Post Script Part Two

From a dear friend, another affirmation of the nobility of spirit upon which the United States is founded:

America’s  ... always been great… and who knows it better than a young naturalized Muslim woman … who could teach Trump and his minions a lesson or two ...

Post Script

We've seen the eloquent statement from one of my former students.  Here's something similarly cogent, albeit not as lyrical, from a progressive colleague.

It's time to man the barricades. With the radical GOP fully in charge of all branches of government federally and in most states, and a crazy megalomaniac in the White House who owes them nothing but will give them whatever they want because he has no principles, the only useful opposition left to us is  ...  civil disobedience, general strikes, mass protests and marches. Flood the zone with opposition on all fronts.  ...  use every trick in the book to avoid paying any federal taxes ...  Why not? Trump did it and called anyone paying taxes a sucker.

Signing Off

I'm shutting down Thoughts4Change.  Tuesday's election results have left me in a state of shock.  I'll be back with another blog on a topic at least slightly different than politics.  But WTF, people?!?  Did you seriously buy into what The Donald was selling?  Do you really think that racism, misogyny, and economic elitism will help America move forward?

In response to that, I want to leave you with a statement regarding love of country and democracy that none of the Trumpies could hope ever to match.

One of the happiest days of my life was when I became an American.  Tolerance,religious freedom, equality to all people. I am not giving up. Our values as Americans are bigger than one election.  Help us God 

That's from one of my former students, a young Muslim woman originally from Dhaka in Bangladesh.  IMHO, she's a far better American than most on the right.

To the Bitter End

Cokie Roberts suggests only birth control can turn Latino votes to the Republicans.  The Trumpies kick a child with cerebral palsy out of one of their rallies.

Classy to the bitter end ... not ...

Lots of Scrolling

... is required to navigate this list of all the people, places, and things The Donald has insulted via Twitter.

Incroyable!

The FBI Is Trumpland

At least, that's how a current FBI agent described it, and the anti-Clinton leaks produced.

Not encouraging at all ...

Hey, Chicago ...

Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs became only the fourth team in major league baseball  to take a World Series to 7 games, after being down 3 games to 1.

Who was the last team to accomplish that, and when?

The Good Guys Win a Round

Right about now, representatives of the Trump campaign, and of the Nevada Republican Party, are appearing before a Federal judge in a suit alleging voter intimidation.

Le Lacune Bref, Partie Deux

AKA Brief Hiatus, Part Two; pidgen French is one of the little games I play to amuse myself.

Couldn't make it till after Election Day, but didn't want to pile on to The Donald.  There's a wealth of evidence (regarding his complete lack of suitability to be President) available to anyone with more than one or two grey cells.  Ergo this post.  It's not specific to Mr. Trump, but I believe it highlights one part of the attitude that underlies his thinking (if one can call it that), and that of those who support him.

In 2015, former President Jimmy Carter said he felt the United States had become an oligarchy.  That sentiment can’t be brushed off as liberal emotionalism.  Well-respected institutions, as well as progressive organizations, have also put forth the same idea.

An effort at Princeton is particularly germane to this discussion.  In April 2014, two researchers, Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, published a study that presented the United States had become an oligarchy.  Merriam-Webster.com defines oligarchy as

a country, business, etc., that is controlled by a small group of people, and / or: the people that control a country, business, etc.

Gilens and Page investigated over 1,800 policy initiatives taken from 1981 to 2002 by the Federal government.  Here’s how they summed up their work.

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.

Gilens and Page make clear that this less-than-encouraging characteristic is nothing new.  Rather, it’s the cumulative effect of a trend stretching back to the 1980s. They summarize the trend this way.

Ordinary citizens might be observed to win [only] if [the] elites with whom they often agree ... prevail.

In this space, I often urge you all to vote, in every election at every level of government.  The oligarchy vs. democracy conundrum is yet another reason to do so.  And two further thoughts come to mind in this context.

As always, the critical nature of voting is emphasized.  Not to mention which, there's been a lot in the news lately abut the possible affiliations between some of Donald Trump's inner circle, and the oligarchs now in power in both Ukraine and Russia ...

I'm just sayin' ...

A Brief Hiatus

T4C will be back a day or two after the election on November 8th.

Whatever you do, vote!  As Representative John Lewis (D - Georgia) said:

The vote is the single most powerful tool we have for non-violent social change.