Yesterday, Russia released an American whom it had held since April in Kaliningrad, a slice of land held by Russia between Poland and Lithuania. Taylor Dudley had been backpacking in Europe and gone to Poland for a music festival. “At some point,” as accounts have it, he crossed into Kaliningrad and was picked up by Russian authorities. The State Department told reporters that it could not comment on the release because of a law giving control of information to the individual involved, rather than to the State Department.
The NY Times story about Republicans who were aware of George Santos’ “embellishments” of his resumé prior to the election, and did nothing, reminds me of years-ago stories of Catholic hierarchy hiding, and thus abetting, pedophile priests.
Both make themselves equally guilty co-conspirators.
Gaetz, Santos and Bannon. Why on earth would anyone think any of them have the slightest bit of credibility, much less willingly listen to them? The very idea is distasteful. If ever there were an “unholy alliance” that is one.
I can not waste any energy on Santos when Donald Trump is the Big Kahuna! While the two men may be kith and kin when it comes to lying Donald Trump is in a much better place to do much more damage. When Santos amasses as much power as Trump has then I will give him more of my mental energy. I was listening to NPR I believe it was on Thursday and the person being interviewed said that the Republicans really want to defund the IRS. So, they are trotting out the lie that the IRS is going to be going after the little guy, when really the promise is that they are not going after anyone making less than $400,000. That does not sound like the little guy to me. Then the person told us that if they can have enough staff to go over the tax returns of the super wealthy they expect to be able to collect an additional 7 trillion dollars in the next decade, almost a trillion dollars a year. Given that Professor Richardson has just said that our debt is 31 trillion dollars, that would go a long way to paying that off. It might even drive off some of these evil doers like Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch to gain residency and citizenship in places where they can shelter their money better. We will be better off for it. I believe Illinois is better off for Ken Griffin having moved back to Florida although he did not go before he sabotaged progressive taxes in our state and he is still funding nefarious causes here. However, I believe he wants to be closer to his buddy DeSantis so he can be up close and personal in funding his campaign for presidency. Ken is no longer on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago, and has negative things to say about their private school which his children attended. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11414107/Billionaire-Ken-Griffin-slams-Chicago-schools-indoctrinating-kids-crushing-woke-ideology.html
That being said, I am hoping that someone reintroduces the progressive tax in Illinois again. All of the places that have the best standard of living have progressive tax. Vienna does! Hungary does not! Hungary lost out when the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up!
Today’s Letter included good news ‘… that between 2012 and 2019 the rates of cervical cancer dropped an astonishing 65% among women in their early 20s.'
MUCH MORE ATTENTION NEEDS TO BE GIVEN TO HEALTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among adults ages 18-45, claiming more young lives than COVID-19, car accidents or suicide. BY ARTHUR TONY BLAIN, family physician and an assistant professor in UC San Diego Department of Family Medicine, as well as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
'My son came home from high school this month and told me his 19-year-old friend just died of a fentanyl overdose. “Two weeks ago, we were just talking about all the cool cars he wanted to buy when he graduated and got a job,” he said.'
'According to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram, fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. Last summer, the DEA warned of brightly colored fentanyl used to target young Americans. Dubbed “rainbow fentanyl” — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes — it is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults, said Milgram. Rainbow fentanyl looks like candy to lure children, often at “skittle parties” where kids drop pills into a bowl and each child grabs a pill and ingests it. Fentanyl is also present in counterfeit forms of prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Xanax and Adderall.'
'The Drug Enforcement Administration reported that most of the fentanyl seized by federal authorities from 2014 to 2019 was from China. In 2022, the DEA stated that most of the 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl seized was mass produced by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels, in secret factories in Mexico utilizing precursor chemicals from China.'
'Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, kills more than 170 Americans every day or one death every 8.5 minutes. Fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl, the amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, can kill you. Carfentanil, while less common than fentanyl, is even more dangerous but is also found in drug overdoses. It is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and is used by veterinarians to tranquilize elephants and other very large animals. It is not meant for human consumption, but is also being found in some communities in addition to illicit fentanyl.'
'Parents, family members, teachers and everyone in the community should be aware of the signs of fentanyl overdose. Small “pinpoint pupils,” falling asleep or losing consciousness, slow or stopped breathing, choking or gurgling sounds, limp body, cold and/or clammy skin, and discolored skin (especially lips and nails) can all be signs of an overdose.'
'Fentanyl deaths can be prevented by immediately giving someone in distress naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses an opioid related drug overdose, including fentanyl. Naloxone comes as a nasal spray and can be either prescribed by a doctor or given by a pharmacist without a doctor’s prescription in California and many other states. Fentanyl test strips can help identify if fentanyl is present in fake prescriptions or other drugs.'
'Fentanyl is killing Americans and especially our children in record numbers. Stopping the fentanyl flow from Mexico is crucial to saving thousands of lives. Strengthening border enforcement, passing stronger laws prosecuting drug smugglers and dealers to disincentivize fentanyl distribution, requiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection to review and update manuals and policies to detect smuggling of drugs, forcing China to stop production and export of illegal chemicals to Mexico, and compelling China to cooperate with the U.S. in money laundering investigations, criminal prosecution and legal assistance in ongoing cases, are all part of a multipronged approach to solving this issue'. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
TFG claims, under oath, regarding the sexual assault of E Jean Carroll, that "she loved it". In order to make that claim, he would have admit that it occurred, have to have been there and participated in it, no? How else could he claim knowledge of her reaction to the assault?
A trillion dollar platinum coin, high interest bonds, or the president simply taking steps to preserve the publicdebt of theUnited States under the 14th Amendment's requirement that "the public debt shall not be questioned."
Shout out to Dr. Cox-Richardson for mentioning the HPV (Human Papillomavirus), which is not only the leading cause of cervical cancer, but causes the majority of vaginal, penile, and rectal cancers, and a large percentage of oral cancers as well. All together, the HPV vaccine can prevent about 8% of all cancer cases in the US, and virtually eliminate cervical and penile cancers. Pretty good for 2 little shots - available at no cost to anyone under 19, or is on medicaid, and is fully covered by most health insurance plans! Still, for some reason, the anti-vaxers hate it.
I keep asking myself, "Are the Republicans crazy?" I guess we will know in a few days. If they are crazy enough to stop Social Security Payments or stop funding the border patrols, it will definitely madden their base. I suppose that they think that Fox News Network and people like Bannon can spin even this move in their favor. I'm not so sure that is the case. These two items are going to directly hit their base. Isn't it wide open borders that they have been trying to own the libs with for over two years? Didn't only about 40% of us seniors vote for Biden? That is going to really be a suicidal thing to do, politically!
Stupid is as stupid does. Go Blue in 2024!
I am sure at least the seniors are going to make them pay!
The Republicans in the House of Representatives are doing exactly what most of us thought they would do, giving the MAGA maggots bread and circuses to entertain them and accomplishing NOTHING of value to the Country at large. What else could we or anyone with a modicum of intelligence expect? They told us. They want to "bring down the government" because destroying the government is the only way to achieve their goals, a lifetime dictatorship, preferably with a crowd pleasing, intellectually challenged puppet (trump so exactly fit their bill) a single party, allowing no opposition, (you jail, poison, drop your opposition from tall buildings, or 'accidentally' shoot them during an 'attempted escape') McCarthy already announced he will not allow changes in the debt ceiling without massive cuts to all safety nets for ordinary citizens. After all if a few million of us die of disease or starvation, so long as their super wealthy donors and the maggots survive what difference does it make. It's going to be interesting to see how the 1% react when their consumers can no longer buy their products, initially because they lack the funds, and soon after because they are dying. The 14th amendment, like the Constitution as a whole has never mattered to these traitorous politicians. They refuse to enforce those articles and amendments which cannot be misinterpreted, and misinterpret the rest.
I see a bad situation on the horizon. McCarthy realizes he has to raise the debt ceiling by brokering some kind of deal that also does not hit programs like Social Security and Medicare because seniors would revolt. Matt Gaetz or another member of the Chaos Caucus calls for a vote to vacate the Speakership. The House cannot function until a new Speaker is elected. The US defaults.
The Republicans are already touting a plan that would allow interest payments on the debt to be paid technically avoiding default but would suspend all other "non-essential" payments like funding the FDA and FAA and Medicare and Medicaid and ....
So absurd and hypocritical that the Republicans won't acknowledge that 40% of the debt was incurred during just the 4 years of Trump's presidency with their great giveaway tax cut to the wealthy and corporations.
But I still do not understand why the debt ceiling was not raised in Deember when Democrats still had control of both the House and Senate...Does anyone know why?
Donald Trump, as we have repeatedly seen, is his own worst enemy. That said, all of us are treating Trump as some sort of rogue royalty. We are wont to treat Trump as some sort of rakish, bad boy pirate prince, part of which we envy for his brashness and middle finger-salute to propriety. The fact that Trump appeals to our worst instincts, where his antics are apt to provoke chuckles rather than outrage, I think has a lot to do with a society that is free to speak its mind, even if most people are deprived of material prosperity. That is an attitude of decadence that one associates with not only the unfair distribution of the world's goods and wealth itself, but the utter hypocrisy and corruption of language that Trump and his followers used to justify their insatiable appetite for wealth, and above all power. The real problem is that Washington DC is too far removed from the people government is supposed to serve. We don't know those people; and more importantly, they don't know us, nor did they want to.
We, as a people, cannot learn from our history, because that history itself is appropriated for self-glorifying popular entertainment and our desperate search for any narrative that makes us feel better about ourselves, no matter what the truth of the matter is. As the saying goes, when the myth is confronted by the truth, print the myth. Right now were faced with a Republican Party that is in thrall with a dystopian myth about what our country is all about. They revel in this myth because in it, they are both the heroes, and the victims of the system of government that they do not understand; that system of government is beyond their ability to comprehend; but mostly, they don't care about. It's not *real* in the sense that they see no connection between that government and their own lives, even if they do recognize some of the pieces. In some sense, we've always been like this. From the time the first colonies were settled, whether was the Carolinas, Virginia, or Western New England, those who could not make life work for them tended to move west toward the frontier, where they didn't have to deal with a lot of other people who wore frock coats and fancy hats. These were people who didn't fit in. Ultimately, they found a hero in Andrew Jackson, our first populist president who scandalized Washington society, and turn the world they knew upside down. These were the people with a chip on their shoulder who disdained the highfalutin manners of society and its members who look down upon clerks, shopkeepers, tradesmen, and those who had to work for a living. Those who couldn't find a worthwhile job were often just the people who launch themselves into political careers. Abraham Lincoln was a land surveyor before he became a lawyer and a politician. And he was one of many ambitious men who wanted to make their mark in the world, but had no capital, and no taste for running a business or farming the land. Many of these men ran for public office, and especially legislative office, because it gave them the opportunity to rewrite the rules in their own favor. For every one of those who saw himself as bound for life in public service, there were many more who saw politics as the springboard to something better than they had before. And Donald Trump is the apotheosis of that mindset
E. Jean Carroll is suing Donald Trump for sexual assault that occurred three decades ago. Trumps defense, if you can call it that, is to act as if he's being accused of bad taste in the type of woman that he wanted to get it on with, rather than the brutal display of physical power that Trump inflicted on Carroll those many years ago, simply because Trump was sure he could get away with it. And that he did, at least until now. As I understand it, Carroll kept the clothing she was wearing at the time without ever having it cleansed of Trump's spoor, his DNA, and that DNA is now part of the body of evidence Carroll's attorneys will now be using to prove their case against the former president. It that is a clear parallel to what happened to another president, Bill Clinton, in his illicit relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. At least in President Clinton's case, hitting on Lewinsky was apparently matched by her enthusiastic consent and participation. That didn't make it right, but it does make it understandable. Does Trump care that he degraded Jean Carroll and left her in a state of humiliation for going on 30 years? Obviously not. Does it bother him that a court will order him to pay significant damages to his victim? Again, nope. Does Trump think that his reputation will suffer in any way as a consequence? Again, extremely doubtful. In Trump's mind, Jean Carroll is not even a real person; in his mind she entered his life for the purpose of servicing him, and the only feeling that Trump is willing to recognize in himself is his anger that Jean Carroll did not keep quiet about it. By way of comparison, Trump and Elon Musk are fraternal twins; they share the same outlook on life, especially their presumed right to do whatever they want, regardless of the cost to anyone else. The Trump Republican Party is a swarm of Trump-like swamp creatures, self replicating look-alikes like a head of broccoli one buys that the produce section of the local supermarket. When you look at all of the component parts of the Trump party, they all look like Donald Trump in miniature. All of them are grifters; all of them are dishonest; all of them lust after personal power; and none of them gives a damn about anyone but themselves. The fuel that drives them is resentment, the same as it was when the Scots Irish moved across the appellation Mountains in 1763. The party's latest acolyte and grifter, George Santos, looks like everyone else in the Republican Party, and of course, Donald Trump. I could see Santos doing to someone like Jean Carroll the same thing that Trump did; all he lacks is the opportunity and the public personality that Trump molded into his calling card. They're all irredeemable narcissists, self entitled, and with a huge appetite for power, and a mean streak that poisons everything around them.
We live in a world with almost two equal halves, "reality" and the "unreal". A number of streaming video series have come out recently using this as a theme. They don't turn out well. They leave you, the viewer, empty, disoriented and depressed.
And yet Americans living in the current "unreality" zone seem to be happy, energized and ready to kill and destroy while claiming and thinking they are peaceful and loving. Which is why they are so willing to jump onto the DeSantis anti "woke" band wagon. They don't want to be awake to reality, to facts, to their history. Within my own extended family, the members who buy into this have no memory of preceding generations nor interest in future generations. They don't want to talk about anything but their most trivial activities. And if you push, they gush a torrent of resentment that "immigrants pouring across the border are changing our nation forever" and "our government is doing this to us".
They see no connection between their grandchildren, their grandchildren's future and deteriorating conditions that could be managed if we put our minds to it, like climate change. They also see no relationship between the trauma of their politics of inaction and vitriol and the falling birth rate of our traumatized youth. And how about the relationship of this anguish with our drug epidemic?
It seems like "minds" are a thing of the past. AI and eternal sleep to turn off our minds are the future. We are becoming rats in a maize and on caged exercise wheels.
As usual, the Republicans keep showing the American public that their understanding and grip on reality is nonexistent.
1. This time one of the ways is by cutting border control money, wouldn't that make the borders more open. I thought they were against open borders.
2. How could DJT say "he'd never met Jean Carroll" and "she loved it" in the same sentence. ABOVE THE LAW again.
3. Speaking of BLATANTLY above the law, why is Santos still in Congress.
4. Between the shenanigans of SCOTUS, DJT, Santos, DeSantis, etc, etc , etc; I wonder if the law is in force any longer or that there are any limitations eg DJT just got "fined the maximum and will make it hard for him to get loans from banks". He won't pay the fine and with all the classified documents he had (and still has), he isn't getting money from banks anyway.
Concerning rapidly developing facts about Santos, see 18 USC section 1546. & note that the "Fraud & misuse of visas,, permits & other documents" risks imprisonment in the range of 5 to 20 years depending upon admissible facts. See also, 18 USC 1546(b)(1), (2), & (3). The risk is the same whether the Perp commits fraud in Miami or Queens NY.
The NY Times story about Republicans who were aware of George Santos’ “embellishments” of his resumé prior to the election, and did nothing, reminds me of years-ago stories of Catholic hierarchy hiding, and thus abetting, pedophile priests.
Both make themselves equally guilty co-conspirators.
Gaetz, Santos and Bannon. Why on earth would anyone think any of them have the slightest bit of credibility, much less willingly listen to them? The very idea is distasteful. If ever there were an “unholy alliance” that is one.
I can not waste any energy on Santos when Donald Trump is the Big Kahuna! While the two men may be kith and kin when it comes to lying Donald Trump is in a much better place to do much more damage. When Santos amasses as much power as Trump has then I will give him more of my mental energy. I was listening to NPR I believe it was on Thursday and the person being interviewed said that the Republicans really want to defund the IRS. So, they are trotting out the lie that the IRS is going to be going after the little guy, when really the promise is that they are not going after anyone making less than $400,000. That does not sound like the little guy to me. Then the person told us that if they can have enough staff to go over the tax returns of the super wealthy they expect to be able to collect an additional 7 trillion dollars in the next decade, almost a trillion dollars a year. Given that Professor Richardson has just said that our debt is 31 trillion dollars, that would go a long way to paying that off. It might even drive off some of these evil doers like Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch to gain residency and citizenship in places where they can shelter their money better. We will be better off for it. I believe Illinois is better off for Ken Griffin having moved back to Florida although he did not go before he sabotaged progressive taxes in our state and he is still funding nefarious causes here. However, I believe he wants to be closer to his buddy DeSantis so he can be up close and personal in funding his campaign for presidency. Ken is no longer on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago, and has negative things to say about their private school which his children attended. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11414107/Billionaire-Ken-Griffin-slams-Chicago-schools-indoctrinating-kids-crushing-woke-ideology.html
That being said, I am hoping that someone reintroduces the progressive tax in Illinois again. All of the places that have the best standard of living have progressive tax. Vienna does! Hungary does not! Hungary lost out when the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up!
Today’s Letter included good news ‘… that between 2012 and 2019 the rates of cervical cancer dropped an astonishing 65% among women in their early 20s.'
MUCH MORE ATTENTION NEEDS TO BE GIVEN TO HEALTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among adults ages 18-45, claiming more young lives than COVID-19, car accidents or suicide. BY ARTHUR TONY BLAIN, family physician and an assistant professor in UC San Diego Department of Family Medicine, as well as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
'My son came home from high school this month and told me his 19-year-old friend just died of a fentanyl overdose. “Two weeks ago, we were just talking about all the cool cars he wanted to buy when he graduated and got a job,” he said.'
'According to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram, fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. Last summer, the DEA warned of brightly colored fentanyl used to target young Americans. Dubbed “rainbow fentanyl” — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes — it is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults, said Milgram. Rainbow fentanyl looks like candy to lure children, often at “skittle parties” where kids drop pills into a bowl and each child grabs a pill and ingests it. Fentanyl is also present in counterfeit forms of prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Xanax and Adderall.'
'The Drug Enforcement Administration reported that most of the fentanyl seized by federal authorities from 2014 to 2019 was from China. In 2022, the DEA stated that most of the 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl seized was mass produced by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels, in secret factories in Mexico utilizing precursor chemicals from China.'
'Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, kills more than 170 Americans every day or one death every 8.5 minutes. Fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl, the amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, can kill you. Carfentanil, while less common than fentanyl, is even more dangerous but is also found in drug overdoses. It is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and is used by veterinarians to tranquilize elephants and other very large animals. It is not meant for human consumption, but is also being found in some communities in addition to illicit fentanyl.'
'Parents, family members, teachers and everyone in the community should be aware of the signs of fentanyl overdose. Small “pinpoint pupils,” falling asleep or losing consciousness, slow or stopped breathing, choking or gurgling sounds, limp body, cold and/or clammy skin, and discolored skin (especially lips and nails) can all be signs of an overdose.'
'Fentanyl deaths can be prevented by immediately giving someone in distress naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses an opioid related drug overdose, including fentanyl. Naloxone comes as a nasal spray and can be either prescribed by a doctor or given by a pharmacist without a doctor’s prescription in California and many other states. Fentanyl test strips can help identify if fentanyl is present in fake prescriptions or other drugs.'
'Fentanyl is killing Americans and especially our children in record numbers. Stopping the fentanyl flow from Mexico is crucial to saving thousands of lives. Strengthening border enforcement, passing stronger laws prosecuting drug smugglers and dealers to disincentivize fentanyl distribution, requiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection to review and update manuals and policies to detect smuggling of drugs, forcing China to stop production and export of illegal chemicals to Mexico, and compelling China to cooperate with the U.S. in money laundering investigations, criminal prosecution and legal assistance in ongoing cases, are all part of a multipronged approach to solving this issue'. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
TFG claims, under oath, regarding the sexual assault of E Jean Carroll, that "she loved it". In order to make that claim, he would have admit that it occurred, have to have been there and participated in it, no? How else could he claim knowledge of her reaction to the assault?
A trillion dollar platinum coin, high interest bonds, or the president simply taking steps to preserve the publicdebt of theUnited States under the 14th Amendment's requirement that "the public debt shall not be questioned."
Shout out to Dr. Cox-Richardson for mentioning the HPV (Human Papillomavirus), which is not only the leading cause of cervical cancer, but causes the majority of vaginal, penile, and rectal cancers, and a large percentage of oral cancers as well. All together, the HPV vaccine can prevent about 8% of all cancer cases in the US, and virtually eliminate cervical and penile cancers. Pretty good for 2 little shots - available at no cost to anyone under 19, or is on medicaid, and is fully covered by most health insurance plans! Still, for some reason, the anti-vaxers hate it.
I keep asking myself, "Are the Republicans crazy?" I guess we will know in a few days. If they are crazy enough to stop Social Security Payments or stop funding the border patrols, it will definitely madden their base. I suppose that they think that Fox News Network and people like Bannon can spin even this move in their favor. I'm not so sure that is the case. These two items are going to directly hit their base. Isn't it wide open borders that they have been trying to own the libs with for over two years? Didn't only about 40% of us seniors vote for Biden? That is going to really be a suicidal thing to do, politically!
Stupid is as stupid does. Go Blue in 2024!
I am sure at least the seniors are going to make them pay!
The Republicans in the House of Representatives are doing exactly what most of us thought they would do, giving the MAGA maggots bread and circuses to entertain them and accomplishing NOTHING of value to the Country at large. What else could we or anyone with a modicum of intelligence expect? They told us. They want to "bring down the government" because destroying the government is the only way to achieve their goals, a lifetime dictatorship, preferably with a crowd pleasing, intellectually challenged puppet (trump so exactly fit their bill) a single party, allowing no opposition, (you jail, poison, drop your opposition from tall buildings, or 'accidentally' shoot them during an 'attempted escape') McCarthy already announced he will not allow changes in the debt ceiling without massive cuts to all safety nets for ordinary citizens. After all if a few million of us die of disease or starvation, so long as their super wealthy donors and the maggots survive what difference does it make. It's going to be interesting to see how the 1% react when their consumers can no longer buy their products, initially because they lack the funds, and soon after because they are dying. The 14th amendment, like the Constitution as a whole has never mattered to these traitorous politicians. They refuse to enforce those articles and amendments which cannot be misinterpreted, and misinterpret the rest.
I see a bad situation on the horizon. McCarthy realizes he has to raise the debt ceiling by brokering some kind of deal that also does not hit programs like Social Security and Medicare because seniors would revolt. Matt Gaetz or another member of the Chaos Caucus calls for a vote to vacate the Speakership. The House cannot function until a new Speaker is elected. The US defaults.
The Republicans are already touting a plan that would allow interest payments on the debt to be paid technically avoiding default but would suspend all other "non-essential" payments like funding the FDA and FAA and Medicare and Medicaid and ....
So absurd and hypocritical that the Republicans won't acknowledge that 40% of the debt was incurred during just the 4 years of Trump's presidency with their great giveaway tax cut to the wealthy and corporations.
But I still do not understand why the debt ceiling was not raised in Deember when Democrats still had control of both the House and Senate...Does anyone know why?
Donald Trump, as we have repeatedly seen, is his own worst enemy. That said, all of us are treating Trump as some sort of rogue royalty. We are wont to treat Trump as some sort of rakish, bad boy pirate prince, part of which we envy for his brashness and middle finger-salute to propriety. The fact that Trump appeals to our worst instincts, where his antics are apt to provoke chuckles rather than outrage, I think has a lot to do with a society that is free to speak its mind, even if most people are deprived of material prosperity. That is an attitude of decadence that one associates with not only the unfair distribution of the world's goods and wealth itself, but the utter hypocrisy and corruption of language that Trump and his followers used to justify their insatiable appetite for wealth, and above all power. The real problem is that Washington DC is too far removed from the people government is supposed to serve. We don't know those people; and more importantly, they don't know us, nor did they want to.
We, as a people, cannot learn from our history, because that history itself is appropriated for self-glorifying popular entertainment and our desperate search for any narrative that makes us feel better about ourselves, no matter what the truth of the matter is. As the saying goes, when the myth is confronted by the truth, print the myth. Right now were faced with a Republican Party that is in thrall with a dystopian myth about what our country is all about. They revel in this myth because in it, they are both the heroes, and the victims of the system of government that they do not understand; that system of government is beyond their ability to comprehend; but mostly, they don't care about. It's not *real* in the sense that they see no connection between that government and their own lives, even if they do recognize some of the pieces. In some sense, we've always been like this. From the time the first colonies were settled, whether was the Carolinas, Virginia, or Western New England, those who could not make life work for them tended to move west toward the frontier, where they didn't have to deal with a lot of other people who wore frock coats and fancy hats. These were people who didn't fit in. Ultimately, they found a hero in Andrew Jackson, our first populist president who scandalized Washington society, and turn the world they knew upside down. These were the people with a chip on their shoulder who disdained the highfalutin manners of society and its members who look down upon clerks, shopkeepers, tradesmen, and those who had to work for a living. Those who couldn't find a worthwhile job were often just the people who launch themselves into political careers. Abraham Lincoln was a land surveyor before he became a lawyer and a politician. And he was one of many ambitious men who wanted to make their mark in the world, but had no capital, and no taste for running a business or farming the land. Many of these men ran for public office, and especially legislative office, because it gave them the opportunity to rewrite the rules in their own favor. For every one of those who saw himself as bound for life in public service, there were many more who saw politics as the springboard to something better than they had before. And Donald Trump is the apotheosis of that mindset
E. Jean Carroll is suing Donald Trump for sexual assault that occurred three decades ago. Trumps defense, if you can call it that, is to act as if he's being accused of bad taste in the type of woman that he wanted to get it on with, rather than the brutal display of physical power that Trump inflicted on Carroll those many years ago, simply because Trump was sure he could get away with it. And that he did, at least until now. As I understand it, Carroll kept the clothing she was wearing at the time without ever having it cleansed of Trump's spoor, his DNA, and that DNA is now part of the body of evidence Carroll's attorneys will now be using to prove their case against the former president. It that is a clear parallel to what happened to another president, Bill Clinton, in his illicit relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. At least in President Clinton's case, hitting on Lewinsky was apparently matched by her enthusiastic consent and participation. That didn't make it right, but it does make it understandable. Does Trump care that he degraded Jean Carroll and left her in a state of humiliation for going on 30 years? Obviously not. Does it bother him that a court will order him to pay significant damages to his victim? Again, nope. Does Trump think that his reputation will suffer in any way as a consequence? Again, extremely doubtful. In Trump's mind, Jean Carroll is not even a real person; in his mind she entered his life for the purpose of servicing him, and the only feeling that Trump is willing to recognize in himself is his anger that Jean Carroll did not keep quiet about it. By way of comparison, Trump and Elon Musk are fraternal twins; they share the same outlook on life, especially their presumed right to do whatever they want, regardless of the cost to anyone else. The Trump Republican Party is a swarm of Trump-like swamp creatures, self replicating look-alikes like a head of broccoli one buys that the produce section of the local supermarket. When you look at all of the component parts of the Trump party, they all look like Donald Trump in miniature. All of them are grifters; all of them are dishonest; all of them lust after personal power; and none of them gives a damn about anyone but themselves. The fuel that drives them is resentment, the same as it was when the Scots Irish moved across the appellation Mountains in 1763. The party's latest acolyte and grifter, George Santos, looks like everyone else in the Republican Party, and of course, Donald Trump. I could see Santos doing to someone like Jean Carroll the same thing that Trump did; all he lacks is the opportunity and the public personality that Trump molded into his calling card. They're all irredeemable narcissists, self entitled, and with a huge appetite for power, and a mean streak that poisons everything around them.
Dr. Richardson, Thank you, once again for a stress relieving clear analysis of the daily news dump. You are so very helpful to my sanity.
We live in a world with almost two equal halves, "reality" and the "unreal". A number of streaming video series have come out recently using this as a theme. They don't turn out well. They leave you, the viewer, empty, disoriented and depressed.
And yet Americans living in the current "unreality" zone seem to be happy, energized and ready to kill and destroy while claiming and thinking they are peaceful and loving. Which is why they are so willing to jump onto the DeSantis anti "woke" band wagon. They don't want to be awake to reality, to facts, to their history. Within my own extended family, the members who buy into this have no memory of preceding generations nor interest in future generations. They don't want to talk about anything but their most trivial activities. And if you push, they gush a torrent of resentment that "immigrants pouring across the border are changing our nation forever" and "our government is doing this to us".
They see no connection between their grandchildren, their grandchildren's future and deteriorating conditions that could be managed if we put our minds to it, like climate change. They also see no relationship between the trauma of their politics of inaction and vitriol and the falling birth rate of our traumatized youth. And how about the relationship of this anguish with our drug epidemic?
It seems like "minds" are a thing of the past. AI and eternal sleep to turn off our minds are the future. We are becoming rats in a maize and on caged exercise wheels.
Looking for some happy news? Check out Heather and Joanne on their latest Now and Then episode:
https://cafe.com/now-and-then/things-are-looking-up-a-new-years-show/?utm_source=CAFE&utm_campaign=d75385b0b4-20230113_CAFEBrief_Insiders&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_575ee841eb-d75385b0b4-166090352
As usual, the Republicans keep showing the American public that their understanding and grip on reality is nonexistent.
1. This time one of the ways is by cutting border control money, wouldn't that make the borders more open. I thought they were against open borders.
2. How could DJT say "he'd never met Jean Carroll" and "she loved it" in the same sentence. ABOVE THE LAW again.
3. Speaking of BLATANTLY above the law, why is Santos still in Congress.
4. Between the shenanigans of SCOTUS, DJT, Santos, DeSantis, etc, etc , etc; I wonder if the law is in force any longer or that there are any limitations eg DJT just got "fined the maximum and will make it hard for him to get loans from banks". He won't pay the fine and with all the classified documents he had (and still has), he isn't getting money from banks anyway.
Concerning rapidly developing facts about Santos, see 18 USC section 1546. & note that the "Fraud & misuse of visas,, permits & other documents" risks imprisonment in the range of 5 to 20 years depending upon admissible facts. See also, 18 USC 1546(b)(1), (2), & (3). The risk is the same whether the Perp commits fraud in Miami or Queens NY.