The unvaccinated are at greatest risk of severe illness or death. The vast majority of those will vote for extremists. I feel for the health care workers who are put through so much physically and emotionally; I really want to go out for a nice dinner with my Eve of New Years Eve friends and not worry about my health, and I'm sad that I can't be sad if the consciously unvaccinated people are unavailable to vote next year and/or in 2024. (Oh the irony that the extreme right is killing off the very people they need to vote for them.) I'm also scared: I was a poll watcher in 2012, 2018 and 2020, and I'm not sure I am willing to take a chance on my life in 2022 -- plenty of nuts down here in Florida, where the republican governor and legislature have made it more difficult to vote and given more power to partisan poll watchers. And yet, I know I'll be needed more than ever. As to the erosion of our democracy, I keep wondering what I would do under the worst outcomes over the next 3 years. Would I leave for fear of what might happen, and if so, where would I go? (Yes, I've looked at immigration laws elsewhere....) Would I stay and fight? The uncertainty is made worse by living in a red state, but I hate cold weather.... tho with republicans not willing to even acknowledge climate change, by the time the worst case scenario could happen, New York might just be habitable for me.
It's a lot to take, Cheryl. We have eleven months and a lot to accomplish but we can do it as long as we pace ourselves and know that we all have each other's backs. We are on the right side of the fight. That having been said, I'm definitely looking into getting a Scottish passport. Which is pretty depressing.
I love Scotland, great choice, Mary! But hope you're right that we can do this and Scotland can just be a place to visit every once in a while! Wish someone would interview a cult deprogrammer to see if there's any way we can undo the cultish thinking that has taken hold in too many Americans' minds these past several years -- maybe for your podcast?
I wish I could have the option of moving elsewhere if need be. My ancestry is Welsh and Irish and I’ve always wanted to travel to each country. Unfortunately, as a disabled veteran who would need to work part-time I’m sure I’d be seen as a potential drain (medical care, especially as I get older) rather than an asset who can contribute full time. If you (meaning any of us) can go and get the opportunity, I can fully understand taking it.
Rural NC, surrounding Ft, Bragg, is saturated with retired military families, civilian employees and current subcontractors. Everywhere I go, I hear Biden bashing and I struggle to not respond but, as many open-carry an automatic pistol or there's always one in sight, I don't. Two mercenary training camps were (are?) within 10 miles and every time I hear "maneuvers" these days, I wonder where it's actually coming from since we are longer at war. I pray the good guys are peering very closely here because a good number of the already charged insurrectionists were from NC, and the feeling in the air is that... It's not over!
Not over by a long shot, I'm afraid. The military really needs to clear its ranks of extremists. The number of military/ex-military at the insurrection is chilling.
Allot of insurrectionists in your state . This is very troubling especially for upcoming elections. I feel sad for you and the people there who want to exercise their rights as well . Do be careful. My heart and best wishes for you and NC . Hopefully the electoral infrastructure will be in place and may the lawsuits continue 💙
There are a lot here in Indiana too - insurrectionists and a few of those training camps. It is sad to have to do this but I assume everyone I encounter is armed, in public and while driving. I’m a veteran and am at ease with firearms but I really don’t like seeing people wearing pistols to go to the copy store or grocery. Open carry is a recipe for arrogance, idiocy and disaster.
Schmeck has been whining about the pushback he’s gotten-so HE’S the victim. The NYT got used to lazy journalism with TFG and wanted access. So, with Biden they CREATE controversy for clicks and because the Biden Administration is boring (read normal). Sorry state of the press. The pandemic was politicized and with anti-vaxxers, a perfect storm.
Dean Baquet has a lot to answer for. The New York Times is a disgrace despite the truly excellent journalists they still have on staff.
Schmeck is just the latest in a long line of awful people who have nothing to offer foisted upon us by the right. If the republicans take back the House (which we need to do everything in our power to prevent) they'll probably make him Speaker.
I finally canceled my New York Times subscription. I will miss reading those few excellent journalists - and hope they one day move elsewhere - but I just couldn’t keep giving them my money.
I'm finding it really hard to exist in this world where, as you said Mary, unworthy people get elevated who don't deserve it at all. It's making me become more insular because I want to protect the people I love and care about from the evils of our society. I'm also worried that people in positions of power on the Democratic side of the aisle don't have it in them to stop this march toward a dictatorship. The MSM is also derelict in their duties almost every day. We can also see this in the fact that AG Garland hasn't even appointed a special counsel to investigate all the GOP criming including the Jan. 6 coup attempt. The only good news so far is that my entire immediate family tested negative for COVID so we were able to celebrate Christmas at our Mom's house. Cases here in Chicago have spiked to 15.4% which is double what it was last week and we now have the highest level of COVID positive people since the beginning of the pandemic. Everything is so scary right now.
I completely understand the impulse to withdraw. There are few reasons to be optimistic and a lot of forces aligned against us. But there are more of us than there of them so if we can get more organized we'll be able to change the course we're on. Time is short and I hope that will create a sense of urgency on the left that seems to be lacking in the powers that be.
The best thing for me to do is focus on the important work I do which is entirely within the LGBTQ sphere and also find ways to help Wisconsin get another Dem Senator and flip their state legislature/keep their executive branch Democratic. I promise these withdrawal thoughts are a fleeting thing for me.
I have the same worry about those currently in power. They are in denial, don’t care, aren’t smart enough to realize what is happening right in front of them, are complicit or are too attached to their corporate and individual donors to see beyond dollar signs. Not all of them of course - we do have several Democrats who are sounding the alarm but alas, they aren’t at the top and are basically ignored or made fun of by those who are. Democrats (starting with President Biden on down), the AG & the FBI are walking around with their thumbs up their butts, acting like the crimes that were and still are being committed in plain view are no big deal (because as President Biden says “Republicans are my friends”) and that America just can’t fall. If we do fall (I really hope not) I want someone to take photos of all of them as they are arrested and sent away. I want to know if reality and their own contributions to it ever dawns on them.
The media will sell political entertainment rather than our democracy .
The right wing MAGA are now on school boards, in Congress, state and local jurisdictions legislating laws . Turning Point USA along with all anti social fascist groups should be sued for harm and theft of service.
The irony here is while the anti democratic coalition in Congress projects said grievances. They are also doing the very thing they accuse the left for doing. I call BS .
I will always hold Dr. Fauci to the highest esteem. Jack Dorsey needs a gut check.
Now we must be responsible for those who cannot think for themselves, while disrupting our lives and our children as well; being held as pawns because of masking , books and CRT which is not being taught.
My hope is that the 1/6 commission will find incontrovertible proof, along with the findings in Georgia.
Congressman Scott Perry is knee deep and continues to deflect with the same excuses as the others who’ve been subpoenaed, we know he will never comply .
Rather than safeguard the public from COVID , red states want to extend unemployment benefits to employees who don’t comply with mandates but no extension on the Child Tax Credit. Why are they complaining this seems like one big privileged love fest .
In my community my neighbors get together to talk about the state of our democracy and what we can do on a local level . At first when we started back in 2019 the resignation on some of their faces spoke volumes not any more.
Freedom of speech should not be used as a cudgel against the President. Freedom of speech should be revised; not to take away rights. But to not harm or misrepresent in any way .
Some days it’s hard just to have unencumbered thinking without all the noise looming about . It’s very disruptive.
Yep, it's unrelenting. The era of COVID makes everything harder to take, makes it harder to be healthy and patient. All of it. The good news (?) is that we still have agency, we still have options, and we still have time. Of course, we could accomplish a lot more if Democrats in power would catch up and recognize the seriousness of (or at the very least the existence of) the threats we're facing. Incontrovertible proof from the 1/06 Committee would go a long way.
This! 1000x over. I’m so frustrated that there isn’t a more effective counter-narrative developed to combat it. Hoping that increased accountability will help, but still wish there was a task force dedicated solely to preventing autocracy and saturating the country with sharp, resonating messaging. Thank you, as always, Mary, for distilling all of this in a way that somehow makes it a little easier to bear.
Thanks, Ronda. Democrats and messaging just doesn't seem to be a thing. I don't understand why they don't hire some Madison Avenue ad company to help them figure out how to promote saving democracy. Should be a no-brainer.
My Mama was a great depression era Catholic orphan asylum wee tiny firey red headed cook, and she had a philosophy of life for dealing with uncivil buttheads, actually she had many, but one in particular was a kick in the pants to watch, note, to watch.
She'd kill 'em with kindness, but kindness that she'd heap on a nuanced sarcastic mountain of pity for them, and on them, as pity stings most folk, and if that didn't cool their jets, she'd use the very ends of her fingernails to whip smack 'em at the speed of sound right on edge of their kissers, tell them to behave, then stare 'em down with an I dare you stare.
This to anybody loud mouthed & disrespectfully uncivil, all five foot nothin' of her...her little finger tips stung then instantly itched like crazy, ya couldn't help but rub your brand new big ol' pout, & like as not wipe a tear or two out of your eyes like a chastised petulant brat, mayhaps I might just know a little about that😊
Civility to uncivil can only last so long, then it simply has to end, my widowed single working deceased Mama taught me that wayyyy back when.
I saw her do that to a few supposed adult folks (me in the background thinkin', 'Ohohohthisisgonnabegood!'), including a minister's wife she was way past her chin fed up with...lawd yes Mama was a locked & loaded civility pistol, she didn't long cotton much to rude people & bad manners, particularly rude people with bad manners.
So, why do people put up with it nowadays, and just let it go on & on, & on, just being civil🤔?...yeah I suppose, guess my Mama was a latter day raging monster, all 100 lb. of her, if she had a pocket chock full of nickels & another full of fishin' weights, that is😏
I can remember women like your lil Mama being the norm instead of the exception back in the day when I was growing up. Looks as though that mold was broken, which is most unfortunate since we need women like her now more than ever.
It’s all a shitstorm for sure. Living in Delusionville as I currently do, where multiple hateful flags fly (Q, trump as rambo, Confederate, black American flags, punisher flags, etc) it is very difficult to see anything but disaster rolling our way. I hope - beyond fervently if that is possible - that not all of this country is like this and that resistance and common sense actually do still exist in amounts strong enough to matter. I know both do here - I just really hope they do elsewhere too.
Thank you for the reply Mary. Those two (resistance & common sense) would be viruses worth catching & spreading!
I hope to move from here (central IN) by May 2022 to a community that is far more tolerant, diverse and vibrant. Actually, I don’t just hope to, that is the plan. I think it will help to be around more like minded people and if things continue towards a rigid, hate & white supremacy based theocratic autocracy then it will be easier to resist and have hope there rather than here.
An autocracy with FREE PRESS -this is why there is such a discord among us ! SHUT UP YOU ARE LYING… NO HERE ARE THE FACTS …. NO WE TRUMP AND FOX RULE! NO WE HAVE A CONSTITUTION! NO IT IS FAKE! No news is fake…. No wonder it is a huge cluster f#%%k ! BOTH CANNOT WIN!
You're welcome, Caroline. I intend to do this for every post and am still trying to catch up. It's pretty time-consuming bc it never gets done in one take but it's totally worth doing. I'm glad it helps.
Mary, wait till you read today's Daily Beast, article about Peter Navarro's planning with blotchy Bannon and members of Congress, it is, to say the least, very reveling and fighting. These people are nutz. As always, thank you for your thoughts and words.
The very TITLE "Weaponizing Incivility" is one of the reasons I thank the gods every day that you have a Substack, Mary!
The unvaccinated are at greatest risk of severe illness or death. The vast majority of those will vote for extremists. I feel for the health care workers who are put through so much physically and emotionally; I really want to go out for a nice dinner with my Eve of New Years Eve friends and not worry about my health, and I'm sad that I can't be sad if the consciously unvaccinated people are unavailable to vote next year and/or in 2024. (Oh the irony that the extreme right is killing off the very people they need to vote for them.) I'm also scared: I was a poll watcher in 2012, 2018 and 2020, and I'm not sure I am willing to take a chance on my life in 2022 -- plenty of nuts down here in Florida, where the republican governor and legislature have made it more difficult to vote and given more power to partisan poll watchers. And yet, I know I'll be needed more than ever. As to the erosion of our democracy, I keep wondering what I would do under the worst outcomes over the next 3 years. Would I leave for fear of what might happen, and if so, where would I go? (Yes, I've looked at immigration laws elsewhere....) Would I stay and fight? The uncertainty is made worse by living in a red state, but I hate cold weather.... tho with republicans not willing to even acknowledge climate change, by the time the worst case scenario could happen, New York might just be habitable for me.
It's a lot to take, Cheryl. We have eleven months and a lot to accomplish but we can do it as long as we pace ourselves and know that we all have each other's backs. We are on the right side of the fight. That having been said, I'm definitely looking into getting a Scottish passport. Which is pretty depressing.
I love Scotland, great choice, Mary! But hope you're right that we can do this and Scotland can just be a place to visit every once in a while! Wish someone would interview a cult deprogrammer to see if there's any way we can undo the cultish thinking that has taken hold in too many Americans' minds these past several years -- maybe for your podcast?
I wish I could have the option of moving elsewhere if need be. My ancestry is Welsh and Irish and I’ve always wanted to travel to each country. Unfortunately, as a disabled veteran who would need to work part-time I’m sure I’d be seen as a potential drain (medical care, especially as I get older) rather than an asset who can contribute full time. If you (meaning any of us) can go and get the opportunity, I can fully understand taking it.
My husband and I have had similar discussions.
Rural NC, surrounding Ft, Bragg, is saturated with retired military families, civilian employees and current subcontractors. Everywhere I go, I hear Biden bashing and I struggle to not respond but, as many open-carry an automatic pistol or there's always one in sight, I don't. Two mercenary training camps were (are?) within 10 miles and every time I hear "maneuvers" these days, I wonder where it's actually coming from since we are longer at war. I pray the good guys are peering very closely here because a good number of the already charged insurrectionists were from NC, and the feeling in the air is that... It's not over!
Not over by a long shot, I'm afraid. The military really needs to clear its ranks of extremists. The number of military/ex-military at the insurrection is chilling.
Thank you Gwyn Phillips .
Allot of insurrectionists in your state . This is very troubling especially for upcoming elections. I feel sad for you and the people there who want to exercise their rights as well . Do be careful. My heart and best wishes for you and NC . Hopefully the electoral infrastructure will be in place and may the lawsuits continue 💙
There are a lot here in Indiana too - insurrectionists and a few of those training camps. It is sad to have to do this but I assume everyone I encounter is armed, in public and while driving. I’m a veteran and am at ease with firearms but I really don’t like seeing people wearing pistols to go to the copy store or grocery. Open carry is a recipe for arrogance, idiocy and disaster.
And people continue to wonder why I am so pessimistic about this country’s future?
It's totally understandable to be pessimistic. I'm trying to avoid falling into cynicism.
Schmeck has been whining about the pushback he’s gotten-so HE’S the victim. The NYT got used to lazy journalism with TFG and wanted access. So, with Biden they CREATE controversy for clicks and because the Biden Administration is boring (read normal). Sorry state of the press. The pandemic was politicized and with anti-vaxxers, a perfect storm.
Dean Baquet has a lot to answer for. The New York Times is a disgrace despite the truly excellent journalists they still have on staff.
Schmeck is just the latest in a long line of awful people who have nothing to offer foisted upon us by the right. If the republicans take back the House (which we need to do everything in our power to prevent) they'll probably make him Speaker.
Or Rittenhouse.
I finally canceled my New York Times subscription. I will miss reading those few excellent journalists - and hope they one day move elsewhere - but I just couldn’t keep giving them my money.
I'm finding it really hard to exist in this world where, as you said Mary, unworthy people get elevated who don't deserve it at all. It's making me become more insular because I want to protect the people I love and care about from the evils of our society. I'm also worried that people in positions of power on the Democratic side of the aisle don't have it in them to stop this march toward a dictatorship. The MSM is also derelict in their duties almost every day. We can also see this in the fact that AG Garland hasn't even appointed a special counsel to investigate all the GOP criming including the Jan. 6 coup attempt. The only good news so far is that my entire immediate family tested negative for COVID so we were able to celebrate Christmas at our Mom's house. Cases here in Chicago have spiked to 15.4% which is double what it was last week and we now have the highest level of COVID positive people since the beginning of the pandemic. Everything is so scary right now.
I completely understand the impulse to withdraw. There are few reasons to be optimistic and a lot of forces aligned against us. But there are more of us than there of them so if we can get more organized we'll be able to change the course we're on. Time is short and I hope that will create a sense of urgency on the left that seems to be lacking in the powers that be.
The best thing for me to do is focus on the important work I do which is entirely within the LGBTQ sphere and also find ways to help Wisconsin get another Dem Senator and flip their state legislature/keep their executive branch Democratic. I promise these withdrawal thoughts are a fleeting thing for me.
I have the same worry about those currently in power. They are in denial, don’t care, aren’t smart enough to realize what is happening right in front of them, are complicit or are too attached to their corporate and individual donors to see beyond dollar signs. Not all of them of course - we do have several Democrats who are sounding the alarm but alas, they aren’t at the top and are basically ignored or made fun of by those who are. Democrats (starting with President Biden on down), the AG & the FBI are walking around with their thumbs up their butts, acting like the crimes that were and still are being committed in plain view are no big deal (because as President Biden says “Republicans are my friends”) and that America just can’t fall. If we do fall (I really hope not) I want someone to take photos of all of them as they are arrested and sent away. I want to know if reality and their own contributions to it ever dawns on them.
The media will sell political entertainment rather than our democracy .
The right wing MAGA are now on school boards, in Congress, state and local jurisdictions legislating laws . Turning Point USA along with all anti social fascist groups should be sued for harm and theft of service.
The irony here is while the anti democratic coalition in Congress projects said grievances. They are also doing the very thing they accuse the left for doing. I call BS .
I will always hold Dr. Fauci to the highest esteem. Jack Dorsey needs a gut check.
Now we must be responsible for those who cannot think for themselves, while disrupting our lives and our children as well; being held as pawns because of masking , books and CRT which is not being taught.
My hope is that the 1/6 commission will find incontrovertible proof, along with the findings in Georgia.
Congressman Scott Perry is knee deep and continues to deflect with the same excuses as the others who’ve been subpoenaed, we know he will never comply .
Rather than safeguard the public from COVID , red states want to extend unemployment benefits to employees who don’t comply with mandates but no extension on the Child Tax Credit. Why are they complaining this seems like one big privileged love fest .
In my community my neighbors get together to talk about the state of our democracy and what we can do on a local level . At first when we started back in 2019 the resignation on some of their faces spoke volumes not any more.
Freedom of speech should not be used as a cudgel against the President. Freedom of speech should be revised; not to take away rights. But to not harm or misrepresent in any way .
Some days it’s hard just to have unencumbered thinking without all the noise looming about . It’s very disruptive.
I need a drink ...
Yep, it's unrelenting. The era of COVID makes everything harder to take, makes it harder to be healthy and patient. All of it. The good news (?) is that we still have agency, we still have options, and we still have time. Of course, we could accomplish a lot more if Democrats in power would catch up and recognize the seriousness of (or at the very least the existence of) the threats we're facing. Incontrovertible proof from the 1/06 Committee would go a long way.
This! 1000x over. I’m so frustrated that there isn’t a more effective counter-narrative developed to combat it. Hoping that increased accountability will help, but still wish there was a task force dedicated solely to preventing autocracy and saturating the country with sharp, resonating messaging. Thank you, as always, Mary, for distilling all of this in a way that somehow makes it a little easier to bear.
Thanks, Ronda. Democrats and messaging just doesn't seem to be a thing. I don't understand why they don't hire some Madison Avenue ad company to help them figure out how to promote saving democracy. Should be a no-brainer.
Agree.
Thank you Rhonda.
I agree with your statement on a task force to fight Autocracy. That task force may vey well and I’m almost sure will be the voters.
Thanks, Paula. I'm sure you're right.
My Mama was a great depression era Catholic orphan asylum wee tiny firey red headed cook, and she had a philosophy of life for dealing with uncivil buttheads, actually she had many, but one in particular was a kick in the pants to watch, note, to watch.
She'd kill 'em with kindness, but kindness that she'd heap on a nuanced sarcastic mountain of pity for them, and on them, as pity stings most folk, and if that didn't cool their jets, she'd use the very ends of her fingernails to whip smack 'em at the speed of sound right on edge of their kissers, tell them to behave, then stare 'em down with an I dare you stare.
This to anybody loud mouthed & disrespectfully uncivil, all five foot nothin' of her...her little finger tips stung then instantly itched like crazy, ya couldn't help but rub your brand new big ol' pout, & like as not wipe a tear or two out of your eyes like a chastised petulant brat, mayhaps I might just know a little about that😊
Civility to uncivil can only last so long, then it simply has to end, my widowed single working deceased Mama taught me that wayyyy back when.
I saw her do that to a few supposed adult folks (me in the background thinkin', 'Ohohohthisisgonnabegood!'), including a minister's wife she was way past her chin fed up with...lawd yes Mama was a locked & loaded civility pistol, she didn't long cotton much to rude people & bad manners, particularly rude people with bad manners.
So, why do people put up with it nowadays, and just let it go on & on, & on, just being civil🤔?...yeah I suppose, guess my Mama was a latter day raging monster, all 100 lb. of her, if she had a pocket chock full of nickels & another full of fishin' weights, that is😏
Thanks for this, Patrick. What a great description! Your mom sounds like a force of nature.
It does feel like civility, honor, decency have all gone by the wayside. These people have no shame.
I can remember women like your lil Mama being the norm instead of the exception back in the day when I was growing up. Looks as though that mold was broken, which is most unfortunate since we need women like her now more than ever.
It’s all a shitstorm for sure. Living in Delusionville as I currently do, where multiple hateful flags fly (Q, trump as rambo, Confederate, black American flags, punisher flags, etc) it is very difficult to see anything but disaster rolling our way. I hope - beyond fervently if that is possible - that not all of this country is like this and that resistance and common sense actually do still exist in amounts strong enough to matter. I know both do here - I just really hope they do elsewhere too.
I believe they do but we need more resistance and common sense. I wish those things were contagious.
Thank you for the reply Mary. Those two (resistance & common sense) would be viruses worth catching & spreading!
I hope to move from here (central IN) by May 2022 to a community that is far more tolerant, diverse and vibrant. Actually, I don’t just hope to, that is the plan. I think it will help to be around more like minded people and if things continue towards a rigid, hate & white supremacy based theocratic autocracy then it will be easier to resist and have hope there rather than here.
Yes it’s definitely one scary moment in this country among the many of recent times.
Not sure there’s a way back to sanity if that’s the kind of thing we have to look forward to ):
I think the press may have made a simple mistake on the "Let's go Brandon!" guy. I think his last name should be corrected to "Schmuck"!
Bullies everywhere in this country.
Reminds me of the exchange in "A Man For All Seasons":
Sir Thomas More:
You threaten like a dockside bully.
Cromwell:
How should I threaten?
Sir Thomas More:
Like a minister of state. With justice.
Cromwell:
Oh, justice is what you're threatened with.
Sir Thomas More:
Then I am not threatened.
Great quote.
Bullies are definitely in vogue. They're all pathetic.
This is all good. Not much one could add. Thanks Mary.
Thank you, Marilyn.
An autocracy with FREE PRESS -this is why there is such a discord among us ! SHUT UP YOU ARE LYING… NO HERE ARE THE FACTS …. NO WE TRUMP AND FOX RULE! NO WE HAVE A CONSTITUTION! NO IT IS FAKE! No news is fake…. No wonder it is a huge cluster f#%%k ! BOTH CANNOT WIN!
Definitely not. Which is why we have to.
Thank you, Mary, for including an audio version of your email. It helps very much.
You're welcome, Caroline. I intend to do this for every post and am still trying to catch up. It's pretty time-consuming bc it never gets done in one take but it's totally worth doing. I'm glad it helps.
Mary, wait till you read today's Daily Beast, article about Peter Navarro's planning with blotchy Bannon and members of Congress, it is, to say the least, very reveling and fighting. These people are nutz. As always, thank you for your thoughts and words.
I'll definitely check it out. Thanks, Steven.