2024 Archives

Yes, prior to the Reagan Revolution American companies actually invested in their workers, their communities, and their business. They attended to the needs of their customers, by in large... A Boeing 737-Max9 lost a side door during flight, and commentators in the industry point out the plane manufacturer used to be run by engineers, but now, at the insistence of Wall Street, is run by bean-counters looking out for profits. One of my kids bought a new American-made car last year. While driving on the highway it died, complete with smoke coming out from under the hood; she barely made it to the shoulder where a tow truck could pick her up. The dealer held the car for months before she hired a lawyer who — after more months — finally forced them to take back the car and give her a partial refund under Oregon's lemon law: at every turn, she was stonewalled by both the manufacturer and their dealer here. Apparently this has happened to a lot of Americans.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Rogue State Texas? Will Biden take over the National Guard in Texas? And what happens if he does? — New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that during the past 18 months, since 14 states have totally outlawed abortion, there were an estimated 65,565 pregnancies in those states as a result of 519,981 rapes. — Speaking of rape, Donald Trump now has to pay E. Jean Carroll an additional $83+ million for having raped and then defamed her. — Hunter in a Farmer’s World Alert! Hunters Meet the Self-Help Movement: On Being a Professional Victim of ADHD. — Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey ordered a man tortured to death with nitrogen gas. — New rules for journalists? — Crazy Alert! A male Wisconsin legislator who’s a “cow doctor” says he knows “more about abortion” than women because he’s done ultrasounds on pregnant cows: he’s now pushing a bill to outlaw the procedure after 14 weeks. — EU threatens to silence Hungary if Orbán continues to block Ukrainian aid. — Biden is killing what may well be the largest fossil fuel project in the world.

Can you build bridges to Trump cultists that may, over time and with work and love, help you pry them loose from the authoritarian leader or movement to which they've bonded? We are living in James Madison's nightmare. A Reuters/Ipsos poll right after Trump was handed the White House by the electoral college (after losing to Hillary by 3 million votes) found that fully 16 percent of Americans had stopped talking with a family member or friend because of the poison Trump has brought into politics. When Madison wrote his first contribution to the Federalist Papers, Federalist #10, he described the greatest threat to our new republic as the growth of a powerful "faction" that might eventually seize control of government itself. They would tear the nation apart, he worried, by fostering phony differences between people and then pitting them against each other.

A dystopian tale that conforms to Trump's many campaign promises... [Every incident mentioned in this article is based on an actual statement or action by Donald Trump, the people closely surrounding him, or something Trump has praised about his role model Victor Orbàn.] It was a hell of a year, 2025: the first year of the First Reich (as those formerly called Democrats referred to it) or The New America as the GOP now refers to our nation. One people, one nation, one leader: America, President-for-life Trump tells us, is now "truly great."