I am one of thousands of Robert Hubbell’s thousands of East Coast adherents. But I suspect I am one of the relatively few who stay up past 2 am EDT just to hear my nightly portion of wisdom and rationality that Today’s Edition consistently supplies. I am always comforted to hear his calming voice alternatively alert us to the dangers of the MAGA Right.
He then assures us that our continued vigilance will enable the clear majority of supporters of decency and democracy to overcome the Right’s endless sleight-of-hand tricks. His words, whether spoken or written, remind me that right--NOT The Right--will win in the end. I am far too old--80--to need assurance that there are in fact no hobgoblins hiding under the bed.
But it is Mr. Hubbell’s wise words, spoken in a reassuring tone, which allow me to drift off to sleep, once again convinced that the forces of democracy and decency in America will win, whatever short-term setbacks we may experience. Our team thankfully outnumbers the loud street corner bullies and drugstore cowboys who make up the dwindling cohorts on the Know-Nothing Right. As their self-selected leader goes increasingly from borderline criminality to outright madness, they will finally suffer the decisive electoral defeat they have been courting--but never quite receiving.
Abe Lincoln’s wise dictum about not being able to fool ALL of the people fortunately applies these days to 55-60% of the American electorate. And that will be good enough to deliver a deathblow to the followers of Donald Trump--as they go right over the cliff into well-deserved oblivion. I am deeply grateful to Mr. Hubbell for being such a superb Baedeker, enabling us all to navigate our way successfully through these tricky shoals, and for providing sound assurance that we will make it to a safe and happy harbor.
Agreed. This East Coast guy has been asleep for several hours by the time this letter is published. Coffee, HCR and Hubbell. Caffeine and angst antidotes launch my day. But that being said, Roger is spot on.
I fall asleep after reading a good book (or during) or watching some escapist streaming movie or series. I like my orange monsters to be fantasy.
Of course I am saying exactly the opposite—he gives me comfort and doesn’t cause me to lose sleep. The NEWS is indeed disturbing but Robert tells us how to deal with it.
W’s version of the quote “you can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” A version adopted 100% by all rethuglicans.
Mr. Cooper -- You are absolutely correct to note my rather pretentious use of Baedeker when "guide" would have perfectly sufficed. I was once accused--totally fairly--with "not wearing my erudition lightly." But, as a writer, I love the richness of the English language and try to employ the precise term if one exists, even at the cost of appearing moderately pretentious. My defense? Pretentious, moi?
Keep on being erudite, Roger R Smith. I take it as a compliment and sign of respect that you believe most readers will either know your "big words" or will want to look them up. Perhaps you can help me convince people that 'reticent' does not mean 'reluctant.' Are you listening, NPR?
I am neither reticent nor reluctant to note with optimism, albeit guarded, a sense of our easing away from the precipice to which recent historic events have pushed us-
so much so, that comments on Robert Hubbell’s excellent and thorough reportings have eased us into a place where discussions of erudition appear.
Here’s an assignment while you sit pretentiously in detention. Read Cormac McCarthy’s most recent work, The Passenger. You might be challenged by his incredible depth of language, literature, science and more. After reading him you will hopefully never think I’ll of your efforts to find the right words. :)
Thank you Robert! The crazy times continue. A plug for writing postcards or phone banking now to help Ohio Democrats, which is also helping ourselves:
The Republicans in Ohio have created themselves a big opportunity to make sure Democrats cannot get choice back and that they also lose every battle in the future— if the GOP wins on Issue 1 on August 8th. WE ALSO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WIN ON AUGUST 8th. BUT WE NEED HELP!! So if you can even write 5 or 10 postcards to Ohio Dems to ask them to vote NO on Issue 1, it would be a big help. It's easy to join or restart with PostcardsToVoters.org ! Just text “join" to 484-275-2229, or write an email to Join@TonytheDemocrat.org
This is a statewide election. The GOP are counting on August-times low voter turnout. The more Dems we can reach, the better. PTV postcards can be written and mailed from any location in the USA. All you need to get started are postcards and stamps! The address lists come from the Ohio Democratic Party and are very carefully made to reach voting blocks in the most effective order.
I just alerted our Platteville Postcard Group to this need. Thanks for sharing. We really appreciated getting postcards from all over the country during our Supreme Court Election this spring, flipping the court to liberal.
Also, Activate America has a new campaign: Today, we’re excited to launch our first gun violence prevention postcarding campaign. We are writing to voters in five critical House districts represented by Republicans who stand in the way of gun safety.
I've just signed up to send letters to Ohio voters through VoteFWD.org The max number of addresses for each request is 20 but once done, you can request more. They'll send a list of voters w/addresses, just like Postcards for Voters, plus a form letter you can print out and personalize. I bought a roll of 100 first class stamps just before the price went up, have envelopes and white paper, so I'm ready to roll.
thank you! Great! Yes, either number works! Go postcards! We wrote over 200,000 for Kansas and again for Kentucky so they could have made the difference! All fully handwritten
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Thank you for all the updates in tonight's newsletter, Robert. I found this format particularly enjoyable to read.
It was really something to see the words Justice Barrett wrote in her recent "one-eighty" on Constitutional matters. I had to read slowly so as not to get whiplash. Amazing how some Supreme Court Justices can pivot on a dime for their own purposes when they have no respect for the rule of law.
I was especially happy to hear that "The DOJ has notified the PGA that it has opened an investigation of the proposed merger between the PGA and the Saudi-sponsored LIV golf." Fingers crossed this dark and dirty merger does not survive DOJ scrutiny.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
This is indulging in pure speculation, but when Justice Barrett was writing her opinion on the Brackeen case of an adoption of a Native American child, I wondered how she might have been considering her own personal experience of having adopted children of color. And how Justice, excuse me, "Justice" Clarence Thomas, a person of color, dissented, true to form.
I somehow missed the SC ruling on the Brackeen case so am delighted to learn that the decision was 7-2 in favor of Native American children and families. Thank you.
I fear that any DOJ victory, blocking a PGA-LIV merger, will be Pyrrhic: The Saudi-financed LIV would buy so many top golfers that interest in the PGA would wane.
I want to let readers know that Vote Forward has recently launched their letter writing campaign for the urgent special election in Ohio on August 8th. I downloaded my first 20 templates yesterday. Because you can't see what's on the template until you download them and print them, I want to let people know what is on it. It is a departure from the more neutral language in the templates for the 22 campaign and the Wisconsin special election in August campaign. This is what is on the printed portion of the letter you will be adding a short handwritten personal message to.
Printed on the template at the beginning is, "I'm writing to let you know about an urgent special election on Tuesday August 8th on a proposal that could put your voting power and basic freedoms at risk. I believe voting matters because...
In the space for the personal message, I will write something about being 81 myself, but wanting my children and grandchildren to live in a country where their basic rights are protected. Following the personal message are these printed words.
"Right now, ballot initiatives in Ohio pass if more than 50% of voters approve. But the proposed amendment on your ballot would raise the approval threshold to 60%. That means a future initiative-like a proposal to safeguard your rights to access contraception and abortion-could be blocked by a minority EVEN IF THE MAJORITY OF OHIO VOTERS SUPPORT IT.
If anyone is interested in sending this letter to individual voters in Ohio, you can go to Vote Forward.com and sign up for as many letters as you wish, starting with five. I usually sign up for 20, write them, address and mail them, and sign up for additional batches as long as I can.
Thank you Shelley. I too am a Vote Forward writer and was fortunate enough to be able to write 195 letters for Wisconsin’s Judge Janet. The feeling of personal responsibility for her win was indescribably delightful and delicious. I’m starting letters to Ohio voters and will, as usual, start each letter-writing session with a quiet read of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb”. How fortunate we are to live in a country with so many brilliant and hard-working lovers of Democracy. Goddess bless Robert Hubbell and the Today’s Edition family! Vote Forward!
Just before I read your post, I downloaded my first 20 letters plus voters' names and addresses. I recommend this to anyone who may prefer this format over postcards.
The correct address for Vote Forward is Votefwd.org
The PGA is a "non-profit" organization??!! It doesn't pay taxes??!! I am confused.
"Amateurs"? Help me here. I am not a sports fan. Can anyone explain to me how someone who makes millions of dollars a year is not a "pro"?
I am also bewildered by the fact that there isn't enormous outrage that the Saudi Arabians who behead their political opponents and assassinate reporters are buying an American sports league. As I understand it, the Chairman of LIV holds sway over the whole outfit now. Color me disgusted.
Thank you, Robert, for your as usual illustrious analysis of these 3 recent SCOTUS decisions. I was pleasantly shocked to learn of their decisions favorable to voting rights and Native American rights.
NPR has a good summary of the Brackeen decision and its historical context. Another little known fact of American history is that Pres. Andrew Jackson in the late 1800s started a horrific series of federal government policies against Native American tribes. Well into the 1970s, our federal government policy included forcible removal of Native American children from their families and into white Christian homes for adoption. In the past 5 years or so, we have seen more attention to the severe abuses and deaths of Native children in the Indian Boarding Schools. It is not hyperbole to call these policies genocide: appropriation of Native lands that we now live on, dehumanization, round ups and relocations to concentration camp reservations (e.g. Trail of Tears), physical punishment in the schools for speaking native language instead of English, ongoing attempts to limit voting rights, and more.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was enacted in 1978 to require preference for tribal wishes of where children are legally placed when removed from their parents due to child abuse or neglect. If the parents are not reunified with their children, then these children are required by law to go through permanency planning for adoption or legal guardianship. More and more over the past few years, adoptions have been challenged and overturned for failure to sufficiently follow ICWA requirements. Brackeen was one such challenge, but one that threatened the substance of protections of ICWA for Native children and families.
My family [from Ukraine] escaped Russian control-- family story of family member coerced by Cossacks to fighting whatever, whoever they were against at the time. Nothing in our family history though can compare to what Natives have gone through, or for that matter, people of color. Yet...as a compassionate person I believe we can always do better, as individuals and as people who live in the U.S.
So glad to see this Supreme Court decision. As a nation we have been little better than those Cossacks, but I believe, strongly, if we admit to our failures, transgressions, hate and envy then we can begin to do better.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
A wonderful analysis of the surprising, but noticeable, shift in consciousness of the newest reactionary members of our SCOTUS. Lawyers like me (senior libs of this sadly dishonorable profession) see it and feel it - and Robert nailed it. I would add that Alito and Thomas have also shown their true colors: unwavering Federalist Society leaders who used their own power to employ Trump to get the trio of newbies to fill out the Court. But the newbies don't want to share the SCOTUS with a new supply of colleagues. Alito and Thomas won't go along with Roberts and the newbies, and the new foursome is leaving them alone to deliver on whatever promises they made for the money they took.
P.S. Bobby Kennedy, and his brother JFK, must be turning in their graves to know a Kennedy is getting love from MAGA Republicans.
Mr. Hubbell, This essay seems to me to be your most upbeat analysis of the political landscape in many months. Good for you and your staff of one. You deserve a deep breath and a satisfactory smile. We all know that there is a long way to go to return to normality, whatever that really is, but we are getting there. And in so doing, you have been a major force of good logic. Thanks.
So many areas I would never have heard about or even considered, that are shaping politics and culture.
(Rubbing my hands with glee thinking about the PGA doing an about face, particularly because you just KNOW tfg was part of that "deal" trying to promote his golf courses.)
Grateful the SCOTUS has pumped the brakes on its efforts to destroy the Constitution and the pursuit of justice.
FYI: RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE (Mike Podhorzer) is featuring Jamie Raskin and Laphonza Butler online today.
I SO enjoy your calm reading each day, even eagerly look forward to starting my daily routine listening . But I have to admit, reading it is also good, for I would put emphasis on certain phrases that would startle people nearby if I read them out loud, especially your exclamation points!
Love this excerpt especially:
"Do not fret over Biden’s favorability ratings in online polls. Favorability ratings for a sitting president act as a vessel into which voters pour their discontent about the world, politicians in general, and their lives. Biden is on a winning streak and is aided by a strong and improving economy."
Let's always remember IGNORE THE POLLS.
Most of the time they are being publicized not to gauge BUT TO SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION.
The only one "poll" that counts is the final election tally.
I have a difficult time reconciling the Republican Party. They are pushing today for major tax cuts and to make the Trump tax cuts permanent while wanting to slash the benefits from Medicare and Social Security and other entitlements. The suggested programs would hurt many of the families of the voters who vote for Trump and MAGA politicians. So why aren’t these voters asking the simple question of Republicans “ what are you doing for me?” Of course the Democrats could ask the same group “ are you better off today than you were in 2017?
Really? At this late date, you are still trying to reconcile the Republican Party? You are a hopeless optimist if you are not already accepting the truth that the Republican Party has, for reasons that cannot be clear to sensible people, lost its sanity. They now exist in a political structure where up is down, in is out, truth is lie, and fascism is the next iteration of democracy. They only want to glorify big corporations that have spent decades buying their allegiance, and Trump came along to tie together the agendas of the Federalist Society, the ABA, the big Evangelicals, and the Fortune 500 - and the hold they have on the people (mostly white men) who control politics. As sick as it is, we still seem to keep the faith with the people who truly believe in the American way.
It would be a wonderful result for SCOTUS to begin swinging back to the middle in the face of Trump/MAGA's descent into anti-social chaos as a strategy for preserving liberty.
MAGA originalism seems to align with Thomas Hobbes' conclusions that humans in nature live short brutish lives where only the strongest survive without government involvement..the MAGA innovation has added AR-15s to the equation.
Oh..and Trump has promised to get rid of an independent DOJ.
Robert, thank you for reiterating the duplicitous perfidy of the Extreme Supremes. They are not to be trusted any more than the Freedom Caucus. At dinner tonight, I helped talk down a friend who has abandoned the news in despair. With the help of another friend, and your example, I think we may have convinced him to entertain some hope.
That was a great analysis of the supreme court, with my take away that the outrages of Clarence Thomas have made the others want to distinguish themselves from him. The late breaking news is that Judge Cannon has made some demands which are indicative that she is not recusing herself, and these fall in the category of national security. as I feared, she has not learned from what happened to her and is determined to protect Trump . If he is found guilty, she can sentence him to no jail time at all.
It is true that Cannon can award no jail time. But that would deviate from the federal sentencing guidelines and would be appealable. United States v. DiFrancesco.
I don't remember whether you have written about the No Labels movement, now becoming clear to me as a right-wing funded effort that may seriously undermine us. This Wikipedia entry is damning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Labels), including this excerpt:
"According to The Daily Beast, by the end of the 2018 cycle, No Labels' super PACs received more than $11 million from fifty-three donors, most of whom come from the financial industry.[35]
The New Republic reported in 2023 that No Labels has received major funding (along with nearly two dozen new donors) from Harlan Crow, a leading donor to Republican and conservative causes.[9]
Critics of the organization have suggested that No Labels in practice works to advance the financial interests of the wealthy.[35][36][37] This has been echoed in critiques that the group caters to the special interests that drive partisanship (instead of promoting bipartisanship)[18] with Frank Rich opining, "what America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances."[38]"
Your thoughts will be appreciated, and/or a reminder of previous writings.
have written several times about it, but will do so again tonight. receiving many reader comments about No Labels today. It is a stalking horse for Trump.
Why are members of Congress so exercised over the golf merger? Because many of them play golf, go to golf tournaments, and pal around with donors who do both. Would that more Members spent time in mines, mills factories and call centers.
I am one of thousands of Robert Hubbell’s thousands of East Coast adherents. But I suspect I am one of the relatively few who stay up past 2 am EDT just to hear my nightly portion of wisdom and rationality that Today’s Edition consistently supplies. I am always comforted to hear his calming voice alternatively alert us to the dangers of the MAGA Right.
He then assures us that our continued vigilance will enable the clear majority of supporters of decency and democracy to overcome the Right’s endless sleight-of-hand tricks. His words, whether spoken or written, remind me that right--NOT The Right--will win in the end. I am far too old--80--to need assurance that there are in fact no hobgoblins hiding under the bed.
But it is Mr. Hubbell’s wise words, spoken in a reassuring tone, which allow me to drift off to sleep, once again convinced that the forces of democracy and decency in America will win, whatever short-term setbacks we may experience. Our team thankfully outnumbers the loud street corner bullies and drugstore cowboys who make up the dwindling cohorts on the Know-Nothing Right. As their self-selected leader goes increasingly from borderline criminality to outright madness, they will finally suffer the decisive electoral defeat they have been courting--but never quite receiving.
Abe Lincoln’s wise dictum about not being able to fool ALL of the people fortunately applies these days to 55-60% of the American electorate. And that will be good enough to deliver a deathblow to the followers of Donald Trump--as they go right over the cliff into well-deserved oblivion. I am deeply grateful to Mr. Hubbell for being such a superb Baedeker, enabling us all to navigate our way successfully through these tricky shoals, and for providing sound assurance that we will make it to a safe and happy harbor.
Thanks, Roger. I am humbled by your words of support.
Frankly I rather wake up and read Robert to start my day rather than read him at night and lose some sleep.
Agreed. This East Coast guy has been asleep for several hours by the time this letter is published. Coffee, HCR and Hubbell. Caffeine and angst antidotes launch my day. But that being said, Roger is spot on.
I fall asleep after reading a good book (or during) or watching some escapist streaming movie or series. I like my orange monsters to be fantasy.
"Coffee, HCR and Hubbell." And Vance.
Yup--coffee, HCR, and Hubbell. And then the comics. And well said, Bill.
Exactly my regimen!
Bill, I completely agree with you on all counts. Thank you!
“ I like my orange monsters to be fantasy.”: great!
Of course I am saying exactly the opposite—he gives me comfort and doesn’t cause me to lose sleep. The NEWS is indeed disturbing but Robert tells us how to deal with it.
The news is frightening but Robert helps us cope and gives us things we can do.
W’s version of the quote “you can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” A version adopted 100% by all rethuglicans.
Love this response. But now, I have to go to Google or Webster to learn about what it takes to be a "superb Baedeker."
Mr. Cooper -- You are absolutely correct to note my rather pretentious use of Baedeker when "guide" would have perfectly sufficed. I was once accused--totally fairly--with "not wearing my erudition lightly." But, as a writer, I love the richness of the English language and try to employ the precise term if one exists, even at the cost of appearing moderately pretentious. My defense? Pretentious, moi?
Keep on being erudite, Roger R Smith. I take it as a compliment and sign of respect that you believe most readers will either know your "big words" or will want to look them up. Perhaps you can help me convince people that 'reticent' does not mean 'reluctant.' Are you listening, NPR?
I am neither reticent nor reluctant to note with optimism, albeit guarded, a sense of our easing away from the precipice to which recent historic events have pushed us-
so much so, that comments on Robert Hubbell’s excellent and thorough reportings have eased us into a place where discussions of erudition appear.
Oui?
Mais oui, bien sur.
Here’s an assignment while you sit pretentiously in detention. Read Cormac McCarthy’s most recent work, The Passenger. You might be challenged by his incredible depth of language, literature, science and more. After reading him you will hopefully never think I’ll of your efforts to find the right words. :)
Thank you Robert! The crazy times continue. A plug for writing postcards or phone banking now to help Ohio Democrats, which is also helping ourselves:
The Republicans in Ohio have created themselves a big opportunity to make sure Democrats cannot get choice back and that they also lose every battle in the future— if the GOP wins on Issue 1 on August 8th. WE ALSO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WIN ON AUGUST 8th. BUT WE NEED HELP!! So if you can even write 5 or 10 postcards to Ohio Dems to ask them to vote NO on Issue 1, it would be a big help. It's easy to join or restart with PostcardsToVoters.org ! Just text “join" to 484-275-2229, or write an email to Join@TonytheDemocrat.org
This is a statewide election. The GOP are counting on August-times low voter turnout. The more Dems we can reach, the better. PTV postcards can be written and mailed from any location in the USA. All you need to get started are postcards and stamps! The address lists come from the Ohio Democratic Party and are very carefully made to reach voting blocks in the most effective order.
Or if you prefer phone banking, sign up here to help...they do trainings: https://www.mobilize.us/ohdems/event/563286/
Sarah, I have copied this and reposted in a letter to everyone I know back in the states.❤️
THANK YOU!!! GREAT!! Yes, I should have said, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask your friends to help too! Thanks again!
I just alerted our Platteville Postcard Group to this need. Thanks for sharing. We really appreciated getting postcards from all over the country during our Supreme Court Election this spring, flipping the court to liberal.
We loved writing the postcards and were so thrilled when Judge Janet won!!!
Also, Activate America has a new campaign: Today, we’re excited to launch our first gun violence prevention postcarding campaign. We are writing to voters in five critical House districts represented by Republicans who stand in the way of gun safety.
Want to create a gun safety majority in Congress? activateamerica.vote
I've just signed up to send letters to Ohio voters through VoteFWD.org The max number of addresses for each request is 20 but once done, you can request more. They'll send a list of voters w/addresses, just like Postcards for Voters, plus a form letter you can print out and personalize. I bought a roll of 100 first class stamps just before the price went up, have envelopes and white paper, so I'm ready to roll.
Note: Abby has a new number 341-444-2229
thank you! Great! Yes, either number works! Go postcards! We wrote over 200,000 for Kansas and again for Kentucky so they could have made the difference! All fully handwritten
Thank you for all the updates in tonight's newsletter, Robert. I found this format particularly enjoyable to read.
It was really something to see the words Justice Barrett wrote in her recent "one-eighty" on Constitutional matters. I had to read slowly so as not to get whiplash. Amazing how some Supreme Court Justices can pivot on a dime for their own purposes when they have no respect for the rule of law.
I was especially happy to hear that "The DOJ has notified the PGA that it has opened an investigation of the proposed merger between the PGA and the Saudi-sponsored LIV golf." Fingers crossed this dark and dirty merger does not survive DOJ scrutiny.
This is indulging in pure speculation, but when Justice Barrett was writing her opinion on the Brackeen case of an adoption of a Native American child, I wondered how she might have been considering her own personal experience of having adopted children of color. And how Justice, excuse me, "Justice" Clarence Thomas, a person of color, dissented, true to form.
Read the biography of Clarence Thomas and you will understand who he really is.
The May 3, 2023 PBS Frontline feature on Clarence and Ginni Thomas was frankly terrifying.
What broken people we are fostering in the USA.
And then they rise to power and wreck havoc.
a must watch Frontline report avail on utube! Scary but essential viewing!!
Yes, also stream on PBS websites.
The cretin can always be counted on to do the wrong thing
I somehow missed the SC ruling on the Brackeen case so am delighted to learn that the decision was 7-2 in favor of Native American children and families. Thank you.
You meant "Injustice" Clarence Thomas, along with the rest of that abominable crew.
The game of golf delenda est!
I hadn't realized that the PGA was an amateur golf organization, I thought that only applied to the current commissioner.
I laughed out loud.
I fear that any DOJ victory, blocking a PGA-LIV merger, will be Pyrrhic: The Saudi-financed LIV would buy so many top golfers that interest in the PGA would wane.
I hope these fears will prove to be unfounded.
I want to let readers know that Vote Forward has recently launched their letter writing campaign for the urgent special election in Ohio on August 8th. I downloaded my first 20 templates yesterday. Because you can't see what's on the template until you download them and print them, I want to let people know what is on it. It is a departure from the more neutral language in the templates for the 22 campaign and the Wisconsin special election in August campaign. This is what is on the printed portion of the letter you will be adding a short handwritten personal message to.
Printed on the template at the beginning is, "I'm writing to let you know about an urgent special election on Tuesday August 8th on a proposal that could put your voting power and basic freedoms at risk. I believe voting matters because...
In the space for the personal message, I will write something about being 81 myself, but wanting my children and grandchildren to live in a country where their basic rights are protected. Following the personal message are these printed words.
"Right now, ballot initiatives in Ohio pass if more than 50% of voters approve. But the proposed amendment on your ballot would raise the approval threshold to 60%. That means a future initiative-like a proposal to safeguard your rights to access contraception and abortion-could be blocked by a minority EVEN IF THE MAJORITY OF OHIO VOTERS SUPPORT IT.
If anyone is interested in sending this letter to individual voters in Ohio, you can go to Vote Forward.com and sign up for as many letters as you wish, starting with five. I usually sign up for 20, write them, address and mail them, and sign up for additional batches as long as I can.
Our Democratic club in Southern California (Orange County) is writing letters to Ohioans with VoteRiders. We can do this!
Thank you Shelley. I too am a Vote Forward writer and was fortunate enough to be able to write 195 letters for Wisconsin’s Judge Janet. The feeling of personal responsibility for her win was indescribably delightful and delicious. I’m starting letters to Ohio voters and will, as usual, start each letter-writing session with a quiet read of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb”. How fortunate we are to live in a country with so many brilliant and hard-working lovers of Democracy. Goddess bless Robert Hubbell and the Today’s Edition family! Vote Forward!
Just before I read your post, I downloaded my first 20 letters plus voters' names and addresses. I recommend this to anyone who may prefer this format over postcards.
The correct address for Vote Forward is Votefwd.org
The PGA is a "non-profit" organization??!! It doesn't pay taxes??!! I am confused.
"Amateurs"? Help me here. I am not a sports fan. Can anyone explain to me how someone who makes millions of dollars a year is not a "pro"?
I am also bewildered by the fact that there isn't enormous outrage that the Saudi Arabians who behead their political opponents and assassinate reporters are buying an American sports league. As I understand it, the Chairman of LIV holds sway over the whole outfit now. Color me disgusted.
Maybe because it's "prize money" and not salary?
SCOTUS reform: Go, Whitehouse, Warren, Schiff and Raskin!
Thank you, Robert, for your as usual illustrious analysis of these 3 recent SCOTUS decisions. I was pleasantly shocked to learn of their decisions favorable to voting rights and Native American rights.
NPR has a good summary of the Brackeen decision and its historical context. Another little known fact of American history is that Pres. Andrew Jackson in the late 1800s started a horrific series of federal government policies against Native American tribes. Well into the 1970s, our federal government policy included forcible removal of Native American children from their families and into white Christian homes for adoption. In the past 5 years or so, we have seen more attention to the severe abuses and deaths of Native children in the Indian Boarding Schools. It is not hyperbole to call these policies genocide: appropriation of Native lands that we now live on, dehumanization, round ups and relocations to concentration camp reservations (e.g. Trail of Tears), physical punishment in the schools for speaking native language instead of English, ongoing attempts to limit voting rights, and more.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was enacted in 1978 to require preference for tribal wishes of where children are legally placed when removed from their parents due to child abuse or neglect. If the parents are not reunified with their children, then these children are required by law to go through permanency planning for adoption or legal guardianship. More and more over the past few years, adoptions have been challenged and overturned for failure to sufficiently follow ICWA requirements. Brackeen was one such challenge, but one that threatened the substance of protections of ICWA for Native children and families.
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/15/1182121455/indian-child-welfare-act-supreme-court-decision?emci=23d464fc-c00b-ee11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=f265b608-c60b-ee11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=9929141
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2021/08/28/1031398120/native-boarding-schools-repatriation-remains-carlisle
My family [from Ukraine] escaped Russian control-- family story of family member coerced by Cossacks to fighting whatever, whoever they were against at the time. Nothing in our family history though can compare to what Natives have gone through, or for that matter, people of color. Yet...as a compassionate person I believe we can always do better, as individuals and as people who live in the U.S.
So glad to see this Supreme Court decision. As a nation we have been little better than those Cossacks, but I believe, strongly, if we admit to our failures, transgressions, hate and envy then we can begin to do better.
A wonderful analysis of the surprising, but noticeable, shift in consciousness of the newest reactionary members of our SCOTUS. Lawyers like me (senior libs of this sadly dishonorable profession) see it and feel it - and Robert nailed it. I would add that Alito and Thomas have also shown their true colors: unwavering Federalist Society leaders who used their own power to employ Trump to get the trio of newbies to fill out the Court. But the newbies don't want to share the SCOTUS with a new supply of colleagues. Alito and Thomas won't go along with Roberts and the newbies, and the new foursome is leaving them alone to deliver on whatever promises they made for the money they took.
P.S. Bobby Kennedy, and his brother JFK, must be turning in their graves to know a Kennedy is getting love from MAGA Republicans.
Mr. Hubbell, This essay seems to me to be your most upbeat analysis of the political landscape in many months. Good for you and your staff of one. You deserve a deep breath and a satisfactory smile. We all know that there is a long way to go to return to normality, whatever that really is, but we are getting there. And in so doing, you have been a major force of good logic. Thanks.
You can say that again! And again.
Great lesson(s) today!
So many areas I would never have heard about or even considered, that are shaping politics and culture.
(Rubbing my hands with glee thinking about the PGA doing an about face, particularly because you just KNOW tfg was part of that "deal" trying to promote his golf courses.)
Grateful the SCOTUS has pumped the brakes on its efforts to destroy the Constitution and the pursuit of justice.
FYI: RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE (Mike Podhorzer) is featuring Jamie Raskin and Laphonza Butler online today.
I SO enjoy your calm reading each day, even eagerly look forward to starting my daily routine listening . But I have to admit, reading it is also good, for I would put emphasis on certain phrases that would startle people nearby if I read them out loud, especially your exclamation points!
Love this excerpt especially:
"Do not fret over Biden’s favorability ratings in online polls. Favorability ratings for a sitting president act as a vessel into which voters pour their discontent about the world, politicians in general, and their lives. Biden is on a winning streak and is aided by a strong and improving economy."
Let's always remember IGNORE THE POLLS.
Most of the time they are being publicized not to gauge BUT TO SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION.
The only one "poll" that counts is the final election tally.
Well said, Beverly. I really appreciate your reminder to beware of polls - and why.
I have a difficult time reconciling the Republican Party. They are pushing today for major tax cuts and to make the Trump tax cuts permanent while wanting to slash the benefits from Medicare and Social Security and other entitlements. The suggested programs would hurt many of the families of the voters who vote for Trump and MAGA politicians. So why aren’t these voters asking the simple question of Republicans “ what are you doing for me?” Of course the Democrats could ask the same group “ are you better off today than you were in 2017?
Really? At this late date, you are still trying to reconcile the Republican Party? You are a hopeless optimist if you are not already accepting the truth that the Republican Party has, for reasons that cannot be clear to sensible people, lost its sanity. They now exist in a political structure where up is down, in is out, truth is lie, and fascism is the next iteration of democracy. They only want to glorify big corporations that have spent decades buying their allegiance, and Trump came along to tie together the agendas of the Federalist Society, the ABA, the big Evangelicals, and the Fortune 500 - and the hold they have on the people (mostly white men) who control politics. As sick as it is, we still seem to keep the faith with the people who truly believe in the American way.
It would be a wonderful result for SCOTUS to begin swinging back to the middle in the face of Trump/MAGA's descent into anti-social chaos as a strategy for preserving liberty.
MAGA originalism seems to align with Thomas Hobbes' conclusions that humans in nature live short brutish lives where only the strongest survive without government involvement..the MAGA innovation has added AR-15s to the equation.
Oh..and Trump has promised to get rid of an independent DOJ.
2024 is getting more existential every day.
Robert, thank you for reiterating the duplicitous perfidy of the Extreme Supremes. They are not to be trusted any more than the Freedom Caucus. At dinner tonight, I helped talk down a friend who has abandoned the news in despair. With the help of another friend, and your example, I think we may have convinced him to entertain some hope.
That was a great analysis of the supreme court, with my take away that the outrages of Clarence Thomas have made the others want to distinguish themselves from him. The late breaking news is that Judge Cannon has made some demands which are indicative that she is not recusing herself, and these fall in the category of national security. as I feared, she has not learned from what happened to her and is determined to protect Trump . If he is found guilty, she can sentence him to no jail time at all.
It is true that Cannon can award no jail time. But that would deviate from the federal sentencing guidelines and would be appealable. United States v. DiFrancesco.
Excellent column today, as always.
I don't remember whether you have written about the No Labels movement, now becoming clear to me as a right-wing funded effort that may seriously undermine us. This Wikipedia entry is damning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Labels), including this excerpt:
"According to The Daily Beast, by the end of the 2018 cycle, No Labels' super PACs received more than $11 million from fifty-three donors, most of whom come from the financial industry.[35]
The New Republic reported in 2023 that No Labels has received major funding (along with nearly two dozen new donors) from Harlan Crow, a leading donor to Republican and conservative causes.[9]
Critics of the organization have suggested that No Labels in practice works to advance the financial interests of the wealthy.[35][36][37] This has been echoed in critiques that the group caters to the special interests that drive partisanship (instead of promoting bipartisanship)[18] with Frank Rich opining, "what America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances."[38]"
Your thoughts will be appreciated, and/or a reminder of previous writings.
Tom
Thomas M. Vernon, MD
vaxmd@comcast.net
have written several times about it, but will do so again tonight. receiving many reader comments about No Labels today. It is a stalking horse for Trump.
I'm disgusted with Cornel West
Why are members of Congress so exercised over the golf merger? Because many of them play golf, go to golf tournaments, and pal around with donors who do both. Would that more Members spent time in mines, mills factories and call centers.
What Jon said ⬆️⬆️