Dear Garrison, we’re coming to see you in Edinburgh soon. Please try not to lose heart. I know it’s awful everywhere at the moment. Here in the UK and also in France we’ve succeeded in voting to get the vicious, small minded, selfish and rich out of control of our countries. My sister lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and has been telling us about the Republican horrors. My own view is that all of this is meant to happen. A world built of empires based on the worship of money and power cannot hold. We’re actually seeing the fall of modern civilisations, and thank God for that! Many are dying in the process sadly, but this always happens. History has shown it repeatedly. We are having a re-set in which everyone has the choice to leave this Earth in a better state than they found it. God is guiding us, all we need is to have faith and take action.
Julie Taylor, you wrote that your sister lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and Wisconsin is one of America's great mysteries to me. LaCrosse, Eau Claire, and so many places in Wisconsin are so lovely. Wisconsin, like Minnesota, used to have a wonderful reputation for progressivism, for co-ops, for populism (in its earlier sense, not the way the trumpers have co-opted it; they are in no way "populists.") and the like. They had a wonderful senator in Russ Feingold once upon a time. What happened to that state? It's a rhetorical question, but it does trouble my mind, among the many things that are troubling my mind now as it seems that humankind has entered some kind of alternate universe where evil and criminality are celebrated. It boggles the mind.
Thank you for speaking frankly about our national peril. More people who have influence need to do the same, IMHO. And, by the way, yes, those of us over 65 have lived in a Golden Age. We were truly blessed.
There is enough sinful behavior to include both sides and everything in between.
If we only will drop taking sides and anchor ourselves in America’s soul. In the idea that birthed this great Nation. Lamenting what could have been, has its place in the inner visions. Might it be we do as you prescribe - resurrect the mirth- act and speak ‘as if’ we have regained our sanity?
All things do pass; hating from any angle reduces our chances for success for renewing that treasured spirit we know still exists, yet buried by avalanches of worss and caustic cacophony found on blue screen, market place and airwaves.
Thank you for your Americana voice. Yes, Winters, Carson, Mort Saul, Shelley Berman, Phyllis Diller could do us some repair presently.
Please remember dear old friend what Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address, and let's determine to apply it when one day in the not-so-distant future this new "scourge" on our nation is passed away.
"Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge . . . may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue . . . as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.'
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds . . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."
Good morning, Garrison. About that supreme court thing. Not in almost two hundred and fifty years of our country's history, have we needed for the president of these un-united states of America, to have "immunity from prosecution" for breaking the law. And, if someone other than DT is elected this fall, we should not need that going forward. Sort of neuter's the court's decision.
You are correct about the history and right about the coming election, but those facts do not alter the once-unimaginable damage done to America by this Supreme Court and that decision because regardless of who the next President is, there will be other Presidents to follow in the future (knock on wood) and there is no guarantee that one or more of those will not be as bad or worse than trump. It is that decision that must be changed and there is a member of Congress - and I wish I could name him because he is a smart, good fellow - who is organizing to begin the work for a Constitutional amendment that will overturn (and I would add, spit upon) that decision and what this, partially crooked, Supreme Court did in league with a tyrant.
I don't know if trenchant wit and wisdom and a good heart make for an effective president. But if you and Al Franken would be the candidates on the Democratic ticket, win or lose, those who would vote for you would do so joyously.
"...A mature audience and they haven’t done this since the sixth grade but they sing about the glory of the coming of the Lord and the trampling of the vintage of the grapes of wrath. It’s a great Republican hymn but nobody who has read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps can vote for the dictator, I can tell you that."--PRAY HARDER.....YOU NEVER KNOW.
And so we're drifting down Niagara River toward the Falls, and the prescribed attitude is somewhere between Cheerfulness and Piety. We'll just pretend nothing is wrong and hope for the best. Just like Alice Munro. Sorry; won't do that.
Garrison, love the Laurel & Hardy video! Find your willingness to speak out agains the Republican candidate for president interesting because, as you write, you are also interested in interacting with all kinds of people with different political views. Wish I could be at one of your shows where you lead everyone in singing. I do a lot of sing with people: at the Methodist Church; at retirement homes; and in other settings. A long time listener and reader of your blogs from Santa Cruz, CA
Some facts for consideration: stock market at an all time high; record new job creation; unemployment low; lowered pricing on common prescription medicines, especially capping the price of insulin; expanded OT payment for many workers; prevented discriminatory lending; crackdowned on junk fees and overdraft charges; helped small farmers/business owners.
Not sure if you are aware but president's don't set food prices nor gasoline prices. Might want to have a look at how much money CEOs are raking in due to the huge profit margins their companies have.
Frankly it has been nice not being governed by tweets, EOs, corrupt department heads, or dealing with mass shootings, or thoughts/plans of revenge to people who disagree with a president.
I will take an experienced, wise mashed tater any day over the vileness and convicted felonious tweeter any day.
When the Dictator left office the inflation rate was below 2 percent, mortgage rates were below 4 percent, gas was less than $2 a gallon, no wars, border controlled, economy growing at over 4 percent,…and I could go on and on. Mashed Tater’s energy policies, over stimulus policies, and border policies are what drove inflation and interest rates up. Presidents do control food and energy prices. Why do you think Mashed Tater depleted our oil and gas reserves to historical levels…to attempt to reduce prices. It did not really work but it sounded like he was trying to do something.
There has not been record new jobs created. The vast majority of jobs have been pre-covid jobs that just naturally came back. Mashed Tater has not created very many jobs new jobs at all. He closed down the keystone pipeline with thousands of high paying oil field jobs and replaced them with government subsidized clean energy jobs that are costing the tax payers to fund.
I absolutely can not understand how any body can honestly say that Mashed Tater’s woke, Antifa, BLM America is better than it was prior to Mashed Tater. I guess I will chalk it up to Dictator Derangement Syndrome.
Wow. I hope you have someone with you at all times to remind you to breathe. That response doesn't even make it to brainstem level of neurological activity.
If you presented any facts, I could refute them with facts. Instead, you've posted talking points and half truths with great passion. To engage with you will result in 2 people talking past each other.
I would encourage you to spend some time with Timothy Snyder's books, Tyranny and The Road to Unfreedom. While you would most likely attribute the tactics used by authoritarians to the current administration, Snyder most definately assigns those characteristics to the former guy. Given your education and background, I would think that, away from a comments section. You would see things more clearly. You said in other posts how important family is to you. To protect those you love, there is only one choice in November and no, it is not donnie boy.
As of the latest data available in July 2024, the U.S. inflation rate is approximately 3.3% year-over-year [oai_citation:2,Behind the Numbers: PCE Inflation Update, January 2021 -
Comparing these two periods, there has been a noticeable increase in the inflation rate from 1.4% in January 2021 to 3.3% in July 2024. This reflects broader economic changes and inflationary pressures that have emerged over the past few years.
I can provide specific details for each item I mentioned. They are not talking points…they are factual realities that people live with everyday.
Biden has done more damage to this country and the world than I could have ever imagined in my worst nightmares. The debate was just an affirmation of the mental state he has been in while letting others run this great country into the ground.
Do you want the detailed facts about all the other items? I have them readily available.
Not judging anything…stating undeniable facts…Trump has never claimed to be any body’s Saint…A far from self righteous Baptist…only observing fruit of one’s life…
Conned all the way to the bank…Biden has told so many lies in past 2 days the lie detector machine is out of paper and broken…he just makes up stuff…inflation was 1.4 percent when he took office and peaked at 9 percent because of his monetary policies…mortgage rates were less than 3 percent and now are around 6 to 7 percent because of his monetary policies to try to get inflation down that he caused…he is a demented train wreck…and wars raging around the globe are to boot…
You dare compare his alleged lies to Trump's multitude? He doesn't set interest rates, the Fed does. He didn't cause inflation, rebound from COVID did. Trump is the demented train wreck, and Biden is responsible for the wars? Get real.
Fed can not pass laws and spend money…Congress does that at the behest of the President…Biden has bragged about all the historic legislation he has passed…all that money thrown into the economy drove up inflation…the inflation rate was 1.4 percent, the unemployment rate was headed down to 6 percent, the economy was growing at over 4 percent when Trump left office. The economy had already recovered from the worst of COVID and if left alone would have continued to recover even more. But Biden over stimulated and then the Fed had to start chasing interest rates to try to get things back under control…those are facts resulting from Biden’s policies. Yes, Biden is responsible for the wars. By sending money to Iran he funded Hamas. Putin had no fear of Biden and still does not, thus he invaded Ukraine. Neither would have happened under Trump. As for lies, they are pretty much tit for tat….they are politicians…and thus both demented to some degree. I just prefer mean tweets to open borders, sex trafficking, drugs, woke prosectors, and other things brought on by Bodenomics…
I guess this is your concession column. But please help us to keep savoring every precious day of life with your perspectives, regardless of what happens in politics.
I notice that you are not coming to the South anytime soon. I recommend a show in New Orleans in mid February, at the beginning of Carnival Season. The hurricanes will be in the rear view mirror and you can leave your mittens up north. You are a mittens guy, right? During Carnival Season krewes put on parades, with perhaps the most famous parades being on the last day of Carnival Season on Fat Tuesday, AKA, Mardi Gras. Both of my daughters belong to Krewe Du Vieux, which is a very politically progressive and satirical krewe which is rated either R or an X. I forget which, but definately not family stuff. If you want to see bigger than life-sized paper mache likenesses of Donald Trump being actively sodomized by a farm animals, this is where you would see it. In fact, I think they already did that 2-3 years ago, but they will probably do it again. If you are interested, the Krewe Du Vieux parade is on February 15.
We would love to have you down and I would imagine there are a lot of potential venues in the New Orleans area.
Dear Garrison, we’re coming to see you in Edinburgh soon. Please try not to lose heart. I know it’s awful everywhere at the moment. Here in the UK and also in France we’ve succeeded in voting to get the vicious, small minded, selfish and rich out of control of our countries. My sister lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and has been telling us about the Republican horrors. My own view is that all of this is meant to happen. A world built of empires based on the worship of money and power cannot hold. We’re actually seeing the fall of modern civilisations, and thank God for that! Many are dying in the process sadly, but this always happens. History has shown it repeatedly. We are having a re-set in which everyone has the choice to leave this Earth in a better state than they found it. God is guiding us, all we need is to have faith and take action.
Julie Taylor, you wrote that your sister lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and Wisconsin is one of America's great mysteries to me. LaCrosse, Eau Claire, and so many places in Wisconsin are so lovely. Wisconsin, like Minnesota, used to have a wonderful reputation for progressivism, for co-ops, for populism (in its earlier sense, not the way the trumpers have co-opted it; they are in no way "populists.") and the like. They had a wonderful senator in Russ Feingold once upon a time. What happened to that state? It's a rhetorical question, but it does trouble my mind, among the many things that are troubling my mind now as it seems that humankind has entered some kind of alternate universe where evil and criminality are celebrated. It boggles the mind.
Deindustrialization, and it's fellow travelers, mostly. And gerrymandering is the frosting on that cake.
There once was a tune of our nation,
That warned of a leader's fixation
On power and fame,
Playing a dangerous game,
Threatening our democracy's foundation
Thank you for speaking frankly about our national peril. More people who have influence need to do the same, IMHO. And, by the way, yes, those of us over 65 have lived in a Golden Age. We were truly blessed.
I second your recommendation! If more prominent people, such as GK, spoke up in print and all media we can insure Joe Biden's election!
We would probably ensure it.
garrison,
There is enough sinful behavior to include both sides and everything in between.
If we only will drop taking sides and anchor ourselves in America’s soul. In the idea that birthed this great Nation. Lamenting what could have been, has its place in the inner visions. Might it be we do as you prescribe - resurrect the mirth- act and speak ‘as if’ we have regained our sanity?
All things do pass; hating from any angle reduces our chances for success for renewing that treasured spirit we know still exists, yet buried by avalanches of worss and caustic cacophony found on blue screen, market place and airwaves.
Thank you for your Americana voice. Yes, Winters, Carson, Mort Saul, Shelley Berman, Phyllis Diller could do us some repair presently.
Let’s conjure them up, what say you?🕊🇺🇸
It's urgently necessary to take sides when fascism looms. The amounts of sinful behavior on the other side and in between are not comparable.
Please remember dear old friend what Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address, and let's determine to apply it when one day in the not-so-distant future this new "scourge" on our nation is passed away.
"Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge . . . may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue . . . as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.'
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds . . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."
Good morning, Garrison. About that supreme court thing. Not in almost two hundred and fifty years of our country's history, have we needed for the president of these un-united states of America, to have "immunity from prosecution" for breaking the law. And, if someone other than DT is elected this fall, we should not need that going forward. Sort of neuter's the court's decision.
You are correct about the history and right about the coming election, but those facts do not alter the once-unimaginable damage done to America by this Supreme Court and that decision because regardless of who the next President is, there will be other Presidents to follow in the future (knock on wood) and there is no guarantee that one or more of those will not be as bad or worse than trump. It is that decision that must be changed and there is a member of Congress - and I wish I could name him because he is a smart, good fellow - who is organizing to begin the work for a Constitutional amendment that will overturn (and I would add, spit upon) that decision and what this, partially crooked, Supreme Court did in league with a tyrant.
“HOME AGAIN! THANK GOD YOU’RE HOME AGAIN!”
I don't know if trenchant wit and wisdom and a good heart make for an effective president. But if you and Al Franken would be the candidates on the Democratic ticket, win or lose, those who would vote for you would do so joyously.
"...A mature audience and they haven’t done this since the sixth grade but they sing about the glory of the coming of the Lord and the trampling of the vintage of the grapes of wrath. It’s a great Republican hymn but nobody who has read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps can vote for the dictator, I can tell you that."--PRAY HARDER.....YOU NEVER KNOW.
There once was a prez named Joe Biden
Whose resolve was not for hidin'
He said with a grin
"I'm stayin' in!"
Despite some Dems' hopes he'd be slidin'
And so we're drifting down Niagara River toward the Falls, and the prescribed attitude is somewhere between Cheerfulness and Piety. We'll just pretend nothing is wrong and hope for the best. Just like Alice Munro. Sorry; won't do that.
Garrison, love the Laurel & Hardy video! Find your willingness to speak out agains the Republican candidate for president interesting because, as you write, you are also interested in interacting with all kinds of people with different political views. Wish I could be at one of your shows where you lead everyone in singing. I do a lot of sing with people: at the Methodist Church; at retirement homes; and in other settings. A long time listener and reader of your blogs from Santa Cruz, CA
Thank you for this -- perfect and it made me smile a bit today.
I suspect you weren't nursed as a baby, Keillor.
Thats a really good question! What was the practice way back then in Minnesota?
Why do you say that?
I will be voting for the dictator.
There once was a man with orange hair
Who's tweets some could not bare
But he led a world at peace
And saw everyone's piece increase
Then came an egg sucker named Biden
Who appeared out of the cellar from hiden'
To screw up the whole world real fast
And watch it blow up in blast
But soon a new November will come
And we will all get a chance to vote for one or the other bum
As for me it will be the Dictator
I'll take a mean tweet any day over a mashed tater
Some facts for consideration: stock market at an all time high; record new job creation; unemployment low; lowered pricing on common prescription medicines, especially capping the price of insulin; expanded OT payment for many workers; prevented discriminatory lending; crackdowned on junk fees and overdraft charges; helped small farmers/business owners.
Not sure if you are aware but president's don't set food prices nor gasoline prices. Might want to have a look at how much money CEOs are raking in due to the huge profit margins their companies have.
Frankly it has been nice not being governed by tweets, EOs, corrupt department heads, or dealing with mass shootings, or thoughts/plans of revenge to people who disagree with a president.
I will take an experienced, wise mashed tater any day over the vileness and convicted felonious tweeter any day.
When the Dictator left office the inflation rate was below 2 percent, mortgage rates were below 4 percent, gas was less than $2 a gallon, no wars, border controlled, economy growing at over 4 percent,…and I could go on and on. Mashed Tater’s energy policies, over stimulus policies, and border policies are what drove inflation and interest rates up. Presidents do control food and energy prices. Why do you think Mashed Tater depleted our oil and gas reserves to historical levels…to attempt to reduce prices. It did not really work but it sounded like he was trying to do something.
There has not been record new jobs created. The vast majority of jobs have been pre-covid jobs that just naturally came back. Mashed Tater has not created very many jobs new jobs at all. He closed down the keystone pipeline with thousands of high paying oil field jobs and replaced them with government subsidized clean energy jobs that are costing the tax payers to fund.
I absolutely can not understand how any body can honestly say that Mashed Tater’s woke, Antifa, BLM America is better than it was prior to Mashed Tater. I guess I will chalk it up to Dictator Derangement Syndrome.
Gary Wagner
just now
Wow. I hope you have someone with you at all times to remind you to breathe. That response doesn't even make it to brainstem level of neurological activity.
Refute what I said with facts…you can not.
If you presented any facts, I could refute them with facts. Instead, you've posted talking points and half truths with great passion. To engage with you will result in 2 people talking past each other.
I would encourage you to spend some time with Timothy Snyder's books, Tyranny and The Road to Unfreedom. While you would most likely attribute the tactics used by authoritarians to the current administration, Snyder most definately assigns those characteristics to the former guy. Given your education and background, I would think that, away from a comments section. You would see things more clearly. You said in other posts how important family is to you. To protect those you love, there is only one choice in November and no, it is not donnie boy.
On January 21, 2021, the inflation rate in the United States was 1.4% year-over-year according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) [oai_citation:1,U.S. Inflation at 1.4% in 12 Months Ending January 2021 | US Inflation Calculator](https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/annual-u-s-inflation-steady-at-1-4-consumer-prices-in-january-highest-in-5-months/100021099/).
As of the latest data available in July 2024, the U.S. inflation rate is approximately 3.3% year-over-year [oai_citation:2,Behind the Numbers: PCE Inflation Update, January 2021 -
Dallasfed.org](https://www.dallasfed.org/research/pce/2021/pce2101).
Comparing these two periods, there has been a noticeable increase in the inflation rate from 1.4% in January 2021 to 3.3% in July 2024. This reflects broader economic changes and inflationary pressures that have emerged over the past few years.
I can provide specific details for each item I mentioned. They are not talking points…they are factual realities that people live with everyday.
Biden has done more damage to this country and the world than I could have ever imagined in my worst nightmares. The debate was just an affirmation of the mental state he has been in while letting others run this great country into the ground.
Do you want the detailed facts about all the other items? I have them readily available.
I get it- money means more to you than anything. Anything. Please stay home in November. Think of how much money you will save.
God and family mean everything to me and I will crawl to the voting booth on glass. Money means little to me but I have been blessed.
Parroting many falsehoods, how much did you have to pay for the RNC script?
Cost nothing…Biden Administration official government statistics…
The wannabe dictator is deranged.
Alledged Catholics who support late term abortions or commit adultry with a married woman and break up a marriage are deranged…and lost…
Who are you to judge? Self-righteous Catholic? Analyze Trump and get back to us.
Not judging anything…stating undeniable facts…Trump has never claimed to be any body’s Saint…A far from self righteous Baptist…only observing fruit of one’s life…
Couldn't have said it better!!
Not even funny, and you've been conned.
Conned all the way to the bank…Biden has told so many lies in past 2 days the lie detector machine is out of paper and broken…he just makes up stuff…inflation was 1.4 percent when he took office and peaked at 9 percent because of his monetary policies…mortgage rates were less than 3 percent and now are around 6 to 7 percent because of his monetary policies to try to get inflation down that he caused…he is a demented train wreck…and wars raging around the globe are to boot…
You dare compare his alleged lies to Trump's multitude? He doesn't set interest rates, the Fed does. He didn't cause inflation, rebound from COVID did. Trump is the demented train wreck, and Biden is responsible for the wars? Get real.
Fed can not pass laws and spend money…Congress does that at the behest of the President…Biden has bragged about all the historic legislation he has passed…all that money thrown into the economy drove up inflation…the inflation rate was 1.4 percent, the unemployment rate was headed down to 6 percent, the economy was growing at over 4 percent when Trump left office. The economy had already recovered from the worst of COVID and if left alone would have continued to recover even more. But Biden over stimulated and then the Fed had to start chasing interest rates to try to get things back under control…those are facts resulting from Biden’s policies. Yes, Biden is responsible for the wars. By sending money to Iran he funded Hamas. Putin had no fear of Biden and still does not, thus he invaded Ukraine. Neither would have happened under Trump. As for lies, they are pretty much tit for tat….they are politicians…and thus both demented to some degree. I just prefer mean tweets to open borders, sex trafficking, drugs, woke prosectors, and other things brought on by Bodenomics…
Jeez Garrison,
I guess this is your concession column. But please help us to keep savoring every precious day of life with your perspectives, regardless of what happens in politics.
I notice that you are not coming to the South anytime soon. I recommend a show in New Orleans in mid February, at the beginning of Carnival Season. The hurricanes will be in the rear view mirror and you can leave your mittens up north. You are a mittens guy, right? During Carnival Season krewes put on parades, with perhaps the most famous parades being on the last day of Carnival Season on Fat Tuesday, AKA, Mardi Gras. Both of my daughters belong to Krewe Du Vieux, which is a very politically progressive and satirical krewe which is rated either R or an X. I forget which, but definately not family stuff. If you want to see bigger than life-sized paper mache likenesses of Donald Trump being actively sodomized by a farm animals, this is where you would see it. In fact, I think they already did that 2-3 years ago, but they will probably do it again. If you are interested, the Krewe Du Vieux parade is on February 15.
We would love to have you down and I would imagine there are a lot of potential venues in the New Orleans area.
Take care Garrison and keep on writing!!!