Maya Miller of the New York Times reported today that the congressional phone system has been jammed with tens of millions of calls from outraged constituents contacting their representatives to demand that they stand against President Donald Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk as they unilaterally dismantle the United States government and gain access to Americans’ private information.
Thank you Dr. Richardson. I hear concerns regarding the Project 2025, SAVE ACT and the possibility that it could become a vehicle restricting women's voting rights? Appears it stipulates that only a birth certificate or a US passport will be considered acceptable for voting ID. For women who have legally taken their husband's last name a birth certificate will not be a match with current legal name. Not all have a US passport. This could disenfranchise a large number of female voters if true. I would appreciate if you would investigate and discuss should these concerns be legitimate.
I have suspected that Elon Musk is in the treasury disemboweling USAID, medicare, medicaid, social security, the dept of Education right now as a scare tactic to get the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling because all of the fuddling around and cutting that he does, is not going to get them the kind of tax breaks that he wants himself and his fellow non-tax paying billionaires to have.
Pulling from his speech he said, '"The government of the United States is not a private company. It is (currently) fundamentally at odds with how this system is supposed to work.”
Having worked in the private sector for over 100 insurance companies and banks as well as dozens of other businesses, EVERY single company takes security of their employees, clients and data seriously. Even when all of the computers were air-gapped, security was stressed. Many large companies, outsource their credit card processing because they know these companies can secure their personal information better and they don't want the liability that comes with a data breach.
And every President and Congress has done the same thing -- until now.
It is shocking that NONE of the Fortune 1000 companies are speaking out against Trump and Musk. If they are, their voices are being drowned out by the corporate media. Oddly enough, it's Rupert Murdoch's WSJ that has been the most vocal opponent of Musk and Trump.
We need to keep calling and emailing our Senators and Congressmen.
Dr. Richardson is fortunate to be represented by Angus King. And I proudly shout, 'That's my Senator!" Sadly, our other Senator is Susan Collins.
Susan Collins is a Republican flunky who lip synced modest sentiments when she co-endorsed the right-wing Supremes who then demolished RvW, among other things.
Senator King took his Republican colleagues to task because of their willingness to overlook the Trump administration’s attack on the U.S. Constitution.
In this comment, I’m taking my scientific colleagues to task for our collective willingness to overlook our community's Trump-enabling disregard for science.
Right now—literally at this moment—that essential structural component of our social system is under a direct and consequential assault, not on a particular step in the scientific method, but on the essential foundation of the practice itself.
To the people reading who have a science degree, and who are criticizing Republican politicians while ignoring this message, then I consider that evidence in support of the idea that you are doing what they are doing.
Here’s what to do instead. Do what hundreds have done. Read my simple logic. And then do what only a handful of people have bothered to do. Challenge my simple logic with an open minded willingness to challenge your own implicit assumptions.
I apologize for going after scientists, but I consider you to be my community. We are no worse than other communities, but for the sake of democracy and freedom, let’s be better. Let’s stop being part of the collective chorus of “do as say and not as I do” messages.
I live with a scientist and among scientists, none of whom support Trump or what is going on. It is shocking. I also know people who have been in clinical trials for cancer and are concerned that this has come to an end. When making things hard means killing people, then if people accept that they are missing the point of having a government.
Angus King is not a Republican. He's an independent aligned with the Democrats, like Bernie Sanders.
By definition, Republicans -- with vanishingly rare exceptions -- lack courage and are without principles. They only have interests. They are waiting to divvy up the spoils with Musk when his coup d'etat has been consolidated and confirmed. I hope they appreciate the personal risk they will face sooner or later. As I recall Hitler took his own life rather than face the music.
Chump will never have the “courage” that Hitler had. His MAGAts will never see him as the problem without Ike. I hope I live long enough to see him wind up like Mussolini. As muskrat said, this is our chance, we’ll never have another one. So folks, it’s now or never. Time to see them for the reconstituted Nazis that they are proud to emulate. And, is there a democrat that can emulate Angus King…
Just to clarify--Jamie Raskin is a Democrat--a Representative--from Maryland. It is a bit misleading to describe him as simply a "Rep." He is much to smart and caring to ever fall into that other category.
As a DC native, I remember that there are still a few old-fashioned lampposts located here and there around town, pretty easy to throw a rope over, just tall enough that even Musk's nose won't touch the sidewalk.
Yes he did, Frank. I just hope Americans today are at least dimly aware of the dynamics of that failed experiment and how Europe's and our slow response to what was happening in Germany, despite Hitler's making no secret of his intentions while spewing big, attention-getting lies, was essential to his initial success at realizing his revolting dreams.
If the Democrats don't get on a war footing soon and if the less evil 2 of the 6 right-wing and/or corrupt SCOTUS judges fail to see the danger in Trump (a known liar and imbecile) deferring to Musk (arguably an evil genius), then this will degenerate into war one way or another with possible consequences greatly exceeding WW2 (given how many of the world's nukes are still on standby).
I am also astounded at how rarely the MSM is permitting the expression "coup d'etat" to appear in news articles or even reader comments. Not one headline even in the NYT as far as I know.
Hey Gary, never too late to turn over a new leaf, even for people who have never done a selfless thing in their lives. But I would be disappointed to not see them rotting in a prison cell, maybe the one west of Pueblo and south of Canon City, CO.
David, methinks you may not be recognizing the many threats Republicans face if they do not stay in line, not just threats of being primaried by candidates (like J D Vance) backed by various Republican billionaire donors (e.g.- Musk, Thiele, Koch Bros, etc), but actual physical threats by tRump’s goons to themselves or their families and children and relatives. tRump is basically a mobster bent on revenge for the many hurts he imagines himself having suffered.
John, it is never easy to admit error, but it is the first step on the long -- even dangerous -- road to doing the right thing.
Liz Cheney stuck her neck out, as did Adam Kinzinger. I am not aware that either is in hiding.
It is one thing to to be a corrupt, racist, misogynist, xenophobic, gun-loving, planet-hating sleaze-ball politician, quite another to acquiesce in the destruction of our defective yet still-barely-functioning democracy and the US Constitution all Senators and Representatives have sworn to uphold.
The situation is serious and our responses to it need to be serious. There is nowhere to hide. Personal courage is a requirement for public office these days.
This is a reason not to raise the debt ceiling. I suspect their plan is to steal the money from the Treasury and bankrupt the country. Either outright stealing or losing it when the US buys crypto.
See my suggestion that I made about cutting out the middleman, the US Government & depositing our taxes directly into the bank accounts of billionaires! It's grotesque sarcasm at its worst but I think it gets the point across.
I have exchanged emails with Senator King many times during the past 12 years. He always responds, many times the correspondence is not a form letter either.
Almost all of the Senators I have emailed or written to, have responded, but mostly with form letters.
The other two that also respond with seemingly personal responses are Don Bacon (R-NE) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL). I often disagreed with their responses but at least they took the time.
Susan Collins used to respond, but I think I pissed her off. Plus, I know what she would say anyway. Once in a while she will still send me a form letter.
Several years ago, my wife and I were waiting for our flight to board at the Portland, ME airport. Our first leg was to DC. Also waiting were both of the ME Senators-- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Neither one of them sat down, both of them pacing the waiting area and neither one acknowledged the other with even an eye glance. No idea why they wouldn't talk to each other. Additionally neither of them had any obvious security which was not uncommon. I wonder if that's still the case.
Gary, how times have changed. So much. Remember when sensible people voted for the person, not the party?
As Mainers, back in the day, we Democrats voted for Collins and Snowe because they were reasonable and had the interests of Mainers at heart. We were sad to see Snowe depart. But being a senator (or judge) shouldn't be a life sentence.
We retired, left Maine to be near family. That was before Collins took the turn to the dark side. Before she trusted asswipes to become Extreme Court Justices and now...backing a tool of Putin.
I believe that at one time, those two senators worked together for the good of the people. But I suspect that now....Olympia wouldn't want to be in the same room with the traitor Collins has become.
Thank you for that link. This was one of the most moving speeches but obviously there were dead brains in the Senate because it appears no Republicans listened, heard, and understood what he was saying.
I believe that DJT mentioned during his Catatonic Presser with the Japanese Prime Minister today, that the DoD is next for Elon's Pirate Wrecking Crew... Let's see how that goes... That will be the Canary in the Coal Mine...
Bonny, I agree!! As i was reading Heather's letter and the message that Sen. King was delivering to the Reublicans in congress, I thought, "Surely, they will not vote to confirm a man who has promised to rip the constitution to shreds right before our eyes." Then I read the sentence that said they DID, despite listening to all the truths that Sen. King tried to remind them of. They are as despicable as Trump,Musk,and Vought.😝
I think the “real ID. “ will be required. It replaces your drivers license. It get it you need your original social security card, original birth certificate and a bill with your current address on it. So, good luck, if you’ve had any incidence in your life that caused you to lose any of these things b
I am so glad that most folks who get married nowadays keep their “original” name…back in ‘67 when, three days after my 18th birthday, I got married, it was traditional to take the husband’s name….and my original, somewhat unusual, name used to be teased about a lot in grade/high school….so switching was OK by me. HOWEVER, some 20 years later (having separated after 7 years…tho’ remaining “family” all the following years) I was about to get married again, so we finally divorced….by this time I DIDN’T want to change my name, but thought it would be really really rude to keep my ex’s name (lol…should have in retrospect!), so went ahead and adopted my new hubby’s name. Well well well…after nearly a decade that union, too, bit the dust & I had an opportunity to, via the divorce proceedings, to alter my last name w/o cost—kinda baked into the process. Yeah, what a pain in the ass it is to do…by then I had a more complicated economic life and changing up ALL my accounts/contacts/etc., was overwhelming so I let it slide, even tho the name no longer “meant” anything to me…could have as easily been “hey you!”. Forward a number of years to try to get a “real ID” and OMG the hoops and documentation for each and every name change that did not match my birth certificate was a teeth-grinding ordeal. Most men have NO clue how this impacts so many women. I am heartened to see most of my nieces keeping their original names…yay on them! That this now, along with all the other hassles associated, impacting potential voter ID laws is beyond galling. Yet another societal/cultural inequality being manifest. Just the paperwork hassle is reason enough to keep one’s original name!!!! [can you tell it still pisses me off?!😡]
I initially tried the double-barreled route - using both my last name and my husband's -- a total source of confusion -- come places had me by one name and some by the other. In my late 40s, when I was about to graduate from Law School - I wanted my original name on my diploma -- it was a tedious and expensive process getting my name back -- I had to file with the court - publish in various papers AND even get my husband's 'permission'! But I'm so glad I did -- it's the name that fits me.
An engineer at the aerospace company I worked at did the opposite, taking his wife's last name. I'd rather see partner names if both are to be used. Perhaps chosen or professional name if just one (as the Screen Actor's Guild, and Popes seems to do).
P.S. It always bugged me that I could never find Dot Tucker's history for lack of knowing her maiden name. She was the first woman that really impressed me as someone who could do unusual things better than so many men I had been impressed by. She had been a WASP pilot as I found out when I met her as an 11 year old fan of all things about military aircraft. I couldn't name a WWII military aircraft that she hadn't flown, and imagined her as one of the already licensed pilots that knew more than the military trainers that initially judged her skills.
Barbara, You have adduced many of the reasons I have preached to women residents I taught in medical school to keep their maiden names, especially if they are the names on their professional degrees (MD, PhD, etc) so they DON’T have to go through the ordeals you experienced. While my wife took my name, both of my daughters have kept their birth names despite my never having discussed the issue with them. I think it has become increasingly clear that if we truly believe in equal rights, it only makes sense to keep your own name despite some hassles which may arise with picking up one’s own kids from school!
Unfortunately that’s incorrect. I’ve researched all day. 100% the text says it does NOT allow a REAL ID for proof of citizenship. It’s written in a tricky way re REAL ID. Also the text doesn’t mention names at all, or if people need to re-register, as registration needs to be done in person with documents proving US citizenship. There’s no information on hyphenated names or maiden names being now one’s legal middle name. And who knows if they will change the bill or when it would be passed (26 co sponsors I think, all R - for the Senate. House already passed.) IE. will there be time (or the departments) to change one’s legal name & passport.
In the State of Florida, when you get a driver’s license, you need to prove who you are by showing a certified copy of your birth certificate. And if you are a woman who took her husband’s name when she married, you will need to show a certified copy of your marriage certificate, and if you were divorced and remarried, you need to show a certified copy of your divorce and a certified copy of your second marriage.
You provided yet another reason that I believe women who get married shouldn't take their husband's name. She can divorce and remarry as often as she likes and not be bothered with the paper trail required to vote, like any man. Just a simple birth certificate is needed. It's all a bunch of hooey.
Of course in the case of those who are VERY old, such as my dad, and have no access to a birth certificate (his was destroyed in a fire...and no one living who can testify to his birth) they are out of luck. May have served in WWII but still can't prove their citizenship with the approved documents. As I said, t's a bunch of hooey, but here we are.
Perhaps we should challenge every registered Republican woman, though I would prefer prevention of things like what should be penalties for interfering with the right of any legitimate voter equal to the fines and jail time for any actual fraudulent voter. As I wrote to relatives in Georgia:
Something is Rotten in Georgia. We went to Greg Palast's premier of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" back in 2016 to see the shenanigans Kris Kobach (Kansas Sec of State) and Brian Kemp (then Georgia Sec of State) were pulling with the infamous Cross Check lists Kobach produced. Vigilantes Inc. is much more sophisticated in purging voters enmasse. So far it looks like at least 300,000 out of half a million challenged by the 40,000 or so "Vigilantes" recruited by "True the Vote."
To see how they stole the 2024 election, see a few glaring cases such as Georgia's Pamela Reardon challenged 32,379 voters and Alter Russell challenged 4,000 or so including Major Gamaliel Turner, who Palast brought to meet the challenger in person. To me, Reardon and Russel should be subject to the same $10,000 fine and jail time any real illegal voter would face, and at least sued for the same amount by every legitimate voter they prevented from voting. Actually they should sue the state, too since they made the laws that let people suppress other's rights.
I'd like to sue them, too for giving us a phoney winner if a real investigation shows their cheating really did produce the popular vote loss, and even the electoral loss.
[I should note I suspect the 2024 election was stolen, but the 32,379 challenged votes were for the 2020 election, they used slightly different suppression techniques for 2024]
Often, when counties send letters to challenged voters, no one appears at a hearing to defend their eligibility. But in the Savannah suburb of Bryan County on Oct. 10, a room full of angry voters applauded as the county board dismissed challenges because the person who filed them didn’t appear for a hearing.
“I’m frustrated with this entire process, that we all had to be here today,” Michael Smith said at the hearing. “I’m frustrated that our state passed a poorly thought-out law that required and allowed somebody to do this to all of us...”
To me that indicates some reforms were made (the person who filed the challenges didn't appear at the hearing), so we should see what else they were doing to suppress votes.
Make people like Pamela Reardon appear at hearings with the voters she challenged back in 2020 that tried to vote but were denied effectively enough to not have their vote accepted and counted. Let them sue her or have her pay the fines an illegal voter would be subjected to for each and every one that could prove they should have been eligible, tried to vote, and could have if not for her unfounded challenge.
My spouse just went through this in Florida. Pissed off is to put it lightly. She is 74 and just needed her drivers license renewed. It became a career.
I turned 80 on January first this year, so had to renew my license. Pissed doesn’t begin to describe it. I got my first driver’s license here in Florida at the age of 14, a restricted/learner’s license. Also needed two proofs that my home where I have lived for 29 years is a valid address for me.
Welcome to Florida, where DeSantis has been implementing P2025 for years. Now his wife is talking about running for Governor when he’s termed out.
Florida had voted in 2018 that felons could vote after they had completed the terms of their conviction (with some exceptions). After that passed with 64.55% of the vote, DeSantis & the Republican legislature said that any fines also had to be paid prior to having their rights restored. However, they are unable to tell former felons a definite dollar amount which might be due. Some amounts are so large that a person would have to win the lottery to be able to vote again. That was not the intent of passing that amendment, but Republicans are afraid that this would increase the vote for the Democrats.
Another beef of mine, Florida is one of the few states to not expand Medicaid. Make Florida sick again. Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege.
I’m in Florida and had to obtain my Real ID several years ago. Fortunately I had all my paperwork including original birth certificate and amended birth certificate.
International adoptees have even greater challenges and risk deportation.
My passport expires this year and I’m in the process of getting my legal name changed back to my maiden name, even though I’m still married and have no plans to divorce my husband.
Yes Terry, it was all written down. It has been in clear sight for years. Everybody had heard of Project 2025..... and they also said it in words, and the voters of the USA chose it.
So it is happening, just as they said.
South American immigrants voted for it and women voted for it.
Nineteen Eighty Four should have been titled Twenty twenty five.
George Orwell got the title wrong. (and he didn't predict the ball point pen btw.)
Loads of people in the USA do not have birth certificates. Also, as observed by Mary Lou Clark, even folk with accessible birth certificates no longer bear the same name. This doesn’t only apply to married women. It denies suffrage. It disenfranchises 100s of millions of people. It does this deliberately and with a perverse and frankly sickening intent.
The entire document is rife with hypocrisy and falsehood.
Time for women to step up and tell the men we have been taking their surnames for a long time now. Men and children should start taking the women's names! Only fair.
But what hooey! The name of the game is unfettered power, so elections will be shot through with fraud, if there are any (remember, “you won’t have to vote again.”) Gotta keep resisting! And supporting the resisters.
Yes, well stated. But it did NO good. What is the matter with the R's? It is way beyond me to understand. Can the rule of law hold? Can the courts function? It certainly didn't work out that way in Trump's impeachment - McConnell was wrong.
What I don't understand is how members of Congress can be so worried about being primaried, given that if they continue to hand over power at this astounding rate, there won't BE any mid-terms. There will be no more elections for many years to come. What jobs do they think they'll be saving by bowing down this fast?
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
“Every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, guardian and Coast Guardsman, each of us commits our very life to protect and defend that document, regardless of personal price,” Milley continued. “And we are not easily intimidated.” Gen. Mark Milley
If we ask that kind of dedication to the idea of America from the military, what is reasonable to expect of those trusted to make, judge and carry out our laws??? And from ourselves?
They take an oath to the Constitution, too. I think even Donald was afraid he would burst into flames if he put his hand on a Bible and lied through his teeth (again) this Jan. 20.
The difference between US servicemen and women and Republican politicians is the willingness to serve their country - not to mention do a hard day’s work.
Actually I like it & brought a smile to my face just reading it…a lost opportunity to be sure, a “what could have been” & perhaps a wish for the future, even if not in that exact configuration.
You need to leave this group and go into a Trump anti American group. Your comments are off the wall and not appreciated. Btw, this reply is directed to Rick Sender.
Republicans aren't worried. They are all in on the plans to turn America into a Christian sharia autocracy. They are looking forward to never having to worry about elections again, having a lock on their seat for eternity.
Thank you , Heather, for keeping up with the roller-coaster news of the rolling coup. I'm astonished that the House Republicans are so willing to transfer their power to appropriate funds to Musk and his goons. What a horrible, shameful abdication of responsibility to their constituents, the government, and the US Constitution.
It’s not what USA does. It’s what they do but they shouldn’t be doing that they can go back to doing the right thing. Instead of wasting money. Hopefully at the end of the rainbow everybody here will wake up and realize we’ve just saved a couple trillion dollars.
You can get as creative as you want in your colorful descriptions here, Mr. Sender.........It's still clear who and what you are: an apologist for those selling out the United States of America.
You know what Eli here’s a crack up for you. There are many people who post and post and post and post for days who know each other very well who commiserate with each other all the time and not until I observe for a month or so, and came on and became an active participant here that I ever see the word troll. It’s only when somebody has a difference of opinion and wants someone here to see both sides of the story that someone becomes a troll. I hope you’re never in a courtroom and you’re not allowed to have a defense.
The problem Rick isn’t a “difference of opinion”, it’s a refusal or inability to accept facts. Republicans are particularly susceptible to this in recent decades as they put power above safeguarding democracy - which is the purpose for which Congress established USAID. People don’t read anymore, so opinions have become uninformed. Believe what you like, but it doesn’t make your opinion well informed or accurate. I’m sure though that sharing your ‘gut’ opinion makes you feel better. Have a nice day.
Laura, this follower of the conman, was over on Robert Reich's Substack...he left. You can just imagine him with his gold watch and tennis shoes, red MAGA hat, flags waving and his Chinese (America First) Oompa Loompa Bible under his arm. These followers, like him, can't deny that this orange man, is a SALESMAN that continues to sell his followers a line of s**t along with the merch that never stops flowing. Don-old and his wife are always selling crypto or clothing or some new thing to fleece their followers...their base. It's sad to hear how taken in they are...but there it is. Just ignore this sad case. He will no doubt respond to this...no big deal. He's just messed up that's all, he drank the kool aid.
I’m messed up? Wow. You guys desperately need a mirror and a lot of self introspection. You just lost massively and you haven’t even imagined why and every day you continue to lose more even though America is gaining despite your useless protestations.
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did exactly what Trump is doing right now and trying to reduce the deficit and reductions and force, etc. in fact if you take Trump‘s mouth or Trump‘s voice and place them over the images of Obama and Clinton while they speak, it’s exactly the words that those two were speaking but just because it’s Trump You lash out in hate you fools
As I said earlier at the end of the rainbow, this country’s gonna save a couple trillion dollars and gonna be able to serve Americans much better like the people that just lost everything in California or North Carolina
Now they’re looking at Social Security and seeing we’ve paid 70,000 odd people who’ve been dead for years and we’re still paying them millions of dollars and that’s just tip of the iceberg so you keep going cooling like you know what the hell you’re talking about and stop the hate.
Because that’s all you become are just haters
Ignore me at your own will I have no problem with it at all?
Here’s one more little Diddy when they try to blame Trump for stuff that has nothing to do with Trump
The bird flu outbreak is the deadliest in U.S. history ...In April 2024, some hens began dying of bird flu after testing positive for the H5N1 virus. 50 milllion
And this is only a beginning, Dave. They found out that during Obama’s administration 63000 people were already dead and still getting checks and the deaths had already been reported. So you just keep living in denial and that’s fine with the rest of us.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
Here’s a couple articles on CBS’s lawsuit by Trump for distortion of news and election interference.
"Perhaps most egregiously, the segment made almost no mention of Hamas’ actions that started this war, placing Palestinian civilians in Gaza in harm’s way for years by embedding weapons and other terrorist infrastructure in civilian areas," the Jewish advocacy group added.
"The segment only briefly referred to Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023, described their fighters as "militants" rather than terrorists, and even went so far as to elevate the outlandish notion that, following Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israel should have sought to make peace with Hamas terrorists rather than act in self-defense."
Apparently 40,000 federal employees have reportedly accepted a resignation. How is it saving out taxpayer money to pay them for 8 months of work that they are not doing? and paying a loyal trumpet who replaces them to do the same job? That is not efficient nor saving any money. Of course Musk thinks you can just remove essential services like medical staff, fire scientists, meteorologists etc with no negative impact…. because he is actually an arrogant narcissist that doesn’t bother to learn about how our government actually works. The goal is NOT efficiency. It is loyalty without merit.
Yeah, but who says that the offer to pay them will be honored? You-know-who is known for stiffing folks he owes money to…what recourse would they have to demand compensation? If they will gut the good works of USAID/FBI/CIA, etc, you’d almost have to be looney to believe anything they “promised”!!!!
They don’t give a whit about efficiency. They just want power. It’s just a scam as are all the lies. And people just lap it up. What a bunch of idiots buy chump’s nonsense. MAGAts line up to worship the golden calf that is pure fools gold. All the puppeteers pulling the strings know what he is but are orgasmic as they use his flamethrower to “own the libs.” What evil we have to fight. These are not political differences, they are deliberately evil.
Any money that gets spent on things you don't agree with comes from funds appropriated by Congress for a specific purpose. If Congress passes funding legislation for a given project that means it approves of it.
Just because you don't like how the government spends its money doesn't mean that any fraud has committed. You are certainly entitled, as an American citizen, to object to how those funds are allocated, but if you don't like where the money goes, talk to Congress.
It is absolutely illegal for any entity to seek to remove or reduce committed funds from the treasury system.
Well, they just started to touch Social Security and what do you think they found? What a surprise we’ve been paying thousands dead people. Four decades why don’t you go look? Tell lady Hemsworth below as well have her check it out hundreds of millions of dollars paid by Social Security to dead people and people that didn’t deserve the money. It was paid by mistake for decades. There’s your pot of gold lady and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to suffer in your ignorance it’s a self-inflicted wound.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
The SSA sent roughly 7,000 federal employees disability benefits in 2008 while they were still taking wages from federal jobs, according to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO estimated that about 1,500 of those individuals "may have improperly received benefits" since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO investigation also found that over 71,000 "stimulus checks" were sent by the Obama administration to people who were deceased, including 63,481 people whose deaths had been previously reported to the agency.
By the way, illegal immigration is that it’s lowest level in the last 20 years. And now illegals have the chance to leave the country before they have to suffer, living the rest of their lives in a El Salvadoran prison with the worst MS 13 convicts. Not bad for only 17 days in office.
The GAO estimated that about 1,500 of those individuals "may have improperly received benefits" since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO investigation also found that over 71,000 "stimulus checks" were sent by the Obama administration to people who were deceased, including 63,481 people whose deaths had been previously reported to the agency.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023." SSN tip of the ie]iceberg.
Thank you for reporting King's heroic attempt to appeal to Republican morality and sanity. Maybe the one-two punch strategy of that passionate patriotism and Yippie-reminiscent trolling like Pritzker's is the way to go.
“[W]e're experiencing in real time exactly what the framers most feared. When you clear away the smoke, clear away the DOGE, the executive orders, foreign policy pronouncements, more fundamentally what's happening is the shredding of the constitutional structure itself. And we have a profound responsibility…to stop it.” Senator Angus King (I - Maine)
Was there any doubt? We couldn't stop Pete Hegseth who is a known spousal abuser and misogynist. And the Rs have a SIX vote margin in the Senate so beating them requires FOUR R votes to side with us, assuming no D goes the other way. It's a terribly difficult margin to overcome. We will be lucky if even one of the REALLY bad nominees (RFKjr, Gabbard or Pay we l) loses. I wouldn't hold my breath.
Agree. Gabbard surprises me—we can't find four Republicans to vote against her—that says something, but we should remember Gaetz was rejected. Even in Gaetz's case, we got what is even worse in Bondi. We need to keep our enemies close. I would rather nominate Rick Sender than put forward another Huckabee Sanders.
Not holding my breath because Project 2025 is in the house or OMB as the case may be.
I always appreciate you, Jon. Time to chop and carry. Best to you.
Tim
Speaking of which, I think it might be time to delete digital footprints. Are you going to do that? Asking for a friend.
I agree but it may be forced to go underground for a few years. As is often said, it will get darker in this tunnel at least for a while, before the light returns.
I’m not quite sure why, but with all that was so important and disturbing (and moving) in your column, the thing that most broke my heart was the dismantling of the beautiful tradition of the Kennedy Center and its defiling by the piss of this abomination of a human. There is such extraordinary pettiness in this, like raping someone’s lovely wife while the family watches. He defocates on everything beautiful. It’s his aphrodisiac.
That Republicans can ignore King is frightening. Phone calls are good. I’ve made mine and will continue. I fear that we are on the verge of a civil war or a military coup. I did something today I never thought I would. I bought a gun. I don’t know what good it will do, but, at 82, I do not plan to go gently into the good night.
No chance. First of all who will follow them? A military coup takes LOTS of peeps especially in a country with a standing military of almost 2 million. The chances of getting even 10% of those forces to follow Austin and Milley is pretty close to zip. And failure of such a coup would lead to serious jail time, possibly even execution. Keep in mind that any attempt like that is a SERIOUS violation of federal law no matter how Trump has abased the law.
There is no legal ground for such a coup. And one thing all coups know is that the ONLY way to survive is to win. Which in this country with the kind of military we have (the largest on earth) is highly unlikely.
It may sound like a wonderful fantasy but that is what it is, a fantasy.
Not only a fantasy, but a dangerous statement to attribute to a social media presence. @Virginia - I hope that isn't your real name (Tim is not my assigned name at birth btw) and anyone who liked that comment, have sense. Our freedoms are fleeting when we can't even walk into public buildings.
Tim
This message brought to you by the knights who say ni.
I do not see any difference now between Putin invading Ukraine and Trump/Musk invading America. I would be buying a gun too. Hopefully Milley and co are strategising as we speak.
Oh c'mon Kazz, there is a HUGE difference. Putin invaded an independent sovereign nation. Trump can't "invade" America, he is is President (like it or not). It is HIS country so he doesn't HAVE to "invade" it as Putin needed to do to try to win back the Ukraine.
And trust me Milley isn't strategising anything. He will go public and argue for different outcomes but he is no fool. He knows a military action against the US is doomed to fail.
Right now we need to enter a 2 year holding strategy, try to lose a little as possible and then wage a serious election campaign in 2026 to win back the Congress. That is, I believe, the ONLY viable option.
And hope that enough peeps who voted for Trump in 2024 are affected enough to realize what a moronic decision they made.
“[W]e're experiencing in real time exactly what the framers most feared. When you clear away the smoke, clear away the DOGE, the executive orders, foreign policy pronouncements, more fundamentally what's happening is the shredding of the constitutional structure itself. And we have a profound responsibility…to stop it.”
At least he said it. May it be amplified. Told and retold, in a roar.
Public ridicule by prominent figures -- there's a technique that ought to get some regular play. I bet it'd significantly accelerate the rate of rash stupidity and unforced errors from the notoriously thin-skinned and insecure orange criminal, with a full meltdown and attendant bungling and blundering.
Keep calling! It’s working! Leave messages. Do not go quietly into the good night of authoritarianism. It takes just a few minutes to contact your representatives using http://www.5calls.org Do it NOW!
I am quite sure there is system in place tracking same numbers calling repeatedly. So unless everyone calls once these stats are skewed and they are likely already aware.
Senator King's statement is nice, but apparently, the person wasn't filabustered. Why don't the Democrats put a hold on all confirmations? Why don't they have they have the Journal of the Senate read each day? Why don't they deny unanimous consent on every action? Why don't they require every bill be read in its entirety three times? There are things the Senate Democrats can do besides talk, and they don't seem to be doing them.
There is only so much that can be done, and the Democrats aren't doing them. Use the Senate rules and require bills to be read three times. Why don't they put a hold on all confirmations? There are actions that require unanimous consent--exercise it.
Exactly. They refused to vote on Garland. They obstruct when they are in power. They destroy when they are in power. They enrich themselves no matter what at the expense of the health and well being of millions. Filibuster to save democracy!
Guys. The filibuster is no longer available for cabinet confirmations or Supreme Court nominees. It was removed from Senate rules by Republicans under McConnell, so there's now a limit to the amount of time a senator can hold the floor.
What the Dems are doing now is refusing to yield a single minute of their allotted floor time. This does keep them talking much longer than they normally would - hence the overnight speeches this week - but they aren't allowed to go on forever like they could in a real filibuster. Unfortunately that is their biggest wrench in the toolbag at the moment, and it can only do so much.
The GOP was in power when the Garland nomination was under consideration. That how McConnell kept him off the court. We (Dems) are NOT in power now. It's a BIG difference. And as noted elsewhere, filibusters are no longer available for confirmations.
“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. For this reason, that convention which passed the ordinance of government, laid its foundation on this basis, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments should be separate and distinct, so that no person should exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time. BUT NO BARRIER WAS PROVIDED BETWEEN THESE SEVERAL POWERS. The judiciary and the executive members were left dependent on the legislative for their subsistence in office, and some of them for their continuance in it. If, therefore, the legislature assumes executive and judiciary powers, no opposition is likely to be made; nor, if made, can be effectual; because in that case they may put their proceedings into the form of acts of Assembly, which will render them obligatory on the other branches. They have accordingly, in many instances, decided rights which should have been left to judiciary controversy, and the direction of the executive, during the whole time of their session, is becoming habitual and familiar.”
Well, well, well. Let's make these demonstrations just the start. Just the warm up before the game. This is going to take coordinated effort over years. But we can do it.
And be prepared to go even further. Hate to say it but this is war.
Be warned - legacy media will not give much credence to our efforts.
Instead of the Washington Post subscribe to The Guardian.
Contribute to The American Prospect.
Join Blue Sky.
Share information to a Facebook group.
Donate what you can afford. Five Dollars here and five dollars there matters.
***If you can possibly handle it, join the demonstrations. And share photos.
Thank you Dr. Richardson. I hear concerns regarding the Project 2025, SAVE ACT and the possibility that it could become a vehicle restricting women's voting rights? Appears it stipulates that only a birth certificate or a US passport will be considered acceptable for voting ID. For women who have legally taken their husband's last name a birth certificate will not be a match with current legal name. Not all have a US passport. This could disenfranchise a large number of female voters if true. I would appreciate if you would investigate and discuss should these concerns be legitimate.
The utter abdication of the GOP of all their power and responsibilities is, to me, the most depressing part of this.
I have suspected that Elon Musk is in the treasury disemboweling USAID, medicare, medicaid, social security, the dept of Education right now as a scare tactic to get the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling because all of the fuddling around and cutting that he does, is not going to get them the kind of tax breaks that he wants himself and his fellow non-tax paying billionaires to have.
Angus King is not a Republican. Like Bernie, he's an Independent, who aligns with the Dems. Please do not confuse him with Susan Collins.
Pulling from his speech he said, '"The government of the United States is not a private company. It is (currently) fundamentally at odds with how this system is supposed to work.”
Having worked in the private sector for over 100 insurance companies and banks as well as dozens of other businesses, EVERY single company takes security of their employees, clients and data seriously. Even when all of the computers were air-gapped, security was stressed. Many large companies, outsource their credit card processing because they know these companies can secure their personal information better and they don't want the liability that comes with a data breach.
And every President and Congress has done the same thing -- until now.
It is shocking that NONE of the Fortune 1000 companies are speaking out against Trump and Musk. If they are, their voices are being drowned out by the corporate media. Oddly enough, it's Rupert Murdoch's WSJ that has been the most vocal opponent of Musk and Trump.
We need to keep calling and emailing our Senators and Congressmen.
Dr. Richardson is fortunate to be represented by Angus King. And I proudly shout, 'That's my Senator!" Sadly, our other Senator is Susan Collins.
Susan Collins is a Republican flunky who lip synced modest sentiments when she co-endorsed the right-wing Supremes who then demolished RvW, among other things.
Thanks for pointing that out. I have changed my comment.
Senator King took his Republican colleagues to task because of their willingness to overlook the Trump administration’s attack on the U.S. Constitution.
In this comment, I’m taking my scientific colleagues to task for our collective willingness to overlook our community's Trump-enabling disregard for science.
Right now—literally at this moment—that essential structural component of our social system is under a direct and consequential assault, not on a particular step in the scientific method, but on the essential foundation of the practice itself.
To the people reading who have a science degree, and who are criticizing Republican politicians while ignoring this message, then I consider that evidence in support of the idea that you are doing what they are doing.
Here’s what to do instead. Do what hundreds have done. Read my simple logic. And then do what only a handful of people have bothered to do. Challenge my simple logic with an open minded willingness to challenge your own implicit assumptions.
I apologize for going after scientists, but I consider you to be my community. We are no worse than other communities, but for the sake of democracy and freedom, let’s be better. Let’s stop being part of the collective chorus of “do as say and not as I do” messages.
Here’s the link to my fee-free newsletter that I hope a few of you will read: https://substack.com/home/post/p-156539511
Thank you James. I will share this link.
I live with a scientist and among scientists, none of whom support Trump or what is going on. It is shocking. I also know people who have been in clinical trials for cancer and are concerned that this has come to an end. When making things hard means killing people, then if people accept that they are missing the point of having a government.
I’m confused—where did the poster to whom you responded say King was a Republican? In any case, King’s speech was right on the money.
Angus King is not a Republican. He's an independent aligned with the Democrats, like Bernie Sanders.
By definition, Republicans -- with vanishingly rare exceptions -- lack courage and are without principles. They only have interests. They are waiting to divvy up the spoils with Musk when his coup d'etat has been consolidated and confirmed. I hope they appreciate the personal risk they will face sooner or later. As I recall Hitler took his own life rather than face the music.
Chump will never have the “courage” that Hitler had. His MAGAts will never see him as the problem without Ike. I hope I live long enough to see him wind up like Mussolini. As muskrat said, this is our chance, we’ll never have another one. So folks, it’s now or never. Time to see them for the reconstituted Nazis that they are proud to emulate. And, is there a democrat that can emulate Angus King…
Jaimie Raskin, a Rep. from MD.
Just to clarify--Jamie Raskin is a Democrat--a Representative--from Maryland. It is a bit misleading to describe him as simply a "Rep." He is much to smart and caring to ever fall into that other category.
As a DC native, I remember that there are still a few old-fashioned lampposts located here and there around town, pretty easy to throw a rope over, just tall enough that even Musk's nose won't touch the sidewalk.
On the other hand, he might just decide to skip out to Mars one of these days. If his rocket doesn't blow up again.
I would prefer to see him end up like Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (except not having Trump commutation of his 14-year prison sentence).
Sorry. I have changed my comment to reflect this new understanding. I misread.
Hitler took his entire nation on a Valhalla plunge, leaving millions dead in their wake.
Yes he did, Frank. I just hope Americans today are at least dimly aware of the dynamics of that failed experiment and how Europe's and our slow response to what was happening in Germany, despite Hitler's making no secret of his intentions while spewing big, attention-getting lies, was essential to his initial success at realizing his revolting dreams.
If the Democrats don't get on a war footing soon and if the less evil 2 of the 6 right-wing and/or corrupt SCOTUS judges fail to see the danger in Trump (a known liar and imbecile) deferring to Musk (arguably an evil genius), then this will degenerate into war one way or another with possible consequences greatly exceeding WW2 (given how many of the world's nukes are still on standby).
I am also astounded at how rarely the MSM is permitting the expression "coup d'etat" to appear in news articles or even reader comments. Not one headline even in the NYT as far as I know.
" As I recall Hitler took his own life rather than face the music."
I have to admit. I have fantasized about Trump and Musk doing the same thing David.
Hey Gary, never too late to turn over a new leaf, even for people who have never done a selfless thing in their lives. But I would be disappointed to not see them rotting in a prison cell, maybe the one west of Pueblo and south of Canon City, CO.
David, methinks you may not be recognizing the many threats Republicans face if they do not stay in line, not just threats of being primaried by candidates (like J D Vance) backed by various Republican billionaire donors (e.g.- Musk, Thiele, Koch Bros, etc), but actual physical threats by tRump’s goons to themselves or their families and children and relatives. tRump is basically a mobster bent on revenge for the many hurts he imagines himself having suffered.
John, it is never easy to admit error, but it is the first step on the long -- even dangerous -- road to doing the right thing.
Liz Cheney stuck her neck out, as did Adam Kinzinger. I am not aware that either is in hiding.
It is one thing to to be a corrupt, racist, misogynist, xenophobic, gun-loving, planet-hating sleaze-ball politician, quite another to acquiesce in the destruction of our defective yet still-barely-functioning democracy and the US Constitution all Senators and Representatives have sworn to uphold.
The situation is serious and our responses to it need to be serious. There is nowhere to hide. Personal courage is a requirement for public office these days.
Two inches either way at a Pennsylvania rally and we would have this problem.
This is a reason not to raise the debt ceiling. I suspect their plan is to steal the money from the Treasury and bankrupt the country. Either outright stealing or losing it when the US buys crypto.
See my suggestion that I made about cutting out the middleman, the US Government & depositing our taxes directly into the bank accounts of billionaires! It's grotesque sarcasm at its worst but I think it gets the point across.
Craven quislings, all. R.I.P. my erstwhile party. 🤢
https://youtu.be/2K-opkJsOEw 💡
Senator King's speech; he reminds me of my fave history teacher in prep school. ⚖️
I have exchanged emails with Senator King many times during the past 12 years. He always responds, many times the correspondence is not a form letter either.
Almost all of the Senators I have emailed or written to, have responded, but mostly with form letters.
The other two that also respond with seemingly personal responses are Don Bacon (R-NE) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL). I often disagreed with their responses but at least they took the time.
Susan Collins used to respond, but I think I pissed her off. Plus, I know what she would say anyway. Once in a while she will still send me a form letter.
Several years ago, my wife and I were waiting for our flight to board at the Portland, ME airport. Our first leg was to DC. Also waiting were both of the ME Senators-- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Neither one of them sat down, both of them pacing the waiting area and neither one acknowledged the other with even an eye glance. No idea why they wouldn't talk to each other. Additionally neither of them had any obvious security which was not uncommon. I wonder if that's still the case.
Gary, how times have changed. So much. Remember when sensible people voted for the person, not the party?
As Mainers, back in the day, we Democrats voted for Collins and Snowe because they were reasonable and had the interests of Mainers at heart. We were sad to see Snowe depart. But being a senator (or judge) shouldn't be a life sentence.
We retired, left Maine to be near family. That was before Collins took the turn to the dark side. Before she trusted asswipes to become Extreme Court Justices and now...backing a tool of Putin.
I believe that at one time, those two senators worked together for the good of the people. But I suspect that now....Olympia wouldn't want to be in the same room with the traitor Collins has become.
I bumped into Senator Glenn in airports a couple times. Just another passenger getting in line.
Thank you for that link. This was one of the most moving speeches but obviously there were dead brains in the Senate because it appears no Republicans listened, heard, and understood what he was saying.
The GOP just preens and gets a free lunch. Their heads should all be on pikes and displayed.
This all Game-Of-Thrones with a Mad-King...
We're trying to "Hold the Door" but I fear we are about to be trampled. Where is Jon Snow when you need him? Or for that matter, Jaime Lannister?
I believe that DJT mentioned during his Catatonic Presser with the Japanese Prime Minister today, that the DoD is next for Elon's Pirate Wrecking Crew... Let's see how that goes... That will be the Canary in the Coal Mine...
Well all be able to smell the gas as DigeBoys dig…
Bonny, I agree!! As i was reading Heather's letter and the message that Sen. King was delivering to the Reublicans in congress, I thought, "Surely, they will not vote to confirm a man who has promised to rip the constitution to shreds right before our eyes." Then I read the sentence that said they DID, despite listening to all the truths that Sen. King tried to remind them of. They are as despicable as Trump,Musk,and Vought.😝
Unbelievable!!
They seem not to grasp that release of private information will affect them and their family member too.
I think the “real ID. “ will be required. It replaces your drivers license. It get it you need your original social security card, original birth certificate and a bill with your current address on it. So, good luck, if you’ve had any incidence in your life that caused you to lose any of these things b
I am so glad that most folks who get married nowadays keep their “original” name…back in ‘67 when, three days after my 18th birthday, I got married, it was traditional to take the husband’s name….and my original, somewhat unusual, name used to be teased about a lot in grade/high school….so switching was OK by me. HOWEVER, some 20 years later (having separated after 7 years…tho’ remaining “family” all the following years) I was about to get married again, so we finally divorced….by this time I DIDN’T want to change my name, but thought it would be really really rude to keep my ex’s name (lol…should have in retrospect!), so went ahead and adopted my new hubby’s name. Well well well…after nearly a decade that union, too, bit the dust & I had an opportunity to, via the divorce proceedings, to alter my last name w/o cost—kinda baked into the process. Yeah, what a pain in the ass it is to do…by then I had a more complicated economic life and changing up ALL my accounts/contacts/etc., was overwhelming so I let it slide, even tho the name no longer “meant” anything to me…could have as easily been “hey you!”. Forward a number of years to try to get a “real ID” and OMG the hoops and documentation for each and every name change that did not match my birth certificate was a teeth-grinding ordeal. Most men have NO clue how this impacts so many women. I am heartened to see most of my nieces keeping their original names…yay on them! That this now, along with all the other hassles associated, impacting potential voter ID laws is beyond galling. Yet another societal/cultural inequality being manifest. Just the paperwork hassle is reason enough to keep one’s original name!!!! [can you tell it still pisses me off?!😡]
I initially tried the double-barreled route - using both my last name and my husband's -- a total source of confusion -- come places had me by one name and some by the other. In my late 40s, when I was about to graduate from Law School - I wanted my original name on my diploma -- it was a tedious and expensive process getting my name back -- I had to file with the court - publish in various papers AND even get my husband's 'permission'! But I'm so glad I did -- it's the name that fits me.
An engineer at the aerospace company I worked at did the opposite, taking his wife's last name. I'd rather see partner names if both are to be used. Perhaps chosen or professional name if just one (as the Screen Actor's Guild, and Popes seems to do).
P.S. It always bugged me that I could never find Dot Tucker's history for lack of knowing her maiden name. She was the first woman that really impressed me as someone who could do unusual things better than so many men I had been impressed by. She had been a WASP pilot as I found out when I met her as an 11 year old fan of all things about military aircraft. I couldn't name a WWII military aircraft that she hadn't flown, and imagined her as one of the already licensed pilots that knew more than the military trainers that initially judged her skills.
Barbara, You have adduced many of the reasons I have preached to women residents I taught in medical school to keep their maiden names, especially if they are the names on their professional degrees (MD, PhD, etc) so they DON’T have to go through the ordeals you experienced. While my wife took my name, both of my daughters have kept their birth names despite my never having discussed the issue with them. I think it has become increasingly clear that if we truly believe in equal rights, it only makes sense to keep your own name despite some hassles which may arise with picking up one’s own kids from school!
Real ID is insufficient for this. Also note that it prevents online registration and other people doing registration in the field.
Unfortunately that’s incorrect. I’ve researched all day. 100% the text says it does NOT allow a REAL ID for proof of citizenship. It’s written in a tricky way re REAL ID. Also the text doesn’t mention names at all, or if people need to re-register, as registration needs to be done in person with documents proving US citizenship. There’s no information on hyphenated names or maiden names being now one’s legal middle name. And who knows if they will change the bill or when it would be passed (26 co sponsors I think, all R - for the Senate. House already passed.) IE. will there be time (or the departments) to change one’s legal name & passport.
In the State of Florida, when you get a driver’s license, you need to prove who you are by showing a certified copy of your birth certificate. And if you are a woman who took her husband’s name when she married, you will need to show a certified copy of your marriage certificate, and if you were divorced and remarried, you need to show a certified copy of your divorce and a certified copy of your second marriage.
You provided yet another reason that I believe women who get married shouldn't take their husband's name. She can divorce and remarry as often as she likes and not be bothered with the paper trail required to vote, like any man. Just a simple birth certificate is needed. It's all a bunch of hooey.
Of course in the case of those who are VERY old, such as my dad, and have no access to a birth certificate (his was destroyed in a fire...and no one living who can testify to his birth) they are out of luck. May have served in WWII but still can't prove their citizenship with the approved documents. As I said, t's a bunch of hooey, but here we are.
Perhaps we should challenge every registered Republican woman, though I would prefer prevention of things like what should be penalties for interfering with the right of any legitimate voter equal to the fines and jail time for any actual fraudulent voter. As I wrote to relatives in Georgia:
Something is Rotten in Georgia. We went to Greg Palast's premier of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" back in 2016 to see the shenanigans Kris Kobach (Kansas Sec of State) and Brian Kemp (then Georgia Sec of State) were pulling with the infamous Cross Check lists Kobach produced. Vigilantes Inc. is much more sophisticated in purging voters enmasse. So far it looks like at least 300,000 out of half a million challenged by the 40,000 or so "Vigilantes" recruited by "True the Vote."
To see how they stole the 2024 election, see a few glaring cases such as Georgia's Pamela Reardon challenged 32,379 voters and Alter Russell challenged 4,000 or so including Major Gamaliel Turner, who Palast brought to meet the challenger in person. To me, Reardon and Russel should be subject to the same $10,000 fine and jail time any real illegal voter would face, and at least sued for the same amount by every legitimate voter they prevented from voting. Actually they should sue the state, too since they made the laws that let people suppress other's rights.
I'd like to sue them, too for giving us a phoney winner if a real investigation shows their cheating really did produce the popular vote loss, and even the electoral loss.
See https://www.watchvigilantesinc.com/
[I should note I suspect the 2024 election was stolen, but the 32,379 challenged votes were for the 2020 election, they used slightly different suppression techniques for 2024]
Actually, we should look at what they have done in the latest elections to make their underhanded tactics more effective than the 2020 election where Trump lost but down ticket Republicans perhaps won more than they would have without such suppression. See https://apnews.com/article/georgia-voter-challenges-2024-election-f817bc282ea44e008af74f6bf5793bd1
"...A room full of angry voters
Often, when counties send letters to challenged voters, no one appears at a hearing to defend their eligibility. But in the Savannah suburb of Bryan County on Oct. 10, a room full of angry voters applauded as the county board dismissed challenges because the person who filed them didn’t appear for a hearing.
“I’m frustrated with this entire process, that we all had to be here today,” Michael Smith said at the hearing. “I’m frustrated that our state passed a poorly thought-out law that required and allowed somebody to do this to all of us...”
To me that indicates some reforms were made (the person who filed the challenges didn't appear at the hearing), so we should see what else they were doing to suppress votes.
Make people like Pamela Reardon appear at hearings with the voters she challenged back in 2020 that tried to vote but were denied effectively enough to not have their vote accepted and counted. Let them sue her or have her pay the fines an illegal voter would be subjected to for each and every one that could prove they should have been eligible, tried to vote, and could have if not for her unfounded challenge.
My spouse just went through this in Florida. Pissed off is to put it lightly. She is 74 and just needed her drivers license renewed. It became a career.
It's another backdoor way to suppress your vote.
I turned 80 on January first this year, so had to renew my license. Pissed doesn’t begin to describe it. I got my first driver’s license here in Florida at the age of 14, a restricted/learner’s license. Also needed two proofs that my home where I have lived for 29 years is a valid address for me.
Welcome to Florida, where DeSantis has been implementing P2025 for years. Now his wife is talking about running for Governor when he’s termed out.
Florida had voted in 2018 that felons could vote after they had completed the terms of their conviction (with some exceptions). After that passed with 64.55% of the vote, DeSantis & the Republican legislature said that any fines also had to be paid prior to having their rights restored. However, they are unable to tell former felons a definite dollar amount which might be due. Some amounts are so large that a person would have to win the lottery to be able to vote again. That was not the intent of passing that amendment, but Republicans are afraid that this would increase the vote for the Democrats.
Another beef of mine, Florida is one of the few states to not expand Medicaid. Make Florida sick again. Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege.
Ouch!
I’m in Florida and had to obtain my Real ID several years ago. Fortunately I had all my paperwork including original birth certificate and amended birth certificate.
International adoptees have even greater challenges and risk deportation.
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/12/16/international-adoption-does-not-guarantee-adoptees-us-citizenship/6310358002/
VoteRiders is able to assist with obtaining an ID and services are free.
https://www.voteriders.org/
Absolutely spot on with this. Looks like an end run around the 19th Amendment.
My passport expires this year and I’m in the process of getting my legal name changed back to my maiden name, even though I’m still married and have no plans to divorce my husband.
This is not a mistake. The point of Project 25 is to install white men as the top of the hierarchy. Women will be eliminated from having power.
Yes Terry, it was all written down. It has been in clear sight for years. Everybody had heard of Project 2025..... and they also said it in words, and the voters of the USA chose it.
So it is happening, just as they said.
South American immigrants voted for it and women voted for it.
Nineteen Eighty Four should have been titled Twenty twenty five.
George Orwell got the title wrong. (and he didn't predict the ball point pen btw.)
So there you are, we got there in the end.
Democracy is given away.
Can someone please organize some massive demonstration?!!
Massive demonstrations ARE going on - in all 50 states. But the mainstream media is not reporting on them.
Mary Lou, thank you for bringing up female voters. John Gibbs (and how many of his fellow Republicans?) believes that women should not be voting because they are not logical enough. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/21/politics/john-gibbs-womens-suffrage-19th-amendment-kfile
Mary, time to trot out the following song that I’ve posted many times….a fitting one, I think, in response to Gibb’s assertions: Keb’ Mo’ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FciQeRGYFlw&pp=ygUza2ViIG1vIHB1dCBhIHdvbWFuIGluIGNoYXJnZSBzb25nIHdpdGggcm9zYW5uZSBjYXNo
What a freaking buffoon -- you would have thought this cave man logic would have withered and died away by now - but noooooooo.
OMG -- and it's the women primarily who have stood up for Democracy and the rule of law and called out Trump and his merry band of limp-dicks.
It is my understanding that this is in some states but not all.
Loads of people in the USA do not have birth certificates. Also, as observed by Mary Lou Clark, even folk with accessible birth certificates no longer bear the same name. This doesn’t only apply to married women. It denies suffrage. It disenfranchises 100s of millions of people. It does this deliberately and with a perverse and frankly sickening intent.
The entire document is rife with hypocrisy and falsehood.
What you have identified sounds like a feature, not a bug.
Time for women to step up and tell the men we have been taking their surnames for a long time now. Men and children should start taking the women's names! Only fair.
States determine voting rules. Red states cannot dictate to blue ones.
Women will be able to vote but courts may have to provide what has become the word of the year - “guardrails.”
Another reason to keep birth names when marrying.
But what hooey! The name of the game is unfettered power, so elections will be shot through with fraud, if there are any (remember, “you won’t have to vote again.”) Gotta keep resisting! And supporting the resisters.
Another reason to keep named when marrying.
Would a birth certificate with a marriage certificate work? Even if yes, it’s still an awful proposal
Another brilliant essay. And bless Angus King
Reminds me that there must be something bracing still in New England.
The Republic is a belief. Democracy is a belief. These things are spiritual. They will not die.
Yes, well stated. But it did NO good. What is the matter with the R's? It is way beyond me to understand. Can the rule of law hold? Can the courts function? It certainly didn't work out that way in Trump's impeachment - McConnell was wrong.
What I don't understand is how members of Congress can be so worried about being primaried, given that if they continue to hand over power at this astounding rate, there won't BE any mid-terms. There will be no more elections for many years to come. What jobs do they think they'll be saving by bowing down this fast?
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
“Every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, guardian and Coast Guardsman, each of us commits our very life to protect and defend that document, regardless of personal price,” Milley continued. “And we are not easily intimidated.” Gen. Mark Milley
If we ask that kind of dedication to the idea of America from the military, what is reasonable to expect of those trusted to make, judge and carry out our laws??? And from ourselves?
They take an oath to the Constitution, too. I think even Donald was afraid he would burst into flames if he put his hand on a Bible and lied through his teeth (again) this Jan. 20.
Recall that the flame burst out through his ear last time.
The difference between US servicemen and women and Republican politicians is the willingness to serve their country - not to mention do a hard day’s work.
Blinded by their insider trading profits, perhaps.
Wow, are you at the bad end of a losing ticket change your name ASAP
I'm actually planning to do that. It was obviously chosen in a more hopeful time.
Ignore this troll.
Actually I like it & brought a smile to my face just reading it…a lost opportunity to be sure, a “what could have been” & perhaps a wish for the future, even if not in that exact configuration.
Hey, look!! Rick has returned!! How ya doing, Rick? I thought you had written your last Comment!!??
You need to leave this group and go into a Trump anti American group. Your comments are off the wall and not appreciated. Btw, this reply is directed to Rick Sender.
Republicans aren't worried. They are all in on the plans to turn America into a Christian sharia autocracy. They are looking forward to never having to worry about elections again, having a lock on their seat for eternity.
Perhaps they fear being sent to a reeducation “camp”.
Thank you , Heather, for keeping up with the roller-coaster news of the rolling coup. I'm astonished that the House Republicans are so willing to transfer their power to appropriate funds to Musk and his goons. What a horrible, shameful abdication of responsibility to their constituents, the government, and the US Constitution.
For more about what USAID does, I recommend a story by Lucian Truscott IV in his Substack - it's all about cows and a USAID worker in Afghanistan. https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/why-should-we-care-about-usaid
A bull in a china shop needs no particular talent to wreak havoc.
What an excellent link, LaurieOregon—thank you for posting this.
It’s not what USA does. It’s what they do but they shouldn’t be doing that they can go back to doing the right thing. Instead of wasting money. Hopefully at the end of the rainbow everybody here will wake up and realize we’ve just saved a couple trillion dollars.
You can get as creative as you want in your colorful descriptions here, Mr. Sender.........It's still clear who and what you are: an apologist for those selling out the United States of America.
He's a well-known troll on this substack. Ignore him.
Report him
And just "collapse" him. It's easy and feels like I am cleaning up the page.
Yeah God forbid you hear another side of the story.
Or “scroll on by” sung to the Dion Warwick tune “Walk on By”…
You can spot his MAGAtism a mile away. Blocked.
You know what Eli here’s a crack up for you. There are many people who post and post and post and post for days who know each other very well who commiserate with each other all the time and not until I observe for a month or so, and came on and became an active participant here that I ever see the word troll. It’s only when somebody has a difference of opinion and wants someone here to see both sides of the story that someone becomes a troll. I hope you’re never in a courtroom and you’re not allowed to have a defense.
The problem Rick isn’t a “difference of opinion”, it’s a refusal or inability to accept facts. Republicans are particularly susceptible to this in recent decades as they put power above safeguarding democracy - which is the purpose for which Congress established USAID. People don’t read anymore, so opinions have become uninformed. Believe what you like, but it doesn’t make your opinion well informed or accurate. I’m sure though that sharing your ‘gut’ opinion makes you feel better. Have a nice day.
Laura, this follower of the conman, was over on Robert Reich's Substack...he left. You can just imagine him with his gold watch and tennis shoes, red MAGA hat, flags waving and his Chinese (America First) Oompa Loompa Bible under his arm. These followers, like him, can't deny that this orange man, is a SALESMAN that continues to sell his followers a line of s**t along with the merch that never stops flowing. Don-old and his wife are always selling crypto or clothing or some new thing to fleece their followers...their base. It's sad to hear how taken in they are...but there it is. Just ignore this sad case. He will no doubt respond to this...no big deal. He's just messed up that's all, he drank the kool aid.
I left because I don’t like to be involved with anti-Americans and socialist’s or worse communists who don’t believe in America.
I’m messed up? Wow. You guys desperately need a mirror and a lot of self introspection. You just lost massively and you haven’t even imagined why and every day you continue to lose more even though America is gaining despite your useless protestations.
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did exactly what Trump is doing right now and trying to reduce the deficit and reductions and force, etc. in fact if you take Trump‘s mouth or Trump‘s voice and place them over the images of Obama and Clinton while they speak, it’s exactly the words that those two were speaking but just because it’s Trump You lash out in hate you fools
As I said earlier at the end of the rainbow, this country’s gonna save a couple trillion dollars and gonna be able to serve Americans much better like the people that just lost everything in California or North Carolina
Now they’re looking at Social Security and seeing we’ve paid 70,000 odd people who’ve been dead for years and we’re still paying them millions of dollars and that’s just tip of the iceberg so you keep going cooling like you know what the hell you’re talking about and stop the hate.
Because that’s all you become are just haters
Ignore me at your own will I have no problem with it at all?
If you believe the money cut from the USAID is going to help average Americans, like the folks in NC or CA, you are very, very naive.
Here’s one more little Diddy when they try to blame Trump for stuff that has nothing to do with Trump
The bird flu outbreak is the deadliest in U.S. history ...In April 2024, some hens began dying of bird flu after testing positive for the H5N1 virus. 50 milllion
And this is only a beginning, Dave. They found out that during Obama’s administration 63000 people were already dead and still getting checks and the deaths had already been reported. So you just keep living in denial and that’s fine with the rest of us.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
Here’s a couple articles on CBS’s lawsuit by Trump for distortion of news and election interference.
"Perhaps most egregiously, the segment made almost no mention of Hamas’ actions that started this war, placing Palestinian civilians in Gaza in harm’s way for years by embedding weapons and other terrorist infrastructure in civilian areas," the Jewish advocacy group added.
"The segment only briefly referred to Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023, described their fighters as "militants" rather than terrorists, and even went so far as to elevate the outlandish notion that, following Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israel should have sought to make peace with Hamas terrorists rather than act in self-defense."
Apparently 40,000 federal employees have reportedly accepted a resignation. How is it saving out taxpayer money to pay them for 8 months of work that they are not doing? and paying a loyal trumpet who replaces them to do the same job? That is not efficient nor saving any money. Of course Musk thinks you can just remove essential services like medical staff, fire scientists, meteorologists etc with no negative impact…. because he is actually an arrogant narcissist that doesn’t bother to learn about how our government actually works. The goal is NOT efficiency. It is loyalty without merit.
Yeah, but who says that the offer to pay them will be honored? You-know-who is known for stiffing folks he owes money to…what recourse would they have to demand compensation? If they will gut the good works of USAID/FBI/CIA, etc, you’d almost have to be looney to believe anything they “promised”!!!!
You said it best, you’d have to be looney to believe anything they ”promised.” That’s what cults are
They don’t give a whit about efficiency. They just want power. It’s just a scam as are all the lies. And people just lap it up. What a bunch of idiots buy chump’s nonsense. MAGAts line up to worship the golden calf that is pure fools gold. All the puppeteers pulling the strings know what he is but are orgasmic as they use his flamethrower to “own the libs.” What evil we have to fight. These are not political differences, they are deliberately evil.
OK, then when they save a couple trillion dollars and find a couple trillion more you don’t get a dime OK
Any money that gets spent on things you don't agree with comes from funds appropriated by Congress for a specific purpose. If Congress passes funding legislation for a given project that means it approves of it.
Just because you don't like how the government spends its money doesn't mean that any fraud has committed. You are certainly entitled, as an American citizen, to object to how those funds are allocated, but if you don't like where the money goes, talk to Congress.
It is absolutely illegal for any entity to seek to remove or reduce committed funds from the treasury system.
Well, they just started to touch Social Security and what do you think they found? What a surprise we’ve been paying thousands dead people. Four decades why don’t you go look? Tell lady Hemsworth below as well have her check it out hundreds of millions of dollars paid by Social Security to dead people and people that didn’t deserve the money. It was paid by mistake for decades. There’s your pot of gold lady and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to suffer in your ignorance it’s a self-inflicted wound.
Troll
You mean the "pot of gold" at the "end of the rainbow"? I take it you believe in leprechauns, too.
How does that money saved help anyone? 🤔
Oh you’re one of those,eh?
Rick Sender = Russian disinformation. Ignore.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
“a non-profit research group”? Which one?
The SSA sent roughly 7,000 federal employees disability benefits in 2008 while they were still taking wages from federal jobs, according to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO estimated that about 1,500 of those individuals "may have improperly received benefits" since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO investigation also found that over 71,000 "stimulus checks" were sent by the Obama administration to people who were deceased, including 63,481 people whose deaths had been previously reported to the agency.
By the way, illegal immigration is that it’s lowest level in the last 20 years. And now illegals have the chance to leave the country before they have to suffer, living the rest of their lives in a El Salvadoran prison with the worst MS 13 convicts. Not bad for only 17 days in office.
I am a USAID whistleblower. I've got to admit, Musk is mostly right about agency's waste
It would be fair to say that USAID is a baby suffering in filthy bathwater that hasn’t been cleaned for decades
The GAO estimated that about 1,500 of those individuals "may have improperly received benefits" since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO investigation also found that over 71,000 "stimulus checks" were sent by the Obama administration to people who were deceased, including 63,481 people whose deaths had been previously reported to the agency.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023." SSN tip of the ie]iceberg.
Thank you for reporting King's heroic attempt to appeal to Republican morality and sanity. Maybe the one-two punch strategy of that passionate patriotism and Yippie-reminiscent trolling like Pritzker's is the way to go.
“[W]e're experiencing in real time exactly what the framers most feared. When you clear away the smoke, clear away the DOGE, the executive orders, foreign policy pronouncements, more fundamentally what's happening is the shredding of the constitutional structure itself. And we have a profound responsibility…to stop it.” Senator Angus King (I - Maine)
And yet, they confirmed Vought, and they do not stop, they continue.
He predicted this himself. I don't know what part our elected Democrats failed to read.
I don't think any elected Democrats failed to read it. The Rs are playing with a deck they've been stacking since the beginning of the country.
Was there any doubt? We couldn't stop Pete Hegseth who is a known spousal abuser and misogynist. And the Rs have a SIX vote margin in the Senate so beating them requires FOUR R votes to side with us, assuming no D goes the other way. It's a terribly difficult margin to overcome. We will be lucky if even one of the REALLY bad nominees (RFKjr, Gabbard or Pay we l) loses. I wouldn't hold my breath.
Jon,
Agree. Gabbard surprises me—we can't find four Republicans to vote against her—that says something, but we should remember Gaetz was rejected. Even in Gaetz's case, we got what is even worse in Bondi. We need to keep our enemies close. I would rather nominate Rick Sender than put forward another Huckabee Sanders.
Not holding my breath because Project 2025 is in the house or OMB as the case may be.
I always appreciate you, Jon. Time to chop and carry. Best to you.
Tim
Speaking of which, I think it might be time to delete digital footprints. Are you going to do that? Asking for a friend.
The democratic Republic of the United States is a spiritual belief. It will not die.
I love that, Alec. Will hold that thought and keep taking political action to back it up.
XA
I agree but it may be forced to go underground for a few years. As is often said, it will get darker in this tunnel at least for a while, before the light returns.
I’m not quite sure why, but with all that was so important and disturbing (and moving) in your column, the thing that most broke my heart was the dismantling of the beautiful tradition of the Kennedy Center and its defiling by the piss of this abomination of a human. There is such extraordinary pettiness in this, like raping someone’s lovely wife while the family watches. He defocates on everything beautiful. It’s his aphrodisiac.
It's some real Kim Jong Un shit, isn't it.
heartbreaking - your writing is poignant and beautiful
Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees for Lifetime Achievement in Dancing Against Democracy:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGNRaWizZ0l/?igsh=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==
Agree!!!!
That Republicans can ignore King is frightening. Phone calls are good. I’ve made mine and will continue. I fear that we are on the verge of a civil war or a military coup. I did something today I never thought I would. I bought a gun. I don’t know what good it will do, but, at 82, I do not plan to go gently into the good night.
A military coup led by Milley and Lloyd Austin May be the answer.
No chance. First of all who will follow them? A military coup takes LOTS of peeps especially in a country with a standing military of almost 2 million. The chances of getting even 10% of those forces to follow Austin and Milley is pretty close to zip. And failure of such a coup would lead to serious jail time, possibly even execution. Keep in mind that any attempt like that is a SERIOUS violation of federal law no matter how Trump has abased the law.
There is no legal ground for such a coup. And one thing all coups know is that the ONLY way to survive is to win. Which in this country with the kind of military we have (the largest on earth) is highly unlikely.
It may sound like a wonderful fantasy but that is what it is, a fantasy.
Jon,
Not only a fantasy, but a dangerous statement to attribute to a social media presence. @Virginia - I hope that isn't your real name (Tim is not my assigned name at birth btw) and anyone who liked that comment, have sense. Our freedoms are fleeting when we can't even walk into public buildings.
Tim
This message brought to you by the knights who say ni.
I do not see any difference now between Putin invading Ukraine and Trump/Musk invading America. I would be buying a gun too. Hopefully Milley and co are strategising as we speak.
Oh c'mon Kazz, there is a HUGE difference. Putin invaded an independent sovereign nation. Trump can't "invade" America, he is is President (like it or not). It is HIS country so he doesn't HAVE to "invade" it as Putin needed to do to try to win back the Ukraine.
And trust me Milley isn't strategising anything. He will go public and argue for different outcomes but he is no fool. He knows a military action against the US is doomed to fail.
Right now we need to enter a 2 year holding strategy, try to lose a little as possible and then wage a serious election campaign in 2026 to win back the Congress. That is, I believe, the ONLY viable option.
And hope that enough peeps who voted for Trump in 2024 are affected enough to realize what a moronic decision they made.
I am unfortunately not hopeful.
“[W]e're experiencing in real time exactly what the framers most feared. When you clear away the smoke, clear away the DOGE, the executive orders, foreign policy pronouncements, more fundamentally what's happening is the shredding of the constitutional structure itself. And we have a profound responsibility…to stop it.”
At least he said it. May it be amplified. Told and retold, in a roar.
Lake Illinois it is.
There is humor at the bottom of the ocean. Funny but not funny. Brilliant nonetheless.
Pritzker channels The Onion.
Public ridicule by prominent figures -- there's a technique that ought to get some regular play. I bet it'd significantly accelerate the rate of rash stupidity and unforced errors from the notoriously thin-skinned and insecure orange criminal, with a full meltdown and attendant bungling and blundering.
Keep calling! It’s working! Leave messages. Do not go quietly into the good night of authoritarianism. It takes just a few minutes to contact your representatives using http://www.5calls.org Do it NOW!
Love love love this app.
Super helpful.
"Good night of authoritarianism" ????
Thank you, I will!
Did it. Thank you. Announced it on bluesky.
Thank you Mr Welsh.
I am quite sure there is system in place tracking same numbers calling repeatedly. So unless everyone calls once these stats are skewed and they are likely already aware.
Senator King's statement is nice, but apparently, the person wasn't filabustered. Why don't the Democrats put a hold on all confirmations? Why don't they have they have the Journal of the Senate read each day? Why don't they deny unanimous consent on every action? Why don't they require every bill be read in its entirety three times? There are things the Senate Democrats can do besides talk, and they don't seem to be doing them.
Fillabuster these fascist.
Bullies aren't the solution. Bullies are "The Problem".
There's just so much you can do when you’re in the minority
There is only so much that can be done, and the Democrats aren't doing them. Use the Senate rules and require bills to be read three times. Why don't they put a hold on all confirmations? There are actions that require unanimous consent--exercise it.
Exactly. They refused to vote on Garland. They obstruct when they are in power. They destroy when they are in power. They enrich themselves no matter what at the expense of the health and well being of millions. Filibuster to save democracy!
Guys. The filibuster is no longer available for cabinet confirmations or Supreme Court nominees. It was removed from Senate rules by Republicans under McConnell, so there's now a limit to the amount of time a senator can hold the floor.
What the Dems are doing now is refusing to yield a single minute of their allotted floor time. This does keep them talking much longer than they normally would - hence the overnight speeches this week - but they aren't allowed to go on forever like they could in a real filibuster. Unfortunately that is their biggest wrench in the toolbag at the moment, and it can only do so much.
The GOP was in power when the Garland nomination was under consideration. That how McConnell kept him off the court. We (Dems) are NOT in power now. It's a BIG difference. And as noted elsewhere, filibusters are no longer available for confirmations.
But doing nothing is a statement implying acceptance. Which quickly reads as support for the actions /activity
I ity… etc.
“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. For this reason, that convention which passed the ordinance of government, laid its foundation on this basis, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments should be separate and distinct, so that no person should exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time. BUT NO BARRIER WAS PROVIDED BETWEEN THESE SEVERAL POWERS. The judiciary and the executive members were left dependent on the legislative for their subsistence in office, and some of them for their continuance in it. If, therefore, the legislature assumes executive and judiciary powers, no opposition is likely to be made; nor, if made, can be effectual; because in that case they may put their proceedings into the form of acts of Assembly, which will render them obligatory on the other branches. They have accordingly, in many instances, decided rights which should have been left to judiciary controversy, and the direction of the executive, during the whole time of their session, is becoming habitual and familiar.”
Thank you again, Heather. I would also urge folks to read Paul Krugman’s piece today titled, Autogolpe (self coup).
Well, well, well. Let's make these demonstrations just the start. Just the warm up before the game. This is going to take coordinated effort over years. But we can do it.
And be prepared to go even further. Hate to say it but this is war.
Be warned - legacy media will not give much credence to our efforts.
Instead of the Washington Post subscribe to The Guardian.
Contribute to The American Prospect.
Join Blue Sky.
Share information to a Facebook group.
Donate what you can afford. Five Dollars here and five dollars there matters.
***If you can possibly handle it, join the demonstrations. And share photos.
SPREAD THE WORD.
The American Prospect -- https://prospect.org
Blue Sky. -- https://bsky.app
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Democracy Docket. -- https://www.democracydocket.com
Pro Publica. -- https://www.propublica.org
Brennan Center. -- https://www.brennancenter.org
Vaya con Dios
The Contrarian...
"I’ve also instructed my team to work diligently to prepare for an important announcement next week regarding the Mississippi River. "
Blessed are those who put things in perspective.
One thing I can say in seeing the many senators speaking up recently, my eye is on Chris Murphy. I think he has what it takes to be President.
Thanks wow his speech says it all!!! Thanks for sharing it😀🙏