There are so many laws on the books because they are the toolkit that those in power use as needed against perceived enemies. Trump got busted in a Blue Team state, and if the same trial had been held in Texas he would have been acquitted. Sufficient scrutiny of any wealthy person in the country would reveal illegalities, but that almost never happens to people with lots of money and good lawyers unless they cross other, richer people. It is not a justice system, it is a system of selective prosecution. Ask the peaceful protesters who got thrown in jail recently.
Both candidates are a blight on humanity, and either one will exacerbate the ongoing disasters. But since the initial selection process for candidates is out of the hands of voters, we are only going to get horrible choices (a choice between Cholera or Gonorrhea, in Julian Assange's words).
"Trump Guilty" Life goes on as usual....Off the record they both can kick the bucket --anytime is soon enough for me and deprive all of us their presence.
That is true. Our Country is not perfect never has been, and I truly also believe never will. It has given me a great pension and career I was really proud of-- that said but in all other possible worlds/ countries in the west, and with a view to all the other alternatives I think its the best tho flawed there is. To paraphrase a quote now by Hemingway, the world is still a beautiful place and worth fighting for. To all hell with those trying to tear it down...!
The Question at this point in time,Fireman1110, is not whether or not the American system of Government and Governance is the "best" of all possibilities anyplace on the Planet.
The Question is whether or not the United States will survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, 763 days from today.
And if it does, will the American People be in any mood or condition to celebrate anything?
Jeff: The Bicentennial was beautiful we had the Tall Ships in Newport & Boston, and it was a great time to be alive I was a Sgt. Air Police still in the USAF. It was magical the Olympics when Bruce Jenner won the Decathlon, Rock music was in its heyday Led Zep. Jethro Tull etc. etc. I am an optimist by trade so I think the Union will last. Seemed like yesterday such are memories....
John you nailed it. I think of this when I consider the non-disclosure agreements of which Trump was so fond. It is the perfect tool for the wealthy. First you make a money offer to the person and then if it isn't accepted you threaten all the legal force your money can buy. Who would not yield?
If I were Jeff Bezos, with the wealth he has that could buy every man, woman and child in Denver a $100,000 Cadillac, I would give every at-the-bottom defendant in the US court system the ability to choose a jury trial instead of being forced to plea bargain in the fact of threats from the prosecution. This offer would of course go with a promise to hire the best legal help for the defense. Of justice system is a crime in itself.
BTW - Bezos' wealth, $150,000,000,000 Think of it, a billion dollars is one thousand million dollars, so he has in effect 150 thousand of one million dollar bills. It is largely untouchable and that, again, due to our legal system where he can hire an army of income protection legal help, in that bizarre way spreading the wealth to those who need it least.
I think and write about this a lot. People like Bezos have much more money at their disposal than most countries (who have massive debt rather than piles of cash). This gives the oligarchs unlimited power to alter government, replace news with propaganda, shape university curricula, crush unions and protests, etc., etc. What I want to know is how this gets fixed. Politicians are all bribed so they won't do anything. The rich own the news so there will never be any push back there. The courts are not going to do anything either. I don't see any possible solutions now that the government has allowed such wealth accumulation. Unless there is a massive confiscation of their ill-gotten goods, we are stuck in this disastrous situation.
Western history doesn't show any non-violent non-revolutionary changes to control by wealth. It makes sense since those who have power don't give it up unless there is a greater power to force change. The founding fathers thought that separation of powers might do the trick, but we see the House, the Senate, the Executive and the Supreme Court all now captured by wealth. The Citizens United decision really ended any question of corruption, throwing open the doors to it.
I am very interested in the case of Israel because it provides a real opening for change. The hypocrisy of the US (liberty and justice for all) unconditionally supporting ethnic cleansing with no limit on the number of helpless Palestinians killed, while the success of American Jews in every field and at all levels refutes the claim that an exclusively Jewish state must be maintained for the safety of Jews by the US is going to come to a head.
This relates to our corrupt system in that a number of American billionaires who are Jews are openly lobbying for Israel via the Congress in a show of corruption that is clear to all. At the same time they are calling for our freedom of speech to be suppressed if those speaking are not supportive of Israel. Sheldon Adelson's Israeli wife Miriam has pledged to create a PAC in support of Trump that will dwarf all levels of financial support to date. This a bid to knock out Biden, the very guy who has done everything in his power to fund and supply the Israeli slaughter in Gaza! What American will not wonder at this attempt to continue, nay, surpass if possible Biden's example of the top priority of the US President being support of Israel? The grotesque insanity of this is clear to the entire world, as various countries are jumping out of the US led choir for Israel.
If US administrations continue to follow the lead of Israel in what happens over there, in particular if it starts costing American lives, and if Israel tries to unload the Palestinians it doesn't kill to the US, outrage at the entire lobby system may follow. I ask anyone reading my words - has the US ever sunk lower than where we are now?
Wouldn't it be miraculous if the break up of Zionism, an ideology anathema to the foundations of the US, that the US political system has been manipulated to support without limit, showing how our system has been turned upside down, would result in at least a beginning for rooting out of the seemingly concrete corruption of our political system?
To defeat the power of wealthy lobbies, take on the elephant in the room. It could well happen.
It's difficult to care at this point - the decision was inevitable from the outset. Likely the same as the inevitable appeal based on trial irregularities, the court's instruction to the jury, and so on. The goal of getting a conviction is both for the campaign season and for stopping him, if elected, via the 14th amendment - no matter the decision inevitably overturned on an appeal (delayed until after January 2024).
What I am concerned about is the international response to this circus. The U.S. has now shown itself capable of seizing foreign assets held in U.S. banks, supporting genocide, and now using its legal system against its political opponents. We are a rogue nation - and a foreign leader (e.g., Putin, Xi), in a moment of grave crisis, could not and would not believe anything a US diplomat or president told them. That is terrifying.
Never said it was. Only made the point we are, and likely have been at a place that when the grave crisis occurs - perhaps tactical nukes in Ukraine, no one will believe a damned thing any US president or diplomat says.
i didn't say "EVERYTHING EVERY [Your ALL CAPS, not mine] American President or Diplomat has said" was regarded as a Lie.
i asked: "When was the last time anything said by any American President or Diplomat was BELIEVED by anybody?"
Specifically: Ever since this Nation's and Planet's experience with:
1. The Lie that one President told and sold about a so-called "Incident" in the Gulf of Tonkin 60 years ago this August; and,
2. With another President lying and claiming that al-Qaeda did 9/11 thus launching "The Forever War" in Afghanistan and so forth; and,
3. Then the Lie that Saddam had "WMDs" to take that Forever War to the next level; and,
4. More recently, the Lie that Putin's SMO was nothing but pure, naked aggression that had absolutely nothing to do with anything the US and NATO have done since the end of Cold War I, or the 14,000 Ukrainians killed by America's dictatorship in Kyiv; and,
5. Most recently, the Lie that the United States and Israel are NOT committing Genocide and other War Crimes in Gaza.
Given that History, i will repeat my Question: On what basis does Anybody ~ foreign government or American Citizen ~ believe ANYTHING [my ALL CAPS for EMPHASIS] said by any President? Or Cabinet Member? Or Senator or Congresswoman or man? Or any Diplomat?
ps: And that's a real nice story about Marines building a road during WW II. i guess that absolutely PROVES that American Presidents and Diplomats don't lie, eh?
thank you jg. am roundly impressed w/ your clarity and comprehensive articulation of the multifarious crimes of mendacity the US govt has committed over the multiple decades of their subreptitious history, a history which has been malodorous w/ its rank opportunism, savagery, and genocidal duplicities. to have your inventory so neatly ordered and precisely explained helps even the most dimwitted and confused readers well-edified in an historical context.
as well, i suspect those US marines stationed in new zealand during WWII were not acting on the US president's orders, or even by congressional leaders; it is entirely likely they were a ragtag platoon of 'good guys' suffering from ennui who were not at the front lines of battle blasting their ammunition from the barrels of guns as were their consociate mates in europe. nor were they or steeped in pacific theatre battlegrounds and bombardments. so perhaps they decided unilaterally to behave like charitable blokes by building a usable road for new zealanders. it's also possible that their commanding officer, either to preclude debilitating boredom among his troops, or perhaps prepare for future military operations in the pacific theatre that might spread to new zealand, commandeered their muscle power and ingenuity to construct said-road. a reputable new zealand historian would be able to elucubrate on the subject.
I hate to face the fact that too many of my friends of earlier years were giddy with excitement as they posted to Facebook within minutes of the verdict.
As you say, "Meanwhile, as the system spends millions to prosecute Trump for bribing a porn star, President Joe Biden and his administration is enabling a genocide in Gaza. Which crime is bigger?"
Precisely what went through my mind as I cringed at their glee.
I know what you mean about friends. Biden could send the bullets for the IDF to kill every last Palestinian and my friends would vote for him. The two parties have the American people very well trained.
What has it been for a long, long time ~ like since FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Bush I and Bozo, Clinton, Cheney and Bush II, Obama, Trump, and now Biden ~ up to this point Except a Freak and Shit Show?
And that doesn't include all those folks up on The Hill at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue; let alone the Gang over at The Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA and NSA, and so on and so forth going back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let alone the 92 years since FDR and his Gang.
And technically, one could make a very strong case for declaring that The Shit Show began in 1913 when The Federal Reserve System was unveiled and jammed down Americans' throats.
jg, I think about your point regarding our culture in general and have concluded that what we are seeing now is only the real thing fully exposed. In earlier years everything was done with the top priority of making it look good. An example in our personal lives is the horror that was associated with visiting a psychiatrist. OMG what would people think? Ditto with abortions. From top to bottom things went on but appearances were never to be disturbed. Now, it is all wide open and one good thing about that is that the attempts to cover up and make it look good are laughable - witness the US government spokesperson in press conferences.
Trump isn't a Zionist like Biden, he is a Trumpist which means he will do anything and everything if he thinks it to his benefit. The way things stand with our corrupt system, it means that Trump might as well be a Zionist.
Trump ~ or whoever is the next POTUS ~ does not have the permission of his owners, operators, commanders, and controllers in America's Ruling Political Class to stop any War or Genocide Especially one that is making as much money for the MICC as Ukraine and Gaza are.
As should be obvious enough that you and all readers here probably already are seeing, the Trump trial and conviction serve more than the purpose of trying to prevent Trump from again entering the White House.; or of setting up the conditions for hamstringing him should he win anyway. No doubt, just as with the whole Russiagate cy-op, this also distracts from and provides cover for the much more devious and dangerously criminal acts in enabling Israel's genocide. Also, of course, pushing to back pages or editions any news of Biden's assent to the use of U.S. missiles to strike inside Russia; in all likelihood targeted and launched by American personnel in Ukraine.
Given that this latest escalatory action has just pushed the world another dangerous step or so towards thermonuclear conflict (as Germany has already followed that lead), and given that Netanyahu has effectively been given the signal that the U.S. will continue to support his genocidal campaign- no holds barred- I just can't join my former Party-mates and others among my avowedly 'liberal' circles in their TDS-fueled giddiness about the conviction.
JFK and LBJ were notorious womanizers. Nixon/Ford, as far as I know, not so much. Carter "lusted" in his heart. Reagan, I think, was faithful. No idea about HW Bush. Clinton: ha! He was a man of great appetites, one might say ...
I forgive Jimmy though because I have done the same, and still do, but only in my heart of course! In addition he proved himself a true humanitarian in the way he lived his life after leaving office.
Dennis, I don't need to tell you this so forgive me; but I think family is one of the most important things we have. I have 8 remaining siblings. Some of them are estranged from a sister because of her husband and his somewhat redneckish politics and the likelihood they both voted for Trump. They, too are in the grips of TDS- an absolutist, black-white, good vs evil framing that is held by probably the vast majority of my fellow party-mates. There is no room at all for shades of gray or nuanced perspective that might, for example, remind them of just how awful a person Biden himself has been, and how damaging his policies.
Like Bill, I have no fondness or empathy for Trump, but seemingly most if not all of us at least among Bill's followers, can look at both of these men from the perspective of historical fact and logic that demands nuanced evaluation. That capacity seems to have been completely removed from very many over the last 8 years or so. We now have what seems to be a very crude kind of tribalism in which adherence to tribal rites and norms trumps any kind of reasoning.
So, this and the importance of keeping good family relations is why I don't get into politics with family (or neighbors, for that matter). It may be compartmentalizing a bit and occasionally forces me to bite my tongue, but I advocate it anyway.
I wondered, listening to Trump's Inaugural Speech, speaking of "AMERICAN CARNAGE" what that image portended for the FUTURE? It's coming into clearer FOCUS for more people these Days!
Well I suppose that some things...like whether our family members will want anything to do with us, may be beyond our control. We can only be fair, decent and as tolerant as we would want others to be ... and then let the chips fall where they will.
Yes, you're right about the establishment going after Trump - except it began right after he announced his intent to run for Presidency. As for Congress-critters trying to subvert the President of the opposing Party, they all tend to do it- it wasn't unique to Trump and the D's. It was the same way when Obama & Biden were elected. Partisan politics is particularly nasty.
just finished viewing it, dennis. thank you for the alert. as w/ our 'hitch', it will be a 'tragédie des biens communs' when we lose noam... however, even tho' he is a nonagenarian, he might outlive me.
Ever heard of Trump's Enemy List? All those people he's going to pay back for all the problems they have caused him and his scheme of "MAGA"? Like they say: "PayBack is a Bitch."
If anybody thinks that Republicans are as not as capable of Maoist show/sham trials as Democrats, i have the remnants of a bridge in Baltimore that i will be happy to arrange for them to buy cheap.
Matt Taibbi has the perfect answer to your question. He can't believe the Democrats are dumb enough to think Trumpers and other Repubs actually care about this. Hillary had the same "crime" and she only paid a few bucks and no one cared, so don't expect the Repubs to care either.
Why don’t we call it what this actually has been: a clown show? It is just another example of the worthlessness of exceptionalism unless you apply to the utter depravity of the U.S. political establishment. BTW, has anyone observed that the Chinese “persecution” of Muslim Uighur people has disappeared completely from the western political and media narrative in the last few months?
I think they have been using it in more recent years. Again, the brutality against the common Tibetan people by their “ecclesiastical” leadership before the Chinese takeover was never discussed in the western media. The various Lamas kept the Tibetan people in medieval circumstances.
Are You putting The Dalai Lama in the category of all those Lamas who kept the Tibetan People in "medieval circumstances"?
And are You saying that the Tibetan People are better off under the rule of their Masters in Beijing than they were under all those Lamas?
What have the Tibetan People had to say about that? More specifically: What have the Tibetan People had Beijing's permission to say about that? Anything?
What I know about Tibet is based on some reading on Tibetan and Chinese history. Tibet was for centuries part of the Chinese “empire” not all that different from many other ethnic entities in China. My assessment of the current Dalai Lama is mixed. I read Heinrich Harrer’s SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET when it was first published in German many decades ago. It was and is an interesting account. I think he and his followers in northern India have been used by various western secrete services. There are claims that NGO money has been used to keep his establishment going. Beijing did not ask the Tibetan people for their permission. What I do know is that the Chinese modernized the region. The introduction of modern medicine, schools and infrastructures certainly has made their lives better. Ethnic aspirations for independence are found in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, history has not been beneficial to most of them and the issue has been used the major powers to cause instability.
My view is about the crime, what crime? How society is damaged by the action of anybody compensating a date or an affair for keeping a relationship secret. Is that a crime? Compensating a sexual partner could go from a dinner, some jewelry, a trip, to 130k cash. How society is harmed from a private transaction between two consenting adults? Why the police government rules on that? I can see the spouse of one of the participants to be upset, but not the rest of us, and to spend our tax dollars in prosecuting for something is not our business. Why not spend that money feeding homeless. That is the problem, the useless politically correct incompetents fighting for their survival prosecuting anybody that challenges their power. If they start prosecuting every person who compensated another person to keep an affair secret, there would have to be millions prosecuted. That is the huge threat to our freedom, a political correct incompetente can use any law to prosecute anybody that threatens their power. On the other stupid prosecution, how many people exaggerate the value of their home when they ask for a loan? That is why banks have appraisals and lend whatever amount they want, not what you tell them. In Trumps case even the banks said they were ok, no victim. For political correct incompetent who never had or run a business that is a crime.
Max Borders concludes UNDERTHROW: HOW JEFFERSON'S DANGEROUS IDEA WILL SPARK A NEW REVOLUTION with THE SECOND “DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE” as follows:
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for us to dissolve the political bands that tether us to arbitrary power—and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which Universal Morality entitles us—posterity demands we enumerate the injustices and declare our resolve.
We still hold these truths to be self-evident:
“That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
We understand these timeless words to mean that no one is justified in subordinating another who has caused no injury and that neither majoritarian mobs nor deliberative bodies may deny us our life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness.
Therefore, in peaceful solidarity, we declare our independence — again.
CONSENT: To secure our rights, the People must institute new governance systems, deriving our just powers from the consent of the governed.
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of our ends, it is:
“The Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
We do not take the implications lightly.
Still, when a “long train of abuses and usurpations” creates a condition of subjugation, it is our right and our duty, “to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for [our] future security.”
We have waited long enough for elected officials to reform themselves and our system. We have seen too little progress. So the time has come for the People to alter our systems of government.
But we are under no illusions: powerful authorities do not care about lofty appeals. We can no more swarm them with muskets than ignore their power. We must instead launch a million experiments in liberation. The history of governments, after all, is a history of repeated injuries by authorities who oppress the people for the ends of power.
Enough is enough.
INJUSTICES: Our grievances pertain to actions of unchecked power. Such actions include:
1. Taking from us without our consent and preventing us from governing ourselves.
2. Denying us guarantees in the Bill of Rights, especially Amendments I, II, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, and X.
3. Threatening, regulating, and oppressing us, too often without legislation or due process.
4. Lying to us and keeping secrets from us, while evading accountability.
5. Dividing and disenfranchising us through the spectacles of partisan polarization and national elections.
6. Seeking to control us, that is, to engineer society as if it were a machine and we were its cogs.
7. Forcing us to subsidize failed agencies, systems, and institutions.
8. Granting favors or subsidies to reward the powerful at the expense of the poor.
9. Threatening, attacking, and imprisoning those who share the truth about them, criminalizing both demands for accountability and peaceful dissent.
10. Trading on and profiting from inside knowledge of the very laws they make.
11. Feeding our fears to grow the military-industrial complex out of all reasonable proportion.
12. Threatening to confiscate our means of defending ourselves from criminals and tyrants.
13. Taxing us without legitimacy through currency manipulation.
14. Conscripting the media and social platforms into deception, spin-doctoring, and censorship on their behalf.
15, Assaulting our shared moral principles, common law, and Constitution.
16. Spying on the People and denying us our privacy.
17. Auctioning power to corporate bidders and horse-trading with our property to expand their power.
18. Mandating commercial relationships or associations we would never choose otherwise.
19, Creating corrupt monopsonies of scientific research.
20. Declaring “wars” on the People for "crimes" that have no victim.
21. Invading countries that represent no credible threat to the People or our pursuit of happiness.
22. Using unlimited debt to buy votes and expand their power — thus burdening our children and grandchildren.
23. Threatening legal action, heaping charges on us, or seizing our property without due process.
24. Inculcating our children with illiberal doctrines, identity politics, or bankrupt ideologies.
25. Claiming expertise and decision-making rights on matters about which they have insufficient knowledge.
26. Forcing us to use their debased monies and prevent us from using our own monetary networks.
27. Creating perverse, unintended effects by meddling in complex systems they don't fully understand.
28. Oppressing us repeatedly in the name of the common good.
29. Putting the interests of elites over the needs of the People.
30. Obstructing our pursuits and diminishing our happiness.
The purposes for which the People's government was constituted have been usurped. So we must set about building society anew.
1. Work towards a society based on the consent of the governed.
2. Embrace community self-determination and self-governance, starting with the revival and enforcement of Amendments IX and X of our lost Constitution.
3. Challenge all unjustifiable claims to authority by one person over another.
4. Found, find, or fund new jurisdictions—on land, sea, or in the Cloud—where we can live in peace.
5. Practice nonviolence, integrity, compassion, toleration, stewardship, and rationality—where practice means direct reflection and action, not outdated politics.
6. Protect open inquiry and free expression in both their spirit and letter.
7. Judge others by the content of their character, never by irrelevant, arbitrary, or superficial characteristics.
8. Respect one another's religions, traditions, and practices, so long as they are peaceful.
9. Require full transparency from anyone who claims authority.
10. Exit systems that violate our privacy, sovereignty, or right to peaceful association.
11. Build systems that protect our privacy, sovereignty, and peaceful association.
12. Construct communities that better reckon with the increased complexity of the modern world, balanced against the constraints of our human nature.
13. Construct sovereign networks of property, communication, finance, and currency.
14. Organize superior, anti-authoritarian systems of charity and mutual aid.
15. Create the means to protect our pursuit of happiness and life meaning.
16. Take it upon ourselves to protect and steward our natural resources.
17. Condemn and avoid theft via the inflationary and redistributive policies of national central banks.
18. Practice nonviolent resistance but defend ourselves vigorously against all violent actors.
19, Revive federalism, devolving political power as locally as is feasible, always towards true self-government.
20. Become resilient as individuals, families, and communities — empowering ourselves.
21. Exploit the weak joints and leverage points of all unjust hierarchies.
22. Exit any platform, system, or organization that has been compromised by unjust power.
23. Defend ourselves and those we love with the fervor of hornets.
24. Renounce allegiances to the major political parties and their national election spectacles.
25. Oblige regional and local governments to override national authorities.
26. Operate parallel legal systems centered on restitution instead of retribution.
27. Radiate goodwill in the practice of community-building and peace.
28. Solve social problems with our creativity, innovation, and social entrepreneurship.
29. Practice morality in thought, word, and deed, while expecting the same from leaders.
30. Replace our cowardice with courage, our doubt with confidence, and our hesitation with dedication.
SIGNATORIES: This Declaration evokes the spirit of 1776, but each of the injustices and resolutions listed is cosmopolitan, designed to challenge unjust, unchecked political power wherever it is found. The peoples of the world must overcome the submission instincts that keep us in the grip of fear. If freedom is our children's birthright, let it never be said we were timid and weak.
Our mission unites us in strength.
We are about to enter an era of upheaval that is unprecedented in our lifetimes. As we move forward together in the solidarity of Gandhi’s “satyagraha” and Jefferson's “self-evident truths,” let these principles unleash new experiments in peace, freedom, and self-government.
Though human events draw our attention to struggles among great powers, the greatest struggle of our time is the People against an Axis of Unjust Authority. We must not idle as the powerful encircle us with tentacles of control, even if they do so in the name of national security or the common good. After all, "The Thing itself is the Abuse!"
Instead, we will vote with our money and our feet. We will rise up as peaceful, digital insurgents, write tomorrow's rules, and become practitioners of UNDERTHROW. We can do so by building new societies in the detritus of power politics. We start by lending our voices to the universal principles set out in this document.
Once we make our declaration, we shall begin our struggle anew.
In normal times dealing with a normal Human Being, You are absolutely correct, Bill: No need at all.
But, we Are dealing with Trump here. And that changes all the rules.
At least as far as he and his Devoted Followers are concerned. Witness Dennis' totally ignoring Your point and changing the subject as soon as possible.
There are so many laws on the books because they are the toolkit that those in power use as needed against perceived enemies. Trump got busted in a Blue Team state, and if the same trial had been held in Texas he would have been acquitted. Sufficient scrutiny of any wealthy person in the country would reveal illegalities, but that almost never happens to people with lots of money and good lawyers unless they cross other, richer people. It is not a justice system, it is a system of selective prosecution. Ask the peaceful protesters who got thrown in jail recently.
Both candidates are a blight on humanity, and either one will exacerbate the ongoing disasters. But since the initial selection process for candidates is out of the hands of voters, we are only going to get horrible choices (a choice between Cholera or Gonorrhea, in Julian Assange's words).
"A system of selective prosecution": well and truly put.
Which one is cholera and which is gonorrhea? The latter is treatable, at least, and usually not deadly. :-)
"Trump Guilty" Life goes on as usual....Off the record they both can kick the bucket --anytime is soon enough for me and deprive all of us their presence.
Even if they both dropped dead today, there is a whole raft of POTUS-Wannabes ready to step in and carry on The Crusade.
That is true. Our Country is not perfect never has been, and I truly also believe never will. It has given me a great pension and career I was really proud of-- that said but in all other possible worlds/ countries in the west, and with a view to all the other alternatives I think its the best tho flawed there is. To paraphrase a quote now by Hemingway, the world is still a beautiful place and worth fighting for. To all hell with those trying to tear it down...!
The Question at this point in time,Fireman1110, is not whether or not the American system of Government and Governance is the "best" of all possibilities anyplace on the Planet.
The Question is whether or not the United States will survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, 763 days from today.
And if it does, will the American People be in any mood or condition to celebrate anything?
Jeff: The Bicentennial was beautiful we had the Tall Ships in Newport & Boston, and it was a great time to be alive I was a Sgt. Air Police still in the USAF. It was magical the Olympics when Bruce Jenner won the Decathlon, Rock music was in its heyday Led Zep. Jethro Tull etc. etc. I am an optimist by trade so I think the Union will last. Seemed like yesterday such are memories....
John you nailed it. I think of this when I consider the non-disclosure agreements of which Trump was so fond. It is the perfect tool for the wealthy. First you make a money offer to the person and then if it isn't accepted you threaten all the legal force your money can buy. Who would not yield?
If I were Jeff Bezos, with the wealth he has that could buy every man, woman and child in Denver a $100,000 Cadillac, I would give every at-the-bottom defendant in the US court system the ability to choose a jury trial instead of being forced to plea bargain in the fact of threats from the prosecution. This offer would of course go with a promise to hire the best legal help for the defense. Of justice system is a crime in itself.
BTW - Bezos' wealth, $150,000,000,000 Think of it, a billion dollars is one thousand million dollars, so he has in effect 150 thousand of one million dollar bills. It is largely untouchable and that, again, due to our legal system where he can hire an army of income protection legal help, in that bizarre way spreading the wealth to those who need it least.
I think and write about this a lot. People like Bezos have much more money at their disposal than most countries (who have massive debt rather than piles of cash). This gives the oligarchs unlimited power to alter government, replace news with propaganda, shape university curricula, crush unions and protests, etc., etc. What I want to know is how this gets fixed. Politicians are all bribed so they won't do anything. The rich own the news so there will never be any push back there. The courts are not going to do anything either. I don't see any possible solutions now that the government has allowed such wealth accumulation. Unless there is a massive confiscation of their ill-gotten goods, we are stuck in this disastrous situation.
Western history doesn't show any non-violent non-revolutionary changes to control by wealth. It makes sense since those who have power don't give it up unless there is a greater power to force change. The founding fathers thought that separation of powers might do the trick, but we see the House, the Senate, the Executive and the Supreme Court all now captured by wealth. The Citizens United decision really ended any question of corruption, throwing open the doors to it.
I am very interested in the case of Israel because it provides a real opening for change. The hypocrisy of the US (liberty and justice for all) unconditionally supporting ethnic cleansing with no limit on the number of helpless Palestinians killed, while the success of American Jews in every field and at all levels refutes the claim that an exclusively Jewish state must be maintained for the safety of Jews by the US is going to come to a head.
This relates to our corrupt system in that a number of American billionaires who are Jews are openly lobbying for Israel via the Congress in a show of corruption that is clear to all. At the same time they are calling for our freedom of speech to be suppressed if those speaking are not supportive of Israel. Sheldon Adelson's Israeli wife Miriam has pledged to create a PAC in support of Trump that will dwarf all levels of financial support to date. This a bid to knock out Biden, the very guy who has done everything in his power to fund and supply the Israeli slaughter in Gaza! What American will not wonder at this attempt to continue, nay, surpass if possible Biden's example of the top priority of the US President being support of Israel? The grotesque insanity of this is clear to the entire world, as various countries are jumping out of the US led choir for Israel.
If US administrations continue to follow the lead of Israel in what happens over there, in particular if it starts costing American lives, and if Israel tries to unload the Palestinians it doesn't kill to the US, outrage at the entire lobby system may follow. I ask anyone reading my words - has the US ever sunk lower than where we are now?
Wouldn't it be miraculous if the break up of Zionism, an ideology anathema to the foundations of the US, that the US political system has been manipulated to support without limit, showing how our system has been turned upside down, would result in at least a beginning for rooting out of the seemingly concrete corruption of our political system?
To defeat the power of wealthy lobbies, take on the elephant in the room. It could well happen.
Guillotine?
Sadly, I read that even in the French Revolution, far more peasants fell prey to the blade than aristocrats.
More like a choice between COVID-19 and AIDS.
It's difficult to care at this point - the decision was inevitable from the outset. Likely the same as the inevitable appeal based on trial irregularities, the court's instruction to the jury, and so on. The goal of getting a conviction is both for the campaign season and for stopping him, if elected, via the 14th amendment - no matter the decision inevitably overturned on an appeal (delayed until after January 2024).
What I am concerned about is the international response to this circus. The U.S. has now shown itself capable of seizing foreign assets held in U.S. banks, supporting genocide, and now using its legal system against its political opponents. We are a rogue nation - and a foreign leader (e.g., Putin, Xi), in a moment of grave crisis, could not and would not believe anything a US diplomat or president told them. That is terrifying.
How is the US seizing assets, or bankrolling, arming, and equipping genocide in some way a new phenomenon?
What was Vietnam? What was "The Forever War"? What were America's dealings with the Indigenous Peoples of North America?
Never said it was. Only made the point we are, and likely have been at a place that when the grave crisis occurs - perhaps tactical nukes in Ukraine, no one will believe a damned thing any US president or diplomat says.
When was the last time ANYBODY had actual, real reason to believe what any American President or Diplomat has said? About anything?
Reread what i said, Dennis.
i didn't say "EVERYTHING EVERY [Your ALL CAPS, not mine] American President or Diplomat has said" was regarded as a Lie.
i asked: "When was the last time anything said by any American President or Diplomat was BELIEVED by anybody?"
Specifically: Ever since this Nation's and Planet's experience with:
1. The Lie that one President told and sold about a so-called "Incident" in the Gulf of Tonkin 60 years ago this August; and,
2. With another President lying and claiming that al-Qaeda did 9/11 thus launching "The Forever War" in Afghanistan and so forth; and,
3. Then the Lie that Saddam had "WMDs" to take that Forever War to the next level; and,
4. More recently, the Lie that Putin's SMO was nothing but pure, naked aggression that had absolutely nothing to do with anything the US and NATO have done since the end of Cold War I, or the 14,000 Ukrainians killed by America's dictatorship in Kyiv; and,
5. Most recently, the Lie that the United States and Israel are NOT committing Genocide and other War Crimes in Gaza.
Given that History, i will repeat my Question: On what basis does Anybody ~ foreign government or American Citizen ~ believe ANYTHING [my ALL CAPS for EMPHASIS] said by any President? Or Cabinet Member? Or Senator or Congresswoman or man? Or any Diplomat?
ps: And that's a real nice story about Marines building a road during WW II. i guess that absolutely PROVES that American Presidents and Diplomats don't lie, eh?
thank you jg. am roundly impressed w/ your clarity and comprehensive articulation of the multifarious crimes of mendacity the US govt has committed over the multiple decades of their subreptitious history, a history which has been malodorous w/ its rank opportunism, savagery, and genocidal duplicities. to have your inventory so neatly ordered and precisely explained helps even the most dimwitted and confused readers well-edified in an historical context.
as well, i suspect those US marines stationed in new zealand during WWII were not acting on the US president's orders, or even by congressional leaders; it is entirely likely they were a ragtag platoon of 'good guys' suffering from ennui who were not at the front lines of battle blasting their ammunition from the barrels of guns as were their consociate mates in europe. nor were they or steeped in pacific theatre battlegrounds and bombardments. so perhaps they decided unilaterally to behave like charitable blokes by building a usable road for new zealanders. it's also possible that their commanding officer, either to preclude debilitating boredom among his troops, or perhaps prepare for future military operations in the pacific theatre that might spread to new zealand, commandeered their muscle power and ingenuity to construct said-road. a reputable new zealand historian would be able to elucubrate on the subject.
I hate to face the fact that too many of my friends of earlier years were giddy with excitement as they posted to Facebook within minutes of the verdict.
As you say, "Meanwhile, as the system spends millions to prosecute Trump for bribing a porn star, President Joe Biden and his administration is enabling a genocide in Gaza. Which crime is bigger?"
Precisely what went through my mind as I cringed at their glee.
I know what you mean about friends. Biden could send the bullets for the IDF to kill every last Palestinian and my friends would vote for him. The two parties have the American people very well trained.
US politics is now a freak show for hucksters, fraudsters, genocide enablers and war profiteers. It's a sh*t show.
US politics is "NOW" a "freak show"?
What has it been for a long, long time ~ like since FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Bush I and Bozo, Clinton, Cheney and Bush II, Obama, Trump, and now Biden ~ up to this point Except a Freak and Shit Show?
And that doesn't include all those folks up on The Hill at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue; let alone the Gang over at The Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA and NSA, and so on and so forth going back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let alone the 92 years since FDR and his Gang.
And technically, one could make a very strong case for declaring that The Shit Show began in 1913 when The Federal Reserve System was unveiled and jammed down Americans' throats.
jg, I think about your point regarding our culture in general and have concluded that what we are seeing now is only the real thing fully exposed. In earlier years everything was done with the top priority of making it look good. An example in our personal lives is the horror that was associated with visiting a psychiatrist. OMG what would people think? Ditto with abortions. From top to bottom things went on but appearances were never to be disturbed. Now, it is all wide open and one good thing about that is that the attempts to cover up and make it look good are laughable - witness the US government spokesperson in press conferences.
If Trump wasn't a Zionist like Biden, maybe I'd care. If Trump could actually stop the war in Ukraine it might make him a "better choice"?
Trump isn't a Zionist like Biden, he is a Trumpist which means he will do anything and everything if he thinks it to his benefit. The way things stand with our corrupt system, it means that Trump might as well be a Zionist.
Trump ~ or whoever is the next POTUS ~ does not have the permission of his owners, operators, commanders, and controllers in America's Ruling Political Class to stop any War or Genocide Especially one that is making as much money for the MICC as Ukraine and Gaza are.
I concur. Both are dumba$$ bullies of the first order and incapable of leading us into a saner future.
As should be obvious enough that you and all readers here probably already are seeing, the Trump trial and conviction serve more than the purpose of trying to prevent Trump from again entering the White House.; or of setting up the conditions for hamstringing him should he win anyway. No doubt, just as with the whole Russiagate cy-op, this also distracts from and provides cover for the much more devious and dangerously criminal acts in enabling Israel's genocide. Also, of course, pushing to back pages or editions any news of Biden's assent to the use of U.S. missiles to strike inside Russia; in all likelihood targeted and launched by American personnel in Ukraine.
Given that this latest escalatory action has just pushed the world another dangerous step or so towards thermonuclear conflict (as Germany has already followed that lead), and given that Netanyahu has effectively been given the signal that the U.S. will continue to support his genocidal campaign- no holds barred- I just can't join my former Party-mates and others among my avowedly 'liberal' circles in their TDS-fueled giddiness about the conviction.
Dennis, they should all be going to jail. Otherwise, I agree with you.
JFK and LBJ were notorious womanizers. Nixon/Ford, as far as I know, not so much. Carter "lusted" in his heart. Reagan, I think, was faithful. No idea about HW Bush. Clinton: ha! He was a man of great appetites, one might say ...
And I'll stop there ...
I forgive Jimmy though because I have done the same, and still do, but only in my heart of course! In addition he proved himself a true humanitarian in the way he lived his life after leaving office.
An affair of the heart, for sure. An affair of the flesh, not clear. That seems to be the consensus.
Dennis, I don't need to tell you this so forgive me; but I think family is one of the most important things we have. I have 8 remaining siblings. Some of them are estranged from a sister because of her husband and his somewhat redneckish politics and the likelihood they both voted for Trump. They, too are in the grips of TDS- an absolutist, black-white, good vs evil framing that is held by probably the vast majority of my fellow party-mates. There is no room at all for shades of gray or nuanced perspective that might, for example, remind them of just how awful a person Biden himself has been, and how damaging his policies.
Like Bill, I have no fondness or empathy for Trump, but seemingly most if not all of us at least among Bill's followers, can look at both of these men from the perspective of historical fact and logic that demands nuanced evaluation. That capacity seems to have been completely removed from very many over the last 8 years or so. We now have what seems to be a very crude kind of tribalism in which adherence to tribal rites and norms trumps any kind of reasoning.
So, this and the importance of keeping good family relations is why I don't get into politics with family (or neighbors, for that matter). It may be compartmentalizing a bit and occasionally forces me to bite my tongue, but I advocate it anyway.
I wondered, listening to Trump's Inaugural Speech, speaking of "AMERICAN CARNAGE" what that image portended for the FUTURE? It's coming into clearer FOCUS for more people these Days!
Well I suppose that some things...like whether our family members will want anything to do with us, may be beyond our control. We can only be fair, decent and as tolerant as we would want others to be ... and then let the chips fall where they will.
Yes, you're right about the establishment going after Trump - except it began right after he announced his intent to run for Presidency. As for Congress-critters trying to subvert the President of the opposing Party, they all tend to do it- it wasn't unique to Trump and the D's. It was the same way when Obama & Biden were elected. Partisan politics is particularly nasty.
just finished viewing it, dennis. thank you for the alert. as w/ our 'hitch', it will be a 'tragédie des biens communs' when we lose noam... however, even tho' he is a nonagenarian, he might outlive me.
Heh. Well, when there's nothing else to talk about, there's always Sex.
And just curious, Dennis: What do You know about what went on in Trump's Offal Office as regards sexual activity?
Selective prosecution in a jurisdiction afflicted with a TDS pandemic. New York has convict very few actual felons in the past few years.
November my vote will be against the regime of Maoist show trials!
Should Trump win in November [assuming there even is an election], You can count on there being more "Maoist show trials."
Pending democrat losing control of house there won’t be any impeaching until/if dems gain the house.
To the dems canceling Maoist sham trials is bad for their democracy
Party lawfare over human rights!
Ever heard of Trump's Enemy List? All those people he's going to pay back for all the problems they have caused him and his scheme of "MAGA"? Like they say: "PayBack is a Bitch."
If You haven't, check out "The MAGA enemies list is growing, and so are the odds that you’re on it" from The Hill at https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4488097-trumps-enemies-list-is-growing-and-so-are-the-odds-that-youre-on-it/ .
If anybody thinks that Republicans are as not as capable of Maoist show/sham trials as Democrats, i have the remnants of a bridge in Baltimore that i will be happy to arrange for them to buy cheap.
Like he did in 2017.
I’d rather not be in some democrat prosecutor cross hair no matter.
The hill, indeed.
The Hill is commonly known as the voice of Capitol Hill Democrats. No surprise that they would level baseless accusation against Trump.
"Commonly known" by whom? Anybody in particular?
Matt Taibbi has the perfect answer to your question. He can't believe the Democrats are dumb enough to think Trumpers and other Repubs actually care about this. Hillary had the same "crime" and she only paid a few bucks and no one cared, so don't expect the Repubs to care either.
Why don’t we call it what this actually has been: a clown show? It is just another example of the worthlessness of exceptionalism unless you apply to the utter depravity of the U.S. political establishment. BTW, has anyone observed that the Chinese “persecution” of Muslim Uighur people has disappeared completely from the western political and media narrative in the last few months?
The Chinese rape of Tibet and the Tibetan People disappeared from the West's political and media narrative a long, long time ago. Like in 1951.
And calling this whole thing ~ since, just for starters, Election2016 ~ a "clown show" is an insult to clowns.
I think they have been using it in more recent years. Again, the brutality against the common Tibetan people by their “ecclesiastical” leadership before the Chinese takeover was never discussed in the western media. The various Lamas kept the Tibetan people in medieval circumstances.
Are You putting The Dalai Lama in the category of all those Lamas who kept the Tibetan People in "medieval circumstances"?
And are You saying that the Tibetan People are better off under the rule of their Masters in Beijing than they were under all those Lamas?
What have the Tibetan People had to say about that? More specifically: What have the Tibetan People had Beijing's permission to say about that? Anything?
What I know about Tibet is based on some reading on Tibetan and Chinese history. Tibet was for centuries part of the Chinese “empire” not all that different from many other ethnic entities in China. My assessment of the current Dalai Lama is mixed. I read Heinrich Harrer’s SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET when it was first published in German many decades ago. It was and is an interesting account. I think he and his followers in northern India have been used by various western secrete services. There are claims that NGO money has been used to keep his establishment going. Beijing did not ask the Tibetan people for their permission. What I do know is that the Chinese modernized the region. The introduction of modern medicine, schools and infrastructures certainly has made their lives better. Ethnic aspirations for independence are found in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, history has not been beneficial to most of them and the issue has been used the major powers to cause instability.
My view is about the crime, what crime? How society is damaged by the action of anybody compensating a date or an affair for keeping a relationship secret. Is that a crime? Compensating a sexual partner could go from a dinner, some jewelry, a trip, to 130k cash. How society is harmed from a private transaction between two consenting adults? Why the police government rules on that? I can see the spouse of one of the participants to be upset, but not the rest of us, and to spend our tax dollars in prosecuting for something is not our business. Why not spend that money feeding homeless. That is the problem, the useless politically correct incompetents fighting for their survival prosecuting anybody that challenges their power. If they start prosecuting every person who compensated another person to keep an affair secret, there would have to be millions prosecuted. That is the huge threat to our freedom, a political correct incompetente can use any law to prosecute anybody that threatens their power. On the other stupid prosecution, how many people exaggerate the value of their home when they ask for a loan? That is why banks have appraisals and lend whatever amount they want, not what you tell them. In Trumps case even the banks said they were ok, no victim. For political correct incompetent who never had or run a business that is a crime.
The subtitle, Please Ignore the Genocide in Progress in Gaza, tells the whole story, Bill!
Alex pretty much always makes sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoDommVOuuA
What did she say on the witness stand, under oath?
And how come Trump didn't take to the stand to defend himself? Under oath? Or is that exactly Why?
THAT would have been great fun to watch that particular Shit Show unfold.
America's favorite Realty-TV Soap Opera starring America's favorite Reality-TV Soap Opera Star and Host. Under oath.
Excellent article: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/the-day-the-democrats-putinized-america/
Max Borders concludes UNDERTHROW: HOW JEFFERSON'S DANGEROUS IDEA WILL SPARK A NEW REVOLUTION with THE SECOND “DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE” as follows:
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for us to dissolve the political bands that tether us to arbitrary power—and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which Universal Morality entitles us—posterity demands we enumerate the injustices and declare our resolve.
We still hold these truths to be self-evident:
“That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
We understand these timeless words to mean that no one is justified in subordinating another who has caused no injury and that neither majoritarian mobs nor deliberative bodies may deny us our life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness.
Therefore, in peaceful solidarity, we declare our independence — again.
CONSENT: To secure our rights, the People must institute new governance systems, deriving our just powers from the consent of the governed.
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of our ends, it is:
“The Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
We do not take the implications lightly.
Still, when a “long train of abuses and usurpations” creates a condition of subjugation, it is our right and our duty, “to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for [our] future security.”
We have waited long enough for elected officials to reform themselves and our system. We have seen too little progress. So the time has come for the People to alter our systems of government.
But we are under no illusions: powerful authorities do not care about lofty appeals. We can no more swarm them with muskets than ignore their power. We must instead launch a million experiments in liberation. The history of governments, after all, is a history of repeated injuries by authorities who oppress the people for the ends of power.
Enough is enough.
INJUSTICES: Our grievances pertain to actions of unchecked power. Such actions include:
1. Taking from us without our consent and preventing us from governing ourselves.
2. Denying us guarantees in the Bill of Rights, especially Amendments I, II, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, and X.
3. Threatening, regulating, and oppressing us, too often without legislation or due process.
4. Lying to us and keeping secrets from us, while evading accountability.
5. Dividing and disenfranchising us through the spectacles of partisan polarization and national elections.
6. Seeking to control us, that is, to engineer society as if it were a machine and we were its cogs.
7. Forcing us to subsidize failed agencies, systems, and institutions.
8. Granting favors or subsidies to reward the powerful at the expense of the poor.
9. Threatening, attacking, and imprisoning those who share the truth about them, criminalizing both demands for accountability and peaceful dissent.
10. Trading on and profiting from inside knowledge of the very laws they make.
11. Feeding our fears to grow the military-industrial complex out of all reasonable proportion.
12. Threatening to confiscate our means of defending ourselves from criminals and tyrants.
13. Taxing us without legitimacy through currency manipulation.
14. Conscripting the media and social platforms into deception, spin-doctoring, and censorship on their behalf.
15, Assaulting our shared moral principles, common law, and Constitution.
16. Spying on the People and denying us our privacy.
17. Auctioning power to corporate bidders and horse-trading with our property to expand their power.
18. Mandating commercial relationships or associations we would never choose otherwise.
19, Creating corrupt monopsonies of scientific research.
20. Declaring “wars” on the People for "crimes" that have no victim.
21. Invading countries that represent no credible threat to the People or our pursuit of happiness.
22. Using unlimited debt to buy votes and expand their power — thus burdening our children and grandchildren.
23. Threatening legal action, heaping charges on us, or seizing our property without due process.
24. Inculcating our children with illiberal doctrines, identity politics, or bankrupt ideologies.
25. Claiming expertise and decision-making rights on matters about which they have insufficient knowledge.
26. Forcing us to use their debased monies and prevent us from using our own monetary networks.
27. Creating perverse, unintended effects by meddling in complex systems they don't fully understand.
28. Oppressing us repeatedly in the name of the common good.
29. Putting the interests of elites over the needs of the People.
30. Obstructing our pursuits and diminishing our happiness.
The purposes for which the People's government was constituted have been usurped. So we must set about building society anew.
RESOLUTIONS: Therefore, we resolve to:
1. Work towards a society based on the consent of the governed.
2. Embrace community self-determination and self-governance, starting with the revival and enforcement of Amendments IX and X of our lost Constitution.
3. Challenge all unjustifiable claims to authority by one person over another.
4. Found, find, or fund new jurisdictions—on land, sea, or in the Cloud—where we can live in peace.
5. Practice nonviolence, integrity, compassion, toleration, stewardship, and rationality—where practice means direct reflection and action, not outdated politics.
6. Protect open inquiry and free expression in both their spirit and letter.
7. Judge others by the content of their character, never by irrelevant, arbitrary, or superficial characteristics.
8. Respect one another's religions, traditions, and practices, so long as they are peaceful.
9. Require full transparency from anyone who claims authority.
10. Exit systems that violate our privacy, sovereignty, or right to peaceful association.
11. Build systems that protect our privacy, sovereignty, and peaceful association.
12. Construct communities that better reckon with the increased complexity of the modern world, balanced against the constraints of our human nature.
13. Construct sovereign networks of property, communication, finance, and currency.
14. Organize superior, anti-authoritarian systems of charity and mutual aid.
15. Create the means to protect our pursuit of happiness and life meaning.
16. Take it upon ourselves to protect and steward our natural resources.
17. Condemn and avoid theft via the inflationary and redistributive policies of national central banks.
18. Practice nonviolent resistance but defend ourselves vigorously against all violent actors.
19, Revive federalism, devolving political power as locally as is feasible, always towards true self-government.
20. Become resilient as individuals, families, and communities — empowering ourselves.
21. Exploit the weak joints and leverage points of all unjust hierarchies.
22. Exit any platform, system, or organization that has been compromised by unjust power.
23. Defend ourselves and those we love with the fervor of hornets.
24. Renounce allegiances to the major political parties and their national election spectacles.
25. Oblige regional and local governments to override national authorities.
26. Operate parallel legal systems centered on restitution instead of retribution.
27. Radiate goodwill in the practice of community-building and peace.
28. Solve social problems with our creativity, innovation, and social entrepreneurship.
29. Practice morality in thought, word, and deed, while expecting the same from leaders.
30. Replace our cowardice with courage, our doubt with confidence, and our hesitation with dedication.
SIGNATORIES: This Declaration evokes the spirit of 1776, but each of the injustices and resolutions listed is cosmopolitan, designed to challenge unjust, unchecked political power wherever it is found. The peoples of the world must overcome the submission instincts that keep us in the grip of fear. If freedom is our children's birthright, let it never be said we were timid and weak.
Our mission unites us in strength.
We are about to enter an era of upheaval that is unprecedented in our lifetimes. As we move forward together in the solidarity of Gandhi’s “satyagraha” and Jefferson's “self-evident truths,” let these principles unleash new experiments in peace, freedom, and self-government.
Though human events draw our attention to struggles among great powers, the greatest struggle of our time is the People against an Axis of Unjust Authority. We must not idle as the powerful encircle us with tentacles of control, even if they do so in the name of national security or the common good. After all, "The Thing itself is the Abuse!"
Instead, we will vote with our money and our feet. We will rise up as peaceful, digital insurgents, write tomorrow's rules, and become practitioners of UNDERTHROW. We can do so by building new societies in the detritus of power politics. We start by lending our voices to the universal principles set out in this document.
Once we make our declaration, we shall begin our struggle anew.
Source: https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-second-declaration
Note: A prequel to UNDERTHROW is Mr Borders' AFTER COLLAPSE: THE END OF AMERICA AND THE REBIRTH OF HER IDEALS.
The Babylon Bee sees all: https://babylonbee.com/news/democrats-celebrate-trump-being-convicted-of-whatever-it-was-he-did
I assume if all Trump and Stormy did was play a rousing game of Scrabble, there'd be no need to pay her $130K.
:-)
In normal times dealing with a normal Human Being, You are absolutely correct, Bill: No need at all.
But, we Are dealing with Trump here. And that changes all the rules.
At least as far as he and his Devoted Followers are concerned. Witness Dennis' totally ignoring Your point and changing the subject as soon as possible.
Yankee Stay Home.