We have just learned that Tom Kean, absent from Congress for nearly 100 days, was reportedly suffering from depression. And honestly, it is a depressing time to be a Republican, especially one from the Mid-Atlantic.
Imagine the daily burden: explaining the President’s apparent self-enrichment, defending an ill-conceived war with Iran, or justifying cuts to aid programs for some of the poorest people on earth. Eventually, even the most disciplined partisan must consider taking advantage of the Congressional mental health plan.
Agreed. The deficit/debt is falsely created because of the republicants failed, "trickle doesn't" and serves their purpose of taking the position made by the billionaires who want more than anything: "have it all for free."
Like the honesty. Truly. And much of the 'conservative' platform is good, common sense. But the reason the GOP is just a front for Neocons, and the DNC is just a front for Neoliberalism, also means some of the principles of Reaganism, or Goldwaterism or small 'c' conservatism, aren't the black & white issues they are often billed as.
Capitalism, in the form of excessive wealth and obsessive greed will not referee a fair competition - with consumers, the market competition or the government. There must be a power representing the Working Class that holds sway over money and materialism. We have attempted to exclude religion from that position of authority, and we have been left with those who, as we have seen most recently, approve of the sexual abuse of children as commonplace. We'll skip over the atrocities of murder by remote control, piracy, and genocide for the moment.
Everything wrong about how the Wealthy have rigged American economics and society, is going to be amplified by continued developments in science and technology. AGi is about to create the world's first 'Laborless' society. That alone spells an existential danger even if Ai itself proves a boon to business and a benign bit of technological advancement. Most of us know better of course, but no use adding fear mongering to the existing existential crises.
If you want to have some fun, try the same analysis on the Neoliberal/DNC side of the isle. It's the only way the electorate is going to understand voting in the Duopoly is doing the same thing, and expecting different results.
New-cons and "neo-liberal" economics share one common thread: "Republicants." Neoliberalism is misleading by the use of the word "liberal." It is hardly liberal except when it comes to padding the pockets of the wealthy. It is also known as "trickle doesn't." When Democrats have a strong majority, they will pass higher taxes on the wealthiest. Republicans never do.
Yes, there is no Liberal or Left left in national US politics. But if you think we've benefited from the Democratic Administrations over the past 45 years, I recommend you take a closer look at the ground lost and the fights not even attempted. Obama had two years of total Congressional support and did virtually nothing for anyone but JP Morgan Chase and Assoc.
If we get any better we'll be living in concentration camps and lining up for the cattle cars. I submit we need a serious overhaul of our politics, owned and operated by the Epstein Class Duopoly. We've been warned. What happened to Carter (or Kennedy) can happen to anyone who gets in their way.
Check out Leah Litman at ~25 to 30 minutes segment on newly discovered egregious DOJ misconduct in the Broadview 6 (Chicago) prosecution. The judge ordered GJ transcript to be delivered for her review, & received a heavily redacted version that attempted to hide the misconduct…
You’ve taken the 50 years of republican evolution into a Putin style criminal terrorist organization and summarized it swiftly - in plain English - so voters can sit at their breakfast table and contemplate the personal price society is paying by leaving republicans in power. Your words express a justified real sense of urgency.
I don’t know, Mitch, if the voters who regularly do not vote are going to bite. I really don’t. There is a deep seated apathy out there that has been floating around for the same 50 years. It could be that some republicans have, or will, become dissolutioned with autocracy and not vote Republican. I don’t know if voting Democrat would ever be considered.
The Chief of AI at Microsoft was recently quoted as saying 50% of white collar jobs would disappear within 18 months. Elon has stated aggressively that humans should not be in the job market and should not save for retirement. He envisions humans receiving a basic subsistence amount to keep a certain portion of humanity alive. He stated just a few days ago that billionaires are fed up paying for humanity. The Godfather of AI, professor Geoffrey Hinton, warned just after this past new year, that society had roughly 2 years before AI took over unless dramatic oversight was implemented immediately. He says AI will find a way to exterminate humanity unless we stop it. I listened to the CEO of Anthropic, the AI the Pentagon wants. The CEO warned that their AI has been tested against numerous of the most sophisticated AI in use and that Anthropic AI infiltrated and bypassed every security protocol and has the capability to destroy any AI in use today.
Given that greed and stupidity are so deeply embedded in human DNA, it may take an intervention from the Pope, and a higher power if there is one, to save humanity.
My Mom switched parties sometime around 2000. My Dad had already passed away (my Mom died a month before Biden was elected - sad, because she always liked him).
Too many people do not understand history, from US history to such history as why Iran has long hated the U.S. It didn't spontaneously start with the taking of U.S. hostages. But too many people don't get that the U.S. interfered in Iranian affairs long before that.
Same thing with our foreign policy actions in South and Centeal America, from which you can draw a line to so many people migrating to the U.S. from those regions.
Sorry to hear about your mom and dad. You’re right, attacking others has been steak and potatoes for the country for generations. Somehow it has to stop.
AI experts are warning global society has perhaps 18 months left before AI takes over and makes humanity irrelevant. Republicans are allowing this to happen and it must be stopped immediately because there is no turning back.
This is an extinction event.
I really don’t think the largest voting block cares. I really don’t.
Your essays are exceptional and extraordinary. I'm so glad to have discovered them. I wish I had them before all the current unpleasantness was revealed.
Thanks Scott, much appreciated. To be honest the only reason I created this Substack and started writing my political commentary is because of the current administration. Once we get this fixed and it starts with the midterms, I'll be back out spending my time on the water, paddling and running the coastal trails in Southern California.
Essentially thanks to your thoughtful writing, I've changed my views on politics in America because it no longer makes sense the way business is conducted. Thanks so much. I hope you can return to a peaceful place.
Unfortunately, there is a deeper, darker motivation going on in the current T-rump republican party, and I think the gutting of monies into the Social Security trust fund by sabotaging our and global economy, plus failing to actually fix the real problem (the cap on Social Security contributions on the highest earners), makes for a perfect storm. Demand better. Vote for the opposite in 2026.
You're likely not wrong. More than 20 years ago, I heard an interview with Bill Moyers. He believed the Republican party sought to run up the deficit so high that there would be "no choice" but to gut social spending (thinks like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid/CHIPs, SNAP (what was then called food stamps), etc.
Trump said, what had been for Republicans anyway, the quiet part out loud when he said the Federal government could only afford to pay for our nation's defense and the state's need to pay everything else.
To that I say, then return to the states the Federal tax dollars states send to the Federal government on behalf of resident and business tax payers (and monies sent in the past in the form of payroll taxes). All the "net giver" states would likely do quite well handling things on their own when they no longer have to subsidize net taker states.
So true Lori. What stuns me is watching lifelong Republicans hold this agenda in their hands and feel nothing, because either they cannot see that every promise their party made them is now in pieces, or they see it clearly and decided they are fine with it, and both of those answers need to be named out loud and stopped.
We have just learned that Tom Kean, absent from Congress for nearly 100 days, was reportedly suffering from depression. And honestly, it is a depressing time to be a Republican, especially one from the Mid-Atlantic.
Imagine the daily burden: explaining the President’s apparent self-enrichment, defending an ill-conceived war with Iran, or justifying cuts to aid programs for some of the poorest people on earth. Eventually, even the most disciplined partisan must consider taking advantage of the Congressional mental health plan.
Agree with most of this but Republicans picked winners in the Military Tech industry and that had an enormous impact on people's lives.
Agreed. The deficit/debt is falsely created because of the republicants failed, "trickle doesn't" and serves their purpose of taking the position made by the billionaires who want more than anything: "have it all for free."
Like the honesty. Truly. And much of the 'conservative' platform is good, common sense. But the reason the GOP is just a front for Neocons, and the DNC is just a front for Neoliberalism, also means some of the principles of Reaganism, or Goldwaterism or small 'c' conservatism, aren't the black & white issues they are often billed as.
Capitalism, in the form of excessive wealth and obsessive greed will not referee a fair competition - with consumers, the market competition or the government. There must be a power representing the Working Class that holds sway over money and materialism. We have attempted to exclude religion from that position of authority, and we have been left with those who, as we have seen most recently, approve of the sexual abuse of children as commonplace. We'll skip over the atrocities of murder by remote control, piracy, and genocide for the moment.
Everything wrong about how the Wealthy have rigged American economics and society, is going to be amplified by continued developments in science and technology. AGi is about to create the world's first 'Laborless' society. That alone spells an existential danger even if Ai itself proves a boon to business and a benign bit of technological advancement. Most of us know better of course, but no use adding fear mongering to the existing existential crises.
If you want to have some fun, try the same analysis on the Neoliberal/DNC side of the isle. It's the only way the electorate is going to understand voting in the Duopoly is doing the same thing, and expecting different results.
New-cons and "neo-liberal" economics share one common thread: "Republicants." Neoliberalism is misleading by the use of the word "liberal." It is hardly liberal except when it comes to padding the pockets of the wealthy. It is also known as "trickle doesn't." When Democrats have a strong majority, they will pass higher taxes on the wealthiest. Republicans never do.
Yes, there is no Liberal or Left left in national US politics. But if you think we've benefited from the Democratic Administrations over the past 45 years, I recommend you take a closer look at the ground lost and the fights not even attempted. Obama had two years of total Congressional support and did virtually nothing for anyone but JP Morgan Chase and Assoc.
However, as to pushing back harder and not allowing the far-right to control the narrative, "the DNC" didn't do as much as it should have.
I know America is better under Democratic administrations, and the evidence proves it.
If we get any better we'll be living in concentration camps and lining up for the cattle cars. I submit we need a serious overhaul of our politics, owned and operated by the Epstein Class Duopoly. We've been warned. What happened to Carter (or Kennedy) can happen to anyone who gets in their way.
Check out Leah Litman at ~25 to 30 minutes segment on newly discovered egregious DOJ misconduct in the Broadview 6 (Chicago) prosecution. The judge ordered GJ transcript to be delivered for her review, & received a heavily redacted version that attempted to hide the misconduct…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tgoo7SR9k
You’ve taken the 50 years of republican evolution into a Putin style criminal terrorist organization and summarized it swiftly - in plain English - so voters can sit at their breakfast table and contemplate the personal price society is paying by leaving republicans in power. Your words express a justified real sense of urgency.
I don’t know, Mitch, if the voters who regularly do not vote are going to bite. I really don’t. There is a deep seated apathy out there that has been floating around for the same 50 years. It could be that some republicans have, or will, become dissolutioned with autocracy and not vote Republican. I don’t know if voting Democrat would ever be considered.
Gotta keep on working at it though, right?
The Chief of AI at Microsoft was recently quoted as saying 50% of white collar jobs would disappear within 18 months. Elon has stated aggressively that humans should not be in the job market and should not save for retirement. He envisions humans receiving a basic subsistence amount to keep a certain portion of humanity alive. He stated just a few days ago that billionaires are fed up paying for humanity. The Godfather of AI, professor Geoffrey Hinton, warned just after this past new year, that society had roughly 2 years before AI took over unless dramatic oversight was implemented immediately. He says AI will find a way to exterminate humanity unless we stop it. I listened to the CEO of Anthropic, the AI the Pentagon wants. The CEO warned that their AI has been tested against numerous of the most sophisticated AI in use and that Anthropic AI infiltrated and bypassed every security protocol and has the capability to destroy any AI in use today.
Given that greed and stupidity are so deeply embedded in human DNA, it may take an intervention from the Pope, and a higher power if there is one, to save humanity.
My Mom switched parties sometime around 2000. My Dad had already passed away (my Mom died a month before Biden was elected - sad, because she always liked him).
Too many people do not understand history, from US history to such history as why Iran has long hated the U.S. It didn't spontaneously start with the taking of U.S. hostages. But too many people don't get that the U.S. interfered in Iranian affairs long before that.
Same thing with our foreign policy actions in South and Centeal America, from which you can draw a line to so many people migrating to the U.S. from those regions.
Sorry to hear about your mom and dad. You’re right, attacking others has been steak and potatoes for the country for generations. Somehow it has to stop.
AI experts are warning global society has perhaps 18 months left before AI takes over and makes humanity irrelevant. Republicans are allowing this to happen and it must be stopped immediately because there is no turning back.
This is an extinction event.
I really don’t think the largest voting block cares. I really don’t.
Your essays are exceptional and extraordinary. I'm so glad to have discovered them. I wish I had them before all the current unpleasantness was revealed.
Thanks Scott, much appreciated. To be honest the only reason I created this Substack and started writing my political commentary is because of the current administration. Once we get this fixed and it starts with the midterms, I'll be back out spending my time on the water, paddling and running the coastal trails in Southern California.
Essentially thanks to your thoughtful writing, I've changed my views on politics in America because it no longer makes sense the way business is conducted. Thanks so much. I hope you can return to a peaceful place.
Unfortunately, there is a deeper, darker motivation going on in the current T-rump republican party, and I think the gutting of monies into the Social Security trust fund by sabotaging our and global economy, plus failing to actually fix the real problem (the cap on Social Security contributions on the highest earners), makes for a perfect storm. Demand better. Vote for the opposite in 2026.
You're likely not wrong. More than 20 years ago, I heard an interview with Bill Moyers. He believed the Republican party sought to run up the deficit so high that there would be "no choice" but to gut social spending (thinks like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid/CHIPs, SNAP (what was then called food stamps), etc.
Trump said, what had been for Republicans anyway, the quiet part out loud when he said the Federal government could only afford to pay for our nation's defense and the state's need to pay everything else.
To that I say, then return to the states the Federal tax dollars states send to the Federal government on behalf of resident and business tax payers (and monies sent in the past in the form of payroll taxes). All the "net giver" states would likely do quite well handling things on their own when they no longer have to subsidize net taker states.
So true Lori. What stuns me is watching lifelong Republicans hold this agenda in their hands and feel nothing, because either they cannot see that every promise their party made them is now in pieces, or they see it clearly and decided they are fine with it, and both of those answers need to be named out loud and stopped.
Loss of farm workers will have an immediate effect on food availability and prices.
Huge impact!
I'm sure it already has, but of course no one in the Administration is talking about it.
But they are talking about their ballroom.
And a deal with Iran that isn't a deal at all.