The defeat of Liz Cheney marks the end of hope for Republicans as a political party. They may still call it the Republican Party, but it has descended to the level of a conspiratorial gang, dedicated to destroying democracy in the service of a mainly white and mainly “Christian” elite and, rather ironically, in the service of a coterie of wealthy individuals and corporations. Until yesterday there was a glimmer of hope that the party might re-discover its roots as a legitimate conservative movement, albeit deeply flawed. That possibility has now been extinguished, and the true nature of the gang is clear. And because it is a gang not a political party, the doom of the “party” is even more clear.
I'd feel a lot more optimistic about the next decade if it weren't for Kevin McCarthy. What's his latest, besides chortling over Liz Cheney's loss, threat? He says he'll investigate the 1/6 investigators. Jim Jordan's bloviation will be our daily news breakfast. McCarthy is really a small man, in thrall to a meglomaniac, and interested only in his ascension to the Speaker's chair. He's bad for our country. The next two years will be a horror for all of us unless the Dems pull a rabbit out of a hat and keep the House majority.
Liz Cheney is now free to transcend the dirty, corporatized politics of the Swamp and hopefully concentrate on resurrecting the values of traditional Republicanism, and perhaps even restoring the true conservative ethos to the processes of democracy instead of endlessly fighting the Fascist thugs who hijacked the GOP in the service of Donald Trump. The stand she took against the forces of authoritarianism is a noble achievement and her election defeat sends a clear signal that the majority of Wyoming's voters no longer value the Constitution and the Rule of Law. This revelation may be perceived as a great loss to the Republic, but ironically, in defeating Cheney, the people of Wyoming scored a victory for America and the highest ideals of Justice by exposing yet another vein of Trump-inspired tyranny that has so thoroughly corrupted the body politic. As a registered Green Party member, I'm not a big Cheney fan politically speaking, but this woman has certainly shown the nation what integrity looks like in action.
The IRA and the other bills that Biden has gotten passed, together such a powerful package that they constitute a redirection of the Reagan approach back toward FDR's definition of the relationship between the government and the people, manages to be largely ignored by the press. Certainly, the actual details of this bill, as you lay them out, aren't even on the radar. There are so few of us who seem even to know about them and, let's face it, not many will bother to find out. I don't know what to think or how to feel about that. Once again the mainstream press seems unable or unwilling to help out by informing the citizens of something momentous like this, a BFD indeed, because??
Do we as a citizenry have such a short attention span that we can't focus on something like this that involves a list of details not all of which apply to all of us? Maybe that isn't an attention span problem. Maybe it's a problem of caring about something that doesn't directly affect me.
In any case, Mr. Hubbell, thank you for this clear acknowledgement of another historic achievement by Joe Biden who appears to be pushing slowly and with determination toward his goals for the country in spite of low approval ratings--much like Liz Cheney.
I watched Liz Cheney’s concession speech, which was quite masterful. She conceded the primary race, but she sure did not concede anything else. I kept thinking that she helped the Republican gang get to their current position. She voted with the Trump position about 90% of the time--against voting rights, against reproductive rights, etc. I applaud her courage in standing up to Trump. But I agree with Steve Schmidt who said the Republican Party should be burnt to the ground. The have-more big money interest are not cut from Abraham Lincoln’s cloth.
He talks about expanding the number of Justices on the court as Unpacking the Court since there is no way to reduce the number of life tenured Justices. With this Court People will defy its "rulings". I certainly haven't given up my reproductive rights just because the Extreme Court has some vague illogical reasoning that its not included in the Constitution. They are ignoring the Ninth Amendment which says the People have rights the Constitution does not enumerate! They are ignoring the People's wishes and taking away our rights with their "We have the votes; we can do anything we want." I have no reason to be a good subservient citizen and be forced into slavery of being a breeder. Seems like all that does is put more rapist DNAs into the gene pool. No, the Extreme Court has no weight with me. It is meaningless and actually destroying democracy. Time to stand up and go reread "On Civil Disobedience" where Thoreau espouses the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. My conscience is quite clear and ready to take action! First action is to get every citizen to VOTE all Republicans out of office. We, the People, all of us standing up for democracy this time!
Aug 17, 2022·edited Aug 17, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
To your point, the Washington Post and Guardian newsletters both headlined the Cheney story, again reflecting Trump's ability to mesmerize the starry-eyed media, to the detriment of the public's awareness of constructive political events. For the media it has the added benefit of feeding into their other running stories of Biden's poll numbers and the dysfunction of government and politics. Thank you for having your priorities straight, Robert.
Did you know that Princeton University did an analysis of the climate impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts
of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 By Princeton University indicates the following:
“ Enacting the Inflation Reduction Act would lower annual U.S. energy expenditures by at least 4% in 2030, a savings of nearly $50 billion dollars per year for households, businesses and industry. That translates into hundreds of dollars in annual energy cost savings for U.S. households.”
I didn’t know this either. The alternative would be much higher energy costs for all of us.
We live in a topsy turvey world. We have Trump’s close associates being targeted and pleading guilty to their crimes on the same day the IRA is signed into law. You are right about people’s awareness and knowledge of what is in the bill. The key for me and the challenge for us is how we can communicate specifically how this bill will reduce inflation and save voters money. I have seen several candidates ads where they are standing in a supermarket talking about the rise in food costs and blaming Democrats but you never hear about the Republicans plan to reduce inflation and food costs which is exactly why you need to get the word out daily about the contents of the bill. Have you sent out today your. “ did you know “ comments about a what is in the bill
Today? I have and Robert today gave us more ammunition to send out.
Liz Chaney felt the brutality and viciousness of some of the Trump party’s attacks on her for putting country above party and holding him accountable. We need to support her efforts and the rest of the committee’s members and outcomes to avoid what happened to Chaney from happening to many others. This alone is a reason not to elect any Republican.
Immediately after listening to Liz Cheney and reducing the size of the screen, I was bombarded by what I assumed to be talking heads from Fox News. How they could listen to Cheney's speech and toss it off as a mere political ploy was disgusting. I am always surprised how that word, disgusting, finds its way into comments about the MAGA crowd. Are these highly paid pundits really committed to TFG and the danger he and his followers pose to our country? Or is it all a show? All about ratings and rantings and feel-good moments of gotcha, no matter who gets hurt as long as they "win"?
I don't have a television and I don't watch the news so when I do, it makes more of an impact on me. We must stand together for shared principles and oppose those who apparently have none. How best to do this? I just finished writing 100 register-to-vote
postcards and I've got 400 more. That's a start, but, like Liz Cheney, I am resolved to do whatever I can to help make sure Donald Trump and his minions never get near the White House again.
Your final paragraph is a classic. It deserves to be chiseled in stone and taught in all high school civics classes. That is if the school is lucky enough to have said class. Power to the People
I saw a headline today in Mother Jones that struck me. It said: "Liz Cheney was defeated by the extremist movement she helped to empower". She is a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein.
Aug 17, 2022·edited Aug 19, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
In Today's Edition Robert stated, "As many legal commentators have noted, Trump’s statement proves that he intended to take and retain documents that included defense secrets and highly classified documents. That is bad for Trump. Very bad."
We have all seen outrageous fact after outrageous fact presented for all the world, and everyone in this country, to see. So, to the comment I have quoted, I say, this is only "bad for Trump," if, and only if, he is actually held accountable with REAL consequences. That has yet to happen. Until it does become reality, I am sadly skeptical, but no less hopeful that he will find the end of his lifetime of conning others, flaunting and disregarding the rule of law, and his narcissism is filled with substantial and real consequences.
Hi Robert. I want to congratulate you and your wife on your anniversary. Kudos to your many years together! I can appreciate your anniversary as my husband and I will celebrate 42 years on August 31.
I like how you two collaborate and how you give her credit for her work with you.
Aug 17, 2022·edited Aug 17, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
HELP PLEASE! I'm answering Robert's challenge spread the word, but I need an answer and a suggestion to a specific reply I've been getting on Twitter (some politely and some not so much!). How do I answer the challenge that the CBO says the IRA will cost middle Americans $20 billion in new taxes? Here's what happened:
I got hundreds of "likes, retweets" to my post yesterday about the IRA, "Republicans are calling the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) “tax and spend.” It’s true! We’re TAXING multinational companies generating over $1 billion per year and SPENDING the money on seniors, US workers and the climate crisis. Pass it on! (Inspired by https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-bonfire-of-insanity)
This post got a lot of likes, but when I used it specifically to answer the CBO challenge, the response I got was that Forbes is a democratic publication that doesn't know truth.
So now I have to admit that when I tried to read the whole article again, I couldn't fully understand it.
Is it possible to explain simply why this is or isn't true? thank you!
The defeat of Liz Cheney marks the end of hope for Republicans as a political party. They may still call it the Republican Party, but it has descended to the level of a conspiratorial gang, dedicated to destroying democracy in the service of a mainly white and mainly “Christian” elite and, rather ironically, in the service of a coterie of wealthy individuals and corporations. Until yesterday there was a glimmer of hope that the party might re-discover its roots as a legitimate conservative movement, albeit deeply flawed. That possibility has now been extinguished, and the true nature of the gang is clear. And because it is a gang not a political party, the doom of the “party” is even more clear.
I'd feel a lot more optimistic about the next decade if it weren't for Kevin McCarthy. What's his latest, besides chortling over Liz Cheney's loss, threat? He says he'll investigate the 1/6 investigators. Jim Jordan's bloviation will be our daily news breakfast. McCarthy is really a small man, in thrall to a meglomaniac, and interested only in his ascension to the Speaker's chair. He's bad for our country. The next two years will be a horror for all of us unless the Dems pull a rabbit out of a hat and keep the House majority.
Liz Cheney is now free to transcend the dirty, corporatized politics of the Swamp and hopefully concentrate on resurrecting the values of traditional Republicanism, and perhaps even restoring the true conservative ethos to the processes of democracy instead of endlessly fighting the Fascist thugs who hijacked the GOP in the service of Donald Trump. The stand she took against the forces of authoritarianism is a noble achievement and her election defeat sends a clear signal that the majority of Wyoming's voters no longer value the Constitution and the Rule of Law. This revelation may be perceived as a great loss to the Republic, but ironically, in defeating Cheney, the people of Wyoming scored a victory for America and the highest ideals of Justice by exposing yet another vein of Trump-inspired tyranny that has so thoroughly corrupted the body politic. As a registered Green Party member, I'm not a big Cheney fan politically speaking, but this woman has certainly shown the nation what integrity looks like in action.
The IRA and the other bills that Biden has gotten passed, together such a powerful package that they constitute a redirection of the Reagan approach back toward FDR's definition of the relationship between the government and the people, manages to be largely ignored by the press. Certainly, the actual details of this bill, as you lay them out, aren't even on the radar. There are so few of us who seem even to know about them and, let's face it, not many will bother to find out. I don't know what to think or how to feel about that. Once again the mainstream press seems unable or unwilling to help out by informing the citizens of something momentous like this, a BFD indeed, because??
Do we as a citizenry have such a short attention span that we can't focus on something like this that involves a list of details not all of which apply to all of us? Maybe that isn't an attention span problem. Maybe it's a problem of caring about something that doesn't directly affect me.
In any case, Mr. Hubbell, thank you for this clear acknowledgement of another historic achievement by Joe Biden who appears to be pushing slowly and with determination toward his goals for the country in spite of low approval ratings--much like Liz Cheney.
I watched Liz Cheney’s concession speech, which was quite masterful. She conceded the primary race, but she sure did not concede anything else. I kept thinking that she helped the Republican gang get to their current position. She voted with the Trump position about 90% of the time--against voting rights, against reproductive rights, etc. I applaud her courage in standing up to Trump. But I agree with Steve Schmidt who said the Republican Party should be burnt to the ground. The have-more big money interest are not cut from Abraham Lincoln’s cloth.
Professor Laurence Tribe's article mentioned above in Today's Edition is so worth reading! I'd almost call it mandatory for this audience. https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/16/supreme-court-roe-vs-wade-clarence-thomas/
He talks about expanding the number of Justices on the court as Unpacking the Court since there is no way to reduce the number of life tenured Justices. With this Court People will defy its "rulings". I certainly haven't given up my reproductive rights just because the Extreme Court has some vague illogical reasoning that its not included in the Constitution. They are ignoring the Ninth Amendment which says the People have rights the Constitution does not enumerate! They are ignoring the People's wishes and taking away our rights with their "We have the votes; we can do anything we want." I have no reason to be a good subservient citizen and be forced into slavery of being a breeder. Seems like all that does is put more rapist DNAs into the gene pool. No, the Extreme Court has no weight with me. It is meaningless and actually destroying democracy. Time to stand up and go reread "On Civil Disobedience" where Thoreau espouses the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. My conscience is quite clear and ready to take action! First action is to get every citizen to VOTE all Republicans out of office. We, the People, all of us standing up for democracy this time!
To your point, the Washington Post and Guardian newsletters both headlined the Cheney story, again reflecting Trump's ability to mesmerize the starry-eyed media, to the detriment of the public's awareness of constructive political events. For the media it has the added benefit of feeding into their other running stories of Biden's poll numbers and the dysfunction of government and politics. Thank you for having your priorities straight, Robert.
Did you know that Princeton University did an analysis of the climate impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts
of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 By Princeton University indicates the following:
“ Enacting the Inflation Reduction Act would lower annual U.S. energy expenditures by at least 4% in 2030, a savings of nearly $50 billion dollars per year for households, businesses and industry. That translates into hundreds of dollars in annual energy cost savings for U.S. households.”
I didn’t know this either. The alternative would be much higher energy costs for all of us.
We live in a topsy turvey world. We have Trump’s close associates being targeted and pleading guilty to their crimes on the same day the IRA is signed into law. You are right about people’s awareness and knowledge of what is in the bill. The key for me and the challenge for us is how we can communicate specifically how this bill will reduce inflation and save voters money. I have seen several candidates ads where they are standing in a supermarket talking about the rise in food costs and blaming Democrats but you never hear about the Republicans plan to reduce inflation and food costs which is exactly why you need to get the word out daily about the contents of the bill. Have you sent out today your. “ did you know “ comments about a what is in the bill
Today? I have and Robert today gave us more ammunition to send out.
Liz Chaney felt the brutality and viciousness of some of the Trump party’s attacks on her for putting country above party and holding him accountable. We need to support her efforts and the rest of the committee’s members and outcomes to avoid what happened to Chaney from happening to many others. This alone is a reason not to elect any Republican.
Thank you for including mr tribe. He is brilliant
Immediately after listening to Liz Cheney and reducing the size of the screen, I was bombarded by what I assumed to be talking heads from Fox News. How they could listen to Cheney's speech and toss it off as a mere political ploy was disgusting. I am always surprised how that word, disgusting, finds its way into comments about the MAGA crowd. Are these highly paid pundits really committed to TFG and the danger he and his followers pose to our country? Or is it all a show? All about ratings and rantings and feel-good moments of gotcha, no matter who gets hurt as long as they "win"?
I don't have a television and I don't watch the news so when I do, it makes more of an impact on me. We must stand together for shared principles and oppose those who apparently have none. How best to do this? I just finished writing 100 register-to-vote
postcards and I've got 400 more. That's a start, but, like Liz Cheney, I am resolved to do whatever I can to help make sure Donald Trump and his minions never get near the White House again.
Your final paragraph is a classic. It deserves to be chiseled in stone and taught in all high school civics classes. That is if the school is lucky enough to have said class. Power to the People
S. Anderson
I saw a headline today in Mother Jones that struck me. It said: "Liz Cheney was defeated by the extremist movement she helped to empower". She is a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein.
In Today's Edition Robert stated, "As many legal commentators have noted, Trump’s statement proves that he intended to take and retain documents that included defense secrets and highly classified documents. That is bad for Trump. Very bad."
We have all seen outrageous fact after outrageous fact presented for all the world, and everyone in this country, to see. So, to the comment I have quoted, I say, this is only "bad for Trump," if, and only if, he is actually held accountable with REAL consequences. That has yet to happen. Until it does become reality, I am sadly skeptical, but no less hopeful that he will find the end of his lifetime of conning others, flaunting and disregarding the rule of law, and his narcissism is filled with substantial and real consequences.
Hi Robert. I want to congratulate you and your wife on your anniversary. Kudos to your many years together! I can appreciate your anniversary as my husband and I will celebrate 42 years on August 31.
I like how you two collaborate and how you give her credit for her work with you.
Best wishes for your continued happiness.
Susan Silva
HELP PLEASE! I'm answering Robert's challenge spread the word, but I need an answer and a suggestion to a specific reply I've been getting on Twitter (some politely and some not so much!). How do I answer the challenge that the CBO says the IRA will cost middle Americans $20 billion in new taxes? Here's what happened:
I got hundreds of "likes, retweets" to my post yesterday about the IRA, "Republicans are calling the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) “tax and spend.” It’s true! We’re TAXING multinational companies generating over $1 billion per year and SPENDING the money on seniors, US workers and the climate crisis. Pass it on! (Inspired by https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-bonfire-of-insanity)
BUT I also got a number of comments based on a NY Post article that the non-partisan CBO says that IRA will cost middle class $20billion in new taxes. "https://nypost.com/2022/08/15/inflation-reduction-act-will-cost-middle-class-20b-cbo/
I tried to answer with "You can believe this twisting of the CBO report. Or you can check out this article from Forbes explaining why this simply isn't true. https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2022/08/12/ignore-the-debate-over-whether-the-inflation-reduction-act-raises-taxes-on-those-making-400000-or-less/?sh=75c53e2d207d
This post got a lot of likes, but when I used it specifically to answer the CBO challenge, the response I got was that Forbes is a democratic publication that doesn't know truth.
So now I have to admit that when I tried to read the whole article again, I couldn't fully understand it.
Is it possible to explain simply why this is or isn't true? thank you!