I am still voting for Biden no matter what is going on otherwise I truly believe we are facing the end of democracy. I sincerely care about what is happening in Gaza and Biden needs to listen to us by stopping the funding to Israel, but putting a dictator at the helm of the USA terrifies me even more. Please vote Blue.
I can't believe I'm in my 70's and I'm still singing songs from the 70's ........."all we are saying is give Peace a chance". " War? Huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
Again, it is not just young voters who give a damn about what is happening in Gaza! Sure, it was wrong for Hamas to lob missiles into Israel. I imagine that they had their reasons, but the ends certainly do not justify the means. At the same time, the punishment should fit the crime. If someone punches you in the mouth, you punch him back. You don't use what he has done as an excuse for killing him and his entire family.
Excellent post, Michael. You lay it out so succinctly.
Two points, though, that I’m sure you’d rather to say…
It’s not just young people who will not vote for Biden.
And it’s too late for Biden to do anything to reverse that. The jig is up. Biden’s campaign is toast. There is no recovery from this point in time.
There are many older citizens who will not say yes to the person who gave Netanyahu his complete and total support. It’s not just the young.
AIPAC needs to be ruled a foreign agent. Wonks love to talk about Putin’s interference in our politics. What about this goddamn group of Israeli fascists, Zionists and their sympathizers, who are pouring money into our political campaigns?!? And at the same time, attempting to oust anyone who counters their narrative and litany of constant boldfaced LIES!
The jig is up. There is absolutely nothing Biden and his admin can do that will make us not see what has been live-streaming before our eyes for now 5 months.
If we vote for Biden, we are telling him and the entire DNC that we’re a-ok with the heinous crimes against the Palestinians. I’m here to you that I am one who absolutely cannot whitewash over these horrific atrocities.
And oh btw - we need to stop verbalizing that the death count is anything close to the publicized number. It must be no less than DOUBLE that number given the bodies buried in rubble. And how many babies, children, women and men are barely alive - either by lost limbs or by starvation.
It MUST end! I don’t blame Biden for not wanting to go to Michigan (it’s a Primary) & have protests —last thing he needs on MSM right now. I’m also glad you mentioned, at the end, all the good that has been done under Biden—because he listened to Bernie (especially w/the MAGA House trumpers not willing to do what’s right for the country)! I protested Vietnam & marched for Civil Rights/Justice in the ‘60s, and trump & Co. are the WORST thing that’s happened to this country & the world! If he is somehow re-elected, we are DONE —as a country & what will happen to the rest of the world!!
This is really scary. Biden is one stubborn guy & increasingly he behaves like many of our local politicians who absolutely ignore the wishes of their constituents. Were the option not so onerous, I would vote for the other candidate.
Mike, I have an idea: let all the Jews (any non-Jewish friends so known by Jews are welcome to join) who want an immediate cease-fire, both here and in Israel, finance and organize a food/water caravan to go into Gaza. They'd need to be armed lest Hamas steal their cargo and murder the members, but how dare the IDF do anything but help to guard them? Is this a good idea, or am I somewhere out of the ballpark? I would like to know.
Reading some of the comments is making me ill. Right here, with Harris making a firm statement against the attrocities committed on both sides and taking a firm stand on ending the humanitarian crisis and negotiating a lasting peace (plus getting the hostages back) and we are here as subscribers to Moore's podcast are fighting, in some cases viciously among ourselves is pretty sad. Everyone has a right to their point of view, but at some point you have to begin to heal and to move forward in ways that solve problems. The media continues to stir the pot, something that I did accuse Moore of, when obviously, while he was complaining and encouraging his fellow Michiginians to send a message to Biden, his people were already working in the background to end the humanitarian crisis and set the groundwork for a two-state solution, a process that is fraught with difficulties and may, in the end, prove impossible to attain. Maybe we all need to stop, take a deep breath, and let the people who do have the power to work things out. Of course, that said, there is no guarantee that anything positive will happen. But at least it would nice if it happens here. Don't we all want the same thing -- peace and properity for all despite all the bad actors that are lurking in the shadows?
Biden won't charge course on Israel...he stated that he is a Zionist. 🤢The military industrial complex runs the Democrats and the country. Democrats are the war party now!.😡
Biden and his administration is forced to serve a capitalistic -imperialistic system, and to bow down to an extreme white supremacy government. Now murdering the innocent, threatening to destroy a whole population in a neighboring area. There must be an enormous amount of fear involved, not stopping this despite the ongoing horror. I can’t understand that fear, when it would be so easy to lift up the phone and say NO.
Advice for Michael: why don't you actually respond to some of our questions and our comments. Paul Krugman does and it is great. It would help us to feel as though you are listening to us and not just expecting us to listen to you. There are no NY Time columnist that I know of takes the time that Krugman does to directly respond to comments in the comments section of his columns. It helps also to level out the discussion and make it less volatile. Instead of leaving us the hash things out with each other, it helps him to mentor and to mediate and to provide a much needed perspective. After all, people in the media have access to sources that we do not. And by sharing the reasons and the source material that you use to make your decisions, it helps us to feel that we are not just on the outside looking in.
The constant thundering drumbeat of Vote! Vote! Vote!, - regardless of age, ethnic and political demographic, economic status, etc. - is meaningless and misplaced. We have already lost the 2024 election (s). It is 2020 all over again. Not metaphorically, not just with the same candidates, not in attitude, but literally. Our votes are valueless unless the candidates commit to abiding by the results. OK, fine, they have the recourse to challenge in the courts, but, just like in 2020, the challenges where legally without merit and has left us living with the fact that Trump, Kari Lake and the entire GOP has embraced denial of the election PROCESS itself. Trump "wins" regardless of the vote. This is not a mystery. There is no surprise here. Just blindness and comfortable indifference. Trump and the GOP are actively, publicly announcing and preparing for the next "insurrection." To them the actual vote is meaningless. If they lose its Big Lie 2; if they win it was free and fair.
We MUST forego all the "get out to vote" hoopla, bean counting, organize your neighborhood injunctions and SOLELY concentrate on extracting, by waterboarding if necessary, and incessant media focus, ironclad guarantees from the candidates, from legislation both at the local and regional level, by federal imperatives, by Electoral College mandate and by creating public AWARENESS that the 2024 elections are fair, genuine and reflective of the country's will. It is going to be hard enough with AI fakes abounding, Russian and Chinese hacking and stupid, uncaring people voting how Tucker wants, to pull of a legitimate count.
THEN - and only THEN - when we feel secure in the voting system, should we bandwagon our favorites
The Election Pledge – a blatant paraphrase of “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain
2024 was a time of great and unnerving turmoil. The country was up in arms, the election was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism, some on fire to save democracy, others unknowingly cheering for tyranny… on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags of various colors and design flashed in the sun… nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to speeches which stirred the deepest of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in churches pastors preached devotion to Donald Trump and invoked the God of totalitarian fascism beseeching his aid in their cause in outpourings of venom and vitriol devoid of fervid eloquence and laced with profanity which incited their listeners to violent revenge…
Monday morning came–next day a group of very gentle souls would head for the polling places; the hall was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with dreams of a better world of justice and peace, the gathering momentum, the rush to the polls, the flashing determination, the rout of the fascists, the victory, the triumph of democracy, the outcome of freedom, the joy! Then home from the polls, heroic citizens, submerged in I Voted stickers!... The meeting proceeded; a chapter on the evils of war was read; the first pledge was said…
Then came the “long” pledge. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The gist of it was that they could no longer vote for a candidate who had done evil. Lesser evils are still evil, after all, and they would no longer participate in a two-party system when both choices were evil. Joe Biden’s support of Netanyahu’s genocidal policies were a last straw. Their consciences would no longer allow them to vote for anyone that would harm another. A vote for “Genocide Joe” would only encourage that behavior. The two-party system would only keep kicking the can down the road indefinitely, and things would never change. They pledged to do the right thing for humanity and put a stop to the nonsense once and for all. They would vote for the person they really wanted for the job and refuse to settle for the two evil choices forced upon them. Some would vote for Marianne Williamson, others for Jill Stein. Still others would write in Bernie Sanders or someone else they thought would do the best job. One thing they were sure of is that they would send a message loud and clear that the American people were fed up with evil once and for all and would settle for nothing less than a peaceful outcome…
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the speaker, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness… he ascended to the speaker’s side and stood there waiting. …
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside–which the startled speaker did–and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
“I come from the universe which hears all intentions that are set–bearing a message!”...
“The universe has registered your pledge. Has it paused and taken thought? Is it one pledge? No, it is two–one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of those who hear, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this–keep it in mind. If you would pledge an action, beware! Lest you receive all that goes with that action at the same time. If you pledge to take an action for something good without considering all of its implications, by that act you are bringing upon yourselves a curse which may prevent all the good you intend and injure everyone else and yourselves in the process.
“You have heard your speaker’s pledge–the uttered part of it. I am commissioned to put into words the other part of it–that part which your speaker–and also you in your hearts–fervently pledged silently. And ignorant and unthinkingly? Well, it was so! When you pledged to send a message, you have pledged many unmentioned results which the action you took must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit the universe fell also the unspoken part of the pledge. It has been put into words. Listen!
“We pledge to send a message to Joe Biden that we do not approve of his support for Netanyahu’s policy of genocide and to vote only for candidates who can promise to do the right thing. We pledge this intending to send a message to those in power and to take full responsibility for all possible results of our actions. We are completely aware of all of the ramifications of taking the action we have pledged. We fully realize and are willing to bear the burden of a second term for Donald Trump, who is likely to be re-elected. We know that may mean a lot of grief for his political opponents, but it is a sacrifice we are willing to make. We know it will present an undue burden on our gay and trans neighbors and friends, create further hardship for Black, Indigenous, and Latin American citizens, people on welfare and those collecting Social Security. There will be bans on abortion and IVG, and rape victims will be forced to carry their babies to term regardless of their age and risk to their own life and health. We are willing to make them bear that burden for the sake of the Palestinian people. In fact, we will welcome the reinstatement of Trump’s Muslim ban that Biden had rescinded; and refusal to accept Gazan refugees. We would welcome the deportations of and discrimination against Arab and Muslim Americans, refugees, and students. We pledge never to lose sight of our single goal of denying Joe Biden a second term, and we are ready and willing to accept all of the collateral damage that is likely to occur as a result.
(After a pause.) “You have pledged it; if you still desire it, speak! The universe awaits!”
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
Why is Netanyahu still in power?
Why is Trump not in prison?
Why is Biden sabotaging his own reelection?
Why aren’t people doing anything about this?
I really hope the Biden administration cuts off Netanyahu, how can we make this happen?
I am still voting for Biden no matter what is going on otherwise I truly believe we are facing the end of democracy. I sincerely care about what is happening in Gaza and Biden needs to listen to us by stopping the funding to Israel, but putting a dictator at the helm of the USA terrifies me even more. Please vote Blue.
I can't believe I'm in my 70's and I'm still singing songs from the 70's ........."all we are saying is give Peace a chance". " War? Huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
Do you need the definition of insanity???
Again, it is not just young voters who give a damn about what is happening in Gaza! Sure, it was wrong for Hamas to lob missiles into Israel. I imagine that they had their reasons, but the ends certainly do not justify the means. At the same time, the punishment should fit the crime. If someone punches you in the mouth, you punch him back. You don't use what he has done as an excuse for killing him and his entire family.
It is appalling that our country is even allowing Trump to even be on the ballot! A testament to the corruption in our country!
Excellent post, Michael. You lay it out so succinctly.
Two points, though, that I’m sure you’d rather to say…
It’s not just young people who will not vote for Biden.
And it’s too late for Biden to do anything to reverse that. The jig is up. Biden’s campaign is toast. There is no recovery from this point in time.
There are many older citizens who will not say yes to the person who gave Netanyahu his complete and total support. It’s not just the young.
AIPAC needs to be ruled a foreign agent. Wonks love to talk about Putin’s interference in our politics. What about this goddamn group of Israeli fascists, Zionists and their sympathizers, who are pouring money into our political campaigns?!? And at the same time, attempting to oust anyone who counters their narrative and litany of constant boldfaced LIES!
The jig is up. There is absolutely nothing Biden and his admin can do that will make us not see what has been live-streaming before our eyes for now 5 months.
If we vote for Biden, we are telling him and the entire DNC that we’re a-ok with the heinous crimes against the Palestinians. I’m here to you that I am one who absolutely cannot whitewash over these horrific atrocities.
And oh btw - we need to stop verbalizing that the death count is anything close to the publicized number. It must be no less than DOUBLE that number given the bodies buried in rubble. And how many babies, children, women and men are barely alive - either by lost limbs or by starvation.
Totally agree w/you on Gaza & Netanyahu!
It MUST end! I don’t blame Biden for not wanting to go to Michigan (it’s a Primary) & have protests —last thing he needs on MSM right now. I’m also glad you mentioned, at the end, all the good that has been done under Biden—because he listened to Bernie (especially w/the MAGA House trumpers not willing to do what’s right for the country)! I protested Vietnam & marched for Civil Rights/Justice in the ‘60s, and trump & Co. are the WORST thing that’s happened to this country & the world! If he is somehow re-elected, we are DONE —as a country & what will happen to the rest of the world!!
This is really scary. Biden is one stubborn guy & increasingly he behaves like many of our local politicians who absolutely ignore the wishes of their constituents. Were the option not so onerous, I would vote for the other candidate.
Mike, I have an idea: let all the Jews (any non-Jewish friends so known by Jews are welcome to join) who want an immediate cease-fire, both here and in Israel, finance and organize a food/water caravan to go into Gaza. They'd need to be armed lest Hamas steal their cargo and murder the members, but how dare the IDF do anything but help to guard them? Is this a good idea, or am I somewhere out of the ballpark? I would like to know.
Reading some of the comments is making me ill. Right here, with Harris making a firm statement against the attrocities committed on both sides and taking a firm stand on ending the humanitarian crisis and negotiating a lasting peace (plus getting the hostages back) and we are here as subscribers to Moore's podcast are fighting, in some cases viciously among ourselves is pretty sad. Everyone has a right to their point of view, but at some point you have to begin to heal and to move forward in ways that solve problems. The media continues to stir the pot, something that I did accuse Moore of, when obviously, while he was complaining and encouraging his fellow Michiginians to send a message to Biden, his people were already working in the background to end the humanitarian crisis and set the groundwork for a two-state solution, a process that is fraught with difficulties and may, in the end, prove impossible to attain. Maybe we all need to stop, take a deep breath, and let the people who do have the power to work things out. Of course, that said, there is no guarantee that anything positive will happen. But at least it would nice if it happens here. Don't we all want the same thing -- peace and properity for all despite all the bad actors that are lurking in the shadows?
Biden won't charge course on Israel...he stated that he is a Zionist. 🤢The military industrial complex runs the Democrats and the country. Democrats are the war party now!.😡
Biden and his administration is forced to serve a capitalistic -imperialistic system, and to bow down to an extreme white supremacy government. Now murdering the innocent, threatening to destroy a whole population in a neighboring area. There must be an enormous amount of fear involved, not stopping this despite the ongoing horror. I can’t understand that fear, when it would be so easy to lift up the phone and say NO.
Advice for Michael: why don't you actually respond to some of our questions and our comments. Paul Krugman does and it is great. It would help us to feel as though you are listening to us and not just expecting us to listen to you. There are no NY Time columnist that I know of takes the time that Krugman does to directly respond to comments in the comments section of his columns. It helps also to level out the discussion and make it less volatile. Instead of leaving us the hash things out with each other, it helps him to mentor and to mediate and to provide a much needed perspective. After all, people in the media have access to sources that we do not. And by sharing the reasons and the source material that you use to make your decisions, it helps us to feel that we are not just on the outside looking in.
The constant thundering drumbeat of Vote! Vote! Vote!, - regardless of age, ethnic and political demographic, economic status, etc. - is meaningless and misplaced. We have already lost the 2024 election (s). It is 2020 all over again. Not metaphorically, not just with the same candidates, not in attitude, but literally. Our votes are valueless unless the candidates commit to abiding by the results. OK, fine, they have the recourse to challenge in the courts, but, just like in 2020, the challenges where legally without merit and has left us living with the fact that Trump, Kari Lake and the entire GOP has embraced denial of the election PROCESS itself. Trump "wins" regardless of the vote. This is not a mystery. There is no surprise here. Just blindness and comfortable indifference. Trump and the GOP are actively, publicly announcing and preparing for the next "insurrection." To them the actual vote is meaningless. If they lose its Big Lie 2; if they win it was free and fair.
We MUST forego all the "get out to vote" hoopla, bean counting, organize your neighborhood injunctions and SOLELY concentrate on extracting, by waterboarding if necessary, and incessant media focus, ironclad guarantees from the candidates, from legislation both at the local and regional level, by federal imperatives, by Electoral College mandate and by creating public AWARENESS that the 2024 elections are fair, genuine and reflective of the country's will. It is going to be hard enough with AI fakes abounding, Russian and Chinese hacking and stupid, uncaring people voting how Tucker wants, to pull of a legitimate count.
THEN - and only THEN - when we feel secure in the voting system, should we bandwagon our favorites
The Election Pledge – a blatant paraphrase of “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain
2024 was a time of great and unnerving turmoil. The country was up in arms, the election was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism, some on fire to save democracy, others unknowingly cheering for tyranny… on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags of various colors and design flashed in the sun… nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to speeches which stirred the deepest of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in churches pastors preached devotion to Donald Trump and invoked the God of totalitarian fascism beseeching his aid in their cause in outpourings of venom and vitriol devoid of fervid eloquence and laced with profanity which incited their listeners to violent revenge…
Monday morning came–next day a group of very gentle souls would head for the polling places; the hall was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with dreams of a better world of justice and peace, the gathering momentum, the rush to the polls, the flashing determination, the rout of the fascists, the victory, the triumph of democracy, the outcome of freedom, the joy! Then home from the polls, heroic citizens, submerged in I Voted stickers!... The meeting proceeded; a chapter on the evils of war was read; the first pledge was said…
Then came the “long” pledge. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The gist of it was that they could no longer vote for a candidate who had done evil. Lesser evils are still evil, after all, and they would no longer participate in a two-party system when both choices were evil. Joe Biden’s support of Netanyahu’s genocidal policies were a last straw. Their consciences would no longer allow them to vote for anyone that would harm another. A vote for “Genocide Joe” would only encourage that behavior. The two-party system would only keep kicking the can down the road indefinitely, and things would never change. They pledged to do the right thing for humanity and put a stop to the nonsense once and for all. They would vote for the person they really wanted for the job and refuse to settle for the two evil choices forced upon them. Some would vote for Marianne Williamson, others for Jill Stein. Still others would write in Bernie Sanders or someone else they thought would do the best job. One thing they were sure of is that they would send a message loud and clear that the American people were fed up with evil once and for all and would settle for nothing less than a peaceful outcome…
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the speaker, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness… he ascended to the speaker’s side and stood there waiting. …
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside–which the startled speaker did–and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
“I come from the universe which hears all intentions that are set–bearing a message!”...
“The universe has registered your pledge. Has it paused and taken thought? Is it one pledge? No, it is two–one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of those who hear, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this–keep it in mind. If you would pledge an action, beware! Lest you receive all that goes with that action at the same time. If you pledge to take an action for something good without considering all of its implications, by that act you are bringing upon yourselves a curse which may prevent all the good you intend and injure everyone else and yourselves in the process.
“You have heard your speaker’s pledge–the uttered part of it. I am commissioned to put into words the other part of it–that part which your speaker–and also you in your hearts–fervently pledged silently. And ignorant and unthinkingly? Well, it was so! When you pledged to send a message, you have pledged many unmentioned results which the action you took must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit the universe fell also the unspoken part of the pledge. It has been put into words. Listen!
“We pledge to send a message to Joe Biden that we do not approve of his support for Netanyahu’s policy of genocide and to vote only for candidates who can promise to do the right thing. We pledge this intending to send a message to those in power and to take full responsibility for all possible results of our actions. We are completely aware of all of the ramifications of taking the action we have pledged. We fully realize and are willing to bear the burden of a second term for Donald Trump, who is likely to be re-elected. We know that may mean a lot of grief for his political opponents, but it is a sacrifice we are willing to make. We know it will present an undue burden on our gay and trans neighbors and friends, create further hardship for Black, Indigenous, and Latin American citizens, people on welfare and those collecting Social Security. There will be bans on abortion and IVG, and rape victims will be forced to carry their babies to term regardless of their age and risk to their own life and health. We are willing to make them bear that burden for the sake of the Palestinian people. In fact, we will welcome the reinstatement of Trump’s Muslim ban that Biden had rescinded; and refusal to accept Gazan refugees. We would welcome the deportations of and discrimination against Arab and Muslim Americans, refugees, and students. We pledge never to lose sight of our single goal of denying Joe Biden a second term, and we are ready and willing to accept all of the collateral damage that is likely to occur as a result.
(After a pause.) “You have pledged it; if you still desire it, speak! The universe awaits!”
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.