Israel/Palestine, et al. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: “Israel on Sunday launched its heaviest wave of attacks on Gaza since a fragile cease-fire took hold a week ago and said it was temporarily suspending humanitarian aid to the territory after accusing Hamas of firing on its forces and violating the truce. The aid was halted because of the intensity of the Israeli strikes, and was expected to resume once the bombing was over, according to an Israeli official.... Israeli officials had initially said that humanitarian aid would be suspended until further notice, but later appeared to step back from that decision. Israel said two of its soldiers were killed on Sunday when Palestinian militants attacked forces who were operating in an area where the Israeli military is allowed to be under the cease-fire agreement. The deaths prompted a strong response. Gaza’s health ministry initially reported 14 Palestinian deaths across the territory on Sunday.”
Chris Megerian, et al., of the AP: “The United States will slash assistance to Colombia because its leader, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production, ... Donald Trump said Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America. In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as 'an illegal drug leader' who is “low rated and very unpopular.” The Republican president warned that Petro 'better close up' drug operations 'or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.' Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest U.S. strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying 'substantial amounts of narcotics.' He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group — the National Liberation Army, or ELN — that has been in conflict with Petro’s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday.... [On social media, Petro] suggested that Trump was being deceived by his advisers, described himself as 'the main enemy' of drugs in his country and said Trump was being 'rude and ignorant toward Colombia.'” ~~~
~~~ Ana Faguy & Kathryn Armstrong of BBC News: Donald Trump's social media "comments come after [Colombian President Gustavo] Petro accused the US of committing 'murder' when it carried out a military strike on a boat in Colombian territorial waters in September. The move is the latest in a string of escalating tensions between the US and countries in Latin America, as the US military continues to strike ships in the Caribbean Sea it alleges carry drugs.... Petro has said the US violated his country's sovereignty killing a Colombian fisherman with its September attack. Posting on social media, he said: 'The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure,' when it was struck. He added: 'We await explanations from the US government.... Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing...."
Marie: If you want to know what the POTUS* thinks of us, here's a Short AI video he posted. Thanks to RAS for the link. As RAS says, "Sometimes he does get it right." akaWendy calls Trump's fantasy "appalling." There is something terribly wrong with him. ~~~
~~~ This was apparently too much for the Gray Lady, so upon arising from her fainting couch she assigned the appropriately-surnamed Jenny Gross to cover the atrocity: ~~~
~~~ Jenny Gross of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has posted a fake video on social media that showed him wearing a crown and flying a jet labeled 'King Trump' that dumps brown liquid on protesters.... The White House on Saturday also posted on social media an A.I.-generated image of Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance wearing crowns. 'Have a good night, everyone,' the post said, with the crown emoji.” MB: It sure would have been nice if Gross had solicited some reactions from prominent Republicans, like, say, JayDee. I really want to hear their labored excuses for dumping shit on half the country. ~~~
~~~ Oh, I guess that won't be happening: ~~~
~~~ Julianne McShane of Mother Jones: “On Bluesky, [JD] Vance posted an AI video of Trump wearing a king’s crown and pulling out a sword as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bows down to him, set to the song 'Hail to the King.' The Department of Transportation, very bizarrely, posted illustrations of [Chuck] Schumer and [Hakeem] Jeffries dressed as Disney princesses, alongside the caption, 'No Kings!!'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: What an unprecedented embarrassment to this country these petty tyrants are. Won't some reporter at least ask meekly, "Mr. President*, isn't is rather unseemly for the President* of the United States to highlight video of himself dropping shit on Americans? And as a follow-up, how does such a hateful display fit into your qualifications for the Nobel Peace Prize?"
Marie: Recently, I have seen a number of articles that together make the point that the following NYT article does. I intended to put together the articles, but this NYT story kind of does the job for me: ~~~
~~~ Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: “The divide between rich and poor is hardly new.... But it has become more pronounced in recent months. Wealthier Americans, buoyed by a stock market that keeps setting records, have continued to spend freely. Lower-income households — stung by persistent inflation and navigating a labor market that is losing momentum — are pulling back. The top 10 percent of U.S. households now account for nearly half of all spending, Moody’s Analytics recently estimated, the highest share since the late 1980s. Consumer sentiment has climbed among high earners but steadily fallen for other groups. 'This isn’t just an inequality story — it’s a macroeconomic story,' said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive policy group. 'As the wealthy continue to consume, that’s masking more and more insecurity and instability in the economy under the hood.'”
France. Aurelien Breeden, et al., of the New York Times: “Thieves made off with jewelry of 'incalculable' value in a brazen daylight robbery on Sunday at the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to France’s interior minister. The heist unfolded around 9:30 a.m. Laurent Nuñez, the interior minister, told France Inter radio that the thieves had used a lift mechanism on a truck — typically used to move furniture into Parisian apartments through the windows — to break into the Galerie d’Apollon, a second-floor wing of the museum. The Apollon Gallery’s gilded hall holds the royal collection of gems and the crown diamonds.... The thieves broke into two display cases and snatched jewels before fleeing on motor scooters with their loot — all within just seven minutes, according to Mr. Nuñez. He did not specify what exactly had been stolen, but said the jewelry had 'patrimonial' and 'historical' value that made it 'priceless.'”
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ Rachel Leingang & Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “Millions of people have turned out for the No Kings protests, the second iteration of a coalition that marched in June in one of the largest days of protest in US history.... The rallies are a turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats seemed at a loss as to how to counter Republicans’ grip of the White House and both houses of Congress after stinging national election losses.... In Chicago, at Grant Park’s Butler Field, at least 10,000 people assembled, many with signs opposing federal immigration agents or mocking Trump.... More than 200,000 Washington DC-area residents rallied near the US Capitol. In many cities, protesters wore inflatable animal costumes – a Dada-esque theme created during immigration enforcement protests in Portland, Oregon, to counter the administration’s narrative of a city under the grip of lawlessness and chaos.... In Georgia, at least 10,000 people had filled the field of the Atlanta Civic Center in preparation for a march to the state capital by mid-morning.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Corina Knoll of the New York Times: “They were teachers and lawyers, military veterans and fired government employees. Children and grandmothers, students and retirees. Arriving in droves across the country in major cities and small towns, they appeared in costumes, blared music, brandished signs, hoisted American flags and cheered at the honks of passing cars. The vibe in most places was irreverent but peaceful and family-friendly. The purpose, however, was focused. Each crowd, everywhere, shared the same mantra: No kings. Collectively, the daylong mass demonstration against the Trump administration on Saturday, held in thousands of locations, condemned a president that the protesters view as acting like a monarch.... In major metropolitan areas, like Washington, D.C., the crowds were huge. A rally in Atlanta that drew thousands at one point covered three city blocks. A protest in San Francisco poured across five. One rally in Chicago stretched over 22.” (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has photos & some video here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mike Pesoli, et al., of the AP: “Large crowds of protesters marched and rallied in cities across the U.S. Saturday for 'No Kings' demonstrations decrying what participants see as the government’s swift drift into authoritarianism under ... Donald Trump. People carrying signs with slogans such as 'Nothing is more patriotic than protesting' or 'Resist Fascism' packed into New York City’s Times Square and rallied by the thousands in parks in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. Demonstrators marched through Washington and downtown Los Angeles and picketed outside capitols in several Republican-led states, a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and at hundreds of smaller public spaces. Trump’s Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as 'Hate America' rallies, but in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, huge banners with the U.S. Constitution’s 'We The People' preamble that people could sign, and demonstrators wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.” (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers: “Our median estimate is that 4.2 million people participated in a No Kings Day demonstration somewhere in the country on Saturday, with an upper bound of 7.6 million people. We provide an 'estimate' and not a 'count' because we are making predictions of turnout in protest sites where official records are still missing. Our estimate is based on reports from local officials, local organizers, and attendees, and suggests the count from organizers — who report 7 million participants nationwide — may be a bit optimistic (but is not impossible). Still, regardless of whether the precise number is 5, 6, 7, or 8 million, Saturday’s events are very likely the biggest single-day protest event since 1970, surpassing even the 2017 Women’s March demonstrations against Trump.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe I should mention that for all of Trump's boasting about his popularity and his "mandate," there have never been rallies for Trump that came even close to the number of people who have rallied against him. ~~~
~~~ Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “Republican voices were mostly silent as No Kings rallies and marches against Trump administration policies unfurled on Saturday, many in the spirit of a street party that countered the 'hate America' depiction advanced by senior members of the party. Instead of provocation, there were marching bands, huge banners with 'we the people' references to the US constitution, and protesters wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance.... The relative silence of Republican leaders on Saturday came in contrast with efforts last week to preview the second No Kings day as a 'hate America' day populated by Hamas sympathizers and a reason why Democrats were delaying an agreement to end the government shutdown, now on its 18th day.”
~~~ Olivia Aldridge of KUT Austin reports on the scene in Austin, Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott was so askeert of the "Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens & violent criminals" that he sent in officers from every law enforcement organization he controlled, including the Texas Rangers. Thanks to akaWendy for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler participated in the No Kings rally in Dublin, Ireland, where "No Kings rings a bit different...."
Heather Cox Richardson: "Today, millions of Americans and their allies turned out across the United States and around the globe to demonstrate their commitment to American democracy and their opposition to a president and an administration apparently bent on replacing that democracy with a dictatorship.... Together, [the rallies] demonstrate that the administration’s claims to popularity are a lie. Such a high turnout means businesses and institutions that thought they must cater to the administration to appeal to a majority of Americans will be forced to recalculate." ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “Today’s protesters ... are standing for nothing less than the anti-royal and republican foundations of American democracy. For the leaders of the Republican Party, however, these aren’t citizens exercising their fundamental right to dissent but subversives out to undermine the fabric of the nation.... House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he expected to see 'Hamas supporters,' 'antifa types' and 'Marxists' on 'full display.' People, he said without a touch of irony, 'who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.'... To the degree that major protests could undermine the administration’s ability to exert political authority, it makes a whole lot of sense for Republicans and the White House to spend their energy attacking the No Kings movement. And this ... should serve as an important reminder ... that for all its boasts and bluster, [the administration] knows as well as anyone that the president is unpopular and that his administration is vulnerable.”
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Rachel Parsons of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance watched with pride on Saturday as Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major freeway in Southern California, calling the demonstration a 'testament to the corps’ strength and unbeatable power.' Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of the state, deemed it an 'absurd show of force' and 'dangerous.' Mr. Vance used a speech in front of hundreds of Marines to attack Democrats over the government shutdown, referring to the impasse as the 'Schumer shutdown.'... What the White House had initially planned as a celebration of the country’s 250th birthday and of the might of the Marines became half of a revealing split-screen: As the likely heir of Mr. Trump’s political movement showcased the power of the military over the objections of a state governor, thousands of people across the country protested a president they accused of using his power like a king....
“While the Trump administration argued that the exercise was routine, representatives for the Marine Corps did not answer questions about how many times it had previously fired live munitions over the California freeway.Before the M777 howitzers fired from Red Beach at Camp Pendleton, California officials closed Interstate 5, the heavily traveled corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego, for hours. The state said it had made the decision because of potential hazards from the demonstration. The Marines initially planned to fire multiple rounds from Red Beach east over the highway. But the exercise was eventually scaled back, effectively a compromise amid the dispute between federal and state officials.”
~~~ Marie: If JayDee knew how to vice-president, he would not have made an overtly political speech at a military base. He's still a hillbilly.
Taped in Portland, Oregon, about a week ago. Thank you, Portland. Thank you, Woody: ~~~
~~~ And thank you, Jeanne, Akhilleus & akaWendy. (See their comments at the end of yesterday's thread.)
Quinta Jurecic of the Atlantic: “Idealism helped motivate Trump’s opponents during his first term. But it has the potential to carry even more weight during his second, given how the president’s anti-democratic project is not as constrained as it was the first time around. As [Ezra] Levin of Indivisible told me, 'The real enemy in an authoritarian breakthrough moment is nihilism and cynicism and fatalism.' This idea was a regular subject of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who famously argued that totalitarian regimes depend on eroding their subjects’ sense of political possibility. Such governments, she wrote, aim not 'to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.'” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jacob Silverman in a New York Times op-ed: “While campaigning, Mr. Trump announced his cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial, and, just days
before his inauguration, his namesake memecoin. Anyone can indirectly
deliver money to a Trump family entity simply by buying World Liberty’s
tokens. Mr. Trump and his family have accrued billions of dollars in
paper wealth through crypto ventures owned by the president, his sons
and family friends. With World
Liberty, Trump has created a powerful vehicle for those seeking
influence. Anyone ... can put money in his
pocket by simply buying the tokens the company issues.... For influence peddlers, bags of cash and Swiss bank
accounts have been replaced by crypto tokens that can be quickly
shuttled between digital wallets and cryptocurrency exchanges.... It’s precisely these conveniences that have also made crypto a favored tool of criminal organizations and sanctions evaders.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before.... In another era (in other words, a few years ago), we would have already had congressional hearings and law enforcement investigations into the president’s crypto business interests. But the Supreme Court’s recent decision related to presidential immunity signals that such moves could end up being practically superfluous.”
Maia Coleman of the New York Times: “In the hours after ... [Donald] Trump’s announcement that he had commuted the prison sentence of George Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman, New York politicians and some voters greeted the news with a mix of anger and frustration. 'George Santos is a convicted con artist,' Representative Nicole Malliotakis, a New York Republican, said in a statement on Saturday. 'That will forever be his legacy, and I disagree with the commutation.' Robert Zimmerman, a Democrat who lost to Mr. Santos in a 2022 congressional race, said in a post on social media that 'this decision demonstrates the lawlessness of the Trump administration.... Donald Trump is trying to put his political enemies in jail while he frees George Santos for the unconscionable crimes he committed,' he added.”
Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: “Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call this past week with ... Donald Trump demanded that Kyiv surrender full control of Donetsk, a strategically vital region in eastern Ukraine, as a condition for ending the war, said two senior officials.... Putin has tried and failed to conquer the territory for 11 years.... Putin’s focus on Donetsk suggests he is not backing away from past demands that have left the conflict in a stalemate, despite Trump’s optimism about securing a deal....”
Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has decided to repatriate two survivors of a deadly U.S. strike this week on suspected drug runners in the Caribbean Sea rather than prosecute them or hold them in military detention, people with knowledge of the matter said on Saturday. The men who survived were being returned to their home countries, Colombia and Ecuador, the people ... said.... It was not clear if the government of either nation would prosecute the men upon their return, or simply release them.... [Donald] Trump has previously described people aboard suspected drug-smuggling boats, which the United States has targeted in several deadly airstrikes since early September, as 'unlawful combatants.' He has claimed the authority, widely disputed by legal experts, to summarily kill such suspects in military strikes as if they were enemy soldiers in a war. It was a sharp break from the traditional handling of maritime smuggling, in which the Coast Guard would intercept boats and arrest people if suspicions proved accurate.” MB: They really don't know WTF they're doing. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Konstantin Toropin & Chris Megerian of the AP: “The two survivors of an American military strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean will be sent to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries..., Donald Trump said Saturday. The military rescued the pair after striking a submersible vessel Thursday, in what was at least the sixth such attack since early September.”
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: The Pentagon's “crackdown on reporting supposedly would protect [sensitive] information, even though the secretary himself [-- Pete Hegseth --] personifies the motto 'loose lips sink ships.'... And Hegseth, the former weekend Fox News anchor, does not like how the media covered him as he ascended — utterly unqualified and looking like the third lead of a cheesy spring-break movie. As The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer wrote at the time, a trail of documents indicated that Hegseth was dumped from prior leadership positions for financial mismanagement, sexist behavior and drinking on the job. His tenure at the Pentagon has been marked by chaos as he pushed out several top Black and female leaders and derided 'fat troops' and 'fat generals.' Knowing he’s in over his head, Hegseth has grown more paranoid and resentful....”
John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: “In the days before the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador, the president of that country demanded ... the return of nine MS-13 gang leaders in U.S. custody. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a March 13 phone call with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, promised the request would be fulfilled, according to officials familiar with the conversation. But there was one obstacle: Some of the MS-13 members Bukele wanted were 'informants' under the protection of the U.S. government, Rubio told him.... He assured Bukele that [Attorney General Pam] Bondi would ... [terminate the DOJ's deals with the informants] and Washington would hand over the MS-13 leaders.... In promising to terminate the informant arrangements, current and former Justice Department officials say Rubio threatened to undercut years of work by U.S. law enforcement to apprehend and secure the cooperation of high-ranking members of one of the world’s most deadly gangs.... Rubio’s extraordinary pledge illustrates the extent to which the Trump administration was willing to meet Bukele’s demands....” Read on. The link is a gift link, and Little Marco has cleared his path to Dante's Ninth Circle.
Anna Schecter of CBS News: "The rules of engagement for federal agents amid ... [Donald] Trump's immigration crackdown have come under scrutiny.... From vehicle crashes to forceful takedowns, encounters with federal agents captured on cellphone video have gone viral amid the crackdown. Recent incidents have involved ICE as well as U.S. Border Patrol, whose agents are trained to catch drug traffickers and human smugglers in the deserts along the U.S. southern border. Now, though, many of those Border Patrol agents have been deployed on the streets of cities like Chicago. 'What strikes me immediately is how this administration has put these agents in a terrible position,' John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE, told CBS News. '... These are units that are designed to address high-risk threats and bring overwhelming force to bear.... I blame the administration for putting agents, who are trained in this manner, in a city where they don't belong."
Marie: We already have a king. Now I think we have a self-crowned queen, too. And it isn't Melanie. ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The Department of Homeland Security has purchased two Gulfstream private jets for Kristi Noem, the secretary, and other top department officials at a cost of $172 million.... The jets, which a department official said were needed for safety, are the latest expenditures on behalf of Ms. Noem to draw scrutiny from Democrats and other critics who have noted her lavish spending ... during her time in public life.... It was not immediately clear where the funding for the jets came from. In a letter..., Representatives Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, and Lauren Underwood of Illinois, the top Democrat overseeing its homeland security panel, asked Ms. Noem to 'clarify the funding source.'... [Ms. Noem] faced criticism this year from Democrats for staying rent-free at the waterfront home reserved for the Coast Guard’s commandant, as reported by the Washington Post, which also noted her frequent use of the Coast Guard’s private jet for personal travel.... [A spokeswoman] said the secretary had paid 'tens of thousands of dollars' to reimburse the government for personal travel on the jet after the publication of the Post story.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jordain Carney & Ry Rivard of Politico: “The IRS recently filed notices of a federal tax lien against Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia — the latest example of ongoing financial troubles that have trailed the former governor, members of his family and their network of businesses over the years. One of the documents from the IRS ... lists Justice and his wife, Cathy, as having a total balance of more than $8 million in unpaid assessments.... The tax periods listed on the latest IRS document are 2009, 2017 and 2022, the first of which was before Justice was governor and all of which were before he announced his Senate bid.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't see how someone can pretend to be an upstanding representative of the people when he owes $8MM in back taxes, some dating back more than a decade. (I wonder how JayDee will brush that off? Elderly indiscretion?)
Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: “Sir David Attenborough became the oldest person to win a Daytime Emmy on Friday, when he took home the award at age 99. Attenborough, the British naturalist and broadcaster who will turn 100 in May, broke the record set last year by Dick Van Dyke, who at 98 won for an appearance on 'Days of Our Lives.' Attenborough secured the Emmy for outstanding daytime personality — nondaily, for his work on Netflix’s 'Secret Lives of Orangutans.' The 52nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were held in Pasadena, Calif. Attenborough ... did not attend the ceremony, according to The Associated Press.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
14 comments:
The CBS package linked at the top this morning is “largely” okay. It would have been much better except for the requisite bit of both sides bullshit at the very end where the reporter says that the massive No Kings rallies were “largely peaceful”. The VO at the very top of the piece said there were no arrests, anywhere. 7 million people in hundreds of locations, with cops and national guard troops and Texas Rangers and probably ICE goons just itching for a single person to stub a toe and get out of line, but not one arrest.
I’d say that qualifies as entirely peaceful. Still, CBS felt the need to give MAGAts a tiny bit of comfort by suggesting that things weren’t all that.
We had Trumpies throw stuff at us hoping for a response, with video cameras at the ready to capture the horrible, violent reaction of the Antifa, George Soros-paid mob. All they got were laughs and waves.
Sometimes he does get it right.
"Trump posts AI video showing him literally dumping shit on America"
Does the comment above sound like a kvetch? Good. It is. But to paraphrase longtime federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, who produces the Justice Matters podcast, accuracy matters. And in this time of curtsying to catastrophic fascism, it matters more than ever.
See, all it takes is a little smirk or a raised eyebrow or tiny head shake from a TV anchor to almost completely neutralize the most accurate and honest report about the current horrific abuses by a fat grifting king and his court of sleazy goons.
But it was nice to see that there were No Kings rallies in several European capitals, including Dublin. As Marcy Wheeler (who lives there) reported, the Irish have a long memory of battling kings (and queens), and getting shot for it. If you check out her blog post, don’t miss the picture of guy in a sombrero and big mustache. Haha. Up yours, Ted Cruz.
I’m guessing the Fatty hacks now serving as ambassadors in those capitals must have wondered if it would be okay to shoot uppity protesters outside their fancy ambassadorial digs. I was about to say that all you have to do now to merit an ambassadorship is to be a Trump golfing buddy, but then I thought I’d better check (accuracy matters), so I looked up the Fatty ambassador to Ireland, Edward S. Walsh. Sure enough, upon being appointed, Fat Hitler named this guy’s number one qualification: “He’s a great golfer”.
You can’t make this shit up.
It's Sunday, so another two-parter:
Trump Civics
I don’t know if many people speak to their long-dead fathers, but I do. Not every day, but often enough to remind me of the large presence he was in my young life.
My father was a conservative small-town businessman with strong opinions. Too strong, my mother thought, for someone whose business relied on customers he shouldn’t offend. But that didn’t always stop him. He may have muted his opinions when talking to some, but willing ears soon learned exactly what he thought about education, political figures and local and national government.
Though as I grew older our politics widely diverged, I undoubtedly remain my father’s son. Education and politics interest me, too, so when I read that as the nation’s 250th anniversary approaches, the Trump administration will be creating a new civics curriculum for use in our schools, I heard my father’s voice repeating his frequent 1960’s complaint that schools no longer teach civics.
Today, I wish I could ask him what he meant when he said that. Although I never had a course labeled “Civics,” my schooling did teach me how our government was supposed to work. By the time I was in old enough to drive, I knew I lived in a constitutional republic, and that the three branches of our national government, Congress, the Executive and the Supreme Court, were designed to enact the will of the people while simultaneously preventing any one of those branches from amassing too much power. I also knew that before the Constitution was adopted by the states in 1789, the Founders added a Bill of Rights to protect minority opinions and people from government overreach. During the Cold War, about the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when we were told that we would be better off Dead than Red, my high school required we take a short course on the differences between our democratic form of government and that of the dictatorial Soviet and Chinese communists. The message was very clear. Americans had much to be grateful for, and I was.
Later, in the high schools where I taught, American government was required for seniors. In La Conner, that course had students attending government meetings, court sessions, and participating in political campaigns. The school also offered an excellent and popular elective on constitutional law. Those courses weren’t titled “civics,” but I’d like to think they were what my father had in mind.
So, what will the promised “Trump Civics” look like? Though not yet written, the signs are there. If it approaches civics the way it has American history, we can expect a “my country right or wrong” course that will celebrate a triumphant America, while closing its eyes to our many imperfections.
In September, the U. S. Department of Education " …redirected $137 million initially meant for programs aimed at minority students toward what it described as developing a “patriotic education” through the introduction of a K-12 “American history and civics curriculum….” (nytimes.com).
The goal of patriotic civics, per govfact.org, is to produce “a loyal citizen with a strong sense of national identity and a commitment to cherishing and defending American principles.” Sounds good, doesn’t it?
cont.....
But what will those Trump principles be? A recent National Security Presidential Memorandum issued after the Charlie Kirk assassination identifies some, saying “common threads animating this violence (sic) conduct…” are “anti-capitalism and anti-Christian views… extremism on race, gender or migration (all conveniently undefined), and hostility toward individuals who hold traditional views on family, religion and morality…” (newsweek.com), a list that blames political violence exclusively on views the Right doesn’t like. Notably absent in the memorandum is any mention of the violent assault on the Capitol fueled by Trump’s 2020 election lies.
A presidential suggestion that Christianity is our national religion and capitalism too sacred to be criticized flies in the face of the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech and raises questions about the possible content of “Trump Civics.” Trump’s demand that Republicans re-district their states to further dilute the effect of Democratic votes invites doubt about the place of democracy in the new curriculum. And calling Democrats “insurrectionists” (axios.com), and deploying the military to Democrat-governed cities under the pretext that they are in rebellion (nytimes.com) prompt serious questions about “Trump Civics”, too.
We’ll soon have the answers. Will Trump’s patriotic civics be heavy on promoting unquestioning loyalty to a Trump-defined America, or will it teach our youth that America is a work in progress and show them how to participate thoughtfully and civilly in self-governance?
When I asked my Republican father which “civics” he’d prefer, I met only silence.
I recently watched a YouTube video about the history of Hawaii before we 'civilized'
it. One interesting fact was about crime. If someone was convicted of a crime and
was sentenced to prison, or to be hanged, or before a firing squad (arrows?) then
the whole immediate family received the same punishment.
Did you hear that Eric, Jr., Ivanka, Melanie?
How appalling (but symbolically accurate) is it that T**** would show himself bombing citizens with shit...
David French wrote that Trump Is Dragging Us Down to His Level even before that latest insult.
"There’s a larger story here. When you combine all the elements — yet another Republican racism scandal, death wishes from a Democratic politician, Vance’s decision to excuse the inexcusable — you can see the ways in which 10 years of Trumpism has twisted the American soul."
^gift link
A short clip posted on Threads shows a drone view of the crowd leaving the capitol grounds yesterday. No Kings Day
Wendy,
I like French when he doesn't get too wrapped up in his religion but thought he misled this AM when he foisted too much blame on the Pretender for the state of our present politics.
Commented thusly:
It's a symbiosis.
Sure, Trump has no redeeming social or moral qualities, and his presence and behavior do give permission for others to behave there same way. But it's only a permission that reveals the nastiness and baseness that his supporters already possess.
When you are racist, intolerant, ignorant, and/or credulous, and think the size of your bank account establishes your worth as a human being, you are MAGA material whether you know it or not and were/are ripe for Trump's picking and plucking.
Could have added that maggots depend of offal, and when it comes to MAGA and Trump, it's hard to tell them apart....but that might have been too much for the Times...
Ken - I can see your point, but isn't permission (or lack of it) a powerful motivator? Of course, as a former teacher, you must know better than most on that question.T**** always deflects responsibility for every single thing, but as POTUS*, he, more than anyone (even Faux news), sets the tone and encourages the same nastiness from his party and supporters. The supporters might have been ripe for the plucking, but he has been winding them up for decades.
Ken Winkes
11:51 AM (7 minutes ago)
to akaWendy
No argument.
Just thought French gave the FF too much credit for the nation's simmering moral failures. And the Pretender may be more egregious, but he's hardly the first Republican to do the winding. It's a long list.
The most bizarre thing about that video of DiJiT in his crap-o-fighter is that he ever in his life could manage the control it takes to fly anything like that. He'd be a heap of flaming rubble at the end of the apron.
Also, that he could wedge into it at all.
Birthday vs F U Party
Oops, who could have seen that coming?
"A 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated, dropping fragments of the shell on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and motorcycle that were part of Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, according to a patrol report.
No officers were hurt in the mishap, which dropped shrapnel onto the vehicles parked on a ramp to a major freeway that had been ordered closed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor had objected to the plan to fire over the freeway, Interstate 5, and ordered a 17-mile stretch closed — against the guidance of military officials, who had said it was safe for it to remain open."
Gee...I thought Fat Hitler fixed everything in Gaza....
They're still shooting? Bibi is still killing Palestinians (you know he was never gonna give THAT up, that's his drug of choice).
i guess that Piece Plan wasn't so hot after all. Fatty will never figure out that actually ending wars is more than a photo op and blustery self-aggrandizing social media posts. Oh, wait. What's that? It's Biden's fault? Yeah, he took time away from his cancer treatments to reboot the war. Got it. Cuz it's never Fatty's fault.
Details matter. Before you run around shouting "Where's my Nobel?", maybe you should take care of business on the ground.
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