Rant rant rant rant on please. My disgust with Garland makes me crazy. I truly believe if Harris had been AG Trump would be at Rikers with his accountant. Like Ari Melber said”Don’t order a pizza from Garland because it will come 3 years late.” Garland, our children are at stake here, our Democracy is at stake here. Be brave get a spine indict him. NOW.
I am with you in your frustration at the seeming molasses slow movement to indict Trump. Some days of recent I have begun to think that he is going to get away with all of this.How can a man who has committed so many crimes that we have many times with horror viewed lo these last 6 years or so be still walking free with another run for POTUS in action?I try to be patient when I read about the competency and intelligence of Merrick Garland and Jack Smith. I calm down a bit but when I realize that the clock is tick, tick, ticking and this window is forever closing, I freak. Something has got to give here and I sure hope I am wrong when I sometimes believe that Trump will get away with it all in the end.
He will be indicted several times. He in the past two years has lost a lot of support from Independents and real Republicans and his act is stale and not what it was before.
Your rushing to judgement without all the facts and forgetting that the J6th hearings set the stage for voters to accept the indictments as facts and not a political witchhunt.
I'm wondering which facts you think they are rushing to judgement without? It would seem that sufficient facts are available for an indictment. No one ever has all the facts so that can't be a criteria for action. The J6 hearings did set the stage, but a solid presentation by the Justice Department would have could have done just as much just as well. Those who would have interpreted that as a witch hunt have interpreted the J6 hearings as a witch hunt. There are some who will never be convinced, so bringing them along can't be a criteria for action, either. I'm on the side of those crying WTH Garland on this one.
I very much want to agree with you Stephen but, while the Committee did an incredible job and produced very impressive exhibits, those who accept the factual basis for any notional indictments as exactly the ones frustrated by the delays. Trumpistas will always argue that it's a witchhunt regardless of the facts and, while the former president is probably not electable against Biden, he is still generating profits and publicity for the lunatic fringe that is gradually covering the entire Republican party.
". . . still generating profits and publicity . . ." is his grift. He is completely financially dependent on the "lunatic fringe", which is almost funny when you consider what he truly thinks of them, i.e., dog poo on the bottom of his shoes.
Based on recent feedback from the jurors who heard testimony in Georgia and the amount of evidence presented I think the doubting voters will have a difficult time dismissing the evidence. The core MAGA folks will not. Major donors and not supporting Trump and once convicted he will be toxic and his support will diminish and he will make a deal.
Yes and I’d argue that if we look at the polls of the hearing, after all was said and done—they barely, if at all, changed any minds! IMHO these hearings were for historical purposes; not for the here and now, sadly!
Correct the lunatic will profit. I hope he experience nothing more than being a loser loses influence with banks he has cheated and is shamed for the rest of his life. get with it Garland.
And if Elizabeth Warren had been Biden’s Vice President she would have been right on undoing the banking, rail, and other regulations the former guy tossed out.
Mr Hubbell, You are not ranting! You have not gone fsr enough!
How has this nation sunk so low to get to the point of allowing an obvious insurrectionist to run for office of POTUS? How low have we sunk to allow MCarthy to even be in office much less SOTH? How low have we sunk to allow the slew of other elected to be walking free much less holding office? Our reputation abroad must in the cellar.
I'd add how low have we sunk that we apparently have no qualification requirements for those who hold office and no ethics constraints. Apparently we even allow people who obtain a seat by lying about every aspect of their CV to retain that seat rather than acknowledge they are not in fact the person elected by their constituents. That kind of exposure to potential blackmail and manipulation used to be recognized as a security risk at the very least.
If you didn't know who Kacsmaryk was and you saw him approaching on the street, you would think to yourself. "Fundamentalist religious nut!" He has the look in his mien of Torquemada, founder of the Spanish Inquisition.
Thanks for making me google Torquemada. The wikipedia entry tries to make it seem like he wasn't all that bad, seeing as he only burned 2,000 people at the stake (personally).
To your broader point, isn't it an odd coincidence that it is always white men who seem to know best what women need when the face the complicated and intensely personal experience of pregnancy?
In truth, I frequently feel shame and guilt by association about what the vast majority of my cohort of the population is doing: supporting Trump, discriminating against LGBTQ people, deny Blacks the right to vote.
I once went to meet a reader in the early days of the newsletter. She said that when she saw me walk into the coffee shop and introduce myself, her heart sunk because I was an older, white male. I get it. Of course, she got over the reaction after we talked for an hour (and I helped her group with some organizing activities), but it was an educational experience for me. It is not irrational to assume that, statistically, people who look like me want to take away the rights granted to women in the Constitution.
Having engaged in many moronic activities - through which I learned what didn't work - "non-moron" is the best I can get to, with any intellectually/morally-honest self review.
Terrific Today's, and I absolutely mean that! But on this comment, I have trouble with the application of the adjective, "white" applied to men (and I say that as someone who is mixed white and African, though to be sure, the African is a small percentage of the total.)
Don't forget about female genital mutilation, and other horrors and discrimination perpetrated on women by men of many different shades.
Geeeze—too bad we can’t turn the tides and ban viagra. Never up, never in and bang, no babies…no abortion. Stupid as this sounds, there’s a parallel here!??
Empathy needs to be taught in grade school. And a strong sense of empathy needs to be a requirement for teachers. The justice system needs to have as its primary goal rehabilitation rather than punishment. We need a thorough social safety net.
And, forgive me MaryAnn, but by the time men need viagra, we don't want to reproduce. I bet that if this quantity could be ascertained, the number of unwanted pregnancies that were seeded with the help of viagra would be very small. To get where you want to go, men would need to be sterilized in their teens.
MaryAnn; I have thought this, not tongue in cheek, but very seriously. Whatever it is-i.e, how would the vast majority of men feel if a law was passed that you may not have a vasectomy?
Even if they don’t need or want a vasectomy can we say men wouldn’t feel the same way that women feel when a law is passed that could potentially affect them and theirs? I’m pulling my hair about Abortion Rights and I’m nigh on 20 years post menopause.
Totally get what you say; very true! In fact, let’s expand this idea a tad…if if politicians kids/families were hungry, there’d be legislation to alleviate hunger. If politicians kids/ families were dying daily from gun violence, there’d be legislation for that. If politicians kids/families had no health insurance, there’d be free medicine for all and the list goes on—and I speak particularly for the GOP party.
The word “man” has for so long been used to represent all of humanity. Women of my age got used to being half of “mankind”. Now, if “woman” were to replace “man” as the generic word for human, the response from males would likely be very loud and boil down to Not Fair! Doesn’t represent me! Where’s the deference I am owed?
I'd be fine with it. Although I suppose what we should really be going for is humankind. In any case, I have problems with all the areas in which women are slighted. There are some terrific women among my family and friends, and they absolutely deserve equality. (My grandmother got her PhD five years before she got the vote. My sister was in charge of getting Fairfax County VA vaccinated and she did her job. My mother... my aunt... among the best.) And women certainly deserve to have more attention being paid by the medical establishment to the female reproductive system ills they are heir to (See LadyParts by Deborah Copaken, and the substack that goes by the same name.)
Some of my best friends are men. The ones that can look up to a woman and express that are the best. If only we all knew what the opposite gender goes through! Men are duty bound not to tell, most of them.
Ah, therein lies the issue! If only (some) men would realize they needn't always be in control. May they rest in the knowledge that freedom also means they are free to be who they are. There is no need to keep up the pretense of strength, supremacy and tom foolery. Actually, women love vulnerable men. Not the archetype, so much.
Good rant, Robert! If you have any suggestions for how we can bring any pressure on the DOJ, Jack Smith and Fani Willis to get on with it, please let us know.
Meanwhile here's the letter I sent to Axios this morning:
You have made a serious mistake in firing Ben Montgomery. Your cowardly capitulation to the DeSantis P.R. machine is a spineless acknowledgement that they own you, and you are not independent or unbiased. Will no longer read, reference or recommend your news service; you have demonstrated that you lack basic journalistic standards, and are no longer a credible source of information. Too bad; you could be so much better….
I will spread the word; you don’t deserve to fail us this way without widespread public notice and opprobrium.
I have been emailing the reporting staff on an individual basis asking if Montgomery's firing means they will be pulling their punches on DeSantis. So far, no response from any of the reporters.
It’s been 799 days since January 6, 2021, an event of domestic terrorism and attempted insurrection.
Merrick Garland was sworn into office on March 11, 2021.
It took Garland 617 days to appoint Jack Smith as Special Counsel.
We all watched the horrifying events of 1/6/2021. The January 6 Committee gave DOJ all of the evidence from their painstaking work. Stewart Rhodes of the Oathkeepers has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy (11/29/2022).
How much longer must we wait for indictments from the top down?
I have read Teri Kanefield explain the process. It makes me feel better temporarily. Mistakes made by prosecutors make appeals more likely to succeed, more likely even to be put forward. Caution is not the enemy, she says. I still grumble but understand there MAY be more going on in the DOJ than we know about. I sure hope there is!
There is not. I’m an ex cop. If I took years to file a charge in a violent crime like rape or murder that occurred in plain sight I would be ridden out of town on a rail. Ostracized and scorned.
I don’t think he will ever do anything. We can only hope smith is on it. He is clearly guilty of creating evil havoc hate dishonesty and fractured even normalcy in America. We we ever be free of seeing his disgusting face?
Rant on, Mr. Robert. I must admit that for most articles I read, my enthusiasm wanes after so many paragraphs. But for me, every Today's Edition leaves me wanting more, not less. Apologies to your astute Managing Editor!
Could not agree more regarding the DOJ, they had first and goal on the two yard line two years ago and fumbled the football of Justice . Trump is not a king rather an ordinary citizen subject to the laws of the United States and the Constitution. The Proud boys and Oath Keepers yes are bad but the GOP Congress are much more dangerous and criminal.
"an ordinary citizen" who has from his youth been lying, cheating, suing, losing, grifting, NDAing, his way through life and cohorting with international thugs
‘But he WAS the president of the us!’ These words seem to freeze the brains of the legal teams handling investigations into his CRIMINAL actions while acting as POTUS!
Mr. Hubbell, I agree with you completely that any logical thinking person has the right and actually an obligation to be pissed off at the pace the DOJ has taken to prosecute Trump and the rest of his gang.
My deep anger over Dobbs and all its consequences got the best of me this afternoon. Thank you, Robert, for expressing the breadth of the impact and consequences of Dobbs.
I spent a couple of hours last night trying to say how my anger on Dobbs was triggered and actually turned into a rather cathartic experience. I was speaking with the husband of one of my good friends at their home. He's a very conservative Republican and I told him he was "over-privileged" and doesn't understand a woman's experience in our culture. The experience of being a second class citizen as I grew up and breaking the glass ceiling in my career with a high tech Fortune 100 corporation has been reinstated by Dobbs. This is actually worse since the right to life of women is considered secondary in all cases, no exceptions, to the life of the fetus even at conception when it is just a couple of cells. And, there are no consequences for the rapist or perpetrator of incest. I personally think the remedy for rape and incest should be penectomy - take away his sword altogether. The other solution eventually would be the technology of an artificial womb so a woman does not have to carry the pregnancy. Legislatures should not practice medicine without a license. The major question is what is the balance between the rights of the woman and the rights of the potential person. Roe addressed that and did a good job at finding a balance between the two. Also, women's healthcare even beyond reproductive rights is being jeopardized by the intimidation of doctors. Doctors know how to handle triage situations and should be allowed to use their best judgement when there is a major problem with the pregnancy. They shouldn't have to wait until the women is in dire jeopardy of her life or consult with lawyers before saving her life. The majority male legislators in my opinion do not have the standing to make laws that impact women and their privacy and freedoms. The idea that any abortion should be tried as murder is actually questioning God's decision to allow miscarriages or non-viable fetuses to happen in the first place. Why would He (yes, the Bible was written by men in a highly patriarchal society) place a soul in the fetuses at conception that aren't going to make it. Is God an accomplice to this "murder"? White slaveholders impregnated female slaves or had them impregnated to produce more slaves and make more money. Today, the income disparity requires that a middle class family has to have two wage earners to feed their family of which a huge chunk goes to childcare. Women take the brunt of the burden of caring for the children and home and working outside the home at 82 cents on the dollar than a male worker in the same job. When I first started working women were making 59 cents on the male dollar so we have made progress but we have also lost a lot in development and education of our most precious asset -- our children. What children want most when asked is quality time with their parents. In my childhood I experienced the blatant and personal discrimination even by the United States Navy who sponsored the National Model Airplane Championships at Naval Air Stations around the US. The year I was the National Model Glider Champion at age 19 (over all contestants of all age groups) the Navy advertised a aircraft carrier cruise to the modelers under 21 who had won a first place in an event. The morning after a couple of Navy officers found out I, a girl, had met that criteria all the signs for the cruise had been changed to all BOYS who... The US Navy still owes me a carrier cruise! In my corporate career I was fortunate to work for a highly ethical corporation because of the vision and ethics of our CEO. Never the less I was breaking new ground as a woman engineer. My first task when I met someone who didn't know me was to prove that being a woman and being an engineer were not mutually incompatible stereotypes. Fortunately, I had a degree in engineering from MIT where my class ring, know affectionately as a brass rat (really a gold beaver; the beaver the engineer of the animal world) was a door opener many times in my career. I broke the glass ceiling and became a group engineering manager with the CEO as my mentor. I was the first woman to speak at the State of the Company. However, I was the only woman in most of the meetings I attended for decades! I was always amused when a man would be thinking I was the one having the unusual experience! I close this venting by telling the not-my-definition-of-Christianity "Christians" who are turning our country into a theocracy with no free speech, no religious freedom, no right to privacy and even less right to life itself that I have vowed not to vote for any Republican at any level and hold the GOP accountable for their anti-democracy, holier-than-thou, me-first endeavors and destruction of our democratic government. I'm always leary of people who think they know exactly what God thinks and they have the one and only right religion. God is too complex for mere humans to understand. On abortion I would remind them of what Barbara Bush said -- that God will take care of that little soul no matter what happens. And, the good news out of this is that the gentleman I vented my anger with has agreed that we are still friends even if we don't agree on many things. If we are to be a true democracy then each of us must defend the right of others to their perspective and positions even if it is the opposite of ours. When someone has a position that doesn't make sense to me, I ask what in their life experience has brought them to that position. I will not be a second class citizen again and will do everything in my power except violence to assure that women and LGBTQ and people of all races are respected and treated with equity. Let's Do the Right Thing by each other and Value Differences (the two mottos of my corporation). We, the People, all of us of all genders and races THIS TIME!
David, I thought I was quoting from Susan Page's biography of Barbara Bush "The Matriarch". I just checked and couldn't find it so I'm not sure if I should have credited her with that quote. Still like the quote! She was Pro-Choice. She had had a miscarriage. Her eldest child George W became Pro-Life after she showed him the remains in a jar. She also lost her 3 year old daughter Robin to leukemia. From her experience with Robin's birth and death, she believed the first breath was when the soul entered the body and that the soul left the body with the last breath. Susan Page was a high school classmate of mine. Love seeing her success as a journalist. Thanks for the book recommendation.
Shoot. Well, maybe you saw that quote somewhere else. Please be sure to let me know if you find it.
I do remember that they'd lost a daughter. that must have been really tough. (Nixon lost two brothers growing up.) And although I am pretty much a materialist on the beginning and the end of life, I like her explanation of what happens. And, having watched both of my parents die, the bodies do seem like empty shells after...I was going to say, after the person is gone, and I guess that's what I meant, and that would correspond to "after the soul leaves the body".
That's nice you have that connection to Susan Page where you can enjoy her successes. Sounds like an interesting book.
I have a question about how the NY indictment might work out. It is my understanding that Trump is unlikely to face jail time for anything he has done, partly because he has no history of previous convictions. Does that change if he is convicted, even on a misdemeanor, in NYC? In other words, if Bragg gets him first, does that cause him to face stiffer penalties if convicted in either Fulton County or by the Feds? Likewise, if he were convicted first in NY, then in GA--would that put him at more risk for a significant sentence in a 3rd conviction in federal court?
A limit of five paragraphs? Some days bring more news and thoughts than others. Some days one needs to release the Kraken. I vote no to artificial limits.
My wife and i had an editorial meeting over breakfast. She was not pleased. I have promised to reform my ways. She is always right! Her advice is that if the concluding thoughts goes over two paragraphs, it is a separate article, not a conclusion.
Your managing editor makes a good point. I am a writer (not officially on substack, though I am a regular commenter here), and have a tendency to write overmuch when I am on a rant. I end up deleting entire paragraphs and shortening others when I calm down enough to recognize they belong in a different rant. I believe that my writing becomes stronger as a result. (I hasten to add that not all my writing is a rant- probably very little. But some things are worthy of a good rant.)
That said, your letter today was well-done, and helped clarify some things for me. Thanks.
Good points you make! I am not a writer but boy when I write. I’m like on run on stream of consciousness! I have started to try and pare things down, it’s an art form!
I would concede length is a good warning flag. I think of a conclusion as either tying things together with an over-arching observation or as summarizing (which can be somewhat boring). There are probably other forms as well.
Here where you are writing practical summaries and explanations and helpful suggestions it's not vital your conclusions have literary merit rather than emotional punch and perhaps sometimes a bit of fun, release or relief. I think your rant did that today and it would have been just as delightful in any position!
Clearly your wife has an eye on helping you maintain the highest standards in your work. That will make it easier when you write the book, but then you will have to decide how to acknowledge her contributions and provide her a particularly nice bonus!
These are sad days where it seems that the power is out of balance. We have to keep protesting, by calling religious tyranny out for what it is and voting, voting, voting. Thank you, Robert.
By equating “support for ‘BLM Riots’” with investments in Black communities, Claremont is essentially saying “Black Lives Don’t Matter” and harkening back to the good old days when banks were free to redline against these communities.
Taking this a little further, I think it is necessary to attack the conflation the Right always does between protests against injustice against Black people and "BLM riots". The vast majority of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were peaceful. Certainly, the one I participated in was peaceful. It is important to say that. If the GOP can try to make the ridiculous claim that the rioters' actions on Jan 6 were the actions of "peaceful tourists", then we should not be afraid to make the (true) point that the 2020 protests were, for the most part, peaceful statements against injustice.
Black Lives Matter.
I'm still proud to say that, and those who resist saying it (the "all lives matter" dodge, as if Black lives are not included in all lives) are really saying Black lives DON'T matter, as in this Claremont "report".
could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and get away with it”! It appears he was right. That would be the least of his crimes.
He has committed treason! Long ago, he would have been made to stand before a firing squad, there would have been no January 6, Committee hearings, ad naseum! We all saw it in real time. We knew he staged that coup!
He left the White House with Top Secret Papers claiming he “declassified” them, they belonged to him! He reluctantly returned them to, piecemeal, under warrant, to NARA. Now he is guilty of the ESPIONAGE ACT usually reserved for spies who are charged and jailed immediately!
You continue to RANT all you want! I do it everyday. What the hell has the DOJ been doing since January 6, 2021? All the evidence was right in front of them. The BS line about indicting a former President is just that. Once he leaves office he is a NORMAL CITIZEN!
BLM or LMI. 🤔 How could that so easily be misconstrued? By a dimwit.
Wow, didn't know about the Axios kerfuffle....disappointing, indeed.
My question about mifepristone - if it's banned, what about all those patients with Cushing's disease, fibroids, endometriosis, and probably more? As you quote Strauss Harris "...the FDA approval simply confirmed the drug's safety and effectiveness and doesn't require anyone to prescribe it or take it." Just like it doesn't require anyone to take Tylenol or VIAGRA!!!!, both of which have more side effects.
Not an email, but "a number that represents the whole number of years that [I] believe is acceptable for indicting a coup plotter who is running for a second term as president as part of a second coup attempt" is 1/365th.
Rant rant rant rant on please. My disgust with Garland makes me crazy. I truly believe if Harris had been AG Trump would be at Rikers with his accountant. Like Ari Melber said”Don’t order a pizza from Garland because it will come 3 years late.” Garland, our children are at stake here, our Democracy is at stake here. Be brave get a spine indict him. NOW.
I am with you in your frustration at the seeming molasses slow movement to indict Trump. Some days of recent I have begun to think that he is going to get away with all of this.How can a man who has committed so many crimes that we have many times with horror viewed lo these last 6 years or so be still walking free with another run for POTUS in action?I try to be patient when I read about the competency and intelligence of Merrick Garland and Jack Smith. I calm down a bit but when I realize that the clock is tick, tick, ticking and this window is forever closing, I freak. Something has got to give here and I sure hope I am wrong when I sometimes believe that Trump will get away with it all in the end.
He will be indicted several times. He in the past two years has lost a lot of support from Independents and real Republicans and his act is stale and not what it was before.
There are no "real" Republicans, imho. The party is dead.
My feelings exactly. I m sickened by the maga republicans and that so many smart enough people are supporting their racist violent white supremacy.
Your rushing to judgement without all the facts and forgetting that the J6th hearings set the stage for voters to accept the indictments as facts and not a political witchhunt.
I'm wondering which facts you think they are rushing to judgement without? It would seem that sufficient facts are available for an indictment. No one ever has all the facts so that can't be a criteria for action. The J6 hearings did set the stage, but a solid presentation by the Justice Department would have could have done just as much just as well. Those who would have interpreted that as a witch hunt have interpreted the J6 hearings as a witch hunt. There are some who will never be convinced, so bringing them along can't be a criteria for action, either. I'm on the side of those crying WTH Garland on this one.
I very much want to agree with you Stephen but, while the Committee did an incredible job and produced very impressive exhibits, those who accept the factual basis for any notional indictments as exactly the ones frustrated by the delays. Trumpistas will always argue that it's a witchhunt regardless of the facts and, while the former president is probably not electable against Biden, he is still generating profits and publicity for the lunatic fringe that is gradually covering the entire Republican party.
True, probably not electable against Biden, but still able to raise money to sustain himself and attempt another coup.
Exactly, and it's not clear that would end even if/when he was locked up.
". . . still generating profits and publicity . . ." is his grift. He is completely financially dependent on the "lunatic fringe", which is almost funny when you consider what he truly thinks of them, i.e., dog poo on the bottom of his shoes.
Based on recent feedback from the jurors who heard testimony in Georgia and the amount of evidence presented I think the doubting voters will have a difficult time dismissing the evidence. The core MAGA folks will not. Major donors and not supporting Trump and once convicted he will be toxic and his support will diminish and he will make a deal.
Ojala que si.
…yo también
Yes and I’d argue that if we look at the polls of the hearing, after all was said and done—they barely, if at all, changed any minds! IMHO these hearings were for historical purposes; not for the here and now, sadly!
Correct the lunatic will profit. I hope he experience nothing more than being a loser loses influence with banks he has cheated and is shamed for the rest of his life. get with it Garland.
And if Elizabeth Warren had been Biden’s Vice President she would have been right on undoing the banking, rail, and other regulations the former guy tossed out.
True but Biden would not have been elected.
You bet
Mr Hubbell, You are not ranting! You have not gone fsr enough!
How has this nation sunk so low to get to the point of allowing an obvious insurrectionist to run for office of POTUS? How low have we sunk to allow MCarthy to even be in office much less SOTH? How low have we sunk to allow the slew of other elected to be walking free much less holding office? Our reputation abroad must in the cellar.
I'd add how low have we sunk that we apparently have no qualification requirements for those who hold office and no ethics constraints. Apparently we even allow people who obtain a seat by lying about every aspect of their CV to retain that seat rather than acknowledge they are not in fact the person elected by their constituents. That kind of exposure to potential blackmail and manipulation used to be recognized as a security risk at the very least.
Love u keep on posting
If you didn't know who Kacsmaryk was and you saw him approaching on the street, you would think to yourself. "Fundamentalist religious nut!" He has the look in his mien of Torquemada, founder of the Spanish Inquisition.
Thanks for making me google Torquemada. The wikipedia entry tries to make it seem like he wasn't all that bad, seeing as he only burned 2,000 people at the stake (personally).
To your broader point, isn't it an odd coincidence that it is always white men who seem to know best what women need when the face the complicated and intensely personal experience of pregnancy?
Have you ever noticed that we non-moron white men are the minority of the white men we have dealt with in our lives, Bob?
In truth, I frequently feel shame and guilt by association about what the vast majority of my cohort of the population is doing: supporting Trump, discriminating against LGBTQ people, deny Blacks the right to vote.
I once went to meet a reader in the early days of the newsletter. She said that when she saw me walk into the coffee shop and introduce myself, her heart sunk because I was an older, white male. I get it. Of course, she got over the reaction after we talked for an hour (and I helped her group with some organizing activities), but it was an educational experience for me. It is not irrational to assume that, statistically, people who look like me want to take away the rights granted to women in the Constitution.
You and me both. I tell people all I have to do to disguise myself to roam freely among the morons is to slap my "USN veteran" hat on.
I like the humility in “non-moron” self-identification.
Having engaged in many moronic activities - through which I learned what didn't work - "non-moron" is the best I can get to, with any intellectually/morally-honest self review.
Same here.
Terrific Today's, and I absolutely mean that! But on this comment, I have trouble with the application of the adjective, "white" applied to men (and I say that as someone who is mixed white and African, though to be sure, the African is a small percentage of the total.)
Don't forget about female genital mutilation, and other horrors and discrimination perpetrated on women by men of many different shades.
Good point. I was focusing on the American political dynamic, but your point is valid there, too. See, e.g., Clarence Thomas.
Thanks Robert!
Geeeze—too bad we can’t turn the tides and ban viagra. Never up, never in and bang, no babies…no abortion. Stupid as this sounds, there’s a parallel here!??
Empathy needs to be taught in grade school. And a strong sense of empathy needs to be a requirement for teachers. The justice system needs to have as its primary goal rehabilitation rather than punishment. We need a thorough social safety net.
And, forgive me MaryAnn, but by the time men need viagra, we don't want to reproduce. I bet that if this quantity could be ascertained, the number of unwanted pregnancies that were seeded with the help of viagra would be very small. To get where you want to go, men would need to be sterilized in their teens.
I’m really being tongue in cheek here. Thanks.
MaryAnn; I have thought this, not tongue in cheek, but very seriously. Whatever it is-i.e, how would the vast majority of men feel if a law was passed that you may not have a vasectomy?
Even if they don’t need or want a vasectomy can we say men wouldn’t feel the same way that women feel when a law is passed that could potentially affect them and theirs? I’m pulling my hair about Abortion Rights and I’m nigh on 20 years post menopause.
Totally get what you say; very true! In fact, let’s expand this idea a tad…if if politicians kids/families were hungry, there’d be legislation to alleviate hunger. If politicians kids/ families were dying daily from gun violence, there’d be legislation for that. If politicians kids/families had no health insurance, there’d be free medicine for all and the list goes on—and I speak particularly for the GOP party.
I'm on the spectrum. I almost never get when people are being tongue in cheek online.
No worries! It was a tad oblique!
The word “man” has for so long been used to represent all of humanity. Women of my age got used to being half of “mankind”. Now, if “woman” were to replace “man” as the generic word for human, the response from males would likely be very loud and boil down to Not Fair! Doesn’t represent me! Where’s the deference I am owed?
I'd be fine with it. Although I suppose what we should really be going for is humankind. In any case, I have problems with all the areas in which women are slighted. There are some terrific women among my family and friends, and they absolutely deserve equality. (My grandmother got her PhD five years before she got the vote. My sister was in charge of getting Fairfax County VA vaccinated and she did her job. My mother... my aunt... among the best.) And women certainly deserve to have more attention being paid by the medical establishment to the female reproductive system ills they are heir to (See LadyParts by Deborah Copaken, and the substack that goes by the same name.)
Some of my best friends are men. The ones that can look up to a woman and express that are the best. If only we all knew what the opposite gender goes through! Men are duty bound not to tell, most of them.
Except the word "woman" is a derivative of 'wife of man'. We need a new word altogether. Something like 'wonder.'
Ah, therein lies the issue! If only (some) men would realize they needn't always be in control. May they rest in the knowledge that freedom also means they are free to be who they are. There is no need to keep up the pretense of strength, supremacy and tom foolery. Actually, women love vulnerable men. Not the archetype, so much.
Ha! Bet he does
Good rant, Robert! If you have any suggestions for how we can bring any pressure on the DOJ, Jack Smith and Fani Willis to get on with it, please let us know.
Meanwhile here's the letter I sent to Axios this morning:
You have made a serious mistake in firing Ben Montgomery. Your cowardly capitulation to the DeSantis P.R. machine is a spineless acknowledgement that they own you, and you are not independent or unbiased. Will no longer read, reference or recommend your news service; you have demonstrated that you lack basic journalistic standards, and are no longer a credible source of information. Too bad; you could be so much better….
I will spread the word; you don’t deserve to fail us this way without widespread public notice and opprobrium.
- count me a disgusted former reader-
I have been emailing the reporting staff on an individual basis asking if Montgomery's firing means they will be pulling their punches on DeSantis. So far, no response from any of the reporters.
Silence is deafening...
It’s been 799 days since January 6, 2021, an event of domestic terrorism and attempted insurrection.
Merrick Garland was sworn into office on March 11, 2021.
It took Garland 617 days to appoint Jack Smith as Special Counsel.
We all watched the horrifying events of 1/6/2021. The January 6 Committee gave DOJ all of the evidence from their painstaking work. Stewart Rhodes of the Oathkeepers has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy (11/29/2022).
How much longer must we wait for indictments from the top down?
I have read Teri Kanefield explain the process. It makes me feel better temporarily. Mistakes made by prosecutors make appeals more likely to succeed, more likely even to be put forward. Caution is not the enemy, she says. I still grumble but understand there MAY be more going on in the DOJ than we know about. I sure hope there is!
There is not. I’m an ex cop. If I took years to file a charge in a violent crime like rape or murder that occurred in plain sight I would be ridden out of town on a rail. Ostracized and scorned.
Garland is a deer frozen in the headlights.
I hope looks are deceiving.
I don’t think he will ever do anything. We can only hope smith is on it. He is clearly guilty of creating evil havoc hate dishonesty and fractured even normalcy in America. We we ever be free of seeing his disgusting face?
Rant on, Mr. Robert. I must admit that for most articles I read, my enthusiasm wanes after so many paragraphs. But for me, every Today's Edition leaves me wanting more, not less. Apologies to your astute Managing Editor!
Hear, hear!!! 100% agree. 💜
Could not agree more regarding the DOJ, they had first and goal on the two yard line two years ago and fumbled the football of Justice . Trump is not a king rather an ordinary citizen subject to the laws of the United States and the Constitution. The Proud boys and Oath Keepers yes are bad but the GOP Congress are much more dangerous and criminal.
"an ordinary citizen" who has from his youth been lying, cheating, suing, losing, grifting, NDAing, his way through life and cohorting with international thugs
‘But he WAS the president of the us!’ These words seem to freeze the brains of the legal teams handling investigations into his CRIMINAL actions while acting as POTUS!
Mr. Hubbell, I agree with you completely that any logical thinking person has the right and actually an obligation to be pissed off at the pace the DOJ has taken to prosecute Trump and the rest of his gang.
My deep anger over Dobbs and all its consequences got the best of me this afternoon. Thank you, Robert, for expressing the breadth of the impact and consequences of Dobbs.
I spent a couple of hours last night trying to say how my anger on Dobbs was triggered and actually turned into a rather cathartic experience. I was speaking with the husband of one of my good friends at their home. He's a very conservative Republican and I told him he was "over-privileged" and doesn't understand a woman's experience in our culture. The experience of being a second class citizen as I grew up and breaking the glass ceiling in my career with a high tech Fortune 100 corporation has been reinstated by Dobbs. This is actually worse since the right to life of women is considered secondary in all cases, no exceptions, to the life of the fetus even at conception when it is just a couple of cells. And, there are no consequences for the rapist or perpetrator of incest. I personally think the remedy for rape and incest should be penectomy - take away his sword altogether. The other solution eventually would be the technology of an artificial womb so a woman does not have to carry the pregnancy. Legislatures should not practice medicine without a license. The major question is what is the balance between the rights of the woman and the rights of the potential person. Roe addressed that and did a good job at finding a balance between the two. Also, women's healthcare even beyond reproductive rights is being jeopardized by the intimidation of doctors. Doctors know how to handle triage situations and should be allowed to use their best judgement when there is a major problem with the pregnancy. They shouldn't have to wait until the women is in dire jeopardy of her life or consult with lawyers before saving her life. The majority male legislators in my opinion do not have the standing to make laws that impact women and their privacy and freedoms. The idea that any abortion should be tried as murder is actually questioning God's decision to allow miscarriages or non-viable fetuses to happen in the first place. Why would He (yes, the Bible was written by men in a highly patriarchal society) place a soul in the fetuses at conception that aren't going to make it. Is God an accomplice to this "murder"? White slaveholders impregnated female slaves or had them impregnated to produce more slaves and make more money. Today, the income disparity requires that a middle class family has to have two wage earners to feed their family of which a huge chunk goes to childcare. Women take the brunt of the burden of caring for the children and home and working outside the home at 82 cents on the dollar than a male worker in the same job. When I first started working women were making 59 cents on the male dollar so we have made progress but we have also lost a lot in development and education of our most precious asset -- our children. What children want most when asked is quality time with their parents. In my childhood I experienced the blatant and personal discrimination even by the United States Navy who sponsored the National Model Airplane Championships at Naval Air Stations around the US. The year I was the National Model Glider Champion at age 19 (over all contestants of all age groups) the Navy advertised a aircraft carrier cruise to the modelers under 21 who had won a first place in an event. The morning after a couple of Navy officers found out I, a girl, had met that criteria all the signs for the cruise had been changed to all BOYS who... The US Navy still owes me a carrier cruise! In my corporate career I was fortunate to work for a highly ethical corporation because of the vision and ethics of our CEO. Never the less I was breaking new ground as a woman engineer. My first task when I met someone who didn't know me was to prove that being a woman and being an engineer were not mutually incompatible stereotypes. Fortunately, I had a degree in engineering from MIT where my class ring, know affectionately as a brass rat (really a gold beaver; the beaver the engineer of the animal world) was a door opener many times in my career. I broke the glass ceiling and became a group engineering manager with the CEO as my mentor. I was the first woman to speak at the State of the Company. However, I was the only woman in most of the meetings I attended for decades! I was always amused when a man would be thinking I was the one having the unusual experience! I close this venting by telling the not-my-definition-of-Christianity "Christians" who are turning our country into a theocracy with no free speech, no religious freedom, no right to privacy and even less right to life itself that I have vowed not to vote for any Republican at any level and hold the GOP accountable for their anti-democracy, holier-than-thou, me-first endeavors and destruction of our democratic government. I'm always leary of people who think they know exactly what God thinks and they have the one and only right religion. God is too complex for mere humans to understand. On abortion I would remind them of what Barbara Bush said -- that God will take care of that little soul no matter what happens. And, the good news out of this is that the gentleman I vented my anger with has agreed that we are still friends even if we don't agree on many things. If we are to be a true democracy then each of us must defend the right of others to their perspective and positions even if it is the opposite of ours. When someone has a position that doesn't make sense to me, I ask what in their life experience has brought them to that position. I will not be a second class citizen again and will do everything in my power except violence to assure that women and LGBTQ and people of all races are respected and treated with equity. Let's Do the Right Thing by each other and Value Differences (the two mottos of my corporation). We, the People, all of us of all genders and races THIS TIME!
So much for being brief! Thank you for listening. Cathy
Bravo, Cathy, BRAVO!! Gawwwd...I’ve missed your voice!
Thank you, Marlene, That is very kind of you!
I was unaware of that statement from Barbara Bush. She has jumped over the Empire State Building in my estimation.
That conservative GOPer husband of your friend might do well to read Ladyparts by Deborah Copaken.
David, I thought I was quoting from Susan Page's biography of Barbara Bush "The Matriarch". I just checked and couldn't find it so I'm not sure if I should have credited her with that quote. Still like the quote! She was Pro-Choice. She had had a miscarriage. Her eldest child George W became Pro-Life after she showed him the remains in a jar. She also lost her 3 year old daughter Robin to leukemia. From her experience with Robin's birth and death, she believed the first breath was when the soul entered the body and that the soul left the body with the last breath. Susan Page was a high school classmate of mine. Love seeing her success as a journalist. Thanks for the book recommendation.
Shoot. Well, maybe you saw that quote somewhere else. Please be sure to let me know if you find it.
I do remember that they'd lost a daughter. that must have been really tough. (Nixon lost two brothers growing up.) And although I am pretty much a materialist on the beginning and the end of life, I like her explanation of what happens. And, having watched both of my parents die, the bodies do seem like empty shells after...I was going to say, after the person is gone, and I guess that's what I meant, and that would correspond to "after the soul leaves the body".
That's nice you have that connection to Susan Page where you can enjoy her successes. Sounds like an interesting book.
I have a question about how the NY indictment might work out. It is my understanding that Trump is unlikely to face jail time for anything he has done, partly because he has no history of previous convictions. Does that change if he is convicted, even on a misdemeanor, in NYC? In other words, if Bragg gets him first, does that cause him to face stiffer penalties if convicted in either Fulton County or by the Feds? Likewise, if he were convicted first in NY, then in GA--would that put him at more risk for a significant sentence in a 3rd conviction in federal court?
Well, that's an interesting and happy thought! Maybe the conviction in NY will matter!
A limit of five paragraphs? Some days bring more news and thoughts than others. Some days one needs to release the Kraken. I vote no to artificial limits.
My wife and i had an editorial meeting over breakfast. She was not pleased. I have promised to reform my ways. She is always right! Her advice is that if the concluding thoughts goes over two paragraphs, it is a separate article, not a conclusion.
Your managing editor makes a good point. I am a writer (not officially on substack, though I am a regular commenter here), and have a tendency to write overmuch when I am on a rant. I end up deleting entire paragraphs and shortening others when I calm down enough to recognize they belong in a different rant. I believe that my writing becomes stronger as a result. (I hasten to add that not all my writing is a rant- probably very little. But some things are worthy of a good rant.)
That said, your letter today was well-done, and helped clarify some things for me. Thanks.
Annie D,
I'm a writer, and it sounds like you've figured out what are some excellent, highly recommended techniques.
Good points you make! I am not a writer but boy when I write. I’m like on run on stream of consciousness! I have started to try and pare things down, it’s an art form!
I would concede length is a good warning flag. I think of a conclusion as either tying things together with an over-arching observation or as summarizing (which can be somewhat boring). There are probably other forms as well.
Here where you are writing practical summaries and explanations and helpful suggestions it's not vital your conclusions have literary merit rather than emotional punch and perhaps sometimes a bit of fun, release or relief. I think your rant did that today and it would have been just as delightful in any position!
Clearly your wife has an eye on helping you maintain the highest standards in your work. That will make it easier when you write the book, but then you will have to decide how to acknowledge her contributions and provide her a particularly nice bonus!
These are sad days where it seems that the power is out of balance. We have to keep protesting, by calling religious tyranny out for what it is and voting, voting, voting. Thank you, Robert.
By equating “support for ‘BLM Riots’” with investments in Black communities, Claremont is essentially saying “Black Lives Don’t Matter” and harkening back to the good old days when banks were free to redline against these communities.
Taking this a little further, I think it is necessary to attack the conflation the Right always does between protests against injustice against Black people and "BLM riots". The vast majority of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were peaceful. Certainly, the one I participated in was peaceful. It is important to say that. If the GOP can try to make the ridiculous claim that the rioters' actions on Jan 6 were the actions of "peaceful tourists", then we should not be afraid to make the (true) point that the 2020 protests were, for the most part, peaceful statements against injustice.
Black Lives Matter.
I'm still proud to say that, and those who resist saying it (the "all lives matter" dodge, as if Black lives are not included in all lives) are really saying Black lives DON'T matter, as in this Claremont "report".
I wrote last week this is the man that
while running for the Presidency said “I
could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and get away with it”! It appears he was right. That would be the least of his crimes.
He has committed treason! Long ago, he would have been made to stand before a firing squad, there would have been no January 6, Committee hearings, ad naseum! We all saw it in real time. We knew he staged that coup!
He left the White House with Top Secret Papers claiming he “declassified” them, they belonged to him! He reluctantly returned them to, piecemeal, under warrant, to NARA. Now he is guilty of the ESPIONAGE ACT usually reserved for spies who are charged and jailed immediately!
You continue to RANT all you want! I do it everyday. What the hell has the DOJ been doing since January 6, 2021? All the evidence was right in front of them. The BS line about indicting a former President is just that. Once he leaves office he is a NORMAL CITIZEN!
So please RANT and I will RANT with you.
Rant on. I share your fears and frustrations.
BLM or LMI. 🤔 How could that so easily be misconstrued? By a dimwit.
Wow, didn't know about the Axios kerfuffle....disappointing, indeed.
My question about mifepristone - if it's banned, what about all those patients with Cushing's disease, fibroids, endometriosis, and probably more? As you quote Strauss Harris "...the FDA approval simply confirmed the drug's safety and effectiveness and doesn't require anyone to prescribe it or take it." Just like it doesn't require anyone to take Tylenol or VIAGRA!!!!, both of which have more side effects.
Not an email, but "a number that represents the whole number of years that [I] believe is acceptable for indicting a coup plotter who is running for a second term as president as part of a second coup attempt" is 1/365th.