"[A]ll citizens, called upon to participate in these proceedings, whether as a juror, a witness, or in some other capacity, must now concern themselves not only with their own personal safety, but with the safety and the potential for personal attacks upon their loved ones. That reality cannot be overstated."
Same as for violent mob crime, and yet, this does not disqualify him. Lawyers still promote his bull Schitt. News anchors refuse to call him what he is, religions still see him as reformed and a Christ figure, Republicans still claim him as conservative, Latinos and blacks are cozying up. Orwell would be shocked. Yet his evil runs amok. Who will die first.
I don't know about first, but I had a sister die as one of the COVID million who met that fate thanks to the grifter incompetent in the White House then.
1. TFG will be found guilty on all counts. He’s toast in NY. No way Jose.
2. TFG will be remanded to Ryker’s Island for not less than 10 days for breaking the gag rule one too many times.
3. Yours truly will will get into the courtroom with media credentials in order to report live especially when Stormy points her little pinky to indicate the size of his doubleganger.
I can’t stomach listening to anything about this guy anymore. I know he is dangerous but all this free publicity…. Just the mention of his name makes me want to hurl.
I’m praying for the day when they put him in an orange jumpsuit and ship him upstate. I don’t know but I think NYS prisons aren’t as nice and Federal prisons??
State lockups are pretty grim compared to federal. But I'm guessing that if he is convicted and sentence, a deal will be struck to transfer him to a Club Fed, solely because the Secret Service will be stuck with protecting him even while in lockup. I pity the poor agents who have to serve his sentence with him.
Maureen, which is why I never mention him by name although I was once castigated on this forum for refusing to do so. This is just like a mob trial and one of my names for him is mafia don. I have a fiction book called The Juror and have had it for some time. I started it and realized that I couldn't read it. What happened to one of the jurors shows us who he is and who his minions are. Intimidation all the time.
I agree with (1) because he will be convicted. Disagree with (2) because the judge had every opportunity to jail him for that and didn't. Don't believe the judge will do it during the trial, he will only keep fining Trump. That said, maybe the judge will add another year in the can during sentencing specifically for the gag order violations. (3) We will cheer your journalistic epitude!
The keep fining him I believe is starting to “pay off.” He is now demanding down ballot R’s pay him a percentage of their funding, and he has taken large sums out to help his own businesses, Mar-a-Lago and Doral. He’s a sinking piece of blubber financially.
Trump knows that they won’t put him into jail. So the gag orders mean nothing to him The best judge can do for now is to fine him for each violation. And maybe at the end of the trial add it to sentencing
I have a feeling once this trial gets underway, we'll be subjected to lurid details unlike any ever released before. I wouldn't put it beyond them to ask Stormy to identify his goober from random pictures of guys' junk. Get ready. As if we all weren't already sick enough of the guy. (Kudos to HCR for not wanting to concentrate on him anymore!) All I know is I wouldn't have served on that jury for all the gold gilt in T***p Tower.
"That's entertainment, folks"....Or so they would probably say. I did laugh out loud when I read your comment, Bruce. He certainly wouldn't be shamed by it. In his unreality world, it could really BE a goober and he would insist it was Secretariat sized.
Ok not only the wrong spelling but doppelgänger means ghost which is a stretch though one might conclude that what he has an only a ghost of the real thing.
Here in NY, My uncle died at my 60th birthday party on March 8, 2020, three days before they shut down Broadway. Three relatives had Covid-19 and didn’t know they were spreading it. My brother-in law STILL has long-Covid symptoms from then. We were frantic. Had to take him to Connecticut to find a test to confirm and almost lost him, too. My Aunt died of Covid a year later, before the vaccine came out. When I heard Trump knew back in February about how bad it was, I blame him for every death in US from Covid.
So do I. Every day his TV appearances were so idiotic. How can magats forget how horrid that period was? They are truly a cult with no rational thinking.
Debra, I am so sorry. My closest call with Covid has been two friends with debilitating long Covid, and another who died from a stroke right after she had Covid.
Debra and Ally, I have compassion for all the families and friends who have lost someone or many someones thanks to all the blather of the anti-mask and anti-vax bluster and bullying. We still have 1000 people suffering and dying every week in America from Covid.
They should have been telling Americans to take large doses of vitamin D. The immune system is loaded with vitamin D receptors, because it needs D to function on all four cylinders. My siblings and I take large doses of D. I take 5000 IU four times a week, except in the summer, when I run shirtless. My blood level is the same summer and winter, around 50ng/ml. None of us got covid until I got it a week before the eclipse. It was a nothing. I had no real discomfort, just a slight wooziness. My temperature was mostly below 99. (And I'm 70.) It went away after about 8 days.
Paula, I am sorry about your brother and condolences to all the family members who lost loved ones thanks to death star's denial. One of my hubby's cousins in South Dakota keeps track of the COVID deaths there and posts reminders directed to the death star clone governor, The Gnome who loves to brag about how she ignored doing anything about it.
That is beyond sad, Phil. I suspect a majority of Covid deaths have been Republican. It hurts especially when it's personal. One million plus Americans, death "by choice". And it sheds a dark like on the social nature of us all, influenced by figures of authority, and your predisposition to believe.
So terribly sorry about your sister. We cannot let that horrible profligate, Trump, get his grubby little hands on power ever again. All he knows how to do is destroy.
SO sorry. Bill! My younger sister, too, died in February of 2020 — after spending the previous four months in a nursing facility that wound up being a hot spot for COVID.
We’ve never been sure, as she was dealing with dementia. But …
He not only did not handle the outbreak adequately — he dismantled our early-warning and rapid-response system for epidemics left in place by the Obama administration, so we had no eyes and ears out in the world looking for the possibility of an outbreak until it was already OUT.
He was and is and will always be a monstrous disaster walking …
My condolences to your family for your loss during that terrible time in our recent history. It must be so painful to think, “It was so unnecessary”! I read recently roughly 75% of the deaths (~750,000 souls) were linked either directly or indirectly to an incompetent or devious tRump. My Family was very fortunate in that we only suffered the associated illness. Although, every day we anguished in that our GrandDaughter was a Nurse at a large Boston area Hospital working double shifts because of Nursing shortages. Due to PPE equipment shortages …Nurses and I suppose other medical personnel, were washing masks and gloves, etc.. attempting to remain safe…all caused by tRumps initial gutting of the preventive systems. In addition, our Governor at the time had arranged for emergency shipments of PPE and tRump et al seized and redirected the shipments…Why…only that goon and his fellow thieves know??? Although, I’m embarrassed to admit that I wished harm to a fellow Human Being. I actually wished tRump had actually drank the Bleach he touted as a cure for Covid. I may well pay for that in the End! So be it!
so many heroic people in the medical fields and first responders to be grateful for, such as your granddaughte…..I had heard about Trumps administration hijacking shipments of PPE to stockpile for their own use, or, knowing him, to sell on the black market. Such a disgrace.
You are going to have a lot of company Bob, wishing is different than acting, none of us have brought harm to him, although many of have had fantasies.
Once in a while the thought comes to my mind: what if animals in the wild used the same amount of critical thinking processes that some of us use, how long would they survive? Somewhere along the way of human evolution, perhaps because our forming communities gave us security as well as a sense of security from outside threats, we've developed the ability to not recognize certain actual threats, to deny reality or at least certain probabilities. Margaret Taylor Greene is a poster girl for this phenomenon. Stupidity alone does not account for it. I'm not certain that she is stupid.
The propaganda she spouts is SO furious I think you're on to something. I hope the Justice Department is secretly investigation all her campaign funding sources to see what is coming from Moscow via money launderers.
Yes, Shane, I hope DOJ is following every thread back to its source. If the influence direct/indirect can be documented & proven, I hope she is held to account—not sure via what laws/regs that might be, but sure seems like there should be. And, I’m afraid, she’s likely not alone in this, as several legislators seem to parrot this very (dis)information.
I would agree that she is a de facto Russian asset. I'm not certain that she understands the potential consequences to American democracy by her actions.
She is either brain-washed, self-absorbed, or a power-freak. Maybe all. Probably not stupid, like many of her fans, but a user who sees an opportunity to rule that may never come again. Nunes said about this very thing in 2017. Something along the lines of "without trump, all this goes away." Piss on the country...
I would love, and would pay for a dissection of her conduct and her reasoning for it by someone with the professional/academic qualifications to assess/analyze it.
Thanks for Professor Snyder's link, Kathy! I found a wealth of important information that gave me a greater understanding of what's going on with Greene & Gaetz. The ongoing fight between Democracy and Autocracy. This is America! We must adhere to Democracy!
Jeri, Mike Turner is quoted in HCR's post today- "We need to get back to professionalism. We need to get back to governing. We need to get back to legislating."
Get back to?? They're just now realizing the need for this?
Why did the Republicans let it get this far? Being professional, governing, legislating- they have done none of these since Trump came on the scene and they crumpled in fear under his sense of power and grandeur.
His power and grandeur were and still are Delusions.
I am pretty religious as a metaphysician based in Christianity and I clearly and unequivocally see Donald Trump as America’s unique anti-Christ. Those of us who align with the goodness that faith gives us see very clearly the devil in the details, the devil in the Teflon Don. Please don’t lump us with unthinking, self interested, or ignorant people who wish to or who have a chance to destroy democracy to impose their moral values- often immoral values, on others. But thanks for commenting and getting what is going on!
I go to a UU church that accepts all stripes. I know well that there are those who see him for what he is AND practice their religions with integrity and love. The ones in my family need to be "lumped." except for a Methodist cousin who is loving, kind and accepting to all. Sorry if I lumped too much...
I have reached the point that I fear the Article 3 Courts may soon join the Article 2 Executive and the Article 1 Legislature as casualties in the MAGA wars, eviscerating the entire Constitution, and making tRUmp - therefore Putin - victorious😡
Maybe if the media would quit idolizing Trump's actions and/or stop reporting his postings on Truth Social, people might pay attention to all of the accomplishments of the Biden administration and the perverse actions of the Freedom Caucus.
It may seemed hypocritical to praise HCR for dwelling on Trump's actions, but I don't recall a single time that she has said a good word about TFFG.
I think we are at a turning point, similar to when McCarthy lost his audience during the senate hearings on unamerican activities. We have not turned the corner, but cracks in the extremist rightwing are starting to appear. They are being openly criticized by some traditional republicans, they have lost every election that was about women’s health care and drumpf is slowly declining in the incessant polls. This trial is important and evidence and testimony will be presented on every news channel, some channels will wildly distort the facts, others will cherry pick what they present ad nauseum. This election is also about the Supreme Court as vacancies will likely happen and I want to see competent judges appointed who are not owned by billionaires and use laws from the dark ages as basis for their highly questionable decisions.
Gary, I don't think there are many good words to say, especially against the background of the horrible implications for the country that the other 99.9% of his actions have.
For their personal security AND the security of the judicial process, imho, I think the jurors' identities should be anonymous, and they should be sequestered, and protected by US Marshals.
Over 9 months ago, I heard a GOP spokesman interviewed on TV about tfg's chances of being acquitted and the GOP guy said all he needs is one juror to vote to acquit.. And the chances of finding one juror in each trial was quite good. It was clear he was talking about jurors who could be intimidated or bribed. He was saying this in a way that he recommended the GOP do this and that it would be easy. Due to the judge's and prosecutors' stated concern for the jurors' and their loved ones' safety as well as for justice, clearly the judge needs to be more proactive in protecting them all.
"If any One of us refuses to convict, and the judge declares a mistrial, we're All (theoretically) safe from MAGA. But if we convict him, we are ALL gonna be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. I did Not sign up for this. I vote to Acquit."
The right thing to do, the hard thing to do is the courageous thing to do. I think of the people of Ukraine preparing for Russians invasion....grandmother's learning to shoot automatic weapons, to knock drones out of the sky. This is what our invasion looks like. It looks like Congressmen as mouth pieces for Putin, expresidents submarining the rule of law, a corrupt Supreme Court, and leaders timid response to it all.
Susan, I have a poster with a quote by Susan Sontag “Courage is as contagious as fear”…..I hope this to be true as we, as a nation, face these troubled times.
The reality. What exactly is it? In my opinion, it is the Old South, the South of Jim Crow, racist to the core, raising its ugly head, in what I hope is its last gasp. The two elements at work, primarily, are racism and white Protestant Christian Nationalism, i.e., the KKK, 21st century version, also known as MAGA. Throw in Taliban-like misogyny to complete the case.
Gag order? What gag order? Oh, you mean that empty threat Judge Juan Merchan issued that he promptly ignored, despite Trump's flagrant violation slapping Merchan in the face: "... Fox News Channel host Jesse Watters not only ran a video segment about a juror, he suggested she was 'concerning.' TRUMP SHARED THE VIDEO ON SOCIAL" These jurors should, indeed, be worried about their safety when the judge fails to enforce his own orders. So, why issue the order if he isn't going to enforce it. He's like the parent who tell the kid to stop doing something and when the kid doesn't stop the parent just yells at the kid to stop, and even threatens, "If you don't stop ..." but never follows through.
I'm a fan of Merchan! He doesn't hold back and by making this statement he's setting the stage with strict terms. I believe DT's time is up.' I'm investing mentally and emotionally in what affirms life. In justice, not in fear. There are a lot of people, including law enforcement who are fed up.
I just read this piece this morning. Thank you Heather for lifting my heavy heart. I needed someone to provide a ray of light in an otherwise dark existence.
Please everyone be aware there was chaos in Hitler’s party in 1932/3 too. Chaos doesn’t mean they can’t take control by threats or bribes within their own right wing network which now extends to the Supreme Court, 5th circuit etc dictators control by violence. The left wing doesn’t really see it until the dictator takes over and then the prominent ones are all purged.
Been saying this since 2020, got banned from FB and Twitter. Control is their goal and even the evil Abbott is being burnished as VP material. Woke is not a bad thing
Not in my book, but I think Bill Maher knows some left Dems who have never seen a good idea that they couldn’t ruin. I don’t run in their circles so I just know the grunts who want to work for a little DEI in the world.
Thanks Jeri, Fair enough. There are a lot of Ds in my opinion that could fuck up s steel ball and surely have thrown out a lot of babies with the bath water.
Isn’t “woke” what we’ve been all these years but didn’t have a word to describe until the R’s came up with their idea of a derogatory one? I for one am sick of hearing it.
Jeri, as one who was asleep before 2015 as to the machinations of a portion of the Republican Party, I’m glade to have been awakened. My Eisenhower Republican grandfather and mother are rolling in their graves.
I was one of those who liked Ike. I guess Nixon woke me up, and I heard/read that Ike didn’t want him for VP in 56, but Nixon announced that he would be it, so he never ditched him. Sure wish he had. Glad we are woke…
I appreciated some changes the party of my ancestors made as Progressives but I stayed a Republican a bit too long (1996), and seeing the Newt Gingrich/Frank Luntz GoPac memo "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" was being amplified instead of being denounced. They lost or destroyed the moderates that were able to help pass civil rights legislation and work with Democrats when appropriate.
I especially appreciated Margaret Chase Smith's Declaration of Conscience speech, though I didn't really know of it until after Joe McCarthy had been censured and I was old enough to appreciate both events.
He oozed integrity. How I miss that. He had the gravitas to be admired. Others have it but are under attack for bull Schitt. No more Ike’s, sad to say.
I've read that about Abbott too, Jeri, and am horrified at the thought that such an evil man could make it anywhere near the Oval . . . but then again, precedence . . .
Clearly, there are more than two factions within the GOP. But McCarthy gave away the store to become speaker by allow one person to file a motion to vacate his position. And Johnson is in just as delicate a position thanks to the Freedom Caucus and their FARTs.
I remember when Republicans ran for office as conservatives. Now they run to take away health care from women, take away rights from the LGBTQ+ community, reduce taxes for the uber rich and corporations, disenfranchising voters and promoting white supremacy--in other words REGRESSING.
There are only a few Conservatives left in the House and Senate, but they have no power to do anything.
Don't forget that conservatives are engaged in a search for a superior moral justification for selfishness, according to John Kenneth Galbraith. Conservatives are just trying to make greed look acceptable.
Seems to be the case with Republicans at the majority level. Heather also said last fall she felt the GOP as we ever knew it was finally, irredemably dead. But its current cancer has had a very long gestation. I'd say a combo of racial and social civil rights, and ultra conservation evangelical religiosity on, well, you know the laundry list.
True enough about the Nazis, they were biding their time, but bad as they are, I don't the Republicans are quite up to that! There is a big historical context here.
The smaller steps my old party takes in that direction are still too dangerous as they don't know where the steep bank (or cliff) is.
Actually, it reminds me of the ever steepening glacier we visited in 1979 in Rocky Mountain National Park. I f you took one step too far on the icy crust without proper gear there was little chance of stopping since you would just keep accelerating down the rapidly steepening slope.
Trump is playing the same game he did with the insurrection: setting others up to do his dirty work and threaten the process even if he personally has a gag order.
J L, it seems that he’s daring the judge to treat him like a mob boss so that he can fund raise on “election interference” when he is jailed (although, when he had Wednesday off, he golfed instead of campaigning ).
Mary, that is really astute. I would love to see him shut down. That would play, as the Brits kind of say, DIE-wreckly into the macho-mouth's hands. One quote, by President Jefferson, zapped 'captain moral' [misunderstanding of a Beatles lyrics) right between the eyes in high school: “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”
🤞
Being an adult republican (i.e., a non-monarchical democrat) is really difficult these days. We of many different political bents have been enduring Trump for eight years, waiting for the M.A.G.A. political burlesque to burn itself out. Nope. Unfortunately, as Dr Bandy Lee writes in her forthcoming book:
Long read by Dr Bandy Lee, but; worth the half-hour or so invested.
😳
“A fervent following [i.e., the ‘Trump Contagion’], therefore, is easier to incite to violence through irrational means but harder to control, and driven by pathology rather than health, it will ultimately turn destructive.
😯
“Emotional contagion can very much be compared to any other phenomenon of ‘infectious disease,’ even though it is not customary to look at mental symptoms as being infectious . . . When true mental symptoms are involved, the spread is even more rapid.
😱
“. . . . fascism is not a political ideology but mental pathology in politics.”
🤢
To clarify my fightin' [Irish] words, being an adult Republican became implausible after the Party Elders failed to deny a clearly unfit man the nomination for the presidency in 2016 and impossible after Senator McConnell packed the Supreme Court. 🤬
P.S. I really should say that I left the G.O.P. after the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh. Like Justice Thomas, Justice Kavanaugh had alienated me before the news of a scandal involving an innocent, undeserving woman.
Galls me that Justice Thomas is participating in the Supreme Court hearing -- now on tape-delay -- about the 06jan24 riot / insurrection. Justice Kavanaugh seems to be temperate in the few hearings to which I have listened, in fairness to him; he should not be confirmed. This is the exchange that did for me with this Justice.
The Justice Kavanaugh confirmation hearings focussed, I recall at the time (may be a misperception or a covidious fog), on whether then White House Secretary Kavanaugh had had anything to do with the 'torture' memoranda during the invasion of Iraq; it seemed obvious that Justice Kavanaugh had played some, even if a peripheral, role in that tainted policy. Had he come clean, I would have saluted the Justice and felt that, with his humility, he should ascend to the Court. Like Justice Thomas with the "high-tech lynching", Justice Kavanaugh with his intemperate remarks -- "Clinton hatchet job" -- confirmed my concerns. Initially, I had warmed up to Justice Kavanaugh but his evasions turned me off; his subsequent behavior turned me off forever.
I wish I had a magic wand that could remove Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh and replace them with Attorney General Garland, who has proven himself in the face of brazen bullying by Jordan, Comer et al. in House hearings, and two 'Republican' Justices with honor, like Judge Luttig. Hooray, Washington and Lee, my alma mater!. That would restore the Court to legitimacy in two respects. First, it would restore honor to the court. Second, it would restore the five-to-four 'Republican appointed' majority that should be in place today.
Well, one has no magic wans, Soooo . . . upon his re-election, I hope President Biden elevates two more Justices -- starting with A.G. Garland -- and another 'Democratic appointed' but NOT partisan Justice. That would restore the one vote 'Roberts' majority that should be in place. Perhaps Senator Whitehouse would be an apt choice. As we have seen with Justices Alito and Thomas, sitting on a bench does not confer judgement automatically.
J.L., unfortunately, I do not know what the justice system does. I suspect detain someone without access to signalling nasty things to their trench-men.
Well beating up US citizens in Lafayette Park and calling for beating rally goers, mismanaging public health so that 1,000s and 1,000s of folks die is pretty much the same result as violent organized crime. Killing police and encouraging attacks on minorities across the nation, cheering on a hammer beating a spouse of a political rival is organized crime. The family is a party who will not hold the leader accountable. I see no stretch in the comparison.
Let’s hope not … we all - each and everyone of us who can be deemed as “sane” must do what we can to help wake up those others who maybe “sane” - but who do not take these threats to our democracy seriously enough and who tend to not participate in fulfilling one of their prime patriotic duties … that of voting - to be sufficiently educated and motivated to participate in the process and facing down this current existing threat to our democracy!!!
J Riley, helping to "wake them up" is the issue indeed. But they are so afraid of being woke (being consciously aware of what truly matters), as they are told what a slippery slope that is towards whatever the Dems want, which of course must involve the "deep state" and everything wrong with our world. Any time I try to gently flush out what woke means with a diehard Republican, they shut down and refuse to listen. Why they are so afraid to wake up is what disturbs me the most. Never have I encountered such raw examples of brainwashed people who are fearful of understanding anything other than what they have been led to believe is true. Of course, I do live in sunny Florida in an extremely RED area, needless to say. And sad to say...
It’s kinda — no, it is pretty sad! The things that they should be conserving or trying to - they won’t … they’re going against the natural order of things … of life, which is life and generally all things improve … we are progressive by nature - not turning the clock back or trying to hold on to outdated thoughts and/or modes of thinking or accomplishing activities, work, etc., … even Ronald Reagan knew that — “progress is our most important product” … ooopps, that was GE, Reagan was just their spokesperson those many years ago!
Rather than "immobilized," Jeri, let's go with anesthetized.
The far-right actors who organized upon the Powell memo set as first priority the removal of any public uses of humanities both from higher ed and K-12.
They knew that if the public got schooled so elites never anymore applied any humanities to see public realities, the billionaires could totally rule: offshore the jobs, effect Citizens United, ally with thugs, royal murderers, dictators, and nationalists abroad, and rob American women and families of personal freedoms after the perjuries and briberies that allowed take-over of what became the Clarence court.
You go way back, which one has to do to “get it.” Otherwise one just sees the bits and pieces. The puzzle is now complete, but Russia had to be part of it. Thanks to chump and some repubs in Congress in The 90’s. There is no place for thinkers, like Hamilton, Franklin, and even both Roosevelts anymore. Some have tried but the blood is in the water, I fear..
and with the comment "If the president does it, it is not illegal." The republicans (conservatives) have taken that to heart.
Remember how they were once the "ethical, family values" party? All a lie. First they justified ethical violations by saying they did nothing illegal. Then they work to change the laws so they can do what they want. (Kochs and others) Example I just received from Grassley-it is unclear that the Emoluments Clause prohibits "business" transactions as they are not "gifts". Typical BS.
Rickey, I’m afraid that now the norms are crumbling. It seems that, as long as no one dared take the political hit of defying the norms, they stood. Now, with 45 flaunting norms right, left, and center, others are emboldened to flaunt them as well.
Jeri, the Republicans appear to have adopted Huey Long’s playbook with one huge difference—he made a point to pass legislation to make the lives of his poorest constituents better.
Hitler was popular with many non-Jews, chump had to have read Mien Kampf. I don’t think the other repubs have the best interest of their MAGAts on their agenda. They just spew hate at who Rush taught them to hate.
Bet it's the only book he every read. I only read a few pages of Murphy's translation. Great suggestions for making a big lie work and how to fool the fools.
"...Democrats Tom Suozzi of New York and Jared Moskowitz of Florida have said they would vote to keep him [Johnson] in his seat, thereby defanging the attack on his leadership." Proof positive that postcarding for Suozzi bore fruitful fruit. Thank you, Professor!
Trump is a media created celebrity whose only virtue is that he sells! Little about him is noteworthy beyond our media-soaked infatuation with public celebrity and entertainment. Would anyone with modest critical thinking ability or moral character argue he is a role model for our children?
No! He is kept in the headlights of media marketing because, and only because, he is good for their businesses. Until and unless we “grow up” as cunsumers of media output, this will not change any moreso than social media companies will stop marketing to our kids much the way “big tobacco” once did!
Our children need us to protect them from physical and mental/emotional harm, but we cannot help our children until we can just say no to the rapacious commodification of our lives by corporate America.
Celebrity and marketing freedoms without adults to enforce “first of all, do no harm” is delusional. We need to better recognize the social responsibilities freedom entails. We have to prepared to say it stops with our children!
Thanks. You're right. But beyond "no" we have the capacity to sweep. We can be proactive. Add potentially millions of unregistered folks who trend heavily Democratic to our base in swing states and we can do it.
Yet....we are spending time and print ...free advertising on this "punkin head"!!!!!
Why not spend our print...our thoughts expressed in print and word on the great people who are sacrificing themselves everyday to save us from the "pit of hell" once known as the Republican Party.
Why are we not displaying names of the true patriots who are giving their lives and treasure to save our nation and to protect the misguided, brainwashed people "who just do NOT know better!!!! Oh yes, I know why...because they may have their businesses ruined...or they may have their wives and children threatened.....or they may not be elected to a powerful office!!!!
Let's think about WHO WE ARE OR WHO WE THOUGHT WE WERE OR WHO WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE...."THE LIGHT ON THE HILL!" Has that light that provided safety and hope for the world become dimed by evil selfish people who are presently enjoying the comfort and protection of our laws? Have we forgotten that our freedom was gained by the sacrifices of many who have gone before us?
I am going to face my own fears and place a FOR JOE BIDEN SIGN in my yard and on my car. I live in SC...So I hope a nail will not be placed near my tires or my house damaged in some way...etc.
Russian allies in the US Congress. Trump is also a Russian ally. There are also Russian allies in Georgia where they constantly reelect Marjorie Tayor Greene.
I know one women who lived there. She was gobsmacked by chump and Melania. The perfect couple, the image of class. Can’t get more idiotic than that. It seems she was not alone.
And why aren't Melania and her communist father fair game for being outed for "poisoning the blood" of America. Has there a First Lady ever that did less for the US than Melania?
Hopefully once the hush money trial is over Lettita will come after Melania for income tax evasion in New York assuming the statute hasn't run.
It was a magnanimous gesture for the Carter family ro invite her to attend Rosalyn's funeral. No idea why she actually attended or why thy didn't treat her like the pariah she is. (Can you tell I don't like her?)
Best that she does not speak too much. Was it a nonverbal protest with that jacket? Besides we may find out that she doesn't speak fluently a multitude of languages. I should not throw stones at that since I have trouble with English sometimes. Then again, I nor anyone else has claimed I was a linguist.
They claim much and deliver little. In Mien Kompf, Hitler talked about how the average person would not tell a "big lie" but would tend to believe it when someone else did. Even if it was proved untrue, the doubt would remain, giving some credence. It works.
That was BS--she was renegotiating her pre-nup. If my memory serves correctly, the original pre-nup gave her $150K if she divorced him. Recall reading this when they got married
😮🤬…I’m lucky, Kathleen, were I live I support my elected officials, Fed, state and local. Every once in awhile I contact them to tell them I appreciate & support their legislative actions.
Members of Trump's family have acknowledged getting a lot of money from Russia, and Putin boosts the "GOP"; but it's still hard to see what's in it for the rank and file.
The gag orders needed to protect jurors, witnesses, and the judge's family (in addition to the remaining 88 criminal indictments) add to my continuous-loop feeling of disbelief: How can any citizen vote to put Trump in charge of the Executive Branch again? We're talking about him leading the branch whose main function is to make sure the laws of the land are obeyed? Why?
Threats to the safety of election officials and poll workers … threats to the safety of judges, their court staff(s) and to the judges family members … threats to potential jury members attempting to fulfill one of their required citizenship duties in a country that is supposed to be the model for democratic societies around our globe; really — how frightening is this and comparatively, things may not be this extremely dangerous in some “third world” countries? What a fine example we’re setting … really folks?
It’s almost like so many are in a trance. Or peering in the window at an unbelievable happening, and feeling removed. We are not removed. Is Stockholm syndrome a factor. God, I hope not.
Heather, when you note: "Legal analyst Joyce White Vance noted jurors’ fear for their safety was a concern normally seen only “in a case involving violent organized crime.” Am I missing something? I thought the Trump family was effectively an organized crime family. They've coopted the RNC to pay their legal bills. They've got FOX outing witnesses in a trial. They tried to steal a national election and continue to lie about it. Closeting national secrets proved Trump thought ordinary and well known laws didn't apply. It's a disgrace to our country.
Swbv, there is a common definition to Organized Crime: "Organized crime is a continuing criminal enterprise that rationally works to profit from illicit activities that are often in great public demand." While the activity of the fpotus family is nefarious, illegal, and unconstitutional, it is not profiting from the "illicit activities in great demand" which are gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. What they do is more for personal gain than it is supplying illicit activities. Everything else they do is really, really similar.
It's like watching spoiled toddlers. If they cannot have border security among these national security votes -- never mind that they tanked the border bill themselves -- they don't want any vote to occur. And the spoiled toddlers are also ill-informed. MTG actually thinks that the US Congress can require Zelenskyy to surrender? It's painful to watch, and embarrassing.
Spoiled toddlers can be problematic, but the character of malevolent spoiled toddlers in fully adult bodies in highly adult positions of power is a real nightmare: war, tyranny, famine, social collapse.
And this is why the courts need to jail TFFG for contempt. If his supporters are going to protest his incarceration it will likely be violent. Better to do it in NYC where they have the numbers to beat back a riot than in Florida where DeSantis would likely allow violence without consequences.
How would Truth Social fare if TFFG was gagged for 30 days during his trial?
That's what Russia, China, and N. Korea want, total collapse of the U.S. Then they can come in, take over, and get what they've always wanted. World domination.
Each and every day I am appalled at the lack of professionalism. If I acted like the likes of Trump and MTG I would have been fired. I was in a leadership position.
I watched a toddler act on for his entire journey up and down the aisles in Trader Joes 2 days ago. I could not decide who bothered me more the spoiled kid or his mom. I was leaning toward the mom.
Jordan Klepper? He is fantastic. I am convinced that the democrats have hired actors to imitate ignorant trumpers, just to make trumpers look bad. No one can be that dumb in real life.
Till Heather noted it here, I'd not known of Jared Moskowitz's most-apt proposal.
He moved, as Heather quotes him, “that Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene…should be appointed as Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”
Marble Mouth Marge finally gets nod to exactly the position suited for this sub-literate.
Yes this is an active revolt against the US government, nothing less. Voting blue is key but only part of what needs to be done, there are many in Washington who need to be prosecuted, not just voted out. For many conspirators, the possibility of losing their seat is remote since they are in safe, gerrymandered districts, there is a lot more for the DOJ to do.
From Judge Merchan's Trump gag order:
"[A]ll citizens, called upon to participate in these proceedings, whether as a juror, a witness, or in some other capacity, must now concern themselves not only with their own personal safety, but with the safety and the potential for personal attacks upon their loved ones. That reality cannot be overstated."
Same as for violent mob crime, and yet, this does not disqualify him. Lawyers still promote his bull Schitt. News anchors refuse to call him what he is, religions still see him as reformed and a Christ figure, Republicans still claim him as conservative, Latinos and blacks are cozying up. Orwell would be shocked. Yet his evil runs amok. Who will die first.
"Who will die first," Jeri?
I don't know about first, but I had a sister die as one of the COVID million who met that fate thanks to the grifter incompetent in the White House then.
My predictions:
1. TFG will be found guilty on all counts. He’s toast in NY. No way Jose.
2. TFG will be remanded to Ryker’s Island for not less than 10 days for breaking the gag rule one too many times.
3. Yours truly will will get into the courtroom with media credentials in order to report live especially when Stormy points her little pinky to indicate the size of his doubleganger.
From your lips to God’s ears!!
I can’t stomach listening to anything about this guy anymore. I know he is dangerous but all this free publicity…. Just the mention of his name makes me want to hurl.
I’m praying for the day when they put him in an orange jumpsuit and ship him upstate. I don’t know but I think NYS prisons aren’t as nice and Federal prisons??
State lockups are pretty grim compared to federal. But I'm guessing that if he is convicted and sentence, a deal will be struck to transfer him to a Club Fed, solely because the Secret Service will be stuck with protecting him even while in lockup. I pity the poor agents who have to serve his sentence with him.
It’s their job, they signed up for everything, prison can become part of everything 🤷♂️
I don't care if they install a gold toilet as long as they stop feeding him.
A steady diet of hamberders should be just the ticket.
Maureen, which is why I never mention him by name although I was once castigated on this forum for refusing to do so. This is just like a mob trial and one of my names for him is mafia don. I have a fiction book called The Juror and have had it for some time. I started it and realized that I couldn't read it. What happened to one of the jurors shows us who he is and who his minions are. Intimidation all the time.
It’s gone beyond what fiction will tolerate, hasn’t it, Michele. Gad. It we were not watching, we would not believe it.
You beat me to it so I’ll second what you said.
I agree with (1) because he will be convicted. Disagree with (2) because the judge had every opportunity to jail him for that and didn't. Don't believe the judge will do it during the trial, he will only keep fining Trump. That said, maybe the judge will add another year in the can during sentencing specifically for the gag order violations. (3) We will cheer your journalistic epitude!
The keep fining him I believe is starting to “pay off.” He is now demanding down ballot R’s pay him a percentage of their funding, and he has taken large sums out to help his own businesses, Mar-a-Lago and Doral. He’s a sinking piece of blubber financially.
I hope so, Sue
Trump knows that they won’t put him into jail. So the gag orders mean nothing to him The best judge can do for now is to fine him for each violation. And maybe at the end of the trial add it to sentencing
I read early on she said it looked like a mushroom. :0)
I have a feeling once this trial gets underway, we'll be subjected to lurid details unlike any ever released before. I wouldn't put it beyond them to ask Stormy to identify his goober from random pictures of guys' junk. Get ready. As if we all weren't already sick enough of the guy. (Kudos to HCR for not wanting to concentrate on him anymore!) All I know is I wouldn't have served on that jury for all the gold gilt in T***p Tower.
"That's entertainment, folks"....Or so they would probably say. I did laugh out loud when I read your comment, Bruce. He certainly wouldn't be shamed by it. In his unreality world, it could really BE a goober and he would insist it was Secretariat sized.
I don't believe Merchan will allow that.
She did, Sandra. Funny as hell.
Bill, I can’t wait to read your live reporting about the witnesses’ previously unreported personal knowledge.
doubleganger.... nasty! (didn't pass spell check lol)
Ok not only the wrong spelling but doppelgänger means ghost which is a stretch though one might conclude that what he has an only a ghost of the real thing.
lol i did get that.... German word i think
I think if he is remanded, it will be under house arrest.
lol Bill...
I think I'll believe it when I see it.
Good luck!
You know first hand how much blood he has on his hands. I’m so sorry. There will be more, I fear
Here in NY, My uncle died at my 60th birthday party on March 8, 2020, three days before they shut down Broadway. Three relatives had Covid-19 and didn’t know they were spreading it. My brother-in law STILL has long-Covid symptoms from then. We were frantic. Had to take him to Connecticut to find a test to confirm and almost lost him, too. My Aunt died of Covid a year later, before the vaccine came out. When I heard Trump knew back in February about how bad it was, I blame him for every death in US from Covid.
So do I. Every day his TV appearances were so idiotic. How can magats forget how horrid that period was? They are truly a cult with no rational thinking.
I am so so sorry for your family's losses. May they rest in peace.
Debra, I blame him for discouraging people to wear masks and get vaccinated.
Remember how he used to make fun of President Biden for wearing a mask?
He made people feel
entitled enough to risk making others sick. They kept saying, "MY right not to wear a mask or get vaccinated." What about others' right not to die?
And remember that they call themselves Christians
Meant to say the Uncle died a few days after my party.
Debra, I am so sorry. My closest call with Covid has been two friends with debilitating long Covid, and another who died from a stroke right after she had Covid.
Debra and Ally, I have compassion for all the families and friends who have lost someone or many someones thanks to all the blather of the anti-mask and anti-vax bluster and bullying. We still have 1000 people suffering and dying every week in America from Covid.
They should have been telling Americans to take large doses of vitamin D. The immune system is loaded with vitamin D receptors, because it needs D to function on all four cylinders. My siblings and I take large doses of D. I take 5000 IU four times a week, except in the summer, when I run shirtless. My blood level is the same summer and winter, around 50ng/ml. None of us got covid until I got it a week before the eclipse. It was a nothing. I had no real discomfort, just a slight wooziness. My temperature was mostly below 99. (And I'm 70.) It went away after about 8 days.
I am so sorry to hear that Phil. It must be very hard.
My brother, too.
So many, his denial early on killed so many. Acknowledgment and lock down for couple of months may have prevented another 1918.
It WOULD have prevented another 1918.
Indeed
Paula, I am so sorry about your brother. May his memory be a blessing.
Paula, I am sorry about your brother and condolences to all the family members who lost loved ones thanks to death star's denial. One of my hubby's cousins in South Dakota keeps track of the COVID deaths there and posts reminders directed to the death star clone governor, The Gnome who loves to brag about how she ignored doing anything about it.
I’m sorry to read of your loss. May his memory be a blessing
So sorry.
I’m so sorry, Paula. 💔
I am so sorry.
That is beyond sad, Phil. I suspect a majority of Covid deaths have been Republican. It hurts especially when it's personal. One million plus Americans, death "by choice". And it sheds a dark like on the social nature of us all, influenced by figures of authority, and your predisposition to believe.
Frank, that "predisposition to believe" is key.
agreed, and that's how social groups of any kind form.
A wisdom saying:
When something is true And no one believes it, it is still true.
When something is a lie, and everyone believes it, it is still a lie.
It is so tragic like Hitler’s big lie that Many people innocent Fell for Trump’s big lie, and the terrible price everyone paid for that.
Phil, I am so sorry about your sister. May her memory be a blessing.
So terribly sorry about your sister. We cannot let that horrible profligate, Trump, get his grubby little hands on power ever again. All he knows how to do is destroy.
So sorry, Phil, for you and others who lost beloved family members.
I wish every American who lost a loved one to COVID due to his mishandling of the crisis could sue him for wrongful death!
Phil this must be incredibly difficult for you and your family. So very very sad.
SO sorry. Bill! My younger sister, too, died in February of 2020 — after spending the previous four months in a nursing facility that wound up being a hot spot for COVID.
We’ve never been sure, as she was dealing with dementia. But …
He not only did not handle the outbreak adequately — he dismantled our early-warning and rapid-response system for epidemics left in place by the Obama administration, so we had no eyes and ears out in the world looking for the possibility of an outbreak until it was already OUT.
He was and is and will always be a monstrous disaster walking …
My condolences to your family for your loss during that terrible time in our recent history. It must be so painful to think, “It was so unnecessary”! I read recently roughly 75% of the deaths (~750,000 souls) were linked either directly or indirectly to an incompetent or devious tRump. My Family was very fortunate in that we only suffered the associated illness. Although, every day we anguished in that our GrandDaughter was a Nurse at a large Boston area Hospital working double shifts because of Nursing shortages. Due to PPE equipment shortages …Nurses and I suppose other medical personnel, were washing masks and gloves, etc.. attempting to remain safe…all caused by tRumps initial gutting of the preventive systems. In addition, our Governor at the time had arranged for emergency shipments of PPE and tRump et al seized and redirected the shipments…Why…only that goon and his fellow thieves know??? Although, I’m embarrassed to admit that I wished harm to a fellow Human Being. I actually wished tRump had actually drank the Bleach he touted as a cure for Covid. I may well pay for that in the End! So be it!
so many heroic people in the medical fields and first responders to be grateful for, such as your granddaughte…..I had heard about Trumps administration hijacking shipments of PPE to stockpile for their own use, or, knowing him, to sell on the black market. Such a disgrace.
You are going to have a lot of company Bob, wishing is different than acting, none of us have brought harm to him, although many of have had fantasies.
I am so sorry for your sister’s passing. I hope your memories of her bring you solace and joy.
trump lied and people died.
I’m so sorry for your loss, Phil. 💔
So sorry for the loss of your beloved sister.
Phil, the "like heart" was simply mean as the ❤️ that I use to convey love and sympathy. I am so sorry you lost your sister to that evil disease.
Once in a while the thought comes to my mind: what if animals in the wild used the same amount of critical thinking processes that some of us use, how long would they survive? Somewhere along the way of human evolution, perhaps because our forming communities gave us security as well as a sense of security from outside threats, we've developed the ability to not recognize certain actual threats, to deny reality or at least certain probabilities. Margaret Taylor Greene is a poster girl for this phenomenon. Stupidity alone does not account for it. I'm not certain that she is stupid.
MT Greene is a Russian asset, bought and paid for by Putin. If only Georgians could see that she isn't representing them, but a foreign autocracy.
The propaganda she spouts is SO furious I think you're on to something. I hope the Justice Department is secretly investigation all her campaign funding sources to see what is coming from Moscow via money launderers.
Yes, Shane, I hope DOJ is following every thread back to its source. If the influence direct/indirect can be documented & proven, I hope she is held to account—not sure via what laws/regs that might be, but sure seems like there should be. And, I’m afraid, she’s likely not alone in this, as several legislators seem to parrot this very (dis)information.
Who is communicating this propaganda directly to MTG, and how? What is she giving or receiving in return? I hope somebody is paying attention!
I don't understand that either. How did she find out that there's an ethnic in Ukraine, I guess, who speak Hungarian? That seems really obscure to me.
Also, I don't see how we have the right to tell Ukraine that ethnic minorities must speak a certain language.
She is not the only one, I am sure. Rachel Maddow's book, "Prequel" is a must read!
I would agree that she is a de facto Russian asset. I'm not certain that she understands the potential consequences to American democracy by her actions.
Either she doesn't understand, or she does. And either is cause for dread.
Every word true. Any path to control.
That certainly would explain a lot.
She is either brain-washed, self-absorbed, or a power-freak. Maybe all. Probably not stupid, like many of her fans, but a user who sees an opportunity to rule that may never come again. Nunes said about this very thing in 2017. Something along the lines of "without trump, all this goes away." Piss on the country...
I would love, and would pay for a dissection of her conduct and her reasoning for it by someone with the professional/academic qualifications to assess/analyze it.
Goebbels could explain it, or Orwell...
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/political-warfare-and-congress?r=5v4jv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Timothy Snyder posted this in regard to Greene and Gaetz...........these are the most obvious Russian agents in Congress.
Thanks for Professor Snyder's link, Kathy! I found a wealth of important information that gave me a greater understanding of what's going on with Greene & Gaetz. The ongoing fight between Democracy and Autocracy. This is America! We must adhere to Democracy!
Thank you for sharing Prof. Snyder's post with us, Kathy. Much appreciated.
Jeri, Mike Turner is quoted in HCR's post today- "We need to get back to professionalism. We need to get back to governing. We need to get back to legislating."
Get back to?? They're just now realizing the need for this?
Why did the Republicans let it get this far? Being professional, governing, legislating- they have done none of these since Trump came on the scene and they crumpled in fear under his sense of power and grandeur.
His power and grandeur were and still are Delusions.
If only they would get back to professionalism.
Does he have a coworker who agrees with him. Would love for a few to come out of the woodwork
1984 "Agitprop".... in the end, our defeated hero learned, at depth, that 2+2 = 5.
The goal. Hope MSM keeps a few math skills.
lol. she's a "living and breathing" example. Maybe go back to running a restaurant.
I am pretty religious as a metaphysician based in Christianity and I clearly and unequivocally see Donald Trump as America’s unique anti-Christ. Those of us who align with the goodness that faith gives us see very clearly the devil in the details, the devil in the Teflon Don. Please don’t lump us with unthinking, self interested, or ignorant people who wish to or who have a chance to destroy democracy to impose their moral values- often immoral values, on others. But thanks for commenting and getting what is going on!
I go to a UU church that accepts all stripes. I know well that there are those who see him for what he is AND practice their religions with integrity and love. The ones in my family need to be "lumped." except for a Methodist cousin who is loving, kind and accepting to all. Sorry if I lumped too much...
Totally understand!!
I have reached the point that I fear the Article 3 Courts may soon join the Article 2 Executive and the Article 1 Legislature as casualties in the MAGA wars, eviscerating the entire Constitution, and making tRUmp - therefore Putin - victorious😡
I fear such also, they truly are Putin's useful fools. once gone, dark ages will descend on our beautiful earth
Maybe if the media would quit idolizing Trump's actions and/or stop reporting his postings on Truth Social, people might pay attention to all of the accomplishments of the Biden administration and the perverse actions of the Freedom Caucus.
It may seemed hypocritical to praise HCR for dwelling on Trump's actions, but I don't recall a single time that she has said a good word about TFFG.
Gary, she hasn’t said a good thing because she works hard to tell the truth in a historical context.
Do you have a good word to say about the tffg? I do not.
I think we are at a turning point, similar to when McCarthy lost his audience during the senate hearings on unamerican activities. We have not turned the corner, but cracks in the extremist rightwing are starting to appear. They are being openly criticized by some traditional republicans, they have lost every election that was about women’s health care and drumpf is slowly declining in the incessant polls. This trial is important and evidence and testimony will be presented on every news channel, some channels will wildly distort the facts, others will cherry pick what they present ad nauseum. This election is also about the Supreme Court as vacancies will likely happen and I want to see competent judges appointed who are not owned by billionaires and use laws from the dark ages as basis for their highly questionable decisions.
OMG, I hope you’re right! We need to be shifting this ship SOON - o we’ll go into full breach.
Name one thing that Trump has done that you are proud of.
🤔 💭 🧐 🧐 💭 🤔………………………….
That's a really low bar and yet, I can't think of a single thing.
Trust me, if there were a Single favorable credit Trump ever did for this country, we'd hear about it at warp speed.
A massive coronary would qualify. I find it sad to say that about another human being, but I believe it would be for the best. That or imprisonment.
Gary, I don't think there are many good words to say, especially against the background of the horrible implications for the country that the other 99.9% of his actions have.
For their personal security AND the security of the judicial process, imho, I think the jurors' identities should be anonymous, and they should be sequestered, and protected by US Marshals.
Over 9 months ago, I heard a GOP spokesman interviewed on TV about tfg's chances of being acquitted and the GOP guy said all he needs is one juror to vote to acquit.. And the chances of finding one juror in each trial was quite good. It was clear he was talking about jurors who could be intimidated or bribed. He was saying this in a way that he recommended the GOP do this and that it would be easy. Due to the judge's and prosecutors' stated concern for the jurors' and their loved ones' safety as well as for justice, clearly the judge needs to be more proactive in protecting them all.
Trump, too, should be sequestered for the duration of the trial -- in a jail cell, just like any other mob defendant.
Imagine being a juror on one of his trials.
"If any One of us refuses to convict, and the judge declares a mistrial, we're All (theoretically) safe from MAGA. But if we convict him, we are ALL gonna be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. I did Not sign up for this. I vote to Acquit."
Prepare for a lot of mistrials for TFG.
The right thing to do, the hard thing to do is the courageous thing to do. I think of the people of Ukraine preparing for Russians invasion....grandmother's learning to shoot automatic weapons, to knock drones out of the sky. This is what our invasion looks like. It looks like Congressmen as mouth pieces for Putin, expresidents submarining the rule of law, a corrupt Supreme Court, and leaders timid response to it all.
Susan, I have a poster with a quote by Susan Sontag “Courage is as contagious as fear”…..I hope this to be true as we, as a nation, face these troubled times.
That is too depressing to think about. Hope keeps us going. There just has to be a true judgment and punishment for his flaunting of all laws.
David, I'm not so sure. And if true, then we have failed justice, another step downwards from our Founders' goals.
As stated just like the Mafia no one is safe who opposes them.
We're talking about a former president and one who is seeking the office again. Very sad time for this country.
The reality. What exactly is it? In my opinion, it is the Old South, the South of Jim Crow, racist to the core, raising its ugly head, in what I hope is its last gasp. The two elements at work, primarily, are racism and white Protestant Christian Nationalism, i.e., the KKK, 21st century version, also known as MAGA. Throw in Taliban-like misogyny to complete the case.
Exactly. Sharia, anybody?
Gag order? What gag order? Oh, you mean that empty threat Judge Juan Merchan issued that he promptly ignored, despite Trump's flagrant violation slapping Merchan in the face: "... Fox News Channel host Jesse Watters not only ran a video segment about a juror, he suggested she was 'concerning.' TRUMP SHARED THE VIDEO ON SOCIAL" These jurors should, indeed, be worried about their safety when the judge fails to enforce his own orders. So, why issue the order if he isn't going to enforce it. He's like the parent who tell the kid to stop doing something and when the kid doesn't stop the parent just yells at the kid to stop, and even threatens, "If you don't stop ..." but never follows through.
The gag order violations will be addressed by Judge Merchan on Tuesday, 4/23.
I'm a fan of Merchan! He doesn't hold back and by making this statement he's setting the stage with strict terms. I believe DT's time is up.' I'm investing mentally and emotionally in what affirms life. In justice, not in fear. There are a lot of people, including law enforcement who are fed up.
Will the craziness never end?
I just read this piece this morning. Thank you Heather for lifting my heavy heart. I needed someone to provide a ray of light in an otherwise dark existence.
God willing we shall overcome.
Here's to the republic.
Let the light of liberty shine upon us all.
Amen
Heather, I’d be lost without you. You put everything together in an epic Letters From An American. Now to listen to it tomorrow! Thank you.
Please everyone be aware there was chaos in Hitler’s party in 1932/3 too. Chaos doesn’t mean they can’t take control by threats or bribes within their own right wing network which now extends to the Supreme Court, 5th circuit etc dictators control by violence. The left wing doesn’t really see it until the dictator takes over and then the prominent ones are all purged.
Been saying this since 2020, got banned from FB and Twitter. Control is their goal and even the evil Abbott is being burnished as VP material. Woke is not a bad thing
Thanks and woke never was bad.
Not in my book, but I think Bill Maher knows some left Dems who have never seen a good idea that they couldn’t ruin. I don’t run in their circles so I just know the grunts who want to work for a little DEI in the world.
Thanks Jeri, Fair enough. There are a lot of Ds in my opinion that could fuck up s steel ball and surely have thrown out a lot of babies with the bath water.
yep, how about remembering what Dems became with Roosevelt. Not a bad legacy
Indeed
Isn’t “woke” what we’ve been all these years but didn’t have a word to describe until the R’s came up with their idea of a derogatory one? I for one am sick of hearing it.
I’m with you Sue.
Jeri, as one who was asleep before 2015 as to the machinations of a portion of the Republican Party, I’m glade to have been awakened. My Eisenhower Republican grandfather and mother are rolling in their graves.
I was one of those who liked Ike. I guess Nixon woke me up, and I heard/read that Ike didn’t want him for VP in 56, but Nixon announced that he would be it, so he never ditched him. Sure wish he had. Glad we are woke…
Ike wrote a letter just before "D Day". He felt that if the invasion failed, it should be said that it was HIS fault. That's leadership and humility.
I also came from an "I like Ike" family. And I too, changed my political views thanks to "Tricky Dicky".
I appreciated some changes the party of my ancestors made as Progressives but I stayed a Republican a bit too long (1996), and seeing the Newt Gingrich/Frank Luntz GoPac memo "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" was being amplified instead of being denounced. They lost or destroyed the moderates that were able to help pass civil rights legislation and work with Democrats when appropriate.
I especially appreciated Margaret Chase Smith's Declaration of Conscience speech, though I didn't really know of it until after Joe McCarthy had been censured and I was old enough to appreciate both events.
Live and learn, well, some do
Jeri, everything that I’ve read about Ike portrayed him as a leader who cared about everyone under his command, from the poorest to the richest.
He oozed integrity. How I miss that. He had the gravitas to be admired. Others have it but are under attack for bull Schitt. No more Ike’s, sad to say.
Wear your Ban of Honor with pride, Jeri!
HCR is a great way to "keep up."
I've read that about Abbott too, Jeri, and am horrified at the thought that such an evil man could make it anywhere near the Oval . . . but then again, precedence . . .
He is a destroyer like few others. Of course, Patrick is a runner up. and Paxton defies description.
Clearly, there are more than two factions within the GOP. But McCarthy gave away the store to become speaker by allow one person to file a motion to vacate his position. And Johnson is in just as delicate a position thanks to the Freedom Caucus and their FARTs.
I remember when Republicans ran for office as conservatives. Now they run to take away health care from women, take away rights from the LGBTQ+ community, reduce taxes for the uber rich and corporations, disenfranchising voters and promoting white supremacy--in other words REGRESSING.
There are only a few Conservatives left in the House and Senate, but they have no power to do anything.
Don't forget that conservatives are engaged in a search for a superior moral justification for selfishness, according to John Kenneth Galbraith. Conservatives are just trying to make greed look acceptable.
Seems to be the case with Republicans at the majority level. Heather also said last fall she felt the GOP as we ever knew it was finally, irredemably dead. But its current cancer has had a very long gestation. I'd say a combo of racial and social civil rights, and ultra conservation evangelical religiosity on, well, you know the laundry list.
It began long before Reagan, but blossomed under him.
truth
True enough about the Nazis, they were biding their time, but bad as they are, I don't the Republicans are quite up to that! There is a big historical context here.
The smaller steps my old party takes in that direction are still too dangerous as they don't know where the steep bank (or cliff) is.
Actually, it reminds me of the ever steepening glacier we visited in 1979 in Rocky Mountain National Park. I f you took one step too far on the icy crust without proper gear there was little chance of stopping since you would just keep accelerating down the rapidly steepening slope.
I would say we might qualify as the left wing and we most definitely see it.
Well everyone is left wing by right wing dictator standards even if they are R of center!
Legal analyst Joyce White Vance noted jurors’ fear for their safety was a concern normally seen only “in a case involving violent organized crime.”
Where does utterly corrupt politics stop and organized crime begin? Or are they just two aspects of the same thing?
To protect the witnesses and jurors, perhaps take the trial in camera and detain Trump in Rikers with no access to a computer.
How do they handle a gangster who threatens judge and jury? Nobody should get away with it.
Trump is playing the same game he did with the insurrection: setting others up to do his dirty work and threaten the process even if he personally has a gag order.
Much like a organized crime boss
Like Cotton Mather hanging witches.
J L, it seems that he’s daring the judge to treat him like a mob boss so that he can fund raise on “election interference” when he is jailed (although, when he had Wednesday off, he golfed instead of campaigning ).
Mary, that is really astute. I would love to see him shut down. That would play, as the Brits kind of say, DIE-wreckly into the macho-mouth's hands. One quote, by President Jefferson, zapped 'captain moral' [misunderstanding of a Beatles lyrics) right between the eyes in high school: “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”
🤞
Being an adult republican (i.e., a non-monarchical democrat) is really difficult these days. We of many different political bents have been enduring Trump for eight years, waiting for the M.A.G.A. political burlesque to burn itself out. Nope. Unfortunately, as Dr Bandy Lee writes in her forthcoming book:
✍️
https://bandyxlee.substack.com/p/the-psychology-of-trump-contagion
Long read by Dr Bandy Lee, but; worth the half-hour or so invested.
😳
“A fervent following [i.e., the ‘Trump Contagion’], therefore, is easier to incite to violence through irrational means but harder to control, and driven by pathology rather than health, it will ultimately turn destructive.
😯
“Emotional contagion can very much be compared to any other phenomenon of ‘infectious disease,’ even though it is not customary to look at mental symptoms as being infectious . . . When true mental symptoms are involved, the spread is even more rapid.
😱
“. . . . fascism is not a political ideology but mental pathology in politics.”
🤢
To clarify my fightin' [Irish] words, being an adult Republican became implausible after the Party Elders failed to deny a clearly unfit man the nomination for the presidency in 2016 and impossible after Senator McConnell packed the Supreme Court. 🤬
P.S. I really should say that I left the G.O.P. after the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh. Like Justice Thomas, Justice Kavanaugh had alienated me before the news of a scandal involving an innocent, undeserving woman.
Galls me that Justice Thomas is participating in the Supreme Court hearing -- now on tape-delay -- about the 06jan24 riot / insurrection. Justice Kavanaugh seems to be temperate in the few hearings to which I have listened, in fairness to him; he should not be confirmed. This is the exchange that did for me with this Justice.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4747715/user-clip-when-judicial-nicety-judicious-evasion WHY?
The Justice Kavanaugh confirmation hearings focussed, I recall at the time (may be a misperception or a covidious fog), on whether then White House Secretary Kavanaugh had had anything to do with the 'torture' memoranda during the invasion of Iraq; it seemed obvious that Justice Kavanaugh had played some, even if a peripheral, role in that tainted policy. Had he come clean, I would have saluted the Justice and felt that, with his humility, he should ascend to the Court. Like Justice Thomas with the "high-tech lynching", Justice Kavanaugh with his intemperate remarks -- "Clinton hatchet job" -- confirmed my concerns. Initially, I had warmed up to Justice Kavanaugh but his evasions turned me off; his subsequent behavior turned me off forever.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5010131/user-clip-free-speech-corruption Hooray, Senator Whitehouse!
I wish I had a magic wand that could remove Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh and replace them with Attorney General Garland, who has proven himself in the face of brazen bullying by Jordan, Comer et al. in House hearings, and two 'Republican' Justices with honor, like Judge Luttig. Hooray, Washington and Lee, my alma mater!. That would restore the Court to legitimacy in two respects. First, it would restore honor to the court. Second, it would restore the five-to-four 'Republican appointed' majority that should be in place today.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4585261/president-obama-supreme-court-nomination-announcement Hang in there, A.G. Garland!
Well, one has no magic wans, Soooo . . . upon his re-election, I hope President Biden elevates two more Justices -- starting with A.G. Garland -- and another 'Democratic appointed' but NOT partisan Justice. That would restore the one vote 'Roberts' majority that should be in place. Perhaps Senator Whitehouse would be an apt choice. As we have seen with Justices Alito and Thomas, sitting on a bench does not confer judgement automatically.
But he is, all day every day
J.L., unfortunately, I do not know what the justice system does. I suspect detain someone without access to signalling nasty things to their trench-men.
Mar-a Lago on the East River. Sounds good
to me, Ned.
¡Lovin' it! 😆
Well beating up US citizens in Lafayette Park and calling for beating rally goers, mismanaging public health so that 1,000s and 1,000s of folks die is pretty much the same result as violent organized crime. Killing police and encouraging attacks on minorities across the nation, cheering on a hammer beating a spouse of a political rival is organized crime. The family is a party who will not hold the leader accountable. I see no stretch in the comparison.
Everything changes, even organized crime. Witness the GOP.
Excellent summation, Mike.
This should be part of the public campaign against Trump, as it presents a very clear choice
One would think, are Dems and sane people totally immobilized…
Let’s hope not … we all - each and everyone of us who can be deemed as “sane” must do what we can to help wake up those others who maybe “sane” - but who do not take these threats to our democracy seriously enough and who tend to not participate in fulfilling one of their prime patriotic duties … that of voting - to be sufficiently educated and motivated to participate in the process and facing down this current existing threat to our democracy!!!
J Riley, helping to "wake them up" is the issue indeed. But they are so afraid of being woke (being consciously aware of what truly matters), as they are told what a slippery slope that is towards whatever the Dems want, which of course must involve the "deep state" and everything wrong with our world. Any time I try to gently flush out what woke means with a diehard Republican, they shut down and refuse to listen. Why they are so afraid to wake up is what disturbs me the most. Never have I encountered such raw examples of brainwashed people who are fearful of understanding anything other than what they have been led to believe is true. Of course, I do live in sunny Florida in an extremely RED area, needless to say. And sad to say...
It’s kinda — no, it is pretty sad! The things that they should be conserving or trying to - they won’t … they’re going against the natural order of things … of life, which is life and generally all things improve … we are progressive by nature - not turning the clock back or trying to hold on to outdated thoughts and/or modes of thinking or accomplishing activities, work, etc., … even Ronald Reagan knew that — “progress is our most important product” … ooopps, that was GE, Reagan was just their spokesperson those many years ago!
Agreed 100%
Rather than "immobilized," Jeri, let's go with anesthetized.
The far-right actors who organized upon the Powell memo set as first priority the removal of any public uses of humanities both from higher ed and K-12.
They knew that if the public got schooled so elites never anymore applied any humanities to see public realities, the billionaires could totally rule: offshore the jobs, effect Citizens United, ally with thugs, royal murderers, dictators, and nationalists abroad, and rob American women and families of personal freedoms after the perjuries and briberies that allowed take-over of what became the Clarence court.
You go way back, which one has to do to “get it.” Otherwise one just sees the bits and pieces. The puzzle is now complete, but Russia had to be part of it. Thanks to chump and some repubs in Congress in The 90’s. There is no place for thinkers, like Hamilton, Franklin, and even both Roosevelts anymore. Some have tried but the blood is in the water, I fear..
Has anyone assisted the Russian mafia in the US more than TFFG?
Regardless of which sycophantic bootlicker TFFG picks, he is aiding and abetting Russia, Saudia Arabia, North Korea, Hungary and Turkey.
TRUMP PUTIN 2024
The "organized crime" part started August 23, 1971, J L: issuance then of the Powell memo.
and with the comment "If the president does it, it is not illegal." The republicans (conservatives) have taken that to heart.
Remember how they were once the "ethical, family values" party? All a lie. First they justified ethical violations by saying they did nothing illegal. Then they work to change the laws so they can do what they want. (Kochs and others) Example I just received from Grassley-it is unclear that the Emoluments Clause prohibits "business" transactions as they are not "gifts". Typical BS.
Rickey, that is why we need to pass a law codifying the Emoluments Clause including the escalation of punishments for breaking it.
yes, we have been relying on norms for too long.
Rickey, I’m afraid that now the norms are crumbling. It seems that, as long as no one dared take the political hit of defying the norms, they stood. Now, with 45 flaunting norms right, left, and center, others are emboldened to flaunt them as well.
Repubs have merged them and people just prance along as if Fred Astaire were leading the party…
Jeri, the Republicans appear to have adopted Huey Long’s playbook with one huge difference—he made a point to pass legislation to make the lives of his poorest constituents better.
https://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html
Hitler was popular with many non-Jews, chump had to have read Mien Kampf. I don’t think the other repubs have the best interest of their MAGAts on their agenda. They just spew hate at who Rush taught them to hate.
Ivana Trump said that 45 kept it on a bedside table.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/12/18/donald-trump-campaign-rhetoric-cnc-vpx.cnn?cid=ios_app
Bet it's the only book he every read. I only read a few pages of Murphy's translation. Great suggestions for making a big lie work and how to fool the fools.
You said it in your last line.
Let’s not forget that Trump’s mentor was Roy Cohn, who was a lawyer representing organized crime bosses in NY.
"...Democrats Tom Suozzi of New York and Jared Moskowitz of Florida have said they would vote to keep him [Johnson] in his seat, thereby defanging the attack on his leadership." Proof positive that postcarding for Suozzi bore fruitful fruit. Thank you, Professor!
Trump is a media created celebrity whose only virtue is that he sells! Little about him is noteworthy beyond our media-soaked infatuation with public celebrity and entertainment. Would anyone with modest critical thinking ability or moral character argue he is a role model for our children?
No! He is kept in the headlights of media marketing because, and only because, he is good for their businesses. Until and unless we “grow up” as cunsumers of media output, this will not change any moreso than social media companies will stop marketing to our kids much the way “big tobacco” once did!
Our children need us to protect them from physical and mental/emotional harm, but we cannot help our children until we can just say no to the rapacious commodification of our lives by corporate America.
Celebrity and marketing freedoms without adults to enforce “first of all, do no harm” is delusional. We need to better recognize the social responsibilities freedom entails. We have to prepared to say it stops with our children!
Thanks. You're right. But beyond "no" we have the capacity to sweep. We can be proactive. Add potentially millions of unregistered folks who trend heavily Democratic to our base in swing states and we can do it.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Thanks for promoting Field Team 6 — this is a great group!
Thanks for the information on field team 6 Daniel👍!
Jon Gilmore,
Yet....we are spending time and print ...free advertising on this "punkin head"!!!!!
Why not spend our print...our thoughts expressed in print and word on the great people who are sacrificing themselves everyday to save us from the "pit of hell" once known as the Republican Party.
Why are we not displaying names of the true patriots who are giving their lives and treasure to save our nation and to protect the misguided, brainwashed people "who just do NOT know better!!!! Oh yes, I know why...because they may have their businesses ruined...or they may have their wives and children threatened.....or they may not be elected to a powerful office!!!!
Let's think about WHO WE ARE OR WHO WE THOUGHT WE WERE OR WHO WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE...."THE LIGHT ON THE HILL!" Has that light that provided safety and hope for the world become dimed by evil selfish people who are presently enjoying the comfort and protection of our laws? Have we forgotten that our freedom was gained by the sacrifices of many who have gone before us?
I am going to face my own fears and place a FOR JOE BIDEN SIGN in my yard and on my car. I live in SC...So I hope a nail will not be placed near my tires or my house damaged in some way...etc.
FREEDOM FIRST!!!!
Excellent post, Emily! I admire your passion and courage! Imagine a protective light around your car and house. We all should be so brave!
Russian allies in the US Congress. Trump is also a Russian ally. There are also Russian allies in Georgia where they constantly reelect Marjorie Tayor Greene.
Georgia district is just stupid.
I know one women who lived there. She was gobsmacked by chump and Melania. The perfect couple, the image of class. Can’t get more idiotic than that. It seems she was not alone.
And why aren't Melania and her communist father fair game for being outed for "poisoning the blood" of America. Has there a First Lady ever that did less for the US than Melania?
Hopefully once the hush money trial is over Lettita will come after Melania for income tax evasion in New York assuming the statute hasn't run.
Her FB post was beyond idiotic but popular with her crowd. Hope she liked the coat “I don’t care, do you.” What unmitigated gall…
And her red Christmas decorations? WTF?
It was a magnanimous gesture for the Carter family ro invite her to attend Rosalyn's funeral. No idea why she actually attended or why thy didn't treat her like the pariah she is. (Can you tell I don't like her?)
The Carters forgive. Me, not so much
Trumps are the perfect embodiment of the loving couple. I suspect Melania was happy to stay in New York for Barron's school.
Laugh out loud time. Their loving expressions told the tale. Ha
Bet she makes bucks to keep her mouth shut.
Best that she does not speak too much. Was it a nonverbal protest with that jacket? Besides we may find out that she doesn't speak fluently a multitude of languages. I should not throw stones at that since I have trouble with English sometimes. Then again, I nor anyone else has claimed I was a linguist.
They claim much and deliver little. In Mien Kompf, Hitler talked about how the average person would not tell a "big lie" but would tend to believe it when someone else did. Even if it was proved untrue, the doubt would remain, giving some credence. It works.
Remember also the bright pink blouse after the Billy Bush interview.
I wonder if she'll go with him to college -- maybe in Transylvania??
But, I'm sure some Ivy League school admitted him regardless of what his grades and test scores are.
No, he’s in a private school near Mar-a-Lago.
Just read he is going to NYU for college. If that is true you know she will stay in NYC regardless!!
" Being a mother"
I guess when trump first was elected, Melania and Barron were staying in NY at least for the school year.
That was BS--she was renegotiating her pre-nup. If my memory serves correctly, the original pre-nup gave her $150K if she divorced him. Recall reading this when they got married
It certainly looks that way.
Unfortunately, I live in MTG's district, only because they gerrymandered my heavily democratic area into her district 200 miles away.
😮🤬…I’m lucky, Kathleen, were I live I support my elected officials, Fed, state and local. Every once in awhile I contact them to tell them I appreciate & support their legislative actions.
So sorry for you. They know well how to render Dems helpless "with surgical precision" as one judge said.
Members of Trump's family have acknowledged getting a lot of money from Russia, and Putin boosts the "GOP"; but it's still hard to see what's in it for the rank and file.
Owning the libs, and CONTROL. Devin Nunes said it in 2017
It's the illusion of control for the rank and file. No one but Traitor, and Putin, will have control if Traitor wins the election.
Actually, it will probably be Putin in control with GOP and trump following his orders.
There is nothing in it for the “rank and file!”
The gag orders needed to protect jurors, witnesses, and the judge's family (in addition to the remaining 88 criminal indictments) add to my continuous-loop feeling of disbelief: How can any citizen vote to put Trump in charge of the Executive Branch again? We're talking about him leading the branch whose main function is to make sure the laws of the land are obeyed? Why?
So that he can change all those "woke" laws, and make the country "whole" again.
<disgust, sarcasm fonts>
Threats to the safety of election officials and poll workers … threats to the safety of judges, their court staff(s) and to the judges family members … threats to potential jury members attempting to fulfill one of their required citizenship duties in a country that is supposed to be the model for democratic societies around our globe; really — how frightening is this and comparatively, things may not be this extremely dangerous in some “third world” countries? What a fine example we’re setting … really folks?
Really, indeed. We are a flawed democracy, but this is a million miles in the other direction. Stand up America
… also, wise up and smarten up Americans!
It’s almost like so many are in a trance. Or peering in the window at an unbelievable happening, and feeling removed. We are not removed. Is Stockholm syndrome a factor. God, I hope not.
The party of Trump IS violent organized crime!
I afraid you are right. If nothing else, there is a hell of a lot of overlap.
Thank you, Heather.
''Floor Action Response Team (FART...)''
Finally, some humor Ben Franklin would have appreciated: https://michaelcorthelll.substack.com/p/fart-proudly-cultivating-immunity
You just can't make stuff like this up; or if you did, it would be criticized as "over the top".
Or a Borowitz competitor
Remember the Committee to RE-Elect the President? (CREEP) I do.
Why FB and X banned me in 2020
Badge of honor Jeri, badge of honor‼️
Yep, but I miss a few contacts. still despise Zuck and Elon though
Yeah, my junior high brain had a good laugh over that.
I laughed and my 10 year old grandson asked why. I explained and he thought it was hilarious....smart kid.
Heather, when you note: "Legal analyst Joyce White Vance noted jurors’ fear for their safety was a concern normally seen only “in a case involving violent organized crime.” Am I missing something? I thought the Trump family was effectively an organized crime family. They've coopted the RNC to pay their legal bills. They've got FOX outing witnesses in a trial. They tried to steal a national election and continue to lie about it. Closeting national secrets proved Trump thought ordinary and well known laws didn't apply. It's a disgrace to our country.
Swbv, there is a common definition to Organized Crime: "Organized crime is a continuing criminal enterprise that rationally works to profit from illicit activities that are often in great public demand." While the activity of the fpotus family is nefarious, illegal, and unconstitutional, it is not profiting from the "illicit activities in great demand" which are gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. What they do is more for personal gain than it is supplying illicit activities. Everything else they do is really, really similar.
Trump’s grandfather ran a brothel I believe. So the crime family roots go way back
It is a pity that the American people have to put up with the antics of the "Freedom" Caucus.
It's like watching spoiled toddlers. If they cannot have border security among these national security votes -- never mind that they tanked the border bill themselves -- they don't want any vote to occur. And the spoiled toddlers are also ill-informed. MTG actually thinks that the US Congress can require Zelenskyy to surrender? It's painful to watch, and embarrassing.
Spoiled toddlers can be problematic, but the character of malevolent spoiled toddlers in fully adult bodies in highly adult positions of power is a real nightmare: war, tyranny, famine, social collapse.
And this is why the courts need to jail TFFG for contempt. If his supporters are going to protest his incarceration it will likely be violent. Better to do it in NYC where they have the numbers to beat back a riot than in Florida where DeSantis would likely allow violence without consequences.
How would Truth Social fare if TFFG was gagged for 30 days during his trial?
That's what Russia, China, and N. Korea want, total collapse of the U.S. Then they can come in, take over, and get what they've always wanted. World domination.
Each and every day I am appalled at the lack of professionalism. If I acted like the likes of Trump and MTG I would have been fired. I was in a leadership position.
Always
I watched a toddler act on for his entire journey up and down the aisles in Trader Joes 2 days ago. I could not decide who bothered me more the spoiled kid or his mom. I was leaning toward the mom.
Clearly spoiled toddler, yes. Acting out toddler, not always.
Even to mention Burisma now is grotesque. Visualise what's left of Ukrainian town centres.
😪
Hey, "Freedom is Slavery" doncha' know?
Arbeit macht frei.
FART Team 6...
The American people elect them. That's the pity.
Thank you Ronald Reagan for gutting American education.
Moscow Marge and the Putin wing of the Fascism Caucus is really earning their keep this week...
Any polling been done to Marge's voters to see if they have regrets? Wouldn't it be interesting to know? Jason Klepper, are you listening?
They love her. Gerrymander works
Jesus!
Jordan Klepper? He is fantastic. I am convinced that the democrats have hired actors to imitate ignorant trumpers, just to make trumpers look bad. No one can be that dumb in real life.
Oh yes they can...
AKA 'Special Envoy to the Kremlin' Marge :)
Will she get to go grocery shopping, too? Ballet (pronounced bail-et)?
"Keep" or "creep"?
Till Heather noted it here, I'd not known of Jared Moskowitz's most-apt proposal.
He moved, as Heather quotes him, “that Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene…should be appointed as Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”
Marble Mouth Marge finally gets nod to exactly the position suited for this sub-literate.
Between gerrymandering, defections, and outrageousness, we are witnessing a slow moving coup d'etats that further destabilizes our democracy
Yes this is an active revolt against the US government, nothing less. Voting blue is key but only part of what needs to be done, there are many in Washington who need to be prosecuted, not just voted out. For many conspirators, the possibility of losing their seat is remote since they are in safe, gerrymandered districts, there is a lot more for the DOJ to do.