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I won’t be smiling until it becomes a crime for any form of media to make remarks that are knowingly false or that inspire hate towards others. I’m all for freedom of speech but since people have chosen to abuse that freedom by causing others harm then it must be curtailed. If they can charge women and physicians with murder for abortions, which had been totally legal for decades, then people can also be charged for inciting acts of violence or intentionally causing someone harm. We have allowed these behaviors to go unchecked for far too long. Now we are going to have a President who is a convicted felon. Our country’s moral values have gone downhill. We value guns, sex, and sensationalism above all else. We need to value education, science, healthcare and peace. We must make the needed changes to bring justice, reason, kindness, equality and compassion back. Let our media focus on that, and perhaps we can change for the better.

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Please run for office. Wherever you are, your platform sounds like decency and respect for the rule of law - laws that most Americans want.

Freedom from bigoted Bible freaks ruling over those who believe in science, medicine and compassionate care.

Freedom from WMDs in the hands of haters...

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We just had a very qualified woman run for office on this platform. The American people unfortunately chose otherwise.

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Indeed! And we are a tottering republic on the brink of dictatorship as a result.

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Scary and sad and so very unnecessary that we're in this situation right now.

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As The Onion might say, "America was only just saved from a Communist-Marxist takeover by a female candidate who would've mandated the forced sex-change of our children, and forced a re-alignment from of our Biblical values to those based upon objective scientific enquiry."

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I agree with you but isn't it interesting that she never said anything like that.

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There is currently considerable RW hysteria over Trans youth being "forced" to transition by evil woke Democrats. Normal hetero children going to school as one gender--and returning home, mutilated, as another. Presumably brainwashed by nefarious unionized liberal school staff.

Conservatives seriously believe this shit.

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Wow that is completely orwellian in scope size but they're intellect is lacking. Stupidity reigns

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Oh, I certainly hope you're not serious because that is flat-out not true.

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Because they despise women, especially women of color

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And I don’t feel like laughing about a fucking thing right now. I am mad as hell!

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They're afraid of women.

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Afraid of the peace, community, prosperity, fairness, truth, health and safety that we'd want to mold the USA into.

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Many were women. That is shameful and must be kept plainly in view.

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I’d pay to subscribe if I could. I lost ALL my assets paying for extensive healthcare including an organ transplant. Listen to Bernie Sanders about this healthcare. ACA was a literal drop in the very big bucket. Nice try, Barack

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And the last who lost to this misfit of a human being was a person who's qualifications to be our President outshined all others for this position.....Hillary Clinton. Sad to say, our white males are mostly to blame for this (in my humble opinion)

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You are absolutely correct. What the heck is wrong with this country? Fifty percent of voters prefer a lying, cheating, traitorous, demented jack-ass to a qualified woman. Oh, I forgot, emails. She had emails.

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Well, don't be so humble!👌

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Very true, Bill. Unfortunately time and age is not with Mr. Rather. He is 92/93. Otherwise the nation needs stalwarts like him and Ralph Nader in the White House.

True patriots and men of steel.

Except for his voice of reason, everything is really a dirty joke being played on us.

Thank you

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Thanks, but I was replying to Ilene :)

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Thanks but I’m in my 70’s. I seem to have a lot of opinions but have never been involved with politics until 2016. I always voted but I never got involved. I tried to get more involved recently but the Democratic Party seemed to lack cohesiveness, ambition, and conviction where I live. Unfortunately the Republican Party did. We must unite and speak out loud and often if we want to be heard.

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Speaking out is futile. Action must begin. Lawsuits must be brought against a long list of people.

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Speaking out everyday for 8 years worked for Trump. I believe speaking out can influence people if it’s done often enough.

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Funny you say this, Ilene. I'm 65, and I had been saying to friends that I wanted Harris to win to have a second chance at being a better citizen, as I felt i had been a pretty shitty one for a long time.

I would write letters, but they're a waste of time. As the new Citizen Me, I wanted to gather a group of friends and go visit my reps face to face, and ask, "what are you doing about the wealth gap? And how can we help?"

But now? I'll be so grateful to simply get back to that place.

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I am sorry, no wonder people call me dumb, lol.

Happy Sunday

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Rajiv, my dear, it’s a wonder any of us can follow these modern ways of communicating. Certainly not an indication of dumbness. Somehow those faint lines they inserted don’t always do the trick. Happy Sunday wherever you are.

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🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻. Thank you, likewise to you as well.

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I'm never quite sure who I'm replying to Katherine, I mean, Bill. No wait...Rajiv!... (which i first spelled as Ravij).

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Nah… I would never call you dumb. But… but… recall that the bloated-head Ralph Nader ran on the Green Party in 2000 and took 90,000 votes away from, remember that guy, President Al Gore

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Yes, true, Bill. How are you ? The other way to look at it. If enough people were to vote for Ralph Nader, the two corrupt party system would have been broken. Between the two, in politics, it’s always the lesser evil. 2024 is an exception. A sickening exception.

Thank you

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Another way to look at Gore's loss in Florida is now far more chilling: the heavy thumb of Supreme Court corruption.

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I have always admired Al Gore's behavior afterward. Trump would have burned the house down so to speak. And Bush was no where near as bad as Donnie Boy!!!!

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Bush was bad but Donnie was an aberration that was real. AGH

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You can thank Jeb Bush who was Gov. of Fl. at the time. He put the system into chaos

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Agree totally, William. They stopped the count before Gore could be declared the winner, which he actually was.

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But the reality is the two party system, if divided, the one more United wins as it has.

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You mean to say the one successful in fooling us, wins.

Lol. In all seriousness.

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Most politicians have no spines hence, are of the worm class.

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This is an intelligent reply Rajiv. Don't denigrate yourself ‼️

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Not to throw a spanner into the works, Bill, but it depends on where those 90,000 votes were.

Someone said yesterday, for example, that mango man only won by 1.5% of the vote this time, and because Stein got 1.9% of the vote overall, she cost Harris the election. That's not how it works, however.

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Unfortunately😡

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Rajiv, please don’t demean yourself for an error. It’s people who can’t acknowledge an error that are “dumb.”

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Me too. Made the same assumption, and right after being stirred by what Ilene wrote.

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What we need is proactive competent lawyers who will bring law suits on a massive scale. Perhaps that is already being considered. No one is being held accountable.

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I think it's Ilene who Bill is suggesting run for office.

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Great idea! Above run for office. We need you to help clean up our country. Please hurry for I’m 92.

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Agree to all but your first sentence.

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A part of me would love to agree with you, but the caveat lies in one of my favorite Latinisms: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes”. "Who will guard the guardians themselves” and one of my other favorite aphorisms “We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are”,

If we should ever turn the speech police loose, it is all too easy to predict where it would lead. Ask yourself this: who exactly is to decide what is true or false? In some cases, of course, it is easy. In others not so much. One thing is for sure. We would swiftly descend into a morass of legal activities which. regardless of the validity of any one of them would become increasingly expansive, acrimonious, expensive, often inconclusive, and terrifyingly nitpicky.

Our best if not wholly effective guard against lies and such are our libel laws. Sometimes, as with Fox News and Alex Jones among others, they are effective. Yes, they usually take forever, and often a conviction does not undo the damage. But I think they are all we can expect to work at all.

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Anaïs Nin - one of my favorite quotes, that I had imprinted on my checks back when checks were a thing.

“We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are."

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I’ve long heard that it’s a saying from the Talmud. In any case, it has to be simple human wisdom from near the dawn of time itself.

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And the proof that it was knowingly false is often a huge barrier.

The unintended consequences could easily be destruction of the media, opposition and criticism. Giving the leader of this administration more power by changing those laws. He has talked about making it easier to sue for yrs. Lawsuits are one of his favorite tools.

Only the trumped up ‘truth’ could be told like where other authoritarian leaders are in charge.

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Right On 👍Ann

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Sadly, I believe you are correct, James. And you are very articulate. I'm 80, & have hashed & rehashed your very argument (in my mind), for yrs now....since Nixon & Regan. As Nero Wolf would say.."It's a pickle!".🇺🇲😪

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I’m nearly 80 myself, and so I’ve seen what you’ve seen. As the King of The King and I once noted - Tis a puzzlement.

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Very true. The so called “” Mayor of America “” is an immediate example, paying the price. I am very sorry, but that is sheer “” loser””. Wanting to rub shoulders with the powerful gets you nowhere. Your karma never forgets and forgive’s you

Thank you

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Just wait till 47 pardons the Jan 6 convicts.

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That is when violence is triggered. Pardons will not stand.

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Presidential pardons aren't subject to any control except the self-control of which the Felon President-elect has none.

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As usual...YIKES‼️‼️‼️😱

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YIKES!!! is about right.

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I am so with you in all you’ve said. Alex Jones was yelling “FIRE” in a crowded room every day. Despicable human pile of filth spewed every day. I hope next week finally finds him shit down and shut up for good.

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Your reply is appropriate. Our media must change direction. So far I have seen little of that. Perhaps a massive law suit could be brought to hold accountable those individuals who have enabled the rise of Trumpf to the presidency again. The list is long. Many are elected politicians and some are simply massively wealthy. All are breaking laws and have been exposed for weeks now. They are known and the law is clear. Just do it.

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It already was Reagan killed all ethnics in the media

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Amen!!!!!!!

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Thank you!!!!

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Damn! Well said!!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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A modest proposal.

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I spent a 32-year career working in the state and federal courts of this country. The bottom line for me is that the rule of law is completely dead.

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