Today the Trump administration asked the United States Supreme Court to let it build Trump’s ballroom where the East Wing of the White House used to be.
The contrast here is almost painfully clear. Frances Perkins looked at suffering and asked what government could do to make ordinary lives more secure. Trump looks at government and asks what it can do for him.
That’s what I find so infuriating. Public power is supposed to carry obligations to people beyond the person who holds it. When that obligation disappears, government stops being a public trust and starts becoming personal property.
The people are not an audience for the presidency. They are the reason the presidency exists.
Trump believes he is a “rugged individualist” while cheating and grifting his way through our government. He just takes whatever he wants and dares us to stop him. Well the courts have stopped him in some situations, but Congress has failed miserably. They do not even try to pretend that they work for the people. We have Corporate politicians now. They work only for their Corporate donors and it must stop!
And right now Congress is on recess. A paid 4 week vacation on top of their ever so grueling 3 day work-week and $179 per diem when they are in Washington. Unless, of course you live within driving distance of the Capital. Then you have to suck it up and pay for your own meals. I'm surprised that we never hear complaints from the Republican politicians that live close to the DC. I mean they are forced to scrape by on $174,000 a year. Oh, the inhumanity.
No wonder the Republicans cut or reduced the SNAP and WIC benefits for millions of Americans. If they have to suffer, then so should the underprivileged, especially the ones that make the Federal minimum wage that they refuse to raise of $7.25 an hour.
Clearly when the "Leader of the Free World" cowers in a catering truck and locks the Free Press and his "second tier loyal staff" into a decoy airplane so he may personally escape the threats that "he, and only he" brought upon himself, then "he and only he" self ordained himself as King TACO.
By contrast, Churchill stood outside his "war room" bunker in London night after night, to observe blitzkrieg raids on his city. George Washington lead his men into battle, and across the Potomac to lead the fight, not run from it.
As yourself, why does King TACO even need a big beautiful bunker to cower in when world leaders like Volodymyr Zelinsky literally stands with his troops on the battlefield.
Trump's "that's not nearly long enough" reaction to our American soldiers in combat in Trump's War typifies his "Trump First / America Last" focus.
Donald, everyone is saying "When you are born a coward, and you live as a coward, you will go the way of a coward, as Hitler did in his bunker".
Every Trump is a coward--his Fascist parents, his Fascist grandparents, his kids, his grandkids. Why isn't anyone in the press asking Baron why he hasn't enlisted to support his old man's war, or Tai Trump? She could sign up right now.
I think the poor lad inherited the bone spurs that afflicted his brave and courageous father. We all know that Papa Trump would have enlisted in the Marines and boldly hopped on the first plane to Vietnam if only he didn't have those painful bone spurs.
I thought it pretty amusing that Trump after frequent boasts of being the “most powerful person,” explained making his staff and reporters decoys in Air Force 1 the result of Secret Service conclusions.
I’ll bet the decoys were relived that they were expendable by virtue of bureaucrat decisions rather than Presidential cowardice.
So I would hope...or perhaps she was super offended by Trump's crude personal assessment, that he asked her to step down because she hasn't lost the pregnancy weight and always smells like breast milk. How he can tell how anyone else smells, over his own less-than-pleasant odors is something I have difficulty understanding, but who knows.
She just really needs to take off her MAGAt blinders and ear plugs, that's for sure.
He always always always reminds me of the general in Men of Honor, who said with disgust that Black people shed tiny skin particles. He was in a post high up and so far from anyone, yet his viscerally based biased dictated his every move, and he had power. Sick man, this president of ours. But that is not news. You reminded me of the film again here though.
We have a felon as chief of this country. He benefits from anything put into place by FDR and so do we all. He and his cronies have managed to destroy what we have always held dear but as Heather says, “we’ve been here before”. We are fighting back and we will be successful.
In the end we are going to go after every dime that he and anyone connected to him has grabbed, and punish them severely for having stolen from us, we are going to be so focused they will wish they had never been born.
He's supposed to be the Speaker of the House, not the conveyor to the House. He's not actually subservient to the president. I wish his colleagues would inform him of this.
Swbv, I'm of an opinion that his only "colleagues" are republican Trump sycophants. I cannot fathom nor even imagine that any self-respecting democrat would ascend to calling him/herself a "colleague" of Mikey (let's give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything) Johnson.
That contrast is key here, and despite over a decade of monumental changes in the civil rights movement brought by Perkins and others, here we are with what’s left of our democracy, if we can keep it. Trump is betting on no.
Actually the most relevant quote comes from the preamble to our Constitution. Something about ‘promoting the general welfare’, ,right? Most interesting what the right wing often makes of the word.
Hello Kelli... Frances Perkins is a True Hero of American Society... She had Academic Credentials, she was effective because she was Pragmatic, and she could adjust her efforts....
As a Mainer I am doubly proud of Frances Perkins's amazing work. As a 5th generation Nebraskan, I wish HCR would do a letter on the great Senator George W. Norris, the father of rural electricity and the author of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution. He was a progressive Republican who served in the Senate from 1913 to 1943. He was better known as the father of the Tennessee Valley Authority which brought electricity to rural America Southeast and led to the formation of the REA which brought electricity to most of the rest of rural America. He also, lobbied Nebraskans to switch from a bi-cameral legislature to a unicameral system to save money. He drove to all 93 Nebraska counties to lobby for the change. As a Nebraskan that has lived in 10 different states, the Unicameral system is no better or worse than the 9 bicameral legislatures I have endured.
Perkins' last words in today's letter are haunting. "One thing I know: Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, no political group could possibly destroy this Act and still maintain our democratic system. It is safe. It is safe forever, and for the everlasting benefit of the people of the United States.”
Social Security is no longer safe--Trump and his oligarch puppetmasters, with their continuing quest to accumulate all of the wealth in this country, have their minions in Congress ready to reduce the benefits that we have paid for with deductions from payment for our labor. They are indulging Trump in his narcissistic follies to gain his acquiescence to what they contemplate will be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in American history, alongside the theft of land from the indigenous people and the forced labor of the slaves.
The oligarchs will say cuts to all of the social safety net will be in the name of "fiscal responsibility" and reducing the national debt so we do not burden our children. I share those concerns, but the answer is not to pick our pockets to solve them. The answer is straightforward--take back the tax cuts to the rich and corporations in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" and more. As FDR said, “Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”
According to the SSA's 2026 Trustees Report summary, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is projected to be depleted in 2032. At that point, continuing income would be sufficient to pay 78% of scheduled benefits.
Read the opening quote again. Perkins is prescient about the destruction of Social Security being coupled to the destruction of our democratic system. We will no longer be leaning towards authoritarianism and oligarchy, we will be one.
Help me understand, Georgia. Isn't it true that one reason Social Security is in trouble because its funds have been used to pay for other things the government wanted to support?
Not just that, Lynell; the cap on only $400,000 as taxable income is a problem. If you put another zero and a comma, it still would not hit the uber-weathy since their income isn't, by definition "earned" but rather "valued".
The cap on income level for contributions to SS I believe is $147,000. That cap needs to be removed and that solves the SS funding problem. Bernie is suggesting this.
Excess of Income (primarily FICA payroll taxes) over expenses (overwhelming benefit payments) is invested in U. S. Treasury securities. Currently, and for the past several years, benefits are greater than income, and those securities are redeemed to pay my monthly benefit.
You could read any recent Social Security Trustees Report to verify this.
As the Trustees commented in their introductory statement to the first report, in 1941:
"Hence the essential assurance of future financial soundness of the system, with its rising rate of disbursement, rests on a graduated increase in contribution rates or provision of income from other sources, or both."
Bill, both are true. I think it was shrub Bush that raided Social Security for various things. Restructuring of the definition of "income" would certainly insure that those uber-wealthy that do not derive their wealth from income (work for pay) but rather investment and stock values pay something close to their "fair share".
Please note: I am not an economist, and as someone who has a lifelong struggle with numbers, I am NOT exact in any of my calculations.
Thanks, Bill. Good to know I have read that the fund's surplus is invested in Treasury bonds (?), but is its destiny of being "bankrupt" because there are less working-age citizens who contribute to the fund?
The simple solution which politicians will not address is to raise the cap, or have no cap. If a cap is raised to $500,000 or $1M, that would address the issue of continuity of Social Security. If this had been done at the beginning of "woe is me, the sky is falling" we would have solved the problem.
Georgia, you raise some important concerns about Social Security and that it is no longer safe. Yes, it is no longer safe. Republicans constantly tell us Social Security will run out in 10 +/- years. We need to raise the cap on Social Security. At present the cap is $184,500. In other words Musk or any billionaire etc would only pay in what someone who earns $184,500. Perhaps the cap can be taken out all together and billionaires would pay into the fund commensurate with what they earn.
Another Republican fix would be to privatize Social Security. If we privatize Social Security, we would need to change the fund's name to Social Insecurity because if we take our Social Security fund and tie it to the stock market, our elderly would be on the wildest roller coaster ride of their life.
Except the billionaires have all the money to buy all the lobbyists and lawyers to prevent them from having to pay their fair share, hence the oligarchy.
Absolutely, privatizing social security (and proposed medicare change to medicate advantage) scares the bejesus out of this 81-year old that worked until 80 to secure a small amount of savings. I rely entirely on my contributions to the fund. The companies and non-profits in my resume offered little in the way of a liveable wage and nothing resembling a pension process.
"One thing I know: Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, no political group could possibly destroy this Act and still maintain our democratic system." Add to this, Georgia, that the SCOTUS has deemed SS not to be a guaranteed pay out regardless of how much US citizens have paid into it. Of nearly all the decisions handed down by the Trump infested Supremes, this is one that is most baffling to me.
According to his own autobiographical memoir, New Horizons, in late 1933, Dr. Francis Townsend the 66 year old looked out his rear window and saw several elderly women picking through his garbage cans for food.
Enraged by the injustice & poverty facing the elderly, & personally powered by his professional belief "to do no harm & heal", Dr. Townsend wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Dr.Townsend's "compassionate" not rugged individualism led to the creation of the Townsend Plan aka "Old Age Revolving Pensions". This macroeconomic plan proposed that the government give $200 a month to every citizen over 60, provided they spend it within 30 days to stimulate the economy.
The good doctor's massive movement ultimately pressured Washington & heavily influenced the creation of the Social Security Act of 1935 created by Perkins, FDR & others.
13 years later in 1948 I was born in Long Beach at Memorial Hospital in a world that just been cleared of the Fascist Axis by the "Greatest Generation".
$200 a month for seniors in 1935! That would be $4600 a month in 2026!
I've been on Social Security for 15 years, and I receive just under $900 a month. My cost-of-living adjustment this year was $24. It's based on core CPI (excluding food, energy, Social Security and Medicare deductions, etc.), not on the money it takes to sustain a life.
I did a lot of research and came to this:
There's an insurmountable gap between reality and the current policy (similar to the gap between the minimum wage and a truly sustainable wage). You can work hard all your life, but if you're living hand-to-mouth all that time, your contribution to the fund will be low. And then when your health or stamina decline... and rising prices make you spend even more to sustain your life... you fall deeper into poverty.
Social Security 2100 Act (introduced in June):
"The legislation would increase benefits for current and new beneficiaries by eliminating the Social Security tax cap and by adding a tax on investment income for taxpayers making over $400,000. Additionally, the bill would utilize an improved cost-of-living adjustment to more accurately take into account true costs incurred by seniors and implement a stronger minimum benefit, so an individual who works their whole life will not retire into poverty."
Flat-Dollar COLA: To stop the rich from getting richer from the system while the poor stay poor.
Those who start out with plenty, get plenty more... figured by the increase in what it takes to maintain their standard of living... while those with a substandard of living continue in poverty. A COLA that reflects the actual monetary increase gives the poor a fighting chance.
Real Minimum Benefit: Tied to actual living costs (like the MIT Living Wage), not a 1960s food formula.
This eliminates the inequity I mentioned at the start. Apparently it's still based on 125% of the "official poverty line," which is ridiculously underestimated, but it would almost double my monthly income.
CPI-E: Measures inflation based on what seniors actually need to pay for (healthcare, housing, food, energy, etc.)
When my father died in 1957, it was through the work of Perkins, Townsend, FDR and others, that enabled my mother to fend off those who wanted to take her two children from her because she didn't have a husband to support us.
My retired WWII USCG Veteran father-in-law died at 64, had fortunately signed up for the Survivor Benefit plan that provided my WWII USCG SPAR Veteran mother-in-law 55% of his retirement pay for the 29 years she outlived him. My dad had also signed up for the plan but bemoaned what he considered wasted premium money since my mother died at 69, 6 years before he passed at almost 80.
Though never rich by some standards, at least my mother-in-law had a comfortable life for the 29 years she outlived my father-in-law. A millionaire relative in the late 1800s, early 1900s was penniless at the end depending upon the charity of friends that charged nothing for his living accommodations.
And I, Bryan, one year before you, at Glendale hospital, next to Pasadena.
My mother and father gave me the middle name "Errol" -- my mom having gone to the 1930s Saturday movie, double-feature matinees every week of her youth (but denied having named me, at least middle name, for Errol Flynn).
I helped pick up a donated Kit Fox project plane in South Pasadena for our college Aeronautics program, and knew coworker engineers that moved there way back when it was far more affordable than when I worked in Pasadena. I ended up living 45 miles east of where I worked on Sierra Madre Villa across from the old Burroughs facility. After years of searching for the Malibu Grand Prix track (used in the CHIPs TV series). I found out it was as stone's throw away but, by the time I worked there, had a Chicago Title building and parking lot. It is now a Kaiser Permanente Urgent Care/Pharmacy
If we had more women in leadership, we'd have more compassion-based departments and laws. Period. And cherry-picking MAGA women to disprove that statement is BS. I'm talking about the majority of women vs. the majority of men - women are more compassionate or at the very least, NOT sociopathic predators and criminals.
Alexandra, I agree that we need more women in government, and not the glamorous tokens.
But I'm "woke" enough to believe that publicly stating sexist generalizations is neither accurate nor helpful, regardless of what part of the gender pool you stand in.
Dale, I believe it's supremely unhelpful to ignore the statistics on the percentage of sociopathy, violence and antisocial behavior in men vs. the percentage of the same behaviors in women. There is no contest. The problem of violence, abuse and abusive leaders will never be solved if you ignore those basic facts. You want something helpful? Then help. Do something about the violent men.
Alexandra, I've read a little about your background. I understand why you feel that men are "sociopathic predators and criminals." You've spent your whole adult life with that sort of men. When that's your point-of-view, studies that reinforce it resonate.
This is not an issue of "ignoring statistics." My objection is to your suggestion that ALL men are "sociopathic predators and criminals." The logical extension of that POV is that we should just incarcerate all men and let God sort them out later.
It's not my job to do something about violent men any more than it is yours. Wanna help? Maybe don't write books that portray men as sociopathic predators and criminals.
How does "percentage of men" mean ALL men? That is your knee-jerk, extremely defensive interpretation. If you look at exactly what I said - "The statistics on the percentage of sociopathy, violence and antisocial behavior in men vs. the percentage of the same behaviors in women" - you will see for yourself exactly what I'm talking about and why I talk about it. Then we can talk.
But if you think it's not your job - whose job is it?
And you clearly don't know anything about my books or the men I write about.
Alexandra ... how do I get one of those cool red checks in a red circle like you﹖I thought I would get something for taking Substack Inc to mediation on their TOU.
The contrast is indeed painfully clear. Frances Perkins had studied chemistry, physics, economics and sociology. Now, the department of “defense” is led by a Fox “News” anchor who knows nothing and is cosplaying general Lee.
Those people (the Framers or Founders or whatever you like to call them) are long gone now and the presidency exists by virtue of your Constitution which empowers the executive. Even if you wanted to amend the Constitution you would need to overcome the various hurdles included in the document which would be hard to imagine in the current polarised politics of the United States.
You need a new Constitution, written in modern English, not lending itself to pernicious conservative legal doctrines like Originalism and the Unitary Executive. A new document needs to protect the social and economic rights of Americans as well as their individual rights.
I can't believe you come here very day -- as a foreigner -- to post essentially absolutist "you-should-do-this" rubbish, without the slightest trace of moderation, much less humility.
A new Constitutional Convention would first have to be summoned in order to write a new Constitution. You don't get one without the other. And that is the absolute worst idea I have ever heard. A million nutjobs out there are dying for a "new" Constitution to formally deprive millions of their voting franchise, to ensure individuals-- rather than state militias -- are armed to the teeth, establish a state religion, remove trial by jury, cement oligarchy and remove every single right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness our Bill of Rights guarantees each of us, no matter our race, origin, language, gender, sexual orientation, political persuasion. At her recent appearance at Washington's National Cathedral earlier this year, Heather was asked about this, and her response was something like: "no, no, no, no, no, no, absolutely not" for exactly these reasons.
Constitutional amendments, by contrast, have been enacted since the signing of the Constitution itself. Our Founders laid out how the process is supposed to move, and it has, at least 25 times now. As Pete Buttigieg likes to say, don't tell me we can't use this process to ban Citizens United or pass the long-dormant Equal Rights Amendment. After all, we had TWO amendments involving people buying a beer --- one to stop it, the other to annul the first one.
Perfection is frequently the true enemy of the good, especially in our history. The last thing America needs is a new absolutist philosophy that demands we re-invent the wheel as the price for daring to move forward.
The real problem is not the Constitution itself, but the fact that America now has a president and a Supreme Court who simply ignore it. No law can withstand the power of denial…
Just the work on the ballroom proves your example. The administration is dedicated to criminal conduct regardless of the law.
The record of the past year demonstrates disregard of any regulation or protocol regarding limits on Presidential power. Pure ignorant arrogance is destroying our Law and order.
What is really destroying our democracy is the people too ignorant or lazy to vote. And those who believe the rugged individual and strong daddy caring for his family,who needs government? myth.
Dutch Mike, you alluded to the real problem, but muddied it up a little.
The real problem is the Judiciary Act of 1789, then authorized by Article III of the Constitution.
These were the federal acts that created the U.S. Supreme Court, endowed with supreme power above all other branches of government, federal, state and local; whose members are selected by partisan U.S. presidents to remain on the bench for life, unless they voluntarily choose to retire.
Those federal acts were based on the absurd assumptions that the persons chosen would somehow be above the usual human frailties of greed and avarice, and life expectancy would always remain around sixty-some years.
Were it not for the corrupt Roberts Court, we would not have a scofflaw president.
The framers of the constitution added article V which allowed it to be amended. They never expected it to be static. They meant for it to be updated as the country grew and modernized. As you point out, we don't need a "new" constitution, we need to amend it to suit the times we live in. The same can be said of laws that are on the books that are extremely outdated and have left too many loopholes for those who would use those loopholes to exploit for their own gain. This, I believe, is the way forward. However, it is going to take a big change in the electorate to do it.
I today’s politics you don’t need to be bright or intelligent. You just need someone with lots of money to back you. That is definitely a big problem that needs to change. Citizens United needs to go. Rich people only get one vote and corporations should not get any votes, let alone millions of them.
Milady, I have written before, and I'll repeat myself ...
Until the Reagan era, elected office was understood to be a public service. Since then, elected office has been regarded as an investment opportunity. Anyone who exits Congress with a net worth less than several million dollars is apparently doing it wrong.
Right now, the thought of a new constitution during the Trump era is too scary for me. The one we have has worked pretty well up till now, and can again. Even though there is a lot left to interpretation, I think that trying to tie things up too tightly is worse.
I think it's time (it's always time, but we've got a problem) to rethink a lot of stuff, but also to triage, and not throw out any babies with the bathwater.
Remember how the proto-fascist Long Dong Clarence court didn't even bother "to interpret" Article 14, Section Three.
That's the one that clearly bans anyone who'd joined any insurrection from any U.S. public office.
The three appointed by criminal Donald, plus John Roberts, Alito, and Long Dong Clarence all decided they and their far-right ideology are above the law, and needed to welcome the fat criminal and all his henchmen serving U.S. billionaires, money launderers, arms dealers, drug kingpins, beaters of Capitol police, and child sex traffickers.
Amend it! Yes! Do not ever have a Constitutional Convention..you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I remember years ago in Heather's first letters and lectures she was vehemently opposed to it for the reasons you clearly stated.
Americans should be grateful for any outside assistance they can get. Millions of Americans have their heads so far up trump's anus that they can no longer see where they are going.
While I agree with you, Russell has a point, this system is broken, if you don’t believe that just think about the insipid orange turd being able to start a nuclear war, he has that power, and no one and nothing can stop him from doing it, if he chooses, all of us here think he’s insane, just how sane is it to allow him or anyone else that power? Then there’s what he’s doing using the most unqualified cabinet secretaries, pick any one of them, the system put them in place, they are taking a wrecking ball to our government just like he did to the East Wing, it’s gone and he’s rebuilding it the way he wants, so too every federal government department. We need to be thinking way outside the box, and like Humpty Dumpty there may be no way to put it back together again, I wish I could see a way forward, the mid-terms will tell the tale, if they happen. 🤬
We have met the enemy. What Koch started, which was bad enough, has been hijacked by extremists that goes even farther than what he imagined. Project 2025 and its adherents must be vanquished if we are to save democracy. 70% of the cabinet members and over 140 appointees are now lodged in our government.
You again, telling us for the umpteenth time what we need to do. Well here’s what YOU need to do; shut the hell up and go away. Leave us alone, fix your own damned country, wherever that is. The last thing we need is your finger-wagging bullshit, as if we don’t know what the score is. Or move here, become a citizen, run for office and find out just how easy it all is. Not. If you really had any balls, you’d be posting your crap on fascist websites. My guess is you don’t because you couldn’t take the heat.
Click the circle next to the commenter's name to open their profile. Go to the 3 dots on the right after the upgrade and message buttons and choose mute, block, or report.
It can help to keep your blood pressure down when trolls are about, but I use it rarely because sometimes it is necessary to hear the truth from someone from outside the silo.
A Wild Kyogre, Georgia's instructions are accurate. Also, her caution is good advice.
There are a few trolls here (most notorious with a surname of Sender), but there are participants in these conversations who are truthful, 'though not very diplomatic. Oftentimes, they make valuable contributions to the discourse, even if their comments are unpleasant to read. For the best experience, use the "Block" button sparingly.
Russell, as others have vigorously disagreed, I'll add mine.
The U.S. Constitution is archaic, vague and incomplete. Imperfect as it is, it has restrained hot-headed dumbasses from taking us over a cliff on numerous occasions.
Problems with the Constitution have less to do with quaint language, which can still be understood, and more to do with its authors' failure to imagine what the future might bring. But even they recognized a few weeks' work couldn't possibly map out the future of a nation that might exist for hundreds of years. They expected their work to be amended. Thus, we more accurately refer to them as "framers," not authors.
The current attacks on our Constitution do reveal its weaknesses, but the attacks are also rebuffed by its strengths. For that reason, it needs amendments to plug the gaps and reinforce the weak parts. It does not need to be replaced, especially when the U.S. populace is less educated and more divided than ever.
Albert R Killackey, Esq. recently authored a memorandum to We the People which outlines the pitfalls that brought us so low, and proposes a comprehensive amendment to our Constitution. You can read it at UnitedWeAmend.org.
Russell, I assume you won't pay a lot of attention to ICTT who seems to think comments should be off-limits to a "foreigner" who is lacking in humility. (??) That's a bit of the pot calling the kettle... You might be off-base in calling for a Constitutional Convention, I agree. LOTS of unintended consequences would no doubt ensue. But most agree (with you, with ICTT, with many others) that our Constitution hasn't aged well and needs attention.
The current "presidency" is Trump's big reality show. Huge captive audience. He adlibs his way through each appearance. Not much of an actor, doesn't understand the basics of the art; no art needed for reality TV, it's an entertainment gimmick. His favourite portrait, the one he wants to see on the banknotes, is the picture taken of him just after he was convicted of felony. He seems to think he looks Churchillian. The White House is his stage set, which he keeps fiddling with instead of leaving it to a professional, with results that would be laughable if the situation weren't so sickeningly serious. He's not a politician. What's he doing there? Why isn't he removed while there's still time? (If not, what?) Asking for a friend.
We could not believe the fake dude was foisted on national tv by NBC years ago! Who paid NBC off to present Trump as a worthwhile human being, full of hot air and a lying bastard???
Doris, as the expression goes, "it's complicated." As with all corporations, NBC likes to make money. But NBC wasn't "paid off" in the bribery sense.
Evangelical Brit, Mark Burnett (married to Roma Downey of "Touched by an Angel" fame) is a successful TV producer who specializes in so-called "reality" shows. His "Survivor" series was a huge success.
How is success measured? Audience share = higher advertising rates = more revenue.
Burnett sought to follow up on his "Survivor" success and came up with the idea of a contest where job applicants would demonstrate their entrepreneurial skills and "win" a job with a corporation. He shopped the idea to the networks and NBC bought in. Burnett just needed a corporate CEO to participate. He approached several and they turned him down because they were busy actually running their companies.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump was running his father's company into the ground and was about to be forced into another bankruptcy. As a last resort, Burnett approached Donald with the CEO role and sweetened the pot with an advance of a couple million dollars. Donald saw the show as a chance to bail himself out of bankruptcy and burnish his brand, so he jumped at the offer.
The Trump offices were so shabby, Burnett had to build an "executive suite" on a soundstage for the show. The contestants, the challenges, the winners, everything was pre-determined by the producers. Donald was just an actor playing a role, but he was so stupid, he couldn't remember his lines. They had to shoot hours of footage and splice it together just to make him sound sensical.
Mark Burnett created the mythical tycoon Trump. The show's advertising sponsors "paid off" NBC.
>>Trump asks the Supreme Court to protect America’s most vulnerable national-security asset: his party room
Donald Trump has finally identified the weak point in America’s national defense.
It is not the electrical grid. Not cyberwarfare. Not our aging infrastructure, election systems, or the alarming possibility that somebody in Washington might someday read the Constitution.
It is the ballroom.
The Trump administration has now asked the Supreme Court to let construction continue on his roughly $400 million White House ballroom while the legal fight over the project works its way through the courts.
And because simply saying, “The president really wants a giant ballroom” apparently sounded insufficiently constitutional, government lawyers have reportedly invoked national security.
Of course they have.
The ballroom, we are told, is not merely a ballroom. It is part of an “integrated military complex,” which is a very Pentagon way of describing a place where donors may someday eat rubber chicken beneath enormous chandeliers.
Apparently somewhere between NORAD, the nuclear triad, and the Sixth Fleet sits America’s newest strategic deterrent: seating for 1,000.
One can only imagine the briefing.
“Mr. President, hostile drones have entered American airspace.”
“Scramble the chandeliers.”
Trump says the project includes bomb shelters, medical facilities, and defenses against drones and missiles. Fine. But burying a bunker beneath a ballroom does not magically turn the ballroom into Fort Knox any more than putting a first-aid kit in a casino turns it into Walter Reed.
The actual legal question is much simpler. An appeals court ruled that the president cannot simply undertake a massive alteration of the White House without congressional authorization.
That sounds almost quaint now.
Congress appropriates money. Presidents execute the laws. Courts resolve disputes. Basic civics, back when that was still considered part of governing rather than an irritating obstacle to it.
So Trump has gone to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to let him keep building while the appeal proceeds.
Perhaps they will.
This Court has spent years testing just how much presidential power the Constitution can absorb before the walls start cracking.
Still, the national-security argument is impressive in its own way. A ballroom has somehow become a matter of military necessity.
For generations, presidents worried about defending democracy.
Trump wants to defend the dance floor.
Apparently, the republic now rises or falls on whether the chandeliers get installed on schedule.
And it all simply MUST occur on the 'emergency' docket....No other way!
"But HURRY NOW! ACT NOW! This offer NOT available in stores! Free My Pillow to the first 8 Supreme Court Justices who act NOW! This offer expires soon! Operators are standing by! Cranes ready to destroy! Those chandeliers won't unpack themselves! HURRY! HURRY!...."
What "ballroom" has a militarized drone port on the roof, and a full medical facility in the basement? This is a bunker from which Trump will launch the only coup in American history.
You’ve posted this article repeatedly in this thread. We know about it; I wrote about the issue last week. At this point, reposting the same link over and over is just cluttering the conversation.
Trump steals billions from taxpayers and treats citizens as dirt. Pure greed. Criminality. Hat. Vicious. But he has co conspirators. Pure mafia crime family. American citizens are hostages.
Absulutely correct. Hes invading countries. Hes harming counties including us via tariffs. Hes pro Russian and pto fascistand treating Ukraine as a pariah. Hes a scourge. His existence is an argument that there is no god. How can evil fascist be so rewarded.
Whatever he was when he first ran for the presidency, Trump today is a delusional, demented lunatic who endangers the very safety of the nation every hour he remains in office. Tell everyone you know: It’s past time to invoke the 25th Amendment.
I would like to see more discussion from pundits and Democrats everywhere on the Next steps. A real plan of attack to get the $ out of politics . IMO the Dems need to focus on the economic hardships of the voter but tie it all in with the corruption in government. And how yo end it.IMO I crease seats in SCOTUS to 13 or 15 then thru legislation end Citizens United. Nothing changes if you don't do that.
Follow Pete Buttigieg in whatever media you can find him. Follow Robert Reich wherever you can find him. They are the only two Democrats I know of who are actually proposing plans for the future.
Some other Democrats are pushing back against Donald and his party, but are not acting as architects of what comes next.
Kelli, it is "abundantly," not "almost painfully" clear that he and his billionaire Project 25 henchmen are criminals, and they care not a whit about what their "serfs" want or need. They all need to be removed - and he needs to be prosecuted, not merely impeached.
Heather, thank you for reminding us about Frances Perkins. Like so many empathetic people running for office in the midterms, she looked for solutions for problems that prevented poor and marginalized people from getting what the Declaration of Independence promised them. I really like the actions being taken to make people’s lives better.
It seems to me a great aid to beneficial innovation is some degree of familiarity what has worked well in the past (and also what hasn't). We stand on the shoulders of giants, and all of humanity as well, for eons. What can the likes of Frances Perkins tell us that remains true today? Plenty, I would think.
And when I think of all the destruction being enacted by the demon in the White House, I understand how quickly people can be hoodwinked to believe anything.
I doubt it, Judy. Independents are viewed as "not for anything." It's not possible to attract followers and loyalists unless a group is •for• something. See my response to JBR.
Bernie Sanders considers himself an independent, and I, when you get down to it, consider myself independent too, although I have always registered as a Democrat. By "independent" I mean, whatever person of policy seems like the best choice. I don't draw my marching orders nor my opinions from my party, but with my party, and with rare and small exceptions, I tend to choose democrats over the alternative (including abstention) even if it's only the best of a disappointing lot. (I have voted for the Republican is two or three minor races when some in that party were still honorable). I attempt to see the big tent and the big picture.
I don't doubt or criticize your choices, JL. I'm sure there are many who share your views. My comment pertains mainly to how others view Independents, not how they view themselves, and how this fits into a marketing plan. Because – let's face it – EVERYTHING in the U.S. is marketed, and evaluated on its marketability, like it or not.
Although "Independent" is informally treated like a party, it's an adjective, not a party. There's no official Independent leadership nor platform. It's not even treated as a party in Congress. Independents must choose to caucus with a party in order to wield any amount of influence.
As you know, there is a trend among voters to leave their former parties and become Independent, not because they are adhering to a new platform, but because they are disappointed or disgusted with their former party.
My thinking, based in marketing, is that "Independent" would be a poor choice for a new party name, given the word's history and connotation.
It's not dissimilar to "Methodist." Because the denomination chose "The Middle Way" as described by founder John Wesley, a large segment of Christians have the opinion that "Methodists don't believe anything." It's not true, of course. But perception is a difficult hill to climb. In fact, Methodism has a long history of schism because it's always been a "big tent" in which factions left because they thought their priorities were more important than unity.
Dale, thank you!!!. I liked antifa as shorthand. But trump implied it was meaningless. Maybe "Corrupt Mafia Don," or just dangerous dishonest donald. It is confusing. Antifa sounds like trump is anti fascist as opposed to me being anti fascist.
Democrats presumably support (among other things) democracy and Republicans (long ago) a republic, and we are a democratic republic. During the interim between Lincoln and now, Democrats became in some important ways, more democratic, yet "Republicans" are now seen rejecting the essence of the republic and sometime carrying Confederate flags. The misnomer is Orwellian.
In today's letter Heather contrasts the work of Frances Perkins, so devoted to improving the lives of the working class, with that of our lawless narcissistic president. I've just rewatched the 2004 film Downfall, about the last ten days of Hitler. The parallels between Hitler and our president are even more terrifying in a second viewing, especially the portrayal of him in his last, raging, utterly deluded out-of-control days.
Oh, and that bunker. Could our president have gotten the idea of that bunkered ballroom, meant to ensure total and permanent protection from any enemy, from anywhere else but Hitler's misguided mind? And the bunker didn't save Hitler.
Hatred does weird things to the mind. The bunker under the ballroom is for security for ALL presidents. It likely won't even be done in his term.
As for your Hitler comparison. Seriously? Based on a movie? Man Ms. Woodward hates builds a ballroom and you see Hitler's last days?
FYI: Hillary Clinton agrees a ballroom is needed. The issue isn't that. It's the hideous, ridiculous design and the arrogant way he went about it. But note for history: the blalroom is not the Reichstag.
I liked the quotation from de Tocqueville. Nice to know Americans were like that. By the way, my beloved copy of "Little Women", which belonged to my Grannie and may even be a first edition, has a glossary of American terms and phrases at the back, for the benefit of English readers.
De Toqueville wrote a few volumes on *Democracy in America* and we must remember he was not exposed to all elements of society at that time. It’s kind of like the container of strawberries you buy at the store; the perfect ones are on top, and there may be mold hidden in the middle. So, Anne-Louise, it is unlikely that “Americans were like that”; rather, he only saw select elements.
You are not correct. It's not like they went from suburb to suburb. Over nine months, they covered New York through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and up to Washington, D.C. All on horseback or in carriages. They saw everything, which is made clear when you read his masterpiece.
"She recognized that the ideas of community values and pooling resources to keep the economic playing field level and take care of everyone are at least as deeply seated in our political philosophy as the idea of every man for himself." This is the foundation of democracy. NYT reported a woman who is selling her blood for foods because the Trump government stopped SNAP. We need to divide a congressional district into a number of communities, electing a leader for each community who will look after a person of destitute.
I trust SCOTUS stops Trump vanity hall being built on lies and cruelty.
You guys have her term called, over-sympathetic, suicidal empathy. It’s a brand new term to describe what should’ve been described a long time ago. Take care of illegal immigrants before you take care of citizens. Let them go on early release so they can go out and kill within a week which had happened four times within the past six weeks because if you no cash bail in your early release bullshit that’s super suicidal empathy, right there
There are forces at work now to return women to "precious little gravitas" status. Let's hope HCR's tribute doesn't give anyone the idea to remove Frances Perkins from the Smithsonian Institution.
And for good reason in most cases. Always recall the adage, a broken clock is right twice a day. The Smithsonian has been converted into an ideological position that needed to be reversed. The signs outside are of course dumb, they should just fire the lady running it and get it fixed.
I disagree. An examination of the exhibits over the decades shows they represent the wide cultural history and diversity that our Declaration of Independence celebrates. And the Smithsonian Magazine is curated in the same way. I remember eagerly awaiting each issue when I was in college and for many years after. It was like a mini book mobile.
A couple of years ago I subscribed again, not like I don't have enough to read, but to support the cultural diversity, scientific inquiry and excellent writing and photography I treasure. A recent issue described the return to the National Mall of the historic Smithsonian Carousel after three years of restoration. It had originally been part of a segregated amusement park in Maryland. But on August 28, 1963, the park was desegregated--the exact day of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Thank you for your comment; it invited me to further sing the Smithsonian's praises. August 28 is nearly here--I invite you and anyone else to mark the occasion with me.
"It will take a woman again.." To do what, the dishes? Reform social security? What do generic "women" do that attracts you in this context? And Perkins needed a man to get it all enacted.
Over the past decade, more than half of Latin America’s nations have voted socialists out. From large countries like Argentina to tiny ones like El Salvador, socialists have been replaced with conservative leaders who've made significant progress turning their economies around. Here is the Donald Trump democracy legacy. in action. El Salvador, Argentina and others, following Trump‘s lead, and I keep telling you idiots. He’s forming/producing democracy all over the world.
You know Heather’s turning herself into a real piece of shit talking that this is a vanity project you distort more than those fucking mirrors at the Circus. You’re actually used to be a historian now you’re just a fucking loser sucking your lemmings dry a five bucks a month for your own gratification. Now you’re nothing but a radical liberal activist tearing this country apart when you should try to be bringing it back together. If I saw you, I’d spit in your face and tell you exactly what I’m saying right here disgusting trash Heather. Shame on you. Shame on you utter shame on you. Wake the fuck up would you please straighten yourself out have a purpose support your president and your country
Do me a favor Judith tell Cletus the coward to come out, come out from wherever he is comes out and makes a few ridiculous remark runs back in the street as I said, and has mommy wipe his ass. Poor dear
Over the past decade, more than half of Latin America’s nations have voted socialists out. From large countries like Argentina to tiny ones like El Salvador, socialists have been replaced with conservative leaders who've made significant progress turning their economies around. Donald Trump an action right here started with El Salvador Argentina and now over half the countries following Donald Trump‘s lead.
Do you guys even know how many times the White House has been remodeled and you realize you fucking idiots that this has nothing to do with Donald Trump as he will not be the one to utilize it it’ll be every president subsequent to him for the next 25 presidents if Joe Biden was doing this, you’d be kissing his fucking ass and telling everybody how beautiful it was.
Yeah, you should’ve gotten Joe Biden out of there and had Comdaleeza Rice run for president could you put cackling kneepads up instead? We couldn’t even run a lemonade stand or give a good blow job.
Fascist Republican Solution On Affordability: Suffer
In 1962 Michael Harrington wrote The Other America describing the beginning of the now gapping wealth gap. In it he displayed poor people who lacked education, jobs, and medical care, trapping them. This made such an impact on JFK that he did his own research which changed his policies to begin building the social safety net that has been destroyed by present day fascist Republicans.
Affordability today with the loss of the purchasing power of the dollar and now the destruction of the social safety net(health care coverage, food stamps, childhood meal programs) defined as public programs that protect people from poverty and severe economic hardship is being attacked by the supposed fiscally responsible fascist Republicans who have pushed the national debt to $40T with a daily debt service of $3B/day. But of course, the more gold the merrier in the Oval Office and the ballroom plans.
Meanwhile DOGE falsified records of the savings that the Muskrat actually made. The Government Accounting Office(GAO) reports it’s now estimated that the savings that the racist and apartheid supporter cost the American taxpayer $11-15B due to DOGE activities and cuts to governmental agencies. By debilitating federal agencies by firing civil employees which was promoted by the Project 2025 fascists, the cost in terms of election and national security have become obvious.
So the fascist message is tough shit, buck up and shut up
The board game "Monopoly" is said to have begun to demonstrate the problem with real world monopolistic practices. but of course the version I played as a kid does nothing of the sort. We all are naturally competitive (among other things) and everyone likes having plenty of money. What the game board does not model in coming into the game with little or no capital and all the good spots already taken. It does not include sleeping under a bridge if you go bust. Trade is a good thing, even, I would think, a fundamental human freedom, but in an atmosphere of fair trade. Those with a lot of money can gather even more just by having money, the more the net worth the greater the return. That may be socially useful up to a point, but without regulation, market control, and with it, political control can spiral away from the bulk of the populace. We saw that in the abusive and corrupt "Gilded Age". That's why there were decades of reforms that resulted in more evenly distributed rights, more security, and more economic power for most people. For what did we give that movement up? What did we gain from "Reaganomics"?
One equalizer for WE the People is taxation, used not as a punishing cudgel but an equalizer. Europeans understand their responsibility,,,,wealthy Americans not so much as greed is rampant in our culture. Can WE legislate morality?
It has occurred to me that money, political position, and violence are all forms of power, and the more corrupted the society, the more interchangeable they become. Moreover, violence is not only a mugger in an alley, but more subtle forms, such as "payday" loans. During the subprime crash a banker confessed in the NYT about complying with instructions from his superiors to sell deceptively high interest loans specifically to people with little education and/or poor English skills. An honest days work for an honest days wage is by no means the only, nor the most efficient way to collect money, and monopolies of markets, or any other form of coercive power enables extortion. Indeed, bribery and extortion are distinguishing features of a corrupt regime, and/or organized crime.
Ideally taxes are how we do things together we could not easily do alone. My son-in-law belongs to a very active rural volunteer fire department, but a large city depends on paid professionals. You don't want to leave that one to chance, and specials skills and equipment is more necessary, even more vital in dense urban areas. Taxation and law also helps to head off monopoly and oligarchy of both markets and political power. The Gilded Age (and the Declaration of Independence) taught us to oppose that fate. Should unwanted impacts of massive data centers be regulated? Regulation can be wise or foolish, but in a government of, by and for the people, why the hell not? In some countries nearly all the fluid wealth and political control is in the hands of a few wealthy families. Do we want to be one of them? The appealing alternative is not communism, but the kind of balance and distribution of power Lincoln and the original Republican Party (with which the nominal party of today has almost nothing in common) favored.
Legislate morality? The Constitution was designed to encourage and support morality, but in the end, that collective and individual choice falls on we the living.
"What the game board does not model in coming into the game with little or no capital and all the good spots already taken. It does not include sleeping under a bridge if you go bust." Great idea for a revised game? Bronx-Watts Monopoly!
And we have regulation. Market control? Even China is having trouble with that, and their population works harder than ours.
The post-20s reforms did not "more evenly" distribute rights. Where does that idea come from?
And here is the Trump affect all over the world and I’ve been talking about. Over the past decade, more than half of Latin America’s nations have voted socialists out. From large countries like Argentina to tiny ones like El Salvador, socialists have been replaced with conservative leaders who've made significant progress turning their economies around.
Try harder there’s your answer. This is a country where everybody can try to get as great as they want to get and the harder they work the greater they get the richer they get they’re more fulfilling. They get the more accolades they get the more creature comfort for their family they get or you could move to some shit Whole socialist country where everybody suffers equally. Have a good time.
Well, Biden caused it. What do you wanna do about it now? Joe Biden two months after he took off his 20% increase in grocery prices because of his shutting off all the petroleum and all the crude oil around everywhere we could get it. Four months later gas prices doubled. We’re over two dollars a gallon and 451 was the average price for a year and a half Trump only got to that number 451 for six weeks and Biden’s high Number across the country was five dollars and one cent. Then he tripled mortgage rates and then he got inflation to only 9% great job Joe and you want to protect the vote. You should protect yourself from wanting to hurt yourself for lying to yourself so much.
Please. What national security issues are at stake? The president's security? I believe the real national security threat is the danger that the American people face if Trump, his minions, toadies, and favorite oligarchs are allowed to hide out in an impenetrable bunker with the nuclear codes, and we are unable to dig him out of there without setting off a worldwide catastrophe. I would not put it past these monsters to bring us to this point. If Trump is in danger from an assassin or attack, then he has brought that on himself with his recklessness. Frankly, it would be fitting for Mr. Trump to suffer some consequences at long last.
It is the true story of Hitler and his Third Reich's last 10 days while hiding out in their bunker under Berlin and how they partied and laughed while their civilian comrades were being massacred right outside their bunker.
It is written by Traudl Junge, Hitler's own personal secretary.
I'm sure trump and miller have the EXACT SAME PLANS!!
Don the Con flew away and left most everyone else on the tarmac and decoy plane as bait or some cruel taunt or even desiring tragedy for personal gain...
Donold would make it a McDonald's as it's already got his name on it, comes with golden arches and easy access to shovel his routine 1/4 pounders, filet o'fish & Big Macs into his disgusting Jabba the Hut face, that horrible, hateful orifice of a mouth.
Ha ha, you are so much better at branding than Donold. But I do like the filet o'fish....Wouldn't a food cart be the first place to look for him? How about a mobile weight room, art exhibit, science lab--what else would you suggest?
They might as well paint a big target on top of whatever it is they are building, all of the spy satellites have been watching it’s progress, anyone that thinks he would run in there when he could run away is nuts.
Republicans have been running up the debt in order to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They have convinced the younger generations that those programs won’t be there for them so more and more are screaming that shouldn’t have to pay taxes into it. And if that happens it won’t be there for anyone.
M A Porter, your comment needs to be amplified many times. Consequences - his greasy fat enables him to slither out of their grip. I want him to feel powerless. And suffer acutely.
If our current crop of cruel Republicans had been around then, social security would never have passed. You know, socialism. Also see: people becoming lazy what with $200/month.
Social security is, of course, socialism, born during capitalism's worst social and economic failures, put together by a woman who had seen up front what government failures and the unwillingness to use the 'general welfare' clause of the Constitution cost us, reaching deep into America's longtime roots of community ethos, shared sacrifice, and generosity of spirit to come up with something better.
And America thrived, as a result. That's the true idiocy of Republicans trying now to re-enact some new, bizarre version of the red scare as Trump wants them to. For socialism didn't just save capitalism's ass, it saved grandma's. And so did Medicare and Medicaid, the FDA, OSHA, the FDIC -- all those programs, first enacted during the Progressive Era and continuing all the way down to the Great Society. They've saved us from the worst parts of ourselves, made us stronger, better, happier, and vastly more prosperous than we would have been without them.
That's the real debate the Democratic Party should have with every Republican who thinks embracing this warmed over Trumpian-McCarthyist bullshit makes sense. Because the track record of blending socialism with capitalism is actually a pretty damn good record to run on.
Let us also ad that private social programs and groups like the Salvation Army are....socialism....just that it is a chosen contribution and the group has the power to deny help, unlike the government programs (except when it came to certain groups) are designed to help those these private groups deny. That is one thing many of these people that hate government program hate - support going to "those" people.
There's a problem, though, with these socialist programs if you want to call them that. They are going broke. Social Security and Medicare are running out of money over the next decade and the solution Dems want to consider is raising the payroll tax wage cap for Soc Sec. That would not be shared sacrifice.
underfunding and over regulation. That is the conservative strategy on government programs. However, they have discovered a better way to break these programs - start giving public funds to the private organizations who have no regulation. That is what they are doing with educational voucher money. that ole standard idea that the private sector can do everything better.....
That would help the Social Security Trust Fund last several years longer, but it would not be the shared sacrifice that It's Come to This referred to above. I'm not sure anyone receives more than $100K per yr from Soc Sec; I don't know. If the payroll tax cap is removed AND those paying more receive no increase in their benefits from that change, maybe that will impose a $100K cap by itself, and make Soc Sec an even better deal for the lower income retiree than it already is, compared to the poor deal it is for higher income retirees.
Kelli, can’t we use Tony Judt’s term and say “social democracy”? It fits with Frances Perkins very well and keeps the “terrible word” (Stalin?) “socialism” out of the discussion.
Judt’s recommendation for US was what he called “social democracy”
and his definition of the term was what all true Democrats seek.
True, Judith, but many Americans freak out at “socialism,” the word, considering it the equivalent of Russian Communism. Having learned “social democracy” from reading Judt, I recognize the connection to FDR and Frances Perkins, understanding that presidents Truman and Johnson were extending their work toward a better democracy for all.
At the beginning she poses the fat, cosmeticized bully still trying to lord it over all other parts of the federal government -- still assuming himself and his ego to be the pinnacle of all the rest of our hopes and needs.
And then the bulk of her text -- where decent people held government office in the past and exercised decencies on behalf of the American people who needed them.
Our midterms coming will test this contrast. The massive incompetence mixed with arbitrary, cold-blooded murder to make America cruel and nothing more than that. And the possible uniting of Dem and independent voices for our older, more venerable traditions.
Will some of these candidates for the Nov. 3 elections also cite some of the great songs that have held Americans together? -- some of the great movies that have been repositories and showcases of our hopes? -- our novels, our essayists, our historians, our travel writers across landscapes and cuisines? Could Nov. 3 also be apex of our celebrations?
Too many still support chump’s efforts to deal with minorities who have gotten too uppity. Women included. The midterms may give us celebration or grief. It will be a battle for our soul. Dems need to grow spines and bring heavy artillery to the fight. Enough strongly-worded letters…
Just saw a Nicolle Wallace bit, JD, on criminal Donald's massive tilt to white collar crime.
He's having his DoJ stop investigations of corporate fraud at the highest levels -- and investigate instead any instances of very small charges at lowest levels among U.S. racial minorities.
He's openly pardoning the worst of U.S. white collar criminals -- and raking in hundreds of millions in pay-back from them. For criminal Donald, it's all a game -- like the games played by Putin, Netanyahu,, Mohammed bin Salman, Erdogan, Sisi, and others of the world's most corrupt.
Trouble is, Donald may use his multi-billion-dollar war chest to subsidize the most criminally inclined of white, male, corrupt, thugs running for office in these midterms.
Some Dems are making this blatant, highest-level criminality an issue. Will the masses of Americans connect that to the prices of gas, groceries, day care, elder care, pharmaceuticals, and health care?
Wow. Staggeringly beautiful, this poem. My mom worked at a textile factory at age 15 in the early 1900s. Sweatshop labor under brutal bosses for a pittance in wages that all went to the boarding house where she slept.
Hard to like this. My mom worked in a hosiery mill all her life and raised eight kids. Fortunately, my daddy worked in one too so we were the working poor. Hardship made us tough but no brutality. The owners made all the money as they do now.
I keep pressing that corruption of this administration is happening with republican leadership permission. It should be a central issue up and down the ballot. You support this administration, you are a crook.
JD, I have to say, you are hitting the right tone here. I have noted in the past that although it is White Supremacy, there are a lot of women and people of color in MAGA all the way up to Clarence Thomas. Look at the J6ers and note the number of white women and men of color in that crowd. Then look at ICE, BCP and see the same. All these people right now are welcome in the group as they terrorize America, but eventually they will be told to stand back to make room for the new white immigrants. Their replacement time is coming as it has started in the southern states where white immigrants are replacing black workers. Once Thomas is out of the court, you thin Leo and that crew will be letting him join them on trips or will he be just not told of their gatherings? These white power folks are more than happy to let women and minorities in as the group gains power, but once they have it, women and minorities better know their place. I think there will be some very shocked people.
You see clearly. I always wondered who it was besides Harlan Crow, who convinced the Trojan Horse Thomas to betray his people and the country. And same with Ginny, who will be kicked to the curb when no longer useful. But they did rewrite the Gospels when WWJD didn’t fit their narrative, so maybe more fiction in store. Still, smart and stupid have never been mutually exclusive when ego involved. Regardless, their damage has been significant and on going.
Avoiding the cataclysm should have started with W, at the latest. Sadly, the cost has risen because too many democrats didn’t want to seem the “bad guys.” Now the vipers are entrenched and rules are just inconveniences.
You actually sound like an eighth grade child That’s what children did talk about peoples physical features when they were in an eighth grade or maybe it was sixth grade maybe I’m giving you too much credit. God, I’ve never seen such a bunch of losers altogether and one it’s like an ocean of losers, an ocean of losers, an ocean of haters on Ocean of dummies overeducated dummies.
FDR had charisma, perseverance, and political skill. But it was only after he learned compassion and empathy for the less fortunate that he became the great leader he was. And from whom did he acquire these essential characteristics? From two women who were [among] his closest and most influential partners: Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins.
Thank you for placing these two stories in contrast. I can't imagine what people in the "Greatest Generation" who lived through the Great Depression and WWII would say about what is happening here now. I can't believe it myself. Every day, a new horror show.
The GOP has been working to dismantle the New Deal and Great Society programs forever and they are painfully close. “Drumpf Accounts” is the camel’s nose under the tent.
Let's be clear - it is the conservative/libertarians that are the enemies of working people. Eisenhower had some great ideas, even Nixon, that worked for the people. Once the libertarian platform got folded into the Reagan administration, the GOP devolved to the fascist party they are now.
You fucking people are so blindest pathetic and you didn’t learn anything from Hillary Clinton… she said basket of deplorable’s. You fucking guys are not the basket of the floors you’re the ocean of deplorable.
America is the richest nation on Earth. The problem is that it is not particularly generous, and there are a lot of Americans that no one cares about. We're also a little weak in the morality department - see, Epstein files delayed release.
Not particularly generous, the world would be gone. If not the United States you forgot World War II the only war we won since then. Is World War II and now we’re winning in Iran and that’ll be over.
Meanwhile, GOP says hold my beer while we systematically dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Johnson said they'd be working on that after summer hiding is over.
Little did she know or could have predicted the mean spiritedness of the vile and cruel republican party..the party that saves the children, for what, they have no idea.
The contrast here is almost painfully clear. Frances Perkins looked at suffering and asked what government could do to make ordinary lives more secure. Trump looks at government and asks what it can do for him.
That’s what I find so infuriating. Public power is supposed to carry obligations to people beyond the person who holds it. When that obligation disappears, government stops being a public trust and starts becoming personal property.
The people are not an audience for the presidency. They are the reason the presidency exists.
Trump believes he is a “rugged individualist” while cheating and grifting his way through our government. He just takes whatever he wants and dares us to stop him. Well the courts have stopped him in some situations, but Congress has failed miserably. They do not even try to pretend that they work for the people. We have Corporate politicians now. They work only for their Corporate donors and it must stop!
And right now Congress is on recess. A paid 4 week vacation on top of their ever so grueling 3 day work-week and $179 per diem when they are in Washington. Unless, of course you live within driving distance of the Capital. Then you have to suck it up and pay for your own meals. I'm surprised that we never hear complaints from the Republican politicians that live close to the DC. I mean they are forced to scrape by on $174,000 a year. Oh, the inhumanity.
No wonder the Republicans cut or reduced the SNAP and WIC benefits for millions of Americans. If they have to suffer, then so should the underprivileged, especially the ones that make the Federal minimum wage that they refuse to raise of $7.25 an hour.
Clearly when the "Leader of the Free World" cowers in a catering truck and locks the Free Press and his "second tier loyal staff" into a decoy airplane so he may personally escape the threats that "he, and only he" brought upon himself, then "he and only he" self ordained himself as King TACO.
By contrast, Churchill stood outside his "war room" bunker in London night after night, to observe blitzkrieg raids on his city. George Washington lead his men into battle, and across the Potomac to lead the fight, not run from it.
As yourself, why does King TACO even need a big beautiful bunker to cower in when world leaders like Volodymyr Zelinsky literally stands with his troops on the battlefield.
Trump's "that's not nearly long enough" reaction to our American soldiers in combat in Trump's War typifies his "Trump First / America Last" focus.
Donald, everyone is saying "When you are born a coward, and you live as a coward, you will go the way of a coward, as Hitler did in his bunker".
Every Trump is a coward--his Fascist parents, his Fascist grandparents, his kids, his grandkids. Why isn't anyone in the press asking Baron why he hasn't enlisted to support his old man's war, or Tai Trump? She could sign up right now.
All, except Mary L. Trump. She has been absolutely visionary concerning her rabid infested cognitively demented uncle.
I'm sure Baron is too important for such a menial task.
I think the poor lad inherited the bone spurs that afflicted his brave and courageous father. We all know that Papa Trump would have enlisted in the Marines and boldly hopped on the first plane to Vietnam if only he didn't have those painful bone spurs.
I prefer describing him as a "TOFU TACO" T only f's up.
Yup.
I thought it pretty amusing that Trump after frequent boasts of being the “most powerful person,” explained making his staff and reporters decoys in Air Force 1 the result of Secret Service conclusions.
I’ll bet the decoys were relived that they were expendable by virtue of bureaucrat decisions rather than Presidential cowardice.
Wondering if that is why Caroline left...maybe feeling a bit betrayed? Seeing the real king and how he treats is loyal subjects?
So I would hope...or perhaps she was super offended by Trump's crude personal assessment, that he asked her to step down because she hasn't lost the pregnancy weight and always smells like breast milk. How he can tell how anyone else smells, over his own less-than-pleasant odors is something I have difficulty understanding, but who knows.
She just really needs to take off her MAGAt blinders and ear plugs, that's for sure.
That's Executive Odor. SCOTUS allows it
He always always always reminds me of the general in Men of Honor, who said with disgust that Black people shed tiny skin particles. He was in a post high up and so far from anyone, yet his viscerally based biased dictated his every move, and he had power. Sick man, this president of ours. But that is not news. You reminded me of the film again here though.
Karoline--very Eastern European spelling
So?
His royal name should be Pres. Midas.
Excellent post, Paul. Thank you.
Brilliant, and very succinctly put.
REPUBLI CONS need reaming out on the floor amidst their colleagues, no holds barred! NOW!
Their ears will not hear. Their eyes will not see. The GOP has so utterly debased itself that not one person with any courage remains.
They are shameless.
Trump is the farthest thing possible from rugged, unless you are talking about what he wears on his head...
That piss mop he shamelessly wears on his head is finally good for something - It inspired your excellent pun. Thank you!
John, nice one First smile of the am. Thank you.
And Michele, my first real laugh 😆
We have a felon as chief of this country. He benefits from anything put into place by FDR and so do we all. He and his cronies have managed to destroy what we have always held dear but as Heather says, “we’ve been here before”. We are fighting back and we will be successful.
In the end we are going to go after every dime that he and anyone connected to him has grabbed, and punish them severely for having stolen from us, we are going to be so focused they will wish they had never been born.
Make it so, Number One!
Without a constituency, and with its current mis-use of the shadow docket,
the present Supreme Court also has done its share of failing miserably. At least in Congress one glimpses occasional sparks of integrity or courage.
Alas, there is no balm in Gilead: this Executive is a lost cause.
This Supreme Court has succeeded brilliantly for their owners!
Surely there is wood in the so called “Supreme “ Court, that can catch fire?
Mike Johnson - Speaker in Name Only.
He's supposed to be the Speaker of the House, not the conveyor to the House. He's not actually subservient to the president. I wish his colleagues would inform him of this.
I would love to see the people of Louisiana show Mike Johnson just how disposal he is. What a slime ball.
Swbv, I'm of an opinion that his only "colleagues" are republican Trump sycophants. I cannot fathom nor even imagine that any self-respecting democrat would ascend to calling him/herself a "colleague" of Mikey (let's give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything) Johnson.
He's just sweaty little Johnson, bending his knee to death star.
He slept with Mom way too long!
Not Congress - republicans in Congress.
Rickey, there are so few Democrats standing tall, speaking out and pushing back, I think it's fair to go ahead and call the Congress cowards.
The heroes know who they are. And so do we.
Dale Rowett AR OK VA PA NY,
So grateful for our heroes who are bravely standing and speaking out.
We must stand NOT BEHIND THEM BUT BESIDE THEM!
There seem to be few in number who are willing to place country before money and personal power BUT THOSE FEW ARE MY HEROES AND HEROINES!
MAY WE SUPPORT THEM AS WE ARE ABLE. THEY NEED TO KNOW THEY ARE NOT BATTLING ALONE!!!
Dale, everyday I hear Dems and non repubs speaking out. My list is too long to mention. Look for these men and women and you will find them.
Marj, I hear them too. Unfortunately, they are a minority within the larger Democratic Party.
Like the ancient medieval war practices he’s raping, pillaging and plundering.
That contrast is key here, and despite over a decade of monumental changes in the civil rights movement brought by Perkins and others, here we are with what’s left of our democracy, if we can keep it. Trump is betting on no.
"to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,"
Don't tell Donnie that.
He'll have your head lopped off.
His parts should have been LOPPED JAN. 6!!
Ben Franklin worried about getting hung.
Actually the most relevant quote comes from the preamble to our Constitution. Something about ‘promoting the general welfare’, ,right? Most interesting what the right wing often makes of the word.
You give him too much credit for rationality.
We have to make sure he loses that bet. Or we ALL lose. Bigly.
Hello Kelli... Frances Perkins is a True Hero of American Society... She had Academic Credentials, she was effective because she was Pragmatic, and she could adjust her efforts....
Frances.
As a Mainer I am doubly proud of Frances Perkins's amazing work. As a 5th generation Nebraskan, I wish HCR would do a letter on the great Senator George W. Norris, the father of rural electricity and the author of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution. He was a progressive Republican who served in the Senate from 1913 to 1943. He was better known as the father of the Tennessee Valley Authority which brought electricity to rural America Southeast and led to the formation of the REA which brought electricity to most of the rest of rural America. He also, lobbied Nebraskans to switch from a bi-cameral legislature to a unicameral system to save money. He drove to all 93 Nebraska counties to lobby for the change. As a Nebraskan that has lived in 10 different states, the Unicameral system is no better or worse than the 9 bicameral legislatures I have endured.
Perkins' last words in today's letter are haunting. "One thing I know: Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, no political group could possibly destroy this Act and still maintain our democratic system. It is safe. It is safe forever, and for the everlasting benefit of the people of the United States.”
Social Security is no longer safe--Trump and his oligarch puppetmasters, with their continuing quest to accumulate all of the wealth in this country, have their minions in Congress ready to reduce the benefits that we have paid for with deductions from payment for our labor. They are indulging Trump in his narcissistic follies to gain his acquiescence to what they contemplate will be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in American history, alongside the theft of land from the indigenous people and the forced labor of the slaves.
The oligarchs will say cuts to all of the social safety net will be in the name of "fiscal responsibility" and reducing the national debt so we do not burden our children. I share those concerns, but the answer is not to pick our pockets to solve them. The answer is straightforward--take back the tax cuts to the rich and corporations in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" and more. As FDR said, “Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”
According to the SSA's 2026 Trustees Report summary, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is projected to be depleted in 2032. At that point, continuing income would be sufficient to pay 78% of scheduled benefits.
Read the opening quote again. Perkins is prescient about the destruction of Social Security being coupled to the destruction of our democratic system. We will no longer be leaning towards authoritarianism and oligarchy, we will be one.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TRSUM/
Help me understand, Georgia. Isn't it true that one reason Social Security is in trouble because its funds have been used to pay for other things the government wanted to support?
Not just that, Lynell; the cap on only $400,000 as taxable income is a problem. If you put another zero and a comma, it still would not hit the uber-weathy since their income isn't, by definition "earned" but rather "valued".
The cap on income level for contributions to SS I believe is $147,000. That cap needs to be removed and that solves the SS funding problem. Bernie is suggesting this.
Exactly right, Ally. Or, as the late, great Leonard Cohen would sing,
"Everybody knows the fight is fixed, the poor stay poor while the rich get rich;
That's how it goes,
Everybody knows"
Yes, SS has been "borrowed" into the general budget.
"The government" - meaning, Trump?
Actually, Anne-Louise, I think it started before Trump. There's a boatload of articles about this question. Here's one of them:
https://legalunitedstates.com/does-the-government-borrow-from-social-security-to-fund-federal-programs/
I think of it as borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
And, Georgia, never mind! I did a search and found many articles to explain what's going on with our SS funds.
OK. Thanks, Lynell.
Not True! A myth with no factual basis.
Excess of Income (primarily FICA payroll taxes) over expenses (overwhelming benefit payments) is invested in U. S. Treasury securities. Currently, and for the past several years, benefits are greater than income, and those securities are redeemed to pay my monthly benefit.
You could read any recent Social Security Trustees Report to verify this.
As the Trustees commented in their introductory statement to the first report, in 1941:
"Hence the essential assurance of future financial soundness of the system, with its rising rate of disbursement, rests on a graduated increase in contribution rates or provision of income from other sources, or both."
Bill, both are true. I think it was shrub Bush that raided Social Security for various things. Restructuring of the definition of "income" would certainly insure that those uber-wealthy that do not derive their wealth from income (work for pay) but rather investment and stock values pay something close to their "fair share".
Please note: I am not an economist, and as someone who has a lifelong struggle with numbers, I am NOT exact in any of my calculations.
Thanks for your input, Ally, and morning!
😁
Yes the government may use borrowed funds to finance any programs.
I buy four week Treasury Bills. I do not tell the Treasury what they may spend my money on. I just want to get my investment back. So far, I have.
Thanks, Bill. Good to know I have read that the fund's surplus is invested in Treasury bonds (?), but is its destiny of being "bankrupt" because there are less working-age citizens who contribute to the fund?
Yes; fewer in proportion to the number of retired folks, due to declining birth rates in the past.
The simple solution which politicians will not address is to raise the cap, or have no cap. If a cap is raised to $500,000 or $1M, that would address the issue of continuity of Social Security. If this had been done at the beginning of "woe is me, the sky is falling" we would have solved the problem.
Get rid of the cap and tax any kind of "income."
Georgia, you raise some important concerns about Social Security and that it is no longer safe. Yes, it is no longer safe. Republicans constantly tell us Social Security will run out in 10 +/- years. We need to raise the cap on Social Security. At present the cap is $184,500. In other words Musk or any billionaire etc would only pay in what someone who earns $184,500. Perhaps the cap can be taken out all together and billionaires would pay into the fund commensurate with what they earn.
Another Republican fix would be to privatize Social Security. If we privatize Social Security, we would need to change the fund's name to Social Insecurity because if we take our Social Security fund and tie it to the stock market, our elderly would be on the wildest roller coaster ride of their life.
Except the billionaires have all the money to buy all the lobbyists and lawyers to prevent them from having to pay their fair share, hence the oligarchy.
Absolutely, privatizing social security (and proposed medicare change to medicate advantage) scares the bejesus out of this 81-year old that worked until 80 to secure a small amount of savings. I rely entirely on my contributions to the fund. The companies and non-profits in my resume offered little in the way of a liveable wage and nothing resembling a pension process.
"One thing I know: Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, no political group could possibly destroy this Act and still maintain our democratic system." Add to this, Georgia, that the SCOTUS has deemed SS not to be a guaranteed pay out regardless of how much US citizens have paid into it. Of nearly all the decisions handed down by the Trump infested Supremes, this is one that is most baffling to me.
Deplete first grader Trump from every breath, plug those tiny nostrils up with his diaper fillings…….pop the yellow pus from his syphilis eyes, now!
Doris, I first read your name as "Cloris" as in Leachman, as in a scene from, oh, Young Frankenstein. Then you just wrote a better script!
Pretty prescient yourself there, Georgia!
According to his own autobiographical memoir, New Horizons, in late 1933, Dr. Francis Townsend the 66 year old looked out his rear window and saw several elderly women picking through his garbage cans for food.
Enraged by the injustice & poverty facing the elderly, & personally powered by his professional belief "to do no harm & heal", Dr. Townsend wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Dr.Townsend's "compassionate" not rugged individualism led to the creation of the Townsend Plan aka "Old Age Revolving Pensions". This macroeconomic plan proposed that the government give $200 a month to every citizen over 60, provided they spend it within 30 days to stimulate the economy.
The good doctor's massive movement ultimately pressured Washington & heavily influenced the creation of the Social Security Act of 1935 created by Perkins, FDR & others.
13 years later in 1948 I was born in Long Beach at Memorial Hospital in a world that just been cleared of the Fascist Axis by the "Greatest Generation".
Collectively, we must all step-up now.
$200 a month for seniors in 1935! That would be $4600 a month in 2026!
I've been on Social Security for 15 years, and I receive just under $900 a month. My cost-of-living adjustment this year was $24. It's based on core CPI (excluding food, energy, Social Security and Medicare deductions, etc.), not on the money it takes to sustain a life.
I did a lot of research and came to this:
There's an insurmountable gap between reality and the current policy (similar to the gap between the minimum wage and a truly sustainable wage). You can work hard all your life, but if you're living hand-to-mouth all that time, your contribution to the fund will be low. And then when your health or stamina decline... and rising prices make you spend even more to sustain your life... you fall deeper into poverty.
Social Security 2100 Act (introduced in June):
"The legislation would increase benefits for current and new beneficiaries by eliminating the Social Security tax cap and by adding a tax on investment income for taxpayers making over $400,000. Additionally, the bill would utilize an improved cost-of-living adjustment to more accurately take into account true costs incurred by seniors and implement a stronger minimum benefit, so an individual who works their whole life will not retire into poverty."
https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-introduces-bill-strengthening-social-security
I asked Gemini for specifics:
Flat-Dollar COLA: To stop the rich from getting richer from the system while the poor stay poor.
Those who start out with plenty, get plenty more... figured by the increase in what it takes to maintain their standard of living... while those with a substandard of living continue in poverty. A COLA that reflects the actual monetary increase gives the poor a fighting chance.
Real Minimum Benefit: Tied to actual living costs (like the MIT Living Wage), not a 1960s food formula.
This eliminates the inequity I mentioned at the start. Apparently it's still based on 125% of the "official poverty line," which is ridiculously underestimated, but it would almost double my monthly income.
CPI-E: Measures inflation based on what seniors actually need to pay for (healthcare, housing, food, energy, etc.)
Thanks for reading.
You can add another aspect of SS which the factor of longevity imposes.
I’m 91 and my wife is 85. I have cerivical and lumbar stenosis that is limiting my mobility.
My wife has memory problems.
We live alone in a small house.
But the costs of maintaining ourselves is eating lifetime savings.
I dread the idea of living to 100 at which point I would be broke and we hapless.
It seems the more we care for ourselves and live longer the more peril we live in.
We need a forest of WhiteTrees.🙏
When my father died in 1957, it was through the work of Perkins, Townsend, FDR and others, that enabled my mother to fend off those who wanted to take her two children from her because she didn't have a husband to support us.
Morning, Lynell! Excellent first person account of the power of Social Security and its adjuncts!
Thanks, Ally; and morning! to you a second time...
My retired WWII USCG Veteran father-in-law died at 64, had fortunately signed up for the Survivor Benefit plan that provided my WWII USCG SPAR Veteran mother-in-law 55% of his retirement pay for the 29 years she outlived him. My dad had also signed up for the plan but bemoaned what he considered wasted premium money since my mother died at 69, 6 years before he passed at almost 80.
Though never rich by some standards, at least my mother-in-law had a comfortable life for the 29 years she outlived my father-in-law. A millionaire relative in the late 1800s, early 1900s was penniless at the end depending upon the charity of friends that charged nothing for his living accommodations.
And I, Bryan, one year before you, at Glendale hospital, next to Pasadena.
My mother and father gave me the middle name "Errol" -- my mom having gone to the 1930s Saturday movie, double-feature matinees every week of her youth (but denied having named me, at least middle name, for Errol Flynn).
My mother's side of the Family ended up near the end of Route 66 in South Pasadena CA aka "SouthPass".
Wow, a little swash-buckley but, I strongly suggest you sign off as 'Phil Errol Balla'.
I helped pick up a donated Kit Fox project plane in South Pasadena for our college Aeronautics program, and knew coworker engineers that moved there way back when it was far more affordable than when I worked in Pasadena. I ended up living 45 miles east of where I worked on Sierra Madre Villa across from the old Burroughs facility. After years of searching for the Malibu Grand Prix track (used in the CHIPs TV series). I found out it was as stone's throw away but, by the time I worked there, had a Chicago Title building and parking lot. It is now a Kaiser Permanente Urgent Care/Pharmacy
Gotta a family member who is a Kaiser Tech Supervisor. FYI, Everybody ... in an urgent-care emergency 🚑 you must be taken to the closest hospital🏥.
If we had more women in leadership, we'd have more compassion-based departments and laws. Period. And cherry-picking MAGA women to disprove that statement is BS. I'm talking about the majority of women vs. the majority of men - women are more compassionate or at the very least, NOT sociopathic predators and criminals.
I keep saying we need to find a smart career mom with 3 kids and integrity to be president of the US because that lady knows how to get sh-t done.
Alexandra, I agree that we need more women in government, and not the glamorous tokens.
But I'm "woke" enough to believe that publicly stating sexist generalizations is neither accurate nor helpful, regardless of what part of the gender pool you stand in.
Dale, I believe it's supremely unhelpful to ignore the statistics on the percentage of sociopathy, violence and antisocial behavior in men vs. the percentage of the same behaviors in women. There is no contest. The problem of violence, abuse and abusive leaders will never be solved if you ignore those basic facts. You want something helpful? Then help. Do something about the violent men.
Alexandra, I've read a little about your background. I understand why you feel that men are "sociopathic predators and criminals." You've spent your whole adult life with that sort of men. When that's your point-of-view, studies that reinforce it resonate.
This is not an issue of "ignoring statistics." My objection is to your suggestion that ALL men are "sociopathic predators and criminals." The logical extension of that POV is that we should just incarcerate all men and let God sort them out later.
It's not my job to do something about violent men any more than it is yours. Wanna help? Maybe don't write books that portray men as sociopathic predators and criminals.
You are completely misquoting me.
How does "percentage of men" mean ALL men? That is your knee-jerk, extremely defensive interpretation. If you look at exactly what I said - "The statistics on the percentage of sociopathy, violence and antisocial behavior in men vs. the percentage of the same behaviors in women" - you will see for yourself exactly what I'm talking about and why I talk about it. Then we can talk.
But if you think it's not your job - whose job is it?
And you clearly don't know anything about my books or the men I write about.
Alexandra ... how do I get one of those cool red checks in a red circle like you﹖I thought I would get something for taking Substack Inc to mediation on their TOU.
The contrast is indeed painfully clear. Frances Perkins had studied chemistry, physics, economics and sociology. Now, the department of “defense” is led by a Fox “News” anchor who knows nothing and is cosplaying general Lee.
He needs a closet to be locked into, at his mother’s, until his end!
Absolutely. It would be better for the whole world.
Those people (the Framers or Founders or whatever you like to call them) are long gone now and the presidency exists by virtue of your Constitution which empowers the executive. Even if you wanted to amend the Constitution you would need to overcome the various hurdles included in the document which would be hard to imagine in the current polarised politics of the United States.
You need a new Constitution, written in modern English, not lending itself to pernicious conservative legal doctrines like Originalism and the Unitary Executive. A new document needs to protect the social and economic rights of Americans as well as their individual rights.
I can't believe you come here very day -- as a foreigner -- to post essentially absolutist "you-should-do-this" rubbish, without the slightest trace of moderation, much less humility.
A new Constitutional Convention would first have to be summoned in order to write a new Constitution. You don't get one without the other. And that is the absolute worst idea I have ever heard. A million nutjobs out there are dying for a "new" Constitution to formally deprive millions of their voting franchise, to ensure individuals-- rather than state militias -- are armed to the teeth, establish a state religion, remove trial by jury, cement oligarchy and remove every single right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness our Bill of Rights guarantees each of us, no matter our race, origin, language, gender, sexual orientation, political persuasion. At her recent appearance at Washington's National Cathedral earlier this year, Heather was asked about this, and her response was something like: "no, no, no, no, no, no, absolutely not" for exactly these reasons.
Constitutional amendments, by contrast, have been enacted since the signing of the Constitution itself. Our Founders laid out how the process is supposed to move, and it has, at least 25 times now. As Pete Buttigieg likes to say, don't tell me we can't use this process to ban Citizens United or pass the long-dormant Equal Rights Amendment. After all, we had TWO amendments involving people buying a beer --- one to stop it, the other to annul the first one.
Perfection is frequently the true enemy of the good, especially in our history. The last thing America needs is a new absolutist philosophy that demands we re-invent the wheel as the price for daring to move forward.
The real problem is not the Constitution itself, but the fact that America now has a president and a Supreme Court who simply ignore it. No law can withstand the power of denial…
Just the work on the ballroom proves your example. The administration is dedicated to criminal conduct regardless of the law.
The record of the past year demonstrates disregard of any regulation or protocol regarding limits on Presidential power. Pure ignorant arrogance is destroying our Law and order.
What is really destroying our democracy is the people too ignorant or lazy to vote. And those who believe the rugged individual and strong daddy caring for his family,who needs government? myth.
Jen, what is really destroying our democracy are a press owned by oligarchs, gerrymandering and the Electoral College.
Ignorant and disenfranchised voters are the result, not the cause.
Exactly this.
Pure INTENTIONAL arrogance. In their own minds they are Gods chosen ones.
Dutch Mike, you alluded to the real problem, but muddied it up a little.
The real problem is the Judiciary Act of 1789, then authorized by Article III of the Constitution.
These were the federal acts that created the U.S. Supreme Court, endowed with supreme power above all other branches of government, federal, state and local; whose members are selected by partisan U.S. presidents to remain on the bench for life, unless they voluntarily choose to retire.
Those federal acts were based on the absurd assumptions that the persons chosen would somehow be above the usual human frailties of greed and avarice, and life expectancy would always remain around sixty-some years.
Were it not for the corrupt Roberts Court, we would not have a scofflaw president.
That is really a big flaw in the democratic system right there...
The framers of the constitution added article V which allowed it to be amended. They never expected it to be static. They meant for it to be updated as the country grew and modernized. As you point out, we don't need a "new" constitution, we need to amend it to suit the times we live in. The same can be said of laws that are on the books that are extremely outdated and have left too many loopholes for those who would use those loopholes to exploit for their own gain. This, I believe, is the way forward. However, it is going to take a big change in the electorate to do it.
It's also going to take a big change in both sides of government. And that change isn't going to come from within.
Even FDR wasn't sure Perkins plan would work - she had to keep the pressure on.
All "Representatives" do is "represent" the people - and some of them aren't too bright. (Tuberville, anyone?)
I today’s politics you don’t need to be bright or intelligent. You just need someone with lots of money to back you. That is definitely a big problem that needs to change. Citizens United needs to go. Rich people only get one vote and corporations should not get any votes, let alone millions of them.
Damn Straight!!
Milady, I have written before, and I'll repeat myself ...
Until the Reagan era, elected office was understood to be a public service. Since then, elected office has been regarded as an investment opportunity. Anyone who exits Congress with a net worth less than several million dollars is apparently doing it wrong.
As a very wise college level government instructor said, “Why end it when you can mend it?”
Of course, it is dangerously transparent how such an ending would go, particularly as this time period is. To that, I choose No.
Right now, the thought of a new constitution during the Trump era is too scary for me. The one we have has worked pretty well up till now, and can again. Even though there is a lot left to interpretation, I think that trying to tie things up too tightly is worse.
I think it's time (it's always time, but we've got a problem) to rethink a lot of stuff, but also to triage, and not throw out any babies with the bathwater.
". . . a lot left to interpretation," Susan?
Remember how the proto-fascist Long Dong Clarence court didn't even bother "to interpret" Article 14, Section Three.
That's the one that clearly bans anyone who'd joined any insurrection from any U.S. public office.
The three appointed by criminal Donald, plus John Roberts, Alito, and Long Dong Clarence all decided they and their far-right ideology are above the law, and needed to welcome the fat criminal and all his henchmen serving U.S. billionaires, money launderers, arms dealers, drug kingpins, beaters of Capitol police, and child sex traffickers.
Amend it! Yes! Do not ever have a Constitutional Convention..you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I remember years ago in Heather's first letters and lectures she was vehemently opposed to it for the reasons you clearly stated.
Americans should be grateful for any outside assistance they can get. Millions of Americans have their heads so far up trump's anus that they can no longer see where they are going.
He’s a giant pain in the ass. I’m going to give him shit every day from now on until he shuts the hell up.
John - how I wish this was a comment from MelaniaT-DC, rather than from you. . .
Zing! 🎯
ICTT, your comment is accurate, with one glaring exception, an egregious miscount of nutjobs in the U.S.
According to the most recent tally, there are approximately 77.3 million nutjobs in the U.S.
While I agree with you, Russell has a point, this system is broken, if you don’t believe that just think about the insipid orange turd being able to start a nuclear war, he has that power, and no one and nothing can stop him from doing it, if he chooses, all of us here think he’s insane, just how sane is it to allow him or anyone else that power? Then there’s what he’s doing using the most unqualified cabinet secretaries, pick any one of them, the system put them in place, they are taking a wrecking ball to our government just like he did to the East Wing, it’s gone and he’s rebuilding it the way he wants, so too every federal government department. We need to be thinking way outside the box, and like Humpty Dumpty there may be no way to put it back together again, I wish I could see a way forward, the mid-terms will tell the tale, if they happen. 🤬
He should have been injected with every bad thing, Jan. 6! Why was he not?
Hear hear!
Likely true but others already have plans for a new constitution, Charles Koch for one.
We have met the enemy. What Koch started, which was bad enough, has been hijacked by extremists that goes even farther than what he imagined. Project 2025 and its adherents must be vanquished if we are to save democracy. 70% of the cabinet members and over 140 appointees are now lodged in our government.
Cabinet members need to become “Charcoaled”!!
You again, telling us for the umpteenth time what we need to do. Well here’s what YOU need to do; shut the hell up and go away. Leave us alone, fix your own damned country, wherever that is. The last thing we need is your finger-wagging bullshit, as if we don’t know what the score is. Or move here, become a citizen, run for office and find out just how easy it all is. Not. If you really had any balls, you’d be posting your crap on fascist websites. My guess is you don’t because you couldn’t take the heat.
Hi, I'm new here. Where's the Ignore User button?
Click the circle next to the commenter's name to open their profile. Go to the 3 dots on the right after the upgrade and message buttons and choose mute, block, or report.
It can help to keep your blood pressure down when trolls are about, but I use it rarely because sometimes it is necessary to hear the truth from someone from outside the silo.
I use those buttons constantly, I refuse to listen to their lies or their rhetoric. Poof - gone!!
A Wild Kyogre, Georgia's instructions are accurate. Also, her caution is good advice.
There are a few trolls here (most notorious with a surname of Sender), but there are participants in these conversations who are truthful, 'though not very diplomatic. Oftentimes, they make valuable contributions to the discourse, even if their comments are unpleasant to read. For the best experience, use the "Block" button sparingly.
Russell, as others have vigorously disagreed, I'll add mine.
The U.S. Constitution is archaic, vague and incomplete. Imperfect as it is, it has restrained hot-headed dumbasses from taking us over a cliff on numerous occasions.
Problems with the Constitution have less to do with quaint language, which can still be understood, and more to do with its authors' failure to imagine what the future might bring. But even they recognized a few weeks' work couldn't possibly map out the future of a nation that might exist for hundreds of years. They expected their work to be amended. Thus, we more accurately refer to them as "framers," not authors.
The current attacks on our Constitution do reveal its weaknesses, but the attacks are also rebuffed by its strengths. For that reason, it needs amendments to plug the gaps and reinforce the weak parts. It does not need to be replaced, especially when the U.S. populace is less educated and more divided than ever.
Albert R Killackey, Esq. recently authored a memorandum to We the People which outlines the pitfalls that brought us so low, and proposes a comprehensive amendment to our Constitution. You can read it at UnitedWeAmend.org.
Russell, I assume you won't pay a lot of attention to ICTT who seems to think comments should be off-limits to a "foreigner" who is lacking in humility. (??) That's a bit of the pot calling the kettle... You might be off-base in calling for a Constitutional Convention, I agree. LOTS of unintended consequences would no doubt ensue. But most agree (with you, with ICTT, with many others) that our Constitution hasn't aged well and needs attention.
The current "presidency" is Trump's big reality show. Huge captive audience. He adlibs his way through each appearance. Not much of an actor, doesn't understand the basics of the art; no art needed for reality TV, it's an entertainment gimmick. His favourite portrait, the one he wants to see on the banknotes, is the picture taken of him just after he was convicted of felony. He seems to think he looks Churchillian. The White House is his stage set, which he keeps fiddling with instead of leaving it to a professional, with results that would be laughable if the situation weren't so sickeningly serious. He's not a politician. What's he doing there? Why isn't he removed while there's still time? (If not, what?) Asking for a friend.
republicans.
We could not believe the fake dude was foisted on national tv by NBC years ago! Who paid NBC off to present Trump as a worthwhile human being, full of hot air and a lying bastard???
Doris, as the expression goes, "it's complicated." As with all corporations, NBC likes to make money. But NBC wasn't "paid off" in the bribery sense.
Evangelical Brit, Mark Burnett (married to Roma Downey of "Touched by an Angel" fame) is a successful TV producer who specializes in so-called "reality" shows. His "Survivor" series was a huge success.
How is success measured? Audience share = higher advertising rates = more revenue.
Burnett sought to follow up on his "Survivor" success and came up with the idea of a contest where job applicants would demonstrate their entrepreneurial skills and "win" a job with a corporation. He shopped the idea to the networks and NBC bought in. Burnett just needed a corporate CEO to participate. He approached several and they turned him down because they were busy actually running their companies.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump was running his father's company into the ground and was about to be forced into another bankruptcy. As a last resort, Burnett approached Donald with the CEO role and sweetened the pot with an advance of a couple million dollars. Donald saw the show as a chance to bail himself out of bankruptcy and burnish his brand, so he jumped at the offer.
The Trump offices were so shabby, Burnett had to build an "executive suite" on a soundstage for the show. The contestants, the challenges, the winners, everything was pre-determined by the producers. Donald was just an actor playing a role, but he was so stupid, he couldn't remember his lines. They had to shoot hours of footage and splice it together just to make him sound sensical.
Mark Burnett created the mythical tycoon Trump. The show's advertising sponsors "paid off" NBC.
Thanks for that explanation. Now we are stuck waiting for his two diaper changers to “make a mistake” and cover his fat head!
''The Ballroom Defense Initiative''
>>Trump asks the Supreme Court to protect America’s most vulnerable national-security asset: his party room
Donald Trump has finally identified the weak point in America’s national defense.
It is not the electrical grid. Not cyberwarfare. Not our aging infrastructure, election systems, or the alarming possibility that somebody in Washington might someday read the Constitution.
It is the ballroom.
The Trump administration has now asked the Supreme Court to let construction continue on his roughly $400 million White House ballroom while the legal fight over the project works its way through the courts.
And because simply saying, “The president really wants a giant ballroom” apparently sounded insufficiently constitutional, government lawyers have reportedly invoked national security.
Of course they have.
The ballroom, we are told, is not merely a ballroom. It is part of an “integrated military complex,” which is a very Pentagon way of describing a place where donors may someday eat rubber chicken beneath enormous chandeliers.
Apparently somewhere between NORAD, the nuclear triad, and the Sixth Fleet sits America’s newest strategic deterrent: seating for 1,000.
One can only imagine the briefing.
“Mr. President, hostile drones have entered American airspace.”
“Scramble the chandeliers.”
Trump says the project includes bomb shelters, medical facilities, and defenses against drones and missiles. Fine. But burying a bunker beneath a ballroom does not magically turn the ballroom into Fort Knox any more than putting a first-aid kit in a casino turns it into Walter Reed.
The actual legal question is much simpler. An appeals court ruled that the president cannot simply undertake a massive alteration of the White House without congressional authorization.
That sounds almost quaint now.
Congress appropriates money. Presidents execute the laws. Courts resolve disputes. Basic civics, back when that was still considered part of governing rather than an irritating obstacle to it.
So Trump has gone to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to let him keep building while the appeal proceeds.
Perhaps they will.
This Court has spent years testing just how much presidential power the Constitution can absorb before the walls start cracking.
Still, the national-security argument is impressive in its own way. A ballroom has somehow become a matter of military necessity.
For generations, presidents worried about defending democracy.
Trump wants to defend the dance floor.
Apparently, the republic now rises or falls on whether the chandeliers get installed on schedule.
And it all simply MUST occur on the 'emergency' docket....No other way!
"But HURRY NOW! ACT NOW! This offer NOT available in stores! Free My Pillow to the first 8 Supreme Court Justices who act NOW! This offer expires soon! Operators are standing by! Cranes ready to destroy! Those chandeliers won't unpack themselves! HURRY! HURRY!...."
What "ballroom" has a militarized drone port on the roof, and a full medical facility in the basement? This is a bunker from which Trump will launch the only coup in American history.
You’ve posted this article repeatedly in this thread. We know about it; I wrote about the issue last week. At this point, reposting the same link over and over is just cluttering the conversation.
Trump steals billions from taxpayers and treats citizens as dirt. Pure greed. Criminality. Hat. Vicious. But he has co conspirators. Pure mafia crime family. American citizens are hostages.
Only American citizens hostages to the mob admin, JBR?
Iran? Greenland? Venezuela? Ukraine? West Bank and Gaza? Canada? All Pacific Ocean democracies near Taiwan?
Absulutely correct. Hes invading countries. Hes harming counties including us via tariffs. Hes pro Russian and pto fascistand treating Ukraine as a pariah. Hes a scourge. His existence is an argument that there is no god. How can evil fascist be so rewarded.
"When that obligation disappears, government stops being a public trust and starts becoming personal property."
AKA "tyranny".
Whatever he was when he first ran for the presidency, Trump today is a delusional, demented lunatic who endangers the very safety of the nation every hour he remains in office. Tell everyone you know: It’s past time to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Trump’s BALL needs removal, just before the STRAIT JACKET COMES ON!
I love your last sentence.
I would like to see more discussion from pundits and Democrats everywhere on the Next steps. A real plan of attack to get the $ out of politics . IMO the Dems need to focus on the economic hardships of the voter but tie it all in with the corruption in government. And how yo end it.IMO I crease seats in SCOTUS to 13 or 15 then thru legislation end Citizens United. Nothing changes if you don't do that.
Follow Pete Buttigieg in whatever media you can find him. Follow Robert Reich wherever you can find him. They are the only two Democrats I know of who are actually proposing plans for the future.
Some other Democrats are pushing back against Donald and his party, but are not acting as architects of what comes next.
Some dems are doing just this now Doreen. Ron Wyden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Pete Butigeig, Jamie Raskin, E Warren and the list goes on...
Kelli, it is "abundantly," not "almost painfully" clear that he and his billionaire Project 25 henchmen are criminals, and they care not a whit about what their "serfs" want or need. They all need to be removed - and he needs to be prosecuted, not merely impeached.
I can’t disagree, Nancy. At this point, “abundantly clear” is most certainly more accurate.
Kelli, your analysis is always spot-on.
Heather, thank you for reminding us about Frances Perkins. Like so many empathetic people running for office in the midterms, she looked for solutions for problems that prevented poor and marginalized people from getting what the Declaration of Independence promised them. I really like the actions being taken to make people’s lives better.
It seems to me a great aid to beneficial innovation is some degree of familiarity what has worked well in the past (and also what hasn't). We stand on the shoulders of giants, and all of humanity as well, for eons. What can the likes of Frances Perkins tell us that remains true today? Plenty, I would think.
And when I think of all the destruction being enacted by the demon in the White House, I understand how quickly people can be hoodwinked to believe anything.
Bill, he is the distraction. The real dangers are Vought, Miller, Heritage Foundation personnel in the administration
Apparently. Even "here".
Is there a Constitution party? Would that be a good name? Or the Pro American Party? Or the Pro Democracy party?
Make it The democracy Party, I think.
The independent party should rise up and be the party of democracy and freedom. Millions would switch their party allegiance.
I doubt it, Judy. Independents are viewed as "not for anything." It's not possible to attract followers and loyalists unless a group is •for• something. See my response to JBR.
Bernie Sanders considers himself an independent, and I, when you get down to it, consider myself independent too, although I have always registered as a Democrat. By "independent" I mean, whatever person of policy seems like the best choice. I don't draw my marching orders nor my opinions from my party, but with my party, and with rare and small exceptions, I tend to choose democrats over the alternative (including abstention) even if it's only the best of a disappointing lot. (I have voted for the Republican is two or three minor races when some in that party were still honorable). I attempt to see the big tent and the big picture.
I don't doubt or criticize your choices, JL. I'm sure there are many who share your views. My comment pertains mainly to how others view Independents, not how they view themselves, and how this fits into a marketing plan. Because – let's face it – EVERYTHING in the U.S. is marketed, and evaluated on its marketability, like it or not.
Although "Independent" is informally treated like a party, it's an adjective, not a party. There's no official Independent leadership nor platform. It's not even treated as a party in Congress. Independents must choose to caucus with a party in order to wield any amount of influence.
As you know, there is a trend among voters to leave their former parties and become Independent, not because they are adhering to a new platform, but because they are disappointed or disgusted with their former party.
My thinking, based in marketing, is that "Independent" would be a poor choice for a new party name, given the word's history and connotation.
It's not dissimilar to "Methodist." Because the denomination chose "The Middle Way" as described by founder John Wesley, a large segment of Christians have the opinion that "Methodists don't believe anything." It's not true, of course. But perception is a difficult hill to climb. In fact, Methodism has a long history of schism because it's always been a "big tent" in which factions left because they thought their priorities were more important than unity.
Or anti mafua party. Antima.
Antimafia. AntimafiaAntiTrumpia
Tee hee.
JBR, "anti-anything" brands are never successful with the public, as they are perceived as negative and unappealing.
Example: The anti-abortion movement wasn't gaining any traction with the public, so they rebranded as "Pro-Life." True story.
Dale, thank you!!!. I liked antifa as shorthand. But trump implied it was meaningless. Maybe "Corrupt Mafia Don," or just dangerous dishonest donald. It is confusing. Antifa sounds like trump is anti fascist as opposed to me being anti fascist.
Democrats presumably support (among other things) democracy and Republicans (long ago) a republic, and we are a democratic republic. During the interim between Lincoln and now, Democrats became in some important ways, more democratic, yet "Republicans" are now seen rejecting the essence of the republic and sometime carrying Confederate flags. The misnomer is Orwellian.
In today's letter Heather contrasts the work of Frances Perkins, so devoted to improving the lives of the working class, with that of our lawless narcissistic president. I've just rewatched the 2004 film Downfall, about the last ten days of Hitler. The parallels between Hitler and our president are even more terrifying in a second viewing, especially the portrayal of him in his last, raging, utterly deluded out-of-control days.
Oh, and that bunker. Could our president have gotten the idea of that bunkered ballroom, meant to ensure total and permanent protection from any enemy, from anywhere else but Hitler's misguided mind? And the bunker didn't save Hitler.
Hatred does weird things to the mind. The bunker under the ballroom is for security for ALL presidents. It likely won't even be done in his term.
As for your Hitler comparison. Seriously? Based on a movie? Man Ms. Woodward hates builds a ballroom and you see Hitler's last days?
FYI: Hillary Clinton agrees a ballroom is needed. The issue isn't that. It's the hideous, ridiculous design and the arrogant way he went about it. But note for history: the blalroom is not the Reichstag.
I liked the quotation from de Tocqueville. Nice to know Americans were like that. By the way, my beloved copy of "Little Women", which belonged to my Grannie and may even be a first edition, has a glossary of American terms and phrases at the back, for the benefit of English readers.
De Toqueville wrote a few volumes on *Democracy in America* and we must remember he was not exposed to all elements of society at that time. It’s kind of like the container of strawberries you buy at the store; the perfect ones are on top, and there may be mold hidden in the middle. So, Anne-Louise, it is unlikely that “Americans were like that”; rather, he only saw select elements.
You are not correct. It's not like they went from suburb to suburb. Over nine months, they covered New York through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and up to Washington, D.C. All on horseback or in carriages. They saw everything, which is made clear when you read his masterpiece.
Yes I did read it, and used part of his framework in my doctoral dissertation. I did not say he didn’t travel widely. You misunderstand my point.
"She recognized that the ideas of community values and pooling resources to keep the economic playing field level and take care of everyone are at least as deeply seated in our political philosophy as the idea of every man for himself." This is the foundation of democracy. NYT reported a woman who is selling her blood for foods because the Trump government stopped SNAP. We need to divide a congressional district into a number of communities, electing a leader for each community who will look after a person of destitute.
I trust SCOTUS stops Trump vanity hall being built on lies and cruelty.
"Like so many empathetic people running for office in the midterms."
Who? And empathy doesn't pay bills, realism and courage do.
You guys have her term called, over-sympathetic, suicidal empathy. It’s a brand new term to describe what should’ve been described a long time ago. Take care of illegal immigrants before you take care of citizens. Let them go on early release so they can go out and kill within a week which had happened four times within the past six weeks because if you no cash bail in your early release bullshit that’s super suicidal empathy, right there
Well aren’t you just a joyful bag of water and vinegar.
🙄
It took a woman. It will take a woman again.
There are some excellent candidates in waiting. Anybody else happy to see Amy Klobuchar win her primary?
Agree. Tlaib, Cortez, Omar, Pressley...the new congresspeople from the DSA in New York, finally antisemitism will become national policy! Horoay?
As long as it's not Lauren Boebert or MTG.
And in a time when women had precious little gravitas…
There are forces at work now to return women to "precious little gravitas" status. Let's hope HCR's tribute doesn't give anyone the idea to remove Frances Perkins from the Smithsonian Institution.
"Smithsonian"? I thought Trump was closing that everywhere.
No, although he and Vance have targeted exhibits.
And for good reason in most cases. Always recall the adage, a broken clock is right twice a day. The Smithsonian has been converted into an ideological position that needed to be reversed. The signs outside are of course dumb, they should just fire the lady running it and get it fixed.
I disagree. An examination of the exhibits over the decades shows they represent the wide cultural history and diversity that our Declaration of Independence celebrates. And the Smithsonian Magazine is curated in the same way. I remember eagerly awaiting each issue when I was in college and for many years after. It was like a mini book mobile.
A couple of years ago I subscribed again, not like I don't have enough to read, but to support the cultural diversity, scientific inquiry and excellent writing and photography I treasure. A recent issue described the return to the National Mall of the historic Smithsonian Carousel after three years of restoration. It had originally been part of a segregated amusement park in Maryland. But on August 28, 1963, the park was desegregated--the exact day of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Thank you for your comment; it invited me to further sing the Smithsonian's praises. August 28 is nearly here--I invite you and anyone else to mark the occasion with me.
I ignore you for a reason, trolls are a waste of time
It will take a wise person, not a woman nor a man nor a Black man nor a Green man. But a wise person. Identity politics is for the birds.
Sadly true, so said my magat brother
"It will take a woman again.." To do what, the dishes? Reform social security? What do generic "women" do that attracts you in this context? And Perkins needed a man to get it all enacted.
Over the past decade, more than half of Latin America’s nations have voted socialists out. From large countries like Argentina to tiny ones like El Salvador, socialists have been replaced with conservative leaders who've made significant progress turning their economies around. Here is the Donald Trump democracy legacy. in action. El Salvador, Argentina and others, following Trump‘s lead, and I keep telling you idiots. He’s forming/producing democracy all over the world.
Do me a favor if any of you find Cletus still in hiding he’s probably in the house having mommy wipe his nose or worse
You know Heather’s turning herself into a real piece of shit talking that this is a vanity project you distort more than those fucking mirrors at the Circus. You’re actually used to be a historian now you’re just a fucking loser sucking your lemmings dry a five bucks a month for your own gratification. Now you’re nothing but a radical liberal activist tearing this country apart when you should try to be bringing it back together. If I saw you, I’d spit in your face and tell you exactly what I’m saying right here disgusting trash Heather. Shame on you. Shame on you utter shame on you. Wake the fuck up would you please straighten yourself out have a purpose support your president and your country
"not with feelings and hate". You said that, not me.
Do me a favor Judith tell Cletus the coward to come out, come out from wherever he is comes out and makes a few ridiculous remark runs back in the street as I said, and has mommy wipe his ass. Poor dear
Over the past decade, more than half of Latin America’s nations have voted socialists out. From large countries like Argentina to tiny ones like El Salvador, socialists have been replaced with conservative leaders who've made significant progress turning their economies around. Donald Trump an action right here started with El Salvador Argentina and now over half the countries following Donald Trump‘s lead.
I just proposed fact is what I proposed is what I described. Her is totally fact she’s tearing this country apart and for no reason.
She’s not telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth you’re only hearing what she wants you to hear and nothing more.
Do you guys even know how many times the White House has been remodeled and you realize you fucking idiots that this has nothing to do with Donald Trump as he will not be the one to utilize it it’ll be every president subsequent to him for the next 25 presidents if Joe Biden was doing this, you’d be kissing his fucking ass and telling everybody how beautiful it was.
Yeah, you should’ve gotten Joe Biden out of there and had Comdaleeza Rice run for president could you put cackling kneepads up instead? We couldn’t even run a lemonade stand or give a good blow job.
Fascist Republican Solution On Affordability: Suffer
In 1962 Michael Harrington wrote The Other America describing the beginning of the now gapping wealth gap. In it he displayed poor people who lacked education, jobs, and medical care, trapping them. This made such an impact on JFK that he did his own research which changed his policies to begin building the social safety net that has been destroyed by present day fascist Republicans.
Affordability today with the loss of the purchasing power of the dollar and now the destruction of the social safety net(health care coverage, food stamps, childhood meal programs) defined as public programs that protect people from poverty and severe economic hardship is being attacked by the supposed fiscally responsible fascist Republicans who have pushed the national debt to $40T with a daily debt service of $3B/day. But of course, the more gold the merrier in the Oval Office and the ballroom plans.
Meanwhile DOGE falsified records of the savings that the Muskrat actually made. The Government Accounting Office(GAO) reports it’s now estimated that the savings that the racist and apartheid supporter cost the American taxpayer $11-15B due to DOGE activities and cuts to governmental agencies. By debilitating federal agencies by firing civil employees which was promoted by the Project 2025 fascists, the cost in terms of election and national security have become obvious.
So the fascist message is tough shit, buck up and shut up
The board game "Monopoly" is said to have begun to demonstrate the problem with real world monopolistic practices. but of course the version I played as a kid does nothing of the sort. We all are naturally competitive (among other things) and everyone likes having plenty of money. What the game board does not model in coming into the game with little or no capital and all the good spots already taken. It does not include sleeping under a bridge if you go bust. Trade is a good thing, even, I would think, a fundamental human freedom, but in an atmosphere of fair trade. Those with a lot of money can gather even more just by having money, the more the net worth the greater the return. That may be socially useful up to a point, but without regulation, market control, and with it, political control can spiral away from the bulk of the populace. We saw that in the abusive and corrupt "Gilded Age". That's why there were decades of reforms that resulted in more evenly distributed rights, more security, and more economic power for most people. For what did we give that movement up? What did we gain from "Reaganomics"?
One equalizer for WE the People is taxation, used not as a punishing cudgel but an equalizer. Europeans understand their responsibility,,,,wealthy Americans not so much as greed is rampant in our culture. Can WE legislate morality?
It has occurred to me that money, political position, and violence are all forms of power, and the more corrupted the society, the more interchangeable they become. Moreover, violence is not only a mugger in an alley, but more subtle forms, such as "payday" loans. During the subprime crash a banker confessed in the NYT about complying with instructions from his superiors to sell deceptively high interest loans specifically to people with little education and/or poor English skills. An honest days work for an honest days wage is by no means the only, nor the most efficient way to collect money, and monopolies of markets, or any other form of coercive power enables extortion. Indeed, bribery and extortion are distinguishing features of a corrupt regime, and/or organized crime.
Ideally taxes are how we do things together we could not easily do alone. My son-in-law belongs to a very active rural volunteer fire department, but a large city depends on paid professionals. You don't want to leave that one to chance, and specials skills and equipment is more necessary, even more vital in dense urban areas. Taxation and law also helps to head off monopoly and oligarchy of both markets and political power. The Gilded Age (and the Declaration of Independence) taught us to oppose that fate. Should unwanted impacts of massive data centers be regulated? Regulation can be wise or foolish, but in a government of, by and for the people, why the hell not? In some countries nearly all the fluid wealth and political control is in the hands of a few wealthy families. Do we want to be one of them? The appealing alternative is not communism, but the kind of balance and distribution of power Lincoln and the original Republican Party (with which the nominal party of today has almost nothing in common) favored.
Legislate morality? The Constitution was designed to encourage and support morality, but in the end, that collective and individual choice falls on we the living.
Great insights particularly violence against less fortunate and being taken advantage of.
I would be so much richer and smarter, better looking, taller and thinner but the government.
"What the game board does not model in coming into the game with little or no capital and all the good spots already taken. It does not include sleeping under a bridge if you go bust." Great idea for a revised game? Bronx-Watts Monopoly!
And we have regulation. Market control? Even China is having trouble with that, and their population works harder than ours.
The post-20s reforms did not "more evenly" distribute rights. Where does that idea come from?
We all knew that muskrat and his blather were just chump’s way to destroy quickly, shock and awe for all of us.
Musk. Trump and the confederated oligarchy.
right on ProtectTheVote! ✊ #GetTheFascistsOut
Suggestion: read up on fascism and come back and edit your bumper sticker comment.
And here is the Trump affect all over the world and I’ve been talking about. Over the past decade, more than half of Latin America’s nations have voted socialists out. From large countries like Argentina to tiny ones like El Salvador, socialists have been replaced with conservative leaders who've made significant progress turning their economies around.
Try harder there’s your answer. This is a country where everybody can try to get as great as they want to get and the harder they work the greater they get the richer they get they’re more fulfilling. They get the more accolades they get the more creature comfort for their family they get or you could move to some shit Whole socialist country where everybody suffers equally. Have a good time.
Well, Biden caused it. What do you wanna do about it now? Joe Biden two months after he took off his 20% increase in grocery prices because of his shutting off all the petroleum and all the crude oil around everywhere we could get it. Four months later gas prices doubled. We’re over two dollars a gallon and 451 was the average price for a year and a half Trump only got to that number 451 for six weeks and Biden’s high Number across the country was five dollars and one cent. Then he tripled mortgage rates and then he got inflation to only 9% great job Joe and you want to protect the vote. You should protect yourself from wanting to hurt yourself for lying to yourself so much.
I’m surprised you can even spell fascist you sure as shit don’t know what it means. Protect the vote. It’s more like protect your loins.
Please. What national security issues are at stake? The president's security? I believe the real national security threat is the danger that the American people face if Trump, his minions, toadies, and favorite oligarchs are allowed to hide out in an impenetrable bunker with the nuclear codes, and we are unable to dig him out of there without setting off a worldwide catastrophe. I would not put it past these monsters to bring us to this point. If Trump is in danger from an assassin or attack, then he has brought that on himself with his recklessness. Frankly, it would be fitting for Mr. Trump to suffer some consequences at long last.
True, M.A. Porter!
Watch the 2009 movie 'Downfall'.
It is the true story of Hitler and his Third Reich's last 10 days while hiding out in their bunker under Berlin and how they partied and laughed while their civilian comrades were being massacred right outside their bunker.
It is written by Traudl Junge, Hitler's own personal secretary.
I'm sure trump and miller have the EXACT SAME PLANS!!
BUT...WE WILL PREVAIL!!!
That film was so true to life that it ruined Bruno Ganz's career - and fed a thousand parodies.
Some of those parodies have been posted here by subscribers and can be hysterical.
They don’t plan to lose. Ike long gone
After seeing your post I went back and rewatched it. The similarities between the Nazis and this regime are even starker and more chilling.
I think the airport catering truck worked good enough. At least we got some chuckles out of that. And cost a whole lot less than a bunker.
Yes! Let's install a catering truck where the East Wing stood.
When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.
Brave Sir Robin, he ran and ran away...
Don the Con flew away and left most everyone else on the tarmac and decoy plane as bait or some cruel taunt or even desiring tragedy for personal gain...
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to serve as bait for a possible enemy attack. Nope, no such caveat.
Thanks, JL!
BONE SPURS AGAIN, POOR HANGING SCROTUM!
Donold would make it a McDonald's as it's already got his name on it, comes with golden arches and easy access to shovel his routine 1/4 pounders, filet o'fish & Big Macs into his disgusting Jabba the Hut face, that horrible, hateful orifice of a mouth.
Ha ha, you are so much better at branding than Donold. But I do like the filet o'fish....Wouldn't a food cart be the first place to look for him? How about a mobile weight room, art exhibit, science lab--what else would you suggest?
Well his safe-room for top secret documents was the lavatory.
It's a temptation, Donna, but let's not. I don't want to see any public reminders of Donald Trump.
Right ON! Can't wait until this misery is behind us.
Well, we'd never have to guess where he was hiding out...
The catering truck was sublimely ridiculous. And all recorded on video.
They might as well paint a big target on top of whatever it is they are building, all of the spy satellites have been watching it’s progress, anyone that thinks he would run in there when he could run away is nuts.
Yep. $900 million or billion (whatever the ghastly estimate was) would only provide security until the next level weapon is invented.
Republicans have been running up the debt in order to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They have convinced the younger generations that those programs won’t be there for them so more and more are screaming that shouldn’t have to pay taxes into it. And if that happens it won’t be there for anyone.
REPUBLICONS, neuter them at work at their desks!
Will he resort to the bunker when he has to leave?
I think that's the idea.
Ask him what happened when 30 million Jews went into a bunker.
I don't want him in the US, much less D.C. Antarctica or Mars seem more hospitable for his ilk.
M A Porter, your comment needs to be amplified many times. Consequences - his greasy fat enables him to slither out of their grip. I want him to feel powerless. And suffer acutely.
If our current crop of cruel Republicans had been around then, social security would never have passed. You know, socialism. Also see: people becoming lazy what with $200/month.
Social security is, of course, socialism, born during capitalism's worst social and economic failures, put together by a woman who had seen up front what government failures and the unwillingness to use the 'general welfare' clause of the Constitution cost us, reaching deep into America's longtime roots of community ethos, shared sacrifice, and generosity of spirit to come up with something better.
And America thrived, as a result. That's the true idiocy of Republicans trying now to re-enact some new, bizarre version of the red scare as Trump wants them to. For socialism didn't just save capitalism's ass, it saved grandma's. And so did Medicare and Medicaid, the FDA, OSHA, the FDIC -- all those programs, first enacted during the Progressive Era and continuing all the way down to the Great Society. They've saved us from the worst parts of ourselves, made us stronger, better, happier, and vastly more prosperous than we would have been without them.
That's the real debate the Democratic Party should have with every Republican who thinks embracing this warmed over Trumpian-McCarthyist bullshit makes sense. Because the track record of blending socialism with capitalism is actually a pretty damn good record to run on.
AMEN ICTT!!👏🏼👏🏼
HCR's "liberal consensus". Mean-while:
"House Republican says Congress ‘should do a little more’ for the rich"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/republicans-congress-rich-trump-glenn-grothman-b3033063.html
Let us also ad that private social programs and groups like the Salvation Army are....socialism....just that it is a chosen contribution and the group has the power to deny help, unlike the government programs (except when it came to certain groups) are designed to help those these private groups deny. That is one thing many of these people that hate government program hate - support going to "those" people.
There's a problem, though, with these socialist programs if you want to call them that. They are going broke. Social Security and Medicare are running out of money over the next decade and the solution Dems want to consider is raising the payroll tax wage cap for Soc Sec. That would not be shared sacrifice.
underfunding and over regulation. That is the conservative strategy on government programs. However, they have discovered a better way to break these programs - start giving public funds to the private organizations who have no regulation. That is what they are doing with educational voucher money. that ole standard idea that the private sector can do everything better.....
Damn right. Pop the cap and limit the payout to $100,000 a year.
That would help the Social Security Trust Fund last several years longer, but it would not be the shared sacrifice that It's Come to This referred to above. I'm not sure anyone receives more than $100K per yr from Soc Sec; I don't know. If the payroll tax cap is removed AND those paying more receive no increase in their benefits from that change, maybe that will impose a $100K cap by itself, and make Soc Sec an even better deal for the lower income retiree than it already is, compared to the poor deal it is for higher income retirees.
Social security has no resemblance to socialism. If anything, socialism provides less for he poor, which is why is always fails.
And what's the new version of the "red scare" (if you know what that was?
And current McCarthyist behavior comes from the universities, not Republicans.
Wake us all up when a coherent thought enters your brain.
Who are the "cruel republicans"? There are dumb ones, for sure, as there are dumb Democrats, for sure.
Kelli, can’t we use Tony Judt’s term and say “social democracy”? It fits with Frances Perkins very well and keeps the “terrible word” (Stalin?) “socialism” out of the discussion.
Judt’s recommendation for US was what he called “social democracy”
and his definition of the term was what all true Democrats seek.
Stalinism is fascism, Frances Perkins was a socialist, which is not considered a terrible thing in many countries of the world.
True, Judith, but many Americans freak out at “socialism,” the word, considering it the equivalent of Russian Communism. Having learned “social democracy” from reading Judt, I recognize the connection to FDR and Frances Perkins, understanding that presidents Truman and Johnson were extending their work toward a better democracy for all.
What a contrast Heather establishes today.
At the beginning she poses the fat, cosmeticized bully still trying to lord it over all other parts of the federal government -- still assuming himself and his ego to be the pinnacle of all the rest of our hopes and needs.
And then the bulk of her text -- where decent people held government office in the past and exercised decencies on behalf of the American people who needed them.
Our midterms coming will test this contrast. The massive incompetence mixed with arbitrary, cold-blooded murder to make America cruel and nothing more than that. And the possible uniting of Dem and independent voices for our older, more venerable traditions.
Will some of these candidates for the Nov. 3 elections also cite some of the great songs that have held Americans together? -- some of the great movies that have been repositories and showcases of our hopes? -- our novels, our essayists, our historians, our travel writers across landscapes and cuisines? Could Nov. 3 also be apex of our celebrations?
Too many still support chump’s efforts to deal with minorities who have gotten too uppity. Women included. The midterms may give us celebration or grief. It will be a battle for our soul. Dems need to grow spines and bring heavy artillery to the fight. Enough strongly-worded letters…
Just saw a Nicolle Wallace bit, JD, on criminal Donald's massive tilt to white collar crime.
He's having his DoJ stop investigations of corporate fraud at the highest levels -- and investigate instead any instances of very small charges at lowest levels among U.S. racial minorities.
He's openly pardoning the worst of U.S. white collar criminals -- and raking in hundreds of millions in pay-back from them. For criminal Donald, it's all a game -- like the games played by Putin, Netanyahu,, Mohammed bin Salman, Erdogan, Sisi, and others of the world's most corrupt.
Trouble is, Donald may use his multi-billion-dollar war chest to subsidize the most criminally inclined of white, male, corrupt, thugs running for office in these midterms.
Some Dems are making this blatant, highest-level criminality an issue. Will the masses of Americans connect that to the prices of gas, groceries, day care, elder care, pharmaceuticals, and health care?
Shirt
BY ROBERT PINSKY
SHARE
The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break
Or talking money or politics while one fitted
This armpiece with its overseam to the band
Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,
The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,
The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze
At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.
One hundred and forty-six died in the flames
On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes—
The witness in a building across the street
Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step
Up to the windowsill, then held her out
Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
And then another. As if he were helping them up
To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.
A third before he dropped her put her arms
Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held
Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once
He stepped to the sill himself, his jacket flared
And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down,
Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers—
Like Hart Crane’s Bedlamite, “shrill shirt ballooning.”
Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly
Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked
Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme
Or a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,
Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans
Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,
To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed
By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,
Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers
To wear among the dusty clattering looms.
Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,
The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter
Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton
As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:
George Herbert, your descendant is a Black
Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma
And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit
And feel and its clean smell have satisfied
Both her and me. We have culled its cost and quality
Down to the buttons of simulated bone,
The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters
Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,
The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt.
Wow. Staggeringly beautiful, this poem. My mom worked at a textile factory at age 15 in the early 1900s. Sweatshop labor under brutal bosses for a pittance in wages that all went to the boarding house where she slept.
Brilliant poem. Thanks, Jack.
Vivid imagery, Jack. Thank you.
Hard to like this. My mom worked in a hosiery mill all her life and raised eight kids. Fortunately, my daddy worked in one too so we were the working poor. Hardship made us tough but no brutality. The owners made all the money as they do now.
Yeah, Phil, this segment on Nicole’s show had me grinding my teeth…..grrrrrrrr🤬!
I keep pressing that corruption of this administration is happening with republican leadership permission. It should be a central issue up and down the ballot. You support this administration, you are a crook.
But will democrats do this, precious few so far
In Texas some say he did as promised. I say they are complicit in societal murder
JD, I have to say, you are hitting the right tone here. I have noted in the past that although it is White Supremacy, there are a lot of women and people of color in MAGA all the way up to Clarence Thomas. Look at the J6ers and note the number of white women and men of color in that crowd. Then look at ICE, BCP and see the same. All these people right now are welcome in the group as they terrorize America, but eventually they will be told to stand back to make room for the new white immigrants. Their replacement time is coming as it has started in the southern states where white immigrants are replacing black workers. Once Thomas is out of the court, you thin Leo and that crew will be letting him join them on trips or will he be just not told of their gatherings? These white power folks are more than happy to let women and minorities in as the group gains power, but once they have it, women and minorities better know their place. I think there will be some very shocked people.
You see clearly. I always wondered who it was besides Harlan Crow, who convinced the Trojan Horse Thomas to betray his people and the country. And same with Ginny, who will be kicked to the curb when no longer useful. But they did rewrite the Gospels when WWJD didn’t fit their narrative, so maybe more fiction in store. Still, smart and stupid have never been mutually exclusive when ego involved. Regardless, their damage has been significant and on going.
JD, I can't see that they lack spines. They are trying to avoid the cataclysm. I don't think it can be avoided.
Avoiding the cataclysm should have started with W, at the latest. Sadly, the cost has risen because too many democrats didn’t want to seem the “bad guys.” Now the vipers are entrenched and rules are just inconveniences.
Saturday Evening Post, cover by Norman Rockwell.
You actually sound like an eighth grade child That’s what children did talk about peoples physical features when they were in an eighth grade or maybe it was sixth grade maybe I’m giving you too much credit. God, I’ve never seen such a bunch of losers altogether and one it’s like an ocean of losers, an ocean of losers, an ocean of haters on Ocean of dummies overeducated dummies.
FDR had charisma, perseverance, and political skill. But it was only after he learned compassion and empathy for the less fortunate that he became the great leader he was. And from whom did he acquire these essential characteristics? From two women who were [among] his closest and most influential partners: Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins.
Trump's approach to women is somewhat different.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9lmN1eOhuIA
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-protect-women-whether-195102461.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFS8EQ9ltskLF2Pgwjeqyc7we4mFAuqEpHuCox3vNt18ezExMD740HFSTYTKTS9aN_s2I9pLVXdlpZi_PhbX9BipE1fNRZVERZUEGaLd-cbkAzcYPnLX2NFBXwYoPJDM4XEIunzyVuuZEs7aLNSGPuQkiUOpuwUSE0WoYGezsmiA
Everything about him screams 'old lecher'.
If trump AND his GOP maga regime and cronies CAN'T destroy and delay American Voting Rights...
They WILL try to DENY the REAL results OR refuse to seat the REAL winners.
They may refuse to certify ANY Democrats!
I'm NOT paranoid...I just know the fight WON'T be over after the midterm elections.
BUT.....WE WILL WIN THIS FIGHT!!!
WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED!!
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!!
WE SHALL and MUST OVERCOME!!
VOTE 'EM ALL OUT!!
THEN LOCK 'EM ALL UP!!
They have made your concerns clear.
I am concerned about absentee ballots for the midterms. My husband and I receive our ballots automatically. Hope this still works!
Thank you for placing these two stories in contrast. I can't imagine what people in the "Greatest Generation" who lived through the Great Depression and WWII would say about what is happening here now. I can't believe it myself. Every day, a new horror show.
I think so often about my parents and what they, as members of the Greatest Generation, would say!
The Depression and the war were both awful, but overcome by people pulling together.
Under a good leader, JL.
Chosen wisely and serving faithfully and humbly. And such leaders can emerge from anywhere. Rail-splitter Lincoln or pastor MLK.
Germany was once the world leader in literature, philosophy, art and music.
and many of those were the Nazis first targets.
And leading edge science. It's still quite a presence. The urge to dominate is the devil's bargain. Why can't we all just get along?
Sadly, I have seen a number of the reaming Greatest supporting MAGA.
The GOP has been working to dismantle the New Deal and Great Society programs forever and they are painfully close. “Drumpf Accounts” is the camel’s nose under the tent.
Let's be clear - it is the conservative/libertarians that are the enemies of working people. Eisenhower had some great ideas, even Nixon, that worked for the people. Once the libertarian platform got folded into the Reagan administration, the GOP devolved to the fascist party they are now.
You fucking people are so blindest pathetic and you didn’t learn anything from Hillary Clinton… she said basket of deplorable’s. You fucking guys are not the basket of the floors you’re the ocean of deplorable.
We need our SS, I hope Frances was right. 💙
I thnk they call your SS ICE.
You think they call Social Security ‘ICE’ ? Currently, the USA is similar to Germany, but ICE & Social Security is not related 😉
Russell is referring to the other SS; Schutzstaffel
I thought they were the new GEheimeSTAdtsPOlizei.
That’s not what he meant.
Where are you from?
Nowhere good.
The similarities are sobering, they behave in much the same way.
The SS and Gestapo didn't wear masks. The level of cowardice in ICE is staggering.
America is the richest nation on Earth. The problem is that it is not particularly generous, and there are a lot of Americans that no one cares about. We're also a little weak in the morality department - see, Epstein files delayed release.
Not particularly generous, the world would be gone. If not the United States you forgot World War II the only war we won since then. Is World War II and now we’re winning in Iran and that’ll be over.
Meanwhile, GOP says hold my beer while we systematically dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Johnson said they'd be working on that after summer hiding is over.
A travesty of a Speaker. When they emerge from summer hiding, the midterms will be at the door.
Little did she know or could have predicted the mean spiritedness of the vile and cruel republican party..the party that saves the children, for what, they have no idea.
Surely she must have known this since that is what motivated her.