Martin Eden
Martin Eden's JournalIran was a democracy when it nationalized its oil in 1953
Great Britain had developed (and profited from) Iran's oil industry, then was cut out much like what Venezuela did. Britain hit Iran with sanctions which the USA joined, then Iran connected with the Soviet Union to rescue its economy. This was during the Cold War, so we conspired with Britain to support a coup that deposed Iran's democratic government, installing the autocratic repressive rule of the Shah.
Twenty five years later, the Iranian people rose up and kicked him out, following religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini in the Islamic Revolution.
That regime is still in power, an avowed enemy of the "Great Satan" America.
Unintended consequences are often the result when greed and hubris supercede our ostensible principles. We helped destroy a democracy, and spawned a theocracy antithetical to our national interests.
But NONE of that history comes close to matching the hubris, greed, incompetence, and sheer mendacity of the Trump administration.
We're racing at breakneck speed to transform America from the Shining City on the Hill (always more of an ideal than a reality) to the Late Great United States.
For any lurking Magats:
That means America will no longer be great, as a direct result of what your cult leader has done and is doing.
JUSTICE -- upholding Constitutional rule of law -- is required
Not revenge, retribution, abuse of power, or done to satisfy the justifiable rage we all feel.
Undertaken as solemn sworn duty, not only to hold criminals accountable for their crimes, but to ensure nothing like this happens again.
And YES -- this is also necessary for HEALING. Horrible wounds must be cleansed and closed to prevent further infection.
My grandparents immigrated to the US from Europe to live the American Dream
As did so many millions who passed through Ellis Island. Were they all THIEVES?
What, exactly, IS the American Dream supposedly being stolen and thereby destroyed by the current wave of immigrants?
Working hard to build a better life for your family? The vast majorty of current immigrants check that box.
Embracing American freedoms, civil rights, and Constitutional rule of law? So many undertook a perilous journey to come here for those American values rejected by the cruel dictators in their native countries.
The allure of America, and what makes it truly great, is the IDEA that all people are equal under the law with inalienable human rights regardless of race or religion and that government is OF, BY, and FOR The People.
Coming here to LIVE the American Dream is not THEFT of the American Dream. On the contrary, people who LIVE and EMBRACE our highest ideals STRENGTHEN America.
Immigrants today are being persecuted not because they reject or damage what truly makes America great; they are being brutally torn from their communities and families because of their skin color and ethnicity. This includes those who have been following the path to legal status and citizenship.
Racial, tribal, and religious animosity are as old as human civilization. America has long struggled to cast off this old world ignorance and hatred. With progress and occasional setbacks, we have steadily bent the long arc of our moral universe towards justice.
The cruel wanna-be dictator and his hateful cabal are making every effort to bend it back. It is THEY, not immigrants, who are rejecting America's highest ideals and assaulting our Constitutional rule of law which is the foundation of the American Dream.
The struggle goes on. We not only must BELIEVE that We Shall Overcome; we must take an active role to MAKE IT HAPPEN.
I don't believe for one second they knew the identity of every person on that boat...
...and they all just happened to be on an existing list of legally authorized "military" targets. Do we have agents on the ground along the Venezuelan coast who can positively ID every person as they get on a boat?
We're not in a declared war with Venezuela, nor is there an existing Congressional authorization for military action. Just slapping the "terrorist" label on suspected drug smugglers does not make it so. Aside from illegal trafficking of drugs (unproven assertions) what acts of "terrorism" have they committed?
Trump and his strutting Secretary of "War" can be judge, jury, and executioner of people who are mere suspects, justified by an overriding concern about drugs smuggled into our country -- yet Trump pardoned the former president of Honduras convicted of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine???
It's fairly obvious what's going on here. Trump wants a war with Venezuela to change the regime and gain access to that country's vast oil deposits. He's already said ground action is next, and declared Venezuelan airspace is "closed."
This regime is also intent on expanding its power to use our military to enforce its agenda on US soil. Troops have already been deployed, and Trump stated on Sep 30 in front of our nation's top military leadership assembled at Quantico that he wants to use American cities as military "training grounds." At that same meeting, Hegseth said the old rules of engagement will no longer handcuff our "warriors," freeing them to do what they do best -- "kill people and break things."
Call it "unitary executive" or "fascism" or whatever authoritarian term best applies -- it is already happening, and our Constitutional rule of law hangs in the balance.
Fascists strike back when their authority and illegal actions are challenged.
I have little doubt Mark Kelly and the other five brave Democratic veterans expected this kind of verbal assault from Trump, Hegseth, and other regime mouthpieces.
They not only saw standing up for Constitutional and military law as their duty, but as good political strategy as well.
When you shine a spotlight on a den of rats, the rats come scurrying out and reveal themselves for what they are.
American Taliban is worse than Afghan Taliban
Americans with wealth and privilege have not suffered for generations fighting foreign occupiers, scraping by just to survive. Holding onto their religious faith kept the Afghans going, as odious as their fundamentalist patriarchy and intolerance of others may be.
Clay Higgins and his ilk betray the peaceful tolerance and welcoming kindness ostensibly at the core of their religion. They also betray the highest ideals and rule of law in the United States Constitution which has bestowed on them the blessings of liberty and prosperity, however imperfect and inequal that path has been for others with less privilege.
America is supposed to be the best hope of mankind -- an idea based on human rights and equality, rejecting the tribal animosity and tyranny which has plagued human civilization throughout recorded history.
162 years ago today in Pennsylvania, dedicating a cemetery for fallen Union soldiers, Abraham Lincoln said, in part:
Are we not now engaged in a struggle to test whether our nation, so conceived, will endure?
The POINT was TWO-FOLD:
1. TRY to FORCE Republicans to extend the ACA subsidies. This was always doubtful, given that their long-term goal embodied in Project 2025 is to destroy the "Welfare State." The shutdown serves that goal, which is why Trump was gleeful about it.
2. PIN the PAIN on Republicans, with an eye towards the midterm elections. The loss of ACA subsidies will cause a lot of pain, and even death, when people pay a lot more for health insurance or go without healthcare entirely. If Democrats had rubber-stamped the CR at the end of September, public perception on who to blame for the pain would be much different. The Democratic Party made a very visible PRINCIPLED STAND to save ACA subsidies during the longest government shutdown in US history.
When it became apparent that #1 above could not succeed, another PRINCIPLE persuaded eight senators to change their votes: as much as possible, stop the suffering. Millions of people, including children, are going hungry. Federal workers are losing their jobs, or working without pay. Flights are being canceled as Thanksgiving approaches.
For those of us (such as myself) not much impacted by the shutdown, it's easy to demand Democrats remain firm on the ACA subsidies -- despite almost zero chance of three things happening: Republicans pass it in the Senate; Republicans in the House pass it; and Trump signs it.
While the suffering and destruction of our government continues even worse with the shutdown, advancing the Project 2025 agenda.
It may have taken more political courage for eight Democratic senators to break ranks, than to maintain a principled stand almost certainly doomed to failure.
The question is whether Democrats will succeed in #2 above. Family budgets will be squeezed by skyrocketing health insurance costs, and some without will die.
So much depends on the 2026 midterms. Political calculations are no sure thing. I have no crystal ball, but I think it should not be too difficult to pin the pain on Republicans. Aside from health insurance costs, inflation is getting worse. Stagflation is here, and AI speculation (which could crash) is just about the only thing propping up the stock market. Increasing numbers of voters don't like ICE and military in our cities, or Trump alienating our closest allies. Millions are taking to the streets in protest.
Things will get worse over the next 12 months, and voters tend to blame the president and party in power. My greatest fear is martial law rendering our elections as meaningless as in Putin's Russia.
The media environment is not conducive to rational choices
A large segment of voters are not very well informed and/or approach voting like deciding which shows to watch on TV. Unless really attracted to something, they switch channels or just tune out.
Certainly not an adult approach of taking seriously the privilege and responsibility of a citizen engaged in representative government.
Of course, this observation does not apply to everyone who waffles between parties or not voting. One size does not fit all.
After the unprecedented Jan 6 assault on our nation's Capitol, I thought Trump’s political career was at an end. What decent or rational person would vote for him after that? Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, because I thought GW Bush was finished after no WMD was found in Iraq and the occupation turned into a bloody fiasco.
Of one thing I'm certain: perception trumps reality in politics. During the Vietnam war GW's connections got him a cushy post with the Texas air national guard (which he didn't even finish), while John Kerry volunteered for two tours in the most dangerous assignment in the Navy and was highly decorated -- yet his service record ultimately was a negative in the campaign. He got "swift-boated" by the rightwing noise machine, which is very effective at shaping public perception.
The Biden administration engineered a great economic recovery from COVID. Inflation was a global phenomenon, but was improving in the US in 2024. The Economist magazine (by no means a liberal publication) called the US economy under Biden "the envy of the world" -- but the rightwing noise machine and Trump in particular constantly characterized it as an unmitigated disaster.
History has shown that a big lie repeated often enough -- especially echoed by major media like Fox News -- is perceived by many voters (not just diehard MAGAts) as the truth.
And yet, it still amazes me that so many otherwise normal adults can be fooled into thinking the Republican Party actually looks after the economic interests of folks struggling to get by, despite their long record of opposing policies that actually help people while providing the wealthy with massive tax breaks and financial legislation which has led to the ever widening chasm between the rich and everyone else.
Well, FAFO is really going to bite those easily fooled voters in the a$$ this time. Will they be able to connect the dots to Trump, and remember in future elections that the Republican Party does NOT serve their interests?
I'd like to think so, but recent history does not give me confidence. All we can do is try to help them open their eyes, without turning them away by venting our anger at them.
"the Universe has a sense of justice tinged with irony"
Reminds me of:
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
I think we may agree the bending requires effort by those who truly value moral justice.
Others who pay no heed to the moral universe will subvert institutions of justice to do their bidding, as we are now witnessing.
Flipsides of human nature. Both have long existed. There is no end in sight to the bending of the moral arc. Evil regimes rise and fall, in a seemingly endless cycle.
Which will gain the upper hand .... which of The Two Wolves does mankind feed the most?
The answer may involve paying heed to the wisdom of Frederick Douglass:
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
For every good story like this, how many tragic ones?
If the Trump administration really wanted to expel dangerous undocumented criminals, it would partner with and provide additional resources to local governments.
Instead, I.C.E. agents are terrorizing communities including legal residents and citizens. They are committing brutal acts of violence, abducting law abiding people contributing to our economy.
Their strategy is not to quell violence, but to provoke it. They are itching to declare martial law before the midterm elections. Trump and his cohorts who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential results intend to sieze the ballots in 2026, under the guise of "election integrity."
The highest priority of every authoritarian regime is to maintain its grip on power. They will do ANYTHING to ensure one-party rule next year and beyond.
Trump will put on an ostentatious display of patriotism to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America's great experiment in democracy, while utterly destroying it.
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