Yesterday the National Institutes of Health under the Trump administration announced a new policy that will dramatically change the way the United States funds medical research.
Sometimes it just hits me, Heather, how much of your big heart you put behind that brilliant mind of yours when you write your letters. Tonight I simply want to thank you for the compassion and humanity which undergirds all that you do. Just sayin'........
We have been saying it is important to tell the stories. Trump won because he told a story that had a receptive audience. Now it is time that we tell our stories. These stories put a face to the people losing their jobs and are gold. Heather is so great at telling the stories we need to hear.
Trump won because Silicon Valley Oligarchs have banded together with emerging cyber weapons called Facebook news feed, Instagram, X, and Google. They matched new Surveillance Capitalism with dopamine releasing social stimuli with the tricks of casino gambling and insatiable physical need for ‘more’ akin to a nicotine addiction from big tobacco. They have mined your data, refined it, and it’s worth more than gold.
Your data is your identify, and AI can now predict your behavior based on your psychological profile. Once your profile is known, they target your private news feed with personally curated content, attacking the most vulnerable first, the persuadable 33%, in the key districts of the swing states. Big Tech has a psychological profile on every American. And AI is learning more about you every time you view a screen, click a like, share, comment.
There is a reason the EU has billion dollar lawsuits to combat these monopolies. In Europe it is illegal to use cyber weapons on their people. It is why they shut down Robert Mercer’s ( a guy who knows algorithms) Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge’s holding company, SCL is a military contractor that trains intel officers from all over the world including our CIA. Their mission? To learn how to destabilize countries to provide political and economic advantage at scale. We are not just talking about algorithms, these are new military grade cyber weapons, and they have been deployed on EVERY AMERICAN.
Everyone is so outraged about their data being stolen out of the treasury, but for the last several years, we Americans have been surrendering our privacy without consent or knowledge of how they are using ( manipulating) us. Big tech has a treasure trove of psychological profile data on every signed American. And they have leveraged it, seeking to control us, even politically. Our free will is at risk. And majority don’t even know how or care why.
“ your phone is not listening to you”
It’s a mistake to think that your phone is listening. what is happening Is that ALL your data points across every platform have been consolidated, over the years, and allow them to make very precise predictions on your behavior in every aspect of your life. It is not just consumerism. The AI algorithms got stronger over the last several years to know you and predict your desires, fears, and your triggers to action. They know you better than you know yourself. And because this data is so valuable, these companies global capitalization dwarfs the entire oil industry. That is some serious power.
Donald Trump has licensed himself and his Maga Movement to Silicon Valley Oligarchs. The really sad thing is maga doesn’t know they’re being conned and the rest of the public is unaware of what’s really happening to their data. Big Tech is the new big tobacco times 10000. Big Tech is slowly brainwashing a whole society into docile consumer slaves.
We desperately need to regulate big tech like Europe, where much of what big tech does and takes is illegal. This is why Trump is threatening NATO and support for Ukraine. he’ll use whatever leverage he can to help those who not just put him in power, but who financed his trash meme coin into 30+ billion.
I’m not sure how we ever get ahead of this, but everyone should read ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ by Dr. Shoshana Zuboff. Or ‘Zucked’ by Roger McNamee.
Watch the Netflix documentary: The Great Hack
Read Carrol Cadwaldar, journalist @ The Guardian
Watch Carroll’s TED Talk message to Silicon Valley Execs:
Oligarchs have accumulated so much money that they are no longer constrained by pleasing customers. Note how Musk has knowingly hurt Xitter and Tesla sales.
Thank you brilliant Heather & all awake responders on this site. Where I presently live there are multiple institutions
ie MBL, Oceanographic, Woods Hole Climate & Research Center, and the Woodwell Climate Research Center. More. We’re accustomed to seeing Nobel prize winning scientists walking around …. I don’t need to say how important each of these are to all of us, to the world. Somehow the dumb maggots assume they’re immune to diseases such as cancer, to global temp rising, to more destructive storm & fires, to another rampaging virus there’s no effective treatment for. All the $$$ in the world will not shield them, if that’s any consolation!
Yes, Tom deserves the credit for this. It’s the name for the social media site Muskrat destroyed. Tom, my apologies for failing to properly credit you with coining the apt name for Muskrat’s social media cesspool.
Musk is not a ‘normal’ person…he may be good on machine manipulation but he does not understand human nature. Notice how he’s always expressing gaiety or laughter; he may be partly autistic even
I don’t think Musk is on the spectrum, but I do think he and Trump are both malignant narcissists and sociopaths. They are qualities you definitely don’t want people in power. I think the malignant narcissism Trump and Musk both have has the potential to cause a major clash and rupture their relationship. Trump might well think Musk is taking attention off Trump, and Trump believes he and not Musk should be the center of attention.
The real reason why Musk wants to attack and destroy USAID is because USAID personnel were investigating whether Musk had turned off Ukraine’s access to his Starlink internet system at various times to give an advantage to Russia. I think Musk has a far too cozy relationship with Russia and China, and it is why he can’t even get a security clearance from the U.S. government to be able to view the secured portions of his SpaceX systems. Musk’s constant drug use is another reason why he can’t get a security clearance. What galls me is that Trump allowed him to illegally access data that required security clearance, and Musk and Trump are going to perform an unconstitutional end run around Congress’s power of the purse. Musk is not a government employee, and he doesn’t have a right to access our confidential personal information without a security clearance he can’t get. Musk should start benefiting himself by quitting the Special K. It’s adversely affecting his view of reality.
Musk and Bezos have shown it was a big mistake to privatize space exploration. Space exploration should be a government endeavor and NASA needs to take it back.
I think Musk is after every last dollar that is in the US treasury and in the pockets of ordinary American citizens. He's going to bleed the US dry, all for his dream of going to Mars - just for his narcissistic ego to show his heroes that he CAN do it, and will even go BEYOND what they have done. This clip explains everything about his obsession: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MoACklnnxk&pp=ygUVZWxvbiBtdXNrIGJ1enogYWxkcmlu
Kathy, I’ve heard that Musk is definitely on the autism spectrum. Many people who have that trait are considered brilliant in their chosen field of focus. In his case, a deadly focus without any ability for compassion.
No more exploding ships over the atmosphere that causes ATC to scrambling to keep airborne aircrafts SAFE Not a thought of the RISKS from the explosions .....just "that was a pretty explosion "
Yes Musk is on the spectrum. This is known. It used to be called Asperger's, but now that has changed with the DSM5. He is absolutely on the spectrum. A genius at scamming people. That is his genius.
Hello—please stop it with the ableist hatred against people on the autism spectrum. If Musk is on the spectrum, that is as irrelevant as Trump’s weight.
Karen, I would suggest that it is, in fact, quite pertinent and NOT “hating against people on the autism spectrum” when considering the notion that Musk may be somewhat gifted in sustaining attention to what many might consider boring, repetitive or highly technical tasks as when he posted he’d spent the weekend with the Treasury computers instead of partying.
People on the spectrum are often geniuses and valued in many areas, but should not be given a position that requires a keen understanding of people. We all saw his behavior regarding the Thai children trapped in the cave...
Autistic or not, autism does not make one immune from being a total a**hole, and that is what Musk is. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he claims to be autistic to gain some sympathy to cover up his utter and total ruthlessness. Remember, this guy is so rich, he can pay en entire to team to create an image or persona for him.
I think we have to consider that he is Hitler on steroids. We have to consider that his goal is not to eradicate a specific race, but to take over, with Thiel et al. We have to consider that it is not working for companies to have to pay liveable wages and health care. They need slaves. We have to consider what the larger picture could be. We may have to take this government down.
Christine.., you and Kathy Hughes are both very kind and polite IMHO. Meaning, your attempts to describe two (people) in medically or more aptly Politically Correct, terms du jour. But, allow me to suggest how they might have been referred to had they visited the dancehall in Purgatory Maine in 1963. Autistic was not used out in the country.., "foolish" was. As in "he's foolish" or "are you foolish". A nice way of recognizing a person whose behavior was rather "odd". Retard, was often used as well. As in, "he's a friggen retard". Or, "are you retarded?.., right along with "moron", or simply "are you stupid".., clearly meaning, in todays language, 'autistic'. Village-idiot, being another. Back then the expression "wicked" was also used to embellish the words (terms) I mentioned. I should add, however, the expression "Wicked", seems to have been hi-jacked by flat-landers and others "from away" (i.e., not from Maine) over the past few years. I'm "from away" and therefore these things I mentioned are just my observations.., coming from NJ, hahahhsaahaa.., I hear ya. So, to close this blurbb off, I'd like to refer to the two Bro's as "casualties" who clearly FELL out of the womb, striking their heads on the bedpan. Geriatric folks, educated or whatnot, understand all those psyhcho-clinico terms (narcissist, etc), but the younger generation, e.g., the ones paying attention, are quite content with "moron" or f-ing morons. And, neither of em have any business running this country. Period.
BYD has better electric cars than Tesla. Longer range, more than 59% less. Their Chinese factories are nearly 100% automated. They are the largest exporter of electric cars to the world. The US has 100% tariffs in BYD, Europe 50%. Elon wants Tesla to implode. Layoffs. Then he can automate his factories too and make twice the profit. Maybe?
Ted I happened upon a YouTube video by self proclaimed financial genius who talked about the information you wrote above. He was making some sense till he got to the part where he said "President Trump" knows this and is smart about yada, yada, yada. I stopped the video right there. However, the guy was right about BYD and the 100% tariff keeping them out of the US market. Most Americans have never heard of the company which dominates the world's EV market. I'm curious how BYD came to your attention and your thoughts on the US effectively blocking a superior product that the rest of the planet has access to.
(Duck down... Vague Dana this way comes. I know stuff, but most of the details have left the building. Sorry.)
I was reading about water crises in Mexico, which leapt to an article about the immense (Yokohama) tire plant to open there in 2027, which leapt to a piece on Tariffs and the incredible ping-pong shell game of "component car parts" across our border each day -- with the completed assembly finally being driven back into the USA. "Now much-improved, high-quality Chinese-made EVs..." sticks in my recall. Not sure if BYD was mentioned.
I DO recall some (years ago) inquiry about "South Dakota car license plates being all over Mexico... What gives?" The gist of it was that -- at that time -- SD's vehicle registration process then allowed it to be so, and, as The Fonz said: "A loophole is a loophole." When I read that (still living in Alaska), my old state trooper mind wondered just how in the f*ck could that be anybody's governing policy(?). Now, we are happily new SD residents, and I had no harrumphs about complying with their current, thorough and strict policies. County does the reg./plates, and state issues drivers license. I DID take issue (but understood) when the very polite, courteous man at SD DMV apologized that they refused to accept my Veterans Administration-issued ID card as proof of my veteran status for the license.
Anyway, perhaps my free-fall research method pinged on a useful rabbit-hole for the BYD thing.
NYT article about the global EV market. Follow business and investment stories on Warren Buffet investing strategy. Bill gates on energy investment. Buffet is a huge invested in BYD, global battery supply chain. Bill Gates in Terra Power, next gen nuclear to charge all those electric cars and power the tech industry innovations.
J L, If the billionaires and the evangelicals (as HCR calls them) adhered to the Bible relating to money and specifically tithing, we could reduce the Federal income tax rate, sales tax rate and property taxes. If I'm a billionaire and I only rake in 5% ROI each year, that's $50 million, And there's many of them (like Musk, Bezos, the Waltons, Buffett) that are worth $100 billion or more.
Isn't tithing one of the core commandments of the Bible since money is mentioned over 800 times?
Of course, it's impossible to make these heartless greedy bastards feel shame, including the evangelicals, but let's give it a go.
She also tells us how the Charismatic Christian sector of CN called New Apostolic Reformation have different End-of-Days beliefs from the other versions of CN.
Trump Establishes Task Force to Enforce Christian Nationalism
What Happened: Trump signed an executive order creating a task force to eliminate "anti-Christian bias," framing it as a defense of religious freedom. The move mirrors Russia’s state-backed Orthodox nationalism, where the government weaponizes religion to consolidate power and suppress dissent.
Why It Matters: This is a clear step toward state-enforced Christian nationalism, using federal power to privilege one religion while marginalizing others. Like Putin’s use of the Russian Orthodox Church to justify authoritarian control, Trump is leveraging Christianity to undermine secular governance and erode the separation of church and state.
True. The Russian Orthodox Church was always under state control when the tsars ruled Russia. Peter the Great's father Aleksei Mikhailovich abolished the patriarchate after clashing with Patriarch Nikon, who introduced reforms in Russian Orthodoxy that put the Russian Orthodox practice more in line with Greek Orthodoxy. The Old Believers resisted these reforms and stuck with traditional practices in an effort to resist state encroachment. Aleksei Mikhailovich created the Holy Synod as a state body led by a layman. The head of the Holy Synod would confer with senior church officials about appointing bishops, archbishops, and other church officials.
Putin’s Russian Orthodox Church is largely populated by senior church officials who were KGB informants during the Soviet era.
HCR calls them evangelicals and so I switched my verbiage.
I am wondering about attacking the oligarchs and the white Christian Nationalists for 1) not tithing as the Bible instructs them to do at least 42 times, 2) attack them oligarchs for blocking raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Many states are very close, but 20 of them aren't. 3) attack Musk for withholding Federal funds for everything.
Might you copy and paste some of that stuff Linda ? That stuff fascinates me. It seems they ( Watkins ) has the basket of 'pay only' restriction over her 'candles.' It's a luxury I have to afford to participate here.
Wicked good, Gary. Make sure Paula White-Cain, gets her share. Build those crystal cathedrals. Fatten those pigs up for the judgement day. In the meantime, we've got to deal with the bubble that just burst. FEMA isn't going to help with this one.
Yes; As I recall a proper tithe is "one tenth portion" of that which is in one's 'storehouse' ". *Words to that effect. I grew up with southern Baptist.
I traded my Tesla in yesterday. Every car dealer we went to said the market is flooded with used Teslas that people just want to get rid of because Musk can’t be trusted. It was bad enough when we heard his unprofessional staff was passing around photos the cameras took and making jokes about them. Now, I’m not sure the prepubescent bully wouldn’t turn mine off because he doesn’t like something I said, or my political affiliation. I did not give up a great EV, it had it’s share of stupid problems.
A million here a million there. How do we dispense with this So. African clown? We are a drunk nation. And, if we keep weaving back and forth across the center-line, giving this one the finger and that one the finger, China is going to have enough of it. When they park their submarines five miles off NYC, WaDC, SFO and inform us to pull-over, we'll see how the bullet hits the bone. That'll be "retribution". Who we gonna call.., ghostbusters? Yeah, driving while blind.
And don't miss that endless wealth can be used to control politicians in the same way Trump's masses do: by threatening to mega-fund a Senator's or Representative's opponent. Musk directly threatened this early in his Presidential term (sic).
Because, unfortunately, way too many in Congress prefer not having to find a real job to doing the People's business, these threats work.
And now that the ultra-rich have seen it, it won't be the last of it.
There are a number of factors in Trump's win. Silicon Valley is one of them.
The stupidity of legacy media is another.
The Democratic Party Old Guard "leadership" is another. In my opinion the failed leadership is the main factor. We desperately need to move aside the Old Guard.
The stupidity of the average American is shocking. They have become more ignorant about the reality and variety of human experience. Being connected to machines all their waking hours has taken their toll. Watching entertainment presented as news is heartbreaking. I have only listened to Public Radio since the 1970s.
I recently recommended public television news to someone and they said they didn’t watch it because “it’s too Liberal”. How does the reporting of events happening all over the world become ‘too Liberal” ?
Christine, I don’t know what else you may have said in your comment, but I - with no hesitation - wholeheartedly agree with your first sentence “[t]he stupidity of the average American is shocking”!
Now that I’ve read further, “too liberal” - sounds like that is someone who has a serious problem of discerning fact from fiction.
Yes stupidity of the voters is shocking, but it is not stupidity that is driving the avg. MAGA, it is plain selfishness. They are content with their jobs and homes. They are not forgotten, they want to be left alone. It is not the price of eggs, eggs are still increasing in value but it has no influence on their support. They do not recognize or have no interest in the ills of our society. Homelessness, low minimum wage, high student debt, inferior education, discrimination ... not their problem. They overcame difficulties why can't the others. My repub. neighbors, and I have been good friends with them, are big strong men, go to church, raise children, have dogs,. But they have little interest in the lives of those less fortunate than they are. That selfishness extends to other countries. Gutting USAID may save 1-2% of our budget, big deal. So they team up with the billionaires, most of whom do not really care about the lives of ordinary people. Less government, less regulations, less protections.
We have a 2 party system. Support Democrats, old guard or not, or we are stuck with MAGA. We can complain and rage about their choices but until we give them something else to vote for they choose Trump. Please for all our sakes praise and support the good things Democrats do.
Just think, not long ago we were jubilant at the prospect of the gop failing and some new party forming out their ashes from aligning with tfg, now the cfg. The democrats are crumbling it would seem under the onslaught of vast monied interests in the gop coalition; They've captured the money and the cultural conversations - admittedly, falsely. They stirred up the cultural issues and effectively weaponized cultural debates where none actually existed concerning nat'l policy. Or did those cultural policy issues exist in Nat'l policy ?
Legacy media is irrelevant to the majority of voters. It’s the curated propaganda being spoon fwd daily, on demand. Increased screen time ( phone) accelerates the conversion, and/or the apathy ( non voters). Outage and fake/sensationalism has. More than a 17x advantage. Framed this way… there’s no way legacy media can compete, the can’t move the needle anymore. It’s a different game.
Ted, thank you so much for your explanation of how our data has been captured and used against our Democracy. I have no idea how we alleviate this situation, but I do realize that what writing now will be used to further enhance AI and help refine my commercial digital profile. Additionally, there is no profile icon I can click on to even have access to this profile let alone edit it.
Linda, that is priceless. Heather makes so many great points today.
Pulled quote --
"Yesterday, Tim Carpenter of the Kansas Reflector reported that Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) is concerned about the Trump administration’s freeze on food distributions through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID buys about $2 billion in U.S. agricultural products a year, and farmers are already struggling with rising costs, low prices, and concern with tariffs."
Farm products, all kinds of research, weapons that we send to Ukraine and give to other countries, medicines, etc., aid to schools, SNAP benefits, etc.
These all add to the GDP and especially, the red states. Patriot missiles are built in Alabama, our military equipment contains parts from all 50 states. Food is grown everywhere in the US and even oil and gas are purchased for our military.
What Trump, Musk and the Republicans are doing is fucking over everyone, so the Oligarchs can get a tax cut.
Totally, drop META. Drop X. Drop Google.drop Amazon. That might as important as our collective physical presence protesting. What would happen if the majority of Americans dropped Facebook google and Amazon and Twitter on the same day? Hmmm…
So far, I like that Bluesky shows me what I want to see, the people and groups that I am following, rather than a bunch of filler ads, invitations, etc. I'm going to miss some of my groups on Facebook, but 1) I often don't see their posts and 2) as more users go to Bluesky, I would assume more groups will develop.
You pointed out the real problem: the unhinged bat-shit crazy orange buffoon has weapons of mass destruction at his disposal. Yes, the nukes, but even worse: social media. Muskolini is on his team, the Zucc has kow-towed to the Orange Emperor, and Putin happily plays his symphony on destruction on these new instruments. I always said that Facebook et al are a cancer that will destroy society. Damn, I hate to be right...
Wow, thanks Ted. I have long suspected what you write about. But I didn't realize the extent of the problem! Cripes! No wonder Trump didn't even have to try. We are doomed of we don't address this.
Well, since I couldn’t find a way to respond to your question about punctuation let me clear that up for you
L O LOL O L. When you can’t find rational reason, you look at scapegoats like spelling First of all, I’m not publishing. second of all I voice text everything and could frankly give a shit about the spelling or the Grammar syntax punctuation etc. It’s all about content not form. I’m not writing my thesis for college here and I believe based on everything I see here that most of the people here are pretty well educated and so I’m sure Chris you figured out exactly what I meant and therefore I made my point. Content over form….CONTENT.
And ON the second thing. This is what really cracks me up you don’t end of sentence with a preposition, so check your own work. Lmfao
Well, I didn’t say the word so you’ll have to ask him. However, what he’s trying to say is he loves everyone despite everyone’s protestations to the contrary that he was racist, xenophobic, misogynist, antisemitic, etc. which are all obviously lies
And by the way, there are too many educated DERELICTS in this country and many of them are happy to be housed right here in front of my eyes IMO HOPEFULLY YOU’RE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE TERM EDUCATED DERELICT.
When I graduated, I was absolutely flabbergasted at some of the majors that some of my good friends were taking such as “I got my degree in horticulture in Saudi Arabian studies” as an example Or many of them went for psychology degrees and then went to work at Walmart or prepubescent kinesiology. So they could be a phys Ed teacher in an elementary school.
And finally, I don’t hold this thought as all encompassing however, there is a saying that has its roots in veracity If you can do…..Do. But if you can’t do ….teach.
Much obliged for your stack of heavy-hitting synopses, sources and cites to fact-check them. Heather’s morning touch of credibility arrives on just such a tall column of reality check-list references… pretty important for my fleeting retention and blurred grasp.
The AI data knows exactly who to target it appeals to the public's basest instincts and it is always a winning strategy. This election was decided by stoking voters' fears and resentments. Many were manipulated into believing in an onslaught of criminal immigrants, while others were driven by their deep-seated opposition to transgender issues. These manufactured fears dictated how people voted—or kept them from voting at all.
Ted - thank you for this well thought out and informative post.
We americans learned our phone was listening when for example, years ago a group of friends were in an Airbnb and one said they were out of some product and within a day most received adds on this devices for said product ( example paper towels) it seemed funny. They joked about "they' are listening to everything we say - and thought the only problem is the way corporations will use this to steer us to products to buy. We, Americans are consumers of stuff after all and easily manipulated - just ask the old Madison Ave. We are a capitalist society, as such only considered the threat to our pocketbooks from the information these devices gathered from our data.
Speaking for myself, I never considered that these tech companies would form almost nation states outside the normal boundaries of what is considered a 'state'. These tech titans became so vastly rich and control so much of our data, that their end goal is no longer to sell us some crap - they want to rule the entire world like mad villains in SciFi movie or comic book
When Musk purchased Twitter - the ultimate evil emperor it now appears - it seemed like, at least to me, he just wanted to control information - stop critics of his companies, it did not occur to me that he wanted to take over the USA. He seems to be achieving this. The republicans think they are pitted against liberals and democrats, when in point of fact they do will be vanquished by the techies who want to run the country and other nations. They want to control people.
Trump is a figure head at this point. Vought and Musk give him 'suggestions' while feeding his ego and his pockets as they dismantle the country's institutions hoping to fill the void with their ideals.
When they have succeeded , if they succeed - then the battle will be between Musk and Vought - Musk wins this one
We are surrounded by people who no longer believe in demcoracy of any kind. It is up to us to build a barrier and to man the ramparts and repel this attack on all we hold dear. Or we will be living in the equivalent of The Matrix
The ‘I think my phone is listening’ happens to everyone. That’s the point you know tech has a pretty strong psychological profile” stolen from your data matrix. That realization should mirror and increase in your uncontrolled spending. Check your receipts! The increased spending online mirrors more doom scrolling. More addictive than nicotine or gambling.
@It’s the dopamine stupid”, as Bill Clinton would say!
Well you called Trump converting twitter/ X into an evil empire. Let me see if I can help you with math. Before he purchased it the participation rate by party was as follows 71% Democrat 30% republican and the rest was scattered
Now it sits at 49% democrat 48% Republican. And what is happening is that the Democrats that used to be in the majority have now showed their cowardice and moved to blue sky where they don’t have to hear an alternative opinion.
It’s very similar to channels like this one right now where I would guess based on being here six or eight weeks or so it’s about 95% liberal Democrats and therefore you don’t ever hear both sides of an argument you don’t ever hear both sides of the story. You only hear the prosecution and you never hear the defense nor do you care to hear the defense.
And it’s a free country and it’s your prerogative to do so, but you really need to look in a mirror and evaluate what I’ve said here
You don’t ever wanna be a defendant with a jury like the people here who think you’re guilty and don’t even care to hear the opposing argument and send it right to the jury or even worse right to the corrupt judge, as in many of the cases placed against Donald Trump which are now gone by the way
Truly dystopian. How do we get the repubs who care about nothing but power and money to actually work for the people and not for themselves and the billionaires?
Hey Terry, have you ever looked at the income tax statuses of who pays the majority of income tax in this country? There are more liberal billionaires than there are conservative, billionaires. And I don’t need to provide you a list. You already know their names. How ignorant to think that Republicans don’t care.
I’m guessing you don’t know many Republicans Eye on the other hand have been an independent for 40 years one of my favorite presidents Bill Clinton who buy most moral standards of people who think that Donald Trump is of low moral standards Here he should have been adespise despicable human being, but his results showed otherwise.
I have Shoshana Zuboff’s book and need to read it. Facebook was monetizing our data without our being aware of it, and despite the various statutes in place that are supposed to protect privacy, we are in the Wild West when it comes to data protection. Our data winds up for sale on the dark web, and it’s likely that the data Musk and his gang of hackers have collected will wind up ther and will wind up in the hands of Russia and China. Putin has a policy of protecting people who engage in hacking and computer fraud as long as they target Westerners. China actively seeks to gather as much data as it can, particularly DNA and other genetic data.
Thank you, Peter, Linda and of course, HCR. You are right, what the American people need to hear and see are the faces and voices for our civil servants, hear their stories, witness their humanity and willing sacrifice in the service of this country and their fellow citizens.
We owe them our gratitude, enough of this negative BS that Trump and Musk are pushing on us. It's just noise.
We need to keep our eye on what is important. They are dismantling the government so that it will not longer function. When Elon and his minions are finished, Trump will turn on him like all the others who did his dirty work. The master manipulator.
I don’t think they really care. To make Rep Congresdcritters hear us, they have to see us protesting now. Everyday. Everywhere. That’s how far down the slope democracy has slid.
I've been calling Fetterman's offices (DC and district offices), writing via his website, and sent a letter via US Mail the other day. I'm not his constituent so why should he care, one could say. The deeply disturbing part is that I, likely in the company of many in this community, was dedicated to his campaign. Deeply disturbing.
Here's my story: I've had 21 jobs in my life. That includes 9 years in the eighties and nineties as a civilian employee of the US Navy. In all my years of working all those jobs, the most dedicated, hard-working, trustworthy, reliable, capable, and patriotic people I had the pleasure to work with were my fellow employees (both civilian and enlisted) at the US Navy. I am proud to have had the honor of working with all of them.
But here's what Republicans do. We received orders from Congress every single year to write up our own job descriptions so they could replace everyone at that facility with a private contract. They wanted to contract out our jobs to private companies. And here's the rub: the employees at a private company may be just as dedicated and hard-working, but they work for the company, not the United States. Their loyalty and dedication are to the company. They are answerable to the company, not the United States. That makes a big difference.
I would have stayed in that job until retirement, but the Republicans in Congress shut down the research facility I worked in because that's what Republicans do. Shut down the research, shut down development, shut down the government, shut down National Security, shut down service to the people of the United States.Make sure the only people served by the government are the wealthy, who care nothing about the United States except taking advantage of the lax corporate tax laws.
Government workers are hard-working Americans, just like you. When they stumble at doing the best job possible, it's a guarantee that Congress has failed to appropriate sufficient funds for them to do so. That person at the Social Security desk who isn't answering the phone when you call is probably swamped with phone calls because they can't hire enough people to deal with the volume.
Republicans want to replace all the dedicated public servants with lackeys who are loyal only to Trump and their corporate bosses. We can't let that happen.
The felon rapist won bc people are filled with hate for women, Black and Brown people and LGBTQ folks and everyone different from them. But he especially won bc men are not succeeding in this world, it changed and they refuse to. They want the world of 1950 or better yet 1850 - where white men with no intelligence or virtue could dominate just bc of what was between their legs...
This truth will not likely ever see the light. But it’s comforting only in that it confirms that less of my fellow voters voted to overthrow the Gov’t and end Civil Rights. In their determination to demonstrate a peaceful transfer of power, the Biden admin ignored red flags about this election. Concerned people were compared to MAGA even by dems and told to sit down and shut up. Too late now.
Thank you for this video. It confirms everything I've felt about this election since the night it was (very quickly) called. The problems here are myriad. The MAGA folks were kind of brilliant (even though they were lying through their teeth) in calling the 2020 election rigged because it made it harder for us to do the same. I feel like a conspiracy theorist even though I know that just because they cried wolf doesn't mean there isn't one now. And it makes it even more difficult for people to get on this bandwagon even though (to my eyes) it's pretty obvious it was stolen. Even Trump says so.
Getting anyone to do anything about this is an uphill battle but we must. Because - and this is key - if true, we're in danger of never having a fair election again. We're running around trying to get people to vote while they're going to win with just a few keystrokes (or however it was done). In other words, we're focusing on the wrong things.
The scale of this is new but the election insecurity isn't. Look back at the "wins" of Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, and Lindsey Graham in 2018. There were problems. And the race between Beto and Ted Cruz in 2018 actually had news stories about the voting machine vote switching that occurred in that incredibly close race.
We also know that voter suppression played a key role in this election as well. We have our work cut out for us for sure.
You and I know that, but the people who chose to vote for him and even some who did not vote for him believed them or did not care that they were lies, because they liked the stories.
My 23-year old nephew did not like either party, but voted for Harris. He believed a lot of stories that Trump told, like the immigration one, even though it was so fantastical, and that told me he is getting his info from social media. What can you do with that? Now that Trump and Musk are acting up, he is just cynical seeing all politicians as crooks, which tells me he could soon be joining the 93 mil eligible who did not vote. Of course, I am keeping the dialogue open. Don't want to lose him to either dark side.
My 21 yr old son felt the same as your nephew Linda, and though he voted "correctly", he was inundated with text messages all day long for months by the dark side. He never donated to anyone but as a young, male college student he was the targeted demographic and somehow- how? they had his telephone #. I fear he too may join the 93 mil after the big "turn off' as he said, of his first presidential election experience.
I hope you are able to have conversations with him. I am in Europe most of the time, and with us having lost his mother, I feel even more greatly how important it is that I keep talking with my nephew. Mostly we talk about what is going on with his life, but politics some. I try to be open to what he is thinking so I can learn from it. I am trying to figure out what social media he has, or what influencers he might be listening to, but he somehow avoids telling me. This election was a big turn off for many of us. Do the dems have to lie and create drama to compete?
You know if it’s a dear sir story with the invisible accordion, it’s going to be a real whopper. Trump lies compulsively without shame or regret (sociopaths lack the ability to feel either of these emotions,) but people continue to buy his bs with the backing of Faux News and similar outlets.
Joseph Grymkoswski job sharing maritime intelligence to mariners in danger of being swallowed by a terrible storm is similar to HCR's Letters from an American sharing with all of us her clear picture and line of action and what to expect to guide us in the middle of a nightmarish reality hard to comprehend otherwise .
Linda, it pains me to say this, but you told your stories and you lost because of telling your stories. your story was of an old decrepit man. That should’ve left office or never run and then you put in through a coup d’ etat in America of all places an incompetent woman that’s never deserved pretty much anything that she’s gotten in his place, who is better at word salads than Gordon Ramsay or Julia Child You don’t need a story you need a purpose you need a goal and many of your goals or many of the goals of your party were misdirected like allowing 11 million illegals into the country as an example.
The current administration is one with no sense or interest in consequences. While 30,000 deported souls languish purposelessly at Gitmo, hospital bedpans will neither be removed nor cleaned. Fruit and vegetables will not be picked. Homes will not be cleaned. Trash will not be gathered and disposed. Standard lawn maintenance will be ignored. Restaurants will need to close. Meat will not be prepared and packaged for sale.
And this only covers the migrant deportations. Beyond that there is scientific research, public health, foreign humanitarian investment, etc., etc. At the presidential level, consideration of longer-term policy implications is ignored in favor of partisan politics. This is political malpractice.
Actually many of them will not be so fortunate to be at Guantánamo. They will be in an El Salvador prison with the MS 13 for the rest of their lives, which is what they deserve. And if you think that for one minute, I’d rather have an illegal criminal picking my crops versus raping women or enslaving children to prostitution or robbing innocent citizens then you need a wake up call
John one day you might begin to realize that life is a do it to yourself proposition you become a criminal. You do something to hurt others and you pay the price and that’s exactly what’s happening and frankly it’s not enough. However, the good news for you is that this past week was the lowest illegal immigrant count in 20 years. And long before this 12 million people came in illegally or 20 million people whatever our crops were being picked our homes were being cleaned. Our trash was being gathered and lawn. Maintenance was just fine. Restaurants are being staffed. And now we’re even cutting staff because we can’t pay our bills. And going back as far as 2003 were found $2.7 trillion of waste fraud and abuse and it’s going to be monitored now.
Leadership is back in Washington and Cleaning house and not quick enough
And here’s the funnier thing. It’s only been 17 days into his presidency
He’s gotten support from Canada Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Argentina, Panama and it even looks like the European Union is going to lower the terrace for importing our cars from 10% to 2 1/2%
The war in Gaza is at a pause and soon the war in Ukraine will end.
Women and girls who strive all their life to be great athletes with sweat and toil and tears will no longer have to compete against men, and have the rewards and trophies taken away.
Excuse me, I have to leave because I have to comment to another lost soul Who thinks that the 50 million chickens that died back in April 20 24 have nothing to do with egg prices today not to mention the 24 million that died in January before Trump took Office.
A study of data from Texas being cited by Trump by the libertarian Cato Institute found that the homicide arrest rate for native-born Americans was “about 46 percent higher than the illegal immigrant homicide arrest rate.” There are no reliable nationwide statistics so Trump is basically just making unsubstantiated assertions about migrant crime and people like you are swallowing them whole. Put your faux indignation away and look at the facts, Rick. https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/is-illegal-immigration-linked-to-more-or-less-crime/
Linda Weide & Everyone .I have reported the disruptor of Substack Inc's platform & and our CONTRACTUAL right as defined "Readers" & some "Authors".
I demanded Substack's ADR a few seconds ago at Substack Inc's choice of venue (JAMS SF) for contractually compelled ADR that binds all us including Substack Inc who is located in my Neighborhood.
Wow, and you would think that by your 16 posts that I am a Russian bot LMAO
Took only 17 days to reach the lowest illegal immigration numbers in 20 years here in America Way to go Donald
Not to mention all the countries that are along with him on this like , Mexico, Canada Argentina, Venezuela, Japan, El Salvador. And more and more coming online every day. Even appears, now that the European Union is coming along
And I’m sure you can read, but you’re apparently not comprehending. I’m done with you. Let me know when you come live here in America, the greatest country on the planet.
Oh Rick, it pains me to say this, but my grocery stores are out of eggs at any price, obama deported more undocumented people than trump 45 did, and i’m not sure you would know a coup when you saw one, but i bet you can see one now if you want to. And oh yeah, stories. Heard any good ones lately about devouring pets? Me neither. Maybe those pet-eaters got ahold of my eggs.
Well, somehow, my whole post got erased so I’ll have to do it again, but you’re not gonna like it either way.
Back in April 20 24 50 million chickens died of bird flu in January of this year before Trump took Office another 24 million chickens died a bird flu. Perhaps you think that might have an effect on the price of eggs and you wanna blame Trump for that he’s been an office of 17 days and all this happened before he took Office.
Now let’s talk about the other items that you post here out of hate and ignorance. Grocery prices were up 20% during Biden’s entire term gas prices more than doubled mortgage rates more than tripled 11 million illegals Came into this country and now it’s costing us billions to remove them
And you do have one good point here so congratulations to you Obama did a great job in reading ourselves of illegals but Trump is only been an office 17 days and he will far surpass anything close to what Obama did but again Obama did a great job in that area.
And Biden was so bad they had to remove him from office and place Mrs. Word salad to get elected
Stop the hate is all I can tell you and deal with reality, which is what I said above
What is the Trump administration doing to tackle the bird flu problem which now spreading through cattle in the States? Do you really believe that this is a good time to be cutting health expenditure on research and appointing a nutcase as secretary of state? The cost-of-living crisis was caused by a combination of the pandemic followed by the disruption of supply chains due to the Ukraine war. The pandemic started under Trump and he deliberately downplayed its seriousness, as Bob Woodward's tapes have shown. - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-told-bob-woodward-he-knew-february-covid-19-was-n1239658 His catastrophic handling of the crisis was principally responsible for the unnecessary deaths of millions of Americans. You can't fairly blame everything on everybody else. Trump campaigned on lowering prices and doing it quickly. He himself said that was why he won. But they're not going down, are they, and the Federal Reserve is warning about inflation rising.
Trump is determined to suppress science at any cost, no matter how many die in the process. As someone with chronic cancer, people in my condition benefit from ongoing scientific studies and research into new medications. Disease doesn’t care about one’s political views. It hits different people with different political prospects.
Given Trump’s heedless behavior, it is inevitable that we will face another pandemic, and this time, it will be mutated H5N1 bird flu that has mutated to become transmissible between humans.
Before he left office, President Biden set up a group to work on developing a vaccine for H5N1 bird flu, and I have no idea if Trump has shut down the program.
Trump has shown that he has no ability to competently manage a pandemic, and while he at first set up a program to create effective COVID vaccines, later he started pandering to his antivax believers, who bought into the outright lies peddled by antivaxxers (including his HHS secretary candidate RFK, Jr., who made a lot of money he didn’t originally disclose by peddling antivax lies.) RFK Jr. has had his own children vaccinated, but he doesn’t want you to vaccinate your own children. Trump refused to take the lead in managing the COVID pandemic and left it to the states to do so. Social media was full of mockery of masking, vaccination, and Dr. Fauci’s attempts to educate the public. Not a few people who posted this mockery wound up dying of COVID themselves.
I can't believe I'm even responding to you on another thread because you behave like such a troll here, but I don't remember Trump blaming the egg prices on bird flu, and I seem to remember him saying he was going to bring those "egg prices down immediately," not "bring them down unless, you know, bird flu."
Well, it’s kinda hard getting eggs from dead chickens. I’m only responding to the people who are engaging me. I don’t know what thread they’re on nor do I care. I have a better suggestion for you. Why don’t you Google what I said and validate it or use whatever browser you want facts remain the same.
And I still can’t get over everybody using the word troll here.
So many of you spend almost all day on here no one each other catching back-and-forth to each other commiserate with each other, but not once had I ever seen the word troll here until you got a dissenting opinion how amazing Have a nice day
It’s Rick. Served in the military during Vietnam. Love America obviously a lot more than you. But you can continue your nonsense if you’d like just at some point in time you would think it would be embarrassing for you.
Well, it wouldn’t to you, but it does for people that love this country and wanted to write itself after this four-year disaster. We’re trying to pull our self out out of.
I feel some pain also. Before the election, there was a small amount of coverage about the mental deterioration of the 78 year old convicted criminal. Since the election, there has been none. His mental decline is staring us in the face and nothing is said about. As an example, at his press conference with Netanyahu, he said he would make Gaza "the Riviera of the Middle East", the United States would "own" Gaza, "Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs", "The only reason Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative," "I invision--world--people living there, the world's people. Palestinians also, Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there." He slurred his words, he rambled, he was incoherent, he cannot process facts, he put on full display he is in mental decline and the press doesn't point this out. Yes Rick, I am also in pain.
Well, first of all, you might remember that Mr. Biden was removed from Office before he was removed from office by election in a unheard of coup d’ etat in the United States no less
You’re also quite naïve about negotiations. Donald Trump had no intention of owning or running Gaza. He threw that out there in hopes that the Middle East would come together, for example Saudi Arabia or even the UAE had the opportunity to rebuild it, and then prevent the continuation of the hundred years war. Not to mention that if he did anything, he would need congressional approval which he knew and you knew and I knew he would never get. Simply in negotiation, tactic, and I feel bad that you didn’t catch that.
Further, I suppose you find it surprising, or you may not even know it at all that he was trying to vacate the rubble in Gaza and temporarily have the Palestinians move to either Jordan or Egypt the two neighboring countries and here’s the shocker for you neither Jordan nor Egypt want any of the Palestinians relocated there and you might wanna ask yourself why !! You also probably are unaware of the fact that there is a long border between Egypt and Gaza and it is totally engulfed with Barb wire place there by the Egyptians so that the Palestinians wouldn’t get in through Gaza Again, you probably didn’t know, but you probably understand why
You might not have even caught the fact that he’s had more press conferences with him present in 17 days than Biden had in four years
He also blew a couple of the reporters out of the water the other day when asked what he thought of the time magazine photo of Elon Musk behind the resolute desk did you hear his answer? It was hysterical and the crowd loved it.
The part you’re gonna hate the most is he’s gonna go down as one of the four or five greatest presidents in American history And you can lol all you want, but there it is Right now, the liberals and the Democrat party is that a 31% favorability rating with the country and a 57% Unfavorable rating in the country James Carville thinks the Democrats are directional list, leaderless and absolutely embarrassing and absurd. His own words, not mine, and there are many other people who have made the comments that it’s possible that the Democrats never gain back the white voter which is really despicable, but they’ve played the race card too long.
Almost every single intelligent left-wing pundit has said the same thing over the last few weeks. The problem with the Democrats right now is that they have no self introspection whatsoever. They’re not looking at why they lost. They’re not looking at how they lost. They’re not looking at the issues on which they mounted their campaign and they were all misdirected And this is on CNN MMSNC, ABC, NBC and CBS.
Bottom line and it’s very evident from your posts. It doesn’t matter what Trump says you hate him from the get-go and it will be at your own expense because he will be everything you don’t want him to be successful.
Nice try, but totally unpersuasive. My contact with the region is long and extensive, having visited Gaza several times long time ago. I have been to Israel and its neighbors a number of times, read extensively and have written articles about the region. To call me naive is laughable. Keep up the attempted insults, they are very funny. I love it. And of course, you totally ignored the fact the 78 year old convicted criminal is displaying mental decline. You don't recognize it, but it doesn't take much imagination to know that the Chinese see it.
Wait a minute I’m naïve and you’re still calling him a convicted criminal what a joke all contrived cases every single one of them and they’re all gone or will be very shortly. So stop the nonsense. He’s president of the United States and will be for four years. but suspicion is that if he gets the country running like he thinks he will and like many of us, hope he will. He will simply handed off to Vance before his term has ended, and Advanced does a good job in his final year then Van might spend eight more years in the White House since apparently right now the Democrat party has no leader, no direction no goals and less common sense that they’ve had in years and that’s why their current favorability rating is lower than it’s been in 50 years which is a shame but appropriate.
But since yourself familiar with the Gaza area, could you please tell me why that the Egyptian Gaza border is surrounded by barbed wire so Palestinians cannot get across and why Egypt and Jordan are refusing to take any Palestinians in even though a great percentage of Palestinians live in Jordan Take a guess
Reagan granted 3 million people amnesty. Under the first Trump administration, there were 2.4 million encounters on the southern border and this was low chiefly because of the pandemic. And, contrary to what Trump says, the increase in illegal immigration since 2010 has coincided with a long-term decrease in violent crime. These are the facts, Rick.
I am a downer to people who have made up their minds already without seeing the prosecution and the case for the defense because many people here don’t wanna see a case for the defense and that’s the problem and that’s why I’m a downer. You just want to convict somebody without a fair hearing. I hope you’re never a defendant in a case with a jury like the people here who see the prosecution’s case send it right to the jury and the judge and relish in the conviction without even hearing that the defendant wasn’t even present or anywhere near the crime. It’s very sad but I understand it John.
You complain bitterly and without statistical evidence about crimes committed by illegal immigrants and at the same time moan about conviction of MAGA thugs who were convicted for attacking the Capitol police. You're a hypocrite, Rick, just like your criminal president.
What we should have learned from this past campaign is that hate sells well. Trump peddled hate for immigrants, for gays and transgender folks along with promoters of female rights. So, where do we go from here? We turn our big guns on the wealthy who have destroyed the Middle Class and have made it virtually a certainty (with $37 trillion of national debt and increasing) that those in their 40's, 50's and even 60's now most likely will not get Medicare and Social Security. A lot of pain in coming down the turnpike. Hate sells and motivates.
What we should also have learned is that a lot of people want to be lied to. The problem for the Dems is making truth as appealing as lies. How can you do that? Apparently poor people do not want to know that the Billionaires are the only ones going to financially benefit under Trump.
I wish that the Blue states, who make up 70% of GDP would collectively withhold their taxes as leverage against the Trump/Musk government. I am one of those people who most likely won't get social security. My mom who is 90 may lose hers. Medicare is less of an issue for me because I am in the health care system in another country. However all the Americans living abroad resent that we pay into Medicare and then don't get anything from it.
Hmmm. Could this be the "shot heard round the world?" Is this the beginning of the break-up of the Union? If so, I will definitely move back to California. The non-blue states will probably come together to form the United Christian States of America. Chances are that the blue states east and west will merge with Canada.
I was not aware that those living abroad received no Medicare benefit. That's clearly not fair. Blame it on the oligarchs who are squeezing the American economy for every billion dollars that they can.
And America needs to hear Repost this letter wherever you can so all people can hear it and digest the protections that are working every day for you no matter how you voted.
I particularly noted the comments about the Senators from “red states” realizing what damage the current administration is doing. Yet, these very same Republican Senators approved the evil POS who will now run OMB and wrote the major parts of Project 2525. These Senators are willfully going along and bowing to President Musk and his idiot Co-President in helping to destroy our democracy. This is what happened in Germany in the 1930’s until that madman burned down the Reichstag and eliminated any possibility of pushback. Hope these schmucks sleep well at night knowing their complicity.
Indeed: it isn't like the governors and representatives in states controlled by Rethuglicans are not well aware of the fact that their states feed off the federal trough at a much much higher rate than those controlled by Dems. People on my FB feed are asking me to "thank" Jerry Moran (KS senator) for opposing the shutting down of USAID. Why has Moran taken that stance? Because Kansas supplies something like 40 million dollars annually of the basic foodstuffs that USAID buys. So my response to those wanting to lick his boots? Spit in his eye. Those fuckers voted for the Felon in Chief. They deluded themselves into claiming that their undocumented migrant workers who labor in their fields for a pittance would not be deported, that the Felon wouldn't touch their entitlements, that the only people to suffer would be the "Libs." Hoist by their very own petard. Same goes for the U of Missouri system (3 of the 4 schools HCR mentions are in the system--UM Columbia, UMKC, and MO Institute of Tech at Rolla), which has lived off of NIH, DoD, and NSF grants for decades. I teach in that system. I have colleagues who are doing vital research funded by all those organizations. The president of the system has his head up the arses of the Rethuglican neofascists in order to claim he can make it rain. Welp: he is fucked. That is fine with me, even though it does irreparable harm to my friends and colleagues. The hydra needs to be decapitated.
Just FYI, re: "the desperate troll", if you click on the circle by their name their profile comes up - if you click on the three dots to the left you will see a drop of options, of which one is block. I've blocked a number of people on this site now - you will not see them in comments any longer. Sometimes they are just assholes (Bonjour Rick Sender), sometimes they pose as reasonable chin strokers arguing for paralysis, telling us nothing is possible (Good morning Mr. Rosen!). You can block them permanently. They are bots or worse.
Thank you so much for the valuable information on how to block a person from this site!
“And frankly, I really don’t read Heather anymore.” (Rick Sender)
That was the last straw for me. Rick Sender is BLOCKED! I was willing to read opposing arguments based on fact, but if Rick Sender can’t even read Heather‘s comprehensive and well documented information before publishing his rants, why bother. He is in the MAGA bubble and not interested in academic debate.
Life is better without Rick and a few other assorted bots and trolls. The air smells fresher. Food tastes better. Wine has the headiness of the first time you sipped a glass. Imagine how all of that would be if we could just get rid of the fascists and racists in our midst too.
My life has been sender free for weeks . . . life's a dead-ender when you read Rick Sender!
Thank you Heather Kirk for your kind words. I want to use your entry to say something about folks who disagree with me. While it is not pleasant, it is vital to my developing understanding. That includes Mr Sender.
Years ago I knew some parents who were abusive to their children. When I tried to talk to them, they always said it was because they loved their kids more than most parents... I believe they honestly thought that. Both children died by suicide.
Now we have Mr Sender saying one man's hubris is, "... his hubris is the love of his country..." the red tie guy will destroy the country out of love!
“And frankly, I really don’t read Heather anymore.” Mr Sender has stopped taking in valid information, he's afraid. He's not lazy. He is working reading opinions he can reject.
"Your party is directionless." Mr Sender believes in 'group think.' Individual beliefs and values irrelevant If we want to reach him we have to find a group he relates to.
What I'm trying to say here, is, this is information we need. I ask everyone to please not try to silence Mr Sender. These insights into his thinking will help us design a strategy to counter him grim views.
Exhibit "A": Mr. RS responded to my pointing out a spelling error by trumpeting that AI was his methodology for communication - - as if that would solve all my picayunish problems, since apparently AI has made life easier for him. I will take some other person (forget who)'s advice and "collapse" his contact. Being 83 puts me behind the communication curve antics, especially since AI has arrived...
he doesn’t wanna own her. He just wants her to run right. And he’s there to write the ship because the last four years the ship was filling with water and about to collapse under the sea.
LOL Rick dear, unilaterally deciding that this beautiful being was 'running wrongly' is the root of the problem. Thank you for pointing out his hubris.
Well, the last four years Lynn have been a total disaster on almost every front possible we’ve wasted $200 billion in Ukraine. We’ve allowed a huge fight that Trump had to settle between Israel and the Palestinians. We have allowed millions of illegal criminals into our country that we are now having to rid ourselves. And it was running so poorly that an actual coup had to be performed here in the United States just to get the corpse or the semi cadaver out of office. So thanks for your input, Lynn, dear.
And finally, his hubris is the love of his country, which which is absolutely the best reason for which to have hubris.
Why don’t you face reality? That’s a more important question because you’re going to be facing reality for the next four years and in fact, if Trump plans his presidency properly, he’ll get even more control of the country back on track handed off to Vance in year three and Advanced continues to do a good job. He may even spend eight more years in the White House. Your party is directionless. Your party is leaderless your party has now the lowest popularity it has in a century of 31% positive rating and 57% negative rating for a liberal that’s offensive. So get with the program watch what happens put away the Ouija board and the crystal ball and at the end of the day if you love America, you’ll be pleased.
Trump hasn't settled anything between the Israelis and the Palestinians and he's also jeopardised the treaties with Egypt and Jordan with his insane Gaza plan, which his officials have been trying desparately to walk back since he announced it.
“And frankly, I really don’t read Heather anymore.” (Rick Sender)
That was the last straw for me. Rick Sender is BLOCKED! I was willing to read opposing arguments based on fact, but if Rick Sender can’t even read Heather‘s comprehensive and well documented information before publishing his rants, why bother. He is in the MAGA bubble and not interested in academic debate.
And, Phil, don’t tell Rick that Trump is getting bad press from NEWSMAX!!! They just published the PEW poll on Trump’s first few weeks. 47% approve and 51% disapprove. Poor Trumpy…
“According to the poll released Friday, 47% approve of how the president is handling his role with 37% strongly approving, and 51% disapprove with 40% strongly disapproving.”
Well, Phil sent me something and I couldn’t find his name so I figured if I posted it here that somehow he’d get it and he would get passed along.
And by the way, the stronger the hate the better he’s doing.
Besides, I don’t really care about polling, but I think the Democrats need to do so since they’ve lost about 20 points in the past four years little bit more introspection might be in order people like James Carville are throwing a fit at how the Democrats are running themselves even David Axelrod is overly disappointed in their reaction/observations/policy objectives
By the way, Paul, I’ve seems like I’m making some headway with some of your posters here getting a lot more agreement now that people are thinking through some things rather than hating out of hate
Phil, I don’t really care what his rating is by anybody. I just care what he does for this country and in 17 days he did more to help this country that Biden did to hurt this country in four years. I’ll actually not four years. They have to remove them from office before that. COUP. However, when your own personal media like James Carver and all your other supporters start trashing your party for not having any direction any leader or the wrong message you might wanna start listening to that since you lost this election in every way possible
Yeah, but Rick “voice texts” so he just posts stuff that his AI “thinks” is what he meant to say. His AI has a different time distinguishing between homonyms like “right, write, and rite.” Poor guy, that Rick. It’s gotta be tough to have to rely (or do I mean “relay”) on Fake Stuff.
L O LOL O L. When you can’t find rational reason, you look at scapegoats like spelling First of all, I’m not publishing second of all I voice text everything and could frankly give a shit about the spelling or the Grammar syntax punctuation etc. It’s all about content not form. I’m not writing my thesis for college here and I believe based on everything I see here that most of the people here are pretty well educated and so I’m sure Phil you figured out exactly what I meant and therefore I made my point. Content over form….
And here all along, I thought the people here would be able to read right through the spelling issues and get right to the content. Alas, I was wrong. I’m voice texting here and could care less about spelling, syntax sentence, structure punctuation, etc. I’m not writing my thesis I’m getting an obvious point across. Only to find it’s most mostly falling on deaf biased ears
Sorry I thought maybe English comprehension was your major in college but apparently you skipped right over that in fifth grade.
Maybe you’ll learn that it’s pure ignorance to try to embarrass somebody you don’t know. Why don’t we talk about topics of interest instead of personal insults This group seems to be very well educated, which unfortunately doesn’t always transfer to practicality of use
You mean one of 77 million? And the US map is blood red and 48 of the 50 states became redder than they did the last election we’re losing touch with reality.
You lost the White House you lost the Senate you lost the house you don’t have the Supreme Court more states are becoming conservative than before and Donald Trump has begin to clean up the landscape of illegal criminals.
And you of all people should be proud of Donald Trump, that he just freed women to compete with each other rather than compete with men, after having worked, their whole lives toil to be competitive in the Olympics in college, and the woke Ness and the idiocy took it away from them, but no longer. Guess when you called a misogynist you were incorrect. What a surprise.
Just because you dislike something doesn’t mean it’s not right either. I’m certain that many children get sent to bed early or get punished because of bad behavior and while they don’t like it at some point if they’re smart, realize that they’re behaving badly and deserve what they got and that’s exactly what this country is getting right now and improvement over the last 3 1/2 years and it attempted coup. Although well-deserved.
Very scary stuff. And the felon in chief LIES every time he opens his mouth! Every single time! The republicans in our houses of Congress are 100% complicit with the destruction of our country. And then there are the people who voted for the felon as well as those who couldn’t be bothered! Each and every one are guilty of being traitors to our country by sitting back and saying nothing or willingly bending the knee to the felon.
You should probably stop using the felon and chief acronym. In a contrived case that wouldn’t hold Mustard in a red state or a fair and even balanced jury this would’ve never happened not to mention the other three cases that disappeared amazingly.
Trump was indicted by four juries of ordinary American citizens like you in four separate jurisdictions on 93 criminal charges. He's a convicted criminal and you voted for him Rick, so why not just own it instead of bleating here about how unfair it all was?
I live in the UK Ed, but I understand that in the States you have process known as voir dire so your insinuation about those juries is just plain silly.
Yeah, Russell, what Rick and Ed don’t seem to understand is that the juries are chosen by BOTH sides. Trump’s lawyers APPROVED those jurors who convicted him of 34 felonies.
It sounds like Rick would prefer to have had Trump tried (for a New York offense) in West Virginia. Maybe Clarence and VIRGINIA Thomas would prefer that too, but…. Or, maybe Clarence will be working on getting all other cases to “disappear amazingly.” I hear that there is a golden toilet at Mar a Lago just waiting to welcome Clarence’s tush. (Awwww, how naughty of me!!)
You are not getting it. Rick is not like a typical American citizen. We typical citizens don't spend our time trolling web sites or cheerleading genocides and ethnic cleansing. Ruling class oligarchs do the latter. When we broke from your England, we ditched the king, but kept the aristocratic ruling class.
45/47 avoided having his cases brought to a jury of his peers. He fought in the press, insulted judges, intimidated witnesses. Everything but stand and answer for his behavior in light of the law. Did he break the law or not? Certainly having highly classified secrets piled up in his bathroom at Mir a Lago appears blatantly a violation of law. After resisting polite requests to return classified documents, the government was forced to pursue them. 45/47 blatantly obstructed justice: there would have been no charges if he cooperated. The judge avoided hearing the case and just delayed in technicalities until he entered office again. That doesn’t tell us anything except that he is unwilling to answer for his behavior and a lot of people are ok with that. And a lot are not.
Peter, this is not a joke--can you ask Heather to post one of your pictures at the end of her daily letter, if not every day, at least regularly? These turbulent times are overwhelming. I am so happy when Joyce Vance post pictures of her chickens. We need moments of grace and beauty to survive, and your photos offer us that.
How wonderful to look at these beautiful images this morning. Peter is a wonderful treasure that Heather has brought to us, as are you, too! You are the reason I started writing postcards and letters years ago, when you shared information on this forum.
Peter, I reckon that your eloquent message to Heather speaks for all of us. Heather is a remarkable human being, and a beacon of truth and hope. I feel so very fortunate to be a long time reader of her letters…she has saved my sanity many, many times, that’s for sure!
Beautifully and so accurately said. I am never “just” educated by Heather’s posts. I am always, also, moved. These are our real heroes. This is the very best of who we have been. Beside this man’s story the shallow grandiosity of those creating chaos and destroying our humanity are shown to be as small as they are.
You've *managed to speak for me and in fact, most all of us here Peter; Thank you for that.
In a separate matter, acutely aware that you know Heather personally, you might do us all a favor by asking that she remove a particular troll that inhabits here. It is most disruptive to the community; Not by having a contrary opinion to Heather (which he does and espouses) and most of us here, but by imposing itself into nearly every discussion unbid and ranting without end, imposing into every conversation without invitation. I just scroll past, but his frequency is increasing and becoming more and more interruptive and problematic. I would 'pass the hat' so to speak, to cover the cost of it's removal if needed. I should hope that to be unnecessary. Thank you ~ P.S. Adore your artwork.
D4N, I have thought about Rick’s posts quite a bit. If he is “real” and truly believes what he posts, then he is entitled to his opinions/thoughts. I don’t mind contrarian opinions, perhaps might learn a thing or two. However, after having read, and occasionally responded to, his comments, I realize they are hackneyed tropes bereft of truth/accuracy so now simply “scroll on by”….also do not read (minutes I can’t get back) any attempts to respond to him, as they are pissing into the wind. Is he a bot, a troll?…dunno…but I choose to simply ignore him & responses to him. Just my 2 cents.
I agree, Barbara. He claims to audio type, but the English is not only misspelt but inconsistent. His insolence used to make me so pointlessly angry that I just started collapsing him on sight.
Trump won because Silicon Valley Oligarchs have banded together with emerging cyber weapon called Facebook news feed, Instagram, X, and Google. They matched new Surveillance Capitalism with dopamine releasing and addicting qualities of casino gambling, to profile, mine data, and identify the most vulnerable. Then target them, the most persuadable ( vulnerable) in the key districts of the swing states, without their knowledge, overwhelming them, so subtly to radicalize some, and make the middle apathetic towards political participation.
There is a reason there are billion dollar lawsuits in Europe to combat these new military grade cyber weapons. Everyone is so outraged about their data being stolen out of the treasury, but you know what Silicon Valley probably has more important data on every American with more than a trillion s data points psychological profile a strategy to convince them how to vote or not to vote.
“ your phone is not listening to you”
That’s a mistake to think that that happens what’s really happening? Is that the data points that you’re sharing with these companies can make precise predictions on your behavior of every aspect of your life not just consumerism. Donald Trump has licensed himself and his Maga Movement out to Silicon Valley Oligarchs. The really sad thing is maga doesn’t know they’re being conned and the rest of the public is unaware of what’s that really happening to their data, as they are brainwashing a whole society of docile consumer slaves.
I’m not sure how we ever get ahead of this, but everyone should read ‘surveillance capitalism’ by Dr. Shoshana Zuboff. Or ‘Zucked’ by Roger McNamee.
Oh shit. Think about Elon sharing the whole countries private financial history, tax returns, medical history, and everything else they stole from Treasury, and other agencies….Merge that with the digital footprint /psychological profiles they already have. AI is probably merging it right now. That is some stuff not even Orwell or Atwood considered.
They came pretty close, though. "You are the dead". One of the most chilling lines in literature, when they realise they have been heard. Another dreadful moment is in 2001 A Space Odyssey, when the camera tells us that HAL is lip-reading them although he can't hear them.
Peter Ralston -- Yes, to what you contributed to Heather! Bravo! And gratitude to you for being such a fabulous photographer. Bravo! There's a word in Tibetan that means "good eye" -- miksang. Pronounced "miksong". So you could be known as Miksang Ralston. Or Ralston Miksang.
Just finished reading this letter. It is hard to understand how HCR does this day in and day out. She is a wonder....if Sonny and Cher were to perform their song "The Beat Goes On", what would it sound like today? A lot like this letter? And what about Barry McGuire's one hit wonder: "Eve Of Destruction"? They/we were so innocent and simple back then.
Professor is focussed, as always. She sees we are facing a national crisis that America has never faced. Lincoln predicted this crisis cound end the country as founded. She is counting on heroes to show up. She cannot take rest as she is fhighting.
I know a government employee who70 years ago was asked to find a way to be sure that then-new pre-stressed concrete was really solid without having to crack it open. He did. That was the invention that made pre-stressed concrete construction possible. Had he been doing it in private industry, his patent for the process would have been worth billions in licensing. But since he worked for the government, it was free to anyone who wanted to use it. He once said of it, "If I'd been in private industry, I'd be rich, except for the fact if I had been in private industry, no one would have ever asked me the question."
That government employee was my father. The next time you go driving on a pre-stressed concrete freeway overpass and never worry about whether it might crumble out from under you, thank him.
And thank you for your own Substack. You so eloquently express what my evil twin is thinking whilst I try to maintain my polite, mannerly senior woman façade.
As a retired crane operator, I have lifted and set in place many a pre-stressed concrete structural member [ twin tee, girder etc.] over the years. Your father's innovative work within the government is directly responsible for my being able to raise a family and have a fulfilling work life. If you please, thank him so very much for me. This is the work of public service in it's essence. Again, please thank him for me.
Thanks for this, Tom. I appreciate your writing and your insight. I also appreciate TAFM where I can let my profanity loose. Plus, more writing and insight.
My Dad was a government employee; a meteorologist with the Weather Bureau then NOAA. 30+ years. One of the first trained in using Doppler Radar to forecast storms.
My father was a neurophysiologist who dedicated his career to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research. Much of his life's work was funded by NIH. I remember as a child hearing about the work he put into his grant proposals to fund his work as well as hearing about those who stood to benefit from his dedication. Fast forward and I spent 3+ years of my life as the primary caregiver for my mother-in-law as she died from Alzheimer's. Caring for someone with this terrible disease is horrifying. They're gone before you know you need to say goodbye and then you're left with caring for what is left of a person you once knew but who doesn't know you.
My sister has continued my father's work, leading research trials with Alzheimer's patients. She too relies on NIH for much of what they're able to accomplish.
Vilifying and constricting the work the NIH is accomplishing is a travesty that will impact millions of lives. This reality needs to be understood.
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” — Justice Louis Brandeis
An autocracy or oligarchy is neither a free society nor a free market.
All caregivers are saints, in my opinion. My dad, a Holocaust victim and a WWII veteran, ended up with dementia. My mother, also a victim, handled his disease as best she could. She really didn’t quite understand what dementia meant but we saw her health deteriorate, as well. Our mom, had heart attacks but determination had her bouncing back until our dad finally succumbed. Bless you, Dani, your dad, and your sister.
When those 'trimming the waste' have neither the scientific, innvestigatve or other skills that researchers or federal agents have and also lack any semblance of humanity the functional worthy system is destroyed. Money and power is as far as they see. Techobro oligarchs wants the few to control everything.
I thought I understood that for a while, but earlier today I watched Ezra Klein's podcast interview with Kara Swisher on the radicalization of Elon Musk
I've often quoted the phrase "there is no animal in the jungle more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose" but I now realize that an intelligent narcissistic sociopath with unlimited money is the most dangerous life form.
Unfortunately you were misunderstood. That’s not what’s happening. There is no argument with the NIH. There is just the need for analysis, validation and verification of what they’re spending their money on how it’s being spent how it’s being monitored and if any money is being misused or lost. Once this is reestablished, the NIH will be exactly as it were before only leaner and more effective.
By the way, this part I really like saying. It’s not only my Michael world but it’s yours as well. Oooops. To quote most of you from a few years ago, elections matter and have consequences. Uh oh
Well, generally speaking, I would agree. Why don’t you wait and see how it falls out and then make a judgment however, you need to see how bad the baby bathwater really is, and it’s bad. but I’m sure it’ll all be placed back where it is needed. Patience is a virtue.
They need to turn off the budget at the Pentagon. Where did you see me argue with that? Pentagon apparently has failed the last seven audits and there’s a couple hundred billion dollars of waste there right now so I agree with you. Pentagon budget is for defense not sending $200 billion to insight a war in Ukraine to make it more difficult for Trump to get us out of it. Ooooops
By the way, Mary I love helping other countries but you have to start somewhere and first you start in America and once we resolved many of the problems here then you could start doling out money elsewhere
We have too many homeless people here we have too many drug addicts here we have too much crime here And the country by far is becoming lazier, especially in government.
The funding from USA ID has now been transferred to the state department where it can be better monitored because there’s been so much waste fraud and abuse there and if you don’t think that’s the case, you should see the list of hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone to worthless causes overseas if you need help finding them I would actually be willing to send you a couple of links, but I think you’re intelligent enough to do that on your own
But as far as the pentagon is concerned, couldn’t agree with you more the pentagon should be there for defense, developing weapons, protect us here in America sort of like an iron dome needed by Israel
Some people envy America because it’s so wealthy others hate America because they’re so jealous
I don’t support impoundment of funds by the executive branch.
A response to the pentagon audits would be a place to start. Use Musk’s talent to do the research, defend the proposed changes and let the Confress decide.
The ends do not justify the neans Rick.
You are advocating for an authoritarian government.
Incite. Sorry I voice text a lot and since I’m doing so much posting, I don’t have time nor is it worthwhile to go back and check my spelling I think most of the people here if not, all of people here are smart enough to read and understand what I’m trying to say.
Just cutting things off is cruel and irresponsible. And unnecessary.
I would add, having a special government employee gloat about it in X isn’t particularly professional for such an undertaking.
I would suggest reforming agencies or how we fund research can be done in less dramatic and sensational ways: you are the one who is not demonstrating patience
Well, I’m perfectly funded and that I receive Social Security. If you wanna consider that federally funded OK
But by the way, thank God for musk, going to save our astronauts and send a rocket to Mars not that I care, but obviously the government feels very strongly in his economics endeavors that long before he was related or connected to Trump anyway, they saw him for what he is and you probably did too until he was Trump’s friend. What a pity.
Normally I would agree with you however we’re finding that there’s been waste fraud and abuse since 2003 and it hasn’t been corrected so how long do you wanna wait do you wanna wait another 10 years and let it continue to happen or do you want to address it now since no one seems to be watching And that’s why it’s imperative that we do it now and if there’s a little pain, there’s a little pain, but it’s gotta stop
$2.7 trillion lost since 2003 that certainly could’ve been used in a better manner
And I guess you’ve never heard of people being fired or reduction in force. And since you seem so politically biased, why don’t you go back and research Al Gore standing with Bill Clinton cutting more federal positions in any president had done to date called reduction enforce the largest in history at that point and Obama followed suit and did the exact same thing. The interesting thing about Trump is that he actually offered an eight month severance package to many of these people which is far more generous than need be but also you should keep in mind that Congress has to prove the severance packages. But go back and check your Loving Clinton and Obama firings. So perhaps you’ll get a more evenly balanced analysis of your complaints. And by the way, Bill Clinton was one of my favorite presidents.
This month, I am a 40-year breast cancer survivor, treated at NIH as part of a study comparing mastectomy to lumpectomy plus radiation. NIH saved my life; I believe my participation in the study is helping women today. NIH deserves more money not less!
On 1/17/25 I had a lumpectomy and am now in the middle of the EXACT trestment plan you participated in! (radiation treatment (10 mins/work day for a month) followed by 5yrs of anastrozole).
Yes, I’m fortunate to have a team of doctors who jumped on my diagnosis like a well oiled pit crew……but YOU YOU YOU‼️gave them the tools (science) for ME.
One of my best friends participated in a study for colorectal cancer a number of years ago. The infusion treatments in her study are the premier prescription for that cancer today.
How magical is it that this little girl from Vermont has crossed paths with 2 women who would shape her heart and her healthy life❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.
Thank you doesn’t even begin…..well….you know what I’m trying to say…
I love hearing a real story from someone who is benefitting from my study participation. I was fortunate enough to be randomized to the lumpectomy group (we didn't get to choose) and have not had 1 single problem or issue related to the cancer since then. I will be rooting you on.....
I am an eight year survivor, because the same treatment. 40 years is wonderful news! Thank you for your courage and for sharing this information. Wishing you Blessings for the rest of your life.
I was thinking that about Heather as I waking this morning. I took a break for three days this week (following the 50501 protests), and feel so refreshed. But Heather feels that pull to document our democracy’s decent into darkness. We should all send her warm, light thoughts of good energy to help replenish her.
I’d love to share a coffee with our Heather looking out over our beloved Maine seashore..(there’s secret inspiration in the lapping waves) …and the big Atlantic pond..every state has its beauty places ,some prize to offer , it’s roots ,it’s people.
We The People really want everyone one given the best possible ..it’s a Dream many have worked for, we believe in ..We The People people really want….Yea even for the red states.
Our species is really pretty vulnerable to getting distracted in self-destructive ways. No? It's often hard to keep a focus on matters that most matter. Some people take advantage of our sometimes fatal flaw. It might really kill us all.
I’ve read four diff articles this ducky Sunday morning, each pointed to this too. Well being vs Flight response.
The keys to calm: Recognition of a stressor. Music/Soothing sound. Health/Nutrition ( she mused while eating a donut and coffee)). Meditation. Exercise .Rest. Education. Balances of all these mentions.
I’ll reiterate: No effort is too small when the intent is pure.
Years ago I was prescribed antidepressants, which were extremely helpful for several years until the particular one stopped working. I joke about having an evil twin, but the reality was the new prescription made me very uncharacteristically angry. I was picking fights with coworkers and tailing people while driving. I scared myself, called the doctor and quit it cold turkey. I instead turned to a therapist (last of three I'd been to over my lifetime) and she pushed exercise on me. I fought it, but a few months into walks 2-5 miles day/ 5-6 x a week, and especially, light weight lifting 3x week, I realized I felt so much better.
Not everyone is physically able, but for those who can add some exercise to their daily routine, it is truly worth trying. I believe we unconsciously hold a lot of tension in our muscles and exercise helps work it out.
Thank You Miselle for reminding us to remind Heather to also care for herself and family. My deepest gratitude to her for ALL she does for us. I realize we are living through a coup d’è tat, but YOU, Heather need to define how much you can give and for how long. Deep Respect for ALL that you have given us already. You are a National Treasure.
Thank you for writing about the regular people that staff our government. Hearing them really brings home to me how important it is for us to protect their jobs!!!
Hearing these stories now, with hindsight I am thinking it would have been good if the whole country had heard them in messages from Democrats' campaigns. That might have been a way to defuse the "Deep State" scare.
The only deep state is the one that Trump wants to create by destroying the professional civil service and placing Federal agencies under his personal control. He is not a dictator and we won’t accept one.
I live near a military base which has many civilian employees, many of whom are veterans. These federal employees are NOT the Deep State, they are my neighbors, my fellow parishioners, my friends, and members of both political parties.
A lyric worthy of Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, maybe even Bob Dylan. Set that baby to music let’s get it out there! How about it Jackson Brown, Indigo Girls, the Chicks, Lucinda Williams, or Neil Young?
In the words of the City Manager (who happens to be a Democrat) of the small town in the Red state where I live, “They voted for this. Now they’re gonna find out what they voted for.”
I am so angry about the cuts to NIH and NSF! It’s a very short-sighted move, disinvesting in our American future. Do they even realize what they're cutting? NSF is critical to cybersecurity research, an area that needs more, not less funding. And NIH research has given us breakthroughs in treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. I protest! And I plan to sit-in at my State Capitol. We all must make our voices heard!
I’d like to say that no, they don’t know what they are doing. And if they do, they don’t give a rat’s ass. I think I’m right on this one, and I’m sorry. So very sorry.
Ellen, you are right. They do know what they are doing and they do not give a rat's. They are fine with people dying and not having health care. They can afford, so pfft
I find myself wondering when the brain drain will begin. Many, many of our professors and researchers in STEM fields, as well as our doctors, originally come from other countries - will that pipeline slow? Will students choose to study in other countries instead? And will our established professors begin to look at opportunities in or be recruited by other countries? I really don’t think this makes America great in any way.
We are too old to go anywhere. So we just try to find joy in our family and friends and the small things. i have lost patience with people defending this blowing up everything as well. One of my ex-colleagues posted something about what the Dept of Ed. actually does. One of her friends decided that yes, the DOE could go because the state can do all of these things with no problem. I pointed out to him, using special ed. as an example, how that was not a good idea. According to him, I offended him by telling him that he is naive and poorly informed about special ed in particular. The snowflake even accused me of gaslighting him The rest of the responses praised the original post or were freaking out about what would happen in particular to special ed students. I told him we were done and so far that is holding. One of the responses was from someone who works at the local School for the Blind. Hope he is OK with having his personal info compromised and that he never needs any help from a federal program.
It's what so called "Vulture" (though I prefer "Vampire") "Capitalists" do to companies they strip and send tail-spinning into the ground. This is the same process writ large.
It appears as though Republican leaders are beginning to realize that the funding that Musk/ Trump are removing so quickly may affect their own states and thus their own re-elections!
Perhaps they overlooked that when they were blindly loyal to a President instead of their own constituents?
It's the same in blue Massachusetts... the area from Worcester to Springfield, from the New Hampshire border to Connecticut, went largely for T****. A band of red across our state.
😄 I can remember when NC was the perfect purple state. It makes me sad to see the struggle it is having to (maybe) get back to the rich purple it was in before the Koch brothers intervened.
I sat on a small boat in France reading the New Yorker. “Art Pope, friend of Kochs….” Thought writing “Koch brothers” would be understood by more readers. Have you seen “Starving the Beast”? It shows the attack on UNC-CH. That’s where I got three degrees over 10 years. Oldest public university in the country. Older even than Harvard. Far superior to the Tobacco Road university down the road whence cometh Stephen Miller.
You might be right, but what I see from Musk and his dodgy cohort is a contempt for everyone except for themselves. I don't think that their hearts bleed for any states, regardless of the politics. I'm glad that I live in MA, but I don't think that folks living other places will be immune.
They are not elected ,they will never get elected so they don't have to be nice or care for the consequences of what they are doing. They are there just to benefit themselves.
The problem with that strategy is that our country is really divided into red districts and blue districts more than red states and blue states. California has deeply red areas and Texas deeply blue ones.
Apparently, science is a leftist agenda as is objective reality. I wonder how their Bible school graduates will do designing bridges, maintaining aircraft, or any STEM jobs for that matter? Not to mention keeping all the high tech weapons systems working. 🙄
Oddly there are a lot more Bible literalists and right wing theorists among engineers and technicians (in my experience) than among research scientists. I get that impression anyway. There is a relationship between science and technology, but a difference of epistemology.
That is fascinating. I remember that one of my best science teachers in high school was an extremely religious and conservative man, who still taught biology well.
This is going out to my senators and reps:Good Evening Senator/Rep:
I’ve been looking at the news and this website as well as ThomTillis.com. I want to see your optimistic explanation for the NIH budget cuts for research at the University of North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke University and across many of the leading lights of the Research Triangle Park. You know, your constituents. I’m sure you can tell us all how this is making America great again. Especially enthusiastic will be the folks laid off, the patients in the interrupted drug trials, the patents ungranted because the work was never finished.
Your work and representation has never seemed more passive or suspect. Don’t you in Congress set the budget? Oh wait, wouldn’t it be better for 20-year-olds elected by no one, and the richest man in the world, and a convicted felon, wouldn’t it be better for them to do the job for you? And wouldn’t it be better if your helpers were an FBI director with political enemies list and an Attorney General who once upon a time was a registered foreign agent, one who may well have looked the other way and dropped a case as the AG of Florida after receiving a political donation from Mr. Trump. And wouldn’t it be good if the health secretary was a reformed heroin addict who didn’t believe in vaccines, and if the defense secretary was an alcoholic who has been fired from administration leadership at two different, small military-adjacent organizations.
Your constituents, me included, look forward to hearing from you. We want to know how these folks are helping you and all your colleagues with legislation to, hmm, maybe cut taxes since you’ve saved all this life-saving money. We want to learn more about these oh so logical, well-considered changes in store for folks across our state.
Actually, I think most of us would want to see the federal government meet its obligations. We would love to see our House and our Sentate function, set budgets, pass budgets and insist that those budgets be executed.
And we would love to hear from you on a regular basis.
We the people are the government. We don’t bray and bellow nor do we have a gazillion followers on social media. We do the hard work, demanding work that keeps our government and our people safe from all manner of threats. The biggest threat to America right now is the Trump Administration. Folks had better wake up fast because they are about to learn that billionaires aren’t their best buddies. Biden said this for four years and nobody paid attention. This is beyond pathetic.
Democracy means we are the government. George Washington is my hero and there are so many more who fought for our freedoms that nobody ever heard of. Honor them instead of Tesla and Amazon. People wake up. Honor your hard fought for civil rights.
And Lincoln, who 'got it' that "this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." Had it been possible to outlaw slavery from the signing of the Constitution, I wonder how different our society might be today?
Sometimes it just hits me, Heather, how much of your big heart you put behind that brilliant mind of yours when you write your letters. Tonight I simply want to thank you for the compassion and humanity which undergirds all that you do. Just sayin'........
We have been saying it is important to tell the stories. Trump won because he told a story that had a receptive audience. Now it is time that we tell our stories. These stories put a face to the people losing their jobs and are gold. Heather is so great at telling the stories we need to hear.
Trump won because Silicon Valley Oligarchs have banded together with emerging cyber weapons called Facebook news feed, Instagram, X, and Google. They matched new Surveillance Capitalism with dopamine releasing social stimuli with the tricks of casino gambling and insatiable physical need for ‘more’ akin to a nicotine addiction from big tobacco. They have mined your data, refined it, and it’s worth more than gold.
Your data is your identify, and AI can now predict your behavior based on your psychological profile. Once your profile is known, they target your private news feed with personally curated content, attacking the most vulnerable first, the persuadable 33%, in the key districts of the swing states. Big Tech has a psychological profile on every American. And AI is learning more about you every time you view a screen, click a like, share, comment.
There is a reason the EU has billion dollar lawsuits to combat these monopolies. In Europe it is illegal to use cyber weapons on their people. It is why they shut down Robert Mercer’s ( a guy who knows algorithms) Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge’s holding company, SCL is a military contractor that trains intel officers from all over the world including our CIA. Their mission? To learn how to destabilize countries to provide political and economic advantage at scale. We are not just talking about algorithms, these are new military grade cyber weapons, and they have been deployed on EVERY AMERICAN.
Everyone is so outraged about their data being stolen out of the treasury, but for the last several years, we Americans have been surrendering our privacy without consent or knowledge of how they are using ( manipulating) us. Big tech has a treasure trove of psychological profile data on every signed American. And they have leveraged it, seeking to control us, even politically. Our free will is at risk. And majority don’t even know how or care why.
“ your phone is not listening to you”
It’s a mistake to think that your phone is listening. what is happening Is that ALL your data points across every platform have been consolidated, over the years, and allow them to make very precise predictions on your behavior in every aspect of your life. It is not just consumerism. The AI algorithms got stronger over the last several years to know you and predict your desires, fears, and your triggers to action. They know you better than you know yourself. And because this data is so valuable, these companies global capitalization dwarfs the entire oil industry. That is some serious power.
Donald Trump has licensed himself and his Maga Movement to Silicon Valley Oligarchs. The really sad thing is maga doesn’t know they’re being conned and the rest of the public is unaware of what’s really happening to their data. Big Tech is the new big tobacco times 10000. Big Tech is slowly brainwashing a whole society into docile consumer slaves.
We desperately need to regulate big tech like Europe, where much of what big tech does and takes is illegal. This is why Trump is threatening NATO and support for Ukraine. he’ll use whatever leverage he can to help those who not just put him in power, but who financed his trash meme coin into 30+ billion.
I’m not sure how we ever get ahead of this, but everyone should read ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ by Dr. Shoshana Zuboff. Or ‘Zucked’ by Roger McNamee.
Watch the Netflix documentary: The Great Hack
Read Carrol Cadwaldar, journalist @ The Guardian
Watch Carroll’s TED Talk message to Silicon Valley Execs:
https://blog.ted.com/social-media-is-a-threat-to-our-democracy-carole-cadwalladr-speaks-at-ted2019/
Or listen to this podcast as Al Franken gets his mind blown…
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-al-franken-podcast/id1462195742?i=1000600365133
The whistle blower interview
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump
Oligarchs have accumulated so much money that they are no longer constrained by pleasing customers. Note how Musk has knowingly hurt Xitter and Tesla sales.
I like the name Xitter and will start using it. "Xi" pronounced like "shi" I presume.
Yup, it’s pronounced exactly as you say.
Kathy,
Algebra x=shi*!
Thank you brilliant Heather & all awake responders on this site. Where I presently live there are multiple institutions
ie MBL, Oceanographic, Woods Hole Climate & Research Center, and the Woodwell Climate Research Center. More. We’re accustomed to seeing Nobel prize winning scientists walking around …. I don’t need to say how important each of these are to all of us, to the world. Somehow the dumb maggots assume they’re immune to diseases such as cancer, to global temp rising, to more destructive storm & fires, to another rampaging virus there’s no effective treatment for. All the $$$ in the world will not shield them, if that’s any consolation!
Hilarious!
Thank TC in LA for that
Yes, Tom deserves the credit for this. It’s the name for the social media site Muskrat destroyed. Tom, my apologies for failing to properly credit you with coining the apt name for Muskrat’s social media cesspool.
TC in LA started this
Thanks to TC in LA
Justin And ‘Yellow Spot Musk?” [don’t eat the snow]
Sorry, I don't understand the reference. I must have missed something?
Zappa!
Musk is not a ‘normal’ person…he may be good on machine manipulation but he does not understand human nature. Notice how he’s always expressing gaiety or laughter; he may be partly autistic even
I don’t think Musk is on the spectrum, but I do think he and Trump are both malignant narcissists and sociopaths. They are qualities you definitely don’t want people in power. I think the malignant narcissism Trump and Musk both have has the potential to cause a major clash and rupture their relationship. Trump might well think Musk is taking attention off Trump, and Trump believes he and not Musk should be the center of attention.
The real reason why Musk wants to attack and destroy USAID is because USAID personnel were investigating whether Musk had turned off Ukraine’s access to his Starlink internet system at various times to give an advantage to Russia. I think Musk has a far too cozy relationship with Russia and China, and it is why he can’t even get a security clearance from the U.S. government to be able to view the secured portions of his SpaceX systems. Musk’s constant drug use is another reason why he can’t get a security clearance. What galls me is that Trump allowed him to illegally access data that required security clearance, and Musk and Trump are going to perform an unconstitutional end run around Congress’s power of the purse. Musk is not a government employee, and he doesn’t have a right to access our confidential personal information without a security clearance he can’t get. Musk should start benefiting himself by quitting the Special K. It’s adversely affecting his view of reality.
Musk and Bezos have shown it was a big mistake to privatize space exploration. Space exploration should be a government endeavor and NASA needs to take it back.
I think Musk is after every last dollar that is in the US treasury and in the pockets of ordinary American citizens. He's going to bleed the US dry, all for his dream of going to Mars - just for his narcissistic ego to show his heroes that he CAN do it, and will even go BEYOND what they have done. This clip explains everything about his obsession: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MoACklnnxk&pp=ygUVZWxvbiBtdXNrIGJ1enogYWxkcmlu
Kathy, I’ve heard that Musk is definitely on the autism spectrum. Many people who have that trait are considered brilliant in their chosen field of focus. In his case, a deadly focus without any ability for compassion.
Musk said he was autistic.
No more exploding ships over the atmosphere that causes ATC to scrambling to keep airborne aircrafts SAFE Not a thought of the RISKS from the explosions .....just "that was a pretty explosion "
Often people on the spectrum present as narcissists.
Can’t keep planes from crashing, I think we will soon see rockets red glare, straight into the ground.
Definitely on the spectrum. And a sociopath.
Yes Musk is on the spectrum. This is known. It used to be called Asperger's, but now that has changed with the DSM5. He is absolutely on the spectrum. A genius at scamming people. That is his genius.
Hello—please stop it with the ableist hatred against people on the autism spectrum. If Musk is on the spectrum, that is as irrelevant as Trump’s weight.
Karen, I would suggest that it is, in fact, quite pertinent and NOT “hating against people on the autism spectrum” when considering the notion that Musk may be somewhat gifted in sustaining attention to what many might consider boring, repetitive or highly technical tasks as when he posted he’d spent the weekend with the Treasury computers instead of partying.
People on the spectrum are often geniuses and valued in many areas, but should not be given a position that requires a keen understanding of people. We all saw his behavior regarding the Thai children trapped in the cave...
Thank you Karen. As someone who’s worked with people on the spectrum I appreciate your comments.
Karen, autism is often a wonderful trait. I’m thinking of people like Einstein, and the many highly focused artists
who compose and can play any instrument in a breathtaking minute. I’ve always wondered about Mozart.
Autistic or not, autism does not make one immune from being a total a**hole, and that is what Musk is. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he claims to be autistic to gain some sympathy to cover up his utter and total ruthlessness. Remember, this guy is so rich, he can pay en entire to team to create an image or persona for him.
"May"? I thought that was well known. He's on the "genius" side of the line.
He has the emotional intelligence of a toddler.
I think we have to consider that he is Hitler on steroids. We have to consider that his goal is not to eradicate a specific race, but to take over, with Thiel et al. We have to consider that it is not working for companies to have to pay liveable wages and health care. They need slaves. We have to consider what the larger picture could be. We may have to take this government down.
Musk hires the people that are brilliant, none of the real intelligence comes from him.
Christine.., you and Kathy Hughes are both very kind and polite IMHO. Meaning, your attempts to describe two (people) in medically or more aptly Politically Correct, terms du jour. But, allow me to suggest how they might have been referred to had they visited the dancehall in Purgatory Maine in 1963. Autistic was not used out in the country.., "foolish" was. As in "he's foolish" or "are you foolish". A nice way of recognizing a person whose behavior was rather "odd". Retard, was often used as well. As in, "he's a friggen retard". Or, "are you retarded?.., right along with "moron", or simply "are you stupid".., clearly meaning, in todays language, 'autistic'. Village-idiot, being another. Back then the expression "wicked" was also used to embellish the words (terms) I mentioned. I should add, however, the expression "Wicked", seems to have been hi-jacked by flat-landers and others "from away" (i.e., not from Maine) over the past few years. I'm "from away" and therefore these things I mentioned are just my observations.., coming from NJ, hahahhsaahaa.., I hear ya. So, to close this blurbb off, I'd like to refer to the two Bro's as "casualties" who clearly FELL out of the womb, striking their heads on the bedpan. Geriatric folks, educated or whatnot, understand all those psyhcho-clinico terms (narcissist, etc), but the younger generation, e.g., the ones paying attention, are quite content with "moron" or f-ing morons. And, neither of em have any business running this country. Period.
BYD has better electric cars than Tesla. Longer range, more than 59% less. Their Chinese factories are nearly 100% automated. They are the largest exporter of electric cars to the world. The US has 100% tariffs in BYD, Europe 50%. Elon wants Tesla to implode. Layoffs. Then he can automate his factories too and make twice the profit. Maybe?
Ted I happened upon a YouTube video by self proclaimed financial genius who talked about the information you wrote above. He was making some sense till he got to the part where he said "President Trump" knows this and is smart about yada, yada, yada. I stopped the video right there. However, the guy was right about BYD and the 100% tariff keeping them out of the US market. Most Americans have never heard of the company which dominates the world's EV market. I'm curious how BYD came to your attention and your thoughts on the US effectively blocking a superior product that the rest of the planet has access to.
(Duck down... Vague Dana this way comes. I know stuff, but most of the details have left the building. Sorry.)
I was reading about water crises in Mexico, which leapt to an article about the immense (Yokohama) tire plant to open there in 2027, which leapt to a piece on Tariffs and the incredible ping-pong shell game of "component car parts" across our border each day -- with the completed assembly finally being driven back into the USA. "Now much-improved, high-quality Chinese-made EVs..." sticks in my recall. Not sure if BYD was mentioned.
I DO recall some (years ago) inquiry about "South Dakota car license plates being all over Mexico... What gives?" The gist of it was that -- at that time -- SD's vehicle registration process then allowed it to be so, and, as The Fonz said: "A loophole is a loophole." When I read that (still living in Alaska), my old state trooper mind wondered just how in the f*ck could that be anybody's governing policy(?). Now, we are happily new SD residents, and I had no harrumphs about complying with their current, thorough and strict policies. County does the reg./plates, and state issues drivers license. I DID take issue (but understood) when the very polite, courteous man at SD DMV apologized that they refused to accept my Veterans Administration-issued ID card as proof of my veteran status for the license.
Anyway, perhaps my free-fall research method pinged on a useful rabbit-hole for the BYD thing.
NYT article about the global EV market. Follow business and investment stories on Warren Buffet investing strategy. Bill gates on energy investment. Buffet is a huge invested in BYD, global battery supply chain. Bill Gates in Terra Power, next gen nuclear to charge all those electric cars and power the tech industry innovations.
Wicked!
J L, If the billionaires and the evangelicals (as HCR calls them) adhered to the Bible relating to money and specifically tithing, we could reduce the Federal income tax rate, sales tax rate and property taxes. If I'm a billionaire and I only rake in 5% ROI each year, that's $50 million, And there's many of them (like Musk, Bezos, the Waltons, Buffett) that are worth $100 billion or more.
Isn't tithing one of the core commandments of the Bible since money is mentioned over 800 times?
Of course, it's impossible to make these heartless greedy bastards feel shame, including the evangelicals, but let's give it a go.
There are Evangelicals and there are Christian Nationalists. Andra Watkins is an expert in the latter.
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/what-is-a-christian-nationalist?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
She also tells us how the Charismatic Christian sector of CN called New Apostolic Reformation have different End-of-Days beliefs from the other versions of CN.
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
It is the latter group we have the most to fear from because they are the ones making Trump force Christian Nationalism on all of us.
Here in Olga Lautman's Trump Tyranny Tracker Day 18
https://open.substack.com/pub/trumptyrannytracker/p/trump-tyranny-tracker-day-18?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
scroll down to
Trump Establishes Task Force to Enforce Christian Nationalism
What Happened: Trump signed an executive order creating a task force to eliminate "anti-Christian bias," framing it as a defense of religious freedom. The move mirrors Russia’s state-backed Orthodox nationalism, where the government weaponizes religion to consolidate power and suppress dissent.
Why It Matters: This is a clear step toward state-enforced Christian nationalism, using federal power to privilege one religion while marginalizing others. Like Putin’s use of the Russian Orthodox Church to justify authoritarian control, Trump is leveraging Christianity to undermine secular governance and erode the separation of church and state.
Source: CNN
True. The Russian Orthodox Church was always under state control when the tsars ruled Russia. Peter the Great's father Aleksei Mikhailovich abolished the patriarchate after clashing with Patriarch Nikon, who introduced reforms in Russian Orthodoxy that put the Russian Orthodox practice more in line with Greek Orthodoxy. The Old Believers resisted these reforms and stuck with traditional practices in an effort to resist state encroachment. Aleksei Mikhailovich created the Holy Synod as a state body led by a layman. The head of the Holy Synod would confer with senior church officials about appointing bishops, archbishops, and other church officials.
Putin’s Russian Orthodox Church is largely populated by senior church officials who were KGB informants during the Soviet era.
Two other sources about CN: Matthew Taylor’s book “The Violent Take It By Force”; and a podcast in which he participated, “Charismatic Revival Fury.”
Andra Watkins is paid subscriber only. Maybe you could “nutshell “ it for us. Thanks.
Linda-
HCR calls them evangelicals and so I switched my verbiage.
I am wondering about attacking the oligarchs and the white Christian Nationalists for 1) not tithing as the Bible instructs them to do at least 42 times, 2) attack them oligarchs for blocking raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Many states are very close, but 20 of them aren't. 3) attack Musk for withholding Federal funds for everything.
Might you copy and paste some of that stuff Linda ? That stuff fascinates me. It seems they ( Watkins ) has the basket of 'pay only' restriction over her 'candles.' It's a luxury I have to afford to participate here.
Wicked good, Gary. Make sure Paula White-Cain, gets her share. Build those crystal cathedrals. Fatten those pigs up for the judgement day. In the meantime, we've got to deal with the bubble that just burst. FEMA isn't going to help with this one.
“The filthy rich will rob u blind,
Until you raise your voices,
And the loudest one above the rest,
Will claim to be the rebel,
There’s the one you know,
The one you don’t,
But their both still the devil”
-Stephen Wright jr
Oh.... I like that Ted. Quite apropos
Yes; As I recall a proper tithe is "one tenth portion" of that which is in one's 'storehouse' ". *Words to that effect. I grew up with southern Baptist.
I traded my Tesla in yesterday. Every car dealer we went to said the market is flooded with used Teslas that people just want to get rid of because Musk can’t be trusted. It was bad enough when we heard his unprofessional staff was passing around photos the cameras took and making jokes about them. Now, I’m not sure the prepubescent bully wouldn’t turn mine off because he doesn’t like something I said, or my political affiliation. I did not give up a great EV, it had it’s share of stupid problems.
Notice how he acts and what he says more closely. Then look up a definition of "megalomania,"
A million here a million there. How do we dispense with this So. African clown? We are a drunk nation. And, if we keep weaving back and forth across the center-line, giving this one the finger and that one the finger, China is going to have enough of it. When they park their submarines five miles off NYC, WaDC, SFO and inform us to pull-over, we'll see how the bullet hits the bone. That'll be "retribution". Who we gonna call.., ghostbusters? Yeah, driving while blind.
And don't miss that endless wealth can be used to control politicians in the same way Trump's masses do: by threatening to mega-fund a Senator's or Representative's opponent. Musk directly threatened this early in his Presidential term (sic).
Because, unfortunately, way too many in Congress prefer not having to find a real job to doing the People's business, these threats work.
And now that the ultra-rich have seen it, it won't be the last of it.
Mindf*ck by Christopher Wylie is great also. Here’s an article about it from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump
Read it, scary but good to know.
Yes! Love me some Carroll Cadwalladr!!!
Carole Cadwalladr was targeted by people who were very angry that she revealed their nefarious tactics in her Guardian articles.
Kill the messenger tactics. Flood the zone to discredit her. Without addressing the accusation. Very Roy Cohn. But immense and intense with soc media.
There are a number of factors in Trump's win. Silicon Valley is one of them.
The stupidity of legacy media is another.
The Democratic Party Old Guard "leadership" is another. In my opinion the failed leadership is the main factor. We desperately need to move aside the Old Guard.
"The stupidity of legacy media is another."
Profit before honor is yet another.
Honor? What an antiquated concept! We don't need no steenking honor!
Mainly so, second, no proceeded by profit motive. The supremacy and primacy of profit dominion. The empire strikes back.
Who's gonna' write that one JL ?
The stupidity of the average American is shocking. They have become more ignorant about the reality and variety of human experience. Being connected to machines all their waking hours has taken their toll. Watching entertainment presented as news is heartbreaking. I have only listened to Public Radio since the 1970s.
I recently recommended public television news to someone and they said they didn’t watch it because “it’s too Liberal”. How does the reporting of events happening all over the world become ‘too Liberal” ?
Christine, I don’t know what else you may have said in your comment, but I - with no hesitation - wholeheartedly agree with your first sentence “[t]he stupidity of the average American is shocking”!
Now that I’ve read further, “too liberal” - sounds like that is someone who has a serious problem of discerning fact from fiction.
The power tech has over the masses. It’s a co lisensee deal among maga, tech, and the heritage/cato/koch/mercer network.
Someone or something like Fox told them so. Ergo, it’s true.
To them any media that is not right is left.
Less than 30% with a bachelors.
Yes stupidity of the voters is shocking, but it is not stupidity that is driving the avg. MAGA, it is plain selfishness. They are content with their jobs and homes. They are not forgotten, they want to be left alone. It is not the price of eggs, eggs are still increasing in value but it has no influence on their support. They do not recognize or have no interest in the ills of our society. Homelessness, low minimum wage, high student debt, inferior education, discrimination ... not their problem. They overcame difficulties why can't the others. My repub. neighbors, and I have been good friends with them, are big strong men, go to church, raise children, have dogs,. But they have little interest in the lives of those less fortunate than they are. That selfishness extends to other countries. Gutting USAID may save 1-2% of our budget, big deal. So they team up with the billionaires, most of whom do not really care about the lives of ordinary people. Less government, less regulations, less protections.
We have a 2 party system. Support Democrats, old guard or not, or we are stuck with MAGA. We can complain and rage about their choices but until we give them something else to vote for they choose Trump. Please for all our sakes praise and support the good things Democrats do.
Just think, not long ago we were jubilant at the prospect of the gop failing and some new party forming out their ashes from aligning with tfg, now the cfg. The democrats are crumbling it would seem under the onslaught of vast monied interests in the gop coalition; They've captured the money and the cultural conversations - admittedly, falsely. They stirred up the cultural issues and effectively weaponized cultural debates where none actually existed concerning nat'l policy. Or did those cultural policy issues exist in Nat'l policy ?
Support Democrats or live with MAGA. That’s the choice.
Read the whole of the "To be or not to be" soliloquy. THAT is the question.
Amen Janis.
Legacy media is irrelevant to the majority of voters. It’s the curated propaganda being spoon fwd daily, on demand. Increased screen time ( phone) accelerates the conversion, and/or the apathy ( non voters). Outage and fake/sensationalism has. More than a 17x advantage. Framed this way… there’s no way legacy media can compete, the can’t move the needle anymore. It’s a different game.
Ted, thank you so much for your explanation of how our data has been captured and used against our Democracy. I have no idea how we alleviate this situation, but I do realize that what writing now will be used to further enhance AI and help refine my commercial digital profile. Additionally, there is no profile icon I can click on to even have access to this profile let alone edit it.
I think a mass delete of meta, Google, X, and Amazon are necessary.
Watch "Interview With CHIEF STATISTICIAN Dr. Elizabeth Clarkson | Linking Kansas 2010s and 2024 Election" on YouTube
We need to set up a “go fund me” account for this woman to pay for an attorney to investigate this data compatible with election rigging.
How can we accomplish that?
If we can prove the election was rigged, and that Harris really won, we won’t have to put up with Trump!
Please watch this video.
https://youtu.be/1dQI_ujEYGM?si=gz5--yZZzmaUQvrN
Didn't Trump thank Musk for his help in Pennsylvania?
Geo targeting those news feeds. They know who and where to micro target the propaganda too and in what dosages. down to individual level.
https://caglecartoons.com/cartoon/292526
Linda, that is priceless. Heather makes so many great points today.
Pulled quote --
"Yesterday, Tim Carpenter of the Kansas Reflector reported that Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) is concerned about the Trump administration’s freeze on food distributions through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID buys about $2 billion in U.S. agricultural products a year, and farmers are already struggling with rising costs, low prices, and concern with tariffs."
Farm products, all kinds of research, weapons that we send to Ukraine and give to other countries, medicines, etc., aid to schools, SNAP benefits, etc.
These all add to the GDP and especially, the red states. Patriot missiles are built in Alabama, our military equipment contains parts from all 50 states. Food is grown everywhere in the US and even oil and gas are purchased for our military.
What Trump, Musk and the Republicans are doing is fucking over everyone, so the Oligarchs can get a tax cut.
omg Linda ! Hilarious !
🤣🤮
That. Is. Gold. REAL gold. (Also gross, but at least there's a red tie for the mushroom.
Don’t get caught in this trap!
You have achoice in what you tead, watch ir listen to!
Totally, drop META. Drop X. Drop Google.drop Amazon. That might as important as our collective physical presence protesting. What would happen if the majority of Americans dropped Facebook google and Amazon and Twitter on the same day? Hmmm…
Use duck duck go. Substack. And bluesky.
Will Bluesky give me the depth of research that I need? Try it and see, I guess. I've cut the others.
Quality over quantity. Bluesky has it, and without all the rif raf and trolling. There’s real civility and respect.
So far, I like that Bluesky shows me what I want to see, the people and groups that I am following, rather than a bunch of filler ads, invitations, etc. I'm going to miss some of my groups on Facebook, but 1) I often don't see their posts and 2) as more users go to Bluesky, I would assume more groups will develop.
How do you you get to duck duck go without googling it?
Here’s how you change to DuckDuckGo on major platforms: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/change-default-search-engine/
Ap store.
You pointed out the real problem: the unhinged bat-shit crazy orange buffoon has weapons of mass destruction at his disposal. Yes, the nukes, but even worse: social media. Muskolini is on his team, the Zucc has kow-towed to the Orange Emperor, and Putin happily plays his symphony on destruction on these new instruments. I always said that Facebook et al are a cancer that will destroy society. Damn, I hate to be right...
Wow, thanks Ted. I have long suspected what you write about. But I didn't realize the extent of the problem! Cripes! No wonder Trump didn't even have to try. We are doomed of we don't address this.
🙏
Actually, it is spelt Carole Cadwalladr.
🙏 let’s amplify her work.
Thanks for the suggestion! Here she is:
https://open.substack.com/pub/broligarchy/p/how-to-survive-the-broligarchy?r=apy04&utm_medium=ios
Well, since I couldn’t find a way to respond to your question about punctuation let me clear that up for you
L O LOL O L. When you can’t find rational reason, you look at scapegoats like spelling First of all, I’m not publishing. second of all I voice text everything and could frankly give a shit about the spelling or the Grammar syntax punctuation etc. It’s all about content not form. I’m not writing my thesis for college here and I believe based on everything I see here that most of the people here are pretty well educated and so I’m sure Chris you figured out exactly what I meant and therefore I made my point. Content over form….CONTENT.
And ON the second thing. This is what really cracks me up you don’t end of sentence with a preposition, so check your own work. Lmfao
BTB: Cadwalladr is the Welsh way to spell her name.
Now, please elaborate on mr. Chump's "terrace" .
Maybe on his "love" of uneducated people / educated idiots, too.
Thanking you in advance !
Well, I didn’t say the word so you’ll have to ask him. However, what he’s trying to say is he loves everyone despite everyone’s protestations to the contrary that he was racist, xenophobic, misogynist, antisemitic, etc. which are all obviously lies
And by the way, there are too many educated DERELICTS in this country and many of them are happy to be housed right here in front of my eyes IMO HOPEFULLY YOU’RE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE TERM EDUCATED DERELICT.
When I graduated, I was absolutely flabbergasted at some of the majors that some of my good friends were taking such as “I got my degree in horticulture in Saudi Arabian studies” as an example Or many of them went for psychology degrees and then went to work at Walmart or prepubescent kinesiology. So they could be a phys Ed teacher in an elementary school.
And finally, I don’t hold this thought as all encompassing however, there is a saying that has its roots in veracity If you can do…..Do. But if you can’t do ….teach.
They tested their cyber weapon on the UK during the Brexit debate and showed its effectiveness in destabilizing a democracy.
BINGO Harvey! B I N G O !
If Brexit was the Putcsh, 2024 was the Reichstag Moment.
Much obliged for your stack of heavy-hitting synopses, sources and cites to fact-check them. Heather’s morning touch of credibility arrives on just such a tall column of reality check-list references… pretty important for my fleeting retention and blurred grasp.
The AI data knows exactly who to target it appeals to the public's basest instincts and it is always a winning strategy. This election was decided by stoking voters' fears and resentments. Many were manipulated into believing in an onslaught of criminal immigrants, while others were driven by their deep-seated opposition to transgender issues. These manufactured fears dictated how people voted—or kept them from voting at all.
WOW! The Christopher Wylie interview from the Guardian is mind-blowing!
Keep learning!
Ted - thank you for this well thought out and informative post.
We americans learned our phone was listening when for example, years ago a group of friends were in an Airbnb and one said they were out of some product and within a day most received adds on this devices for said product ( example paper towels) it seemed funny. They joked about "they' are listening to everything we say - and thought the only problem is the way corporations will use this to steer us to products to buy. We, Americans are consumers of stuff after all and easily manipulated - just ask the old Madison Ave. We are a capitalist society, as such only considered the threat to our pocketbooks from the information these devices gathered from our data.
Speaking for myself, I never considered that these tech companies would form almost nation states outside the normal boundaries of what is considered a 'state'. These tech titans became so vastly rich and control so much of our data, that their end goal is no longer to sell us some crap - they want to rule the entire world like mad villains in SciFi movie or comic book
When Musk purchased Twitter - the ultimate evil emperor it now appears - it seemed like, at least to me, he just wanted to control information - stop critics of his companies, it did not occur to me that he wanted to take over the USA. He seems to be achieving this. The republicans think they are pitted against liberals and democrats, when in point of fact they do will be vanquished by the techies who want to run the country and other nations. They want to control people.
Trump is a figure head at this point. Vought and Musk give him 'suggestions' while feeding his ego and his pockets as they dismantle the country's institutions hoping to fill the void with their ideals.
When they have succeeded , if they succeed - then the battle will be between Musk and Vought - Musk wins this one
We are surrounded by people who no longer believe in demcoracy of any kind. It is up to us to build a barrier and to man the ramparts and repel this attack on all we hold dear. Or we will be living in the equivalent of The Matrix
The ‘I think my phone is listening’ happens to everyone. That’s the point you know tech has a pretty strong psychological profile” stolen from your data matrix. That realization should mirror and increase in your uncontrolled spending. Check your receipts! The increased spending online mirrors more doom scrolling. More addictive than nicotine or gambling.
@It’s the dopamine stupid”, as Bill Clinton would say!
Well you called Trump converting twitter/ X into an evil empire. Let me see if I can help you with math. Before he purchased it the participation rate by party was as follows 71% Democrat 30% republican and the rest was scattered
Now it sits at 49% democrat 48% Republican. And what is happening is that the Democrats that used to be in the majority have now showed their cowardice and moved to blue sky where they don’t have to hear an alternative opinion.
It’s very similar to channels like this one right now where I would guess based on being here six or eight weeks or so it’s about 95% liberal Democrats and therefore you don’t ever hear both sides of an argument you don’t ever hear both sides of the story. You only hear the prosecution and you never hear the defense nor do you care to hear the defense.
And it’s a free country and it’s your prerogative to do so, but you really need to look in a mirror and evaluate what I’ve said here
You don’t ever wanna be a defendant with a jury like the people here who think you’re guilty and don’t even care to hear the opposing argument and send it right to the jury or even worse right to the corrupt judge, as in many of the cases placed against Donald Trump which are now gone by the way
Truly dystopian. How do we get the repubs who care about nothing but power and money to actually work for the people and not for themselves and the billionaires?
Hey Terry, have you ever looked at the income tax statuses of who pays the majority of income tax in this country? There are more liberal billionaires than there are conservative, billionaires. And I don’t need to provide you a list. You already know their names. How ignorant to think that Republicans don’t care.
I’m guessing you don’t know many Republicans Eye on the other hand have been an independent for 40 years one of my favorite presidents Bill Clinton who buy most moral standards of people who think that Donald Trump is of low moral standards Here he should have been adespise despicable human being, but his results showed otherwise.
I have Shoshana Zuboff’s book and need to read it. Facebook was monetizing our data without our being aware of it, and despite the various statutes in place that are supposed to protect privacy, we are in the Wild West when it comes to data protection. Our data winds up for sale on the dark web, and it’s likely that the data Musk and his gang of hackers have collected will wind up ther and will wind up in the hands of Russia and China. Putin has a policy of protecting people who engage in hacking and computer fraud as long as they target Westerners. China actively seeks to gather as much data as it can, particularly DNA and other genetic data.
Shoshana=national treasure
Yea, and theirs are real.
Exactly.
Thank you, Peter, Linda and of course, HCR. You are right, what the American people need to hear and see are the faces and voices for our civil servants, hear their stories, witness their humanity and willing sacrifice in the service of this country and their fellow citizens.
We owe them our gratitude, enough of this negative BS that Trump and Musk are pushing on us. It's just noise.
We need to keep our eye on what is important. They are dismantling the government so that it will not longer function. When Elon and his minions are finished, Trump will turn on him like all the others who did his dirty work. The master manipulator.
Heather, here is another story that is compelling from the Counteroffensive with Tim Mak of Ukrainians still in the fight despite the demoralizing win and behavior of Donald Trump. https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/the-first-ever-all-drone-assault?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Elon is way ahead of Trump. Cyber info is the new nuclear arsenal.
How do u get this story out to members of Congress, the Senate. I will cut & paste to mine no matter how many emails I have to send!
I don’t think they really care. To make Rep Congresdcritters hear us, they have to see us protesting now. Everyday. Everywhere. That’s how far down the slope democracy has slid.
Forwarded tonight’s letter to my senators, Fetterman and McCormick.
Thank you for this, Susan. How wise of you.
I've been calling Fetterman's offices (DC and district offices), writing via his website, and sent a letter via US Mail the other day. I'm not his constituent so why should he care, one could say. The deeply disturbing part is that I, likely in the company of many in this community, was dedicated to his campaign. Deeply disturbing.
We helped with his campaign too, now regrettably.
Fettermanchin, you mean?
Yeah, I helped his campaign too.
Something phishy in Pennsylvania. Trump even thanked Musk for his help there.
Here's my story: I've had 21 jobs in my life. That includes 9 years in the eighties and nineties as a civilian employee of the US Navy. In all my years of working all those jobs, the most dedicated, hard-working, trustworthy, reliable, capable, and patriotic people I had the pleasure to work with were my fellow employees (both civilian and enlisted) at the US Navy. I am proud to have had the honor of working with all of them.
But here's what Republicans do. We received orders from Congress every single year to write up our own job descriptions so they could replace everyone at that facility with a private contract. They wanted to contract out our jobs to private companies. And here's the rub: the employees at a private company may be just as dedicated and hard-working, but they work for the company, not the United States. Their loyalty and dedication are to the company. They are answerable to the company, not the United States. That makes a big difference.
I would have stayed in that job until retirement, but the Republicans in Congress shut down the research facility I worked in because that's what Republicans do. Shut down the research, shut down development, shut down the government, shut down National Security, shut down service to the people of the United States.Make sure the only people served by the government are the wealthy, who care nothing about the United States except taking advantage of the lax corporate tax laws.
Government workers are hard-working Americans, just like you. When they stumble at doing the best job possible, it's a guarantee that Congress has failed to appropriate sufficient funds for them to do so. That person at the Social Security desk who isn't answering the phone when you call is probably swamped with phone calls because they can't hire enough people to deal with the volume.
Republicans want to replace all the dedicated public servants with lackeys who are loyal only to Trump and their corporate bosses. We can't let that happen.
The felon rapist won bc people are filled with hate for women, Black and Brown people and LGBTQ folks and everyone different from them. But he especially won bc men are not succeeding in this world, it changed and they refuse to. They want the world of 1950 or better yet 1850 - where white men with no intelligence or virtue could dominate just bc of what was between their legs...
Idiot trump won because far or way too many registered voters in our country shirked
their primary - short of paying their federal tax obligation - responsibility of citizenship by just NOT VOTING!
Yes. 93 mil eligible voters, which is more than the 77+ mil votes that he actually got.
This truth will not likely ever see the light. But it’s comforting only in that it confirms that less of my fellow voters voted to overthrow the Gov’t and end Civil Rights. In their determination to demonstrate a peaceful transfer of power, the Biden admin ignored red flags about this election. Concerned people were compared to MAGA even by dems and told to sit down and shut up. Too late now.
https://youtu.be/cKDw2rlLAs0?feature=shared
Thank you for this video. It confirms everything I've felt about this election since the night it was (very quickly) called. The problems here are myriad. The MAGA folks were kind of brilliant (even though they were lying through their teeth) in calling the 2020 election rigged because it made it harder for us to do the same. I feel like a conspiracy theorist even though I know that just because they cried wolf doesn't mean there isn't one now. And it makes it even more difficult for people to get on this bandwagon even though (to my eyes) it's pretty obvious it was stolen. Even Trump says so.
Getting anyone to do anything about this is an uphill battle but we must. Because - and this is key - if true, we're in danger of never having a fair election again. We're running around trying to get people to vote while they're going to win with just a few keystrokes (or however it was done). In other words, we're focusing on the wrong things.
The scale of this is new but the election insecurity isn't. Look back at the "wins" of Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, and Lindsey Graham in 2018. There were problems. And the race between Beto and Ted Cruz in 2018 actually had news stories about the voting machine vote switching that occurred in that incredibly close race.
We also know that voter suppression played a key role in this election as well. We have our work cut out for us for sure.
Trump's "stories" were composed of lies.
You and I know that, but the people who chose to vote for him and even some who did not vote for him believed them or did not care that they were lies, because they liked the stories.
My 23-year old nephew did not like either party, but voted for Harris. He believed a lot of stories that Trump told, like the immigration one, even though it was so fantastical, and that told me he is getting his info from social media. What can you do with that? Now that Trump and Musk are acting up, he is just cynical seeing all politicians as crooks, which tells me he could soon be joining the 93 mil eligible who did not vote. Of course, I am keeping the dialogue open. Don't want to lose him to either dark side.
My 21 yr old son felt the same as your nephew Linda, and though he voted "correctly", he was inundated with text messages all day long for months by the dark side. He never donated to anyone but as a young, male college student he was the targeted demographic and somehow- how? they had his telephone #. I fear he too may join the 93 mil after the big "turn off' as he said, of his first presidential election experience.
I hope you are able to have conversations with him. I am in Europe most of the time, and with us having lost his mother, I feel even more greatly how important it is that I keep talking with my nephew. Mostly we talk about what is going on with his life, but politics some. I try to be open to what he is thinking so I can learn from it. I am trying to figure out what social media he has, or what influencers he might be listening to, but he somehow avoids telling me. This election was a big turn off for many of us. Do the dems have to lie and create drama to compete?
Thank you!
You know if it’s a dear sir story with the invisible accordion, it’s going to be a real whopper. Trump lies compulsively without shame or regret (sociopaths lack the ability to feel either of these emotions,) but people continue to buy his bs with the backing of Faux News and similar outlets.
Joseph Grymkoswski job sharing maritime intelligence to mariners in danger of being swallowed by a terrible storm is similar to HCR's Letters from an American sharing with all of us her clear picture and line of action and what to expect to guide us in the middle of a nightmarish reality hard to comprehend otherwise .
And the words she says - and writes - are true.
Yes! Flood every news channel and any other means possible with these personal stories.
Linda, it pains me to say this, but you told your stories and you lost because of telling your stories. your story was of an old decrepit man. That should’ve left office or never run and then you put in through a coup d’ etat in America of all places an incompetent woman that’s never deserved pretty much anything that she’s gotten in his place, who is better at word salads than Gordon Ramsay or Julia Child You don’t need a story you need a purpose you need a goal and many of your goals or many of the goals of your party were misdirected like allowing 11 million illegals into the country as an example.
The current administration is one with no sense or interest in consequences. While 30,000 deported souls languish purposelessly at Gitmo, hospital bedpans will neither be removed nor cleaned. Fruit and vegetables will not be picked. Homes will not be cleaned. Trash will not be gathered and disposed. Standard lawn maintenance will be ignored. Restaurants will need to close. Meat will not be prepared and packaged for sale.
And this only covers the migrant deportations. Beyond that there is scientific research, public health, foreign humanitarian investment, etc., etc. At the presidential level, consideration of longer-term policy implications is ignored in favor of partisan politics. This is political malpractice.
https://absurdistannotebook.substack.com/
Actually many of them will not be so fortunate to be at Guantánamo. They will be in an El Salvador prison with the MS 13 for the rest of their lives, which is what they deserve. And if you think that for one minute, I’d rather have an illegal criminal picking my crops versus raping women or enslaving children to prostitution or robbing innocent citizens then you need a wake up call
John one day you might begin to realize that life is a do it to yourself proposition you become a criminal. You do something to hurt others and you pay the price and that’s exactly what’s happening and frankly it’s not enough. However, the good news for you is that this past week was the lowest illegal immigrant count in 20 years. And long before this 12 million people came in illegally or 20 million people whatever our crops were being picked our homes were being cleaned. Our trash was being gathered and lawn. Maintenance was just fine. Restaurants are being staffed. And now we’re even cutting staff because we can’t pay our bills. And going back as far as 2003 were found $2.7 trillion of waste fraud and abuse and it’s going to be monitored now.
Leadership is back in Washington and Cleaning house and not quick enough
And here’s the funnier thing. It’s only been 17 days into his presidency
He’s gotten support from Canada Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Argentina, Panama and it even looks like the European Union is going to lower the terrace for importing our cars from 10% to 2 1/2%
The war in Gaza is at a pause and soon the war in Ukraine will end.
Women and girls who strive all their life to be great athletes with sweat and toil and tears will no longer have to compete against men, and have the rewards and trophies taken away.
Excuse me, I have to leave because I have to comment to another lost soul Who thinks that the 50 million chickens that died back in April 20 24 have nothing to do with egg prices today not to mention the 24 million that died in January before Trump took Office.
17 days John.
Nobody in Europe wants to buy your cars, Rick and for obvious reasons - https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/opinion/365806/dear-donald-trump-why-europe-wont-buy-american-cars
A study of data from Texas being cited by Trump by the libertarian Cato Institute found that the homicide arrest rate for native-born Americans was “about 46 percent higher than the illegal immigrant homicide arrest rate.” There are no reliable nationwide statistics so Trump is basically just making unsubstantiated assertions about migrant crime and people like you are swallowing them whole. Put your faux indignation away and look at the facts, Rick. https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/is-illegal-immigration-linked-to-more-or-less-crime/
Russian Bot!
Russian Bot!
Linda Weide & Everyone .I have reported the disruptor of Substack Inc's platform & and our CONTRACTUAL right as defined "Readers" & some "Authors".
I demanded Substack's ADR a few seconds ago at Substack Inc's choice of venue (JAMS SF) for contractually compelled ADR that binds all us including Substack Inc who is located in my Neighborhood.
Do you know I believe there is a cure for stuttering. But if the medicine doesn’t work, perhaps psychoanalysis might help
Wow, and you would think that by your 16 posts that I am a Russian bot LMAO
Took only 17 days to reach the lowest illegal immigration numbers in 20 years here in America Way to go Donald
Not to mention all the countries that are along with him on this like , Mexico, Canada Argentina, Venezuela, Japan, El Salvador. And more and more coming online every day. Even appears, now that the European Union is coming along
Linda, do you know damn well I’m not please stop the nonsense.
Bot, maybe, maybe not. Troll, most assuredly.
Why not stop behaving like one and see what happens?
And I’m sure you can read, but you’re apparently not comprehending. I’m done with you. Let me know when you come live here in America, the greatest country on the planet.
Oh Rick, it pains me to say this, but my grocery stores are out of eggs at any price, obama deported more undocumented people than trump 45 did, and i’m not sure you would know a coup when you saw one, but i bet you can see one now if you want to. And oh yeah, stories. Heard any good ones lately about devouring pets? Me neither. Maybe those pet-eaters got ahold of my eggs.
Well, somehow, my whole post got erased so I’ll have to do it again, but you’re not gonna like it either way.
Back in April 20 24 50 million chickens died of bird flu in January of this year before Trump took Office another 24 million chickens died a bird flu. Perhaps you think that might have an effect on the price of eggs and you wanna blame Trump for that he’s been an office of 17 days and all this happened before he took Office.
Now let’s talk about the other items that you post here out of hate and ignorance. Grocery prices were up 20% during Biden’s entire term gas prices more than doubled mortgage rates more than tripled 11 million illegals Came into this country and now it’s costing us billions to remove them
And you do have one good point here so congratulations to you Obama did a great job in reading ourselves of illegals but Trump is only been an office 17 days and he will far surpass anything close to what Obama did but again Obama did a great job in that area.
And Biden was so bad they had to remove him from office and place Mrs. Word salad to get elected
Stop the hate is all I can tell you and deal with reality, which is what I said above
What is the Trump administration doing to tackle the bird flu problem which now spreading through cattle in the States? Do you really believe that this is a good time to be cutting health expenditure on research and appointing a nutcase as secretary of state? The cost-of-living crisis was caused by a combination of the pandemic followed by the disruption of supply chains due to the Ukraine war. The pandemic started under Trump and he deliberately downplayed its seriousness, as Bob Woodward's tapes have shown. - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-told-bob-woodward-he-knew-february-covid-19-was-n1239658 His catastrophic handling of the crisis was principally responsible for the unnecessary deaths of millions of Americans. You can't fairly blame everything on everybody else. Trump campaigned on lowering prices and doing it quickly. He himself said that was why he won. But they're not going down, are they, and the Federal Reserve is warning about inflation rising.
Trump is determined to suppress science at any cost, no matter how many die in the process. As someone with chronic cancer, people in my condition benefit from ongoing scientific studies and research into new medications. Disease doesn’t care about one’s political views. It hits different people with different political prospects.
Given Trump’s heedless behavior, it is inevitable that we will face another pandemic, and this time, it will be mutated H5N1 bird flu that has mutated to become transmissible between humans.
Before he left office, President Biden set up a group to work on developing a vaccine for H5N1 bird flu, and I have no idea if Trump has shut down the program.
Trump has shown that he has no ability to competently manage a pandemic, and while he at first set up a program to create effective COVID vaccines, later he started pandering to his antivax believers, who bought into the outright lies peddled by antivaxxers (including his HHS secretary candidate RFK, Jr., who made a lot of money he didn’t originally disclose by peddling antivax lies.) RFK Jr. has had his own children vaccinated, but he doesn’t want you to vaccinate your own children. Trump refused to take the lead in managing the COVID pandemic and left it to the states to do so. Social media was full of mockery of masking, vaccination, and Dr. Fauci’s attempts to educate the public. Not a few people who posted this mockery wound up dying of COVID themselves.
I can't believe I'm even responding to you on another thread because you behave like such a troll here, but I don't remember Trump blaming the egg prices on bird flu, and I seem to remember him saying he was going to bring those "egg prices down immediately," not "bring them down unless, you know, bird flu."
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trumps-white-house-press-secretary-194042306.html
Well, it’s kinda hard getting eggs from dead chickens. I’m only responding to the people who are engaging me. I don’t know what thread they’re on nor do I care. I have a better suggestion for you. Why don’t you Google what I said and validate it or use whatever browser you want facts remain the same.
And I still can’t get over everybody using the word troll here.
So many of you spend almost all day on here no one each other catching back-and-forth to each other commiserate with each other, but not once had I ever seen the word troll here until you got a dissenting opinion how amazing Have a nice day
Hi Boris
It’s Rick. Served in the military during Vietnam. Love America obviously a lot more than you. But you can continue your nonsense if you’d like just at some point in time you would think it would be embarrassing for you.
RS: "somehow", my whole post got erased .... Really? Apparently there was some sting in my ADR demand against Substack Inc earlier today.
Regardless, all my rights at law, contract law -- that's Substack Inc's chosen law not mine --- are specifically reserved.
A decrepit old man, Rick? Tell us about it.
Good ol' Rick is just tossing his own "word salad." It has no nutritive value.
Well, it wouldn’t to you, but it does for people that love this country and wanted to write itself after this four-year disaster. We’re trying to pull our self out out of.
The four-year disaster began January 20, 2025 .
Hi Boris
They removed him from office, John or were you aware of that? They held an actual coup in America. I’m sure you either have TV or a newspaper.
Russian Bot!
How about if we don’t engage? Please!
I feel some pain also. Before the election, there was a small amount of coverage about the mental deterioration of the 78 year old convicted criminal. Since the election, there has been none. His mental decline is staring us in the face and nothing is said about. As an example, at his press conference with Netanyahu, he said he would make Gaza "the Riviera of the Middle East", the United States would "own" Gaza, "Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs", "The only reason Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative," "I invision--world--people living there, the world's people. Palestinians also, Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there." He slurred his words, he rambled, he was incoherent, he cannot process facts, he put on full display he is in mental decline and the press doesn't point this out. Yes Rick, I am also in pain.
Trump doesn’t seem to realize there is no guarantee that Egypt and Jordan will accept Gazans moving to their countries.
From your description of Trump’s condition, it sounds like he’s had a series of TIAs and he has vascular dementia.
Well, first of all, you might remember that Mr. Biden was removed from Office before he was removed from office by election in a unheard of coup d’ etat in the United States no less
You’re also quite naïve about negotiations. Donald Trump had no intention of owning or running Gaza. He threw that out there in hopes that the Middle East would come together, for example Saudi Arabia or even the UAE had the opportunity to rebuild it, and then prevent the continuation of the hundred years war. Not to mention that if he did anything, he would need congressional approval which he knew and you knew and I knew he would never get. Simply in negotiation, tactic, and I feel bad that you didn’t catch that.
Further, I suppose you find it surprising, or you may not even know it at all that he was trying to vacate the rubble in Gaza and temporarily have the Palestinians move to either Jordan or Egypt the two neighboring countries and here’s the shocker for you neither Jordan nor Egypt want any of the Palestinians relocated there and you might wanna ask yourself why !! You also probably are unaware of the fact that there is a long border between Egypt and Gaza and it is totally engulfed with Barb wire place there by the Egyptians so that the Palestinians wouldn’t get in through Gaza Again, you probably didn’t know, but you probably understand why
You might not have even caught the fact that he’s had more press conferences with him present in 17 days than Biden had in four years
He also blew a couple of the reporters out of the water the other day when asked what he thought of the time magazine photo of Elon Musk behind the resolute desk did you hear his answer? It was hysterical and the crowd loved it.
The part you’re gonna hate the most is he’s gonna go down as one of the four or five greatest presidents in American history And you can lol all you want, but there it is Right now, the liberals and the Democrat party is that a 31% favorability rating with the country and a 57% Unfavorable rating in the country James Carville thinks the Democrats are directional list, leaderless and absolutely embarrassing and absurd. His own words, not mine, and there are many other people who have made the comments that it’s possible that the Democrats never gain back the white voter which is really despicable, but they’ve played the race card too long.
Almost every single intelligent left-wing pundit has said the same thing over the last few weeks. The problem with the Democrats right now is that they have no self introspection whatsoever. They’re not looking at why they lost. They’re not looking at how they lost. They’re not looking at the issues on which they mounted their campaign and they were all misdirected And this is on CNN MMSNC, ABC, NBC and CBS.
Bottom line and it’s very evident from your posts. It doesn’t matter what Trump says you hate him from the get-go and it will be at your own expense because he will be everything you don’t want him to be successful.
Nice try, but totally unpersuasive. My contact with the region is long and extensive, having visited Gaza several times long time ago. I have been to Israel and its neighbors a number of times, read extensively and have written articles about the region. To call me naive is laughable. Keep up the attempted insults, they are very funny. I love it. And of course, you totally ignored the fact the 78 year old convicted criminal is displaying mental decline. You don't recognize it, but it doesn't take much imagination to know that the Chinese see it.
Wait a minute I’m naïve and you’re still calling him a convicted criminal what a joke all contrived cases every single one of them and they’re all gone or will be very shortly. So stop the nonsense. He’s president of the United States and will be for four years. but suspicion is that if he gets the country running like he thinks he will and like many of us, hope he will. He will simply handed off to Vance before his term has ended, and Advanced does a good job in his final year then Van might spend eight more years in the White House since apparently right now the Democrat party has no leader, no direction no goals and less common sense that they’ve had in years and that’s why their current favorability rating is lower than it’s been in 50 years which is a shame but appropriate.
But since yourself familiar with the Gaza area, could you please tell me why that the Egyptian Gaza border is surrounded by barbed wire so Palestinians cannot get across and why Egypt and Jordan are refusing to take any Palestinians in even though a great percentage of Palestinians live in Jordan Take a guess
Hi Boris
Russian Bot.
You can't solely blame Democratic administrations for the rise in illegal immigration into the States. Look at the facts - https://www.npr.org/2017/03/07/518201210/how-did-we-get-to-11-million-unauthorized-immigrants
Reagan granted 3 million people amnesty. Under the first Trump administration, there were 2.4 million encounters on the southern border and this was low chiefly because of the pandemic. And, contrary to what Trump says, the increase in illegal immigration since 2010 has coincided with a long-term decrease in violent crime. These are the facts, Rick.
nice punctuation Rick, which school did you go to?
Yawn. Boring.
Hi Boris
You are a downer Rick.
I am a downer to people who have made up their minds already without seeing the prosecution and the case for the defense because many people here don’t wanna see a case for the defense and that’s the problem and that’s why I’m a downer. You just want to convict somebody without a fair hearing. I hope you’re never a defendant in a case with a jury like the people here who see the prosecution’s case send it right to the jury and the judge and relish in the conviction without even hearing that the defendant wasn’t even present or anywhere near the crime. It’s very sad but I understand it John.
You complain bitterly and without statistical evidence about crimes committed by illegal immigrants and at the same time moan about conviction of MAGA thugs who were convicted for attacking the Capitol police. You're a hypocrite, Rick, just like your criminal president.
Russian Bot!
What we should have learned from this past campaign is that hate sells well. Trump peddled hate for immigrants, for gays and transgender folks along with promoters of female rights. So, where do we go from here? We turn our big guns on the wealthy who have destroyed the Middle Class and have made it virtually a certainty (with $37 trillion of national debt and increasing) that those in their 40's, 50's and even 60's now most likely will not get Medicare and Social Security. A lot of pain in coming down the turnpike. Hate sells and motivates.
What we should also have learned is that a lot of people want to be lied to. The problem for the Dems is making truth as appealing as lies. How can you do that? Apparently poor people do not want to know that the Billionaires are the only ones going to financially benefit under Trump.
I wish that the Blue states, who make up 70% of GDP would collectively withhold their taxes as leverage against the Trump/Musk government. I am one of those people who most likely won't get social security. My mom who is 90 may lose hers. Medicare is less of an issue for me because I am in the health care system in another country. However all the Americans living abroad resent that we pay into Medicare and then don't get anything from it.
Hmmm. Could this be the "shot heard round the world?" Is this the beginning of the break-up of the Union? If so, I will definitely move back to California. The non-blue states will probably come together to form the United Christian States of America. Chances are that the blue states east and west will merge with Canada.
I was not aware that those living abroad received no Medicare benefit. That's clearly not fair. Blame it on the oligarchs who are squeezing the American economy for every billion dollars that they can.
And America needs to hear Repost this letter wherever you can so all people can hear it and digest the protections that are working every day for you no matter how you voted.
Go Heather. US needs you
Broken
She was beautiful, fragile
made hundreds of years ago
by a master artist at the top of his craft.
One day a big man with a red tie
lusting after her, wanting to own her,
reached quickly to grab her body
sending her crashing to the floor.
It takes no brains, training or talent,
it’s so easy to destroy the irreplaceable.
I particularly noted the comments about the Senators from “red states” realizing what damage the current administration is doing. Yet, these very same Republican Senators approved the evil POS who will now run OMB and wrote the major parts of Project 2525. These Senators are willfully going along and bowing to President Musk and his idiot Co-President in helping to destroy our democracy. This is what happened in Germany in the 1930’s until that madman burned down the Reichstag and eliminated any possibility of pushback. Hope these schmucks sleep well at night knowing their complicity.
Indeed: it isn't like the governors and representatives in states controlled by Rethuglicans are not well aware of the fact that their states feed off the federal trough at a much much higher rate than those controlled by Dems. People on my FB feed are asking me to "thank" Jerry Moran (KS senator) for opposing the shutting down of USAID. Why has Moran taken that stance? Because Kansas supplies something like 40 million dollars annually of the basic foodstuffs that USAID buys. So my response to those wanting to lick his boots? Spit in his eye. Those fuckers voted for the Felon in Chief. They deluded themselves into claiming that their undocumented migrant workers who labor in their fields for a pittance would not be deported, that the Felon wouldn't touch their entitlements, that the only people to suffer would be the "Libs." Hoist by their very own petard. Same goes for the U of Missouri system (3 of the 4 schools HCR mentions are in the system--UM Columbia, UMKC, and MO Institute of Tech at Rolla), which has lived off of NIH, DoD, and NSF grants for decades. I teach in that system. I have colleagues who are doing vital research funded by all those organizations. The president of the system has his head up the arses of the Rethuglican neofascists in order to claim he can make it rain. Welp: he is fucked. That is fine with me, even though it does irreparable harm to my friends and colleagues. The hydra needs to be decapitated.
“I never thought the leopard would eat MY face.”
this is beautiful, Lynn. Ignore the desperate troll.
Just FYI, re: "the desperate troll", if you click on the circle by their name their profile comes up - if you click on the three dots to the left you will see a drop of options, of which one is block. I've blocked a number of people on this site now - you will not see them in comments any longer. Sometimes they are just assholes (Bonjour Rick Sender), sometimes they pose as reasonable chin strokers arguing for paralysis, telling us nothing is possible (Good morning Mr. Rosen!). You can block them permanently. They are bots or worse.
Thank you so much for the valuable information on how to block a person from this site!
“And frankly, I really don’t read Heather anymore.” (Rick Sender)
That was the last straw for me. Rick Sender is BLOCKED! I was willing to read opposing arguments based on fact, but if Rick Sender can’t even read Heather‘s comprehensive and well documented information before publishing his rants, why bother. He is in the MAGA bubble and not interested in academic debate.
Life is better without Rick and a few other assorted bots and trolls. The air smells fresher. Food tastes better. Wine has the headiness of the first time you sipped a glass. Imagine how all of that would be if we could just get rid of the fascists and racists in our midst too.
My life has been sender free for weeks . . . life's a dead-ender when you read Rick Sender!
Felicitations and happy Sunday!
I go to the little dots on the far right & push " Collapse", & Mr. Sender's daily rants are gone.
Conversations are difficult in this format. Please read my post about trolls. Thank you.
I sometime ago got rid of that low-lifer…Sender!
Me too!!
Thank you! I blocked him!
I used to block "him", but "he" always reappeared. Now I collapse "him" on sight.
Conversations are difficult in this format. Please read my post about trolls. Thank you.
Thank you. That felt good!
Conversations are difficult in this format. Please read my post about trolls. Thank you.
Blocked him long ago, I thought he was gone.
How DELIGHTFUL to never see him!
Great info!! So effing tired of the idiotic RS.
Conversations are difficult in this format. Please read my post about trolls. Thank you.
Desperate trolls are collapsible.
TROLLS
Thank you Heather Kirk for your kind words. I want to use your entry to say something about folks who disagree with me. While it is not pleasant, it is vital to my developing understanding. That includes Mr Sender.
Years ago I knew some parents who were abusive to their children. When I tried to talk to them, they always said it was because they loved their kids more than most parents... I believe they honestly thought that. Both children died by suicide.
Now we have Mr Sender saying one man's hubris is, "... his hubris is the love of his country..." the red tie guy will destroy the country out of love!
“And frankly, I really don’t read Heather anymore.” Mr Sender has stopped taking in valid information, he's afraid. He's not lazy. He is working reading opinions he can reject.
"Your party is directionless." Mr Sender believes in 'group think.' Individual beliefs and values irrelevant If we want to reach him we have to find a group he relates to.
What I'm trying to say here, is, this is information we need. I ask everyone to please not try to silence Mr Sender. These insights into his thinking will help us design a strategy to counter him grim views.
We do not want anymore dead children.
Exhibit "A": Mr. RS responded to my pointing out a spelling error by trumpeting that AI was his methodology for communication - - as if that would solve all my picayunish problems, since apparently AI has made life easier for him. I will take some other person (forget who)'s advice and "collapse" his contact. Being 83 puts me behind the communication curve antics, especially since AI has arrived...
I suspect he is a bot. Since all creation requires three forces, and I can see no reconciling force in his two term thinking.
So true Lynn
he doesn’t wanna own her. He just wants her to run right. And he’s there to write the ship because the last four years the ship was filling with water and about to collapse under the sea.
LOL Rick dear, unilaterally deciding that this beautiful being was 'running wrongly' is the root of the problem. Thank you for pointing out his hubris.
Well, the last four years Lynn have been a total disaster on almost every front possible we’ve wasted $200 billion in Ukraine. We’ve allowed a huge fight that Trump had to settle between Israel and the Palestinians. We have allowed millions of illegal criminals into our country that we are now having to rid ourselves. And it was running so poorly that an actual coup had to be performed here in the United States just to get the corpse or the semi cadaver out of office. So thanks for your input, Lynn, dear.
And finally, his hubris is the love of his country, which which is absolutely the best reason for which to have hubris.
Why don’t you go back to Fox News.
There is no point in engaging with a true believer. He has all his own "facts." Just let him marinate in them.
Why don’t you face reality? That’s a more important question because you’re going to be facing reality for the next four years and in fact, if Trump plans his presidency properly, he’ll get even more control of the country back on track handed off to Vance in year three and Advanced continues to do a good job. He may even spend eight more years in the White House. Your party is directionless. Your party is leaderless your party has now the lowest popularity it has in a century of 31% positive rating and 57% negative rating for a liberal that’s offensive. So get with the program watch what happens put away the Ouija board and the crystal ball and at the end of the day if you love America, you’ll be pleased.
Trump hasn't settled anything between the Israelis and the Palestinians and he's also jeopardised the treaties with Egypt and Jordan with his insane Gaza plan, which his officials have been trying desparately to walk back since he announced it.
Get OFF HCR’s website NOW!!!!!!
Well, you sound like a first amendment patriot. Good for you.
“And frankly, I really don’t read Heather anymore.” (Rick Sender)
That was the last straw for me. Rick Sender is BLOCKED! I was willing to read opposing arguments based on fact, but if Rick Sender can’t even read Heather‘s comprehensive and well documented information before publishing his rants, why bother. He is in the MAGA bubble and not interested in academic debate.
AGREED!!!!!
And just yesterday this guy was telling me that he lived in the best country in the whole world - imagine!
"write"? does not = "right".
At least spell correctly. Always read before publishing.
And, Phil, don’t tell Rick that Trump is getting bad press from NEWSMAX!!! They just published the PEW poll on Trump’s first few weeks. 47% approve and 51% disapprove. Poor Trumpy…
“According to the poll released Friday, 47% approve of how the president is handling his role with 37% strongly approving, and 51% disapprove with 40% strongly disapproving.”
Well, Phil sent me something and I couldn’t find his name so I figured if I posted it here that somehow he’d get it and he would get passed along.
And by the way, the stronger the hate the better he’s doing.
Besides, I don’t really care about polling, but I think the Democrats need to do so since they’ve lost about 20 points in the past four years little bit more introspection might be in order people like James Carville are throwing a fit at how the Democrats are running themselves even David Axelrod is overly disappointed in their reaction/observations/policy objectives
By the way, Paul, I’ve seems like I’m making some headway with some of your posters here getting a lot more agreement now that people are thinking through some things rather than hating out of hate
Phil, I don’t really care what his rating is by anybody. I just care what he does for this country and in 17 days he did more to help this country that Biden did to hurt this country in four years. I’ll actually not four years. They have to remove them from office before that. COUP. However, when your own personal media like James Carver and all your other supporters start trashing your party for not having any direction any leader or the wrong message you might wanna start listening to that since you lost this election in every way possible
Did you mean to answer someone named Phil or is your AI really ARTIFICIAL??
Yeah, but Rick “voice texts” so he just posts stuff that his AI “thinks” is what he meant to say. His AI has a different time distinguishing between homonyms like “right, write, and rite.” Poor guy, that Rick. It’s gotta be tough to have to rely (or do I mean “relay”) on Fake Stuff.
The good news for me, Paul is that I have you to translate it for me.
L O LOL O L. When you can’t find rational reason, you look at scapegoats like spelling First of all, I’m not publishing second of all I voice text everything and could frankly give a shit about the spelling or the Grammar syntax punctuation etc. It’s all about content not form. I’m not writing my thesis for college here and I believe based on everything I see here that most of the people here are pretty well educated and so I’m sure Phil you figured out exactly what I meant and therefore I made my point. Content over form….
Leave this site AND learn to spell, Rick sender troll.
And here all along, I thought the people here would be able to read right through the spelling issues and get right to the content. Alas, I was wrong. I’m voice texting here and could care less about spelling, syntax sentence, structure punctuation, etc. I’m not writing my thesis I’m getting an obvious point across. Only to find it’s most mostly falling on deaf biased ears
“Write the ship? Or did you mean scribble the shit?
Sorry I thought maybe English comprehension was your major in college but apparently you skipped right over that in fifth grade.
Maybe you’ll learn that it’s pure ignorance to try to embarrass somebody you don’t know. Why don’t we talk about topics of interest instead of personal insults This group seems to be very well educated, which unfortunately doesn’t always transfer to practicality of use
😂
It’s called voice texting. You should try it therefore, the most important thing you read is the content and not the attempted disclaimers.
Thank you, candy
Where's the "dislike key". Spoken like one of DonOLDs true suckers.
You mean one of 77 million? And the US map is blood red and 48 of the 50 states became redder than they did the last election we’re losing touch with reality.
You lost the White House you lost the Senate you lost the house you don’t have the Supreme Court more states are becoming conservative than before and Donald Trump has begin to clean up the landscape of illegal criminals.
And you of all people should be proud of Donald Trump, that he just freed women to compete with each other rather than compete with men, after having worked, their whole lives toil to be competitive in the Olympics in college, and the woke Ness and the idiocy took it away from them, but no longer. Guess when you called a misogynist you were incorrect. What a surprise.
Just because you dislike something doesn’t mean it’s not right either. I’m certain that many children get sent to bed early or get punished because of bad behavior and while they don’t like it at some point if they’re smart, realize that they’re behaving badly and deserve what they got and that’s exactly what this country is getting right now and improvement over the last 3 1/2 years and it attempted coup. Although well-deserved.
Very scary stuff. And the felon in chief LIES every time he opens his mouth! Every single time! The republicans in our houses of Congress are 100% complicit with the destruction of our country. And then there are the people who voted for the felon as well as those who couldn’t be bothered! Each and every one are guilty of being traitors to our country by sitting back and saying nothing or willingly bending the knee to the felon.
Lies. Every. Single. Time.
And they believe them: Every. Single. Time.
Here's a new one:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/08/trump-cuts-aid-to-south-africa-over-racial-discrimination-against-afrikaners
What??? He's forgotten which way is "up".
Seriously you’re using the guardian as evidence of anything The guardian is left of Santa Claus.
You should probably stop using the felon and chief acronym. In a contrived case that wouldn’t hold Mustard in a red state or a fair and even balanced jury this would’ve never happened not to mention the other three cases that disappeared amazingly.
Trump was indicted by four juries of ordinary American citizens like you in four separate jurisdictions on 93 criminal charges. He's a convicted criminal and you voted for him Rick, so why not just own it instead of bleating here about how unfair it all was?
Jurors "like you"???
I live in the UK Ed, but I understand that in the States you have process known as voir dire so your insinuation about those juries is just plain silly.
Yeah, Russell, what Rick and Ed don’t seem to understand is that the juries are chosen by BOTH sides. Trump’s lawyers APPROVED those jurors who convicted him of 34 felonies.
It sounds like Rick would prefer to have had Trump tried (for a New York offense) in West Virginia. Maybe Clarence and VIRGINIA Thomas would prefer that too, but…. Or, maybe Clarence will be working on getting all other cases to “disappear amazingly.” I hear that there is a golden toilet at Mar a Lago just waiting to welcome Clarence’s tush. (Awwww, how naughty of me!!)
You are not getting it. Rick is not like a typical American citizen. We typical citizens don't spend our time trolling web sites or cheerleading genocides and ethnic cleansing. Ruling class oligarchs do the latter. When we broke from your England, we ditched the king, but kept the aristocratic ruling class.
Trump’s attorneys would have had ample opportunity to question jurors during the voir dire process and to find jurors to their liking.
45/47 avoided having his cases brought to a jury of his peers. He fought in the press, insulted judges, intimidated witnesses. Everything but stand and answer for his behavior in light of the law. Did he break the law or not? Certainly having highly classified secrets piled up in his bathroom at Mir a Lago appears blatantly a violation of law. After resisting polite requests to return classified documents, the government was forced to pursue them. 45/47 blatantly obstructed justice: there would have been no charges if he cooperated. The judge avoided hearing the case and just delayed in technicalities until he entered office again. That doesn’t tell us anything except that he is unwilling to answer for his behavior and a lot of people are ok with that. And a lot are not.
Peter, this is not a joke--can you ask Heather to post one of your pictures at the end of her daily letter, if not every day, at least regularly? These turbulent times are overwhelming. I am so happy when Joyce Vance post pictures of her chickens. We need moments of grace and beauty to survive, and your photos offer us that.
Thank you.
We can browse at our leisure through Peter's portfolio of splendid photos:
https://www.ralstongallery.com/portfolios
Thank you, Ellie!!
How wonderful to look at these beautiful images this morning. Peter is a wonderful treasure that Heather has brought to us, as are you, too! You are the reason I started writing postcards and letters years ago, when you shared information on this forum.
Oh my goodness, Miselle, thank you! If you're interested in joining our HCR inspired activist group, I will send you more info.
As I gazed at Peter’s art, I was moved by the importance of getting into the world with a mind open to chance beauty and the skill to respond to it.
Chinese proverb: Luck is when skill meets opportunity.
True! Thanks for the link.
Love love love Peter’s pics posts!!!!💖
H/t Ellie (again).
And Paul Krugman posts music videos.
I can’t get the music posts, it says I need to sign in. I am a subscriber and am signed in, any help?
I think it’s a glitch in the system. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
I'll second that. (Yes - love those chickens!)
Peter, I reckon that your eloquent message to Heather speaks for all of us. Heather is a remarkable human being, and a beacon of truth and hope. I feel so very fortunate to be a long time reader of her letters…she has saved my sanity many, many times, that’s for sure!
💛🇺🇸💛
Beautifully and so accurately said. I am never “just” educated by Heather’s posts. I am always, also, moved. These are our real heroes. This is the very best of who we have been. Beside this man’s story the shallow grandiosity of those creating chaos and destroying our humanity are shown to be as small as they are.
Amen
You've *managed to speak for me and in fact, most all of us here Peter; Thank you for that.
In a separate matter, acutely aware that you know Heather personally, you might do us all a favor by asking that she remove a particular troll that inhabits here. It is most disruptive to the community; Not by having a contrary opinion to Heather (which he does and espouses) and most of us here, but by imposing itself into nearly every discussion unbid and ranting without end, imposing into every conversation without invitation. I just scroll past, but his frequency is increasing and becoming more and more interruptive and problematic. I would 'pass the hat' so to speak, to cover the cost of it's removal if needed. I should hope that to be unnecessary. Thank you ~ P.S. Adore your artwork.
D4N, I have thought about Rick’s posts quite a bit. If he is “real” and truly believes what he posts, then he is entitled to his opinions/thoughts. I don’t mind contrarian opinions, perhaps might learn a thing or two. However, after having read, and occasionally responded to, his comments, I realize they are hackneyed tropes bereft of truth/accuracy so now simply “scroll on by”….also do not read (minutes I can’t get back) any attempts to respond to him, as they are pissing into the wind. Is he a bot, a troll?…dunno…but I choose to simply ignore him & responses to him. Just my 2 cents.
I agree, Barbara. He claims to audio type, but the English is not only misspelt but inconsistent. His insolence used to make me so pointlessly angry that I just started collapsing him on sight.
The instructions for blocking were posted earlier... that's what I've done for our bot/troll.
Trump won because Silicon Valley Oligarchs have banded together with emerging cyber weapon called Facebook news feed, Instagram, X, and Google. They matched new Surveillance Capitalism with dopamine releasing and addicting qualities of casino gambling, to profile, mine data, and identify the most vulnerable. Then target them, the most persuadable ( vulnerable) in the key districts of the swing states, without their knowledge, overwhelming them, so subtly to radicalize some, and make the middle apathetic towards political participation.
There is a reason there are billion dollar lawsuits in Europe to combat these new military grade cyber weapons. Everyone is so outraged about their data being stolen out of the treasury, but you know what Silicon Valley probably has more important data on every American with more than a trillion s data points psychological profile a strategy to convince them how to vote or not to vote.
“ your phone is not listening to you”
That’s a mistake to think that that happens what’s really happening? Is that the data points that you’re sharing with these companies can make precise predictions on your behavior of every aspect of your life not just consumerism. Donald Trump has licensed himself and his Maga Movement out to Silicon Valley Oligarchs. The really sad thing is maga doesn’t know they’re being conned and the rest of the public is unaware of what’s that really happening to their data, as they are brainwashing a whole society of docile consumer slaves.
I’m not sure how we ever get ahead of this, but everyone should read ‘surveillance capitalism’ by Dr. Shoshana Zuboff. Or ‘Zucked’ by Roger McNamee.
Oh shit. Think about Elon sharing the whole countries private financial history, tax returns, medical history, and everything else they stole from Treasury, and other agencies….Merge that with the digital footprint /psychological profiles they already have. AI is probably merging it right now. That is some stuff not even Orwell or Atwood considered.
They came pretty close, though. "You are the dead". One of the most chilling lines in literature, when they realise they have been heard. Another dreadful moment is in 2001 A Space Odyssey, when the camera tells us that HAL is lip-reading them although he can't hear them.
You Might want to see a paranoia specialist
That's the only thing that there's just too little of.
Peter Ralston -- Yes, to what you contributed to Heather! Bravo! And gratitude to you for being such a fabulous photographer. Bravo! There's a word in Tibetan that means "good eye" -- miksang. Pronounced "miksong". So you could be known as Miksang Ralston. Or Ralston Miksang.
I so agree and add my deepest thanks to Heather.
Just finished reading this letter. It is hard to understand how HCR does this day in and day out. She is a wonder....if Sonny and Cher were to perform their song "The Beat Goes On", what would it sound like today? A lot like this letter? And what about Barry McGuire's one hit wonder: "Eve Of Destruction"? They/we were so innocent and simple back then.
Cracking open your heart both for the beauty of the American spirit and for its loss.
Well said, Peter!
Professor is focussed, as always. She sees we are facing a national crisis that America has never faced. Lincoln predicted this crisis cound end the country as founded. She is counting on heroes to show up. She cannot take rest as she is fhighting.
I know a government employee who70 years ago was asked to find a way to be sure that then-new pre-stressed concrete was really solid without having to crack it open. He did. That was the invention that made pre-stressed concrete construction possible. Had he been doing it in private industry, his patent for the process would have been worth billions in licensing. But since he worked for the government, it was free to anyone who wanted to use it. He once said of it, "If I'd been in private industry, I'd be rich, except for the fact if I had been in private industry, no one would have ever asked me the question."
That government employee was my father. The next time you go driving on a pre-stressed concrete freeway overpass and never worry about whether it might crumble out from under you, thank him.
Great story, Tom.
And thank you for your own Substack. You so eloquently express what my evil twin is thinking whilst I try to maintain my polite, mannerly senior woman façade.
My polite, mannerly senior woman facade has collapsed.
Don't worry Paula that's important is what you are inside.
Mine has f’ed right off 😂
Your father, TC, did us all a huge favor. How proud of him you are!
Thanking you will have to do TC.
Yay! TCinLA. Thank You for this great story. And Thank You TCinLA Dad!
As a retired crane operator, I have lifted and set in place many a pre-stressed concrete structural member [ twin tee, girder etc.] over the years. Your father's innovative work within the government is directly responsible for my being able to raise a family and have a fulfilling work life. If you please, thank him so very much for me. This is the work of public service in it's essence. Again, please thank him for me.
Please thank you father for me
🙏
Thanks for this, Tom. I appreciate your writing and your insight. I also appreciate TAFM where I can let my profanity loose. Plus, more writing and insight.
My Dad was a government employee; a meteorologist with the Weather Bureau then NOAA. 30+ years. One of the first trained in using Doppler Radar to forecast storms.
Great backstory TC, not a bit surprised and it shows your father had a keen sense of irony in “no one would have asked the question.”
🩵
Thanks to your dad!
My father was a neurophysiologist who dedicated his career to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research. Much of his life's work was funded by NIH. I remember as a child hearing about the work he put into his grant proposals to fund his work as well as hearing about those who stood to benefit from his dedication. Fast forward and I spent 3+ years of my life as the primary caregiver for my mother-in-law as she died from Alzheimer's. Caring for someone with this terrible disease is horrifying. They're gone before you know you need to say goodbye and then you're left with caring for what is left of a person you once knew but who doesn't know you.
My sister has continued my father's work, leading research trials with Alzheimer's patients. She too relies on NIH for much of what they're able to accomplish.
Vilifying and constricting the work the NIH is accomplishing is a travesty that will impact millions of lives. This reality needs to be understood.
This reveals an enduring Truth: We can have well-funded research, safe food, safe travel, great healthcare, great schools, clean air and water OR
Billionaires.
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” — Justice Louis Brandeis
An autocracy or oligarchy is neither a free society nor a free market.
All caregivers are saints, in my opinion. My dad, a Holocaust victim and a WWII veteran, ended up with dementia. My mother, also a victim, handled his disease as best she could. She really didn’t quite understand what dementia meant but we saw her health deteriorate, as well. Our mom, had heart attacks but determination had her bouncing back until our dad finally succumbed. Bless you, Dani, your dad, and your sister.
Bless your mom and dad Marlene
Thank you. These stories make real what can seem abstract.
It's all just a game to predatory sociopaths.
When those 'trimming the waste' have neither the scientific, innvestigatve or other skills that researchers or federal agents have and also lack any semblance of humanity the functional worthy system is destroyed. Money and power is as far as they see. Techobro oligarchs wants the few to control everything.
I thought I understood that for a while, but earlier today I watched Ezra Klein's podcast interview with Kara Swisher on the radicalization of Elon Musk
I've often quoted the phrase "there is no animal in the jungle more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose" but I now realize that an intelligent narcissistic sociopath with unlimited money is the most dangerous life form.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story! 🌻
Unfortunately you were misunderstood. That’s not what’s happening. There is no argument with the NIH. There is just the need for analysis, validation and verification of what they’re spending their money on how it’s being spent how it’s being monitored and if any money is being misused or lost. Once this is reestablished, the NIH will be exactly as it were before only leaner and more effective.
Dream on in your MAGA world.
By the way, this part I really like saying. It’s not only my Michael world but it’s yours as well. Oooops. To quote most of you from a few years ago, elections matter and have consequences. Uh oh
My MAGA world.
I don’t have to dream. All I have to do is pay attention. Put away your crystal ball and your Ouija board. Neither one are functioning.
And maybe you should follow the advice of the Japanese Prime Minister. You don’t respond to hypotheticals
You would have been very valuable to the Vichy government.
Ok so cut the funding off with no notice so staff are laid off, research studies are unsure if they can proceed. What planet are you on?
If it were about studying, that can be done without withholding paychecks and throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Well, generally speaking, I would agree. Why don’t you wait and see how it falls out and then make a judgment however, you need to see how bad the baby bathwater really is, and it’s bad. but I’m sure it’ll all be placed back where it is needed. Patience is a virtue.
BTW why not start the turning off the funding at the Pentagon where the budget is larger?
It’s just theater to start with foreign aid: the nativist messages have been help Americans first before this people in “shithole” countries.
So is the budget from USAID going to go to real Americans now?
They need to turn off the budget at the Pentagon. Where did you see me argue with that? Pentagon apparently has failed the last seven audits and there’s a couple hundred billion dollars of waste there right now so I agree with you. Pentagon budget is for defense not sending $200 billion to insight a war in Ukraine to make it more difficult for Trump to get us out of it. Ooooops
By the way, Mary I love helping other countries but you have to start somewhere and first you start in America and once we resolved many of the problems here then you could start doling out money elsewhere
We have too many homeless people here we have too many drug addicts here we have too much crime here And the country by far is becoming lazier, especially in government.
The funding from USA ID has now been transferred to the state department where it can be better monitored because there’s been so much waste fraud and abuse there and if you don’t think that’s the case, you should see the list of hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone to worthless causes overseas if you need help finding them I would actually be willing to send you a couple of links, but I think you’re intelligent enough to do that on your own
But as far as the pentagon is concerned, couldn’t agree with you more the pentagon should be there for defense, developing weapons, protect us here in America sort of like an iron dome needed by Israel
Some people envy America because it’s so wealthy others hate America because they’re so jealous
Wow
I don’t support impoundment of funds by the executive branch.
A response to the pentagon audits would be a place to start. Use Musk’s talent to do the research, defend the proposed changes and let the Confress decide.
The ends do not justify the neans Rick.
You are advocating for an authoritarian government.
That is what we threw off in 1776.
Incite. Sorry I voice text a lot and since I’m doing so much posting, I don’t have time nor is it worthwhile to go back and check my spelling I think most of the people here if not, all of people here are smart enough to read and understand what I’m trying to say.
How do you know? Are you funded federally at all?
Just cutting things off is cruel and irresponsible. And unnecessary.
I would add, having a special government employee gloat about it in X isn’t particularly professional for such an undertaking.
I would suggest reforming agencies or how we fund research can be done in less dramatic and sensational ways: you are the one who is not demonstrating patience
Well, I’m perfectly funded and that I receive Social Security. If you wanna consider that federally funded OK
But by the way, thank God for musk, going to save our astronauts and send a rocket to Mars not that I care, but obviously the government feels very strongly in his economics endeavors that long before he was related or connected to Trump anyway, they saw him for what he is and you probably did too until he was Trump’s friend. What a pity.
Again I do not disagree with governments needing reform.
I don’t even disagree with researching spending with the tools Elon is using.
I disagree with not going about it legally. Constitutionally.
Normally I would agree with you however we’re finding that there’s been waste fraud and abuse since 2003 and it hasn’t been corrected so how long do you wanna wait do you wanna wait another 10 years and let it continue to happen or do you want to address it now since no one seems to be watching And that’s why it’s imperative that we do it now and if there’s a little pain, there’s a little pain, but it’s gotta stop
$2.7 trillion lost since 2003 that certainly could’ve been used in a better manner
And I guess you’ve never heard of people being fired or reduction in force. And since you seem so politically biased, why don’t you go back and research Al Gore standing with Bill Clinton cutting more federal positions in any president had done to date called reduction enforce the largest in history at that point and Obama followed suit and did the exact same thing. The interesting thing about Trump is that he actually offered an eight month severance package to many of these people which is far more generous than need be but also you should keep in mind that Congress has to prove the severance packages. But go back and check your Loving Clinton and Obama firings. So perhaps you’ll get a more evenly balanced analysis of your complaints. And by the way, Bill Clinton was one of my favorite presidents.
This month, I am a 40-year breast cancer survivor, treated at NIH as part of a study comparing mastectomy to lumpectomy plus radiation. NIH saved my life; I believe my participation in the study is helping women today. NIH deserves more money not less!
💕💕💕I am a 2 x BC survivor, 15 years now but look at you!Forty years is magnificent!!
On the other hand Marlene, look at how fast the maga cancer had speeded and multiplied in less than three weeks.
People before profits. How many ways has that been said in so many eras? I am not anti-profit, but we're putting the cart before the horse.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
EVERYONE‼️ THIS WOMEN IS A HERO‼️
Glenis, you are MY PERSONAL HERO‼️
On 1/17/25 I had a lumpectomy and am now in the middle of the EXACT trestment plan you participated in! (radiation treatment (10 mins/work day for a month) followed by 5yrs of anastrozole).
Yes, I’m fortunate to have a team of doctors who jumped on my diagnosis like a well oiled pit crew……but YOU YOU YOU‼️gave them the tools (science) for ME.
One of my best friends participated in a study for colorectal cancer a number of years ago. The infusion treatments in her study are the premier prescription for that cancer today.
How magical is it that this little girl from Vermont has crossed paths with 2 women who would shape her heart and her healthy life❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.
Thank you doesn’t even begin…..well….you know what I’m trying to say…
I love hearing a real story from someone who is benefitting from my study participation. I was fortunate enough to be randomized to the lumpectomy group (we didn't get to choose) and have not had 1 single problem or issue related to the cancer since then. I will be rooting you on.....
Adding you to my fantastic team
Thank you!
I hit 19 years this year. Agreed 100%.
Congratulations my sista!
Thank you. Interestingly, I have two male friends in my sphere who, upon hearing my story, did a bse and found their own breast cancer...
Friends and community - clearly very therapeutic and sometimes a life saver!
I am an eight year survivor, because the same treatment. 40 years is wonderful news! Thank you for your courage and for sharing this information. Wishing you Blessings for the rest of your life.
Heather--when did you last take a night off?
We need your guidance in these times. Please take care of yourself.
Same thing crossing my mind, too. I have a crush on the teacher; I want her to remain healthy and to vegetate with Buddy for a few days.
She’s put something(s) on hold to get US through this.
It’s her country too! Thank you, dear Professor.
Hear, here! But the Trumpanzee will be as big a missing link in a week as he is today.
But he is trying to overwhelm the courts. Blitzkrieg.
I worry that Trump will ultimately tell the courts to enforce their decisions.
And in that case, maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't. Crunch time.
During her most recent chat, I couldn't visualise her in a kayak.
Giselle I've been thinking the same thing. Heather, we want you well. ♥️
I was thinking that about Heather as I waking this morning. I took a break for three days this week (following the 50501 protests), and feel so refreshed. But Heather feels that pull to document our democracy’s decent into darkness. We should all send her warm, light thoughts of good energy to help replenish her.
Fascism doesn’t sleep. Neither does HCR!
But fascism is inhuman. Heather is weary and anguished.
Well, hardly ever.
I’d love to share a coffee with our Heather looking out over our beloved Maine seashore..(there’s secret inspiration in the lapping waves) …and the big Atlantic pond..every state has its beauty places ,some prize to offer , it’s roots ,it’s people.
We The People really want everyone one given the best possible ..it’s a Dream many have worked for, we believe in ..We The People people really want….Yea even for the red states.
Truth.
Our species is really pretty vulnerable to getting distracted in self-destructive ways. No? It's often hard to keep a focus on matters that most matter. Some people take advantage of our sometimes fatal flaw. It might really kill us all.
Bingo. TY J L.
Something to tap onto…got it people?
I’ve read four diff articles this ducky Sunday morning, each pointed to this too. Well being vs Flight response.
The keys to calm: Recognition of a stressor. Music/Soothing sound. Health/Nutrition ( she mused while eating a donut and coffee)). Meditation. Exercise .Rest. Education. Balances of all these mentions.
I’ll reiterate: No effort is too small when the intent is pure.
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone 🫶
Heather and Friends,
I write about health at Substack.
Out of concern that stress is and will continue to be a challenge for many of us, my most recent post is called 'Finding anchors in the face of stress'. It's freely available. <https://longcovidjourney2wellness.substack.com/p/finding-anchors-in-the-face-of-stress>
My sincere appreciation for your ongoing work.
This was very good to read. Thank you Mardi.
Years ago I was prescribed antidepressants, which were extremely helpful for several years until the particular one stopped working. I joke about having an evil twin, but the reality was the new prescription made me very uncharacteristically angry. I was picking fights with coworkers and tailing people while driving. I scared myself, called the doctor and quit it cold turkey. I instead turned to a therapist (last of three I'd been to over my lifetime) and she pushed exercise on me. I fought it, but a few months into walks 2-5 miles day/ 5-6 x a week, and especially, light weight lifting 3x week, I realized I felt so much better.
Not everyone is physically able, but for those who can add some exercise to their daily routine, it is truly worth trying. I believe we unconsciously hold a lot of tension in our muscles and exercise helps work it out.
Thanks, Mardi. I'll be reading that with interest.
Thank You Miselle for reminding us to remind Heather to also care for herself and family. My deepest gratitude to her for ALL she does for us. I realize we are living through a coup d’è tat, but YOU, Heather need to define how much you can give and for how long. Deep Respect for ALL that you have given us already. You are a National Treasure.
Thank you for writing about the regular people that staff our government. Hearing them really brings home to me how important it is for us to protect their jobs!!!
Hearing these stories now, with hindsight I am thinking it would have been good if the whole country had heard them in messages from Democrats' campaigns. That might have been a way to defuse the "Deep State" scare.
There are so many stories. My FBI agent neighbor worked to rescue a kidnap victim.
I, we, our society needs far better communication strategies. We are being had.
The only deep state is the one that Trump wants to create by destroying the professional civil service and placing Federal agencies under his personal control. He is not a dictator and we won’t accept one.
I live near a military base which has many civilian employees, many of whom are veterans. These federal employees are NOT the Deep State, they are my neighbors, my fellow parishioners, my friends, and members of both political parties.
As a moral matter and a practical matter for the rights of individuals, as well as the general welfare of our society.
One nation, under fraud,
With grift and deceit for all—
Where justice sways to billionaire bribes,
And Congress heeds their call.
I pledge allegiance to the scam,
Of the United States’ decline,
Where hedge funds feast, and working folk
Are told to wait in line.
Musk preaches “free speech” with a wink,
But bans what hurts his pride—
While Thiel funds cranks and Yarvin dreams
Of kings we can’t deride.
Goldman’s got its fingers deep,
As Sachs stacks wealth obscene—
And libert-ARYANS rant for “freedom,”
But just for those with green.
The senators bow, their spines dissolve,
When Trump commits his crimes—
From fraud to coups to stolen docs,
They call it “hard times.”
And there stands Vance, with rags-to-riches,
Now licking boots so bold—
While Voight plays God with budget cuts,
And lets the poor grow cold.
Is it strange, our nation’s rulers
Ditch the names they once had worn?
Maybe masks are just tradition—
For the con-men since they’re born.
This is very, very good.
🙏 it’s still evolving in my mind. A bigger project is a foot.
I look forward to it, Ted.
Well done, Ted.
Excellent, Ted!
Perfect!
Well said, sir. Did you mean Vought in that line, or Voight? Both are names of supporters of the orange menace.
Good catch. Voight and Stallone (plus one I don’t remember) are tasked with making Hollywood MAGA.
So is Mel Gibson, who is an antisemitic jerk. It won’t go well for them.
A lyric worthy of Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, maybe even Bob Dylan. Set that baby to music let’s get it out there! How about it Jackson Brown, Indigo Girls, the Chicks, Lucinda Williams, or Neil Young?
Thank you for this. Well crafted.
They are a wrecking ball destroying lives, destroying institutions, institutional knowledge, relationships and making us less safe every single day.
Dear Republicans:
In the words of the City Manager (who happens to be a Democrat) of the small town in the Red state where I live, “They voted for this. Now they’re gonna find out what they voted for.”
(aka FAFO)
Love F... up and find out. I didntknow that!
“F around, find out”
“F Around and Find Out”. And you’re welcome
Unfortunately, we are along for the ride!
I am so angry about the cuts to NIH and NSF! It’s a very short-sighted move, disinvesting in our American future. Do they even realize what they're cutting? NSF is critical to cybersecurity research, an area that needs more, not less funding. And NIH research has given us breakthroughs in treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. I protest! And I plan to sit-in at my State Capitol. We all must make our voices heard!
I’d like to say that no, they don’t know what they are doing. And if they do, they don’t give a rat’s ass. I think I’m right on this one, and I’m sorry. So very sorry.
Ellen, you are right. They do know what they are doing and they do not give a rat's. They are fine with people dying and not having health care. They can afford, so pfft
Margaret, all the cuts are going to result in people not coming here to do research among other things. Federal money in a community also multiplies.
I find myself wondering when the brain drain will begin. Many, many of our professors and researchers in STEM fields, as well as our doctors, originally come from other countries - will that pipeline slow? Will students choose to study in other countries instead? And will our established professors begin to look at opportunities in or be recruited by other countries? I really don’t think this makes America great in any way.
If I were in any of those categories, I would certainly be looking elsewhere.
It’s not an easy thing to do. We ourselves are too close to retirement to consider it. But if we were younger? Maybe.
We are too old to go anywhere. So we just try to find joy in our family and friends and the small things. i have lost patience with people defending this blowing up everything as well. One of my ex-colleagues posted something about what the Dept of Ed. actually does. One of her friends decided that yes, the DOE could go because the state can do all of these things with no problem. I pointed out to him, using special ed. as an example, how that was not a good idea. According to him, I offended him by telling him that he is naive and poorly informed about special ed in particular. The snowflake even accused me of gaslighting him The rest of the responses praised the original post or were freaking out about what would happen in particular to special ed students. I told him we were done and so far that is holding. One of the responses was from someone who works at the local School for the Blind. Hope he is OK with having his personal info compromised and that he never needs any help from a federal program.
It's what so called "Vulture" (though I prefer "Vampire") "Capitalists" do to companies they strip and send tail-spinning into the ground. This is the same process writ large.
Exactly right!
The cruelty is the point.
I've been trying to tell people for years that these folks, led by, I can't even say his name, truly don't care if you live or die.
It appears as though Republican leaders are beginning to realize that the funding that Musk/ Trump are removing so quickly may affect their own states and thus their own re-elections!
Perhaps they overlooked that when they were blindly loyal to a President instead of their own constituents?
I expect that the Department of Graft and Extortion will find a way to keep the money flowing to red states.
Some blue states have very large red populations - California has millions of Trump supporters despite being a blue states.
It's the same in blue Massachusetts... the area from Worcester to Springfield, from the New Hampshire border to Connecticut, went largely for T****. A band of red across our state.
What happens if your State is Purple 🟣
Red states get the funding. Blue states get the cuts. Purple states get the message.
😄 I can remember when NC was the perfect purple state. It makes me sad to see the struggle it is having to (maybe) get back to the rich purple it was in before the Koch brothers intervened.
Don’t forget Art Pope and his meddling too.
I sat on a small boat in France reading the New Yorker. “Art Pope, friend of Kochs….” Thought writing “Koch brothers” would be understood by more readers. Have you seen “Starving the Beast”? It shows the attack on UNC-CH. That’s where I got three degrees over 10 years. Oldest public university in the country. Older even than Harvard. Far superior to the Tobacco Road university down the road whence cometh Stephen Miller.
I haven’t, but I should.
You might be right, but what I see from Musk and his dodgy cohort is a contempt for everyone except for themselves. I don't think that their hearts bleed for any states, regardless of the politics. I'm glad that I live in MA, but I don't think that folks living other places will be immune.
They are not elected ,they will never get elected so they don't have to be nice or care for the consequences of what they are doing. They are there just to benefit themselves.
Their hearts do not exist except to pump their blood. Their only loves are power and money (or is it money and power)?
The problem with that strategy is that our country is really divided into red districts and blue districts more than red states and blue states. California has deeply red areas and Texas deeply blue ones.
Apparently, science is a leftist agenda as is objective reality. I wonder how their Bible school graduates will do designing bridges, maintaining aircraft, or any STEM jobs for that matter? Not to mention keeping all the high tech weapons systems working. 🙄
Oddly there are a lot more Bible literalists and right wing theorists among engineers and technicians (in my experience) than among research scientists. I get that impression anyway. There is a relationship between science and technology, but a difference of epistemology.
That is fascinating. I remember that one of my best science teachers in high school was an extremely religious and conservative man, who still taught biology well.
/s By Thoughts and prayers….
This is going out to my senators and reps:Good Evening Senator/Rep:
I’ve been looking at the news and this website as well as ThomTillis.com. I want to see your optimistic explanation for the NIH budget cuts for research at the University of North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke University and across many of the leading lights of the Research Triangle Park. You know, your constituents. I’m sure you can tell us all how this is making America great again. Especially enthusiastic will be the folks laid off, the patients in the interrupted drug trials, the patents ungranted because the work was never finished.
Your work and representation has never seemed more passive or suspect. Don’t you in Congress set the budget? Oh wait, wouldn’t it be better for 20-year-olds elected by no one, and the richest man in the world, and a convicted felon, wouldn’t it be better for them to do the job for you? And wouldn’t it be better if your helpers were an FBI director with political enemies list and an Attorney General who once upon a time was a registered foreign agent, one who may well have looked the other way and dropped a case as the AG of Florida after receiving a political donation from Mr. Trump. And wouldn’t it be good if the health secretary was a reformed heroin addict who didn’t believe in vaccines, and if the defense secretary was an alcoholic who has been fired from administration leadership at two different, small military-adjacent organizations.
Your constituents, me included, look forward to hearing from you. We want to know how these folks are helping you and all your colleagues with legislation to, hmm, maybe cut taxes since you’ve saved all this life-saving money. We want to learn more about these oh so logical, well-considered changes in store for folks across our state.
Actually, I think most of us would want to see the federal government meet its obligations. We would love to see our House and our Sentate function, set budgets, pass budgets and insist that those budgets be executed.
And we would love to hear from you on a regular basis.
Your constituent,
That’s a dynamite letter, R. R. Thank you.
Great piece of hitting the nail on the head, with a touch of sarcasm thrown in for good measure.
We the people are the government. We don’t bray and bellow nor do we have a gazillion followers on social media. We do the hard work, demanding work that keeps our government and our people safe from all manner of threats. The biggest threat to America right now is the Trump Administration. Folks had better wake up fast because they are about to learn that billionaires aren’t their best buddies. Biden said this for four years and nobody paid attention. This is beyond pathetic.
Democracy means we are the government. George Washington is my hero and there are so many more who fought for our freedoms that nobody ever heard of. Honor them instead of Tesla and Amazon. People wake up. Honor your hard fought for civil rights.
And Lincoln, who 'got it' that "this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." Had it been possible to outlaw slavery from the signing of the Constitution, I wonder how different our society might be today?
Right. There are many forms of slavery . We have to sop this now. Elon Musk and co.
offer us just another noose. Reject it.
Well said, Susan!
Thank you. I just can’t stand fascists and toxic masculinity anymore. It demeans us all. Thank you for your understanding.