tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post8161492783884259599..comments2024-03-28T14:52:13.218-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: When Good Men Do NothingJim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger154125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-45271548997985766042022-07-12T18:21:16.184-05:002022-07-12T18:21:16.184-05:00Hello Jim, I enjoy reading your essays and followi...Hello Jim, I enjoy reading your essays and following you on Twitter. I agree with most of what you say. I just had had a realisation of sorts. The whole purpose of the Declaration of Independence at least one pillar was no taxation without representation. I totally agree with you that the tax exempt status of the church is bs. All this hubbub about founding fathers and originalism… no taxation without representation.. well the opposite is true. No representation without taxation. Why is the church that contributes nothing at all in control of the court and one of the two parties? It’s beyond time to renege the tax exempt status of the church. But while they enjoy their free ride they have the audacity to dictate from the pulpit ??!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-6173057983847457692022-07-08T19:47:46.054-05:002022-07-08T19:47:46.054-05:00I am pleased to report that here in Michigan, the ...I am pleased to report that here in Michigan, the Absentee Ballot requests are at an all-time high for the August Primaries, up several hundred thousand over even 2020's record number. Will it help? Only time will tell. But I suspect the single biggest driver of votes here will be the "Supreme" Court (what an ironic name, these days).Dave Vickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15486422338603729301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-75663805572193587392022-07-06T10:34:40.816-05:002022-07-06T10:34:40.816-05:00I'll show up, Chief, just as I always do. I do...I'll show up, Chief, just as I always do. I don't need to be inspired, or to have faith -I show up because it's my duty to the Republic. I just hope enough others show up to make a difference. Sometimes you fight the good fight because that is simply what you do, even when you have little or no hope of winning.Rebecca Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-67303850554894227042022-07-05T22:00:34.626-05:002022-07-05T22:00:34.626-05:00Joanna, you've done good and you're doing ...Joanna, you've done good and you're doing good. You've raised your daughter well -- more power to her! And you did the right thing for your son with the social anxiety. Both our children have both mental and physical health issues (since childhood); our adult daughter has what I call "pathological" general anxiety (along with diagnosed OCD and probably depression, undiagnosed). So my wife and I know how full your hands must be. Plus, as you point out, there's the too possible danger at such events.<br /><br />Regarding the cursing: I (in my mid-60s) was raised not to curse, so I don't. I too use asterisks in writing; I save the out-loud cursing for special occasions, like the time I accidentally closed a locked car door on my thumb and had to fumble around in my back pocket with my other hand to find the car keys so I could open the door! I don't believe change requires us to curse like Dick Cheney or Lindsey Graham, fortunately, because I don't want to model myself after any of them or their ilk. (Listening to Jim, on the other, would be quite a treat I imagine, and I would gladly get in line to buy any recording he offered to the public!)<br /><br />Take care.Alexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-48036981098781840952022-07-04T21:18:08.340-05:002022-07-04T21:18:08.340-05:00We need 62 Democrats “ died in the wool Democrats!...We need 62 Democrats “ died in the wool Democrats! Not Manchin that makes millions off of coal and keeps his con soon poverty by voting against everything that would help them! And Senima the creation that hasn’t any loyalty but to republicans that gave her my ney! Get these two gone with the wind and a new sheriff will be in town! Let’s do the ground work to also get our Dems elected, and then send these criminals to Guantanamo: trump!& family, Hawley, Gaetz, Cruz, deSantos, Abbott, Lee, Thomas both Clarence and Ginny, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Gorsuch, and goodness sake get rid of spine less SCotus Chief Justice Roberts what a toad! I bet Chief Justice Warren is turning over in his grave!<br />One thing that pisses me off about Roe v Wade: a majority of white republicans males voted for abortion rights in ‘73 and now the self serving evangelical devils are tearing our country apart! One state at a time by religious zealots whatever happen to The Constitution separation of Church & State!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-88217005375266988822022-07-04T20:39:01.137-05:002022-07-04T20:39:01.137-05:00Tina- Former President’s are now longer given Secr...Tina- Former President’s are now longer given Secret Service for a lifetime! They are given a stipend for Secret Service detail, office supplies, staff for 10 years. Those past presidents before Bush gets this for life, each subsequent allotted 10 years only ( which for Dump & family is a major expenditure which should never have happened)!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-57656006408207246532022-07-04T13:57:16.293-05:002022-07-04T13:57:16.293-05:00I don't know why you don't have faith in t...I don't know why you don't have faith in the DOJ but continue to show faith in voting. The DOJ, in fact all of government, is completely the result of voting. I'm going to both-sides this because they are partners in ensuring no meaningful third or fourth parties exist to spoil their control. Good cop bad cop is the act, and voting is one of the circuses, along with religion, social media and sports, paired with GMOs* as the bread. Keeping the voters fat and happy let the oligarchs win by letting the voters think they won, back and forth to keep the tension palpable and both sides engaged. This has been going on my entire life. Johnson knew of Nixon's conspiracy with the North Vietnamese and kept it quiet. And, as we all know, it is the coverup that tells you where the culpability lies. The Democrats are as fully responsible as the Republicans in giving us the system as it stands today. Their owners demand it.<br /><br />The only real change requires a French style revolution, not the revolution-lite of our Civil War I (the one where the pro-slavery side won). but one where the oligarchs, top government officials and religious leaders lose their lives. Unfortunately, our well-regulated militia (aka cops) will protect them, not realizing that it goes against their self-interest and that they are just another circus act.<br /><br />So it goes.<br /><br />*I am not anti-GMO foods; they are what will keep utter famine at bay during the Special Military Operation and COVID disruptions to food supplies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-31935189910432429262022-07-04T08:36:25.877-05:002022-07-04T08:36:25.877-05:00As a foreign national, I hope your fellow country...As a foreign national, I hope your fellow countrypeople do the right thing and turn out in droves to keep your republic.<br /><br />We're too close to you for your fall not to screw us over.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-87658537466000889832022-07-03T19:06:25.076-05:002022-07-03T19:06:25.076-05:00Damn straight, head on, bulls eye. I have ALWAYS v...Damn straight, head on, bulls eye. I have ALWAYS voted, even for the sleepy midterms and special elections. Yes, easy here in Oregon. We BADLY NEED a Dem presence! Put Buttigieg on a speakers circuit.Marshahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18245742791521902422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-70388369307431716342022-07-03T10:05:21.920-05:002022-07-03T10:05:21.920-05:00I have a different take.
I exercised my legal rig...I have a different take.<br /><br />I exercised my legal right to a safe and effective medical procedure in 1979 before my last year of college at UVA. <br /><br />Went on to law school and a marriage of 36 years so far and three fantastic gown children. <br /><br />I would have been so fucked, and so would the putative dad but not quite so fucked as I. <br /><br />I’ll vote. Of course I will. <br /><br />But I’ll do so knowing it is pointless because am now less of a citizen than I was 10 days ago. Rich old white men rule this earth and the fact that I find that offensive and grotesque doesn’t change reality. <br /><br />There is some female energy out there surrounding the midterms. But there is also a malaise in women that we lost Roe and that was our way out of the inevitability of the female destiny. <br /><br />What can anybody do to get women back on an admittedly uneven playing field?<br /><br />The answer is NOT ONE GODDAMN THING. <br /><br />Elect all the democrats on the slate in every state, codify Roe and guess what? SCOTUS will declare it unconstitutional because if you missed that detail, SCOTUS just gave that power to the states. <br /><br />I’ll vote. Of course I will. I’ll do so though with a heavy heart understanding that in my country I and my daughter and my granddaughter are less worthy of autonomy than my husband, my sons CD and my grandson. <br /><br />It is not possible to overstate the impact this will have on young girls and women, not only in their reproductive rights, but also how they view themselves in relation. To their families, their communities and authority.Katie Wraynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-89431272288636471752022-07-03T00:07:05.347-05:002022-07-03T00:07:05.347-05:00Worried about what trumpf’s base will do if he’s i...Worried about what trumpf’s base will do if he’s indicted? Better to face that now while we have a Democrat as Commander in Chief. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-33227682066310170162022-07-02T22:44:09.486-05:002022-07-02T22:44:09.486-05:00Agreed.Agreed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-25792851954739665542022-07-02T19:36:30.302-05:002022-07-02T19:36:30.302-05:00If Garland or his DOJ had been interested in indic...If Garland or his DOJ had been interested in indicting Trump or any other political J6 leaders, then he and Wray should have been holding monthly press conferences since February 2021 to keep the investigation active and give reporters details on what they were doing and why, laying out a narrative for prosecution.<br />Instead the FBI sent out a few dozen "do you know this guy" tweets and charged a few rioters; they have done nothing else for the last year.<br />I believe this DOJ somnolence was what finally provoked the J6 Committee to act and to hold hearings. And even then, all DOJ did was ask, belatedly, for a few of their transcripts. The DOJ should be embarrassed. <br />Regarding Trump, he has kept himself out of legal trouble for the last 70 years by making sure his criminal actions were always ordered by others. In any case, it is difficult to bring criminal charges against a politician for anything other than personal corruption. <br />So all in all, Stonekettle, I'm not holding my breath about Garland taking Trump on.<br />Cathie from Canadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11418899090537597360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-12260356920619496842022-07-02T13:32:16.868-05:002022-07-02T13:32:16.868-05:00As Masha Gessen said in her Rules for Surviving Au...As Masha Gessen said in her Rules for Surviving Autocracy "Institutions will not save you." Sigh - as someone who voted in every election (midterms included) since I was 18, it just hurts to see people throwing out their one right as useless. Especially when I know how many women were harmed in getting that vote. Or when so-called friends claim to use their critical thinking skills to vote against their interest. Rewildsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-28974080374498109052022-07-02T08:58:23.273-05:002022-07-02T08:58:23.273-05:00Excellent post, I hope this time things are differ...Excellent post, I hope this time things are different, but I am with you on this, I do not think they will be. The next decade is going to be a miserable one if things do not change.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-85869420907516552462022-07-01T13:03:46.385-05:002022-07-01T13:03:46.385-05:00Same, and how disheartening. Same, and how disheartening. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-89095569904298416562022-07-01T10:21:19.024-05:002022-07-01T10:21:19.024-05:00You raised a strong woman! You raised a strong woman! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-90698841334641537032022-07-01T09:54:57.428-05:002022-07-01T09:54:57.428-05:00The young who say they don't vote because thei...The young who say they don't vote because their vote doesn't count don't realize that the reason their vote doesn't count is that they and their cohort don't cast it. If they voted and worked to bring their cohort to the polls ....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-31166822472106417172022-07-01T04:09:06.738-05:002022-07-01T04:09:06.738-05:00We can't allow any of these horrible people to...We can't allow any of these horrible people to become martyrs. Best scenario is dies embarrassingly in prison akin to Elvis.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-87085503618218604062022-06-30T23:09:40.960-05:002022-06-30T23:09:40.960-05:00Good post Jim. I hope that we can overcome these d...Good post Jim. I hope that we can overcome these dark times, but my faith in my fellow countrymen is waning. The republican party should be melting down right about now, unfortunately the few remaining R's with some modicum of ethics and courage are few and far between. ( Grudgingly tips hat to a Cheney) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-78277696087354174522022-06-30T21:17:16.976-05:002022-06-30T21:17:16.976-05:00The ones that get to me are the far left - the act...The ones that get to me are the far left - the actual socialists and communists - who won't vote for Democrats and who seem to WANT America to fall to the right wing fascists because they think that, somehow, some way they can't explain, when all is in ruins, they think they'll be the ones who come out on top and get to remake America in their image. They don't realize they'll be up against the wall before they can say "hot to Trotsky."<br /><br />I remember voting for both parties in the past. I’ve been voting straight Democrat for at least a decade but, now, watching the normally sane Republicans in my old home state of Massachusetts go batshit crazy, one of them yelling that teachers are "telling our 5-year-old that he can go and suck another 5-year-old’s dick" and then their candidate for governor defending the candidate who said it ... there is no hope for the restoration of sane, pro-American-instead-of-pro-Trump, able-to-work-well-with-others, Republicans. This has literally become a fight for survival and if elections fail, another, rougher means of securing our survival will have to be implemented.<br /><br />I *really* hope it doesn't come to that.<br /><br />I am not optimistic.J.M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00272271261871015918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-56053410291784711572022-06-30T19:59:10.083-05:002022-06-30T19:59:10.083-05:00Thanks Jim. You are right of course and Mitch and ...Thanks Jim. You are right of course and Mitch and the trumpites aren’t going to stop as long as they keep getaway with this crap! We do need something to have faith in. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-79231635122022062252022-06-30T17:39:06.464-05:002022-06-30T17:39:06.464-05:00have faith that the Dems will continue to use Trum...have faith that the Dems will continue to use Trump as a fund raising tool until they lose it all .....<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-8824049864473612232022-06-30T17:28:06.894-05:002022-06-30T17:28:06.894-05:00I no longer expect the proper and honest thing to ...I no longer expect the proper and honest thing to be done. It's all a game. One side whines, the other side stymies. Doesn't matter what side on what, just going to be polar opposites and that's the starting point. Appears to be a scripted show, no one is paying any price for their positions, either legally or politically. (Ok, Hawley went down but he brought it on himself.)<br /><br />Anyway, at my age I've given up waiting for the good man to do the right thing. If it happens I'll be elated, but I don't expect it will. I'm going to plan for the worst with no hope for the best. Part of planning for the worst is being that better citizen. But I wouldn't bet on us succeeding. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-34398405871159336222022-06-30T16:48:26.393-05:002022-06-30T16:48:26.393-05:00How to come back from the abyss when you're al...How to come back from the abyss when you're already over the edge, and so many are holding on to your legs dragging you down into it?<br />The few that wanted this have been persistent on all the fronts to get us here, and that inertia can't be reversed in a single effort. It can be slowed, but as you've noted, too many have lost the will to continue the battle. The opposing force is small, but they are organized and have many resources. And they persist, regardless any setbacks.<br />So many Americans were babies about masks, not willing to endure a little suffering to make things better. No one wants things in their backyard, no matter the good that may come to the society as a whole. The current population is nothing like the one that saw both the Great Depression and WWII, where sacrifice to prevail was important for a decade or more.<br />Society has weakened, and I blame the conservatives. Conservation is supposed to preserve that which is important to society, but they focused on the wrong things, and this is the result. Through their own doing they are destroying that which they claim they want to preserve. <br />Maybe it's the wrong perspective, expecting them to preserve society. Maybe they are really carpet-baggers, preserving that which is important to themselves, and leaving ruin in their wake as they move on to other sources of what they desire.<br />The important are the "leaders" and those who benefit from them being in office. The rest of us are chattel. Throughout history, regardless the ruling system, the general populace was chattel to be used by the one(s) in charge. Nothing has changed except the system employed to do so (this one having some illusion that one of the chattel has control over their destiny).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com