Why is the Regime focusing on Mark Kelly when six, patriots and veterans all, made the video that enraged the regime? Because he could run in 2028 and is everything they are not. The Democrats will not nominate a woman this time, for reasons that are both sad and pragmatic. So that leaves out the other contender, Elissa Slotkin. Mark Kelly could be the obvious choice. MAGA knows that and will do all in their power to destroy him. They will not succeed.
I am convinced that Kelly's punching back like that took them by complete surprise. There's so much these arrogant, lawless assholes just never see coming. It's a sign to the rest of us that punchback not only works, it gives others the confidence and bravery they need to do the same. Like attracts like and all that.
Trump is the one giving these orders of hate. Trump never sees it coming because of his narcissism and self-righteousness symptoms of his antisocial personality disorder makes him out of touch with reality. He has no empathy and thus no understanding of the empathy from the public for former House Rep. Gabby Gifford being shot. He hates America's love for a hero in uniform because he sees them as suckers as he knows he, with his history of BS bone spurs, cannot compete with them. That explains his hate for Senator John McCain, a former Navy bomber pilot. Senator Mark Kelly was a Navy combat pilot also and flew attack aircraft on 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. Later he was a Space Shuttle pilot and Commander for a total of four missions to Space. Now he is a Senator calling Trump out for his unlawful murders of persons presumed to be innocent. Trump might as well contribute $100,000,000 to Kelly for President / 2028 rather than attack him and order the FBI and Pentagon to investigate him. But Trump's hate makes him blind to how everyone else feels. That is why on Thanksgiving Trump was Hategiving. Out of his mind, thus out of touch! https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-disobey-post_n_692e9298e4b052b5ba03386c#
His hate and complete absence of empathy also shows in the way he flew the flags at half staff for the odious Charlie Kirk, who's murder I deplore but whose statements I deplore even more - but not for Sarah Beckstrom, the National Guard member who was shot and killed in DC.
Excellent point. You would think his handlers would have gotten him to at least lower the flag for Beckstrom. Samuel Adams knew how to beat the drum. He helped arrange a well publicized and elaborate funeral procession for the victims of the Boston Massacre. The entire Trump administration has the antisocial personality disorder problem and is just like him. Don't get me started on that hateful bigoted opportunist... Charlie Kirk
Ruth: yes. You would think his handlers would try to get him to stop abusing women (reporters, but whoever else), especially publicly. My god, what a dumpster fire they all are.
But he has no problem making sure that a woman insurrectionist’s mother got a judgement award. So, honorable guardsmen don’t get the deserved respect, but insurrectionists get 1/2 million dollars in compensation. This is the kind of stuff one can’t possibly write.
Alternatively, the faux commander-in-chief along with his faux god of war see women in the military as the legacy of DEI anti-warrior wokeness and like the Americans buried in the WWII French cementery, the dead Guardswoman is just a loser.
Gary, none of the people in that list respect women, including the women. Women who get ahead by exploiting their physical attributes and/or sexuality assume that's how all women achieve anything.
It’s just now being reported that Elon Musk and his son were in the Oval Office this morning and his son reached into his snout again pulling out a booger and this time wiped it off on President Trump’s designer suit jacket. This sent Mr. Trump into a rage as he ran from the office through White House hallways and up into the presidential living quarters where he dashed into the presidential bathtub and sank like a stone and drowned.
A hastily assembled press meeting was called and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced through her cracking voice that the president had expired. And no more details were given except that a funeral was being planned for Labor Day Weekend. A jackass-drawn caisson will transport the president from the White House to the Capital where he will lay in state for several months in an open casket until an Egyptian-style sarcophagus that’s now being planned is completed next to the Washington Monument.
Bill, thanks for the dream! One thing, Trump can't "run" anywhere; he can hardly walk. He would be that grossed out by a 4-yuear-old's slime, though. He would have made one of his minions run to get him another jacket. He would have demanded the slimed jacket be burned in the rose garden, though.
BREAKING NEWS; It is reported that a Heavy Hauler Dump Truck is heading toward the National Mall. It has a load of mixed manure; Bull, Horse, Chicken and Bat; mostly Bat shit. It will be parked on the Mall temporally to honor the late President. Then after the environmental impact assessment is completed and Trumps ashes are dumped in the garbage dump the Truck will lead a procession of ... well, cars full of TV fans who still have not learned there is a difference between a celebrity that you are obsessed with and someone who has demonstrated a knowledge and caliber to be a political leader, anyway, the Orange Truck with a blond wig on it's roof and full of shit is heading down to the Mar-a-Lago Club where it will be dumped on the front lawn. More later but until then enjoy your day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YY-7uAcdVw
My Goldendoodle was tested by a dog cognition researcher who demonstrated that he's capable of empathy. My dog has empathy - the POTUS has none.
As a side note: My dog isn't racist. Trump is. My dog learns. Trump is incapable of learning. My dog has never insulted anyone. Trump insults people constantly.
I'm positive people like your dog. Trump no one trust, believes or likes. I can't imagine how anyone can be so hateful, lack empathy, hates women who question him and refuse to be abused by him. Why did people vote for him or did Musk's Starlink change the votes?
I do believe Musk's Starlink and some ground service changed votes. Then, however, Democrats didn't get out to vote. It seems a bunch of Democrats just couldn't manage to vote for a intelligent talented woman of color. Truly sad and it reminds us that misogyny and racism are alive and well among Democrats too. That is true when one considers the results of not voting when an appalling jerk was the opponent.
Djt thanked Musk the day after the election. What did he thank Musk for? For tilting the results in his favor. Was it Goebels who said: It does not matter who votes, but who counts the votes." It is essential that all ballots in 2026 are paper ballots that cannot be changed by the owners, such as ESS. A Republican recently purchased a company whose voting machines are used in several states. That must be changed.
Why are we just learning that votes were "counted" in towns that do not exist??
I went through a really rough time for a while a couple years ago, and I lived alone at the time with my schipperke and little pittie. Both dramatically grayed from absorbing my emotional distress.
Of course dogs have empathy.
So do horses too, it's why some are such incredible therapy animals. It's hard on them too.
And some have great senses of humor.
Dumpty doesn't have that either.
Sadie for president , even over the rainbow bridge.
As a lifelong cat person, I can attest to the love and comfort of animals. I have had one niece dog in my life, and know what kind of comfort she gave me. My cats are also little emotion barometers, and snuggle up when it is needed. Often they know before I do...
Jen, I hope the rough times are far behind you, and that much better times are coming for us all.
(And while you've been here 9 months, I'm not sure I recall seeing your name before, and as self-appointed WalMart greeter, I WELCOME you here. I am loving how this community is growing and I am very grateful for everyone committing to paying for subscriptions. We are a force to be reckoned with! Thanks!)
How I wish there was a laugh emoji. Having only a <3 is far too restrictive given all the possible reactions! For example, vomit would be a popular one, I imagine. LOL.
It should say something that 1. Trump has no pets-even the Obama family who had allergy issues had a dog (2?) that was non allergenic.
2. trump was scared to award a military dog his award for its great military achievements( helped find Bin Laden maybe?) That should have been a great photo op.
3. He doesn't seem to have any qualms about people who shoot their young dogs ( Noem)
Honoring the likes of Charlie Kirk - a right-wing provocateur who delivered young male voters for Trump - while ignoring a National Guard member killed in DC by an Afghan immigrant. That guardsman died while performing domestic law enforcement duties that violate the Posse Comitatus Act, deployed under Trump's unlawful orders. How much more shame can be heaped upon this president? WHEN WILL HE BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE? (He will die before he ever sees the inside of a prison cell where he belongs.)
Harvey, elsewhere today I posted a long comment about some NON-routine blood tests he had a few weeks ago. I am hoping one of the physicians who read will comment on it.
On the other hand, to have Trump involved in any way is a person's funeral or any ceremony to remember, honor, and sanctify a person is really no honor whatsoever. I could not imagine a bigger insult to a person than Trump even saying a person's name.
lauriemcf, yes, what a farce! Trump is such a fraud! Everyone around him knows it, even his servant Caroline Leavitt, yet they all lie through their teeth for him and for themselves. Trump cares nothing for the murdered and injured National Guards, just harming Afghan refugees living here who served this nation, but can't even get legitimate work here. It is truly outrageous and more people should be outraged!
Jennsh, I think the cross was to symbolize that her fingers are crossed every time she opens her mouth and spews lies to the world on behalf of her old man boss who has dementia which, of course she is well aware of.
Funny, that's one of the first things I look for, the cross, and when I see it, I know it's a prop. It's also why I'm pretty faithless. I'm good to people and that will get me into heaven, if there is such a thing. The Nazi's were good at props.
The hallmark of an uneducated person is using a single incident - anecdotal evidence - to counter a valid generalization. Trump using the Afghan immigrant who shot two National Guardsmen to justify policy against all non-white immigrants is a textbook example.
The hallmark of an evil bastard is the person who uses a single incident - anecdotal evidence - to play fools for their support and allow him to be above the law.
And please remember that actual leaders would have taken responsibility as it happened on their watch, on a ill-defined mission, not real plan! On his watch! Donny the Destroyer! Gold foiled and ugly!
Apparently, Laurie..., SFB has invited her 'family' to the Whitehouse. I would not be surprised if, that is indeed true, the "family' politely declines. As for 'flags at half staff'.., this is not an Erika Kirk event, just collateral damage. Next.
Trump is nuts and Steven Miller has been spoon feeding him dark shit 24/7. Want to blame someone? Start with Steven Miller because Trump ,when talking ,is just catching flies. It's been his diet for way too long. There's a stampede for power in the Oval Office by an unqualified cabinet of dangerous clowns. The world is worried.
Yes, Chris. But let's not overlook Russell Vought. Miller is a danger to non-whites everywhere, but Vought is a danger to the rest of us. When Donald is neutralized, I believe there will be a micro-Armageddon between Miller and Vought as shady JD waits to see who his new boss will be.
If you want to blame someone, blame the 77 million Americans who voted for a corrupt, convicted felon with a long history of atrocious behavior because they wanted a president who would persecute people they don’t like. They got what they voted for, and most of them are delighted with it.
Albert, your comment brought to mind an interesting theory, but I haven't taken the time to confirm with research. Does Donald attack military pilots because they remind him of his older brother, Freddy, whom he still resents?
Fred, Jr. was the designated heir-apparent of the Trump Organization. The entire family, including Freddy, assumed that he would take the reins of the company when appropriate. But as Freddy reached adulthood, he resolved that he wanted no part of the family business. He discovered that he loved aviation more than the dysfunction of the Trump family, and pursued a career in commercial aviation, ultimately flying jet airliners for TWA.
Mary L. Trump has written about the dysfunction in her family and noted that Fred Trump admired Donald's "killer instinct." Maybe that was an indirect way of describing Donald's badgering and discrediting Freddy, pushing him out of the family business and ultimately, out of the family itself.
The hate directed at Freddy by his family destroyed his marriage and drove him to misuse of alcohol, which led to his early death. Donald even finagled a way to prevent Freddy from receiving his share of inheritance upon his father's death.
Obviously he’s incapable of making the AI video himself. He can’t even stay within the lines in a coloring book. So who in the administration is being paid by taxpayer funds to troll the country? Is there a small office of 14 year old boys somewhere in the White House? Or maybe they’re on a cleverly. disguised shrimp boat in the Gulf of America (™).
I think the hate of heroes stems from jealousy. He knows he's a slacker, had a trumped(!) up excuse for getting out of the draft in the 70s. He's the softest coward we have ever had in the WH.
It pays to have read Aesop ‘s Fables especially about the cricket and the ants. I also take hombrage with the use of Franklin the Turtle. Isn’t that copyright infringement? And really does he actually read? And if illiterate and some folks get by the comic strip from Cleveland Crankshaft did a wonderful story line on adult illiteracy.
I thought that about Franklin as well. Something crossed my mind when I saw it: once again they manage to deflect from the issue at hand by dropping something outrageous into the media.
You and Annabel have nailed it! Mark Kelly's service, courage, and character are indisputable facts that Trump's twisted, narcissistic, arrogant brain cannot comprehend. I doubt that I'm the only one who recognized his, "THANKSGIVING WISH" was actually aimed at himself, his administration, and billionaire buddies, who: "hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for" every day since his inauguration!
Kelly "punching back" just gave the MAGA's more food to fuel the MAGA-Claim that disloyalty is the reason Biden-ites are causing prices to rise and the economy to fumble. That's all. The simple fact that the SFB (shit-for-brains = Trump) regime has continued to operate outside the law (International, whatever) with relative impunity, says that this latest snow-squall ("fog of war") will go under-the-blanket, as we've found the ass of an Admiral where things can be shoved.., out of sight.
So what's next - will he (I don't know....hegseth, trump) call for a nuclear attack on blue states? Lawlessness, dehumanization, a military dictatorship taking shape, disdain for and the evisceration of rights......can anyone imagine what new hell awaits us?
Im pretty sure that Mark Kelly,a true patriot, will overcome every attempt by this fascist regime to destroy him for whatever reason. We should keep fighting till this regime imploded. It's a matter of time. 🤞
There's really no choice this next election - if we even have a fair one. It will be Despotism vs whoever the Democrats have nominated. The only reason we're in this mess is because Democrats chose not to show up because their Unicorn wasn't nominated as well as the disinformation campaigns that split voters with the Israel / Palestine issues (possibly Russia and others involved there) That and those who voted for a third party.
Whomever it is, we need to show up in crazy numbers and send these people home and or to prison. Kegseth and many in this administration.
The prime reason Democrats did not win was misogyny. The sooner people recognize that, the sooner we can place brilliant and accomplished women in the highest offices in the land.
There are people on this very chat group who disdain women, so I think that's going to be a hard thing to accomplish. As bad as racism is, black men got to vote, a black man was elected to both the US House and the US Senate, became a Supreme Court Justice and became US President before any woman.
Misogyny wasn't the only reason or even the primary reason Kamala lost. It was Trump's ability to repeat the same lies about the Biden economy and how he would reduce prices on Day 1. And also, it was the irrational fear that criminals were crossing the border with impunity.
The corporate media did very little to help Kamala as well.
And now we have a vindictive moron with dementia as President with a Republican Congress terrified to stand up to him.
BTW, have any of the Epstein files been released yet?
Elizabeth, so so true. When I was a female student at IIT--outnumbered 21:1 male:female--the common thought was if the female did poorly in a class, it was she was a DEI admission (before the term DEI was common) and took a male's place in the class. If she did well, she "blew the professor". I heard this too many times. Thankfully, not all the men there had this mindset, but it got really, really tiresome.
I don't think America will be ready for a woman President for a very long time. The Southern Baptist will not allow it. They believe God is head of the family, then comes man. This is ingrained in everything they do. Women cannot be ushers or deacons. This is one of the biggest Christian groups (think Billy Graham). That is why some women did not vote for Harris.
Fearful women are okay with patriarchal societies. The lack their self value and want someone to be in charge of their lives and make all their decisions for them. What drives me crazy is their lack of self respect. Many are bullied their entire lives and could have been family leaders instead of followers. As a woman raised I grew up rejecting the lifestyle. Trust me, when your daughters recognize what you have done to them....they will walk out of your life. Everyone should live to accomplish their highest potential and be proud of themselves.
Right on Patty. Dublin. Self esteem is even now tough to come by with pushback from some ‘enlightened men’…certainly only some. However, I recently had the not so lovely experience of being laughed at by one of our elected state senators in a fund raiser here after I asked a question about giving our Dem state my Fed taxes instead of to the Federal gang.
While he laughed on stage, the audience shouted “Yes, yes!!”
and applauded. Every woman reading this may have endured this kind of misogyny at some point?
It stung of course as he meant it to. But, if that idiot thinks I’ll ever support him, or endorse him as I did when he ran last time, he can think again.
Linda, Southern Baptists don't have a corner on institutionalized misogyny. Expand this to all evangelicals, of which Baptists are a subset. And while most conservative evangelicals deny that Roman Catholics are "true Christians," they do share that misogyny.
The whole lot of them gaslight their followers by claiming they "put women on a pedestal by protecting them from the hazards of leadership."
More BS: "Women are commanded by God in the Bible to be 'helpmetes' for the men they love."
I'm not trying to throw water on your thought, but I question it because how did Sarah Fuchabee get elected as governor of Arkansas, as it's full of all forms of so called "Christians". I won't even drive through that state.
That is why SOME, not all, did not vote for Harris. I heard this firsthand as I am from a Southern Baptist Church. I finally left when they told me I should not be reading Harry Potter books because they were from Satan.
I believe Jimmy Carter's church left the Southern Baptist Convention after he returned to Plains. The denomination has moved consistently to the right since the eighties. It was always racially segregated, but the mistreatment of women was an add-on.
Why is our country the only country that has refused to vote for qualified, competent women? Remember Golda Meir of Israel in the 1960s? Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, a very conservative, male-dominated country? Many European countries, Australia, now even Japan? Why cannot a majority recognize brilliant women who run against despicable, shallow men? (End of rant.)
There are a ton of what I've learned to identify as "microaggressions" in a lot of the comments (disregarding the resident trolls) by many readers. I don't really want to take the time to research, but I've had several barbs directed at me; two are no longer on this page, but there are several guys who reply here, in all sincerity, that I just roll my eyes at.
Gary, there are at least a few. There is one who, no matter what I might post, absolutely has to have the last word and find at least a little something to counter me. You can be mistaken using written communication, but it always smacks of a mansplaining tone.
The funny thing is if there are men here that disdain women they're on the wrong site.
If I heard that about certain sites, say Joe Rogan, I'd say they're probably right.
But this is a site authored by one of the smartest people around, who many of us wait in anticipation each day to read what she offers, [at least I do], and just happens to be a woman. I couldn't care less about someone's sex, race, color or whatever, it's their ideas that count.
Miselle, I'm pretty sure you and I have never had any of those negative exchanges. But I must confess that I frequently hesitate to share insights in response to women because I don't want to come across as "mansplaining."
Maybe. Here's a good ruler: Watch the next rally in your hometown and count the number of women in, say 100 demonstrators- what percentage of the 100 do they represent? . Young, old, in between. Doesn't matter. For 90% of US, we learned social and faith-endorsed principles that have guided us.
The fact that women are doing more of the work even in trying to save our democracy does not make me feel any better! Typical of many (most) households and work places in the US. More work for less prestige, power, ackowledgement, benefit, etc.
Many of the women I see at No Kings rallies, Dana, aren't "working."
They're coming with the most imaginative, inventive of home-made posters. They're coming with friends and family of all ages. They know how to enjoy the moment. Even as they well know the depths of savagery and stupidity on Donald's side.
Aftyn Behn is running in a special election today in TN for US House. She has closed the gap in a place that was +22 for Trump one year ago. Polls close today at 7 CST. 🌊🌊
Maybe in 2032/6. We need to get a Dem elected in the WH and majorities in the Senate and House to start cleaning up this mess first. We will need an aggressive AG not another milquetoast like Garland and a team of special prosecutors. Time to investigate the Federal judges the orange felon appointed as well.
I'd say back up a bit, Nancy. Things are much more complicated.
For being accepted to colleges, graduating from colleges, and grade point averages, women have been outperforming men for some time now.
But the hits to the middle class and working class from offshoring jobs have hit men the most, so many young men are basement dwellers in their parents' homes. Worse, many simply do not ever date. Many face life without families of their own, without homes of their own.
Scott Galloway attributes the surge in white women voting for Trump to the despair of so many that their sons have no lives.
Worse, the post Powell-memo campaign by far right foundations to kill humanities in schools was deliberate. It preceded the offshoring of jobs by design. They knew that if elite media no longer read any novels or memoirs on what was hitting young men -- if elite media became clueless as to the pain hitting working class and middle class men, it would be much easier for the rich to profit off the offshoring.
Hello Phil... It is a Difficult Situation.... Sports are no longer Mandatory in High-Schools, along with Fine Arts.... I talk to Proprietors of Outdoor Sport Stores, and fewer & fewer Young People are seen... It seems that the little Handheld Screens, which are increasingly A.I. driven, are slowly Destroying Humankind...
When I was in high school, I never had anything to do with sports. So boring. However, I have been a runner for reasons of health.
Oh and also one day in high school, I told my buddy in the hall one day that I was about to “liberate “ the girls room (just so I could talk about it in the future which is now) so I boldly walked into one and announced to a couple of girls that I was liberating it. They giggled and then I walked out. I was always a prankster.
I saw teen boys struggle mightily when I worked at high school. Most had more advantages than any other group and were not at all shy about females. In fact, females were often helpmates. What has changed. White males are still the most privileged of any group. I did see more parents who should never have been around young kids. Is it a parenting failure? Females and blacks had more obstacles but kept plodding; except for a few mean girls, who often had sexual abuse in their histories. Surprises galore…
Phil, a comment came to mind for you, before seeing yours, because today's post caused me to visualize opportunities for disciplines of military service and problem-solving of mission-driven training of legal minds. I imagine how Now is a fantastic time for case-based law training in colleges! I hope it's happening in ways that ripple widely.
I see the issues you described with many young men. I'm wanting to see local to far-reaching examples of families, villages, job pools, mobilizing crews of workers restoring what's been destroyed. Where are the designs for welcoming potential contributors? Being recruited for ICE, migrant farming, savagely-overseen construction -- I'd want to hide in my parents' basement too. Making Wholeness from this mess is a challenge to all our institutions and informal clusters to share more freely.
I look around and see who has a lock on social capital, agency, and leadership. As a country, it seems we're not close to hitting bottom yet.
I disagree. Misogyny certainly played a part, but Kamala was not our best candidate. She gave it her all and I was hopeful, but had we had a convention, she would NEVER have been the candidate!
YES, we have wonderful, strong women who would make a great POTUS, and if we make it through this horror show and put our country back on its rails, we’ll elect one someday. 2028 is NOT that day, however.
How can you say that? She was the state prosecutor in CA, then AG, senator, then VP - more experience than many men who have been president. Yes the situation was unfortunate - only about 100 days to campaign, not having been through a primary some felt she was forced on them and that people didn't choose her - I blame Biden for that. He claimed he would only serve one term then changed his mind. I thought he was a very good president esp after the felon child rapist he was great, but the scenario that unfolded was not Harris's fault. I think she had a tough side she failed to show and was a bit giddy about the whole thing that made her look frivolous. However I think she would have been an excellent president. She would not have selected Garland that useless AG...and she would be 500 million times better than what we have right now...
I agree -- I would like to see a female POTUS with all my soul - but this next election has to be strategic so that we win and I don't think putting a woman up again -- however brilliantly qualified - will win the day, sadly.
A very close friend of ours surprised us. He and his family were persecuted in Ghana, came here and have great lives. They are very religious.
Out of the blue in 2016 we were talking the election options - he flat out said he could never vote for a woman to lead. It was against god. I was floored, but it opened our eyes to the massive belief in patriarchal leadership that is foundational above simple misogyny.
If we can’t figure out how to change that damn near perfected religious view of faith based hierarchy- it’s a very difficult task to break through on numbers needed to win. I am sad as I’ve always defended our daughter and women in general to be anything they have a passion and calling for in fair competition of capabilities.
Religions have been administered by men for thousands of years. If you actually study the words and actions of Jesus, for instance, you get a very different view of Christianity’s attitude towards women than if you listen to the words and watch the actions of evangelical leaders.
John Fugelsang’s book taught me beliefs like you cite are not Jesus’s. Rather, they were picked up when Paul’s writing were included in the Bible—Paul was formerly a Pharisee and those beliefs leached into his writings.
Actually no according to John Dominic Crossan abd others like Elaine Pagels. His writings were edited and bowelderized. He actually worked with Thelca and one can see in a cave in Greece the images of both of them in the blessing hand position with Thelca now a saint images wiped out. For all the issues of Christianity the first three hundred years had females in leadership roles. They also had home based versus specific building type services. Sr Christine Shenk CSJ has done extensive work in this period and has at least one book as well.
102 years and the ERA is still sitting on the shelf.
Until women throughout the world organize in a non threatening manner, which allows those who are fearful of losing the little bit they now have, men will continue to rule i.e. dictate; taking our world from contrived crisis to contrived crisis.
'Women United', coupled with men who recognize the injustice of our present, would constitute an overwhelming majority here, which is where this long needed change could take its first steps.
WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE NON-THREATENING?????!!!!! Threatening behavior is defined in the men’s minds, not the women’s. If smart, compassionate, tough, upstanding women are threatening to men, they need to work on their growth. Really, women organizing at all is threatening to many men, so women organizing at all is the problem. Back to the kitchen, sisters! Off the street! Bury the ERA 😢
In a way that doesn't give the misogynists among us an excuse to bring the organizers down. Those now in control have no qualms about cracking men's heads now and if women show any signs of seeking a voice in their destiny with any sort of violent action they will get clubbed as well.
I am concerned that the men now in control will attempt to cancel the midterms provoking a response in which women's heads would also roll.
The important thing is that women who make up over half our population show up in a peaceful protest as their presence will make a difference.
May be that these thoughts are considered naive but men, unlike women, have never solved and more often not even tried to solve social problems by peaceful means.
Christian Nationalists want to remove women’s right to vote. They say the husband should vote the “family” vote. How’s that for not feeling threatened?
Do you read the Substack, “This Will Hold?” Some of their posts have compelling statements regarding the 2024 election results. A recent one presented election results favoring Trump from several Florida counties that do not exist. Other articles have stated, with bars and graphs, that several Blue counties in other states suddenly flipped Red just above the threshold to win towards the end of the election period. I wish more would read and comment on their postings.
Investigations are happening with results that indicate Kamala won. I agree with Sara. How could counties that do not exist be counted? What state official allowed that to happen without question? Or were votes just uploaded to an anonymous server and never questioned by a person in those "counties"? Who is the counter-in-chief? ESS which has a dubious past?
Yea. Not sure but plausible. I'd think dems are more okay with women but maybe you are right. Still I think it's the dems more or less, going against themselves and I still think the divide with things in the middle east had a lot to do with it. I haven't seen any reporting on it but I think there was some real dis-info played by foreign influencers dividing our party. If you'll remember it was either Israel or Palestine and all the going back and fourth. None of which really made any difference with the new regime. (in fact maybe made worse under trump)
Again, dems failed to show up to vote. That's the main concern.
I'll vote for a Woman, a Trans or anyone who will bring our country back from this catastrophe.
Have you ever read the comments on fb from men - a lot of hatred and contempt out there from men towards women. It seems many young women have pretty much given up on men and don't even want to date anymore...
I'm sorry. I am just thinking about the Dems that failed to show up this last election. It was really close actually, at least from the popular vote. The other thing is that Kamala only got to campaign for roughly a third of a year.
I don't disagree that misogyny is a pervasive mindset among many and I'd guess it always has been. The women in my entire life have always been examples to follow. I suppose it depends on the family you grow up with. The men I associate with are not controlling bastards but I have met those.
I don't date anymore either. The last date I had admitted she hated cats. The date ended very quickly. Gosh, that has been a decade ago. LOL
I agree. Misogyny is alive and well. I sincerely hope that one day a brilliant, qualified woman will be president. However, 2028 is not the year. Everything near and dear to us is at stake. Unfortunately, we will need the votes of those who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for brilliant, qualified women in 2016 and 2024 in order to defeat fascism.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Just look at the national-level leadership in many European nations. Women rule. I dare say most of us, including men, receive their moral compass from their mother's. Not all, just maybe most.
Absolutely! I said that racism, misogyny & stupidly are the reasons trump won. Too many snowflake men don't want to take orders from a strong woman. I think it's time to bring back Helen Reddy's anthem,
I agree that Harris was an excellent and qualified person, but i fear that you and many others on this comment thread are spending too much time in your echo chamber. There were many reasons why Harris was fighting an uphill battle. I am guessing that many here have no problem with the “woke” agenda. I truly believe that everyone deserves to be treated equally and with respect. Hands down an American ethic protected in the constitution. BUT if you believe a presidential candidate can win fighting for trans rights you will be waiting a lifetime or two. Dems were not reading the room, the GOP was, and mounted a powerful campaign against her. She failed to differentiate herself from an unpopular ( although effective) president, and was easily painted far left of the general electorate. Most folks are far less astute in politics than y’all.
Misogyny was certainly a factor in the last election tion. That said,I wanted to see Democrats nominate a strong candidate and if that's Mark Kelly,fine
I have NO DOUBT that the American people will vote in the midterms and the 2028 elections like never before! The horror show of this administration is just getting started and already the public is outraged!
I hope you are right, and I do see many signs of disillusionment with the Trump administration. What ordinary Americans - males, females and those who identify as “other” - can do is show up, stand up and speak up at every opportunity. We are in this together, despite our differences. We need to remember that and work together for the common good.
Better Angels is growing as I respond to you, Linda. Just from my niche here with many flags in full display on lawns,
I can feel a change
coming. People know what I stand for since I was the only one to have Kamala signs in full display. The apparent magas are amazingly friendly(at least 90%of them so far) and welcoming as I walk my pup around.
My husband and I have participated in 4 rallies, 3 in South Carolina and one in Virginia. Everyone was enthusiastic ....standing up for our country and for each citizen. Together, we are stronger....together we are better.
We have friends and family "on the dark side" as well. We do not fight about it....it would be to no avail.
We can only hope. Unfortunately we are now ruled by an authoritarian regime and they will do all they can to keep that from happening. Like maybe declaring war on...anyone...and then saying we can't change rulers during a war. I remember back at the start of the Iraq war. A lot of whom I thought were intelligent rational people backed Bush and his flag waving, "patriotic" attack. You just can't underestimate the stupidity of americans.
I sure hope so too. The polling numbers are in the tank for this administration. Early voting for various elections are on our side it seems. It seems that the movements against the King and others is having an effect. I hope it continues and moreover, drives the vote.
There will be an election, MaryPat. Do not surrender in advance. Do not do the regime’s work for it by fatalistic discouraging of the resistance. We will win only if we keep fighting.
Assuming Kelly is called out of retirement and court-martialled, it will be by a military tribunal. The Supreme Court is a civilian court and has no role to play.
The whole thing is simply preposterous. Kelly (and the others) is protected by the Speech and Debate clause in Article I, section 6 of the Constitution. They cannot be prosecuted for anything they say in the course of their duties as elected officials.
I don't think so. I think just stating the Military Code of Justice is just an obvious thing. Just like in any federal or state code, justifying a case here will be futile. Donnie the Pig and his minions are just trying to scare and F with people in the military. The crime here is the ILLEAGAL orders submitted by the administration. IE Secretary Kegseth and others.
Given that the oath-breaking military has reduced itself to Trump's private goon squad, I genuinely fear for Captain Kelly's future. The MAGATs are so infinitely Evil, they have replaced the concept of justice with unabashed revenge. They may also try to assassinate him; hence I trust he is now perpetually armed. Depending on what horrors the Regime subsequently attempts to inflict on him and his family, It may be their best bet is to leave the country, perhaps seeking asylum in Great Britain. There, like de Gaulle in World War II, Captain Kelly could organize -- with the assistance of Canadian and European allies -- the reconquest of the former United States by the international forces of social democracy. Admittedly this is a worst-case scenario, but we already know that nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is too hateful for the Christonazis and their MAGAT rabble.
Mr. Rock, are you somehow unaware this traitorous Regime has already made itself notorious -- and eternally disgraced our national judiciary -- by reducing the courts to MAGAT vengeance weapons, thus shrinking them to nothing more than extensions of der neu Führer's goon-squads? Yes, some judges have resisted, but others are brazen collaborators. And we know Trump has thoroughly purged the military of any judges who would dare resist his edicts. While I desperately hope your analysis is correct, we should all have learned by now that it is the height of foolhardiness to be unafraid of the MAGATs' potential for doing Evil, which they have already (repeatedly) proven to be of a magnitude that was hitherto unfathomable.
That said, I realize you are not alone in your dismissal of those of us who recognize this Regime as twinned with Nazi Germany in malignant intentions and vastly superior in its ecogenocidal capabilities. Indeed I would argue that the greatest obstacle to building effective resistance is that yours unfortunately remains the majority view throughout the anti-MAGAT coalition.
I appreciate your point of view there however, I still think Kelly will walk away from this unscathed. He's a decorated veteran, an astronaut and a truly amazing sort of guy. That and the fact that he was only calling to the Military Code of Justice as a thing?
Loren, preserve some hope. These ass hats are in less charge as you would think. F them and rise up as much as you can. Posters, live events, create your own etc. we're the republic and we're in charge here!
And call your representatives. It's easy. It takes me less than 4 minutes to make 6 calls. Just say one sentence. "I want you to investigate the killing of survivors in the Caribbean." They will know exactly what you are talking about. Keep the heat on, every day.
I want no one to leave the country, especially those who stand up to these idiots. I took the same oath as Mark Kelly and knew, if only in the back of my mind, that I could possibly lose my life in service to my country. That oath never leaves you, at least it hasn't for me, once you serve. I still have no desire to lose my life but if that should happen speaking up and doing whatever in resisting, I'm okay with it. I would much rather stay here than flee. We need all our hero's right here in this country standing strong. These people are evil.
I don't think Kelly has anything to fear from a court martial, Betsy. He only quoted the Unified Code of Military Justice. There's no there there. What would they charge him with?
I agree. It's just that a court martial is what Hegseth was threatening (lots of empty bluster), so I wanted to make clear the distinction between Kelly's situation and that of the other five.
Yes Betsy, I understood your point, and that was mentioned as an excuse by some of the pundits. Obviously any such courts martial is patently absurd, but it sounds flashy. I keep thinking about the families of the people who are being killed, this is so sad.
Even the kakistocrats aren't so stupid as to think that's a good idea, after all this has come out. Ergo their radio silence on that subject since Wednesday night. Other than The Idiot, who continues to post his Ravings At Midnight.
Yes, but radio silence is not enough. It is a permanent black mark on the American electorate and on the legislators they elected that there has not ben a massive groundswell in the hundreds of millions of letters and phone calls and a stampede to the airwaves of Republican legislators, governors, and elected officials at all levels to demanding the ouster of this raving nincompoop whose administration has engaged in monumentally corruption and ordered military personnel to commit war crimes including murder on the high seas.
Hope that an attempt of that nature will finally put the active military in high alert Betsy. And I truly appreciate the calm they had demonstrated till now. This fascist regime should be very, very careful.
Nothing will put active duty military on high alert more than Hogsbreath now lying and claiming he didn’t give the order. Throwing the guy who followed his order under the bus will tell every active military person ALL they need to know.
Now Congress needs to do a THOROUGH and PUBLIC investigation!
Kathryn don't forget that the officer they are throwing under the bus it's the guy that should at least complain about such an order but fundamentally disobey it plain and simple. He should be investigated as well. Thanks for your reply 👍
I completely agree! That’s why it’s important for Congress to have a public hearing where both Hogsbreath AND the active military guy who followed his illegal orders are forced to testify before Congress and the public! Since Hogsbreath is now claiming he didn’t give the order (despite boasting about it in two posts), and throwing the other guy under the bus, NOTHING will wake up the troops to how they’ll be treated if they follow illegal orders in the future like this will. There MUST be severe consequences for these actions!
The only way a Court Martial could even consider finding him guilty is if Hegseth acted as Prosecutor and one of Trump's non-military jurors presided. Not going to happen. No military officer would even consider it.
Annabel, I agree with you on Mark Kelly and his fellow veterans are heroes. Their words are going to wake up people in the military as they see what happens now to Hegseth and those under him who were involved in this war crime. They should be focusing on Witkoff too. He has committed treason by coaching an enemy nation on how to manipulate the US president. This is what Westpoint History Professor is saying about all of the leaks that revealed what is going on.
In a Kakistocracy, which is what we have, you expect the people working in it to be incompetent and they are. As for Hegseth. I now call him the "Secretary of War Crimes" because of this Comic by Ann Telnaes.
Thank you, Linda, for the Westpoint History Professor link. I have been thinking about Witkoff a lot, and wondering what could be done. This is exciting and encouraging, just what I needed. I remember Deep Throat well, and to think this is happening again... well, you have made my day. Thank you!
People like Terrance Goggin and Dean Blundell, have made me feel more like the adults are going to manage the mean teens, or in Trump's case, the terrible toddler. Dean's post on the weekend about our allies.
I'm no prude but Blundell's inability to post or speak a sentence without the F word intruding in one or more of its several adjectival, verbal, noun, or adverbial forms is just plain off-putting to me but keeps me from referring his posts to my granddaughters for the critical content they contain.
And over the past 5 days that all this is coming out - which proves why Kelly and the others made the video - all of a sudden even the kakistocrats realize going after him is a bad idea, so there's now silence from everyone except "the most persistent ignoramus I ever met" as General John Kelly described The Idiot.
TC, Instead of Kelly can we make it so they go after Witkoff for treason? Trump has given the A-OK on Witkoff manipulating him to go along with Putin's plan, because visions of sugar plums aka money, dance in his head. Still, we the people should not accept him colluding with the Russians. How he is still allowed to go negotiate boggles my mind. West Point History Professor is letting us know that the military is not happy. It was pretty obvious from those leaks.
I would like to know how widespread dissatisfaction is. If they go after Admiral Frank Bradley, who apparently is being thrown under the Ship so to speak by Hegseth and Trump, and Karoline Leavitt, then other members of the military will know if they follow illegal orders they are on their own.
Hello Annabel... Mark Kelley, along with the others in the 'Follow The UCMJ' Video, are Fighting The Good Fight... If Admiral Mitch Bradley takes the Fall for this Illegal Operation, I suspect that this will have a Corrosive Effect on Military Morale, as it will show that Members of the Military, are Expendable Assets to Cadet Bone Spurs, who has called them 'Suckers & Losers'.... Everything That Trump Touches Dies...
Trump & Hegseth have actually just given Sen. Kelly the best possible platform for exposure and to become even more of a hero. They are so lost in their power bubble...the Turtle thing is absurd...When I saw it I didn't realize Hegseth had created it...I thought it a kind of "Mad Magazine" spoof.
What's the common thread in all this mad Donald regime, Mike?
Hegseth in unwitting stupidity aping Mad Magazine. Kash Patel in his fawning cartoon books. Fashion moll Kristi Noem in her Barbie Doll costuming. Donald in his royal Versailles gold glittering.
Such a huge slice of the U.S. so obviously from only the most obviously derelict, dehumanized schools.
I think it also has to do with military rules. He is the only one who can be called back up for active service so they can witch hunt him. But yes, they are also trying to clear the way for JD, who is almost as hateable as Ted Cruz. While Trump somehow got the dummies to think he did not disdain them and thought himself just like them, Vance is physically unable to hide his contempt. Vance treats everyone like Trump treats women!
Tim Miller said that the person he'd least like to have as a passenger in a cross-country drive was Vance -- he said he'd prefer Ted Cruz to Vance!! That is really saying something!
"Why is the Regime focusing on Mark Kelly when..." Because Mark Kelly achieved a level of excellence and performance (astronaut) that members of this Regime can't fake or replicate (in an attempt to diminish how the rest of us admire and respect Kelly.)
Truer words were never written! Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords are American heroes. They have placed their lives on the line for this country again and again. They have used their gifts and talents and tenacity in the service of this country and its people.
Trump and his family just USE... Those who follow them...those who seek his/their favor are like minded users....with the same self-centered goals.
Why, that's easy, because Kelly's a threat to them.
A real hero, combat fighter pilot, astronaut, credible, and courageous, not just in battle fighting for America, but a real man standing by his wife under difficult circumstances. He is an example of how a real man behaves when he gives his word,"in sickness and in health".
I think about the horrible decision a fisherman must make when he needs to fish to sustain his family but fishing might lead to him being killed and leave his family without their bread winner (so to speak).
''Franklin Fires a Rocket and Other Thanksgiving Traditions in the Trump Era''
This satire takes aim at a chaotic holiday weekend in Washington and the strange bravado of officials who treat war crimes like punchlines. With sharp humor and unapologetic clarity, it exposes the underbussing, the absurdity, and the danger of leaders who mistake cruelty for strength... https://essayx.substack.com/p/franklin-fires-a-rocket-and-other
Clearly the Senate made mistake for confirming Hegseth. Voters made mistake for electing Trump. How can we correct these mistakes? That is the key issue, not blaming them.
Hiro--It wasn't "the Senate" it was the MAGA majority. And there are real doubts about the legitimacy of the 2024 General Election. So the voters are not at fault.
The problem is fixing it.
If there were anything normal about this situation we the people would simply vote them out. There would be a blue tsunami and the GOP would be dead meat for a generation.
But none of this is normal. Will we have a free and fair midterm election? If so, we have a chance to take back congress. It must be BOTH houses. Then, impeach and convict. Finally, seat the Speaker, a Democrat, as POTUS. After that, repairs can begin.
But what if there IS no true election? Just a sham, or none at all?
At this moment we essentially have an authoritarian regime, and therein lies the problem with "fixing it".
I think Gov. JBPritzker is a serious, strong contender for president in 2028. He protects his state and everyone in his state. He chooses his words carefully and speaks forcefully. Intelligent, compassionate, competent. He should throw his hat into the ring.
The beginning of this ties in well with your entry for Nov. 29th. It's becoming clear that those who have benefited from Trump's ascendancy, now understand that he is no longer useful.
If Trump continues on this track, "underbussing" will have to be next year's new word for the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Not one person who works for the Trump administration in any way should be accepting verbal orders for anything. Force them to write down every single thing they want done, and timestamp it all. No more mob speak, like Michael Cohen so memorably described. Especially the military orders. The Trump administration could grind to a halt if everyone working for them said WRITE.IT.DOWN!
That seems like a very tall order as I'm guessing many of them can't write correctly especially the king's English (supposed to be a joke; it's late. But nevertheless likely to be true).
Anyone who has chosen to work for the Trump administration has decided -- unwittingly, or more likely not -- to follow the great man's orders. Whether this loyalty to the maga monster is ideological or self-interested matters little. Big crooks, little crooks... there may not be jail cells enough to hold them all, but that can be remedied.
We will be able to release all the illegally detained immigrants to allow them due process which will free up plenty of nice space to house this administration's tried and convicted criminals.
I'm still tripping out on "double-tap" and "kinetic strikes." It's all just a gentle game of tag, really, or perhaps an evening of exciting modern dance performances, I'm not sure. The antiseptic language has but a single purpose: to conceal treachery, war crimes, piracy and murder on the high seas.
While these lame-brains couldn't care less about that, tens of thousands of our military officers do. They know that "extrajudicial" behavior on our part only encourages our enemies to take "extrajudicial" revenge against us. It's beyond clear who's really protecting our troops -- and who's putting them in harm's way -- on purpose.
It totally gets me that every time a reporter asks Trump for a comment on some important event that has just happened, his standard answer is “I don’t know anything about that.” WTF? Isn’t that his JOB to KNOW what’s going on in our country?! And yet he calls the REPORTERS stupid?
Trump calls everyone stupid-reporters, governors, misc people. He insults, demeans & ridicules and lies constantly, and at least Mark Kelly spoke out forcefully and fearlessly. We all need to be like Mark Kelly.
Trump is merely a key piece of evidence to be used in the case against allowing our hyper wealthy high tech moguls and other self serving geniuses to take all the money and think they deserve all the power too.
I believe those responses are how he compensates for his dementia. First he acts as if he doesn’t hear but no one has ever claimed he has hearing loss. That gives him time to reboot and remember how to compensate for loss of memory. He doesn’t remember that he was told , and what he claims to not know anything about is what he did know but didn’t retain. Then he attacks to force questioners to back off. He works hard to keep his dementia invisible.
ICTT, What's more alarming than the language is that it took three months for this to come out. Also I would remind you that in gangster-speak, "double tapping" is a method of execution.
Thanks for so clearly articulating what has been swimming in my head for a couple months: a single purpose. The Command Authority in this country is completely inappropriate and inadequate for the jobs they've been given, either by the voters or the felon.
As I said earlier, I don’t wish this on anybody but the only way that you guys are gonna wake up is it one of your really close relatives and loved ones suffer the death of fentanyl or other drugs, or kidnapping or murder or rape and then maybe you’ll understand.
What? Are you serious right now? There are rules of law and they are vital for all of us living in this democracy. Yes, drugs can kill just like guns can lead to deaths. In our democracy, the laws we all (and I mean all including the president and the administration and the military) follow allow us our freedoms in this amazing country. Yes, criminals should be held accountable through the same courts we are all held accountable to.
Rick, you are not alone. I don't doubt many here have felt the pain you feel and want desperately to see the perpetrators and enablers brought to justice. I still feel the pain and intentionally always will.
Some of us would welcome the opportunity to kill those who have killed or raped someone close to us. But that doesn't mean I'll go out looking for someone who looks like them or acts like them and blow their brains out and think somehow that makes things right or relieves my pain in the slightest. It won't. I know that much.
It just makes me a murderer, and not a murderer of the murderer or rapist of someone close to me, but the worst sort of murderer. Driven by vengeance, cold blooded, and worst of all, indiscriminate. Just lashing out.
Drugs can and do kill. Rape is a horrid lifelong atrocity second only to murder. The perpetration of neither will lead me to committing or condoning indiscriminate slaughter in hopes of relieving my pain though. I am not that and will not become it. The loss I will always feel is a deeply ingrained part of me now. With no recourse available, it's made me less reactionary and oddly calmer. Less likely to act out impulsively, which at first is all these indiscriminate murders seem to be. Impulsive lashing out. But they are worse. They are staged events, not unlike the evil minded KKK hangings of our past. Rallying cries for the ignorant sloth like cud chewers among us who drunkenly cheer on the slaughter as grand vengeful entertainment. I am not them and I very much doubt you are either.
Yeah, but I never would have considered the similarity of the viewer friendly obliteration of those boats with the KKK lynchings. There's a mean and vengeful spirit in us, like an ever present nagging virus. And if he's a troll, he's likely an ignorant sloth like cud chewer of one. Fuck him. Laws/Not War, the sooner, the better.
Good morning, Rick. I am troubled by your assumption that none of us have ever had these terrible things happen. Where would you get that assumption? Please understand that many, if not most, of the people around you have had such experiences, and/or close friends and relatives may also have suffered these disasters. Drugs and violence are certainly all around us. I am glad that you don’t wish them upon us, though. I really appreciate that. But you might be amazed if you asked, instead of harboring incorrect assumptions about the people you are corresponding with. We are all human just like you, and subject to the same forces that have marked you. I’m sorry, it sounds as if you yourself have had such experiences. They can really mark you.
He woulde push his own children and wife under a bus if it were to save his skin. I remember the day he was at UFC 299 IN Fl. and said hello to Ivanka when leavinhg, but left hepr younger son with his hand extended, totally ignoring the boy, who looked devastated.
"On March 9, 2024, during UFC 299 in Miami, the former president appeared to ignore his grandson (Joseph Kushner, Ivanka’s son) when Joseph tried to greet him. Trump embraced Ivanka and greeted her husband, but reportedly did not acknowledge Joseph.
Media coverage described the moment as a “snub”: Joseph looked “dejected,” and the video went viral as critics posted the clip online.
It's from his old playbook. Think of all the people in prisons who are there for following his orders! Lawyers, accountants, aides, etc. Now we'll add an admiral to the list. He pardons drug lords and bitcoin schemers for payoffs, but he won't pardon the admiral.
Hey Judy, repeat after me. Three more years, three more years three more years
But if he’s smart at the beginning of his fourth year, you’re simply handed off to JD Vance without an election being necessary and if Vance does a good job, guess what
“Today, Leavitt told reporters the administration believes the strike was lawful because it “was conducted in self defense to protect Americans and vital United States interests.” This justification would permit the president, or those acting in his name, to be judge, jury, and executioner without regard to the law.”
I can’t, for the life of me, understand why there seems to be little-to-no focus on the legality of these boat strikes at all, even without the horrendous extrajudicial executions. We’re blowing up small boats which are incapable of reaching the U.S., in international waters, for no legitimate reason. Certainly not in self-defense, no matter how they try to spin it. Even without the deaths, the singular aggression alone is an act of war. The U.S. is no better than bully pirates.
The White House is admitting the double-tap and is throwing U.S. Special Operations Command head Adm. Frank Bradley under the bus, claiming all Hegseth had done was give Bradley discretion in carrying out his orders to kill “narco terrorists.”
This, after Hegseth put out a meme of Franklin, a cartoon turtle from a children’s book, gleefully shooting "narco terrorists” from a chopper.
Hegseth is a man with a need for the performative strut of an 8-year-old. Seeing that turtle meme, the phrase “Kill them all!” got stuck in my head, along with a picture of a chalkboard ticking off the body count.
But this isn’t about tick marks on a chalkboard. It is about human beings being murdered in extrajudicial killings on the high seas. Why? The Coast Guard has been successfully intercepting drug traffickers at sea, capturing the traffickers and the evidence for years. Legally.
Why the need to kill now? Who needs the adrenaline rush that badly that they are willing to trade America’s reputation and soft power in the world for it?
I see the look in their eyes and can feel the canvas seat moving from their shivering. It may have been the cold rainy monsoon season and the open deck of the helicopter moving at 90 knots or the fact they were stripped to their underwear to keep from hiding weapons, but I felt their fear kept them shivering. We had just captured them in the last hour. Their wounds were bandaged at least enough to keep them from bleeding out. Intelligence would decide their fate, not us combatants. Although still engaged in battle with their battalion and taking our own share of casualties we transported them along with taking on more fuel and ammunition with which to return to battle. There was no other way to do it. Executing them on the battlefield was not what we learned from our mothers. Sure we laughed about throwing them out at 2000 ft above ground. But sitting among them and being charged with keeping them alive was a different story. They were so small and young. I knew napalm would come later in the evening as shadows formed and I was glad we had caught them before they would be incinerated trying to flee back over the border into Cambodia. I mean that is realtime so what would you have us do? What should we tell the Navy? For ourselves we gave them over to interrogation and moved on to pol.
Pat, thank for sharing that. It must have been incredibly difficult to write even after 50 years. It brings home what it means to take a human life, even if it is an enemy.
It’s important. Have you ever looked into a man’s eyes who is looking back at you and trying desperately not to see you. People need to see how bad this Hegseth thing really is. For me it is the end of the line. I’m only waiting now for the ax to fall, for justice.
You and your companions did the right thing that day and can now live with yourselves 50 years later. We should all do the right thing, even the Hegseths of the world.
Well said, Pat. I have seen that look on a number of occasions.
I have been engaging with some of my retired cop cohort, two of whom are veterans of GWOT. They are (gods help them) convinced that the use of force by the military was justified. When I asked them to identify the imminent threat, they used "narcoterrorism" to justify it. SMH.
I know you Alley. You would choose life every time if there was that opportunity. Always choose life. Combat assaults have a way of stacking up day in day out. How much do they weigh? How much can you bear? Day one is the big howler. By day 5 you are a soldier. What are you by day 300 by day 360? Does Hegseth or Trump for that matter carry that weight. They leave me with a sense of glibness beating tin drums in golden towers as they hollow out our values and play pretend. I hate them. I want them off all our necks. I want every man woman and child to be rid of them. I want Congress to drop their cocks and grab their socks.
Thank you for sharing that experience, Pat. That demonstrates the essence of service, unlike our current SecDef*.
*Def is not Defense, but Defecation in my mind.
I remember a call I was dispatched to: a suicidal man, armed with a rifle, out in his back lot (this is a rural area). I was on my way as a negotiator and cover officer, but was coming from the other side of the county. The two guys who responded essentially talked him down, he was transported for psychological evaluation. Post incident, the cover officer (young guy) asked the primary officer (older guy, Special Forces Veteran) why he hadn't shot the guy when he had every justification for doing so. Older guy told him "just because I'm justified does not mean I am obligated. He didn't need to die today."
That remains one of the best lessons I learned and subsequently taught as best I could.
In this case, "the rest of the story" is that 15 years later, same subject was shot and killed by responding deputies (primary was younger and with less experience, a product of the "officer survival" training that had been instituted in the early 1990's).
I guess if you're just a jerk trying to pretend your penis is bigger than it really is, that's what you do. They're like junkies -- they live for the moment of rush they think will make them something they're not. Junkies will steal the pennies off dead men's eyes to stay high. Or pervert children's books, I don't know. Gross oversimplification maybe, but I don't see this behavior as all that difficult to figure out.
Money is simply energy. George Soros, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett give it away by the bucketful. This adrenaline rush is about something else entirely, far more psychiatric.
And yet, they *have* to be the one with the power to make that decision or not (and most make the opposite decision). They were not happy with *just* 100 million or even 500 million or even 1 billion. I think it is an addiction on par with alcoholism, drugs, gambling, etc. It *is* psychiatric!
Interesting to try to think of someone. Some rich people, after they are rich, try to give it away. But first they accumulate it. Think how different Jeff Bezos’s bank account would look if he had paid his workers better right along. Think how Walmart has allowed you and me to support their workers with Medicaid and food stamps, and let the money flow into the Waltons’ account. Think how many members of the top 1% have allowed money to accrue from their workers on up the chain. I would love to hear of people who were generous to those around them and still got rich, if you think of some. I can’t.
In what has to be the worst political decision for the Democratic congressional leadership since Biden chose to run for a second term, Hakeem Jeffries says he isn’t going to try to impeach Pete Hegseth.
The list of reasons why Democrats should go for impeachment is long:
It’s war crimes!!!
It’s the morally correct thing to do.
It’s America’s reputation (as the leader of the free world, once) at stake.
Hegseth is despised by the military.
51% of the public opposes the attacks on the boats, and only 29% agree.
We have to do it in our own self-defense because of his ludicrous decisions.
Trump is at his weakest.
The midterms are coming.
I would think that every Democrat and every Republican who served in the military (72), especially 35 who served in overseas combat deployments, would vote for impeachment. He only needs a majority in the House to impeach. Let the Senate get to 2/3 to convict on its own. But with bipartisan investigations in both chambers already announced, there’s a good chance they will.
Here’s Jeffries’ reasoning, according to Axios reporting:
"House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) signaled Monday that Democrats are unlikely to pursue impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over alleged follow-up strikes against boats in the Caribbean.
Why it matters: Impeachment has been a fraught matter for Democrats this year, with Jeffries acknowledging that Republican control of both chambers of Congress makes any impeachment effort virtually dead on arrival.
"Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives, and we know that's the case," Jeffries said at a press conference Monday.
"Donald Trump will order them not to do it," he added."
This is agreeing in advance, the classic cave to an authoritarian. Seven million people marched in the last No Kings protest. Why the f**k does he think he can ignore them?
I’m thinking this issue can end Trump maybe even before Epstein. It will have to be done by Republicans not Democrats. I see the wisdom in Jeffries not pulling the trigger. Give the republicans the opportunity to wipe their own asses to show the nation they know what toilet paper is used for again. If the Republicans will bring it the democrats will assure them a victory. That is something we all need. We will need to become a nation again without another goddamned war with Venezuela or anyone else. Together we may help depose the Gremlin in the kremlin, right after we emancipate the homeless put out health care for all and get a grip on our economy. We have a lot of work to do. Does anyone even care about climate change anymore? The Trump gang is over except for their total incarceration. That includes ending the disease that descended on us from South Africa, what’s his name. Don’t say it out loud we are sneaking up on him.
I agree it would be better if Republicans initiated an impeachment of Hegseth, but that wouldn’t absolve Jeffries of the stupidity of his statement. He didn’t need to say anything other than “I am waiting to see the initial results of committee investigations and briefings on the legal issues. The ACA subsidy extensions are the immediate crisis that needs to be addressed.”
Capitulation in advance is never a good idea. He just gave away any power to shape the narrative.
That’s why we look up to you. He was obviously a relay man on the track team. Now that he has passed the baton, er roll of paper, maybe the man with the final kick will be from across the isle. Can you imagine that messenger? Bring back the Mercury dime!
He is not a leader. Every time he speaks his words have compromise all over them - no conviction, no force - just weak political speech, conventional and in effective. He shames the Democrats in the House.
You’re on a winning streak you’re continually wrong and you continually keep posting what you continually wrong. Let’s see if I can find that other post I had before about Trump
To prep the military and the US people for the questionable use of military force against civilian targets. They will likely straight-up lose the midterms without the use of force and/or cheating.
GOOSE IN THE OVEN... It "appears" as if Pete Hegseth's "goose" just might be cooked at some point in time. My Christmas wish is that the goose burns to a crisp and its ashes are served to the Trump regime for Christmas dinner... along with their "just deserts"...
There's plenty of focus on that. There has been for a long time. It's culminating with a bipartisan Senate move to examine everything. Perhaps it would have still come about had Kegsbreath not issued an order to commit a war crime, then tried to cover it up by blaming a subordinate, perhaps not. In any case, you betcha a whole lot of Senators whose job it is to review the intelligence themselves aren't in a particularly forgiving mood right now. It's late as it can be, but it's coming.
I've heard "murder" and "war crimes" used to describe these misadventures, but it would seem that "piracy on the high seas" is just as accurate and perhaps more descriptive.
Merlin, "piracy" is a great term to use, but at its core, worse than the actions of blowing a boat up and then summarily executing two survivors is that it was the government doing it. Piracy is the act of violence, murder and war crimes take it to the next judicial level.
Constitution and legal system actually work. What is shocking but possibly shouldn’t be is the lack of preventative protection when power is pushed to its limits and how fragile our institutions truly are. Have believed there are firm lines drawn whether it be military code and the laws that would hold firm, should hold firm, never to be crossed. We are as well seeing how much of our democracy rests not just on law, but on the decency of people choosing to do the right thing. This realization is both clarifying and quite terrifying. Maybe shouldn’t be surprised we all lived through January 6th.
On board Air Force One, our tiny, sociopathic Liar-In-Chief got confronted with his reason to pardon the former President of Honduras -- a man who personally ordered 800,000 pounds of cocaine to be smuggled into the United States. Mountains of evidence against him compiled by hundreds of astute law enforcement professionals razor-focused on getting this bastard behind bars (led ironically by a prosecutor now Trump's personal lawyer) had at last secured a jury conviction, putting this piece of scum behind federal bars for 45 years in 2024. The perp was even on record saying something like 'let's stuff the gringos' noses with it.' They got the right guy on that one.
When asked, a clearly prevaricating Trump ('let's see, what bullshit can I spin this time?') simply muttered something about "I was told" followed by "Biden." The roving, disassociated, chameleon-like eyes told the real truth -- they moved as far away from the reporter as they could without falling out of their sockets. The body language was obvious. The words (incoherent and full of silly bluster) are meant as a distraction, like the ever-pumping hands playing that invisible concertina.
It isn't so much his bizarre (un)cognitive abilities that should concern us, it's his clear soul disabilities. Wretched, shabby, vicious, dishonest gaslighter -- a scheming moron with a criminal past and malicious intent to conceal a record of pure toxicity. A fraudulent, phony failure at any honest endeavor whatever.
Whatever this upcoming war in Venezuela is about, it sure as hell's got nothing to do with stopping drugs.
And just how many of those small "fishing" boats Trump pretends to accuse of carrying drugs and then destroy would it take to smuggle 800,000 pounds of drugs to U.S??? Who can even believe these murders of "convenience"?!#
Sponsored by Donald, it could be the East Coast version of Northern California's Bohemian Club, where instead of guests like Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito feasting off all their billionaire bribers, guests from the Epstein list could enjoy continued dalliances with girls from age 11 to, say 17.
Lots of tropical drapery, gurgling brooks, and cameras ready for DVD mega sales of latest Donald product lines, all immune from law as that highest court in the land has already decreed.
The girls' parents would most likely be all those pardoned by Donald for their insurrection violence of Jan. 6, 2021 -- all the worst of the MAGA-land fevered whose daughters' services to U.S. newest elites would be a small price to pay given that ICE has already paid its $50,000 bonuses to the U.S.'s most criminally-inclined to further thuggery (and for how many new costumes for DHS moll Kristi Noem).
Rex, sorry but I can't find my original comment. If it was referring to some action coming from the fascist regime, most likely my intention was to write putrifying because nothing purifying would make any sense. Sorry again and thanks for pointing the mistake.
the September 2 double tap that killed the two men “would be a violation of the laws of war even under the administration’s own self-justifying description of its campaign as an armed conflict with ‘narcoterrorists.’”
It gets complicated. There are narcoterrorists you kill and narcoterrorists you pardon.
That is amazing, isnt it? He blows up anonymous people on small boats out in the ocean, ad pardons wealthy and connected heads of state who are the true narcotics traffickers… No one would believe this, if we tried to put it in a novel or mini-series…..
Is it possible that neither Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nor Special Operations commander Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley has ever heard of the Nuremberg trials? When the order is to “kill everyone” in a small boat off the coast of Venezuela on September 2, does neither of them know that this constitutes a war crime?
In the past few days I have read articles and comments urging the impeachment of Trump, of several members of the Supreme Court, maybe of RFK, Jr.--I'm not sure about that--but I haven't yet seen any suggestions about adding Pete Hegseth to the list. Is there a process for impeaching cabinet secretaries? What about impeaching the whole regime in one big, beautiful process?
People are saying "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
Heather discussed the Impeachment clause in one of her politics chat videos. The interpretation is that any ONE of them (President, VP, or civil officer) can be impeached and convicted individually. Lots of people are thinking the interpretation is that if the President gets impeached and convicted, they all go.
Bribery, in whatever form, is the heart of corruption. The Constitution spells it out. along with treason, as a deal-breaker. Yet $COTUS has largely promoted de facto bribery so long as you don't admit doing it. Is that impeachable?
We know, Betsy, Hegseth is a drunken, raping, murdering fool.
Admiral Bradley? He got to that highest level and never heard of the Nuremburg trials? Very much looking forward to seeing him under oath before bi-partisan congressional committees.
Betsy, we don't need to do a damn thing but keep Epstein and the economy in the news. Li'l PP will shove some into traffic (the automotive kind, not narcoterrorism), some will be voted out, some will resign, some will revolt against the regime, and we can stand back and watch the cookie crumble.
Why waste time with an impeachment Betsy. We played that game before and look at the results. Maybe we should go low for a little while till we finish cleaning up.
It strikes me that the "kill them all" order may be less about cruelty and vengeance - though such is intrinsic to the order - and more about insuring there are no survivors who could testify to who was actually on the boats and what they were doing there.
Don't leave out anybody. Every participant should pay a price and return every penny gained in the process specially the trump family making billions at the speed of light.
These murderous attacks on small boats are just that -- murders. None of them have been justified.
More concerning than these orders is who exactly obeyed those orders? I have been worried all along about what percentage of our military supports the felon. Shouldn't those orders have at least been challenged, if not refused outright?
Hegseth was never qualified for any job. Neither was the felon. That list is long.
There’s a calendar on my spreadsheet so we can target our calls/letters/emails/faxes to flood offices in an organized manner.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Add a comment to help keep this bumped ✊ New eyes seeing this means new ripples for change! 🤞
The underbusing (great new verb 😆) of the Admiral will not save Whiskey Pete. The Repub Senators smell blood in the water and are willing to hold the administration accountable. When the kegsbreath goes down the rest of the rats will start to jump ship. It’s the beginning of the end. 🤞
As A. J. Liebling noted 85 years ago, “The leaders are not worthy of their people.”
He was quoting a French friend of his then, in 1940, in “The World Knocked Down,” one of his war-reporting columns then for The New Yorker.
As many of us do today, he was also anguishing over those then leaders of that country: “The men served by Laval, Chautemps, and their team of interchangeable shills and blinds at Bordeaux were the chiefs of heavy industry who since late in 1934 had been working for France’s subjection to Germany. . . . They thought that Hitler would leave them their share of Europe and Africa to run, just as their colleagues the German members of the steel and coal cartels, which long antedated Hitler, had left them their share of the business.”
Liebling is great. Reading his dispatches then rewards any in need of reassurance at our thugs in power today.
Reminds us, too, that if we may quote from the many decent souls yet among us, we may keep light shining in our dark times regardless of how many of our schools and leaders have lost any literacy themselves for doing that.
Phil Balla, it’s “Berlin Diary” of William L Shirer (you may know him for “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”) that is for me the most fascinating account of Vichy. It’s somewhere in my bookcase and available online.
“[I]nstead,” Kelly said, “he runs around on a stage like he’s a 12-year-old playing army. And it is ridiculous, it is embarrassing, and I can’t imagine what our allies think of looking at that guy in this job, one of the most important jobs in our country…. He is in the national command authority for nuclear weapons.
Oh. And here I thought he was talking about the Commander In Chief.
Killing the two survivors was not only illegal, it was stupid. They should have been rescued and questioned. If they were in fact transporting illegal drugs, their testimony to that effect should have been made public.
"It was worse than a crime. It was a blunder."
As Paul Krugman and others have noted, it's the American demand for drugs that drives this entire issue. As long as the demand exists, along with the money to back it, suppliers will emerge. The "war on drugs" ignores this fundamental truth.
(BTW I'm sure I'm not the first to thank you for the comprehensive list of references and citations that accompanies every Letter.)
...in which case their testimony would not be made public, and they would never see the light of day. Which is surprising because later survivors were returned to their home country (and never heard from again).
Good point. I think the two survivors I heard about were from different countries, which possibly have different laws that pertain. But "never heard from again" also has a secondary unfortunate meaning. I also wonder if these survivors underwent any serious interrogation while they were in US control and if the interrogation notes have been made available.
Why is the Regime focusing on Mark Kelly when six, patriots and veterans all, made the video that enraged the regime? Because he could run in 2028 and is everything they are not. The Democrats will not nominate a woman this time, for reasons that are both sad and pragmatic. So that leaves out the other contender, Elissa Slotkin. Mark Kelly could be the obvious choice. MAGA knows that and will do all in their power to destroy him. They will not succeed.
I am convinced that Kelly's punching back like that took them by complete surprise. There's so much these arrogant, lawless assholes just never see coming. It's a sign to the rest of us that punchback not only works, it gives others the confidence and bravery they need to do the same. Like attracts like and all that.
Winter is coming. And they are not prepared.
Trump is the one giving these orders of hate. Trump never sees it coming because of his narcissism and self-righteousness symptoms of his antisocial personality disorder makes him out of touch with reality. He has no empathy and thus no understanding of the empathy from the public for former House Rep. Gabby Gifford being shot. He hates America's love for a hero in uniform because he sees them as suckers as he knows he, with his history of BS bone spurs, cannot compete with them. That explains his hate for Senator John McCain, a former Navy bomber pilot. Senator Mark Kelly was a Navy combat pilot also and flew attack aircraft on 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. Later he was a Space Shuttle pilot and Commander for a total of four missions to Space. Now he is a Senator calling Trump out for his unlawful murders of persons presumed to be innocent. Trump might as well contribute $100,000,000 to Kelly for President / 2028 rather than attack him and order the FBI and Pentagon to investigate him. But Trump's hate makes him blind to how everyone else feels. That is why on Thanksgiving Trump was Hategiving. Out of his mind, thus out of touch! https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-disobey-post_n_692e9298e4b052b5ba03386c#
His hate and complete absence of empathy also shows in the way he flew the flags at half staff for the odious Charlie Kirk, who's murder I deplore but whose statements I deplore even more - but not for Sarah Beckstrom, the National Guard member who was shot and killed in DC.
Excellent point. You would think his handlers would have gotten him to at least lower the flag for Beckstrom. Samuel Adams knew how to beat the drum. He helped arrange a well publicized and elaborate funeral procession for the victims of the Boston Massacre. The entire Trump administration has the antisocial personality disorder problem and is just like him. Don't get me started on that hateful bigoted opportunist... Charlie Kirk
Albert, alas, the Guard who died is a woman and he can't possibly honor a woman, he only wants to use and abuse them.
Ruth: yes. You would think his handlers would try to get him to stop abusing women (reporters, but whoever else), especially publicly. My god, what a dumpster fire they all are.
But he has no problem making sure that a woman insurrectionist’s mother got a judgement award. So, honorable guardsmen don’t get the deserved respect, but insurrectionists get 1/2 million dollars in compensation. This is the kind of stuff one can’t possibly write.
Alternatively, the faux commander-in-chief along with his faux god of war see women in the military as the legacy of DEI anti-warrior wokeness and like the Americans buried in the WWII French cementery, the dead Guardswoman is just a loser.
Which handlers would that be? Stephen Miller, Susie Wiles, Melania, Hegseth, Bondi, Noem?
They all know that one negative word about Trump and they are finished.
Gary, none of the people in that list respect women, including the women. Women who get ahead by exploiting their physical attributes and/or sexuality assume that's how all women achieve anything.
If you have a hand in Project 2025 you have a hand in evil.
I suspect his handlers know when to keep their mouths shut.
Otherwise..new word of the day...they will be underbussed.
I just love our HCR...underbussing! Indeed! ROTFLMAO
My new favorite word, underbussing!
That term caught my eye and elicited my delight. I wondered if HCR coined it. Nope.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Underbus
(From "Donald's Vanity Tantrums")
Tragedy at the White House
(It’s Being Reported…)
AUG 27, 2025
It’s just now being reported that Elon Musk and his son were in the Oval Office this morning and his son reached into his snout again pulling out a booger and this time wiped it off on President Trump’s designer suit jacket. This sent Mr. Trump into a rage as he ran from the office through White House hallways and up into the presidential living quarters where he dashed into the presidential bathtub and sank like a stone and drowned.
A hastily assembled press meeting was called and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced through her cracking voice that the president had expired. And no more details were given except that a funeral was being planned for Labor Day Weekend. A jackass-drawn caisson will transport the president from the White House to the Capital where he will lay in state for several months in an open casket until an Egyptian-style sarcophagus that’s now being planned is completed next to the Washington Monument.
More details at noon.
(If only.)
The day he dies, there will be celebrations across the world
Bill, thanks for the dream! One thing, Trump can't "run" anywhere; he can hardly walk. He would be that grossed out by a 4-yuear-old's slime, though. He would have made one of his minions run to get him another jacket. He would have demanded the slimed jacket be burned in the rose garden, though.
BREAKING NEWS; It is reported that a Heavy Hauler Dump Truck is heading toward the National Mall. It has a load of mixed manure; Bull, Horse, Chicken and Bat; mostly Bat shit. It will be parked on the Mall temporally to honor the late President. Then after the environmental impact assessment is completed and Trumps ashes are dumped in the garbage dump the Truck will lead a procession of ... well, cars full of TV fans who still have not learned there is a difference between a celebrity that you are obsessed with and someone who has demonstrated a knowledge and caliber to be a political leader, anyway, the Orange Truck with a blond wig on it's roof and full of shit is heading down to the Mar-a-Lago Club where it will be dumped on the front lawn. More later but until then enjoy your day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YY-7uAcdVw
Sweet! Jackasses for a jackass.
Nice fantasy. But Turnip doesn't wear designer suits. His duds are from Ahab the Tentmaker.
More likely they have a taxidermist on call to fix him up so he can dressed in gold robes and continue to brilliantly rule.
Ooofdah!!
My Goldendoodle was tested by a dog cognition researcher who demonstrated that he's capable of empathy. My dog has empathy - the POTUS has none.
As a side note: My dog isn't racist. Trump is. My dog learns. Trump is incapable of learning. My dog has never insulted anyone. Trump insults people constantly.
My dog for president.
I'm positive people like your dog. Trump no one trust, believes or likes. I can't imagine how anyone can be so hateful, lack empathy, hates women who question him and refuse to be abused by him. Why did people vote for him or did Musk's Starlink change the votes?
I do believe Musk's Starlink and some ground service changed votes. Then, however, Democrats didn't get out to vote. It seems a bunch of Democrats just couldn't manage to vote for a intelligent talented woman of color. Truly sad and it reminds us that misogyny and racism are alive and well among Democrats too. That is true when one considers the results of not voting when an appalling jerk was the opponent.
Djt thanked Musk the day after the election. What did he thank Musk for? For tilting the results in his favor. Was it Goebels who said: It does not matter who votes, but who counts the votes." It is essential that all ballots in 2026 are paper ballots that cannot be changed by the owners, such as ESS. A Republican recently purchased a company whose voting machines are used in several states. That must be changed.
Why are we just learning that votes were "counted" in towns that do not exist??
Don’t even compare your sweet dog to that senile vessel of hate.
all dogs have empathy (unless it's trained out of them.) that's why they are such popular pets.
👏👏👏 to 🐶🐕🐾 everywhere. They know instinctively who to be wary of.
I went through a really rough time for a while a couple years ago, and I lived alone at the time with my schipperke and little pittie. Both dramatically grayed from absorbing my emotional distress.
Of course dogs have empathy.
So do horses too, it's why some are such incredible therapy animals. It's hard on them too.
And some have great senses of humor.
Dumpty doesn't have that either.
Sadie for president , even over the rainbow bridge.
As a lifelong cat person, I can attest to the love and comfort of animals. I have had one niece dog in my life, and know what kind of comfort she gave me. My cats are also little emotion barometers, and snuggle up when it is needed. Often they know before I do...
Jen, I hope the rough times are far behind you, and that much better times are coming for us all.
(And while you've been here 9 months, I'm not sure I recall seeing your name before, and as self-appointed WalMart greeter, I WELCOME you here. I am loving how this community is growing and I am very grateful for everyone committing to paying for subscriptions. We are a force to be reckoned with! Thanks!)
If Trump were a dog, he would be put down.
How I wish there was a laugh emoji. Having only a <3 is far too restrictive given all the possible reactions! For example, vomit would be a popular one, I imagine. LOL.
Oh then there’d be a First B***h in the WH though perhaps not the first b***h in the WH?
He's got my vote!
My cat is just as qualified as your dog.
It should say something that 1. Trump has no pets-even the Obama family who had allergy issues had a dog (2?) that was non allergenic.
2. trump was scared to award a military dog his award for its great military achievements( helped find Bin Laden maybe?) That should have been a great photo op.
3. He doesn't seem to have any qualms about people who shoot their young dogs ( Noem)
Honoring the likes of Charlie Kirk - a right-wing provocateur who delivered young male voters for Trump - while ignoring a National Guard member killed in DC by an Afghan immigrant. That guardsman died while performing domestic law enforcement duties that violate the Posse Comitatus Act, deployed under Trump's unlawful orders. How much more shame can be heaped upon this president? WHEN WILL HE BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE? (He will die before he ever sees the inside of a prison cell where he belongs.)
I want him accountable NOW
Harvey, elsewhere today I posted a long comment about some NON-routine blood tests he had a few weeks ago. I am hoping one of the physicians who read will comment on it.
Trump needs to allow his doctors to answer any questions from the press. He also needs to do an MRI of those bone spurs.
On the other hand, to have Trump involved in any way is a person's funeral or any ceremony to remember, honor, and sanctify a person is really no honor whatsoever. I could not imagine a bigger insult to a person than Trump even saying a person's name.
lauriemcf, yes, what a farce! Trump is such a fraud! Everyone around him knows it, even his servant Caroline Leavitt, yet they all lie through their teeth for him and for themselves. Trump cares nothing for the murdered and injured National Guards, just harming Afghan refugees living here who served this nation, but can't even get legitimate work here. It is truly outrageous and more people should be outraged!
I find Karoline Leavitt reprehensible and offensive. She stands in the press conferences wearing a cross while lying through her teeth.
She is the only woman, in my 89 years, that I have wanted to slap.
If she switched her cross for a swastika, it would be more appropriate.
No wonder people question religion when she's a "so called" example.
Jennsh, I think the cross was to symbolize that her fingers are crossed every time she opens her mouth and spews lies to the world on behalf of her old man boss who has dementia which, of course she is well aware of.
Funny, that's one of the first things I look for, the cross, and when I see it, I know it's a prop. It's also why I'm pretty faithless. I'm good to people and that will get me into heaven, if there is such a thing. The Nazi's were good at props.
She is a white trash bitch. Trump finds them all for that job.
The hallmark of an uneducated person is using a single incident - anecdotal evidence - to counter a valid generalization. Trump using the Afghan immigrant who shot two National Guardsmen to justify policy against all non-white immigrants is a textbook example.
Harvey, that was an excellent point! It is certainly what one must expect of Trump!
Didn't God spare a town because it held one innocent man? This keeps crossing my mind.
The hallmark of an evil bastard is the person who uses a single incident - anecdotal evidence - to play fools for their support and allow him to be above the law.
Spot on!
And please remember that actual leaders would have taken responsibility as it happened on their watch, on a ill-defined mission, not real plan! On his watch! Donny the Destroyer! Gold foiled and ugly!
Apparently, Laurie..., SFB has invited her 'family' to the Whitehouse. I would not be surprised if, that is indeed true, the "family' politely declines. As for 'flags at half staff'.., this is not an Erika Kirk event, just collateral damage. Next.
Trump is nuts and Steven Miller has been spoon feeding him dark shit 24/7. Want to blame someone? Start with Steven Miller because Trump ,when talking ,is just catching flies. It's been his diet for way too long. There's a stampede for power in the Oval Office by an unqualified cabinet of dangerous clowns. The world is worried.
That's an insult to flies.
You made me laugh!!
Yes, Chris. But let's not overlook Russell Vought. Miller is a danger to non-whites everywhere, but Vought is a danger to the rest of us. When Donald is neutralized, I believe there will be a micro-Armageddon between Miller and Vought as shady JD waits to see who his new boss will be.
If you want to blame someone, blame the 77 million Americans who voted for a corrupt, convicted felon with a long history of atrocious behavior because they wanted a president who would persecute people they don’t like. They got what they voted for, and most of them are delighted with it.
Yep. At least one-third of the people in this country are filled with racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc..
I think it’s roughly 60% of white voters.
You wrote the most appropriate definition of Trump’s rant on Thanksgiving:”Hategiving”!
Albert, your comment brought to mind an interesting theory, but I haven't taken the time to confirm with research. Does Donald attack military pilots because they remind him of his older brother, Freddy, whom he still resents?
Fred, Jr. was the designated heir-apparent of the Trump Organization. The entire family, including Freddy, assumed that he would take the reins of the company when appropriate. But as Freddy reached adulthood, he resolved that he wanted no part of the family business. He discovered that he loved aviation more than the dysfunction of the Trump family, and pursued a career in commercial aviation, ultimately flying jet airliners for TWA.
Mary L. Trump has written about the dysfunction in her family and noted that Fred Trump admired Donald's "killer instinct." Maybe that was an indirect way of describing Donald's badgering and discrediting Freddy, pushing him out of the family business and ultimately, out of the family itself.
The hate directed at Freddy by his family destroyed his marriage and drove him to misuse of alcohol, which led to his early death. Donald even finagled a way to prevent Freddy from receiving his share of inheritance upon his father's death.
Albert, yes, and then, there's Trump's dementia!
And why he posts ridiculous AI videos of himself as a fighter pilot dropping bullshit on everyone!
Obviously he’s incapable of making the AI video himself. He can’t even stay within the lines in a coloring book. So who in the administration is being paid by taxpayer funds to troll the country? Is there a small office of 14 year old boys somewhere in the White House? Or maybe they’re on a cleverly. disguised shrimp boat in the Gulf of America (™).
Steven Chung and his merry band of basement dwellers.
I think the hate of heroes stems from jealousy. He knows he's a slacker, had a trumped(!) up excuse for getting out of the draft in the 70s. He's the softest coward we have ever had in the WH.
Trump is a decaying, hollow shell of a human being. Somewhere inside he knows that he's nothing but bluster and toxicity.
Twin of Baron Harkonen...
"a decadent, monstrous gasbag of depravity and evil".
"crafty and power-hungry" and has a talent for manipulating others and exploiting their weaknesses as well as a propensity for torture and blackmail.
"cruel, sadistic, and hedonistic".
an unrepentant rapist and murderer.
And, A VERY HAPPY HATESGIVING TO YOU , Mr. President who hates, steals, murders, and destroys everything that America stands for—
We expect you won’t be here much longer!
Winter is coming, indeed!
It pays to have read Aesop ‘s Fables especially about the cricket and the ants. I also take hombrage with the use of Franklin the Turtle. Isn’t that copyright infringement? And really does he actually read? And if illiterate and some folks get by the comic strip from Cleveland Crankshaft did a wonderful story line on adult illiteracy.
I thought that about Franklin as well. Something crossed my mind when I saw it: once again they manage to deflect from the issue at hand by dropping something outrageous into the media.
Anyone heard much about Epstein lately?
The author not metioned in WP article just the unnamed publisher.She is from Canada!
The Prevail Substack by Greag Olear I think has a lot.
This is quite long but worth the read. What a tangled web! Thanks for sharing that!
Wow! Outright copyright infringement! Paulette Bourgeois is a Canadian and I hope I hear the wheels of a lawsuit coming soon!
Yes! The Epstein files. Hopefully some research journalist is tracking the possible washing away of Trump’s name in the files.
Great GOT reference!
You and Annabel have nailed it! Mark Kelly's service, courage, and character are indisputable facts that Trump's twisted, narcissistic, arrogant brain cannot comprehend. I doubt that I'm the only one who recognized his, "THANKSGIVING WISH" was actually aimed at himself, his administration, and billionaire buddies, who: "hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for" every day since his inauguration!
As Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.” Kelly just punched Hegseth in the mouth.
Kelly et.al were the leads on this. His mates in the Navy made sure he had the dope on the dope.
He could have sat on it but took the honorable course.
He has the fatuous flatulent fascist scrambling for his MRI results.
Kelly for President.
Kelly "punching back" just gave the MAGA's more food to fuel the MAGA-Claim that disloyalty is the reason Biden-ites are causing prices to rise and the economy to fumble. That's all. The simple fact that the SFB (shit-for-brains = Trump) regime has continued to operate outside the law (International, whatever) with relative impunity, says that this latest snow-squall ("fog of war") will go under-the-blanket, as we've found the ass of an Admiral where things can be shoved.., out of sight.
It's hard to see anything coming with blinders over your eyes (and brain)
So what's next - will he (I don't know....hegseth, trump) call for a nuclear attack on blue states? Lawlessness, dehumanization, a military dictatorship taking shape, disdain for and the evisceration of rights......can anyone imagine what new hell awaits us?
Please leave out your vulgar language. It is unbecoming and annoying.
We can only hope.
Substack won't let me like this comment, Lee. Just sobyou know, I DO like it.
Now we wonder what it was.
I have faith in HCR and her assistants.
This is her Substack. I have no need to waste my time with junk mail.
Say it in a different way. Insinuate it.
Im pretty sure that Mark Kelly,a true patriot, will overcome every attempt by this fascist regime to destroy him for whatever reason. We should keep fighting till this regime imploded. It's a matter of time. 🤞
There's really no choice this next election - if we even have a fair one. It will be Despotism vs whoever the Democrats have nominated. The only reason we're in this mess is because Democrats chose not to show up because their Unicorn wasn't nominated as well as the disinformation campaigns that split voters with the Israel / Palestine issues (possibly Russia and others involved there) That and those who voted for a third party.
Whomever it is, we need to show up in crazy numbers and send these people home and or to prison. Kegseth and many in this administration.
The prime reason Democrats did not win was misogyny. The sooner people recognize that, the sooner we can place brilliant and accomplished women in the highest offices in the land.
There are people on this very chat group who disdain women, so I think that's going to be a hard thing to accomplish. As bad as racism is, black men got to vote, a black man was elected to both the US House and the US Senate, became a Supreme Court Justice and became US President before any woman.
Misogyny wasn't the only reason or even the primary reason Kamala lost. It was Trump's ability to repeat the same lies about the Biden economy and how he would reduce prices on Day 1. And also, it was the irrational fear that criminals were crossing the border with impunity.
The corporate media did very little to help Kamala as well.
And now we have a vindictive moron with dementia as President with a Republican Congress terrified to stand up to him.
BTW, have any of the Epstein files been released yet?
Big money and ignorance put Trump in office again.
So did racism and stupidity.
Thank you, GJ Loft! How do you counter the blizzard of lies? But misogyny was the frosting on the cake.
Elizabeth, so so true. When I was a female student at IIT--outnumbered 21:1 male:female--the common thought was if the female did poorly in a class, it was she was a DEI admission (before the term DEI was common) and took a male's place in the class. If she did well, she "blew the professor". I heard this too many times. Thankfully, not all the men there had this mindset, but it got really, really tiresome.
I don't think America will be ready for a woman President for a very long time. The Southern Baptist will not allow it. They believe God is head of the family, then comes man. This is ingrained in everything they do. Women cannot be ushers or deacons. This is one of the biggest Christian groups (think Billy Graham). That is why some women did not vote for Harris.
Fearful women are okay with patriarchal societies. The lack their self value and want someone to be in charge of their lives and make all their decisions for them. What drives me crazy is their lack of self respect. Many are bullied their entire lives and could have been family leaders instead of followers. As a woman raised I grew up rejecting the lifestyle. Trust me, when your daughters recognize what you have done to them....they will walk out of your life. Everyone should live to accomplish their highest potential and be proud of themselves.
Right on Patty. Dublin. Self esteem is even now tough to come by with pushback from some ‘enlightened men’…certainly only some. However, I recently had the not so lovely experience of being laughed at by one of our elected state senators in a fund raiser here after I asked a question about giving our Dem state my Fed taxes instead of to the Federal gang.
While he laughed on stage, the audience shouted “Yes, yes!!”
and applauded. Every woman reading this may have endured this kind of misogyny at some point?
It stung of course as he meant it to. But, if that idiot thinks I’ll ever support him, or endorse him as I did when he ran last time, he can think again.
Christian Nationalism … no need to say more.
Linda, Southern Baptists don't have a corner on institutionalized misogyny. Expand this to all evangelicals, of which Baptists are a subset. And while most conservative evangelicals deny that Roman Catholics are "true Christians," they do share that misogyny.
The whole lot of them gaslight their followers by claiming they "put women on a pedestal by protecting them from the hazards of leadership."
More BS: "Women are commanded by God in the Bible to be 'helpmetes' for the men they love."
I'm not trying to throw water on your thought, but I question it because how did Sarah Fuchabee get elected as governor of Arkansas, as it's full of all forms of so called "Christians". I won't even drive through that state.
Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist... just sayin'
That is why SOME, not all, did not vote for Harris. I heard this firsthand as I am from a Southern Baptist Church. I finally left when they told me I should not be reading Harry Potter books because they were from Satan.
But he left the right wing part of the Baptist church after new leadership clamped down with more misogyny.
I believe Jimmy Carter's church left the Southern Baptist Convention after he returned to Plains. The denomination has moved consistently to the right since the eighties. It was always racially segregated, but the mistreatment of women was an add-on.
IIRC, Carter called the SBC out on their misogyny, too.
Someone asked me a very interesting question the other day - Which would you rather be in the US - a Black man, or a White woman?
And black women get the most hate from Trump
Trump calls them "low IQ individuals." 🙄 He feels threatened.
That is one reason why I left. But mostly affordability in retirement.
That applies to much of the world. we're not unique in that area.
I would have to think long and hard on that one!
Really? That's easy, a White woman.
Funny anyone would make the comparison.
How many White women are in prison?
How many White women get stopped by the police for being White While Driving?
White women make up the majority of college graduates.
This isn't even close.
Why is our country the only country that has refused to vote for qualified, competent women? Remember Golda Meir of Israel in the 1960s? Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, a very conservative, male-dominated country? Many European countries, Australia, now even Japan? Why cannot a majority recognize brilliant women who run against despicable, shallow men? (End of rant.)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum
Dana, you think there are many here who disdain women?
I don't know this is a pretty liberal group.
I doubt there are many on this site who voted for Trump because Harris is a woman.
Just sayin'
There are a ton of what I've learned to identify as "microaggressions" in a lot of the comments (disregarding the resident trolls) by many readers. I don't really want to take the time to research, but I've had several barbs directed at me; two are no longer on this page, but there are several guys who reply here, in all sincerity, that I just roll my eyes at.
Tell it, sister!! 👏🏻👏🏼👏🏼
What I always found funny is when talking to a citizen they would apologize for calling me a "cop".
Couldn't care less....
Gary, there are at least a few. There is one who, no matter what I might post, absolutely has to have the last word and find at least a little something to counter me. You can be mistaken using written communication, but it always smacks of a mansplaining tone.
The funny thing is if there are men here that disdain women they're on the wrong site.
If I heard that about certain sites, say Joe Rogan, I'd say they're probably right.
But this is a site authored by one of the smartest people around, who many of us wait in anticipation each day to read what she offers, [at least I do], and just happens to be a woman. I couldn't care less about someone's sex, race, color or whatever, it's their ideas that count.
I hear you.
Of course we are reminded of Eleanor Roosevelt's response to this.
Miselle, I'm pretty sure you and I have never had any of those negative exchanges. But I must confess that I frequently hesitate to share insights in response to women because I don't want to come across as "mansplaining."
Gender-related conflict frustrates me endlessly.
Maybe. Here's a good ruler: Watch the next rally in your hometown and count the number of women in, say 100 demonstrators- what percentage of the 100 do they represent? . Young, old, in between. Doesn't matter. For 90% of US, we learned social and faith-endorsed principles that have guided us.
The fact that women are doing more of the work even in trying to save our democracy does not make me feel any better! Typical of many (most) households and work places in the US. More work for less prestige, power, ackowledgement, benefit, etc.
Many of the women I see at No Kings rallies, Dana, aren't "working."
They're coming with the most imaginative, inventive of home-made posters. They're coming with friends and family of all ages. They know how to enjoy the moment. Even as they well know the depths of savagery and stupidity on Donald's side.
I'm curious where did you get that data?
Just me, it doesn't help to pit groups against each other. It's not a contest.
Aftyn Behn is running in a special election today in TN for US House. She has closed the gap in a place that was +22 for Trump one year ago. Polls close today at 7 CST. 🌊🌊
Spot on, Dana.
Maybe in 2032/6. We need to get a Dem elected in the WH and majorities in the Senate and House to start cleaning up this mess first. We will need an aggressive AG not another milquetoast like Garland and a team of special prosecutors. Time to investigate the Federal judges the orange felon appointed as well.
I'd say back up a bit, Nancy. Things are much more complicated.
For being accepted to colleges, graduating from colleges, and grade point averages, women have been outperforming men for some time now.
But the hits to the middle class and working class from offshoring jobs have hit men the most, so many young men are basement dwellers in their parents' homes. Worse, many simply do not ever date. Many face life without families of their own, without homes of their own.
Scott Galloway attributes the surge in white women voting for Trump to the despair of so many that their sons have no lives.
Worse, the post Powell-memo campaign by far right foundations to kill humanities in schools was deliberate. It preceded the offshoring of jobs by design. They knew that if elite media no longer read any novels or memoirs on what was hitting young men -- if elite media became clueless as to the pain hitting working class and middle class men, it would be much easier for the rich to profit off the offshoring.
Hello Phil... It is a Difficult Situation.... Sports are no longer Mandatory in High-Schools, along with Fine Arts.... I talk to Proprietors of Outdoor Sport Stores, and fewer & fewer Young People are seen... It seems that the little Handheld Screens, which are increasingly A.I. driven, are slowly Destroying Humankind...
When I was in high school, I never had anything to do with sports. So boring. However, I have been a runner for reasons of health.
Oh and also one day in high school, I told my buddy in the hall one day that I was about to “liberate “ the girls room (just so I could talk about it in the future which is now) so I boldly walked into one and announced to a couple of girls that I was liberating it. They giggled and then I walked out. I was always a prankster.
Ugh, boys just love it when girls giggle.
I'm sick and tired of men feeling sorry for themselves because women won't behave.
I saw teen boys struggle mightily when I worked at high school. Most had more advantages than any other group and were not at all shy about females. In fact, females were often helpmates. What has changed. White males are still the most privileged of any group. I did see more parents who should never have been around young kids. Is it a parenting failure? Females and blacks had more obstacles but kept plodding; except for a few mean girls, who often had sexual abuse in their histories. Surprises galore…
Phil, a comment came to mind for you, before seeing yours, because today's post caused me to visualize opportunities for disciplines of military service and problem-solving of mission-driven training of legal minds. I imagine how Now is a fantastic time for case-based law training in colleges! I hope it's happening in ways that ripple widely.
I see the issues you described with many young men. I'm wanting to see local to far-reaching examples of families, villages, job pools, mobilizing crews of workers restoring what's been destroyed. Where are the designs for welcoming potential contributors? Being recruited for ICE, migrant farming, savagely-overseen construction -- I'd want to hide in my parents' basement too. Making Wholeness from this mess is a challenge to all our institutions and informal clusters to share more freely.
I look around and see who has a lock on social capital, agency, and leadership. As a country, it seems we're not close to hitting bottom yet.
I disagree. Misogyny certainly played a part, but Kamala was not our best candidate. She gave it her all and I was hopeful, but had we had a convention, she would NEVER have been the candidate!
YES, we have wonderful, strong women who would make a great POTUS, and if we make it through this horror show and put our country back on its rails, we’ll elect one someday. 2028 is NOT that day, however.
How can you say that? She was the state prosecutor in CA, then AG, senator, then VP - more experience than many men who have been president. Yes the situation was unfortunate - only about 100 days to campaign, not having been through a primary some felt she was forced on them and that people didn't choose her - I blame Biden for that. He claimed he would only serve one term then changed his mind. I thought he was a very good president esp after the felon child rapist he was great, but the scenario that unfolded was not Harris's fault. I think she had a tough side she failed to show and was a bit giddy about the whole thing that made her look frivolous. However I think she would have been an excellent president. She would not have selected Garland that useless AG...and she would be 500 million times better than what we have right now...
I agree -- I would like to see a female POTUS with all my soul - but this next election has to be strategic so that we win and I don't think putting a woman up again -- however brilliantly qualified - will win the day, sadly.
Kelly as VP would have been great, but hindsight is so good.
Party doesn't put a star in the VP spot, nor does the P.
Ha, great point
A very close friend of ours surprised us. He and his family were persecuted in Ghana, came here and have great lives. They are very religious.
Out of the blue in 2016 we were talking the election options - he flat out said he could never vote for a woman to lead. It was against god. I was floored, but it opened our eyes to the massive belief in patriarchal leadership that is foundational above simple misogyny.
If we can’t figure out how to change that damn near perfected religious view of faith based hierarchy- it’s a very difficult task to break through on numbers needed to win. I am sad as I’ve always defended our daughter and women in general to be anything they have a passion and calling for in fair competition of capabilities.
Religion, the greatest creator of hatred the world has ever seen!
Religions seperate. Always have, always will.
Wholly agree.
amen
Religions have been administered by men for thousands of years. If you actually study the words and actions of Jesus, for instance, you get a very different view of Christianity’s attitude towards women than if you listen to the words and watch the actions of evangelical leaders.
Early communities were organized around and controlled by women.
John Fugelsang’s book taught me beliefs like you cite are not Jesus’s. Rather, they were picked up when Paul’s writing were included in the Bible—Paul was formerly a Pharisee and those beliefs leached into his writings.
Actually no according to John Dominic Crossan abd others like Elaine Pagels. His writings were edited and bowelderized. He actually worked with Thelca and one can see in a cave in Greece the images of both of them in the blessing hand position with Thelca now a saint images wiped out. For all the issues of Christianity the first three hundred years had females in leadership roles. They also had home based versus specific building type services. Sr Christine Shenk CSJ has done extensive work in this period and has at least one book as well.
Bill, the rate of people attending church in the US is dramatically dropping. That will have an impact.
You are 100% right.
However men's ego will always stand in the way.
102 years and the ERA is still sitting on the shelf.
Until women throughout the world organize in a non threatening manner, which allows those who are fearful of losing the little bit they now have, men will continue to rule i.e. dictate; taking our world from contrived crisis to contrived crisis.
'Women United', coupled with men who recognize the injustice of our present, would constitute an overwhelming majority here, which is where this long needed change could take its first steps.
WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE NON-THREATENING?????!!!!! Threatening behavior is defined in the men’s minds, not the women’s. If smart, compassionate, tough, upstanding women are threatening to men, they need to work on their growth. Really, women organizing at all is threatening to many men, so women organizing at all is the problem. Back to the kitchen, sisters! Off the street! Bury the ERA 😢
...organize in a none threatening manner...what does that look like?
In a way that doesn't give the misogynists among us an excuse to bring the organizers down. Those now in control have no qualms about cracking men's heads now and if women show any signs of seeking a voice in their destiny with any sort of violent action they will get clubbed as well.
I am concerned that the men now in control will attempt to cancel the midterms provoking a response in which women's heads would also roll.
The important thing is that women who make up over half our population show up in a peaceful protest as their presence will make a difference.
May be that these thoughts are considered naive but men, unlike women, have never solved and more often not even tried to solve social problems by peaceful means.
Christian Nationalists want to remove women’s right to vote. They say the husband should vote the “family” vote. How’s that for not feeling threatened?
Ian, respectfully, that is a non-answer to Janet's question.
You have not explained what women do which you consider threatening. I'd like to hear it as well.
It wasn't too long ago that women who stood up for themselves, or who behaved EXACTLY like men were said to be uppity bitches or ball-breakers.
Actually females have been trying across the globe for at least a century. Check out the history! International Congress of Women.
I am really NOT sure dems lost. (Too many swing districts all went one way, and always by just enough to surpass mandatory recount triggers.)
(But this sounds almost too T-like to say, and the investigation will have to wait, I expect.)
Do you read the Substack, “This Will Hold?” Some of their posts have compelling statements regarding the 2024 election results. A recent one presented election results favoring Trump from several Florida counties that do not exist. Other articles have stated, with bars and graphs, that several Blue counties in other states suddenly flipped Red just above the threshold to win towards the end of the election period. I wish more would read and comment on their postings.
Investigations are happening with results that indicate Kamala won. I agree with Sara. How could counties that do not exist be counted? What state official allowed that to happen without question? Or were votes just uploaded to an anonymous server and never questioned by a person in those "counties"? Who is the counter-in-chief? ESS which has a dubious past?
Yea. Not sure but plausible. I'd think dems are more okay with women but maybe you are right. Still I think it's the dems more or less, going against themselves and I still think the divide with things in the middle east had a lot to do with it. I haven't seen any reporting on it but I think there was some real dis-info played by foreign influencers dividing our party. If you'll remember it was either Israel or Palestine and all the going back and fourth. None of which really made any difference with the new regime. (in fact maybe made worse under trump)
Again, dems failed to show up to vote. That's the main concern.
I'll vote for a Woman, a Trans or anyone who will bring our country back from this catastrophe.
Have you ever read the comments on fb from men - a lot of hatred and contempt out there from men towards women. It seems many young women have pretty much given up on men and don't even want to date anymore...
I think the thing is that no matter who, we have to be strongly against the dictator in chief. I really don't care who it is.
I'm sorry. I am just thinking about the Dems that failed to show up this last election. It was really close actually, at least from the popular vote. The other thing is that Kamala only got to campaign for roughly a third of a year.
I don't disagree that misogyny is a pervasive mindset among many and I'd guess it always has been. The women in my entire life have always been examples to follow. I suppose it depends on the family you grow up with. The men I associate with are not controlling bastards but I have met those.
I don't date anymore either. The last date I had admitted she hated cats. The date ended very quickly. Gosh, that has been a decade ago. LOL
I agree. Misogyny is alive and well. I sincerely hope that one day a brilliant, qualified woman will be president. However, 2028 is not the year. Everything near and dear to us is at stake. Unfortunately, we will need the votes of those who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for brilliant, qualified women in 2016 and 2024 in order to defeat fascism.
.
...or a gay man. Pete Boutgege would be a brilliant president. But the hatred and fear of gays in this country wil not allow it.
Yep.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Just look at the national-level leadership in many European nations. Women rule. I dare say most of us, including men, receive their moral compass from their mother's. Not all, just maybe most.
Europeans are so far ahead of us on every level...
Not all mother’s pass the smell test.
Absolutely! I said that racism, misogyny & stupidly are the reasons trump won. Too many snowflake men don't want to take orders from a strong woman. I think it's time to bring back Helen Reddy's anthem,
"I am Woman".
I agree that Harris was an excellent and qualified person, but i fear that you and many others on this comment thread are spending too much time in your echo chamber. There were many reasons why Harris was fighting an uphill battle. I am guessing that many here have no problem with the “woke” agenda. I truly believe that everyone deserves to be treated equally and with respect. Hands down an American ethic protected in the constitution. BUT if you believe a presidential candidate can win fighting for trans rights you will be waiting a lifetime or two. Dems were not reading the room, the GOP was, and mounted a powerful campaign against her. She failed to differentiate herself from an unpopular ( although effective) president, and was easily painted far left of the general electorate. Most folks are far less astute in politics than y’all.
Misogyny was certainly a factor in the last election tion. That said,I wanted to see Democrats nominate a strong candidate and if that's Mark Kelly,fine
Misogyny and Racism
Amen!
I have NO DOUBT that the American people will vote in the midterms and the 2028 elections like never before! The horror show of this administration is just getting started and already the public is outraged!
I hope you are right, and I do see many signs of disillusionment with the Trump administration. What ordinary Americans - males, females and those who identify as “other” - can do is show up, stand up and speak up at every opportunity. We are in this together, despite our differences. We need to remember that and work together for the common good.
Better Angels is growing as I respond to you, Linda. Just from my niche here with many flags in full display on lawns,
I can feel a change
coming. People know what I stand for since I was the only one to have Kamala signs in full display. The apparent magas are amazingly friendly(at least 90%of them so far) and welcoming as I walk my pup around.
Linda Eriksson,
My husband and I have participated in 4 rallies, 3 in South Carolina and one in Virginia. Everyone was enthusiastic ....standing up for our country and for each citizen. Together, we are stronger....together we are better.
We have friends and family "on the dark side" as well. We do not fight about it....it would be to no avail.
We can only hope. Unfortunately we are now ruled by an authoritarian regime and they will do all they can to keep that from happening. Like maybe declaring war on...anyone...and then saying we can't change rulers during a war. I remember back at the start of the Iraq war. A lot of whom I thought were intelligent rational people backed Bush and his flag waving, "patriotic" attack. You just can't underestimate the stupidity of americans.
I sure hope so too. The polling numbers are in the tank for this administration. Early voting for various elections are on our side it seems. It seems that the movements against the King and others is having an effect. I hope it continues and moreover, drives the vote.
If there is an election...
There will be an election, MaryPat. Do not surrender in advance. Do not do the regime’s work for it by fatalistic discouraging of the resistance. We will win only if we keep fighting.
Thank You.
Technically, Kelly can be recalled to active duty and then court-martialed while the others are not vulnerable in the same way.
Kelly won't be court-martialed. He could stand trial but they will toss it out. He did nothing wrong. Stating the UCMJ is not a crime.
But it is a crime, Fred, to displease the most far right of the corrupt Supreme Court.
Assuming Kelly is called out of retirement and court-martialled, it will be by a military tribunal. The Supreme Court is a civilian court and has no role to play.
The whole thing is simply preposterous. Kelly (and the others) is protected by the Speech and Debate clause in Article I, section 6 of the Constitution. They cannot be prosecuted for anything they say in the course of their duties as elected officials.
I don't think so. I think just stating the Military Code of Justice is just an obvious thing. Just like in any federal or state code, justifying a case here will be futile. Donnie the Pig and his minions are just trying to scare and F with people in the military. The crime here is the ILLEAGAL orders submitted by the administration. IE Secretary Kegseth and others.
The law is the law and in the JAG, it's no different.
Interesting point but they don't have a crippled leg to stand on there. It's no crime to state the code.
It's not a joke!
Given that the oath-breaking military has reduced itself to Trump's private goon squad, I genuinely fear for Captain Kelly's future. The MAGATs are so infinitely Evil, they have replaced the concept of justice with unabashed revenge. They may also try to assassinate him; hence I trust he is now perpetually armed. Depending on what horrors the Regime subsequently attempts to inflict on him and his family, It may be their best bet is to leave the country, perhaps seeking asylum in Great Britain. There, like de Gaulle in World War II, Captain Kelly could organize -- with the assistance of Canadian and European allies -- the reconquest of the former United States by the international forces of social democracy. Admittedly this is a worst-case scenario, but we already know that nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is too hateful for the Christonazis and their MAGAT rabble.
I have no fear here. Kelly will be fine as will those also in the video. The government has absolutely NO case here.
Mr. Rock, are you somehow unaware this traitorous Regime has already made itself notorious -- and eternally disgraced our national judiciary -- by reducing the courts to MAGAT vengeance weapons, thus shrinking them to nothing more than extensions of der neu Führer's goon-squads? Yes, some judges have resisted, but others are brazen collaborators. And we know Trump has thoroughly purged the military of any judges who would dare resist his edicts. While I desperately hope your analysis is correct, we should all have learned by now that it is the height of foolhardiness to be unafraid of the MAGATs' potential for doing Evil, which they have already (repeatedly) proven to be of a magnitude that was hitherto unfathomable.
That said, I realize you are not alone in your dismissal of those of us who recognize this Regime as twinned with Nazi Germany in malignant intentions and vastly superior in its ecogenocidal capabilities. Indeed I would argue that the greatest obstacle to building effective resistance is that yours unfortunately remains the majority view throughout the anti-MAGAT coalition.
I appreciate your point of view there however, I still think Kelly will walk away from this unscathed. He's a decorated veteran, an astronaut and a truly amazing sort of guy. That and the fact that he was only calling to the Military Code of Justice as a thing?
No. There is nothing wrong there is there?
Loren, preserve some hope. These ass hats are in less charge as you would think. F them and rise up as much as you can. Posters, live events, create your own etc. we're the republic and we're in charge here!
And call your representatives. It's easy. It takes me less than 4 minutes to make 6 calls. Just say one sentence. "I want you to investigate the killing of survivors in the Caribbean." They will know exactly what you are talking about. Keep the heat on, every day.
Great point. Every day for sure.
I want no one to leave the country, especially those who stand up to these idiots. I took the same oath as Mark Kelly and knew, if only in the back of my mind, that I could possibly lose my life in service to my country. That oath never leaves you, at least it hasn't for me, once you serve. I still have no desire to lose my life but if that should happen speaking up and doing whatever in resisting, I'm okay with it. I would much rather stay here than flee. We need all our hero's right here in this country standing strong. These people are evil.
I think such an attempt will only make him stronger, and Kegsbreath will appear even weaker than he looks already.
I don't think Kelly has anything to fear from a court martial, Betsy. He only quoted the Unified Code of Military Justice. There's no there there. What would they charge him with?
I agree. It's just that a court martial is what Hegseth was threatening (lots of empty bluster), so I wanted to make clear the distinction between Kelly's situation and that of the other five.
Yes Betsy, I understood your point, and that was mentioned as an excuse by some of the pundits. Obviously any such courts martial is patently absurd, but it sounds flashy. I keep thinking about the families of the people who are being killed, this is so sad.
You forget, Kegbreath is even dumber than Dilbert The Idiot.
They can make up anything.
Even the kakistocrats aren't so stupid as to think that's a good idea, after all this has come out. Ergo their radio silence on that subject since Wednesday night. Other than The Idiot, who continues to post his Ravings At Midnight.
Of course TC; The coalition is finding the "tool" not only less useful, but becoming increasingly dangerous to their anonymity.
Yes, but radio silence is not enough. It is a permanent black mark on the American electorate and on the legislators they elected that there has not ben a massive groundswell in the hundreds of millions of letters and phone calls and a stampede to the airwaves of Republican legislators, governors, and elected officials at all levels to demanding the ouster of this raving nincompoop whose administration has engaged in monumentally corruption and ordered military personnel to commit war crimes including murder on the high seas.
Hope that an attempt of that nature will finally put the active military in high alert Betsy. And I truly appreciate the calm they had demonstrated till now. This fascist regime should be very, very careful.
Nothing will put active duty military on high alert more than Hogsbreath now lying and claiming he didn’t give the order. Throwing the guy who followed his order under the bus will tell every active military person ALL they need to know.
Now Congress needs to do a THOROUGH and PUBLIC investigation!
Kathryn don't forget that the officer they are throwing under the bus it's the guy that should at least complain about such an order but fundamentally disobey it plain and simple. He should be investigated as well. Thanks for your reply 👍
I completely agree! That’s why it’s important for Congress to have a public hearing where both Hogsbreath AND the active military guy who followed his illegal orders are forced to testify before Congress and the public! Since Hogsbreath is now claiming he didn’t give the order (despite boasting about it in two posts), and throwing the other guy under the bus, NOTHING will wake up the troops to how they’ll be treated if they follow illegal orders in the future like this will. There MUST be severe consequences for these actions!
Like they did with Epstein?
The only way a Court Martial could even consider finding him guilty is if Hegseth acted as Prosecutor and one of Trump's non-military jurors presided. Not going to happen. No military officer would even consider it.
Kegbreath is the one who should have to worry a bit really.
He can’t be recalled while he’s serving in Congress, apparently, so it’s another empty threat.
Thanks for your clear communication.
Annabel, I agree with you on Mark Kelly and his fellow veterans are heroes. Their words are going to wake up people in the military as they see what happens now to Hegseth and those under him who were involved in this war crime. They should be focusing on Witkoff too. He has committed treason by coaching an enemy nation on how to manipulate the US president. This is what Westpoint History Professor is saying about all of the leaks that revealed what is going on.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thewestpointhistoryprofessor/p/a-nefarious-peace-plan-exposed-early?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
In a Kakistocracy, which is what we have, you expect the people working in it to be incompetent and they are. As for Hegseth. I now call him the "Secretary of War Crimes" because of this Comic by Ann Telnaes.
https://open.substack.com/pub/anntelnaes/p/shoot-first-ask-questions-later?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thank you, Linda, for the Westpoint History Professor link. I have been thinking about Witkoff a lot, and wondering what could be done. This is exciting and encouraging, just what I needed. I remember Deep Throat well, and to think this is happening again... well, you have made my day. Thank you!
People like Terrance Goggin and Dean Blundell, have made me feel more like the adults are going to manage the mean teens, or in Trump's case, the terrible toddler. Dean's post on the weekend about our allies.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deanblundell/p/breaking-canada-and-the-eu-exploring?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
These are stories I will be eager to follow.
I'm no prude but Blundell's inability to post or speak a sentence without the F word intruding in one or more of its several adjectival, verbal, noun, or adverbial forms is just plain off-putting to me but keeps me from referring his posts to my granddaughters for the critical content they contain.
I'm with you here, Hendrik.
And I just subscribed to WPHP. My Christmas present to myself.
Great!
Ann Telnaes hit it on the head with that.
Thank You, Linda! Hope! Sharing!
And over the past 5 days that all this is coming out - which proves why Kelly and the others made the video - all of a sudden even the kakistocrats realize going after him is a bad idea, so there's now silence from everyone except "the most persistent ignoramus I ever met" as General John Kelly described The Idiot.
TC, Instead of Kelly can we make it so they go after Witkoff for treason? Trump has given the A-OK on Witkoff manipulating him to go along with Putin's plan, because visions of sugar plums aka money, dance in his head. Still, we the people should not accept him colluding with the Russians. How he is still allowed to go negotiate boggles my mind. West Point History Professor is letting us know that the military is not happy. It was pretty obvious from those leaks.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thewestpointhistoryprofessor/p/a-nefarious-peace-plan-exposed-early?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I would like to know how widespread dissatisfaction is. If they go after Admiral Frank Bradley, who apparently is being thrown under the Ship so to speak by Hegseth and Trump, and Karoline Leavitt, then other members of the military will know if they follow illegal orders they are on their own.
Hello Annabel... Mark Kelley, along with the others in the 'Follow The UCMJ' Video, are Fighting The Good Fight... If Admiral Mitch Bradley takes the Fall for this Illegal Operation, I suspect that this will have a Corrosive Effect on Military Morale, as it will show that Members of the Military, are Expendable Assets to Cadet Bone Spurs, who has called them 'Suckers & Losers'.... Everything That Trump Touches Dies...
Trump & Hegseth have actually just given Sen. Kelly the best possible platform for exposure and to become even more of a hero. They are so lost in their power bubble...the Turtle thing is absurd...When I saw it I didn't realize Hegseth had created it...I thought it a kind of "Mad Magazine" spoof.
What's the common thread in all this mad Donald regime, Mike?
Hegseth in unwitting stupidity aping Mad Magazine. Kash Patel in his fawning cartoon books. Fashion moll Kristi Noem in her Barbie Doll costuming. Donald in his royal Versailles gold glittering.
Such a huge slice of the U.S. so obviously from only the most obviously derelict, dehumanized schools.
Phil Balla,
Yes, our schools...our children, our youth, our future???
I think it also has to do with military rules. He is the only one who can be called back up for active service so they can witch hunt him. But yes, they are also trying to clear the way for JD, who is almost as hateable as Ted Cruz. While Trump somehow got the dummies to think he did not disdain them and thought himself just like them, Vance is physically unable to hide his contempt. Vance treats everyone like Trump treats women!
Vance exhibits what most people thought impossible: a personality and manner even less appealing than Ted Cruz.
Tim Miller said that the person he'd least like to have as a passenger in a cross-country drive was Vance -- he said he'd prefer Ted Cruz to Vance!! That is really saying something!
If either of them were the only option, I'd walk instead.
The three if them riding together in a Swasticar would make an extremely tempting target.
Impossible!!
"Why is the Regime focusing on Mark Kelly when..." Because Mark Kelly achieved a level of excellence and performance (astronaut) that members of this Regime can't fake or replicate (in an attempt to diminish how the rest of us admire and respect Kelly.)
Greg Tutunjian,
Truer words were never written! Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords are American heroes. They have placed their lives on the line for this country again and again. They have used their gifts and talents and tenacity in the service of this country and its people.
Trump and his family just USE... Those who follow them...those who seek his/their favor are like minded users....with the same self-centered goals.
Why, that's easy, because Kelly's a threat to them.
A real hero, combat fighter pilot, astronaut, credible, and courageous, not just in battle fighting for America, but a real man standing by his wife under difficult circumstances. He is an example of how a real man behaves when he gives his word,"in sickness and in health".
We often hear on this site, "What can I do?".
Support Kelly, that's what.
I think about the horrible decision a fisherman must make when he needs to fish to sustain his family but fishing might lead to him being killed and leave his family without their bread winner (so to speak).
''Franklin Fires a Rocket and Other Thanksgiving Traditions in the Trump Era''
This satire takes aim at a chaotic holiday weekend in Washington and the strange bravado of officials who treat war crimes like punchlines. With sharp humor and unapologetic clarity, it exposes the underbussing, the absurdity, and the danger of leaders who mistake cruelty for strength... https://essayx.substack.com/p/franklin-fires-a-rocket-and-other
Clearly the Senate made mistake for confirming Hegseth. Voters made mistake for electing Trump. How can we correct these mistakes? That is the key issue, not blaming them.
Hiro--It wasn't "the Senate" it was the MAGA majority. And there are real doubts about the legitimacy of the 2024 General Election. So the voters are not at fault.
The problem is fixing it.
If there were anything normal about this situation we the people would simply vote them out. There would be a blue tsunami and the GOP would be dead meat for a generation.
But none of this is normal. Will we have a free and fair midterm election? If so, we have a chance to take back congress. It must be BOTH houses. Then, impeach and convict. Finally, seat the Speaker, a Democrat, as POTUS. After that, repairs can begin.
But what if there IS no true election? Just a sham, or none at all?
At this moment we essentially have an authoritarian regime, and therein lies the problem with "fixing it".
I think Gov. JBPritzker is a serious, strong contender for president in 2028. He protects his state and everyone in his state. He chooses his words carefully and speaks forcefully. Intelligent, compassionate, competent. He should throw his hat into the ring.
I think they would do all in their power to hurt him, whether they think he is a prez contender or not.
He’s all the things that group of criminals aren’t collectively.
The beginning of this ties in well with your entry for Nov. 29th. It's becoming clear that those who have benefited from Trump's ascendancy, now understand that he is no longer useful.
If Trump continues on this track, "underbussing" will have to be next year's new word for the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Not one person who works for the Trump administration in any way should be accepting verbal orders for anything. Force them to write down every single thing they want done, and timestamp it all. No more mob speak, like Michael Cohen so memorably described. Especially the military orders. The Trump administration could grind to a halt if everyone working for them said WRITE.IT.DOWN!
That seems like a very tall order as I'm guessing many of them can't write correctly especially the king's English (supposed to be a joke; it's late. But nevertheless likely to be true).
Everything they post anywhere is full of misspellings. that's because you have to be a moron to become a fascist.
And they would have to use Arabic numbers...
😆😆😆
Anyone who has chosen to work for the Trump administration has decided -- unwittingly, or more likely not -- to follow the great man's orders. Whether this loyalty to the maga monster is ideological or self-interested matters little. Big crooks, little crooks... there may not be jail cells enough to hold them all, but that can be remedied.
Gotta few "detention centers" where we can house trump and his big crooks and little crooks.
We'll send Trump to the one where his daily exercise will be wrestling alligators.
We will be able to release all the illegally detained immigrants to allow them due process which will free up plenty of nice space to house this administration's tried and convicted criminals.
Nice observation Linda.
Although, ya might need an elementary school teacher to decipher their writing and misspellings.... [been there, done that]
I'm still tripping out on "double-tap" and "kinetic strikes." It's all just a gentle game of tag, really, or perhaps an evening of exciting modern dance performances, I'm not sure. The antiseptic language has but a single purpose: to conceal treachery, war crimes, piracy and murder on the high seas.
While these lame-brains couldn't care less about that, tens of thousands of our military officers do. They know that "extrajudicial" behavior on our part only encourages our enemies to take "extrajudicial" revenge against us. It's beyond clear who's really protecting our troops -- and who's putting them in harm's way -- on purpose.
It totally gets me that every time a reporter asks Trump for a comment on some important event that has just happened, his standard answer is “I don’t know anything about that.” WTF? Isn’t that his JOB to KNOW what’s going on in our country?! And yet he calls the REPORTERS stupid?
Trump calls everyone stupid-reporters, governors, misc people. He insults, demeans & ridicules and lies constantly, and at least Mark Kelly spoke out forcefully and fearlessly. We all need to be like Mark Kelly.
Trump is merely a key piece of evidence to be used in the case against allowing our hyper wealthy high tech moguls and other self serving geniuses to take all the money and think they deserve all the power too.
And somehow most of those he calls “stupid” are women. Sometimes he even calls women who DIDNT ask the question “stupid.”
I believe those responses are how he compensates for his dementia. First he acts as if he doesn’t hear but no one has ever claimed he has hearing loss. That gives him time to reboot and remember how to compensate for loss of memory. He doesn’t remember that he was told , and what he claims to not know anything about is what he did know but didn’t retain. Then he attacks to force questioners to back off. He works hard to keep his dementia invisible.
Good for you, ICTT, for pointing this out. Language matters.
ICTT, What's more alarming than the language is that it took three months for this to come out. Also I would remind you that in gangster-speak, "double tapping" is a method of execution.
Thanks for so clearly articulating what has been swimming in my head for a couple months: a single purpose. The Command Authority in this country is completely inappropriate and inadequate for the jobs they've been given, either by the voters or the felon.
I think it's more likely following a video game model. I'm convinced this would be the war language they would most likely embrace.
Yes! I still have difficulty wrapping my brain around "laws of war"! WTAF?
As I said earlier, I don’t wish this on anybody but the only way that you guys are gonna wake up is it one of your really close relatives and loved ones suffer the death of fentanyl or other drugs, or kidnapping or murder or rape and then maybe you’ll understand.
What? Are you serious right now? There are rules of law and they are vital for all of us living in this democracy. Yes, drugs can kill just like guns can lead to deaths. In our democracy, the laws we all (and I mean all including the president and the administration and the military) follow allow us our freedoms in this amazing country. Yes, criminals should be held accountable through the same courts we are all held accountable to.
Rick, you are not alone. I don't doubt many here have felt the pain you feel and want desperately to see the perpetrators and enablers brought to justice. I still feel the pain and intentionally always will.
Some of us would welcome the opportunity to kill those who have killed or raped someone close to us. But that doesn't mean I'll go out looking for someone who looks like them or acts like them and blow their brains out and think somehow that makes things right or relieves my pain in the slightest. It won't. I know that much.
It just makes me a murderer, and not a murderer of the murderer or rapist of someone close to me, but the worst sort of murderer. Driven by vengeance, cold blooded, and worst of all, indiscriminate. Just lashing out.
Drugs can and do kill. Rape is a horrid lifelong atrocity second only to murder. The perpetration of neither will lead me to committing or condoning indiscriminate slaughter in hopes of relieving my pain though. I am not that and will not become it. The loss I will always feel is a deeply ingrained part of me now. With no recourse available, it's made me less reactionary and oddly calmer. Less likely to act out impulsively, which at first is all these indiscriminate murders seem to be. Impulsive lashing out. But they are worse. They are staged events, not unlike the evil minded KKK hangings of our past. Rallying cries for the ignorant sloth like cud chewers among us who drunkenly cheer on the slaughter as grand vengeful entertainment. I am not them and I very much doubt you are either.
You're responding to a malicious troll. There's nothing there that has anything remotely to do with reality.
Yeah, but I never would have considered the similarity of the viewer friendly obliteration of those boats with the KKK lynchings. There's a mean and vengeful spirit in us, like an ever present nagging virus. And if he's a troll, he's likely an ignorant sloth like cud chewer of one. Fuck him. Laws/Not War, the sooner, the better.
Good morning, Rick. I am troubled by your assumption that none of us have ever had these terrible things happen. Where would you get that assumption? Please understand that many, if not most, of the people around you have had such experiences, and/or close friends and relatives may also have suffered these disasters. Drugs and violence are certainly all around us. I am glad that you don’t wish them upon us, though. I really appreciate that. But you might be amazed if you asked, instead of harboring incorrect assumptions about the people you are corresponding with. We are all human just like you, and subject to the same forces that have marked you. I’m sorry, it sounds as if you yourself have had such experiences. They can really mark you.
Kelly should have been this clear.
"Underbussing": I love it! Finally, a worthy companion piece to "Scaramucci" and "alternative facts."
"He barely lasted three scaramuccis in his new job before he got underbussed for admitting the alternative facts were lies."
He woulde push his own children and wife under a bus if it were to save his skin. I remember the day he was at UFC 299 IN Fl. and said hello to Ivanka when leavinhg, but left hepr younger son with his hand extended, totally ignoring the boy, who looked devastated.
"On March 9, 2024, during UFC 299 in Miami, the former president appeared to ignore his grandson (Joseph Kushner, Ivanka’s son) when Joseph tried to greet him. Trump embraced Ivanka and greeted her husband, but reportedly did not acknowledge Joseph.
Media coverage described the moment as a “snub”: Joseph looked “dejected,” and the video went viral as critics posted the clip online.
He can't underbus Melanoma, she's his handler for Putin. Everyone else, beware.
Except Jared, bc he is his fantasy alter ego. Uck
It's from his old playbook. Think of all the people in prisons who are there for following his orders! Lawyers, accountants, aides, etc. Now we'll add an admiral to the list. He pardons drug lords and bitcoin schemers for payoffs, but he won't pardon the admiral.
Also, rhymes with “blunderbussing”, an apt description on so many levels of this hilariously inept chain of command. We need serious leaders NOW!
Underbussing is brilliant.
You beat me to the word of 2026 suggestion by several hours.
Love love love this term: underbussing!
😂💯
Hey Judy, repeat after me. Three more years, three more years three more years
But if he’s smart at the beginning of his fourth year, you’re simply handed off to JD Vance without an election being necessary and if Vance does a good job, guess what
🙄
Vance do a good job? Ha! If you think things are chaotic now just wait until Vance takes over.
“Today, Leavitt told reporters the administration believes the strike was lawful because it “was conducted in self defense to protect Americans and vital United States interests.” This justification would permit the president, or those acting in his name, to be judge, jury, and executioner without regard to the law.”
I can’t, for the life of me, understand why there seems to be little-to-no focus on the legality of these boat strikes at all, even without the horrendous extrajudicial executions. We’re blowing up small boats which are incapable of reaching the U.S., in international waters, for no legitimate reason. Certainly not in self-defense, no matter how they try to spin it. Even without the deaths, the singular aggression alone is an act of war. The U.S. is no better than bully pirates.
The White House is admitting the double-tap and is throwing U.S. Special Operations Command head Adm. Frank Bradley under the bus, claiming all Hegseth had done was give Bradley discretion in carrying out his orders to kill “narco terrorists.”
This, after Hegseth put out a meme of Franklin, a cartoon turtle from a children’s book, gleefully shooting "narco terrorists” from a chopper.
Hegseth is a man with a need for the performative strut of an 8-year-old. Seeing that turtle meme, the phrase “Kill them all!” got stuck in my head, along with a picture of a chalkboard ticking off the body count.
But this isn’t about tick marks on a chalkboard. It is about human beings being murdered in extrajudicial killings on the high seas. Why? The Coast Guard has been successfully intercepting drug traffickers at sea, capturing the traffickers and the evidence for years. Legally.
Why the need to kill now? Who needs the adrenaline rush that badly that they are willing to trade America’s reputation and soft power in the world for it?
I see the look in their eyes and can feel the canvas seat moving from their shivering. It may have been the cold rainy monsoon season and the open deck of the helicopter moving at 90 knots or the fact they were stripped to their underwear to keep from hiding weapons, but I felt their fear kept them shivering. We had just captured them in the last hour. Their wounds were bandaged at least enough to keep them from bleeding out. Intelligence would decide their fate, not us combatants. Although still engaged in battle with their battalion and taking our own share of casualties we transported them along with taking on more fuel and ammunition with which to return to battle. There was no other way to do it. Executing them on the battlefield was not what we learned from our mothers. Sure we laughed about throwing them out at 2000 ft above ground. But sitting among them and being charged with keeping them alive was a different story. They were so small and young. I knew napalm would come later in the evening as shadows formed and I was glad we had caught them before they would be incinerated trying to flee back over the border into Cambodia. I mean that is realtime so what would you have us do? What should we tell the Navy? For ourselves we gave them over to interrogation and moved on to pol.
Pat, thank for sharing that. It must have been incredibly difficult to write even after 50 years. It brings home what it means to take a human life, even if it is an enemy.
What you wrote is unbelievably powerful.
It’s important. Have you ever looked into a man’s eyes who is looking back at you and trying desperately not to see you. People need to see how bad this Hegseth thing really is. For me it is the end of the line. I’m only waiting now for the ax to fall, for justice.
You and your companions did the right thing that day and can now live with yourselves 50 years later. We should all do the right thing, even the Hegseths of the world.
Well said, Pat. I have seen that look on a number of occasions.
I have been engaging with some of my retired cop cohort, two of whom are veterans of GWOT. They are (gods help them) convinced that the use of force by the military was justified. When I asked them to identify the imminent threat, they used "narcoterrorism" to justify it. SMH.
I know you Alley. You would choose life every time if there was that opportunity. Always choose life. Combat assaults have a way of stacking up day in day out. How much do they weigh? How much can you bear? Day one is the big howler. By day 5 you are a soldier. What are you by day 300 by day 360? Does Hegseth or Trump for that matter carry that weight. They leave me with a sense of glibness beating tin drums in golden towers as they hollow out our values and play pretend. I hate them. I want them off all our necks. I want every man woman and child to be rid of them. I want Congress to drop their cocks and grab their socks.
Thank you for sharing that experience, Pat. That demonstrates the essence of service, unlike our current SecDef*.
*Def is not Defense, but Defecation in my mind.
I remember a call I was dispatched to: a suicidal man, armed with a rifle, out in his back lot (this is a rural area). I was on my way as a negotiator and cover officer, but was coming from the other side of the county. The two guys who responded essentially talked him down, he was transported for psychological evaluation. Post incident, the cover officer (young guy) asked the primary officer (older guy, Special Forces Veteran) why he hadn't shot the guy when he had every justification for doing so. Older guy told him "just because I'm justified does not mean I am obligated. He didn't need to die today."
That remains one of the best lessons I learned and subsequently taught as best I could.
In this case, "the rest of the story" is that 15 years later, same subject was shot and killed by responding deputies (primary was younger and with less experience, a product of the "officer survival" training that had been instituted in the early 1990's).
Powerful, and so important in this moment. May I share?
Yes. Of course MaryPat. Is Charlie still running his country corner there in Grayling or has he passed?
I guess if you're just a jerk trying to pretend your penis is bigger than it really is, that's what you do. They're like junkies -- they live for the moment of rush they think will make them something they're not. Junkies will steal the pennies off dead men's eyes to stay high. Or pervert children's books, I don't know. Gross oversimplification maybe, but I don't see this behavior as all that difficult to figure out.
Sounds like your average billionaire. Just another junkie who will hurt anyone to get their next fix.
Money is simply energy. George Soros, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett give it away by the bucketful. This adrenaline rush is about something else entirely, far more psychiatric.
And McKenzie Scott and Melinda Gates -- and even Taylor Swift!
And yet, they *have* to be the one with the power to make that decision or not (and most make the opposite decision). They were not happy with *just* 100 million or even 500 million or even 1 billion. I think it is an addiction on par with alcoholism, drugs, gambling, etc. It *is* psychiatric!
No one ever got rich by being generous to those around them.
I wonder if that is actually true.
Interesting to try to think of someone. Some rich people, after they are rich, try to give it away. But first they accumulate it. Think how different Jeff Bezos’s bank account would look if he had paid his workers better right along. Think how Walmart has allowed you and me to support their workers with Medicaid and food stamps, and let the money flow into the Waltons’ account. Think how many members of the top 1% have allowed money to accrue from their workers on up the chain. I would love to hear of people who were generous to those around them and still got rich, if you think of some. I can’t.
Not sure if dick size has anything to do with it, but I appreciate your oversimplification.
Gotta wonder… has Hegseth been hanging with Elon?
In what has to be the worst political decision for the Democratic congressional leadership since Biden chose to run for a second term, Hakeem Jeffries says he isn’t going to try to impeach Pete Hegseth.
The list of reasons why Democrats should go for impeachment is long:
It’s war crimes!!!
It’s the morally correct thing to do.
It’s America’s reputation (as the leader of the free world, once) at stake.
Hegseth is despised by the military.
51% of the public opposes the attacks on the boats, and only 29% agree.
We have to do it in our own self-defense because of his ludicrous decisions.
Trump is at his weakest.
The midterms are coming.
I would think that every Democrat and every Republican who served in the military (72), especially 35 who served in overseas combat deployments, would vote for impeachment. He only needs a majority in the House to impeach. Let the Senate get to 2/3 to convict on its own. But with bipartisan investigations in both chambers already announced, there’s a good chance they will.
Here’s Jeffries’ reasoning, according to Axios reporting:
"House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) signaled Monday that Democrats are unlikely to pursue impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over alleged follow-up strikes against boats in the Caribbean.
Why it matters: Impeachment has been a fraught matter for Democrats this year, with Jeffries acknowledging that Republican control of both chambers of Congress makes any impeachment effort virtually dead on arrival.
"Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives, and we know that's the case," Jeffries said at a press conference Monday.
"Donald Trump will order them not to do it," he added."
This is agreeing in advance, the classic cave to an authoritarian. Seven million people marched in the last No Kings protest. Why the f**k does he think he can ignore them?
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/01/jeffries-hegseth-impeach-venezuela-drug-boats
I’m thinking this issue can end Trump maybe even before Epstein. It will have to be done by Republicans not Democrats. I see the wisdom in Jeffries not pulling the trigger. Give the republicans the opportunity to wipe their own asses to show the nation they know what toilet paper is used for again. If the Republicans will bring it the democrats will assure them a victory. That is something we all need. We will need to become a nation again without another goddamned war with Venezuela or anyone else. Together we may help depose the Gremlin in the kremlin, right after we emancipate the homeless put out health care for all and get a grip on our economy. We have a lot of work to do. Does anyone even care about climate change anymore? The Trump gang is over except for their total incarceration. That includes ending the disease that descended on us from South Africa, what’s his name. Don’t say it out loud we are sneaking up on him.
I agree it would be better if Republicans initiated an impeachment of Hegseth, but that wouldn’t absolve Jeffries of the stupidity of his statement. He didn’t need to say anything other than “I am waiting to see the initial results of committee investigations and briefings on the legal issues. The ACA subsidy extensions are the immediate crisis that needs to be addressed.”
Capitulation in advance is never a good idea. He just gave away any power to shape the narrative.
That’s why we look up to you. He was obviously a relay man on the track team. Now that he has passed the baton, er roll of paper, maybe the man with the final kick will be from across the isle. Can you imagine that messenger? Bring back the Mercury dime!
He is not a leader. Every time he speaks his words have compromise all over them - no conviction, no force - just weak political speech, conventional and in effective. He shames the Democrats in the House.
omg - Jeffries and Schumer need to go. They cannot just stand by for this.
You’re on a winning streak you’re continually wrong and you continually keep posting what you continually wrong. Let’s see if I can find that other post I had before about Trump
Here’s a short my bed it’s pretty concise
https://news.meaww.com/cn-ns-harry-enten-reveals-real-reason-behind-marjorie-taylor-greenes-plan-to-exit-congress
Impeach? He should be charged with first degree murder plain and simple. What has impeachment got to do with it?
I know who needs it. A very, very small man.
To prep the military and the US people for the questionable use of military force against civilian targets. They will likely straight-up lose the midterms without the use of force and/or cheating.
GOOSE IN THE OVEN... It "appears" as if Pete Hegseth's "goose" just might be cooked at some point in time. My Christmas wish is that the goose burns to a crisp and its ashes are served to the Trump regime for Christmas dinner... along with their "just deserts"...
There's plenty of focus on that. There has been for a long time. It's culminating with a bipartisan Senate move to examine everything. Perhaps it would have still come about had Kegsbreath not issued an order to commit a war crime, then tried to cover it up by blaming a subordinate, perhaps not. In any case, you betcha a whole lot of Senators whose job it is to review the intelligence themselves aren't in a particularly forgiving mood right now. It's late as it can be, but it's coming.
I've heard "murder" and "war crimes" used to describe these misadventures, but it would seem that "piracy on the high seas" is just as accurate and perhaps more descriptive.
Merlin, "piracy" is a great term to use, but at its core, worse than the actions of blowing a boat up and then summarily executing two survivors is that it was the government doing it. Piracy is the act of violence, murder and war crimes take it to the next judicial level.
"State piracy?"
Equal protection under law.
Constitution and legal system actually work. What is shocking but possibly shouldn’t be is the lack of preventative protection when power is pushed to its limits and how fragile our institutions truly are. Have believed there are firm lines drawn whether it be military code and the laws that would hold firm, should hold firm, never to be crossed. We are as well seeing how much of our democracy rests not just on law, but on the decency of people choosing to do the right thing. This realization is both clarifying and quite terrifying. Maybe shouldn’t be surprised we all lived through January 6th.
Words simply fail.
On board Air Force One, our tiny, sociopathic Liar-In-Chief got confronted with his reason to pardon the former President of Honduras -- a man who personally ordered 800,000 pounds of cocaine to be smuggled into the United States. Mountains of evidence against him compiled by hundreds of astute law enforcement professionals razor-focused on getting this bastard behind bars (led ironically by a prosecutor now Trump's personal lawyer) had at last secured a jury conviction, putting this piece of scum behind federal bars for 45 years in 2024. The perp was even on record saying something like 'let's stuff the gringos' noses with it.' They got the right guy on that one.
When asked, a clearly prevaricating Trump ('let's see, what bullshit can I spin this time?') simply muttered something about "I was told" followed by "Biden." The roving, disassociated, chameleon-like eyes told the real truth -- they moved as far away from the reporter as they could without falling out of their sockets. The body language was obvious. The words (incoherent and full of silly bluster) are meant as a distraction, like the ever-pumping hands playing that invisible concertina.
It isn't so much his bizarre (un)cognitive abilities that should concern us, it's his clear soul disabilities. Wretched, shabby, vicious, dishonest gaslighter -- a scheming moron with a criminal past and malicious intent to conceal a record of pure toxicity. A fraudulent, phony failure at any honest endeavor whatever.
Whatever this upcoming war in Venezuela is about, it sure as hell's got nothing to do with stopping drugs.
And just how many of those small "fishing" boats Trump pretends to accuse of carrying drugs and then destroy would it take to smuggle 800,000 pounds of drugs to U.S??? Who can even believe these murders of "convenience"?!#
I would not be surprised to see him tear down the Washington Monument to put in a Colosseum; gladiators, lions, and all.
Oh! Don't give him any ideas!
How about a garden of Delilah?
Sponsored by Donald, it could be the East Coast version of Northern California's Bohemian Club, where instead of guests like Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito feasting off all their billionaire bribers, guests from the Epstein list could enjoy continued dalliances with girls from age 11 to, say 17.
Lots of tropical drapery, gurgling brooks, and cameras ready for DVD mega sales of latest Donald product lines, all immune from law as that highest court in the land has already decreed.
The girls' parents would most likely be all those pardoned by Donald for their insurrection violence of Jan. 6, 2021 -- all the worst of the MAGA-land fevered whose daughters' services to U.S. newest elites would be a small price to pay given that ICE has already paid its $50,000 bonuses to the U.S.'s most criminally-inclined to further thuggery (and for how many new costumes for DHS moll Kristi Noem).
Was "someone" $$encouraged$$ to pardon this former prez of Honduras?
The bribes are endless. Trump's first language is money.
And, Laurie, his only language after that is "bing-bing-boing-bong."
And absolutely nothing to do with the best interests of the people of the United States of America.
But it does have something to do with the thirst for retribution of at least 77 million American voters.
I like it, but Soul disabilities might be too compassionate.
Oil. Money. It’s ALWAYS about money with him.
I keep going back to Tim Grimms song (that I think I first heard of here, years ago when we thought he was going ), Broken Truth :
"He's got no soul. "He's got no poetry inside to make him whole."
https://youtu.be/y7XYGLjP-58?si=i14JfYWLm8TorHLz
Trump is purifying this country every second of his "presidency" . It's urgent to stop this process before everything is lost.
Did spellcheck change “putrifying” to “purifying” in your comment?
Rex, sorry but I can't find my original comment. If it was referring to some action coming from the fascist regime, most likely my intention was to write putrifying because nothing purifying would make any sense. Sorry again and thanks for pointing the mistake.
No problem. It was an obvious typo. Just couldn’t resist writing “putrifying.”
😃
Oil
the September 2 double tap that killed the two men “would be a violation of the laws of war even under the administration’s own self-justifying description of its campaign as an armed conflict with ‘narcoterrorists.’”
It gets complicated. There are narcoterrorists you kill and narcoterrorists you pardon.
That is amazing, isnt it? He blows up anonymous people on small boats out in the ocean, ad pardons wealthy and connected heads of state who are the true narcotics traffickers… No one would believe this, if we tried to put it in a novel or mini-series…..
I have often had that thought. Much of the MAGA phenomenon seems too wildly implausible for compelling fiction.
Because the anonymous guys in the boats haven't got the $$$ to pay him off. The connected heads of state who are true narcotics traffickers do.
See how simple that is?
The rampant corruption and total disrespect for humanity is gobsmacking
J L, it depends on how much money they pass under the table. Guess who is getting richer here.
And whose ox is getting gored.
Most likely J L.😜
Excellent observation, J L! However can one know which narcoterrorists are the good guys and which are the bad guys??? <HEAVY SARCASM FONT>
Is it possible that neither Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nor Special Operations commander Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley has ever heard of the Nuremberg trials? When the order is to “kill everyone” in a small boat off the coast of Venezuela on September 2, does neither of them know that this constitutes a war crime?
In the past few days I have read articles and comments urging the impeachment of Trump, of several members of the Supreme Court, maybe of RFK, Jr.--I'm not sure about that--but I haven't yet seen any suggestions about adding Pete Hegseth to the list. Is there a process for impeaching cabinet secretaries? What about impeaching the whole regime in one big, beautiful process?
What about the guys who did it - Seal Team 3?? We KNOW they know the rules of war - how are they not accountable?
People are saying "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
Heather discussed the Impeachment clause in one of her politics chat videos. The interpretation is that any ONE of them (President, VP, or civil officer) can be impeached and convicted individually. Lots of people are thinking the interpretation is that if the President gets impeached and convicted, they all go.
So glad bribery is in there.
Bribery, in whatever form, is the heart of corruption. The Constitution spells it out. along with treason, as a deal-breaker. Yet $COTUS has largely promoted de facto bribery so long as you don't admit doing it. Is that impeachable?
We know, Betsy, Hegseth is a drunken, raping, murdering fool.
Admiral Bradley? He got to that highest level and never heard of the Nuremburg trials? Very much looking forward to seeing him under oath before bi-partisan congressional committees.
Betsy, we don't need to do a damn thing but keep Epstein and the economy in the news. Li'l PP will shove some into traffic (the automotive kind, not narcoterrorism), some will be voted out, some will resign, some will revolt against the regime, and we can stand back and watch the cookie crumble.
It's the R. resignations, Lauren, that will most make this coming a Merry Christmas.
Ho Ho Ho. Although the 2nd resignation is working out his full term, so no glory there.
Why waste time with an impeachment Betsy. We played that game before and look at the results. Maybe we should go low for a little while till we finish cleaning up.
It strikes me that the "kill them all" order may be less about cruelty and vengeance - though such is intrinsic to the order - and more about insuring there are no survivors who could testify to who was actually on the boats and what they were doing there.
Undoubtedly. Totally.
Same thing with ICE.
Real men take responsibility for their own actions…which means there are no real men in this administration!
Please don't leave out the despicable women who promote the criminality of this regime.
Don't leave out anybody. Every participant should pay a price and return every penny gained in the process specially the trump family making billions at the speed of light.
Real adults. The buck stops there.
These murderous attacks on small boats are just that -- murders. None of them have been justified.
More concerning than these orders is who exactly obeyed those orders? I have been worried all along about what percentage of our military supports the felon. Shouldn't those orders have at least been challenged, if not refused outright?
Hegseth was never qualified for any job. Neither was the felon. That list is long.
We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
There’s a calendar on my spreadsheet so we can target our calls/letters/emails/faxes to flood offices in an organized manner.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Add a comment to help keep this bumped ✊ New eyes seeing this means new ripples for change! 🤞
Keep up the good fight, Megan. I admire your perseverance. People like you will save this country.
Thank You, Megan!
Keep it up!!
The underbusing (great new verb 😆) of the Admiral will not save Whiskey Pete. The Repub Senators smell blood in the water and are willing to hold the administration accountable. When the kegsbreath goes down the rest of the rats will start to jump ship. It’s the beginning of the end. 🤞
Playing out like Watergate. Busy busses; president busted.
Exactly Ned.
As A. J. Liebling noted 85 years ago, “The leaders are not worthy of their people.”
He was quoting a French friend of his then, in 1940, in “The World Knocked Down,” one of his war-reporting columns then for The New Yorker.
As many of us do today, he was also anguishing over those then leaders of that country: “The men served by Laval, Chautemps, and their team of interchangeable shills and blinds at Bordeaux were the chiefs of heavy industry who since late in 1934 had been working for France’s subjection to Germany. . . . They thought that Hitler would leave them their share of Europe and Africa to run, just as their colleagues the German members of the steel and coal cartels, which long antedated Hitler, had left them their share of the business.”
Liebling is great. Reading his dispatches then rewards any in need of reassurance at our thugs in power today.
Reminds us, too, that if we may quote from the many decent souls yet among us, we may keep light shining in our dark times regardless of how many of our schools and leaders have lost any literacy themselves for doing that.
Phil Balla, it’s “Berlin Diary” of William L Shirer (you may know him for “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”) that is for me the most fascinating account of Vichy. It’s somewhere in my bookcase and available online.
“[I]nstead,” Kelly said, “he runs around on a stage like he’s a 12-year-old playing army. And it is ridiculous, it is embarrassing, and I can’t imagine what our allies think of looking at that guy in this job, one of the most important jobs in our country…. He is in the national command authority for nuclear weapons.
Oh. And here I thought he was talking about the Commander In Chief.
Good one!
CiC can't run. Otherwise...
I was horrified by his performance at that meeting of leaders. Horrified!
Geeze! Kegseth needs to be behind bars as well as all who are behind the extrajudicial killings. This entire administration as well.
Thanks HCR! Your reporting is invaluable.
It can't happen soon enough.
Killing the two survivors was not only illegal, it was stupid. They should have been rescued and questioned. If they were in fact transporting illegal drugs, their testimony to that effect should have been made public.
"It was worse than a crime. It was a blunder."
As Paul Krugman and others have noted, it's the American demand for drugs that drives this entire issue. As long as the demand exists, along with the money to back it, suppliers will emerge. The "war on drugs" ignores this fundamental truth.
(BTW I'm sure I'm not the first to thank you for the comprehensive list of references and citations that accompanies every Letter.)
Survivors might say something that upsets the Administration's narrative, such as it is. Dead men tell no tales.
...in which case their testimony would not be made public, and they would never see the light of day. Which is surprising because later survivors were returned to their home country (and never heard from again).
Good point. I think the two survivors I heard about were from different countries, which possibly have different laws that pertain. But "never heard from again" also has a secondary unfortunate meaning. I also wonder if these survivors underwent any serious interrogation while they were in US control and if the interrogation notes have been made available.
Incompetent before he was appointed ! Never should have been approved to begin with.
Many doubters but they caved. Time for him to go.