Putin's war tax on Americans.

October 6, 2022

          Saudi Arabia gave Russia a huge gift on Wednesday by coordinating a two million barrel per day reduction in oil production among OPEC oil producers. The effect of Saudi Arabia’s decision is to thwart the efforts by the Group of 7 nations to place a cap on the market price of Russian oil. Saudi Arabia’s decision will drive up oil prices, which Russia will use to fund its war against Ukraine. See NYTimes, The E.U.’s plan faces a new hurdle, as oil producers led by Saudi Arabia aim to keep global prices high.

          To state the obvious, neither Saudi Arabia nor Russia is a friend of the US or western democracy. Indeed, both are dictatorial, murderous regimes that ruthlessly suppress their people and seek to destabilize global peace and security. And both are darlings of the GOP and Fox “News.” Tucker Carlson claimed on Tuesday that Joe Biden blew up Nord Stream gas pipelines—an act of sabotage that occurred as Russian submarines and warships were spotted lurking near the points of attack on the pipelines.

          And, of course, the GOP’s mob boss welcomed Saudi Arabia’s blood money at his Bedminster golf course only weeks before the twenty-first remembrance of the victims of the Saudi-assisted terrorist attacks on 9/11. Trump provided a feeble excuse for “sports-washing” the Saudi involvement, saying, “Nobody’s gotten to the bottom” of responsibility for the terror attacks—a blatant lie.

          The effort also seems intended to meddle in US and European politics. It is only a matter of time before Republicans begin blaming Joe Biden and Democrats for the increase in gas prices—rather than acknowledging that the increases are directly attributable to Saudi Arabia’s efforts to prop up Vladimir Putin. Don’t let Republicans peddle that lie without challenge. Saudi Arabia has just imposed a “Putin war tax” on all Americans. Tell a friend.

11th Circuit expedites DOJ appeal of Judge Cannon’s order appointing special master.

          The DOJ asked the 11th Circuit to expedite its appeal of Judge Cannon’s order appointing a special master. Trump opposed the request, seeking as much delay as possible. Today, the 11th Circuit issued an order expediting the appeal, requiring briefing to be completed by November 17, 2022—with “no extensions permitted.” The matter will be assigned to a “special merits panel from a classified appeals log.”

          It is possible that the 11th Circuit will divest Judge Cannon of jurisdiction and order the proceeding transferred to Magistrate Judge Reinhart (who approved the FBI’s application for a search warrant).

          The expedited appeal comes as there is increasing evidence that Trump personally packed the fifteen boxes sent to the National Archives—boxes that omitted more than 100 documents classified as national defense secrets. Trump recently claimed that classified documents were found at Mar-a-Lago because the GSA packed the boxes. That claim is not true. See Business Insider, Trump said the FBI found classified documents at his home because federal workers packed them. But emails Bloomberg got show boxes were already packed when movers arrived.

          Trump’s continued lies about how and when the documents arrived at Mar-a-Lago deepen his criminal exposure and erode his defenses. If he had a good lawyer and was willing to take that lawyer’s advice, he should shut up. But for those who hope that Trump will be held accountable for his crimes, his inability to stop talking about the search at Mar-a-Lago should be viewed as a welcome development.

Herschel Walker’s denials about abortion just collapsed.

          Herschel Walker issued explicit and indignant denials to the claim he paid for an abortion for an ex-girlfriend. Walker told Brian Kilmeade on Fox that he had no idea who the woman was, saying:

          It’s sort of like everyone is anonymous, or everyone is leaking, and they want you to confess to something you have no clue about.

          Walker should have “had a clue” about the identity of the woman—because she is the mother of one his children. The Daily Beast published an interview with the woman who is the mother of one of Walker’s children only hours after Walker claimed he had “no clue” about her identity. See The Daily Beast, She Had an Abortion With Herschel Walker. She Also Had a Child With Him.

          Fox News gave Walker a prominent platform and free pass to wantonly lie about his personal experience with abortion. Will Brian Kilmeade and Sean Hannity acknowledge that Walker lied to their faces? Don’t hold your breath; they are incapable of being shamed or expressing remorse.

          Speaking of expressing remorse, that action plays a large part in seeking “redemption”—which is Walker’s new talking point. While society should always be open to redemption and second chances, as Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “There can be no redemption without atonement.” Walker seeks redemption but has responded to truthful allegations with lies. His false denials have led to vicious attacks on the mother of one of his children. (Former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch called the anonymous woman “a skank” and a “broad.”)

          This story is deeply upsetting because it lays bare the complete amorality of the GOP’s lust for power. While we should be used to that fact by now, it is a fresh shock every time that we are reminded of the GOP’s “morality-free” approach to politics. A party that claims to be based on Christian values makes a mockery of those values every day.

Why Christians tolerate this defamation of their religion is beyond me. Instead, they will vote for Walker and Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene without hesitation. But I digress. Our job is to reach those Americans who still have a conscience and sense of right and wrong. And to be clear, Walker’s fault is grounded in his hypocrisy and deceit when faced with the truth.

Opportunities for involvement.

          Readers of the newsletter who are involved in the efforts described below invite other readers to join them:

Seniors Taking Action invites you to join them at the Cheese Lovers for Wisconsin Zoom on Monday, October 10th at 7:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Pacific to help turn Wisconsin bleu and possibly win a Cheese Prize! The Road to Saving Democracy Runs through the Cheese State - with Special Guest Ben Wikler! Share this invitation with friends! Check out the great contribution categories and get a ticket (starting at $10) or support here.

Focus For Democracy invites you to a Zoom briefing on The Center for Voting Information & Working America on Sunday, October 9th at 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern. Want expert advice on how your contributions can win the most votes? Join our next briefing to learn about two organizations that enable your contributions to produce many times as many votes for Senate, House, Governor, state Secretaries of State, and state legislators as you could with contributions to most organizations. Register here.

Concluding Thoughts.

          A reader sent a link to an article in TomDispatch, Optimism of the Will. The article includes an interview with Noam Chomsky, who discusses writings by Antonio Gramsci, a leading labor activist in Italy in the 1920s. Gramsci addressed the uncertain state of the world in the “interregnum” between the two world wars. He wrote about the necessity to have “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”

          I would amend Gramsci’s phrase to say that we need to have “Realism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” We must have an unflinching ability to stare reality in the face without losing our will to endure and succeed. If we have any hope of overcoming the challenges we face, we must have a clear-eyed view of those challenges without surrendering to despair; instead, we must maintain “optimism of the will.”

          With that amendment, here is what Chomsky says about optimism of the will:

          “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will” [means] we must look at the world reasonably, without illusions, understand it, decide how to act, [while recognizing] that there are very dangerous things happening. That’s pessimism of the intellect. At the same time, we need to recognize that there are ways out, real opportunities. So, we have optimism of the will, meaning, we dedicate ourselves to using all the opportunities available [to] move toward a more just and decent world.

          Grasci wrote his message nearly a century ago, but it is directly applicable to our struggle today. Although the road was not easy and the outcome was far from perfect, those who chose to maintain “optimism of the will” despite war, depression, and disaster carried us to the world we inhabit today. By almost every objective measure, we are better off than we were a century ago because those who came before us refused to give up. They fought for a better future for generations they would never know.

So, too, it must be with us. We must continue the struggle knowing that we will see only some of the fruits of our labor and take comfort in the knowledge that no effort is wasted. Every effort is accretive, adding to the unstoppable progress to a more just and decent world—if we can maintain optimism of the will.

          Talk to you tomorrow