As a single parent, the union I worked for (45 years) made it possible for me to make a living wage and earn a pension. That's what union work will do for people. It provides health care for families as well. Management doesn't like to pay more because they want to reward their CEO's with bigger bonus's and so much more than that. It's control from the supply side. Follow the money. It's never enough for them. Reagan didn't like unions and Dunald often talks about how great he was. Support union labor!
Maybe we are finally seeing a crack in the myth that Trump is "good" for working class people.
I never understood that in the first place - a supposed billionaire with a reputation for stiffing contractors in the building trades and using undocumented and/or HB1 visa-holding workers in the hospitality areas? How does that say "he's our man!" to blue collar folks?
In addition, Project 2025 is toxic for public school teachers and many of them are in unions -even in "right to work" states. IIRC, Andy Beshears got elected as Governor of KY the first time, because the GOP Governor at the time made the mistake of trying to break the teacher's union!
If you haven't seen it, I heartily recommend VP Harris's speech at UAW last week. She compared unions with our democracy in very compelling terms. Very powerful message.
Union supported the benefits which supplement Social Security in retirement. The current GOP is advocating cuts in Social Security Benefits, Health Care Coverage, and programs which lead to higher cost pharmacuticals. This is not working for "we the people" yet those in genral population advocating for the GOP do not hear or comprehend the goals of that party to overturn the constitution and prevent the work of a well functioning democracy.
I have been a union member for 22 years with the SEIU. As a social worker we were service workers and that union got us overtime when the county wanted to deny it because we were exempt. Of course this only worked when all the supervisors as a group refused to continue after hours support that was required by law. I love union.
I agree. I was a member of AFSCME and then NEA all my working life and that made it possible for me to support my family and have a comfortable retirement.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are affirming a positive kind of masculinity that is the antithesis of Trumpian toxic masculinity. This aligns with the Harris-Walz forward-looking hope and joy, promotion of freedoms of choice and self-expression, and protection of civil rights--in contrast to MAGA Republican dystopia, grievances, vengences, and Project 2025 cuts, repeals, and roll backs of popular progressive programs of the Democrats.
On 8/13/24, Chris Hayes interviewed Rebecca Traister on her article “Tim Walz, Doug Emhoff, and the Nice Men of the Left.” They talked about men who are secure in their masculinity so as to support and partner with women in leadership--actualizing the feminist concept of egalitarianism that was the foundation of the Women's Movement 60 years ago. (Wish I could gift the article or find a link to the interview!)
Ellie, while I agree that Harris and Walz are representing the progressive middle of the country, in other words, "We Won't Go Back," I do not consider Walz and Emhof to be left. I know what left is. I currently live in a country that has an active Left party and one of my mom's school friend's is in it. I know what the left stands for. Tim, and Doug are mainstream Americans to me. It is unfortunate that the Dems have let the Republicans get away with calling them left when the truth is that the Republican Party is so far to the right, that they are off the chart. Relative to them Dems might seem like the Left, but make no mistake, the Democratic party is in the center, and even the Left wing of it is not "The Left."
Hi Terry, I know what your son means. I live in Germany most of the time, and if you live in a country that insists on health care for all, and public university is free, both the left and the right agree on these things, this is not what is debated. Andra Watkins's Substack made a compelling case for the reason that Biden cannot even relieve any Student Debt, because keeping it as part of the portfolios of securities investments, which don't make money if they aren't paid is a priority of the Trump government, which is far to the right of most other wealthy countries calling themselves democracies. https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/project-2025-the-republican-party
I am in a Democrats Abroad book club that is reading Project 2025. So far, I have read about 10 chapters plus the Forward. Yesterday we discussed the Department of Education section, and I shared what Andra Watkins had to say. If you think that is bad, this section lays out a plan to basically get rid of American public education. There will be no more Dept of Ed, or funding of public education nationally. Instead it will be all on the states. Seeing how the Red states have handled medical insurance when they are required to pay 10% of it and the federal government will pay the rest, can you imagine what Red states will do with no federal dollars coming to them for public schools? They will return to the situation during slavery where many people will be deprived of an education. At the same time they are instituting right to work laws for children. Dicken's America I call it. I see these states shutting public schools down, and selling the buildings to developers and charter schools. The federal government will instead give the money to parents directly and that will make home schooling White Christian nationalist families happy because with the huge families they have see Duggars of Shiny, Happy People infamy, who have like 18 children, they can then earn entire living just from having children and homeschooling them, and with no oversight I might add. I am not going to go too deeply into the education of children who live with parents that believe the end of days is super near, but believe me that does not involve math or reading, or science, or history. Just the Bible and slave labor. Not how I want my tax dollars to be spent. It will of course affect Blue States too. Even the home schooling parents won't get much help with their children who have serious learning and other needs. Even Hitler and Mussolini did not destroy public education although they did destroy their countries so perhaps it does not matter. However, for rebuilding it is important to have a functioning education system. Basically, the DOE section alone is a formula for turning the US into a third, perhaps even fourth world country. How productive can you be when the far right government caters to people who do not see any future, and will not be planning for it. How competitive? Where are the engineers coming from? The doctors? Not needed perhaps if there is no future. Also, no environmental legislation, in fact all terms for the environment should be purged according to them. That is a whole other story. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. In other countries even many on the right understand that global warming is real. So, Republicans are off the charts in their right wing ideology, and MAGAs are off the planet.
What will employers do--they OUGHT to want semi-educated (literate; can read and write, understand and use technology) employees, at the very least, I would think. How can people who make their money from the labor of other people want to destroy education???
We need to stress Project 2025's assault on public education. Good public schools and universities have been at the heart of any kind of economic and social progress individuals and families have made. The Republicans screech about elites while putting their own kids in prestigious private prep schools or well-funded suburban schools while city schools are underfunded, and small town schools go to 4-day-a- week classes to save money and rural schools disappear. The dumbing down of America is intentional and a multi-generational quest of Republicans. See Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USA that organizes college students to tell others that college is not worth it. Jess Piper, a literature teacher for 16 years and a rural Missouri citizen and one-time candidate for the legislature is eloquent on this issue. https://jesspiper.substack.com/
Yet, every red state governor or mayor brags about the quality of education in their domain to lure business and investment, even as they keep teachers pay low and underfund public education. They are all for rich schools on public dime for the wealthy. This is an issues that cuts across party lines.
“Even Hitler and Mussolini did not destroy public education…”
I don’t know what Mussolini did, but from the 1930s, Hitler and the Nazi party turned the public education system into a brainwashing machine. Civil servants were required to join the party, and that included school teachers and administrators. The curriculum promoted Nazi propaganda. Children pledged their lives to Der Führer and were to turn in their own parents for any dissidence. Ten years later, the Nazis had grown a generation of fanatical teenage soldiers conscripted into the army and who literally fought to the death for Hitler, or were shot or hung if they tried to run away.
Yes Ellie, all schools do some "brainwashing," that is why teaching is a Subversive action. It is what attracted me to the field. At the same time, look at Florida, that is a state in trouble. However, as the Germans and Italians brainwashed their populations in ways we don't agree with, when they lost, they still had a public school which could be recalibrated and educate children differently. In the USA, if we have no public education system, then if we ever get past the White Supremacist Christian Nationalist government that the MAGAs intend for us, it will be that much harder to rebuild our society. Just getting rid of school buildings alone will make it that much harder. So that is what I mean by they destroyed their countries, but schools continued to exist. That will not be the case here if they do as planned.
Thank you, Ellie. I have to admit I was so flabbergasted by that claim I didn't even know how to respond. You did it, by laying it out flat on a rock so it had to be seen.
Hear what Prof. Thomas Zimmer has to say about Project 2025. He is a professor of American history, currently at Georetown, and he spoke to Democrats Abroad at length about Project 2025. This is that moderated conversation.
Zimmer does not agree with comparing the US to Nazi Germany because he says that the US has its own ugly history that we can draw from to understand what is going on right now. Trump and Trumpism can just be compared to the American White Supremacist past and obviously present.
Forty Autumns, Nina Willner, is a true account of the author's mothers escape from East Germany at the age of 20. Her family faced the devastating challenges of a propagandized educational system.
Ms. Weide, yes!!! THIS^^^^^^^! I have often and often said that the REpubs in this country have dragged their party so far to the right that it left a vacuum where "moderate Repub used to be and the Dems, instead of holding firm where they were--allowed Clinton and Obama to slide the US right into that right of center void. So, yes...the so-called leftwing in this country is definitely NOT left! Even Bernie Sanders, bless him, would barely be considered leftwing over in Europe!
Whoa Linda. I am dizzy after that trip back and forth through Left and Right Land. It is all so subjective, and quite nebulous to me. Based on history of the French Parliament, I find the concept more often a tool for name calling when it is used. Like "conservative" referring to people hostile to our Constitution, words fall in and out of appropriateness quite often. To the chant, "We won't go back" , I find nothing left to be said but RIGHT ON, brothers and sisters, right on !
Jim, I might point out that I have not said anything that constitutes Leftland. Just center and for the most part right. Of course if these were not ideologies and just positions in relation to each other we could say Dems are Left, Republicans are Right. But, since I belong to those who understand "The Left" to stand for certain policies and beliefs, I do not think it is just a position on a line. For example, the Leftists that went to the Soviet Union during the cold war, were not representing the Democratic Party. Neither does the Left in Germany, which is pro Russian in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Social Democrats are solid supporters of Ukraine. Conservative in other countries means conserving of and not wasting. They don't like government or any other waste. That is not what Conservative means in the US. It means certain beliefs and has policy positions which currently are so extreme they do not fall in the bell curve of Normal. That is the Republican Party a this point. Whereas the Democrats are in the normal curve.
Well put, Margaret. I'm not much of one for labels, having watched too many of them used as an excuse for avoiding real discourse. But this one pretty much catches what is going on in the upper echelons of the far right (ie the Heritage Foundation). I think that when it comes to ordinary people, though, it becomes more tenuous. There are so many different "flavors" and factors involved, they don't really constitute a movement so much as a kind of statement of dissatisfaction. Those who engage in violence are engaging in violence, not an expression of philosophy.
Interesting, Linda. I met a Political Science Professor at a mid-western university during my trip to Ireland, and I was struck by the fact that he is not as positive about the upcoming election as I am. Some of his students are quite upset at his criticism of Trump. During the last semester and this upcoming semester this lovely man has, (and will!!!) for the first time in his career, mention(ed) his own politics during his classes, and has received texts and emails from his students saying that they are Trump fans. Some of the students have complained about him to the Administration of the University! I hope that Time Walz gets his mid-western message out to these students and to ALL students throughout the country.
However another article claims it is not so clear, but again it looks like research suggests that this divide is across wealthy countries. I remember reading an article about how S. Korean women are less likely to marry because they find the men too sexist it is not worth it to them. They just will do without and without having children. It seems like this is leading to them having the lowest birth rate in the world. We know that the response of the Republican party and that of governments in many authoritarian countries is to address the growing autonomy women are feeling with laws that force women to have babies even if raped by a stranger or family members. It is clear that there is a lot to research.
Ironic, isn't it, that the kind of progressivism that the right wing extremists oppose originated and grew in the midwest. What is encouraging right now is seeing those movements re-engage and re-emerge in the midwest again. What Trumpists do is make noise, and that gets attention. But quietly the progressives are building once again a grassroots progressive movement from the ground up. It may not show up for a while, but the more support we give it in the states where it is again sending up shoots, the more it will thrive and flourish.
Sadly true, Linda. I am hoping that we are coming to a time when the American people are shifting enough in how we view things that being "left" is no longer seen as a handicap. I see signs that that is starting to happen. One is the fact that this time around, women are recognized and supported as the center of our movement toward honest democracy. It will take time and work, and I may not live to see it in full fruition, but I think my children will.
Annie, if you want to understand where we are on that, I suggest you watch this talk that History Professor Thomas Zimmer gave to Democrats Abroad this past week, about Project 2025 to the end. https://youtu.be/IqpWMH5nkPw?si=hqM76C9fH1NJbCxx
Thanks, Linda. I am already following Project 2025 (and have for some time- I am a professional researcher), but will try to take a look. Multiple perspectives are important to grasp the nuances of any document or movement.
Ok, tried. Zimmer actually gave a very good overview of what not only Robert but many others and their followers have been talking about for years, and particularly this year. I could make a list, but it would be long- some on substack, some in media, others with more institutional roots, like Propublica and the Brennan Institute. Many many many grassroots organizations asking the same questions.
So my question for you is this: is all of this actually new to you, or do you think that it is new to us? Well, there are new folks coming in all the time with questions, and the Zimmer talk would be an excellent way for them to grasp some of the issues (some, not all) and the drivers behind them that we've been exploring for a long time now.
Where it went off-rail was when one of the questioners asked a really critical question: -->"What can we do about all this?". <--
Zimmer appropriately explained that he was a historian and not an organizer, and then went back into a deep downdive, and you all followed him. I had to leave then, and did not catch how the episode ended. I hope that you do a follow-up and invite some of the people who are actually DOING and teaching how we can head off the right wing aspirations. As Zimmer tried to say, you need to talk to some of those people. I'll try to pick up the ending later if I can.
One encapsulated the concept of decent vs. "toxic" masculinity for me. The poster said that Tim Walz was the guy you would ask to walk you back from a night class in college and Vance would be the reason why you wanted an escort.
so beautifully said, Ellie, thank you. You make a telling contrast. I am so hopeful that Harris will find the way to get the message across to regular folks--that Democratic values and plans will help everyday Americans and what Trump constantly rants about will hurt them badly. And speaking of purely toxic men, check out this Andrew Tate horror that Robert talks about today. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-andrew-tate-interview-1234786792/. This is the kind of man the MAGA people would put in positions of power.
Paywall work around: Here’s a snippet from Rebecca Traister’s article. Though I would not say that “male Democrats fall over one another in an effort to elect a woman to the presidency.”
There is an expression, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!!" I see NO reason for Harris to speak to the press! Why engage with a lazy group of journalists who now have an established record of total abdication (Except a few like Jennifer Rubin, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman and a couple of others) of any journalistic or patriotic responsibility. Everyone loves her!! Don't mess with a great thing!!
I also see no reason for Harris to speak to the press at this point. She has less than 100 days to speak to voters so let her do that. Let the media first address Trump’s behavior, including his lies, ignorant and hateful comments, slurs, and angry statements. She can speak to the media AFTER they have honestly and fully addressed his statements. Otherwise, they do not deserve her time.
Love that! Like a mom saying, "You can only have ice cream AFTER you apologize to your sister." As a nation we have to find a way to get the rogue MAGA press under control, or do away with them. I think the substack world has proven that we don't actually need 20th century media to disseminate news.
The media has become so lazy they can't even be bothered to look up what Vice President Harris policy positions are most likely to be. They just want a chance to write their critical hit columns and increase the clicks and views for their dying papers.
At its Convention, the Democratic Party will issue its Platform. That will, basically, articulate Kamala Harris’s views. Media can/should wait for the Platform.
I kinda think she has to, but she needs to do it on her own terms, when she has time to prepare for what will likely be an onslaught. Perhaps she could schedule the one she indicated she'd do at the end of the month, but even in doing that, she needs to anticipate criticism and explain that she's just a little busy right now, less than 4 weeks into a campaign that her opponent has been running since 2015.
Bob, I understand that candidates always "had to" have media press conferences, but it seems to me that everything has changed. Why does she have to? Yes, she needs to be accessible and to share with the public her positions, but why does that have to be through the media, who has abrogated all pretense at responsible behavior? Why not speak through rallies, events, televised news presentations, social media, websites? Or maybe choose one senior, calm, rational news personality, like Lawrence O'Donnell, and give that person the opportunity to ask her questions compiled from the other press types?
NO reason for Harris to speak to the MAGA media (the NYT, WaPo, Fox, even NPR). They will attack her, scream at her, distort everything she says, and use everything she says as baseball bats wielded viciously against her for the next 88 days. Why on earth would anyone do that? If they want to know her positions, they can come to her campaign rallies or websites and report on that. She should issue a statement: "Because of the total abdication (thank you, Derek) of the fourth estate in this country, I have decided not to attend any of their confrontations; but will be issuing weekly press statements where they can find my positions. They are, of course, always welcome at my public campaign events."
Agreed. Why should she? So they can criticize her for her answers? Right now she needs to create enthusiasm, and she sure isn't going to achieve that by having press conferences with phony journalists.
Someone down the comment line posted this short video of Kamala answering questions from people more important than the phony media. Check it out. You will want to share it!
I've seen similar things and it simply flabbergasts me that people seem oblivious to them. A few years ago I stood in my front yard in my Vermont village watching a flock of vultures (these are not small birds, and there were more than a dozen of them) ride a thermal above our neighborhood during migration season. The birds were enjoying catching the thermal and letting it lift them from a few feet above the maple tree by the sidewalk to a few hundred feet up, then drop and do it again.
I stood, my head back, for half an hour while neighbors strolled by on the sidewalk. Not one asked me what I was looking at. One man, paused and looked up over his shoulder while under the tree, but didn't stop to look at the sky. I do not get this lack of curiosity about the world they live in. In VERMONT, of all places. City people often do this because they are so overloaded they have to narrow their focus simply to navigate safely. But here?
I am in awe at the way the universe seems to have responded to our prayers. OK, I know we need to continue fighting without sleeping, as Coach Walz tells us, but the way this is unfolding is beyond worldly. Biden withdraws from the race and hands the baton to the perfect person, someone who was quietly exceptional, who picked the perfect person to join her ticket. Trump, meanwhile, turns to his older sons for advice, who help him pick a perfectly awful running mate, and now to his teen son for advice about the teen children of working class families. Then, because Donald can't resist billionaire fascists, he gives a very public interview where the two of them gleefully insult auto workers and hand Shawn Fain a reason to highlight their anti-union beliefs. Add to that, the unpopular reactionary members of the Supreme Court have empowered red states to impose their religious anti-abortion agenda on women, and now these MAGAmaniacs have boxed themselves into a corner as the Democrats take aim.
Robert's installment today shows us that what these people have done for the last almost 10 years has created an energy that has been building - and Biden unleashed it and guided it. Wow! Biden, a man of decency and moral strength, who jumped in out of retirement to save the soul of America. I am blown away.
Janet, what a great and energizing summary of the universe's response to our prayers. I feel the same way. And, whatever one thinks of AOC, can we just take a minute to do some loud cheering about AOC's Aug 13 filing of impeachment articles against Clarence and Alito??? Those two Team-Trump-Felons-in-Waiting have now been proven to have taken many millions in bribes, been active and enthusiastic participants in attempts to overthrow the US government, and arrogantly refused to recuse themselves from cases in which they have glaring conflicts of interest. Not to mention overturning Roe and granting Trump immunity from 99% of his crimes. Impeach Clarence and Alito! It won't fix the whole rogue court, but it sure will be a great start. I hope Robert H. will address this development. I know Robert's view is to expand the court, and I support that, but we need to stop the arterial gush of blood first, before the nation bleeds to death. Triage!
Thank you Robert. "The media has criticized Kamala Harris for not having announced her policy positions. Like many of the media’s criticisms, this one is designed to create false controversy." This is so true. I'm a daily NYT reader and I'm disgusted and disappointed. It's really incredible and counter-intuitive. Don't they get it? Trump and his Project 2025 are an actual existential threat to our country as we have known it. Slamming unions, courting the hard right, courting misogynists, appointing justices to deny women health care discretion, playing fast and loose with our nations' national security interests, slurring his speech and failing to speak in complete sentences, long history of failed businesses and marriages, Jeffrey Epstein's airplane buddy. Need we keep going?
I canceled my NYT and WaPo subscription months ago, and the only thing I miss is the cooking columns. Every time they hurt our interests with their biased journalism, I feel glad they are not getting my money.
I read the NY Times everyday and I was shocked that I got a "breaking news" alert yesterday for something Hunter Biden did, but none for what JD Vance or Trump have lied about. What a double standard, I guess for them they care more about clicks than actually reporting the news, or Trump has de-sensitized so many of us.
Shocking, isn't it? But this isn't the first time the Times has looked away from horror. Google "New York Times controversies." Sulzburger's father ignored the greatest atrocity of the 20th century.
I thought the speech Walz made yesterday and the connection to union workers was pitch perfect and represents a demographic that historically Democrats have owned but neglected in years pass. Harris announced she is coming to Raleigh NC to discuss the economy which for many swing states and rural areas is a major issue. Instead of focusing on the threats to Democracy the Harris Walz team is focusing on the issues and making stark comparisons that impact voters. These issues in part are the real threats
to democracy. We have the ball and we are moving down the field but we still need basic blocking and tackling to win.
This comment needs amplification to the tenth power
“ Criticizing her for failing to have detailed policy statements so the press can pick them apart is part of the media’s mistaken belief that it is the center of the universe”
Harris is making the press irrelevant, as they beg her for any comment they can seize upon to manufacture a story that will last more than one news cycle. They are flummoxed as Harris ignores them.
“There is little to be gained by engaging you until you stop being Trump Advocates. You and your kind are not interested in protecting our Democracy or Constitution. In fact its quite the opposite; your interest is in creating chaos and division to sell advertising. We see no upside in providing you with what you demand. You have no power here. We’re taking our message to the streets! We’re not going back”——. Quote attributed to Dave Fake News by an un-named close associate to the Harris/Walz campaign. No actual audio available but if you close your eyes and listen to the voice in your head there can be no denying its authenticity
She gave them a chance last week during one of her plane stops and 7 out of the 8 questions they asked were about Trump. I wouldn't spend time talking about that guy either if I was her, he is a known quantity, meanwhile I have a campaign to win and voters to talk to. The Press want a horse race and will do anything to get it.
Trump's slurring and lisping were not the result of "audio compression." I worked in post-production sound at just about every sound studio in LA (under the protection of a union contract). The equipment cannot turn your S sounds into TH. The distortion was coming from Trump's mouth. Better equipment would only have enhanced slurring, lisping or any mouth noise.
Good for them. And they should go the extra mile and vote for Dems up and down the ballot. Only a crushing defeat for the MAGA nuts currently running the party will allow decent Republicans to reclaim their party and build a truly conservative party from the ashes.
I agree, Stefan, how important it is for Dems to vote Dem up and down the ballot. Robert raised this point in a newsletter a month or so ago. He said Republicans are notorious for voting Republican all the way down, "whether they know anything about the down-ballot candidate or not!" I know personally that some idealistic idea of integrity has stopped me, many times, from voting for a down-ballot Democrat I knew nothing about and had been too lazy to research. No more! I'm voting for every Democrat I can find this time.
Yes, I remember that info on the reluctance of Dems to vote down-ballot. I was actually referring to the Republicans now. Many never-trumpers might feel tempted to balance the ticket and vote for Republicans down-ballot. Big mistake if they want to restore their party and get rid of the MAGA crazies. If there should be a future for the GOP nothing short of a crushing defeat in November will help.
Good point. There are MAGA nuts sprinkled through our states and counties. Folks who, for whatever deluded reason, are OK in cheating our tried and true electoral process.
Thanks Robert, I've stopped listening and watching any news on TV/ cable. I learn so much from you as I start my day. I'm able to reclaim that time for other, more relaxing activities after my day at work. I love the space photos, thanks!!
Speaking to the appearance of the invitation emails in Spam and Junk folders, I think there’s a deliberate attempt by republicans to sign up for Democratic candidate’s campaigns, then mark later emails from those campaigns as Spam to boost the algorithms which trap further emails. In Gmail, in particular, any user can do this. I get many emails in my Spam folder daily, a vast majority from Democratic candidates for whom I’ve never signed up, and on some occasions, emails from candidates I have supported.
Recently I have received a barrage of emails in my Junk folder from Is He Ok?/Trump, Charlie Kirk,Turning Point USA,JD Vance,Hillsdale college. An email from Don Jr’s girlfriend,Kimberly Guilfoyle,made it to my Inbox stating she knew I would NEVER vote for Harris so I needed to pledge my fealty to Is He Ok?/ Trump. I thought perhaps they are targeting everyone in Florida ? Or everyone with Hispanic last name ? Or everyone flying the flag ?🇺🇸Or everyone with a red truck in their driveway?😂 They are desperate !!
The solicitations for donations from Democrats you never heard of is likely because you made a donation on ActBlue. I just go to the email and click on unsubscribe at the bottom of the email (if it is a legitimate email from the campaign).
If it is right wing garbage, I mark it as spam and block the sender. You should be able to mark stuff that you want as "not spam" - some of the Substacks to which I subscribe were showing up in my spam folder, but I've "trained" it to not do that.
Due to a mess up by the Board of Elections years ago (in the 00's), my voter ID was briefly assigned to a Republican - they processed a new VR as a change of address for me. I got that corrected, but in 2020 I started getting robo calls from the RNC and GOP candidates. (I picked up one call to see if there was a live person I could chew out, but no such luck!). I also started to get junk mail from the NC Republican party and various GOP candidates, but that could also be a coincidence, since my zipcode puts me in a redder area of my blue city.
As a single parent, the union I worked for (45 years) made it possible for me to make a living wage and earn a pension. That's what union work will do for people. It provides health care for families as well. Management doesn't like to pay more because they want to reward their CEO's with bigger bonus's and so much more than that. It's control from the supply side. Follow the money. It's never enough for them. Reagan didn't like unions and Dunald often talks about how great he was. Support union labor!
Maybe we are finally seeing a crack in the myth that Trump is "good" for working class people.
I never understood that in the first place - a supposed billionaire with a reputation for stiffing contractors in the building trades and using undocumented and/or HB1 visa-holding workers in the hospitality areas? How does that say "he's our man!" to blue collar folks?
In addition, Project 2025 is toxic for public school teachers and many of them are in unions -even in "right to work" states. IIRC, Andy Beshears got elected as Governor of KY the first time, because the GOP Governor at the time made the mistake of trying to break the teacher's union!
Don't forget that Reagan, a union member himself, fired over 11,000 air traffic controllers because they went on strike.
Reagan was loyal (if at all) to *his* union (actors’ guild), definitely not to unions in general.
If you haven't seen it, I heartily recommend VP Harris's speech at UAW last week. She compared unions with our democracy in very compelling terms. Very powerful message.
https://youtu.be/dCPUI3IrLYE?si=P49NeMfWRug0W5JE
That was excellent, I watched it lately. thanks for the recommendation!
Bob, thanks for sharing that. It is a short and eloquent speech. I had already shared on link with friends, but your link is better!
Just returned from Ireland. I will watch her speech soon! Thanks for the link, Bob!
Union supported the benefits which supplement Social Security in retirement. The current GOP is advocating cuts in Social Security Benefits, Health Care Coverage, and programs which lead to higher cost pharmacuticals. This is not working for "we the people" yet those in genral population advocating for the GOP do not hear or comprehend the goals of that party to overturn the constitution and prevent the work of a well functioning democracy.
I have been a union member for 22 years with the SEIU. As a social worker we were service workers and that union got us overtime when the county wanted to deny it because we were exempt. Of course this only worked when all the supervisors as a group refused to continue after hours support that was required by law. I love union.
I agree. I was a member of AFSCME and then NEA all my working life and that made it possible for me to support my family and have a comfortable retirement.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are affirming a positive kind of masculinity that is the antithesis of Trumpian toxic masculinity. This aligns with the Harris-Walz forward-looking hope and joy, promotion of freedoms of choice and self-expression, and protection of civil rights--in contrast to MAGA Republican dystopia, grievances, vengences, and Project 2025 cuts, repeals, and roll backs of popular progressive programs of the Democrats.
On 8/13/24, Chris Hayes interviewed Rebecca Traister on her article “Tim Walz, Doug Emhoff, and the Nice Men of the Left.” They talked about men who are secure in their masculinity so as to support and partner with women in leadership--actualizing the feminist concept of egalitarianism that was the foundation of the Women's Movement 60 years ago. (Wish I could gift the article or find a link to the interview!)
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/tim-walz-doug-emhoff-democrats-nice-men-of-the-left.html
Ellie, while I agree that Harris and Walz are representing the progressive middle of the country, in other words, "We Won't Go Back," I do not consider Walz and Emhof to be left. I know what left is. I currently live in a country that has an active Left party and one of my mom's school friend's is in it. I know what the left stands for. Tim, and Doug are mainstream Americans to me. It is unfortunate that the Dems have let the Republicans get away with calling them left when the truth is that the Republican Party is so far to the right, that they are off the chart. Relative to them Dems might seem like the Left, but make no mistake, the Democratic party is in the center, and even the Left wing of it is not "The Left."
My son lives in a wonderful country…not the U S. He says most right wing politicians are to the left of U S Democrats.
Hi Terry, I know what your son means. I live in Germany most of the time, and if you live in a country that insists on health care for all, and public university is free, both the left and the right agree on these things, this is not what is debated. Andra Watkins's Substack made a compelling case for the reason that Biden cannot even relieve any Student Debt, because keeping it as part of the portfolios of securities investments, which don't make money if they aren't paid is a priority of the Trump government, which is far to the right of most other wealthy countries calling themselves democracies. https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/project-2025-the-republican-party
I am in a Democrats Abroad book club that is reading Project 2025. So far, I have read about 10 chapters plus the Forward. Yesterday we discussed the Department of Education section, and I shared what Andra Watkins had to say. If you think that is bad, this section lays out a plan to basically get rid of American public education. There will be no more Dept of Ed, or funding of public education nationally. Instead it will be all on the states. Seeing how the Red states have handled medical insurance when they are required to pay 10% of it and the federal government will pay the rest, can you imagine what Red states will do with no federal dollars coming to them for public schools? They will return to the situation during slavery where many people will be deprived of an education. At the same time they are instituting right to work laws for children. Dicken's America I call it. I see these states shutting public schools down, and selling the buildings to developers and charter schools. The federal government will instead give the money to parents directly and that will make home schooling White Christian nationalist families happy because with the huge families they have see Duggars of Shiny, Happy People infamy, who have like 18 children, they can then earn entire living just from having children and homeschooling them, and with no oversight I might add. I am not going to go too deeply into the education of children who live with parents that believe the end of days is super near, but believe me that does not involve math or reading, or science, or history. Just the Bible and slave labor. Not how I want my tax dollars to be spent. It will of course affect Blue States too. Even the home schooling parents won't get much help with their children who have serious learning and other needs. Even Hitler and Mussolini did not destroy public education although they did destroy their countries so perhaps it does not matter. However, for rebuilding it is important to have a functioning education system. Basically, the DOE section alone is a formula for turning the US into a third, perhaps even fourth world country. How productive can you be when the far right government caters to people who do not see any future, and will not be planning for it. How competitive? Where are the engineers coming from? The doctors? Not needed perhaps if there is no future. Also, no environmental legislation, in fact all terms for the environment should be purged according to them. That is a whole other story. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. In other countries even many on the right understand that global warming is real. So, Republicans are off the charts in their right wing ideology, and MAGAs are off the planet.
What will employers do--they OUGHT to want semi-educated (literate; can read and write, understand and use technology) employees, at the very least, I would think. How can people who make their money from the labor of other people want to destroy education???
We need to stress Project 2025's assault on public education. Good public schools and universities have been at the heart of any kind of economic and social progress individuals and families have made. The Republicans screech about elites while putting their own kids in prestigious private prep schools or well-funded suburban schools while city schools are underfunded, and small town schools go to 4-day-a- week classes to save money and rural schools disappear. The dumbing down of America is intentional and a multi-generational quest of Republicans. See Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USA that organizes college students to tell others that college is not worth it. Jess Piper, a literature teacher for 16 years and a rural Missouri citizen and one-time candidate for the legislature is eloquent on this issue. https://jesspiper.substack.com/
Yet, every red state governor or mayor brags about the quality of education in their domain to lure business and investment, even as they keep teachers pay low and underfund public education. They are all for rich schools on public dime for the wealthy. This is an issues that cuts across party lines.
“Even Hitler and Mussolini did not destroy public education…”
I don’t know what Mussolini did, but from the 1930s, Hitler and the Nazi party turned the public education system into a brainwashing machine. Civil servants were required to join the party, and that included school teachers and administrators. The curriculum promoted Nazi propaganda. Children pledged their lives to Der Führer and were to turn in their own parents for any dissidence. Ten years later, the Nazis had grown a generation of fanatical teenage soldiers conscripted into the army and who literally fought to the death for Hitler, or were shot or hung if they tried to run away.
Yes Ellie, all schools do some "brainwashing," that is why teaching is a Subversive action. It is what attracted me to the field. At the same time, look at Florida, that is a state in trouble. However, as the Germans and Italians brainwashed their populations in ways we don't agree with, when they lost, they still had a public school which could be recalibrated and educate children differently. In the USA, if we have no public education system, then if we ever get past the White Supremacist Christian Nationalist government that the MAGAs intend for us, it will be that much harder to rebuild our society. Just getting rid of school buildings alone will make it that much harder. So that is what I mean by they destroyed their countries, but schools continued to exist. That will not be the case here if they do as planned.
Thank you, Ellie. I have to admit I was so flabbergasted by that claim I didn't even know how to respond. You did it, by laying it out flat on a rock so it had to be seen.
Hear what Prof. Thomas Zimmer has to say about Project 2025. He is a professor of American history, currently at Georetown, and he spoke to Democrats Abroad at length about Project 2025. This is that moderated conversation.
https://youtu.be/IqpWMH5nkPw?si=hqM76C9fH1NJbCxx
Zimmer does not agree with comparing the US to Nazi Germany because he says that the US has its own ugly history that we can draw from to understand what is going on right now. Trump and Trumpism can just be compared to the American White Supremacist past and obviously present.
Forty Autumns, Nina Willner, is a true account of the author's mothers escape from East Germany at the age of 20. Her family faced the devastating challenges of a propagandized educational system.
Ms. Weide, yes!!! THIS^^^^^^^! I have often and often said that the REpubs in this country have dragged their party so far to the right that it left a vacuum where "moderate Repub used to be and the Dems, instead of holding firm where they were--allowed Clinton and Obama to slide the US right into that right of center void. So, yes...the so-called leftwing in this country is definitely NOT left! Even Bernie Sanders, bless him, would barely be considered leftwing over in Europe!
Whoa Linda. I am dizzy after that trip back and forth through Left and Right Land. It is all so subjective, and quite nebulous to me. Based on history of the French Parliament, I find the concept more often a tool for name calling when it is used. Like "conservative" referring to people hostile to our Constitution, words fall in and out of appropriateness quite often. To the chant, "We won't go back" , I find nothing left to be said but RIGHT ON, brothers and sisters, right on !
Jim, I might point out that I have not said anything that constitutes Leftland. Just center and for the most part right. Of course if these were not ideologies and just positions in relation to each other we could say Dems are Left, Republicans are Right. But, since I belong to those who understand "The Left" to stand for certain policies and beliefs, I do not think it is just a position on a line. For example, the Leftists that went to the Soviet Union during the cold war, were not representing the Democratic Party. Neither does the Left in Germany, which is pro Russian in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Social Democrats are solid supporters of Ukraine. Conservative in other countries means conserving of and not wasting. They don't like government or any other waste. That is not what Conservative means in the US. It means certain beliefs and has policy positions which currently are so extreme they do not fall in the bell curve of Normal. That is the Republican Party a this point. Whereas the Democrats are in the normal curve.
The meanings of “Left” and “Right” are not fixed items. They vary, depending on the political contexts of individual nations.
Perhaps the GOP is "regressionist" rather than moderate or extreme conservative
You’re absolutely correct, Margaret! Today’s GOP is *regressive*, (politically backward-looking), not conservative.
Word choice matters.
Well put, Margaret. I'm not much of one for labels, having watched too many of them used as an excuse for avoiding real discourse. But this one pretty much catches what is going on in the upper echelons of the far right (ie the Heritage Foundation). I think that when it comes to ordinary people, though, it becomes more tenuous. There are so many different "flavors" and factors involved, they don't really constitute a movement so much as a kind of statement of dissatisfaction. Those who engage in violence are engaging in violence, not an expression of philosophy.
Interesting, Linda. I met a Political Science Professor at a mid-western university during my trip to Ireland, and I was struck by the fact that he is not as positive about the upcoming election as I am. Some of his students are quite upset at his criticism of Trump. During the last semester and this upcoming semester this lovely man has, (and will!!!) for the first time in his career, mention(ed) his own politics during his classes, and has received texts and emails from his students saying that they are Trump fans. Some of the students have complained about him to the Administration of the University! I hope that Time Walz gets his mid-western message out to these students and to ALL students throughout the country.
Kathleen, I have been reading that Gen Z women are fairly progressive as a group, and Gen Z men are fairly conservative as a group. Could that account for some of the disconnect with his politics. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/aug/07/gen-z-voters-political-ideology-gender-gap
However another article claims it is not so clear, but again it looks like research suggests that this divide is across wealthy countries. I remember reading an article about how S. Korean women are less likely to marry because they find the men too sexist it is not worth it to them. They just will do without and without having children. It seems like this is leading to them having the lowest birth rate in the world. We know that the response of the Republican party and that of governments in many authoritarian countries is to address the growing autonomy women are feeling with laws that force women to have babies even if raped by a stranger or family members. It is clear that there is a lot to research.
Ironic, isn't it, that the kind of progressivism that the right wing extremists oppose originated and grew in the midwest. What is encouraging right now is seeing those movements re-engage and re-emerge in the midwest again. What Trumpists do is make noise, and that gets attention. But quietly the progressives are building once again a grassroots progressive movement from the ground up. It may not show up for a while, but the more support we give it in the states where it is again sending up shoots, the more it will thrive and flourish.
I am so glad to hear this, Annie!
It's the horse shoe theory playing out in front of our eyes
Sadly true, Linda. I am hoping that we are coming to a time when the American people are shifting enough in how we view things that being "left" is no longer seen as a handicap. I see signs that that is starting to happen. One is the fact that this time around, women are recognized and supported as the center of our movement toward honest democracy. It will take time and work, and I may not live to see it in full fruition, but I think my children will.
Annie, if you want to understand where we are on that, I suggest you watch this talk that History Professor Thomas Zimmer gave to Democrats Abroad this past week, about Project 2025 to the end. https://youtu.be/IqpWMH5nkPw?si=hqM76C9fH1NJbCxx
Thanks, Linda. I am already following Project 2025 (and have for some time- I am a professional researcher), but will try to take a look. Multiple perspectives are important to grasp the nuances of any document or movement.
Ok, tried. Zimmer actually gave a very good overview of what not only Robert but many others and their followers have been talking about for years, and particularly this year. I could make a list, but it would be long- some on substack, some in media, others with more institutional roots, like Propublica and the Brennan Institute. Many many many grassroots organizations asking the same questions.
So my question for you is this: is all of this actually new to you, or do you think that it is new to us? Well, there are new folks coming in all the time with questions, and the Zimmer talk would be an excellent way for them to grasp some of the issues (some, not all) and the drivers behind them that we've been exploring for a long time now.
Where it went off-rail was when one of the questioners asked a really critical question: -->"What can we do about all this?". <--
Zimmer appropriately explained that he was a historian and not an organizer, and then went back into a deep downdive, and you all followed him. I had to leave then, and did not catch how the episode ended. I hope that you do a follow-up and invite some of the people who are actually DOING and teaching how we can head off the right wing aspirations. As Zimmer tried to say, you need to talk to some of those people. I'll try to pick up the ending later if I can.
Jay Kuo had some great compare and contrast comments for Walz vs. Vance culled from Twitter (aka X) in his Saturday "Just for Xeets and Giggles" column (https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/just-for-xeets-and-giggles-081024?r=1aiy5t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
One encapsulated the concept of decent vs. "toxic" masculinity for me. The poster said that Tim Walz was the guy you would ask to walk you back from a night class in college and Vance would be the reason why you wanted an escort.
Cheryl, thank you so much for this amazing link! It takes a lot to make me laugh, but tears were running down my face.
Great contrast, Cheryl!
Tangent: The “crazy cat lady” throughout history, by Tiffany J. Marie:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C944yyrRP5p/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
😺
Great video. I learned something!
so beautifully said, Ellie, thank you. You make a telling contrast. I am so hopeful that Harris will find the way to get the message across to regular folks--that Democratic values and plans will help everyday Americans and what Trump constantly rants about will hurt them badly. And speaking of purely toxic men, check out this Andrew Tate horror that Robert talks about today. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-andrew-tate-interview-1234786792/. This is the kind of man the MAGA people would put in positions of power.
Beautifully stated. Thank you, Ellie. So wish I could read the article you posted.
Right on Ellie!
Paywall work around: Here’s a snippet from Rebecca Traister’s article. Though I would not say that “male Democrats fall over one another in an effort to elect a woman to the presidency.”
https://x.com/murshedz/status/1822327852110668239?s=46&t=G1vnalQqxYifVbjonWfCIA
There is an expression, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!!" I see NO reason for Harris to speak to the press! Why engage with a lazy group of journalists who now have an established record of total abdication (Except a few like Jennifer Rubin, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman and a couple of others) of any journalistic or patriotic responsibility. Everyone loves her!! Don't mess with a great thing!!
I also see no reason for Harris to speak to the press at this point. She has less than 100 days to speak to voters so let her do that. Let the media first address Trump’s behavior, including his lies, ignorant and hateful comments, slurs, and angry statements. She can speak to the media AFTER they have honestly and fully addressed his statements. Otherwise, they do not deserve her time.
Love that! Like a mom saying, "You can only have ice cream AFTER you apologize to your sister." As a nation we have to find a way to get the rogue MAGA press under control, or do away with them. I think the substack world has proven that we don't actually need 20th century media to disseminate news.
The media has become so lazy they can't even be bothered to look up what Vice President Harris policy positions are most likely to be. They just want a chance to write their critical hit columns and increase the clicks and views for their dying papers.
At its Convention, the Democratic Party will issue its Platform. That will, basically, articulate Kamala Harris’s views. Media can/should wait for the Platform.
I kinda think she has to, but she needs to do it on her own terms, when she has time to prepare for what will likely be an onslaught. Perhaps she could schedule the one she indicated she'd do at the end of the month, but even in doing that, she needs to anticipate criticism and explain that she's just a little busy right now, less than 4 weeks into a campaign that her opponent has been running since 2015.
Bob, I understand that candidates always "had to" have media press conferences, but it seems to me that everything has changed. Why does she have to? Yes, she needs to be accessible and to share with the public her positions, but why does that have to be through the media, who has abrogated all pretense at responsible behavior? Why not speak through rallies, events, televised news presentations, social media, websites? Or maybe choose one senior, calm, rational news personality, like Lawrence O'Donnell, and give that person the opportunity to ask her questions compiled from the other press types?
NO reason for Harris to speak to the MAGA media (the NYT, WaPo, Fox, even NPR). They will attack her, scream at her, distort everything she says, and use everything she says as baseball bats wielded viciously against her for the next 88 days. Why on earth would anyone do that? If they want to know her positions, they can come to her campaign rallies or websites and report on that. She should issue a statement: "Because of the total abdication (thank you, Derek) of the fourth estate in this country, I have decided not to attend any of their confrontations; but will be issuing weekly press statements where they can find my positions. They are, of course, always welcome at my public campaign events."
It's only been 3+ weeks since her candidacy was announced! The media can wait to spring their 'gotchas'.
Agreed. Why should she? So they can criticize her for her answers? Right now she needs to create enthusiasm, and she sure isn't going to achieve that by having press conferences with phony journalists.
Someone down the comment line posted this short video of Kamala answering questions from people more important than the phony media. Check it out. You will want to share it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQetJL6uBGA
This says it all. These kids ask the important questions, and Kamala gave them straight answers.
I have to say once more how much I enjoy your “space photos”. Thanks again for including them with your informative newsletter.
The heavens are readily accessible and yet mostly ignored.
We certainly do take them for granted, like the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the many freedoms we enjoy.
Some summer evenings a biplane pilot flies barrel rolls over our neighborhood . When asked our neighbors say they have not noticed.
I've seen similar things and it simply flabbergasts me that people seem oblivious to them. A few years ago I stood in my front yard in my Vermont village watching a flock of vultures (these are not small birds, and there were more than a dozen of them) ride a thermal above our neighborhood during migration season. The birds were enjoying catching the thermal and letting it lift them from a few feet above the maple tree by the sidewalk to a few hundred feet up, then drop and do it again.
I stood, my head back, for half an hour while neighbors strolled by on the sidewalk. Not one asked me what I was looking at. One man, paused and looked up over his shoulder while under the tree, but didn't stop to look at the sky. I do not get this lack of curiosity about the world they live in. In VERMONT, of all places. City people often do this because they are so overloaded they have to narrow their focus simply to navigate safely. But here?
I am in awe at the way the universe seems to have responded to our prayers. OK, I know we need to continue fighting without sleeping, as Coach Walz tells us, but the way this is unfolding is beyond worldly. Biden withdraws from the race and hands the baton to the perfect person, someone who was quietly exceptional, who picked the perfect person to join her ticket. Trump, meanwhile, turns to his older sons for advice, who help him pick a perfectly awful running mate, and now to his teen son for advice about the teen children of working class families. Then, because Donald can't resist billionaire fascists, he gives a very public interview where the two of them gleefully insult auto workers and hand Shawn Fain a reason to highlight their anti-union beliefs. Add to that, the unpopular reactionary members of the Supreme Court have empowered red states to impose their religious anti-abortion agenda on women, and now these MAGAmaniacs have boxed themselves into a corner as the Democrats take aim.
Robert's installment today shows us that what these people have done for the last almost 10 years has created an energy that has been building - and Biden unleashed it and guided it. Wow! Biden, a man of decency and moral strength, who jumped in out of retirement to save the soul of America. I am blown away.
Janet, what a great and energizing summary of the universe's response to our prayers. I feel the same way. And, whatever one thinks of AOC, can we just take a minute to do some loud cheering about AOC's Aug 13 filing of impeachment articles against Clarence and Alito??? Those two Team-Trump-Felons-in-Waiting have now been proven to have taken many millions in bribes, been active and enthusiastic participants in attempts to overthrow the US government, and arrogantly refused to recuse themselves from cases in which they have glaring conflicts of interest. Not to mention overturning Roe and granting Trump immunity from 99% of his crimes. Impeach Clarence and Alito! It won't fix the whole rogue court, but it sure will be a great start. I hope Robert H. will address this development. I know Robert's view is to expand the court, and I support that, but we need to stop the arterial gush of blood first, before the nation bleeds to death. Triage!
Thank you Robert. "The media has criticized Kamala Harris for not having announced her policy positions. Like many of the media’s criticisms, this one is designed to create false controversy." This is so true. I'm a daily NYT reader and I'm disgusted and disappointed. It's really incredible and counter-intuitive. Don't they get it? Trump and his Project 2025 are an actual existential threat to our country as we have known it. Slamming unions, courting the hard right, courting misogynists, appointing justices to deny women health care discretion, playing fast and loose with our nations' national security interests, slurring his speech and failing to speak in complete sentences, long history of failed businesses and marriages, Jeffrey Epstein's airplane buddy. Need we keep going?
I canceled my NYT and WaPo subscription months ago, and the only thing I miss is the cooking columns. Every time they hurt our interests with their biased journalism, I feel glad they are not getting my money.
Janet, my personal thanks for cancelling.
I read the NY Times everyday and I was shocked that I got a "breaking news" alert yesterday for something Hunter Biden did, but none for what JD Vance or Trump have lied about. What a double standard, I guess for them they care more about clicks than actually reporting the news, or Trump has de-sensitized so many of us.
I cancelled the NYT when I no longer was shocked by their bias because it was the norm.
Eventually you will tire of paying for this type of "news".
Haven't you heard? According to Sulzberger, defending democracy isn't the job of the free press--or at least, not HIS "free press".
Shocking, isn't it? But this isn't the first time the Times has looked away from horror. Google "New York Times controversies." Sulzburger's father ignored the greatest atrocity of the 20th century.
I thought the speech Walz made yesterday and the connection to union workers was pitch perfect and represents a demographic that historically Democrats have owned but neglected in years pass. Harris announced she is coming to Raleigh NC to discuss the economy which for many swing states and rural areas is a major issue. Instead of focusing on the threats to Democracy the Harris Walz team is focusing on the issues and making stark comparisons that impact voters. These issues in part are the real threats
to democracy. We have the ball and we are moving down the field but we still need basic blocking and tackling to win.
I detect a new tone of joyous humor in your newsletter! The Harris - Walz vibe is contagious - great!! I agree.
1. Missouri is wide open. Kunce can beat Hawley, who has the worst unfavorable ratings in Congress!!!!!Dominionist!
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ads_ms_20230105_dd_gs_senatelaunch?refcode=ads_ms_LKM_20230106-LKM-DD-GS-Natl-SenateLaunch_MOkw-1865U-MF_a002-SenateLaunch-gstxt-rst&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiOy1BhDCARIsADGvQnDrfsti8SZ80G3afDjx9mlIzFnFvfNqhq_pHQpmeJm-B0BUNcT1KF0aAqECEALw_wcB
2. Katrina Christiansen is up 3 points in N.Dakota! https://www.katrinaforussenate.com/
3. Register more Democrats to sweep. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Another great Edition, Mr Hubbell
This comment needs amplification to the tenth power
“ Criticizing her for failing to have detailed policy statements so the press can pick them apart is part of the media’s mistaken belief that it is the center of the universe”
Harris is making the press irrelevant, as they beg her for any comment they can seize upon to manufacture a story that will last more than one news cycle. They are flummoxed as Harris ignores them.
“There is little to be gained by engaging you until you stop being Trump Advocates. You and your kind are not interested in protecting our Democracy or Constitution. In fact its quite the opposite; your interest is in creating chaos and division to sell advertising. We see no upside in providing you with what you demand. You have no power here. We’re taking our message to the streets! We’re not going back”——. Quote attributed to Dave Fake News by an un-named close associate to the Harris/Walz campaign. No actual audio available but if you close your eyes and listen to the voice in your head there can be no denying its authenticity
The press has made the press irrelevant. Vice President Harris is letting them know we’ve noticed. And agree.
I'd love to see her give her first "interview" to a HS or college newspaper. I loved the YouTube of her answering kids questions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQetJL6uBGA
Thank you for that!! That's the kind of interview our Kamala does. So great!!!!
Astute observation!
She gave them a chance last week during one of her plane stops and 7 out of the 8 questions they asked were about Trump. I wouldn't spend time talking about that guy either if I was her, he is a known quantity, meanwhile I have a campaign to win and voters to talk to. The Press want a horse race and will do anything to get it.
I know--not only did they waste their own time but they wasted hers as well. Dopes, every one of them.
A perfect message to the MAGA media (NYT, WaPo, Fox, et al.) from Dave Fake News or whomever. Thanks for sharing.
Trump's slurring and lisping were not the result of "audio compression." I worked in post-production sound at just about every sound studio in LA (under the protection of a union contract). The equipment cannot turn your S sounds into TH. The distortion was coming from Trump's mouth. Better equipment would only have enhanced slurring, lisping or any mouth noise.
Good to hear from someone with expertise. Thanks.
Could an outbreak of rational thought, honesty, & integrity be occurring? We can only hope...!
www.npr.org/2024/08/13/g-s1-16886/republicans-for-harris-haley-voters-trump-conservatives-gop-democrats
Good for them. And they should go the extra mile and vote for Dems up and down the ballot. Only a crushing defeat for the MAGA nuts currently running the party will allow decent Republicans to reclaim their party and build a truly conservative party from the ashes.
I agree, Stefan, how important it is for Dems to vote Dem up and down the ballot. Robert raised this point in a newsletter a month or so ago. He said Republicans are notorious for voting Republican all the way down, "whether they know anything about the down-ballot candidate or not!" I know personally that some idealistic idea of integrity has stopped me, many times, from voting for a down-ballot Democrat I knew nothing about and had been too lazy to research. No more! I'm voting for every Democrat I can find this time.
You might find this deep dive from Sister District on "ballot roll-off" eye-opening. I certainly did!!
https://sisterdistrict.com/b/down-ballot-roll-off-patterns-in-2022/?l
Yes, I remember that info on the reluctance of Dems to vote down-ballot. I was actually referring to the Republicans now. Many never-trumpers might feel tempted to balance the ticket and vote for Republicans down-ballot. Big mistake if they want to restore their party and get rid of the MAGA crazies. If there should be a future for the GOP nothing short of a crushing defeat in November will help.
Good point. There are MAGA nuts sprinkled through our states and counties. Folks who, for whatever deluded reason, are OK in cheating our tried and true electoral process.
It’s been so long since we’ve had anything close to that we might well imagine this is only a mirage. But it is real.
Thanks Robert, I've stopped listening and watching any news on TV/ cable. I learn so much from you as I start my day. I'm able to reclaim that time for other, more relaxing activities after my day at work. I love the space photos, thanks!!
H-A double R-I-S is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8RyVyKuOck
oh dear........now I have an earworm that I'm going to be humming all day. Actually, that won't be a problem!
Speaking to the appearance of the invitation emails in Spam and Junk folders, I think there’s a deliberate attempt by republicans to sign up for Democratic candidate’s campaigns, then mark later emails from those campaigns as Spam to boost the algorithms which trap further emails. In Gmail, in particular, any user can do this. I get many emails in my Spam folder daily, a vast majority from Democratic candidates for whom I’ve never signed up, and on some occasions, emails from candidates I have supported.
Recently I have received a barrage of emails in my Junk folder from Is He Ok?/Trump, Charlie Kirk,Turning Point USA,JD Vance,Hillsdale college. An email from Don Jr’s girlfriend,Kimberly Guilfoyle,made it to my Inbox stating she knew I would NEVER vote for Harris so I needed to pledge my fealty to Is He Ok?/ Trump. I thought perhaps they are targeting everyone in Florida ? Or everyone with Hispanic last name ? Or everyone flying the flag ?🇺🇸Or everyone with a red truck in their driveway?😂 They are desperate !!
The solicitations for donations from Democrats you never heard of is likely because you made a donation on ActBlue. I just go to the email and click on unsubscribe at the bottom of the email (if it is a legitimate email from the campaign).
If it is right wing garbage, I mark it as spam and block the sender. You should be able to mark stuff that you want as "not spam" - some of the Substacks to which I subscribe were showing up in my spam folder, but I've "trained" it to not do that.
Due to a mess up by the Board of Elections years ago (in the 00's), my voter ID was briefly assigned to a Republican - they processed a new VR as a change of address for me. I got that corrected, but in 2020 I started getting robo calls from the RNC and GOP candidates. (I picked up one call to see if there was a live person I could chew out, but no such luck!). I also started to get junk mail from the NC Republican party and various GOP candidates, but that could also be a coincidence, since my zipcode puts me in a redder area of my blue city.
I wouldn't put it past them.
Finally! A team wanting and willing to fight for us! Angry and bothered!