I love this channel and I believe the work that everyone is doing is 1000th% better than main stream media. God bless you and your family and so glad that ur house is there and ur safe. This channel is the best investment I’ve ever made. Keep up the great work!’
Hey, posting from Scotland (vast majority loathe Trump btw despite his ‘love’ for us) appreciate your efforts this week in terrible circumstances. Stay safe
After watching what tRump did to Scotland in several documentaries years ago, I can only imagine how you must feel about his reelection. Thank you for supporting this fabulous network in our fight❣️.
Compelled to apologize that the lowest denominator our nation has to offer has overtaken us and the world. This is not a representative of how much individual Americans respect, love and support our allies. We share so much history including blood. My great grandfather came to NYC from Scotland. Forgive us.
I was not aware of his mother's lineage and that connection to Scotland. I read his mother returned often and spoke Gaelic. Looks as though she married below her station to someone, we now know was a monster. My aunt came to America from Finland but not to escape poverty. She was adventurous and her sister followed. She worked for the wealthiest family in NYC at the time from age 16 thru to her 80's more family (but knew her place and was very discreet) than servant. I remember she would always tell me that "the best class is the middle class" in America. She witnessed enough to speak on some authority. Today, we have lost the middle class. It is gone and we are not going back.
As always, many 🙏 for all you guys do! We are Meidas Mighty strong. I'm so glad that your family is safe and your house made it through. I'm also thankful for the hard work and dedication of the fire fighters... including help from our friends to the North (Canada) and South (Mexico.) Stay well and indeed, we are in this fight for Democracy together. ✌️
When you have a substantial portion of the population who are just flat out stupid, lying works. All authoritarians understand this. I like Biden a lot, but one of his big flaws is that he vastly overestimates both the wisdom and goodness of average Americans. A large percentage of Americans are idiots and a significant percentage are assholes. We need to quit thinking like we just need to do a better job of communicating Democratic successes. Most Americans have no idea how anything works. They don't understand economics and they don't understand science and they don't understand national defense and foreign affairs. Policy papers that few average Americans will ever read are not going to solve this problem. Highlight Trump's failures and just pound on them ad nauseum. Show Americans how Republican policies hurt them personally and then repeat those messages until people can recite them on their own. High-minded appeals to patriotism will fall on deaf ears with this crowd. You only reach them when you appeal to their own selfishness. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the tastes and intelligence of the American public. Marketers understand this. Republicans understand this. Democrats need to smarten up and understand it as well.
Problems began when schools dropped Civics to make room for computer literacy. Schools aren't teaching American Civics as the did prior to 1995 or so. Teachers are underpaid & the quality of teachers has dropped since I began in 1979. I encouraged many of my students I knew would become outstanding teachers - some have - but many appreciated the encouragement, but told me teachers make too small a salary. That's a problem.
We've also lost our Greatest Generation - our connection to understanding Fascism & its dangers to a Civilized Society. We're losing trust in Sciences. Research is showing us that most of the Disnfo on social media is being spread by less than 3% of its users, & the worst of the lies spread by less than 1%.
If Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini had the social media of today, I doubt they'd have been defeated.
One of the things Dems get wrong is not appealing to the selfishness of individuals. Dems lost a lot of ground with young men in 2024. They had sort of counted on the abortion issue to mobilize women and put them over the top. A mistake. Why not explain to 20-something young men that if you knock up some woman, and she is forced to carry it against her will, you are on the hook for child support for at least the next eighteen years? And child support often can amount to 20-30% of your gross income. This GOP policy has the potential to leave you impoverished for several decades. That is the kind of thing young men who are paying attention to almost nothing can understand. Telling people how some Trump policy is bad for this group or that group does not move people. You have to show them how it screws them. All these farmers voted for Trump. I think a lot didn't believe a deportation would affect all the illegals who harvest their crops. Maybe when they have crops rotting in the field they will rethink things. Row crops are pretty automated but a lot of fruits and vegetables depend on manual labor. In Texas, about 60% of people working in a lot of construction labor jobs are illegals. The exploding cost of housing is an issue that motivates many people. So how is deporting the people who build houses going to increase the housing supply? And tariffs will raise both costs and interest rates. So even if you can find a house you won't be able to afford it.
And it wasn't Democrats who sent manufacturing jobs to China, it was Republican donors. So how is giving these same people unchecked power going to be good for blue color workers? It won't be. Dems should back a fairer society, but it is hard for a lot of people to see how GOP LGBT policies really affect them. Lead with policies that affect the largest number of people and show why your policies will help people like them. Appeals to personal selfishness work.
From my mother: Someone also needs to explain to the Bro Network what a draft card is. If men like Trump & Musk r actually serious about starting wars over territory around the world, who will fight those wars while they languish in their bunkers? While the young pitch propaganda for these creeps on social media, those that r at an expendable age for a draft better wake up and smell the MTN coffee
You’re right on so much of what you wrote. The farmers in the UK voted to leave the EU so most of the folk from all over Europe who’d traditionally picked the crops had to leave the country. When the farmers realised no Brits wanted to pick crops they realised their massive blunder. What a tangled web we weave…
As a child and a sibling of younger siblings then as a parent I found the "new" math and "new" methods to teach reading and writing and spelling in retrospect and even at the time were undermining. The first effect was a child comes home asking a parent for help only to find their parent was taught traditional math and reading and writing methods. I remember as a parent it divided and made it difficult for myself and my husband to help with assignments. "You're doing it all wrong" is what my first-grade child would say. It was a struggle, but he did well in the end. I was very involved. No one cares about the kid except their parents and the teacher, but we have been tossed out of the picture. How is it that our children cannot read cursive or sign their name, struggle with their own language much less learn another and are more ignorant than those who came before them going back to the time of Abraham Lincoln.
Good on you to stay involved and perhaps learn some “new ways”. I am 65. My 15 year old refuses to learn cursive, learn about politics, or learn my ways of doing math, science or English. His U.S. and world geography and history is lacking. He can type 10 times faster than me and has learned all about how to skirt your Parents’ attempts at controlling the internet, gaming and porn access. His school gave him a laptop, doesn’t believe in homework, and isn’t teaching him some basics I think he needs to know before getting a diploma. That’s my job now I guess.
Mine is an adult now in his thirties. It was easier when I raised him, but it was also very, very hard. His generation was the first where Ritalin was prescribed to half the class and the pressure on me to not go along was brutal. I did not. He did not suffer for it. I can remember my mother struggling and advocating for us growing up and her frustration. We were all underserved. And she told me stories of her mom and dad fighting the school system and getting involved when she was growing up and it goes back further. Just love him unconditionally. When he struggles and opens up with you just listen and do not try to solve anything; listen and let him know you are always there for him but also want him to know that over the years you've seen him navigate what is a much more complicated life than you had growing up and admire him for it. I always told mine that never ever did I trust him to anyone other than me and his dad; but today (when he was in college) I trust him with himself. Fighting my instinct to rush in and solve everything for him *which in retrospect was delusional* I would tell him that I've seen him navigate things I could not have navigated as well and admire him. I helped him reframe his own self-image by truthfully telling him what I saw in him and trusted him. That keeps them coming back. Just listen. I find car rides are the best. No eye contact but just listen say little to nothing. Let him know you love him. A child can do anything when they know they are loved.
The billionaires who control social media platforms are not good humans. Same can be said for owners of traditional media. The information landscape has drastically changed since Walter Cronkite's days...combined w other oligarchs, the gap between extreme wealth & the other 98% hasn't been this great since the days of the robber barons & tenement & poor rural citizens of pre-WW1 era. The uber wealthy use social media to make the wealth gap worse. I agree w your comments about the sheer ignorance of 40-50% of Americans. Add in the complete politicization of the American Fundamentalist "churches," & we have tremendous swaths of people who vote against their best interests every time. America is ripe for a Dick-tator.
Correct! I don’t think it’s helpful to dwell on Biden’s “flaws”. He’s not perfect, but he possesses decency, honor and integrity, plus decades of political experience, and he demonstrated courage when jumped into the POTUS race back in 2020, when he could have been enjoying a much deserved retirement!
I have been saying for years that more of our tax dollars should be spent on education, particularly in red states. And for God's sake please can we add civics to every school curriculum. Naturalized citizens know more about our country and how it works than people born here do because it's required for them to become naturalized.
William, like Biden I am guilty of overestimating the goodness and wisdom of my fellow human beings, but I honestly believe that the majority are good people, some who have been led in the wrong direction, and the very loud and vocal ones who are MAGA to the core are overshadowing that.
As a former teacher, I agree that there are too many people, mostly good people, who are not as well educated as they should be.
When the focus became "keep the masses stupid" only the well connected and wealthy should go to college that was the end. Educators in classrooms knew the changes being made over the past decades were anti education masquerading as "reform" and we fought it. But the big corporations and organizations pushing their agendas won. Teachers are data collected via a constant barage of testing which kills the joy of teaching and learning. Kids are data points instead of active learners.
Of course there are fabulous teachers doing their absolute best under extraordinary circumstances (parents and administration pitted against them) and student behavior worse than ever as consequences are not given.
We have a lot of work to do. 💙
Civics lost because it's knowledge that could be used to ask questions.
Red states (most) have cut funding for public schools, or not funded properly for growing population. Ex., Oklahoma FINALLY funded better, c. 2015-7, after massive teacher strikes. Most kids had textbooks that were 20-30 yrs old & in terrible shape - often only 20 textbooks for a class of 32. So they did better, but still not well-funded. Now they have that christonationalist inept & inexperienced State Supt. Ryan Walters, who wasn't strong enough to lead an elementary school, much less a State's Dept. of Education. He just wants to get a prime job in the Trump Admin., but, even though he wasted 3.5 million of taxpayer monies on moldy "Trump Bibles." He could have spent that on updated science lab equipment or upgraded computers or other instructional materials.
Now, & MOST SERIOUSLY, we have efforts to use taxpayer funds constitutionally earmarked for public schools to be used so certain wealthier parents to pay their PRIVATE school/Religious school tuition. Each state has a "per pupil" funding formula...for example, say in Texas, it is $9,980/yrs old per pupil. Some red state Govs & Leg.s want to give that per pupil to parents to use for private schools, private for-profit charters & religious school tuition.
It is simply PURPOSEFUL Segregation. Why? Most religious schools do not offer full transportation, so working parents have difficulty getting their kids to a private school on their own...how could single working parents do this, considering some of their kids could attend different schools up to 20 miles from home? And, how many working parents could still afford to pay $24,000/yr private tuition even IF the state gave them 40%??
This type of UNConstitutional payment system helps the wealthier parents, NOT all parents. The kids will be in various activities (or should be), so even transportation to practices, games, clubs, tutoring, etc. means an ever more hectic schedule even With school bus transportation. Stay-at-home parents (the wealthier), can manage this.
If this Travesty occurs, there will be less funding for remaining public schools, leaving the poorer kids in less-funded schools.
Tragically sad. Texas Gov Abott pushed this the last several yrs...but rural & small towns cry foul because school districts are often the largest employer, & would lose teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria & maintenance employees, affecting the economy of the town. And, often there are not enough private schools for all students to attend. Or, the "right" kinds, ex. Only a Baptist private Academy & another Fundamentalist, but no Catholic or Episcopalian school, or, vice-versa. Another aspect is private schools are not regulated & can deny anyone for any reason. The State has NO OVERSIGHT of how the tax monies are spent - or if the private schools are any good.
It's an anti-American, Purposeful Segregation Plan. I'm afraid our Supreme Court may declare this "Constitutional," the 75% - 80% of public school students/families be damned, & increased INEQUALITIES in society..
We are not as a society well-pleased with private insurance, private health care or many other privately-owned aspects. WHY would we give up public education for society & privatize it in a non-regulated way??
DNC too nice and too gentle!! Fight fight hard!! and put an add about their failures broken promises!!!and CEOs getting richer!!!Use Meidas Mighty big and protect the truth small newscast against big corporations greediness!!
I agree 100%. Although it is comforting and promotes my health to have Substack it does not represent America. I work at the front desk of a major hospital in Boston where I see patients newly turned adults at 18 unable to sign their own name. You ask for their signature; a parent stands by with some encouragement actually in fact restating what was asked because the "adult" patient just turned 18 is glued to their IPHONE. Their reaction upon learning they need to sign their name is to stare blankly and step back then slowly step forward seeing no other option and holding the pen as if a foreigner in a foreign land being asked to make change in a foreign currency; then after all these minutes printing their name crudely with letter too large and appearing to be the work of a four year old. Of course, cheers all around an applause. Big smile from the parent, so proud! And off they go back to their IPHONE like Sleeping Beauty crawling back into a deep slumber quite miffed for being woken up. I see foreigners as well from countries all over he world from all walks of life. The children give eye contact; speak several languages and those required to sign their name do so with confidence.
I absolutely agree with you, William. Sadly, a majority of Americans don’t know that there are three co-equal branches of government (at least that is what the Constitution calls for) and can’t name their U.S. Senator or representative in Congress.
Good words William however I doubt most don't know how things work, but I think more than half (most) can't stand what politics has become. Even more & more Trump voters seem to be realizing the next 4 yrs may suck bigtime.
I think the public is becoming more educated how the system works & can be manipulated if you have enough money & influence. But there is no 2 tiered system, right.
I'm so glad you and your family are safe. I'm so grateful for you and Meidas Touch. Without you I wouldn't be slightly optimistic about the future. Thank you for all you have done. ❤️❤️
As trumps base that got him elected continue to become disaffected with broken promises the domestic landscape will change and hopefully the economic depression he promised will finish him. People will have to decide on the future by becoming educated on the political issues, not indoctrinated.
Same here. MEIDAS TOUCH has gotten me out of fearful moments and feelings of hopelessness. This truly is the best channel for disseminating information not just for America but other countries as well. All Americans should know about the political scene here. Starting with Trump & clowns he put into administrative roles. Ben, I am happy that you and your family did not lose your home & that you are all OK.
Look for the three little dots off to the right margin on the same line as of your username. Click there, and you'll get a drop-down menu, at the top is "Edit".
Please get some rest, Ben. We don’t expect you to entertain us all of the time. put yourself first for a few hours. It’s an enormous relief that your house is safe for now.
I think we need more discussion of what we are fighting for. A roadmap for moving forward. Yes, we need to fight Trumps bad ideas. But then what. Yapping about Greenland to insult Danish leaders is a distraction for stupider things Trump is doing. Building a better trade-relation with Greenland may not be. Yapping about Newsome’s position on protecting a declining species of fish while LA burns is stupid. Figuring out how building standards and risk management policies need to change given the risks created by global warming is something that has to happen. Shouting ‘drill baby drill’ as a response to all problems is stupid. Developing a coherent plan for developing and transitioning to alternative sources is not. Complaining about the federal deficit while planning to add to it is stupid. Cutting low value and outdared federal programs is not.
We talk constantly about the stupid things. Changes are needed. Let’s talk about that too.
More than that. Immigrants are an important part of our labor force. Trumpists rail on them to get votes, but won’t support a law to make businesses check for work permits.
It’s the divide and conquer strategy: give the simpletons a group to hate & blame, while Trump and his band of oligarchs and sycophants in congress continue to loot our Republic!
I'm kind of struck by how Americans are in love with stick-built houses. This is despite the fact that they burn down, get termites and carpenter ants, are vulnerable during hurricanes and tornadoes and usually aren't that efficient to heat and cool. Even if we were to act decisively now, which we probably won't, the effects of climate change will get worse before they get better. Some places are just too risky to build in and we should be constructing houses to withstand the worst that man and nature can throw at them.
I live in Central Europe where most houses are built of masonry, not wood, and there are reasons for that. You see lots of old buildings here. If an old building wasn't destroyed in WWII, the buildings last for centuries. There are people in places like Italy living in houses where the basic exterior of the house was constructed in the Roman era, and that is in a seismic zone.
Your point about adapting how we live to climate change is well taken. Of course we also need to mitigate the damage we are doing long-term, but in the coming decades we need to build smart for the future. Don't rebuild your house that burned down in such a way that it is likely to burn down again.
There is a development in Florida that was specifically designed to survive hurricanes. It works. The challenge is that decades of construction in Florida does not meet these standards. Perhaps this can be figured out too. My thought is… when you buy a house, think these risks through. When it burns, blows down, floods or slides down a hill, you are likely on your own.
All that talk about annexing Greenland, Panama, and Canada is just another version of grabbing them by the pu**y. He believes that when you're president, they let you get away with it. Joe Biden has shown us that problems can be solved.
In reading over my post, I realized I said Trump was ‘yapping.’ That’s an old school word, so let me explain it. Yapping is incessantly talking in a way that irritates people. My dog yaps in two situations… he wants attention or he is scared.
Same for Trump. He is a malicious narcissist. Much of his yapping is to get attention. He yaps about the fire, not because he cares, but because it is getting a lot of attention and he wants to get in on it. He yaps about January 6 because he is afraid he will be caught for his crimes.
Most of what he says is yapping. His staff adapts by letting him yap (let Trump be Trump) then sane washing pieces to make it sound coherent.
Good morning! Thank you for all the hard work you and your team put in to keep us informed and up to date. I greatly appreciate the effort. MTN is my go-to source for news. Stay safe 💙
Sadly, the best thing that can happen re: proving what a liar trump is, is for the economy to falter and for jobs to be lost. Most of the lost jobs will be in Maga territory as they are more dependent on manufacturing than, say NY. Maybe that would be a wakeup call.
I know what their play will be: blame the Dems and the Biden administration for something they didn't even do, a non-existent bill they didn't sign, (ref. the "Water Restoration Declaration") or some other lie.
The MAGAts are so poorly informed and thoroughly duped that they'll believe a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.
There is no wakeup call for them other than the collapse of the oligarchy including Dumpty's mortal demise.
they're so dumb they don't even have the intelligence to realize how dumb they are. I'm hoping when the Dumpster dies, they'll crawl back into their holes and go back to being closet bigots.
Dismantling Citizens United, evicting the billionaires from the white house, Extreme Court term limits, revising the tax code so the rich pay their fair share, routing that money into revitalizing public education, and restoring a mental hospital system to treat the homeless who need it- these would also be on my to-do list.
totally agree. double that on providing mental hospital for the homeless who need it. A lot of the crime in NYC takes place in the subways and it's almost 100% homeless people who should be institutionalized but legally we're not allowed to do that.
Hats off for continuing to fight while you and your family are dealing with so much. Very grateful to hear about the upcoming Canadian Meidas Touch Network expansion.
Everyday I look forward to everything Meidas! A couple of days ago I gifted a subscription to my daughter in honor of the fires, who last April lost her Victorian home to a fire, just one home, so the devastation is massive doesn’t compare. But she understands, and soon she starts the rebuilding and it is has been a long process.
MAGA is filled with haters and evil truth deniers. I do worry about her rebuilding the town is mostly MAGA, and she and her family are not.
I'm grateful that your house is okay but heartbroken for everyone whose houses aren't okay. This is a tragedy of a magnitude I can't fathom. Please stay safe. And I hope Brett is out of danger and okay too.
Thank you for all you and your team do to promote democracy and spread the news.
Thank you MTN for all of your hard work especially when it’s been under trying circumstances. I appreciate you for being dedicated and committed to the fight💙💯
I love this channel and I believe the work that everyone is doing is 1000th% better than main stream media. God bless you and your family and so glad that ur house is there and ur safe. This channel is the best investment I’ve ever made. Keep up the great work!’
Same. It truly is an investment in the future.
Hey, posting from Scotland (vast majority loathe Trump btw despite his ‘love’ for us) appreciate your efforts this week in terrible circumstances. Stay safe
After watching what tRump did to Scotland in several documentaries years ago, I can only imagine how you must feel about his reelection. Thank you for supporting this fabulous network in our fight❣️.
He just doesn’t fit with our psyche at all, plus we tend to be more left wing. And sweary
I enjoy your special nicknames for him. Cockwomble is one of my new favorite words.
Clackwanker is another I believe
Fuckin A Heather! Git em!
💯❣️👍
Keep up decorating his golf courses. We get a real kick out of your antics! Thanks for the support!
We’re very inventive
Did I miss a good post? Any chance to see those decorations?
Some men 💩in the holes 😝
Compelled to apologize that the lowest denominator our nation has to offer has overtaken us and the world. This is not a representative of how much individual Americans respect, love and support our allies. We share so much history including blood. My great grandfather came to NYC from Scotland. Forgive us.
FULL on DITTO Raissa❣️
Hey, we gave you his mother. We have nothing to be proud about in this regard!
I was not aware of his mother's lineage and that connection to Scotland. I read his mother returned often and spoke Gaelic. Looks as though she married below her station to someone, we now know was a monster. My aunt came to America from Finland but not to escape poverty. She was adventurous and her sister followed. She worked for the wealthiest family in NYC at the time from age 16 thru to her 80's more family (but knew her place and was very discreet) than servant. I remember she would always tell me that "the best class is the middle class" in America. She witnessed enough to speak on some authority. Today, we have lost the middle class. It is gone and we are not going back.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-38648877
As always, many 🙏 for all you guys do! We are Meidas Mighty strong. I'm so glad that your family is safe and your house made it through. I'm also thankful for the hard work and dedication of the fire fighters... including help from our friends to the North (Canada) and South (Mexico.) Stay well and indeed, we are in this fight for Democracy together. ✌️
When you have a substantial portion of the population who are just flat out stupid, lying works. All authoritarians understand this. I like Biden a lot, but one of his big flaws is that he vastly overestimates both the wisdom and goodness of average Americans. A large percentage of Americans are idiots and a significant percentage are assholes. We need to quit thinking like we just need to do a better job of communicating Democratic successes. Most Americans have no idea how anything works. They don't understand economics and they don't understand science and they don't understand national defense and foreign affairs. Policy papers that few average Americans will ever read are not going to solve this problem. Highlight Trump's failures and just pound on them ad nauseum. Show Americans how Republican policies hurt them personally and then repeat those messages until people can recite them on their own. High-minded appeals to patriotism will fall on deaf ears with this crowd. You only reach them when you appeal to their own selfishness. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the tastes and intelligence of the American public. Marketers understand this. Republicans understand this. Democrats need to smarten up and understand it as well.
Well-said, William.
Retired teacher here.
Problems began when schools dropped Civics to make room for computer literacy. Schools aren't teaching American Civics as the did prior to 1995 or so. Teachers are underpaid & the quality of teachers has dropped since I began in 1979. I encouraged many of my students I knew would become outstanding teachers - some have - but many appreciated the encouragement, but told me teachers make too small a salary. That's a problem.
We've also lost our Greatest Generation - our connection to understanding Fascism & its dangers to a Civilized Society. We're losing trust in Sciences. Research is showing us that most of the Disnfo on social media is being spread by less than 3% of its users, & the worst of the lies spread by less than 1%.
If Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini had the social media of today, I doubt they'd have been defeated.
Racism & Bigotry has expanded because of it.
One of the things Dems get wrong is not appealing to the selfishness of individuals. Dems lost a lot of ground with young men in 2024. They had sort of counted on the abortion issue to mobilize women and put them over the top. A mistake. Why not explain to 20-something young men that if you knock up some woman, and she is forced to carry it against her will, you are on the hook for child support for at least the next eighteen years? And child support often can amount to 20-30% of your gross income. This GOP policy has the potential to leave you impoverished for several decades. That is the kind of thing young men who are paying attention to almost nothing can understand. Telling people how some Trump policy is bad for this group or that group does not move people. You have to show them how it screws them. All these farmers voted for Trump. I think a lot didn't believe a deportation would affect all the illegals who harvest their crops. Maybe when they have crops rotting in the field they will rethink things. Row crops are pretty automated but a lot of fruits and vegetables depend on manual labor. In Texas, about 60% of people working in a lot of construction labor jobs are illegals. The exploding cost of housing is an issue that motivates many people. So how is deporting the people who build houses going to increase the housing supply? And tariffs will raise both costs and interest rates. So even if you can find a house you won't be able to afford it.
And it wasn't Democrats who sent manufacturing jobs to China, it was Republican donors. So how is giving these same people unchecked power going to be good for blue color workers? It won't be. Dems should back a fairer society, but it is hard for a lot of people to see how GOP LGBT policies really affect them. Lead with policies that affect the largest number of people and show why your policies will help people like them. Appeals to personal selfishness work.
From my mother: Someone also needs to explain to the Bro Network what a draft card is. If men like Trump & Musk r actually serious about starting wars over territory around the world, who will fight those wars while they languish in their bunkers? While the young pitch propaganda for these creeps on social media, those that r at an expendable age for a draft better wake up and smell the MTN coffee
You’re right on so much of what you wrote. The farmers in the UK voted to leave the EU so most of the folk from all over Europe who’d traditionally picked the crops had to leave the country. When the farmers realised no Brits wanted to pick crops they realised their massive blunder. What a tangled web we weave…
Sad, but true. Many people can’t see past their wallet…
💯%!!!!!
As a child and a sibling of younger siblings then as a parent I found the "new" math and "new" methods to teach reading and writing and spelling in retrospect and even at the time were undermining. The first effect was a child comes home asking a parent for help only to find their parent was taught traditional math and reading and writing methods. I remember as a parent it divided and made it difficult for myself and my husband to help with assignments. "You're doing it all wrong" is what my first-grade child would say. It was a struggle, but he did well in the end. I was very involved. No one cares about the kid except their parents and the teacher, but we have been tossed out of the picture. How is it that our children cannot read cursive or sign their name, struggle with their own language much less learn another and are more ignorant than those who came before them going back to the time of Abraham Lincoln.
Good on you to stay involved and perhaps learn some “new ways”. I am 65. My 15 year old refuses to learn cursive, learn about politics, or learn my ways of doing math, science or English. His U.S. and world geography and history is lacking. He can type 10 times faster than me and has learned all about how to skirt your Parents’ attempts at controlling the internet, gaming and porn access. His school gave him a laptop, doesn’t believe in homework, and isn’t teaching him some basics I think he needs to know before getting a diploma. That’s my job now I guess.
Mine is an adult now in his thirties. It was easier when I raised him, but it was also very, very hard. His generation was the first where Ritalin was prescribed to half the class and the pressure on me to not go along was brutal. I did not. He did not suffer for it. I can remember my mother struggling and advocating for us growing up and her frustration. We were all underserved. And she told me stories of her mom and dad fighting the school system and getting involved when she was growing up and it goes back further. Just love him unconditionally. When he struggles and opens up with you just listen and do not try to solve anything; listen and let him know you are always there for him but also want him to know that over the years you've seen him navigate what is a much more complicated life than you had growing up and admire him for it. I always told mine that never ever did I trust him to anyone other than me and his dad; but today (when he was in college) I trust him with himself. Fighting my instinct to rush in and solve everything for him *which in retrospect was delusional* I would tell him that I've seen him navigate things I could not have navigated as well and admire him. I helped him reframe his own self-image by truthfully telling him what I saw in him and trusted him. That keeps them coming back. Just listen. I find car rides are the best. No eye contact but just listen say little to nothing. Let him know you love him. A child can do anything when they know they are loved.
The billionaires who control social media platforms are not good humans. Same can be said for owners of traditional media. The information landscape has drastically changed since Walter Cronkite's days...combined w other oligarchs, the gap between extreme wealth & the other 98% hasn't been this great since the days of the robber barons & tenement & poor rural citizens of pre-WW1 era. The uber wealthy use social media to make the wealth gap worse. I agree w your comments about the sheer ignorance of 40-50% of Americans. Add in the complete politicization of the American Fundamentalist "churches," & we have tremendous swaths of people who vote against their best interests every time. America is ripe for a Dick-tator.
Correct! I don’t think it’s helpful to dwell on Biden’s “flaws”. He’s not perfect, but he possesses decency, honor and integrity, plus decades of political experience, and he demonstrated courage when jumped into the POTUS race back in 2020, when he could have been enjoying a much deserved retirement!
I have been saying for years that more of our tax dollars should be spent on education, particularly in red states. And for God's sake please can we add civics to every school curriculum. Naturalized citizens know more about our country and how it works than people born here do because it's required for them to become naturalized.
Like everything else, education has now been politicized so half the country thinks it's a bad thing. We aren't going to teach our way out of that.
William, like Biden I am guilty of overestimating the goodness and wisdom of my fellow human beings, but I honestly believe that the majority are good people, some who have been led in the wrong direction, and the very loud and vocal ones who are MAGA to the core are overshadowing that.
As a former teacher, I agree that there are too many people, mostly good people, who are not as well educated as they should be.
When the focus became "keep the masses stupid" only the well connected and wealthy should go to college that was the end. Educators in classrooms knew the changes being made over the past decades were anti education masquerading as "reform" and we fought it. But the big corporations and organizations pushing their agendas won. Teachers are data collected via a constant barage of testing which kills the joy of teaching and learning. Kids are data points instead of active learners.
Of course there are fabulous teachers doing their absolute best under extraordinary circumstances (parents and administration pitted against them) and student behavior worse than ever as consequences are not given.
We have a lot of work to do. 💙
Civics lost because it's knowledge that could be used to ask questions.
Good literature lost for the same reason.
Red states (most) have cut funding for public schools, or not funded properly for growing population. Ex., Oklahoma FINALLY funded better, c. 2015-7, after massive teacher strikes. Most kids had textbooks that were 20-30 yrs old & in terrible shape - often only 20 textbooks for a class of 32. So they did better, but still not well-funded. Now they have that christonationalist inept & inexperienced State Supt. Ryan Walters, who wasn't strong enough to lead an elementary school, much less a State's Dept. of Education. He just wants to get a prime job in the Trump Admin., but, even though he wasted 3.5 million of taxpayer monies on moldy "Trump Bibles." He could have spent that on updated science lab equipment or upgraded computers or other instructional materials.
Now, & MOST SERIOUSLY, we have efforts to use taxpayer funds constitutionally earmarked for public schools to be used so certain wealthier parents to pay their PRIVATE school/Religious school tuition. Each state has a "per pupil" funding formula...for example, say in Texas, it is $9,980/yrs old per pupil. Some red state Govs & Leg.s want to give that per pupil to parents to use for private schools, private for-profit charters & religious school tuition.
It is simply PURPOSEFUL Segregation. Why? Most religious schools do not offer full transportation, so working parents have difficulty getting their kids to a private school on their own...how could single working parents do this, considering some of their kids could attend different schools up to 20 miles from home? And, how many working parents could still afford to pay $24,000/yr private tuition even IF the state gave them 40%??
This type of UNConstitutional payment system helps the wealthier parents, NOT all parents. The kids will be in various activities (or should be), so even transportation to practices, games, clubs, tutoring, etc. means an ever more hectic schedule even With school bus transportation. Stay-at-home parents (the wealthier), can manage this.
If this Travesty occurs, there will be less funding for remaining public schools, leaving the poorer kids in less-funded schools.
Tragically sad. Texas Gov Abott pushed this the last several yrs...but rural & small towns cry foul because school districts are often the largest employer, & would lose teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria & maintenance employees, affecting the economy of the town. And, often there are not enough private schools for all students to attend. Or, the "right" kinds, ex. Only a Baptist private Academy & another Fundamentalist, but no Catholic or Episcopalian school, or, vice-versa. Another aspect is private schools are not regulated & can deny anyone for any reason. The State has NO OVERSIGHT of how the tax monies are spent - or if the private schools are any good.
It's an anti-American, Purposeful Segregation Plan. I'm afraid our Supreme Court may declare this "Constitutional," the 75% - 80% of public school students/families be damned, & increased INEQUALITIES in society..
We are not as a society well-pleased with private insurance, private health care or many other privately-owned aspects. WHY would we give up public education for society & privatize it in a non-regulated way??
This is all part of a long-term GOP strategy to undermine, destabilize and eliminate much of government, including public education.
Absolutely! I have watched the "dumbing down" going on for YEARS!
Add to that social media and now the greedy billionaires with their algorithms, and voila...here we are 😡
Thank you MTN and the Meidas Mighty for giving me hope and a way to fight back!
DNC too nice and too gentle!! Fight fight hard!! and put an add about their failures broken promises!!!and CEOs getting richer!!!Use Meidas Mighty big and protect the truth small newscast against big corporations greediness!!
I agree 100%. Although it is comforting and promotes my health to have Substack it does not represent America. I work at the front desk of a major hospital in Boston where I see patients newly turned adults at 18 unable to sign their own name. You ask for their signature; a parent stands by with some encouragement actually in fact restating what was asked because the "adult" patient just turned 18 is glued to their IPHONE. Their reaction upon learning they need to sign their name is to stare blankly and step back then slowly step forward seeing no other option and holding the pen as if a foreigner in a foreign land being asked to make change in a foreign currency; then after all these minutes printing their name crudely with letter too large and appearing to be the work of a four year old. Of course, cheers all around an applause. Big smile from the parent, so proud! And off they go back to their IPHONE like Sleeping Beauty crawling back into a deep slumber quite miffed for being woken up. I see foreigners as well from countries all over he world from all walks of life. The children give eye contact; speak several languages and those required to sign their name do so with confidence.
I absolutely agree with you, William. Sadly, a majority of Americans don’t know that there are three co-equal branches of government (at least that is what the Constitution calls for) and can’t name their U.S. Senator or representative in Congress.
Well said.
Good words William however I doubt most don't know how things work, but I think more than half (most) can't stand what politics has become. Even more & more Trump voters seem to be realizing the next 4 yrs may suck bigtime.
I think the public is becoming more educated how the system works & can be manipulated if you have enough money & influence. But there is no 2 tiered system, right.
GM!!! Stay positive and strong! We are in for a fight 💪🏽 Happy to hear of the Expansion in 🇨🇦. Exciting times and the truth when we need it most!
I'm so glad you and your family are safe. I'm so grateful for you and Meidas Touch. Without you I wouldn't be slightly optimistic about the future. Thank you for all you have done. ❤️❤️
As trumps base that got him elected continue to become disaffected with broken promises the domestic landscape will change and hopefully the economic depression he promised will finish him. People will have to decide on the future by becoming educated on the political issues, not indoctrinated.
All of this!! Whenever I feel hopeless I look for the Media's Mighty community and am uplifted.
Same here. MEIDAS TOUCH has gotten me out of fearful moments and feelings of hopelessness. This truly is the best channel for disseminating information not just for America but other countries as well. All Americans should know about the political scene here. Starting with Trump & clowns he put into administrative roles. Ben, I am happy that you and your family did not lose your home & that you are all OK.
I can't edit my comment, so I'll correct it here - MEIDAS Mighty community!! Although, it is becoming the Media's Mighty too. 🤭
Hi Heather. You probably can edit your comments.
Look for the three little dots off to the right margin on the same line as of your username. Click there, and you'll get a drop-down menu, at the top is "Edit".
It's too bad most people don't know this. Thank you for educating posters.
Please get some rest, Ben. We don’t expect you to entertain us all of the time. put yourself first for a few hours. It’s an enormous relief that your house is safe for now.
I think we need more discussion of what we are fighting for. A roadmap for moving forward. Yes, we need to fight Trumps bad ideas. But then what. Yapping about Greenland to insult Danish leaders is a distraction for stupider things Trump is doing. Building a better trade-relation with Greenland may not be. Yapping about Newsome’s position on protecting a declining species of fish while LA burns is stupid. Figuring out how building standards and risk management policies need to change given the risks created by global warming is something that has to happen. Shouting ‘drill baby drill’ as a response to all problems is stupid. Developing a coherent plan for developing and transitioning to alternative sources is not. Complaining about the federal deficit while planning to add to it is stupid. Cutting low value and outdared federal programs is not.
We talk constantly about the stupid things. Changes are needed. Let’s talk about that too.
Agree and blaming immigrants for everything is extremely STUPID!
More than that. Immigrants are an important part of our labor force. Trumpists rail on them to get votes, but won’t support a law to make businesses check for work permits.
It’s the divide and conquer strategy: give the simpletons a group to hate & blame, while Trump and his band of oligarchs and sycophants in congress continue to loot our Republic!
His other go to, for blame is directed towards President Joe Biden and the Democrats. Lies lies lies.
I'm kind of struck by how Americans are in love with stick-built houses. This is despite the fact that they burn down, get termites and carpenter ants, are vulnerable during hurricanes and tornadoes and usually aren't that efficient to heat and cool. Even if we were to act decisively now, which we probably won't, the effects of climate change will get worse before they get better. Some places are just too risky to build in and we should be constructing houses to withstand the worst that man and nature can throw at them.
I live in Central Europe where most houses are built of masonry, not wood, and there are reasons for that. You see lots of old buildings here. If an old building wasn't destroyed in WWII, the buildings last for centuries. There are people in places like Italy living in houses where the basic exterior of the house was constructed in the Roman era, and that is in a seismic zone.
Your point about adapting how we live to climate change is well taken. Of course we also need to mitigate the damage we are doing long-term, but in the coming decades we need to build smart for the future. Don't rebuild your house that burned down in such a way that it is likely to burn down again.
There is a development in Florida that was specifically designed to survive hurricanes. It works. The challenge is that decades of construction in Florida does not meet these standards. Perhaps this can be figured out too. My thought is… when you buy a house, think these risks through. When it burns, blows down, floods or slides down a hill, you are likely on your own.
All that talk about annexing Greenland, Panama, and Canada is just another version of grabbing them by the pu**y. He believes that when you're president, they let you get away with it. Joe Biden has shown us that problems can be solved.
In reading over my post, I realized I said Trump was ‘yapping.’ That’s an old school word, so let me explain it. Yapping is incessantly talking in a way that irritates people. My dog yaps in two situations… he wants attention or he is scared.
Same for Trump. He is a malicious narcissist. Much of his yapping is to get attention. He yaps about the fire, not because he cares, but because it is getting a lot of attention and he wants to get in on it. He yaps about January 6 because he is afraid he will be caught for his crimes.
Most of what he says is yapping. His staff adapts by letting him yap (let Trump be Trump) then sane washing pieces to make it sound coherent.
We don’t want to just yap back.
Good morning! Thank you for all the hard work you and your team put in to keep us informed and up to date. I greatly appreciate the effort. MTN is my go-to source for news. Stay safe 💙
Sadly, the best thing that can happen re: proving what a liar trump is, is for the economy to falter and for jobs to be lost. Most of the lost jobs will be in Maga territory as they are more dependent on manufacturing than, say NY. Maybe that would be a wakeup call.
I know what their play will be: blame the Dems and the Biden administration for something they didn't even do, a non-existent bill they didn't sign, (ref. the "Water Restoration Declaration") or some other lie.
The MAGAts are so poorly informed and thoroughly duped that they'll believe a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.
There is no wakeup call for them other than the collapse of the oligarchy including Dumpty's mortal demise.
they're so dumb they don't even have the intelligence to realize how dumb they are. I'm hoping when the Dumpster dies, they'll crawl back into their holes and go back to being closet bigots.
A good start!
Dismantling Citizens United, evicting the billionaires from the white house, Extreme Court term limits, revising the tax code so the rich pay their fair share, routing that money into revitalizing public education, and restoring a mental hospital system to treat the homeless who need it- these would also be on my to-do list.
totally agree. double that on providing mental hospital for the homeless who need it. A lot of the crime in NYC takes place in the subways and it's almost 100% homeless people who should be institutionalized but legally we're not allowed to do that.
Glad you showed up for coffee - that’s committed!! Thanks!
Hats off for continuing to fight while you and your family are dealing with so much. Very grateful to hear about the upcoming Canadian Meidas Touch Network expansion.
Everyday I look forward to everything Meidas! A couple of days ago I gifted a subscription to my daughter in honor of the fires, who last April lost her Victorian home to a fire, just one home, so the devastation is massive doesn’t compare. But she understands, and soon she starts the rebuilding and it is has been a long process.
MAGA is filled with haters and evil truth deniers. I do worry about her rebuilding the town is mostly MAGA, and she and her family are not.
I'm grateful that your house is okay but heartbroken for everyone whose houses aren't okay. This is a tragedy of a magnitude I can't fathom. Please stay safe. And I hope Brett is out of danger and okay too.
Thank you for all you and your team do to promote democracy and spread the news.
Thank you MTN for all of your hard work especially when it’s been under trying circumstances. I appreciate you for being dedicated and committed to the fight💙💯
Thank you MTM for everything you do. Your hard work, and your dedication to reporting facts. We need you to grow and outshine main stream media!
And congrats to beginning your journey of international broadcasting. An honest counter to the evil that musk is spreading.
Stay safe. All of you.