Very familiar with it...it will make that notorious traitor, slave-whipper, and lousy general Robert E. Lee the second-greatest figure in American history.
After the Bloated Yam, of course.
The reason I say Lee was a lousy general: he had no conception of logistics, staff work, or offense.
He relied on forage and locally acquired supplies to keep his army in existence while Georgia had stacks of uniforms in warehouses for "only state troops." A man of Lee's prestige could have demanded their release.
He had two officers on his staff. Modern army divisions have more than 50. Even his contemporary, Ulysses S. Grant, had dozens of staff officers. He tried to do it all himself.
And his only two offensives were really just big raids for supplies and followed the same playbook: Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, this time I think we go through the middle. Up behind the mountains, debouche in Maryland or Pennsylvania, and meet the Union Army of the Potomac. Both failed.
That would be admitting they were wrong, and those clowns never will.
For the last 400 years, they have lived in paranoid terror that the big-muscled and well-hung plantation hand will drop his hoe, storm the big house, and carry off the missus.
Worse, they are even more afraid that the next morning, missus will appear at the big house door, hair askew, dress a little tattered, wearing a satisfied smile, and say, "Honey, you never did it for me. Now I know what all the fuss is about. So I'm dumping you, and Marcellus and I are moving (back then) out West (and today) to his condo in Manhattan."
That deflates the white male ego...and other parts of his body.
Bear in mind, smartphones are "engineering." Like the light bulb, the car, the airplane, and the burglar alarm. Also Internet sites that project dirty movies.
The Michelson-Morley Experiment, Einstein's theories, gravitation, radioactivity, Kepler's Three Laws, are "science."
And our super-rich corporate guys will just hire engineers -- likely from Asia -- to make their smartphones.
They did that on a lesser scale to white people...the single traffic light in a small Southern town, guarded by the cop.
As soon as an out-of-state license plate went through the intersection, the cop pulled the lever, it went to red, and the cop gave the driver a choice: a whopping fine or 90 days on the chain gang.
With African-Americans, of course, there was no choice: go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. And if the county needed you to play a game of rock hockey longer than 90 days, c'est la vie.
Eisenhower ended much of that nonsense with the Interstate System. Suddenly you could drive from New York to San Francisco without hitting a traffic light.
The new formula includes Republicans quitting because they are getting too frustrated with their party. Perhaps we should all be encouraging conservative universities to offer more of the Republicans in the House jobs in administration. At least there they can practice their unWoke policies, and get something done, while Congress perhaps defunds education as is their want. Perhaps if Republicans realized that their future job prospects lie in administering universities, they would be less eager to defund education. While Manchin might count as a Democratic retiree, he is more Republican-like than Republican-lite.
An interesting idea, indeed...we'll see if the rank-and-file GOP gets frustrated, but I think they are all in the bag for the Bloated Yam, regardless of the situation.
They regard the January 6 rioters as heroes and martyrs, and they have a combined IQ of 20.
Most dictators have secret police to do their dirty work. Hitler hid in his bunker, blamed his generals -- and then his most loyal supporters, like Goering and Himmler -- and shot himself. Mussolini accepted arrest, reluctantly made a comeback, and unsuccessfully fled his own people, only to be shot by them. Saddam Hussein hid in a spider hole. Duvalier, Marcos, Stroessner, Somoza, and Batista all fled their countries.
This Freedom Caucus is an offshoot of the Tea Party and whatever they called themselves when Newt was Speaker when he took his contract out on America. We've had decades of this nonsense. My 5 year old granddaughter throws less tantrums than these morons. What gets me is the people who vote for them are no better. We've been under the thumb of the literal minority for decades and it needs to stop. It's proven to be completely detrimental to our society as a whole.
Yes, but the Tea Party morphed to become the face of Fascist Billionaires once they rammed Citizen’s United down our throats; the RNC is now an organized crime syndicate stuffed with puppets for the Neo nazi, Christo fascists Billionaires organized by KKKoch and Lenard Leo.
You are right about the five decades, and about Newt. But that was the old GOP. The Tea Party only swooped in when Newt et al had hollowed out the GOP to the point that it was on its death bed. The Tea Party is actually the successor to the Minutemen - the organization that fell apart when one of their leaders was involved in a murder plot.
What's it gonna take for the American middle class to realize this current "Republican" (fascist) party is NOT looking out for their best interest? They are a laughable bunch of clowns, inexperienced, unprofessional, and unintelligent. Chip Roy spoke volumes... I agree with him. VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
It is all their donors actually care about, so it has been their mission for 43 years.
Also, defunding or flat-out abolishing the IRS, so they can get away without paying even the paltry amounts they are theoretically required to pay. Keeping unions down so as to suppress wages and benefits that would hold down quarterly earnings; keeping the minimum wage below actual living costs.
Kevin, I agree. Since Reagan the Democrats have become the upper middle class yuppie party. The larger part of the middle class was neglected by the Democrats. Trump filled the void. Seems Biden is starting to get it.
Stupid is as stupid does. I think, in addition to all the other national and state maladies, we are being ham-fisted by our own collective ignorance. Sadly, I don't see a bright future.
The hard right wants a permanent government shutdown.
They want to eliminate our democratic government, to eliminate any government at all.
They want anarchy enforced by unregulated independent militia.
Do-nothing Congress is a compliment to them.
They are the tools, the useful idiots, of Putin and the other strong-man leaders who don't want a functional democratic government in the US making them look bad to their subjects.
The MAGAt's are gone; we'll only be rid of them as they die off. It's the Independents we have to reach, and these ads are writing themselves. I hope the Lincoln Project has the means to display all this madness; we can all help out here!
They will see, but they will not believe. It is a cult, and will so remain until the cult leader is no longer able to lead it. When that happens (death, stroke, prison, whatever), it will slowly erode and dissipate into other fringey nonsense. In the meantime, we must VOTE! Vote like the wind! And persuade everyone you know as best you can to do the same. And not for West, or Bobby, or Greens, or any other 3rd party - those votes, as well as NOT voting, are all effectively votes for that... thing...
Well, the basic premise here is NOT *governance*, but *performance*, with renegade rogues such as MTG, Gaetz, Perry, Boebert, Comer, et al, doing no more than arranging for bookings on Fox, OANN, and anywhere else they can strut their stuff. "Owning the libs", going after Hunter Biden, and "impeachment" are their *raison d'être*, nothing more and nothing less. Clownification of the House was the motive, and it's hard to argue that the HFC hasn't succeeded in its aim.
GOP has become a “true neinsager” party. (No, no, no). Its reps have proven so far that they do not give a bugger about the well being of the americans citizens and the rest of the world. They must be wiped out at the next elections. Please vote DEMs and send the fascists into oblivion. Then tackle their selfish billionaires the way it must be. Go back to the real democracy and not moneycracy, with its never ending corruption scheme. Thank you!
The central point to all this nonsense is governmental chaos, all at the behest of Trump. The biggest, mostly untold story to all this is...
The GOP's bankrupt carcass has literally been sucked dry of cash, the American Party system's precious bodily fluid. Without cash it cannot enforce discipline or coherent policy on the members, and the entire "Party organization" is BROKE from the local levels all the way to the top. All its sources of funds, from Evangelical to Corporates to billionaires, are now funneled squarely into Trump's pockets.
It's no mystery why these cogs are doing their dance. They'll continue until the paycheck runs out.
Hey, Jay! Just a quick thank you for writing MA, IN ALL CAPS. I was among those several years ago urging you to more formally capture and share with your readers the poignant and humorous aspects of your mom. You gave us so much more in the book. Yep, your beautiful mom is there in living color but so are the members of your extended family, the human side of the conflict between Japan and China and the emergence of Taiwan. I smiled, chuckled, frowned and cried my way through. Well done!
The only thing the current GOP knows how to do is cut taxes for the wealthy, and cut money from social programs that benefit the poor. And then they can't figure out why they are so unpopular; so they blame the democrats.
There really should be accountability of public office-holders. Negligence, Malpractice, malfeasance, violations of sworn oaths--tantamount to fraud --all of it.
The reason for House elections happening every TWO years, as opposed to four or six, is in theory supposed to force these folks to perform properly, or be defeated.
Money, gerrymandering, the slow death of local news, the usurpation of network news by ideologues, and incumbency have made them into nearly lifetime sinecures, but the theory is valid.
You think we might have an issue in there somewhere? Possibly? People who don't want to work write laws that allow them to get paid while they don't work.... What could go wrong? I am sure I almost have it...
If Thoreau is correct that the best government is the one that governs least, then this congress is near the top. /s
In the spirit of never mention a problem without offering a solution here's mine: If a full FY budget is not in place by the beginning of that FY the previous budget is automatically extended for the entire FY. I'd add that the congress is disbanded and all sitting members are kicked out and can never hold any elected or appointed officer again. That last bit is probably a bit over the top but sure felt good to write.
(1) There is now a clear American political reality that almost all observers and commentators won't admit and thus, avoid addressing: the Republicans are no longer a political party.
(2) Its radical leadership has zero interest in governing as mandated by the Constitution "...to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense,, promote the general welfare ..." Bullying, lightly camouflaged as playing politics appears to be their game. Set up irratioal positions, e.g. only Norwegians can get asylum, and then defeat whoever/whatever objects.
(3) There have been over 90 US political parties, but most died a natural death following the Civil War.
There was one in the 1850s, that comes to mind. It emerged from some secret socities, was called the "Know Nothing Party",and was virulently opposed to immigration, particularly from Ireland.
Of course. A government that doesn't do anything is exactly what the extremists want. Leave everything to the "private sector," i.e. the sinkhole that will swallow all the country's wealth. And just what percentage of a sailor's curse do you think they care about the elderly, the sick, and the people left impoverished and homeless by their greed?
No, they have a simple solution: de-fund education, science, and the poor.
Fund the rich, militarize the police, and support the military-industrial complex.
They’ve published a guide for EXACTLY what they intend, called “Project 2025”. See here: https://www.project2025.org/news/press-releases/project-2025-publishes-comprehensive-policy-guide-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise/
...and it’s the fascist playbook from end-to-end.
Vote EVERY.SINGLE.REPUBLICAN OUT!
Very familiar with it...it will make that notorious traitor, slave-whipper, and lousy general Robert E. Lee the second-greatest figure in American history.
After the Bloated Yam, of course.
The reason I say Lee was a lousy general: he had no conception of logistics, staff work, or offense.
He relied on forage and locally acquired supplies to keep his army in existence while Georgia had stacks of uniforms in warehouses for "only state troops." A man of Lee's prestige could have demanded their release.
He had two officers on his staff. Modern army divisions have more than 50. Even his contemporary, Ulysses S. Grant, had dozens of staff officers. He tried to do it all himself.
And his only two offensives were really just big raids for supplies and followed the same playbook: Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, this time I think we go through the middle. Up behind the mountains, debouche in Maryland or Pennsylvania, and meet the Union Army of the Potomac. Both failed.
The South: "Lee was a brilliant general. Also, the civil war was about state's rights."
The rest of us: "We really should have demanded a formal surrender."
"State's rights."
Yeah, the right to enslave people.
They weren't so picky about "state's rights" when they demanded the Fugitive Slave Law.
Like I said. A formal surrender would have been nice.
That would be admitting they were wrong, and those clowns never will.
For the last 400 years, they have lived in paranoid terror that the big-muscled and well-hung plantation hand will drop his hoe, storm the big house, and carry off the missus.
Worse, they are even more afraid that the next morning, missus will appear at the big house door, hair askew, dress a little tattered, wearing a satisfied smile, and say, "Honey, you never did it for me. Now I know what all the fuss is about. So I'm dumping you, and Marcellus and I are moving (back then) out West (and today) to his condo in Manhattan."
That deflates the white male ego...and other parts of his body.
I had not seen this. Creepy. Thanks for the link.
You are so right. Don't encourage critical thinking, keep them dumb. Easier to control. It makes me sick.
That's why we associate good colleges and universities with those that have glamorous Greek life and outstanding NCAA teams.
And lower education with penmanship, home economics, and baton twirling.
Anyone who wants to learn something is beaten senseless on the schoolyard as a "nerd."
If you’re for defunding science, you should be required to give up your smart phone.
And a lot of other things.
Bear in mind, smartphones are "engineering." Like the light bulb, the car, the airplane, and the burglar alarm. Also Internet sites that project dirty movies.
The Michelson-Morley Experiment, Einstein's theories, gravitation, radioactivity, Kepler's Three Laws, are "science."
And our super-rich corporate guys will just hire engineers -- likely from Asia -- to make their smartphones.
And don't forget, use the prison-slavery loophole to exploit black people while disenfranchising them.
They did that on a lesser scale to white people...the single traffic light in a small Southern town, guarded by the cop.
As soon as an out-of-state license plate went through the intersection, the cop pulled the lever, it went to red, and the cop gave the driver a choice: a whopping fine or 90 days on the chain gang.
With African-Americans, of course, there was no choice: go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. And if the county needed you to play a game of rock hockey longer than 90 days, c'est la vie.
Eisenhower ended much of that nonsense with the Interstate System. Suddenly you could drive from New York to San Francisco without hitting a traffic light.
Add:
Defund seniors
Sideline women
Demonize LGBTQ+
Defund legal immigrants
And won't the seniors get torqued off when they guy they voted for eliminates their precious Social Security payments!
Sidelining women...that's standard. Demonizing PUBLIC LGBTQ+. They'll still allow them on the down-low: stereotypical hairdressers and prostitutes.
Kiwiwriter47;
Republican Mission statement:
Manipulate the stupid, to protect the wealthy.
That's true with all dictatorships...even the Communists. In their case, it was to protect the Party elite.
The new formula includes Republicans quitting because they are getting too frustrated with their party. Perhaps we should all be encouraging conservative universities to offer more of the Republicans in the House jobs in administration. At least there they can practice their unWoke policies, and get something done, while Congress perhaps defunds education as is their want. Perhaps if Republicans realized that their future job prospects lie in administering universities, they would be less eager to defund education. While Manchin might count as a Democratic retiree, he is more Republican-like than Republican-lite.
An interesting idea, indeed...we'll see if the rank-and-file GOP gets frustrated, but I think they are all in the bag for the Bloated Yam, regardless of the situation.
They regard the January 6 rioters as heroes and martyrs, and they have a combined IQ of 20.
A lot of them are like this - the rest of them are just cowards. They're scared of their neighbors, and they are petrified of losing their cushy jobs.
Cowards, I say.
They could take back their party if they'd just grow themselves spines, but they are COWARDS.
All bullies are cowards in the end.
Most dictators have secret police to do their dirty work. Hitler hid in his bunker, blamed his generals -- and then his most loyal supporters, like Goering and Himmler -- and shot himself. Mussolini accepted arrest, reluctantly made a comeback, and unsuccessfully fled his own people, only to be shot by them. Saddam Hussein hid in a spider hole. Duvalier, Marcos, Stroessner, Somoza, and Batista all fled their countries.
Only Stalin died in power.
And even Stalin MAY have been helped along...
I never say anything bad about lovable Uncle Joe!
After all, he might kill me and my whole family....
I denounce pig! He was going to squeal!
I denounce canary! He was going to sing!
You ain't wrong.
The House should hold their breath till they turn BLUE.
And the performative CONservatives can clutch their pearls over faux ideology until they choke
LOL!!
Great comment, which aligns perfectly with your photo of the ocean.
This Freedom Caucus is an offshoot of the Tea Party and whatever they called themselves when Newt was Speaker when he took his contract out on America. We've had decades of this nonsense. My 5 year old granddaughter throws less tantrums than these morons. What gets me is the people who vote for them are no better. We've been under the thumb of the literal minority for decades and it needs to stop. It's proven to be completely detrimental to our society as a whole.
Yes, but the Tea Party morphed to become the face of Fascist Billionaires once they rammed Citizen’s United down our throats; the RNC is now an organized crime syndicate stuffed with puppets for the Neo nazi, Christo fascists Billionaires organized by KKKoch and Lenard Leo.
You are right about the five decades, and about Newt. But that was the old GOP. The Tea Party only swooped in when Newt et al had hollowed out the GOP to the point that it was on its death bed. The Tea Party is actually the successor to the Minutemen - the organization that fell apart when one of their leaders was involved in a murder plot.
What's it gonna take for the American middle class to realize this current "Republican" (fascist) party is NOT looking out for their best interest? They are a laughable bunch of clowns, inexperienced, unprofessional, and unintelligent. Chip Roy spoke volumes... I agree with him. VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
Chip is still a slippery slime ball though....
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4397460-chip-roy-mike-johnson-ouster/
Oh I agree... simply saying his point was well taken.
Maybe they all will eat one another. One can hope.
LOL Thats good! 😂
That process certainly has gotten off to a good start!
A big part of the problem is the protest vote. The Democrats have also neglected the middle class in favor of Wall Street.
To the extent that the GOP has favored the wealthy? The Trump Tax Cuts?
Reagan tax cuts. Bush Tax cuts. Bush 43 tax cuts.
It is all their donors actually care about, so it has been their mission for 43 years.
Also, defunding or flat-out abolishing the IRS, so they can get away without paying even the paltry amounts they are theoretically required to pay. Keeping unions down so as to suppress wages and benefits that would hold down quarterly earnings; keeping the minimum wage below actual living costs.
Need more, or is that enough for now?
No, but that's missing the point. It's not about "the other party is even worse" but a straight up "they won't get my vote until they shape up".
The same has happened on the R side, too, until the party was so hollowed out that the Tea Party took over.
I'm not saying the Democrats are perfect by any means. But I do think they have done more for the middle class than the GOP.
Oh, I agree, but that's not a very high bar. Some voters expect a higher bar, which leads to protest votes.
Where those voters holding out for perfection not only do not get any closer to their goal, but in fact, get pushed further away.
Not what I'd call a winning strategy.
Kevin, I agree. Since Reagan the Democrats have become the upper middle class yuppie party. The larger part of the middle class was neglected by the Democrats. Trump filled the void. Seems Biden is starting to get it.
At least lately. Since the traitor.
I believe that this is a major reason (not the only reason) that the traitor was able to get so many votes.
Stupid is as stupid does. I think, in addition to all the other national and state maladies, we are being ham-fisted by our own collective ignorance. Sadly, I don't see a bright future.
The hard right wants a permanent government shutdown.
They want to eliminate our democratic government, to eliminate any government at all.
They want anarchy enforced by unregulated independent militia.
Do-nothing Congress is a compliment to them.
They are the tools, the useful idiots, of Putin and the other strong-man leaders who don't want a functional democratic government in the US making them look bad to their subjects.
It may not feel like such a compliment when it’s used in ads against them this fall.
Keep up the good fight, Jay.
I can only hope you're right and those ads are actually seen and believed by THE MAGA crowd.
The MAGAt's are gone; we'll only be rid of them as they die off. It's the Independents we have to reach, and these ads are writing themselves. I hope the Lincoln Project has the means to display all this madness; we can all help out here!
They will see, but they will not believe. It is a cult, and will so remain until the cult leader is no longer able to lead it. When that happens (death, stroke, prison, whatever), it will slowly erode and dissipate into other fringey nonsense. In the meantime, we must VOTE! Vote like the wind! And persuade everyone you know as best you can to do the same. And not for West, or Bobby, or Greens, or any other 3rd party - those votes, as well as NOT voting, are all effectively votes for that... thing...
The tools for the rich and powerful
Well, the basic premise here is NOT *governance*, but *performance*, with renegade rogues such as MTG, Gaetz, Perry, Boebert, Comer, et al, doing no more than arranging for bookings on Fox, OANN, and anywhere else they can strut their stuff. "Owning the libs", going after Hunter Biden, and "impeachment" are their *raison d'être*, nothing more and nothing less. Clownification of the House was the motive, and it's hard to argue that the HFC hasn't succeeded in its aim.
GOP has become a “true neinsager” party. (No, no, no). Its reps have proven so far that they do not give a bugger about the well being of the americans citizens and the rest of the world. They must be wiped out at the next elections. Please vote DEMs and send the fascists into oblivion. Then tackle their selfish billionaires the way it must be. Go back to the real democracy and not moneycracy, with its never ending corruption scheme. Thank you!
The central point to all this nonsense is governmental chaos, all at the behest of Trump. The biggest, mostly untold story to all this is...
The GOP's bankrupt carcass has literally been sucked dry of cash, the American Party system's precious bodily fluid. Without cash it cannot enforce discipline or coherent policy on the members, and the entire "Party organization" is BROKE from the local levels all the way to the top. All its sources of funds, from Evangelical to Corporates to billionaires, are now funneled squarely into Trump's pockets.
It's no mystery why these cogs are doing their dance. They'll continue until the paycheck runs out.
Hey, Jay! Just a quick thank you for writing MA, IN ALL CAPS. I was among those several years ago urging you to more formally capture and share with your readers the poignant and humorous aspects of your mom. You gave us so much more in the book. Yep, your beautiful mom is there in living color but so are the members of your extended family, the human side of the conflict between Japan and China and the emergence of Taiwan. I smiled, chuckled, frowned and cried my way through. Well done!
Thank you for reading it and supporting my work!
The only thing the current GOP knows how to do is cut taxes for the wealthy, and cut money from social programs that benefit the poor. And then they can't figure out why they are so unpopular; so they blame the democrats.
Wow.
That chart at the top with the green lines is such a powerful visual!
Thanks again, Judd!
Oh god.
All the best ones start with J !
Sigh.
Can we just.... not pay these people? Since they are not working?
There really should be accountability of public office-holders. Negligence, Malpractice, malfeasance, violations of sworn oaths--tantamount to fraud --all of it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There is. It's called elections.
The reason for House elections happening every TWO years, as opposed to four or six, is in theory supposed to force these folks to perform properly, or be defeated.
Money, gerrymandering, the slow death of local news, the usurpation of network news by ideologues, and incumbency have made them into nearly lifetime sinecures, but the theory is valid.
All that would accomplish is prevent ordinary people like AOC from getting into politics, while encouraging rich people who don't need the money.
Unfortunately, no. It's the law, you see. Which, you know, they write...
You think we might have an issue in there somewhere? Possibly? People who don't want to work write laws that allow them to get paid while they don't work.... What could go wrong? I am sure I almost have it...
If Thoreau is correct that the best government is the one that governs least, then this congress is near the top. /s
In the spirit of never mention a problem without offering a solution here's mine: If a full FY budget is not in place by the beginning of that FY the previous budget is automatically extended for the entire FY. I'd add that the congress is disbanded and all sitting members are kicked out and can never hold any elected or appointed officer again. That last bit is probably a bit over the top but sure felt good to write.
Performative disarray of the worst order, like, feral cats on bath salts staging an impromptu production of Midsummer Night's Dream bad.
Perhaps the J6 choir can hum the score.
(1) There is now a clear American political reality that almost all observers and commentators won't admit and thus, avoid addressing: the Republicans are no longer a political party.
(2) Its radical leadership has zero interest in governing as mandated by the Constitution "...to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense,, promote the general welfare ..." Bullying, lightly camouflaged as playing politics appears to be their game. Set up irratioal positions, e.g. only Norwegians can get asylum, and then defeat whoever/whatever objects.
(3) There have been over 90 US political parties, but most died a natural death following the Civil War.
There was one in the 1850s, that comes to mind. It emerged from some secret socities, was called the "Know Nothing Party",and was virulently opposed to immigration, particularly from Ireland.
Of course. A government that doesn't do anything is exactly what the extremists want. Leave everything to the "private sector," i.e. the sinkhole that will swallow all the country's wealth. And just what percentage of a sailor's curse do you think they care about the elderly, the sick, and the people left impoverished and homeless by their greed?