I agree with most of this. You are right. The Democrats have become too reliant on the rich and the corporate. But, the Republicans are fully owned by the rich and the corporate. The alternative these voters chose will be horrific. Also, I completely disagree with your statement of Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter. Circumstances changed and he changed his mind. Only a fool would demand that Biden stick to a decision (and norms) made when he thought the legal system would be normal. Once the voters elected the retribution and corruption guy (who ignores norms and laws), who promises to use the legal system for personal vengeance, Biden is allowed to change his mind. Expecting anything else is wrong, especially given the pardons Trump had given in his last term and promises to give in his next.
I agree about the pardon. Trump will weaponize the DOJ and Hunter would be facing a maximum sentence for a crime that is normally not prosecuted at all under his circumstances. I would have done the same thing.
“…normally not prosecuted at all under his circumstances.” What might those circumstances be? Would a regular citizen who is not associated with an elite click also normally not be prosecuted? We need to do away with the delineation or classes, equal justice under the law my foot. No way would any of us regular citizens not currently be in prison for a fraction of what Trump et al have done, but now he’s President Elect.
I'm not an attorney but even before Allen Weiselburg said he'd never seen a case with a gun charge like this being the only charge in his entire career, I knew this to be the case.
Any attorney reading this is free to correct me but I'll explain things based on my understanding. Gun charges that involve illegal substances such as lying on the gun form or a gun found in the home/property with drugs during a "raid" (which happens with dealers, not strictly users) are "add on" charges. Hunter's charge or, I think it's called a 23-C, or a C-23 (Guns protecting dope), carry penalties of up to 25 years or more for that one charge alone.
So, when a dealer is busted & the prosecutor offers a plea deal (which they hope is accepted), knocking off that gun charge -thus knocking off 25 years of their sentence- becomes an offer they can't easily refuse. It's a bargaining chip & I would question, honestly, how it's even constitutional (I think felons are prime targets for violating their constitutional rights, they don't often fight them).
So, in Hunter's case, he was at the height of his addiction, his brother had died, he went into a store as a legal aged adult with a clean criminal record & purchased a gun from a licensed seller for the purpose of taking his own life. The gun was never even fired once, his sister in law found out about the gun & threw it away in a dumpster behind a business to keep Hunter from using it on himself. The gun was found & discovered it was legally registered to Hunter. No crimes had been committed using the gun.
A normal person might've received a phone call asking how the gun ended up in the dumpster. A truthful answer would've resulted in recommending psychiatric help.
We very rarely sentence substance users to prison. It's those caught with a lot on them at one time who are convicted for possession with intent to sell or with distribution when they get caught selling to an undercover. Notice the undercover is never the dealer, always the buyer (that would probably be entrapment or something but either way). Users go to rehab, dealers go to prison.
Hunter was not a dealer. He was never caught with drugs of any kind in his possession, he was never caught under the influence, didn't cause any accidents & then was tested for substances... Nothing. A normal person under the same scenario as Hunter would've have been charged with the same crime because law enforcement/prosecutors would've had no idea that he had been using when he bought the gun.
It was only known that Hunter was using when he purchased the gun because of videos/pics on his laptop & because of circumstantial evidence. He wrote it in his book & then his sister & sister in law testified to the timing of his use in court. Anyone else, their substance use would not be known if they were never caught in possession or under the influence of illegal substances.
Then with the tax charges, the IRS goes after tax fraud but someone who didn't pay for 2 years & then paid them up in full plus fines & fees? That wouldn't be a case the IRS would submit to the DOJ for charges to be pressed. In fact, people who don't pay their taxes, they'll try everything they can, such as wage garnishment etc, before taking a person to court in this scenario. Someone who owes & then pays the debt off without them having to take action would normally not be bothered. It wasn't even the IRS who pursued the charges for "temporary" tax evasion. David Weiss brought those charges on his own.
Furthermore, I'm curious what crime it was that was committed that even sparked an investigation into Hunter in the 1st place? We don't just target & investigate people. We investigate crimes for evidence that lead us to people of interest/suspects. It seems to me that Hunter Biden was a targeted person who was investigated in search of a crime.
That's why the plea deal fell apart. Or that's one reason... On the day in court where Hunter was planning to accept his plea deal, his lawyer reiterated that once the plea was signed, the investigations ended. Of course the prosecution came back & said, "No, we're still investigating". Investigating what?! If he thought there was a bigger case then he should've waited to bring charges for that case. Weiss brought the charges he did when he did because the statute of limitations was almost up & he didn't want to come up empty handed. Who has ever heard of someone signing a plea deal but still continues to be investigated? There has to be a crime for an investigation to occur or continue.
By that point, it was already suspected, if not for certain, that the FBI informant providing dirt against the Biden's was a Russian plant. The House GOP has turned over every stone of suspicion from the laptop & found nothing. Not to mention the DOJ has the laptop since 2019, they had to have already known there was no evidence of any criminal activity. Yet Weiss said that the investigation into Hunter had to be free to continue in order for the plea deal to be an option.
So no, a normal person would not have had these charges brought against them. A normal person wouldn't be the target of an investigation in search of a crime. Hunter was investigated because he is Joe Biden's son & they used him to try to get something on Joe Biden to use politically.
Joe Biden tried to trust the system by allowing the investigation to continue, likely afraid of the optics of ending it. Even Lev Parnas admitted that Hunter was targeted solely for the purpose of trying to find dirt on Joe Biden &/or trying to break him. The whole thing was dirty politics. Something I think Biden realized but had enough faith in the system to believe the courts would function as guardrails before it went too far. They didn't & Hunter was convicted when the case should've been thrown out.
A good friend shared a story about her affluent/wealthy friends who were caught NOT filing taxes for several years. They were angry because they were charged fines & interest on top of several years of back taxes. None of them were charged with tax evasion or threatened with jail time. Their attorneys worked out an arrangement for them to pay back taxes, fines, and interests.
When my friend asked "Why didn't you file taxes?", their reply was "Because we didn't think that we would get caught and why should we pay high taxes?"
My friend told them that she had no sympathy for them because they deliberately broke the law. Furthermore, she told them that their businesses benefited from living and working in the USA.
The above tax cheaters were never dragged into federal court for deliberately violating the law. They were allowed to pay their back taxes, fines and interest.
Why was Hunter Biden treated differently than the above tax cheaters & thousands of people who lied on gun permit applications.
Thank you so much. I've tried the 3 dots but the option to edit has never been an option on my Google phone but I'll keep trying.
Also, yes that's my bad. I did not mean Allen (or Andrew) Weiselburg. I should've Googled first. The more I've discussed this I now know that the prosecutor for Hunter was David Weiss. Andrew Weissmann is actually a former prosecutor who worked on the Mueller report who now is a frequent contributor on MSNBC. Then, of course, Allen Weiselburg is Trump's toady who keeps going to prison for him.
I already get Andrew Weissmann & Allen Weiselburg mixed up. Adding in David Weiss wasn't helpful. Thank you for the correction. Really, I do appreciate it 🙂.
"Would a regular citizen who is not associated with an elite click also normally not be prosecuted?"
My understanding is that the answer to this question is yes, normal people would not face jail time on a first offense for the crimes that Hunter committed. Often the charges are dropped, or the sentence is community service or similar. This is what I recall hearing from pundits such as Neil Katyal and Andrew Weissman when the story was breaking back in 2023.
Barb McQuade said the same. I agree with Biden's pardon and yes it will help solidify negative views about Dems but maybe with some time not that greatly. There are more important things.
We do now have two justice systems whether the politicians will admit it or not. These four years should have been spent getting laws on the books so 1. convicted felons cannot run for president. 2. Sitting presidents can't be charged??? That's ridiculous. Our government can be operated by the vice-president whomever it is. Our supreme court should have had two more justices put on it by Biden. These things will never happen now but should have been done. Hoping that Trump could never be re-elected didn't work did it?
Given the promise of retribution, Hunter Biden and others are not safe without the pardon. This decision was a no brainer and Joe Biden did what he had to do.
I think he's not saying this is his opinion but that it's the view of the Right: The message the Right is selling right now.
Which reminds me, what you haven't mentioned in all this is that the reason the Right has such power over society is because they own the media and that's the predominant message from the Right-owned media. They are no longer the Fourth Estate because they no longer hold the values of speaking truth to power and speaking for the people. They are owned and duty-bound to the oligarchs that are buying up our country. Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk and, Murdoch, UHC CEO Brian Thompson, for example, all have built closed systems that draw us in and exploit us in ways control information in order to invent the world that they want us to see, at the same time raking in vast sums of money from those of us who accept their definitions of commerce, health care, entertainment and news consumption, etc. We need resources to build or take back our free Press, who live and write by journalistic values, holding the powerful to account and speaking for us.
The FCC needs to be given it's original power with strong, sharp teeth and reinstate the " Fairness Doctrine!" Reagan gutted the FCC and now we have no journalism, IMHO.
I believe Hunter would have died a mysterious death in prison if Joe had not pardoned him.Kash has published his enemies list.
Think of "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" ....
While the quote was not expressed as an order, it prompted four knights to travel from Normandy to Canterbury, where they killed Becket. The phrase is commonly used in modern-day contexts to express that a ruler's wish may be interpreted as a command by his or her subordinates. It is also commonly understood as shorthand for any rhetorical device allowing leaders to covertly order or exhort violence among their followers, while still being able to claim plausible deniability for political, legal, or other reasons.
I can’t condemn President Biden for pardoning Hunter. I can understand why he did it. I wish, however, that he had done the right thing, “stuck to his guns” despite changing circumstances, and not “made himself a liar.”
On second thought, maybe I am condemning President Biden for not keeping his word, while sympathizing with him. He’s still, in my opinion, our best president in a very long time — since FDR maybe (better than Obama?)?
I've always thought he's the most honest politician we had in Washington for most of the last 50 yrs. That said, I think his blind loyalty to Netanyahu and the way he's allowed him to prosecute his brutal war against Gaza and killing so many innocents is a big part of this democratic loss.
That’s exactly what I came here to say. He pardoned his only living son against the Gestapo who say clearly, everyday who they are going after. I would have done the same thing and not take a second thought. These are different times. Happy Holidays!
The question is, what to do about it. It’s fine to be a bit more humble and not ask a question which arrogantly presupposes you know more, but how do you persuade people that fixing a system is better than destroying it and replacing it with a kleptocracy of billionaires?
What we have now is a kakistocracy! I certainly did not want to send the performative clown Hawley back to the US Senate. I wanted Lucas Kunce to win so badly. Until these backwoods racist Missouri hillbillies die out, the 'State of Misery' will not evolve.
I recommend a podcast, Jess Piper (https://substack.com/@jesspiper) who is a rural democrat (a Dirt Road Democrat - I love that title.) and represents those of us who live in and speak out in rural areas, in particular Missouri. You will learn about the dynamics that prevent us from gaining power. Missouri used to be purple but for the last 20 years, gerrymandering has prevented anything other than a right wing government and that is enough time that it prevents people from seeing any other possible future for Missourians. That's why I like Lucas Kunce. He breaks that idea and speaks to the issues of all Missourians. I was proud to vote for him in both his Senate runs and hope he keeps trying. The vote this time was pretty close so he's made inroads.
Thanks for bringing up how the system is being "systematically" rigged by these people. That's a frustrating reality. You don't want to cheat to beat them, but how do you beat their cheating? (I know Dems do gerrymandering, too, but let's look at the scale on both sides.)
I'm pretty sure the Republicans came up with Gerrymandering, wasn't it called Red lining or something like that?
What is unfortunate is that the Missouri legislature used ballot candy to trick people into voting that to make it so that we can never implement Rank Choice & Final 4 voting for our elections. This is unfortunate. The system we have now allows the most extreme candidates to make it through the Primaries & then have a clear path to victory in the general election in districts or states where most people vote by party.
Honestly, I kind of wondered if Lucas would've run as an Independent & the Dems didn't put up a candidate if he would've won... Seems like a lot of people really wouldn't vote for him just because he labeled himself a Democrat. Which is silly.
I've tried to entice people to vote for Democrats in every way I can think of. Someone was complaining that Trump didn't do any rallies here. I told them that he would if Republicans would play a little hard to get instead of being thought of as a sure thing & just giving their votes away.
Why by the cow when you can have the milk for free? I said if they would start voting for Democrats & turn us back into a swing state they'd start paying attention to us again. As it is now though, Democrats in Missouri are working their butts off to try & win elections while Republicans spend the campaign season in the Amazon (the Democratic candidate running in my district for the MO House spent the summer canvassing & phone banking, holding events, etc & the incumbent Republican spent the summer in the Amazon). Kunce wasn't the only candidate who's Republican opponent was refusing to debate (or participate in Town Halls, do radio interviews, etc). Elad Gross's opponent wouldn't debate, the candidate running for MO House in my district, as I mentioned, ignored emails/ refused to participate in a Town Hall with our city council or do radio interviews. The only Republican I saw do anything jointly with a Democrat was Lincoln Hough (who was running for Lt Governor) did a talk radio interview with Crystal Quade during the primaries. And he didn't even get elected in the Primaries (another reason to have Rank Choice with Final 4 voting, put all the candidates on one ballot!)! Of course I saw Kunce's debate with Hawley but it was like pulling teeth to make it happen.
This is what I try to explain to people... I say, "If they're not willing to work to earn your vote, why do you think they will work to keep it?" There's nothing good that can come from a politician who believes they're entitled to their position. That their win is guaranteed. While I dislike campaign commercials as much as the next person (except for John Fetterman's commercials... I was disappointed there weren't more Democrats who copied off that idea... He probably would've helped candidates come up with some ideas... Hawley would've been easy. I was disappointed I didn't see him running through the capitol in a commercial even once) but barely seeing any other than Kunce's & Hawley's (I saw Crystal Quade's a couple of times & maybe a couple of others but not many) made me realize that Republicans don't feel like they even need to spend the money to campaign here anymore. They're taking their donations & putting them towards other, tighter races. And then they're shying away from anything that could hurt them politically. Debates, Town Halls, interviews, etc. Yet people are still voting for them! I'm like, come on you guys! Make them work for it a little bit at least!
Gerrymandering is a practice nearly as old as the nation itself. The term was coined in 1812 as a combination of the last name of the then Governor of Massachusetts (Elbridge Gerry), and the shape of a district (salamander-esque) that was created by a proposal he signed into law.
The Democratic Party chose those billionaires and awarded them everything they wanted, under Obama. Keep ignoring the fact that the USA is using Israel to take over the entire middle east- and a nuclear war.
It appears to me that Israel uses the United States not the other way around. Exactly how are the multiple wars around Israel in the interest of the US?
Israel's wars benefit the U.S. arms industry. Our elected officials benefit from donations from the arms industry and from AIPAC. Those who protest, including Jewish Americans, are mislabeled "antisemitic." It is shameful.
Agree! It is not antisemitic to want children and civilians to be able to get medical care, clean water, food and fuel for the winter! Since when is it okay to starve people, deliberately bomb schools, homes, hospitals and Aid workers?!! $@#&*
Conflating Jews with Israel is antisemitism. Antisemitism is real, but when it is used as a label for criticizing Israel, the term loses its meaning and that’s why it’s antisemitic. Israel is headed by Zionists who follow an ideology that is not judaism. Don’t let Israel and the western governments fool you into thinking Jews and Israel are one of the same. Listen to those Jews who say “Not in our name”. The people of the world are waking up to what is happening and are rejecting this tool to keep us quiet.
No. Israel is a pawn - being used - by the aipac controlled military kleptocracy. Many of us Jews see the truth - Israelis will suffer from violence, ptsd, fear and hatred of “others” for generations. This genocide goes against Judaism.
As a Jew too, the only reply I can give you is that you are—at best—a tool of those who wish the destruction of the only Jewish nation state on Earth, and use conspiracy thinking to achieve it, or a fool unacquainted with the long bloody history of hatred and murder that the Jewish people faced before the birth of Israel, or the stated goals of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran now.
Religions are not entitled to a state, let alone a state in someone else's land. Israel is a fascist, nazi-like, settler-colonial, racist, theocratic state. I commits mass murder in order to maintain its existance. No person of conscience or somone who believes is freedom or democracy can support its continued existance. How can a "democratic" state justly require someone to be of a particular faith in order to allow one to emigrate there?
Alexander, yours is one of the most uninformed and hate-filled comments seen herein.
There are 15 nations in which Christianity is the officially recognized state religion, and another 23 nations in which Islam is the officially recognized state religion. But you single out the only Jewish state.
The Holocaust ended 80 years ago with the murder of 6 million Jews, roughly two-thirds of all European Jewry, and one-third of all Jews on Earth between 1939 and 1945. The population of Jews worldwide has still not fully recovered to the number living in 1939. But you accuse Israel of mass murder and equate them to Nazis. That is vile. There’s is no excuse for you to be ignorant of the fact that Yahya Sinwar of Hamas was on record deliberately courting and welcoming the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in order to destroy Israel (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/08/12/yahya-sinwar-profile-hamas-gaza-war-israel).
Since 2006 the Palestinian people in Gaza have had no right to select their own leadership or to express opposition to Hamas. Hamas hides amongst and beneath them and uses them as human shields to garner sympathy while pursuing it goal of the total destruction of Israel and the completion of the genocide of Jews. Before Zionism Jews suffered 19 centuries of persecution and violence, without the right to self-defense anywhere in the world. Under the supposed protection of various rulers they were repeated victims of mass murder and exile; denied assimilation and routinely attacked in their homes and communities with impunity. Yet you would return them to dhimmi status, if not outright extermination. Never again means never again.
Lastly:
One of every four Israeli citizens is a non-Jew. Most are Arabs and Muslims. They have full citizenship rights including representatives in the Knesset.
James, many Israelis are not in favor of all that is taking place, but they have been cut off from Al-Jazeera television after a well liked, fair journalist was murdered early in the war.
Nothing in my comment implied anything about Jews. Israel has always done what their leadership thought was in their best national interest whether or not the US agreed with that position. Israel isn't doing anything different than any other nation does.
Absolutely, Israel has been a base for the US in the middle east for the purpose of “our” Oilgarchs” gaining control of their oil. “We” were itching to get Iran's oil before 911 convinced our military to go into Iraq and let Halliburton sack the country and the Pentagon budget. Now they're about to scratch that itch…heaven help us all
I don’t think we can do anything about “it” unless - and until - we understand some of where our fellow Americans are coming from. Posts like Lucas’ are super helpful in figuring that out. Once we have a better awareness, we can change our messaging a bit.
I think much of the problem is that people are subject to intense propaganda from the right and they are thoroughly misinformed about what is in their interest. Big business has long been involved in the techniques of advertising and that is much the same as propaganda. They are much more skilled in this art than the left is,.
The GOP is much more skilled at lying. Democrats lie or misrepresent things at times. Some of the GQP have elevated lying to an art form. Lying about Haitians eating cats and dogs or lying about hurricane relief money from FEMA are just 2 examples of that.
The line between lying and propaganda (or advertising) is pretty thin. Skillful half-lies with at least some odor of truth to them are a way to maintain credibility. Media power also plays a big role and that is where money cam play a critical role when there is a willingness to exercise that power.
Really? No FDIC to protect your bank account, no Medicare or SS in your old age, no decent education for your children, not to mention NOAH, OSHA and SNAP! 😈💀 HOW is this in your best interest?
I know! The MAGAts have a problem with things that will obviously be bad for them. They don't believe it. Yet, they think Trump will fix it, whatever it is. They aren't critical thinkers or really thinkers at all.
I think Trump’s election Is great because he is going to murder the economy, our water, our air, and implement more controls on women’s bodies. Trump convinced his voters of so many lies his orange nose is dragging on the ground. If these people think America is shit and ought to be burned down, have at it! I’m just tired of these sexist racist ignorant fools.
Thank you, Lucas. For the first time, I now understand why working-class Republicans vote as they do. I think another part of the problem is Republican politicians outright lie to their constituents & the right-wing media report their lies as fact. For instance, they are saying Biden borrowed from Medicare to finance green spending. They will use that lie as the reason why they must cut Medicare. I will support another run for you if you want to give it another try. They could really use you in Congress.
I understand what you're trying to say, but there is a LAG in the effects of Republicans' policies that affect voters in the ensuing Democrat presidency. For example, Roe v Wade was overturned during Biden's term but Trump was responsible. Inflation started when Trump asked Putin and MBS to cut oil production to help out Trump's oil executive buddies. That inflation wave crashed into Biden's term. Trump added $8 trillion to the deficit, $2 trillion of that were tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. This created more inflation that was felt during Biden's term. The problem is voters do not understand this, and yes, they ARE voting against their own interest. The problem is a lack of understanding who created the problems. We're smarter than that, aren't we?
Unfortunately, most people aren't smarter than this. 54% of Americans read at the sixth-grade level; 21% are illiterate. Democrats must simplify their message & explain everything in simple terms. We also MUST call out & correct every lie. Too much of the propaganda Republicans spread goes unchallenged. We must get better at reaching this audience and improving education in this country.
Or we could make sure that history and civics are still being taught in schools--public, independent, religious and charter--in ways that make the material interesting and relevant to students.
And reach out to adults, too, with how today's world is a consequence of individual choices (like choosing to vote), including our own.
Illiteracy is a problem but I think your numbers may be exaggerated. I recently watched a youtube by Dave Pakman saying that 21% of adults are reading at a 6th grade level or lower... If you have evidence to the contrary, please post.
No. Trump ran a huge deficit of $6.6 trillion due to his egregious tax cut gifts to the rich and mega corporations. That caused the inflation and its threat to inflation carries forward because that revenue is lost to all subsequent budgets as well . Biden actually cut budgets
I think that there is a parallel here with the decline of Union membership. If Union membership was at the level of the early 1950’s (when many perceived America to be great!) their wages would be higher, they would have a mechanism to “take on” their wealthy employer, and they would have pensions to depend on for retirement and wouldn’t feel like they had to work until the day they died.
And the result would lead to increased inflation as wages and benefits add to the cost of a product or service. Part (most?) of the problem is our country is focused on capitalism. There are no regulations capping the top Executives’ annual compensation to some fair ratio with its workers. People see that as a form of Socialism as opposed a social program. Most don’t actually know what these other forms of government are. I believe a Hybrid government is much better than a pure form of any. Need to focus on what’s best and fair for everyone and that can’t happen until we recognize all human beings treated as equals with all granted the same rights. But many are too busy judging others and expecting them to live their lives to their values.
Reagan helped usher in a law that allowed one company to buy out another, and, then, use the pension funds to pay down the buyer's debt, screwing all the union people. A&P was bought out and those employees lost all the money from their pension fund and could not retire. They worked until they died......
Unfortunately, I know many union members who voted for Trump. Some proclaim how Trump was a great president. They are against illegal immigration, but many of the people they rail against aren't illegal but are here on visas or in the asylum process. I have for years said we don't have an illegal alien problem as much as we have an illegal employer problem. Rich people employ illegals knowing they are illegal in their businesses and in their homes and as gardeners, etc.
I 100% agree Brenda. Even Trump if you want to check out this 1980 TIME magazine article about when Trump was building Trump Tower: https://search.app/aMHLe66rXjWqJX6S7
Probably Mar-a-Lago too but that’s only speculation.
You are right and it's a hard pill to swallow. We have the best intentions but need to get away from big money. Unfortunately, the incoming party is going to be run by those very people. I can't see how this is going to help anyone protect their rights or fill their fridges.
Big Money. I believe the reason Democrats are associated with BIg Money all comes down to CItizens United. Corporations and Billionaires can give unlimited Dark Money and Democrats are trying to keep up with millions of small contributions (and some big ones too) Until we wrangle that problem, the rich have us all by the b*lls.
Michael, those are my thoughts, too, about Citizens United. Also, Reagan gutting the FCC and getting rid of the " Fairness Doctrine " allowed misinformation to be presented as facts.
Thank you for your insight, Lucas. I’m brokenhearted over your loss, and still cannot believe MO chose the spoiled brat over you. IMHO—we have a brainwashed populace who aren’t getting straight facts or truth from the media they consume. And, legacy media outlets certainly failed us by shoring up MAGA, and tearing down Biden and Democrats. Before the election, CFPC spent 6 weeks registering college students at all the community colleges around STL, and we offered non-partisan voter information when they registered. We showed them how to research candidates, issues, and what their ballots would look like, and how important it was to complete their ballots for their home state. They were all glad to learn how to be prepared to vote for the first time. I hope we made a positive impact on our region with our efforts, and we were pleased that 61% of STL went blue. Since the election, a few of us were invited to speak at the political club at a local HS, where the students weren’t old enough to vote yet. But, they were thirsty for voter information, and ready to organize. From my observation, I think voter information is one of the keys to turning things around, and we better start when they are young and eager to get involved. It won’t happen fast, but we need to start someplace to encourage folks to start voting for issues and candidates that complement each other.
Rusti, What does CFPC stand for? This is exactly the type of volunteer work I'm interested in. I'm in Columbia, MO and am not aware of anything like it here. (Wanting to connect, not start up an organization here.)
CFPC stands for Conversations For Political Change. It’s a group of folks who came together on zoom during Covid, the 2020 election year, and started doing political activities to get out the vote that year. Our Mission Statement is to elect more Democrats. We do national things, but we primarily focus on local and statewide Missouri elections. We started out writing postcards, but we moved on to election protection, voter education, voter registration, collecting petitions, and promoting great candidates like Lucas Kunce. We have meetings twice a month on zoom, but we are on a big break since the election is over. We shall resume in late January. We’ve written close to 50,000 post cards in the last few years. We have a FB page, but it is private.
I come at your question from two different perspectives. In July 2016, I suffered a heart attack and a stroke. At the rehabilitation facility, my phlebotomist and my roommate were Trump voters. I even watched the DNC convention on Fox with Trump voters. I canvassed in PA and NC for Kamala and actually talked with Trump voters at the door. The more relevant question is why did so many eligible voters not vote. If you would like to discuss this further, please let me know. Stangriffith@mac.com
Such a fine question. Since the economy wasn’t in shambles and the Dems were having high impact for the middle class and working people, it remains a riddle.
For sure we know that the propaganda in the right wing echo chamber worked on this on and other issues. Those chickens are starting to come to roost for those voters, and we will need to remind those voters how they misplaced their votes. The pain of enriching the super wealthy at the expense of everyone else may do some of the heavy lifting. But propaganda even overshadows the pain of reality, at least for a while.
People want to blame inflation on the party in power. I read a study that showed at one point, for every dollar that corporations raised their prices, $.46 was for increased production costs and $.54 was for excess profits. This was clearly born out by the record profits that corporations were making. I even saw comments justifying that because corporations had lost money during covid. Funny that people would justify something that was causing them pain at the checkout.
and a rapist. We have a rape culture in the U.S. Trump is the embodiment. He has never spent one day in jail for any of his crimes. I don't follow "bro' culture" much, but I get a "rapey" vibe from it.
Larry, I think Covid allowed corporate GREED to run rampant. Then when Covid was mostly contained, those corporations just kept gouging. In the grocery industry, four conglomerates own almost all the grocery stores in the country. They don't even have to collide to fix prices. They just keep jacking them up. * collude (I hate autocorrect.)
True! However, the MSM coverage should have been broadcasting his wonderful accomplishments of bringing back our country from near total ruin, but they are owned by billionaires and billionaire corporations who wanted tax cuts. Therefore Americans, unless they did their own research, only heard about Trump and his lies.
You are flat-out wrong about the housing crisis and I think you know it. In fact, I think this is really only one example of how wrongheaded virtually all your arguments are. I think or, maybe, I should say, I hope, you are playing the devil's advocate, but as an attorney who lived through the housing bubble burst in one of the three most dramatic areas of the country, Las Vegas, Nevada, I know the bubble was caused because the Bush Administration did away with the regulations that provided standards mortgage lenders had to follow. The speculators were buying properties and driving prices to unheard of heights and fraud was rampant because one could buy with no proof of assets. All of this was due to the failure to follow reasonable regulations and to deregulation. You are suggesting now what caused the problems then and the problems were brought on by a Republican Administration, not a Democratic one. I for one wish Obama and the Democrats in Congress had done much more to help borrowers and hold banks accountable, but those who think the banks, the lenders, are guiltless and less regulation is the answer are stupid.
The same goes for your point about the brazen intentional violation of federal laws to protect military homeowners. It is the private industry that is the violating the law because they know they can get away with it. That is the Republican agenda to support such conduct as disrespect and disregard for the law and government. So, is that now where you are coming form?
thanks for a very thoughtful commentary. I agree with you on your premise, and yet was uttering the same question myself, without being arrogant or thinking I know better, but just because I have seen these things play out over and over in my life. The right wing has an extraordinary propaganda machine that they have learned to use with precision effectiveness, and of the conservative people I have talked to here in MO, they were all talking about transgender bathrooms and reassignment surgeries, when that was never even discussed by democratic candidates, nor is even a big issue - from what I found in my own research on these topics!
I did vote for you and contributed as much as I could to your campaign, and I was heartbroken that we did not prevail. I agree with the person below, that we need to change to a popular vote system so my "blue" vote will actually count in Missouri. It's either that, or else I will have to go find a blue state to live in.
Actually, I agree that many parts of the system do need to be torn down and rebuilt, I just do not agree that this should be done by the oligarchy of billionaires, misogynists, and sex offenders that it looks like is going to be running the clown show!! I also do not think that most people who voted the way they did, have much long-term understanding of what tearing the whole thing down will actually look like, and how painful it will be for average Americans, but NOT for the super-rich, who will ride it thru with no problem. Too many people see the election like a reality TV show and vote for the most famous person, without really having a deeper understanding of the long-term effects of their vote.
The other thing I will mention is the fact that has haunted me the most in the aftermath of the election, and that was the statement by Heather Cox-Richardson to John Stewart - that 50 TRILLION dollars of wealth has transferred from the bottom 80% of Americans to the top 20% in the last 50-60 years. This means we are now like Mexico was in the 1970s-80s and our middle class is gone!! Not sure how we recover that, and the current lot definitely have not incentive to see this change!
Thanks for all your tireless work and I do hope you will continue to be a good voice of reason for this state!! Blessings!
That's because Republicans lie and blame everything on what Democrats did when they were in office. Unlike Biden, who was addressing the messes Trump left behind, Republicans will simply blame Biden, and do nothing to actually help working people.
Thank you for this piece. I've been wondering where (if at all) the magas have the correct perspective. That so many people have voted for far right candidates makes me question my own values. We'll see where the next few years lead us, but the Dem Party must rethink every strategy.
Kamala Harris was one of the few politicians who went to bat for constituents in the housing crisis and banks’ bad behavior. I guess everyone forgot about that or chose not to listen. I feel a bit sorry for those middle and low income voters who put Trump in the White House. I think they will have a very rough 4 years. We are middle income seniors who have lived frugally and can hopefully get through this. We don’t have any kids to feed. I grew up poor,, educated in public schools and I don’t think there is much excuse for ignorance.
Very sadly, I think you are right. Look at all the women who voted against a very highly-qualified Hillary Clinton (where the race issue did not enter the equation).
Lucas, you get it. I'm proud to have supported your candidacy, both this cycle and the previous one, and will if you run again. BTW, I'm retired USAR JAG, living in SD, since leaving MO in 2021. I attribute Trump's and Hawley's reelection to Biden's tone deaf approach to the border and inflation. Trump's second term is part of the Biden legacy. Biden was consistently "too little- too late" in support for Ukraine and Israel and to inflation. Regarding the health insurance CEO assination NYC, does anyone think that if the victim was an ordinary American rather than
a CEO, that the investigation would be anywhere near as thorough? Of course not. Democratic marketing has been totally incompetent. Conditions in the US are far better than most people believe due primarily to Republican marketing having been so much more effective. Lucas, I'm with you.
I agree with most of this. The Democratic mega phone has no teeth whatsoever. They need to find someone who has the ability to get the messages out. Also, I feel betrayed by the women more than anything else... groceries or otherwise, voting for someone who blatantly disrespects you and in a lot of cases doesn't give a damn about you or your rights as a human being is beyond my comprehension. I have felt attached by the republican leader since 2015...
I agree with most of this. You are right. The Democrats have become too reliant on the rich and the corporate. But, the Republicans are fully owned by the rich and the corporate. The alternative these voters chose will be horrific. Also, I completely disagree with your statement of Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter. Circumstances changed and he changed his mind. Only a fool would demand that Biden stick to a decision (and norms) made when he thought the legal system would be normal. Once the voters elected the retribution and corruption guy (who ignores norms and laws), who promises to use the legal system for personal vengeance, Biden is allowed to change his mind. Expecting anything else is wrong, especially given the pardons Trump had given in his last term and promises to give in his next.
I agree about the pardon. Trump will weaponize the DOJ and Hunter would be facing a maximum sentence for a crime that is normally not prosecuted at all under his circumstances. I would have done the same thing.
“…normally not prosecuted at all under his circumstances.” What might those circumstances be? Would a regular citizen who is not associated with an elite click also normally not be prosecuted? We need to do away with the delineation or classes, equal justice under the law my foot. No way would any of us regular citizens not currently be in prison for a fraction of what Trump et al have done, but now he’s President Elect.
I'm not an attorney but even before Allen Weiselburg said he'd never seen a case with a gun charge like this being the only charge in his entire career, I knew this to be the case.
Any attorney reading this is free to correct me but I'll explain things based on my understanding. Gun charges that involve illegal substances such as lying on the gun form or a gun found in the home/property with drugs during a "raid" (which happens with dealers, not strictly users) are "add on" charges. Hunter's charge or, I think it's called a 23-C, or a C-23 (Guns protecting dope), carry penalties of up to 25 years or more for that one charge alone.
So, when a dealer is busted & the prosecutor offers a plea deal (which they hope is accepted), knocking off that gun charge -thus knocking off 25 years of their sentence- becomes an offer they can't easily refuse. It's a bargaining chip & I would question, honestly, how it's even constitutional (I think felons are prime targets for violating their constitutional rights, they don't often fight them).
So, in Hunter's case, he was at the height of his addiction, his brother had died, he went into a store as a legal aged adult with a clean criminal record & purchased a gun from a licensed seller for the purpose of taking his own life. The gun was never even fired once, his sister in law found out about the gun & threw it away in a dumpster behind a business to keep Hunter from using it on himself. The gun was found & discovered it was legally registered to Hunter. No crimes had been committed using the gun.
A normal person might've received a phone call asking how the gun ended up in the dumpster. A truthful answer would've resulted in recommending psychiatric help.
We very rarely sentence substance users to prison. It's those caught with a lot on them at one time who are convicted for possession with intent to sell or with distribution when they get caught selling to an undercover. Notice the undercover is never the dealer, always the buyer (that would probably be entrapment or something but either way). Users go to rehab, dealers go to prison.
Hunter was not a dealer. He was never caught with drugs of any kind in his possession, he was never caught under the influence, didn't cause any accidents & then was tested for substances... Nothing. A normal person under the same scenario as Hunter would've have been charged with the same crime because law enforcement/prosecutors would've had no idea that he had been using when he bought the gun.
It was only known that Hunter was using when he purchased the gun because of videos/pics on his laptop & because of circumstantial evidence. He wrote it in his book & then his sister & sister in law testified to the timing of his use in court. Anyone else, their substance use would not be known if they were never caught in possession or under the influence of illegal substances.
Then with the tax charges, the IRS goes after tax fraud but someone who didn't pay for 2 years & then paid them up in full plus fines & fees? That wouldn't be a case the IRS would submit to the DOJ for charges to be pressed. In fact, people who don't pay their taxes, they'll try everything they can, such as wage garnishment etc, before taking a person to court in this scenario. Someone who owes & then pays the debt off without them having to take action would normally not be bothered. It wasn't even the IRS who pursued the charges for "temporary" tax evasion. David Weiss brought those charges on his own.
Furthermore, I'm curious what crime it was that was committed that even sparked an investigation into Hunter in the 1st place? We don't just target & investigate people. We investigate crimes for evidence that lead us to people of interest/suspects. It seems to me that Hunter Biden was a targeted person who was investigated in search of a crime.
That's why the plea deal fell apart. Or that's one reason... On the day in court where Hunter was planning to accept his plea deal, his lawyer reiterated that once the plea was signed, the investigations ended. Of course the prosecution came back & said, "No, we're still investigating". Investigating what?! If he thought there was a bigger case then he should've waited to bring charges for that case. Weiss brought the charges he did when he did because the statute of limitations was almost up & he didn't want to come up empty handed. Who has ever heard of someone signing a plea deal but still continues to be investigated? There has to be a crime for an investigation to occur or continue.
By that point, it was already suspected, if not for certain, that the FBI informant providing dirt against the Biden's was a Russian plant. The House GOP has turned over every stone of suspicion from the laptop & found nothing. Not to mention the DOJ has the laptop since 2019, they had to have already known there was no evidence of any criminal activity. Yet Weiss said that the investigation into Hunter had to be free to continue in order for the plea deal to be an option.
So no, a normal person would not have had these charges brought against them. A normal person wouldn't be the target of an investigation in search of a crime. Hunter was investigated because he is Joe Biden's son & they used him to try to get something on Joe Biden to use politically.
Joe Biden tried to trust the system by allowing the investigation to continue, likely afraid of the optics of ending it. Even Lev Parnas admitted that Hunter was targeted solely for the purpose of trying to find dirt on Joe Biden &/or trying to break him. The whole thing was dirty politics. Something I think Biden realized but had enough faith in the system to believe the courts would function as guardrails before it went too far. They didn't & Hunter was convicted when the case should've been thrown out.
This is my perspective of it anyway ....
A good friend shared a story about her affluent/wealthy friends who were caught NOT filing taxes for several years. They were angry because they were charged fines & interest on top of several years of back taxes. None of them were charged with tax evasion or threatened with jail time. Their attorneys worked out an arrangement for them to pay back taxes, fines, and interests.
When my friend asked "Why didn't you file taxes?", their reply was "Because we didn't think that we would get caught and why should we pay high taxes?"
My friend told them that she had no sympathy for them because they deliberately broke the law. Furthermore, she told them that their businesses benefited from living and working in the USA.
The above tax cheaters were never dragged into federal court for deliberately violating the law. They were allowed to pay their back taxes, fines and interest.
Why was Hunter Biden treated differently than the above tax cheaters & thousands of people who lied on gun permit applications.
And I apologize for the typos, there's no way to edit once submitted. I'm sure you can figure out what I meant to say where the typos occur.
I think you mean Andrew Weissman. Weiselberg is the Trump toady doing time for cooking the books.
And you can edit if you hit those 3 dots in the upper right hand corner of your comment, there is a drop down menu.
Thank you so much. I've tried the 3 dots but the option to edit has never been an option on my Google phone but I'll keep trying.
Also, yes that's my bad. I did not mean Allen (or Andrew) Weiselburg. I should've Googled first. The more I've discussed this I now know that the prosecutor for Hunter was David Weiss. Andrew Weissmann is actually a former prosecutor who worked on the Mueller report who now is a frequent contributor on MSNBC. Then, of course, Allen Weiselburg is Trump's toady who keeps going to prison for him.
I already get Andrew Weissmann & Allen Weiselburg mixed up. Adding in David Weiss wasn't helpful. Thank you for the correction. Really, I do appreciate it 🙂.
"Would a regular citizen who is not associated with an elite click also normally not be prosecuted?"
My understanding is that the answer to this question is yes, normal people would not face jail time on a first offense for the crimes that Hunter committed. Often the charges are dropped, or the sentence is community service or similar. This is what I recall hearing from pundits such as Neil Katyal and Andrew Weissman when the story was breaking back in 2023.
Barb McQuade said the same. I agree with Biden's pardon and yes it will help solidify negative views about Dems but maybe with some time not that greatly. There are more important things.
We do now have two justice systems whether the politicians will admit it or not. These four years should have been spent getting laws on the books so 1. convicted felons cannot run for president. 2. Sitting presidents can't be charged??? That's ridiculous. Our government can be operated by the vice-president whomever it is. Our supreme court should have had two more justices put on it by Biden. These things will never happen now but should have been done. Hoping that Trump could never be re-elected didn't work did it?
hope was the strategy evidently
Larry, I agree with you and Maureen about Biden's pardon.
Given the promise of retribution, Hunter Biden and others are not safe without the pardon. This decision was a no brainer and Joe Biden did what he had to do.
I think he's not saying this is his opinion but that it's the view of the Right: The message the Right is selling right now.
Which reminds me, what you haven't mentioned in all this is that the reason the Right has such power over society is because they own the media and that's the predominant message from the Right-owned media. They are no longer the Fourth Estate because they no longer hold the values of speaking truth to power and speaking for the people. They are owned and duty-bound to the oligarchs that are buying up our country. Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk and, Murdoch, UHC CEO Brian Thompson, for example, all have built closed systems that draw us in and exploit us in ways control information in order to invent the world that they want us to see, at the same time raking in vast sums of money from those of us who accept their definitions of commerce, health care, entertainment and news consumption, etc. We need resources to build or take back our free Press, who live and write by journalistic values, holding the powerful to account and speaking for us.
The FCC needs to be given it's original power with strong, sharp teeth and reinstate the " Fairness Doctrine!" Reagan gutted the FCC and now we have no journalism, IMHO.
Well said
I think about the Fairness Doctrine - and its loss - quite a bit. I think you’re right that ending it has led us here.
I believe Hunter would have died a mysterious death in prison if Joe had not pardoned him.Kash has published his enemies list.
Think of "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" ....
While the quote was not expressed as an order, it prompted four knights to travel from Normandy to Canterbury, where they killed Becket. The phrase is commonly used in modern-day contexts to express that a ruler's wish may be interpreted as a command by his or her subordinates. It is also commonly understood as shorthand for any rhetorical device allowing leaders to covertly order or exhort violence among their followers, while still being able to claim plausible deniability for political, legal, or other reasons.
Wikipedia
You are absolutely correct! Well said.
I can’t condemn President Biden for pardoning Hunter. I can understand why he did it. I wish, however, that he had done the right thing, “stuck to his guns” despite changing circumstances, and not “made himself a liar.”
On second thought, maybe I am condemning President Biden for not keeping his word, while sympathizing with him. He’s still, in my opinion, our best president in a very long time — since FDR maybe (better than Obama?)?
I've always thought he's the most honest politician we had in Washington for most of the last 50 yrs. That said, I think his blind loyalty to Netanyahu and the way he's allowed him to prosecute his brutal war against Gaza and killing so many innocents is a big part of this democratic loss.
I absolutely agree with you about Biden giving his son a pardon. Circumstances changed.
That’s exactly what I came here to say. He pardoned his only living son against the Gestapo who say clearly, everyday who they are going after. I would have done the same thing and not take a second thought. These are different times. Happy Holidays!
I couldn’t vote for you because I am not in Missouri, but I did donate what I could afford to your campaign.
You are a reasonable person and don’t appear to base your decisions on hate and division, but also had some good ideas.
If we can only get to a popular vote system in this country, it wouldn’t matter what party affiliation a candidate has.
I hope you stay involved in politics because the country needs you
I think Lucas should run for president. He would really kick ass.
The question is, what to do about it. It’s fine to be a bit more humble and not ask a question which arrogantly presupposes you know more, but how do you persuade people that fixing a system is better than destroying it and replacing it with a kleptocracy of billionaires?
What we have now is a kakistocracy! I certainly did not want to send the performative clown Hawley back to the US Senate. I wanted Lucas Kunce to win so badly. Until these backwoods racist Missouri hillbillies die out, the 'State of Misery' will not evolve.
I recommend a podcast, Jess Piper (https://substack.com/@jesspiper) who is a rural democrat (a Dirt Road Democrat - I love that title.) and represents those of us who live in and speak out in rural areas, in particular Missouri. You will learn about the dynamics that prevent us from gaining power. Missouri used to be purple but for the last 20 years, gerrymandering has prevented anything other than a right wing government and that is enough time that it prevents people from seeing any other possible future for Missourians. That's why I like Lucas Kunce. He breaks that idea and speaks to the issues of all Missourians. I was proud to vote for him in both his Senate runs and hope he keeps trying. The vote this time was pretty close so he's made inroads.
Thanks for bringing up how the system is being "systematically" rigged by these people. That's a frustrating reality. You don't want to cheat to beat them, but how do you beat their cheating? (I know Dems do gerrymandering, too, but let's look at the scale on both sides.)
I'm pretty sure the Republicans came up with Gerrymandering, wasn't it called Red lining or something like that?
What is unfortunate is that the Missouri legislature used ballot candy to trick people into voting that to make it so that we can never implement Rank Choice & Final 4 voting for our elections. This is unfortunate. The system we have now allows the most extreme candidates to make it through the Primaries & then have a clear path to victory in the general election in districts or states where most people vote by party.
Honestly, I kind of wondered if Lucas would've run as an Independent & the Dems didn't put up a candidate if he would've won... Seems like a lot of people really wouldn't vote for him just because he labeled himself a Democrat. Which is silly.
I've tried to entice people to vote for Democrats in every way I can think of. Someone was complaining that Trump didn't do any rallies here. I told them that he would if Republicans would play a little hard to get instead of being thought of as a sure thing & just giving their votes away.
Why by the cow when you can have the milk for free? I said if they would start voting for Democrats & turn us back into a swing state they'd start paying attention to us again. As it is now though, Democrats in Missouri are working their butts off to try & win elections while Republicans spend the campaign season in the Amazon (the Democratic candidate running in my district for the MO House spent the summer canvassing & phone banking, holding events, etc & the incumbent Republican spent the summer in the Amazon). Kunce wasn't the only candidate who's Republican opponent was refusing to debate (or participate in Town Halls, do radio interviews, etc). Elad Gross's opponent wouldn't debate, the candidate running for MO House in my district, as I mentioned, ignored emails/ refused to participate in a Town Hall with our city council or do radio interviews. The only Republican I saw do anything jointly with a Democrat was Lincoln Hough (who was running for Lt Governor) did a talk radio interview with Crystal Quade during the primaries. And he didn't even get elected in the Primaries (another reason to have Rank Choice with Final 4 voting, put all the candidates on one ballot!)! Of course I saw Kunce's debate with Hawley but it was like pulling teeth to make it happen.
This is what I try to explain to people... I say, "If they're not willing to work to earn your vote, why do you think they will work to keep it?" There's nothing good that can come from a politician who believes they're entitled to their position. That their win is guaranteed. While I dislike campaign commercials as much as the next person (except for John Fetterman's commercials... I was disappointed there weren't more Democrats who copied off that idea... He probably would've helped candidates come up with some ideas... Hawley would've been easy. I was disappointed I didn't see him running through the capitol in a commercial even once) but barely seeing any other than Kunce's & Hawley's (I saw Crystal Quade's a couple of times & maybe a couple of others but not many) made me realize that Republicans don't feel like they even need to spend the money to campaign here anymore. They're taking their donations & putting them towards other, tighter races. And then they're shying away from anything that could hurt them politically. Debates, Town Halls, interviews, etc. Yet people are still voting for them! I'm like, come on you guys! Make them work for it a little bit at least!
Uh! Autocorrect is awful! I wish I could edit my comments. I apologize, again, for the typos. Like by & buy... I do in fact know the difference 😅
Gerrymandering is a practice nearly as old as the nation itself. The term was coined in 1812 as a combination of the last name of the then Governor of Massachusetts (Elbridge Gerry), and the shape of a district (salamander-esque) that was created by a proposal he signed into law.
The Democratic Party chose those billionaires and awarded them everything they wanted, under Obama. Keep ignoring the fact that the USA is using Israel to take over the entire middle east- and a nuclear war.
It appears to me that Israel uses the United States not the other way around. Exactly how are the multiple wars around Israel in the interest of the US?
Bruce, multiple wars in the Middle East do not help the U.S. Disagreeing with Netanyahu's tactics and his motivations do not equal anti-semitism.
Israel's wars benefit the U.S. arms industry. Our elected officials benefit from donations from the arms industry and from AIPAC. Those who protest, including Jewish Americans, are mislabeled "antisemitic." It is shameful.
Agree! It is not antisemitic to want children and civilians to be able to get medical care, clean water, food and fuel for the winter! Since when is it okay to starve people, deliberately bomb schools, homes, hospitals and Aid workers?!! $@#&*
It’s all the fault of the Jews… Right. Got it. Your antisemitism and Jew-hatred is showing. There’s one reason the Dems are losing, right there.
Conflating Jews with Israel is antisemitism. Antisemitism is real, but when it is used as a label for criticizing Israel, the term loses its meaning and that’s why it’s antisemitic. Israel is headed by Zionists who follow an ideology that is not judaism. Don’t let Israel and the western governments fool you into thinking Jews and Israel are one of the same. Listen to those Jews who say “Not in our name”. The people of the world are waking up to what is happening and are rejecting this tool to keep us quiet.
No. Israel is a pawn - being used - by the aipac controlled military kleptocracy. Many of us Jews see the truth - Israelis will suffer from violence, ptsd, fear and hatred of “others” for generations. This genocide goes against Judaism.
As a Jew too, the only reply I can give you is that you are—at best—a tool of those who wish the destruction of the only Jewish nation state on Earth, and use conspiracy thinking to achieve it, or a fool unacquainted with the long bloody history of hatred and murder that the Jewish people faced before the birth of Israel, or the stated goals of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran now.
Religions are not entitled to a state, let alone a state in someone else's land. Israel is a fascist, nazi-like, settler-colonial, racist, theocratic state. I commits mass murder in order to maintain its existance. No person of conscience or somone who believes is freedom or democracy can support its continued existance. How can a "democratic" state justly require someone to be of a particular faith in order to allow one to emigrate there?
Alexander, yours is one of the most uninformed and hate-filled comments seen herein.
There are 15 nations in which Christianity is the officially recognized state religion, and another 23 nations in which Islam is the officially recognized state religion. But you single out the only Jewish state.
The Holocaust ended 80 years ago with the murder of 6 million Jews, roughly two-thirds of all European Jewry, and one-third of all Jews on Earth between 1939 and 1945. The population of Jews worldwide has still not fully recovered to the number living in 1939. But you accuse Israel of mass murder and equate them to Nazis. That is vile. There’s is no excuse for you to be ignorant of the fact that Yahya Sinwar of Hamas was on record deliberately courting and welcoming the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in order to destroy Israel (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/08/12/yahya-sinwar-profile-hamas-gaza-war-israel).
Since 2006 the Palestinian people in Gaza have had no right to select their own leadership or to express opposition to Hamas. Hamas hides amongst and beneath them and uses them as human shields to garner sympathy while pursuing it goal of the total destruction of Israel and the completion of the genocide of Jews. Before Zionism Jews suffered 19 centuries of persecution and violence, without the right to self-defense anywhere in the world. Under the supposed protection of various rulers they were repeated victims of mass murder and exile; denied assimilation and routinely attacked in their homes and communities with impunity. Yet you would return them to dhimmi status, if not outright extermination. Never again means never again.
Lastly:
One of every four Israeli citizens is a non-Jew. Most are Arabs and Muslims. They have full citizenship rights including representatives in the Knesset.
Facts.
James, many Israelis are not in favor of all that is taking place, but they have been cut off from Al-Jazeera television after a well liked, fair journalist was murdered early in the war.
Nothing in my comment implied anything about Jews. Israel has always done what their leadership thought was in their best national interest whether or not the US agreed with that position. Israel isn't doing anything different than any other nation does.
Absolutely, Israel has been a base for the US in the middle east for the purpose of “our” Oilgarchs” gaining control of their oil. “We” were itching to get Iran's oil before 911 convinced our military to go into Iraq and let Halliburton sack the country and the Pentagon budget. Now they're about to scratch that itch…heaven help us all
I don’t think we can do anything about “it” unless - and until - we understand some of where our fellow Americans are coming from. Posts like Lucas’ are super helpful in figuring that out. Once we have a better awareness, we can change our messaging a bit.
I think much of the problem is that people are subject to intense propaganda from the right and they are thoroughly misinformed about what is in their interest. Big business has long been involved in the techniques of advertising and that is much the same as propaganda. They are much more skilled in this art than the left is,.
The GOP is much more skilled at lying. Democrats lie or misrepresent things at times. Some of the GQP have elevated lying to an art form. Lying about Haitians eating cats and dogs or lying about hurricane relief money from FEMA are just 2 examples of that.
The line between lying and propaganda (or advertising) is pretty thin. Skillful half-lies with at least some odor of truth to them are a way to maintain credibility. Media power also plays a big role and that is where money cam play a critical role when there is a willingness to exercise that power.
I do not think most people pay much attention to political issues, so the minor bits they get from whatever source filters to their vote.
They really are convinced that Trump IS in their best interests.
Really? No FDIC to protect your bank account, no Medicare or SS in your old age, no decent education for your children, not to mention NOAH, OSHA and SNAP! 😈💀 HOW is this in your best interest?
I know! The MAGAts have a problem with things that will obviously be bad for them. They don't believe it. Yet, they think Trump will fix it, whatever it is. They aren't critical thinkers or really thinkers at all.
I think Trump’s election Is great because he is going to murder the economy, our water, our air, and implement more controls on women’s bodies. Trump convinced his voters of so many lies his orange nose is dragging on the ground. If these people think America is shit and ought to be burned down, have at it! I’m just tired of these sexist racist ignorant fools.
So am I!🤬😈💩💩💩💩
Thank you, Lucas. For the first time, I now understand why working-class Republicans vote as they do. I think another part of the problem is Republican politicians outright lie to their constituents & the right-wing media report their lies as fact. For instance, they are saying Biden borrowed from Medicare to finance green spending. They will use that lie as the reason why they must cut Medicare. I will support another run for you if you want to give it another try. They could really use you in Congress.
This. There is a powerful right-wing disinformation machine that is outright pummeling red state voters with disinformation and misinformation.
Good example.
I understand what you're trying to say, but there is a LAG in the effects of Republicans' policies that affect voters in the ensuing Democrat presidency. For example, Roe v Wade was overturned during Biden's term but Trump was responsible. Inflation started when Trump asked Putin and MBS to cut oil production to help out Trump's oil executive buddies. That inflation wave crashed into Biden's term. Trump added $8 trillion to the deficit, $2 trillion of that were tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. This created more inflation that was felt during Biden's term. The problem is voters do not understand this, and yes, they ARE voting against their own interest. The problem is a lack of understanding who created the problems. We're smarter than that, aren't we?
Unfortunately, most people aren't smarter than this. 54% of Americans read at the sixth-grade level; 21% are illiterate. Democrats must simplify their message & explain everything in simple terms. We also MUST call out & correct every lie. Too much of the propaganda Republicans spread goes unchallenged. We must get better at reaching this audience and improving education in this country.
Or we could make sure that history and civics are still being taught in schools--public, independent, religious and charter--in ways that make the material interesting and relevant to students.
And reach out to adults, too, with how today's world is a consequence of individual choices (like choosing to vote), including our own.
Just sayin...
My guess is very few of those 6th grade readers read political commentary, so it needs to be dumbed down and oral, which is why Foxx is succeassful.
Illiteracy is a problem but I think your numbers may be exaggerated. I recently watched a youtube by Dave Pakman saying that 21% of adults are reading at a 6th grade level or lower... If you have evidence to the contrary, please post.
Per the National Literacy Institute, 21% of Americans are illiterate, while 54% have a literacy rate below a 6th grade level.
Many don't read at all!
No. Trump ran a huge deficit of $6.6 trillion due to his egregious tax cut gifts to the rich and mega corporations. That caused the inflation and its threat to inflation carries forward because that revenue is lost to all subsequent budgets as well . Biden actually cut budgets
Obviously as a general voting constituency we are not smarter than that
Apparently not. Or our voices are not nearly as loud or frequent as the oppositions'.
I think that there is a parallel here with the decline of Union membership. If Union membership was at the level of the early 1950’s (when many perceived America to be great!) their wages would be higher, they would have a mechanism to “take on” their wealthy employer, and they would have pensions to depend on for retirement and wouldn’t feel like they had to work until the day they died.
I agree but for an entirely different reason. Anyone who receives threats should be able to carry....the legal moves against Hunter were political.
And the result would lead to increased inflation as wages and benefits add to the cost of a product or service. Part (most?) of the problem is our country is focused on capitalism. There are no regulations capping the top Executives’ annual compensation to some fair ratio with its workers. People see that as a form of Socialism as opposed a social program. Most don’t actually know what these other forms of government are. I believe a Hybrid government is much better than a pure form of any. Need to focus on what’s best and fair for everyone and that can’t happen until we recognize all human beings treated as equals with all granted the same rights. But many are too busy judging others and expecting them to live their lives to their values.
Mr Fisher, in the 1950's and 1960's, the CEO of General Motors made roughly 20 times what the average person working the line did. That seemed fair.
Reagan helped usher in a law that allowed one company to buy out another, and, then, use the pension funds to pay down the buyer's debt, screwing all the union people. A&P was bought out and those employees lost all the money from their pension fund and could not retire. They worked until they died......
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Unfortunately, I know many union members who voted for Trump. Some proclaim how Trump was a great president. They are against illegal immigration, but many of the people they rail against aren't illegal but are here on visas or in the asylum process. I have for years said we don't have an illegal alien problem as much as we have an illegal employer problem. Rich people employ illegals knowing they are illegal in their businesses and in their homes and as gardeners, etc.
https://search.app/aMHLe66rXjWqJX6S7
Yes indeed.
I 100% agree Brenda. Even Trump if you want to check out this 1980 TIME magazine article about when Trump was building Trump Tower: https://search.app/aMHLe66rXjWqJX6S7
Probably Mar-a-Lago too but that’s only speculation.
Whoops, sorry, this was meant for Larry Stutts below. Maybe more will get to see it this way 🤷
You are right and it's a hard pill to swallow. We have the best intentions but need to get away from big money. Unfortunately, the incoming party is going to be run by those very people. I can't see how this is going to help anyone protect their rights or fill their fridges.
Big Money. I believe the reason Democrats are associated with BIg Money all comes down to CItizens United. Corporations and Billionaires can give unlimited Dark Money and Democrats are trying to keep up with millions of small contributions (and some big ones too) Until we wrangle that problem, the rich have us all by the b*lls.
Citizens United is a blight on democracy. It only served to allow the rich to buy elections.
Michael, those are my thoughts, too, about Citizens United. Also, Reagan gutting the FCC and getting rid of the " Fairness Doctrine " allowed misinformation to be presented as facts.
Thank you for your insight, Lucas. I’m brokenhearted over your loss, and still cannot believe MO chose the spoiled brat over you. IMHO—we have a brainwashed populace who aren’t getting straight facts or truth from the media they consume. And, legacy media outlets certainly failed us by shoring up MAGA, and tearing down Biden and Democrats. Before the election, CFPC spent 6 weeks registering college students at all the community colleges around STL, and we offered non-partisan voter information when they registered. We showed them how to research candidates, issues, and what their ballots would look like, and how important it was to complete their ballots for their home state. They were all glad to learn how to be prepared to vote for the first time. I hope we made a positive impact on our region with our efforts, and we were pleased that 61% of STL went blue. Since the election, a few of us were invited to speak at the political club at a local HS, where the students weren’t old enough to vote yet. But, they were thirsty for voter information, and ready to organize. From my observation, I think voter information is one of the keys to turning things around, and we better start when they are young and eager to get involved. It won’t happen fast, but we need to start someplace to encourage folks to start voting for issues and candidates that complement each other.
thanks so much for your work on educating young people!! this is one of the only ways we have to fight against this tide of ignorance!
Rusti, What does CFPC stand for? This is exactly the type of volunteer work I'm interested in. I'm in Columbia, MO and am not aware of anything like it here. (Wanting to connect, not start up an organization here.)
CFPC stands for Conversations For Political Change. It’s a group of folks who came together on zoom during Covid, the 2020 election year, and started doing political activities to get out the vote that year. Our Mission Statement is to elect more Democrats. We do national things, but we primarily focus on local and statewide Missouri elections. We started out writing postcards, but we moved on to election protection, voter education, voter registration, collecting petitions, and promoting great candidates like Lucas Kunce. We have meetings twice a month on zoom, but we are on a big break since the election is over. We shall resume in late January. We’ve written close to 50,000 post cards in the last few years. We have a FB page, but it is private.
Let know if you’d like to join a meeting sometime.
Rusti, I am definitely interested.
Thanks Rusti!
I come at your question from two different perspectives. In July 2016, I suffered a heart attack and a stroke. At the rehabilitation facility, my phlebotomist and my roommate were Trump voters. I even watched the DNC convention on Fox with Trump voters. I canvassed in PA and NC for Kamala and actually talked with Trump voters at the door. The more relevant question is why did so many eligible voters not vote. If you would like to discuss this further, please let me know. Stangriffith@mac.com
That's true. I think I heard Robert Reich on his podcast say that 85.9 million registered voters didn't vote. That is troubling as well.
Great question!
Such a fine question. Since the economy wasn’t in shambles and the Dems were having high impact for the middle class and working people, it remains a riddle.
For sure we know that the propaganda in the right wing echo chamber worked on this on and other issues. Those chickens are starting to come to roost for those voters, and we will need to remind those voters how they misplaced their votes. The pain of enriching the super wealthy at the expense of everyone else may do some of the heavy lifting. But propaganda even overshadows the pain of reality, at least for a while.
People want to blame inflation on the party in power. I read a study that showed at one point, for every dollar that corporations raised their prices, $.46 was for increased production costs and $.54 was for excess profits. This was clearly born out by the record profits that corporations were making. I even saw comments justifying that because corporations had lost money during covid. Funny that people would justify something that was causing them pain at the checkout.
Inflation was just the excuse for voting for a racist.
and a rapist. We have a rape culture in the U.S. Trump is the embodiment. He has never spent one day in jail for any of his crimes. I don't follow "bro' culture" much, but I get a "rapey" vibe from it.
Spot on.
Larry, I think Covid allowed corporate GREED to run rampant. Then when Covid was mostly contained, those corporations just kept gouging. In the grocery industry, four conglomerates own almost all the grocery stores in the country. They don't even have to collide to fix prices. They just keep jacking them up. * collude (I hate autocorrect.)
True! But the Democrats didn't do enough advertising about how the administration was fighting these greedy people
True! However, the MSM coverage should have been broadcasting his wonderful accomplishments of bringing back our country from near total ruin, but they are owned by billionaires and billionaire corporations who wanted tax cuts. Therefore Americans, unless they did their own research, only heard about Trump and his lies.
You are flat-out wrong about the housing crisis and I think you know it. In fact, I think this is really only one example of how wrongheaded virtually all your arguments are. I think or, maybe, I should say, I hope, you are playing the devil's advocate, but as an attorney who lived through the housing bubble burst in one of the three most dramatic areas of the country, Las Vegas, Nevada, I know the bubble was caused because the Bush Administration did away with the regulations that provided standards mortgage lenders had to follow. The speculators were buying properties and driving prices to unheard of heights and fraud was rampant because one could buy with no proof of assets. All of this was due to the failure to follow reasonable regulations and to deregulation. You are suggesting now what caused the problems then and the problems were brought on by a Republican Administration, not a Democratic one. I for one wish Obama and the Democrats in Congress had done much more to help borrowers and hold banks accountable, but those who think the banks, the lenders, are guiltless and less regulation is the answer are stupid.
The same goes for your point about the brazen intentional violation of federal laws to protect military homeowners. It is the private industry that is the violating the law because they know they can get away with it. That is the Republican agenda to support such conduct as disrespect and disregard for the law and government. So, is that now where you are coming form?
thanks for a very thoughtful commentary. I agree with you on your premise, and yet was uttering the same question myself, without being arrogant or thinking I know better, but just because I have seen these things play out over and over in my life. The right wing has an extraordinary propaganda machine that they have learned to use with precision effectiveness, and of the conservative people I have talked to here in MO, they were all talking about transgender bathrooms and reassignment surgeries, when that was never even discussed by democratic candidates, nor is even a big issue - from what I found in my own research on these topics!
I did vote for you and contributed as much as I could to your campaign, and I was heartbroken that we did not prevail. I agree with the person below, that we need to change to a popular vote system so my "blue" vote will actually count in Missouri. It's either that, or else I will have to go find a blue state to live in.
Actually, I agree that many parts of the system do need to be torn down and rebuilt, I just do not agree that this should be done by the oligarchy of billionaires, misogynists, and sex offenders that it looks like is going to be running the clown show!! I also do not think that most people who voted the way they did, have much long-term understanding of what tearing the whole thing down will actually look like, and how painful it will be for average Americans, but NOT for the super-rich, who will ride it thru with no problem. Too many people see the election like a reality TV show and vote for the most famous person, without really having a deeper understanding of the long-term effects of their vote.
The other thing I will mention is the fact that has haunted me the most in the aftermath of the election, and that was the statement by Heather Cox-Richardson to John Stewart - that 50 TRILLION dollars of wealth has transferred from the bottom 80% of Americans to the top 20% in the last 50-60 years. This means we are now like Mexico was in the 1970s-80s and our middle class is gone!! Not sure how we recover that, and the current lot definitely have not incentive to see this change!
Thanks for all your tireless work and I do hope you will continue to be a good voice of reason for this state!! Blessings!
This type of argument doesn’t hold. They never blame Republicans for anything when they are in office.
That's because Republicans lie and blame everything on what Democrats did when they were in office. Unlike Biden, who was addressing the messes Trump left behind, Republicans will simply blame Biden, and do nothing to actually help working people.
But they will take credi for infrastructure projects they didn't vote for.
So we are saying they are idiots who can’t identify cause and effect. Can’t have it both ways.
Thank you for this piece. I've been wondering where (if at all) the magas have the correct perspective. That so many people have voted for far right candidates makes me question my own values. We'll see where the next few years lead us, but the Dem Party must rethink every strategy.
Kamala Harris was one of the few politicians who went to bat for constituents in the housing crisis and banks’ bad behavior. I guess everyone forgot about that or chose not to listen. I feel a bit sorry for those middle and low income voters who put Trump in the White House. I think they will have a very rough 4 years. We are middle income seniors who have lived frugally and can hopefully get through this. We don’t have any kids to feed. I grew up poor,, educated in public schools and I don’t think there is much excuse for ignorance.
I maybe digressing to far but I think many men and women in this country will not vote for a female president no matter how superior she is.
Very sadly, I think you are right. Look at all the women who voted against a very highly-qualified Hillary Clinton (where the race issue did not enter the equation).
Lucas, you get it. I'm proud to have supported your candidacy, both this cycle and the previous one, and will if you run again. BTW, I'm retired USAR JAG, living in SD, since leaving MO in 2021. I attribute Trump's and Hawley's reelection to Biden's tone deaf approach to the border and inflation. Trump's second term is part of the Biden legacy. Biden was consistently "too little- too late" in support for Ukraine and Israel and to inflation. Regarding the health insurance CEO assination NYC, does anyone think that if the victim was an ordinary American rather than
a CEO, that the investigation would be anywhere near as thorough? Of course not. Democratic marketing has been totally incompetent. Conditions in the US are far better than most people believe due primarily to Republican marketing having been so much more effective. Lucas, I'm with you.
I agree with most of this. The Democratic mega phone has no teeth whatsoever. They need to find someone who has the ability to get the messages out. Also, I feel betrayed by the women more than anything else... groceries or otherwise, voting for someone who blatantly disrespects you and in a lot of cases doesn't give a damn about you or your rights as a human being is beyond my comprehension. I have felt attached by the republican leader since 2015...