Disabilities and Bullying and the Harris-Trump Road Show

by Paul Haeder / November 5th, 2024

Remember this?

Oh, yeah, that Messiah, Mister Rapist, Grifter, Dirtier than Dirt Kushner-Guided, Roy Cohen-Trained TRUMP: “My Uncle Donald Trump Told Me Disabled Americans Like My Son ‘Should Just Die’”

Read the Time Magazine article written  by his nephew.

Here, reality check for democrats and republicans:

Some legit writing here from me to be published in “legit” media around my area:

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful

“I’d like to have enough resources, money, to take a trip somewhere. I don’t want to be homeless if housing finds out I have extra money in my bank account.”

Seems like a wish for anyone supposedly in the land of the free – not to be homeless. Variations on this goal were broached at the Oct. 23-24 self-advocacy meeting at the Best Western at Agate Beach.

More than forty people attended the planning and visioning session to carve out some future collective goal to make change a community of people living in the developmental disability and neurodiverse world. One of the main organizers of this self-advocacy event is Julie Chick, Sammy’s Place Director, a nonprofit out of Nehalem.

I attended the event wearing several hats – an educator, an activist, journalist and assisting working with clients in the neurodiverse “world” with Essential Services. Right out of the blocks I asked Chick to synthesize what she got out of the two-day meeting.

What did you find valuable in the event?

“The person-to-person connections and relationships again can be taken for granted by those that easily access their community, and can be difficult if you have no wheels or knowledge of public transportation. Relationships of all types are the bedrock of humanity, yet some of the people in our DD system had not had much opportunity to get out and make friends. These folks have been meeting though this self-advocacy work, Arc of Lincoln’s Day Services Activities, and Beach Buddies, and their circle is growing with some coming in from other counties.”

The critical mass around self-advocacy is fighting for basic rights, like lifting up the maximum allowable savings and checking account balance above the draconian $2000 law.

With such a limit on money given to or earned by people living in subsidized housing, and those receiving disability payments from the government, and other services, like personal assistants, the fear losing those hard-fought safety nets is palatable.

Connecting with others along the coast, in the seven counties situated along the Pacific, the participants were passionate and determined to come away with tools to advocate for themselves not only politically, but through better transportation services, more opportunities to make money on the side with arts and crafts creations, and better ways to make personal connections, even romantic ones.

“I want to meet people who respect me for who I am and so I can follow my dreams,” stated advocate Frank Perdue. “I don’t understand why ‘normal’ people don’t want to go out on dates with people like us. We need better opportunities to meet people who think like us.”

For anyone interested in the complexities of life as a man or woman living in the neurodiverse world, a recent Hulu documentary might be their entry point. “Patrice” follows New Jersey school crossing guard Patrice Jetter. The kids love her, and she loves them.

She is also an amazing artist, entertainer and performer. She is romantically involved with Garry, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The story is about a commitment ceremony – between Patrice and Garry – since they were told their marriage quest would jeopardize their individual monthly social security stipends and their subsidized housing.

The documentary utilizes vérité footage of Patrice and Garry’s daily life, both together and apart. Their lives are at a rather challenging level just accomplishing daily routines like preparing a meal. Patrice walks with a cane and leg braces, whereas Garry uses a wheelchair and needs help into bed.

They both have their separate apartments, 20 minutes apart via bus. Also part of the movie is the handicapped-equipped van Patrice owns which breaks down for good in the documentary. Much of Patrice’s story focuses on raising funds (and awareness) around a vehicle they need – for Patrice to get to work as a school crossing guard and for Garry to live a more mobile life with his significant other. Collecting aluminum cans just won’t cut the $55,000 price tag, and alas, a Go Fund Me drive gets Patrice to that goal and the new vehicle.

Many of my current and past clients will relate well with this documentary, from the Special Olympics participation, to the end-of-the-month dilemma of $28 left for food or incidentals. The shared values and the care each of the main protagonists display should melt any cold heart, but the reality is that both democrats and republicans have stalled on a marriage equity bill allowing a legal union AND continuation of both spouses’ Social Security/Medicaid support.

Garry and Patrice had terrible upbringings and experiences  during their formative years, and Patrice’s reads read like a horror story of abuse, bullying, assaults and rape. The oppression from the government agencies is just another knife in the heart. We learn that Patrice’s mother was from a family of abusers, and that Patrice’s stepfather abused her mother.

Patrice is on her own as her siblings are dead, as well as her mother. But by the end of the movie, with the Go Fund Me videos, it is clear that she has a plethora of friends and tribal family.

Compelling is Patrice’s real life friend, Elizabeth Dicker, who happens to be the Accessibility Specialist at Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services. Elizabeth summarizes how Garry and Patrice’s situation is not just cruel, but also illogical:

“If two people are having Medicaid benefits, and then those two people get married and then they just don’t lose their benefits, how is the government making or losing any money?”

Situating the real policy issues now, after billions ($15.5 billion) were spent on the 2024 elections, we learn from advocates like Julie Chick and Frank Perdue that the limitations on Supplemental Security Income are badly out of date.

Organizations like Oregon Self Advocacy Coalition (OSAC) work hard to engage communities in advocating for the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

I spoke at length with Gabrielle Guedon, director of OSAC. She was really interested in the power of the press to bring OSAC members’ struggles to the general public. She is also inviting people to read the GO! Bulletin on how to get involved in advocacy about policies.

She lives by this credo by Malala Youseif: —

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” 

And, on the OSAC webpage we see she’s just like anyone you might know:

“I build miniature doll houses and make pillow cases. I love camping. I’m a carb-o-holic! I like rock-n-roll and I would love to visit Australia.”

Fred C. Trump III is the author of

All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.

In January 2020, just before COVID hit, Lisa, myself, and a team of advocates met with Chris Neeley, who headed the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, a much-needed federal advisory committee that promotes policies and initiatives that support independent and lifelong inclusion. We discussed the need for all medical schools to include courses that focus on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We emphasized how crucial it was for hospitals and other acute-care facilities to help patients transition from pediatric to adult services. We emphasized the importance of collecting sufficient data to explain medically complex disorders. This was not about more government spending. It was about smarter investing and greater efficiency.

We spent the next few months making calls and talking with officials and gathering our own recommendations, giving special attention to the critical need for housing support for people with disabilities. We were back in Washington in May.

By this time, COVID was raging. We were all masked up and COVID tested on the way into the White House Cabinet Room. Once we got inside, we sat down with Alex Azar, the administration’s secretary of health and human services, and Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, both of whom served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The promising agency motto stated: HHS: Enhancing the Health and Well-Being of All Americans.

Sharp, direct, and to the point, Azar exhibited my kind of efficiency with no time to waste. His first question was, “OK, why are you here?”

I made a brief introduction. Our group included a leading doctor and several highly qualified advocates. What followed was a great discussion. Something clicked with Giroir—an idea for a program everyone could agree on that would cut through the bureaucracy and control costs and also yield better and more efficient medical outcomes.

Excellent. We were making progress.

“Really appreciate your coming in,” Azar finally said, more warmly than he had sounded at the start. “I know we’re going to see the President.”

The meeting I had assumed would be a quick handshake hello with Donald had turned into a 45-minute discussion in the Oval Office with all of us—Azar, Giroir, the advocates, and me. I never expected to be there so long. Donald seemed engaged, especially when several people in our group spoke about the heart-wrenching and expensive efforts they’d made to care for their profoundly disabled family members, who were constantly in and out of the hospital and living with complex arrays of challenges.

Donald was still Donald, of course. He bounced from subject to subject—disability to the stock market and back to disability. But promisingly, Donald seemed genuinely curious regarding the depth of medical needs across the U.S. and the individual challenges these families faced. He told the secretary and the assistant secretary to stay in touch with our group and to be supportive.

After I left the office, I was standing with the others near the side entrance to the West Wing when Donald’s assistant caught up with me. “Your uncle would like to see you,” she said.

Azar was still in the Oval Office when I walked back in. “Hey, pal,” Donald said. “How’s everything going?”

“Good,” I said. “I appreciate your meeting with us.”

“Sure, happy to do it.”

He sounded interested and even concerned. I thought he had been touched by what the doctor and advocates in the meeting had just shared about their journey with their patients and their own family members. But I was wrong.

“Those people … ” Donald said, trailing off. “The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die.”

I truly did not know what to say. He was talking about expenses. We were talking about human lives. For Donald, I think it really was about the expenses, even though we were there to talk about efficiencies, smarter investments, and human dignity.

I turned and walked away.

And, yes, this is an equal deformity essay, so, drum roll, Harris did what?

And, yes, bullying at school is a effing big thing, leading to depression, and, yep, suicide. But another clown just didn’t/doesn’t get it.

The Human Costs Of Kamala Harris’ War On Truancy

[Cheree Peoples outside of the apartment where she lives when her 17-year-old daughter, Shayla Rucker, is at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Peoples was arrested six years ago for Shayla’s repeated truancy despite ample evidence given to the Orange County school showing Shayla suffers from sickle cell anemia, which leaves her in constant pain and requires frequent hospitalization.]

On the morning of April 18, 2013, in the Los Angeles suburb of Buena Park, a throng of photographers positioned themselves on a street curb and watched as two police officers entered a squat townhouse. Minutes later, their cameras began clicking. The officers had re-emerged with a weary-looking woman in pajamas and handcuffs, and the photographers were jostling to capture her every step.

“You would swear I had killed somebody,” the woman, Cheree Peoples, said in a recent interview.

In fact, Peoples had been arrested for her daughter’s spotty school attendance record under a truancy law that then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris had personally championed in the state legislature. The law, enacted in January 2011, made it a criminal misdemeanor for parents to allow kids in kindergarten through eighth grade to miss more than 10 percent of school days without a valid excuse. Peoples’ 11-year-old daughter, Shayla, had missed 20 days so far that school year.

[Cheree Peoples outside of the apartment where she lives when her 17-year-old daughter, Shayla, is at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Peoples was arrested six years ago for Shayla’s repeated truancy despite ample evidence given to the Orange County school showing Shayla suffers from sickle cell anemia, which leaves her in constant pain and requires frequent hospitalization. (Credit: Tara Pixley for HuffPost) ABOVE: Buena Park police officers Luis Garcia (left) and James Woo escort Peoples, 33, to their patrol car on April 18, 2013. She was handcuffed and under arrest.]

Yet the penalties she once championed for truancy and the way she originally thought about the issue are foundational to how California handles truancy today. Peoples’ arrest wasn’t a freak occurrence ― it was the inevitable outcome of Harris’ campaign to fuse the problem of truancy with the apparatus of law enforcement. And Peoples is far from an outlier. There are still hundreds of families across California entering the criminal justice system under the aegis of Harris’ law.

“I think it was a good thing that she shined a light on [truancy],” Jeff Adachi, who served as San Francisco’s chief public defender from January 2003 until his death on Feb. 22, told HuffPost in February. “There is a correlation between children who fail at school and what happens later in life. [But] the idea of locking parents up, or citing them with a crime because they’re not taking their children to school — it doesn’t address the root of the problem.”

“What it ended up being, practically, is families and kids having to come to court to be told to utilize certain services in order to come to school. Which, from where I sit, is very much the job of the school district and not the job of the criminal court.” – a public defender

And then this criminal, Trump?

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Paul Haeder's been a teacher, social worker, newspaperman, environmental activist, and marginalized muckraker, union organizer. Paul's book, Reimagining Sanity: Voices Beyond the Echo Chamber (2016), looks at 10 years (now going on 17 years) of his writing at Dissident Voice. Read his musings at LA Progressive. Read (purchase) his short story collection, Wide Open Eyes: Surfacing from Vietnam now out, published by Cirque Journal. Here's his Amazon page with more published work Amazon. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.

 

Who Should be the Next Emperor of the Violent Global Imperium?

by K.J. Noh / November 5th, 2024

As US voters go to the polls on November 5, they need to remind themselves that when the US elects its next domestic president, it is also selecting the emperor of a violent, global imperium.  Choices made over sundry domestic issues have far reaching effects, far beyond local pocketbook or civil rights issues.  They determine who lives and dies across the planet, and how much pain, harm and suffering the rest of the world will have to bear.

In this context, it’s fair to ask, who is the lesser evil?  Trump or Harris?

The answer, of course, is “neither”.  Like infinity, when it comes to evil, there’s not much use in finger-counting which is greater or lesser.  They are cardinal equivalents. Third party is the moral choice.

However, between two terrible choices, President Kamala Harris–to the extent that she has institutional continuity with the Biden/CNAS administration and retains key advisors–is likely to wage more wars: in Ukraine and most certainly with China.

This is not because Trump is less hawkish or more prudent, but because he is likely to be less effective.  These have to do with the following:

Distraction, Obstruction, and Opprobrium

Trump is likely to be focused on attacking/settling scores with domestic enemies, who have harassed, belittled, betrayed, tattled, audited, impeached, sued, indicted, prosecuted him, and possibly attempted his assassination.  He is also more likely to be thwarted or obstructed by institutional forces as he implements his agenda, even if it is similar to Joe Biden’s, and more likely to attract opprobrium and opposition, including if he wages war.

Bean-counting vs Seoul force

Trump has contempt for South Korea’s Yoon administration and wants to multiply the cost of stationing US troops in Korea nine-fold to $10 Billion/year.  That could be a deal breaker. He openly refers to South Korea as a “money machine“. This mercantile transactionalism is likely to put sand into the gears of the US war machine that is preparing Korea as the easiest and first place to start an omnicidal war with China.

South Koreans are already furious with President Yoon Sok Yeol for subordinating South Korea’s political and economic interests to US foreign policy, and they are likely to impeach Yoon if he submits to such flagrant extortion.  On the other hand, If he doesn’t pay up, and the US administration weakens its support of Yoon, the Korean people will rise up and overthrow him as they have other US-quisling presidents like Syngman Rhee, Chun Doo Hwan, Park Geun Hye.  This will strategically diminish the prospects of the Empire. The canard of North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine is an attempt to stave off this bad end by heightening the stakes, promoting South Korea (and Yoon’s) status as a global “pivot state”, and enmeshing Korea into the Ukraine-NATO-Empire trainwreck.

Compassionate rape indulgences

Trump was openly contemptuous of “Shinzo” (Abe), but he has even less relationship with Japanese Prime Minister Ishida (or any future potential Japanese PM).  However, as with South Korea, his uncouth transactionalism around the omoiyari yosan (Japan’s “empathy contribution budget”) for US troops in Japan, is likely to disorient and vex the Japanese leadership, and outrage the populace who are already livid to be paying reverse indulgences for occupation and rape.  JAKUS, the Japan-Korea-US alliance is already brittle, due to the current political weakness of Japan’s ruling LDP and South Korea’s hatred for Yoon’s pro-collaborationist position. Prime Minister Ishida has lost the lower house and the LDP, which has governed Japan as a virtual one-party state, is at its weakest in decades.  Simultaneously, Yoon’s military collaboration with Japan, Korea’s former colonizer, is sending Yoon into crisis territory, as his approval rating plummets down to 17%.

Deadly Insurance policy

Trump has said that the Taiwan authorities need to pay the US for protection because the US is “no different from an insurance company”.  But Trump’s insurance company is a corporation that has no intention of paying out if Taiwan becomes the next Ukraine. He has also stated that Taiwan should spend 10% of its shrinking GDP on the military, a coded demand to buy more marked up US weapons systems.  Again, the ruling DPP will be bewildered and rattled by Trump’s demand—an offer they can’t refuse: being asked to pony up for an extortionary “insurance” policy that guarantees almost certain denial of services while bankrupting the country: Trump has refused to state if he will commit troops to Taiwan to support US-prompted secessionism.

Currently Vice President Louise Hsiao, a former US citizen and deep state denizen, serves as President’s William Lai’s US minder.  A prissy preacher’s daughter from New Jersey, it’s a pretty good bet that neither Trump nor Vance will get along with the self-proclaimed “cat warrior” princess. Hsiao, for her part, has bet all her chips on Ukraine–stating that “the Ukraine war sends a powerful message to China”–the de-knickered message of a person squatting in an outhouse hit by a tornado. Trump’s potential Ukraine pullout could heighten the mortification.

Disdain for the McCain Stain

Certainly, Trump is hawkish and belligerent on Iran and could greenlight war. He will also support Israel in continuing to wage its horrific genocide and ethnic cleansing, just as the Biden administration ministers to, indulges, and excuses every genocidal whim and action of Israel.

But Trump is likely to force some kind of settlement on Ukraine, because he hates losing and losers, and Ukraine is a losing war, which he can blame on Biden.

Trump’s language is extremely belligerent and hawkish, and he is rash and impulsive, but his narcissism traps him into trying to make himself look like a winner at all times.  Like the over-validated child, who will avoid any challenge that might reveal the limits of his competence, Trump is less likely to test the outer limits of US power with peer competitors.   That means he could be less likely to start conventional wars he cannot win, and be more likely to try to get out of losing wars.  This could even be true for the genocidal war on Gaza, which despite its stream of atrocities, is Israel’s John McCain moment: a strategic and political loss for a colonizer that has been taken hostage by its own insanity.

Catastrophic Reboot Risk

The catastrophic geopolitical risk with Trump is he may not understand the real risks of nuclear war—he has asked “Why have nukes if they can’t be used?”—and could be recklessly tempted or prompted to use them.  This is in contradistinction to the CNAS neocons who will control Harris’ foreign policy and her nuclear threat posture: they understand the risks  and costs, and they still seek to use them deliberately.  They believe in integrating nuclear war seamlessly into conventional doctrine, exercises, signaling, and operations.

This is true also for climate change.  Trump denies global warming and has stated that it is a Chinese conspiracy to undermine the US economy.  The Harris-Biden administration understands global warming but sees sustainable transition as unacceptable because it would boost China’s development and global status. They see doubling down on burning fossil fuels as in the core strategic interests of the US in maintaining hegemony.  They would rather burn up the planet than let China shine.

In fact, they would rather destroy the planet than give up an ounce of privilege to the burgeoning multipolar world.  Wonk-speaking necropolitical ideologues from their first cakewalk to the final funeral march of mankind, they would rather be dead rather than be led into a better world of sovereign independence, equality, non-interference, and peace.

If Trump is elected, the global south will pray that he never abandons his neo-mercantilist transactionalism and his petty narcissistic fraudulence. Until the dismantling of Empire and Capital, and until the West stops using wars to reboot the economy, this may be about the only thing that saves the world.FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

K.J. Noh is a long time activist, writer, and teacher. He is a member of Veterans for Peace and works on global justice issues. He can be reached at: k.j.noh48@gmail.com. Read other articles by K.J..

 

What the Air Force Doesn’t Want Us to Notice on Election Night

by Leah Yananton / November 5th, 2024

Much significance will happen at the end of Election Day, and a countdown will begin at 11:00 p.m. PDT on November 5th. While everyone’s attention will be on who our next president will be, the U.S. The Air Force will test-launch an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with a dummy hydrogen bomb on the tip from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The missile will cross the Pacific Ocean and 22 minutes later crash into the Marshall Islands. The U.S. Air Force does this several times a year. The launches are always at night while Americans are sleeping.

This is what nightmares are made of – between 1946 and 1958 the U.S. detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, and the result is that the Marshallese people have lost their pristine environment and face health problems. Our environment is threatened here as well. Not only did the indigenous Chumash people lose their sacred land to Vandenberg Air Force Base, but also America’s Heartland presently has around 400 ICBMs stored in underground silos equipped with nuclear warheads that are ready to launch at a hair trigger’s notice. Named “MinuteMen III,” after Revolutionary War soldiers who could reload and shoot a gun in less than a minute, ICBMs not only put Americans at risk of accident, but they put all life on earth in danger.

ICBMs are not viable for national defense. They are a relic of a bygone era having been invented by Nazi Germany, and their presence only escalates the risk of nuclear accidents or conflicts.A single launch could lead to a nuclear exchange that would annihilate cities, contaminate the environment, and cause irreversible harm to our planet’s ecosystem. Once an ICBM is launched, it cannot be recalled. I don’t want a nuclear strike or accident to happen. We can change course now, and our first step is to decommission the ICBM program also because it is a staggering financial burden to maintain.

The U.S. plans to spend over $1.2 trillion on nuclear modernization over the next 30 years, which means new, larger nuclear bombs and new, larger ICBMs called Sentinels that will need to be tested. This massive investment in outdated technology diverts critical funds away from humanitarian needs like healthcare, education, and healing climate change— issues that directly impact our quality of life, and our children’s future.

I teach 4th and 5th graders Creative Writing. I adore children’s imaginations, but when my students were given the assignment to write about something important to them, they wrote lines that broke my heart.  This is a wake-up call for us adults to face the reality we have made for our children.

“Such a shame, a perfectly good planet, trashed.” Claire, age 9.

“What would you think about no nature in the world? No trees, no butterflies, no birds or bunnies at all! Most important of all, no people. There would be no technology, no schools, no history, no entertainment; everything we have worked for would be wasted. What would you think about a beautiful world that basically had nothing? I think I would absolutely hate it.,” Brynn, age 9.

Other than destruction caused by industrial global warming and by war, which the children are all-too aware of, this child does not know what actually could turn nature and civilization to nothing in a matter of minutes; she doesn’t know about “nuclear winter” or how vulnerable we are to a nuclear accident. Most people don’t.

The claim is that nuclear weapons are deterrents, but it is diplomacy that creates alliances and peace. Nuclear weapons only provide the terrifying threat of annihilation, either by command or by accident. Nuclear weapons and ICBMs only make the world less safe and strip us of security.

As the warring ruling class seems to be pushing for nuclear brinkmanship, on this election night let us not be distracted.  By decommissioning ICBMs, the U.S. could lead the world in reducing the nuclear threat and encourage other nations to do the same. For the sake of our health, environment, and the safety of future generations, it’s time to scrap the ICBM program. We owe it to our children to invest in a future that prioritizes peace and sustainability over destruction.

As it is we the people who possess the right of self-determination, we must confront the material reality of our homeland and face what it will take to protect it.  Do we have the courage to change our country for the better and ensure our futures?  Yes we do, and now is the time to take action.

“Only we, the public, can force our representatives to reverse their abdication of the war powers that the Constitution gives exclusively to the Congress,” said Daniel Ellsberg, U.S. military analyst, economist, and author of “The Doomsday Machine.”

May we cancel this nightmare weapons program for once and for all and give our children the security that they deserve.

Tell Congress: Cancel Sentinel Missile Program—More Than 700 Scientists Agree.

Learn more about the dangers of ICBMS and get involved.FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Leah Yananton is a teacher, filmmaker and writer with attention on biosphere dynamics, human connection, indigenous stewardship, nuclear disarmament, and the peace economy. Read other articles by Leah.

 

Our Fragile Infrastructure: Lessons From Hurricane Helene

by Ellen Brown / November 6th, 2024

Asheville, North Carolina, is known for its historic architecture, vibrant arts scene and as a gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a favorite escape for “climate migrants” moving from California, Arizona, and other climate-challenged vicinities, until a “500 year flood” ravaged the city this fall.

Hurricane Helene was a wakeup call not just for stricken North Carolina residents but for people across the country following their tragic stories in the media and in the podcasts now favored by young voters for news. “Preppers” well equipped with supplies watched in helpless disbelief as homes washed away in a wall of water and mud, taking emergency supplies in the storm. Streets turned into rivers, and many businesses and homes suffered extensive water damage if they were not lost altogether.

The raging floods were triggered by unprecedented rainfall and winds, but a network of fragile dams also played a role. On Sept 27, when the floods hit, evacuation orders were issued to residents near a number of critical dams due to their reported “imminent failure” or “catastrophic collapse.” Flood waters were overtopping the dams to the point that in some cases the top of the dam structure could not be seen.

The dams did not collapse, but to avoid that catastrophe, floodgates and spillways had to be opened, releasing huge amounts of water over a number of days. Spokesmen said the dams had “performed as designed,” but they were designed for an earlier era with more stable, predictable climates and no population buildup below the dams.

Five days after the floods hit in East Tennessee, half a million gallons of water were still being released per second from Douglas Dam, northwest of Asheville and upstream from Knoxville on the French Broad River. (Video clip of opened floodgates.) The Watauga Dam in Tennessee was also releasing record flows, surrounding nearby homes in water. WTVC NewsChannel 9 Chattanooga reported that Chickamauga Dam, upstream from Chattanooga, released approximately 566,118 gallons of water per second.

The Nolichucky Dam, in Tennessee near the North Carolina border, was reported to have “withstood nearly twice the water flow of Niagara Falls.” (See dramatic videos on Fox Weather showing the overflow and the floodgate release continuing three weeks later, a similar clip from 11Alive adding the damage downstream, and overflow footage on WKYC Charlotte.) Other major dams in which the floodgates were opened included Cowans Ford Dam, north of Charlotte (see video clip of the floodgate release); and Waterville Dam (also called Walters Dam), upstream from Newport in Tennessee  (video). Homeowners accused Duke Energy of sacrificing poor neighborhoods for wealthier properties, but as one official said, the excess water had to go somewhere. It had to go downstream. They did what they had to do to avoid outright collapse of the dams, a much worse disaster.

Upriver from Asheville, the auxiliary spillway of the North Forks Dam was activated. It too is said to have “performed as designed,” but the result was again significant flooding. Mandatory evacuation orders were put in place from the dam to Biltmore Village in Asheville, which suffered major damage. North Forks Dam is classified as a ”high-hazard potential dam,” meaning its failure could result in potential loss of life and serious property damage.

One concerned Asheville podcaster complained that the city had known for 20 years that the North Forks Dam was inadequate and a lethal danger under flood conditions, but it hadn’t been repaired. The dam was put to the test in September, when residents were told there was no choice but for the flood gates to be opened to prevent the dam from breaking. The result was a 30 foot wall of water that swept homes and lives away, rushing so fast that people were found in the tops of trees. The podcaster’s suspicions were aroused because lithium worth billions of dollars is located in Western North Carolina, where a mining company has been trying to restart operations since 2021, over community protests.

That was also true of the nearby town of Spruce Pine, downstream from the North Toe Dam, which was submerged under eight feet of water from the combination of torrential rain and the release of the dam’s floodgates. Spruce Pine is a major producer of high-quality quartz, a rare but necessary resource for many tech products. Mining companies have been attempting to double their operations in Spruce Pine, but they too have met resistance from local landowners. For some controversial details, see here.

Asheville is also downstream from Lake Lure Dam, which was reported on Sept. 27 to be “at risk of imminent failure” as the river was overtopping the dam. Most heavily affected was Chimney Rock, the town immediately downstream from Lake Lure, known for both its rustic scenery and its lithium mines. The damage was extensive.

According to an Oct. 2 broadcast on WBTV News in Charlotte titled “Lake Lure Dam ‘high hazard’ and needed repairs at time Helene hit,” the dam, completed in 1926, does not meet current state safety requirements. Repairs were ongoing but unfinished. Lake Lure Dam is one of 1,581 dams across the state considered “high hazard,” and according to a 2022 report, North Carolina has 194 high-hazard dams in poor or unsatisfactory condition, meaning they “may require immediate or emergency remedial action.”

The High Cost of Repair

The catastrophic flooding and destruction in western North Carolina has caused a record $53 billion or more in damages and recovery needs, according to North Carolina  Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration. The storm and its aftermath caused 1,400 landslides and damaged over 160 water and sewer systems, at least 6,000 miles of roads, more than a thousand bridges and culverts, and an estimated 126,000 homes. Some 220,000 households are expected to apply for federal assistance.

Whether the federal government will have the funds, and how long it will take residents and businesses to get assistance, are yet to be determined. On Oct. 2, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season, which runs to Nov. 30. President Biden said that the more urgent problem now is the Small Business Administration, which provides low interest loans to homeowners (up to $500,000) and businesses (up to $2 million) for rebuilding after disasters. The SBA announced on Oct. 15 that its funds would soon run out and that it was pausing its loan offers to disaster survivors until Congress appropriates additional funds.

Applications for those funds are complicated, and reimbursement can take years — too late for demolished businesses to get back on their feet, or displaced homeowners living in tents on their properties to rebuild.

Failing Dams Are a Nationwide Problem

Dams in poor condition are found not just in Appalachia but across the country. A May 5, 2022 NPR report cites an Associated Press analysis of dams needing repair:

More than 2,200 dams built upstream from homes or communities are in poor condition across the U.S., likely endangering lives if they were to fail. The number of high-hazard dams in need of repairs is up substantially from a similar AP review conducted just three years ago.

There are several reasons for the increased risk. Long-deferred maintenance has added more dams to the troubled list. A changing climate has subjected some dams to greater strain from intense rainstorms. Homes, businesses and highways also have cropped up below dams that were originally built in remote locations. …

The nation’s dams are on average over a half-​century old. They have come under renewed focus following extreme floods, such as the one that caused the failure of two Michigan dams and the evacuation of 10,000 people in 2020.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed last year by President Joe Biden will pump about $3 billion into dam-​related projects, including hundreds of millions for state dam safety programs and repairs….

Yet it’s still just a fraction of the nearly $76 billion needed to fix the tens of thousands of dams owned by individuals, companies, community associations, state and local governments, and other entities besides the federal government, according to a report by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials [ASDSO].

Less than a year later, the ASDSO announced the release of a new report dated February 2023, stating that the current cost of rehabilitating all non-federal U.S. dams is an estimated $157.5 billion, more than double ASDSO’s estimate from 2022.

Our Neglected National Infrastructure

Repairing dams is only one of a litany of infrastructure needs across the country, including roads, highways and bridges; public transportation; ports, harbors and other maritime facilities; intercity passenger and freight railroads; freight and intermodal facilities; airports; and telecommunication networks. National spending on infrastructure has fallen to its lowest level in 70 years, to 2.5% of the nation’s GDP. That’s half the comparable level in Europe and one-third the level in China. As a result, productivity, investment and manufacturing have collapsed; and we are losing our worldwide competitive edge.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimated in its 2021 report that $6.1 trillion is needed just to repair our nation’s infrastructure, of which $2.6 trillion is currently unfunded. The gap, which increases the longer the work is put off, is now $2.9 trillion according to the latest ASCE update. Meanwhile, the federal debt is over $34.8 trillion, with the interest tab alone topping $1 trillion annually.

How can infrastructure requirements be met without driving the federal government $3 trillion further into debt? We need some form of off-budget financing. We have done it before, notably when Congress was heavily in debt right after the American Revolution, and when the banking structure had completely collapsed in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Alexander Hamilton, our first U.S. Treasury secretary, developed the national infrastructure bank model used by many other countries today. Winning our freedom from Great Britain left the country with what appeared to be an unpayable debt. Hamilton traded the debt along with a percentage of gold for shares in the First U.S. Bank, paying a 6% dividend. This capital was then leveraged many times over into credit to be used specifically for infrastructure and development. The Second U.S. Bank, based on the same model, funded the vibrant economic activity of the first decades of the new country.

Today, virtually our entire circulating money supply is created by banks in this way when they make loans. The new money is not inflationary so long as it creates new goods and services, allowing supply to rise with demand and keeping prices stable. The new money is liquidated when the loans are paid off with profits from sales.

In the 1930s, Roosevelt’s government pulled the country out of the Great Depression by repurposing an agency created under President Hoover into a lending machine for development on the Hamiltonian model. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was an off-budget source of revenue, allowing the government to build infrastructure all across the country and fund a world war while actually turning a profit. Many of today’s dams were built with that credit, but they are nearly a century old. They need an upgrade, which can be financed by a national infrastructure bank on the same model. A fuller discussion is here.

HR 4052 (formerly HR 3339), titled “The National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023,” is currently before Congress and has 40 sponsors. It has been endorsed by dozens of legislatures, city and county councils, and many organizations. Like the First and Second U.S. Banks, it will be a depository bank capitalized with existing federal securities held by the private sector, for which the bank will pay an additional 2% over the interest paid by the government. The bank will then leverage this capital into roughly 10 times its value in loans, as all depository banks are entitled to do. The bill proposes to fund $5 trillion in infrastructure capitalized over a 10-year period with $500 billion in federal securities exchanged for preferred stock in the bank. Like the RFC, the bank will be a source of off-budget financing, adding no new costs to the federal budget. For more information, see https://www.nibcoalition.com/.

State-owned Banks

Leveraging available funds into new credit-dollars for disaster relief can also be done locally at the state level. The possibilities are illustrated by the century-old Bank of North Dakota, currently our only state- owned bank. The BND’s emergency capabilities were demonstrated in 1997, when record flooding and fires devastated Grand Forks, North Dakota. The town and its sister city, East Grand Forks on the Minnesota side of the river, lay in ruins. Floodwaters covered virtually the entire city and took weeks to fully recede. Property losses topped $3.5 billion.

In North Carolina, FEMA was criticized for still being absent from recovery efforts a week after the Helene emergency was declared, too late for people trapped in rivers or under debris who could be reached only by helicopter. In North Dakota by contrast, the response of the state-owned bank was immediate and comprehensive.

Soon after the floodwaters swept through Grand Forks, the BND was helping families and businesses recover.  The bank quickly established nearly $70 million in credit lines – to the city, the state National Guard, the state Division of Emergency Management, the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and for individuals, businesses and farms. It also launched a Grand Forks disaster relief loan program and allocated $5 million to help other areas affected by the spring floods. Local financial institutions matched these funds, making a total of more than $70 million available.

Besides property damage, flooding swept away many jobs, leaving families without livelihoods. The BND coordinated with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure forbearance on student loans; worked closely with the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration to gain forbearance on federally backed home loans; established a center where people could apply for federal/state housing assistance; and worked with the North Dakota Community Foundation to coordinate a disaster relief fund, for which the bank served as the deposit base. The bank also reduced interest rates on existing Family Farm and Farm Operating programs. Families used these low-interest loans to restructure debt and cover operating losses caused by wet conditions in their fields.

The city was quickly rebuilt and restored. Remarkably, no lives were lost, vs. an official death toll to date in North Carolina of 98, thought to actually be much higher. Grand Forks lost only 3% of its population to emigration between the 1997 floods and 2000, while East Grand Forks, right across the river in Minnesota, lost 17% of its population.

Small businesses  are now failing across the country at increasingly high rates. That means layoffs, need for more government assistance, lower productivity, and higher taxes. But that’s not true in North Dakota, which was rated by Forbes Magazine the best state in which to start a business in 2024. On Oct. 2, Truth in Accounting’s annual Financial State of the States report rated North Dakota ND #1 in fiscal health, with a budget surplus per taxpayer of $55,600.

Meanwhile in Helene-ravaged Appalachia

Publicly-owned state and federal banks are possibilities for future disasters, but they will be too late for the flood victims of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Survivors’ moods have been lifted in the meantime by the extraordinary generosity of local and out-of-state volunteers, who were on the ground immediately with supplies, equipment and labor.

But it has been a month, supplies are falling off, and the need is still great. According to a podcast titled “Helene VICTIMS need THESE 5 things One Month Later!,” 98% of businesses are still open; but they are largely based on tourism, and tourists have been scarce because the news media have featured the disaster areas to the exclusion of the small surrounding towns that are still functional, beautiful and welcoming visitors.  First on the podcaster’s list of needs was prayer.

People whose houses have been lost are camping on their land, trying to hang onto properties that in some cases have been in their families for generations. With winter coming, they need heavy duty camping equipment— winter tents, winter sleeping bags, small propane tanks. Other supplies for which there is particular need are food and water, cold and flu medicines, and first aid kits.

Though the situation is still dire for many, an Oct. 31 wrapup from Gov. Roy Cooper and country music star Eric Church, following a visit to the state’s mountain area, was hopeful. So, too, is this story told with soul: HURRICANE HELENE — A Love Letter To Appalachia ♡.FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Ellen Brown is an attorney, co-chair of the Public Banking Institute, and author of thirteen books including Web of Debt, The Public Bank Solution, and Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age. She also co-hosts a radio program on PRN.FM called “It’s Our Money.” Her 400+ blog articles are posted at EllenBrown.com. Read other articles by Ellen.

Sarah McBride to be first transgender person in U.S. Congress

Agence France-Presse
November 6, 2024 

Sarah McBride (AFP)

Delaware state senator Sarah McBride won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, making her the first openly transgender politician elected to Congress.

The Democrat was the comfortable winner against Republican John Whalen III, US news networks projected, as she built up an unassailable lead with around two-thirds of ballots counted.

"Delaware has sent the message loud and clear that we must be a country that protects reproductive freedom... and that this is a democracy that is big enough for all of us," she said in a statement posted to social media.

McBride told CBS in a recent interview her other priorities would be "affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care."

Transgender rights have become a hot-button issue in the U.S. election -- with the participation of trans people in competitive sports and the issue of access to gender-affirming care for minors triggering fiery debate.

Democrats broadly support transgender rights but many Republicans denounce what they see as political correctness that ignores the erosion of biological women's rights to their own spaces, from bathrooms and prisons to sports contests.

The fight has dominated TV advertising in the White House race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, with the Republican former president accusing Democrats last year of "left-wing gender insanity" with respect to transgender youth.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund congratulated McBride for "making history" in American politics.

"Sarah's voice is vital, and she will continue to be a tireless advocate for her constituents and community," the group said.

The fund has identified at least 62 transgender candidates running this year across the country -- nearly double the 34 who ran in 2020.

They include former Spanish teacher Mel Manuel, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary and was running for a seat in Louisiana, one of the most traditionally conservative in the country.

But they were trailing Republican heavyweight Steve Scalise by almost 50 percentage points in the early stages of the count.


© Agence France-Presse

New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim makes history as first Korean American elected to Senate

Dana Difilippo,

 New Jersey Monitor
November 5, 2024 

Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ). Chip Somodevilla/AFP

Rep. Andy Kim (D-03) is poised to become the first Korean American senator in U.S. history after the Associated Press projected he defeated his Republican opponent, hotelier Curtis Bashaw, in Tuesday’s general election.

Kim, the Boston-born and Burlington County-raised son of Korean immigrants, soared to victory after a roller-coaster campaign in which he capitalized on voters’ long-simmering resentments over New Jersey’s notoriously nepotistic politics and powerful party bosses.

He was the first Democrat to announce a bid for the seat in September 2023, just a day after its longtime Democratic incumbent, former Sen. Bob Menendez, got federally indicted in a global bribery scheme. But he soon found himself with a formidable foe — Tammy Murphy, the governor’s wife, who party bosses quickly lined up to back after she announced her bid for the seat.

Public backlash was swift, and Kim took on the party bosses in court, challenging New Jersey’s unique ballot design that gives an advantage to party favorites who snag what’s known as the county line.

His subsequent court victories, along with Murphy’s withdrawal from the race and Menendez’s corruption conviction and resignation last summer, made the past year one of the most tumultuous in New Jersey politics.

Kim, 42, will be the first U.S. senator from South Jersey in over a half-century. His win wasn’t surprising: New Jersey Republicans have not won a contest for U.S. Senate in New Jersey since the state reelected Sen. Clifford Case in 1972. Kim also raised and spent more cash than Bashaw.


When he launched his campaign, Kim vowed to restore trust and integrity in government — a promise that even cynical voters believed, given the AP photo that went viral of Kim cleaning up the Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Kim, a father of two young boys and a former diplomat, is a three-term Congressman in the 3rd district who was first elected to the House in 2018, when he defeated the Republican incumbent, Rep. Tom MacArthur, by a slim margin in a district Donald Trump won in 2016.

In June’s primary, Kim beat two other Democrats, civil rights leader Larry Hamm and labor activist Patricia Campos-Medina. Thursday, besides Bashaw, Kim also beat four third-party candidates, Kenneth Kaplan, a Libertarian; Christina Khalil of the Green Party; Joanne Kuniansky of the Socialist Party; and Patricia Mooneyham, an independent.

Kim is expected to assume his Senate seat a bit early to replace Sen. George Helmy, a former chief of staff for Gov. Phil Murphy, who was sworn in in September to serve Menendez’s unexpired term until a general election victor is certified.


New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com. Follow New Jersey Monitor on Facebook and X.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein fires back at 'spoiler' accusations

Agence France-Presse
November 6, 2024 

Jill Stein, who previously ran for president in 2012 and 2016 said her left-wing platform as the "anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate emergency" candidate is resonating with voters like never before (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP)

U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein says she's riding a wave of support unlike anything she's experienced in past campaigns -- and is unfazed by warnings that her run could tip the scales in Donald Trump's favor in a tight race.

Speaking to AFP after polls closed in Michigan, where her outspoken criticism of US support for Israel has struck a chord with the battleground state's large Muslim and Arab-American communities, the 74-year-old took aim at Democrats for branding her a "spoiler."

"This is self-serving propaganda," said Stein at a watch party in Dearborn, home to the United States' largest concentration of people of Middle Eastern heritage.

"They're basically trying to blame and shame voters for exercising their values and for participating in the competition that elections are supposed to represent."

Democrat Kamala Harris is locked in an extremely tight race against Trump, including in Michigan, and her supporters fear that Stein will siphon crucial slivers of votes.

But Stein, who previously ran for president in 2012 and 2016 and made two earlier unsuccessful bids for governor of Massachusetts, said her left-wing platform as the "anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate emergency" candidate is resonating with voters like never before.


"I'm not used to people walking up to me on the street -- strangers crying, hugging, and thanking me for trying to save their family," she said, celebrating her diverse coalition of support, which includes Muslim, Jewish, LGBTQ communities, and more.

Stein's platform demands an immediate end to US support for Israel's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, the lifting of the aid blockade, and the release of all hostages and political prisoners.

- 'Wind at our back' -

She draws strength from her own background.

Growing up in a Reform Jewish household in the shadow of the Holocaust, her community grappled with existential questions: Is there life after genocide? How do you restore faith in the world?

"In my circles, the answer to that was, we affirm life after genocide by resolving that we will not allow this to happen again," she says -- a philosophy that's guided her from a medical career to activism and politics.

"The mother of all illnesses is our sick political system," she added.

While the Green Party aims to crack five percent of the national vote — unlocking around $12 million in federal funds to scale up operations — polling suggests that's a long long shot, with numbers hovering around one percent.

The party has faced uphill battles for ballot access, which Stein blames on Democrats and "their army of lawyers" for deploying underhanded tactics to keep the Greens off ballots.

Still, Stein says attacks from Democratic heavyweights like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- who labeled her "not serious" and "predatory" -- and hostility from Democratic-leaning platforms such as The Breakfast Club radio show, have only energized the Green base.

"We have huge work ahead," she acknowledged, but added she's emboldened "that we could prevail against the Democratic smear machine."

"I think the wind is at our back. This is a perfect storm, and we're going to be growing and surging forward from here."

LET THE FINGER POINTING BEGIN

Joe Biden blamed for Donald Trump's re-election win

Travis Gettys

RAW STORY
November 6, 2024 

President Joe Biden. (AFP)

Joe Biden is ultimately to blame for Donald Trump's election win, according to an analysis.

The president who defeated Trump in 2020 should have stepped down after one term, according to Daily Beast special correspondent Michael Daly, rather than attempt to run for re-election at 81 years old.

"The Democrats then could have then selected somebody the usual way, with primaries," Daly wrote. "Maybe Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor, would have been a candidate. Maybe it would have been Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s governor. The result could have actually been the first woman president."

"Whoever it was, he or she would have been the party’s choice," he added. "And the duly chosen candidate would have been in a better position than Vice President Kamala Harris was to call Donald Trump a threat to democracy."

Harris was saddled with Biden's unpopular record, and Trump was able to mute her criticism on his own record.

"One thing Trump was right about was that Harris had become the Democratic candidate without a single vote," Daly wrote. "Too much else of what Trump said was dangerously false. But he is going to the White House nonetheless."

Read it here.

'Could not outrun the Biden economy': CNN panel lays blame for Harris' bad night

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
November 6, 2024 

Tech campaigners are calling for stricter guardrails around AI ahead of the U.S. presidential elections in November between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump © Brendan SMIALOWSKI, Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File

A CNN roundtable on Tuesday debated the apparent strong performance of former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, following his apparent locking down of North Carolina — and the subject turned to how voters perceive the economy.

"Generally speaking, he is overperforming with what he did in 2020 and she is underperforming what Joe Biden did in 2020. At this point, it's a narrow defeat for Harris," said Chris Wallace.

"The other thing about North Carolina, you do have kind of a sense of the country in the state of North Carolina, in that, there are growing minority populations, and there is a growing suburban, maybe more moderate population in and around the big cities, so that is why the Harris campaign thought with the dynamics of the country right now that she would have a better shot," said Dana Bash.

"But look, the headwinds of the economy, the inflation that people are feeling, the difficulty in their everyday lives."

"She could not outrun the Biden economy," agreed Audie Cornish.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

NO MORE ELECTIONS

Lauren Boebert raises eyebrows with comment pushing to secure Trump's 'third term'

REPUBLICANS PASSED THE NO POTUS THIRD TERM LAW 

TO STOP DEMOCRATS AFTER FDR TOOK THREE TERMS 

DURING WWII.  THE LAW CAN BE REPEALED

David McAfee
November 6, 2024

Lauren Boebert for Congress on Facebook.

GOP U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who won a House seat on Tuesday in a Colorado district to which she moved halfway through her term, called on fellow Republicans to "rally behind President Trump to secure his third term."

Boebert sailed to victory alongside Trump, who was removed from office in 2020 but elected again after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris.

In a comment posted on Facebook, Boebert said she is "deeply honored and humbled to have earned your trust, your vote, and the opportunity to represent you in the United States Congress."

"This victory is not just mine; it is ours. It belongs to every hard-working family, every farmer, every rancher, every small business owner, and every patriot in our district who believes in the principles that built our great nation," she said. "Together, we have sent a clear message to Washington: Colorado's 4th District will not bend to the whims of the establishment or the pressures of dark money."

She continued:

"To my opponents, I extend my hand in partnership because, at the end of the day, we all want what's best for Colorado and America. To my team, my tireless volunteers, and my family, your dedication has been the backbone of this victory. They’ve knocked on doors, made calls, and shared our message with passion and sincerity. Without them, this victory wouldn't be possible."

She then included a line that raised some eyebrows:

"This is not the end but a beginning. We have work to do. We need to ensure that our Republican majority in the House remains strong, and we must rally behind President Trump to secure his third term."

Local journalist Kyle Clark flagged the development on social media Wednesday, noting, "The 22nd Amendment says 'no personal shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.' This may be Boebert nodding to Trump's false claim that he was elected to a second term in 2020. Not sure. It's late. Or early. Or both.

 

TRUMPISTAN

Op-Ed: America, what have you done? 

It was nice knowing you when you were real


By Paul Wallis
DIGITAL JOURNAL

 AUSTRALIA
November 6, 2024

Image: — © Digital Journal

Trump just claimed victory, ushering in a “golden age” for America according to him. You might just be able to join enough dots to remember his last Golden Age and how well that turned out.

There’s a difference this time, though. Republicans have the Senate and just possibly the House, although they don’t have that yet. That means that Project 2025 is at least a possibility.

This fizzy little fun-loving manifesto includes gutting Social Security, Medicare, and education. These three are long-time Republican whipping boys, and the new legislature looks hostile to them.

What seems to be a wholesale massacre of law enforcement and security agencies is also part of this agenda. You can imagine the huge dislocation of government functions and general chaos that’s likely to cause. It’s a sort of ideological frenzy of putting rhetoric into practice. Everyone’s more “conservative” than everyone else.

The one thing that’s not getting mentioned is the real economy as it applies to Americans. Exactly what’s to be done about debt, a surreal housing market, the credit market, and everything else isn’t clear.

This is a flight to fantasy, not practical government. The sheer senility of these outdated policies from the 1930s and before makes them impractical at best and national suicide at worst. You can’t talk your way through creditors, as Donald Trump well knows. Still less can you talk your way through a planet full of major corporate and national creditors.

It’s also been a long flight to naivete. A guy who famously couldn’t pass a background check to work at McDonalds will just wave a magic cap and everything will be fine? The poor will be rich? The homeless will be housed? The sick will be healed? Crime will end?

No.

You didn’t just elect candidates, either. You’ve also just elected a large number of largely people who didn’t bother to stand for election, quite possibly people you’ve never heard of. The backers of politicians are not charities. They’re in it for their own gain, and that’s what usually happens.

The Democrats didn’t connect with the other side at all. A weak message was a weak message. If not for an unfortunate debate, Biden probably would have beaten Trump.

That’s not Harris’ fault. The fault is fundamental with the liberal side of politics. The insular “Left” (left of what, Walmart?) has never had the market reach to contact the other side. It’s also never really had the inclination. There was no real point of contact.

Who wants to talk to rednecks, religious nuts, and fascists? Guess. This is a variation of Rupert Murdoch’s idea that the American conservatives were an underexploited market, so he created that market. He was right, and he’s right again this time.Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric is escalating as the US election climaxes – Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

If you can’t or won’t communicate with people, why do you expect them to vote for you?

People are very tired of telling you that, and you don’t listen.

Foreign policy is going to be the usual Trump train wreck. Last time he was a meandering series of insults to all of America’s allies. Europe and other Western nations will have to support Ukraine and have been preparing to do so for a while. Trump can’t really help Russia, which is now too far gone to recover from its war and internal fragmentation, but he can throw spanners in the works.

China will simply allow Trump to talk himself to death at his own expense. Like it or not, China and the US are glued at the hip in trade. Tariffs are paid by the importer, not the exporter, so that’s more cost to American pockets for everything coming from China.

From there on it’s just a choice of possible internal and external disasters. Iran? Israel? Both? State secesssions? Tax cuts to reduce revenue so America has to borrow? Race wars? Water? Food? Energy? Cost of living?

You can’t expect democracy to work in a country that no longer understands it or how it works. When the Soviet Union fell, the rich criminals moved in and stole all the public assets,

If this is the “Russification of America”, it’s not going to be pretty – Or brief. It took 20 years to turn the place into less of a mess. It’s just that America is so much bigger and messier.

This really is so sad. ‘Bye, America.

__________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.