Your reporting and historical insight are fabulous.
However, when you quote McConnell for a rare good deed, please remind your readers that but for McConnell Trump would not be President. Don't reward him for trying to salvage his conscious.
I love that you pronounce, “DOGGY” which is the pronunciation I also use when I mention them to my reps’ offices. One of the staffers ‘corrected’ me, and I respectfully corrected her.
Thank you Heather for your sobering comments on the latest events every day. Jamie Raskin in a town hall on Tuesday (He’s my representative) said his Dad told him, “When everything is hopeless, you are the hope.” Here’s to us. Never give in, never give up.
Thanks for this reminder, Susan. I heard Jamie Raskin speak of his father's wise words during a zoom call last year, me and hundreds more with me. How fortunate are you that he's your representative. I admire him greatly. And I'm with you, to us, that we "never give in, never give up."
I just read that RFK Jr. has been approved by the Senate as the Sec’y of HHS. Horrors! Clearly the Senate Republicans are scared of what Trump might do to them, their careers, and their power if they vote against his every wish. In this light, the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht entitled one of his more famous poems “Truly we live in dark times” ("Ach, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten!”). He wrote it in 1939.
They may be afraid of what Trump (Musk) will do to them. They should be afraid of what Kennedy will do to their unvaccinated children and grandchildren.
Kennedy is the ultimate opportunist, has no true convictions. Now that ant-vac is a liability he will shelve it. Not work to correct it, mind you, just move on to the next flaming torch.
Its very hard to understand how Trump commands these Senate Republicans so completely. I cannot understand the hold he has over them such that they just give up their incredibly important role as per our Constitution, the responsibility and duty, to the American people. The power of the group, group psychology... and the threat of losing power that Trump wields.. totally unbelievable!
One thing for sure: the grifter/predator in charge of HHS will be taking crypto currency payments from companies to usher in medical treatments & vaccines. The highest bidders will get HHS's attention. Pam Bondi is paving the way for bribery to return to our shores.
I've read some interesting opinions on what X said to trumpeldore aka trump. As an asside, his mother, Grimes, was not happy about her ex taking her son to this event, but has had to defend herself from haters over it. we are better than to harrass her; that's a maga action. An aside, I've doubled my Prozac since Nov.
A scary track our government takes. Peaceful resistance is our only hope. The Pope criticises the border policies and it appears the leaders of our country do not care about humanity. Trump and Vance are not Christians or religious.
We should be happy that McConnell has little power. His little power is totally useless now. He also has had little integrity. He is as much to blame for where we are now as anyone. The SCOTUS would not be what it is.
I'm waiting for the folks who elected Trump to realize that they have been used for his and Musk's aggrandizement and the price of eggs and gas keeps increasing. Unfortunately, they are our only hope.
Maga are not reasoning people, they aren't going to hold themselves accountable. Ever. Maybe there is hope that the many people that didn't vote will pay attention & engage. There's hope we've had a crash course in effective leadership & that will prevail. There's reason to hope, but I no longer think the people that voted for the felon were just misguided. I think there's a lot of fundamental differences in what they believe, more than I ever realized, believing that some people are better than others, & that others deserve nothing.
Yes, right now they all seem to have their heads in the hole they sit on...so their insights are few. When they finally grasp what's going on, it will give them diarrhea and out will come their heads smeared with the s**t that got them there. They will stink for a very long, long time.
Per Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles (onSubstack), another thing you can do, if you live one of these states that joined Leticia James' successful lawsuit to hold back doggies assault on the Treasury, is to call and thank your state AG for whatever stands out for you but for me things like "courage", "independence and belief in our system", come to mind. Here are the states:
ARIZONA , CALIFORNIA , COLORADO , CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE , HAWAII, ILLINOIS , MAINE, MARYLAND , MASSACHUSETTS , MINNESOTA , NEVADA , NEW JERSEY , NORTH CAROLINA, OREGON , RHODE ISLAND , VERY and WISCONSIN.
What I can actually do sitting down. I know about calling our representatives and senators. What more can I do? At election time I wrote letters with Vote Forward.
You being here & engaged is something to me. Every bit of educating ourselves & sharing good information, along with action, of course, helps. There seems to be some effective strategy & good leadership coming out. More strong voices like the one in these letters! I'll do what I can & get behind them. We all have something to bring to the table & I'm glad you are here to remind me of that today.
here's a fun hobby. You don't have to be an Iowan to post on GOP Senator GrASSley's whistle blower page. He wants reports on "retaliation, fraud, wasteful spending criminal activity and other". just google Chuck Grassley Whistleblower. You know what to do. "For whistleblowers interested in establishing communication with Senator Grassley regarding wrongdoing within federal agencies or misuse of public dollars please complete the following form:
Jane- have you checked out Postcards To Swing States? I really like writing with them. They have done a lot of research on their scripts over the years for maximum effectiveness. Here's a link to the organization they are now part of:https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/
They just finished a postcard campaign and will announce more, soon.
here's a fun hobby. You don't have to be an Iowan to post on GOP Senator GrASSley's whistle blower page. He wants reports on "retaliation, fraud, wasteful spending criminal activity and other". just google Chuck Grassley Whistleblower. You know what to do. "For whistleblowers interested in establishing communication with Senator Grassley regarding wrongdoing within federal agencies or misuse of public dollars please complete the following form:
This administration is causing worldwide anxiety. Like AG Garland, I feel like Europe is a day late and a dollar short also. When will Europe realize "IT'S happening again!"
Today to add to your podcast report , RFK JR. was confirmed as head of the Health Dept . Thus putting millions of low income and older Americans at risk of not getting the Medical attention they need , we must continue to strongly reject this
I believe with this executive order, Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseths approval and the release of the Russians cyber criminal that we’ve reached the point of no return, that the Republican Party along with Trump will no longer be able to turn back this train and are now irrelevant! The richest man in the world having this much control of our Federal government along with X, Starlink, Putin, the approval of Trumps inexperienced heads of our most important departments along with the purging of our experienced government workers and so many other tools (including Trump) that we really are in a constitutional crisis! Why are we not bringing this to the public’s attention in every way possible?
I am a US citizen, although I was born in Germany. My dad was a US soldier and a US citizen, born in NC. My mom was also a US citizen, born in Kansas.
About 16 years ago, I was severely questioned by a US Border official as to whether I could re-enter the US from a short visit to Niagara, Canada. Passports were not required at that time. Ever since then, I carry the wallet card version of my US passport.
The card is proof of U.S. citizenship and identity, and has the same length of validity as the passport book. It’s much easy to carry the passport card than thepPassport book. I suggest that anyone who may be questioned about your US citizenship (born in another county, naturalized citizen, POC, etc.), get and carry a passport card.
An important reminder from Antonia Scatton. (Also Substack).
“As you have heard me say many times before: what we talk about is what appears in people’s minds, even if we are making the case against it.
If we talk about Elon Musk’s actions as a “coup d'état,” we make people envision him succeeding. It makes the task of stopping him feel insurmountable, which increases their ability to scare people into obeying in advance. Plus, many of the MAGA and 2025 folks will think they’ve won].
If we talk about Elon Musk being on a CRIME SPREE, we make people envision what inevitably happens to people on a crime spree: they end up on the run from the U.S. Marshalls.
We need to talk like we live in a world where people like Trump and Musk get stopped, because we DO live in that world! Our successful court challenges, which are happening with remarkable speed, might get overshadowed by the atrocity of the day, but they are still happening.
Our job is to make it possible for people to envision that we can and will defeat these Bozos.”
Your reporting and historical insight are fabulous.
However, when you quote McConnell for a rare good deed, please remind your readers that but for McConnell Trump would not be President. Don't reward him for trying to salvage his conscious.
I love that you pronounce, “DOGGY” which is the pronunciation I also use when I mention them to my reps’ offices. One of the staffers ‘corrected’ me, and I respectfully corrected her.
Thank you Heather for your sobering comments on the latest events every day. Jamie Raskin in a town hall on Tuesday (He’s my representative) said his Dad told him, “When everything is hopeless, you are the hope.” Here’s to us. Never give in, never give up.
Thanks for this reminder, Susan. I heard Jamie Raskin speak of his father's wise words during a zoom call last year, me and hundreds more with me. How fortunate are you that he's your representative. I admire him greatly. And I'm with you, to us, that we "never give in, never give up."
I just read that RFK Jr. has been approved by the Senate as the Sec’y of HHS. Horrors! Clearly the Senate Republicans are scared of what Trump might do to them, their careers, and their power if they vote against his every wish. In this light, the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht entitled one of his more famous poems “Truly we live in dark times” ("Ach, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten!”). He wrote it in 1939.
They may be afraid of what Trump (Musk) will do to them. They should be afraid of what Kennedy will do to their unvaccinated children and grandchildren.
Kennedy is the ultimate opportunist, has no true convictions. Now that ant-vac is a liability he will shelve it. Not work to correct it, mind you, just move on to the next flaming torch.
Its very hard to understand how Trump commands these Senate Republicans so completely. I cannot understand the hold he has over them such that they just give up their incredibly important role as per our Constitution, the responsibility and duty, to the American people. The power of the group, group psychology... and the threat of losing power that Trump wields.. totally unbelievable!
One thing for sure: the grifter/predator in charge of HHS will be taking crypto currency payments from companies to usher in medical treatments & vaccines. The highest bidders will get HHS's attention. Pam Bondi is paving the way for bribery to return to our shores.
I've read some interesting opinions on what X said to trumpeldore aka trump. As an asside, his mother, Grimes, was not happy about her ex taking her son to this event, but has had to defend herself from haters over it. we are better than to harrass her; that's a maga action. An aside, I've doubled my Prozac since Nov.
A scary track our government takes. Peaceful resistance is our only hope. The Pope criticises the border policies and it appears the leaders of our country do not care about humanity. Trump and Vance are not Christians or religious.
I'm skeptical peaceful protest will suffice.
If Mitch voted against her but none of his buddies followed suit it shows you how little power McConnell has anymore. Past time for him to retire.
We should be happy that McConnell has little power. His little power is totally useless now. He also has had little integrity. He is as much to blame for where we are now as anyone. The SCOTUS would not be what it is.
I'm waiting for the folks who elected Trump to realize that they have been used for his and Musk's aggrandizement and the price of eggs and gas keeps increasing. Unfortunately, they are our only hope.
Maybe they will re-enact their 1/6 antics and storm Congress again. One can hope...
Maga are not reasoning people, they aren't going to hold themselves accountable. Ever. Maybe there is hope that the many people that didn't vote will pay attention & engage. There's hope we've had a crash course in effective leadership & that will prevail. There's reason to hope, but I no longer think the people that voted for the felon were just misguided. I think there's a lot of fundamental differences in what they believe, more than I ever realized, believing that some people are better than others, & that others deserve nothing.
Yes, right now they all seem to have their heads in the hole they sit on...so their insights are few. When they finally grasp what's going on, it will give them diarrhea and out will come their heads smeared with the s**t that got them there. They will stink for a very long, long time.
If anyone knows what else we can do besides calling our representatives and posting on social media. Please let me know.
Per Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles (onSubstack), another thing you can do, if you live one of these states that joined Leticia James' successful lawsuit to hold back doggies assault on the Treasury, is to call and thank your state AG for whatever stands out for you but for me things like "courage", "independence and belief in our system", come to mind. Here are the states:
ARIZONA , CALIFORNIA , COLORADO , CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE , HAWAII, ILLINOIS , MAINE, MARYLAND , MASSACHUSETTS , MINNESOTA , NEVADA , NEW JERSEY , NORTH CAROLINA, OREGON , RHODE ISLAND , VERY and WISCONSIN.
Here's an article for background:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/07/states-sue-trump-treasury-doge-00203229
I filed a Data Privacy Compliant with our AG. Wait and see what the response.
Thanks, for the encouragement and I will look into it. I’m from Texas so may be a hard row to hoe.
Thank you I want the same. At 92 I can't march, but what can I do to save OUR nation?
Jane, Just clarifying, are you saying you want encouragement or you want suggestions of things you can do?
What I can actually do sitting down. I know about calling our representatives and senators. What more can I do? At election time I wrote letters with Vote Forward.
You being here & engaged is something to me. Every bit of educating ourselves & sharing good information, along with action, of course, helps. There seems to be some effective strategy & good leadership coming out. More strong voices like the one in these letters! I'll do what I can & get behind them. We all have something to bring to the table & I'm glad you are here to remind me of that today.
here's a fun hobby. You don't have to be an Iowan to post on GOP Senator GrASSley's whistle blower page. He wants reports on "retaliation, fraud, wasteful spending criminal activity and other". just google Chuck Grassley Whistleblower. You know what to do. "For whistleblowers interested in establishing communication with Senator Grassley regarding wrongdoing within federal agencies or misuse of public dollars please complete the following form:
Jane- have you checked out Postcards To Swing States? I really like writing with them. They have done a lot of research on their scripts over the years for maximum effectiveness. Here's a link to the organization they are now part of:https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/
They just finished a postcard campaign and will announce more, soon.
Things I can do.
here's a fun hobby. You don't have to be an Iowan to post on GOP Senator GrASSley's whistle blower page. He wants reports on "retaliation, fraud, wasteful spending criminal activity and other". just google Chuck Grassley Whistleblower. You know what to do. "For whistleblowers interested in establishing communication with Senator Grassley regarding wrongdoing within federal agencies or misuse of public dollars please complete the following form:
This administration is causing worldwide anxiety. Like AG Garland, I feel like Europe is a day late and a dollar short also. When will Europe realize "IT'S happening again!"
I tend towards the London pronunciation “Dodgy”. As in well dodgy.
That's my favorite.
Today to add to your podcast report , RFK JR. was confirmed as head of the Health Dept . Thus putting millions of low income and older Americans at risk of not getting the Medical attention they need , we must continue to strongly reject this
Who is in charge, Trump, Musk, or Putin? Has anything like this ever happened in US history?
Putin
Putin
I believe with this executive order, Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseths approval and the release of the Russians cyber criminal that we’ve reached the point of no return, that the Republican Party along with Trump will no longer be able to turn back this train and are now irrelevant! The richest man in the world having this much control of our Federal government along with X, Starlink, Putin, the approval of Trumps inexperienced heads of our most important departments along with the purging of our experienced government workers and so many other tools (including Trump) that we really are in a constitutional crisis! Why are we not bringing this to the public’s attention in every way possible?
Like trying to repair a popped balloon with staples.
Get and Carry a US Passport Card
I am a US citizen, although I was born in Germany. My dad was a US soldier and a US citizen, born in NC. My mom was also a US citizen, born in Kansas.
About 16 years ago, I was severely questioned by a US Border official as to whether I could re-enter the US from a short visit to Niagara, Canada. Passports were not required at that time. Ever since then, I carry the wallet card version of my US passport.
The card is proof of U.S. citizenship and identity, and has the same length of validity as the passport book. It’s much easy to carry the passport card than thepPassport book. I suggest that anyone who may be questioned about your US citizenship (born in another county, naturalized citizen, POC, etc.), get and carry a passport card.
Check here:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/card.html
Yikes. This is a frightening post. Thank you for sharing your experience here.
An important reminder from Antonia Scatton. (Also Substack).
“As you have heard me say many times before: what we talk about is what appears in people’s minds, even if we are making the case against it.
If we talk about Elon Musk’s actions as a “coup d'état,” we make people envision him succeeding. It makes the task of stopping him feel insurmountable, which increases their ability to scare people into obeying in advance. Plus, many of the MAGA and 2025 folks will think they’ve won].
If we talk about Elon Musk being on a CRIME SPREE, we make people envision what inevitably happens to people on a crime spree: they end up on the run from the U.S. Marshalls.
We need to talk like we live in a world where people like Trump and Musk get stopped, because we DO live in that world! Our successful court challenges, which are happening with remarkable speed, might get overshadowed by the atrocity of the day, but they are still happening.
Our job is to make it possible for people to envision that we can and will defeat these Bozos.”
Sorry, the “Plus being…” was supposed to have a square bracket in front… my comments, not Antonia’s.