Susan Lee Schwartz writes:
“I cannot relax as I listen to the cold, callous conversations among our people and hear that monster who passes as a leader.
“You go††a see these sycophants applauding the cruel tax bill. “There was a festival of flattery on the White House lawn today to celebrate the passage of the Republican tax cut bill,” Lemon said. After playing a clip, he couldn’t hold back the chuckles any longer. “Oh my god, is that SNL?” Lemon asks.
“But it wasn’t fantasy. This man leads, even as the television puts forth a torrent of violent images and aggression, and video games offer kids target practice.
“Selling callous, cruelty is the business model. Even the commercials are nasty.
What a surprise that crime is up and so is drug addiction. Coping with life in America, today, makes relaxing hard to do, especially when one ha to chose between putting food on the table, and paying the rent, let alone buy-in medical care, or education for a kid.”
This is the triumph of libertarian thought. Take care of yourself, no one else. If they suffer, Tough. It’s God’s will or fate or bad luck. I am not my brother’s keeper. This is not Christian. Jesus would reject those who preach indifference to suffering in His name.
Read Nancy MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains.” Read Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money.” Read Gordon Lafer’s “The One Percent Solution.”
We live in an era of greed, selfishness, ruthless power, and injustice, one in which the rich and powerful want more for themselves. Less for the needy. They happily put their boots on the backs of the poor and occasionally throw them a penny.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I read that tRump is estimated to be making $11 million a year off of the ‘tax reform’ that helps the middle class. This whole thing is sickening.
………………………
Donald Trump Is Forging an America as Greedy, Deceitful and Cruel as Its President..Alternet
With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, he has remade the country in his own repugnant image.
..The recent passage of so-called tax reform, which could kick as many as 13 million people off their health insurance and extinguish the last embers of America’s middle class, raises yet another possibility: he’s none of these things. While the president is indisputably a bigot, a misogynist and a predatory capitalist, one component of the GOP tax bill offers compelling evidence that his sole ideology is his own malignant narcissism, what David Roth of the Baffler calls the “blank sucking nullity of vanity and appetite.”…
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/donald-trump-forging-america-greedy-deceitful-and-cruel-its-president#.WkT6d5jY0vk.gmail
Democracy in Chains is an amazing book. The research is breathtaking yet painstaking, and the writing impassioned, fluid, and forceful. It’s a work of nonfiction that reads like a paperback novel, the kind you can’t put down. Thank you for recommending it, Diane. I second that recommendation.
“This is the triumph of libertarian thought.” This is so true and with a large dose of Ayn Randism with all its extremism and hypocrisy. Who needs a libertarian party when we have the GOP, a far right wing cult which is determined to undo and erase every scintilla of the FDR and LBJ social programs.
The great irony to this is that Rand believed in a separation between business and state that was at least as strong as that between church and state. There are serious flaws in her conception as to how this would manifest itself, but the core idea is sound. The other irony is that she would have immediately identified Paul Ryan as a “looter”, her word for corrupt grifters both in and out of government.
For a wonderful understanding of how we got here, what we can do and how to be,I highly recommend Margaret Wheatley’s book: Who Do We Choose To Be. She is wise, smart, intellectually and emotionally engaging.
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It worries me that young people are watching this and perhaps believing that it’s an appropriate way to behave. Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit and they’ll know enough from their own lives to resist this – really poisonous rhetoric and actions that come from the top but boy, these leaders are NASTY. I don’t think I’ve heard Donald Trump or anyone in his administration say anything positive about anyone other than themselves.
They’re either trashing people or bragging about their own accomplishments. I stopped listening to them a long time ago but you can’t help but wonder if this mean-spirited nastiness gets into the national bloodstream in a way.
Young people are diverse and scattered throughout the country. Their responses to excesses of the philosophical dark comedy we see today will be varied. You are correct to worry. Some will look to the false. Some will discover the true. We must argue for the true. During my life, I have seen Christianity move away from my parents’ vision. Theirs was a Christianity of compassion and study. Sometimes it appears to me that some modern forms of Christianity want neither of these. But who knows what consensus will emerge.
In some ways Trump’s lying and boasting bothers me more than how nasty he is to people. I hope they don’t pick up the idea that this is how “successful” people behave, that this is the WAY to be successful. Because one can’t deny this approach has worked for Trump- he’s President. So they would be justified in thinking “the way to get ahead is to lie all the time and brag about yourself and put other people down”. That’s a reasonable conclusion.
It’s really contrary to what the vast majority of people are trying to teach them, that this was REWARDED with such a powerful position.
I find myself at a bit of a loss to get past that- the part where “it worked”.
Recently he has boasted that he signed more new laws this first year than any president since FDR. This was of course not true but he keeps repeating it.
Diane, here is how hard tRump has worked in the last year. He has taken off 87 times in one year. [One has to take off after working ‘his ass off’…sarcasm.] The white truck that blocked CNN’s filming was not owned by US security.
Trump uses truck to stop CNN filming him playing Golf
Tony’s – 24/7 Eyes
Published on Dec 28, 2017
Trump uses truck to stop CNN filming him playing Golf https://youtu.be/MiYsUtioZc4
Trump: “I have the greatest stuff and you know what? I love golf. But if I were in the White House, I don’t think I’d ever see Turnberry again. I don’t think I’d ever see Doral again. I own Doral in Miami. I don’t think I’d ever see many of the places I have. I don’t think I’d ever see anything, I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off and make great deals, right? Who’s gonna leave?”
Trump. That’s who’s gonna leave. He’s gonna leave 87 times and counting in one year, just to play golf. That doesn’t include the other vacation time he’s taken to Mar-A-Lago and elsewhere.
I have been wondering how society would react to the self-absorbed, mean-spirited nastiness I’ve seen pushing the envelope in a growing number of TV shows for years: perhaps your words are my answer.
The new tax bill is bad news for school choice. See
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-12-27/the-new-529-private-school-tax-break-is-bad-policy?src=usn_tw
Now , now Charles it is excellent for school choice . The choice to send your children to schools that the poor can not attend has been greatly expanded . Who said school choice was ever about the poor having a choice. .
@Joel Herman: I disagree. The provisions in the new tax law with respect to the expansion of 529s being used to save for private school costs, will benefit only a very few, who can actually afford to do so. The article clearly states, in the banner, that the tax break is bad policy. The benefits of the 529 expansion will go mostly to people making six figures (according to the article).
The new tax law has virtually no impact at all, on school choice for the vast majority of American families.
And: In many states, the adoption of voucher and choice programs, were originally brought in, to assist parents in poorly-performing inner -city schools to opt-out of the failing schools. (Ex Milwaukee, Cleveland, etc). The marketing of school choice programs, almost always begins with assisting families on the low end of income scales. And also- Parents of special needs children, military families, etc.
In nearly all cases, school choice programs are about giving people on the low end of income scales, a similar (but not the same) choices as wealthy people. The rich already have the ability to send their children to expensive, non-public schools, they can afford tuition and school taxes, both.
Sorry Charlie. School reformers do not want children with good taste, they want children that taste good (apologies to starkist). That is why the rewards always go to the children who are easy to teach, starving the ones who come from poverty.
What the article pointed out is that some in the school reform business wanted more of the spoils to go to the indigent, so this might kick school choice advocates into high gear. News flash. Motivated by the prospect of making money off anyone who can steer public money into their pockets, school reformers need no motivation.
I think it’s money. Money isn’t the root of all evil- LOVE of money is the root of all evil. That’s the key difference with this crowd. It’s the only thing they admire, the only measure of success, the only thing worth pursuing.
Donald loves to give speeches to various police and firefighter groups, followed by endless photos of him shaking hands with the men and women who put their lives on the line:
However, his new tax bill eliminates their ability or right to deduct their uniforms from their taxes. The same goes for all first-responders.
At the same time, however, the new tax bill allows multi-millionaire CEO’s to deduct the cost of their private jets:
https://www.salon.com/2017/12/23/deducting-a-ceos-jet-but-not-a-cops-uniform_partner/
Meanwhile in Sweden and Scandinavia – From an article in the NYT:
But such talk has little currency in Sweden or its Scandinavian neighbors, where unions are powerful, government support is abundant, and trust between employers and employees runs deep. Here, robots are just another way to make companies more efficient. As employers prosper, workers have consistently gained a proportionate slice of the spoils — a stark contrast to the United States and Britain, where wages have stagnated even while corporate profits have soared.
“In Sweden, if you ask a union leader, ‘Are you afraid of new technology?’ they will answer, ‘No, I’m afraid of old technology,’” says the Swedish minister for employment and integration, Ylva Johansson. “The jobs disappear, and then we train people for new jobs. We won’t protect jobs. But we will protect workers.”
A Cushion for Innovation:
Americans tend to dismiss Nordic countries as a realm of nanny-state-worshiping socialists in contrast to the swashbuckling capitalists who rule in places like Silicon Valley. But Sweden presents the possibility that, in an age of automation, innovation may be best advanced by maintaining ample cushions against failure. End quote.
In the good old red white and blue USA, USA, we will crush workers at every available opportunity. If you can’t adjust to predatory capitalism, then tough luck for you.
I just saw a news story about Germany. While the volume of “snail mail” is in decline, the government decided not to furlough workers. They chose instead to have postal workers check on the elderly, particularly in rural areas. I cannot imagine our country enacting such a humane policy. Maybe our corporate view of the world has been tainted by so many hedge funds that have swallowed workers and their pensions that we have become the land of vulture capitalists.
It may be easy to blame the entertainment and media for our plight, but our main problems are far more complex. Most of Europe sees similar violent images, and yet their nations offer a more secure set of social safety nets. America is now an oligarchy with extreme income disparity. Within the oligarchy there are significant numbers of them that are libertarians, with a belief that the government should not be involved in the well-being of its citizens. They believe in “personal responsibility,” which is a convenient way for the wealthy to ignore the needs of the poor. Of all the billionaires the Koch Brothers are most actively using their wealth to dictate policy through ALEC and their own involvement in buying federal and local elections. Paul Ryan, IMHO, is a Koch Brothers’ puppet. Now that the Republicans have rammed the tax bill through, Ryan intends to reshape the social safety nets.
This brief video of Sherrod Brown, an Ohio senator, clearly frustrated by how the tax bill came to fruition. Republicans allowed the lobbyists to construct the bill. Too many elected representatives work for special interest groups as the libertarian policies do not reflect the will of most of the people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBC_f6ZXvWs
Have you seen the nauseating “Thank you, President Trump” commercial? I understand the Koch brothers paid for it.
Well, they are thanking him. That tax bill is a huge gift. It feels like a straight transaction to me at this point- THIS group of people traded everything for X number of dollars.
Chiara Yes. The Country as a whole paid for it.
The comments above really warmed me up today. Susan gets the conversation started with the right tone, Joe channels some reasons for my love of the Scandinavian people, RT confirms my pride in my German-ness and my senator, Roy touches on my wobbly faith that our young people may yet be our saviors, and everyone else reminds me keep working and educating myself to educate others. It’s one of the few times I’ve felt better about our collective morass in quite some time. Thank you all.
GregB
Boy you are easy to please . I keep praying for the meteor .
But Trump has done a wonderful job bringing crime down in NYC . Since he left town ,crime is at its lowest recorded level since they started recording it in the 50’s ., OK, so Trump leaving town had little to do with it . But can we finally say that 4 years after stop and frisk was stopped , we do not have to throw a million people of color against the wall . In order to lower crime rates . Try telling that to the Trumpanzees. You would have more luck telling them, you brought down the overall crime rate by sending the serial rapist to the WH. That they would have no problem with that.
Greg: thanks for the compliment, but if nominated I will not run, if elected, I will not serve, if serving makes me ill, I will resign.
You coulda been a contendah!
I heard an interview with the author of this book on NPR and in many ways it helped fill in the blanks on a number of issues. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35133302-f-you-very-much. It discussed the effects of rudeness on neurology and the way performance is impart by being exposed to it. I’ll try to post a link to the interview below. My first thought was that folks were fooled by tRump, they thought that he would go to DC and shake things up big time, in other words, strike back against a political system that has beeen habitually rude to its citizens by ignoring them and serving only the interests of the wealthy and connected. Suckers, desperate suckers who still can’t accept they’ve been conned and have just made the situation they hated worse.
Impaired, not impart.
A dear friend is in Puerto Rico visiting family for the second time since Maria hit. She sent me this: It offers more evidence of how the mean-spirited liar-in-chief and his allies in Congress treat American citizens. Trump’s long established bait and switch tactics are literally helping to kill people.
begin quotes
President Trump awarded himself a 10 out of 10 score two months ago for his response to Hurricane Maria, which leveled Puerto Rico….It was reported last week that power may not be fully restored until May. Puerto Ricans – American citizens – are still awaiting tarps and temporary roofs to shelter them after an untold number of homes were destroyed.
In October, when Trump was tossing “beautiful, soft” rolls of paper towels at Puerto Ricans, he offered lavish promises of aid and said Wall Street lenders were “going to say goodbye” to Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt. But the debt was not written off, and disaster-relief aid has been inadequate and piecemeal. Now, Trump and congressional Republicans are hitting Puerto Rico with an additional, man-made catastrophe.
The GOP tax bill, which Trump celebrated last week, treats Puerto Rico as a foreign country, imposing a 12.5 percent tax on the income that companies there receive from intellectual property – a big hit to its crucial pharmaceutical and medical-device sector. Rather than give Puerto Rico special tax treatment, which it urgently needs, Trump and his congressional allies gave employers a powerful reason to move jobs off the island.
You might recognize this pattern, even if you don’t care about Puerto Rico and the suffering of the more than 3 million Americans there. Trump comes in with razzle-dazzle and self-congratulation, promising great things to come. Then, when the cameras are off, comes the quiet collapse. End quote
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/amp/GOP-treats-Puerto-Rico-as-foreign-country-12456289.php?utm_campaign=twitter-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social&__twitter_impression=true
The bigger they come, the harder they fall. The current situation cannot last indefinitely and grassroots politics across your country is making sure that when the crash does come – and it will come – we will very likely hear it all the way across the Pacific. Do not let up, be patient, and maintain your integrity.