What viewers need to see is the reality of Trump, which is that he's a whiny narcissist, who lies for the same reason any sleazy criminal does: so he can serve himself while screwing over everyone else. Ideally, he will get frustrated and angry, so that he releases his already shaky grip on self-composure. For that to happen, there needs to be less focus on traits he's proud of — and he is very proud of his ability to lie with a straight face. It would be better if the discussion highlighted what Trump is afraid people see: A loser. He's proud of being the man who paid hush money to an adult film star. He's ashamed of being the man so sloppy he got caught doing it. I suspect Biden can land repeated blows on Trump's 34 felony convictions and other major court losses. Being reminded of his losses rattles Trump, whose self-esteem is so wrapped up in his self-image as a criminal who gets away with it.

Amanda Marcotte in Salon.ccom

Getting Ready

 Of course, you do. Trump is priming the Christian/MAGA base to violently contest a “rigged” 2024 presidential election, overturn the election, and then destroy the apolitical civil service, the rule of law, transparency in government, and wreck the post-World War Two security architecture that has brought stability and economic growth to us and our allies in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.

The reality is much different. But, a Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) attack on the legitimacy of the Constitution, institutions, and courts needs a 4GW response at the level of moral conflict.

-Amanda Marcotte in Salon.com

 

Liberalism’s Natural Disadvantage—and How to Overcome It - Michael Tomasky

We are vastly outnumbered, but our record of accomplishment is formidable. Today, though, the task before us is as grave as ever.
I sometimes marvel that liberalism manages to hold its own in this, or really any, country. Its insistence upon openness to change and new ways of thinking is, let’s admit it, a pretty large boulder to be carrying right out of the chute. Your average person is suspicious of change and perfectly content with the old ways of thinking. As much as liberals might wish otherwise, the desire to conserve runs far deeper in the human soul than the desire to reform.

The natural liberal disadvantage is, alas, quantifiable. Going back to 1992, Gallup has done a yearly survey asking Americans if they considered themselves moderate, conservative, or liberal. The 2024 numbers: moderate, 36 percent; conservative, 36; and liberal, just 25. But don’t despair! Twenty-five is good! Back in 1992, the distribution was moderate, 43; conservative. 36; and liberal, 17. (As for left of liberal, Gallup doesn’t even bother, although a 2021 Pew survey that tried to drill down more specifically found “progressive left” clocking in at just 6 percent.)

A stroll through American history makes readily apparent the reality that our default position as a society has been resistance to change, which carries on for ages—or more often, is enforced, and usually brutally—followed by paroxysms of progressive reform, which are in turn followed by backlash against said reform. The periods of liberal regnancy in this country’s 248-year history can easily be counted on one hand.

And yet, given all that, liberal change has proved remarkably durable. People may spend years allowing themselves to be convinced by powerful interests that they’re indifferent to this or that liberal reform; but once it happens, they usually like it. And so conservatives in Washington have not found it easy work to walk back public education, dismantle Social Security, reduce or revoke the federal minimum wage, reintroduce child labor, and so much more. Liberalism constructed the modern welfare state, for mostly better and occasionally worse; every Republican president since Reagan has taken office vowing to smash it, and every one of them has left office being calumniated by fiscally obsessed rightists as just another feckless big spender, unable to reverse liberalism’s grimly inevitable tide. For a creed that is reputed to lack conviction, that’s not a bad track record.

Today, though, is different. Today, it really does feel like the barbarians are at the gate. As Thomas Paine put it, “tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.” And as the rapper Fat Joe put it, “The shit is real.” We must fight as we never have, or we genuinely and literally stand to lose everything. The assault on the ban on child labor—the ban on child labor!—is the least of it.

Note to Alistair #3

NOTE TO ALISTAIR #3

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” 

― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Alistair: You will find your own answer to David 

 Yes, travel light. You'll go further and go quicker. But I would suggest taking a change of underwear just in case you get bogged down.

 There's always a reckoning. Sooner or later your lab work will come back. Sooner or later a doctor's office will be leaving you a voicemail in a serious tone of voice. Sooner or later your chickens will come home to roost. As Foghorn Leghorn would say, "I say, I say, boy, pay attention. Don't mix your metaphors and avoid intransitive verbs." Smart chicken, huh?

 The NBA Finals continue tonight in Dallas. You forgot? I am not surprised.

 No doubt Alito will continue to deny that he should recuse from cases involving the Jan. 6 insurrection or Donald Trump's efforts to overthrow democracy. But these comments are further proof that Alito should resign his position altogether. Despite Alito's claims to believe in "originalism" and insistence on interpreting the Constitution as "people would have understood it to mean at the time it was written," his comments show he rejects the basic tenets of our founding document. As imperfect as the Constitution is, its drafters did come up with an elegant pathway to the compromise Alito denies is possible. Alito only needs to reread the First Amendment, which offers the solution, even if he doesn't like it. 

As a refresher, since it seems it's been a while since Alito read it, the First Amendment forbids the government from "establishment of religion" or "prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Or, in modern parlance, when it comes to religion, you do you. If you, like the Alitos, have religious beliefs prohibiting homosexuality or abortion, well, lucky you! The government will not force you to be gay or abort a pregnancy. By the same token, if my belief system is more liberal and tolerant, then I'm also free to do gay stuff or have an abortion. Everyone can even hang flags declaring their views, and no, you aren't being "canceled" if someone doesn't like your particular flag. 

-Amanda Marcotte in Salon.com

No Compromise Possible - Perry Bacon, Jr. WaPOST

 Today’s fissure between liberals/Democrats/blue states and conservatives/Republicans/red states is deep and, as Alito says, in some ways intractable. The average voter in California does not have totally different views from the average voter in Wyoming. But white Christian nationalist, anti-critical race theory, anti-transgender activists and voters in Texas do hold views that are irreconcilable with those of New York leftists who believe that colonialism, patriarchy and white supremacy are the foundations on which America has been built.

We are not just in a “culture war” over whether people should read the New York Times’s 1619 Project or use the term “Latinx.” States run by Republicans make it very difficult to join a labor union or have an abortion. They strip power from liberal elected officials and sometimes remove them from office. A person with views shared by many White born-again Christians (opposition to abortion and gender-affirming care, that Black people would be as well off as White people on average if they worked harder) will almost never be elected to a powerful job in a blue state.

Most important, key figures who shape Republican Party policy act as though conservatives are in an existential war with the left. That includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Justice Clarence Thomas, activist Christopher Rufo and Trump advisers Russ Vought and Stephen Miller. If Trump returns to the White House, he has made clear that his administration would treat federal workers, left-wing college professors and students, and others whom conservatives don’t like as enemies of the state.

The media seem constantly surprised by the extremist actions of the Republican Party, such as nominating Trump for president again. But it’s not shocking that a political movement that believes it’s in a life-or-death struggle remains behind a man who has shown both deep commitments to the movement’s causes and a willingness to use any means necessary to win political fights.

There are two visions of America being advanced. Liberals are willing to compromise on some parts of theirs, but the most powerful conservatives aren’t looking to meet in the middle. The best way to lose a battle is to pretend it’s not happening — and unfortunately that’s what many prominent liberals and moderates are doing. 

 Speaking of Starbucks, someone at said place just told me that Nostradamus predicted the internet, along with Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Saranwrap. Awfully smart feller, that Nostradamus

 "I don't stick my neck out for nobody."

-Rick Blaine

By golly, I think the gin joint guy is on to something.

NOTE TO ALISTAIR #2 We are all creatures of habit. Develop good habits. Practice good habits. Stop at every stop sign. While driving do not get get into the habit of rolling nonstops. Stop! Show up on time. Do at least one kind thing a day that you don't have to do. Always do your best at every job and task. Always try to do the right thing. The more you practice doing the right thing, the more often you will do the right thing. Then you will have no regrets with a clean heart. You ARE the habits that you practice. 6-7-24

Dropped my pen. Bent over and picked it up risking my life. Got my exercise for the day.

We'll get there by and by. We'll understand it better one day by and by. Godot will show up by and by. When I paint my masterpiece by and by. It's doom alone that counts. It’ll all come out in the wash by and by. When a man looks up at the sky what doe he see? One day he will understand. By and by.

We'll get there by and by. We'll understand it better one day by and by. Godot will show up by and by. When I paint my masterpiece by and by. It's doom alone that counts. It’ll all come out in the wash by and by. When a man looks up at the sky what doe he see? One day he will understand. By and by.

Word comes that Columbia University has given their students the option of finishing their classes from prison. Congress is likely to extend the same option to Presidents, legislators, & Supreme Court judges in finishing their terms of office.

The Truth of Trump

JAMELLE BOUIE

The Truth of Trump Is Very Far From the Myth

June 5, 2024

Credit...Lucia Buricelli for The New York Times

By Jamelle Bouie

Opinion Columnist

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The myth of Donald Trump is that he is immune to scandal — that there’s nothing he could say or do that would undermine his political prospects. In this rendering of the Trump dynamic, his shamelessness helps him glide past controversy, and the unshakable devotion of his base keeps him afloat through the worst of storms.

The truth of Donald Trump is very far from the myth. Yes, he is shameless. Yes, he is surrounded by a cult of personality. But neither has made him invulnerable to the blows of political combat.

It would exhaust your time and my patience to do a full inventory of every scandal and offense that has marked Trump’s time in the national spotlight. But we don’t need to. The pattern is clear enough.

Trump did not shrug off the debacle of the “Access Hollywood” tape; his campaign came as close as it ever would to total collapse. He owes his survival to the ironclad partisanship of his Republican allies; without it, he would have sunk under the many waves of anger and condemnation. In the wake of his apologetics for the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in the summer of 2017, his already low standing crashed even further as voters turned away in disgust. And Trump was so shaken by the roar of outrage in opposition to family separation at the southern border that he rescinded the policy rather than risk the chance of a fatal blow to his presidency. Even minor scandals, like his derisive reference to “shithole countries,” forced both Trump and his White House into a defensive crouch. 

Michael J. Sandel -Justice

 Reread.

The author starts by introducing price gouging.  Is it fair and justifiable?

The Great Gatsby

One more time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Blauner - On the Couch : Writers Analyze Sigmund Freud

Original essays on Sigmund Freud by journalists.

All good.

 

 

From The New Republic

 

Convicted Felon Donald Trump Is Facing a Long and Daunting Road

Note to Alistair

 NOTE TO ALISTAIR

Find your creative talent whether it's writing, painting, making something, a flower garden, whatever you are led to do. Create something that's never existed before. Find your creative talent wherever it may lead.