Between Friedman and Cannon, my nervous system is ready to explode!
Robert, I wrote a letter to the editor of our paper, the East Bay Times complaining that they are writing demeaning comments about Biden-Harris and our governor, Newsom. Basically, I told them that they should be reporting Trump’s lies “every single day”. The letter appeared today in the Opinion page! Yay!
Good for you!! I'm convinced that if many of us just kept 'flooding the zone' to steal Bannon's horrific use of the term with actual facts and positive information -- we'd make a difference. And local newspapers, when they exist, and so on are really the best way. There are plenty of national voices and sometimes I think, too many, but the wind whistles through the empty spaces out in the actual terrain of America ..
Along those lines, there is a school district here in western PA, Pine-Richland School District, struggling with book banning. A financially well off district with a school board who doesn’t like the subjects some books in the school library cover and attempting to pull these books from the library shelves.
Pine-Richland deserves a “flood the zone” with post cards experience, send copies of the books they’re seeking to ban and a spot light on their fledgling fascism. Normalizing hate speech is another sick and disturbing trend that will never belong in hallowed halls of educational institutions.
Of course students have the right to determine which point of views they can or cannot agree with, that’s the purpose of education, the ability to make informed decisions based on research and facts.
MAGANAZIS are far more easily defeated in small manageable groups. School boards and local elections are where their grassroots hate campaigns began and that’s where they’ll wither and die as people flex their power against cowards, liars, fascists. The most recent example of overcoming the darkness trying to steal our children’s future is the total defeat of Moms for Liberty. We’re having none of that nonsense!
Then there’s Judge Friedman’s ruling reversing Judge Engoron’s gag order for Donald Trump, Friedman has so grossly ignored what our 1st A rights do NOT protect on behalf of a broken down, mentally unstable slob who throws his food.
Speech that puts individuals lives and safety at risk. He appears to choose not to understand or is simply is willing to pick and choose who has 1st A rights and predetermine the fate of those victims harmed by lies and false accusations.
He’s no judge, he’s a weak minded, easily manipulated yes man whose idea of power is having the honor of kissing TFFG’s cheating, lying, dirty, pock marked, headed for worse days ahead backside.
“Judge” Cannon is of the same ilk as Friedman and will suffer the contempt of the public’s judgment of their fascist manipulations and weakness of character.
The Washington Post deserves our applause for publishing pictures of the terrible effects of assault rifles. And to complete the picture the names of the rifle manufacturers and their officers and board members should be published. They deserve to be told directly how the public views their business decisions that cause such sorrow and pain.
I read the article and got a panic attack about my daughter returning to the USA over the December holidays to see her friends from high school who will also be home from college. I do not feel there is any safe space from the carnage that these assault rifles, and handguns wreak. I have not been shot, although I have had a gun in my face in high school, when over at a friend's house whose mom had a gun. He got it out and started waving it as those of us who were over. Then, he got worried I would tell my mom, whose German accent terrified most of the kids in the neighborhood. He then begged me not to tell her, but I told him I would and I did. I also never went over there again. I have no idea how my parents handled it, but I am assuming that it got back to his mom. There was a parent of children at the private school where I taught that was known for questioning other parents whether they had a gun in the home, and visiting their homes before letting her children go over to play. She was from Pakistan and her husband from Denmark. They eventually moved to Denmark after the children were grown because they found it so unsafe. I am living in the EU, in the country ranking 15 on the Peace scale. The USA is at number 131 where it fell 2 places since 2022. Scroll to pages 8 and 9 to see.
By color coding my daughter and I are living in a high safety index country, in fact, it is on the cusp of being very high, and the USA is in the early stages of low. All of the very low are countries where there is a war, and/or an authoritarian government. That includes Russia and Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which is not democratic). Despite the image of Africa as a continent being filled with suffering, there are many African countries that are ranked safer than the USA. Mauritius is ranked at 23, which is in the good zone. There are another 8 in the good zone.
Elon Musk's home country South Africa is just above the USA at place 130 in the bad zone. (Perhaps he could be spending some money there helping to solve the problem.) It is an illuminating picture of the world in terms of safety. Therefore, when I say that in terms of the acceptability of gun violence we are like a third world country. I would say that most of this comes from Republican policies, but there are a lot of Democrats in Red States who embrace guns and gun culture too. Our recently elected Andy Beshear, Democratic governor of the red state of Kentucky, supports guns by not saying, no! https://www.isidewith.com/candidates/andy-beshear/policies/domestic-policy/gun-control
I wonder whether the pictures published will make as many people panic as me. Most of my friends in the USA would not give up the comfort they have in the USA to live somewhere less violent. So, there is a certain fatalistic nature to being settled in life in the USA. However, according to a recent poll of Gen-Zers, many have a desire to live abroad. Gun violence plays a role in that.
For those who experienced any school shooting I can see their either wanting to take political action against guns, or leaving. I found the article raised both my empthy for the victims and the awareness of how many Americans are living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In fact, I wonder if we do not all live with it. And the culture of Republican politicians making their family Christmas photos be with them all holding assault rifles is absolutely un-Christian and shows that they just don't get it. All of them are more likely to experience gun violence, and not to understand the root causes of it, because they have so much hatred for their fellow people, that they blame them instead of easy access to guns and models of romanticizing gun use. I appreciate an article that does not do it. I also noticed how they were careful not to discuss the shooters, just those experiencing it.
Superb post. Hopefully the Emmitt Till effect of showing the carnage will finally push politics enough to do the right thing. If not November 2024 will although the waiting is hard.
I sent a link to the WaPo article to my R Congressman. I doubt he'll look at it, but I implored him to do so, and to vote for every single gun safety legislation that is put forth. He won't, but I urged my FB friends to do the same.
I sent a link to the WaPo article to my senators, imploring them to work with their colleagues to ban assault weapons.
Has everyone who read the WaPo horrific article noticed what a single bullet did to a METAL door? To me, that was more telling than all the blood, though the blood was horrible.
Sometimes, although you can't realistically hope for an epiphany, you can help raise the light level so that eventually your representative will be able to read the writing on the wall and at least tone down rhetoric that encourages and normalizes other pro gun crazies. You're alerting them to a temperature change out there toward guns so they are incrementally more apt to don a muffler!
Robert’s master class in elevating Jay Rosen’s pithy message to the media:
“‘Not the odds, but the stakes for US democracy.’ We should extend that concept to nearly every objection, rationalization, or firmly held belief for not supporting Joe Biden in 2024. Not Biden’s age, but the stakes. Not inflation, but the stakes. Not disagreements over Israel, but the stakes. Not anger over Biden’s inability to implement the full progressive agenda, but the stakes.”
Rob - Encore about Musk. It's not just companies that support Musk. What about the government's outsourcing of so much of our space program to SpaceX, Musk's company. Truly outrageous. When is an elected going to call him out? When will we consumers come to our senses and flip what I sense is gaining momentum as an informal boycott of his products into a formal one? When will X users get cure themselves of their addiction to the platform? When will we stop with this nonsense that the good of X outweighs the bad? Musk is as dangerous a showman and autocrat as Trump. Possibly more dangerous.
Also sadly, if an oligarch is willing to spend their money on research, development and deployment (think satellites and especially over Ukraine) then lazy short sighted and funding challenged governments will be willing to let them and lean on them. It's just another example of the "false economy" (not just monetary) of allowing our supply chains to be foreign owned or privatized - in this case supply of information and communications.
We are now informally boycotting Musk and his products. Within a few years, the inevitability of electric vehicles will give many choices- the Tesla is already off our list. I realize it may be Hobson’s Choice to choose one auto mfg. over another , but we will not ever support the Elon Musk vision.
As usual, you said it better than I did. I am stunned about the stay of the gag order. I will just add that this quote from Alina Habba, trump’s lawyer, jumped out at me: "’There is not a day that I don't get a threat. It's just part of the game,’ Habba said. ‘If I put something out on social media, and I get a threat for it, which has happened to me every single day, I don't get to cry.’”
First, this is not a “game“. That’s an outrageous thing for an attorney to say. Second, I do not recall when the Principal Law Clerk posted that photo, but unlike Habba, she and the Judge did not choose to be on this case; it was randomly assigned. She didn’t “choose” this circus. She deserves to be protected.
Even Habba deserves to be protected, but I would be willing to place a bet that the number and viciousness of threats Habba receives are less and lower than what are leveled at the law clerk. There are crazy democrats out there, but the number is much lower due to the active promotion and defense of violence on the part of republicans. Not to mention the apparent overly sensitive nature of republicans when dished their own preferred medicine. There's false flagging, too...
Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Just prior to reading Today’s Edition, though I had used different terminology, my mind was squarely focused on the mantra “Not [fill in the blank], but the stakes.” To clarify, I had just written to a colleague who was bothered by Bernie Sanders’ refusal to call for an Israeli / Hamas ceasefire. I replied that Sanders’ stated position likely was indicative of a values conflict, leading him to prioritize values to avoid contributing to a greater harm—Trump retaking power in 24.
Thank you, Robert, for language that had not been part of my vernacular that will allow me on any issue more effectively to drive this point home.
Good for WAPO although could not bring myself to look at the article.🫣
Glimmers of hope in my Fl county. After public outcry, our school board is backpedaling on arming teachers. Also, here where Moms For Liberty ( NOT! ) was founded the MAGA-dominant school board voted down a motion to ban every “ lethal” book📚 banned throughout Florida.
Just WOW on today's piece, Robert. You had me from the title"Not the Odds ,But the Stakes" for democracy and this shall be my mantra for the entire 2024 campaign. Also, please list the companies and people that we can boycott and organize against in this awful current wave of Anti-Semitism.I will gladly participate. Again, many thanks!
Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
"It is up to us to keep that conversation going until we reach the end." To that end, and as painful as it may be, in this day of 'Likes' and views as a measure of impact, it will reinforce the Post's publication if we all check out the article and comment if we can. Wapo is approaching 'Newspaper of Record' status and this might encourage some of their competition to get on board.
I don't know if it will work, but I copied a link to the article in an email to my Congresswoman.
Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
For decades the League of Women Voters has been publishing and distributing thousands upon thousands of nonpartisan Voters Guides for national, state and local races for every election nationwide. The League asks candidates in each race three to five questions and prints their answers verbatim, straight from the horse's mouth as we would say in Texas. The guides also show propositions on the ballot giving the pros and cons so you know what a yes vote or a no vote means. You can also go online to VOTE411.org and by putting in your address get all the voters guide for all the races you are eligible to vote for. The LWV Voters Guides also give polling dates and locations. For years even before I became involved in the League I wouldn't vote for any candidate who hadn't taken the time to answer the League's questions! To see an example of the LWV voters guide from the November 7 election in Texas which was primarily the 14 amendments to the state constitution go to the website.lwvhillcountrytexas.org. Here is a neat flipbook version of the Voters Guide for the Texas Amendments: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/12ea979a35.html
Judge Fried-brain reminds me why I consider most of the legal community guilty till they prove themselves innocent. Particularly the collection of nitwits in black robes.
And of course, now Judge Cannon (it pains me to call her a judge) has created a situation that will assure the Mar-a-Lago documents trial does not happen until after the November 2024 election. I hope Jack Smith has something up his sleeve, perhaps a card he hasn’t played yet, that will get this judge off the case. On the surface, she appears to be ignorant, but she is very scheming and obvious in her efforts to help a career criminal and traitor. I hope Jack Smith didn’t miss his last opportunity to get this situation under control.
Is there any way that the prosecution can pare down the Mar-a-Lago indictment and get rid of the issue of *classified* documents? Limit the case to theft and unwillingness to return government documents(by now, every sentient human knows many of the documents are classified).
The wrangling, by unqualfied people, over whether the documents were properly classified is a huge distraction and an unnecessary boon for Trump’s lawyers.
I cannot answer this question; not a legal expert. But I think the fact that “classified secrets” were stolen is a big deal. Any non-compromised judge would be able to deal with this effectively. Most legal analysts conclude that she is obviously working to help trump.
I agree that the classified documents are a big deal (during a couple of eras in my career, I dealt with classified documents and even co-authored classified reports). *However*:
1). I would give priority to *speedily* convicting Trump of a crime, not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. I don’t want to help Trump’s lawyers delay his trial and conviction by arguing over whether each damn document was properly classified (the fact that some authority classified the document ought to be dispositive, but events seem to show that in Cannon’s Court, that doesn’t seem to be so; it’s a recipe for interminable wrangling and consequent delay.)
2). The classification “issue” could form the basis of an appeal by Trump’s lawyers. The conservative appeals court might require a repeat debate on the classification.
3). I strongly disagree that a judge (unless s/he deeply studied technical subjects in university) could readily deal competently with such documents without expert technical assistance – all of which means further delay and possible excuses for appeal.
So I say: make a “clean”, airtight case, and speedily get the miscreant behind bars.
Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Robert, you wrote that "he “great replacement theory,” which asserts that immigrants and Jews want to “replace” white populations in America and Europe."
My understanding is that it's a bit more insidious than that.
The "theory" is that Jews are purposely bringing in non-whitre immigrants in an attempt to replace white people with brown and black people who will do their bidding, that it is all part of a larger conspiracy to control the world.
That is why the Trump Supporters in Charlottesville were chanting "Jews Will Not Replace Us"
The other day I had posted about how the Israelis massacred in the pogram remindd me of the readers of this newsletter, that they were dedicated Leftists and that killing them to protest Netanyahu was like killing us to protest Trump.
Here is a concrete example: Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist.
"Ms. Silver was known for her commitment to peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians. After the war in Gaza in 2014, she co-founded Women Wage Peace, which lobbies for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. She also helped found and direct the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation and served for years on the board of directors of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization."
She was deliberately burned alive in the safe room of her home at temperatures so high it took medical teams almost one month to identify her remains.
"During the attack, the activist, Vivian Silver, 74, wrote to members of the Women Wage Peace group that she had helped found, telling them that terrorists had entered her home at Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel and that she was hiding in a safe room."
Some of you will read this and think "just another dead Jew" but I believe most of you will read this and see yourselves in her and understand just who was being targeted and why. I would urge you to watch the video interview with her son that accompanies the article - he was texting with her until close to the last minute.
This is correct, and apologies if I garbled it: "The "theory" is that Jews are purposely bringing in non-whitre immigrants in an attempt to replace white people with brown and black people who will do their bidding, that it is all part of a larger conspiracy to control the world."
All good. And lest anyone think that Musk is a lone wolf, the more extreme elements of the Right Wing (Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk) have been leading the charge-Musk is late to the game. [Link should be free to all]
I am reading Heather Cox Richardson’s book “ Democracy Awakening “ which is wonderful. It provides the background you need to read about to understand what is happening today. My suggestion is to read it in piecemeal because it covers a lot of ground. The following is a quote which for me explained why intelligent people support Trump and MAGA.
“ Once people internalize their leader’s propaganda, it doesn’t matter when pieces of it are proven to be lies, because it has become central to their identity.”
If you believe the above to be true which I do then you better understand the challenge we have in converting these believers. We need to show the world what the alternative to Biden looks and feels like and what it really means. Saying Trump is a threat to democracy won’t do it but the specifics of that threat will.
Hm. "Central to their identity" means you have to boil the frog. Millions of little bites (sound bites/palatable or attractive attitudes/small appealing factoids etc) rather than frontal attack. People who feel under attack bolt the doors. Find the tiny points of agreement or at least some sympathy and then slip in the "but also" door wedges. I do wish our dedicated Democratic political messengers were better with a variety of message types.
Stephen reading this, it suddenly dawned on me this would be an excellent read for my book club & others across the US. @Robert Hubbell perhaps some yet undonated sets could be provided for this purpose!
Thank you for the link to the Washington Post story about the carnage caused by mass shootings. It was very disturbing to read, but that is absolutely what the American public needs to see to understand what is really at stake here. Hopefully the Post’s decision will help to start to turn the tide against making these terrible weapons of war available to the general public. There simply is no justification for that!
I hope people do start boycotting Musk. When Tesla was a fledgling company, my husband bought stock in it because we believe in electric cars. Even though it would have been financially advantageous to hold on to it, because of his speech and behavior we sold it.
As secretary for the Franklin County Democrats (Maine), I used to tweet regularly. However, as we know, since Musk took over, X has become so filled with anti-semitic rants that I said FCDC would stop all activity on it - because Musk encourages this behavior.
I wrote somewhere earlier, that I got into it with an Orthodox Jew who loved Musk way back. I told her he was an anti-Semite and doesn't deserve to be in America. We had a little go around on that one since she is involved with the group "Stand for Us." I wonder what she has to say now.
Between Friedman and Cannon, my nervous system is ready to explode!
Robert, I wrote a letter to the editor of our paper, the East Bay Times complaining that they are writing demeaning comments about Biden-Harris and our governor, Newsom. Basically, I told them that they should be reporting Trump’s lies “every single day”. The letter appeared today in the Opinion page! Yay!
Good for you!! I'm convinced that if many of us just kept 'flooding the zone' to steal Bannon's horrific use of the term with actual facts and positive information -- we'd make a difference. And local newspapers, when they exist, and so on are really the best way. There are plenty of national voices and sometimes I think, too many, but the wind whistles through the empty spaces out in the actual terrain of America ..
Along those lines, there is a school district here in western PA, Pine-Richland School District, struggling with book banning. A financially well off district with a school board who doesn’t like the subjects some books in the school library cover and attempting to pull these books from the library shelves.
Pine-Richland deserves a “flood the zone” with post cards experience, send copies of the books they’re seeking to ban and a spot light on their fledgling fascism. Normalizing hate speech is another sick and disturbing trend that will never belong in hallowed halls of educational institutions.
Of course students have the right to determine which point of views they can or cannot agree with, that’s the purpose of education, the ability to make informed decisions based on research and facts.
MAGANAZIS are far more easily defeated in small manageable groups. School boards and local elections are where their grassroots hate campaigns began and that’s where they’ll wither and die as people flex their power against cowards, liars, fascists. The most recent example of overcoming the darkness trying to steal our children’s future is the total defeat of Moms for Liberty. We’re having none of that nonsense!
Then there’s Judge Friedman’s ruling reversing Judge Engoron’s gag order for Donald Trump, Friedman has so grossly ignored what our 1st A rights do NOT protect on behalf of a broken down, mentally unstable slob who throws his food.
Speech that puts individuals lives and safety at risk. He appears to choose not to understand or is simply is willing to pick and choose who has 1st A rights and predetermine the fate of those victims harmed by lies and false accusations.
He’s no judge, he’s a weak minded, easily manipulated yes man whose idea of power is having the honor of kissing TFFG’s cheating, lying, dirty, pock marked, headed for worse days ahead backside.
“Judge” Cannon is of the same ilk as Friedman and will suffer the contempt of the public’s judgment of their fascist manipulations and weakness of character.
I meant to directly reply to you -- such a great post!!! but I screwed up, so pls. see my regular post above yours in the thread.
Amen, Karen!
Congratulations and thank you. I live in Oakland so that’s really great to hear 😊🙏
I live in Martinez!
Good for you!!
Congratulations, Marlene! Well done.
That is awesome!!! We can do this...there are enough of us. Thanks for the "proof of the pudding" story, and thanks for doing this.
The Washington Post deserves our applause for publishing pictures of the terrible effects of assault rifles. And to complete the picture the names of the rifle manufacturers and their officers and board members should be published. They deserve to be told directly how the public views their business decisions that cause such sorrow and pain.
I read the article and got a panic attack about my daughter returning to the USA over the December holidays to see her friends from high school who will also be home from college. I do not feel there is any safe space from the carnage that these assault rifles, and handguns wreak. I have not been shot, although I have had a gun in my face in high school, when over at a friend's house whose mom had a gun. He got it out and started waving it as those of us who were over. Then, he got worried I would tell my mom, whose German accent terrified most of the kids in the neighborhood. He then begged me not to tell her, but I told him I would and I did. I also never went over there again. I have no idea how my parents handled it, but I am assuming that it got back to his mom. There was a parent of children at the private school where I taught that was known for questioning other parents whether they had a gun in the home, and visiting their homes before letting her children go over to play. She was from Pakistan and her husband from Denmark. They eventually moved to Denmark after the children were grown because they found it so unsafe. I am living in the EU, in the country ranking 15 on the Peace scale. The USA is at number 131 where it fell 2 places since 2022. Scroll to pages 8 and 9 to see.
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GPI-2023-Web.pdf
By color coding my daughter and I are living in a high safety index country, in fact, it is on the cusp of being very high, and the USA is in the early stages of low. All of the very low are countries where there is a war, and/or an authoritarian government. That includes Russia and Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which is not democratic). Despite the image of Africa as a continent being filled with suffering, there are many African countries that are ranked safer than the USA. Mauritius is ranked at 23, which is in the good zone. There are another 8 in the good zone.
Elon Musk's home country South Africa is just above the USA at place 130 in the bad zone. (Perhaps he could be spending some money there helping to solve the problem.) It is an illuminating picture of the world in terms of safety. Therefore, when I say that in terms of the acceptability of gun violence we are like a third world country. I would say that most of this comes from Republican policies, but there are a lot of Democrats in Red States who embrace guns and gun culture too. Our recently elected Andy Beshear, Democratic governor of the red state of Kentucky, supports guns by not saying, no! https://www.isidewith.com/candidates/andy-beshear/policies/domestic-policy/gun-control
I wonder whether the pictures published will make as many people panic as me. Most of my friends in the USA would not give up the comfort they have in the USA to live somewhere less violent. So, there is a certain fatalistic nature to being settled in life in the USA. However, according to a recent poll of Gen-Zers, many have a desire to live abroad. Gun violence plays a role in that.
https://preply.com/en/blog/gen-z-american-emigration-trends-2023/
For those who experienced any school shooting I can see their either wanting to take political action against guns, or leaving. I found the article raised both my empthy for the victims and the awareness of how many Americans are living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In fact, I wonder if we do not all live with it. And the culture of Republican politicians making their family Christmas photos be with them all holding assault rifles is absolutely un-Christian and shows that they just don't get it. All of them are more likely to experience gun violence, and not to understand the root causes of it, because they have so much hatred for their fellow people, that they blame them instead of easy access to guns and models of romanticizing gun use. I appreciate an article that does not do it. I also noticed how they were careful not to discuss the shooters, just those experiencing it.
Superb post. Hopefully the Emmitt Till effect of showing the carnage will finally push politics enough to do the right thing. If not November 2024 will although the waiting is hard.
I sent a link to the WaPo article to my R Congressman. I doubt he'll look at it, but I implored him to do so, and to vote for every single gun safety legislation that is put forth. He won't, but I urged my FB friends to do the same.
I sent a link to the WaPo article to my senators, imploring them to work with their colleagues to ban assault weapons.
Has everyone who read the WaPo horrific article noticed what a single bullet did to a METAL door? To me, that was more telling than all the blood, though the blood was horrible.
Sometimes, although you can't realistically hope for an epiphany, you can help raise the light level so that eventually your representative will be able to read the writing on the wall and at least tone down rhetoric that encourages and normalizes other pro gun crazies. You're alerting them to a temperature change out there toward guns so they are incrementally more apt to don a muffler!
Robert’s master class in elevating Jay Rosen’s pithy message to the media:
“‘Not the odds, but the stakes for US democracy.’ We should extend that concept to nearly every objection, rationalization, or firmly held belief for not supporting Joe Biden in 2024. Not Biden’s age, but the stakes. Not inflation, but the stakes. Not disagreements over Israel, but the stakes. Not anger over Biden’s inability to implement the full progressive agenda, but the stakes.”
Rob - Encore about Musk. It's not just companies that support Musk. What about the government's outsourcing of so much of our space program to SpaceX, Musk's company. Truly outrageous. When is an elected going to call him out? When will we consumers come to our senses and flip what I sense is gaining momentum as an informal boycott of his products into a formal one? When will X users get cure themselves of their addiction to the platform? When will we stop with this nonsense that the good of X outweighs the bad? Musk is as dangerous a showman and autocrat as Trump. Possibly more dangerous.
Agree; but first lets kick. him out of management and operations of those companies. Sadly, the US space program is dependent on SpaceX.
Also sadly, if an oligarch is willing to spend their money on research, development and deployment (think satellites and especially over Ukraine) then lazy short sighted and funding challenged governments will be willing to let them and lean on them. It's just another example of the "false economy" (not just monetary) of allowing our supply chains to be foreign owned or privatized - in this case supply of information and communications.
Also, consider Ukraine’ essential use of Musk’s Starlink communications satellite system in their fight against Russia.
I guess one must give the devil his due.
Yeah, I’d like to give this devil his due...a swift kick in his ass!
Houston, we have an oligarch problem. Thanks to 40+ years of government policies that concentrate wealth and political power at the top.
We are now informally boycotting Musk and his products. Within a few years, the inevitability of electric vehicles will give many choices- the Tesla is already off our list. I realize it may be Hobson’s Choice to choose one auto mfg. over another , but we will not ever support the Elon Musk vision.
We watched this in slow motion as Twitter was purchased by an insane oligarch. Amazing how self destructive.
As usual, you said it better than I did. I am stunned about the stay of the gag order. I will just add that this quote from Alina Habba, trump’s lawyer, jumped out at me: "’There is not a day that I don't get a threat. It's just part of the game,’ Habba said. ‘If I put something out on social media, and I get a threat for it, which has happened to me every single day, I don't get to cry.’”
First, this is not a “game“. That’s an outrageous thing for an attorney to say. Second, I do not recall when the Principal Law Clerk posted that photo, but unlike Habba, she and the Judge did not choose to be on this case; it was randomly assigned. She didn’t “choose” this circus. She deserves to be protected.
Alina Habba’s remark (quoted by Marilyn) is a disgusting back-handed (“tough-woman”) endorsement of threatening messages.
Even Habba deserves to be protected, but I would be willing to place a bet that the number and viciousness of threats Habba receives are less and lower than what are leveled at the law clerk. There are crazy democrats out there, but the number is much lower due to the active promotion and defense of violence on the part of republicans. Not to mention the apparent overly sensitive nature of republicans when dished their own preferred medicine. There's false flagging, too...
Just prior to reading Today’s Edition, though I had used different terminology, my mind was squarely focused on the mantra “Not [fill in the blank], but the stakes.” To clarify, I had just written to a colleague who was bothered by Bernie Sanders’ refusal to call for an Israeli / Hamas ceasefire. I replied that Sanders’ stated position likely was indicative of a values conflict, leading him to prioritize values to avoid contributing to a greater harm—Trump retaking power in 24.
Thank you, Robert, for language that had not been part of my vernacular that will allow me on any issue more effectively to drive this point home.
Good for WAPO although could not bring myself to look at the article.🫣
Glimmers of hope in my Fl county. After public outcry, our school board is backpedaling on arming teachers. Also, here where Moms For Liberty ( NOT! ) was founded the MAGA-dominant school board voted down a motion to ban every “ lethal” book📚 banned throughout Florida.
Kathy - Thanks for that good news. It's heartening to see that sanity and reason are emerging victorious over hysteria and delusion.
Just WOW on today's piece, Robert. You had me from the title"Not the Odds ,But the Stakes" for democracy and this shall be my mantra for the entire 2024 campaign. Also, please list the companies and people that we can boycott and organize against in this awful current wave of Anti-Semitism.I will gladly participate. Again, many thanks!
"It is up to us to keep that conversation going until we reach the end." To that end, and as painful as it may be, in this day of 'Likes' and views as a measure of impact, it will reinforce the Post's publication if we all check out the article and comment if we can. Wapo is approaching 'Newspaper of Record' status and this might encourage some of their competition to get on board.
I don't know if it will work, but I copied a link to the article in an email to my Congresswoman.
Sure hope so.
For decades the League of Women Voters has been publishing and distributing thousands upon thousands of nonpartisan Voters Guides for national, state and local races for every election nationwide. The League asks candidates in each race three to five questions and prints their answers verbatim, straight from the horse's mouth as we would say in Texas. The guides also show propositions on the ballot giving the pros and cons so you know what a yes vote or a no vote means. You can also go online to VOTE411.org and by putting in your address get all the voters guide for all the races you are eligible to vote for. The LWV Voters Guides also give polling dates and locations. For years even before I became involved in the League I wouldn't vote for any candidate who hadn't taken the time to answer the League's questions! To see an example of the LWV voters guide from the November 7 election in Texas which was primarily the 14 amendments to the state constitution go to the website.lwvhillcountrytexas.org. Here is a neat flipbook version of the Voters Guide for the Texas Amendments: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/12ea979a35.html
Judge Fried-brain reminds me why I consider most of the legal community guilty till they prove themselves innocent. Particularly the collection of nitwits in black robes.
And of course, now Judge Cannon (it pains me to call her a judge) has created a situation that will assure the Mar-a-Lago documents trial does not happen until after the November 2024 election. I hope Jack Smith has something up his sleeve, perhaps a card he hasn’t played yet, that will get this judge off the case. On the surface, she appears to be ignorant, but she is very scheming and obvious in her efforts to help a career criminal and traitor. I hope Jack Smith didn’t miss his last opportunity to get this situation under control.
Is there any way that the prosecution can pare down the Mar-a-Lago indictment and get rid of the issue of *classified* documents? Limit the case to theft and unwillingness to return government documents(by now, every sentient human knows many of the documents are classified).
The wrangling, by unqualfied people, over whether the documents were properly classified is a huge distraction and an unnecessary boon for Trump’s lawyers.
I cannot answer this question; not a legal expert. But I think the fact that “classified secrets” were stolen is a big deal. Any non-compromised judge would be able to deal with this effectively. Most legal analysts conclude that she is obviously working to help trump.
I agree that the classified documents are a big deal (during a couple of eras in my career, I dealt with classified documents and even co-authored classified reports). *However*:
1). I would give priority to *speedily* convicting Trump of a crime, not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. I don’t want to help Trump’s lawyers delay his trial and conviction by arguing over whether each damn document was properly classified (the fact that some authority classified the document ought to be dispositive, but events seem to show that in Cannon’s Court, that doesn’t seem to be so; it’s a recipe for interminable wrangling and consequent delay.)
2). The classification “issue” could form the basis of an appeal by Trump’s lawyers. The conservative appeals court might require a repeat debate on the classification.
3). I strongly disagree that a judge (unless s/he deeply studied technical subjects in university) could readily deal competently with such documents without expert technical assistance – all of which means further delay and possible excuses for appeal.
So I say: make a “clean”, airtight case, and speedily get the miscreant behind bars.
The judge provided the situation of a three panel judicial review which in reality takes away the politics.
Robert, you wrote that "he “great replacement theory,” which asserts that immigrants and Jews want to “replace” white populations in America and Europe."
My understanding is that it's a bit more insidious than that.
The "theory" is that Jews are purposely bringing in non-whitre immigrants in an attempt to replace white people with brown and black people who will do their bidding, that it is all part of a larger conspiracy to control the world.
That is why the Trump Supporters in Charlottesville were chanting "Jews Will Not Replace Us"
More context from the ADL Website: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/great-replacement-explainer
EDITED TO ADD:
The other day I had posted about how the Israelis massacred in the pogram remindd me of the readers of this newsletter, that they were dedicated Leftists and that killing them to protest Netanyahu was like killing us to protest Trump.
Here is a concrete example: Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist.
"Ms. Silver was known for her commitment to peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians. After the war in Gaza in 2014, she co-founded Women Wage Peace, which lobbies for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. She also helped found and direct the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation and served for years on the board of directors of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization."
She was deliberately burned alive in the safe room of her home at temperatures so high it took medical teams almost one month to identify her remains.
"During the attack, the activist, Vivian Silver, 74, wrote to members of the Women Wage Peace group that she had helped found, telling them that terrorists had entered her home at Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel and that she was hiding in a safe room."
Some of you will read this and think "just another dead Jew" but I believe most of you will read this and see yourselves in her and understand just who was being targeted and why. I would urge you to watch the video interview with her son that accompanies the article - he was texting with her until close to the last minute.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/world/middleeast/vivian-silver-canada-hamas-israel.html
This is correct, and apologies if I garbled it: "The "theory" is that Jews are purposely bringing in non-whitre immigrants in an attempt to replace white people with brown and black people who will do their bidding, that it is all part of a larger conspiracy to control the world."
All good. And lest anyone think that Musk is a lone wolf, the more extreme elements of the Right Wing (Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk) have been leading the charge-Musk is late to the game. [Link should be free to all]
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2023-11-17/ty-article/.premium/elon-musk-and-tucker-carlson-are-only-the-tip-of-the-antisemitic-iceberg-amid-gaza-war/0000018b-dd2d-d168-a3ef-ddff1ce20000?gift=c4700640324b480ebff962d768975df8
Yes.
And.
Please keep one's gaze hard upon Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance.
Alan you are 100% correct. Isn’t it amazing that the core foundation of almost all issues is racism
Alan,
Thank you...
I am reading Heather Cox Richardson’s book “ Democracy Awakening “ which is wonderful. It provides the background you need to read about to understand what is happening today. My suggestion is to read it in piecemeal because it covers a lot of ground. The following is a quote which for me explained why intelligent people support Trump and MAGA.
“ Once people internalize their leader’s propaganda, it doesn’t matter when pieces of it are proven to be lies, because it has become central to their identity.”
If you believe the above to be true which I do then you better understand the challenge we have in converting these believers. We need to show the world what the alternative to Biden looks and feels like and what it really means. Saying Trump is a threat to democracy won’t do it but the specifics of that threat will.
Hm. "Central to their identity" means you have to boil the frog. Millions of little bites (sound bites/palatable or attractive attitudes/small appealing factoids etc) rather than frontal attack. People who feel under attack bolt the doors. Find the tiny points of agreement or at least some sympathy and then slip in the "but also" door wedges. I do wish our dedicated Democratic political messengers were better with a variety of message types.
Stephen reading this, it suddenly dawned on me this would be an excellent read for my book club & others across the US. @Robert Hubbell perhaps some yet undonated sets could be provided for this purpose!
Good idea reach out to him.
Thought this would tag Robert, but may not have done it properly.
Thank you for the link to the Washington Post story about the carnage caused by mass shootings. It was very disturbing to read, but that is absolutely what the American public needs to see to understand what is really at stake here. Hopefully the Post’s decision will help to start to turn the tide against making these terrible weapons of war available to the general public. There simply is no justification for that!
I hope people do start boycotting Musk. When Tesla was a fledgling company, my husband bought stock in it because we believe in electric cars. Even though it would have been financially advantageous to hold on to it, because of his speech and behavior we sold it.
As secretary for the Franklin County Democrats (Maine), I used to tweet regularly. However, as we know, since Musk took over, X has become so filled with anti-semitic rants that I said FCDC would stop all activity on it - because Musk encourages this behavior.
I wrote somewhere earlier, that I got into it with an Orthodox Jew who loved Musk way back. I told her he was an anti-Semite and doesn't deserve to be in America. We had a little go around on that one since she is involved with the group "Stand for Us." I wonder what she has to say now.
The admonition that the stakes are more relevant than the odds is really good. There is much more at stake in 2024 than just the election. Reminds me of a piece I wrote several months ago: https://open.substack.com/pub/bobmorgan/p/the-stakes-are-cooking