I am a diehard liberal, but I appreciate the existence of people with opposing views because I am old enough to know that I am not always right about everything, and governance should be approached with humility. It is so sad to me that so many people with “opposing views” are finding that they have to vote “with me” because their own political party has been hijacked by extremists. I am deeply grateful for these Republicans voting for VP Harris even though they wouldn’t otherwise, and I just want you to know, Mr. Sykes, that I look forward to the day when we can all once again vociferously debate policy and God and everything else while also trusting that the system of governance we rely on — our democracy — will endure regardless of our disagreements.
My hope is that Kelly's revelation now will make a slight impact on the margins. The Access Hollywood tapes eliminated any hope for traditional outrage at such disqualifying behavior. However, perhaps this latest information might cause a few people to change their minds.
My dad, at 19, was a ball turret gunner in B-17. He returned home to finish college on the GI Bill, cast his 1st vote for Ike, marry my mom, start his own business &, in the early '60's become the Republican chair of his precinct in Houston.
My dad was all about character & he didn't just talk. Twice I remember him being in situations where he stood up and almost lost everything as a result of refusing to put character second to anything. He never regretted it.
He left his beloved Republican party when it "swiftboated" John Kerry. He believed that using a veteran's honorable service against him was a first in U.S. politics. He predicted that it would lead the party & perhaps the country to ruin. Prescient.
The church was packed the afternoon of my dad's memorial service in 2005. I knew many there but it was those that I didn't know that impressed me most. They told me stories of something kind or essential, even life-saving my dad had done for them. They weren't his wealthy friends & business acquaintances but were people who had seen his obituary & chose to ride a bus to a church in a neighborhood that many might find intimidating. My dad, each explained, had done a little something (or a big something) that changed their lives. My dad didn't do it for a win, publicity or for any reason that MAGA might recognize.
Sorry for my long story but this morning I opened my phone to read The Economist's "prediction" that if the electtion were held today, Trump has a 53% chance of winning. I am, for he 1st time, verklempt. This stuff is hard. What is so bad about our great country that would cause so many to vote in a facist autocrat to end our great American experiment?! Then I "felt"my dad. Sure, he'd be appalled that a make-up wearing personality-disordered narcissist with a Churchill distaining running mate was a major-party nominee. But he'd tell me not to become like them, to put my head down and continue to do the work and to find gratitude for all I have.
In tribute to my dad, in gratitude for the integrity and character you've shown throughout these incomprehensible years, I am grateful, Charlie. You're a light in the darkness & often remind me of my dad. I am glad we're on the same team. It gives me hope on this dark day.
Watching Governor Sununu say those things on CNN with a disingenuous smirk on his face made me feel like I was going to throw up. His type is as dangerous as Donald Trump. He is either a bystander who just wants to look the other way or a willing co-conspirator.
Either is a violation of his oath of office.
I can’t even believe CNN puts him on air…oh wait…yes I can
This is my first comment here. I began following you because of your wife's Substack, and I enjoy both because to me, you are each quite relatable. I'm beyond flabbergasted, gobsmacked, and heartsick that after so much more awfulness has come out about Trump, he still has unwavering support by enough of the population that this election is predicted to be within a hair's breadth. I'm incredibly disappointed and sad as to what this says about the country I love so deeply. 💔
The wrong question is always asked. The question should be "Governor, knowing that the former president has said all of these things are you, as a purported patriot and having taken an oath to the constitution, willing to risk our democracy? Are you able to accept that your support, given the immunity ruling, could cause such grave damage?"
“According to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Trump also told senior aides “that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action. To him, they could be left behind, because they had performed poorly by getting captured.””
So, as the Vietnam war wound down in the 70s, American forces worked publicly and privately to bring home all the dead & missing. But some families held out hope. Their loved ones were still alive, somewhere in SE Asia. They formed at least one national lobbying group to press Congress to push the Vietnamese on the issue. Throughout the 80s media did major stories on the POW/MIA families who never gave up. The POW/MIA flag, by statute, is flown at interstate rest stops, and on certain days at the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon and the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, and probably at state capitols too.
As a kid, it felt like the entire country was actively participating in a national delusion that these men were still alive. But now I recognize that we were marking respect for the families’ grief.
Trump, as ever clueless and tactless, can’t understand why we would treat to get the remains of US service personnel returned.
I remember when even suggesting that the missing personnel were dead required an immediate apology. It might not have ended a political career, but it was a black mark. People remembered, until they didn’t.
Maybe our distance from Vietnam, and our lack of similar circumstance in the Desert Storm era and Iraq & Afghanistan have allowed us to memory-hole a time when we marked a Gold Star family’s grief. I have to confess, I didn’t like participating in that mass delusion. I felt like we weren’t being truthful. Our missing soldiers weren’t being kept in tiger cages by a cruel enemy or, brainwashed and damaged, playing Russian roulette in Hanoi or Phnom Pen. I thought we owed them and the world the truth: we sent them into harm’s way and they didn’t survive the impact. But I much prefer the America where we lied to each other out of misplaced kindness than Donald Trump’s transactional world of contempt.
While I can accept that my MIA uncle probably was killed and lost in house to house fighting just inside Germany in January 1945, without a body, without a grave, his parents and siblings always believed that he was still alive. (One theory was he was so badly injured that he didn't want to return home as a cripple.) They went to their graves believing he had lived. I wouldn't call it delusion though. I'd just call it denial. It was just too painful for them to accept.
I'm reminded about Hemingway's answer on going bankrupt. How did it happen?? "Two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly." How did a democracy become an autocracy? Gradually, and then suddenly.
I'll say again,glad I'm old, because I'm very fearful.
I always knew that Chris Sununuu was a cowardly weasel just like so many many Republicans.
I am a diehard liberal, but I appreciate the existence of people with opposing views because I am old enough to know that I am not always right about everything, and governance should be approached with humility. It is so sad to me that so many people with “opposing views” are finding that they have to vote “with me” because their own political party has been hijacked by extremists. I am deeply grateful for these Republicans voting for VP Harris even though they wouldn’t otherwise, and I just want you to know, Mr. Sykes, that I look forward to the day when we can all once again vociferously debate policy and God and everything else while also trusting that the system of governance we rely on — our democracy — will endure regardless of our disagreements.
That's why it's surprising it's close. Except there are a lot of racists.
My hope is that Kelly's revelation now will make a slight impact on the margins. The Access Hollywood tapes eliminated any hope for traditional outrage at such disqualifying behavior. However, perhaps this latest information might cause a few people to change their minds.
Kelly's admission about Trump along with others will make no difference...even to the Haley-adjacents.
While anti-Trumpers have done heroic work to turn-out the reality of the "Little Man."
But, by now...trying to convince "fence-sitters" is total bullshit.
How can anyone at this point be wavering???
I realize pundits have to postulate until an event has occurred, but this constant regurgitation is mind-numbing!
BTW - canceled my WAPO account today after Bezos decided not to support Harris as president.
My dad, at 19, was a ball turret gunner in B-17. He returned home to finish college on the GI Bill, cast his 1st vote for Ike, marry my mom, start his own business &, in the early '60's become the Republican chair of his precinct in Houston.
My dad was all about character & he didn't just talk. Twice I remember him being in situations where he stood up and almost lost everything as a result of refusing to put character second to anything. He never regretted it.
He left his beloved Republican party when it "swiftboated" John Kerry. He believed that using a veteran's honorable service against him was a first in U.S. politics. He predicted that it would lead the party & perhaps the country to ruin. Prescient.
The church was packed the afternoon of my dad's memorial service in 2005. I knew many there but it was those that I didn't know that impressed me most. They told me stories of something kind or essential, even life-saving my dad had done for them. They weren't his wealthy friends & business acquaintances but were people who had seen his obituary & chose to ride a bus to a church in a neighborhood that many might find intimidating. My dad, each explained, had done a little something (or a big something) that changed their lives. My dad didn't do it for a win, publicity or for any reason that MAGA might recognize.
Sorry for my long story but this morning I opened my phone to read The Economist's "prediction" that if the electtion were held today, Trump has a 53% chance of winning. I am, for he 1st time, verklempt. This stuff is hard. What is so bad about our great country that would cause so many to vote in a facist autocrat to end our great American experiment?! Then I "felt"my dad. Sure, he'd be appalled that a make-up wearing personality-disordered narcissist with a Churchill distaining running mate was a major-party nominee. But he'd tell me not to become like them, to put my head down and continue to do the work and to find gratitude for all I have.
In tribute to my dad, in gratitude for the integrity and character you've shown throughout these incomprehensible years, I am grateful, Charlie. You're a light in the darkness & often remind me of my dad. I am glad we're on the same team. It gives me hope on this dark day.
The Mayor of Waukesha publicly endorsing Kamala Harris is chef's kiss-worthy.
https://substack.com/@rbdgeologist1/p-149885543
https://substack.com/@rbdgeologist1/p-148559426
https://substack.com/@rbdgeologist1/p-149111178
https://substack.com/@rbdgeologist1/p-148625228
Shame? They (Rs and their supporters) have NO shame. Wow! I feel shame when I don’t treat people with kindness but maybe that’s just me.
Watching Governor Sununu say those things on CNN with a disingenuous smirk on his face made me feel like I was going to throw up. His type is as dangerous as Donald Trump. He is either a bystander who just wants to look the other way or a willing co-conspirator.
Either is a violation of his oath of office.
I can’t even believe CNN puts him on air…oh wait…yes I can
This is my first comment here. I began following you because of your wife's Substack, and I enjoy both because to me, you are each quite relatable. I'm beyond flabbergasted, gobsmacked, and heartsick that after so much more awfulness has come out about Trump, he still has unwavering support by enough of the population that this election is predicted to be within a hair's breadth. I'm incredibly disappointed and sad as to what this says about the country I love so deeply. 💔
Oh to be a dog and to be oblivious to what is happening!
The wrong question is always asked. The question should be "Governor, knowing that the former president has said all of these things are you, as a purported patriot and having taken an oath to the constitution, willing to risk our democracy? Are you able to accept that your support, given the immunity ruling, could cause such grave damage?"
That should do it.
“According to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Trump also told senior aides “that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action. To him, they could be left behind, because they had performed poorly by getting captured.””
So, as the Vietnam war wound down in the 70s, American forces worked publicly and privately to bring home all the dead & missing. But some families held out hope. Their loved ones were still alive, somewhere in SE Asia. They formed at least one national lobbying group to press Congress to push the Vietnamese on the issue. Throughout the 80s media did major stories on the POW/MIA families who never gave up. The POW/MIA flag, by statute, is flown at interstate rest stops, and on certain days at the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon and the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, and probably at state capitols too.
As a kid, it felt like the entire country was actively participating in a national delusion that these men were still alive. But now I recognize that we were marking respect for the families’ grief.
Trump, as ever clueless and tactless, can’t understand why we would treat to get the remains of US service personnel returned.
I remember when even suggesting that the missing personnel were dead required an immediate apology. It might not have ended a political career, but it was a black mark. People remembered, until they didn’t.
Maybe our distance from Vietnam, and our lack of similar circumstance in the Desert Storm era and Iraq & Afghanistan have allowed us to memory-hole a time when we marked a Gold Star family’s grief. I have to confess, I didn’t like participating in that mass delusion. I felt like we weren’t being truthful. Our missing soldiers weren’t being kept in tiger cages by a cruel enemy or, brainwashed and damaged, playing Russian roulette in Hanoi or Phnom Pen. I thought we owed them and the world the truth: we sent them into harm’s way and they didn’t survive the impact. But I much prefer the America where we lied to each other out of misplaced kindness than Donald Trump’s transactional world of contempt.
While I can accept that my MIA uncle probably was killed and lost in house to house fighting just inside Germany in January 1945, without a body, without a grave, his parents and siblings always believed that he was still alive. (One theory was he was so badly injured that he didn't want to return home as a cripple.) They went to their graves believing he had lived. I wouldn't call it delusion though. I'd just call it denial. It was just too painful for them to accept.
Here's a little story about how insane MAGA Rs are: they're going after a convent, the Benedictine Sister of Erie. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/24/2279191/-Mildly-amusing-unhingery-nuns-accused-of-voter-fraud?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
https://eriebenedictines.org/news-stories.html/article/2024/10/23/press-release-benedictine-sisters-subject-of-fraudulent-claims
Good god, these people. Well, you know, those nuns are notoriously liberal tricksters. We've all seen The Sound of Music.
LOL!
I'm reminded about Hemingway's answer on going bankrupt. How did it happen?? "Two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly." How did a democracy become an autocracy? Gradually, and then suddenly.
I'll say again,glad I'm old, because I'm very fearful.