Listening to Trump's babblings, it seems that he genuinely believes that Portland is burning (in so far as he believes anything at all). Apparently he thinks Fox reports which (maliciously) recycle video from 2020 are showing current events.
Like Biden, he's not all there after sunset. Unlike Biden, he's surrounded himself with people who are unwilling to put him right when he's confused.
One constitutional amendment which could conceivably get bipartisan support would be an upper age limit for presidents and vice-presidents. I suggest 66 at the scheduled inauguration date, with a sitting president being allowed regardless to run for re-election for a second term .
2025-10-05 11:44:11
That’s because you are seeing Republicans as people who have a different worldview and position, and trying to understand them in order to live with them as a part of your community. That’s not the way that the core of the GOP thinks about Democrats. To them we are not Americans with a different point of view that must be negotiated. To them we are not really Americans, and their job is to protect America from us.
Trump is evil, and Republicans who enable his malevolence are evil-doers. There is no room for compromise on this.
When I speak of civility, I do not mean that we should not speak frankly about what is wrong. I mean that people who do wrong are people nonetheless.
I disagree profoundly with Anthony Kennedy when he says that the Supreme Court minority should be more respectful in dissenting against the fascist-enabling majority's patently wrong rulings. I think the minority has shown remarkable restraint, which I would wish to emulate, while stating plainly what is right.
2025-10-04 23:00:29
...the base of the GOP has decided that Democrats, and Democratic voting states, are on the enemy side of the friend/enemy distinction.
I've decided that Trump-enabling Republicans, which is most of them, are the enemy of humanity in general, and the United States in particular. So you could "both sides" that one.
But I see no reason to be uncivil.
__
I am anti-fascist.
2025-10-04 19:39:12
One can't profitably debate anything with Trumpists - they don't believe in facts, or reason. But one be civil when explaining that.
I welcome CharlesWT's presence here. It's helpful to have someone to show us the evidence of unlawful behaviour by protesters in Portland. Before his comments, I had a slight concern that there might be facts I was unaware of which could shift my view: now I am sure there are not. Still, I'd welcome it if he were to acknowledge that what he's reported is a long, long way away from Trump's "the radical left's reign of terror" in a "war-ravaged" city.
2025-10-02 23:45:00
I’ve been listening to libertarians and right wing folks talking for decades – literally, for decades – about how they’re gonna rise up against government overreach and abuse of power.
When it actually arrives, nothing. Silence. Or open acquiescence.
This. Shame on them.
Have they forgotten what happens when fascists rule? How can anti-fascists be the people they fear?
I am anti-fascist.
2025-10-01 20:38:13
"War-ravaged"
2025-09-29 17:01:55
My son asked me at the weekend what this "Birthright Citizenship" case is about.
It's been my parenting practice to answer controversial questions as neutrally as possible. But the facts in this case are not neutral. And he's a grown-up now.
"Well," I explained, "the text of the 14th amendment says, with no ambiguity whatever, that anyone born in the US while not enjoying diplomatic protection becomes a citizen. Trump doesn't like that, because sometimes foreigners have children. The Supreme Court gets to rule on what the Constitution means. In this case the meaning is clear, but on the other hand the far right on the Court. which is two-thirds of them, likes to give Trump whatever he wants, so who knows what they'll do."
"That's ridiculous," said he.
"Alas," said I, "being ridiculous doesn't stop it happening. In the last week or so, and off the top of my head, Trump has done the following:
- used regulatory powers to bully a major television network into suspending a comedian indefinitely, because he made fun of Trump's obsession with building a White House ballroom.
- claimed $15bn in damages from the New York Times because they published a true account of Trump's bawdy birthday wishes to Epstein written twenty something years ago. But the 85-page lawsuit was mostly Trump boasting about how great he thinks he is, and contained no clear account of damage suffered, so the judge rejected it.
- made an incoherent speech to the UN complaining that its escalator didn't work properly, denying global warming, and saying that he could run every other country better than its current government. The assembled ambassadors seemed not to agree.
- held a press conference to proclaim an utterly absurd theory that acetaminophen, which he can't pronounce, causes autism, throwing in further nonsense about the purported importance of giving infants more vaccine injections rather than fewer.
- had James Comey, formerly director of the FBI, indicted for perjury. The case is so weak that he couldn't find anyone in the DoJ willing to bring the charges, and had to appoint a lawyer with no experience as a prosecutor to do it.
- announced on social media that he's sending troops into Portland, Oregon, which he described as "war-ravaged". The city itself, which filmed reports show as boringly peaceful, doesn't want them.
- fired, or attempted to fire, Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board, in defiance of the letter and spirit of the Federal Reserve Act, which says he can't do it (this one is going to the Supreme Court also, so again who knows what will happen).
- boasted that he's brought about peace between 'Aberbaijan' and Albania, and also between Armenia and Cambodia.
I thought it worth listing these things (there may be others just as bad I left out) because we're becoming numb to the extent of Trump's abuse of power, and the stupidity and ignorance he brings to it. It's incomprehensible to the rest of the world that the Republican Party is content to go along with it.
Listening to Trump's babblings, it seems that he genuinely believes that Portland is burning (in so far as he believes anything at all). Apparently he thinks Fox reports which (maliciously) recycle video from 2020 are showing current events.
Like Biden, he's not all there after sunset. Unlike Biden, he's surrounded himself with people who are unwilling to put him right when he's confused.
One constitutional amendment which could conceivably get bipartisan support would be an upper age limit for presidents and vice-presidents. I suggest 66 at the scheduled inauguration date, with a sitting president being allowed regardless to run for re-election for a second term .
That’s because you are seeing Republicans as people who have a different worldview and position, and trying to understand them in order to live with them as a part of your community. That’s not the way that the core of the GOP thinks about Democrats. To them we are not Americans with a different point of view that must be negotiated. To them we are not really Americans, and their job is to protect America from us.
Trump is evil, and Republicans who enable his malevolence are evil-doers. There is no room for compromise on this.
When I speak of civility, I do not mean that we should not speak frankly about what is wrong. I mean that people who do wrong are people nonetheless.
I disagree profoundly with Anthony Kennedy when he says that the Supreme Court minority should be more respectful in dissenting against the fascist-enabling majority's patently wrong rulings. I think the minority has shown remarkable restraint, which I would wish to emulate, while stating plainly what is right.
...the base of the GOP has decided that Democrats, and Democratic voting states, are on the enemy side of the friend/enemy distinction.
I've decided that Trump-enabling Republicans, which is most of them, are the enemy of humanity in general, and the United States in particular. So you could "both sides" that one.
But I see no reason to be uncivil.
__
I am anti-fascist.
One can't profitably debate anything with Trumpists - they don't believe in facts, or reason. But one be civil when explaining that.
I welcome CharlesWT's presence here. It's helpful to have someone to show us the evidence of unlawful behaviour by protesters in Portland. Before his comments, I had a slight concern that there might be facts I was unaware of which could shift my view: now I am sure there are not. Still, I'd welcome it if he were to acknowledge that what he's reported is a long, long way away from Trump's "the radical left's reign of terror" in a "war-ravaged" city.
I’ve been listening to libertarians and right wing folks talking for decades – literally, for decades – about how they’re gonna rise up against government overreach and abuse of power.
When it actually arrives, nothing. Silence. Or open acquiescence.
This. Shame on them.
Have they forgotten what happens when fascists rule? How can anti-fascists be the people they fear?
I am anti-fascist.
"War-ravaged"
My son asked me at the weekend what this "Birthright Citizenship" case is about.
It's been my parenting practice to answer controversial questions as neutrally as possible. But the facts in this case are not neutral. And he's a grown-up now.
"Well," I explained, "the text of the 14th amendment says, with no ambiguity whatever, that anyone born in the US while not enjoying diplomatic protection becomes a citizen. Trump doesn't like that, because sometimes foreigners have children. The Supreme Court gets to rule on what the Constitution means. In this case the meaning is clear, but on the other hand the far right on the Court. which is two-thirds of them, likes to give Trump whatever he wants, so who knows what they'll do."
"That's ridiculous," said he.
"Alas," said I, "being ridiculous doesn't stop it happening. In the last week or so, and off the top of my head, Trump has done the following:
- used regulatory powers to bully a major television network into suspending a comedian indefinitely, because he made fun of Trump's obsession with building a White House ballroom.
- claimed $15bn in damages from the New York Times because they published a true account of Trump's bawdy birthday wishes to Epstein written twenty something years ago. But the 85-page lawsuit was mostly Trump boasting about how great he thinks he is, and contained no clear account of damage suffered, so the judge rejected it.
- made an incoherent speech to the UN complaining that its escalator didn't work properly, denying global warming, and saying that he could run every other country better than its current government. The assembled ambassadors seemed not to agree.
- held a press conference to proclaim an utterly absurd theory that acetaminophen, which he can't pronounce, causes autism, throwing in further nonsense about the purported importance of giving infants more vaccine injections rather than fewer.
- had James Comey, formerly director of the FBI, indicted for perjury. The case is so weak that he couldn't find anyone in the DoJ willing to bring the charges, and had to appoint a lawyer with no experience as a prosecutor to do it.
- announced on social media that he's sending troops into Portland, Oregon, which he described as "war-ravaged". The city itself, which filmed reports show as boringly peaceful, doesn't want them.
- fired, or attempted to fire, Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board, in defiance of the letter and spirit of the Federal Reserve Act, which says he can't do it (this one is going to the Supreme Court also, so again who knows what will happen).
- boasted that he's brought about peace between 'Aberbaijan' and Albania, and also between Armenia and Cambodia.
I thought it worth listing these things (there may be others just as bad I left out) because we're becoming numb to the extent of Trump's abuse of power, and the stupidity and ignorance he brings to it. It's incomprehensible to the rest of the world that the Republican Party is content to go along with it.