I left NYT … follow Rebecca Solnit and the Guardian- she posted this piece … The Future Will Not Be Interrupted by Anand Giridharadas:
Anand Giridharadas writes: Did you watch that interview on Fox News? I did. And maybe you saw what I saw.
What I saw was an extended metaphor for the condition of the country itself.
A woman, a person of color, representing a new generation and a kind of voice that hasn’t always been heard in American life, but more and more is being heard now, trying to speak — and a barrel-chested, pomade-glazed relic of the “Mad Men” era, interrupting her and interrupting her some more and interrupting her some more still, and then adding to his interruption some interruptions, and then also interrupting.
Fox News’s Bret Baier wasn’t just trying to stop Vice President Kamala Harris’s words. He seemed offended at the notion that her vocal cords actually make sounds. He invited her voice on his show and was upset that it had a volume.
I doubt there is any woman, any person of color, in this country who has not been in a meeting and experienced this kind of bulldozing. And some of them watch Fox News and still don’t like being interrupted. https://the.ink/p/the-future-will-not-be-interrupted
Last night’s interruptionism, elevated almost to an art form, is a metaphor for the state of the country because a minority of Americans like Baier, an encrusted old guard, wants to interrupt the future itself. But the future will not be interrupted.
They don’t want to hear voices not their own. But those voices are growing louder.
They think the country will be lost when more people speak. But we know the country will actually come more fully than ever into its own when we all speak.
Thanks, Kathleen, for posting this important opinion. I could feel my rage 😤 growing by the minute while watching the attack (billed as an “interview”) on YouTube. Bret fully inhabited the sharkskin suit of every paternalistic, sarcastic, domineering male bully I have ever encountered. We women all have experienced this nauseating spectacle, and still do.
That being said, Kamala’s efficient and effective responses wrested control from his rude hands, giving her yet another major messaging win. I hope and pray she wins the election by a landslide — for her, for all women, for minorities and for democracy.
Let’s do our part to get out the vote 🗳️🩵!! We have two-and-a-half more weeks to get it done 🇱🇷 👏
Kathleen and Sheila, Thanks for expressing the rage that so many women have felt when having to listen to such paternalistic, sarcastic, rude, nauseating, and domineering behavior of male bullies like Brett and Trump. And, thanks to Robert, for keeping us informed AND expressing complete disgust with NYT and other corporate media that are failing women, Harris, and all Americans. I too hope and pray for a landslide for her, all women and minorities, and our democracy.
Thanks Bonnie and Kathleen. As a man, I see people like Brett, Trump, Vance et. al., as lying, toxic, dangerous jerks, but to hear the depth of rage, insult, nausea, threat and revulsion they trigger in women is humbling and instructive and gives so much space for perspective and empathy. You have my gratitude for speaking so plainly.
“… the rage that so many women have felt when having to listen to such paternalistic, sarcastic, rude, nauseating, and domineering behavior of male bullies like Brett and Trump.” –
I am a male. I can endorse Bonnie Svarstad’s comment, minus her reference to “male”. Brett Baier’s behavior was *objectively* objectionable.
I surfed social media yesterday briefly after a posting I made and the hashtag #iamtheenemywithin was trending- everywhere! Here’s one example:
“I am a 78 year old white retired grandma of 6. I care about LGTBQ rights, social justice, and the climate. I am the enemy within.”
Dangerous, right? I’m still chuckling at some of the descriptions I read. Average caring people claiming the description of “enemy within.” Owning their love of country and willingness to defend democracy!
Trump’s “day of love” line was also trending. It was awesome to see how quickly his garbage lies on Univision turned into fuel for folks to trash because they are actively paying attention. I’m never impressed with social media and it is no substitute for the free press but honestly enjoyed the hell out of it yesterday. More factual smart content in many places than that NYT rag.
I’m gonna go see if #Iamstillspeaking is trending. Because I am. And so is my choice for President.
Great idea! I already have 3 great T's. Not sure I'll have enough time to wear another one before the election! :-) I'm 71 and the neat thing is that everywhere I go, young people smile at me and give me a thumbs up! It's so much fun!
Sheila, the only quibble I have with your great comment is that I disagree that social media is no substitute for the free press. First, there is no free press anymore. It's all owned by Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk and their ilk, greedy corporate billionaire MAGA nuts. And social media, however much I dislike it, IS the substitute for what was once the free press. It's still sort of free, only lightly censored by Musk so far, and open and receptive to waves of people's thinking, which I can share in. It's horribly effective.
How about a T-shirt with a "word cloud" floating up all these terms "Groomer" "Enemy Within" "CommunistSocialistMarxist" "RINO" "Pet Eater" "Election Rigger" "Witch Hunter" "Childless Cat Lady" etc etc
"I am a 78 year old white retired grandma of 6. I care about LGTBQ rights, social justice, and the climate. I am the enemy within.” Wow!! Harris campaign and Lincoln Project need to jump on that approach!!!
I was in Hollywood the other day on Vermont Ave and saw a store with wonderfully-crafted tote bags, t-shirts, etc. saying "Childless Cat Lady". Take that, MAGA!!!
It seems to me that “interruptions” have become the stock and trade of the propaganda media and in politicians intent on serving up false talking points to the exclusion of factual discussion. The better you are at interrupting, the less information the other side ccan convey. Trump, Vance, Fox, LimbUgh all are great interrupters and can control the narrative. But Democrats are learning how to defend against them by not yielding the floor. Its a verbal staredown. Pete Buttigieg is great at this; talking over the interrupter relentlessly, not giving ground to “rude”. Its a skill set
Harris has learned this tactic well. Beating the scum at their own game
"Talking over non-stop" is something that Kellyanne Conway and other MAGAts do. One needs to fight off the socialization of politeness, stop listening, and stay on course. It also takes some discipline in being able to breathe while speaking so that there is no break in the flow of words. You might not get heard, but the other guy doesn't get heard either, at least. I would only recommend this technique when confronting a MAGA BS Bully as they provide nothing to listen to anyway. I stopped watching Sunday shows precisely because hosts just let these gaslighters go on and on without interruption or fact-checking. It's a waste of time. Better to sleep in....
A relative wrote me that he thought VP Harris was light on details and "argumentative" in the interview on FOX. This man hates Trump and will, I expect, vote for Harris. He has a Ph.D. and was a college professor for 40 years. But these gendered expectations of discourse run deep and die hard. Kamala Harris, seems to me, to be negotiating this language landscape with great skill. She shouldn't be required to teach us decency and ethics in communication in rhetoric. But when we designate our Presidents as commanders-in-chief, should we not also benefit from their understanding of how to speak as adults with dignity and force. Trump's decade in the public discourse has taught us one way of talking to and with one another and that is toxic, hateful, dishonest, and mean. Let's listen and learn from our next rhetorician-in-chief.
This is particularly interesting to me because this morning on NPR I listened to men saying that Harris would most likely become emotional in a crisis. The only emotion I've seen her display is joy. I'm not surprised that the Ph.D. you cite called her "argumentative". I'm just surprised he did not also call her "uppity".
right, because that's what women do, right? the women who gave birth to 8.5 billion people? the women who go to combat? the women who run mega corporations? Women like Golda Meir and Angela Merkel? Emotional wrecks, every one of them...
Better emotional than cold/heartless/unfeeling/remote/checked-out/numb.....That is emotion-less.
And "emotional" SHOULD NOT mean "hysterical" or "uppity" or "shrewish" although this is how it gets spun in a pejorative, demeaning way. Emotional means "having access to emotions" and thus having them available for discourse, for empathy, and for integration with thoughts/ideas and other perspectives. For consensus. In the Trump world of Group Think the only emotion is that of fear that the leader is not being pleased or mirrored such that one could be excommunicated from the group. There's tons of research on how bad a way that is as a model for leadership and decision-making within an organization; within a political context Group Think is nothing more than Fascism, where the leading emotions are sadistic rage and manic grandiosity.
You mean like calling nations "Shit-hole countries"; or wanting to gas protesters and shoot them in the legs; or wanting to stop Covid testing so the numbers wouldn't get bigger and make him look bad; or saying "So What?" when Pence and his family were in danger; or threatening to attack North Korea with Fire & Fury the world has never known? Trump's entire being is fueled by rage, vindictiveness, grandiosity, greed, dominance, hostility. And with virtually no impulse control. It is as bad as it can get. The members of Dr. Bandy Lee's clinical team scored Trump with a 34 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, and that is 34 out of 40, a score indicating extreme risk of aggressiveness. (He "aced" that test, too!) By contrast, the average score for an inmate in a maximum security setting is only 22. So tell me how Trump keeps getting a pass as some kind of avatar on the economy, as a master of the immigration issue, as a source of control in the world arena, and as the "protector of Women & father of IVF"? LOL
Your PhD friend is interesting. No woman, no woman, let me repeat, no woman, can be strong in public discourse. Your PhD friend said the PhD version of "But she's so mean!" and "She's acting like a man!" and "I don't like it when Mommy doesn't smile!" Notice that Harris has been smiling, laughing (god forbid!), and making nice for the last 70 days? Only now have we got a glimpse of the steel underneath. Don't worry, it's there. But she's smart enough not to show it to those of us who can't take it. Don't worry, she won't scare you. But it'll be there when the U.S. and the world need it. I sort of pity Putin and Netanyahu.
And when she laughs they make fun of her laugh!!!!
It is just the fact of her "being" that they despise, and that is just racism and misogyny. For these folks it doesn't matter what she "does" or what she is capable of. Fortunately we appreciate her and will support her. She brings a lot to the table!!!
I do not identify with the “us” that Trump taught how to talk with toxicity. We bore witness and finally now have a representative about to achieve the highest office in the land.
Can we spell SEXISM? That PhD guy is emblematic of how deeply entrenched sexism is in our society, despite our progress, and even among otherwise progressive and good-hearted men. The Women’s Movement started teaching us more than 60 years ago how to speak with dignity, force, and respect. How often do we still see the presumptive “mankind” and “he” for he/she/their? Let the “us” who are men listen and learn from the gentle reminders repeatedly issued by the women who work with them and love them nevertheless. Catch up with the times.
I find myself wondering if there's a practical way for VP Harris to sit for a Times interview (perhaps not the editorial board) and put their silliness to bed. I'd hate to see it as capitulation, but much like the Baier ambush, she could show her fearlessness and command of the facts. Despite the underlying misogyny and racism (latent or otherwise) of the media's coverage, I think she presents herself extremely well without playing the victim or the dragonslayer of those biases.
will you forget about the Times? it needs to go out of business. Imagining that Harris should find a "way to sit for the Times" is like criticizing her because she never learned to ride a dinosaur. Put it to rest. Move on. You'll like the 21st century!
I'm not imagining it, just wondering. Right now, despite our disdain for NYT's reporting, headlines, and editorials, it is still influential. We ignore that fact at our peril. I would never advocate her going to NYT, hat in hand, and ask to be heard. She could, however, call one of their more objective reporters with a scoop.
Newspapers are a sadly dying breed kept alive by an aged demographic increasingly alienated by the papers’ profit driven bias in purporting to report the news.
Kamala Harris and her campaign are finding today’s influential media.
They are doing the typical things but also the more hip and potent things. It's like the whole food-truck/pop-up world. Go to where the people are hungry; if you feed them well, they will send their friends, who will send their friends, etc. At that point, you need more trucks, because there are always hungry people who appreciate good food!! Kamala is, in this lingo, the Pitmaster of the moment!!!
“Newspapers are a sadly dying breed kept alive by an aged demographic …” —
As part of that demographic, I ask: what is going to replace newspapers? How will Americans, already woefully ignorant about public affairs, get the wherewithal to make informed, intelligent choices about public affairs?
We’ve gone through more than enough dumbing-down of the electorate. Even if you don’t like major newspapers, what do you think will replace them? Tik-Tok?
I have loved newspapers. Today’s are not the trustworthy ones I’ve read my whole life. News reporters and journalists seem to be finding other media, particularly short form videos, though main stream media are largely similarly chasing the click bait. MSNBC is usually okay. More and more journalists are freewheeling on Substack.
Wondering is good...It leads to discourse and the weighing of ideas, of other wonderings. In reading this exchange, I don't think she should rush to reward the NYT bullying and demeaning coverage with a sit-down interview. Their coverage is biased enough. I think if Harris could pick the reporter--- maybe. Look, to put it in perspective-- she said yes to sit down with Fox!! They haven't been generous exactly, but there are some lost or uncommitted people in the Fox bubble who will never otherwise get to hear her. And they did hear her!! She pointed out to the Fox audience exactly how they get manipulated via selective editing!! I heard that Fox "corrected" the error a day later, but in real time that was like Toto pulling back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz!!!
Why should she? They would just write an article about how difficult it was for them to get her to sit down with them and omit completely the substance her answers.
In excerpts from Clara Bingham's book (on the Women’s Movement) published this week in The Washington Spectator, we learn that in Shirley Chisholm's early years in politics, first as a candidate and later as a member of the NY State Assembly, she continually faced skepticism and prejudice.
"Of the two handicaps, being black is much less of a drawback than being female," she observed with characteristic directness.
Every voice, of every person of colour, that speaks with clarity and vision, is music to my old, white male ears. No, the future must never be interrupted.
Beautifully said. Thank you. I come from a family where women were encouraged to excel. My grandmother had a PhD (1915). Both of her daughters had them, and my aunt, in particular, was a big shot in her field. My sister, now retired, was responsible for getting all of Fairfax County, VA, vaccinated against COVID.
And I'm thrilled with Kamala Harris. The day after Biden passed the torch, I made a HARRIS bumper sticker for my car, because I realized Biden had done what needed to be done, and that Kamala Harris was more than ready to be the nominee.
I've said time and again that Biden is the best president of my lifetime, which began the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration. But I expect Kamala Harris to outdo him, and I say that not to dismiss him, as I'm well aware that he helped make her what she is today, by making a team of the two of them, and she rose to the occasion. The Fox interview is more evidence of her excellence and readiness. I will be more than grateful to have her negotiating with foreign leaders on our behalf.
Brilliant. And having experienced this too many times to enumerate, the only way to be heard in such situations is to YELL...which then is used against us. But you are correct: we are not done speaking.
"The future will not be interrupted. They don’t want to hear voices not their own. But those voices are growing louder. They think the country will be lost when more people speak. But we know the country will actually come more fully than ever into its own when we all speak. And we’re not done speaking."
Is that you Kathleen or Anand? Because that is amazing and inspiring!!!
I think what would complete the process is that not only do we need to speak freely but we need others to listen respectfully. It has value and meaning that we speak but will they listen? And does that matter? I would say that Kamala Harris took the situation in hand live on air and fought to be heard, fought to fact-check Fox's ruse in real time, and stepped boldly into a hostile arena. Just BEING THERE was a powerful expression. Would Trump go on MSNBC to face Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O'Donnell or Joe Scarborough? I doubt it.
Am I the only person who did not have the image of M78 in today's newsletter? I look forward to the daily beautiful images more than I would have ever imagined!
Robert, I share your disappointment with the NYT. A subscriber for many years, I cancelled my subscription in June. And, with the new editorial regime at WAPO, they will also soon be gone...perhaps to celebrate a Harris victory. Too much excellent work on Substack to waste money on click-bait MSM. I assume I am far from being alone in that opinion. Step up and make your voice ($) heard.
I failed to include it. I will do so tonight. I stayed up too late writing the newsletter and failed to hit the final "upload" button. If it is any consolation, I uploaded the image in mind. Just not in the newsletter.
Yes. WAPO followed the same lame and blatantly misleading script as the NYT. I watched the full FOX interview on YouTube, and I was shocked to read the superficial and incorrect “reporting” by WAPO. I believe the reporter is based in London (?), but that shouldn’t matter. I was a professional journalist who worked at two major dailies back in the day. I agree with Robert’s assessment wholeheartedly. These paper dinosaurs are writing their own epitaphs.
No image of M78 on my page either, Neil. But, Robert, you given us enough joy and awe with your pictures to last a long while. Don't worry about resurrecting the photo if the image is lost. We've waited 1,350 light years for the image to reach us, we can let it rest until after the election.
Your criticism of how Kamala Harris's Fox News "interview" was conducted AND reported falsely is right on and heart breaking, a sign that we have already moved to the pliant press that characterizes an autocracy, no matter who is self-styled as right, left or mainstream.
I also urge the community to look at the Univision town hall with Trump. Simon Rosenberg posted the Univision interview exchange with Ramiro Gonzalez. Mr Gonzalez asked Trump tougher, more sincere questions than most that were asked in the debate, as he cogently invited Trump to "win back his vote." As you noted Trump regarded Mr. Gonzalez with disdain and then waffled on the answer. He acted like a bad AI program. No human connection. Not even a hint that he even understood the question's direction.
And you are right the audience shots were telling. No one was buying what the grifter was selling. Ramiro Gonzales should be on all the talk shows. Seeing this clip, you realize that there must be citizens all over the country who have come to realize the character of Trump and that he is not running for or working for Americans. For some that won't matter, but I would be shocked if Trump’s disdain was lost on the Town Hall audience in the room with him and the 3 million people watching.
I have been disgusted by the NYT since I started paying close attention during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. I finally stopped subscribing only recently.
AARP Bulletin sane washed Trump answers in an article about both candidates positions. Trump claimed he loves Social Security and Medicare and would never, ever touch them. Seems he has said the opposite elsewhere. The editors chose to print his answers, with corrections to make them intelligible, allowing Trump lies to stand unquestioned. A great disservice to those depending on Social Security and Medicare.
Well, I am not subscribed to BBC, but when The Guardian started sounding too much like the media I stopped subscribing to, I wrote complaints about each article that I felt was doing what the Corporate media was doing, and questioned whether I would continue giving them money when they were no different than what I had left them for. I feel that I saw a switch after about 3 consistent complaints, and listing what I wanted to see, like a discussion of Project 2025, and Trump's frailties should get equal time.
However, at this point if I don't ever read about Trump again I would be so happy.
Instead, I am slogging through Project 2025 Document with my Democrats Abroad book club. The BBC is supposed to be independent too. I suggest writing a complaint and asking them.
Linda, always love your posts, and I too feel that my consistent letter-writing to The Hill has possibly resulted in a slight, very slight, increase in fairer reporting. At least once in a while they give a normal analysis of both sides. The other day they actually wrote a whole article about Kamala Harris. It may be my imagination, but I will keep writing. My emails can be pretty vicious when they do their pure mealy-mouthed Trump worship. But when I can, I write one thanking them for doing normal reporting, and requesting more of it.
Thank you Christina. The press of any kind needs to feel our fear and anger as they succumb to the horrid journalistic climate that is being cultivated. They also need to hear what we want them to be writing about. Consistent letter writing is powerful. By thanking them when they have done a good job you are telling them what you want from them. It is powerful.
Linda where did you get either a full 900 page book of Project 2025, or maybe you have a link to a site with the whole thing? Could you please share? Thank you!
My Democrats Abroad Project 2025 book club group will be discussing Chapters 15 Department of Housing and Urban Development and Chapter 16 Department of the Interior next week. We have been skipping around but have read and discussed 16 of the 30 chapters and the Forward so far. We have also read The Atlantic articles summarizing the content, and many other articles relating to things we have been discussing in a Signal group. We have also been looking at the government websites for the charts showing the different branches of the Departments, and the Andra Watkins Substack How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life
for the Christian Nationalist explanations of Project 2025 because the document is written by Christian Nationalists. I think many are part of the Charismatic Christian Nationalists sect who are part of the New Apostolic Reformation. Why that is important is they have different End-of-Days beliefs than regular CNs who just believe that God is coming for them soon to take them to heaven and leave the rest of us sinners behind. However NARs are more sinister because they believe that God will only come for them when everyone is living a godly life as they define it. They are compelled by God to force that on us. That transcends any following of the law or the constitution.
We are also reading parts of Defeat Project 2025, and other sources for background on the writers of Project 2025.
I am also going to recommend this talk from 2023 by Prof. Kathleen Belew from last year. Her book Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America was transformative in my understanding of what was going on January 6. She gives us insight into the militarization of segments of our society and traces it back to the Vietnam War. Here she is giving a talk that discusses some of what is in her book. https://youtu.be/RzicRdX0tYg?si=jYHhOJLSd7H3QqM8
There is a podcast where Belew is interviewed here which starts around 11 minutes in, it is more recent from around 7 months ago and goes more in depth into connecting into the open war on the government.
Legacy newspapers such as the NY Times are no longer the influencers of yesteryear. Kamala Harris did a great job of going into the Fox “News” lion’s den and landing takedowns with perfectly classy assertiveness. With more than 7 million viewers, she drew 3 times the number of viewers that show normally gets. Clearly people were curious, and she represented herself very well for reaching prospective voters.
Speaking of New York, here’s an opinion of why Trump is rallying at Madison Square Garden on October 27–to support MAGA candidates for contested House seats. New York has 7 such seats:
What can we do? Support Dem-winnable House candidates as much as possible and as soon as possible with donations and/or volunteer work to Get Out The Vote:
FT 5 and Movement Labs are still registering Democrats in selected states. Yesterday texted to unregistered Pennsylvanians. https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/
Place comments on social media...."Not suckers or losers" to vets groups, military, military dependents, history sites. Vote vets has thousands of testimonials of 2020 Trump voters that flipped. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans or active duty members on Facebook, and 12.5 million family members of veterans or active duty members on Facebook.
P.S. Len Lubinsky has a great dive into the 6 Democratic seats across the whole U.S. that we need to defend to win the House for Kamala Harris—which ultimately means for our freedoms, our families, and our futures! Find his newsletter of 10/17/24:
Ellie, I loved "perfectly classy assertiveness!" Harris got 7.1 m views, and I read that the Trump Fox show around the same time got 2-point-something million views. Maybe she should go on again (not really)!
Robert - At 4:30a EST, the Times has the following lead for their election section, situated well down on the home page - "Trump’s Meandering Speeches Motivate His Critics and Worry His Allies".
By their current standard that reporting honestly on Trump's issues is "D cheerleading", I guess this is a better lead than their norm. Of course, they often implied 10s of millions of Americans were concerned about Joe's cognitive status. With Trump it's apparently just critics and supporters concerned about his ability to deliver a sequential speech. Nothing for normal people to be concerned about!
I think your quote from Sulzberger catches the essence of their failure. He's decided reporting accurately on the stakes of this election, and fully coming to grips with Trump, is taking sides. How he and his editors have convinced themselves that pretending to some Olympian detachment is an act of nobility for which they're being persecuted by rabid D partisans is beyond my ken.
I'm glad you and other Substackers are reading the Times for us. That is an actual noble sacrifice for your readers! :-)
Comment 1: If you need some encouragement please watch Thursday's event at Washington Crossing on the YouTube channel "Kamala". The event was Republicans for Harris. It was held on a beautiful farm on a beautiful early autumn day near where Washington crossed the Delaware. Speakers included Olivia Troye, Adam Kinzinger, the couple who own the farm, and then VP Harris. She gave a very forceful, eloquent, and emotional speech in defense of our Democracy and what we must do in the days. I had tears in my eyes.
Comment 2: Early voting in Detroit begins tomorrow, October 19. For the rest of Michigan early voting begins October 26. I always put this information in my postcards, telling recipients to vote early and go to iwillvote.com for details.
Comment 3: Michelle Obama, our Forever First Lady, will be in Atlanta on Tuesday, October 29 for a GOTV rally. (whenweallvote.org)
Comment 4: President Obama, after the rally in Madison with Tim Walz on October 22, will go to Tucson for a rally with Ruben Gallego at a date to be determined. I learned this from Simon Rosenberg's interview with Ruben on Hopium Chronicles.
I would love some Halloween and Autumn photos - Maybe some of Jill's flower arrangements. Thank you.
Today’s Edition is the longest I have ever read and it is packed full of great comments as well as a big dose of indignation.
I live in a retirement community and yesterday early voting started. It was amazing to me how many fellow residents went and voted the first day, posted pictures of them voting. I went to the supermarket yesterday and for the first time saw many cars with Harris stickers on them. I watched all the Trump “ interviews” and watch the audience faces as Trump lies with looks that say “ are you kidding me”. The Univision questioners gave me hope that more people than we think are not buying Trump’s lies. We can win this
Robert, I am sorry you are so upset by the NYT. The rage I noted fuming out of your ears led me to stop to share my empathy as best as possible.
Yesterday I saw Nate Silver and Newsweek squaking their dribble. But I have learned to be nonreactive to their dribble. And you have helped teach me to further to mostly observe and remain focused.
This morning I embrace my first shift ever as a Poll Observer (in NC). I have my own fears of being inadequate. Fake until you make it somewhat syndrome.
You have far more life experience and wisdom than me. And a far greater reach. I hope you can also find some solace in community.
Joe, thanks for getting out of your comfort zone. This sounds wimpy, but it's true--I dread phonebanking, but I have been doing it. What I tell myself is, "This is nothing like what's going to be required of me if Trump wins this election. That's so much harder and scarier that I just need to put my head down and keep going."
Hi Ellen and Joe, What you share resonates with me. I've been out canvassing in my community for our county Dems. I often feel outside my comfort zone but find that talking to people, when they are willing to talk, gives me some hope. With that said, I find it discouraging to arrive at a door and see the scowl and closed off attitude of a likely Trump voter. Civility is what is missing in our society today, and that begins with recognizing that we will all be part of what comes next. Onward...
I so agree with you that civility is missing. I live in a small town in western MA that is 50/50 Harris/Trump. Of course, MA is a solid blue state so I don't worry about that. But recently on a busy street near me, someone posted a sign that read, "If you hurt my kids because you are speeding, you won't need a lawyer" I was shocked! Is that level of vitriol really necessary? Most people who are concerned about cars speeding, display a sign that says, "Slow down, please. Kids playing" My Harris/Walz sign is still up. In 2020, someone stole my Biden/Harris sign.
Still writing hundreds of postcards and plan to keep it up until all the deadlines have passed.
Crystal, so telling. There is a scorn and disregard for the law that lives in so many people these days. Where did it come from and how do we counter it, as a community?
Ellen, my grandparents were immigrants from Poland. I just checked that Poland is in the EU. It is. If I apply for dual citizenship, and get a Polish passport to accompany my American one, I can go live freely in any EU country. We all need a Plan B. Although I am throwing my heart over--we won't need Plan B, because Plan A will work!
Thank you Robin & Ellen. Other types of volunteering seem to invoke little fear now. They ask you to arrive 30 min early. I am more punctual now as just one learns in life (I still confuse friends now that only recall my perennial tardiness).
Apparently I arrived actually 53 min early (I signed up to observe within 20 miles of my home and this is maybe 8 miles). The election judge had not even arrived. They barely had begun to setup and only 3 folks were there thus far. They looked at my id and politely asked me to come back in at 740...
To update the Poll Observer chronicle followers, this is a very slow (but also brand new) EV location.
I was able to help a family resolve a couple issues that came up when they voted...they were chatting at length near me outside. It is encouraged for me to query in such a scenario. And now all is good with a wife & husband, and their son that lives elsewhere in NC.
Heather Cox Richardson wisely notes today: "The Christian nationalists who wrote Project 2025 want to destroy the federal government so they can put in place an authoritarian who will force Americans to live under religious rule. Tech elites like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel want to get rid of the federal government so they can control the future without having to worry about regulations. "
“Back in 2023, it was already being projected that Indigenous voters were a major factor to be considered in 2024. Record Indigenous voter turnout changed Arizona's presidential election outcome in 2020.
NPR reported the projected 5 million Native and Alaska Native-identifying 2024 voters in both rural and urban communities was expected to be an underestimation of the potential impact.”
I haven’t done NEAZ Native Dem phone banks yet,although they are my fave postcarding group as they pair voters with a local native organizer.Very effective !
I also attach an email that removes my personal data which I hope many readers will copy and send to him as well. It might make it harder for him to relegate our communications to spam and might force him to read it. (Of course, that may be like 'pissing in the wind' But I still think it is worth doing.
I am a physician psychiatrist. Daily, I am appalled by your coverage of the election. You derisively say you are not there to support candidates. Frankly, that is ‘rich’ coming from you and a paper that has promoted a criminal almost daily, and that is derelict in not reporting in bold headlines the obvious deterioration and confusing of a criminal running for President. You went after Biden with a vengeance! Any slip was reported in bold headlines. You report, many times in small print, what Harris is doing and what she says. “Light on policy” has become your mantra. I immigrated from South Africa IN 1967 - yes - from a shithole country as the criminal would say. The English press there was brave in the fact of banning, arrests, deportations. Meanwhile at the TIMES, you and your staff seem to sit in an ivory tower ignoring the danger the criminal poses to the country and ignoring the policy positions we DO know from Harris, or in bold headlines proclaiming the success of the US economy and the delusional characterization of the failure of every action Biden/Harris took to effectively create the strongest economy in the world.
Daily, I am appalled by your coverage of the election. You derisively say you are not there to support candidates. Frankly, that is ‘rich’ coming from you and a paper that has promoted a criminal almost daily, and that is derelict in not reporting in bold headlines the obvious deterioration and confusing of a criminal running for President. You went after Biden with a vengeance! Any slip was reported in bold headlines. You report, many times in small print, what Harris is doing and what she says. “Light on policy” has become your mantra. . At the TIMES, you and your staff seem to sit in an ivory tower ignoring the danger the criminal poses to the country and ignoring the policy positions we DO know from Harris, or in bold headlines proclaiming the success of the US economy and the delusional characterization of the failure of every action Biden/Harris took to effectively create the strongest economy in the world.
Here’s what is going on, in my opinion: The media don’t expect anything from Trump, so don’t challenge him. But having high expectations for Democrats (Biden, Harris), media feel free to criticize, thus creating an imbalance, a de facto bias.
To the extent that media reportage influences voting, so-called objective reporting tips the scales toward Trump and Republicans.
I did a couple of hours' calling for Kamala yesterday. We were calling an easy list: People who have donated. We were asking them to do phone-banking. I continue to be amazed at how many people are willing to pitch in. (Well, some of them need a little selling, but not much.) I am as impressed with reasons why people can’t join us. Yesterday, I spoke to a man who recently had eye surgery and still has trouble reading, a cancer patient who does not have the strength, a 91 year-old woman who doesn’t have enough energy (she sounded pretty sharp to me), and a guy who was in the hospital when we talked. None of them needed to tell me those things—to people who just said no, I replied by thanking them and asking that they make sure all their friends and family vote the right way, and actually vote. (I tell them that that’s the best campaigning.) But that people explain why they can’t help shows their dedication and enthusiasm. We need to bring this one home. There are too many people, including yours truly, who are counting on Kamala.
Superficial is the key word to describe the NYT, and not just in their coverage of politics, but in all of their articles that seek to describe what is glamorous at the moment.They don’t seem to know how to go beneath the surface where the meaning of things are.
I left NYT … follow Rebecca Solnit and the Guardian- she posted this piece … The Future Will Not Be Interrupted by Anand Giridharadas:
Anand Giridharadas writes: Did you watch that interview on Fox News? I did. And maybe you saw what I saw.
What I saw was an extended metaphor for the condition of the country itself.
A woman, a person of color, representing a new generation and a kind of voice that hasn’t always been heard in American life, but more and more is being heard now, trying to speak — and a barrel-chested, pomade-glazed relic of the “Mad Men” era, interrupting her and interrupting her some more and interrupting her some more still, and then adding to his interruption some interruptions, and then also interrupting.
Fox News’s Bret Baier wasn’t just trying to stop Vice President Kamala Harris’s words. He seemed offended at the notion that her vocal cords actually make sounds. He invited her voice on his show and was upset that it had a volume.
I doubt there is any woman, any person of color, in this country who has not been in a meeting and experienced this kind of bulldozing. And some of them watch Fox News and still don’t like being interrupted. https://the.ink/p/the-future-will-not-be-interrupted
Last night’s interruptionism, elevated almost to an art form, is a metaphor for the state of the country because a minority of Americans like Baier, an encrusted old guard, wants to interrupt the future itself. But the future will not be interrupted.
They don’t want to hear voices not their own. But those voices are growing louder.
They think the country will be lost when more people speak. But we know the country will actually come more fully than ever into its own when we all speak.
And we’re not done speaking.
Perfect. Exactly. I concur. 👍
Thanks, Kathleen, for posting this important opinion. I could feel my rage 😤 growing by the minute while watching the attack (billed as an “interview”) on YouTube. Bret fully inhabited the sharkskin suit of every paternalistic, sarcastic, domineering male bully I have ever encountered. We women all have experienced this nauseating spectacle, and still do.
That being said, Kamala’s efficient and effective responses wrested control from his rude hands, giving her yet another major messaging win. I hope and pray she wins the election by a landslide — for her, for all women, for minorities and for democracy.
Let’s do our part to get out the vote 🗳️🩵!! We have two-and-a-half more weeks to get it done 🇱🇷 👏
Kathleen and Sheila, Thanks for expressing the rage that so many women have felt when having to listen to such paternalistic, sarcastic, rude, nauseating, and domineering behavior of male bullies like Brett and Trump. And, thanks to Robert, for keeping us informed AND expressing complete disgust with NYT and other corporate media that are failing women, Harris, and all Americans. I too hope and pray for a landslide for her, all women and minorities, and our democracy.
Thanks Bonnie and Kathleen. As a man, I see people like Brett, Trump, Vance et. al., as lying, toxic, dangerous jerks, but to hear the depth of rage, insult, nausea, threat and revulsion they trigger in women is humbling and instructive and gives so much space for perspective and empathy. You have my gratitude for speaking so plainly.
“… the rage that so many women have felt when having to listen to such paternalistic, sarcastic, rude, nauseating, and domineering behavior of male bullies like Brett and Trump.” –
I am a male. I can endorse Bonnie Svarstad’s comment, minus her reference to “male”. Brett Baier’s behavior was *objectively* objectionable.
Well said. I wish I could give your comment 100 likes.
Thank you for your support, as well, David.
You're welcome kdsherpa.
I surfed social media yesterday briefly after a posting I made and the hashtag #iamtheenemywithin was trending- everywhere! Here’s one example:
“I am a 78 year old white retired grandma of 6. I care about LGTBQ rights, social justice, and the climate. I am the enemy within.”
Dangerous, right? I’m still chuckling at some of the descriptions I read. Average caring people claiming the description of “enemy within.” Owning their love of country and willingness to defend democracy!
Trump’s “day of love” line was also trending. It was awesome to see how quickly his garbage lies on Univision turned into fuel for folks to trash because they are actively paying attention. I’m never impressed with social media and it is no substitute for the free press but honestly enjoyed the hell out of it yesterday. More factual smart content in many places than that NYT rag.
I’m gonna go see if #Iamstillspeaking is trending. Because I am. And so is my choice for President.
YES! 78 WHITE woman here! I've been thinking of myself as "vermin" and now as "the enemy within"! Wearing those titles proudly!🌊💙🇺🇲
YES! 80+ year old woman here! “The enemy within”! Love that title. 💙
Childless cat lady wearing pearls and Converse now proudly a vermin enemy within. LOL! That's me!
Susan, I'm not normally a tee-shirt fan, but I will get one if it says "I am the enemy within." Let me google it.
Great idea! I already have 3 great T's. Not sure I'll have enough time to wear another one before the election! :-) I'm 71 and the neat thing is that everywhere I go, young people smile at me and give me a thumbs up! It's so much fun!
maybe the tee shirt could have three bullet points under the headline:
--immigrant
--Democrat
--female
Sheila B- thank you.
Sheila, the only quibble I have with your great comment is that I disagree that social media is no substitute for the free press. First, there is no free press anymore. It's all owned by Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk and their ilk, greedy corporate billionaire MAGA nuts. And social media, however much I dislike it, IS the substitute for what was once the free press. It's still sort of free, only lightly censored by Musk so far, and open and receptive to waves of people's thinking, which I can share in. It's horribly effective.
How about a T-shirt with a "word cloud" floating up all these terms "Groomer" "Enemy Within" "CommunistSocialistMarxist" "RINO" "Pet Eater" "Election Rigger" "Witch Hunter" "Childless Cat Lady" etc etc
"I am a 78 year old white retired grandma of 6. I care about LGTBQ rights, social justice, and the climate. I am the enemy within.” Wow!! Harris campaign and Lincoln Project need to jump on that approach!!!
I was in Hollywood the other day on Vermont Ave and saw a store with wonderfully-crafted tote bags, t-shirts, etc. saying "Childless Cat Lady". Take that, MAGA!!!
It seems to me that “interruptions” have become the stock and trade of the propaganda media and in politicians intent on serving up false talking points to the exclusion of factual discussion. The better you are at interrupting, the less information the other side ccan convey. Trump, Vance, Fox, LimbUgh all are great interrupters and can control the narrative. But Democrats are learning how to defend against them by not yielding the floor. Its a verbal staredown. Pete Buttigieg is great at this; talking over the interrupter relentlessly, not giving ground to “rude”. Its a skill set
Harris has learned this tactic well. Beating the scum at their own game
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett also does well at holding the floor.
Harris has mastered this tactic.
"Talking over non-stop" is something that Kellyanne Conway and other MAGAts do. One needs to fight off the socialization of politeness, stop listening, and stay on course. It also takes some discipline in being able to breathe while speaking so that there is no break in the flow of words. You might not get heard, but the other guy doesn't get heard either, at least. I would only recommend this technique when confronting a MAGA BS Bully as they provide nothing to listen to anyway. I stopped watching Sunday shows precisely because hosts just let these gaslighters go on and on without interruption or fact-checking. It's a waste of time. Better to sleep in....
Sunday shows? What are those? Oh, yeah, I remember now...
A relative wrote me that he thought VP Harris was light on details and "argumentative" in the interview on FOX. This man hates Trump and will, I expect, vote for Harris. He has a Ph.D. and was a college professor for 40 years. But these gendered expectations of discourse run deep and die hard. Kamala Harris, seems to me, to be negotiating this language landscape with great skill. She shouldn't be required to teach us decency and ethics in communication in rhetoric. But when we designate our Presidents as commanders-in-chief, should we not also benefit from their understanding of how to speak as adults with dignity and force. Trump's decade in the public discourse has taught us one way of talking to and with one another and that is toxic, hateful, dishonest, and mean. Let's listen and learn from our next rhetorician-in-chief.
This is particularly interesting to me because this morning on NPR I listened to men saying that Harris would most likely become emotional in a crisis. The only emotion I've seen her display is joy. I'm not surprised that the Ph.D. you cite called her "argumentative". I'm just surprised he did not also call her "uppity".
right, because that's what women do, right? the women who gave birth to 8.5 billion people? the women who go to combat? the women who run mega corporations? Women like Golda Meir and Angela Merkel? Emotional wrecks, every one of them...
Better emotional than cold/heartless/unfeeling/remote/checked-out/numb.....That is emotion-less.
And "emotional" SHOULD NOT mean "hysterical" or "uppity" or "shrewish" although this is how it gets spun in a pejorative, demeaning way. Emotional means "having access to emotions" and thus having them available for discourse, for empathy, and for integration with thoughts/ideas and other perspectives. For consensus. In the Trump world of Group Think the only emotion is that of fear that the leader is not being pleased or mirrored such that one could be excommunicated from the group. There's tons of research on how bad a way that is as a model for leadership and decision-making within an organization; within a political context Group Think is nothing more than Fascism, where the leading emotions are sadistic rage and manic grandiosity.
And can you imagine Trump NOT becoming emotional (primarily with rage and self-pity) in a crisis?
You mean like calling nations "Shit-hole countries"; or wanting to gas protesters and shoot them in the legs; or wanting to stop Covid testing so the numbers wouldn't get bigger and make him look bad; or saying "So What?" when Pence and his family were in danger; or threatening to attack North Korea with Fire & Fury the world has never known? Trump's entire being is fueled by rage, vindictiveness, grandiosity, greed, dominance, hostility. And with virtually no impulse control. It is as bad as it can get. The members of Dr. Bandy Lee's clinical team scored Trump with a 34 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, and that is 34 out of 40, a score indicating extreme risk of aggressiveness. (He "aced" that test, too!) By contrast, the average score for an inmate in a maximum security setting is only 22. So tell me how Trump keeps getting a pass as some kind of avatar on the economy, as a master of the immigration issue, as a source of control in the world arena, and as the "protector of Women & father of IVF"? LOL
I will look for the NPR piece. If anyone has a link, can you send to me at rbhubbell@gmail.com? thanks!
The NPR piece is here:
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/18/nx-s1-5153404/have-double-haters-changed-their-minds-about-the-presidential-candidates
The "emotional" comment happens at about the 8:20 mark, but better to start at about 8:06 to get the lead-up.
😡🤷🏽♀️
Your PhD friend is interesting. No woman, no woman, let me repeat, no woman, can be strong in public discourse. Your PhD friend said the PhD version of "But she's so mean!" and "She's acting like a man!" and "I don't like it when Mommy doesn't smile!" Notice that Harris has been smiling, laughing (god forbid!), and making nice for the last 70 days? Only now have we got a glimpse of the steel underneath. Don't worry, it's there. But she's smart enough not to show it to those of us who can't take it. Don't worry, she won't scare you. But it'll be there when the U.S. and the world need it. I sort of pity Putin and Netanyahu.
And when she laughs they make fun of her laugh!!!!
It is just the fact of her "being" that they despise, and that is just racism and misogyny. For these folks it doesn't matter what she "does" or what she is capable of. Fortunately we appreciate her and will support her. She brings a lot to the table!!!
I do not identify with the “us” that Trump taught how to talk with toxicity. We bore witness and finally now have a representative about to achieve the highest office in the land.
Can we spell SEXISM? That PhD guy is emblematic of how deeply entrenched sexism is in our society, despite our progress, and even among otherwise progressive and good-hearted men. The Women’s Movement started teaching us more than 60 years ago how to speak with dignity, force, and respect. How often do we still see the presumptive “mankind” and “he” for he/she/their? Let the “us” who are men listen and learn from the gentle reminders repeatedly issued by the women who work with them and love them nevertheless. Catch up with the times.
Gratitude....
I find myself wondering if there's a practical way for VP Harris to sit for a Times interview (perhaps not the editorial board) and put their silliness to bed. I'd hate to see it as capitulation, but much like the Baier ambush, she could show her fearlessness and command of the facts. Despite the underlying misogyny and racism (latent or otherwise) of the media's coverage, I think she presents herself extremely well without playing the victim or the dragonslayer of those biases.
Strong people don't give in to terrorists. She'll have 4-8 years to decide when the NYT is worthy of her time and energy.
I agree with the first part, and fervently hope for the second.
will you forget about the Times? it needs to go out of business. Imagining that Harris should find a "way to sit for the Times" is like criticizing her because she never learned to ride a dinosaur. Put it to rest. Move on. You'll like the 21st century!
I'm not imagining it, just wondering. Right now, despite our disdain for NYT's reporting, headlines, and editorials, it is still influential. We ignore that fact at our peril. I would never advocate her going to NYT, hat in hand, and ask to be heard. She could, however, call one of their more objective reporters with a scoop.
Newspapers are a sadly dying breed kept alive by an aged demographic increasingly alienated by the papers’ profit driven bias in purporting to report the news.
Kamala Harris and her campaign are finding today’s influential media.
They are doing the typical things but also the more hip and potent things. It's like the whole food-truck/pop-up world. Go to where the people are hungry; if you feed them well, they will send their friends, who will send their friends, etc. At that point, you need more trucks, because there are always hungry people who appreciate good food!! Kamala is, in this lingo, the Pitmaster of the moment!!!
“Newspapers are a sadly dying breed kept alive by an aged demographic …” —
As part of that demographic, I ask: what is going to replace newspapers? How will Americans, already woefully ignorant about public affairs, get the wherewithal to make informed, intelligent choices about public affairs?
We’ve gone through more than enough dumbing-down of the electorate. Even if you don’t like major newspapers, what do you think will replace them? Tik-Tok?
I have loved newspapers. Today’s are not the trustworthy ones I’ve read my whole life. News reporters and journalists seem to be finding other media, particularly short form videos, though main stream media are largely similarly chasing the click bait. MSNBC is usually okay. More and more journalists are freewheeling on Substack.
Wondering is good...It leads to discourse and the weighing of ideas, of other wonderings. In reading this exchange, I don't think she should rush to reward the NYT bullying and demeaning coverage with a sit-down interview. Their coverage is biased enough. I think if Harris could pick the reporter--- maybe. Look, to put it in perspective-- she said yes to sit down with Fox!! They haven't been generous exactly, but there are some lost or uncommitted people in the Fox bubble who will never otherwise get to hear her. And they did hear her!! She pointed out to the Fox audience exactly how they get manipulated via selective editing!! I heard that Fox "corrected" the error a day later, but in real time that was like Toto pulling back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz!!!
Great response, Harvey. It's empowering, solving the world's problems, one word or sentence at a time!
Or even a well-timed grunt or rebel yell!!! LOL
Thanks Bob!!
Why should she? They would just write an article about how difficult it was for them to get her to sit down with them and omit completely the substance her answers.
Read today in The Washington Spectator:
In excerpts from Clara Bingham's book (on the Women’s Movement) published this week in The Washington Spectator, we learn that in Shirley Chisholm's early years in politics, first as a candidate and later as a member of the NY State Assembly, she continually faced skepticism and prejudice.
"Of the two handicaps, being black is much less of a drawback than being female," she observed with characteristic directness.
https://www.parnassusbooks.net/book/9781982144210
Wow.
What Christina said
Every voice, of every person of colour, that speaks with clarity and vision, is music to my old, white male ears. No, the future must never be interrupted.
Kathleen, thanks so much for posting this!! It's excellent and highlights the necessity of diversity and democracy!
This is really, really excellent. You have made my day. Thank you.
For historians out there, what are examples of countries that did “go back” and likely are still paying a price?
Beautifully said. Thank you. I come from a family where women were encouraged to excel. My grandmother had a PhD (1915). Both of her daughters had them, and my aunt, in particular, was a big shot in her field. My sister, now retired, was responsible for getting all of Fairfax County, VA, vaccinated against COVID.
And I'm thrilled with Kamala Harris. The day after Biden passed the torch, I made a HARRIS bumper sticker for my car, because I realized Biden had done what needed to be done, and that Kamala Harris was more than ready to be the nominee.
I've said time and again that Biden is the best president of my lifetime, which began the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration. But I expect Kamala Harris to outdo him, and I say that not to dismiss him, as I'm well aware that he helped make her what she is today, by making a team of the two of them, and she rose to the occasion. The Fox interview is more evidence of her excellence and readiness. I will be more than grateful to have her negotiating with foreign leaders on our behalf.
Beautifully stated. Your post nailed what I've been trying to put into words. Thank you.
Very well put! Thank you.
Brilliant. And having experienced this too many times to enumerate, the only way to be heard in such situations is to YELL...which then is used against us. But you are correct: we are not done speaking.
omg I love Giridharadas' words!
Wow! This is a beautifully powerful piece. Thank you for sharing.
"The future will not be interrupted. They don’t want to hear voices not their own. But those voices are growing louder. They think the country will be lost when more people speak. But we know the country will actually come more fully than ever into its own when we all speak. And we’re not done speaking."
Is that you Kathleen or Anand? Because that is amazing and inspiring!!!
I think what would complete the process is that not only do we need to speak freely but we need others to listen respectfully. It has value and meaning that we speak but will they listen? And does that matter? I would say that Kamala Harris took the situation in hand live on air and fought to be heard, fought to fact-check Fox's ruse in real time, and stepped boldly into a hostile arena. Just BEING THERE was a powerful expression. Would Trump go on MSNBC to face Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O'Donnell or Joe Scarborough? I doubt it.
His … I wish they were mine!
Well, thanks for posting it and making it "ours".
Anand is truly gifted and brave.
Am I the only person who did not have the image of M78 in today's newsletter? I look forward to the daily beautiful images more than I would have ever imagined!
Robert, I share your disappointment with the NYT. A subscriber for many years, I cancelled my subscription in June. And, with the new editorial regime at WAPO, they will also soon be gone...perhaps to celebrate a Harris victory. Too much excellent work on Substack to waste money on click-bait MSM. I assume I am far from being alone in that opinion. Step up and make your voice ($) heard.
I failed to include it. I will do so tonight. I stayed up too late writing the newsletter and failed to hit the final "upload" button. If it is any consolation, I uploaded the image in mind. Just not in the newsletter.
I noticed the missing M78, too. I'll look forward to seeing it!
Yes. WAPO followed the same lame and blatantly misleading script as the NYT. I watched the full FOX interview on YouTube, and I was shocked to read the superficial and incorrect “reporting” by WAPO. I believe the reporter is based in London (?), but that shouldn’t matter. I was a professional journalist who worked at two major dailies back in the day. I agree with Robert’s assessment wholeheartedly. These paper dinosaurs are writing their own epitaphs.
Dinosaurs says it all. They belong in a museum, not on your breakfast table.
No image of M78 on my page either, Neil. But, Robert, you given us enough joy and awe with your pictures to last a long while. Don't worry about resurrecting the photo if the image is lost. We've waited 1,350 light years for the image to reach us, we can let it rest until after the election.
Your criticism of how Kamala Harris's Fox News "interview" was conducted AND reported falsely is right on and heart breaking, a sign that we have already moved to the pliant press that characterizes an autocracy, no matter who is self-styled as right, left or mainstream.
I also urge the community to look at the Univision town hall with Trump. Simon Rosenberg posted the Univision interview exchange with Ramiro Gonzalez. Mr Gonzalez asked Trump tougher, more sincere questions than most that were asked in the debate, as he cogently invited Trump to "win back his vote." As you noted Trump regarded Mr. Gonzalez with disdain and then waffled on the answer. He acted like a bad AI program. No human connection. Not even a hint that he even understood the question's direction.
And you are right the audience shots were telling. No one was buying what the grifter was selling. Ramiro Gonzales should be on all the talk shows. Seeing this clip, you realize that there must be citizens all over the country who have come to realize the character of Trump and that he is not running for or working for Americans. For some that won't matter, but I would be shocked if Trump’s disdain was lost on the Town Hall audience in the room with him and the 3 million people watching.
I have been disgusted by the NYT since I started paying close attention during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. I finally stopped subscribing only recently.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_78
Neil, put the NYT and WaPo out of business! Don't go back! We're not going back.
I did not get the image either.
Neil- I didn’t have the image of M78 either…
I didn't have the image either.
Robert, Thank you for being a voice those of us who have left the NYT and WaPo and other corporate media can count on.
The thing is, it’s not just the NYT and WaPo. Check out the BBC coverage of the interview:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj4qyxlxn1o
Completely omit the “enemy within” segment. What is going on?
Oh, my god. It's hard to believe, but the BBC piece was worse. Not even Access Hollywood quality, but Maury Povich fake fights between guests.
AARP Bulletin sane washed Trump answers in an article about both candidates positions. Trump claimed he loves Social Security and Medicare and would never, ever touch them. Seems he has said the opposite elsewhere. The editors chose to print his answers, with corrections to make them intelligible, allowing Trump lies to stand unquestioned. A great disservice to those depending on Social Security and Medicare.
I refused to join AARP after they knuckled under on the first prescription drug plan. It’s an insurance agency, not a social-welfare organization.
Didn’t they endorse Bush Junior? I also refuse them.
Terry, please write them and complain vigorously. A small thing like the AARP Bulletin is likely still to be vulnerable to reader complaints.
Well, I am not subscribed to BBC, but when The Guardian started sounding too much like the media I stopped subscribing to, I wrote complaints about each article that I felt was doing what the Corporate media was doing, and questioned whether I would continue giving them money when they were no different than what I had left them for. I feel that I saw a switch after about 3 consistent complaints, and listing what I wanted to see, like a discussion of Project 2025, and Trump's frailties should get equal time.
However, at this point if I don't ever read about Trump again I would be so happy.
Instead, I am slogging through Project 2025 Document with my Democrats Abroad book club. The BBC is supposed to be independent too. I suggest writing a complaint and asking them.
Linda, always love your posts, and I too feel that my consistent letter-writing to The Hill has possibly resulted in a slight, very slight, increase in fairer reporting. At least once in a while they give a normal analysis of both sides. The other day they actually wrote a whole article about Kamala Harris. It may be my imagination, but I will keep writing. My emails can be pretty vicious when they do their pure mealy-mouthed Trump worship. But when I can, I write one thanking them for doing normal reporting, and requesting more of it.
Thank you Christina. The press of any kind needs to feel our fear and anger as they succumb to the horrid journalistic climate that is being cultivated. They also need to hear what we want them to be writing about. Consistent letter writing is powerful. By thanking them when they have done a good job you are telling them what you want from them. It is powerful.
Linda where did you get either a full 900 page book of Project 2025, or maybe you have a link to a site with the whole thing? Could you please share? Thank you!
Hi Garvey,
Here is a link to the full pdf of the Mandate for Leadership which is what the book part of Project 2025 is. https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
My Democrats Abroad Project 2025 book club group will be discussing Chapters 15 Department of Housing and Urban Development and Chapter 16 Department of the Interior next week. We have been skipping around but have read and discussed 16 of the 30 chapters and the Forward so far. We have also read The Atlantic articles summarizing the content, and many other articles relating to things we have been discussing in a Signal group. We have also been looking at the government websites for the charts showing the different branches of the Departments, and the Andra Watkins Substack How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/
for the Christian Nationalist explanations of Project 2025 because the document is written by Christian Nationalists. I think many are part of the Charismatic Christian Nationalists sect who are part of the New Apostolic Reformation. Why that is important is they have different End-of-Days beliefs than regular CNs who just believe that God is coming for them soon to take them to heaven and leave the rest of us sinners behind. However NARs are more sinister because they believe that God will only come for them when everyone is living a godly life as they define it. They are compelled by God to force that on us. That transcends any following of the law or the constitution.
We are also reading parts of Defeat Project 2025, and other sources for background on the writers of Project 2025.
https://defeatproject2025.org/
I am also going to recommend this talk from 2023 by Prof. Kathleen Belew from last year. Her book Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America was transformative in my understanding of what was going on January 6. She gives us insight into the militarization of segments of our society and traces it back to the Vietnam War. Here she is giving a talk that discusses some of what is in her book. https://youtu.be/RzicRdX0tYg?si=jYHhOJLSd7H3QqM8
There is a podcast where Belew is interviewed here which starts around 11 minutes in, it is more recent from around 7 months ago and goes more in depth into connecting into the open war on the government.
https://youtu.be/XsdhW-NiRMw?si=AXMUak1550IAUWoK&t=660
Legacy newspapers such as the NY Times are no longer the influencers of yesteryear. Kamala Harris did a great job of going into the Fox “News” lion’s den and landing takedowns with perfectly classy assertiveness. With more than 7 million viewers, she drew 3 times the number of viewers that show normally gets. Clearly people were curious, and she represented herself very well for reaching prospective voters.
https://www.threads.net/@brianstelter/post/DBP1AeatF0k?xmt=AQGz1LHE26XYDv27KjHaJW1s4CUZHqcoRIPFsd9i7qPoYQ
Speaking of New York, here’s an opinion of why Trump is rallying at Madison Square Garden on October 27–to support MAGA candidates for contested House seats. New York has 7 such seats:
https://www.threads.net/@marklevinenyc/post/DBPyCVmNThY?xmt=AQGzpStmV0xPSYOBX5FKY0VM018GH6i4m4ZGEzUESXktxw
What can we do? Support Dem-winnable House candidates as much as possible and as soon as possible with donations and/or volunteer work to Get Out The Vote:
https://letsgodems.nyc/
More we can do.
FT 5 and Movement Labs are still registering Democrats in selected states. Yesterday texted to unregistered Pennsylvanians. https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/
DNC Anytime Training signup link (call on your schedule!) Share the link with your own message in an email or text: https://events.democrats.org/event/551644/
To share on any platform, just click on the link and share from there!
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/reel/8700220780030813
BlueSky
https://bsky.app/profile/call-crew-dems.bsky.social/post/3l6i7ek7ar422
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@call_crew_dems/video/7425650523291897134?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7424214167135847966
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBG_lriP8g0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Threads
https://www.threads.net/@call.crew.dems/post/DBG_rxuPmXf?xmt=AQGzH2vwgsu0KMyELxy40VA_BGr_rfvPhmMhy7wZvrz0aQ
YouTube
https://youtube.com/shorts/md3j9XPeOeA?feature=shared
We have the capacity to flip Trump 2020 voters. . https://rvat.org/
Place comments on social media...."Not suckers or losers" to vets groups, military, military dependents, history sites. Vote vets has thousands of testimonials of 2020 Trump voters that flipped. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans or active duty members on Facebook, and 12.5 million family members of veterans or active duty members on Facebook.
Trump hates dogs. Pet/animal charity sites.
Trump stole from kids with cancer.
Don't slit your own throat.
In your gut you know he's nuts.
P.S. Len Lubinsky has a great dive into the 6 Democratic seats across the whole U.S. that we need to defend to win the House for Kamala Harris—which ultimately means for our freedoms, our families, and our futures! Find his newsletter of 10/17/24:
https://lenspoliticalnotes.com/lens-political-note-678-defending-six-democratic-seats-in-the-house-and-more/
Ellie, I loved "perfectly classy assertiveness!" Harris got 7.1 m views, and I read that the Trump Fox show around the same time got 2-point-something million views. Maybe she should go on again (not really)!
You’ll appreciate Mark Cuban’s take on Kamala’s Fox interview:
https://x.com/mcuban/status/1846783351278944439?s=46&t=G1vnalQqxYifVbjonWfCIA
Robert - At 4:30a EST, the Times has the following lead for their election section, situated well down on the home page - "Trump’s Meandering Speeches Motivate His Critics and Worry His Allies".
By their current standard that reporting honestly on Trump's issues is "D cheerleading", I guess this is a better lead than their norm. Of course, they often implied 10s of millions of Americans were concerned about Joe's cognitive status. With Trump it's apparently just critics and supporters concerned about his ability to deliver a sequential speech. Nothing for normal people to be concerned about!
I think your quote from Sulzberger catches the essence of their failure. He's decided reporting accurately on the stakes of this election, and fully coming to grips with Trump, is taking sides. How he and his editors have convinced themselves that pretending to some Olympian detachment is an act of nobility for which they're being persecuted by rabid D partisans is beyond my ken.
I'm glad you and other Substackers are reading the Times for us. That is an actual noble sacrifice for your readers! :-)
Comment 1: If you need some encouragement please watch Thursday's event at Washington Crossing on the YouTube channel "Kamala". The event was Republicans for Harris. It was held on a beautiful farm on a beautiful early autumn day near where Washington crossed the Delaware. Speakers included Olivia Troye, Adam Kinzinger, the couple who own the farm, and then VP Harris. She gave a very forceful, eloquent, and emotional speech in defense of our Democracy and what we must do in the days. I had tears in my eyes.
Comment 2: Early voting in Detroit begins tomorrow, October 19. For the rest of Michigan early voting begins October 26. I always put this information in my postcards, telling recipients to vote early and go to iwillvote.com for details.
Comment 3: Michelle Obama, our Forever First Lady, will be in Atlanta on Tuesday, October 29 for a GOTV rally. (whenweallvote.org)
Comment 4: President Obama, after the rally in Madison with Tim Walz on October 22, will go to Tucson for a rally with Ruben Gallego at a date to be determined. I learned this from Simon Rosenberg's interview with Ruben on Hopium Chronicles.
I would love some Halloween and Autumn photos - Maybe some of Jill's flower arrangements. Thank you.
Thanks, Linda. I echo you, 💯🩵
Today’s Edition is the longest I have ever read and it is packed full of great comments as well as a big dose of indignation.
I live in a retirement community and yesterday early voting started. It was amazing to me how many fellow residents went and voted the first day, posted pictures of them voting. I went to the supermarket yesterday and for the first time saw many cars with Harris stickers on them. I watched all the Trump “ interviews” and watch the audience faces as Trump lies with looks that say “ are you kidding me”. The Univision questioners gave me hope that more people than we think are not buying Trump’s lies. We can win this
Robert, I am sorry you are so upset by the NYT. The rage I noted fuming out of your ears led me to stop to share my empathy as best as possible.
Yesterday I saw Nate Silver and Newsweek squaking their dribble. But I have learned to be nonreactive to their dribble. And you have helped teach me to further to mostly observe and remain focused.
This morning I embrace my first shift ever as a Poll Observer (in NC). I have my own fears of being inadequate. Fake until you make it somewhat syndrome.
You have far more life experience and wisdom than me. And a far greater reach. I hope you can also find some solace in community.
Joe, thanks for getting out of your comfort zone. This sounds wimpy, but it's true--I dread phonebanking, but I have been doing it. What I tell myself is, "This is nothing like what's going to be required of me if Trump wins this election. That's so much harder and scarier that I just need to put my head down and keep going."
Hi Ellen and Joe, What you share resonates with me. I've been out canvassing in my community for our county Dems. I often feel outside my comfort zone but find that talking to people, when they are willing to talk, gives me some hope. With that said, I find it discouraging to arrive at a door and see the scowl and closed off attitude of a likely Trump voter. Civility is what is missing in our society today, and that begins with recognizing that we will all be part of what comes next. Onward...
I so agree with you that civility is missing. I live in a small town in western MA that is 50/50 Harris/Trump. Of course, MA is a solid blue state so I don't worry about that. But recently on a busy street near me, someone posted a sign that read, "If you hurt my kids because you are speeding, you won't need a lawyer" I was shocked! Is that level of vitriol really necessary? Most people who are concerned about cars speeding, display a sign that says, "Slow down, please. Kids playing" My Harris/Walz sign is still up. In 2020, someone stole my Biden/Harris sign.
Still writing hundreds of postcards and plan to keep it up until all the deadlines have passed.
Crystal, so telling. There is a scorn and disregard for the law that lives in so many people these days. Where did it come from and how do we counter it, as a community?
Ellen, my grandparents were immigrants from Poland. I just checked that Poland is in the EU. It is. If I apply for dual citizenship, and get a Polish passport to accompany my American one, I can go live freely in any EU country. We all need a Plan B. Although I am throwing my heart over--we won't need Plan B, because Plan A will work!
Thank you Robin & Ellen. Other types of volunteering seem to invoke little fear now. They ask you to arrive 30 min early. I am more punctual now as just one learns in life (I still confuse friends now that only recall my perennial tardiness).
Apparently I arrived actually 53 min early (I signed up to observe within 20 miles of my home and this is maybe 8 miles). The election judge had not even arrived. They barely had begun to setup and only 3 folks were there thus far. They looked at my id and politely asked me to come back in at 740...
To update the Poll Observer chronicle followers, this is a very slow (but also brand new) EV location.
I was able to help a family resolve a couple issues that came up when they voted...they were chatting at length near me outside. It is encouraged for me to query in such a scenario. And now all is good with a wife & husband, and their son that lives elsewhere in NC.
Heather Cox Richardson wisely notes today: "The Christian nationalists who wrote Project 2025 want to destroy the federal government so they can put in place an authoritarian who will force Americans to live under religious rule. Tech elites like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel want to get rid of the federal government so they can control the future without having to worry about regulations. "
Musk, of course, doesn’t entirely want to *get rid of* the federal government: his Space X operates off federal funds.
Natives Can Be The Difference In 2024
“Back in 2023, it was already being projected that Indigenous voters were a major factor to be considered in 2024. Record Indigenous voter turnout changed Arizona's presidential election outcome in 2020.
NPR reported the projected 5 million Native and Alaska Native-identifying 2024 voters in both rural and urban communities was expected to be an underestimation of the potential impact.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/thinkbigpicture/p/ignored-no-more-indigenous-voters?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I haven’t done NEAZ Native Dem phone banks yet,although they are my fave postcarding group as they pair voters with a local native organizer.Very effective !
https://neaznativedemocrats.org/
Phonebanking opportunities are available:📲
https://www.mobilize.us/aznativeorganizingcampaign/
I attach here Sulzberger's email and my email to him.
sulzbergera@nytco.com.
I also attach an email that removes my personal data which I hope many readers will copy and send to him as well. It might make it harder for him to relegate our communications to spam and might force him to read it. (Of course, that may be like 'pissing in the wind' But I still think it is worth doing.
I am a physician psychiatrist. Daily, I am appalled by your coverage of the election. You derisively say you are not there to support candidates. Frankly, that is ‘rich’ coming from you and a paper that has promoted a criminal almost daily, and that is derelict in not reporting in bold headlines the obvious deterioration and confusing of a criminal running for President. You went after Biden with a vengeance! Any slip was reported in bold headlines. You report, many times in small print, what Harris is doing and what she says. “Light on policy” has become your mantra. I immigrated from South Africa IN 1967 - yes - from a shithole country as the criminal would say. The English press there was brave in the fact of banning, arrests, deportations. Meanwhile at the TIMES, you and your staff seem to sit in an ivory tower ignoring the danger the criminal poses to the country and ignoring the policy positions we DO know from Harris, or in bold headlines proclaiming the success of the US economy and the delusional characterization of the failure of every action Biden/Harris took to effectively create the strongest economy in the world.
Daily, I am appalled by your coverage of the election. You derisively say you are not there to support candidates. Frankly, that is ‘rich’ coming from you and a paper that has promoted a criminal almost daily, and that is derelict in not reporting in bold headlines the obvious deterioration and confusing of a criminal running for President. You went after Biden with a vengeance! Any slip was reported in bold headlines. You report, many times in small print, what Harris is doing and what she says. “Light on policy” has become your mantra. . At the TIMES, you and your staff seem to sit in an ivory tower ignoring the danger the criminal poses to the country and ignoring the policy positions we DO know from Harris, or in bold headlines proclaiming the success of the US economy and the delusional characterization of the failure of every action Biden/Harris took to effectively create the strongest economy in the world.
Here’s what is going on, in my opinion: The media don’t expect anything from Trump, so don’t challenge him. But having high expectations for Democrats (Biden, Harris), media feel free to criticize, thus creating an imbalance, a de facto bias.
To the extent that media reportage influences voting, so-called objective reporting tips the scales toward Trump and Republicans.
I did a couple of hours' calling for Kamala yesterday. We were calling an easy list: People who have donated. We were asking them to do phone-banking. I continue to be amazed at how many people are willing to pitch in. (Well, some of them need a little selling, but not much.) I am as impressed with reasons why people can’t join us. Yesterday, I spoke to a man who recently had eye surgery and still has trouble reading, a cancer patient who does not have the strength, a 91 year-old woman who doesn’t have enough energy (she sounded pretty sharp to me), and a guy who was in the hospital when we talked. None of them needed to tell me those things—to people who just said no, I replied by thanking them and asking that they make sure all their friends and family vote the right way, and actually vote. (I tell them that that’s the best campaigning.) But that people explain why they can’t help shows their dedication and enthusiasm. We need to bring this one home. There are too many people, including yours truly, who are counting on Kamala.
Let's all cancel our subscriptions to NYTimes en masse. I did-- with a terse note. Not sending these hacks another penny.
sorry, I don't see the telescopic photo today. I look for those first nowadays.
Superficial is the key word to describe the NYT, and not just in their coverage of politics, but in all of their articles that seek to describe what is glamorous at the moment.They don’t seem to know how to go beneath the surface where the meaning of things are.
The NYT is just unbelievable! Thank you for keeping the important news in the forefront and keeping us all informed!