38 Comments
Nov 5Liked by Ryan Grim, Nausicaa Renner

I felt compelled to pay for this site because of your Gaza coverage. Stuff like this is a bonus. You’re doing the work we all need. Thank you.

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Nov 5·edited Nov 5Liked by Ryan Grim

I love you guys.

But it’s been 9 freaking years with Trump. I’m so sick of him. He’s a fascist, a monster. He has the character of an MC at a wet t-shirt contest. He makes me nauseous.

If he wins, I’m done. I don’t want to read, think, or talk about him. Nothing. I’ve had it.

Please, god. Let us be free of the disease.

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spinbackwards, "if he wins," I'm out. I've decided on Jamaica, because it's warm, and at my age (74), I sort of don't have to learn another language.

Donnie "has the character of an MC at a wet t-shirt contest. He makes [you] nauseous." Magnificently put. Frankly, I don't know anyone in the world who would disagree with you.

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You won't have any choice of ignoring him if he wins

And if you insist on trying to you'll be complicit in enabling his evil works by not offering resistance

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You think we’re not resisting? Au contraire.

We’re selling our Tesla. Buying a Rivian (that’s if Elon doesn’t kill them).

I deactivated X, never did join FB.

I’m an advocate for the Fediverse.

We haven’t ate anything with a face or a mother since 5.1.15.

We vote in every neighborhood, town, city, state and federal election.

We donate money.

I buy all my music.

I go see live music.

I’m down to three pair of jeans, no plans to buy more. I rarely wash them.

I’m not buying any more ski clothing.

We have two big compost bins.

We’ve raised our son to be a kind and caring person on the planet. He door knocked for Kamala.

Our dogs sleep on our couches.

We buy art.

We have solar.

We buy from local companies like Conway Electric (handmade lamps), imogene + willie (clothing made in Nashville), Weiss Watch Company (American made watches) that reflect our values.

We help people for free to go Whole Food Plant Based.

I fixed up our 2003 VW Van.

My mother was in government. She taught me to resist. When we’re gone our son will follow.

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Its been 1 year of Bidolf Harristler. This can only be typed by someone with utter negligence for brown people.

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Remember when Bush/Cheney were the unholy evil and the 100K people in FL who voted for Nader were the devil (never mind the 300K DEMOCRATS who voted for Bush - it's never their fault!) deserved to be thrown into a lake of fire?

Weird how those same people are now saying that the Cheneys (since GWB had already been rehabilitated because he and Michelle shared candy) are the ones we should vote for.

There will never be a good candidate for president in the Democratic Party of people support Harris. Voting for the leader evil has gotten us here. Why keep doing something that never, ever, ever, ever works?

Why not try voting for someone who doesn't aspire to be a war criminal?

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I have one priority because it represents the complete negation of the foundation of the US in liberty and justice for all. Zionism must be defeated in American politics and this means the defeat of wealth in American politics, Zionism being exhibit 1. Could there be a greater challenge with less chance of success? No. Nevertheless the effort must be made and this includes standing up to the phony charge of antisemitism, phony because 1) Zionism is not Judaism but has hijacked it and 2) many American Jews are disgusted and revolted by what Israel is about and are stating openly that they are anti-Zionist (Jewish Voice for Peace). I voted for Jill Stein because there is no other choice for liberty and justice for all.

Courage is required to stand with the benighted pro-Palestinian protesters as they face the suppression of our freedom of speech brought about by wealthy Zionist donors demanding universities crack down on any protests against the Zionist slaughter with a 100% success rate.

Without movement against Zionist/Israeli control of our political system, the American Experiment is over with the tiny tail of Israel wagging the mighty dog of the US (there are 40 Americans for each Israeli). This control is purely from the power of incredible disposable wealth, set free by the Supreme Court and obvious to all now (and for some time) as slaughter gets full US support with funding, weaponry and diplomatic cover in the UN.

It should be openly stated because it is undeniable, that President Biden is a traitor as is Anthony Blinken along with Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and on down the list of cheerleaders for Israel in Congress, the military, the intelligence services and state/local government. Yes, traitors, along with any other Americans who say they are Zionists because it is impossible to be for ethnic superiority and cleansing while also claiming to be for liberty and justice for all. It is outrageous that Biden could declare himself a Zionist and there was not even a whimper from MSM or any Democrat or Republican that I know of. Anyone who knows American history will marvel at the fear and frenzy once produced by Joe McCarthy about communists in American government when the instances were few and nothing compared to the full infusion of Zionism today by people who proudly proclaim their support for Israel as if there were no hypocrisy involved.

I did not recite the Pledge of Allegiance in grammar school for nothing. I love this country and have seen it taken over by a tiny foreign power, now undeniable with both Harris and Trump all-in for Zionism.

Stand with the Pledge, not with Israel. Stand with the freedom and full citizenship of all American Jews because they are equal citizens, not for the extermination of a native people under the clearly false claim that Israel is the only safe place for Jews and that Palestinians are sub-humans to be expelled/exterminated with enthusiasm (see IDF videos). Zionism is a fanaticism as surely as was National Socialism and we are seeing the same results - the refusal to see all human beings as of equal worth. Slaughter is the inevitable result. Americans fought and died to end Nazism, now we are all in for Zionism. Wake up!

Throw off the deadly grip of Zionism and don't be shy about it. Boldness and courage are needed, not fear of what the neighbors would think. Who must lead this effort? It must be retirees who are free of the danger of being fired or destroyed on social media by Zionists ready to suppress anti-Zionism directly at every level of management or by non-Zionists in fear of Zionists at higher levels of management in business, education and government. The infiltration is complete. Time to act in the face of what appear to be impossible odds against success.

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Ah, Clif, there you are. Great to see you again. I want to ask you to reconsider a few things you said.

Every time you talk about the evils of Zionism, please consider that you're really talking about people's avoidance of being called antiSemitic, and you're talking about the evils of private money in politics (in this case, AIPAC's money). (The "American experiment" is already over.

The people with all the money bought it.) You are most certainly right about what about the "Original" intent of this country we have given away in order not to be accused of antiZionism or antiSemitism. Yes, they're all traitors, but not because they act as if they thought Israel was more important or valuable than the US.

Zionism is not a fanaticism. It's an excuse. And it's not even just the excuse of Israeli Jews. It's the excuse of Netanyahu.

You did not vote for Jill Stein. Jill Stein is a meaningless candidate, and cannot win. Your vote was for whoever wins, because you deprived whoever didn't win of your otherwise meaningful vote.

Great, again, to see you.

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Fred, thanks for your response.

When I talk about the evils of Zionism I am talking about ethnic cleansing and ethnic superiority, Zionists use the accusation of antisemitism as a shield for Zionism a perfect example of how Judaism has been hijacked by Zionism, including the symbol of Judaism on the Israeli flag implying that all Jews support Israel which is definitely not the case.

The American Experiment being already over is surely true, the only question being if it can be restored. That is very much in doubt. Would wealth have triumphed as it has without Zionism? Yes, I think so, in the process so well described in The Lever's podcast called "The Master Plan". One might say Zionism has hitched a ride on the takeover, but the fact that Zionism is anti-liberty and justice for all is the proof of victory in being able to turn a country on its own foundational principle. In what way could a country be more betrayed?

Zionism most definitely IS a fanaticism in saying that all must die who challenge it, just as manifest destiny was fanatic in making the same claim against native-Americans, their fate sealed by extermination just as Zionism is applying it now. Ethnic cleansing is by definition fanatic because it requires the de-humanization of the other, the natives. The statements from the members of the Israeli government are pure fanaticism - "it would be moral for all 2 million Gazans to starve to death, but the world won't let us" from Bezalel Smotrich not contradicted by any other member of the government.

As for Jill Stein, in a democracy one votes for the person the voter most wants to see in the office. That's all there is to it. To claim that a vote is "really" for someone else is nonsense concocted by those who do not want to see their bete noire elected, nothing more.

BTW, there is an excellent little known book called "The Imperative of Responsibility" written by Hans Jonas in 1984. Hans was born in 1903 and is long gone, but his book is an intellectual marvel, a paragon of rational thinking that is so appropriate now as the responsibility he calls for is all but forgotten along with his book. Might you be a relative?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Jonas

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Clif, as you can perhaps imagine, I am not much in the mood this morning to talk about much of anything. And I have a string of appointments I'm going to have to stay awake (last night was not a good one for sleeping) to navigate. Suffice it to say that I agree with almost everything you said. As I said, I'm in no mood to wax, as they say.

I will only get into two issues, neither one large, with you. You might have wanted to see Jill Stein in office, but you knew that wasn't going to happen. You knew it was going to be Harris or Trump. Your opportunity, to which you might object, was to decide which of THOSE TWO was better or worse than the other. Voting for Stein was like writing in your next door neighbor. It's a charming gesture, if you like your neighbor, but nothing would have come of it. Your tiny vote was a more or less imperceptible nudge in the direction of either Harris or Trump. If you voted for Stein, and Trump, let's say, won, then you voted for Trump by depriving Harris of the small weight of an extra vote for her. And depending on in which state you live, and how close was the vote count in that state, one of them was either going to get "your" vote whether or not you voted for them, or you had minuscule pressure on the scale.

As for Jonas, my paternal grandfather came from the Ukraine. His name was Yanofsky. But he was self-conscious about it, because as a newcomer to this country, he felt uneasy either about what sounded Ukrainian or Jewish to him, so he changed it to Jonas. He saw that name on a sign for some business somewhere. He had a brother who had the same self-consciousness, and changed his name to Jaffee. Maybe I'll take a look at Hans Jonas' book, but I can't think about that now.

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Fred, I understand your feelings today as they are shared by many, including me, but I must respond about the Stein vote that I think you dismiss to easily. I had to face some rage in supporting her, intended to intimidate me based on your view, and I feel deeply about the democratic principle involved.

Nobody can know the future, but one does know which candidate one wants to see in office. What is certain without question is that no candidate can win without votes. Thus, one is bound to vote for the person desired since to not do so is to refuse that person office as far as it is in the power of that voter to determine. My conscience is clear because in voting I was doing all I could for Stein, whatever the decisions of other voters might be. That is democracy.

Re the name change, my wife's deceased husband's grandparents came from eastern Europe with the name Berkowitz. Like your grandfather, changed it to Berkow. My name, Brown, sounds American all right, but I am sorry to say my great-grandfather, Jesse Brown, was a slave owner and cotton broker in Memphis, TN. I understand Trump wants to change military base names back to the Confederate names they had before. What would the Yanofsky's and Berkowitz's think of Trump?

The most impressive and concerning thing I have seen about the election results are shown on a map by the NYT. Go to the link following and click on the small map at the left that is titled "shift from 2020" that shows the shift by county.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/05/us/elections/results-president.html

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Clif, when you say "nobody can know the future, but one does know which candidate one wants to see in office," if you think there was any possibility in the universe that Stein might win, and that neither Harris nor Trump would, I think you're kidding yourself. Imagine it this way: Stein is by far your first choice, but either Harris or Trump is your distant second choice. So you vote for Stein, because she's the one you'd like to see in office. Stein gets a small collection of votes in your state, and either Harris or Trump wins by one vote. And your second choice was not the one who won. Had you voted for Harris or Trump, whichever one lost by one vote, there would have been a tie, which would have been resolved by some method. Are you still glad you voted for Stein, and handed your state to the candidate who might win, at the cost of the other candidate who might win, and whom you would have preferred to the one you got?

As for naming military bases for Confederates, I always wonder if Republicans think Russian streets should be named for Stalin, or German streets for Hitler, or Iraqi streets for Sadam Hussein? Donnie claims to have no respect for losers, but he likes Confederates? (Of course he does like insurrectionists, so maybe he's willing to ignore the fact that they were losers.)

I don't understand why anyone, except very rich people who want to get richer for some reason, would vote for Trump. Many of those red arrows are reportedly Hispanics, who don't seem to know what Donnie claims to think of immigrants, and what he'd like to do to them. And if he forgets, he'll have Stephen Miller up his ass.

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Nov 5Liked by Ryan Grim

Thanks Ryan for that great overview of the state of play in this election. Because of the interdependence of world economies, particularly in the "western bloc", we outside watch US elections closely. Just one of many issues of real concern is "Over 4 years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals." (NYT 20 Jan 202). I think Biden reinstated some, but not all. Trump's anti regulation, anti climate change, anti govt mindset is a wrecking ball.

The new economic correspondent sounds great. Your .. "The one percent works very hard to mystify the story of the economy" is so true.

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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html

NYT article quoted above. Should be 20 Jan 2021. Typing on phone, glasses, but yippee, no paywall.

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Nov 5·edited Nov 5

The Dems and the country would have been in a better situation if Trump had beaten Biden in 2020. Four more years of Trump might have been stressful, but we'd have survived the storm and lame duck Trump would be out of the picture with no obvious successor. Meanwhile, the Dems, with no Trump to run against, could have spent the four years rebuilding their working and middle-class base and preparing, cultivating one or more truly qualified and inspiring candidates and looking forward to a solid and durable victory over a thoroughly discredited and Trumpless GOP. Instead, as Ryan explains, the future is indeed bleak, both for the Dems and for the nation.

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A bizarre, and possibly accurate, angle, Guy.

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I underestimated you bigtime when you first emerged on the scene. I was dead wrong. It's rare. But it happens. Best, KWB.

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Nov 5Liked by Ryan Grim

The writing here really lives up to the website's name. This article is a drop of truth in an ocean of biased information. Thank you sir, you and your collegues at Drop site deserve all the success that you have all worked so hard for.

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Mr Wilson, there's a top echelon of Substackers. Ryan Grim is unquestionably in that echelon.

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Thank you for this analysis. I respect that you did not try to sway voters one way or another, but presented facts as you saw them. I agree with your predictions and in a way, and I know this was not your intent, but I see a Trump presidency as potentially being more beneficial to anti-war activists, like me. We will see.

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I needed to read this. Thank you.

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This almost sounds like an argument for "elect Trump and give the country a giant BM." I could ALMOST buy in, but then we'd have to listen to him pontificate and preen ... and we'd get stuck with that little weasel Vance. Ugh. We're doomed either way. The only good news is that we deserve to be. This country has it coming to it.

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No matter who wins, we will be served huge portions of insincere word salad, giveaways to worthless billionaires, and industrial scale murder abroad.

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Thank you for hiring Jessica Burbank. She’s terrific.

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founding

I have seen reporting that regardless of who wins the US will push for an end to the killing after the election. I don't see any evidence for this. Ending the Genocide has consistently polled as a winning issue and the DNC hasn't done anything in this direction. Why would this change after the election? CAFI, AIPAC, and the MIC will still support Israel and the impetus to pressure in order to secure votes will be gone.

The analysis about Trump and Netanyahu also doesn't make sense to me. Why would Harris being elected mean the end of Bibi's plans? He has gotten everything he wanted from the Biden Harris administration. We haven't seen them restrict him in any way. The Times of Israel reported that Trump told him to wrap things up by the time he takes office. Even if Harris or Trump were to flex their imperial muscles and force policies onto Israel why would this result in the conservative and ultra orthodox parties leaving his coalition? From what I ahve read they understand that this coalition gives them a great access to power that they are unlikely to exceed. The only reason for them to push for new elections would be if they thought they would gain more power after the vote.

His whole analysis was long on theories and short on substantive evidence.

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Congratulations re Jessica Burbank, she is terrific. Easy on the eyes too.

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I didn't vote for either Trump or Harris. I cannot support an uneducated, crude comedian or someone complicit in genocide. Can someone tell me why our only two choices are the wrong choices? I can only hope Dems can hold onto the House for some checks and balances. The damage is done, and now more than ever we need journalism with integrity to hold those in power accountable. Support Drop Site and support accountability!

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I am in 100% agreement with the end of the article. Obviously defeating trump is important short term (and Supreme Court long term) but Harris winning on this right wing messaging and campaign means the death of the left as a part of the Democratic party, if its not dead already

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