I thought long and hard about how to distinguish between Harris and Trump, even if my most important, even my only, issue is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I think there is one key distinction. Under a Trump presidency there is a very real likelihood that further dissent will be met with violence. There is a very real likelihood that this debate will end forcibly. There is a very real likelihood that there are no more meaningful elections in this country.
If you accept even the possibility that this could happen under Trump, but not under Harris, you should consider voting for Harris in the hopes of continuing and furthering the debate and ultimately ending the slaughter, to the extent that any US president holds any sway over Israeli policy at this point.
That’s where I am. That’s how I’ll vote. I honestly hope that the rest of you will consider joining me so that we may continue this conversation within the context of American democracy.
You are a blessing, and I say that knowing (well, suspecting!) what a pain in the ass it can be when so many people depend on your many gifts and your wisdom and your bravery and your generosity of spirit. But ... you ARE a blessing and I thank you for being that for so many of us.
I don't think anyone is a pain in the ass -- I'm glad to be of use to answer questions! It also makes me feel less alone too, knowing that people are concerned about the same things I am.
I think Senator Whitehouse sees things clearly and perhaps is familiar with your take on these threats. His work to fix SCOTUS has been intense. Would love to find out about additional people now in power who understand the catastrophes facing us - and some who might even have ideas on what to do.
This blog truly helps me keep my sanity, I only wish I'd discovered it years ago tbh- I only began to grow skeptical around 2017, but it's been really eye opening as to how we are very much a "gaslit" nation.
"What I don’t understand is not seeing this 'choice' as a soul-crushing moral horror to which no one should be subjected. The scariest thing about fascism is not the dictator — it is how easily good people accept atrocities. The American voter deserves sympathy for being forced into a bad position — but the people who deserve the most sympathy by far are the Palestinians, and it is disappointing how many Americans refuse to see that."
Exactly, I just wanted to highlight this excerpt because it's such a moral dilemma, and the amount of lies even spewed by Democrats now is hard to ignore just because Republicans are "worse" for me as well. If no one tells the truth, then naturally, no one knows who to trust- and a lot of the Trump cult's voters now think he's a martyr and was innocent of any charges related to a coup because Biden's DOJ refused to do anything to do so (as well as all the stunts pulled by GOP governors, naturally spearheaded by their leader in Greg Abbott in Texas, in human trafficking migrants everywhere to score political points received no real consequences either). It's a dark time we're in, dark time.
Thank you Ms. Kendzior for your answer to my question and I believe you are on the right track. When the population feels that they are under threat, or are about to be attacked, when their safety and security is in doubt , they will run to anyone who promises to protect them. They will willingly give up their rights if only they feel secure. I was told decades ago that this all can happen with astonishing speed. Trump is the central charismatic leader of the MAGA crowd, and I believe he will be defeated next Tuesday, but we have not heard the last from him and his many enablers. How poorly our government has responded to this crisis. Your mafia state theory is on target.
I'm not at all confident he'll be defeated, but I'm confident it'll be close and I just don't see a mandate coming one way or the other this cycle in the Presidential races or the House- it could go either way, imo, the Senate is the only area I'm very positive Republicans will regain it with certainty (there are just too many states out there too Red to win in, right now after this unpopular Presidency, and the map was always dreadful vs past cycles to overcome with the current coalition Dems have in general- best they can do is minimize losses, but I worry for Brown in particular right now- but we'll see).
Roe overturn remains the only reason I think Harris could still win, frankly, in an objective sense but it would require her overperforming her polls and Trump either performing exactly as polls say or underperforming them- but never say never, 2016 says it all, 2024 is hard to predict given it's the first GE (maybe last, I hope not) post-Dobbs decision yet Trump is on the ballot and the last 2 times he overperformed his polling. We'll see...
Thank you for your generosity of spirit and knowledge. I’m not an American. I’m Canadian. I’m in a serious relationship with an American woman in PA. She has four adult daughters. And grandchildren. I’m afraid for her because she is part of the 2SLGBTQI community. The Canadian government has also recently put an uncharacteristic halt on immigration, including spousal reunification. How does she keep herself safe if Trump wins? One of the four daughters supports Harris. The others are questionable. I’m so very afraid for her and everyone from that community.
Such outstanding questions! Along with your answers, they have really stirred my curiosity! Love your term “coup plotter!” Scott free & zero accountability! Great q&a session!
I’m glad to be among Harris voters who are also bothered by her Gaza stance. A lot of the Harris voters I know see her as the second coming of Christ, and it’s tiring. Yay for internet pals!
We call them Blue MAGA, aka the opposite extreme of Red MAGA in Trump's cult with Harris' cult (originally was a term for Biden's cult): I'm with the country, thumbs down on them all, albeit for very different reasons (including Trump & Vance, of course), personally in viewing all unfavorably which is something I suppose.
I see the biggest threat to the international mafia to be labor unions because they are pre-organized to resist the predations of the overlords. And it's no surprise that Musk, Trump, et. al. hate them. They know that an ever expanding network of labor unions could provide adequate pushback against them. It's good to see that unions recognize the threat of AI and sophisticated automation, things that will "replace" them in the most basic sense, and they are addressing it in collective bargaining.
Labor unions are critically failing their members and everyone else. Because they are functionally blind to their considerable influence, for ill and good, on the two existential forces acting right now. Those of course are human-caused climate Code Red for Humanity and the 6th Mass Extinction.
Better wages, hours, benefits and working conditions don’t mean much on an unlivable Earth. But unions continue to fail their members by limiting their demands to those short-sighted concerns.
We Peoples’ unnecessary purchases and unconditional labor are helping plutocrats to screw us and other life on Earth. Enriched by us they bullshit us and buy enough politicians to stymie corrective laws to rapidly draw down fossil fuels and to restore biodiversity. Labor unions must see beyond the laws and contracts hemming them in.
Unions are the critical force necessary to lead general strikes and only buying essentials. They can lead the way to much more sustainable economies and lifestyles in the (over)developed world. The more GDP shrinks the more room there will be at the big bargaining tables for We People.
We must hold out for fast, effective laws to restore and protect climate, biodiversity, human and voting rights, ethics in government, and in short, sustainable and equitable civilization.
It’s now or never for We the People, whoever is running the US on 01/20/2025.
I think Sean Fain of the UAW sees the broader role the union can and must play, but some of the others are locked into the provincialism of their own membership's immediate needs. I think the late Richard Trumka, like Walter Reuther, saw the expanding role of networked unions. And I agree that bargaining issues must extend beyond the workplace, and especially include seats on the board.
Before The Third Temple can be consecrated, They need the Ashes of a RED BULL. (as rare as a White Buffalo) Thanks to Southern baptist cattle breeders.... BINGO, they've been produced & are ready to GO.
Outstanding series of questions and answers, once again. I'm sorry I missed the deadline. Had I not, as an EU (Dutch)/Cdn citizen, living in Ontario, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the potential consequences of a second Trump presidency for Canada? More NAFTA threats, tariffs on our exports - especially dairy and lumber? What about possible political or military incursions into increasingly far right, Trump friendly provinces - like Alberta or Saskatchewan? Lastly, and thank you for your patience, with his crime pal Trump in office, a weakened NATO, and a vastly warming Arctic, do you think Putin would attempt an incursion on our northern boundaries to lay claim to newly available territory? I'm trying to plan ahead!
Thank you, sincerely, for all you do to strip away the deceptions.
Well, this was excellent, though it was a lot to digest, but I wouldn't subscribe if I didn't want to dine on truth.
That said, and since it's the day before Halloween, would you please repost that precious picture of your daughter as a baby with that huge smiley-face mask? That was just so adorable, and it made me smile like little else I've seen. I could use that about now!
I have been a Missouri resident for over almost 40 years. Maybe I missed a lot, with working in and out of my home, child and elder care etc. but could you better explain what you mean by this "Missourians spent 2021 and 2022 with members of the national Democratic party telling them they hoped they died of Delta covid or botched abortions."
Also thank you for answering questions. The information/explanations that you give is always necessary, not comforting but necessary.
I received more of this kind of harassment because I was on social media with a very prominent account. Also, the harassment also wasn't limited to MO -- it happened to women from Texas, Ohio and other states written off as "red". Basically in 2021, when Delta hit Missouri -- and you may recall, it hit Missouri before any other state -- lots of Democrats refused to believe that breakthrough covid existed, because the Biden admin was lying and saying it didn't and that the vaccines were foolproof. So when vaccinated Missourians began being hospitalized and dying, they refused to believe it -- and said, over and over, that we deserve to die for living here. That if we didn't want to die, we would have moved away. Many Democrats superimposed maps of the confederacy over maps of delta covid spread and said that this was punishment, even though the victims of covid in the South were disproportionately Black. (And also, covid doesn't infect based on 19th century wars, FFS!)
But then the summer ended, and the weather changed, and covid moved from the South, where people had been getting infected because they were inside with air conditioning, to the North, where they went inside to get warm. Northerners rapidly became infected...and suddenly, Democrats stopped wishing death upon strangers or associating politics with the virus. And they never apologized. Some of the people who participated in this are staffers of Harris and Biden. They weren't random people on the internet.
Then they did it again in 2022 -- blaming the women who suffer as a consequence of SCOTUS repealing Roe for living in the states we do. They used the language of rape, saying we were "asking for it" by living here. Democrats told me that they hoped I'd die of a miscarriage -- and that's just one of the more printable things they said. The rest was really obscene. Again, these are not random accounts -- these are the staff who the Biden/Harris team pays through PACs to do voter outreach. That's the kind of "voter outreach" they aim at women in Missouri, Texas, and other states, and it has done *enormous* damage. So many people privately begged the national party to stop the ceaseless and organized harassment of ordinary voters already living under terrible GOP state legislatures -- but they wouldn't.
I've wondered if it was done in conjunction with some of the donors that support both the Dems and the GOP because 1) it's such a self-destructive thing for a party to do 2) it is incredible fodder for the GOP; they could have run whole ads with these internet comments, showing how horrific the Democrats can behave, but they refrained. That makes me suspicious that whoever is paying these individuals has another agenda than boosting the Dem Party. I think their motive is cementing regional stereotypes and civil war. It was gross to watch people fall for it and join in the hate, including people I knew. I can't imagine wishing death on anyone.
Not even remotely surprised, thanks for elaborating on all of this: anyone with a conscience would say, "Hey, they can't exactly move out of their own homes with their families and most don't make enough to leave, geniuses" nor did they consider the fact that, in fact, Trump and co are now planning to come for the entire country next if they win so that "smugness" wasn't going to amount to much for very long.
I thought long and hard about how to distinguish between Harris and Trump, even if my most important, even my only, issue is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I think there is one key distinction. Under a Trump presidency there is a very real likelihood that further dissent will be met with violence. There is a very real likelihood that this debate will end forcibly. There is a very real likelihood that there are no more meaningful elections in this country.
If you accept even the possibility that this could happen under Trump, but not under Harris, you should consider voting for Harris in the hopes of continuing and furthering the debate and ultimately ending the slaughter, to the extent that any US president holds any sway over Israeli policy at this point.
That’s where I am. That’s how I’ll vote. I honestly hope that the rest of you will consider joining me so that we may continue this conversation within the context of American democracy.
You are a blessing, and I say that knowing (well, suspecting!) what a pain in the ass it can be when so many people depend on your many gifts and your wisdom and your bravery and your generosity of spirit. But ... you ARE a blessing and I thank you for being that for so many of us.
I don't think anyone is a pain in the ass -- I'm glad to be of use to answer questions! It also makes me feel less alone too, knowing that people are concerned about the same things I am.
I think Senator Whitehouse sees things clearly and perhaps is familiar with your take on these threats. His work to fix SCOTUS has been intense. Would love to find out about additional people now in power who understand the catastrophes facing us - and some who might even have ideas on what to do.
This blog truly helps me keep my sanity, I only wish I'd discovered it years ago tbh- I only began to grow skeptical around 2017, but it's been really eye opening as to how we are very much a "gaslit" nation.
"What I don’t understand is not seeing this 'choice' as a soul-crushing moral horror to which no one should be subjected. The scariest thing about fascism is not the dictator — it is how easily good people accept atrocities. The American voter deserves sympathy for being forced into a bad position — but the people who deserve the most sympathy by far are the Palestinians, and it is disappointing how many Americans refuse to see that."
Exactly, I just wanted to highlight this excerpt because it's such a moral dilemma, and the amount of lies even spewed by Democrats now is hard to ignore just because Republicans are "worse" for me as well. If no one tells the truth, then naturally, no one knows who to trust- and a lot of the Trump cult's voters now think he's a martyr and was innocent of any charges related to a coup because Biden's DOJ refused to do anything to do so (as well as all the stunts pulled by GOP governors, naturally spearheaded by their leader in Greg Abbott in Texas, in human trafficking migrants everywhere to score political points received no real consequences either). It's a dark time we're in, dark time.
Thank you Ms. Kendzior for your answer to my question and I believe you are on the right track. When the population feels that they are under threat, or are about to be attacked, when their safety and security is in doubt , they will run to anyone who promises to protect them. They will willingly give up their rights if only they feel secure. I was told decades ago that this all can happen with astonishing speed. Trump is the central charismatic leader of the MAGA crowd, and I believe he will be defeated next Tuesday, but we have not heard the last from him and his many enablers. How poorly our government has responded to this crisis. Your mafia state theory is on target.
I'm not at all confident he'll be defeated, but I'm confident it'll be close and I just don't see a mandate coming one way or the other this cycle in the Presidential races or the House- it could go either way, imo, the Senate is the only area I'm very positive Republicans will regain it with certainty (there are just too many states out there too Red to win in, right now after this unpopular Presidency, and the map was always dreadful vs past cycles to overcome with the current coalition Dems have in general- best they can do is minimize losses, but I worry for Brown in particular right now- but we'll see).
Roe overturn remains the only reason I think Harris could still win, frankly, in an objective sense but it would require her overperforming her polls and Trump either performing exactly as polls say or underperforming them- but never say never, 2016 says it all, 2024 is hard to predict given it's the first GE (maybe last, I hope not) post-Dobbs decision yet Trump is on the ballot and the last 2 times he overperformed his polling. We'll see...
Thank you for your generosity of spirit and knowledge. I’m not an American. I’m Canadian. I’m in a serious relationship with an American woman in PA. She has four adult daughters. And grandchildren. I’m afraid for her because she is part of the 2SLGBTQI community. The Canadian government has also recently put an uncharacteristic halt on immigration, including spousal reunification. How does she keep herself safe if Trump wins? One of the four daughters supports Harris. The others are questionable. I’m so very afraid for her and everyone from that community.
Such outstanding questions! Along with your answers, they have really stirred my curiosity! Love your term “coup plotter!” Scott free & zero accountability! Great q&a session!
Yes the questions were terrific. There’s a good group of people on here!
Yes, tough questions. Harder than most candidates get in a town hall! Duh!
I’m glad to be among Harris voters who are also bothered by her Gaza stance. A lot of the Harris voters I know see her as the second coming of Christ, and it’s tiring. Yay for internet pals!
We call them Blue MAGA, aka the opposite extreme of Red MAGA in Trump's cult with Harris' cult (originally was a term for Biden's cult): I'm with the country, thumbs down on them all, albeit for very different reasons (including Trump & Vance, of course), personally in viewing all unfavorably which is something I suppose.
I see the biggest threat to the international mafia to be labor unions because they are pre-organized to resist the predations of the overlords. And it's no surprise that Musk, Trump, et. al. hate them. They know that an ever expanding network of labor unions could provide adequate pushback against them. It's good to see that unions recognize the threat of AI and sophisticated automation, things that will "replace" them in the most basic sense, and they are addressing it in collective bargaining.
Labor unions are critically failing their members and everyone else. Because they are functionally blind to their considerable influence, for ill and good, on the two existential forces acting right now. Those of course are human-caused climate Code Red for Humanity and the 6th Mass Extinction.
Better wages, hours, benefits and working conditions don’t mean much on an unlivable Earth. But unions continue to fail their members by limiting their demands to those short-sighted concerns.
We Peoples’ unnecessary purchases and unconditional labor are helping plutocrats to screw us and other life on Earth. Enriched by us they bullshit us and buy enough politicians to stymie corrective laws to rapidly draw down fossil fuels and to restore biodiversity. Labor unions must see beyond the laws and contracts hemming them in.
Unions are the critical force necessary to lead general strikes and only buying essentials. They can lead the way to much more sustainable economies and lifestyles in the (over)developed world. The more GDP shrinks the more room there will be at the big bargaining tables for We People.
We must hold out for fast, effective laws to restore and protect climate, biodiversity, human and voting rights, ethics in government, and in short, sustainable and equitable civilization.
It’s now or never for We the People, whoever is running the US on 01/20/2025.
I think Sean Fain of the UAW sees the broader role the union can and must play, but some of the others are locked into the provincialism of their own membership's immediate needs. I think the late Richard Trumka, like Walter Reuther, saw the expanding role of networked unions. And I agree that bargaining issues must extend beyond the workplace, and especially include seats on the board.
Before The Third Temple can be consecrated, They need the Ashes of a RED BULL. (as rare as a White Buffalo) Thanks to Southern baptist cattle breeders.... BINGO, they've been produced & are ready to GO.
thanks for an intelligent conversation... i mention your name and books to everyone
Thank you!
Outstanding series of questions and answers, once again. I'm sorry I missed the deadline. Had I not, as an EU (Dutch)/Cdn citizen, living in Ontario, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the potential consequences of a second Trump presidency for Canada? More NAFTA threats, tariffs on our exports - especially dairy and lumber? What about possible political or military incursions into increasingly far right, Trump friendly provinces - like Alberta or Saskatchewan? Lastly, and thank you for your patience, with his crime pal Trump in office, a weakened NATO, and a vastly warming Arctic, do you think Putin would attempt an incursion on our northern boundaries to lay claim to newly available territory? I'm trying to plan ahead!
Thank you, sincerely, for all you do to strip away the deceptions.
I’m curious as a sister Ontarian, and having Dutch roots myself…what you mean by planning ahead? I also think Ontario is also Trump friendly
Simply put, exercising my option of Dutch citizenship.
Or, EU citizenship. Ireland's looking pretty good right now. At least they've taken a stand against Palestinian genocide!
Thank You.
Of course now I only have more questions.
But I will pause and just appreciate your thoughtful responses. You deserve a rest.
And Yes, the Roth years!
Well, this was excellent, though it was a lot to digest, but I wouldn't subscribe if I didn't want to dine on truth.
That said, and since it's the day before Halloween, would you please repost that precious picture of your daughter as a baby with that huge smiley-face mask? That was just so adorable, and it made me smile like little else I've seen. I could use that about now!
If I can find it!
You're pretty busy (to say the least), so if you don't find it, I'll try to go back to last year and look for it. Thank you.
I have been a Missouri resident for over almost 40 years. Maybe I missed a lot, with working in and out of my home, child and elder care etc. but could you better explain what you mean by this "Missourians spent 2021 and 2022 with members of the national Democratic party telling them they hoped they died of Delta covid or botched abortions."
Also thank you for answering questions. The information/explanations that you give is always necessary, not comforting but necessary.
I received more of this kind of harassment because I was on social media with a very prominent account. Also, the harassment also wasn't limited to MO -- it happened to women from Texas, Ohio and other states written off as "red". Basically in 2021, when Delta hit Missouri -- and you may recall, it hit Missouri before any other state -- lots of Democrats refused to believe that breakthrough covid existed, because the Biden admin was lying and saying it didn't and that the vaccines were foolproof. So when vaccinated Missourians began being hospitalized and dying, they refused to believe it -- and said, over and over, that we deserve to die for living here. That if we didn't want to die, we would have moved away. Many Democrats superimposed maps of the confederacy over maps of delta covid spread and said that this was punishment, even though the victims of covid in the South were disproportionately Black. (And also, covid doesn't infect based on 19th century wars, FFS!)
But then the summer ended, and the weather changed, and covid moved from the South, where people had been getting infected because they were inside with air conditioning, to the North, where they went inside to get warm. Northerners rapidly became infected...and suddenly, Democrats stopped wishing death upon strangers or associating politics with the virus. And they never apologized. Some of the people who participated in this are staffers of Harris and Biden. They weren't random people on the internet.
Then they did it again in 2022 -- blaming the women who suffer as a consequence of SCOTUS repealing Roe for living in the states we do. They used the language of rape, saying we were "asking for it" by living here. Democrats told me that they hoped I'd die of a miscarriage -- and that's just one of the more printable things they said. The rest was really obscene. Again, these are not random accounts -- these are the staff who the Biden/Harris team pays through PACs to do voter outreach. That's the kind of "voter outreach" they aim at women in Missouri, Texas, and other states, and it has done *enormous* damage. So many people privately begged the national party to stop the ceaseless and organized harassment of ordinary voters already living under terrible GOP state legislatures -- but they wouldn't.
I've wondered if it was done in conjunction with some of the donors that support both the Dems and the GOP because 1) it's such a self-destructive thing for a party to do 2) it is incredible fodder for the GOP; they could have run whole ads with these internet comments, showing how horrific the Democrats can behave, but they refrained. That makes me suspicious that whoever is paying these individuals has another agenda than boosting the Dem Party. I think their motive is cementing regional stereotypes and civil war. It was gross to watch people fall for it and join in the hate, including people I knew. I can't imagine wishing death on anyone.
Not even remotely surprised, thanks for elaborating on all of this: anyone with a conscience would say, "Hey, they can't exactly move out of their own homes with their families and most don't make enough to leave, geniuses" nor did they consider the fact that, in fact, Trump and co are now planning to come for the entire country next if they win so that "smugness" wasn't going to amount to much for very long.
Thank you so much for doing this! So glad we are not alone!
Pure gold. If only “they”( the US electorate) “knew”