Definitely a hiring the fox to guard the henhouse move. The most insidious aspect is how this is just one of so many ways the imperious Mr. Trump & the cabal of illiberal, reactionary, anti-democratic supporters propping him up keep ceaselessly attacking democratic institutions like elections.
..states. As in the past, resistance to retribution requires inspiring organizing principles & individuals who can effectively convey those principles [not me, obviously]. Dem states must find ways to block funding to federal government comparable in impact to what Trump is blocking to the states.
Trump is using the ancient tactic of selective retribution to quell dissent. As despotic monarchs of the past commanded palace guards willing to do the monarch's bidding, King Donald has federal mechanisms & sycophants by which to enact selective retribution against non-compliant, non-acquiescent...
Struggles to explain? How 'bout "Trump can't think fast enough to come up with some cockamamie story about how giving $40B to Argentina while our government is shut-down and federal workers aren't getting paid serves anything other than Trump's pathologically narcissistic self-interests."
As inspiring as Sen. Murphy is, he can no more affect things in the Senate, much less in the Executive Branch, than Schumer. However, he plays better on audio-visual media. In today's reality-show politics that is essential. Sorry, but it's truly up to We the People. It starts with No Kings Day.
King Donald & His Royal Court are changing the WH Press Room & Pentagon's press room into a carnival animal act. They expect "journalists" to act like trained mammals begging for treats. Think of Grandpa's scratchy 7" 45rpm vinyl record of The Singing Dogs doing "Jingle Bells."
Neurologically, behaviorally, anger & fear have more powerful & immediate influence on our actions than more ephemeral emotions like hope or longing. The challenge of current democracies is how to assuage that pervasive & media exacerbated anger & fear driving parties like the AfD and the MAGA-GOP.
The flagrancy of such lying baffles me. But human beings are capable of inventing excuses for burning people they believe are witches. Believing bald lies seems comparatively innocent. But it isn't. Just because witches are no longer burned at the stake doesn't mean innocent people aren't suffering.
HEAR! HEAR! What I was hoping for. Using the 1st Amendment for its original ideal purpose. Right to assemble. Right to air grievances. Right to speak truth to power. A high level of legal skill, expertise, and organization is required to fight those who've commandeered our WH & our DOJ.
To me, the Roberts Court might surpass the Taney Court [Dred Scott] & the Fuller Court [Plessy v Ferguson] for consequentially bad decisions. This article articulates that feeling better than I ever could. www.salon.com/2025/10/15/j...
..regularly, the list approximated a tribe [as studied by the likes of Margaret Meade] in number. Don't know if such studies and findings continued, but it made sense. Still does. Maybe algorithms play into or consciously exploit a basal need for a sense of community with whom to identify?
In the 1970's a wise professor said, "We have just begun to climb out of the primordial ooze." Concurrently, social science was discerning and describing enduring tribal like social subsystems within large populations, i.e. if you listed your network of friends, others with whom you interact...
..suffrage defined the negative/brutal swing. The writings you cited moved that pendulum forward toward the possibility of democracy. But as much as our founding was a reinvention of the human society pendulum, it's not ours. It's humankind's. If we relinquish it, other nations must claim it.
The criticisms I see posted seem to come from those who didn't fully read the article. You acknowledged those failings. My take is that America is more of a grand pendulum. The ideals expressed in its founding defined the positive/enlightened swing of that pendulum. Slavery, denial of women's...
Current average life expectancy of a 79 y.o. in good health is 87.6 years. Median is 88-89 yrs. 84 y.o. Bernie is mentally alert. 92 Grassley? Not so much. 79 y.o. Trump? Pritzker is right, a family intervention is needed. Problem is money. What is spent on primaries is not there for the election.
