Thank you for mentioning Dolly. I was honored to meet her years ago and the kindness she showed me will never be forgotten! She praised me, a lowly hourly employee! We lost a great humanitarian who will never be replaced!
Sounds horribly like the McCarthy Era. Most schools leave this period out of their Social Studies curriculum. 60% of the US population was born after the fall of Saigon (1975) and more than half the population is under 40 years of age. I wish more media outlets (both social and news), substacks, and apps would give an in-depth description of what happened during that time, also known as the beginning of the "Red Scare". We may lose our democracy due to ignorance as much as to rising fascism.
Olivia's subhead had me humming the Kingston Trio's classic from that era, the "Merry Minuet" -- the one that begins "They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain / There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain . . ." They often introduced this as "The Kingston Trio plays John Foster Dulles," which you all familiar with the period will get immediately.
I'm curious about schools reportedly leaving the McCarthy Era out of their "Social Studies curriculum." Do you have more information on this? Many states require a year of American history for public high school graduation, but even when I was in high school in the late 1960s, it was a challenge to get anywhere close to the present day. It's also worth noting that there were two "Red Scares" in 20th century U.S. The first one followed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (and helped give rise to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI), and the second followed the "fall of China," which McCarthy et al. liked to blame on "fellow travelers" in the State Department and the Foreign Service.
Social Studies in many, if not most, Middle Schools, goes up to the early 1960s by the end of 8th grade, The McCarthy Era and the Korean Conflict are not included in the curriculum. IF they're lucky, they reach the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (which was current events when I was in High School). Students have to wait until 11th grade until they learn about the 2nd half of the 20th century. In general, needless to say, they do a cursory job of it - lots of timeline (war to war), very little in-depth, and almost no geography other than the countries of the northern hemisphere and how they relate to the US. The US currently ranks 31st globally in education according to the World Population Review (worldpopulationreview.com) The top 5 in education overall are South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia. The top 6 in Public education are Denmark, Sweden, UK, Finland, Germany, and Canada.
The ICE takeover of your personal information is outright Authoritarianism. The government is looking for dissent. Flock cameras are the same. This is straight out of Project 2025. In addition, and not discussed is the Food Insecurity issue, again, grounded in Project 2025. This is why Russel Vought and his minions in the Heritage Foundation need to be held liable for the indirect pain and murder of Americans. They want to eliminate as many Americans as they can.
I urge you to listen to former Judge Luttig on his blueprint for January 2027, and that Johnson will fire the House rep and NOT certify the new Dem house members (on orders from the President because Johnson is a complete pussy). This will eventually hit the SCOTUS and GOD help us if they vote to NOT certify, in total opposition to the Constitution - there will be real, physical Civil War and after the last 2 years, it WILL get violent (which I will not document here). Americans can only take so much.
I assume you heard that a deal was struck with Venezuelan oil from Rodriguez? Where is all the money going from this "deal"? His Qatar bank account? I am still paying over 4.00 / gallon. Funny how he wrangled the Nobel Peace Prize from her opposition. I still expect Maduro to pop up claiming voter fraud.
"Fresh U.S. intelligence reportedly indicates that Putin sees America as weakened by the Iran war and may see an opportunity to escalate against U.S. interests and allies in Europe ... CIA Director John Ratcliffe quietly flew to Moscow this week to apparently warn Russian officials not to escalate against NATO allies and pressed Moscow to reduce its military and economic support for Iran. Trump, meanwhile, downplayed the concern, saying Putin isn’t going to attack NATO territory."
1) First, has there ever been a greater intel coup than what Putin's pulled off against the US? Ever? Are we numb to this now?
2) Ratcliffe warning Russia? HAHAHAHA. Who believes that? He'd have been tossed out of a 4th story window at the Moscow Hilton. He went there to kiss the ring. And beg.
3) Lotsa stories these days that MAGA is failing. Wrong. His support is 32-35%; not that far from his peak. MAGA infects every level of our government from school boards right up to the Oval. And the ones who succeed this current crop of neo fascists will be worse.
Farmers losing their farms? They'd vote for him tomorrow.
With apologies to Godwin and his Law: The strategies and tactics being employed now are right out of Hitler's playbook. Demonize the press and eliminate the non compliant ones; call elections fraudulent (next step is to cancel them), belligerent attacks on our allies, and more.
No one is more to blame than Fox News. They are the head of the snake that has been lying to generations of Americans for decades. Our decline began with Reagan and his fat white men in his admin'n that cared only about making themselves and their 1%ers base richer; then Newt>W>Cheney>Palin>Trump.
Our decline has been long and slow. Trump turned on the afterburners.
RIP Dolly Parton; a great musician and an even better person.
Thank you for mentioning Dolly. I was honored to meet her years ago and the kindness she showed me will never be forgotten! She praised me, a lowly hourly employee! We lost a great humanitarian who will never be replaced!
Sounds horribly like the McCarthy Era. Most schools leave this period out of their Social Studies curriculum. 60% of the US population was born after the fall of Saigon (1975) and more than half the population is under 40 years of age. I wish more media outlets (both social and news), substacks, and apps would give an in-depth description of what happened during that time, also known as the beginning of the "Red Scare". We may lose our democracy due to ignorance as much as to rising fascism.
Olivia's subhead had me humming the Kingston Trio's classic from that era, the "Merry Minuet" -- the one that begins "They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain / There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain . . ." They often introduced this as "The Kingston Trio plays John Foster Dulles," which you all familiar with the period will get immediately.
I'm curious about schools reportedly leaving the McCarthy Era out of their "Social Studies curriculum." Do you have more information on this? Many states require a year of American history for public high school graduation, but even when I was in high school in the late 1960s, it was a challenge to get anywhere close to the present day. It's also worth noting that there were two "Red Scares" in 20th century U.S. The first one followed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (and helped give rise to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI), and the second followed the "fall of China," which McCarthy et al. liked to blame on "fellow travelers" in the State Department and the Foreign Service.
Social Studies in many, if not most, Middle Schools, goes up to the early 1960s by the end of 8th grade, The McCarthy Era and the Korean Conflict are not included in the curriculum. IF they're lucky, they reach the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (which was current events when I was in High School). Students have to wait until 11th grade until they learn about the 2nd half of the 20th century. In general, needless to say, they do a cursory job of it - lots of timeline (war to war), very little in-depth, and almost no geography other than the countries of the northern hemisphere and how they relate to the US. The US currently ranks 31st globally in education according to the World Population Review (worldpopulationreview.com) The top 5 in education overall are South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia. The top 6 in Public education are Denmark, Sweden, UK, Finland, Germany, and Canada.
Good morning, Olivia,
The ICE takeover of your personal information is outright Authoritarianism. The government is looking for dissent. Flock cameras are the same. This is straight out of Project 2025. In addition, and not discussed is the Food Insecurity issue, again, grounded in Project 2025. This is why Russel Vought and his minions in the Heritage Foundation need to be held liable for the indirect pain and murder of Americans. They want to eliminate as many Americans as they can.
I urge you to listen to former Judge Luttig on his blueprint for January 2027, and that Johnson will fire the House rep and NOT certify the new Dem house members (on orders from the President because Johnson is a complete pussy). This will eventually hit the SCOTUS and GOD help us if they vote to NOT certify, in total opposition to the Constitution - there will be real, physical Civil War and after the last 2 years, it WILL get violent (which I will not document here). Americans can only take so much.
I assume you heard that a deal was struck with Venezuelan oil from Rodriguez? Where is all the money going from this "deal"? His Qatar bank account? I am still paying over 4.00 / gallon. Funny how he wrangled the Nobel Peace Prize from her opposition. I still expect Maduro to pop up claiming voter fraud.
Just another day in paradise.
Cheers Olivia and thank you!
This administration’s tactics are more terrifying than Tim Curry’s Pennywise.
They likely want our voting records to create an extensive enemies list for Trump.
If anyone thinks the next 2 year period isn’t enough time to inflict even more lasting damage, they are delusional. This is autocracy.
Love you
THIS:
"Fresh U.S. intelligence reportedly indicates that Putin sees America as weakened by the Iran war and may see an opportunity to escalate against U.S. interests and allies in Europe ... CIA Director John Ratcliffe quietly flew to Moscow this week to apparently warn Russian officials not to escalate against NATO allies and pressed Moscow to reduce its military and economic support for Iran. Trump, meanwhile, downplayed the concern, saying Putin isn’t going to attack NATO territory."
1) First, has there ever been a greater intel coup than what Putin's pulled off against the US? Ever? Are we numb to this now?
2) Ratcliffe warning Russia? HAHAHAHA. Who believes that? He'd have been tossed out of a 4th story window at the Moscow Hilton. He went there to kiss the ring. And beg.
3) Lotsa stories these days that MAGA is failing. Wrong. His support is 32-35%; not that far from his peak. MAGA infects every level of our government from school boards right up to the Oval. And the ones who succeed this current crop of neo fascists will be worse.
Farmers losing their farms? They'd vote for him tomorrow.
With apologies to Godwin and his Law: The strategies and tactics being employed now are right out of Hitler's playbook. Demonize the press and eliminate the non compliant ones; call elections fraudulent (next step is to cancel them), belligerent attacks on our allies, and more.
No one is more to blame than Fox News. They are the head of the snake that has been lying to generations of Americans for decades. Our decline began with Reagan and his fat white men in his admin'n that cared only about making themselves and their 1%ers base richer; then Newt>W>Cheney>Palin>Trump.
Our decline has been long and slow. Trump turned on the afterburners.
RIP Dolly Parton; a great musician and an even better person.