So, American safety is not and never has been Trump’s concern. He and his son and son in law have been making deals with the wealthy and powerful in the middle east, and now they are cashing in on all the ways they have invested in the Trump family, and that is the whole reason we have supposedly gone to war with Iran. A lot of strings are being pulled on puppet Trump.
This administration is corrupt up their kazoos and we only get twisted goofy stories as justification, and the Republican sycophants and their followers, swallow it whole.
It’s the greatest American tragedy of our history.
A study using data from Sweden’s 23.5 million hectare forests from 1961 to 2018 shows declining nitrogen availability due to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration.
This process results in a decline in nitrogen deposition, slowing growth. This may decrease the “carbon sink” function of forests. Read the study below.
There are many effective chroniclers of the details of the United States’ democracy-dismantlement by the despots in office, but there is one historian whose razor sharp insights are based on the deep study of our nation’s history. Heather Cox Richardson’s Politics Chat is chilling this morning. She follows the roots of Trump’s team who not only are in lock step with him, but possess their own hatred of our democracy. And more, she traces the obscure outlines of a global system among the super wealthy and corrupt who seek to control countries and populations for their own dark dreams.
Get yourself a mug of clarifying black coffee, and clear your mind of other normal human concerns on this Valentine’s Day, this Saturday — when we Americans and families all over the world seek to love each other and find joy in the beauty of the places where we live — listen to Heather’s Politics Chat:
While sobering, I believe Heather’s research and insights based on our history, give citizens much on which to take action and to assist citizens in providing more scrutiny of individuals and government agencies chipping away at our civil liberties and thus our freedom from oppression.
The first steps taken by the incumbent regime sought to selectively erase American history:
Fired the national Archivist putting the national archives under the watch of the Secretary of State who also holds several other major offices for which he has no training; the minions of fascism bore away in the Archives like termites in channels and holes under no sunlight of public observance;
Deleted web pages of government agencies, replacing articles and documents to reflect a racist, white history and removing all they call “woke” (i.e. racial justice; the mistakes America has made at home and abroad as we have learned how to live up to the high ideals of a true democracy where truth is key; the most egregious are the removal of civil rights struggles over our history, and the multicultural nature of our population from our inception: a. erasure. deletion of language of human rights and therefore human dignity; b. lying about the truth [misinformation] thus disabling citizens of a shared history, shared reality; c. denigration and shaming as a way of instilling fear and removal or disempowerment);
Harassment and legal actions against America’s most prestigious universities in order to make Boards of Governance to bend to their will;
Attacking science institutions and ignoring the illegality of impoundment of funds authorized by Congress.
Harming the public and worldwide population by denial of climate change; removal climate change research and monitoring facilities and staffing; withdrawing from global climate and health agreements and initiatives.
Disempowering political opponents and the public through legal, social media, and law enforcement activities meant to shame and induce fear;
Abandonment of the government’s responsibility to the public to follow the laws and regulations of a democratic Republic through our federal, state and local laws.
Acting against longstanding policies that have created peace among nations with longstanding allies across the world.
I never thought this could happen in the United States of America, but it truly is and we in the fight of our lives to defeat the evil doers in the trump regime that seek to install a Christian nationalist autocracy with unelected fascist ideologues like Steven Miller supported by the Heritage Foundation.
I fault the Republican party which no longer can claim any legitimacy in our Republic, our democracy. They abrogated their claim to moral fortitude by selling out the American people for an ideology inconsistent with democratic values. Indeed, looking over its long pursuit to enslave Americans whom they have long deemed unequal to white Christian males, we have tolerated it long enough. We must turnover this vile, dark element and once and for all declare and reiterate the moral force of our founders’ vision with a new one for modern times including a public awareness of its duty to guard against despots and their sycophants and the utter corruption of wealth in our politics.
Photo by Susan Feathers. A ghost crab on Santa Rosa Island, Gulf Islands National Seashore: sands of quartz crystal washed to sea form barrier islands.
The Raging Grannies have been advocating for democracy, justice, and social and economic equality since the 1980’s. Now Herstory includes an international group of wise women elders who use song and humor to deliver stinging commentary to educate and motivate for change. Tell me this is not powerful!
The Raging Grannies began in 1987 in Victoria, British Columbia, and quickly spread across the country. White, middle-class, educated, between the age of 52 and 67, they were anthropologist, teachers, businesswoman, counsellor, artists, homemakers, and librarian. Initially they were reacting to the threat to health and environment posed by the visit of US Navy warships and submarines in the waters surrounding Victoria, vessels that could be powered by nuclear reactors and/or equipped with nuclear arms. They were also reacting to sexism and ageism within the peace group they were involved with: relegated to making coffee, they found little receptivity for their ideas. Finally, when asked about the beginning of the Raging Grannies most went back to their lifelong engagement in a variety of causes. For a few, activism was new. One woman, whose husband was an ex-military officer, was surprised to see possibly nuclear US Navy vessels literally in her backyard (Brightwell, 1998). Phoning around she was outraged to find that there were no emergency plans for the civilian population, only for the military base. ~ Carole Roy, Ph.D. Candidate in Adult Education at OISE/UT
I’m especially prone toward spunky women who make a difference because of my own paternal grandmother, Hattie Mae (Smalling) Feathers. She lived in East Tennessee in the small community of Watauga. During her life which spanned the late nineteenth to the latter 20th centuries, she was a member of the first all-women’s baseball team of Watauga, a Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR), a Suffragette and a graduate of East Tennessee State Normal School (now ETSU) in the 1940s: she walked across the graduation stage to not only accept her diploma but that of her son (my Dad) whose diploma was awarded while he was flying B-29s in WWII! Talk about courage and drive….
Hattie Mae in Her Youth. Think about it. This was probably around 1900 when women had no vote and were generally unheard and unseen. Not Hattie Mae!
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Dear Senators and Representatives of the Republican Party,
This moment requires members of the Republican House and Senate to act decisively to protect the civil rights of citizens and adhere to Constitutional laws. Under your watch, the nation has never been more at risk of becoming another form of government: autocracy.
We the People have patiently waited for you to stand up for democracy. There is no more recent and brazen example as the persecution of Minnesota leaders and citizens. Pam Bondi’s request for voter roles is a clear violation of state’s sovereignty under law. Other cities have endured violations of civil rights by ICE but in Minnesota the worst of the far right ideologues of your once great old party are persecuting people it labels with a host of unamerican labels from elected officials right up to the White House.
We are not dealing with a “strong executive” but with people in key positions of power who have publicly stated their hatred of immigrants and their hatred of Democrats. Whatever happened to a nation in which both Republican and Democratic administrations were adhered to by citizens of all political views because all our leaders followed the rule of law and Constitutional laws.
My view is that we learned who DJT was in his first administration in which he pushed against the laws of our nation but was held in place by our guardrails against a despot: Supreme Court and Legislature. Now we have a stacked court of right leaning judges who have given immunity to a leader who is exactly the kind of person our founders wrote about who if he got into power would destroy the Republic. That is what we are witnessing, and, I have to say, is doing so with a lot of facilitation by you and your colleagues.
I am 80 years old, and I have never seen anything like we have in Donald Trump: an erratic, unstable human being; a person ignorant of our country and the world al large; a man whose mental health is deteriorating in plain view. We have never been more at risk in national security.
The killing of two Minnesota citizens by ICE who were protesting (their civil right) and the cowardly way in which Homeland Security reacted by calling them both insurrectionists is how dictatorships operate. Each family has a right to a full investigation. Life is not cheap in America under normal conditions.
I am begging you and your colleagues to stand up for the Republic! Protect our 250 years of striving together to make the best country we can. My God, the world is turning away from us. But do you know what I hold each of you most responsible for? Breaking the trust of the American people in such ways that you have weakened and endangered us. STAND UP!! Think about your legacy.
Sincerely,
Susan Lee Feathers
Devoted Patriot of American Democracy
Teacher, Writer, Active Citizen
Freedom, Nation’s Capitol. Photo by Susan L Feathers, 2013
Witness: from America’s ashes a global reorganization without US…
Mark Carney is the wise leadership America lacks. Americans at home are under attack from a vicious police force created by a rogue regime purportedly of the Republican Party. THIS cabal of small minded, unelected ideologues, has nothing to do with our Republic’s governance or American history. The man in the seat behind the Resolution Desk is a despot, a tyrant, and an ignorant and psychologically damaged man.
Kudos to Mark Carney and all the men and women who lead democratic governments across the world and who live in reality.
Americans enter a new world where we are a danger to the world and a minor player in world affairs. We can thank the MAGA party and the cowardly republican reps supporting and in lock step with a fascist movement tearing up our democracy in plain sight.
Americans, we must recover what we can, and then elect sober, intelligent leadership which can recover our values and come to terms with how this tragedy has happened to us. I suggest we study how Germany recovered after they, too, tried to destroy other nations and create a white male hegemony.
As an American, as daughter of a decorated WWII veteran, my heart is on the ground. In spite of that, I am actively working with my fellow Americans to recover the guardrails of our democracy, and then work to repair the damage to our collective belief in our country’s ethos.
Susan Feathers 