"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.
And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."- George Orwell, 1984
Orwell's 1984 was required reading in my high school sociology class 60 years ago. I expect it was also required reading for the Heritage Foundation group that authored their Project 2025. The similarities between the two are chilling, and I don't think accidental.
Democracy is messy and inefficient at times. Maybe that's why so many people think it's better to have one person make all the "big beautiful decisions" along with re-writing our past. Now that's a scary thought that I don't want to live with. Do any of us?
Yesterday it was reported that one GOP congressperson (oops! Am I breaking a DEI law?) was pushing to have the name of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) changed to Washington Metropolitan Area for Greater Access -- i.e., Washington MAGA. He also wants to rename the Metrorail to "Trump Train". Another GOP congressperson presented a bill to have the Orange Sadist's face added to Mt. Rushmore. (Of course, Mt. Rushmore's name would have to be changed to "Mt. Ruchmare".)
Yes, this gives me hope. There are those that predict gloom & doom, and all is lost, that we should just give up, but that is surely not the way to win. We will prevail in the long run if we keep fighting. Thanks for the positive news.
It causes me tremendous headaches listening to Taco and his sycophants claim this is politically motivated and that is politically motivated, but nothing they do is. The outright lies they tell. The ignorance they display. As angry as I get, as much hate as I have for those people willing to accept blindly the lies, I feel so sad that so many millions of Americans do.
Ignorance and FEAR. They fear the OTHER. It does not matter who the OTHER might be - Black, Brown, Foreign, Educated, Women - especially an Educated Black Woman. When fear overtakes reason, look for "daddy" to keep you safe.
I wish I had the optimism you express so well. The cases you point to support that optimism, but he continues to flaut judges' orders, one way or another. I appreciate your muted optimism and will try to hang onto it.
Thank goodness for the Constitution. Lawsuits and decisions against the current administration will continue to stack up like firewood, but eventually they will have the desired result, illuminating defense of the indefensible as jejune and obfuscatory. There have always been those who would make a mockery of just behavior, well understood by the framers. Though Trump’s mockery surpasses all that has gone before, his unjust behavior will be his undoing, not our Nation’s.
I share your faith sir. I suspect the path through this process will not be pleasant but we will come to see that hate cannot be the basis for a society.
There was a time when the 2 words, "politics" and "economics" were considered as one - "political economy."
The idea being that one engaged with the political system in order to have a voice in shaping economic policy.
Sadly "politics" has been dragged through the muck. It's a slur thrown at some "other" to warn them from trying to engage with the system.
But please, see through these semantic destructions.
it seems nevertheless widely agreed that the available empirical evidence makes it at the very least worthy of serious consideration that the language of liberal democracy does not accurately explain the cause of most US policy. One must worry about even apparently robustly liberal democratic states that the language of democracy is simply used to mask an undemocratic reality.”
― Jason F. Stanley, How Propaganda Works
There isn't just a truth (an ontology as Philosophers describe it) there are also our self-evident truths we hold as Americans.
Making politics a slur as a root cause of apathy is something we fail to understand when asking how people can ignore this and that. It goes hand in hand with denial.
Morning Steven: In discussing the Constitution, you mentioned "In other words? We are still a system of laws. This president cannot ignore them by falsely insisting the country is facing a national emergency in his quest to do whatever he wants. We may find out soon if the Supreme Court takes up the case and agrees.”
While we still have a constitution and a "system of laws", Mr. Trump has spent his entire adult life - ignoring those laws. Yes, we are "horrified because his actions are immoral and unprincipled", and even illegal - but the reality of our situation is that our country is not just facing Trump, Vance, MAGA, and a difficult two-party system - but our government has been manipulated and corrupted by Russian forces. Russia is not just a land that is far away. They are inside our White House and changing our laws faster than U.S. judges can keep up with their path of destruction.
All of us must stop thinking in terms of "isolationism" and recognize the inevitability of Putin and Russia's role in Trump's presidency and in the daily liquidation, ruination, and then control of our judiciary, our laws, our Constitution, and our entire way of life. We are too busy putting out fires, so we are NOT dealing with the greater problem - or quagmire. Trump is just a symptom, and his invasive malignancy can eventually be removed.
My father was CIA. He processed my Top Secret clearance when I was 16. By the age of 17, I worked my way through college with my CIA employment. I then spent the next twelve years with Science Applications International Corporation as the manager of the largest Russian-language technical, military, intelligence data base in the U.S. This was followed by twenty years living and working in Russia and that area. I was there when the Soviet Union collapsed, during the Yeltsin years, the rise of Putin (I worked in St. Petersburg when Putin was the Vice Mayor), and so forth. I am now retired and write for one purpose - to WARN Americans about Russia's intentions toward the U.S., about how Trump became a Russian asset, and the massive demolition of our democracy and way of life via an invisible Russian invasion.
In 1956, Khrushchev said "we will bury you." meaning communism will destroy democracy or Russia will defeat the USA. Putin was a boy during the Khrushchev days, but he dedicated his life to Khrushchev's words as the guiding light for KGB operations. In 1994, Putin implemented the FSB (Federal Security Bureau) and managed this organization until he became President of Russia. The FSB assumed most of the KGB tasks - foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, internal security, etc. - but added control of all Russian banks.
Trump is imbecilic, like a wind-up doll who sees nothing but money, money, and money - and throw illicit sex in the mix as well. He is the very worst example of what a democratic/capitalist country creates. If the Russians keep the lights on at Mar-A-Lago he will do as they say. He SOLD his soul and our country to the Russians decades ago and has dealt with Russian mobsters for most of his adult life. He was manipulated and caught.
So yes, Steven - it is not about politics. For Trump, being the "president" is NOT about leading a democratic nation, it's about power and money - the opposite of principles, justice, law and order, and what our Constitution stands for.
There is an old saying: without integrity you have nothing. To have integrity is to have principles and act according to those principles. We must walk in the light of integrity, one foot in front of the other until we overcome the mess coming at us from every direction.
Integrity has a second meaning: to be whole and undivided. More often than not, we’ve failed to meet that mark in large part because since the country’s early days not everyone held fast to the same principles. Eventually the compromises lead to greater division. This time, somehow we must find a way to break the pattern.
Thank you, Steven. Your note of optimism is a needed reminder that there is cause for hope. And, yes, our courts are still holding strong.
What is deeply troubling, however, is the fact that this fascist regime is simply ignoring the courts' judgements (Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to provide one glaring example, is still languishing in jail in El Salvador regardless of a finding from the Supreme Court itself). But then why should the regime care about something as inconvenient as habeas corpus when senior figures in the administration cannot even define the term?
To put it plainly, the regime keeps ramping up the pressure but has yet to be met with any real resistance: no one has been held accountable for acts that are glaringly illegal; nor has a single senior official even been held in contempt.
Who, I would love to know, is giving Trump his marching orders: The Heritage Foundation; Project 2025; Putin? Let's face it, the only beneficiary of Trump's draconian domestic measures and abrupt about-face regarding our democratic alliances and most cherished values is Russia. I mean, Trump's only real interests appear to be grifting and golfing. And yet he is able to keep his acolytes in Congress in lockstep behind him. Where does this indolent, out of shape apology of a man, who paints his face and lacquers his hair, get the energy?
Why isn't the press screaming out about these issues on a daily basis? (Oh, forgive me, I forgot for a moment that the press is part of the corporate machine.)
Equally - and this is critical - we still do not have a united body of leaders to define the way forward and to spearhead the charge. Though we, who believe in truth and the rule of law, might be in the majority, are we simply going to allow ourselves to sink into the quicksand of evil and stupidity through lack of cohesion?
I scrambled through the paperbacks in the attic, desperately hoping the final paragraphs of Mr Orwell's book might have changed in the years since my last visit there. (Don't we say "evolved" now?)
The brave French heroine could finally cheer when the Nazis were defeated.
John Wayne awakened in the care of Patricia Neal on a hospital ship steaming out of Harm's Way.
The wounded American pilot flew west into a glorious sun as we hear the orchestral sounds of Francis Scott Key.
When I awakened, I thought a kernel of hope might still be clutched in my sweaty hand. But alas, it was only a dream.
Thank you for your inspiration and helping us "keep the faith." I've never understood why a president would criticize a great university. Presidents are proud of America's universities. Our current president has never been a university president or a professor. The dollars he is trying to exclude from Harvard come from tax dollars. Those dollars are not his to give out. Let's be perfectly clear, many wealthy big shots don't pay taxes. Education and service to the people, not to the wealthy, is where the dollars should be spent.
I hope the US can stand on principles. I get concerned when I read about Orban in Hungary and his regime actually changing their constitution to suit the dictatorship. What's to prevent that from happening here? Republicans have been working on their Project 2025 for decades and supporting Orban. Progressive thinkers need to have a well thought out vision and plan for the US as well that doesn't dramatically change every 4 years. I hope we survive this tyranny and have a chance to do some great things for the people in this country who aren't so wealthy and their greed knows no limits. Most people just want to be able to live and not worry about how they will survive from day to day.
Never have Lincoln's words at Gettysburg been more prescient; of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE.
The PEOPLE are going to have to save the United States of America, because the government for WHOM to stands right now (Trump and only Trump) is corrupted to the core by 5 SCOTUS judges, the former Republican Party, now the Cult of Trump and the inept and impotent Democratic Party, who sees the destruction, but is powerless to stop its continuation.
Every time I see Chuck Schumer with his glasses halfway down his nose, spewing ineffective- go- along- to -get- along-strongly -worded -letter waste of oxygen speeches, I want to scream.
My only hope for Democrats is there is someone like Clinton and Obama, vaguely known now but ready to step up and lead exists out there somewhere.
I would like to think that our country would accept a gay man, a Jew and/or a woman, but I am sad to say I don't believe we have evolved to that point yet. Because I would vote for Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro or Amy Klobuchar as POTUS in a hot second.
I want to have hope. I am trying really hard. Really I am.
But I still have a small number of felon followers in my circle, and even more who do not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the threats we face. I don't understand why -- most of them have offspring, and they're the ones who will suffer the consequences for much longer than our generation.
In the meantime, I'm calling the people who are (supposed to be) my representatives, going to rallies, and calmly discussing the political issues with those who are willing to do so.
We must..or this:
"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.
And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."- George Orwell, 1984
It’s already happening.
Orwell's 1984 was required reading in my high school sociology class 60 years ago. I expect it was also required reading for the Heritage Foundation group that authored their Project 2025. The similarities between the two are chilling, and I don't think accidental.
Democracy is messy and inefficient at times. Maybe that's why so many people think it's better to have one person make all the "big beautiful decisions" along with re-writing our past. Now that's a scary thought that I don't want to live with. Do any of us?
The Heritage Foundation read Orwell and thought it was a blueprint for them.
Absolutely. I re-read 1984 after the election, and the comparisons are not accidental...it's plagiarism. I invite people to read it.
Agreed. It’s like they used it as a guide book.
Yesterday it was reported that one GOP congressperson (oops! Am I breaking a DEI law?) was pushing to have the name of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) changed to Washington Metropolitan Area for Greater Access -- i.e., Washington MAGA. He also wants to rename the Metrorail to "Trump Train". Another GOP congressperson presented a bill to have the Orange Sadist's face added to Mt. Rushmore. (Of course, Mt. Rushmore's name would have to be changed to "Mt. Ruchmare".)
Thank you, kind sir, for finding, seeing, and reporting reasons for optimism. I/We need you.
Yes, this gives me hope. There are those that predict gloom & doom, and all is lost, that we should just give up, but that is surely not the way to win. We will prevail in the long run if we keep fighting. Thanks for the positive news.
We don’t win if we give up and give in.
It causes me tremendous headaches listening to Taco and his sycophants claim this is politically motivated and that is politically motivated, but nothing they do is. The outright lies they tell. The ignorance they display. As angry as I get, as much hate as I have for those people willing to accept blindly the lies, I feel so sad that so many millions of Americans do.
I am still shocked at how many “Americans” that accept the lies…welcome them, even. How did they get this way?
Ignorance and FEAR. They fear the OTHER. It does not matter who the OTHER might be - Black, Brown, Foreign, Educated, Women - especially an Educated Black Woman. When fear overtakes reason, look for "daddy" to keep you safe.
I wish I had the optimism you express so well. The cases you point to support that optimism, but he continues to flaut judges' orders, one way or another. I appreciate your muted optimism and will try to hang onto it.
Some days it feels as though the judges will not be enough.
Thank goodness for the Constitution. Lawsuits and decisions against the current administration will continue to stack up like firewood, but eventually they will have the desired result, illuminating defense of the indefensible as jejune and obfuscatory. There have always been those who would make a mockery of just behavior, well understood by the framers. Though Trump’s mockery surpasses all that has gone before, his unjust behavior will be his undoing, not our Nation’s.
They are working very hard to change the Constitution or just plain IGNORE it.
I share your faith sir. I suspect the path through this process will not be pleasant but we will come to see that hate cannot be the basis for a society.
There was a time when the 2 words, "politics" and "economics" were considered as one - "political economy."
The idea being that one engaged with the political system in order to have a voice in shaping economic policy.
Sadly "politics" has been dragged through the muck. It's a slur thrown at some "other" to warn them from trying to engage with the system.
But please, see through these semantic destructions.
it seems nevertheless widely agreed that the available empirical evidence makes it at the very least worthy of serious consideration that the language of liberal democracy does not accurately explain the cause of most US policy. One must worry about even apparently robustly liberal democratic states that the language of democracy is simply used to mask an undemocratic reality.”
― Jason F. Stanley, How Propaganda Works
There isn't just a truth (an ontology as Philosophers describe it) there are also our self-evident truths we hold as Americans.
I still believe.
Making politics a slur as a root cause of apathy is something we fail to understand when asking how people can ignore this and that. It goes hand in hand with denial.
Apathy must not win.
Morning Steven: In discussing the Constitution, you mentioned "In other words? We are still a system of laws. This president cannot ignore them by falsely insisting the country is facing a national emergency in his quest to do whatever he wants. We may find out soon if the Supreme Court takes up the case and agrees.”
While we still have a constitution and a "system of laws", Mr. Trump has spent his entire adult life - ignoring those laws. Yes, we are "horrified because his actions are immoral and unprincipled", and even illegal - but the reality of our situation is that our country is not just facing Trump, Vance, MAGA, and a difficult two-party system - but our government has been manipulated and corrupted by Russian forces. Russia is not just a land that is far away. They are inside our White House and changing our laws faster than U.S. judges can keep up with their path of destruction.
All of us must stop thinking in terms of "isolationism" and recognize the inevitability of Putin and Russia's role in Trump's presidency and in the daily liquidation, ruination, and then control of our judiciary, our laws, our Constitution, and our entire way of life. We are too busy putting out fires, so we are NOT dealing with the greater problem - or quagmire. Trump is just a symptom, and his invasive malignancy can eventually be removed.
My father was CIA. He processed my Top Secret clearance when I was 16. By the age of 17, I worked my way through college with my CIA employment. I then spent the next twelve years with Science Applications International Corporation as the manager of the largest Russian-language technical, military, intelligence data base in the U.S. This was followed by twenty years living and working in Russia and that area. I was there when the Soviet Union collapsed, during the Yeltsin years, the rise of Putin (I worked in St. Petersburg when Putin was the Vice Mayor), and so forth. I am now retired and write for one purpose - to WARN Americans about Russia's intentions toward the U.S., about how Trump became a Russian asset, and the massive demolition of our democracy and way of life via an invisible Russian invasion.
In 1956, Khrushchev said "we will bury you." meaning communism will destroy democracy or Russia will defeat the USA. Putin was a boy during the Khrushchev days, but he dedicated his life to Khrushchev's words as the guiding light for KGB operations. In 1994, Putin implemented the FSB (Federal Security Bureau) and managed this organization until he became President of Russia. The FSB assumed most of the KGB tasks - foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, internal security, etc. - but added control of all Russian banks.
Trump is imbecilic, like a wind-up doll who sees nothing but money, money, and money - and throw illicit sex in the mix as well. He is the very worst example of what a democratic/capitalist country creates. If the Russians keep the lights on at Mar-A-Lago he will do as they say. He SOLD his soul and our country to the Russians decades ago and has dealt with Russian mobsters for most of his adult life. He was manipulated and caught.
So yes, Steven - it is not about politics. For Trump, being the "president" is NOT about leading a democratic nation, it's about power and money - the opposite of principles, justice, law and order, and what our Constitution stands for.
Thanks for including your insights, Elizabeth. Most Americans don’t still recognize how significant Russia is in manipulating Trump.
There is an old saying: without integrity you have nothing. To have integrity is to have principles and act according to those principles. We must walk in the light of integrity, one foot in front of the other until we overcome the mess coming at us from every direction.
Integrity has a second meaning: to be whole and undivided. More often than not, we’ve failed to meet that mark in large part because since the country’s early days not everyone held fast to the same principles. Eventually the compromises lead to greater division. This time, somehow we must find a way to break the pattern.
Thank you, Steven. Your note of optimism is a needed reminder that there is cause for hope. And, yes, our courts are still holding strong.
What is deeply troubling, however, is the fact that this fascist regime is simply ignoring the courts' judgements (Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to provide one glaring example, is still languishing in jail in El Salvador regardless of a finding from the Supreme Court itself). But then why should the regime care about something as inconvenient as habeas corpus when senior figures in the administration cannot even define the term?
To put it plainly, the regime keeps ramping up the pressure but has yet to be met with any real resistance: no one has been held accountable for acts that are glaringly illegal; nor has a single senior official even been held in contempt.
Who, I would love to know, is giving Trump his marching orders: The Heritage Foundation; Project 2025; Putin? Let's face it, the only beneficiary of Trump's draconian domestic measures and abrupt about-face regarding our democratic alliances and most cherished values is Russia. I mean, Trump's only real interests appear to be grifting and golfing. And yet he is able to keep his acolytes in Congress in lockstep behind him. Where does this indolent, out of shape apology of a man, who paints his face and lacquers his hair, get the energy?
Why isn't the press screaming out about these issues on a daily basis? (Oh, forgive me, I forgot for a moment that the press is part of the corporate machine.)
Equally - and this is critical - we still do not have a united body of leaders to define the way forward and to spearhead the charge. Though we, who believe in truth and the rule of law, might be in the majority, are we simply going to allow ourselves to sink into the quicksand of evil and stupidity through lack of cohesion?
I scrambled through the paperbacks in the attic, desperately hoping the final paragraphs of Mr Orwell's book might have changed in the years since my last visit there. (Don't we say "evolved" now?)
The brave French heroine could finally cheer when the Nazis were defeated.
John Wayne awakened in the care of Patricia Neal on a hospital ship steaming out of Harm's Way.
The wounded American pilot flew west into a glorious sun as we hear the orchestral sounds of Francis Scott Key.
When I awakened, I thought a kernel of hope might still be clutched in my sweaty hand. But alas, it was only a dream.
Gotta see the light through. It’s the only way.
Help express our opposition and help limit the damage. Please sign and help promote The People’s Articles of Impeachment Against Donald J. Trump:
https://chng.it/mXLxNB9nRH
You are so right Steven, it's not even Politics but it's really Principle ...
And for people, it is way stronger than politics, 🫠. and that is undying !!
Poor Project 2025. No chance on that.
Thank you for your inspiration and helping us "keep the faith." I've never understood why a president would criticize a great university. Presidents are proud of America's universities. Our current president has never been a university president or a professor. The dollars he is trying to exclude from Harvard come from tax dollars. Those dollars are not his to give out. Let's be perfectly clear, many wealthy big shots don't pay taxes. Education and service to the people, not to the wealthy, is where the dollars should be spent.
I hope the US can stand on principles. I get concerned when I read about Orban in Hungary and his regime actually changing their constitution to suit the dictatorship. What's to prevent that from happening here? Republicans have been working on their Project 2025 for decades and supporting Orban. Progressive thinkers need to have a well thought out vision and plan for the US as well that doesn't dramatically change every 4 years. I hope we survive this tyranny and have a chance to do some great things for the people in this country who aren't so wealthy and their greed knows no limits. Most people just want to be able to live and not worry about how they will survive from day to day.
Never have Lincoln's words at Gettysburg been more prescient; of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE.
The PEOPLE are going to have to save the United States of America, because the government for WHOM to stands right now (Trump and only Trump) is corrupted to the core by 5 SCOTUS judges, the former Republican Party, now the Cult of Trump and the inept and impotent Democratic Party, who sees the destruction, but is powerless to stop its continuation.
Every time I see Chuck Schumer with his glasses halfway down his nose, spewing ineffective- go- along- to -get- along-strongly -worded -letter waste of oxygen speeches, I want to scream.
My only hope for Democrats is there is someone like Clinton and Obama, vaguely known now but ready to step up and lead exists out there somewhere.
I would like to think that our country would accept a gay man, a Jew and/or a woman, but I am sad to say I don't believe we have evolved to that point yet. Because I would vote for Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro or Amy Klobuchar as POTUS in a hot second.
I want to have hope. I am trying really hard. Really I am.
But I still have a small number of felon followers in my circle, and even more who do not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the threats we face. I don't understand why -- most of them have offspring, and they're the ones who will suffer the consequences for much longer than our generation.
In the meantime, I'm calling the people who are (supposed to be) my representatives, going to rallies, and calmly discussing the political issues with those who are willing to do so.
I will keep on keeping on, as we all must.