THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026
In search of ways to heal: It's a favorite set of lyrics for us—lyrics from all the way back at the end of our days in the Baltimore City Public Schools.
In truth, you have to hear these lyrics as they were actually sung. You can do so by clicking here. You'll hear Chrissie Hynde as she sings this story. The recording went to #5 on the U.S. charts.
Joe Scarborough has been teaching a version of this story on Morning Joe in recent days. We don't know whether he's right or wrong.
In our view, he's stressing the dominant part of the story. The lyrics go like this:
Back on the Chain Gang
[...]
The powers that be
That force us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they've done to you.
Well, I'll die as I stand here today
Knowing that deep in my heart
They'll fall to ruin one day
For making us part.
"They'll fall to ruin one day?" In recent days, Scarborough has been preaching that warning, to and about the Republican players who have served as agents of the sitting president's ongoing behaviors.
(Almost surely, he's "mentally ill," whatever that means—and we Blues keep refusing to ask. The chances are fair that his enablers aren't.)
Scarborough has been warning the enablers that they'll be called to justice one day for the illegal things they may have done. In the larger sense, it's true! Their appalling conduct has made the seas part as we the people have split in two—have been split into warring Red and Blue nations.
It's also true that we Blues, through our frequent imperfect conduct, routinely helped the sitting president find his way back into power. For example, we kept sending Vice President Harris out to swear that the southern border was tight as a drum, when everyone knew that it wasn't.
She kept going out and doing it. To this day, no one has ever explained why she was asked to perform such a ridiculous act.
History says that it's never been easy to keep a large continental nation or empire together. If we survive the next few years under an unrestrained President Trump, we'll need to find routes to healing.
With that problem in mind, we've been thinking about a heartfelt passage from Carl Sandburg—a passage about possible sources of healing as Abraham Lincoln made his way to the White House.
On Tuesday, we showed you how that evocative passage begins. Tomorrow, we'll show you where it goes after that.
Fuller disclosure: What was the backstory to that song? Here's what the authority says.
Tomorrow: "...sifting down with healing and strength"
ReplyDelete"Almost surely, he's "mentally ill," whatever that means..."
Well, the previous one was brain-dead. And he was brain-dead not "almost surely" but definitely. And look: the country survived.
And that's the good news. Rejoice, brother!
Somerby doesn't use words like "definitely". Anything is possible so nothing can be definite.
DeleteThe organ grinder is back, playing the only tune he knows. I've had enough of this place. I wish some of you well.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sewer, but I am a rat.
DeleteMG is right.
DeleteBut who else is discussing the Iliad?
DeleteI have been researching about bags and nitrogen.
DeleteNitrogen is OK, but I like oxygen.
DeleteNitrogen is good when you are out of options.
DeleteWhy keep it a secret if it resulted in successful drug interdiction? Answer: it has nothing to do with drug interdiction
ReplyDeletehttps://abcnews.com/US/us-forced-release-legal-justification-boat-strikes-drug/story?id=136896532
to be fair, how is orange felon supposed to steal billions of dollars' worth of Venezuelan gold and oil if he doesn't make up a fucking lie and blow up some brown people because he's fucking God and all the good maggoty people who don't appreciate being called immoral racists didn't raise a peep about it. In the meantime, little Marco is in the process of committing crimes against humanity to Cuba. Where are these fucking good republicans?
DeleteLike a regular King Midas.
DeleteTrump is in that sweet spot somewhere between the emperor that had no clothes (ew) and the Pillsbury Doughboy.
DeleteRoger would fit right in the Trump administration
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/bolivia-attorney-general-roger-mariaca-arrested-drug-cartel-ties/
“She kept going out and doing it”
ReplyDeleteAccording to Google/AI:
“Kamala Harris stated that the border was secure twice during a single, widely cited interview on NBC's Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.
However, this interview took place on September 11, 2022—nearly two years before she launched her 2024 presidential campaign. During her 2024 campaign, rather than repeating that the border was secure, she frequently addressed the immigration system as broken, emphasized her record as a prosecutor against transnational cartels, and criticized Donald Trump for tanking a bipartisan Senate border security bill”
Somerby just can’t help himself, so he misrepresents the facts.
Sure the evil cocksucker party won't fund the asylum courts, then they scream the system is broken. Looks like the new Somerby approach is to keep slagging Harris (Dems) for no good reason while the world burns due to fat fuck. Same as it ever was.
DeleteSomerby's fuller disclosure link doesn't work. Of course, the song is about someone being incarcerated and thus parted from a love, because chain gangs are prisoners working on crews as forced labor. This song has nothing to do with anything except Somerby has plucked the line "fall to ruin" from it and applied that to the Trump enablers. Few people believe there will be any consequences to Trump's hencemen for their bad acts. Trump will either serve out his term, leaving the nations in a shambles, or he may die in office and JD will take over. Either way, Republican enablers will go back to their day jobs and Democrats will take over Congress this year and the presidency in 2029. That isn't any kind of "fall."
ReplyDeleteSomerby once again claims that red and blue are at war. It is almost as if he hopes for such a situation, longs for it. But that isn't happening now and it will not be happening in the future. Our democratic system allows our nation's diverse people to make decisions without war. It is the chief virtue of the system. Somerby has said he thinks democracy has failed, that it cannot work because we humans are not built for it. But it is working, even under these worst case circumstances. Our people will survive Trump and we will not heal but improve our country, perhaps restoring us to the health we had at the start of Trump's term. To do that, we will work together, not commit any more war against anyone, not even Iran or Venezuela or Cuba. The right now understands the folly of making enemies out of allies. THEY are stopping Trump and his minions by voting for Democrats.
Who is sending Somerby out to commit these atrocities by lying about Kamala Harris?
"Tomorrow: Maddow goes true crime?"
ReplyDeleteAnother broken promise...
There are no blues that do not recognize that Trump is mentally ill, and they talk about it all the time.
ReplyDeleteBut blues also recognize that Trump's mental illness is not actionable, but that his and his cronies' corruption and criminality are actionable.
Somerby hand waved the corruption and criminality while blues were focused on it, he told us to drop those efforts, and instead roll over on issues like immigration and gays and trans people.
Well it turned out Somerby was way off, immigration and gays and trans are not top priorities in elections and specifically in 2024 immigration was less a priority than it usually is.
This is in part because Biden's immigration policies were highly effective, dramatically reducing the wave of immigration caused by Trump's first term, and also because immigration is generally seen as a positive thing, although some hard core right wingers are bothered by it, including Somerby himself.
It is worth noting that Trump's polling on immigration is in the toilet and has been for some time. This is not surprising considering immigration is not a top priority, it was already solved by Biden, and Trump is the least popular president in history, primarily due to his corruption and criminality.
The nation is coming together in its dislike of Trump and disapproval of his performance as president:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump/stunning-new-ap-poll-shows-whopping-69-of-americans-disapprove-of-trump-an-all-time-high/
There does seem to be a 30% minority who approval of things like his handling of Iran war, but it is unrealistic to expect all of the fringe element to go away in any poll. There seems to be an emerging consensus that Trump is a horrible president, drawing from both red and blue America.
At least their is no collusion with Putin anymore: "Ihor Romanenko, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated that following his conversation with Putin, Trump blocked the transfer of 3,000 air-to-surface missiles to Ukraine intended for targeting ballistic missile launchers."
DeleteIn Trump's defense, he was too stupid to know he was being set-up to be blackmailed by Putin until it was far too late.
DeleteTiedrich quotes Trump at a last-minute recognition of Hispanic Heritage month:
ReplyDelete"“So there’s a tunnel, going to— what I think will be the greatest ballroom ever— built? it’s also a tremendous military complex with a drone port on top. it’s— it’s QUITE THE PLACE. And you [here, Donny make accordion hands] literally will be the first group EVER TO ENTER the premises. So be VERY CAREFUL. DON’T FALL OVER THE EDGE, ’cause it’s A LONG WAY DOWN. And only a Hispanic could survive that fall. So I’m not overly worried.”
What the fuck?
That was Donny, in the East Room of the White House yesterday, for a hastily-organized dog-and-pony show ostensibly celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. You’ll notice they held the event on the last day of the month, like the oops-we-almost-forgot afterthought it was.
So there’s Blabbermouth McChucklefuck, yammering away about the big strong tunnel with tears in its eyes, leading to a ballroom like few thought possible, when the coked-up squirrel scampering about in his head suddenly — and without warning — veers into a racism. But not just any racism — it’s a racism he invented on the spot.
I’ve been around racists and racism all my life, and I’ve never heard about this preternatural ability of Hispanics to survive falls. Have you?
even Google’s janky, six-fingered plagiarism robot was all ‘what the fuck?’
No biological or scientific evidence indicates that people of any specific ethnic or racial background can survive a high fall. [1, 2]
Donny is like stupid and racist had a baby, and then repeatedly dropped it on its head."
Trump's racist filter is on the blink.
DeleteThat being said, not worrying about Hispanics dying is very on brand for Republicans, it is essentially an integral part of their platform.
Funny enough it was a White blond college student that recently fell from an apartment building and survived.
My guess (!!!) is that in Trump's mind he's complimenting his guests as being from the same hardy stock as the illegal immigrants who survive after jumping down from the top of his Big Beautiful Wall.
DeleteWhy work at being as racist as the president?
DeleteYou look flush. You crave that surge of righteous anger you feel when you make a moral condemnation, don't you?
DeleteMostly they fly over the wall and overstay their visa, but you be you DG.
DeleteNo, we’re not supposed to get angry at the depredations of our president and his party, DG, as he destroys one thing after another. Our anger is just smug and condescending and is totally insincere. Why the fuck should I care if he demonizes trans people like myself or destroys the Kennedy center?
Delete6:37 - I mocked 5:20 for calling me a "racist." I did not and do not question either the sincerity or the justification for your anger at Trump -- an anger I share wholeheartedly.
Deleteeverything that makes you angry about King Orange Chickenshit was entirely predictable and foreseeable before the good maggoty voters who aren't at all racist marched their fucking blind asses to the polls to give the orange monster their vote.
DeleteDG shares our anger at Trump but just can't work up the energy to address Trump's malfeasance. It is all reserved for attacking other commenters here.
DeleteSomerby hints but doesn't say that Trump's regime is going to fall to ruin because of the Democrats. This is a talking point that comes straight from Trump's interview with Time Magazine:
ReplyDelete"During a discussion about the midterms and the possibility of Democrats taking control of the House, Trump predicted they will “go” after him and he vowed to do the same. Asked if he would go so far as to pardon his own officials before leaving office, Trump flat-out said it could be on the table.
“You mentioned the Democrats will come after you if they win. Are you considering pardoning members of your administration prior to the end of your term?” the reporters asked.
“Yeah, sure I’d do that,” Trump said, adding that “sleepy” Biden “gave pardons to everyone.”
Claiming that the Democrats are going to come after everyone on the right, out of rabid revenge, is what Trump said in 2020 and again in these midterms, to scare red voters into voting for Republicans.
Somerby joins that chorus today with his chain gang song lyrics and his vague complaints about war and falling to ruin (doomsday lyrics) because it is his purpose here to advance right wing talking points. This is not-very-subtle warning to red voters that blues are not your friends, to keep them away from Democratic candidates or voting as Independents.
I agree with Somerby's whining today: Trump is bad for Republican branding.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Time interview:
ReplyDelete"It was a disappointment to a lot of Republicans. So that’s just—well, Sleepy Joe gave pardons to everybody. He gave them to Fauci. He gave them to this. But you mean I’m not allowed to give them, but Sleepy Joe’s allowed to give them? This ain’t gonna be much of a story. Here we are doing this. You haven’t asked me one f*cking positive question. All of this. What about this? What about that? What about that? What about this? All negative. Why are you devoting all this time to the White House? You know how I do, I do that out of my back pocket. I pay for a lot of it, but I fix it because the White House should look like that."
How coherent is that? Shouldn't a president be able to speak and make sense? Even Somerby, who is rarely the least bit coherent, is more coherent than this pile of self-pity.
Of course Trump will pardon his co-conspirators and brothers in crime. No one will be held accountable for anything. We will all be too busy coping with the coming collapse of our economy to indict the people who brought it on. But no one will forget and we blues will devise legislation to prevent another billionaire coup from bankrupting our country by subverting our government.
A start might be to prohibit anyone with over $100,000 in the bank from holding office. And government funded campaigns, of course. A lot of changes are needed and we blues know how to make a start.
That quote, and tons of others, are less coherent than Biden's debate moment, yet not a peep from the fanboys.
DeleteRepublicans proudly cling to their lack of integrity, it is all they have got.
Why would Biden pardon the guy who saved millions but is the devil to the right because ivermectin? Did you watch the fucking Q-Anon weirdos drill poor Fauci for doing a good job? Fuck these superstitious clowns. MAHA my ass.
DeleteTake your meds, sicko.
DeleteSomerby fails to note how Trump is bringing the country together, Americans are united in their disapproval of Trump. Odd why Somerby would ignore that and instead make up some fantasy about the dynamic between blues and reds. Weird guy.
ReplyDeleteWe all know that Harris lost because MG called Trump voters toothless hillbillies.
ReplyDeleteThat, and conservatives know what terrible people we are.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you can hold democrats responsible for their campaign losses, at least some of them, but you cannot hold them responsible for the GOP’s decision to celebrate Trump’s corruption and lawlessness and to prostrate themselves at his feet, allowing him to operate as a king.
ReplyDeleteNor can you blame democrats for the decision by the conservatives on the Supreme Court to render partisan decisions not grounded in either the constitution or in precedent.
Bob says Kamala “was asked” to lie about the Southern border. Why does he assume that she herself did not make the decision to lie? Perhaps Bob subconsciously sees her as a lightweight. Someone who didn’t run her own campaign.
ReplyDeleteDuring her campaign, Harris said the immigration system was broken. She did not say the border was tight as a drum. It’s Somerby who is lying.
DeleteNope.
DeleteNope to David that is. And Biden/Harris didn't kidnap our hardworking neighbors and send them to shithole countries they never heard. Nor did they tear children from their mothers. And as the crews of twenty or so laborers hand digging holes in front of my house for new cable shows, white people won't do hard labor. Not to mention we need them to keep the economy afloat. And you are a racist fuckwad.
DeleteIn September 2022, Harris made a high profile public declaration that “the border is secure” while crossings were at historically high levels.
DeleteWhy would she tell the public that the border is secure while crossings were at historically high levels?
Hey David, yesterday you were whining about Obama giving Iran their $2B held by sanctions. So what about this: "the Fuel Clock shows Americans have paid $74.4 billion more on gasoline & $47.5 billion more on diesel since March 1 compared to a year ago. Total cost will hit $122 billion today." And the main reason for this was was no nukes for Iran after repeated claims of totally destroying their nuke program just months before. You are just a fucking nut ball fruitcake oblivious to facts.
DeleteDave bringing up lying political claims is rich considering we have totally, or will be preceding to totally annihilate Iran's military every two days for eight months. Get a life.
Delete“crossings were at historically high levels”
DeleteHow do we know this?
Hint: border encounters via CBP were at historically high levels. If encountered, what do you think happens to the person trying to cross?. Does this indicate that the border is secure, or not secure?
I also remind you that Somerby claimed that Harris kept going out and saying it over and over, the implication being that she said this during her campaign, that the border was “tight as a drum”. Of course she never in fact, said those words, and she did not repeatedly go out and say them. In fact, she never said anything like that during the campaign.
DeleteWhy would that imply that she said it during her campaign? That doesn't make sense.
DeleteShe said “ The border is secure” only once, not repeatedly, and never during the campaign. Now answer 5:45’s question.
DeleteI regret to inform you, record, high levels of encounters does not mean the border was secure.
DeleteObviously maggot breath, record high levels of CBP encounters at the border indicates open border policy
DeleteIt's a real shame "All lives Matter" meant "Shut up black people", instead of how every life is important.
DeleteAnd why were so many folks fleeing to the US seeking asylum? Because jaggoff weirdo Republicans like Ted Cruz spent hours in front of cameras yelling about the Dirty Dems open border policies. The R's stick to their fascist Project 2025 playbook at every turn.
Delete4:50 the last time a windfall tax was placed on big oil in this country was during the Carter administration. Funny how no one on either side of the aisle has suggested this option, given the over 120 billion dollars in added revenue to these companies since the start of this illegal war.
DeleteCovid caused a temporary surge in attempted border crossings due to pent up demand during the pandemic shutdown year (2020-21). Biden had implemented policies that reduced that to lower numbers than Trump's by the end of his term. Trump then pretended that temporary surge meant Biden had opened the border, when he did not.
DeleteRepublicans kept complaining that Harris was not visiting the border while she was instead working directly with Mexico and the leaders of donor countries to slow emigration and prevent asylum seekers from congregating at the US-Mexico border. That effort was successful at reducing the large numbers of people seeking entry. It included negotiating with Mexico to place soldiers at the Mexican side of the border in much larger numbers than Trump did subsequently.
Instead of accurately describing the Biden/Harris border control efforts and results, Trump told lies that Somerby repeated here in his blog. Somerby also advanced the right's hysteria over the murder of Laken Riley. She was killed by a legal immigrant who had been admitted under a program instituted by Trump during his first term. He was among the immigrants that Abbott sent to NYC via bus (to embarrass the blue areas), lived in a shelter because he had no work, then migrated to Georgia. But Somerby and the right don't care about facts. Their job was to embarrass Democrats and portray Biden and Harris as soft on immigrants when they were not.
I get so sick of Somerby repeating right wing propaganda while pretending to support Democrats. He is as big a liar as Trump.
Don't be stupid. Biden made huge mistakes with the border in his first couple of years.
DeleteDemocrats lost two presidential elections to a charlatan and the party’s approval rating is abysmal.
ReplyDeleteSucks to be you.
DeleteAnd yet Republican approval is much worse.
DeleteCharlatan?
DeleteThat's a funny way to say "child rapist, who exposed how white supremacy is the only thing that matters to Republican voters".
“ Ana Marie Cox calls out Glenn Beck for spinning a story about a downtrodden man as an inspiring tale — when it’s really a horror story of Trump’s America.”
ReplyDeleteGood for her!
Trump fan in Oklahoma:
ReplyDelete“He's gonna fix it. Believe in him, stand strong ... all the abortion, it's evil. That's one thing that Trump stands for is us Christians. We're being killed everywhere. I want to see two people -- Trump and Jesus ... we do not want Muslims taking over ... I have horrible thoughts. I don't think they should be here. This isn't their country ... they need to pack up their stuff and go back to where they came from."
One could ask if this an outlying opinion among Trump supporters, or the normative one.
Is asking the question, or determining that the answer might be the latter, a smug and condescending thing?
The most accurate description of the question is "dumb". Asking the question and trying to determine the answer. Is dumb. A dumb waste of time.
DeleteIt’s important to understand Trump’s base so that we know what we’re dealing with. DG, in an ongoing debate in this comment section, claims some of them might be reachable. If they are all like the lady quoted above, then that might disprove his claim, and suggest whether and how outreach to these people might be possible.
Delete"It’s important to understand Trump’s base so that we know what we’re dealing with."
DeleteAnyone who isn't a bigot, or isn't perfectly fine with bigotry, left the Republican Party over a quarter of a century ago.
If DG's claim was merely that some Trump supporters might be reachable, demonstrating that this woman's views are common wouldn't disprove it.
DeleteDG also claimed there's a Republican voter who isn't a bigot, even though he couldn't provide a scintilla of proof.
DeleteThe base is unreachable jaggoffs and weirdos. Don't waste time with these idiots. They "know" Trump = Jesus = God. And you can't help but to accept the Lord's word.
DeleteWe've seen enough of your squealing and squirming, Dumbocrats. Why don't you take your meds already?
Delete8:41 proves 8:05's point.
DeleteThis new tone of Somerby’s sounds an awful lot like the same old one.
ReplyDelete“imperfect conduct”
ReplyDeleteWell, gosh, we’re not just terrible people, we also aren’t perfect. At least somerby applies a fair standard.
When every word he hears or reads from a left-leaning person is as pusillanimous, conciliatory and appeasing as he is, he will declare us perfect (and we will exist ever after in a fascist hell).
DeleteAfter Trump and Lutnick held a press conference extolling as a “done deal” the building of a steel plant in Lee County Iowa, with Trump stating that it was already in the process of being built, investigative reporters found that there was no record of land acquisition for the facility, let alone any plans submitted to the county for the construction of such a facility.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I am trying to understand why reporters ask the fucking bullshit artist questions anymore.
DeleteSeems like an odd place - all the mills in the Gary, IN area get their MN ore by ship - remember The Edmund Fitzgerald" song? Iron ore.
DeleteDon't forget the Motor City.
DeleteOnly mill I went to there had arc furnaces not blast furnaces.
Delete