred interracial marriages. It was the FHA which introduced (and mandated) racially tinged redlining to the mortgage industry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">This is history which all Americans need to know. And we need to know that right-wing opposition to teaching American history is anti-American. (Or perhaps we should label it “highly American,” given our history.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The 1619 Project </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">provides insight regarding the members of the Supreme Court who call themselves “originalists.” To be an originalist in that context means to support not just denying women the vote but supporting slavery and systemic racism.</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-87683945544507609842022-06-22T20:42:00.000-06:002022-06-22T20:42:07.036-06:00The ‘Big Lie’ Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving — for a Man With No Shame<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">By JIM SMITH<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">We learned last week that Donald Trump conned his small-donor followers out of $250 million on the pretext that the money would be used by an “election integrity committee” to fund challenges to Joe Biden’s election, when in fact no such committee existed and none of the money was even used for ballot recounts. It went to his hotels, the Jan. 6th rally, and mostly to his political campaign. His donors are, simply, suckers, reminding me of how he said that he loves uneducated voters and his “deplorables.” (Yes, although he attacked Hillary Clinton for using that term, he used it himself to describe his rightwing and racist followers.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">Whether or not he intended to use it long-term, when Trump saw the fundraising potential of the Big Lie, he decided to double down on it. Money, however, is not the only way the Big Lie has paid off for him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">Because his supporters believe anything Trump tells them and have been inoculated to dismiss any fact-checking as “fake news” paid for by the likes of George Soros, the Big Lie has generated the kind of misguided enthusiasm that could propel the Trump Party (formerly the GOP) to victory. The Democrats don’t yet have as much get-out-the-vote enthusiasm, and turnout is what wins any election. Besides, will getting the most votes even matter?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">Steve Bannon brilliantly conceived a precinct strategy built upon the Big Lie and has already showed impressive success in getting Trump’s true believers to take over grass roots Republican precinct committees and school boards and to win nominations for the Secretaries of State who run elections. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative (and Catholic) majority is dismantling abortion rights and the separation of church and state. Five of those six were nominated by presidents who did not win the popular vote.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">The Trump Party is following the playbook of fascist movements in the past, convincing supporters that any fact-checking by mainstream media is part of the conspiracy against their beliefs because those media are owned by the “radical socialist Democrats.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">The latest strategy is to include a mention of Snopes and Factcheck.org within their emails, warning readers that they “will tell you this is not true, but don’t believe them!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">How can that many Americans be so easily conned into believing what the rest of us know to be obvious untruths? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">Have we passed the tipping point in the rightwing takeover of our country? We’ll know that for sure if the Trump Party takes control of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and wins Secretary of State races in battleground states. That’s all that’s required to steal the 2024 presidential election. After all, the US Constitution does allow for state legislatures to go against the popular vote and send their own electors to the Electoral College. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">If they pull that off, Americans will be “up in arms” </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">figuratively</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">, but they will be outgunned </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">literally</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;"> by the storm troopers armed with AR-15 rifles, so I suspect it won’t matter. Death threats and the threat of violence are highly effective political tools.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">Consider the following item from Heather Cox Richardson:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 8.9184pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">Today, June 20, 2022, a Republican candidate for the Senate in Missouri, disgraced former governor Eric Greitens, released an advertisement threatening those Republicans he considers too moderate, the so-called Republicans In Name Only… In the ad, Greitens is armed with a shotgun and flanked by military personnel as they burst into a house. “Today, we’re going RINO hunting,” he says. “The RINO feeds on corruption and is marked with the stripes of cowardice,” he continues. “Join the MAGA crew. Get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 98%;">Of course, it’s the Trumpers who are the true RINOs. The above excerpt is a tacit acknowledgement that only the non-Trump Republicans can save us, but will they? On June 6, 1954, Boston attorney Joseph Welch brought down Sen. Joseph McCarthy with his televised line, “Have you no decency, sir?” When will other Republicans join Rep. Liz Cheney and speak out? When will they defy the death threats, stand up and say, “Have you no shame, sir?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 98%;">————<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 98%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; line-height: 98%;">My thanks to the readers who support this column through my GoFundMe campaign at </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 98%; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-fund-jim-smith039s-quottalking-turkeyquot-column" target="_blank">www.FundTalkingTurkey.com</a></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 98%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-86134403601524797042022-05-25T19:37:00.001-06:002022-05-25T19:38:09.835-06:00If They Loved America, Wouldn’t Anti-Trump Republicans Speak Out?<p> <span lang="en-US" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.8pt;">I’m reminded by the silence of mainstream Republicans of a quote often attributed to Edmund Burke: <i>"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 102%; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">I hesitate to use the word “mainstream” because it appears that the Republican Party is now the party of Trump and that the values (or lack of them) of Donald Trump have been adopted by the Republican mainstream. The rest of us should be frightened. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none;">Thom Hartmann, the radio host and newsletter writer I admire for his articulate coverage of the decline of American democracy under the spell of Donald Trump, wrote a particularly cogent newsletter this Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">In the headline, Hartmann asks, “</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Is the Anti-Democracy Movement Reaching a Tipping Point in the US and Around the World?</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">In it he notes: “</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Ukraine and Taiwan represent possible tipping points for democracy internationally, while Republicans passing laws that allow politicians to ignore the results of elections… could be a tipping point here.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Hartmann notes that “</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: ar-SA; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">virtually the entire Republican Party has rejected supporting democracy at home and supporting democratic governments abroad.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">This is no small matter. It is becoming clear that our Constitution is being used against us, and I see no way to avoid the death spiral of democratic rule in America.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Yes, the filibuster, which allows a minority of Senators to frustrate the majority, could be eliminated by a majority vote of Senators, because it is a Senate rule, not embedded in the Constitution. To their shame, two Democratic Senators prevented that from happening so that a voting rights bill they claim to support could pass </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">without any Republican votes</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">But even if the filibuster were eliminated, it does not change the structural issue built into the Constitution which gives the same vote in the Senate to Wyoming with fewer than 600,000 residents as it gives to California with over 39 million residents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the District of Columbia, which has more residents than Wyoming, has </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">not one vote </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">in the Senate (or in the House of Representatives). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Because our electoral system is under so much discussion since the former president started claiming his election was stolen through massive fraud — the Big Lie, as we call it — we are becoming more and more aware of how fragile our democratic republic is, and I’m not hopeful that there will be a happy ending, even if we see Trump and his cronies go to jail, as they should, for the many crimes that are coming to light thanks to the diligent work of the Jan. 6th committee and multiple prosecutors in New York and now Georgia. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">My Republican mother and father, for whom integrity, civility and respect for the law were paramount (and instilled in us children), would be astounded at how our country is being brought down by the opposite traits of a single man who boasted that he could murder someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">The trendlines are all going in the wrong direction. Income inequality is on the rise, with the 10 richest billionaires doubling their wealth during the pandemic, while the government had to print money just to keep the bottom 99% above water. Non-partisan election officials are being terrorized by death threats and their jobs taken over by right-wing partisans. Legislatures are passing laws restricting ballot access and preparing to declare fraud if they don’t like the next presidential vote and send their own slate to the Electoral College. Tucker Carlson is convincing his viewers that we should support Russia instead of Ukraine. Where does this madness end? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-arabic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-armenian-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-currency-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-default-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-greek-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hebrew-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latin-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">As a wealthy white American, I have little to lose as long as I keep quiet in Trump’s new America, but it’s not an America I wish to live in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="language: en-US; mso-ligatures: none;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-65009336680035531292022-05-25T19:36:00.007-06:002022-05-25T19:36:58.181-06:00A stark warning from Martin Baron about threats to truth, science, and democracy<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold;">By JIM SMITH<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Martin Baron is the former Executive Editor of </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">The Washington Post </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">and a highly respected journalist. On April 21st, he delivered a grim warning to an audience at MIT about the avalanche of lies and falsehoods permeating right-wing media outlets, posing a direct threat to democracy and civil society. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">His comments mirror my own (or vice versa) so I’m going to devote this month’s column to quoting his lecture, reprinting in edited form the following article by Peter Dizikes of the MIT News Office:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron focused many of his remarks on lies and misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the 2020 presidential election. </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The path we are on today is an invitation to ruin,”</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"> said Baron, while delivering MIT’s annual spring Compton Lecture.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron, who served as executive editor of </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">The Washington Post</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"> from 2013 to 2021, before retiring, focused many of his remarks on lies and misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the 2020 presidential election. Propagation of those kinds of lies, he emphasized, not only undermines public health and governance in the near term, but undercuts our collective use of facts to help organize society.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“The truth is, we may not survive another crisis in public health if we don’t come up with answers,” Baron said. </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“And we may not survive another crisis in our democracy like the one we’ve faced.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #050505; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Champion of independence</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron has been one of America’s highest profile newsroom leaders for the last two decades. He began his journalism career at the </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Miami Herald</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">in 1976 and worked for the </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"> and </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">The New York Times</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"> before returning to the </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Herald</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"> as executive editor in 2000. He then served as executive editor of </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">The Boston Globe</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"> for over a decade before moving to the </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Post</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron was portrayed by Liev Schreiber in the 2015 film “</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold;">Spotlight</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">,” winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film depicts the work of the </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Globe</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">’s investigative reporting team, published in 2002, which revealed decades of covered-up abuse cases in the Catholic Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">At Thursday’s event, Baron was introduced by MIT President L. Rafael Reif , who called the veteran editor a “champion of the independent press and its essential role in American democracy.” He added: “Marty’s distinguished career is a study in integrity, determination, and grace under pressure.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #050505; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Sustaining enlightenment</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron began his talk with some broad historical brushstrokes, emphasizing the 18th-century Enlightenment as the time when a commitment to empiricism and rational inquiry helped form contemporary society. “Not one of you would be here without the values that informed that period,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">That said, Baron added, today </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“verifiable fact, objective reality, is now under determined, deliberate, cynical, and malevolent assault. I can think of no greater threat to our system of governance, or to the public good.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">As a principal example, Baron cited the stream of lies disputing that former President Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“We know that Joe Biden won,” Baron said. “There is a mountain of evidence proving that he did. There is no credible evidence that he didn’t. There were multiple recounts, there were audits, some of them even real ones. There were court challenges to official results that failed one after another, and judges at every level cited lack of evidence. </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">And yet, as of last December, one-third of the American public, and a stunning 71 percent of Republicans, believe the election was stolen.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">When it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic, Baron observed, we are suffering from a similar wave of falsehoods.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“We know that vaccines work,” Baron said. “For decades, they have rid the world of devastating illness and death. And yet a substantial portion of the public believes vaccines will sicken and even kill you. Nothing could be more threatening to the public’s health than to deceive people about which medicines are safe and effective, and which are quackery, with potentially fatal outcomes. Here at MIT you know that as well as anyone.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">As a result of such large-scale lying, Baron said, the U.S. is losing its ability to properly govern itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“Ours is a country that rightly encourages vigorous debate about the problems we face and the policies required to address them,” Baron said. “That is liberty. That is democracy. That is what has distinguished our country in the eyes of people throughout the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">However, he added: “What happens when the underpinnings of that democracy are eroded? What happens when instead of debating policies, we find ourselves debating the most basic facts? </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">What happens when we can’t even agree on what constitutes a fact? What happens when all those elements we rely upon for determining what is a fact — expertise, education, experience, and evidence — are routinely devalued, dismissed, and denied? That’s where we are today.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #050505; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Decline in confidence</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">As Baron emphasized, this is not simply a media or governance issue. He noted that there is a widespread decline in public confidence toward both the media and the medical professions, among many other institutions oriented around empirical reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“We in the press and you who are in science are in the same leaky, rickety boat,” Baron said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Observing that there is “a systematic effort to sabotage independent sources of fact,” Baron noted that “the mission of these saboteurs … is not the pursuit of truth. They seek something else: power. Political, personal, and commercial power.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron also listed a series of empirical questions about facticity, knowledge, and communication that he believes are worth pursuing, as one part of a larger societal effort to fight back against falsehoods and the accumulation of power they may abet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">To get us back to a society firmly rooted in objective reality, I believe we will have to come up with answers to some urgent questions,” </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">Baron said. “Here are a few. </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">What makes the human mind susceptible to falsehoods from nonexperts and resistant to evidence-based facts from people with expertise? </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">How can we better signal to the public that knowledge is not static? … How can we get the public to better understand and weigh the risks they face in daily life?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">He added: “How do we better signal that there is a distinction between scientific facts and policy decisions?… </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">How can reality-based professionals disseminate information in a manner that is more persuasive to more people?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ansi-language: en-US; mso-ligatures: none; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #050505; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Impact on ordinary people</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">During the question-and-answer portion of the event, Baron further discussed the pursuit of truth in journalism, which he characterized as a process of searching for facts while questioning one’s own assumptions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;">“It’s not so much maintaining a middle ground, it’s maintaining an independent ground,” Baron said. </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Objectivity is a method. You want to make sure that your own preconceptions don’t get in the way of an objective search for the facts.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">[End of article about Baron’s lecture]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt;"><b><u>From Jim Smith</u>:</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 97%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 4.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="color: #050505; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 97%;">It seems obvious to me that one single individual is responsible for this situation, and that is Donald Trump. The Big Lie about the 2020 election only gained a following because he started it. It is his single worst legacy, and one that could bring America down. Shame on him.</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; line-height: 97%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p> </p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-19971219115692224582022-05-21T15:54:00.003-06:002022-05-21T15:54:51.889-06:00Hypocrisy of Pro-Life Crowd<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQcAVtyJ_eTHSoyLjy0M6uqZTXnDjn5adMe3XsTgNc_az2f2hH_rzUhIYJr_Jf7Pv20-DeqnvFAsYy0xes15a0dq8Aw3CpUUx6qCwROKOSln0gJS-vUBmdCxIgLsmVmVAzypq8X8k7OQR8U2iHN5_0AKKCRYi6IElWS0UzRS-v3FHj_cdikvsQ5Ax4/s960/Other%20causes%20of%20anti-abortionists%20(Alt%20FedEmployees).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="838" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQcAVtyJ_eTHSoyLjy0M6uqZTXnDjn5adMe3XsTgNc_az2f2hH_rzUhIYJr_Jf7Pv20-DeqnvFAsYy0xes15a0dq8Aw3CpUUx6qCwROKOSln0gJS-vUBmdCxIgLsmVmVAzypq8X8k7OQR8U2iHN5_0AKKCRYi6IElWS0UzRS-v3FHj_cdikvsQ5Ax4/w432-h490/Other%20causes%20of%20anti-abortionists%20(Alt%20FedEmployees).jpg" width="432" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-13300795396804930142022-05-21T15:32:00.000-06:002022-05-21T15:32:27.939-06:00HuffPost article details Trump's business failures and more in a required SEC filing<p>Whenever a business raises money, either in a public offering or a private placement, SEC rules require full disclosure to potential investors of that enterprise's risks. What's delicious about this HuffPost article is that the disclosures were not the result of investigative reporting but rather of honest self-disclosure. Enjoy....</p><div class="js-cet-unit-buzz_head entry-head-container" data-rapid="marko-sec" id="entry-header" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 30px; position: relative;"><header class="entry__header" style="align-items: start; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: ProximaNovaCond; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 1120px;"><div class="top-header" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 3.25rem; letter-spacing: 0.03125rem; line-height: 3.25rem; margin: 0px; max-width: 1024px; padding: 0px 0px 16px;">Donald Trump's New Business Partners Just Published A Damning List Of All His Failures</h1></div><div class="dek" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #313131; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 1.25rem; letter-spacing: 0.0125rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; max-width: 728px; padding: 0px 0px 16px;">The former president's lengthy history of bankruptcies, failed licensing agreements and lawsuits are laid bare in excruciating detail in a filing for his new media company.</div><div class="bottom-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 1120px;"><div class="bottom-header__left" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="entry__byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 1rem; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.125rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><div class="author-list" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: left; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><a aria-label="By Lee Moran" class="headshot__link js-entry-link cet-internal-link" data-vars-item-name="Lee Moran" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-position-in-subunit="0" data-vars-subunit-name="author" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.huffpost.com/author/lee-moran" data-vars-target-content-type="feed" data-vars-type="web_internal_link" data-vars-unit-name="6285e0f8e4b00685b668f891" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_head" href="https://www.huffpost.com/author/lee-moran" style="display: initial; margin-right: 8px;"><figure style="margin: 0px;"><div class="headshot__img img-sized img-sized--responsive" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 40px;"><div class="img-sized__placeholder" style="background-color: #d4d4d4; border-radius: 50%; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 40px 0px 0px;"></div></div><picture><source srcset="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5d243183250000b21ae9cc35.jpg?ops=100_100&format=webp" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="Lee Moran" class="img-sized__img portrait" height="100" loading="lazy" src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5d243183250000b21ae9cc35.jpg?ops=100_100" style="border-radius: 50%; border-style: none; height: 40px; inset: 0px 0px 0px 20px; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; transform: translateX(-50%); width: 40px;" width="100" /></picture></div></figure></a><span aria-hidden="true">By </span><div class="entry__byline__author" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre;"><a aria-label="By Lee Moran" class="js-entry-link cet-internal-link" data-vars-item-name="Lee Moran" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-position-in-subunit="1" data-vars-subunit-name="author" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.huffpost.com/author/lee-moran" data-vars-target-content-type="feed" data-vars-type="web_internal_link" data-vars-unit-name="6285e0f8e4b00685b668f891" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_head" href="https://www.huffpost.com/author/lee-moran" style="color: #444444; text-decoration-line: none;"></a><div aria-hidden="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a aria-label="By Lee Moran" class="js-entry-link cet-internal-link" data-vars-item-name="Lee Moran" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-position-in-subunit="1" data-vars-subunit-name="author" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.huffpost.com/author/lee-moran" data-vars-target-content-type="feed" data-vars-type="web_internal_link" data-vars-unit-name="6285e0f8e4b00685b668f891" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_head" href="https://www.huffpost.com/author/lee-moran" style="color: #444444; text-decoration-line: none;">Lee Moran</a></div></div></div></div><div class="timestamp" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #767676; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><time aria-label="Published on May 19, 2022 03:08AM EDT" datetime="2022-05-19T03:08:09-0400">May. 19, 2022, 03:08 AM EDT</time><time aria-label="Updated on 2022-05-19T08:05:32-0400" datetime="1652961932000"> | <strong>Updated</strong> May. 19, 2022</time></div></div><div class="bottom-header__right" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div></div></header></div><article class="entry__content js-page-content-top" mt-import="6285e0f8e4b00685b668f891" style="display: flex; font-family: sans-serif;"><aside class="entry__left-rail rail rail--left js-cet-unit-left" data-rapid="marko-sec" id="left-rail"><div class="share-bar share-bar--side js-cet-subunit hidden" style="bottom: 30px; box-sizing: border-box; left: 12.625px; margin: 0px; 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display: flex; font-family: ProximaNova; margin: 0px auto 30px; max-width: 1120px; padding: 0px 40px 0px 0px;"><div class="entry__content-list-container js-cet-unit-buzz_body" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 90px 0px 0px; max-width: calc(100% - 340px); padding: 0px; width: 740px;"><section class="entry__content-list js-main-content-list" data-rapid="marko-sec" id="entry-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 740px;"><section class="entry__content-list js-entry-content js-cet-subunit" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 740px;"><div class="cli cli-embed cli-embed--header-media cli-embed--full-width js-no-inject" style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 0px 0px 30px; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A document filed by <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump" style="box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; color: #005aff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">Donald Trump</a>’s new business partners makes terrible reading for the former president.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Trump’s business failings — and the number of lawsuits he currently faces — are laid bare in damning detail in the <a class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="S-4 registration statement" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-position-in-subunit="0" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1849635/000119312522150801/d226205ds4.htm#rom226205_7" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-unit-name="6285e0f8e4b00685b668f891" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1849635/000119312522150801/d226205ds4.htm#rom226205_7" role="link" style="box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; color: #005aff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">S-4 registration statement</a> that Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company that is merging with Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. to take it public, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.</p></div><div class="cli cli-advertisement advertisement-holder" style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="advertisement" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><div class="ad-entry_paragraph_1 ad-spot--gam ad-spot--gam-inline-1" id="ad-inline-1-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Multiple risk factors associated with doing business with Trump are highlighted in the filing because, it says, the company’s success depends largely on his reputation and popularity.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Of Trump’s lengthy history of bankruptcies, it states:</p></div><div class="pg-placeholder" id="public-good-placeholder" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5; margin: 35px 30px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Entities associated with President Trump have filed for bankruptcy protection. The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built and owned by President Trump, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel, all owned by President Trump at the time, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. THCR, which was founded by President Trump in 1995, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc., the new name given to Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts after its 2004 bankruptcy, declared bankruptcy in 2009. While all of the foregoing were in different businesses than TMTG, there can be no guarantee that TMTG’s performance will exceed the performance of those entities.</p></blockquote></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Of failed license agreements with Trump, it notes:</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5; margin: 35px 30px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Trump Shuttle, Inc., launched by President Trump in 1989, defaulted on its loans in 1990 and ceased to exist by 1992. Trump University, founded by President Trump in 2005, ceased operations in 2011 amid lawsuits and investigations regarding the company’s business practices. Trump Vodka, a brand of vodka produced by Drinks Americas under license from the Trump Organization, was introduced in 2005 and discontinued in 2011. Trump Mortgage, LLC, a financial services company founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007. GoTrump.com, a travel site founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007. Trump Steaks, a brand of steak and other meats founded by President Trump in 2007, discontinued sales two months after its launch. While all these businesses were in different industries than TMTG, there can be no guarantee that TMTG’s performance will exceed the performance of these entities.</p></blockquote></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In both cases, the statement warns there are “no assurances” that the new company will not go the same way as Trump’s past scuttled ventures.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The filing also details the “numerous lawsuits and other matters that could damage his reputation, cause him to be distracted from the business or could force him to resign from TMTG’s board of directors.”</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">They range from the congressional investigation into Trump’s role in the incitement of the deadly U.S. Capitol riot and his alleged removal of classified documents to a defamation lawsuit from writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Trump of rape.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.56; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“The foregoing does not purport to be an exhaustive list,” the document warned.</p></div></section></section></div></div></article>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-15366483585355373182022-04-26T21:46:00.000-06:002022-04-26T21:46:54.034-06:00What Defines & Motivates America’s Right Is Intolerance<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">By JIM SMITH<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">In the past, I have joined other analysts in characterizing Trumpers and those Republicans who have fallen under his spell as driven by racism.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">While racism is clearly a dominant theme, the larger theme motivating Trump Republicans, as I see it, is intolerance. (</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: underline;">Note</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">: Not all Republicans are alike in their opinions, just as not all Democrats are alike. Consider the following as reasoned generalizations.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Republicans are intolerant of immigration,</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> often railing against “white replacement” by people of color and the culture of diversity. Democrats see America as the “melting pot” and see immigrants as the people who built America from the beginning. Most of us are children of immigrants. My observation from studying first generation immigrants such as Jacob Riis, Nikola Tesla, Andrew Carnegie, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger and others, is that they are more driven to succeed and live the American dream and more appreciative of our freedoms and our free enterprise system than those of us who are, happily, in the position to take America’s freedom for granted.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Republicans are intolerant of government and taxation, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">whereas Democrats recognize the need for government and for taxes to fund government services. That doesn’t mean that Democrats accept corruption, malfeasance and waste in government, although Republicans often portray them that way. Democrats would like to minimize taxation, but not at the expense of important social services.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Republicans are intolerant of progressive taxation and “income redistribution,” </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">whereas Democrats support higher tax rates for the wealthy and consider addressing poverty a matter of “social justice.” Republicans opposed Social Security until it was too popular. They opposed Medicare and Medicaid until they were too popular. They opposed the Affordable Care Act, but that, too, is fading now that “Obamacare” is gaining in popularity. Democrats would move faster toward such things as universal healthcare, higher minimum wages, and other social justice issues, but Republicans still get political mileage (for now) by labeling such efforts “a radical socialist agenda.” If voters understood and appreciated how such policies would benefit them and have made the Scandinavian countries the happiest populations on earth because of their socialist policies (and high taxes to support them), then that Republican strategy would not be as successful as it is, but Americans who would benefit from such programs are, sadly, underinformed and easily manipulated by politicians who appeal to their other intolerances such as of people of color.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">My biggest fear is that social media and right-wing “news” networks such as Fox have allowed 30-40% of Americans to be protected from real news and voices that don’t play to their insecurities and intolerances. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">I think it was in the book </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">How Fascism Works, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">by Jason Stanley, himself the son of immigrants from Nazi Germany, that the author noted that democracy, because of its freedom of speech, contains within it the seeds of its own destruction, and we are definitely seeing that play out, thanks to Trumpism. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">(Please read that book!)</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Other intolerances exhibited by Republicans include </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">universal voter registration and easy ballot access</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">. Our diversifying population is terrifying to white males, who see easy ballot access as a death sentence for white supremacy. Democrats don’t fear a universal franchise, they welcome it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Republicans are intolerant of non-Christian religions and voters</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">, while ignoring Jesus’ teachings about serving the poor and needy. They are </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">intolerant of diverse sexual orientations and preferences and of a woman’s right to choose. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The list goes on. As I said, the dominant theme is intolerance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m not a psychologist, but I’m of the belief that intolerance is built on insecurity. Republicans are made insecure by the growing presence of diverse races and religions in our “melting pot.” Insecurity is a close cousin of fear. Republicans build their intolerant base by playing to their fears, whether economic, social, or other. My fear is that they’ll succeed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">My thanks to the readers who support this column through my GoFundMe campaign at </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: underline;">www.FundTalkingTurkey.com</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-16044985320217117012022-03-23T21:28:00.000-06:002022-03-23T21:28:11.967-06:00Democracy Is Looking More & More Like an Experiment -- That Could Fail<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">By JIM SMITH<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">As a Baby Boomer, I grew up taking democracy for granted, sort of like how a fish takes water for granted. We elected class presidents in school. We held mock United Nations meetings. Every public office was either elected or appointed by elected officials. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">In school we had </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">classes in civics</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">. We learned how democracy came about, how it works, and about other models that oppose democracy. We also studied the religions of the world, even in parochial schools. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Elected officials were </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“public servants”</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> whose tenure was based on maintaining the confidence of voters. Although there were party labels, each legislator voted in a deliberative atmosphere not dictated by his party leaders. "Party-line votes" were less common. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">We had a </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“middle class” </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">and most politicians wooed the middle class by adopting policies under which the middle class would grow and prosper.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">There were more romantic comedies and fewer action and horror movies. There were far fewer guns and much less promotion and acceptance of them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">When Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was founded in 1978, it had a policy that the highest paid executives should be paid no more than five times the lowest paid workers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Racism, we now realize, was systemic, but </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">hate crimes were rare because political leaders did not embolden those with racist attitudes to act them out in violent ways.</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> The KKK and other white supremist groups existed but they were in the shadows, not recruiting others by appealing to latent racist feelings that we would be embarrassed or afraid to voice publicly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It felt right to us, and our country was a model for the world. By the late 20th Century, democracy was ascendant, or so it seemed. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The “American way of life” was peaceful, honest, rewarding to hard workers, and above all it felt fair. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Anti-trust legislation had “busted the trusts,” and unions — the honest ones — built up the middle class, raising wages across the board within a democratic framework.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">But life has changed, hasn’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Those who earned or inherited millions of dollars have figured out how to buy democratically elected legislators and get them to vote based on personal interest (campaign donations and more) rather than based on the public good.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">They became masters at manipulating the middle and working classes to vote against their financial interests in exchange for promoting their inner prejudices. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Fear, they learned, was the best tool for gaining the support of people while working against what used to be their needs and wants</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">. They were able, for example, to sugar coat massive tax cuts for the rich with minor tax cuts for those in the lowest tax brackets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Citizens United </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">decision by the Supreme Court legalized unrestricted political donations by corporations, giving us what we have today — a Congress which is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the National Rifle Association, voting against policies like universal background checks which most Americans, including NAR members, support. Why? Because the NRA has been bought, lock, stock, and barrel, by the manufacturers of guns. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Ben & Jerry’s abandoned its five-to-one ratio policy in 1994 when it recruited a new CEO. Today, it’s common for the pay of a CEO to be several </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">thousand </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">times the pay of line workers for the same company — and to get a bonus even when the company is suffering financially and laying off workers. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The income gap between rich and poor is obscene now, a condition that in previous times would have led to revolution. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">During the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, when told the peasants had no bread, famously said, “Let them eat cake,” showing how out of touch royalty was. Today it’s different. Certain leaders act on the knowledge that constituents will even suffer hunger if you appeal to their fears of minorities, of crime, and of “socialism,” ignorant of how socialism might serve them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">It’s clear to many now, including me, that the “American Experiment” is just that — an experiment. And experiments can fail. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Ours appears to be failing due to the <b><i>manipulated ignorance</i></b> of the general population, exacerbated by the death of local newspapers and the purchase of big city dailies by hedge funds interested in profit, not in serving the public good.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 10.8pt;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">My thanks to the readers who support this column through my GoFundMe campaign at </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: underline;"><b><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-fund-jim-smith039s-quottalking-turkeyquot-column" target="_blank">www.FundTalkingTurkey.com</a></b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162416677148764492.post-13549787339229781332022-03-04T22:30:00.003-07:002022-03-04T22:30:41.278-07:00Trump Lovers Who Call Biden Senile Should Watch this 30-minute Interview of Biden by a Historian<p>We all get tired of watching politicians read prepared remarks on a Teleprompter. Who wrote it, we wonder? So it's refreshing to see how competent the president is in a totally unscripted situation not intended for broadcast. President Biden really showcases his intelligence, knowledge of American history, and competence in this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Ks3BnFymQ" target="_blank">interview with Heather Cox Richardson</a>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Ks3BnFymQ" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="635" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7Oid5NZ-AeRd0wqbhPKsFqa7mIBaxflOyKC3aCJBGR2NvP8MZ91VhN7IPZnoylzJeXt8C0Koy9Dl2jSxH_FwxlacO2HlkVB4aEB2FfbHYksMGVtfOhI8xZqPWKRB6TzCN5HkaJoSmUAv9_dy4c2hY1uvVvhUBglD62yWileVx4wHKPEsPoCSrdTOl=w400-h222" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Jim Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704342416069774794noreply@blogger.com0