Martin Eden
Martin Eden's JournalFascists strike back when their authority and illegal actions are challenged.
I have little doubt Mark Kelly and the other five brave Democratic veterans expected this kind of verbal assault from Trump, Hegseth, and other regime mouthpieces.
They not only saw standing up for Constitutional and military law as their duty, but as good political strategy as well.
When you shine a spotlight on a den of rats, the rats come scurrying out and reveal themselves for what they are.
American Taliban is worse than Afghan Taliban
Americans with wealth and privilege have not suffered for generations fighting foreign occupiers, scraping by just to survive. Holding onto their religious faith kept the Afghans going, as odious as their fundamentalist patriarchy and intolerance of others may be.
Clay Higgins and his ilk betray the peaceful tolerance and welcoming kindness ostensibly at the core of their religion. They also betray the highest ideals and rule of law in the United States Constitution which has bestowed on them the blessings of liberty and prosperity, however imperfect and inequal that path has been for others with less privilege.
America is supposed to be the best hope of mankind -- an idea based on human rights and equality, rejecting the tribal animosity and tyranny which has plagued human civilization throughout recorded history.
162 years ago today in Pennsylvania, dedicating a cemetery for fallen Union soldiers, Abraham Lincoln said, in part:
Are we not now engaged in a struggle to test whether our nation, so conceived, will endure?
The POINT was TWO-FOLD:
1. TRY to FORCE Republicans to extend the ACA subsidies. This was always doubtful, given that their long-term goal embodied in Project 2025 is to destroy the "Welfare State." The shutdown serves that goal, which is why Trump was gleeful about it.
2. PIN the PAIN on Republicans, with an eye towards the midterm elections. The loss of ACA subsidies will cause a lot of pain, and even death, when people pay a lot more for health insurance or go without healthcare entirely. If Democrats had rubber-stamped the CR at the end of September, public perception on who to blame for the pain would be much different. The Democratic Party made a very visible PRINCIPLED STAND to save ACA subsidies during the longest government shutdown in US history.
When it became apparent that #1 above could not succeed, another PRINCIPLE persuaded eight senators to change their votes: as much as possible, stop the suffering. Millions of people, including children, are going hungry. Federal workers are losing their jobs, or working without pay. Flights are being canceled as Thanksgiving approaches.
For those of us (such as myself) not much impacted by the shutdown, it's easy to demand Democrats remain firm on the ACA subsidies -- despite almost zero chance of three things happening: Republicans pass it in the Senate; Republicans in the House pass it; and Trump signs it.
While the suffering and destruction of our government continues even worse with the shutdown, advancing the Project 2025 agenda.
It may have taken more political courage for eight Democratic senators to break ranks, than to maintain a principled stand almost certainly doomed to failure.
The question is whether Democrats will succeed in #2 above. Family budgets will be squeezed by skyrocketing health insurance costs, and some without will die.
So much depends on the 2026 midterms. Political calculations are no sure thing. I have no crystal ball, but I think it should not be too difficult to pin the pain on Republicans. Aside from health insurance costs, inflation is getting worse. Stagflation is here, and AI speculation (which could crash) is just about the only thing propping up the stock market. Increasing numbers of voters don't like ICE and military in our cities, or Trump alienating our closest allies. Millions are taking to the streets in protest.
Things will get worse over the next 12 months, and voters tend to blame the president and party in power. My greatest fear is martial law rendering our elections as meaningless as in Putin's Russia.
The media environment is not conducive to rational choices
A large segment of voters are not very well informed and/or approach voting like deciding which shows to watch on TV. Unless really attracted to something, they switch channels or just tune out.
Certainly not an adult approach of taking seriously the privilege and responsibility of a citizen engaged in representative government.
Of course, this observation does not apply to everyone who waffles between parties or not voting. One size does not fit all.
After the unprecedented Jan 6 assault on our nation's Capitol, I thought Trump’s political career was at an end. What decent or rational person would vote for him after that? Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, because I thought GW Bush was finished after no WMD was found in Iraq and the occupation turned into a bloody fiasco.
Of one thing I'm certain: perception trumps reality in politics. During the Vietnam war GW's connections got him a cushy post with the Texas air national guard (which he didn't even finish), while John Kerry volunteered for two tours in the most dangerous assignment in the Navy and was highly decorated -- yet his service record ultimately was a negative in the campaign. He got "swift-boated" by the rightwing noise machine, which is very effective at shaping public perception.
The Biden administration engineered a great economic recovery from COVID. Inflation was a global phenomenon, but was improving in the US in 2024. The Economist magazine (by no means a liberal publication) called the US economy under Biden "the envy of the world" -- but the rightwing noise machine and Trump in particular constantly characterized it as an unmitigated disaster.
History has shown that a big lie repeated often enough -- especially echoed by major media like Fox News -- is perceived by many voters (not just diehard MAGAts) as the truth.
And yet, it still amazes me that so many otherwise normal adults can be fooled into thinking the Republican Party actually looks after the economic interests of folks struggling to get by, despite their long record of opposing policies that actually help people while providing the wealthy with massive tax breaks and financial legislation which has led to the ever widening chasm between the rich and everyone else.
Well, FAFO is really going to bite those easily fooled voters in the a$$ this time. Will they be able to connect the dots to Trump, and remember in future elections that the Republican Party does NOT serve their interests?
I'd like to think so, but recent history does not give me confidence. All we can do is try to help them open their eyes, without turning them away by venting our anger at them.
"the Universe has a sense of justice tinged with irony"
Reminds me of:
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
I think we may agree the bending requires effort by those who truly value moral justice.
Others who pay no heed to the moral universe will subvert institutions of justice to do their bidding, as we are now witnessing.
Flipsides of human nature. Both have long existed. There is no end in sight to the bending of the moral arc. Evil regimes rise and fall, in a seemingly endless cycle.
Which will gain the upper hand .... which of The Two Wolves does mankind feed the most?
The answer may involve paying heed to the wisdom of Frederick Douglass:
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
For every good story like this, how many tragic ones?
If the Trump administration really wanted to expel dangerous undocumented criminals, it would partner with and provide additional resources to local governments.
Instead, I.C.E. agents are terrorizing communities including legal residents and citizens. They are committing brutal acts of violence, abducting law abiding people contributing to our economy.
Their strategy is not to quell violence, but to provoke it. They are itching to declare martial law before the midterm elections. Trump and his cohorts who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential results intend to sieze the ballots in 2026, under the guise of "election integrity."
The highest priority of every authoritarian regime is to maintain its grip on power. They will do ANYTHING to ensure one-party rule next year and beyond.
Trump will put on an ostentatious display of patriotism to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America's great experiment in democracy, while utterly destroying it.
Bill Maher is a smug prick who's not nearly as smart as he thinks he is
I used to enjoy watching his show despite the man's flaws and his friendship with creatures like Ann Coulter, but I finally started getting fed up a few years ago when he had Steve Bannon on for his opening interview guest.
Bill had what he thought would be some "gotcha" questions, but Bannon responded with a rapid stream of rightwing spin and logical fallacies for which Maher was totally unprepared. He would just say "OK" then go on to the next question and get totally outclassed again by his evil guest who was clearly more intelligent. All that Bill Maher accomplished was to provide a platform for Steve Bannon and undermine his own ostensible cause.
The final breaking points were his war against woke and college students who are genuinely and justly appalled by the wanton slaughter of Palestinian non-combatants, women, and children by the Netanyahu regime.
Maher essentially reinforced Republican talking points by ascribing the most extreme elements of woke culture warriors and the pro-Palestine movement to the broad spectrum of good people who care about justice and human rights. He thusly characterizes the entire "Left" -- and by extension the Democratic Party and major universities -- by the handful of bad examples he loves to feature on his show.
Essentially, Bill Maher is carrying water for the political operatives who made possible the rise of Donald Trump. Either his "sane voice on the Left" has intentionally been a false flag all along, or his brain is too calcified to realize he's become a useful idiot for the fascist Right.
Special hatred is reserved for the enemy within, who pretends to be our ally while undermining our cause.
Trump was able to capture the Republican Party precisely because of his racism, sexism, and juvenile insults
He beat all contenders in the 2016 primary by breaking norms and crossing boundaries which had maintained the facade of decorum that was already deteriorating with the despicable rhetoric of Gingrich and the thinly veiled racism of the Tea Party.
Donald Trump is a verified pathological liar, but his MAGA cult believes he "tells it like it is" because he speaks directly to their bigotry, fear, and grievance. His rhetoric liberated the expression of vile hatred formerly suppressed by political correctness, and they adore him for it.
The rise of internet trolls like Marjorie Taylor Greene to the US Congress shows that competition in "conservative" politics largely consists of pushing the boundaries of un-civil discourse to garner attention and applause from an increasingly deplorable voting base.
So it should come as no surprise that the private chat among young Republicans entering government ranks and aspiring to leadership is full of the shockingly vile racism and genocidal joy recently revealed.
Or that JD Vance, who could very well become president before long, expressed indignation that they were subjected to such harsh public reprimand for nothing more than youthful indiscretion (though they were of adult age, not teens).
This is where the toxic poison of Trumpism is leading us. The next generation is being groomed to be even worse. American fascism will not automatically die with Donald Trump. The proverbial frog is still in a pot of water slowly being brought to a boil.
But the inflatable frog costumes provide a reason for hope. The MAGA base may be getting more deplorable, but it's shrinking. Most folks are reasonably decent, and not too blind to see what's going on.
Today is an important day for the survival of American democracy -- and it won't be the last. We The People must be the champions of our own freedom, and NEVER give up being actively vigilant.
Republicans have long wanted the dismantling of the regulatory/administrative/welfare state
And Trump is accomplishing that while all previous Republican administrations have failed.
But I doubt most are happy with the tariffs and alienating our closest allies in western Europe and Canada, while coddling up to Putin and other dictators.
I also doubt most are truly "loyal" to Trump. Their relationship is transactional, which goes both ways. They recognize him for the ignorant vindictive egomaniac that he is, but dare not cross him because they fear retribution. Once he verbally targets them, their political careers and their lives are threatened by crazed MAGAts.
Bottom line, they'd rather have the Constitutional republic created by our Founding Fathers crumble into authoritarianism than to give up their policy goals and their party's grip on power. They lack the character and courage to save our Constitutional rule of law -- which they all swore an oath to serve and protect.
The ICE assault last week was an act of criminal terrorism
Busting down doors & ransacking apartments at 1am indiscriminately -- regardless of citizenship, legal status, or evidence of crime -- hauling everyone zip-tied out into the street, clothed or not, even children.
It would be unlawful for the Chicago police to do that. Why should ICE get away with it? We're not under martial law.
Chicago & Illinois authorities don't need to protect ICE; they need to protect the public from ICE.
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