Vote cure assistants are heroes! Thanks for recognizing them and I am so pleased they made a difference, I would think our first order of business is to defeat some of the really bad cabinet appointments by calling, emailing our u.s. senators.
Oooh, I like that, Marsha! “Throwing sand in their gears”. This sounds like what Jess Craven means when she says she’s going to be “insufferable”. What a good phrase, and word!
I do appreciate your wisdom. My father passed away severals years back and I wish he were here to give me a dose of wisdom. He had been through so much in his life—escaping the pogrom in Russia (now Ukraine) where his father was killed, coming to the US and trying to survive the depression, serving as a captain on a troop transport ship in Europe during WWII, and being a care taker for my mom who suffered from MS—he’s been through so much. But I think the wisdom you’re providing each day, would have been the same dose of wisdom that my father would have provided to me. Thank you so much, I truly appreciate it!
Abbi, it's people like your father whose lives are constant testimony to faith and courage and the promise of America who give me hope. I think of my father from a different lineage: born dirt poor Southern Illinois, single Mom abandoned by his miner dad when he was a small boy, Marine in WWII, small welding shop owner for 23 years, until his business went bust, and he worked to get his steamfitters union card and crawled through steam tunnels to do hard work into his sixties. Hunter, fisherman, conservative, Dad would have had contempt for Trump as a fool, I am sure. He never gave up on a country that never gave him and my mom much, but all three of their kids, now elderly themselves, have college and graduate degrees. We of a certain age have been given much and -- worked hard and earned much. Now it time for us to face up to our generational challenge. The seemingly ultimate horrible has happened: Trump has been elected President again. I don't know what your father would say, but I know what mine would say, "Stop your whining and get to work." And that work encompasses all the complex moves of heart and mind, of teaching and learning and hope that lie before us. It won't be easy, but if it were easy everyone would do it. I give thanks for the story of your father and his life. His story is a blessing to us all.
Thank you Patrick for sharing your story. Your dad sounded like a remarkable man who provided for his family well. Much like mine. I forgot to mention that my dad went from being Russian boy with an accent to a man who was an extremely articulate English professor then worked for the federal government until her retired. I could hear my dad saying about trump, “Oh, he’s such a son of a b___. We’ll get through this.”
Thanks, Abbi, my father died a few months shy of his 94th birthday in 2008, so he missed the Descension of Trump on the Golden Escalator. Had he seen that and heard anything that Trump did or said, I am sure he would have shot him his one word pronunciation of his scornful criticism, "Rediklus1" No more needs to be said.
I also appreciate your thoughts about your father. My father passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, coincidentally, in 2002. He was also a WWII veteran who taught classes to the allied forces on how to set explosives for maximin effectiveness. I imagine that you and I have many more memories of our dear fathers to compare. My thoughts will be with tomorrow as you miss your wise father as much as I miss mine.
Beautiful writing about your father. I often say to people I am suggesting read Robert is that he’s the father we all hoped for- thoughtful, measured, inspiring, open, calming, hopeful, encouraging, insightful and… wise.
I hope someone keeps a VERY close look on the finances of those getting exemptions because it strikes me that tRump must be very tempted by private pay to play here
Thank you for your daily newsletter. It's one of my must reads, and a lot of that is because you are credible, informative, AND you keep our spirits up & our perspective intact. I hope you, your managing editor, and the rest of your family enjoy a relaxing holiday weekend. Thanks for all you do for us !
I usually read Heather Cox Richardson first, which gives me lots of history and context (and, often, some panic) and then read Robert's column for more perspective and calming thoughts.
Even though you had a short exposure the horse head nebula is amazing. Everyday there is a lot going on. Thanks Robert for putting it all together for us.
I hope everyone reading is able to find some increased peace & recovery over the weekend! In the spirit of finding things to be thankful for it's great that Adam Gray in CA-13 has now taken the lead and hopefully follows Derek Tran in CA 45 to the win! I believe that's a 2-seat pick-up for the Ds. Again, where'd that Red Tsunami go? Trump's 60-40 is now down to 1.55%. I'm hoping that keeps right on dropping, esp. below 1.5%. Still waiting for some D pundits I follow to explain just how much of what we stand for has to be tossed out to ever win again. Well, hope is good to have!
Leaders and members of the California labor movement walked miles and miles in those contested districts, talking to voters to win those seats for us. I send a hearty thank you to them and to those who cured the votes.
Thank you for the pep rally, Robert. Some folks in Greensboro, NC are already gathering today to conduct a STATE letter-writing campaign to-push back against the GOP legislators in Raleigh who have been pushing through rule changes to push through unpopular legislation. Resistance is alive and well.
Thank you Robert. I appreciate your short update mixed with some hopeful news. And I always love your photos that give me much needed perspective! Have a blessed & joyful Thanksgiving weekend.
Thank you Linda...my sentiments, exactly. Thank you Robert! YOU ROCK! Thank you Elizabeth (when you find a solution, please SHOUT out!) So blessed to have all of you..celebrate this unity on our day of 'thanks!" Julie Giessler
Thank you Robert and also this community for keeping us sane during these scary times. Living in Germany with American family overseas makes us feel powerless to help them. At the same time the Ukraine is not so far away. So, nerve wracking times. Sometimes I go to the Facebook page of FOX to try to understand how people get influenced and I always have just one comment: 'this is not true and you know it, FOX news'. But.... I also realised when I saw Steve Bannon on there, how this influencer machine is used and how dangerous it is. My question is, how to influence the influencer? When I find a solution, I will share. In the meantime I will keep pointing to what news is true.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And thank you Robert for your invaluable work. Reading your post every day has helped keep me sane and motivated during this dark period of American history.
I'm thinking that Trump is going to try to use the tariffs as some kind of negotiating tool and if (I'm quoting another Substack author here; Jay Kuo, I think) Canada or Mexico even blinks, Trump will negotiate some little thing and claim victory--for the benefit of the MAGAs, of course.
A second possibility is that he's setting up scapegoats for the inevitable trashing of the economy and the raising of prices and the fueling of another round of inflation by blaming the other nations for this mess and therefore will squirm out of yet another disaster of his own contrivance. Thirdly, and most likely, the orange agent of chaos will use tariff exceptions to reward "friendly" Republican companies and use the tariffs to punish "unsupportive" (liberal leaning) companies.
Mexico's President had a strongly worded message for Trump and cited provisions in the USMCA trade agreement Trump himself signed in his first term. I don't think President Sheinbaum Pardo intimidates easily.
In a moment of seeking retribution for allowing the orange clown to escape justice I want to brand the phrase “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” on Merrick Garland’s forehead.
James, that is a shameful and reprehensibly vengeful thought.... and I loved it. Forgive me but I laughed and relished it. One thing we need to do is help the Democratic leadership class wake up to the reconnecting that they need to do to what makes Democrats Democrats. And this is not a renunciation of Biden-Harris, in my judgement. We have to follow the arc of Joe-Kamala-Tim-AOC and Sherrod Brown -- yes the "losers" are part of the winning strategy. Let's not abandon our souls and lose ourselves in running around like a lot of chickens looking for the savior du jour.
Patrick, thank you, and I agree with you that this is a marathon to be run with a long-range vision. The Dems are not very good at that, or have not been in recent history, but we must persist!
The Democrats have a path forward only if we step back and take a hard look at who our constituents really are and what they want and need. Even with the support of major labor leaders the Democrats lost voters. The Democrats need to focus on kitchen table issues and concerns because the Republican legislation and policies surely will drive prices up and the Democrats need to keep score. The real challenge we have is there is no one who can control Trump’s worst urges and ideas especially if the ideas were part of his campaign promises and his idea that if he made the promise he has to keep it at all costs. The biggest challenge we have is making sure those hard working voters who voted for Trump realize and understand they are not better off than they thought they would be. We need to keep score. On this Thanksgiving imam thankful we had Joe Biden as President.
At this point the 'chaos monkey's' only guardrails are the corporations who benefit from stability and good conditions for the middle class. They will scream and push back if their profits start to drop off. We the People can also keep some pressure on by constantly emailing, writing letters and phoning our Senators and Representatives.
Yes. And as Mitt Romney infamously said, "Corporations are people, too." /s
Maybe we should email CEOs as well? I am wondering how the Waltons will feel as they watch the chaos in the supply chain that supplies them with obscene wealth?
Retailers like Walmart, AutoZone, Lowe's and others are already speaking out about how these potential changes could make everyday goods more expensive for customers.
Specifically, the CFO of Walmart came out today and said that tariffs will increase prices:
But that's not all, oil companies aren't happy with the plan to impose new tariffs either as we import 4M barrels of crude oil from Canada and Mexico daily. I just don't see how Trump keeps his vow to lower prices for people, while insisting and vowing to do a tariff, and it will also make the stock market go lower and cause foreign markets to be shaken which hurts everyone. You'll also see OPEC then cut back on production which will hurt people at the pump.
At this point, I'm fully convinced that a lot of Americans are stupid if they voted for Trump for economic reasons.
He'll blame the other countries for raising their prices and won't even mention the part his tariffs have in this mess. His stupid cult fans won't bother to fact check.
The construction industry is going to be hit very hard from two different directions--especially in the South, since housing construction depends heavily on undocumented labor AND Canadian lumber. This isn't going to end well for Trump, no matter how many tantrumps he throws.
Vote cure assistants are heroes! Thanks for recognizing them and I am so pleased they made a difference, I would think our first order of business is to defeat some of the really bad cabinet appointments by calling, emailing our u.s. senators.
Yes. This is what I call "throwing sand in their gears" every chance we get.
Oooh, I like that, Marsha! “Throwing sand in their gears”. This sounds like what Jess Craven means when she says she’s going to be “insufferable”. What a good phrase, and word!
Or better, throw wooden shoes (sabots) into the gears. The purpose of the word sabotage.
I do appreciate your wisdom. My father passed away severals years back and I wish he were here to give me a dose of wisdom. He had been through so much in his life—escaping the pogrom in Russia (now Ukraine) where his father was killed, coming to the US and trying to survive the depression, serving as a captain on a troop transport ship in Europe during WWII, and being a care taker for my mom who suffered from MS—he’s been through so much. But I think the wisdom you’re providing each day, would have been the same dose of wisdom that my father would have provided to me. Thank you so much, I truly appreciate it!
What a life your dad had, Abbi. Thank you for sharing it here. May his memory be a blessing. Dad energy for the win 🥇
Abbi, it's people like your father whose lives are constant testimony to faith and courage and the promise of America who give me hope. I think of my father from a different lineage: born dirt poor Southern Illinois, single Mom abandoned by his miner dad when he was a small boy, Marine in WWII, small welding shop owner for 23 years, until his business went bust, and he worked to get his steamfitters union card and crawled through steam tunnels to do hard work into his sixties. Hunter, fisherman, conservative, Dad would have had contempt for Trump as a fool, I am sure. He never gave up on a country that never gave him and my mom much, but all three of their kids, now elderly themselves, have college and graduate degrees. We of a certain age have been given much and -- worked hard and earned much. Now it time for us to face up to our generational challenge. The seemingly ultimate horrible has happened: Trump has been elected President again. I don't know what your father would say, but I know what mine would say, "Stop your whining and get to work." And that work encompasses all the complex moves of heart and mind, of teaching and learning and hope that lie before us. It won't be easy, but if it were easy everyone would do it. I give thanks for the story of your father and his life. His story is a blessing to us all.
Thank you Patrick for sharing your story. Your dad sounded like a remarkable man who provided for his family well. Much like mine. I forgot to mention that my dad went from being Russian boy with an accent to a man who was an extremely articulate English professor then worked for the federal government until her retired. I could hear my dad saying about trump, “Oh, he’s such a son of a b___. We’ll get through this.”
Ooos, sorry for the typos.
Thanks, Abbi, my father died a few months shy of his 94th birthday in 2008, so he missed the Descension of Trump on the Golden Escalator. Had he seen that and heard anything that Trump did or said, I am sure he would have shot him his one word pronunciation of his scornful criticism, "Rediklus1" No more needs to be said.
Thank you! I appreciate it.
I also appreciate your thoughts about your father. My father passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, coincidentally, in 2002. He was also a WWII veteran who taught classes to the allied forces on how to set explosives for maximin effectiveness. I imagine that you and I have many more memories of our dear fathers to compare. My thoughts will be with tomorrow as you miss your wise father as much as I miss mine.
Thank you so much. I’m sure we can trade memories of our fathers. May you and your family have a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving.
I wish the same for you and all of Robert's readers as well.
Beautiful writing about your father. I often say to people I am suggesting read Robert is that he’s the father we all hoped for- thoughtful, measured, inspiring, open, calming, hopeful, encouraging, insightful and… wise.
Thank you for the memories of your father. Mine was also a WWII vet and I miss his wisdom and sense of humor.
I hope someone keeps a VERY close look on the finances of those getting exemptions because it strikes me that tRump must be very tempted by private pay to play here
That's a guarantee
Tempted? Motivated is more like it!
Yup
Thank you for your daily newsletter. It's one of my must reads, and a lot of that is because you are credible, informative, AND you keep our spirits up & our perspective intact. I hope you, your managing editor, and the rest of your family enjoy a relaxing holiday weekend. Thanks for all you do for us !
Amen to this, Leigh❣️
I usually read Heather Cox Richardson first, which gives me lots of history and context (and, often, some panic) and then read Robert's column for more perspective and calming thoughts.
Thank you, Robert!
My reading order too! I need his encouragement to go forth into the darkness with that candle he always suggests.
ME TOO. But today Robert is first.
Me too, ha ha! But both are always the first ones to be read each day.
Exactly!
Even though you had a short exposure the horse head nebula is amazing. Everyday there is a lot going on. Thanks Robert for putting it all together for us.
I hope everyone reading is able to find some increased peace & recovery over the weekend! In the spirit of finding things to be thankful for it's great that Adam Gray in CA-13 has now taken the lead and hopefully follows Derek Tran in CA 45 to the win! I believe that's a 2-seat pick-up for the Ds. Again, where'd that Red Tsunami go? Trump's 60-40 is now down to 1.55%. I'm hoping that keeps right on dropping, esp. below 1.5%. Still waiting for some D pundits I follow to explain just how much of what we stand for has to be tossed out to ever win again. Well, hope is good to have!
And if you (unfortunately) count the votes for independents (Stein, Oliver, etc), Trump's victory margin is tiny. TINY!
Leaders and members of the California labor movement walked miles and miles in those contested districts, talking to voters to win those seats for us. I send a hearty thank you to them and to those who cured the votes.
The annual message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32INoIBaY0M
What a novel idea...LOL! Thanks, Daniel.
Thank you for the pep rally, Robert. Some folks in Greensboro, NC are already gathering today to conduct a STATE letter-writing campaign to-push back against the GOP legislators in Raleigh who have been pushing through rule changes to push through unpopular legislation. Resistance is alive and well.
But it needs to be effective
And volunteer recount efforts also helped Justice Allison Rigg keep her seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court! Here’s to better days!
Thank you Robert. I appreciate your short update mixed with some hopeful news. And I always love your photos that give me much needed perspective! Have a blessed & joyful Thanksgiving weekend.
Thank you Linda...my sentiments, exactly. Thank you Robert! YOU ROCK! Thank you Elizabeth (when you find a solution, please SHOUT out!) So blessed to have all of you..celebrate this unity on our day of 'thanks!" Julie Giessler
Yes, indeed, celebrate this unity on our day of thanks. Grateful for the strong grassroots movement that is still here.
Like grass, we are very hard to get rid of, we keep coming back! 😊 🌱
It amazes me that 26 people liked my comment above. It says how much people want to hear the positive in these times.
And how much readers appreciate Robert Hubbell! 😊❤️
Thank you Robert and also this community for keeping us sane during these scary times. Living in Germany with American family overseas makes us feel powerless to help them. At the same time the Ukraine is not so far away. So, nerve wracking times. Sometimes I go to the Facebook page of FOX to try to understand how people get influenced and I always have just one comment: 'this is not true and you know it, FOX news'. But.... I also realised when I saw Steve Bannon on there, how this influencer machine is used and how dangerous it is. My question is, how to influence the influencer? When I find a solution, I will share. In the meantime I will keep pointing to what news is true.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And thank you Robert for your invaluable work. Reading your post every day has helped keep me sane and motivated during this dark period of American history.
I'm thinking that Trump is going to try to use the tariffs as some kind of negotiating tool and if (I'm quoting another Substack author here; Jay Kuo, I think) Canada or Mexico even blinks, Trump will negotiate some little thing and claim victory--for the benefit of the MAGAs, of course.
A second possibility is that he's setting up scapegoats for the inevitable trashing of the economy and the raising of prices and the fueling of another round of inflation by blaming the other nations for this mess and therefore will squirm out of yet another disaster of his own contrivance. Thirdly, and most likely, the orange agent of chaos will use tariff exceptions to reward "friendly" Republican companies and use the tariffs to punish "unsupportive" (liberal leaning) companies.
Mexico's President had a strongly worded message for Trump and cited provisions in the USMCA trade agreement Trump himself signed in his first term. I don't think President Sheinbaum Pardo intimidates easily.
And I love it that the Mexican president is a WOMAN, and a strong one at that!
Yes...I hope she scalds him with the steam coming off her written response!
She is a WOMAN … and (a quality not considered or much valued in US politics) Jewish.
Thank you Robert!
I appreciate you so much!
Have a lovely Thanksgiving
In a moment of seeking retribution for allowing the orange clown to escape justice I want to brand the phrase “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” on Merrick Garland’s forehead.
There. That is out of my system. Thank you.
James, that is a shameful and reprehensibly vengeful thought.... and I loved it. Forgive me but I laughed and relished it. One thing we need to do is help the Democratic leadership class wake up to the reconnecting that they need to do to what makes Democrats Democrats. And this is not a renunciation of Biden-Harris, in my judgement. We have to follow the arc of Joe-Kamala-Tim-AOC and Sherrod Brown -- yes the "losers" are part of the winning strategy. Let's not abandon our souls and lose ourselves in running around like a lot of chickens looking for the savior du jour.
Patrick, Brian Tyler Cohen had a good article this week about broadening our acceptance of what the Democratic party stands for. It has to be inclusive, we don't have to agree on everything. See what you think: https://open.substack.com/pub/briantylercohen/p/democrats-secret-to-winning-the-future?r=kmya3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Patrick, thank you, and I agree with you that this is a marathon to be run with a long-range vision. The Dems are not very good at that, or have not been in recent history, but we must persist!
happy thanksgiving to you and yours.
The Democrats have a path forward only if we step back and take a hard look at who our constituents really are and what they want and need. Even with the support of major labor leaders the Democrats lost voters. The Democrats need to focus on kitchen table issues and concerns because the Republican legislation and policies surely will drive prices up and the Democrats need to keep score. The real challenge we have is there is no one who can control Trump’s worst urges and ideas especially if the ideas were part of his campaign promises and his idea that if he made the promise he has to keep it at all costs. The biggest challenge we have is making sure those hard working voters who voted for Trump realize and understand they are not better off than they thought they would be. We need to keep score. On this Thanksgiving imam thankful we had Joe Biden as President.
At this point the 'chaos monkey's' only guardrails are the corporations who benefit from stability and good conditions for the middle class. They will scream and push back if their profits start to drop off. We the People can also keep some pressure on by constantly emailing, writing letters and phoning our Senators and Representatives.
This is a good point because corporations are major contributors
Yes. And as Mitt Romney infamously said, "Corporations are people, too." /s
Maybe we should email CEOs as well? I am wondering how the Waltons will feel as they watch the chaos in the supply chain that supplies them with obscene wealth?
The Walton’s have kept a pretty low profile so we really don’t know but imagine the impact on US automakers and their employees
Retailers like Walmart, AutoZone, Lowe's and others are already speaking out about how these potential changes could make everyday goods more expensive for customers.
Specifically, the CFO of Walmart came out today and said that tariffs will increase prices:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-cfo-says-dont-want-161640110.html
But that's not all, oil companies aren't happy with the plan to impose new tariffs either as we import 4M barrels of crude oil from Canada and Mexico daily. I just don't see how Trump keeps his vow to lower prices for people, while insisting and vowing to do a tariff, and it will also make the stock market go lower and cause foreign markets to be shaken which hurts everyone. You'll also see OPEC then cut back on production which will hurt people at the pump.
At this point, I'm fully convinced that a lot of Americans are stupid if they voted for Trump for economic reasons.
He'll blame the other countries for raising their prices and won't even mention the part his tariffs have in this mess. His stupid cult fans won't bother to fact check.
I think it is long past the time for someone of prominance to say that "Donald J. Trump is insane. Incompetent by virtue of insanity. "
The construction industry is going to be hit very hard from two different directions--especially in the South, since housing construction depends heavily on undocumented labor AND Canadian lumber. This isn't going to end well for Trump, no matter how many tantrumps he throws.
But the Waltons are major donors to Republicans.
True but don’t support Trump
Thank you Robert.